Gallery of the Cult: A Horror Collection

First Published in Great Britain by Aiden Abbo in 2025

Copyright © Aiden Abbo

This story is under copyright protection. No reproduction without permission. All rights reserved

(Paid commissions are open and donations are appreciated, send funds or requests to [email protected])

Gallery of the Cult

Author's Note: 'GOC' is the main story which inspired this collection and then there are other stories as well which came from this initial creative offering. It came out of meeting a very interesting artist and working at an interesting job which then went out of business, into liquidation and ended up with myself not getting paid my last paycheck... talk about a horror story... but that is for another day! I hope you thoroughly enjoy!

Chapter 1: Epilogue

Saturday 9th of August

Nicholas had a good feeling about today, cautiously optimistic, despite the fact that the weather had turned out to be dark and dreary. It had been raining last night and he had curled up extra tight under the blankets, so glad that he wasn't out there in the cold unlike the unfortunate homeless people that seemed to be around so many corners and streets in London. He had seen what seemed to be a rise in the number of people who were sleeping rough and the violence being reported in the newspapers about stabbings, gang activity and violence did not seem to be going down.

It was rare for him to feel safe in this city, with all of its dark stories and villains, but tucked under those covers, he had been able to drift into a dreamless sleep and come out feeling somewhat rested. Now it was a beautiful Saturday for him because he was excited to be going out on a date.

It had been a while since his last date with his girlfriend, one of the biggest problems was the distance and the other was a sense of darkness that seemed to hang over the relationship as if neither of them believed it was really going to last. They were still trying regardless of all the negative emotions and unfulfilled expectations which coloured elements of their dynamic.

There were things more complicated and beyond his understanding as a man, in this thing, but he tried his best to keep on a positive face all things considered. Despite some of his misgivings about where this relationship was going and how he felt like he should be doing something different. He seemed to be trapped in a life which was filled to the brim with disappointment, he didn't know when and to whom he would be able to reveal his full self.

The young man knew she was real enough to capture his heart and make him realise there was more to life than some of preconceived notions. She wasn't a flight of fancy or a Photoshop job like some of his friends and colleagues had joked, just super shy and living far, two things which made the relationship so much more difficult than it ought to have been.

When she didn't respond for hours, insidious thoughts and doubts would creep in, but that was the reality of the situation, but to her credit, she said good night most nights. That was something to the young man. He felt torn because he was emotionally invested in this relationship despite the logistics and the advice of his friends and family.

He felt he knew her, maybe could help her with her social anxiety. It had taken ages to get to the point where she felt comfortable enough to meet up, for example. He knew he was doing most of the work to keep it moving forward but at the same time the alternative was to be alone and for most of his life he had always felt a sense of loneliness, she was a light in the darkness.

They had met over a dating site, and she lived in Peckham. Without the social site, they would have never met, let alone, started a relationship. He had no reason to go there, most of his life, the gym, and heavy metal bars he frequented were in Camden where he lived up in the north-west of London whereas she was down in the south-east.

They had been supposedly to meet at 8 at a restaurant called Thunderbirds in Canary Wharf, he had wanted to treat her to some of the best wings and chicken burgers that he had ever come across but she did not show up, making excuses about how she had an anxiety attack when she was going to leave the house and had to reschedule for another day.

Nicholas, despite the anger and feelings of betrayal, swallowed it down and still went to the restaurant even though it was just him on his own. He had been planning on having this food for a long time and wasn't about to let anything get in the way of that, it wasn't just a date idea it was also partially a reward for a week spent working very hard at his job. A place where he was on his feet for 11 to 12 hour shifts in the freezing cold with his scarf wrapped around his face to keep his smooth shaven face from freezing up.

He returned home and relaxed, deciding to go to bed early simply because he was feeling utterly dejected. He watched a movie which he couldn't fully enjoy because the characters were badly written and the monster itself wasn't scary, looked like something cobbled together by AI and bad CGI. He sat there in silent amazement and just how disappointing life was nowadays, he spent so much time working and then when he was free from work he was looking down the barrel of disappointment in a relationship which was going nowhere and the same again even in his favourite movie genre.

