The Suicide Forest (The River Book 5)

by Michael Richan

  “I thought you said the mirror would trap them all,” Steven said.

  “And so it would have, provided my directions were followed exactly.”

  “They were,” Roy said. “We trained the boy exactly as you instructed.”

  “Then Aka Manah somehow tricked the boy,” Judith said. “He makes the wrong seem right. The boy probably thought he did the correct thing. The two demons trapped in this mirror were the stupid ones. Aka Manah is not stupid. He’s been alive for thousands of years, has stolen many souls. Why is he so interested in this boy?”

  “What do we do now?” Steven asked. “Is the boy in danger?”

  “He’s in great danger, more now than before,” Judith said. “The other demons may know the reason. I’m going to try and communicate with them. Bring me an item from the shelf, please.”

  Steven walked to the shelf once again. “It looks like a top, made of tin. Like a child’s toy.”

  Steven grabbed the top and ran it back to Judith. She placed it on the mirror, and once again entered a trance.

  Steven jumped into the River. The top had changed shape – it now looked like a glass tube, flattened on one end, the end Judith had placed on the mirror. The tube rose out of the mirror, becoming thinner and thinner, until it ended in a circle about a foot from the mirror. Judith was staring into the circle. Steven watched as a bubble formed around her, an indication she was entering a trance. Wisps of black smoke emerged from the glass circle, and Judith leaned forward to inhale them. This repeated five or six times, then Steven saw Judith ending the trance and coming out of the River. She removed the top from the mirror and asked Steven to replace it on the shelf.

  “Well?” Roy asked impatiently.

  “The child would be valuable for just his markings, and the fact that he’s gifted,” Judith said. “But it’s worse than that. He’s the offspring of a demon. Combine it all, and it makes him infinitely more valuable.”

  “Evie is a demon?” Steven asked, shocked.

  “I took you for smarter,” Judith said. “Not his mother, his father. His mother mated with a demon. The boy is the result. The father is a rival of Aka Manah. He not only wants the boy’s power, which is significant, he wants the boy as an insult to his rival.”

  “Evie must have known,” Steven said.

  “There’s no question of that,” Judith said. “She was likely saving him for the demon she mated with. That’s usually the arrangement.”

  “Why?” Steven asked. “What did she have to gain?”

  “It’s usually something like money or power,” Judith said. “Something she needed at the time she mated, probably something trivial in retrospect. Demons make it easy – they trick you into believing you want something. Then they offer a ‘take now, pay later’ deal that stupid people find hard to resist. Especially if the person making the deal is already on the dark side, which this woman most assuredly was.”

  “What can we do?” Steven asked.

  “Very little, I’m afraid,” Judith said. “Aka Manah is powerful. I don’t have anything that can take him down. With the other demons out of the way, he’s free to pursue the child.”

  Steven reached into his jacket pocket, finding his cell phone. “I’m calling June,” he said, holding the phone to his ear. It rang for a minute, then went to voice mail.

  “She’s not answering,” Steven said.

  “Try again,” Roy said.

  Steven redialed and waited. “No, still no answer,” he said, lowering the phone from his ear and replacing it in his jacket pocket.

  “I’ll tend to this mirror,” Judith said. “It needs to be stored in a special way to keep the demons inside. I have a hundred of them in my basement. You two should go check on the boy.”

  They exchanged hurried goodbyes and Steven and Roy left her house, running for the car.

  “I hope we’re not too late,” Roy said as they got in.

  “What are we going to do if we’re not?” Steven said. “We have no plan. We don’t know what we’re doing.”

  “Just drive,” Roy said, “as fast as you dare.”

  ◊

  When they arrived at June’s house, Steven noticed the white Impala in the driveway.

  “Evie’s here,” Steven said.

  “I’m going to take that as a bad sign,” Roy said.

  “What do we do?” Steven asked. “Just walk in? What do we say to June?”

  “Let me handle it,” Roy said, opening his car door. Steven sighed and followed him.

