Chapter Two

Lucius Barrington

“Thank you. We’ll be out on the floor shortly,” Jefferson said.

My boss touched the screen once more and the grotesque picture of what looked like a human snake appeared. Lucius Barrington looked more like a carnival freak show performer than the spawn of Satan. In the photograph his scalp was shaved, his mouth was open and his tongue slithered out between reddish lips. His tongue apparently had been surgically altered to resemble a snake, with a little slit cut into the middle of the tip, like prongs of a slimy fork. What’s more, two small red and black pointed horns of some kind were mounted into the skin on top of his forehead. All he was missing was a tail. Other than those anomalies, he looked like a college dropout who ate too much fast food, with a pudgy layer in the middle. I’m sure he won the Halloween contest every year, but if I had my choice I would much rather take my chances with a Terrorist Prince Charming than this Creature from the Black Lagoon.

“Lucius Barrington is the misfit son of a rich Chicago family who used his trust fund to open some kind of devil-worshipping church called The Church of the Anti-Christ, in order to assist him in getting laid more often, I would presume,” my Handler said.

Another religious wacko. We looked at the disturbing image.

“I’d like to turn the briefing over to Mr. Jefferson and let him explain the situation in detail,” my Handler said.

“Thank you, Sir. First, I’d like to convey my deep appreciation to both the CIA and FBI for assisting me with this… particular problem,” Jefferson said.

“It’s our pleasure to help you Mr. Jefferson,” I said.

“As mentioned, Mr. Barrington is the spoiled only child of Mr. and Mrs. Randolph Barrington, who have both recently passed away, leaving the entire Barrington Estate, with the family’s extensive stock portfolio and commercial real estate holdings in their son’s hands. So far, he’s visited my club twice. Tonight is his third and hopefully last visit. He came two weeks ago escorting two rather plain looking women, all dressed in black lingerie. He claims that they are witches and he is their Warlock, a powerful High Priest of the Worldwide Church of Satan. I’ve met some odd people since I opened for business four years ago and I try not to judge people by their appearance, but this gentleman certainly ranks right up at the top of the list of characters. When I spoke to him at the initiation I hold for all new visitors to Obsessions, Barrington was polite, soft-spoken and readily agreed to the rules of the club. He seemed rather innocuous to me. I just thought he liked dressing up and someone had forgotten