Visceral Voodoo Shop

666 Ziethener Straße, Ratzeburg Deutschland

"Move, bitch! Get out the way!" Charlie hollered as he pushed the young blonde tourist out of his way. He walked up to the storefront, pausing for only a brief moment to read the various goods and services offered at Visceral Voodoo. He nodded his head up and down as he eyes drifted down to the bottom of the lists. He shrugged, not knowing what most of that shit was as he strolled into this small German town's only occult shop.

A bell chimed as Charlie pushed the door open. The shrunken heads and seemingly deformed puppets lined up along the walls greeted Charlie as he walked into the store. Charlie's eyes took a stroll around the rather small room. There was one door in the back, painted black, that read 'Nur Angestellte'. There were shelves all around the room with a vast array of disorganized trinkets, books, and vials strewn around seemingly at random. There didn't seem to be anybody else in the shop.

"Lazy fucking Germans" Charlie muttered to himself as he rolled his eyes in annoyance. "Take the train from Hamburg. Oh, it will be a quick afternoon that bitch at the hotel said....yeah, quick afternoon my ass". Charlie walked the edge of the shop with a clear anger to his step. He looked through the various junk on the shelves with disinterested haste. He walks through a good deal of the shop, stopping every thirty seconds or so to look around for a store employee that isn't there. His sighs of frustration slowly morph into exhalations of rage as the minutes go by.

Charlie makes his way to the desk with a cash register positioned near the black door in the back of the room. Charlie waits impatiently in front of the desk, resting his elbows on the glossed pine desk. His eyes drift over towards the cash register. He takes a quick glance at the black door before before pushing himself off the desk and walking around to the other side. Charlie looks around the storefront one more time before a crooked grin cracks through his heavily bearded face. Charlie hunches over the cash register. He presses a few buttons slowly and methodically. His grins curls into a scowl as the slow and steady method fails repeatedly. Charlie starts smacking the cash register on the side, hoping to trigger the release of the drawer with brute force.

"How may I help you?". The deep voice of the shop keep echoes inside the would-be thief's ear. Charlie turns around, expecting to defend himself from any 'false' allegations of wrongdoing. To his surprise, there is no one there. Charlie blinks a few times before rubbing his eyes with his right hand. He looks around the room once more, but again finds himself alone.

"Can't you see me?"


Charlie turns around again. A cold wind blows gently across Charlie's chest. His plaid jacket moves ever so lightly along the momentary gust. Charlie's eyes narrow as his gaze shifts to the walls of the building. His search for PA speakers and a camera system prove fruitless.

"Are you looking for something?"


The gothic giant taps lightly on Charlie's should as he speaks. Charlie turns around jumps back on instinct. His heart was beating fast and a few beads of sweat had appeared on his scarred and bruised forehead. The shop keep dwarfed the XWF star. The voodoo master with the deep voice stood nearly a foot taller than Charlie and had at least two hundred pounds on him. His eyes were of a light violet hue. He was decked out entirely in studded leather. The darkness of the man's lips seemed naturally occurring. His blonde mohawk, on the other hand, looked quite odd and foreign perched atop the massive man's cranium.

"Is something wrong?" the man asked in a bemused tone as Charlie's heart rate slowly returned to it's normal, meth-driven pace.

"It's just....you're not who I was expecting. That's all."

"What do you mean?"

"It's just...I didn't know black people lived in Germany. You don't sound German..."

The heavyset shaman chuckled heartily as he shook his head from side to side. "I'm from the bayou, brother Charlie. But that was a long time ago. I've made a new home here. I used to work a shop in Freiburg. But the local's requests became darker and bloodier....and soon they asked me to turn against my friends in the Black Forest. So I moved north and set up my own shop here in this quaint town. Now most of my requests are for love charms, incense, and boner pills. But I suspect you may be looking for something more fun....".

"What's more fun than boner pills? I'm looking fo-...wait, did you call me Charlie?"

"That's your name, isn't it, Mr. Nickles?"

"How do you know my name? I never told you". Charlie eyed the voodoo shopkeeper with suspicion. Charlie reached into his pocket, grabbing a hold of something as he waited for the man's answer with anticipation.

"You're the big wrestling star, Charles! How could I not know who you are?"

Charlie sighed and brought his hand out of his pocket. As Charlie nodded in acceptance the store owner smirked, his deflection evidently finding success with the strung-out 'athlete'.

