Vault of Horror #27

Cedric Harrington, a sculptor smitten with his model Christine, plans to surprise her with a silver-plated statue as a proposal gift—until he overhears her and her lover Gary plotting to murder him for his money. When Gary arrives at the studio seeking Christine, he finds her in a form far more permanent than he expected.

In the eerie quiet of a rural town, Lionel Byrd drives his brass hearse through the streets, drawing whispers and fear from the townsfolk. The Crypt-Keeper introduces a chilling tale of a man whose past is buried — literally — in a secret no one could guess, and a hearse that hides more than just a coffin.

In the shadowed mouth of a cursed cave, a desperate posse confronts a creature that has slaughtered ten of their own, leaving only bone behind. Doc recalls seeing the beast before—but not as it is now. Pete Feeley, wracked by cancer and facing death, seeks the Old Hag on Baldy Mountain, trading his mortality for an eternal, rotting existence. Now bound by her curse, he cannot die, but he cannot live either—only suffer. The Vault-Keeper warns that some horrors aren’t born of the flesh, but of a promise made in desperation.

In "A Grim Fairy Tale!" from Vault of Horror #27, the Old Witch spins a tale of a kingdom undone by pride, where a pompous King, Queen, and their Lord High Advisor rule over a people plagued by rats—until the townsfolk take matters into their own hands. When the Queen’s beloved white mice are threatened by the slaughter of rats, her decree turns the tide, sparking a brutal, grotesque reckoning that leaves the royal family at the mercy of the very creatures they once dismissed.