Witches of Dark Rock

by Tim Miller

  Whatever it was, he wanted it gone. Needed it gone. Maybe those witches knew some magical spell that would heal him. The mere thought of talking to those women terrified him. The bible was clear on resorting to witchcraft. But he’d never known a preacher run out of town for dabbling in the occult. No sir. Having gay sex? That was the fastest way to being blackballed by your entire community.

  He stood and walked back out to the living room where Gladys was passed out in front of the TV. Kneeling down next to her, he slid her feet onto the couch, removed her shoes, and put a blanket over her. Once she was tucked in, he headed out to his car and toward Regina’s house. Upon his arrival, the house was dark.

  “Dammit!” he said to himself. The one time he wished they’d be there and they weren’t. This whole idea was insane, but he couldn’t keep on this path. Eventually he’d be found out. With each rendezvous he had, he knew he was one step closer to being found out. What if Kyle got angry and decided to blab? No, at this point no measure was too much. Whatever he could do to make himself stop, even if it was making a deal with the devil, God would understand. He demands obedience. The Lord would be pleased he was putting forth such an effort to purge his life of this abomination.

  He sat outside the house for a few minutes, but became impatient. After twenty minutes, he turned off the car and walked to the house. Using his Leatherman, he picked the lock once again and headed inside. It looked much cleaner since he’d last seen it. All the boxes were unpacked and things were set up and put away.

  Going through the house, he wasn’t even sure why he was in there. He walked up the stairs and found the room where he knocked over their little altar thingy last time. It had been set back up with the large pentagram on the center of the floor with candles all around it. There were book shelves along the walls.

  He walked over and scanned the books. Many of them looked extremely old. Some of them were in other languages, most were in English. He pulled one down and flipped through it. The book was heavy and leather bound. Merle’s grandmother used to collect old books. This one was probably worth a ton. Looking through it, it was some kind of spell book. There spells there on fertility, protection, harvests, and even love spells.

  Merle replaced the book and took out another. He flipped through several books before he found one. This one was a spell on removing curses. That was it. There were several different ones. Apparently the type of spell varied on the power of the curse. The one toward the back had the word CAUTION written just above it. But there was no other information. That had to be the one.

  He read through it. The top listed things he would need. He grabbed one of the candles and lit it. Once that was complete, he removed his shirt and stood in the center of the pentagram with the candle burning at his feet. As he read, he removed his Leatherman and unfolded a knife blade. He made a long cut along his forearm. It was deep enough to draw blood, but not deep enough to do any real damage. He cringed as the pain of the cut intensified. Once that was done, he dropped the knife and began reading the spell out loud.

  It was long and some of the words were in another language, so he did the best pronunciation he could. As he read, holding the book with one hand, he held his other arm down, letting the blood drip into the candle. The flame sizzled with each drop. He continued reading out loud until he got to the last part. At that section it was a chant. It said to repeat it over and over until the spirits revealed themselves to lift the curse.

  Merle did as it instructed. As he red, the candle began to flicker. The flame grew from a small candle flame into a longer blaze. Soon it overtook the candle, rising higher and higher, yet was giving off very little actual heat. The flame was burning at his waist level when red smoke began to rise. The smoke smelled like sulfur burning his nostrils. He coughed as his eyes watered while the smoke filled the room.

  He dropped to his knees as the cough got worse. The smoke swirled around until it began to take shape. The form resembled some kind of beast. It was a large beast that filled up the room and stood before him. Merle cowered at the site of the hideous thing. It looked like a giant, but hairless ape. Its head touched the ceiling, but it was bent at the shoulders. Its skin was loose and saggy, hanging off its body as the things eyes burned red hot.

  “Why have you awakened me?” the thing said in a deep, guttural voice. The floor shook as the creature spoke.

  “I—I didn’t mean to awake anyone. I was trying to lift my curse.”

  “Curse? You are not cursed you fool!”

  “What? I...what are you?” Merle’s mind was racing as the thing glared at him with a type of hate he never knew existed. Deep down, he didn’t actually think anything would happen. If it did, he didn’t expect he’d have summoned a demon. He scooted himself backward as the thing shuffled toward him.

  “I am the Devil, and you are a cockroach!” the thing yelled. The sound sent a shiver through Merle’s whole body. He decided he had either lost his mind or he was in some real trouble. Fighting his urge to freeze out of fear, he turned and lunged at the window behind him. The fall could kill him if he landed wrong, or at worst, mess him up real badly.

  He crashed through the glass but landed on the roof just beneath it, rolled to the end and toppled off, landing face first in the grass. The fall knocked the wind out of him, but he couldn’t let it slow him down. He climbed to his feet and ran to his car. Just above, he heard a roar followed by a crash as the thing busted out of the house, through the wall and jumped to the ground landing on its feet. Merle sprinted to his car, climbed in and started the engine. As he peeled away, the creature was getting smaller in his rearview mirror. He was so happy to get away alive, he didn’t give much thought to what he had just unleashed.

