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Barters N Garters Library
Back Into Hell
by
Moon Mistress
a/k/a
Lisa Beth Darling

Chapter Seven

Friday night they'll be dressed to kill
Down at Dino's bar and grill
The drink will flow and blood will spill
And if the boys want to fight, you'd better let them
The Boys Are Back In Town
Thin Lizzy

Deeper and deeper into the sorrowful woods they went with David promising, every five minutes or so, that it was ‘only a little farther’. Legs sore from the unusually sticky road they’d traveled before coming to the Cross Roads and now from walking on this dry rutted crap. It looked like dirt but only in that was dark brown to black and it was dusty. It smelled like sweat sock which were a week passed the need of a good washing. What appeared to be flowers but really weren’t, were not actually growing in this soil-like substance but rather they were dying in it. The smell was awful and the mood in this place gloomy and disheartening.

“Are we there yet?” Daniel huffed expecting to hear ‘Jus’ a li’l’…..

“Yup,” David said turning around, “right through there.” He pointed to a thick stand of trees in front of them. “Right on the other side of that’s a cabin and a wishin’ well.”

“A what?”

David sighed loudly and rolled his eyes. “Wot? Am I speakin’ a different language, Danny? So’s I un’nerstand it, yew done speak several….pick one.” He slowed his speech. “There…is….a….wishin’ well….right past….” a poke in that general direction with a long finger, “dem trees. Don’t be disturbin’ the locals yew won’t like it none.” He turned back to the path they were on. “Let’s go.”

Not more than a hundred feet through some very dense vegetation and they came to a small clearing in which there was a very dilapidated log cabin the roof and porch of which bowed horribly inward. It looked dusty and haunted but most of all, the cabin looked lonely as several torches burned on the small path leading to the peeling front door. Not a light burned within and standing out here he saw no movement and no signs of life.

Just beyond the cabin was an old fashioned type of well. David and he called them Wishing Wells because that’s what they were when they were growing up but once upon a time they had been functioning covered wells with a drawing bucket attached to a long spin of twine for lowering and raising.

“Quiet,” David advised softly and keeping his head down and his eyes fixed upon the silently run-down cabin he and Daniel approached their goal and carefully peered inside. It was an ordinary well and it was very full. “How deep is it?” He asked anticipating a cold swim.

“Shhh,” David raised his finger to his lips. “You hear that?”

It was dull and almost lifeless but somewhere in this dark fog a little girls’ voice was singing a little girls rhyme.

“Ah-huh.” Daniel looked back at the cabin to see the ancient door was still shut and everything over there was undisturbed.

The song was not coming from the cabin or from the air around them but up through the water in the well where the sound waves made little ripples as they broke the surface. This was why it sounded so muffled. “Ready?” David asked hoisting himself onto the ledge of the well and throwing his legs over the side. “Come on, Danny, what are you waitin’ fer? Scared? Hold on ta yer hat.” He laughed and jumped in.

David’s body hitting the water made a small splash but only in that the contents of the well rose into the air and fell again as it was dispersed by David’s weight. What hit Daniel in the face was not wet, it was not sticky, in fact, whatever it was….it wasn’t. The water—like the sun in the outer ring— was only an illusion. So he hoped anyway as he swung his legs over the side and jumped in.

Instantly Daniel Jackson saw what little Callestah did in this well; it had the most killer slide ever invented. It zoomed and zigged and zagged while it banked swiftly around corners until it ended in a pile of dry leaves. “Whoa,” he said with a wide grin and David helped him to his feet. Overhead was something which looked like an extraordinarily large tree root but it was hollow inside and Daniel knew that because that was the chute he’d just dropped out of. Looking around them he saw that they were in another clearing.

“Yeah, definitely the best kept secret in ‘dis place.” David said with a chuckle as he looked up at the funky root.

The girl started singing again but this time she was clearer, closer and another voice joined in with her. One which sounded quite a bit deeper, quite a bit older and, if he wasn’t mistaken….

The deeper…masculine voice….had a British Accent.

Andrew Fucking Hartley.

“I’ll kill him.” Daniel muttered as the two voices stopped as the owners fell to the ground laughing before they started up again.

Taking note of their surroundings Daniel would swear they were inside a box. This place had walls which seemed to stretch forever upward as they twinkled with a slimy black moss. There was no sky and no false sun above them only more moss. The same strange moss grew from the trees—well, once again, they did LOOK like trees but they probably were not tree, it hung from them and filled the air with a dark perfume.

