“Get me all the info we have on Lyon and Mineral counties. Check their local news sources for any ‘unusual’ stories that have to do with law enforcement. Also, get me the names and numbers of the sheriffs and deputies.”
“Sir.” The man turned back to the door and could see his way out thanks to a dim light at the end of the hallway.
He stood and pressed another button on his desk. The blinds began to slide back from the two windows that made up the west and north walls of his office. Vegas was lit and the western sky showed just a trace of dwindling daylight. He strode along the windows, arms behind his back, thinking of Ash cold and dead at the morgue. His heart was heavy; he had raised Ash and Susan. They were like his children. Not that he loved them, but he was attached to them and they were useful to him. Love was not something a Satanist would find helpful. Indeed, love could and would eventually be used against a disciple. There could only be one devotion. To the One. It was better that way. When a person could look at another without emotion clouding their judgment, choices became rational. It had been so ever since he was five, when he lost his mother.
He could not remember much about her, just flashes. Her smiling at him as she walked with him for the first day of school, dyeing Easter eggs together and her hugging him on her lap as she read him a story. How loved he felt. His eyes moistened at this small handful of innocent memories that he treasured and kept to himself.
He remembered his father now and how he began to change. His mother didn’t like his new friends and wouldn’t go to their meetings. The fights began and increased until they were a nightly occurrence. He remembered that last night, when his mom was out and his father was having a meeting. He was supposed to be upstairs in bed, but he peered down between the stair rails on the landing. He could not see much, because the house was dark. From the living room he could see the flicker of candlelight and hear the men murmuring something. Mother came home unexpectedly and flipped on the lights. He saw her hesitate outside the living room, and then she stormed into the room, her voice angry as it rose and fell. Then it was very quiet. He fell asleep on the landing listening for more and woke up in his own bed in the morning. Harston, the butler, was sitting in the rocking chair in his room.
He remembered that Harston was kind and the only one who showed him any tenderness at this time. They told him that his mother had fallen down the stairs and broken her neck. He had believed this story almost until his own initiation into the group, when he realized it was a lie. He confronted his father, but all he had to say was, “Richard, you and her money were the only good things that came from her.”
Sometimes he imagined what his life might have been like if she had lived and they had left his father. What a waste of time it was. He was so far gone, there was no coming back.
He turned from the window and pressed his intercom button. “Yes, Mr. Taylor?”
“Have my red group notified. I want them to meet with me at ten p.m. tomorrow.”
“Yes, sir.”
The group had to be notified about Ash. He already had a plan for finding the necklace and the murdering cowboy, but the group needed to back him and help him implement. And perhaps they would have some good ideas.
Chapter 8
Cami and the girls had put their horses away and were walking up the front path when Tom pulled up. Cami’s stomach cramped at her again. She had felt so much better on the horse ride, forgetting for awhile Tom’s nightmare and his strange behavior. Where could he have gone? And taking Landon without a car seat? “Where did you go? Is everything okay?” She reached out and took Landon from Tom.
Tom wasn’t a good liar and he knew it. He wanted to tell Cami everything, but he felt like he should do some research first. “Oh, I saw some dust out at the back of the ranch and Landon and I wanted to see if someone was driving around.” He was glad that Cami had not noticed the wheelbarrow in the back of his truck.
Cami said nothing and gazed at Tom over Landon’s curls. Her blue eyes read him easily, but she let it be. It was something to pursue when they were alone.
Amanda and Kylee were outside the yard beside the fallen branch. “Girls!” Tom called. “Stay away from that tree. Some other branches could come down.”
Cami looked at him.
“Damnedest thing, not a breath of breeze and this branch came down,” Tom said, shaking his head.
“You saw it come down?”
“Yeah, Landon and I were getting into the truck. Scared the hell out of me. I’ll call the tree guy tomorrow and have him check it and all of the other trees.”
Cami turned towards the house. “Girls, you can watch a movie with Landon while I fix dinner, but keep it down so your dad can take a nap.”
Tom put his shotgun away and lay on the bed. The ceiling fan turned lazily, brushing delicious bits of cool air down onto his skin. In a few moments he was out and sleeping well for the first time in thirty-six hours.
Cami looked in on him and watched him sleep. He was a handsome man and even more so when he slept. The lines on his face relaxed and his intensity along with his furrowed brow faded, making him twenty-four again. Asleep, he looked the same as the day she met him. It had been around Christmas, her freshman year at college. She had been driving home from Reno when her car slid off the road during a blizzard. Tom had stopped to help, and he had ended up giving her a ride home to her parents’ house. He helped her the next day to get her car home, and when she asked him how she could repay him, he had said that he sure could use a home-cooked meal. She made calamari (which she later found out he had always hated), and he told her it was delicious. As she walked him out, she paused under the mistletoe, hoping he might kiss her. Tom pulled her to him, held her close and kissed her hand. She felt electricity as she stared into his deep, blue eyes, and that was the moment she started falling for him.
She could only wonder at what was going on. They hadn’t had a moment to talk. Maybe it only seemed that way. Tom had been making the most of avoiding the subject.
