by J. Thorn
“Can you at least look these over and let me know what you think?”
William thumbed through the first two pages and shook his head.
“I’m not a demon hunter. I run a small parish and a Catholic school. You should be taking this to your sensei.”
Ravna laughed and shook his head.
“I can have more than one friend, dear William. And he is not my sensei any more than you are. We haven’t even started the Samurai-sword training yet.”
Father William rumbled, his laughter lighting up the room. “What has he to say about your Gaki?” he asked, the laughter having dissipated into thin air.
“We hunt it.”
William shook his head and made the sign of the cross at Ravna. “The blessing is more for me than it is for you, Ravna. If you’re not going to look out for your immortal soul, I guess I have to.”
Ravna stood and shook the man’s hand. It felt damp, cold, frightened. “Thanks for your help, William.”
“This is going to earn you three hours at the milk-bottle toss, or possibly an hour at the dunk tank.”
“The parish festival isn’t for four more months.”
“Great! The dunk tank it is!”
Ravna slung his bag over one shoulder and winked at Father William on his way out of the rectory.
***
“Charlatan.”
“You’re jealous!”
Mashoka shook his head and stroked his beard with one hand. “Of him? That crackpot zealot?”
Are we going to get to work or not?”
Mashoka groaned and leaned back on the couch. He grimaced at the B-grade-horror-movie posters on the walls. “Why must you pollute your mind with this garbage?”
Ravna smiled. “At least you two have that in common.”
The teapot whistled and Ravna went to fetch the tray. The early spring sun fell to the edge of the horizon. Orange bursts lit dust motes dancing in the dry air of Ravna’s apartment. The rays brought warmth to the skin while gusts of frigid air seeped through the old windows.
“Tell your landlord to replace these with vinyl windows. The drafts are deadly to old men.”
“I’ll be sure not to get old. What’ve you got?”
Mashoka ignored the snide remark. He prepared his tea and closed his eyes. “Christians call it exorcism. I’m sure your Father William is familiar with the phenomenon.”
Ravna shook his head and waited for Mashoka to continue.
“Gaki, or demons, tend to find their way to our plane through portals. The portals can be tools of the conjurer, or simply board games children play to frighten each other. Once the Gaki comes through the portal, it is very difficult to banish it.”
“Can Father William bless the house?”
Mashoka took a sip of his tea before answering. “He can.”
“And?” Ravna asked, rolling his eyes.
“And it may not work. First of all, Gaki is not human. It is not bound to the degeneration of the physical container we inhabit. The creature may have come through a portal on the other side of the Earth, or may have appeared decades ago.”
“I’m sure William would try.”
“Then we have to first identify the soul Gaki has attached itself to. This person’s home would be the logical first step, although I doubt it is where Gaki came through.”
“You have known Hunters. What do they do?” Ravna asked the old man.
“They battle the demon and banish it.”
“How?”
“It requires a sacrifice.”
Ravna sat forward on his chair and squinted before replying. “Human?”
“You see what these films do to your mind? I am not speaking of a ritualistic sacrifice. What I mean is that the Gaki will not willingly release the soul it has polluted unless another is offered in its place.”
Ravna shook his head in disgust. “Who in their right mind would offer their own soul to Gaki?”
Mashoka sipped his tea again and smiled at Ravna. “The Catholics know nothing about the afterlife.”
“What do you know that Father William doesn’t, Mashoka?”
“The East believes in the Grand Cycle, the Wheel of Incarnation. Once the soul is released from the body, it enters a place where Gaki can be tossed aside like an old rag. It is quite simple, really.”
Ravna shook his head at the old man. “You’re crazy. Even if you could get Gaki to come with a soul to the afterlife, it would require the forfeit of a human life. Someone has to give up their body.”
“Hence, the sacrifice.”
Ravna sat back and exhaled. He rubbed his forehead with one hand and shook his head at Mashoka. “Who would do that?”
“It would have to be an Easterner, one who did not believe in St. Peter’s Gate and the nonsense of the Holy Trinity. It would have to be a soul whose body was nearing the end of its span, a frame that did not have much life left in it.” Mashoka’s eyes sparkled over the lip of the cup.
“I can’t let you do that.”
“I wasn’t asking you for permission.”
“But you’re not dying.”
“How do you know what is taking place inside of me?”
Ravna shook his head. He stood up and paced the crowded living room before entering the kitchen and refilling the tea pot.
“You would do that for a complete stranger? You’d give up your life to take a Gaki off this plane and release it from another’s soul?”
“I have done so many times. It is what Hunters do.”
***
The rain came in waves, slamming the windows and rattling them in their wooden frames. The light blanketed the room like gray gauze. A Led Zeppelin poster hung above the bed and a velvet Elvis clung to the adjacent wall. The aquarium’s fluorescent bulb generated the only light from inside. Molly brushed away the curling smoke of incense that danced in front of her nose. She listened to the toilet flush and closed her eyes. She thought back to the first time and bit her bottom lip until it bled.
Seven years of marriage left her yearning for the chase, the magical time when the sex was new. They called it the seven-year itch, and Molly knew why. After splitting the duties of running the household, the time spent on intimacy was tainted. Some women claimed headaches. Molly was simply tired. She could not find the passion anymore.
“Hey,” Brian said as he slid into his bed next to Molly.
