Dark Rite

by David Wood

  The next book was a thick, heavy tome, cracked with age and the stamped gold letters on the spine faded. He held it up to the light and read the words aloud. “Demonology and The Bible.”

  Frowning, he flipped through the pages, trying to get a feel for the content. The title made it sound like a Christian book of some sort, but the contents put him to mind of a horror novel. He stopped at a black and white print showing a demon hunched over the supine body of a naked young woman who lay bound to an altar. He didn't know what unsettled him more: its rapacious expression or hers of terror. A shiver ran up his spine and he had the sudden urge to toss the book into the fireplace and burn it. The momentary irrationality passed and he put it in the box with the other religious books.

  He'd hoped that, in the process of settling his father's affairs, he'd learn a little something about the man who had been an enigma to him for so long. So far, all he'd determined was his father loved his home in the mountains, his conspiracy thrillers, and apparently liked to read about religions, no matter how obscure. Or how sinister.

  Grant stared into space as his thoughts drifted back to Suzanne. His stomach iced slightly at the thought of her packing up all her stuff and leaving. They had been together a long time. It was hard to imagine that she had just up and left like that. Then again, they’d been high school kids when they first started dating, and they’d had problems from the start. Everything he did stressed her out: his decision to drop out of college, his string of part-time jobs, his musical pursuits, his band practices, his seedy gigs. Meanwhile, she pursued corporate greatness, going to school year-round, earning her business degree after only three years, and recently accepting a boring, entry-level job at some faceless corporation in an equally faceless glass building. Come to think of it, he didn’t know where she worked or what she did, aside from the fact that it involved a lot of bitching at the dinner table. He hadn’t thought they were as doomed as she had suggested. Clearly he had been quite naïve there. Now he was all alone. You never finish anything! Her words haunted him.

  Two razor sharp knocks on the door jolted him out of his emo moment and he grimaced as he stumbled to answer, awkwardly navigating the clutter he'd created in the spacious living area. Who could it be? He didn't know anyone and who, aside from the cop who'd stopped him, even knew he was here? He reached for the knob and hesitated, visions of Deliverance-style hillbilly perverts flashing through his mind. He dismissed them with a rueful laugh and opened the door.

  No one was there.

  He cocked his head to the side like a confused dog and stepped out into the cool mountain air. There was no car in the driveway, save his own. He strode out onto the front porch and peered out into the woods. Nothing.

  “Hello?” His voice sounded weak and tentative, so he summoned his inner thug and tried again. “Somebody fucking around out here?” That was better, though not by much. It suddenly occurred to him that anyone who was messing with him wouldn’t answer back. In fact, whoever had knocked might be sneaking around back at this very instant. He stepped back inside, shut the door harder than necessary, locked it, and looked around for a weapon. His dad's Civil War era musket, complete with bayonet, hung above the fireplace. Nice. Now all he needed were cartridges, lead balls, and an inkling of how to load and fire the thing. He hurried into the kitchen area and, in a drawer full of tarnished silverware, found a carving knife with a long, triangular blade. It would have to do.

  He moved to the back door and peered out the dirty window. If trees were out to get him, he was screwed, because that was all he saw in any direction. Clutching the knife, he opened the back door and moved out beneath the canopy of the forest that grew right up to the back edge of the house. He strained his eyes and ears, but neither saw nor heard anything. He was alone. It must have been a tree limb knocking against the side of the cabin. That or his imagination running wild.

  There it was again. This time there was no question about the knock. He heard it clear as day. In a flash he was off, sprinting around the corner of the cabin. In the time it took to think, At least I'm not running with scissors, he was there.

  And he was alone.