  At the front door, Roy was about to knock, but Steven stopped his hand. “Listen,” Steven said, holding his ear closer to the door.

  “It sounds like a freight train,” Roy said.

  “We may be too late,” Steven said.

  “Only one way to find out,” Roy said, and knocked.

  Nothing happened. The sound behind the door continued. Roy knocked louder.

  The door flew open. It was Evie, covered in blood. Evie took two steps back.

  Steven could see into the room behind Evie. The walls were red – painted in blood. It was though an explosion had occurred. On the ground, behind Evie, he could see the legs of a body sticking out behind a chair.

  “You two!” Evie said, raising her voice above the din.

  “Where’s June?” Roy said. “Robbie?”

  “It’s already begun,” Evie said, “you can’t stop it.”

  “Who’s on the floor behind you?” Roy yelled.

  The corpse behind Evie animated like a drooping puppet, and rose into the air behind her.

  “There, is that better?” Evie said.

  It was June. She had been sliced repeatedly, so many times that pieces of her were disconnected and her skin was covered in blood.

  “June!” Steven screamed, and rushed the doorway. Roy grabbed him, and held him outside of the door.

  “Don’t go in there,” Roy said, holding him back.

  “Need a better view?” Evie said, and June’s corpse slammed back against the living room wall, knocking down blood-stained picture frames. June hung from the wall near the ceiling.

  “What have you done to her?” Steven yelled at Evie.

  “Oh, it wasn’t me,” Evie said. “It was Robbie.” She smiled.

  “Where is he?” Roy asked.

  “In his room,” Evie said. “As you can see, he’s been a bad boy. He’s being punished.”

  “We’re calling the cops,” Roy said.

  “Go ahead,” Evie said. “They can’t stop it either!” June’s corpse fell from the wall and the door in front of them slammed shut.

  Roy turned to Steven, frantic. “Use your phone! Call 911!”

  “I thought you said we never involve the cops!” Steven said.

  “June’s dead in there,” Roy said, “and god knows what’s happening to Robbie. The cops will find out anyway, and I’m sure we’ve been seen by neighbors. Tell them we were here to visit, and discovered her. We have no blood on us, we won’t be suspected if we play it this way.”

  Steven removed his phone and called. While he was talking, loud bangings and screams punctuated the roaring coming from the house.

  “They’re on their way,” Steven said.

  “Remember,” Roy said, “we have no blood on us. That type of murder, there’s going to be blood everywhere, including on the murderer. And, we’ve called it in. They’ll take us in for questioning, probably separately, so we need to have the same story. We found a book at the Goodwill in Burien, a journal. We traced it down to June’s husband and returned it. We became friends with the family. We came over today to visit. We knocked, got no answer, but we heard strange noises, so we opened the door and saw the blood. Then we closed the door and called the cops. Don’t mention anything supernatural. We’ll be OK, but stick to that story.”

  Roy walked to the sidewalk to wait for the police, and Steven followed him. They heard the sound of gravel kicking up against metal, and saw Evie’s Impala pulling out of the driveway
in the back of the house. She was still covered in blood. Steven could see a red handprint on the door where she’d touched the car while entering it. She sped off.

  “She’ll be the suspect,” Roy said. “They’ll go after her.”

  “I can’t believe June is dead,” Steven said. “We’ve failed.”

  “I’m afraid we have,” Roy said.

  “We can still save Robbie,” Steven said.

  “We can’t go in there,” Roy said. “We can’t afford to get June’s blood on us. The cops need to see us as innocent, outside the house. Even if we went inside, what would we do when we reached Robbie’s room?”

  They could hear sirens in the distance. Soon a blue Seattle police cruiser appeared at the house, lights flashing. Steven and Roy walked toward the officer as he got out of his car.

  “We called it in,” Roy said.

  “What’s going on?” the officer asked.

  Roy explained that they had come by to visit June and her grandson, but when they received no answer at the door, they tried opening it, and saw June’s body inside. Then they called 911.