"I nee-"


"Save your breath, my friend. I know what you came for. I know everything you need, Charles. To reach your potential. To do what must be done."


"How could yo-"


"It is alright, Charles. You need not worry when you are with me. Do not stress. My friends and I will take care of you. You are one of our own, after all."


"One of your own? What are you talking about? Who are you?"


"Americans, of course. In a strange, foreign land. Our people must stick together". The shop keep spoke in a calm and unbothered voice as his gaze sized Charlie up. Charlie was a big man, but when compared to the massive mystic he might as well have been a frail child. The man's answer rattled around in Charlie's head for a few moments before Charlie nodded in acceptance. Then, he suddenly shook his head from side to side. A look of mild irritation washed over the dark man's impeccably smooth face.

"You know a lot about me, but I don't know squat about you yet, jack. Who are you?"


"I am Rameses. And I own this quaint, peaceful shop. I have been waiting for you for some time. My friends told me you were coming. It's unfortunate that I forgot to ask them when. The potion is nearing it's expiration."


"Friends? Who are your friends?" Charlie asked curiously. Rameses waved away the man's question as he walked towards the black door in the back of the shop. He gestured for Charlie to follow him into the backroom. Charlie shrugged and tailed along, walking towards the man as he opened the door. The hinges of the door creaked something fierce, as if they hadn't been oiled or adjusted for years. As Rameses and Charlie walked into the backroom the distinct sound of a door locking could be heard momentarily from the front of the shop. Neither man seemed to care as they walked side by side into the dusty room.


Charlie coughed as he inhaled the stuffy air that had been trapped in this room for decades. Dirt and debris permeated the air. The pair kicked up more dust with each step they took on the unkept floor. The overhead light fixture flickered on and off a few times before fully committing itself to lighting the room. Unfortunately, only half of the lights worked, casting the room in a shroud of semi-darkness. Charlie looked at the walls for a light switch but didn't see any.

"You have those motion sensor lights, huh? Pretty fancy shit."

Rameses paid Charlie no mind as he walked towards the examination table with a filing cabinet built underneath it placed against the far wall. The only point of egress in the room slammed shut. The loud bang startled Charlie, but only for a moment. He kept pace with Rameses as the pair approached the cabinets. Rameses leaned down, pulling the first cabinet drawer open. He reached into the cabinet and picked up a black sack as large as your average grocery bag. Charlie tried to peak over Rameses's shoulder, but the voodoo shopkeeper slammed the drawer short as Charlie neared. Rameses placed the black sack on top of the examination table as he turned his violet gaze upon Charlie once more.

"Come, see what Rameses has for you, Charlie....."

Rameses holds the bag open as Charlie steps up to the table and peers inside it. Charlie's eyes shift from the contents of the bag to Rameses, then back to the contents of the bag once more.

"I understand THIS" Charlie states as he points to an object inside of the bag. "But what are these?" Charlie asks as he gestures towards more unknown contents.

Rameses can barely contain his smile as he embraces Charlie's curiosity with open arms and eager excitement. Rameses reaches into one of the many pockets scattered across his leather outfit. He withdraws a slim ticket and hands it over to Charlie.

"My friends in the Black Forest can explain better than I. You must hurry, for your train leaves in an hour!"


"Wait, what? No, I'm not going anywhere except Hamburg. I have a match in a few days!"


"But Charles, you must! You know as well as I what must be done."


"I have no fucking idea what you're talking about, Ramboy, and I don't really give a fuck. This isn't what I came here for. I just need a love charm for Connie!"


"Charles, Charles, Charles...." Rameses said repeatedly as he shook his oversized head from side to side. The voodoo shaman spoke once more with immense authority in his voice. "It is not love you seek. You seek loyalty. Domination. Ownership. Control." Charlie opened his mouth and put up a finger in protest, but Rameses cut him off before he could speak his piece. "Do not feel ashamed, for you are in kindred company. Men like you and I, Charlie. We take what we want. And we get it time after time, every time. If you want her, if you want those children..." Rameses pulled out a small vial corked with a tiny skull as he paused. He shook the vial from side to side, turning the clear liquid inside of it to a distinctive scarlet. "This, Charlie.....is what you need. Go to the black forest, and my friends will guide you to victory unimaginable."

Charlie looked at Rameses, the vial, and then back at Rameses. Something felt off to Charlie. The alarm bells inside his head were ringing, but Charlie had made a career of committing B & Es after he got laid off from the factory, so alarm bells were nothing new to him. Charlie sighed as he contemplated the decision before him.