  “No freaking way.” He kicked at a loose rock and sent it bounding across the clearing in front of the cabin. The forest floor was carpeted in a thick layer of dry leaves. There was no way anyone could have run away that fast without him at least hearing them. He made a circuit of the cabin, looking for footprints but found exactly what he had expected--nothing. More unnerved than he cared to admit, he returned to the cabin and began gathering his things. He'd head to town, grab a cup of coffee and a bite to eat and clear his head. At the last second he grabbed the old demonology book that had caught his attention earlier. He didn't know why, but he suddenly wanted it out of the house, or maybe it wanted out, or something equally irrational. In any case, he shoved the book into his backpack.

  He kept the knife too.

  The interior of Cup-of-Joe was as grimy as its plate glass front window where chipped paint advertised the “Best Cup of Coffee in Town!” Faces turned toward Grant as he entered and all stared with mingled curiosity and disdain as he ordered and took a seat. Their conversations slowly started up again when he refused to meet any of those inquisitive eyes. Fucking hick town, he thought to himself. If they were dogs, they'd all be sniffing my ass right now. He'd be glad when the funeral was over and he could clear up and get out. Maybe he should just pile everything up in the woods and set it on fire, leave the cabin an empty shell, and get a real estate agent to sell it.

  The thought had occurred to him that having a cabin in the country might be nice. He wasn't really the rural type, but he appreciated peace and quiet, nature, clear skies and fresh air. But this certainly didn't seem like the place for it. Maybe he'd sell out, take the proceeds and buy a little place somewhere else. Somewhere less... inbred.

  The waitress put his coffee and eggs on the table and gave him a friendly, if distant, smile. “Anything else?”

  He returned the smile, shook his head. “No, thanks.” A thought occurred to him. “Say, did you know Andrew Shipman?”

  The waitress's friendly face turned sad. “Sort of. Not really. My daddy knew him, from when they were in the lodge together. Terrible that he died. So young for a heart attack.”

  Grant nodded, now wondering why he'd asked. “Was he a... I dunno, was he a nice guy?”

  “I guess so.” She pursed her lips and cocked her head. It was a cute look for her. “Like I said, I didn't really know him, but he was always friendly, always had a grin on his face when he stopped in.”

  A part of Grant wished he knew his father better, but only a small part. The bastard walked out on Grant and his mother years ago and all the memories from before that were bad. Perhaps it was easy to feel guilty now the man was dead. Perhaps he needed some kind of closure, though he doubted he'd find it out here among the mountains and trees. He tried to imagine the old man as a regular member of the community. “You said he and your dad were in the lodge together? What lodge?”

  The waitress giggled. “You know, the Freemasons.” She made a face like she was imparting a great secret. “Secret societies and covert men's business.”

  Grant laughed and a man at the counter cleared his throat altogether too loudly. The waitress jumped and hurried away. Annoyed, Grant turned to look and the fellow stared at him with hard, dark eyes. He was a bear of a man, with a red and blue checked shirt stretched tight over bulging, muscular arms and a swollen beer gut. Grant held his eye for a few very uncomfortable seconds but the bear was obviously not planning to look away. More frustrated than ever with this backward community, Grant turned back to his food. He cursed his shaking hand as he forked up lukewarm eggs.

  Keeping his attention away from the hicks, and determined not to give them the satisfaction of leaving right after his lunch, Grant ordered a coffee refill and sat back in the chair. To give himself something to do he pulled out the demonology book. Inside the front cover he found
an inscription he hadn't noticed before:

  Brother Andrew,

  May the demons always be outside your circle.

  In darkness and disorder,

  Your Brothers and Sisters of Kaletherex.

  Grant furrowed his brow. What the hell was Kaletherex? And if they called him Brother Andrew, was this a gift from the Freemasons the waitress had just mentioned? If so, what did “Brothers and Sisters” mean? In Grant's limited knowledge, the Freemasons were an all-boys club. A sick feeling rising in his gut, he thumbed through the pages, keeping his body between the leatherbound volume and the others in the diner. He didn't want them to see it, to know he had it. If it felt sinister to him, no telling what these hillbillies would make of it. He wondered what they would have made of his dad had they known about the old man’s interest in demonology.

