A Gathering of Crows

by Brian Keene

  “Holy shit,” Donny said.

  Marsha whimpered in agreement.

  The figure took form, rising to its full height. It was a man, dressed in black, archaic clothes that made Levi’s outfit seem positively risqué. Looking at the Puritan-style hat, cloak and garments, Levi was reminded of the “Terror of Salem”—the Reverend Cotton Mather, scientist, theologian and witch hunter. The man’s face seemed hidden in perpetual shadow. Only his cruel eyes and crueler mouth were clearly visible. The sight filled Levi with dread.

  So fast, Levi thought. It changed so quickly . . . What am I facing here? What are these things, Lord?

  Whatever its identity, this was no mere shape shifter. If a human being turned into a wolf or bird or anything else and then transformed back to their human form again, they’d have an aura. All living human beings had auras. Levi had been able to see auras since birth, and his father and grandfather had taught him how to read them when he was just a child. Just like snowflakes, no two auras were alike.

  Their colors varied, encompassing the entire spectrum. A trained eye could tell if a person was healthy or sick, happy or sad, just by noting the color of their aura. Different colors meant different things. Levi learned a lot about the man standing before them by reading his aura. It was black, just like the shadows concealing his face and the strange garb covering his body. Human auras were never black. That meant the man was something else.

  Something inhuman.

  That alone didn’t frighten Levi. He’d dealt with more than his fair share of supernatural entities over the years. Indeed, just two years before, he’d defeated Nodens, most powerful of the Thirteen, and stopped the beings’ attempt to breach the walls of this Earth and drown it in eternal darkness, snuffing out all life. Their battle had started with a confrontation much like this. Levi had encountered a seemingly human woman whose aura was black. While investigating, Levi had soon learned that the woman was nothing more than an empty shell. Her husk had been commandeered by Nodens. She was transport. Nothing more.

  The entity standing before him now was different. Levi probed silently, reaching out with his mind. Although the thing—because Levi could no longer think of it as a man—radiated evil and contempt, it wasn’t the encompassing, overwhelming nihilism projected by a deity like Nodens. This was a lesser adversary. An avatar, perhaps. A psychic projection. Maybe even a minor demon. But none of those would account for the level of chaos and destruction that had been visited upon Brinkley Springs. Such lesser supernatural beings would be incapable of such transgressions—at least, without being discovered. But then again, perhaps their actions had been discovered. Perhaps they had been noticed, and that was why he’d been placed here tonight.

  “You stink of magic.” The thing’s voice was a raspy, grating whisper, as if its throat were filled with gravel or dirt.

  “And you stink of blood and offal.”

  “Indeed. And now I’ll add yours to the stench, little thing, as well as the blood and innards of those behind you.”

  “You can try, but I warn you, these two are under my protection. You will fail.”

  “Don’t be ridiculous. You are weak. You may know the art, but that will not save you.”

  “That remains to be seen.” Levi struggled to keep his voice calm and his expression serene. “Tell me, whom do I have the honor of addressing?”

  “So polite, you are. I’m impressed. Most of these creatures have simply run away from me, or screamed or tried in vain to fight back, but you seek dialogue. You, sir, are a gentleman. Since you asked politely, My name is Samuel.”

  Levi paused. “Samuel?”

  The creature laughed. “You pitiful bag of meat. Of course my name isn’t Samuel. Did you actually think I would give you my real name?”

  “I suppose not, but it certainly never hurts to try.” Dispensing with the charade, Levi recited a passage from The Long Lost Friend, issuing a challenge of sorts. “Enoch and Elias, the two prophets, were never imprisoned, nor bound, nor beaten.”

  “Is that a fact?”

  Levi ignored the interruption. His voice rose to a shout as he continued. “Thus, no one of my enemies must be able to injure or attack me in my body or my life, in the name of God the Father—”

  “Don’t you mean God the Destroyer?”

  “—the Son, and the Holy Ghost. Ut nemo in sense tentat, descendere nemo. At precedenti spectatur mantica tergo.”

