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by Charles W Jones

  Eyes, like Bergen’s, contrasted against the darkness, in places they shouldn’t be. Frigid air blew from it, and she remembered the feathers of frost forming on the window though it was more than eighty degrees outside. It moved as though it were weightless, like the way a cloud drifts in the sky.

  The most surprising to her was she had made it inside. She had felt the cold breath on her back as she crossed the lawn. The slickness she had slipped on, she knew after describing the beast to them, had been frost and not damp grass. Then for no reason, warmth radiated through her limbs, which had to have been Divine Intervention.

  Her mind returned to the hotel, and how stupid she’d been for allowing Wayne to steal her focus. Had she not glanced down the hallway to his room, she could have checked on Cody, and not awoken the thing tormenting them outside.

  At least Cason had been successful in learning about the meeting with Lucifer. She tried to reassure herself when the sun rose, Eli was indeed well, she’d be able to forgive herself for the trouble she had caused.

  The clock near the door told her it was a few minutes until three; in about as many hours the sun was bound to stretch its rays across the land.

  Leona fidgeted in the kitchen, wiping the counters and arranging dishes in the cupboards for the thirteenth time. Nathan’s eye widened, darting around the room but not landing on anyone.

  Bergen stood, taking his hand. Though the child’s eyes sparkled as normal, something different was on the beautiful face; the skin was taught and lips pale. A slight tremor shook the small hands. Tyler, who had laid his head on the back of the sofa, had not seen any of their actions, only Jen had observed the tension mingling with the three.

  A strike of tinnitus attacked Jen’s ear, alerting her body to the drop in barometric pressure. Again, she found Leona, and her movements were now stiff and robotic as she moved dishes from the dishwasher to their places on the shelves. Back to Nathan, she discovered his eye closed while Bergen stroked the back of his hand. The clock clicked the change of time; three o’clock.

  Outside, the storm silenced. Jen stared at the door. Had they been wrong about its attack ending at sunrise? Again, she surveyed the room. All but Tyler, who didn’t seem to have noticed the sudden silence as he stared at the ceiling, held their breaths. Bergen seemed to have fallen asleep, no longer moving fingers across the man’s arm.

  The big hand of the clock moved; a minute had passed and the silence filling the world began to terrify Jen. Something had happened, from the way her hosts were reacting, they knew it, too, but chose to be as silent as the environment, hoping the worst of the storm had passed.

  The hand clicked another minute. Still no one moved. Leona stared blankly into the open cupboard, frozen, without blinking. Jen wanted to scream to break the spell. Cason’s voice cautioned against it, then went silent.

  Watching the clock counting down the seconds before the big hand moved one more notch, Jen reached her limit and stood. No one seemed to notice. The clocked ticked the seconds. Nathan’s mouth turned into a wince. Quietly moving to the window, she looked away from the clock, parting the drapes enough to see into the gloom.

  Bergen reclaimed her sight with lips parted to stop her, but it was too late. Jen saw the moment the hand of the clock found the third minute. A loud, shrill scream bellowed from her. Her hands released the drapes as though they were on fire. The bright eyes penetrating the darkness had found her, showing her everything she had never wanted to see.

  The beast watched as the land and everything was destroyed, hovering above the Earth on its many wings. Mutilated bodies hanged on thick ropes bounced from street lamps. Skin melted from faces of children. Fires raged in houses and on the prairies. The mountains spilled molten rock into the water.

  Another creature flooded other parts of the world, devouring anything in reach. It, too, had many eyes watching the catastrophes it had created from the depths of the ocean. Floating cadavers clotted the flow, building damns of flesh and bone.

  Where the beasts hadn’t caused demise, other atrocities took place, men and women demented by loss or fear or rage, attacked others with bricks, beating their neighbor’s heads until their brains oozed from the wounds and they collapsed to the ground. They didn’t discriminate with their attacks, turning on the ones who had fought along with them, destroying them as they had the others. Then when no other opponent was left turned on each other.

  In the middle of everything, she found Cody, blue light pooling around and from him. The tone of his voice was calm, almost bland, as though he were unaware of the catastrophes playing out around him. His words repeated in an endless loop, like a needle stuck in the groove of a record. “God is love, the love everlasting.”

  The images feeding into her brain overwhelmed her system; her gaze rolled toward Heaven as her knees buckled, and she swayed toward the floor. Foam formed in her mouth, building until it was to capacity and spewed from her. Tyler jumped from the sofa, catching her convulsing body.

  He laid her on the sofa. The tremors in her slowed as the turmoil outside struck up a new fever, louder and stronger than before. Laughter rolled as though thunder; the townspeople were sure to record it as the most deafening storm in the history of Shoshoni, rivaling all others.

  Leona sauntered in with a warm, damp towel to clean Jen’s face. This was the end for her. She’d had her fill of this town and its evil tenants. She wanted to take Bergen and go far away. Whether Nathan went with them made no difference to her; she’d be happy either way—More than likely, he’d stay to defend the world from the Fallen Angel imprisoned in their hometown—but she wouldn’t endure another three o’ three in the morning attack.

