Mr. Hadley’s head moved. He was still alive… barely. I’d been wrong about the man. He’d never done anything to harm Cody or any of the kids at Saint Hedwig. And where were they? What had David and that sick priest done with them?
Marwick grabbed a scalpel and a pair of forceps from a table behind him. He placed the end of each in a smoldering pit of charcoals at the base of the altar. He waited several seconds before removing them and then approached Mr. Hadley. Without hesitation, he cut around the man’s left eye with the scalpel. Hadley screamed as the priest plucked the eye out with the forceps. The priest placed the eye on Cody’s chest and then returned to remove the director’s remaining eye.
I tried not to watch, but the chief grabbed my hair and forced me to face Marwick as he performed the grotesque surgery. Hadley didn’t scream that time. He only gasped for air as his entire body trembled. The priest placed the second eye on Cody’s bare chest and said, “Apud vos si peccati evellere.”
“If the eyes cause you to sin, then pluck them out,” David translated.
“In honorem Domini nostri participes simus communionis diaboli.”
“Let us partake in this communion in honor of our lord Satan.”
They each grabbed an eyeball, raised it above their heads and said in unison, “Domine Satanus, fac nobis sapientia et vita aeterna. Lord Satan, grant us wisdom and eternal life.”
I closed my eyes and turned my head as each man placed an eyeball in his mouth. When I heard the eyeballs pop, bile rose up from my stomach into my throat. My struggle to break free from the chair was pointless. I was stuck witnessing the monsters performing their satanic ritual.
“And now, we partake of the blood,” the priest announced and selected a small dagger from the table.
The chief explained, “Before we can offer our main sacrifice to Ba’al, we must cleanse ourselves by drinking the blood of a virgin saint.”
“I hope you choke on it, you sick fuck!” I cursed, and spit on the floor.
The chief smiled as he stepped around the altar to grab a gold chalice. He followed Marwick and stood in front of Mr. Hadley. The priest grabbed the hair on the back of the man’s head and pulled.
“In nomine Satanas est!”
The chief held the chalice against the director’s chest, while Marwick slit the man’s throat. Blood flowed from his gaping wound and filled the cup. The chief then carried the cup to me and held it to my face.
“Screw you! I’m not drinking that.”
The priest stood behind me, pulled my head back and pinched my nose until I opened my mouth to take a breath. David then poured Mr. Hadley’s spilled blood inside my mouth and closed it with his other hand.
“In nominae Satanae.”
I tried to spit out the blood, but with my mouth held shut, and my head tilted back, I could only resist for so long. I swallowed and coughed profusely after Marwick released his grip on me.
“In nominae Satanae,” the pair said in unison, before taking turns drinking from the chalice. The chief handed the empty chalice to the priest, who then rubbed a hyssop branch along the inside of the cup in order to collect the remaining blood. He repeated the phrase while sprinkling blood around the altar and onto Cody’s chest.
The chief grabbed the dagger that Marwick had used to kill Mr. Hadley, and set the blade in the smoldering coals.
“Don’t do this,” I said. “He’s just a kid.”
He glanced towards me, placed his hand on Cody’s chest, and pressed two fingers against the boy’s neck.
The priest pulled the dagger out of the coals. The tip of the blade glowed a bright yellow-orange. He carried the dagger back to the altar and announced, “And now we give the child the mark before offering his soul to Satan.”
He muttered something under his breath and pressed the tip of the hot blade into Cody’s chest. His flesh sizzled and burned as the priest cut an inverted pentagram into the boy’s chest.
I struggled to break free from the chair and yelled, “Stop this!”
The chief took up a large curved dagger with a silver hilt in the shape of a dragon. The blade was at least ten inches in length and three inches wide at the expanses of the curves. He presented the dagger with the blade resting flat on the palms of his hands and the hilt facing towards the priest. They exchanged blades, one of which went back into the pit of coals.
Marwick stepped back away from the altar while David placed small votive candles around Cody’s body. He took one of the candles burning on the altar and tilted it over the wicks of each candle, lighting them one by one. He mumbled gibberish while he lit the candles and set the lighting candle back in its original setting.
