The Cenobite Slayer

Chapter One: Farewell

It was a grim day for the members of the Summerskill family.
Joanne Summerskill Senior, one time television presenter and reporter had been brutally murdered in her own home, no one knew how or why, but the police had described it as an unspeakably horrific blood bath that could only be carried out by the sickest mind in existence.
The funeral car finally pulled up outside the Summerskill family home, the raindrops bounced off it wildly as thunder began to rumble in the distance.
Flowers and words of comfort for the grieving family surrounded the brown casket where the mutilated body lay resting, yet none of the kindness and words of comfort could bring the dead woman back.

Watching from the warmth and dryness of the family home was Joanne’s young teenage daughter, Joanne Summerskill Junior, although she had always taken her mothers nickname of Joey.
Tears filled the young teenagers ocean blue eyes as she stared at the casket, horrible memories of having to find her mothers mutilated body in the basement of their home filled her head.
“Hey, are you sure you’re going to be able to handle this?”
Joey turned round and stared into the eyes of her boyfriend.
“I really don’t know Anthony.” She sobbed, wiping away the tears.
Anthony sympathetically hugged the sobbing teenager and looked sorrowfully out of the window as the rain continued to beat down on the black funeral hearse.
“Are we okay to come in?”
Joey pulled away from Anthony and looked towards the door.
“Yeah sure come on in guys.”
Three teenagers entered the room and sympathetically hugged her.
“We’re all really sorry Joey.” Said Natasha, gently hugging her best friend, while her older brother David stared out at the funeral hearse.
“If there’s anything any of us can do you just say so.” Said Anthony’s twin Kyle, looking sincerely into the young teenagers watering eyes.
“Joanne, time to leave dear.” Called a sweet sounding elderly voice.
“Coming.” Replied Joey calmly as she looked out once again at the funeral hearse bearing her mothers body, before turning to her friends.
“We’re here for you Joey.” Said Natasha.
Joey nodded and headed outside to the hearse, followed by her family.

The journey to the church was a long one; Joey sat in the limo behind the funeral hearse with her grandparents, her eyes never leaving the sight of her mother’s casket.
Joey sighed and turned her gaze towards the sky, huge dark clouds hung over the church, it was as if the heavens wept for her loss.
Reaching the church, the family was greeted by the vicar, his gaze turned sympathetically towards Joey as he noticed her.
“Joey it is indeed a great pleasure to finally meet you, but I do regret the unfortunate circumstance under which we finally meet. Your mother always spoke very highly of you and your ambition.”
Joey nodded.
“I’m just a young girl trying to make her way in the world.” She replied.
The Vicar smiled and nodded.
Joey’s grandmother nodded towards the hearse as six male members of the family approached it to carry the casket into the church.
Joey watched with watering eyes as her cousin Steven’s own watering dark brown eyes met hers.
Steven had always been close to Joey and her mother, it broke her heart to see him so upset, especially due to the fact he was one of the coffin bearers, he was only nineteen and Joey still couldn’t understand how he could bear such a heavy burden.

The service went smoothly.
Inside the warmth of the church Joey sat with her grandparents and continued to stare at her mothers casket as the vicar talked about her mothers eventful life, how she saved him from certain death at the hands of an evil demon with grill-like scars and pins in his face.
Pinhead.
Joey clenched her teeth at the very thought of him, the evil chief cenobite from the depths of Hell had almost claimed the life of her mother once before, and Joey was almost certain that he had been the one to end her life now.
It had to have been Pinhead, who else could it be? Who else would murder somebody by tearing his or her body apart with barbed black chains?

