Chapter 4

Flashes of dazzling blue lightning slashed and thundered around the skyscrapers of downtown Beelzebubapolis. The lightning flashed and thundered all around Sylvia and Loretta, while they drove along the City's avenues, with the convertible's top still open.

Loretta spoke nervously. "Aren't you gonna put the top up? There might be a downpour of acid rain at any moment!"

"Don't worry about that Loretta. Look up in the sky. There's not a cloud to be seen. It's all just lightning."

"But don't we need a shield against the lightning?"

"The tires are rubber. That's all the insulation we need."

"But what if..."

"Loretta!" Sylvia ordered, "Don't be a wussy!"

"How is that being a..."

"You saw what happens to girls who are."

Loretta stiffened. Then she nodded. "Right."

What's going on? Loretta wondered. I'm riding in a stolen car, with Sylvia, who's already been convicted of multiple murders? I've just seen her murder three teenage girls, and then I helped steal their handbags, containing their money and credit cards. Now I'm riding in their stolen car, with their heads in the backseat, in a clear plastic bag, and I'm expecting to profit from all these crimes. That makes me an accessory to murder, robbery and grand theft auto. Do those things really go unpunished in this Dimension, like Sylvia said?

Just how much should I believe about what Sylvia tells me?

"Look." Sylvia told her, "Nobody else is worried."

The traffic had stopped for a red light. Loretta looked at the bare chested pedestrians moving along the sidewalks on both sides of the avenue. They moved about casually, as they went in and out of the small shops, paying no attention to the dazzling flashes that thundered all around them.

The traffic light changed to green, and they moved ahead with the traffic.

They were driving through the middle of Downtown Beelzebubapolis, and reached the City's Central Plaza. The Temple of Beelzebub, a massive, five-tiered stepped pyramid, stood on the Plaza's north side. A grand stairway ascended along the front, across all five tiers, from the pavement to the apex.

A girl in her mid-teens stood on the apex, between a pair of vertical stakes, to which her outstretched arms were tied by the wrists. She was not struggling.

Loretta asked Sylvia, "What, no mass immolations?"

"This isn't a holiday."

"Oh."

"She's the daily Sacrifice. She'll be standing there all day, as a sign of assurance, that all is well in the City of Beelzebubapolis."

Loretta said, "All day?"

A dazzling, thundering lightning bolt, struck the top of the Pyramid, at the exact spot where the Maiden was tied, killing her.

As the thunder began to fade, the dead girl sank forward, but was upheld by the chords, and remained standing where she died, for all her fellow citizens to see.

Now the sky was clear and green. The lightning and thunder had ceased.

"That pussy was no wussy." Sylvia said, "All is well in Beelzebubapolis."

"That's comforting to know."

They drove on out of the Downtown, and went on until they reached a residential district, with one and two story, pastel colored stucco buildings, standing along narrow streets paved with blue cobblestones that shimmered in the sweltering heat. There were narrow sidewalks, only wide enough for one pedestrian at a time. Each house had a narrow doorway and a few small windows. Few cars were parked along the streets of this neighborhood.

Sylvia pulled over to the right, and parked in front of a narrow doorway, in the bright yellow wall of a two story structure. A wooden sign hung from a cast iron rod above the doorway, identifying the establishment as,

“Sylvia's

Academy”.

"Well here we are Loretta." Sylvia told her, "This is where you'll be staying for a while."

"An Academy?" The woman asked, "Just what do they teach here anyway?"

"Girls." Sylvia told her, "We teach girls who just fell off the turnip truck, like you just did. This is where they learn what every young woman should know, about getting along in this Demonic Dimension."

"I remember," Loretta told her, "When I was watching the Demon Network. I thought I recognized you, as the captain of a girl's gladiator team."

"Yeah. Athletic competition is part of our curriculum."

"And the three pus...I mean the girls you killed, up by Cannibal Snacks, told me that they were going to be forced to fight each other to the death, as gladiators."

Sylvia said, "I bet you're hungry. Let's get inside."

The two of them got out of the car. Loretta carried all four handbags, while

Sylvia carried her crossbow. She reached into the back of the vehicle, and picked up the clear plastic bag with the three girls' heads inside. They locked the doors. Then Sylvia raised the top, locked it in place and took the keys with her.

"We don't want some unethical person stealing this," she said, "before I bring it back to the rental office. Can't get the deposit refunded that way."

Then she and Loretta went over to the Academy's door.

Sylvia asked, "So how's everyone back in L.A.? How's Jimmy, that hunk of a vampire that you've got for a boss?"

Loretta replied, "Still a hunk."

"And I can't believe you're not vampire yet." Sylvia told her, "You been working for the guy for almost two years, and you're still alive?"

"I find it hard to believe myself, sometimes."

"Hey girl, if I had a hunk like him for a boss, I'd have been giving him wham-bam thank you ma'am within a week. I know I'd have never got out from under him alive," she chuckled, "but what a way to go!"

Sylvia rang the doorbell.

From behind the door they heard a woman call out, "Just a minute!"

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Loretta told her, "Well Jimmy and I are always careful."

"Careful?" Sylvia laughed. "I was told that according to the Gypsy curse, if he has one moment of pure pleasure or true contentment, he'll lose his soul again and go back to being evil."

"That's according to the Gypsy curse;" Loretta smirked, "but no guy's ever had pure pleasure or contentment with me."

Now the door opened inward. A girl in her mid teens, with black hair and a full figure, stood in the doorway. She was dressed in only a short blue skirt that reached a third way down her thighs and matching shoes. She held an armed crossbow at waist height, pointing it at Sylvia's breasts.

