Bart took Kat’s arms and turned her to face him. “You can’t share any of this with Wendy. It’s still an investigation.”
“She needs to know, Bart.”
“She does, but not until we can get this settled.”
“I don’t know how to avoid the conversation.”
“Yes, you do. You can tell her we are holding Mandy for now, and she can visit her in jail. That’s all.”
“Okay.”
The ting-a-ling of the station’s door announced a visitor. Kat pushed through the metal door.
Horace Stoddard raced through the reception gate. “Every building in Old Town is bleeding.”
Ken strolled to Kat’s desk. “Say again?”
“I said those buildings are bleeding. Amos Thralling was walking back home from the river and saw balls of light hanging over Old Town, and told me all the buildings were covered in a dark red paint. I didn’t believe him, so I went and looked myself. It’s dark red alright, but it’s not paint. There’s a thick red liquid oozing from the roof and running down the walls. If that’s not enough, there’s ochre-yellow balls of fire hanging over every building.”
Dayton shook his head. “I’ll say it again. This town is under some kind of mass hallucination.”
“You can call it what you like, Dayton. We just call it another day in the Cove.”
“Where is Pet?” Iconoclast’s roar shook the mansion’s attic.
“I am not his keeper,” Atramentous replied.
“If you want to stay in this world, you’ll find him, and find him now!”
“I’m right here.” A birch-bark snowshoe, with purple and black sinews dissolved into a black mist. The small demon walked through the veil and stood facing Iconoclast.
“Why do you test me so?”
Pet rolled himself into a black and purple ball. “Because I can,” he hummed.
Iconoclast grasped the small ornament and turned to his captains. “Pet has done more in my absence to prepare for battle than any of you. Explain it to me.”
Pet buzzed with pride. “Yes, explain it to him.”
“He has proven himself worthy.” Atramentous growled.
A misty cyclone blew into the attic. Bruitt bowed, “The girl was easy. A few whispers and her hatred peaked. She is alone and vulnerable.”
“Then why are you here? Take her completely.”
Bruit bowed again and shot through the roof.
“Find the Gorgon,” Iconoclast spat at Atramentous.
“The rest of you bring me that troublesome clan of Kumrande.” Hurricane force winds from the demons’ wings forced the crimson drips on the attic walls to the ceiling.
Iconoclast uncurled his fist. “While they find the Kumrande, you and I will scour the deep forest and find the old hag.”
“Oh, a hag hunt! How fun!”
“It is not all about fun and mischief, Pet. Will you ever learn?”
“I hope not. Why else would I cause the mayhem I do?”
“If you did not serve the purpose you do, I would send you to the abyss myself and chain you there.”
Pet hummed a mean tune. “How are the great ones?”
“Other than me?”
“Of course, you are the second greatest in our realm. But the others?”
“They are tormented and gnaw for release. It is what we are doing here.”
“You are here only to contain Gorgon!”
“I am here to contain Gorgon, and I will. Then I will take what is mine and release my brothers.” Iconoclast soared to the small cabin and walked through the wall. A circular ball floated in the fireplace. “Show yourself now.”
“I am Madame Piquant.” The ball of light danced to the floor beside a hollowed-out bowl of birch wood and a cane topped by a silver wolf’s head. The shining orb dissolved. A young blonde stood before Iconoclast.
“Who commands me to show myself?” She picked up the cane and leveled it at Iconoclast. Red light shot from the wolf’s eyes.
Iconoclast caught the scarlet light and rolled it into a ball. He hurled the sphere back at the spirit.
Ivy June Coistrell burst into flames.
“I am your master! Bow before me.”
The ghost crumpled to the ground.
“Much better.” Iconoclast pushed the cane into the fireplace.
“What do you want of me?” she seethed into the floorboards.
“I want to know where Gorgon resides.”
“She does not tell me her living place. She only commands I follow her. And I follow her willingly.”
Iconoclast pushed his foot into Ivy June’s back and forced her face against the floor. A red bolt of lightning arched above the spirit and then plummeted into her core.
