Tales from the Casket

I wrote this story for the Halloween 2026 story contest, I hope you enjoy.

Picture this... A woman sat in her pyjamas, on the sofa, bag of popcorn in hand, glass of Chardonnay on the side table. the lights are off, so the room is dark, the only light is coming from the fifty inch LCD TV screwed to the wall.

The television flickers.

Then.. The sound of thunder comes from the sound bar, then lightning that lights up a title..

TALES FROM THE CASKET

Then the screen fades to black.

For a moment only darkness.

Then the muffled sound of giggling.

Followed by a female's satisfied moan.

"Sshh darling..."

More giggling.

A voice coughs politely.

"Not now Lurch, can't you see that I'm busy?"

"Excuse me, sir... we're live."

"Shit."

A pause.

"Shit!, shit"

"More giggling"

Then silence, a moment later,

The casket creaks open.

A pale hand grips the edge.

Slowly, a corpse rises into view

He adjusts his bow tie and forces a smile.

"Evening, fellow ghouls, vamps and other assorted nasties."

Behind him, something inside the coffin laughs.

The corpse quickly pushes the lid shut.

"Welcome to tonight's Halloween special"

He then walks around the casket to a raised dais, on the dais is a book. he reaches it,

Opens it and gets covered in dust.

The host then has a coughing fit and accidently coughs his tongue into the books pages.

He looks at the tongue, then at the camera, then at the tongue, then he grabs it, turns away from the camera and to a squelching noise, replaces it and we hear him mumble.

"Well that's never happened before... talk about embarrassing."

He then turns back to the camera and book.

"Ok folks, tonight's story comes from this Tome of Darkness, and it's called Azrael, The Angel of Darkness"

He puts a pair of spectacles on, looks at the camera, smiles then looks at the book.

As he begins to read, the screen fades to black.

'Click'

'Click'

A figure stands outside the weathered doors of St Clement's Church, working a lock pick.

'Click'

'Click'

The host's voice echoes over the scene.

"Once every hundred years, at a certain place, a mortal may summon Azrael, the Angel of Darkness."

'Creak' The door slowly swings inward.

"Most dismiss it as legend."

A gust of wind tears through the church.

"One man dedicated fifty years of his life, but died before it all came to fruition.. Tonight, with his master dead, Egon will attempt to complete his Master's work."

The narration fades.

The wind catches the journal tucked beneath his arm.

"Nooooo!"

Loose pages explode into the air.

He lunges after them as they scatter across the stone floor.

Egon watches the heavens open. Rain pours down like Niagara Falls as he scrambles to collect the scattered pages.

Turning and heading back through the open doorway to the church, lightning streaks across the sky as Egon closes the door behind him and plunges him into darkness.

Outside is one piece of paper he missed, the rain is making the writing illegible but if you concentrate it reads...

'I was wrong, so wrong, if you're reading this it's not too late. The sum....'

Then the rain washes the rest away and we join Egon inside the church.

Darkness shrouds everything. As soon as the door clicks behind him, lightning flashes through the stained-glass windows, bathing the church in shifting colours.

'Gulping'

Egon walks past the wooden pews and benches, flashes of light catch the statues of Jesus Christ, one even looks to be crying as he approaches the central dais, opens the journal and begins to read..

"Ex cinere te voco. Sanguine fuso et sale fracto, porta patet. Iter mortale ingredere, Angele tenebrarum, Azrael, et voluntati meae obtempera"

Wind comes from nowhere, blowing Egon's robes and hair, then.

'Smash'

All the windows of the church implode, shards of glass can be heard shattering as the wind picks up and the rain now floods in through the open windows.

Smoke curls around Egon's feet.

A patch of darkness spreads across the church floor.

Wider.

Wider still.

Then something begins to emerge from its depths.

Two jagged, pitch-black wingtips pierce the liquid first, rising up like massive blades. The rain lashes against them, but the water just slides off the oily feathers. Then a head emerges, a sharp, skull-like crown framed by two heavy, curved horns.

The creature rises to its full height. Black liquid drips from its shoulders as it unfurls an enormous wingspan.

The sheer weight of its presence knocks Egon backwards. His boots slip on the wet stone and he lands hard on his arse.

Then it looks at him.

Egon suddenly finds himself staring into the eyes of a very pissed deity.

Scrambling back, reaching into his pocket and bringing out a medallion, Egon points it at the apparition and repeats

"Ex cinere te voco. Sanguine fuso et sale fracto, porta patet. Iter mortale ingredere, Angele tenebrarum, Azrael, et voluntati meae obtempera"

To which Azrael opens its mouth and a screeching sound emerges.

The noise, so loud that Egon finds himself on his knees as Azrael approaches, in its right arm is a weapon, the scythe of death.

"Quaeso, te obsecro, et in nomine tenebrarum tibi impero!" Egon implores.

Azrael, looks down, a hideous laughter coming from him, he then says.

"Stupid mortal, you think to come here and make me do your bidding? Yet you miss the nightshade to bind and the witch hazel to commune, your soul is forfeit and I will take what's mine"

With that, the scythe goes down and pierces Egon's flesh, Azrael turns and slowly retreats back into the puddle on the floor, bringing a tortured, screaming Egon with him.

As the we watch Egon' body slip from existence, the screaming blends from primal panic into a more enjoyable tone as the screen goes black.

The screen then brightens to a 'gagging and slurping' sound,

The host stood in front of the casket, lid is open and the host's head is knocked back in pleasure.

You can hear him mumbling,

"Oh that's babe,,,"

Muffled giggling

"The way you use your..."

"Excuse me sir.."

"For Fuck sake Lurch, what this time?"

"They're back, the movie's finished, sir"

"What!!..

'zip'

Laughter before the host closes the lid.

"Hi and welcome back, well I hoped you liked hearing about Azrael.. Ah Az I remember when we went hunting in the 10th century, fond memories...

Knocking can be heard from the casket.

"I'll be right there Morticia, so my fellow ghouls and nasties, same time, same place next year, until then stay evil... Ha ha ha.."

Screen goes black.

Woman on the sofa stands, grabs the remote.

"Looking forward to next year, that host was nuts"

and switches the television off.

Thank you for reading.