Sylvia was startled, "Paula?"

The girl said, "Hi Sylvia."

Then she shot the crossbow. The arrow stabbed deep between Sylvia's left breast and her breastbone. Sylvia cried out, dropping both her crossbow and the bag with the heads, while she collapsed and then lay stretched out dead on the sidewalk.

The crossbow held by the girl named Paula, reset itself with a new arrow, that she aimed Loretta's breasts.

She asked, "Are you Loretta?"

Loretta stood there holding the four handbags and nodded. There was panic in her voice. "That's right."

"Come inside."

She stepped through the doorway, into a large, four sided, two story tall, rectangular red garden courtyard with a splashing fountain in the center, surrounded by tables set under umbrellas. Private rooms with numbers on their doors faced out onto the courtyard. There were a few round tables, where about two dozen teenage girls were seated or standing, talking casually with each other. They were all dressed like Paula, in short skirts and matching footwear.

Loretta entered the courtyard ahead of Paula, who had the crossbow pointed at her back. Three girls got up from one table, and hurried over to them. They were Kate, Wendy and Julianna. They all had angry looks on their faces.

Now Paula called out, "I just killed that pussy Sylvia!"

Kate, Wendy and Julianna cheered, while the other girls looked at each other uneasily.

Now the four from Beverly Hills surrounded Loretta.

Julianna said, "This pussy's holding our handbags!"

"Here!" Loretta stretched her arms forward. "We didn't spend any of your money, or use any of your ATM cards."

Julianna, Kate and Wendy each grabbed her own handbag away from Loretta's grasp. Kate also grabbed Paula's handbag, and handed it back to her.

Now Paula told Loretta, "You're wearing my slacks! And my sneakers!"

Loretta turned to face her. "But you were lying dead, inside the pod of a giant venus flytrap, that was eating you...slowly. You didn't look like you'd be needing them any..."

Julianna laughed. "Things are kind of strange, when you first get to this Dimension."

"'Kind' of strange?" Loretta shouted, "The sky is green! Plants eat people!

There's lightning, when there are no clouds in the sky! I saw you three get killed by Sylvia, about an hour and a half ago. Then she chopped your heads off; and Paula here was being eaten by a giant venus flytrap. Then when we showed up here, she was waiting for us, and she killed Sylvia; and you three, who Sylvia killed, were waiting for us to show up too? Your heads are back on

your bodies, while your heads are also in a plastic bag? And that's just the beginning of 'kind of strange'!"

Kate chuckled. "It does take a while to get used to things here."

"Never mind that!" Paula shouted, "I'm alive now, and I do need my slacks and sneakers; so get out of them now!"

Loretta asked, "Now? You mean right here?"

"That's right." Paula shoved the crossbow up against her breast. "Either get naked or get dead."

Paula took a step back. Kate, Wendy and Julianna all checked through their returned handbags, while Loretta knelt down. She untied the sneakers and removed them. Then she quickly unbuckled the belt, unzipped the jeans, and pulled them off. Then she stood up naked, kicking the slacks and sneakers toward Paula.

Julianna said, "All my money's here."

"So's mine." Kate told Paula.

Wendy added, "Same here."

Paula handed the crossbow to Kate, who continued pointing it at Loretta; while Paula looked through her own handbag.

"None of this has been spent." She said, "The car's outside. Let's get going."

Kate still pointed the crossbow at Loretta.

She asked, "Do you want me to kill this pussy?"

Paula repeated, "Let's get going!"

Paula, Kate, Wendy and Julianna then hurried out the door, carrying the crossbow and their handbags, along with the slacks and sneakers that Loretta had just removed.

Loretta's feet hurt against the patio's slate floor. She heard the engine of the car that Sylvia had just parked outside. Then she heard the car drive off.

Now a tall, slim figured girl with long dark hair, rose up from beside a table, and hurried over to Loretta.

"Hi." she spoke with an Hispanic accent. "I'm Juanita. Did you just arrive in this Dimension?"

"Yes." Loretta felt disoriented. "A little more than three or four hours ago. Everything here's upside down, inside out and backwards."

She walked with Juanita over to the table where she'd been sitting. A blonde girl with a round face and round figure was seated there.

Juanita said, "This is Francine."

"Hi Francine. I'm Loretta."

Francine gave her a shy smile.

"So Loretta," Juanita asked "are you okay now?"

"Am I what?" Loretta shouted, "Am I 'okay'? Will you look at me! I'm anything but okay!"

The woman from L.A., who'd just arrived at Sylvia’s Academy, collapsed into a thickly cushioned chair, beside the table.

"It's all right Loretta." Juanita tried to speak in a comforting way. "You will be. Things are kind of strange, when you first get to this Dimension, but

you'll learn how to get along soon enough."

Loretta told her, "'Soon enough' isn't soon enough."

Francine chuckled. "It helps to be patient."

"It's not funny!" Loretta whined, "I'm naked. I have no clothes, no money..."

"It's okay Loretta." Juanita told her, "You're at the Sylvia’s Academy. That's where girls like us are supposed to be."

Loretta stopped whining. "Oh? And exactly what do you mean by 'girls like us'?"

Francine said, "Girls like us, are girls like Sylvia."

"What do you mean 'like Sylvia'? You're all escaped convicts?"

"No!" Juanita shook her head, "Of course not. What I mean is that Sylvia is a Vampire Staker, and so are we."

Francine said, "Or we will be."

Loretta repeated, "Will be? You're all Potential Stakers?"

"And if you're here Loretta," Francine said, "it means that you are too."