  * * * *

  Belphegor’s attention turned from the ritual in his honor. Tumultuous sounds came from a block away. Something or someone had angered his pet growing below the hotel. The shattering of glass and the turning over of shelves filled the air. The ground shook with disapproval.

  He had to know what was occurring, and without waiting for his offering, dissipated into the darkness, leaving the ceremony. Up the street, two people, clutching hands, ran from the corner to the other end of the block. Glass blew into the street as his pet moved through the buildings. The destruction was trivial and would be repaired with little trouble. Just a single thought was needed.

  His concern laid with Cody, hoping the tempest hadn’t disturbed him. At the corner, he stopped, solidifying. The car burst from the parking lot. Eli and the woman Tyler clung to at night were inside. His Masterpiece would catch and destroy them for eternity.

  Voices penetrated the basement door. The souls were riled up, wanting permission to leave and take what was theirs; he ignored the pleas, climbing the outside stairs. The door at the top was open. What had she done? He scanned the interior. Only Hector stood at the far end of the hall, filling the gloom with insipid green. Easing the door of his suite open, he glared at the Watcher, then entered, quietly closing it behind him. Cody slept comfortably on the bed, unaware.

  He combed the room with his thoughts. Jen hadn’t been inside. Relieved, he stood near the window. She hadn’t made it to the door, Wayne had ensured it. The ones living in the cornerstone had to agree that they were no match for what was coming. Soon God will notice him again and come for a visit.

  Chapter Forty-One

  And I will bring the land into desolation: and your enemies which dwell therein shall be astonished at it.

  Leviticus 26:32, KJV

  Cody woke, half expecting Belphegor to be next to him. His sleep had been perfect except for the dream he had had of the brightness filling the room, scaring him in dream and physical states. He had tossed himself out of bed as the being approached him; he hadn’t had a nightmare as such since he was a child.

  Sitting up, he looked toward the window, but Belphegor wasn’t there, either. Tossing the bedding off, he rose and crossed the room. The blinds stood open as usual. The room faced the wrong direction to receive the morning sun; its
light stretched a shadow across the street partially covering the facing buildings. Along the top in a line, birds lined the rim, warming themselves in the sun.

  A car slowed on the highway, turning away from his section of Main Street. He looked to the park. A child darted to the edge of the grass, then back the way he had come; his muffled laughter reached Cody behind the closed window.

  Where the low section of the store allowed the sun to stretch across the street, sparkling gems littered the street. Leaning into the window, almost touching it with the side of his face, he found Belphegor staring at the storefront. Had someone vandalized the store in the night?

  Flustered, he rushed to the pile of his clothes on the floor. Without pausing to put them on, he hurried out the door, feeding his arms into the vest. He bounced into his pants as he made his way toward the stairs, stopping at the top to button them. His feet padded vigorously down the stairs to the lobby. Bill looked at him from behind the reception desk; the man looked as though he hadn’t slept all night, and grunted at Cody as he went to the door.

  The day was already warm for being… He glanced at his wrist, but the wide-banded watch wasn’t there, and he didn’t remember taking it off. Cody froze before he reached the corner as it occurred to him he had slept in Belphegor’s room. His mind raced, trying to find anything beyond Lucifer’s grip on him, and the fuzzy remembrance of the bright light being in the room.

  “Hector?” he whispered. “Hector, where are you?”

  “Here as always.” She leaned against the building near the corner, laughter erupting from her.

  “Shhhh. He’ll hear you.” His face had turned white. “Why did I wake up in his bed?”

  “You don’t remember?” He shook his head in response. “You had a great time from what I heard.” He was surprised by her answer. “You don’t remember?”

  “Nothing.”

  “What about me breaking my human form, and spilling into the room.”

  “I thought it was a dream.”

  “Nope, it happened, too. How about when the beast broke out?”

  “The beast from the basement?

  “Yeah. I think it woke the whole town, well, except you.”

  “I don’t understand what’s going on,” Cody replied, eyeing the stairs behind the short fence leading to the basement.

  A chortle vibrated her throat. “Oh, an easy one to explain.” He stared at her. “You’ve started the End Days. I need to get word to Cason or Marble.”

  “Who?” he asked, knowing Cason but not Marble.

  “Jen’s and Tyler’s Watchers.”

  Cody started laughing. “Awesome, his Watcher’s name is Marble.” He choked back his laugh. “I should go see what’s he’s doing.”

  “Really?” She scowled. “You should go back to the park.”

  “Hey, wait.” He scowled with her. “Why not just tell Bergen?”

  Hector’s jubilant smile returned, and she winked before fading from sight.

  Cody poked his head around the corner. The sparkling specks no longer covered the street, and Belphegor now stared at the theater.

  The child Cody had seen from the window sat in the park’s sandbox with his back to them. “Jamie,” a woman called from the alley, the boy hurried toward her voice. The call didn’t break Belphegor’s trance.

  Cody’s mind wandered as he glided toward Belphegor—Had Hector passed her message to the little boy’s Watcher, who then passed it to on to other Watcher’s as they interacted with people in town?