From high above, a rush of air swirled around them as one or two or several pairs of unseen wings beat wildly in the trees above. Was there some type of mutant birds down here which took up residence in the odd trees? Quietly creeping out of the deep shadows the brothers came upon the seen of a little girl in very finely made linen toga and the man himself. The one with the Rock Star looks and charm of an English Knight: Andrew F. Hartley stood there big as life and healthy as day. Good old Andy was dancing with the girl around and around and around they went as they played in the light of four happily burning torches. Daniel’s blood ran cold in fact it seemed to freeze in his veins as he stood in the safety of the brush watching them.

“Perhaps when your friend Danny arrives we might play London Bridge, does that sound like fun? For now, shall we play another round, Poppet?” He asked bending down to her level.

“Yes,” the girl smiled a trusting smile and slipped her hand into Andrew. F. Hartley’s. “Let’s do it again.”

“Why, m’lady, your wish is my command.” Andy said with a bow. The little girl laughed and they began to spin around in a merry circle.

“Looks like you’re not the only one who knew where she was hiding.”

“Wot’s he doin’ here?” David asked.

“I dunno, but whatever it is, it’s not good.”

Down to the ground they tumbled giggling and smiling, Hartley tickling her while they rolled on the ground and he positioned himself over her small body gazing down upon her with what she probably through was a very friendly grin but Daniel and David saw the danger in those sparkling eyes.

No longer being able to take watching the scene in front of him play out, Daniel stepped out of the shadows. “Hello, Callestah. Do you remember me?”

“Danny! Andy said you’d come soon! Now we can play London Bridge.” The little girl cried with glee and tried to scramble to her feet but Andy wouldn’t let her up. “Let go,” she giggled, “I want to see Danny.”

“He’s right there, Poppet. You can see him, can’t you?” Andy chimed.

“Let her up.” Daniel demanded and watched as David emerged from the shadows.

“Oh, I see you’ve brought back-up. Good thinking, old boy.” Andy complimented. “But probably not enough. See, now, I know a few other people who are lookin’ for her and they’re willing to pay a good price to have her.”

“Money, that’s all everything comes down to for you, isn’t it Hartley? Just money. You stole my Wife not because you loved her but because she could fatten your wallet.”

“Let me go!” the little girl cried and began beating her small fists against Andrew Hartley’s toned chest. “Danny! Why won’t he let me up?”

“It’s all right, Callestah, don’t worry.” Daniel said in the same softly hypnotic voice he’d used twice already. “Everything’s ok, honey. I’m going to come get you in just a minute.”

“Do you’ve any idea just how much you fucked things up for me, mate? Do you? That bloody bitch of yours is the one who’s supposed to be down here not me! I mean, for criminey’s sake I had the whole thing planned out! There’d have been a lovely gray casket for her with a deep silver lining and I’d wear my best gray suit so as to match. In the background Amazing Grace would play on the bagpipes and when that lovely gray casket was set into the cold hard ground her paintings would have sold for a million dollars or MORE EACH and I would have made the quintessential grieving lover.” Hartley said in dramatic soliloquy. “But you had to get in the way.”

Daniel just stood there for a moment taking in what Hartley said. If he heard what he thought he heard then that meant, “You knew she was off to commit suicide. You were waiting for her to die.”

“And for a good long time too, I might add. After all, I worked damn hard on it!” Hartley huffed in that smug British way; he sneered at Daniel and then went on. “It would have been ab-so-lutely perfect. Everyone who was anyone would have been at her funeral. It would have been the cream of the crop only.”

“And their wallets.” David cracked. “Even I know dat the prices on Callie’s paintin’s wudda been through the roof at that auction. You really done all a’dat just fer cash? I gots ta tell ya I’m wot’cha call a low-life son of a bitch but if’n dats true then you got me beat, boy.”

Hartley rose to his feet and yanked the little girl to hers. She let out a cry of pain and tried to escape but his grasp was too tight. “You…you were supposed to be dead,” he accused David. “Imagine my surprise when there you were in Venice, she had two minutes with you and you blew all of my hard work to shit.”

“Danny why won’t he let go of me?” The little girl asked still wriggling and pulling trying to get away from the man who had such a mean grip on her.

“Just stay still honey,” Daniel said easily, “I’m going to come and get you in just a minute. In the meantime don’t be scared.” He told her again in that soft voice but never losing Hartley’s gaze. Daniel didn’t take his eyes off the man for a second.

“I think that’s close enough.” Hartley warned cinching his grip on Calla’s upper arm.

