American Horror Story, Starting from Falls Town

Chapter 331 Music Box

Jennifer was, of course, still tracking Mary Shaw.

"Stop! Don't run! We just want you to be a puppet!"

Mary Shaw is an evil spirit, and even with a doll the size of a child in her possession, she still moves incredibly fast.

However, Jennifer's physical abilities are now quite remarkable, allowing her to stay close to Mary Shaw and prevent her from shaking her off completely.

It's only three or four in the morning, and there's not a soul in sight on the streets of this small city. Otherwise, seeing a puppet floating in mid-air with a woman chasing after it would surely scare you half to death.

Jennifer didn't know how long she had been running when she realized she had left the city and entered the suburbs, which made her alert.

Just then, Mary Shaw also stopped and turned to face Jennifer.

"You finally stopped! Why did you run? I already told you we meant no harm!"

Mary Shaw looked at Jennifer coldly; this dead witch was clearly not the kind of ghost who would easily trust others.

"Whether there was malicious intent or not is not for you to decide; I will make my own judgment!"

Seeing that Mary Shaw seemed willing to negotiate, Jennifer quickly persuaded her.

“Ms. Mary Shaw, we really mean no harm! I’m actually a member of the Witches’ Union, just like you. We found this place through the Witches’ Union’s records. We just want to ask you for a favor!”

Jennifer told a lie, but since the four members of the Apocalypse Society were all members of the Covenant, and she was an outer member of the Covenant, she should be considered half a member of the Covenant, so it wasn't entirely a lie.

"The Witch Federation?"

Mary Shaw was stunned when she heard the name of this organization, which she hadn't heard of in a long time.

Mary Shaw's expression then turned even angrier.

"Damn the Witches' Union!"

Jennifer was taken aback; she hadn't expected that revealing her identity as a member of the Witches' Union would have the opposite effect.

According to the Covenant's records, Mary Shaw had no further contact with the Covenant after graduation.

Presumably, something must have happened to Mary Shaw during her time at the witch school that made her hate the Witch Coven.

The psychic tablet was made by Mary Shaw in 1885, so this old lady graduated from witch school at least a hundred years ago.

In those days, witch schools were quite dark places, and it's very possible that things like corporal punishment or bullying happened.

In fact, the witch school and the witch union only began to become formalized after Ophelia possessed Fiona, so in this respect, Lilith's daughter did make a contribution to the witch union.

This left Jennifer somewhat at a loss.

He had originally intended to use his connection with the Witches' Union to build rapport, but instead, he directly angered Mary Shaw.

Before Jennifer could speak again, Mary Shaw had already begun to act.

Suddenly, the puppet Billy in Mary Shaw's hands floated up and flew quickly toward Jennifer.

Jennifer wanted to continue persuading Mary Shaw, so she chose to dodge rather than fight back.

Yes, if Roy were here, he would definitely tell Jennifer that persuasion is most effective when you first defeat the person.

But when Jennifer dodged Billy the puppet's attack, something scratched her face.

Upon closer inspection, one could see that thin, long claws had appeared on the puppet Billy's arm; these were the claws that had just scratched Jennifer's face.

Jennifer was furious.

As a woman, Jennifer is always very concerned about her face.

Even if Jennifer's witch powers could ensure that the injuries on her face were fully healed, it wouldn't extinguish her anger.

"You are courting death!"

A powerful aura was instantly released from Jennifer's body, sending the airborne puppet Billy flying several meters away.

Driven by rage, Jennifer revealed her demonic form for the first time.

Its height continued to grow, reaching nearly 2 meters. Its skin turned purple, and it grew curved horns like a sheep on its head. A tail with a heart-shaped tip also extended from its rear end, along with its classic bat wings.

It's clear that this is Jennifer's first transformation, as the changes in her body have caused her clothes to tear, leaving her completely naked.

So Jennifer instinctively covered her body, trying to prevent her private parts from being exposed.