As the service ended and the casket was carried round to the graveyard for its burial, Joey’s thoughts dwelled on her past.
She had known many stories about Pinhead and his army of cenobites.
They were the demons of Hell, taking pleasure in the pain of others, relishing in their suffering and thriving on bringing more mutilated souls to the depths of Hell.
Joey snapped out of her daydream and turned her gaze downwards as her mothers casket was lowered into the ground.
Anthony appeared by her side and gently put his arm round her holding her close as the casket was lowered further into its grave.
“Earth to earth, Ashes to ashes, Dust to dust.”
The vicar continued his sermon as the casket reached the bottom of the grave.
Joey respectfully lowered her head and closed her eyes.
“I’ll leave you to say your goodbyes.” Said Joey’s grandmother as she and the rest of the family retreated back to the vehicles, leaving Joey and Anthony standing beside the grave.
Joey finally turned her gaze towards Anthony as the heavens once again opened up, and rain began to pour down on the graveyard.
“Are you ready to go?” Asked Anthony softly.
Joey nodded silently.
Goodbye Mom, I’ll miss you.
Anthony gently led her away from the grave back towards the church.
“If I didn’t know any better I’d say it was the chief cenobite Pinhead that killed my mother.”
Anthony’s eyes went wide with shock.
“Joey don’t start all that, you’ve just laid her to rest you can’t possibly know who killed her.”
Joey stopped and angrily stared at Anthony.
“Don’t patronize me Anthony, you know who I am, you know what I’ve been doing for the past six years.”
Anthony lowered his head sheepishly.
“Yeah I know, you’re a cenobite slayer. You search out the victims of the Chinese lament configuration box and then free their souls by slaying them in their cenobite form.”
“Exactly.” Said Joey.
“Pinhead almost claimed my Mom’s life once and I’m pretty sure he killed her as a way of enacting revenge.”
Anthony took a step back.
“Joey when we started going out you promised me you’d never go back to that again.”
“Anthony, you know that its in my blood to slay cenobites, I know I haven’t done it for over a year, but if it was Pinhead that killed my Mom, then I wanna make sure I kill him once and for all.”
Joey stared deep into Anthony’s eyes.
“Anthony, I do love you, but I have to know.”
“What if he did kill her?”
“Then I won’t rest until I slay him and every last one of his evil army of cenobites.”
Anthony shook his head sadly, he knew there was no point in trying to argue, once Joey set her mind to something, there was no stopping her.
“I don’t agree with you going back down to Hell to try and destroy that…demon.”
“Cenobite.” Joey corrected him sternly.
“They’re cenobites; they reside in the darkest depths of Hell and take pleasure in the suffering of their victims.”
Anthony shivered violently at Joey’s words.
If anyone knew first hand about the cenobite’s sick world of pleasure and pain it was her.
Joey turned away and looked out the window down onto the small garden of the family home.
The clouded sky was now beginning to clear and she could see clearly into the distance as the silhouettes of the distant skyscrapers made their tall and imposing presence known.
“Anthony, please don’t hate me for this but I must go back, I must find the answer to the mystery surrounding my mother’s death, and if the answer is that Pinhead killed her, then you must let me be free to face him.”
Anthony lowered his head, trying hard to hide his anger as Joey once again turned to face him, her ocean blue eyes staring at him, pleading with him to support her in her hour of need.
“Joey,” Began Anthony, his anger boiling up inside him at the words he had just heard, failing to take in that his girlfriend would willingly risk her life to kill what most people had failed to believe existed.
“I love you and you know I will support you whatever your decision, but you have to promise me that if Pinhead isn’t responsible for your mother’s death, you’ll never go back to being a cenobite slayer ever again.”
Joey stared at Anthony for a few moments before turning away.
“You know that is something I cannot do,” She replied.
“I made a vow that my life as a cenobite slayer wouldn’t be over until I had hunted down and destroyed all the cenobites in existence and destroyed the lament configuration box for all time. You knew about that when we first met and you said you would respect my decision.”
Before Anthony could reply, a knock at the door interrupted the pair.
“Come in.” Said Joey, turning her attention towards it.
“Sorry am I interrupting anything?” Asked Steven as he poked his head around the door.
“No it’s okay,” Replied Joey. “I was just trying to tell Anthony the importance of honoring promises.” She angrily turned her attention back towards her boyfriend.
Steven simply shook his head.
“Anthony, you’re gonna have to learn that when Joey sets her mind to a certain task she won’t rest until she sees it through to its end, so don’t even think of changing her mind about this cenobite slaying business.”
Anthony sighed in defeat and turned his gaze towards Joey.
“Okay, but when all this is over, you must promise me to end it all and live a normal life.”
Joey reluctantly nodded. “I promise when Pinhead and the configuration box are destroyed that I will cease my cenobite slaying, but only because there’s gonna be no more cenobites left to slay.”
Anthony smiled and acknowledged her promise by giving her a brief kiss on the cheek.
“In the mean time, however,” Continued Joey. “I want to find out the real cause of my mother’s death. Starting with the cellar where I found her.”