  “There’s also something very noisy going on in the house,” Roy said.

  “Noisy?” the officer asked, going back to his car and radioing for backup.

  “Yes, noisy,” Roy said. “It sounds like a hurricane in there. Maybe something is wrong with the furnace.”

  “Did you see any guns?” the officer asked.

  “No,” Roy said, “but there’s blood everywhere. I think she was stabbed. And her daughter drove off just a minute before you arrived.”

  The officer asked for a description of the daughter and her vehicle, and went back to his radio.

  “Anyone else in the house? That you know of?” the officer asked.

  “Her grandson, Robbie, is probably in there. He’s 10,” Roy said.

  “Did you see him?” the officer asked.

  “No,” Roy said. “We didn’t go in. We only saw June’s body from outside the front door.”

  “I’m waiting for backup to arrive before we go in,” he said. “I’m going to check out the exterior of the house while we wait. You two stay here by my car.”

  They watched as the officer walked toward the house and circled it. As he was coming back, a second police car arrived. The two officers conferred for a moment, then drew their guns and approached the front door. They opened it and walked inside.

  The sound of the freight train was audible even from the sidewalk. After a few moments, Steven and Roy heard yelling. Then two shots.

  “What happened?” Steven asked.

  “I think I may have just fucked up,” Roy said, lowering his head.

  “What?” Steven said.

  Another police cruiser pulled up, and an officer got out.

  “Officer!” Roy called. The cop walked over to him.

  “Two of your fellow officers just went in there,” Roy said. “We just heard two shots. I implore you not to go in there.”

  The officer used his radio to call for more help, and while waiting for the additional backup to arrive, Roy related the events once again. “I believe they’re dead. I don’t think you can stop what’s going on in there. If you go in, you’ll die, too.”

  “And what is going on in there?” the officer asked.

  “You need to catch the daughter,” Roy said. “She was covered in blood when she drove off, not five minutes ago.”

  “We’ll do that,” the officer said, “but I want you to tell me what’s in there.”

  “As far as I know, Robbie is in there, and the other two officers,” Roy said.

  “And who is Robbie?” the officer asked.

  “June’s grandson,” Roy said. “He’s ten years old.”

  “Anything else?” the officer asked.

  “Things are confusing in there,” Roy said. “I think your officers might have shot each other. If you go in, the same could happen to you.”

  While they were talking, three more police cars arrived, making a total of five lined up along the street outside June’s house. The noise from the house was increasing.

  “What’s that we’re hearing?” the officer asked Roy.

  “I don’t know,” Roy said. “When we were at the door, it sounded like a hurricane in there. Maybe something is wrong with the air conditioning?”

  “Wait here,” he said, eyeing them both. “Don’t move.”

  “We won’t,” Roy said.

  The officer left to meet the other police who had arrived. Soon they were removing rifles from their vehicles.

  “Oh god,” Roy said. “I’ve created a nightmare here.” He walked over to them. “You can’t do that,” he shouted at them.

  “Stand back,” one of the officers said, holding his hand up to stop Roy as he approached.

  “You’ll all die in there,” Roy said. “Please don’t go in there like that.”

  “We’ve potentially got two officers down,” the policeman said. “We’ve got to go in.”

  “And a ten year old boy,” Roy said. “Can’t you treat this like a kidnapping? Try communicating?”

  “Not with officers in danger,” he said. “Please stand over there and don’t move.”

  “You’ve got to believe me,” Roy said. “I’m trying to save your lives here.”

  “Stand back or I’ll cuff you,” the officer said. Roy turned and walked back to Steven.

  “They won’t listen,” Roy said. “Cops only play by their rules. They only understand one way. I should have waited until the demon had finished with Robbie before I called them. This is my fault.”

  “Finished with Robbie?” Steven asked. “You’re writing him off?”

  “I have no idea how to stop it,” Roy said. “Do you?”

  Steven stuck his hands in his pockets and turned from Roy. “Some help we are.”

