That Hoodoo, Voodoo That You Do: A Dark Rituals Anthology

by Tim Marquitz

  “Erin, grab the fuel, it’s going to take the three of us to carry this inside,” said Ryan.

  Erin nodded dutifully and picked up the wood and lighter fluid and ran back toward the warehouse. Ryan, Mark, and I hauled the idol out of the van with all the reverence we could attribute under such conditions and hustled after her. It was even heavier than it looked, calling to question how Mister Lichter loaded it in the van to begin with. We crossed the abandoned lot and delivered the Topheth to the space we prepared for it.

  Mister Lichter thanked us and began to towel off the idol. I stripped off my sopping wet shirt and tossed it onto the floor, unveiling my linebacker physique. I touched the mark of the Liberator branded into my flesh, just above my heart, a proud reminder of how far I’d come since Mister Lichter found me and healed me. Erin brought the fuel over to the idol. Mister Lichter accepted it and set to stoking a fire in the brazier.

  “The Topheth might strike you as theatrical, and indeed it is, but history would suggest that the Aethereals relish ostentation. The Phoenicians and the Canaanites worshipped the pagan god Moloch using icons such as this, though they lacked the guidance of the Praeter Scientia,” said Mister Lichter.

  Years removed from the Fellowship and he still indulged in academic tendencies. He never missed an opportunity to lecture and his words held my unwavering attention.

  “Even in their ignorance they posed a risk to the Oppressor’s control. They made offerings to false gods and yet…and yet the Aethereals are not so finicky as to decline oblation. They improvise. And look, here comes Sister Rebecca bearing the sacrifice.”

  Into the warehouse stepped Becca, cradling a bundle of blankets. Her creamy, freckle-dotted skin dripped from the rain. A wide smile split her face when she saw me, all teeth and dimples, the most beautiful drowned rat I’d ever seen. I jogged over to her, returning the smile.

  I got within three feet before I realized that she held our daughter, Penny.

  “What—why did you bring her here?”

  I figured out the answer before the words finished leaving my big, dumb mouth. Penny chose that moment to start bawling. Swaddled in a second hand blanket I bought from the thrift store with our meager funds she screamed, face red. Penny’s itty bitty fingers balled into tiny fists to match my own whitening knuckles.

  “No. Absolutely-fucking-not. No, no, no. Hell no. Take her home Becca. Take our daughter home right now,” I growled.

  The hurt was evident on Becca’s face as she rocked Penny in her arms, trying to soothe our wailing child. A hand came down on my shoulder and I whirled around, fist cocked back. Mister Lichter let go and put his hands up in a placating gesture. He registered no surprise.

  He knew she was bringing Penny. He arranged this.

  “Take a deep breath my boy, restrain yourself.”

  The others closed in around us.

  They knew too.

  Blood leaked from between my fingers, nails biting into my palm.

  “I have never once led you astray, have I? Allow me to speak and I will explain everything,” said Mister Lichter.

  Teeth clenched I lowered my fist but did not uncoil it. I took a deep breath and the others relaxed slightly. Mister Lichter returned his grip on my shoulder and steered me toward the Topheth, speaking only to me.

  “Moloch was believed to be the sun god and so believers sacrificed children to idols such as this in hopes of renewing the strength of the sun fire. It is a barbaric form of theurgy when rooted in superstition rather than the Beyond Sciences. Fortunately we possess this…”

  He flashed me a glimpse of his journal before secreting it back into his pocket.

  “The codex is incomplete but my knowledge of the Praeter Scientia far exceeds their own. Ask Ryan and Erin what became of their first born child, go ahead,” urged Mister Lichter.

  I needn’t ask, Ryan volunteered the information proudly.

  “We offered the life of our son to the cause.”

  “Ask Mark what happened to his infant,” said Mister Lichter.

  “Where is she Mark?”

  “I rendered her immortal by passing her through the flames,” he said, refusing to meet my eyes. I guess he found his boots interesting at the time.

  “For the Aethereals to deem an offering sufficient it must be costly. It must be a sacrifice. A single child is not enough to summon one of the Liberator’s generals from the Aether but it will suffice to gain their favor. Penelope’s death will renew our commitment to the War in Heaven,” said Mister Lichter.

