The Death of Vanessa Fell

"The Death of Vanessa Fell" is a short Cthulhu Mythos story by British author Tony Richards. It was published in his collection The Howling Terror and Other Lovecraftian Horror Stories by Weird House Press in November 2022.
==Synopsis==
When successful publisher Charles attempts to comfort and rehabilitate his best friend, the wealthy steel merchant David Cossett-Byrne, who has recently suffered the loss of his beloved fiancé Vanessa Fell, he comes to the shocking realization that David believes he is being haunted by the woman. Eventually managing to calm his friend and put him on the road to recovery, Charles decides to look into the background of the mysterious Miss Fell.
Questioning of the locals leads to some unsettling revelations on the propriety of Miss Fell's behaviour, as Charles breaks into her now-abandoned country manor in an effort to get to the bottom of things. There, he discovers a series of diaries which reveal that the Fells were a clan of cultists in service to many dark gods, including Cthulhu, Yog-Sothoth, and Dagon. They also tell of how Vanessa's death was no accident, merely the first part in a ritual which will allow her to join with her gods, as long as a sacrifice can be provided.
Shocked by the realization that his friend David is to be the undead woman's victim, Charles rushes back to warn his friend, just in time to witness David being lured through a magical portal and brutally murdered in the name of the Old Ones.
==Trivia==
*Although the story touches little on this particular aspect, the Fells are implied to be Deep One hybrids, despite living in a landlocked English county. Mentions of certain familial characteristics recall the Innsmouth Look, while Vanessa herself wears an unusual necklace made of a peculiar metal which she states "a great-uncle of mine found … whilst travelling the South Seas"; this is reminiscent of the jewellery described in The Shadow Over Innsmouth.
Category:Pastiches
Category:Tony Richards works
Category:Expanded Mythos Works