“Ow!” She cried. “Andy what’s wrong with you? Why are you being like this? We were having fun!” Unable to get him to let go of her the little girl kicked at Hartley’s legs, she connected but not hard enough. Up until now she’d had no reason to fear the nice blonde Brit who had been keeping her company and passing the time telling stories and playing games until Danny came. No, the little girl didn’t know anything about Andrew F. Hartley and the things he’d put her Danny and his Wife through in the name of the Almighty Dollar. Sometimes ignorance but bliss and others it was certain death, this could be one of the latter and, unfortunately, she was getting a very swift education in the subject. Whoever this man was, Danny was angry with him and if Danny was angry with him that mean that this man wasn’t any good. If Danny got married that meant he married the older her (it just had to!) and THAT meant that this man—as much fun and nice as he’d been and all these last few days—well he had been mean to HER. If that was the case then she wanted to be away from him as fast as she could and so she continued to fight and struggle.

“Stop it, Poppet.” Hartley demanded as he shoved harshly and then yanked her back to him. “Stay still, be a good li’l girl and I’ll make sure you get a treat when this is over, perhaps an ice cream or a new toy.”

“What do you want?” Daniel asked holding his place on the path.

“Well now, glad you asked.” Hartley smiled. “I see he made it out of here and back in. I want out. I want my life back, old chap. Think you can deliver on that?”

Daniel and David looked at each other. David was given life because Poseidon demanded his presence and allowed to keep it because—doubtless—Hades thought that leaving David among the living was just good fun.

Hartley didn’t like the look on their face. “I know you are, you’re bringing her back to her Father, there’s a body waiting for her. Don’t delay, mates that would be bad for the little girl.” The man increased his grip enough to make the slight bones in her wrist give out a very audible creak and send a bolt of pain though her body which made the little girl crash to the forest floor howling in pain. “Perhaps she doesn’t know who I am but I know who she is and what was done so what’d you say, mate? Are you going to take me out of here or shall I call for the others? Let them have her? We can all watch.”

At his words the unseen owner of that large set of wings beat them against the murkiness from a place no one could ascertain.

Eros. Could it be him flying over head? Had he followed them down here and if so, could Kanan be far behind?

They had to get her out of here and now.

“Father?” The little girl said with delighted eyes. “Mother is gone now. Is it true, Danny? Are you going to take me home to Father?”

“Yes, Callestah, we’re going to take you to Ares.” Daniel assured her.

“Home.” She moaned longingly just as old version of her once did on a planet called Tiberia.

“Soon.” Daniel promised. “You want a new life, that it, Hartley? Fine, we’ll take you out of here with us after you let go of her.”

“Now, really, old chap, do I look like a bleedin’ idiot to you? The girl stays with me until we get to the other side.”

“But I want to go with Danny!” Callestah whined and struggled. “You promised! You promised when Danny came that I could go with him!” She shouted, her little face turning beet red as she balled up her free fist and started hitting Andrew F. Hartley. “Let go of me! I demand you release me, you brute!”

“She’s a li’l spitfire, ain’t she, Danny?” David asked watching the scene.

“You ain’t seen nothing’ yet.” Daniel returned. “It really will be better for you if you let go of her, Hartley.” He took two steps toward them.

“Back off, Jackson, just step back.”

“Danny! Gumph!” She grunted and pulled and wriggled and tussled. “I want Danny!”

“Or what, Andy?” Daniel asked. Hartley couldn’t hurt him because he was already dead but so was Callestah and his grasp on her said loud and clear that Hartley was capable of causing great harm to the little girl calling Danny’s name. Soon that ace would be gone from his hand and Hartley would be left holding nothing more than a pair of deuces. “Come to me, Callestah, I’m right here, come on.” Daniel coached holding his arms out to her.

“Shut up Jackson! Stop it, girly!” Hartley commanded. “Stay still!” He shouted at her. “You stay where you are!” Rudely Andy ordered of Daniel.

Suddenly the squirming little girl stopped squirming and straightened herself. “Don’t talk to Danny like that! You can’t tell me what to do!” She said in a voice which might have made someone who didn’t know better laugh.

But Daniel did know better. Here it comes.

“I am a Goddess!”

Out of the corner of his mouth Daniel mumbled to David; “Watch out.”

“Mortal scumb! How dare you try to keep me from Danny!”