  “You want to be a part of this family. It’s all you talk about. You want to learn the Beyond Sciences and fight the Oppressor. This is the reason for Penny’s conception, this is her destiny. This is our destiny. You trust me don’t you?” said Becca.

  My beautiful little girl was finally quieting down as if she awaited the outcome of the discussion. I spent a lifetime failing to meet the expectations of those around me—my father, my coach, myself. I never felt more at home than I did amongst my adopted family. Could I disappoint them? Could I forsake Mister Lichter, the man who had saved me from myself? Could I defy the Liberator movement?

  Penny cooed, reaching out for me.

  Fuck the movement.

  “I’m leaving and Penny is coming with me. If you try to stop me I’ll —”

  That’s right around the time I blacked out.

  #

  I came to lying on my side, blurry eyed with sticky warmth puddling on the floor around my head. Tectonic plates shifted around inside my skull, unable to form a coherent thought. I made to probe what increasingly felt like a volcanic fissure in the back of my head but arms were leaden lumps. I shivered. Contact with the cool cement floor caused a breakout of goose bumps across my naked chest flesh.

  Where am I? What happened?

  “I told you he wouldn’t comply.” Ryan’s voice?

  “You didn’t need to crack his fucking skull open. He just needed more time, I could have persuaded him.” Becca? Why was she crying?

  “Brother Ryan acted in the best interest of the movement. Sister Rebecca please prepare the seed for sacrifice, the fire burns bright and the Aethereals shall not be denied their toll.” That’s Mister Lichter.

  The seed. Penny! They were going to hurt my daughter.

  “What do you want me to do with him?” Ryan again.

  “He showed such potential, it breaks my fragile heart. Take him outside and dispose of him Brother Ryan, and do hurry back,” said Mister Lichter.

  I blinked the film from my eyes and leveraged my head up. I needed to save her; I needed to save my little girl. I clawed forward, I crawled toward the strangers I called my family. I couldn’t climb to my feet to fight them but I’d bite their fucking legs off if I had to.

  “And so he rises. What a shame to have to miss the ritual. Say goodbye to Penelope, she goes on to serve a greater purpose. You, I’m afraid, will not,” spoke Mister Lichter devoid of empathy.

  Ryan walked over and delivered a kick to my midsection, and I crumpled inwards. He hit me until I stopped squirming as Becca sobbed. Ryan slung me over his shoulder in a fireman’s carry, no small feat given my height and weight. I watched the light from the warehouse fade as he lugged me back out into the rain, across the lot, and into the adjacent field. He plunged me into an overflowing drainage ditch, wrapping his hands around my neck and submerging my head below the water.

  The runoff invaded my throat but panic washed away the fugue. I knew what to do but I couldn’t do it while being drowned. He hoisted me back up and I coughed, gulping for air before he thrust me back under the current. Another minute and he pulled me back up.

  “Please,” I croaked.

  His response was to push me under the surface again. My hands warred with his but I couldn’t weaken his grasp. Understanding the futility of that tactic I let go and searched around me by touch. Near death my fingers brushed across a rock. My hand closed around the solid, smooth chunk of stone. I went limp.

/>   Sensing the end of my struggle Ryan held me under a few more seconds before dragging me up. I swung the rock with every last ounce of my strength, clipping him across the jaw and knocking out some of his teeth. Ryan sank to his knees and I kicked away, still spitting up water. I hit him once more for good measure and scaled the side of the ditch.

  He stood and unsheathed the knife he always carried on his belt but I had no intention of fighting on his terms.

  My mouth moved automatically, reciting unwords belonging to no language mankind has ever devised. There are loopholes in the universe to create the conditions necessary for lightning but it’s much easier to direct when nature has already performed all the hard work for you. My mind focused on the target and I called down a bolt of divine fury from above.

  The knife in Ryan’s hand and the water he stood in served as ideal conductors for the three hundred kilo volts of energy I sent coursing through his body, burning his skin, bursting his blood vessels, and sending his heart into cardiac arrest. The flash subsided, leaving behind only a corneal impression of Ryan’s corpse bobbing in the flow.