Fortunately, Mary Shaw was also in a state of shock and did not attack, otherwise Jennifer would have been a sitting duck.

After all, she had just encountered Roy, whose stats were like monsters and who couldn't be defeated even by the Banshee's Scream. Now, another half-demon had appeared. Mary Shaw was starting to wonder if she hadn't checked the almanac before going out today, since she kept running into such terrifying things.

When Mary Shaw came to her senses and summoned Billy back to continue their escape, Jennifer, reminded by Lilith, remembered that she was a witch. So she used witchcraft to conjure a long dress to cover her sensitive areas.

"Trying to run?! Die!"

When Jennifer transforms into a demon for the first time, she can't control her negative emotions and desperately needs to vent her anger.

With a flap of her bat wings, Jennifer's speed suddenly increased dramatically, and she swooped down directly towards Mary Shaw.

Mary Shaw was horrified and could only turn around and unleash the second banshee's shriek.

"what--"

The banshee's howl is a very advanced form of witchcraft, which originated from a type of banshee in Celtic legend.

The screams of these female demons are terrifying; when people hear their screams in the wild, it signifies impending death.

Legend has it that anyone who hears the screams of this female demon will die within a few days, without exception.

So a Celtic wizard studied the screams of banshees and developed a spell called the Banshee Scream.

The core effect of this witchcraft is to simulate the screams of a banshee, driving a person's soul away from their body. After all, for most people, once the soul leaves the body, it basically means death.

Just like Carrie, after her soul left her body, her consciousness fell into a state of confusion. If it weren't for the witch companion by her side, she might have missed the time to return to her body.

The reason why such a powerful witch's scream is rarely used is because the most difficult part of this witchcraft is imitating the sound of a banshee's scream, which requires a very high level of vocal skill.

As it happens, Mary Shaw was a master of ventriloquism, capable of imitating all sorts of sounds.

When Jennifer faced the banshee's shriek at close range, it was as if she had crashed into an invisible wall. She was suspended in mid-air, and her soul seemed to leave her body.

Fortunately, there was another soul inside Jennifer's body.

Mary Shaw saw that Jennifer's eyes were turning white and knew that the other woman had been infected.

Before Mary Shaw could catch her breath, she noticed that Jennifer's eyes had cleared and her demeanor had changed abruptly.

The next second, Mary Shaw saw Jennifer's hand, imbued with her spiritual power, grip her neck. "Finally caught you!"

"You're actually a dual-soul entity! You damned bitch, let me go!"

Mary Shaw felt that she had seen more messy things than she had in most of her life.

First, there was a man whose stats were like a monster's, then a girl with powerful demonic blood, and then a hybrid demon with two souls in one body.

Even if someone told Mary Shaw that an angel was about to descend, she would believe it now.

Although she was being choked, Mary Shaw, being a spirit, was still able to continue hurling insults.

"Shut up! You old geezer! Believe me or not, I'll eat your soul!"

Lilith has a bad temper; she's only obedient to Roy.

Moreover, demons can indeed devour human souls, which is a unique upgrade method exclusive to hell, although this method is not very efficient.

After all, how much quality can an ordinary person's soul have?

Therefore, many demons like to tempt pure people because pure souls are of higher quality, while the souls of fallen people are generally of lower quality, unless they are the kind of people who have fallen to the extreme and have Satan's image tattooed on their backs.

Mary Shaw immediately shut up; she hadn't finished her revenge and didn't want to disappear completely.

The Lilith in front of me seems like a completely different person. If I provoke her again at this moment, I might really be doomed.

"Jennifer, come back right now!"

Lilith called out to Jennifer, who was separated from her body, but received no response.

Turning her head, Lilith saw a young man standing not far away, holding Jennifer's soul in his hand.

"It's you!"

Lilith narrowed her eyes; the young man not far away was none other than Jack Schneider.

Upon seeing Jack Schneider, Mary Shaw immediately shouted.