  The challenge completed, Levi’s shoulders went slack. He stood, panting, covered with sweat, and waited for the adversary’s reaction. When the reply came, it wasn’t at all what Levi had expected.

  “Are you quite finished, little magus?”

  Levi’s stomach fluttered. He suddenly felt very cold. The creature wasn’t evil—at least, not in an earthly sense. He had faced evil countless times. He’d seen its effects, the damage it caused. He’d seen evil reflected in both human and inhuman beings. This creature, while certainly evil in both its intent and the acts it committed, wasn’t an agent of hell, nor had it been spawned in one of the nether regions. If it had originated in the Pit or been satanic in origin, it would have reacted strongly—perhaps violently— to his challenge. The fact that it had merely taunted him told Levi that this was something else, something beyond the Judeo-Christian pantheon or any other of the world’s major religions. This wasn’t just evil. This was something much worse. Levi knew of only one pantheon that fit that description: the Thirteen, a race of beings that were neither gods nor demons, but holdovers from a universe that had existed long before this one. They were the ultimate in antiquity, older than the stars. Concepts like good and evil were beneath them, inconsequential, as was human life.

  Only one of the Thirteen would have reacted to Levi’s challenge as this being had. But that made no sense, either. Levi knew all of the Thirteen, and none of them matched this entity’s description. He quickly ticked them off in his mind. Ob, Ab and Api. Leviathan and Behemoth. Kandara. Meeble. Purturabo. Nodens. Shtar, Kat, Apu and—

  Levi heard footsteps sweeping through the grass behind him as Donny and Marsha slowly backed away.

  “Is there anything else you’d like to say?” The creature’s condescending tone dripped with impatience and boredom. “Anything at all that you’d like to add before I eviscerate you and decorate yon trees with your innards?”

  “Actually, yes there is. Donny? Marsha?”

  “Y-yeah?” Donny sounded as terrified as Levi felt.

  “Run!”

  The shadow surged forward, roaring. Marsha screamed. Levi took one step backward and then braced his feet, squaring off against the onrushing attacker. Meeting its furious stare, Levi kept his eyes wide. He did not blink. He did not dare. His heart pounded as he recited an enchantment to spellbind an enemy.

  “Thou horseman and footman,” he cried, making a motion with both hands. “You are coming apart under your hat. You are scattered. With the blood of the five holy wounds, I bind thee. In the name of the Father and the Son and the Holy Ghost, you are enchanted and bound.”

  “No, little magus, I am not.”

  Levi scampered backward, dismayed. In truth, he’d suspected the spell would be ineffectual against this enemy, but at the very least, it should have bought him some time. Even if only to flee. Like his challenge, the creature just ignored it.

  Its terrible mouth curled into a garish smile. “Now it is my turn. Your soul will feed me well.”

  “Levi!”

  The shout came from behind him—Donny’s voice. What were they still doing here? He’d told them to run. Not wanting to risk taking his eyes off his opponent, Levi yelled, “Get out of here. Please, you don’t—”

  The creature slashed at him with one hand, sprouting long, black talons from its fingertips as it struck. Levi grunted. The air rushed from his lungs as the sharp claws raked across his chest, shredding the fabric of his shirt. As they tore through his shirt pocket, one of the nails slid against Levi’s copy of The Long Lost Friend. There w
as a sharp, crackling sound, accompanied by a spark of blue-white light. The attacker yanked its hand away as if it had been shocked. Grinning, Levi breathed deep. The air smelled bitter and electric. He glanced down at his chest. The shirt was torn but his skin remained unbroken.

  The shadow-man growled. “How?”

  Still smiling, Levi patted his now-frayed pocket.

  “Whoever carries this book with him is safe from all enemies, visible or invisible; and whoever has this book with him cannot die without the—”

  The entity struck at him again, this time aiming its talons at Levi’s eyes. Levi side-stepped the charge and delivered an uppercut to the being’s abdomen. Pain raced up his arm, and his fist went numb. It was like punching a block of ice.

