Horror Stories from Horrified - Volume One (2)

?Infection Muer tas. Indeed, Mr Denholm. It has tw o constituent components,
each har mless. Har mless even w hen combined, in fact, you may r est assur ed. At
least so long as they r emain beneath a cer tain pr essur e, that w ould be. Like her e,
Mr Denholm...Her e at the casino. Just at the r ight distance above gr ound w her e air
pr essur e is pr ecisely low enough not to activate the Muer tas. A little fur ther dow n
this mountain, unfor tunately...Well...I think you know w hat happens? Each cell of
your body is eaten away fr om w ithin. Your flesh and or gans r ot, and the canker ous,
necr otic flesh w ill fall fr om you, as you fall fr om gr ace to the favour of our r ealm. I
w ould not suggest going dow n this mountain to live at your new complex at all.?
?But to w hat end, Cyanquille?? The now ter r ified hotelier asked in desper ation of
the spectr e befor e him. ?You want to w or k? You want to be ar ound the gambling I
cr eate? What w ould my r emaining, or going, even my living or dying do to benefit
the dead??.
?We ar e the dead, Denholm. All of us... We ghosts, you, Lucky, all of us. WE ar e
the dead. It is just time and cir cumstance that dictate the when of the matter. For
my gr oup her e, your w or kfor ce as you w ould have them...They ar e hungr y ghosts
as you have r ightly know n, and death came to each of them some time ago. But it
w ould, how ever , tr ivialise their ambition to say that it is just to be near to gambling
that feeds that insatiable hunger. You might w ish to consider the games her e a
mer e ?amouse-bouche?to the mor e satisfying entr ee w e have planned. Human
lives...now ther e is food. What w e cr ave Denholm, it is not to be near La Roulette or
Les Car tes, but to gamble on a life. In this case your s.?
The enigmatic ghost paused, allow ing his w or ds to be digested by Denholm.
?That is our pr oject her e at the top of this lonely mountain. ?How w ill it end??w e
have mused. Will you gamble on a flight dow n the mountain, to test the tr uth of my
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