Dinner was nearly ready, the kids were occupied and since dear husband was passed out, it was the perfect time for a little investigation. She flipped on the basement lights and stepped over the baby gate. She was about halfway down when the lights flickered and then went off. A little chill ran through her—that had never happened before. She went back up the steps; the switch was in the off position. Okay. Freak of nature. Chaos theory. Sometimes things just happen. She turned the lights back on and began a bit slower down the stairs. This time she reached the landing before the lights went off. It was dim down here on this summer afternoon, not dark. She could see, but not really well. Just five more steps down and she could walk over to the gun safe and see what was in there. She hesitated. What was with the lights? She recalled a story her mom told her about working alone in the church basement, when the lights went off. The lights were not switched off by another person, or the power going out or anything like that. The switch went to the off position by itself, and the really freaky thing was that the church was only a short walk to the cemetery.
It was silly to let her mind freak herself out. She moved down the stairs. How could it be so cold down here on a summer day? She rubbed her arms. As her feet reached the floor, she began to wish she hadn’t come down here. There was a horrid feeling of something about to pounce. She stopped, holding her breath, too afraid to turn around, but afraid to move forward, paralyzed. Something scuttled in the darkest, middle part of the basement and she jumped. It was big. Much bigger than a rat anyway. She bounded up the stairs and at the same time the door at the top of the stairs slammed shut.
The stairway was now as dark as soot, but she stumbled up the stairs as fast as she could, her heart racing. The door locked from the other side, but they never locked it. She grabbed the knob and pulled, but it was stuck and would not turn.
“Tom! Tom!” she screamed and pounded on the door. God! He was a heavy sleeper and the kids were on the other side of the house. She stopped shr
ieking instantly, because she heard something behind her. Something was coming up the stairs. She held her breath again and turned. There was bit of gray light from the basement windows, but a shadow, so black, was obliterating the light, inch by inch. It was shapeless, almost like a black velvet curtain coming up the stairs. There was a dragging sound, like a man dragging his body across the dirt; only it was something much bigger.
She didn’t dare turn her back on it, but pressed herself against the door and began beating her palms against the wood, screaming Tom’s name and watching the thing get closer.
Farley barked furiously on the other side and soon she could hear the kids. “Get Daddy! The door’s stuck!” Cami tried to not sound hysterical. The thing passed the landing now, and all she could see was black. Something smelled like sulfur.
Farley wouldn’t stop barking and then she heard Tom. “Cami!”
“Tom, open the door! Hurry!” She was crying now. “Hurry!”
“I can’t budge it. Stand back from the door; I’m going to kick it in!” She could not see the thing, but she dreaded moving towards it. She had to though, else Tom would kick the door in and hurtle her down the steps and she would be enveloped in the shroud. Just three steps down should be enough. She hugged the wall and moved down, each step like a year off her life.
“Okay! Do it!” Cami felt the cold coming up the stairway. It had to be close.
The door slammed against the wall and light flooded the stairway. Cami dashed into Tom’s arms and looked back. There was only the gray darkness of the stairwell.
Farley continued to bark at the basement but made no move to go down the steps. “Farley! Farley!” Kylee pulled at his collar; the dog took no notice.
“Stand back, guys.” Tom reached forward and pulled the door shut. The lock wouldn’t work now, but the door closed. Farley’s barking turned into a growl at the shut door.
“What’s the matter, Mommy?” Kylee asked.
“What do you think is the matter?” Amanda mocked in her nine-year-old wisdom. “How would you like to be locked in the basement? You’re such a scare baby you won’t even go down there!”
“Scar aby,” Landon echoed.
“I am not a scare baby!” Kylee shouted.
“Girls, take Landon and finish your movie—we’ll have dinner in a few minutes.” Cami had her voice under control and the children did not see her shaking.
“Yes, ma’am.”
Tom pulled Cami into the kitchen. “What happened?”
“God. There was something down there. I heard it. And the lights went out. And I freaked. And then the door slammed shut. And it—whatever it was—is—was coming up the stairs.” She went to the cupboard and pulled out the bottle of Crown Royal, but her hand was shaking enough that Tom had to pour it for her. He poured one for himself too. Cami slammed hers and put her face in her hands. Tom poured her another and pulled her onto his lap and held her.
He said nothing, because when he buried the can, he thought it was over. He never should have brought that thing into the house. But how could he have known? He downed his whiskey and then poured another. So what was it? Something evil had rubbed off the jewelry and into his house? Or was the jewelry working from a distance? Or had the evildoers cursed his back and sent something on him? It was in the basement now, but could it move? His stomach cramped with fear. There was no way in hell he could let his family stay here until he was sure it was safe.
“Cami?” Her breathing had calmed, but he could still feel her tremble now and then.
“Yeah.”
“I want you and the kids to go stay at your mom’s tonight.” She raised her head and turned to face him. “Maybe longer, I don’t know.” He avoided her stare and tipped his glass to his mouth for that last drop of whiskey.
“What is it?” She pulled his face towards hers and looked into his eyes. “I need to know.”