Then when the movie finished at 10pm he was listless, floating around social media that finished he watched some porn, one or his favourite performers had a new video which he jumped on and watched as much as he could whilst pleasuring himself.

His hand moved up and down between his legs, making the duvet rise and fall until he couldn't hold back the pressure of the pleasure any longer, in his mind's eye images of himself fucking the porn star playing over and over until he was ready to burst. He let release in a shirt from his dirty laundry.

He sighed with relief and for a while he was awash with a deep sense of satisfaction at the release, this was something he had been holding back all week and hoping to share with is girlfriend but now that the date was cancelled, he had to take care of himself on his own. They sexted so much and got their hopes up but in the end it was proving fruitless. They had never had sex in their three month relationship, and right now, he did not know where they stood. He was now too tired to think, to sulk to simmer with anger at yet another let down. This was the third time a date had been cancelled and he passed into sleep in a very unsettled mood, his heart aching.

****

The sun was shining so bright that nothing short of heavily tinted sunglasses made it bearable. Nicholas had been working very hard lately, and it showed in this life that he was living now, something he had always dreamt about. The Rolex and bracelets were glowing on his wrists, studded with diamonds of several different colours which glinted in the rays. He wore massive rings, which weighed down his hands and clicked whenever he moved his fingers across the steering wheel. He cruised through a London with borderline tropical weather, it was so inexplicably hot but at the same time so perfect.

He checked himself in the mirror, and through the sunglasses, he could see a mouth full of sparkling white teeth smiling back at him. His clothing was all Gucci, the most ostentatious baroque designs on his silk shirt and silk shorts. Even his all-white trainers were some sort of designer brand which was too fuzzy to recognise. He looked around and realised he was driving a Ferrari 488 GTB, the cream-white leather interior glowed all around him. The tattoos on his skin, he was amazed that he had so many all over his skin, all of them black. He could tell that this was such an opulent lifestyle and didn't know how he had amazed all of the money necessary to bring about such an existence..

His destination was the Connaught Hotel in Mayfair, in a Ferrari, which he wasn't sure how he had been able to afford with a beautiful girl by his side. Oh my God, he had not even realised she was there but now, he was running a hand up and down her bare tanned thigh, admiring the heat there... the way she giggled at his wandering hand made him hard. She was brunette, a delicate flower from an eastern European country clearly by the way that accent lilted at him although he couldn't quite catch what she was saying.

She had been blessed with sparkling blue eyes and an incredible body. She was everything that he wanted from her, even down to the fact that she was flat chested but ample in the curves of her hips. It was almost too good to be true the way she looked and smiled at him, a necklace with a diamond encrusted snake adorning her necklace.

The more he became aware of her, the more the weather changed, the sun wasn't so bright now, the shades had to come off to prevent him driving the car into something by accident. "Where did the sun go?" He asked laughing but his partner only glanced at him and did not respond, a little smile across her sumptuous red lips.

Her name was Alana or something, he couldn't quite remember, but she acted in his presence with nothing but pure desire for him. Even as the 600 horsepower Ferrari rumbled along the street, she now had her hand on his lap, near his manhood. Rubbing and stroking, signalling a carnal desire which made him tremble with anticipation.

Getting to the hotel was a blur but the sun must have been setting or something because the sky was getting dark and there was a smattering of rain coming down. That typical English weather change which kills the joy out of a happy day like a vampire at it's victim's throat. Nicholas could understand why seasonal depression was a thing in the UK and the rain only got worse as they pulled up outside of the hotel, the roof still down because he couldn't figure out how to get the roof back up. He had the sense that the interior was getting ruined but he left the car anyways, getting laid was obviously the most important thing in this current moment.

Getting into the lobby, he heard lightning crack behind him and turned to look out the window into the darkest night, light from the lobby illuminating hard sheets of driving rain. The opulent hotel was designed with gold furnishings and other interior touches to communicate opulence. White marble tiles across the floor and paintings of nature, scenery and royals in their finest clothing adorned the walls although he did see some of dark figures in robes, with glowing red eyes, which he could not explain. He was being pulled along by Alana who was ahead and moving like something out of an erotic dream, the shiny silk dress she was wearing, clinging to every last curve and far too short to climb up those stairs without revealing the black thong she had chose to wear tonight.