The hag writhed in the unearthly flames.“I hate you,” she spat.
“As you should.” Iconoclast pressed the razor-sharp toenail into her spine.
The spirit screamed, “Forgive me!”
“Now, who do you serve?”
“You. You are my master,” she answered.
Iconoclast lifted his foot. “If I could take your pain and feed on it I would, you putrid spirit. But it has already been done. Now where is Gorgon?”
“She resides in a place no one can find her. She has forbidden any of her followers to look for her. I tell the truth!”
“Call the others to you. Now.”
A deathly shriek escaped the spirit’s lips. Grady Spawldine dropped through the ceiling, a jagged-edged dagger in his hand.
“Do not attack him. He is from the one over all hell.”
“I don’t care who you are, I answer to Gorgon.” Grady lunged. The knife pulled free from Grady’s hand, spun in the air, and blasted through his semitransparent body. Spawldine fell to the ground.
“If you do not do as I say, I can make sure you relive this pain throughout eternity.”
“You are the one about whom Gorgon speaks!” Grady said.
“I am also the one who took your grandmother’s soul and sent her to your side while you lay dying.”
Grady trembled at the memory of his last moments as a human. His grandmother appeared to him and pressed her hand into his chest, smiling the evil smile she had been so famous for in her lifetime. “You are dead, Graduate Spawldine,” she had said before he drifted into blackness.
He had awoken sometime later, hungry. An insatiable hunger which could not be satisfied.
“If eternal pain doesn’t concern you, then I can bring your grandmother here to feast on your measly energy. Tell me where Gorgon resides.”
“I do not know.”
“I do not believe you.” Light jumped from Iconoclast’s fingers and surrounded the man. It became small daggers of red and dug into the silhouette from all directions. His shrieks filled the air.
Carson Watermill shot downward through the roof.
“Glad you could join us. Bind them.” Pet threw purple and black tendrils outward and caught them in the sticky ropes.
Spawldine shrieked curses at Iconoclast. Iconoclast moved a hand. A black and red web sewed itself to his lips.
Iconoclast whirled on Carson Watermill. “You released the Gorgon.”
“She was part of my heritage.”
“She was part of your curse, you fool! Now you are mine forever. Because you have been given to me, you obey me. Where is she?”
“I am only yours for now. She will destroy you.”
“She will try.”
“Where is she?”
“At the bridge—a few feet from where you took my life.”
“Okay, so Amos and Horace weren’t exaggerating.” Ken took in the buildings of Old Town. A sticky brown liquid streamed down the walls of the mansion, cannery, and cabin. Once on the ground, it inched into quartz courtyard.
“I could have gone a lifetime without seeing those things glowing again.” Bart pointed to the shimmering eyes of the rusty-brown skull.
“I accept it. We are never destined for a normal life.” K
en said aloud—to God more than those around him.
“What do you consider normal?” Josiah asked.
“Some are called to fight the good fight, Kenneth. Why do you think you were so drawn to law enforcement?” Grandma Bricken asked.
“You do not need to be here—I do not need you here. Go home,” Bart scolded.
“We are called here.”
“Me too.” Paul joined them.
“What’s going on? How did all of you get here so fast?” Detective Dayton asked.
“Funny thing about Ravens Cove. When it’s under attack, certain people become psychic—for lack of a better term.”
“Psychic?” Dayton replied.
“Only seems to happen when we are in a spiritual battle. Most of the time, the town’s pretty normal—and quiet.”
“A spiritual battle?”
“I know I sound crazy. If you have the gumption, stick around. It’s going to get interesting and possibly deadly before this is over.”
“It’s already been deadly.”
“You haven’t seen anything yet.” Bart thought back on the bodies he had seen at Old Town before they were taken by God’s angels and buried.
“The battle is not to be here,” Josiah said. “There is an old bridge. It is close to the mouth of the river.”
“You’re kidding right? It won’t hold a mosquito, much less a person.”