While the chief stepped away from the altar, the priest came forward, with the dagger resting in the palms of his hands. He closed his eyes and prayed. “Domine Satanus, rogamus, veniam delictorum puero huic.”
David translated, “Lord Satan, we ask your forgiveness for the transgressions of this child.”
“Eius delictum irascendum daemonium rex Ba’al et nunc ille cui maledixit hoc puero, diabolo somnum exterreri solebat et relaxavimus chimaera, ostendere iram.”
“His offense has angered the demon king Ba’al, and now he has cursed this boy with the devil’s nightmare and released the chimera to show his wrath.”
Suddenly, a gust of wind extinguished every candle in the chapel except those on the altar. Cody took in a deep raspy breath and opened his eyes.
“Stop this, David!” I said. “Can’t you see what you’re doing?”
Several windows on the sides of the chapel shattered as the storm intensified. Wind howled through the broken windows. Thunder exploded with force, shaking the walls of the building. The chandeliers swayed from the ceiling.
Marwick raised the dagger over his head with both hands in a horizontal position. He continued to pray with his eyes closed, “Ba’al Satanas in nomine domini, te rogamus acceptabis sacrificium puero hoc.”
“Ba’al, in the name of our lord Satan,” the chief continued to translate. “We ask for you to accept the sacrifice of this child.”
Cody turned his head and stared at me. Tears leaked from his eyes, and then he cracked his mouth open. While he lay still gazing into my eyes, I watched in awe as the boy rose and stepped towards me, while the priest continued to recite his ritualistic prayer.
Cody’s physical body was still on the altar while his doppelganger moved towards me. The boy didn’t have the same pentagram etched into his chest. Was it his spirit? Was Cody dead? Was he alive? Or was I hallucinating?
Cody’s spirit spoke, but without a voice. I tried to read his lips, but they formed words from another language. He placed his warm hand over my heart while Marwick, who held the dagger pointed downward towards Cody, did not move. He did not speak. He just stood there as time stopped all around me and the spirit spoke to me in a muted language.
“What’re you trying to tell me?”
The surreal encounter left me questioning my own sanity. Was I was even alive anymore? How else could I explain it? A warm presence filled me from head to toe, something I only recognized as peace. Yes, I was at peace. Anger, fear, and all other negative emotions had simply vanished.
Cody’s spirit grabbed my hand, which was somehow free from the restraints. He gently pulled me off the platform and led me away, but my body was still bound to the chair in front of the altar.
Cody’s apparition guided me around the platform and then pointed to a door.
“What’s behind that door?”
He released his grip and then disappeared in a pillar of flames.
“Wait! What am I supposed to—?”
“In nomine Satanas, potest anima Cody Sumner hospitentur in infernum!”
Shackled with handcuffs behind my back and bound to the chair again, I watched as the priest tightened his grip on the dagger. Flames from every candle around Cody’s body rose a foot and went out, leaving only the radiant glow of hot coals and the occasional flicker of light
ning to illuminate the chapel.
The chimera crashed through the large stained glass window behind the priest as he drove the dagger downward. The creature extended its claws and swiped at the man’s head, its attack swift and powerful. The priest’s decapitated head struck the pot of coals, knocking it over. Hot embers scattered onto the floor. The tapestry caught fire while the head rolled off the platform.
Cody gasped as the dagger penetrated his chest and Marwick’s headless body fell to the floor. The chimera stood on its hind legs, bellowed and brayed, while I cried out in horror.
The chief stumbled away from the altar and grabbed the shotgun from the front pew. He cocked it and yelled, “He’s dead, you damned beast!” He pointed to Cody’s body and stressed, “We sacrificed him to Ba’al, just as he instructed. You have no place here anymore. Return to hell where you belong!”