  “C-cold . . .”

  “Not nearly as cold as your corpse will be in death. And that is all that will exist of you—an empty husk of decaying flesh. And then, not even that. You will return to the dirt that spawned you. Your soul is mine to consume. You will not exist beyond this level.”

  “Well, you’ll have to succeed in striking me first, and I don’t intend to let that happen.”

  They stepped away from each other. Levi panted for breath. His adversary scowled, clearly unhappy with the stalemate.

  “I order you to leave this place,” Levi said.

  “You order me to do nothing, bearded one. My brothers and I will deal with you later. For now, I am content to turn my attention to your companions, instead.”

  The thing rushed past Levi, unleashing a powerful swipe with its forearm. The blow didn’t connect, but Levi stumbled backward anyway, more from instinct than fear. The entity raced past him and charged toward Donny and Marsha, who were still standing at the edge of the yard, seemingly mesmerized by the battle.

  Levi steadied himself and pointed his right index finger at the creature. Winded and half-nauseous from the adrenalin surging through his body, he took a deep breath and closed his eyes. His finger wavered in the air. His arm shook.

  Marsha shrieked.

  “Get the fuck back,” Donny shouted. “What are you doing? Get out of there.”

  Levi opened his eyes again, and in a calm, clear voice, said, “Hbbi Massa danti Lantien.”

  The entity slowed, as if running through wet cement. It glanced over his shoulder at Levi.

  “What is this?”

  “Me, going to work.” The trembling in Levi’s fingerbecame more pronounced.

  Donny grabbed Marsha’s arm. “Come on. Let’s go while we can.”

  “No.” She pulled away from him. “We’re not leaving anybody else. Not again.”

  “Marsha—”

  “I said no, goddamn it!”

  The man in black turned back to them and slogged forward. It hunched over, grunting with effort, clearly exerting itself with each step.

  Levi took another deep breath. With his finger still upraised, he exhaled.

  “I, Levi Stoltzfus, son of Amos Stoltzfus, breathe upon you. Three drops of blood I take from you. The first from your heart. The second from your liver. The third from your vital powers. In this, I deprive you of your strength and vitality. Now crawl on the ground like the worm you are. You’ll raise no hand against us.”

  The enemy collapsed on its belly, indignant with rage. It thrashed on the wet grass, but its movements were slow and lethargic.

  “That will slow him down,” Levi yelled at Donny and Marsha, “but it won’t last long, and it cost me something. Go. Go now!”

  “What about you?” Marsha asked.

  “I’ll be fine. Like I said before, I’ve had experience in these matters.”

  Donny grabbed Marsha’s arm again and pulled, leading her away. Levi saw them both glance over their shoulders as they cut across the neighboring backyard and disappeared into the darkness. Then he was alone with the thing.

  “Now,” he said, his smile returning, “where were we? I believe you said something about taking my soul?”

  “I’ll devour it,” the creature groaned. “If not me, then one of my brethren.”

  “Tell me about them.”

  “Surely you jest. You have given me your name, and you have not the sigil nor the power to make me talk.”

  Levi sighed. “Fine. We’ll do this the hard way, then. Dullix, ix, ux.”

  Powwow hadn’t worked against this being, and the charm to still-bind it, while effective, was already weakening—otherwise it wouldn’t have been able to thrash and roll about. Levi racked his memory, searching for something that might work. Making sure he remained out of the thing’s reach, Levi quickly tried several different spells and charms, running the gamut from snippets of the traditional Catholic Rite of Exorcism to obscure Haitian voodoo recitations, Enochian chants and various rites of the Golden Dawn. All were ineffective.

  “Is that your best, little magus? You are well versed in the art. Of that I can attest. But still, you are weak. Weak!”