He kissed her in the elevator, feeling their chests press into each other as they swapped spit and groped each other, her hand slid between them to the front him where it could stroke his cock up and down. His lips went to her neck as his hands slid down her dark red silk dress, down to those ample buttocks that shook as he spanked them and told her she was being so naughty as she continued to stroke his manhood, the grip however was becoming tighter, and tighter until it was unbearable, downright painful, he looked into her eyes and saw a darkness there, expanding slowly, the pupils starting to become too dilated and sinister to be anything natural. Before he could fully compose his thoughts and utter a cry of pain, the elevator dinged and he looked away as the doors opened and the vice-like grip around his cock released.

They got to the room faster than normal feet could carry them and hurried to get in the key card, almost materialising in Nicholas's hand. The door sprung open seemingly of its own accord when Alana placed a hand on the door and pushed so lightly as if she was afraid to break it.

"How did you do that? I have the key card right here...?" He asked her a bell of warning somewhere deep in the back of his subconscious was ringing but the desire for her, the beautiful body that she was moving in front of him, the way her hips swayed when she walked had him entranced.

"Well a magician never reveals their tricks, do they?" She said moving one hand down her dress, rubbing over a breast, she played with her own nipple whilst looking at him. "If you are a good boy I will show you some other tricks as well, I have so many up my sleeve..." she said with a dark little chuckle.

"What else are you hiding?" He asked her although his eyes were on what she was doing with her small little breast. He watched the curves of her ass as she walked through the door before him. Any other questions he had were dying on his lips as desire again took hold of him.

"Oh you wait until you see my next transformation, you are going to lose all control, I want to make you cum so hard it hits the ceiling!" she said to him reaching for his private place and giving it a stroke, except this time she did not do what had become so agonising and painful in the elevator.

"I am going to eat you up like your pussy is the juiciest fruit that I have ever tasted," He said with conviction in his voice. He pulled her to him so that his body was pressing into hers, so that his erection was pushing against her navel. "I want your juices running down my chin before I give it to you so nice and hard that you yell my name." He said to her breathlessly as he closed the door behind him.

"Show me!" She said as they kissed and rolled around on the bed, their bodies pressing into each other and the heat between them rising. Items of clothing were coming off as they did this and it was the promise of what was to come compelling them like a spell of carnal desire woven into their minds.

Nicholas was kissing her, full lips, her neck and then moving down to her breasts which were barely there but blessed with nice hard nipples that he could flick with his tongue. He was going for the forbidden place to keep his promise when his hand was just about to brush over it she squirmed away from underneath him.

"Wait, wait, if you...are going to have me for dinner, I need to make sure the dish is good and ready for your taste buds... also these lights are far too bright..." she said getting off the bed and heading over to the dimmer switch which she turned all the way down plunging the room into semi darkness.

Nicholas still thinking with his dick, could not wait to have her back in his arms, to explore the warmth, wetness and taste of her but at the same time, the first shards of trepidation started to pierce his heart. "These lights are a bit dark now... Can we turn them up?"

"Scared of the dark?" she immediately shot back at him with a smile that did not have any warmth.

"Nah, its fine forget I said anything..."

She tried to soften her words by going sexual but then ended up doubling down in a way which was slightly unsettling for the young man. "I am going to rock your world, and you are scared of a little dark?" she asked with laughter, which was cold and entirely mirthless.

"No, no, come on let's just move on, I am thinking about you and that sexy body. Come here and get this meat in your mouth!" he said starting to get irritated at being ridiculed. Something in her tone made him question, but he lay there stroking himself, nursing the erection to keep it alive as he undressed fully, kicking off the trousers and getting out of the shirt. The Rolex and other jewellery stayed, he was not planning on getting robbed tonight.

He waited in that bed, listening to music on the TV and anticipating what he was going to do to this woman, oh he loved everything to do with sex, eating clits being sucked and fucked, working his tongue in an out of holes that it was not supposed to go into.

