A classic short story (novel) in the fantasy and horror genre.

The Golgotha Dancers
A curious and terrifying story about an artist who sold his soul that he might paint a living picture.
There rushed and swelled into me the sudden startled strength that sometimes favors the desperate.
I screamed like any wild thing caught in a trap, rolled somehow out of bed and to my feet. One of the beings I shook off and the other I dashed against the bureau. Freed, I made for the bedroom door and the front of the apartment, stumbling and staggering on fear-weakened legs.