Charlie returned to his seat on the empty train car after clogging the public toilet. He adjusted his pants as he walked into the frame and took a comfortable seat on the blue cushions. He thought about that weird shopkeeper and this crazy quest he was on. He chuckled as he shook his head from side to side. Charlie always had a bit of a superstitious side to him, but he had accepted the man's invitation to travel to the black forest more for a whimsical chuckle than any true belief in the man's mysterious proclamations. Charlie had seen sideshow shamans, psychics, and carnie freaks giving tarot card readings for years as he toured the deep south's independent wrestling circuit. They all smelled of bullshit. He knew Rameses was peddling just some of the same old, same old....but still, there was something nagging at him in the back of his mind. There was something different about Rameses, but he couldn't put his finger on it; although, he's not sure he'd even want to put his finger on Rameses if he could. Charlie shook his head from side to side, clearing away all the festering questions and superstitious impulses from his mind. Charlie reached into the black sack underneath his seat, content to play with the toys his new 'friend' had given him as he sat back and enjoyed the eight hour ride to Freiburg.

Charlie pulled a doll and a pin out of Rameses's big black sack (no homo). The doll was dressed in a hospital gown decorated with green polka dots across an eggshell background. Her hair was a straw brown, with a few dyed strands of gray. Charlie gripped the pin and brought it down to the unclothed foot of the stuffed doll. He brought the pin up the woman's leg slowly, crawling underneath her gown with his phallic tool.

"I've always wanted to meet you, Miss Kaye. The boys in the back always said you looked like a total MILF, but I never got to see you at the shows. Guess you didn't really support Ned very much after all, huh? That's ok. There's nothing worth supporting in that boy. I don't judge you."


Charlie brought the pin out of the woman's gown and tapped it against her stomach. He smiled, hovering the tip of the pin above the woman's stomach for a few moments before abruptly pushing the pin deep into the stomach of the voodoo doll with precision. He slowly stuck the pin through the doll's stomach until he felt the tip of it press against the back wall of the doll's skin. Charlie grinned as he left the pin in position.

"I get to go one on one with your little runt in just a few days, Miss Kaye. It will be a jolly good time. Your little bastard doesn't know what's in store for him. What is he you telling you, huh, Miss Kaye? Is he saying him and I are good friends, and that you shouldn't worry, because I won't hurt him too bad? Is he telling you there is some mutual respect between us? Is he saying that him and I are cut from the same cloth, two peas in a pod that just have to have this one little match before we going back to being besties?"


Charlie cackled as he poked the needle through the doll's back.

"Oh the delusions of the youth. And people say I'm crazy, Miss Kaye. What made your boy think we were friends? What made your boy think his family was safe from my gaze?"


Charlie shook his head from side to side with a satisfied smile.

"Was it when I told him I was glad his fiancée died? Was it when I told him Chaotic Inc should brutalize you, just for the fun of it? Was it when I laughed from the ring while he was dragged out and beaten by Chris Chaos's goons? Did I convince him I was his friend when I cheered you on as you came flying down the ramp?"


Charlie pulled the needle out of the doll. He held the needle above the doll, moving it from spot to spot as he carefully decided his next target.

"Your boy doesn't know what he's doing. He doesn't know who I am, or what type of fight he's gotten himself into. This isn't going to be a nice, friendly little match, Miss Kaye. He doesn't even know that he's walking into a bloodbath. That's a recipe for disaster."


Charlie punctuated his point by puncturing the voodoo doll's throat with the pin. Charlie poked the woman's neck on the side, slowly dragging the needle across her throat as if he were slitting her neck with a knife. White stuffing spills out of the wound created by the pin.

"I go for the throat every time, Miss Kaye. This Wednesday you'll be treated to more of the same. Well, if you're alive to see it, that is."


Charlie brought the pin back, looking down at his handiwork with pride.

"Your son can't protect you. He can't even protect himself. He gets beaten and bruised by the boys in the back every week. He doesn't put up a defense, he doesn't take the battle to his enemies. He just sits there and takes it. Like a little bitch. If I were you, Miss Kaye...I don't think I'd want to wake up and see what has become of your little boy. But even worse: you don't want to see what is coming for your little boy on Warfare. Stay asleep, Miss Kaye...for your own good."


Charlie placed the woman and the pin back in the sack, smiling down at the contents of the bag as he did so. His gaze stayed fixated on the contents of Rameses's bag as the scene faded to black.