Perhaps weapons such as guns and knives didn’t work here but then again, Ares’ Daughter didn’t need such things when she had her own teeth which just happened to be accompanied by sheer anger. The little Goddess struggling in the grip of the big British brut was not going to be kept apart from her Danny! Callestah bit down on the hand holding her so mercilessly, her sharp little teeth tore through the non-existent flesh of Hartley’s wrist causing him to yowl in pain. Daniel felt certain that were the man alive he would have bled profusely but he was dead and there was no blood when he yanked his wrist away from her mouth to grasp it with his free hand. Bringing both hands up in a double ex-handle ready to strike down at her the little girl stomped her foot in the dry ground. A tree root rose up from no where and pulled Hartley’s legs out from under him.

“Run, now, Callestah!” Daniel shouted to her. “Run! This way!”

The little girl ran as though Hades himself was hot on her heels, she ran to her Danny with arms wide open. “No, not me, go to David.” She stopped for a second and stared at him with wide puzzled eyes. “Go on, you can trust him.” Daniel hissed glancing behind. “Get her out of here, back to where we came in.” He looked and briefly pointed upward in the darkness. “Watch out that’s no bird flying around. Er…he… probably followed our firelight to the well and then in here.”

Little Callestah pulled at his waist band. “Come with us.” She demanded holding her arms up to him to be picked up.

Looking down at her now it seemed that she was smaller than he remembered. Younger. “I’ll meet you along the way,” he bent down for a moment and kissed her cheek or tried to, his lips passed through her. “Stay with David.” Daniel said and smiled sadly.

“Danny? Please?” She said sadly. “I’ve been waiting for such a long time.”

“I know, honey.” Daniel looked over at Hartley who was getting to his feet. “I’ve got something to take care of before I can leave, but I promise I’ll meet you soon.” Daniel smiled for her and then looked at David. “Go on, get back….up there.” He pointed upward with his index finger.

“Lis’en ta me, ya gets outta here the same way we come in. It’ll shoot yew back out, got it? I promised Callie I’d bring yew back to her alive and in one piece; don’t make a liar outta me. We’ll wait for yew by the well.” He reached down and picked up the girl. “Kick his teeth in.” David advised slyly and she put her arms around his neck. The little girl fixed her gaze on Daniel, staring at him over David’s shoulder until they were out of sight.

When they were out of earshot, Daniel angrily accused Hartley of all the nasty things he’d done and, by in large, gotten away with. “You couldn’t bed my Wife so you decided to stage a grand exit for her? Is that that I’m hearing, Andy?” Daniel asked as he came closer to them.

“We did make a smashing couple, hey? Very attractive we were. Stunning actually, don’t you agree?” Hartley taunted. “Especially after I had her fixed up a little bit.” Andy winked and held his hands out in front of his chest indicating a set of large boobs. “Poor thing, she’s rather fucked in the head but you must know that, don’t you? There wasn’t anything I could do about it.” He said with false apology.

“You stole my Wife; you turned her into a junkie and for what? Money? A good show? So you could hold her hostage and ransom her to the whole world?”

“Hum, yes, that would cover it nicely. “Yes, I admit it, I thought she’d have a few uses other than painting and, you know, turns out she did but,” he ran his moist tongue over his full lips and slid the flat of his hand over his crotch taunting Daniel. “As nice as that was, well, as it was she just didn’t have as many talents so as to make her worth the price of her upkeep.” Andy drew a deep breath of Underworld ‘air’ into a pair of lungs which hadn’t had a true breath in over six months. “And now, I am going to make you terribly sorry that you got in my way, old chap. I am going to make you bleed.”

“Really?” Daniel asked with a fanciful lilt in his voice. “That’s not what I believe.”

“What does a limey moron like you believe in, mate?”

Magick is such a strange, wondrously simple and infinitely complex thing. Just for a moment Daniel closed his eyes; Calla said that the Dead only had the power he gave them. That was why his kiss passed through the little girl and why David could pick her up and run with her. David believed he could, he believed she was there and that gave her the power to be real. If Daniel did not believe that Hartley could harm him then Hartley could not but if Daniel believed Hartley could land a blow with force then believed Hartley to be real and if he was real then…. “I believe, I believe….I believe,” he whispered over and over then opened them. “That I’m gonna beat you black and blue. C’mon you bag of shit, why don’t you take me on instead of hiding behind the women in my life? Worthless coward.”

No more talk.

The two men charged at each other with fists cocked and ready to fire.