The chimera lowered its massive lion head over Cody and sniffed his body. It growled and showed its four-inch canine teeth as the chief stepped onto the platform in front of the altar. He pointed the shotgun at the creature just inches away from the lion head’s nostrils. The dragon and lion heads snorted while the ram head brayed. The cobra-tail lifted over the chimera’s back with its neck flattened and hissed. All of the chimera’s eyes focused on the chief and ignored my presence.
“Return to hell, where you belong! Revertere ad infernum, ubi est super vos!”
The tapestry at the rear left of the platform suddenly burst into flames. A loud clap of thunder reverberated off the remaining stained glass windows of the chapel. The chimera roared again and examined Cody’s body. The boy’s head moved. The fingers on his left hand twitched. He was alive!
The chief aimed the gun at Cody’s chest. The chimera stood back on its hind legs and bellowed a thunderous roar. Then, like a mother protecting her child, the chimera stretched one of its wings over Cody’s body and growled. The dragon head and ram head both snuffed in unison.
“Interesting,” the chief said. “There’s a bond between you two.”
I wriggled my wrists in an effort to free myself, but I knew better. The steel handcuffs wouldn’t budge. I then attempted to hop the chair away from the chief. I wanted to avoid getting caught up in the middle of the standoff between the two monsters. The dragon head turned towards me and snorted smoke out of its nostrils. I froze.
“I guess there’s only one alternative,” the chief said to the beast. He swung the barrel of the gun towards the lion head and pulled the trigger just inches from the creature’s left eye. A quarter of its head exploded into bits and pieces of flesh, fur, bone, and brain matter. The dragon head and ram head both screamed, the chimera’s legs buckled, and the beast fell to the ground with its wing still covering Cody.
The dragon snapped at the chief’s head, but missed. The chief blasted another buckshot at the dragon, hitting its neck, but its thick scales protected it from the force of the shot. Nonetheless, the beast pulled its head backward.
The chief cocked the gun and aimed at the dragon head. It hissed at him as he pulled the trigger. The gun did not fire. Panicked, he cocked the gun again. The chimera’s cobra-tail lunged forward, striking at the chief. The large fangs sank deep into his neck. As the chief stumbled backward, the snake struck again, biting him in the face.
Chief Hernandez dropped the gun and, holding his neck, stumbled off the platform. His neck and face swelled. He gasped for air. He then faced me and mouthed, “I’m sorry.”
I would have shown him my extended middle finger, but with shackled hands, I expressed the verbal version of my sentiment.
The dragon arched its neck back and sucked in a deep breath of air. The chief fell to his knees and lifted his arms out. Puss oozed from his swollen neck. His left eye swelled shut.
“Oh, crap!” I said, anticipating the next event.
I stood up with the chair and pushed myself away. The dragon breathed a hot streak of flames at my former longtime friend and Chief of Police. The intense heat vaporized his clothes, and cooked his flesh, creating a horrendous odor. His neck and face popped where the venom had caused the swelling. The chief’s flaming and blackened body fell backward. His head thumped onto the pew behind him. The dragon breathed more flames onto the ashen corpse and set the carpeted floor and wooden pews ablaze.
“Aaron!” Maria’s voice called out from the back of the chapel.
“Down here!”
The dragon cried out with the bray of its opposite ram head.
Maria screamed when she noticed the chimera.
“Forget about that thing! Just get me out of here!”
Maria approached the altar and untied the bindings that held me to the chair, keeping an eye on the chimera. Then she asked about the handcuffs.
“Check the deputy’s body. I saw a set of keys clipped to his belt.”
“You mean the—”
“Now’s not the time to get squeamish! This place is going to burn down around us soon. We need to get Cody and the other kids out of here!”
“Where is he?”
“Go! There’s no time!”
Maria ran out of the chapel and returned a couple of minutes later with a set of keys. She found the small handcuff key and removed my restraints. By then half of the chapel was on fire. Smoke had filled the room, but with several windows broken much of the smoke filtered outside. It helped, but I had started coughing badly. We needed to get out of there, and fast.
I covered my mouth with my shirt and checked Maria’s wound. “Are you okay?”