  Chapter 17

  Regina sat in the truck as they headed back to the house. She was trying to process all the things she’d seen so far tonight. It was a lot to take in. Ever since she met Angela her sophomore year of college, she’d known there was more to the world than things she could see or touch, but had never experienced it firsthand. At least not at this magnitude.

  Angela had owned a local new age book store. Well, bookstore was a strong word. She had books there. There were also candles, herbs, and other things used in the craft. Regina had stumbled in there one day with a group of friends just out of curiosity. In Regina’s upbringing, such places were considered dens of Satan.

  However, she had been taken by Angela immediately. She was very kind and soft spoken. The way she answered her questions and offered encouragement was something Regina had never experienced. She was like a mom and big sister at the same time. Regina’s friends hadn’t been impressed, but Regina came by several times to hang out with Angela. Angela had taken her under her wing.

  Regina learned all about spells and the ethics of being a witch. She learned the difference between being a witch, and Wicca. Though many mistake the two, a Wiccan is simply someone who believes in or follows deities. Witches practice spells, potions, rituals and so forth, but one does not have to follow or worship any deity to become a witch. That said it is possible to be a witch and a Wiccan, although Angela was simply a practicing witch.

  So she taught Regina as much as Regina could handle. It became an obsession with her. For the first time in her life, she felt she belonged somewhere and had met someone who finally got her. Most of the spells she had done were fairly simple. She had seen results, though nothing was earth shattering. A skeptic could argue that it wasn’t even magic. That was before tonight.

  They were a few blocks from the house when a set of headlights came at them, on the wrong side of the road. Angela swerved as the car clipped the side of the truck causing them both to fishtail. The truck spun out as it screeched to a halt. Regina and Summer bounced around inside the cab of the truck as it came to a stop. Regina climbed out to see Reverend Bannerman’s Cadillac on the other side of the street as he frantically tried to start it.

  Regina ran over and kicked the driver’s door. The kick
startled him, causing him to jump and drop his keys. The horror on his face wasn’t from her kicking the door.

  “Are you out of your goddamn mind?” she screamed. “You almost killed us!”

  “I’m sorry!” he said climbing out of the car. For some reason, he had no shirt on and his left arm was bleeding. His face was covered in cuts as well.

  “I was at your house, looking for you all. I need your help. I did something bad. Really bad,” he said.

  “What? Need our help? You almost had us fucking burned alive you self-righteous asshole. Why would we help you?” Regina said. Before he could reply, there was a roar just down the street. It didn’t sound like any human or animal any of them had heard before.

  “That’s why,” Merle said.

  “Great, get in,” Angela said. “You hop in back preacher. Let’s get away from here.”

  The thing roared again, this time even louder. It was the worst thing Regina had ever heard. She hurried to the truck and climbed in as Angela turned it around and sped away.

  “Where are we going?” Summer asked.

  “Hell if I know. Can’t go back home thanks to John Hagee Jr. back there.” Regina reached back and slid the back window open as Merle leaned in.

  “What the hell did you do?” she asked.

  “I—I needed your help. I have something wrong with me.”

  “That’s no shit,” Summer said. Angela flicked the side of her head as she spoke.

  “Help with what? Finding some reason to have us burned?”

  “Look! I’m sorry about that. Ok? I was just trying to rile people up a bit. Scare them into coming in on Sundays. I didn’t think they’d run out and start a lynch mob.”

  “What do you think people do to witches when they’re scared, Reverend?” Angela asked.

  “Yeah, I know.”

  “So what is wrong? We’re here now. Tell me everything.”

  He hesitated as he’d rarely spoken about his attraction to men with anyone. Finally he opened up and told them everything. He explained his lust for men, the problems with his wife and how she humiliates him and his fear of being run out of the church and out of town. Admitting to them he’d broken into their home and tried one of their spells had been the hard part.

  “I fucking knew you broke into our house. You’re a sick fucking creeper. At least I know you weren’t trying to rape us,” Summer yelled.

  “I know. I deserve that. I’m sorry. I just...I don’t know what else to do to stop this.”

  “You could stop living a lie for one,” Regina said. “I mean. There’s nothing wrong with being gay. It’s who you are.”

  “No,” he shook his head. “It’s a sin. It’s an abomination.”

  “Well keep thinking that. It’s worked so well for you so far.”

  “Which spell did you use? From which book? Do you remember?” Angela asked.

  “It was one to remove curses, in one of the big leather books. The spell said CAUTION at the top in big letters,” he said.

  “Great. You summoned a sentinel.”

  “A what?”

  “A sentinel. That spell is to remove curses, but annihilating an entire population who is cursing or persecuting you. Often the person who does the summoning is destroyed too. The sentinels do not discriminate. They exist for one reason and one reason only; to kill.”

  “Oh God. What have I done? Can you stop it?”

  “Maybe you should do an exorcism,” Summer chided.

  “I don’t know. I’ve never actually seen one before. To be honest, last time I know of one being summoned was in the 1600’s.”

  “Really? How’d they get rid of it?”

  “They didn’t. It killed everyone in the village and went back to its realm.”

  “Oh God,” Merle said, this time he started crying. Regina rolled her eyes at him. It was odd how this man who, growing up, seemed to her all holy, godly, and powerful was now a crying and blubbering mess.