  And that’s why you don’t bring a knife to a magic fight.

  As far as I knew, none of them were aware that I had been studying the Beyond Sciences in secret, sneaking notes from Mister Lichter’s codex. We were forbidden from studying outside of his tutelage but the allure was too great, as was me desire to do them proud. I called down another bolt and harnessed it, the air crackling as electricity danced around my body. Energized, I ran for the warehouse, desperate to prevent the ritual from completion.

  I burst through the delivery entrance to see Penny in the Topheth’s hands, extended over the blazing brazier. Mister Lichter read from the codex as Mark pounded on a drum and Erin beat on a tambourine and Becca knelt before the fire. Penny’s shrieking ceased and I roared.

  They all turned to address me.

  “Kill him,” said Mister Lichter.

  Erin and Mark rushed to meet my charge while Becca hesitated, cheeks puffy and eyes red. I discharged a blast of electricity into Erin from a distance, flinging her back into the wall. I closed in on Mark, landing a jab to his midsection that unloaded the remaining charge and fried him on the stop. Mister Lichter watched this in amazement and I took advantage of his disbelief.

  I clocked him in the nose, spraying blood down his face and followed up with a knee to the stomach. I left him groaning on the cement and swooped up Penny from the glowing hot bronze. I clutched her to my chest and cried. Horrible burns covered her skin and her chest was unmoving, heart stilled. Tears cascaded down my cheeks as I looked down at the last expression of anguish frozen in her tiny features.

  Prostrate before the Topheth, Becca continued to cry. The hairs on the back of my neck prickled as Mister Lichter commenced speaking, reciting a passage from the codex. I snarled down at the snake of a man at my heels and kicked him in the mouth. Teeth and blood exploded from between his lips and I kicked him and stomped on him again and again until his jaw hung loose.

  Still he attempted to perform an incantation so I kicked him over onto his back, straddled his torso, pried his mouth open, and seized his tongue with one hand. Eyes wide, Mister Lichter could only watch as I tore the pink slug from his mouth. I stood and slung his tongue aside but my vengeance held little gratification. Penny’s life had been traded to earn the favor of the Aethereals.

  What is their favor worth?

  I looked at the carnage around me. Mister Lichter mewled, curled up in a ball on the floor, spitting up his own blood. The bodies of Mark and Erin still sizzled and smoked where they fell. And then there was Becca, the love of my life. I could not reconcile the mother of my daughter with this wretch. I wanted to console her. I wanted to scream at her until the sun consumed all of its fuel and collapsed in upon itself. And in the nightmare glow of the brazier I found my answer.

  What is their favor worth?

  Mister Lichter said the Aethereals aren’t finicky. He said that they improvise and make due. He said that for the Aethereals to deem an offering sufficient it must be costly. It must be a sacrifice. But would they accept one sacrifice in place of another?

  I picked up the blanket from where it was discarded on the ground and swaddled Penny in it before setting her down with a kiss on the forehead. I stole the codex from Mister Lichter’s pocket, taking the opportunity to rough him up a little extra in the process. I flipped through his notes until I found what I was looking for. I skimmed it once, twice, three times before I was certain enough to carry out my plan. I gave one final glance at the bundle of blankets to steel my nerves.

  I’ve failed everyone else in my life Penny, I won’t fail you.

  I grabbed Becca by the back of the neck and forced her head into the brazier. She tried to pull away but I was unyielding. I read from the codex as she screamed and spasmed. I concentrated on the scent of cooked flesh and burnt hair, blocking out the pain as the flames licked at the hand with which I held her. I finished reading, closed my eyes, and remembered.

  I remembered when we met and I realized there was something worth living for.

  I remembered kissing her, tasting the Chapstick she was so fond of.

  I remembered the way she fit in the crook of my arm when we slept.

  I remembered how she would snort when she found something extremely funny.

  I remembered how embarrassed she got when I pointed it out too.