"Help me! I'll agree to your terms!"

Lilith's gaze swept over the souls of Mary Shaw and Jack Schneider, and she immediately grasped the crux of the matter.

"So that's how it is! So it was you who was behind this!"

Based on Lilith's assessment of Roy's strength, even if Carrie went berserk, Roy wouldn't need to spend too much effort to deal with her.

But now a full half hour has passed, and Lilith has not seen Roy appear. Obviously, something has happened that has kept him occupied.

Although Lilith didn't witness FEAR's siege firsthand, she could roughly guess that it was a very troublesome situation.

Jack Schneider still had that sunny, handsome look on his face, giving off a friendly older brother vibe, but Lilith had already labeled him as a cunning old man in her mind.

“Beautiful lady, shall we make a deal? I will give you this girl’s soul, and you will give me Mary Shaw’s soul. It would be better for everyone.”

Lilith narrowed her eyes; Jennifer's soul definitely had to be brought back.

Although Roy has never expressed his opinion, Jennifer and Nydy hold different positions in his heart, followed by Heather and Penny.

Therefore, these four women completed the bloodline fusion ceremony one after another, a privilege that other women have not yet enjoyed.

If Jennifer gets into trouble because of Lilith, Roy might tear her apart.

However, on the surface, Lilith absolutely cannot show that she cares too much, otherwise Jack Schneider will take further control of her.

Lilith then acted as if she didn't care at all.

"If you want that soul, then take it. That way, I can have this body all to myself."

Jack Schneider's smile froze instantly, but he quickly realized that Lilith was lying to him.

At that moment, Lilith made her move.

Lilith gently blew a breath in Jack's direction, and his location was instantly enveloped in a pink mist.

This is a desire magic that Jennifer used before, which was taught to her by Lilith. The power of it was much greater when Lilith used it.

"It should be sorted out by now, right?"

Lilith's expression was somewhat smug. Her fog of desire was not so easy to break free from; there were only a handful of people in the world who could break this spell.

Just as Lilith was about to enter the pink mist, she suddenly heard music from a music box.

The music was light, cheerful, and pleasant to listen to, but when it appeared in this dark, desolate wilderness, it seemed extremely eerie and terrifying.

This is true of many types of music, especially minor-key music like nursery rhymes. When the context is not right, it can become somber music.

Moreover, the music from this music box seems to come from the pink mist.

Lilith became wary and immediately stopped in her tracks.

The pink mist gradually dissipated, and Jack Schnetter and Jennifer were nowhere to be seen. Only a music box remained on the ground, its clockwork still spinning automatically.

What about people?

Lilith released her senses, trying to find Jack Schneider.

Just then, the music box finished playing and the clockwork stopped spinning.

But the next second, the clockwork started to wind up automatically in reverse, and the music box started playing music in reverse as well.

This music was already eerie enough, but when played in reverse, it becomes even more sinister, fit for background music in hell.

The jarring and unpleasant music tormented Lilith, and she couldn't help but want to crush the music box with her mind.

The next second, a little girl dressed in a ballet outfit appeared where the music box was, and this little girl had a face that even the well-informed Lilith found terrifying!
(From The Cabin in the Woods)
Even in ancient times, those abstract-looking monsters would hardly compare to the face in front of you.

Because a monster is a monster, you don't have any expectations of monsters deep down, so you can accept it no matter how abstract its appearance is.

However, a little girl in a ballet outfit should be a symbol of cuteness, but her face is instead covered in jagged edges, and the stark contrast makes it all the more frightening.

There is a hypothesis about how humans perceive robots and non-human objects, called the uncanny valley theory.

Humans generally have a favorable impression of robots or humanoid creatures that are somewhat similar to themselves, such as some round robots or pets with expressions similar to humans.

However, when robots or humanoid creatures become too similar to humans, humans will react to them with extreme negativity and aversion.

That's exactly how Lilith feels right now.

(End of this chapter)