It was a while before he was aware that more than twenty minutes had passed since she had gone into that toilet, there had been the sound of showering but that had stopped and this woman was still nowhere to be seen, just him lying there trying to nurse a rapidly deflating boner. He lowered the loudness of the music and then called out. "Hey are you okay?"

It was one of the quietest hotels he had ever been in, normally you could hear all sorts of doors slamming, conversations being had, other showers going or people walking around but in this place there was nothing at all.

But then just at the edge of hearing, he heard the start of some strange noises whilst he was lying down in the bed, staring at the ceiling. He did not want to listen to the music any longer and he went ahead and turned off the music which then alerted him that there was something to hear.

The sound was like that of someone masturbating, it moaned like a woman in the bathroom, but it was followed by a guttural hissing sound which he could not explain.

"Just getting ready for you baby..." she said as she moaned again, louder this time and the hiss softer. "Get that dick nice and ready for me..." she said moaning yet again.

He felt a tremor of something heavy falling down with a sickening thud, in that bathroom, from where he was lying down on the bed. He almost wanted to call out to see if she was okay or maybe it was just her dropping her dildo, the echo in the bathroom making it louder than it ought to be.

Nicholas was still oblivious to the real danger that he was in, and had his legs apart, maybe she had just fallen over. It did happen after all, slippery surfaces... he was being too quick to jump to the worst conclusions possible, he chided himself.

Anticipating her to come to him and to play with that which lay between his legs, he started to play with himself eagerly. His desire was hard, and his heart beating strong, but he could not see what approached the bed from the darkness which had only seemed to grow deeper and more intense whilst he was staring at the ceiling, masturbating and waiting.

The temperature in the room seemed to go down and there was the smell of something putrid coming from the bathroom. He wondered if she had loose bowels a and that was the reason why she had showered. But had she forgotten to flush?

He dared not to expose himself entirely. There was a sense of discomfort. The room was too cold and dark all of a sudden, and he pulled the covers up higher over a chest he had kept bare. his nipples hard and bare arms covered in goose pimples. " We need to turn up the heat in here... fuck me!"

Whilst waiting for a time unknown, Nicholas also noticed the ripe smell was only becoming more intense, his revulsion at the sheer stench which only seemed to be intensifying put all thoughts of cunnilingus out of his head, he didn't want to be anywhere near such an orifice, if this was what it was capable of producing.

He went to try and fan his face, leaning forward to get up and crack open a window but he couldn't move because black terror seized him. The animalistic sense of the presence of evil made the hairs on the back of his neck stand, he saw the bathroom door creak open and a malevolent black eye without sclera, glared at him from the darkness within. The figure was framed by an amber glow in the background, but no details of it were discernible, just the silhouette of something unknown and malevolent observing its victim.

The door creaked further open and Nicholas became frantic when he heard the bone chilling hissing, coming from precisely where his eyes failed to see. He could only imagine what was producing that noise and he couldn't for the life of him workout what on earth was staring at him from the bathroom radiating waves of pure evil and a stench so cloying and awful.

He couldn't really move as one of the biggest serpents, he had ever seen reared up and an audible cry of dismay escaped the young man's lips at the fiendish vision of that deadly creature, which had snuck into the room. It was a terrifying dark green, almost black with amber-reddish eyes full of serpentine ice, that struck pure terror into Nicholas's heart. It opened its mouth to show 2 inch white fangs dripping with yellow venom.

He started to scream and try to move away, bringing his feet up to almost fold in half. He kicked at the blankets as the snake slid underneath them drawn to him by his warmth. The stimulation he had been hoping for between his legs came when the creature slid past his hard cock and balls, dry scales like sand paper against his skin, painfully rubbing it raw. He felt the flick of its wet tongue against his stomach as it slithered on top of him.

The young man tried to get away to free himself of the binds. He looked up at his wrists which were literally shackled and in bloody agony from where he had been pulling so hard to try and get away, his own nakedness in that bed now one of the worst aspects of this diabolical situation that he found himself in. He shook chains which couldn't be broken, black in design and intentions, the clinked and shook as he violently tried to free himself, the hissing was coming closer and he could already feel something slithering between the blankets.