  The door bell jingled as a young, pretty redhead came in. Her downcast gaze didn't conceal her red eyes and puffy face. Their eyes met and he flashed her a tight smile. She seemed surprised, gave the merest nod and hurried past. He watched her faint ghost reflected in the plate glass window as she ordered a coffee and took a seat at the table behind him.

  She had a creamy complexion, full lips, and body that had not yet succumbed to the local fare of chicken-fried everything. In fact, she was the first person he'd seen in this town whose immediate forbearers, he could be certain, weren't closely related. Maybe this place wasn't all bad after all. Forget Suzanne. Maybe he’d fool around with a mountain girl while he was in town. He hadn’t been with another girl since their Junior prom. Might as well get something good out of this trip.

  But the thought of Suzanne dumping him so casually was still a knife in the gut. He turned his attention back to the book and continued to flip through, the pictures growing increasingly horrific. Hideous creatures did despicable things to terrified victims. He read occasional passages about true names, binding incantations, genealogy, as if these things were real. He didn't know jack about the Freemasons, but he was sure this book was not Masonic. Two pages turned at once under the weight of something between them and a yellowed photo slid out. Maybe a bookmark.

  The picture showed three men in long robes, with heavy rope belts. Hoods sat piled on their shoulders as they smiled broadly at the camera, each with their hand on the hilt of a large knife, buried guard-deep in the carcass of a goat. Grant stared, horrified, at the grinning face of his father staring back. The man in the middle of the three had a large, heavy-looking medallion hanging low against his chest, the only difference between himself, Grant's father and the man on the other side.

  A gasp broke Grant's reverie. He looked around to see the pretty redhead, hand before her mouth in shock, staring at the photo over his shoulder.

  He laughed nervously, stuffing it back between the pages. “Just an old film still, I think,” he said, sounding fake even to himself.

  The girl jumped up and ran from the diner, half-eaten sandwich and full cup of coffee forgotten. The bell on the front door clattered as she banged through.

  Grant sat frozen for a moment before sweeping his things back into his backpack, tossing a ten on the table, and running after her. As he left, he noticed the big man at the counter scowling with undisguised contempt. What was his problem?

  The girl hurried down the street, almost running. Sure, the picture was creepy, but why cut and run like that? She glanced back, spotted him, and picked up her pace.

  “Wait a minute!” Grant called, moving up behind her. “Excuse me,” he said, putting a hand on her shoulder. “Are you okay?”

  She jerked away, whirling about to face him. “Just stay away from me!” She backed away from him like he was a rabid dog.

  Grant held his hands up in front of his shoulders, palms out. “Look, I didn't mean to scare you. It's just that you seemed really shocked by that picture.”

  At the mention of the photograph, she blanched. The girl said nothing, turned away and continued down the street.

  “I'm really sorry,” Grant called after her.

  She didn't look back.

  Chapter 3

  The Wallen's Gap Public Library occupied the corner of Main and Oak like a homeless man begging for change. It might have been a nice place back in its heyday, but the peeling paint and crumbling mortar made Grant a little nervous about closing the door too hard when he stepped inside. Past the threshold, the familiar smell of dusty tomes calmed his jangled nerves. A faded poster of President Bush, the first one, greeted him with a sun-bleached smile and the words, “A Thousand Points of Light.” Bush the Elder held a copy of either The Sun Also Rises or The Sound and the Fury--the poster was in such bad shape it was hard to tell.

  “Can I help you?” The speaker was an elderly woman with a face like a Venetian blind and shockingly yellow hair. Her tone said she had little interest in assisting anyone. She stood behind a battered mahogany counter topped by a stack of romance novels. He wondered if she was reading or preparing to re-shelve them.

  “Yes, I was wondering if you have a public computer I could use. With internet access,” he added. No telling what sides came with your entrée and what was a-la-carte around here.

  One of the folds on the woman's face puckered into a disapproving frown. “You have to have a member number to log on to the system.”