  It still seemed easier to communicate directly with Bergen, unless, for whatever reason, Hector couldn’t—he shook his head to remove the riddle from his mind. Looking through the windows he passed, he found nothing was out of place.

  He stopped in front of the portrait of Chief Cameahwait, watching the man in the bright blue suit. His eyes were closed, and stood stiffly, facing the theater. A minute went by, and neither moved. Hector’s suggestion of returning to the park replayed in his mind. Sounding like a good idea, he turned back the way he’d come.

  “I didn’t know you were awake.” Cody stopped, not wanting to see the man’s face. “I hope you slept well. You were so exhausted. It seems we had some vandalism during the night.” The smile in his voice oozed toward Cody, but he didn’t turn or glance in Cody’s direction. “Nothing was taken, just a few broken windows.”

  “I should let Tyler know,” Cody said, keeping his gaze low, and taking a step away from the Fallen Angel. “He’ll want to check everything.”

  “He’s not here.” His voice was closer to Cody than it had been. “He didn’t come home last night. It seems you’ve changed places from yesterday.” The closeness of Belphegor caused Cody’s skin to vibrate and his heart to speed up. The man continued, “It’s fine he’s gone. He’s done all I needed him to do. Now we can focus on the coming weeks.”

  “Where is he?” Cody asked without moving his focus from the sidewalk as Belphegor moved to his side. “Is he all right?”

  “I’m sure he’s safe.” He studied Cody. “Come, you must be famished. I’m sure Carol has breakfast ready for you.”

  Cody kept himself from looking at Belphegor, hearing the name he had no idea to whom it belonged. The man led the way to the interior of the hotel. He didn’t go with Cody into the manger’s apartment but upstairs instead. Becki watched them separate.

  * * * *

  The sounds outside didn’t stop until the sun shot its first warm beams across the land. Not being able to erase the images the beast had shown her, Jen had added wails to the mixture of sounds.

  Nathan hadn’t moved from his chair even when he had felt the last shudder of the beast’s hooves stamping the ground. The description Jen had given, when she returned from her failed excursion to check on Cody, was vivid in his mind.

  Bergen hadn’t said anything, which concerned him, but it didn’t him give him the courage to bring the words to his lips; it wasn’t one of the beasts from Daniel or Revelation, only vaguely similar.

  Maybe Jen had misinterpreted what it was, but the visions she had had when she drew apart the curtains had been what was expected. Lucifer had given Belphegor permission to continue what he was doing, but Hector hadn’t told Cason anything about forty-two months being discussed; maybe, it was a given.

  Leona went to the windows, pulling open the drapes allowing light to mute the glow of the lamps on the side tables. She seemed the least bothered by the night’s attack; calmer than he’d expected with last night being the worst they’d encountered. After finishing with her tasks, she left the living room, going down the hall.

  Bergen stood, stretching, then went into the kitchen, leaving Tyler to comfort Jen on his own. Her whimpers stopped the moment the windows were freed from their coverings, and the sun reached into the room.

  A car door slammed outside, followed by laughter. Nathan furrowed his brow, recognizing the sound as Eli. For the first time since Jen’s return, he got to his feet and made his way to the door. Tinkering with the locks, he glanced at Jen who, with Tyler, had found sleep.

  He hadn’t expected what he saw when he opened the door. He had become accustomed to the shell of tumbleweeds pressing against the exterior of the house, but this was new.

  A mote, at least three feet deep and wide, circled the yard, the dirt had been removed and was nowhere to be seen. Eli shot a grin at him from the edge as Nathan crossed the lawn. Leona hadn’t said anything when she had opened the curtains. Surely, she had to have seen the new feature.

  “I like what you’ve done with the yard, keeps door-to-door salesmen away,” Eli said, through his Cheshire smile.

  “I was thinking of adding a drawbridge, so I can control who enters,” Nathan replied, not able to hold back a smile at the absurdity. He surveyed the moat. With seriousness returning, he said, “The beast wasn’t one of them.”

  “Maybe, a translation flaw,” Eli said, the smile retreated from his mouth.

  “Your dad would’ve caught anything w
rong. What is the old bastard up to?”

  Eli looked passed him to the house. Nathan looked over his shoulder. Leona stood, suitcase in hand, with Bergen outside the door. The woman’s lower lip quivered, seeing the ditch around the yard. Dropping the suitcase, she spun back into the house. Bergen skipped to Nathan, taking his hand.

  “Mother wants to leave,” the child said.

  Nathan sighed, and Eli pretended to deafness returning to his car; he didn’t want to hear their private moment. The situation with Shoshoni was why he had never settled down, not wanting to bring anyone into the mess.

  His father had done his best to see to the town’s downfall, but the moment Mrs. Johnson had given Belphegor her building, there was no one left to keep it from blossoming again. He’d thought of setting fire to the block several times, but without opposition, it would be rebuilt.

  “I don’t blame her,” Nathan said. “What do you think?”

  Releasing his hand, Bergen dropped into the trench. After a few steps, the child stopped, and squat, disappearing, then popped up with a few blades of grass. Nathan realized the beast had run around the house all night, pounding the earth, the reason there were no piles of dirt. Bergen climbed out and returned to his side.