  I remembered how she bit her lip when she told me the pregnancy test was positive and I remember holding her hand as she gave birth to our beautiful daughter and how quickly we agreed on a name for her and the sleepless nights we spent watching over her and…and…and…

  She had long grown silent when the pain grew too great. I withdrew from the fire to find my hand entirely intact. The same could not be said of Becca’s head, now charred beyond recognition. I shuddered and wept, ashamed of killing my best friend in the world. I looked into the blazing brazier for an answer to my call. In it I saw a face arranged in the black and red coals, looking staring back at me.

  The face made of embers winked.

  And then I heard Penny’s cry.

  Late Payment

  Jake Elliot

  Because the knife hadn’t tasted blood in over a decade, the blade still held a keen edge. Stewart Heldon Jr. had found the hunting knife in a forgotten box high upon a shelf in his parents’ garage. With a similar shape to the military’s Ka-Bar, Stewart’s blade shined with stainless steel. Substituting the synthetic no-slip grip, a reindeer’s antler had been fashioned into an ivory handle.

  Stewart’s father once hunted wildlife in the desert surrounding Needles, California. Before his dad met his mother, prior to the unexpected pregnancy that forced their casual fling into an abusive marriage, Stewart Senior sent several pheasants and rabbits to their afterlife via birdshot. His father’s knife had never been used ceremoniously, but tonight it would. The black pentagram staining the reflective blade had been drawn by Junior with a Marks-a-Lot.

  Junior’s penmanship was crisper than Clayton’s.

  Clayton “Red-Feather’ Mitchel was a half-blooded Hopi. His young mother escaped the reservation by catching the eye of a white man working for the railroads. Youthful sixteen effortlessly enchanted aging fifty. Married a day past eighteen, pregnant by nineteen, she was widowed by twenty. Red-Feather’s father slipped off a boxcar and fell beneath the rolling train. The young widow inherited her husband’s house and a pension that was too small to escape the life sentence named Needles.

  Still, Needles trumped living on the Res.

  Chief Red-Feather and Junior were best friends. If one found trouble, the other’s hand was in it too. In this forgotten corner of the California desert, there was only trouble to be found, and trouble bred like desert jackrabbits.

  Twenty minutes to the north waited the southern border of Nevada. Laughlin was the city on the Nevada side of the Colorado River, upon the Arizona side mirrored Bullhead City. Thirty minute
s south of Needles, Lake Havasu promised fun for the wealthy and privileged.

  Currently, both teens stood upon the concrete foundation beneath a train bridge spanning tracks over a dried riverbed. Night approached and the bats were fluttering through darkening skies. Indigo blue ruled overhead, but along the western edge of the world, a pink glow remained of the fallen sun.

  Chief was having trouble drawing a straight line. A soft wind teased the tips of his long ebon hair, lifting smoke from the joint held between lips and whirling it upward into his eyes. Red-Feather held a sealed freezer bag filled with a greasy salt-and-pepper powder. One corner had been cut off and the contents spilled out in dark clumps. The mixture was a combination of salt, ash, and gunpowder—representing water, air, earth and fire.

  Junior reached over and snatched the joint from between Chief’s lips and asked, “Dude, are you trying to burn us up?” Lifting the joint to his mouth, the ember came alive, popping and glowing as he pulled the harsh smoke into his lungs.

  Clayton’s steely black holes peered at Stewart, “If you burn-up all my smoke, I’ll fuck you up.”

  Junior grinned, suppressing the temptation to cough. Stewart croaked like a frog, “It’s your Ma’s weed. You can get more.” Blowing the large cloud at Clayton, Stewart said, “Hurry up with those lines and you can have your joint back.”

  So Clayton hurried, and got his joint back.

  Upon the cement slab, Clayton’s five lines connected at 36-degrees to form a black star. Stewart removed five black Halloween candles from his backpack and placed one upon each of the star’s points. Preparation for tonight’s ritual was nearly complete.

  Clayton handed Stewart a black book marked only by the Sigil of Baphomet—a twin star to the one Clayton drew, only baring the face of a goat within the pentacle. Chief fished a cigarette lighter from out of his back pocket and lit the candles counter-clockwise.