He stared back. “I’m not sure what it is, but I want you and the kids out of the house until I get rid of it.”
Amanda came into the kitchen. “Mom, when is dinner? I’m starving.”
Cami didn’t feel much like eating—in fact, she felt like sitting at the table and drinking more whiskey.
“Let’s have a picnic,” Tom said, smiling at their surprise.
“Yeah!” Amanda said. She was always begging to do this.
“Okay then, sweetie,” said Tom. “Go get your sister and have her get herself and Landon ready and then you come and help me pack up the food.”
“Okay!” He watched her run from the room.
“Tom …” Cami started to protest.
“I know we need to talk, but let’s get out of here for that. I’ll pack up the food. I want you to pack up enough things so you and the kids can stay in town for two or three days.”
Cami opened her mouth and shut it again. She started to leave and then came back. “Tom, I don’t want to leave you here alone. Your dream. And that thing. Everything seems to be going crazy. This has something to do with Doug Nelson, doesn’t it?” She had her hands on her hips and she swayed ever so slightly, the whiskey already affecting her.
“Yes.” He looked into her blue eyes. “I don’t really want to stay here either, but I want you and the kids safe. I won’t be driven out of my own house by some, some … force.”
Amanda came back in the room and the conversation ended. Cami went to pack and Tom and Amanda worked on building a picnic.
Chapter 9
They drove down to the meadow where the creek bubbled and meandered. They found a lush, clean stretch of grass to lay the blanket on.
“Mommy, can we play in the creek?” Kylee loved water and was always splashing around if she got the chance.
“Yes, but go right there, where it’s shallow and I can see you.” Landon had fallen asleep in his car seat and barely stirred as Tom transferred him to the blanket. The sun had sunk behind the trees across the creek, and the evening was fine and balmy.
Cami and Tom laid out the food and watched the girls. It seemed to Tom that everything had been one long, bad dream. As he listened to the creek and the happy, playing sounds of his daughters, he could not imagine how he could tell Cami—it sounded ludicrous. Well, you see honey, I shot a devil worshipper last night and everything has gone shitsville since then. He shook his head.
“Girls!” Cami called. “Dinner!”
They dove into the food. Roast beef sandwiches on homemade bread, fresh strawberries sliced and sprinkled with a little sugar, cold milk, a yellow cake with chocolate frosting that Cami had made that day, pickles, olives, baby carrots and the red, hot peppers that only Tom could eat. They all ate like hungry lumberjacks. Tom ate not only because he was starving once more, but because he didn’t know how the next few days would play out and when he might have time to eat again.
Landon woke at the end of the meal, and Tom fixed him a little plate. Half the food went into Landon and the other half went on him and onto the ground. When he was done, Tom carried him over to the creek, and Landon screeched with annoyance as Tom cleaned him with handfuls of cold water. Soon he was laughing again as Tom made a game of dipping his toes into the creek. Tom set Landon down on the blanket and sat with Cami on the rocks by the creek where they could watch the kids play. Amanda and Kylee were adding to the little dam they had started the last time they were at the creek. Landon alternately sat in the water and stood up, making his diaper into a cannonball. Cami took it off him, and he howled like a wild man and ran in circles, happy to be all natural and splashing around.
“He’s just like his dad,” she laughed.
“I can run around naked too, if you want.” Tom smiled.
“Thanks.” Cami shook her head.
She took Tom’s hand. “We can talk now. The creek is loud enough—the kids won’t hear us.”
He began with his search for the calf. Her hands went to her mouth as he told her of the strange voices, and she hugged him as he told her of shooting the man with the eyes devo
id of light. “Oh my God! What evil people! I wish you could have shot them all.”
Her face grew tighter and paler as he went on. He had been afraid to tell her, however it felt good to talk to someone. Tom hated how it was affecting her, but lies didn’t work for him and Cami was smart. The two of them would work through this mess.
By the end of his story, Cami was hugging her knees and rocking ever so slightly on the boulder. “Who are these people? I never thought this sort of thing really happened.” She could not bring herself to say human sacrifice. She watched Landon shrieking joyously in the creek. How could anyone do such a thing? Silent tears rolled down her face.
He pulled her close and let her weep. He had had his cry already. Over her head he watched his children playing. A strong wave of protectiveness and determinedness swept through him. Fuck those nasty, knife-wielding devil worshippers. He would do whatever was required to protect his family.
Cami stopped crying and wiped her tears. She looked up at Tom, a spark of fire in her eyes. “We’ve got to find those people.”
“What!” He was willing to do whatever it took to keep his family safe—guard dogs, moving away, whatever. Cami wanted to find these people! She had not seen the lightless eyes that you could look into and see the depths of hell, nor had she seen all the voodoo of the man’s jewelry.
“Tom, if these people are as organized as you say, we need to find them before they find us. Besides, think of that baby! They could be doing this every week!” Cami was standing now, the energy of needing to do something bursting through her.
“How are they going to find us? They saw me and Farley and the horse—possibly the truck and trailer from very far—there is no way they could see the plates.”
“The grazing permit.”
The Sacrifice Page 4