“It hurts, but I’m fine.” She coughed, and said, “What about the other children?”
“Check that door.” During my strange out of body experience, Cody’s apparition had pointed to the door to the left of the altar platform. “I think they’re in there.”
“Where’s Cody?”
I pointed at the chimera and stepped toward it. The dragon head followed my movements as I approached.
“Aaron, no!”
“It’s okay.” At least I hoped so. I stepped onto the platform and felt intense heat as the pews and carpet burned behind me. I yelled at Maria and pointed, “Go! I’ll be fine!”
Maria hurried towards the door while avoiding the flames that had spread onto the carpet.
The chimera’s traumatized lion head remained motionless with its forked tongue hanging out of an agape mouth. Why hadn’t it started to regenerate as it had before? An odd sense of remorse for the creature came over me as the dragon head let out a weak grumble. Maybe it was because of the way the chimera had protected Cody. Had it actually cared about his safety? Or was there something else?
The ram head brayed. The snake head tail flopped up and down. Then the wing that covered Cody moved. I stepped back as the creature uncovered the boy’s body. I examined the blade that protruded from his chest. If there was any good news, it was that the dagger had missed his heart. Cody’s bright blue eyes shifted and gazed at me. I wanted to remove the blade, but I knew that would kill him.
He needed a trauma specialist.
Cody’s mouth opened. A trickle of blood dripped down his chin.
“Don’t talk,” I said.
“I’m sorry, Aaron,” Cody spoke, his voice a low rasp.
“Hey, there’s nothing for you to be sorry about.”
“I’m dying,” the boy stated, his eyes moist.
The chimera’s ram head huffed.
“No, you’re not, Cody. I’m going to get you to a hospital.”
“It’s okay,” he said in a whisper and grasped my hand. He then focused his eyes on the chimera and said, “I can sleep now…”
The chimera’s body shifted and then the beast dragged itself towards the right side of the altar. The dragon head brushed me away with its snout and sniffed at Cody’s chest. The boy squeezed my hand and gazed at me with faint eyes.
Maria returned to the chapel carrying an unconscious young boy in her arms. “Aaron, I—”
The dragon head turned towards Maria’s direc
tion and hissed. I motioned for Maria to stop and back away as the flames in the chapel grew and the smoke thickened.
“The others?” I said, fearing the worst about the rest of the children.
Maria shook her head with dismay. I lowered my head and clenched my jaw at the thought of so many deaths in that godforsaken place. I kept my eyes on the chimera and placed my hand gently on Cody’s shoulder.
“Please, let him go.” My voice was barely audible over the storm, flames, and crackling wood.
The dragon’s eye shifted and its head slowly rotated in my direction. It snorted twice and glanced at the lifeless lion head, then at me, and then at Cody. What was it trying to tell me? It huffed and rubbed its snout against Cody’s head. The boy’s wide eyes rolled toward the dragon and then back toward me. The dragon brushed him toward me with its snout.
Cody gasped, his eyes rolling back. The chimera roared and brayed. It then breathed a cone of fire towards the ceiling. I lifted Cody carefully off the altar and carried him towards Maria. The dragon and ram head cried out a deafening roar and bray as Maria and I made our way out of the chapel, each carrying a child. The monster roared more, shooting flames all around the chapel.
From the safety of the front porch, I stopped for a moment and observed the divine fireworks show in the sky. The lightning behind the dark, circling clouds resembled a continuous series of exploding anti-aircraft munitions, but without the audio track. Instead of thunder, we heard the chimera and an old youth home going up in flames.
Maria and I rushed into the rain and moved as fast as our feet would carry us towards the deputy’s car. Maria placed the young boy into the front seat of the cruiser. She buckled him in and then helped me lay Cody onto the back seat.
“I’ll sit with him,” Maria advised. She stepped inside the car and rested Cody’s head on her lap.
“Be careful not to touch the dagger.”
“I know, Aaron! Just get us to the hospital.”
Devil's Nightmare (Devil's Nightmare, Book 1) Page 33