  “Okay, can I get a number?” He put on his most winning smile.

  “You have to have a library card to get a member number.”

  “Great! Can I get a library card?”

  “You have to fill out a form and show identification.” Her voice was so dull and her expression so flat that he honestly couldn't tell if she was trying to give him a hard time or not.

  “Okay,” he said, working hard to keep his tone friendly, “where can I get a form?”

  “You can download it from the website.”

  Cracks formed in his calm demeanor and the back of his neck prickled. He gritted his teeth and was formulating a suitable reply when the woman actually cracked a tiny smile. Had he uncovered actual humor in this town? Alert the media!

  “Or you can get one from me.” She slid a form across the counter and even provided a pen without being asked.

  He completed the form and handed it back along with his driver's license.

  “Shipman,” she mused. “You any kin to Andrew Shipman?”

  “My dad.” He was afraid to say more. What if his dad had been as unsavory a character as the photograph seemed to indicate? No telling what his reputation had been in such a small town. But the sheriff had called Andrew a “good man.” Grant didn't know what to think.

  “Are you living in his place now?” Her tone and expression remained neutral.

  Fearing some rule about not giving library cards to out-of-towners, he answered in the affirmative. A few minutes and a donation to the elementary school library later, he was the proud holder of a Wallen's Gap Library card. He stifled a guffaw when he saw his membership number was a whopping three digits long. Not too many readers around here.

  The computer kiosk only held three units, but they were up-to-date and the internet connection crisp. He began with a simple web search:

  Brothers and Sisters of Kaletherex

  His shoulders sagged when he saw the results.

  Your search- brothers and sisters of Kaletherex- did not match any documents

  He tried “kaletherex” alone and in combination with “wallen's gap” but achieved no better results. He hated to admit failure so quickly. He considered for a few minutes, and a thought sprang to mind that sent a chill down his spine. He set his jaw and typed in “andrew shipman brother of kaletherex wallen's gap.”

  This time, he got a single hit. It was a cached document containing the phrase “Brother Andrew Shipman.” No mention of Kaletherex, but it was something. He clicked the print icon and heard the whir of the printer... behind the front desk. Lovely.

  He logged off and hurried over to the desk, taking out his wallet as he went. He wasn't sure why, but he
didn't like the idea of the woman knowing what he was looking at. She handed the paper to him, her eyes passing only a quick glance across it before she handed it over. He thought he saw the ghost of a shadow pass over her face, but it could have been his imagination.

  “Twenty cents, please.” She held out a withered hand.

  He handed her a dollar bill.

  “I don't have change.” She didn't sound the least bit apologetic. In fact, she looked affronted that he didn't have two dimes in his pocket.

  “That's okay. You can owe me.” He gave her his best conspiratorial smile, but she just stared at him. “Uh, keep the change. Thank you for your help.” Duly cowed, he let her disapproving stare chase him out the front door.

  Out on the street, he took a deep breath of mountain air. Foremost in his mind was a single thought. The red-haired girl in the diner had reacted to the picture of his dad. She knew something. He had to find her.

  Reluctant to go back to the cabin early, Grant wandered around the block from the library. Across the way, a playground occupied a scrubby patch of grass and windblown dirt. He smiled as he caught a flash of red hair. Could he be that lucky? He stopped at a lamppost, acting as if he read the printed sheets in his hand while he covertly watched the redhead. It was definitely her, playing with two little girls who looked like twins in floral print dresses, their chestnut hair tied in bunches. They couldn't be more than four or five years old. The redhead pushed them on swings and chased them from one piece of play equipment to another. She looked to be having fun, but something about her demeanor made Grant a little sad.

  He drew a deep breath, hoping he could talk to her rather than scare her off. He started across the road, forming what he hoped was a pleasant and friendly smile on his face. She saw him coming and scowled, glanced quickly to the twin girls and back again. She looked like a rabbit, cornered and ready to bolt.