  The creature’s movements increased. It flopped back and forth like a fish on dry land, struggling to sit up. Levi grew desperate. There was no time to create a binding circle or to invoke the Greater Banishing Ritual of the Pentagram, although Levi had his doubts now that even that would work against this enemy. Nor did he have time to construct a spirit trap. Even if he’d had time, he didn’t have a luminol light or anything else that he could use to force the entity into the trap. And again, he wasn’t sure that would work, either. Spirit traps were only useful against incorporeal spirits, and whatever this thing was, it had certainly felt corporeal enough when he’d punched it in the stomach.

  The entity lifted its head free of the ground, looked up at him and smiled. “Soon, bearded one. Soon.”

  Levi nodded. “I’d prefer later, if you don’t mind. We’ll get together and do lunch.”

  Turning, Levi fled in the same direction Donny and Marsha had gone. His enemy’s laughter followed him. Levi cringed at the sound. His ears burned with shame and embarrassment.

  “You have given me your name,” the dark figure called.

  As he ran past the church where he’d tried to communicate with the spirit of the dead man, Levi noticed that the corpse was no longer there. The chalk outlines and the bloodstains were still present, but where the body had been, there was now just a small pile of ashes. The dog’s corpse, which he’d left impaled on the wrought-iron fence, was gone, too. More ashes sprinkled the ground beneath where it had dangled.

  Nothing left, Levi thought. They’re consuming souls, and their victims are reduced to dust within hours. No decay. No decomposition. They just turn to nothingness. This is bad magic. This is very bad magic, indeed.

  He found Donny and Marsha easily enough. They’d made no effort to hide the signs of their passage. Both were breathing hard. Their footfalls slapped the pavement as they dashed across the street. Levi caught up with them on the other side, just as they were ducking behind a vacant apartment building.

  “Wait.”

  Donny spun around, fists raised, his jaw twitching.

  When he saw that it was Levi, his shoulders went slack.

  “Holy shit! We thought for sure you were dead.”

  “Not yet.” Levi wiped the sweat from his brow with his ripped shirttail. “I appreciate the two of you sticking around back there, but I really wish you hadn’t. You could have been killed.”

  “What the hell happened back there, anyway?”

  Donny asked. “What are these things?”

  “I don’t know yet.”

  “I thought you said this was your job? That you deal with things like this?”

  “It is my job. I’ve just never dealt with something like this—or at least, something in this particular form.”

  Donny frowned. “What’s that supposed to mean?”

  “It means I have an idea—a few ideas, actually—of what we might be facing here, but I’m still not one hundred percent sure. I need to do more, in order to be positive. I need to see more.”

  “Why?”


  “Because I need to learn their identity. Until I do that, I’m afraid I can’t fight them.”

  Marsha paled. “Then what are you going to do?”

  “Get the two of you to safety first. I can do that much, at least. After that . . .”

  Donny nodded. “Yeah?”

  “After that,” Levi repeated, “then I guess I’ll have to face them again. And this time, alone.”

  “Are you crazy? I watched that fight back there. He nearly punched your head off.”

  “But he didn’t. He wanted to, but if you remember correctly, his blows didn’t actually connect with me.”

  “I noticed that,” Marsha said, nodding. “He clawed your shirt. How is it that he didn’t cut you?”

  “You wearing body armor?” Donny asked.

  “No.” Levi smiled slightly. “He couldn’t hurt me because I carry something on my person that prevents attacks like that. Something much better than body armor. His claws cut my clothing, but they were ineffective on my body.”

  “Even so,” Donny said, “you might not get so lucky a second time. You go back, then I’m going with you.”

  Levi shook his head. “I’m afraid that’s out of the question. I told you, I have to face them alone.”

  “I can’t let you do that.”

  “You don’t have a choice. I’m going to make sure the two of you are hidden away. I’ll provide you some safeguards that should prove effective. But then I’m going back out again, and you’re not coming with me. Your responsibility is to your girlfriend here.”

  “I’m not his girlfriend,” Marsha said, glancing at Donny.

  “Oh. I’m sorry. The two of you seemed so close, I just assumed.”

  “She’s . . .” Donny paused, floundering for words.

  “I just don’t—”

  A crow screeched overhead. All three of them jumped.