Alese Bricken smacked her cane into the sidewalk. “We both received a vision of a battle at the footbridge.”
“So did I,” Paul added.
Bart brought his hands to his face. Make this stop. Old people and battles. Why my town?
“What better place than your town?” Josiah responded.
“You have got to stop doing that.” It shook Bart to his core when Josiah answered unspoken thoughts.
Kat jogged up to Bart. “Thank God I found you! Mandy’s lost it! She’s in the corner of the cell babbling and pulling out clumps of her hair.” Kat looked at the bleeding buildings. “Oh, not good.”
“Understatement,” Dayton said.
“No kidding.” She turned back to Bart and Ken. “She’s spewing obscenities and calling God’s Holy Spirit horrible things.”
Paul looked Kat in the eye. “She’s what?”
“You heard me. I don’t want to repeat her exact words.”
“And you should never. I’m going to the station.” Paul turned and walked off.
“He shouldn’t be alone,” Ken said.
Bart sighed, “Guess we are all going to the station.”
Paul heard the shrieking and name calling from the street. He yanked open the door, and took long steps toward the jail cell.
“Whoa, Pastor. This could get messy. It’s not for you to handle.”
“Who is it for—you Bart—or Ken?” He gave them a hard, fire-filled look.
“It is for you, Pastor. And I’m coming with you.” Josiah came up beside him.
“You may want to stay here, Detective Dayton.” Kat looked at him with concern. “This is where it can get dangerous—for your soul as much as your body.”
“I’m here for the ride, and I mean all of it.”
“So be it.” Alese Bricken took his arm. “Come, open your heart and mind to the world of the unseen.”
Mandy Thomas sat cross-legged under the cell’s lone window. The room was black.
“What happened to the lights?”
“I don’t like them.” Mandy answered. She turned on Kat. “Have you come to hear more of the truth, putrid woman?”
“I’ve brought help.”
Mandy roared like a lion. “You’ve brought food?” She looked at Paul. “Get him out of here.”
“I will not be leaving.”
The dark metal cot strained against the rods that held it to the floor. The bolts groaned and released the bed’s legs. It levitated to the ceiling and flew into the bars. “Get out!” Mandy yelled.
“I will do no such thing. Whoever you are, in the name of Jesus show yourself.”
“I do not have to obey you.” It was Mandy’s voice. “I have another master now.”
Mandy stood up, walked to the toilet, yanked the lid from the porcelain, and threw it at the bars.
Paul glimpsed a black mass hovering at Mandy’s right hand. “Dark spirit, what is your name?”
Mandy faced the pastor. She moved her mouth but the words came from behind her. “You do not command me.”
“I serve the One who does. In the name of Jesus, give me your name, and tell me why you are here!”
An inky silhouette stepped out from behind Mandy. “I am called Bruit. I was sent to take this mortal. It is done!”
“I call on the name of Jesus again. Be gone from here!”
“She is still mine.” The mist evaporated.
Mandy glided to front of the cell.“Why are you here, and why did you banish my friend?”
“He was not your friend.”
Dayton leaned over to Bart. “Did you just see a shadow talk?”
“I did. You aren’t crazy.”
“But good luck trying to get your superiors to believe you,” Ken chimed in.
“I see why you are having so much trouble in the Bureau.”
“Glad to know someone in my realm does.”
“You drove my friend from here! I want him back! GET OUT! Mandy bellowed a string of obscenities at Paul.
Kat covered her ears. “I’ve never heard anything like this. Mandy, stop!”
“Can’t take the truth, goody two-shoes? Well it’s time you learned the truth about your God.” Mandy launched into a horrifying tirade.
Tears poured down Paul’s face. “You have blasphemed against the Spirit of God, Amanda Thomas. There is no redemption for you.” He broke into sobs.
“What do you mean?” Wendy ran up to the cubicle.
“You shouldn’t be here,” Bart said.
“Kat said I could visit. That’s what I’m here to do. Now, what do you mean no redemp ….”