He tried to calm his panicking mind, to look carefully at the restraints to see if there was a way to get out of them without tearing the skin of his wrists even worse, they were both already bleeding and the pain exquisite. He felt the presence of the creature as it slid up the inside of his leg, brushing against his genitals with its scaly body, it came. In what was a frightfully short space of time he felt the flickering of a serpentine tongue and the hissing creature was close to his throat, he turned back just in time to see the huge black snake lunge at his left eye. The last thing he saw being the fangs dripping with venom sink themselves into the soft sclera so vicious and full of malevolence.

The creature ripped out the eye, connective tissue bleeding and being drawn out before the creature swallowed it. The slight tremors in its wicked head showed it savouring the taste of human blood as it swallowed its prize and then its dark eyes glinting with malevolence, it came for the other.

Nicholas tried to thrash to turn away horrified and in the paroxysms of agony, but his enemy was patient, waiting until he looked to see where it was, if it had gone. He opened his last remaining eye only to see the fangs once again in a serpentine mouth so pink and bloody red, like a fool he had fallen for it and the thing hissed hideously as it struck. The impact of the snakes lunge knocking his head back into the head board and making him see stars whilst the light was being ripped out of his skull.

He tried to scream for help, he writhed around on the bed naked with the worst pain radiating around in his skull as the creature bit other parts of him, like his arm, his chest, trying to tear off a nipple, he could feel the tongue flicking against his flesh in a way which mixed revulsion in with the terror. He trying to get free of sheets that now tangled his naked form and made him vulnerable to being attacked again.

In his blind terror, he was making the sheets wet and red with rivers of blood cascading down his face. He screamed as the creature struck again, this time going for his belly, his thigh, his buttock when he turned over to try and protect himself. The agony boring through his skull into the centre of his head was also in each and every last bite where that evil venom was delivered.

He opened his mouth to scream but shocked to find the creature even go so far as to bite down on his tongue, trying to rip it out. This was something beyond even nightmares for Nicholas, and feelings of terror, revulsion, and horror made him wretch, but this creature was inside his maw biting down, sinking its fangs into his soft pink flesh.

When he bit down on the scaly hide of the snake his teeth started to crack and break as it fought with all it's strength to come back out, it's fangs deep in the soft pink flesh ripping and tearing with every jerk.

Nicholas bit down harder, blind and in agony like he couldn't believe possible, but he had nothing passed out and wanted to fight back to prove a point despite his horrific injuries. He crushed down on the serpent with all of his hate and heard what sounded like a distant scream, audible just at the edges of his hearing. The young man could not have been sure over the hissing he could hear being produced by the snake still trying to tear his tongue out.

When he felt the flick of its tongue at the back of his throat he finally spat the creature out, partially decapitated, it's blood spurting into his mouth and down his throat before he regurgitated the snake onto his chest. Some of its cursed dark red blood coated his tongue and ran down the back of his throat, burning sickly in his stomach. It was almost as if the claret of the serpent was writhing within him as he coughed and wretched, trying to bring up that awful putrid tasting bile, which he had accidentally swallowed.

It was a horror that he had never anticipated before and it was only a taste of things to come, as Nicholas tore himself out of the nightmare he could feel something had been there in the bedroom with him, watching over him, a darkness which was now retreating as he reached over to the bedside table, ripped his phone off of the charging cable and scrambled to put on the flash light function. His heart was hammering, he was breathing hard and looked around the room although he could not see anything looming or leering.

He wondered, if faced with this sheer normality, why it had felt so real, that he had seen something moving away from his opening eyes. Had he just been just imagining things? Had the dream been so bad that it had felt real, what the snake had been doing to him was still so fresh in his mind that he visibly trembled and pulled the blankets tighter.

He had the dark and foreboding sense that something had changed in his life in the past month, he had noticed things changing and it wasn't a lie either that the beginnings of weird things happening in his life and dark dreams seemed to coincide with him starting this job. There was a little voice in his head telling him this was only the beginning...

****

Continued in part 2