  “Pull yourself together,” Angela said. As they drove on, there was an explosion just to the west. Looking that direction, a large ball of fire lit up the night sky.

  “That’s where the grocery store is,” Merle said. “What the hell? Is that the sentinel you think?”

  “No. That’s Zachary. Sort of another problem,” Angela said. “This is going to be a long night.”

  Chapter 18

  Barry had just gotten settled in when the call went out. There was a fire at the grocery store with several subjects still inside. He normally didn’t respond to fire calls, but the dispatcher called him at home personally and told him he needed to get down there. Once he did, he immediately wished he hadn’t.

  The entire building was burned to the ground. There had been an explosion earlier. He saw and heard it on his way in. Since then, it had almost burned itself out. As the firefighters put out the remaining flames, several of them began to make their way through the rubble. Immediately Barry saw how bad it was. The building was a total loss that was for sure. But once inside, there were human remains everywhere.

  Numerous bones and bodies were piled up near the exit as if they had all been trapped. Their mouths agape in permanent screams. Throughout the store’s remains, bodies lie everywhere. One looked like the burnt skeleton of a mother holding an infant. There were dozens of children’s bodies strewn about among the adults. Barry couldn’t take much more. Even in his years in the city he’d never seen anything like this. As he made his way out of the rubble, the fire inspector approached him.

  “What’ve you got for me, Ed?” Barry asked Ed Clayton, the town’s fire inspector.

  “I want to say arson. But I can’t figure out a cause. Like, there is no accelerant, nothing here that would have started a fire. But there is no single flash point where the fire would have begun. Like it’s all over.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “If you look over some of the bodies, the ones that are more intact, it’s like they were each individually ignited.”

  “Jesus Christ. Is that even possible?”

  “Apparently so.”

  “What the hell?” Barry said, as he looked around at the light posts in the parking lot. Several had cameras mounted.

  “Do those feed anywhere?” Barry asked, pointing to a camera.

  “I’m sure they do.”

  “Find out where and get it to me. I’m sure they picked up something.” Barry walked back to his car and sat in it before driving away. He wasn’t sure what was going on in his little town. First there were these bizarre murders. Now this. He had no idea what the death toll at the grocery store would be. It was going to be at least a hundred, maybe more. It was mostly women and children. He was positive he knew most of those folks. He took out his cell phone and called dispatch.

  “Iris, hey it’s Barry. Can you do me a favor and call the Texas Rangers? Tell them we need someone ASAP. This is way out of our league here.”

  “Oh my God. Is it that bad?” she asked.

  “It looks like arson, but it’s bizarre. There are at least one hundred dead. I think it might be related to the other murders we had.”

  “Why do you think that?”

  “I’m not sure. Something feels off about both of them.”

  “You think it’s those wicked witches?”

  “I doubt it. They’re locked up at the station. I’m headed back that way now. Please call them for me? I’ll keep you posted,” he said as he hung up. Once he put the phone away, he drove back to the station. It would be a good time to talk to those girls, see if they have any idea what might be going on. Maybe they conjured something evil. The thought itself sounded ridiculous but at this point he couldn’t rule anything out.

  Once he walked into the office, he heard someone calling out from the holding cell.

  “Chief! Hey Chief! Can you let me out?” the man said. Barry stopped and looked. It was Billy Cortez locked in the cell.

  “Billy?” he asked as he walked to the cell door. “What in the hell
are you doing in there?”

  “Them witches locked me in here,” he said.

  “What? How? How’d they get out?”

  “I sorta let ‘em out.”

  “Why the hell did you let them out? They’re murder suspects.”

  “Well. They told me to,” Billy said.

  “Who gives a shit what they told you? They’re prisoners.”

  “I dunno. It’s hard to explain. Like, I couldn’t refuse for some reason.”

  “Jesus Christ.”

  Barry unlocked the door, letting Billy out.

  “Any idea where they went at least?” Barry asked.

  “No, but I’m pretty sure they took my truck.”

  Barry sat down and put his face in his hands. This small town police chief gig was supposed to be a cushy, post-retirement job. Now it had become one of the most horrific cases he’d ever seen.

  Chapter 19

  Luke Hills put on his security guard uniform in preparation for his evening shift. He’d been working night security at the warehouse for over a year now. It was one of the easier gigs he’d ever landed. The pay wasn’t great, but all he had to do was putter around on a golf cart at night and watch DVDs. That is provided he could stay awake.

  Once the uniform was on, he pulled on his boots and laced them up. A strange noise came from outside grabbing his attention. It sounded like a roar of some kind. Was that a bear? Were there even bears in this part of the state? He sat and listened, but there was nothing. Maybe it had been his imagination. Luke finished getting his boots on and grabbed his backpack.

  As he was headed for the door, he heard it again. This time it was much louder and came from the back yard. His home was a duplex that shared a yard with his neighbor, Mrs. Jackson, lived there. She’d moved in when her husband died a few months ago. They never spoke much, but she occasionally was out walking her little dog in the back yard.