Hartley was a good back street brawler but Daniel didn’t serve thirty years with SG-1 and learn absolutely nothing from the experience. Daniel Jackson, Archeologist and Planetary Peacemaker happened to be an excellent marksman and a well versed in hand to hand combat. Maybe you wouldn’t put money on him to win up against the current Heavy Weight Champion of the World but he could hold his own for a round or three. Hartley swung high; Daniel ducked to avoid the blow and landed a solid fist to the Brit’s mid-section. The wind temporarily knocked out of him, Hartley half-deflated and sort of hung in the air over Daniel’s shoulder. Daniel used the momentary lapse in motion to land a second blow in the same spot and then shove the much younger man to the ground. Drawing in a deep breath, Daniel backed away. “Get up,” he taunted. “Come on, get up.” Keeping his eyes on Hartley and his hands up to defend himself Daniel watched the man with the dried leaves and dirt in long flaxen locks haul his body to his feet. “Ready?”

“What are ya waitin’ for?” Hartley asked. “Let’s go.” Determined not to underestimate his opponent again Andy kept a steady eye on Daniel’s body movements and correctly anticipated when the yank tried to come in for a blow to the jaw. Being a bit younger than Daniel, Andy only moved his body backward out of the way of the connection while his feet stayed in place and he landed a bone crunching punch to Daniel’s jaw. Daniel stumbled backward shaking his head to clear it. “How’s that got’cha, mate? ‘Wake now, r’ya?”

“Try me,” Daniel challenged steadying himself.

“Ya know, that bird a’yours, she’s a high maintenance bitch. Do you’ve any idea how much bloody blow she could go through in a day?”

“You just loved supplying her, didn’t you?”

“Oh, yes,” Andy sighed, “the things she’d do for a fix were truly….remarkable.” He teased and threw another punch but only connected with the air where Daniel’s head had been before he dodged. For a split second Andy readied himself for another blow to his flanks but suddenly found his body stumbling steadily backward at a pace he could not control. Then he was crashing to the ground, pain shot through his back and there was something sticky at the back of his head. Surely it couldn’t be blood! He wasn’t even alive. Still it felt like a gash splitting his skin apart. For the second time Andy’s lungs deflated as Daniel landed on his chest, his thighs clamped tightly to Hartley’s sides and he swung hard and with purpose over and over again smashing his fists into Andrew Fucking Hartley’s oh so pretty and perfect face. Quickly, Andy tried to get his arm up and between his mug and Jackson’s flying fists of fury so as to protect one of his best assets. At first it wasn’t easy but with a little effort he managed to block Daniel’s blows and to deflect them away from his face.

Hartley didn’t like having his jaw mashed. Fine. Daniel tightened the muscles in his thighs clamping down harder on Andy’s muscular flanks and further cutting off his air supply. It wasn’t long before the hands deflecting blows from his face were furiously striking out and trying to heave Daniel off of him.

Keeping the pressure tight at his knees Daniel raised himself off Hartley but only far and long enough to pin the mans’ flailing hands to the ground, tucking one under each crushing knee. Hartley’s hands out of the way, Daniel smiled a cold grin. “I hate you. You never should have touched her and you never will again.” His free hands closed around Andrew Hartley’s throat and his thighs clamped down around his lungs. Andy’s pretty eyes widened with horror then turned red and bulged out with the terror he felt. Daniel didn’t even think to give the man any thing so civilized as mercy he just continued closing off Hartley’s airways. “You’re a monster. Worse than all the rest of them. Scumb. Touch my Wife? No, I don’t think so.”

“You can’t kill me again,” Hartley choked, “I’m already dead.”

The look on his face clearly said just the opposite. Besides, if his words were true, why was Andy struggling so hard to free his hands? “I believe that I can. I believe that I will. You filled her—body, mind and soul—with poison and you kept her from me and her family, you shit bag!” Andy’s mannishly beautiful face turned bright red then purple and then it faded to blue. Daniel didn’t know how long the man below him had been completely still and lifeless before he finally let go of his throat but it was some time more than necessary to complete the job of making damn sure that Andrew Fucking Hartley stayed in hell where he belonged. Daniel found his victory to be most gratifying. As much as he’d like to stick around reveling in it, he had a Wife to get home to and a mission to complete. “Asshole!” Daniel sneered as he kicked Hartley’s body for the last time. All around came whispering moans and groans rose and fell on the still wind. “Hungry?” Daniel asked the creatures hiding in the dark and the fog. “Dinner!”

Quickly, he started running back down the path leading to the place he’d fallen from. He had to catch up with David and little Callestah. No need to stick around and watch the carcass be devoured the slobbering, munching, lip-smacking good sounds he heard echoing around him told Daniel everything he needed to know about the final fate of Andrew F. Hartley.

End Of Chapter Seven Of
Back Into Hell
Continue to
Chapter Eight

This story and all stories in the Barters N Garters Library are copyrighted to Lisa Beth Darling these stories may not be transferred outside of this URL in any fashion.