  A group of six officers, geared up with vests, safety masks, and rifles, moved in unison towards the house. Two broke off and moved to the back of the house.

  “God, it’s going to be a bloodbath,” Roy said. Just then, the sound coming from the house began to slow. “Let’s hope that means the demon finished,” Roy said. “I’m going to trance, Steven. Watch over me.”

  “Right here?” Steven asked.

  “No one’s watching us,” Roy said. “I’ll just have my eyes closed. Shake me if I need to come back.”

  “Alright,” Steven said. “No blindfold though.”

  “No,” Roy said, closing his eyes. “No blindfold.”

  Within a minute the sound came to a stop. The officers looked at each other for a moment and conferred on their radios. Then they continued into the house.

  Chapter Ten

  Later that afternoon they returned to Steven’s home, and Steven made a pot of coffee for the two of them. They were detained at June’s house for at least an hour after the cops raided it, finding June’s dead body in the living room, one policeman shot dead in the hallway and another critically injured. They found Robbie dead in his bedroom. The cops wouldn’t let Steven or Roy enter the house, and they seemed content to blame the events on Evie, whom they were searching for. They took Steven and Roy downtown for questioning, and they spent another hour there, giving a statement and recounting the events several times. Then they were released.

  “What did you see in your trance?” Steven asked Roy, waiting for the coffee to finish.

  “The officer that was injured radioed the others that it was OK to enter,” Roy said, “just after the noise stopped – which is when the demon left. The cops from outside stormed into the hallway, checked the fallen officers, then opened the door to Robbie’s bedroom. Robbie was lying on the floor, splayed open. Just like if you had carved a cross in his stomach and chest, then pulled each of the corners back. Organs spread all over the room. And his hands were gone.”

  “Christ!” Steven said, holding his head in his hands. “That poor little kid. And June. I can’t believe it. It sickens me.”

  “T
he cops will start scratching their heads when they analyze the bullets,” Roy said, “and discover they shot each other. They’ll rationalize it somehow; crossfire, something like that.”

  “I hate lying to them,” Steven said, “that whole story we made up.”

  “Which is why I try not to involve them,” Roy said. “Had I just waited five minutes before we called them, that officer might be alive. That was a huge mistake on my part.”

  “Waiting five minutes might have implicated us,” Steven said. “What if someone had come by while we were waiting?”

  “We could have said we knocked but no one was answering,” Roy said.

  “Another lie,” Steven said.

  “Well,” Roy said, rising to pour some coffee, “it’s over now.”

  “What do you mean?”

  “I mean, it’s over. The demon won.”

  “Evie’s still out there!” Steven said.

  “What, you want to hunt her down?” Roy said. “Let the cops do it.”

  “What if it gets more of them killed?” Steven said.

  “It’s over, we lost this one,” Roy said. “You can’t win them all.”

  “I can’t believe you,” Steven said. “This is like when you were going to leave Pete in the lurch because you didn’t want to face down Jurgen.”

  “It’s nothing like that,” Roy said. “You tell me what we should have done. Tell me. What’s your plan for Evie?”

  “I don’t know,” Steven said, “but half the time we don’t know what we’re doing. We research, consult people, work on it until we know what to do. I say we go after Evie, find a way to locate her and stop her.”

  “I don’t think you know when you’ve been beat,” Roy said. “We’ve been completely out of our depth on this one. I’m like the blind leading the blind. The cops will find Evie, and they’ll take care of her. The life of an officer was lost on this, and god knows if the other will survive – they won’t stop until they find her.”

  “And what if they don’t?” Steven asked. “Evie must have had a plan. She’s not stupid.”

  “She might be stupid,” Roy said. “She never impressed me as particularly witty.”

  “From the moment Robbie was born,” Steven said, “she knew he was going to be sacrificed. For ten years she raised him, knowing he was doomed. Can you imagine that? She’s the worst of the worst. I’ll hunt her down myself if you don’t help.”