“Oh, Wendy, thank the stars you are here.” Mandy hurried to the cell bars. “They are treating me terribly. Look.” She pulled her hair back and showed Wendy a large bruise on the side of her head.
Wendy turned to Kat. “What happened here?” she demanded.
“No one has touched her,” Kat took Wendy’s arm.
Wendy jerked free. “Then how did the bruise get there?”
“And look at my arm.” An angry red scratch coursed from her elbow to the wrist. “They held me down and hit me when I asked to see a lawyer.”
“Liar!” Alese Bricken’s voice boomed in the darkness.
“I’m the liar? No, you are the liars. They can’t be trusted, Wendy. Please get me out of here.”
“Kat?” Wendy turned confused eyes to her friend.
“No one touched her, Wendy. Look at her eyes. Tell me she’s the Mandy we used to know.”
Wendy walked to the bars. Mandy turned her back.
“Turn around, Mandy.”
“No.”
“Turn around so I can see your eyes.”
“I’m your sister—you should believe me and not them!”
“I’m trying to.”
“You’d believe me without proof if you really were my sister.” Mandy strode to the cell door, vaulted to the ceiling, took hold of the bars, and yanked. The steel rod creaked and bent to the rear.
“Does your sister normally have such strength?” Josiah asked Wendy.
Wendy shook her head. Tears streamed down her cheeks. “No. I need to get her to a hospital. She’s obviously had a nervous breakdown.”
Alese put her arm around Wendy’s shoulder. “You make the call, sweet one. It would be best if she is made as comfortable as possible.”
“She’s so sick.” Wendy walked over to the wall phone. She said a few things into the receiver then hung up. “Doc Billings is coming right over.”
“A good idea,” Paul said, shaking his head in defeat. “There is nothing I can
do to help her now. She’ll live her life on earth crazed and tormented.”
“Why?”
“There is only one sin God does not forgive. Blasphemy against the Holy Spirit.”
At the mention of God’s Spirit, Mandy shook the cell door and screamed obscenities at the small troop.
Doc Billings arrived and observed Mandy’s behavior for several minutes. He left and returned with a syringe. “I’ll give her a tranquilizer. It’s all I can do for her until we can transport her to Clayton for evaluation.” He held the syringe in the air and headed to the jail cell. Mandy ran for the wall. “Don’t touch me!”
Billings looked at Ken and Bart. “I’ll need you to hold her.”
They went into the cell, and she lunged at them. She almost made it through the door before Kat yanked it shut. “Man, she’s fast.”
“What’s happened to her? She was fine earlier,” Wendy cried.
Kat shook her head. “I don’t know, Wendy. Maybe the hospital can get us some answers.”
Paul opened the cell door and walked through before Kat could stop him. “No!”
Mandy skittered backward, pointing at the bible in Paul’s hand. “Get away from me with your book!”
“In the mighty name of Jesus, you are bound, Amanda Thomas.” Paul’s somber tone sent shockwaves of sadness through the group of witnesses.
Mandy’s body went limp.
“You should have no more trouble.” Paul walked out of the cell.
Billings took tentative steps forward. He stuck the needle in her arm. Mandy’s eyes closed, and she fell into a troubled sleep.
“I’ll call Clayton and get the transport here as fast as I can. Sorry shame. She used to be a bright, happy girl.” Billings walked to the front office.
“I’m going with her, Doc.”
“I’ll come, too,” Kat said.
“No, Kat. I need to do this alone—just me and my sister.”
Kat dropped her head. “I’m so sorry, Wendy. I shouldn’t have left her alone.”
Wendy threw her arms around Kat. “I don’t blame you! I just want to do this alone.”
“Are you sure?”
A wistful grin crossed Wendy’s lips. “Really sure.”
“Ambulance is here,” Doc Billings called out.
“I’ll call you later, KittyKat.” Wendy blew Kat a kiss and took Mandy’s hand.
“I still should have been here,” Kat whispered.
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