She felt the warmth of his naked body and the edge of his manliness. He sidled up to her and put his hand on her hip. Brian took her earlobe into his mouth, caressing the earring and flesh with his tongue.
Molly raised a shoulder and shivered. The move felt too much like one Drew used to use. Brian breathed on her neck and moved his lips toward hers.
“We don’t kiss,” she said, turning her face from his. Molly rolled onto her stomach and spread her legs. Brian slid over them. He nudged her legs apart with his knees and eased down on her. Molly felt the heat from him near her. She gasped, anticipating the moment of penetration that would drive her instantly to the edge of orgasm.
She placed a hand between her legs and guided Brian inside. Molly was wet and arched her back, pushing back on him. The sex with Brian always turned rough. She loved the contrast. Drew caressed and massaged her while Brian punished her. As if on cue, he grabbed her by the hair and yanked her head back. Brian thrust, reaching around to grab her breasts. He pinched her nipples.
Molly moaned, each one becoming louder and more uncontrolled. Brian felt the surge in him. He pulled back and she rolled over onto her back at the same time. Brian placed the tip of his penis on her chin and closed his eyes. The spasms ended and he collapsed next to her. Molly grabbed the back of his head and thrust it into her crotch until she came again. The orgasm passed and Molly threw the blankets to one side. She walked into the bathroom, shut the door, and locked it. The shower cleaned him from her and helped to wash the tears down the drain.
***
He opened his eyes and shivered. The door to the
house stood open and the woman’s body was gone. Drew had stepped toward the hallway leading into the kitchen when his foot stuck to the concrete. He lifted his leg and turned his foot sideways to reveal a dark patch on his heel.
Her blood. He thought. A woman is dead because that fucking creature killed her.
Drew walked into the house and felt the warmth strike his naked body. He turned into a powder room and ripped the towel off the bar. He wrapped it around his waist more out of habit than modesty. To the right he noticed a laundry nook. A clothesline ran over the washer with jeans and T-shirts strung out. Drew grabbed the first pair of jeans. He discarded the towel in the corner and slid them on. They felt damp but almost dry. The waist matched his, but he had to cuff the bottoms of the pant legs. A white T-shirt hung next to a pair of bras. He tore it from the hanger and slid it over his head. A laundry basket sat on the floor with a shoe rack next to it. Drew rummaged through the dirty laundry until he found two socks and then slid his feet into a pair of men’s athletic shoes. He stood, feeling better that he could face the demon fully clothed, could leave the house on foot if he had to.
The blood smear led down the hallway and into another room. Drew followed it, dark patches congealing on the ivory, ceramic tile. The trail turned into a room with a laundry tub. The woman’s arms and legs hug over the sides. The trunk of her body and her head sat beneath the top of the tub, obscuring them from view.
“There.”
Drew knew before he turned that it was Gaki that had spoken. The long, bluish-gray finger pointed at a gallon of bleach on the floor.
“Clean the blood trail first,” the creature said.
Drew spotted a mop and bucket in the hallway. He dumped half of the bleach into the bucket and shoved the mop inside. The vapors burnt his lungs. He pushed the mop bucket on its wheels into the hallway, where he began swishing it back and forth. At first it made more of a mess on the tile, spreading the blood into a pink film. After several rinses in the bucket, the mop captured the blood. Drew dumped the water into the drain, trying hard not to look at the body of the woman. He refilled the mop bucket. Each time Gaki seemed to find another jug of bleach. Within thirty minutes, Drew had mopped the hallway and the garage floor. The bleach stung and made it difficult to breathe, but once it cleared there would be no evidence of the violence that took place in the house. Except for the body.
Gaki handed Drew a hatchet. The wooden handle, stained by decades of use, held a rusty blade. The tip shone in the light of the single bulb hanging from the ceiling of the laundry room.
“You must. If you want to keep killing, you must.”
“I don’t. I fucking don’t!” Drew screamed at Gaki.
The creature stepped from the shadows. It reached into the sink basin and scooped a handful of intestines. It shoved them into the slit of its mouth, managing to chew on a few. Drew gagged and staggered back against the cinder-block wall. He saw a clear, plastic bag with the woman’s bloody shirt and boxers.
“You do. The rage consumes you. The rape and the murder keeps you alive.”
Drew ran a hand through his hair and wiped snot from his nose. “I’ll kill you,” he said.
Drew swung the hatchet at Gaki’s thin, spindly arm. The blade sliced through the shoulder, dropping it to the ground. Gaki laughed. He tossed his head back and the room reverberated with the sick, grisly sound of his cackle. A popping sound came from the severed shoulder, where a thin stream of gray ooze came forth. It coalesced into a long cylinder, fingers forming on the end. In a matter of seconds, the new arm replaced the severed one.
“Dispose of her. Time is short.”
Drew staggered and his breath hitched through choking sobs. He hacked at the woman’s body until it sat in a pool of blood and flesh. Gaki dropped the body parts into a garbage bag. After wrapping a towel around the woman’s head, Gaki placed it in a clear plastic bag. He handed Drew another gallon of bleach. He took it from Gaki and poured the yellow liquid into the tub, where it swirled with the woman’s blood. Drew took his hand, ignored the chemical burn on his skin, and swished the liquid around until most of the blood disappeared down the drain. He turned on the faucet and rinsed his arms in cold water while red patches blossomed on the back of his hands.
“Put the bags in the car and then dispose of your bloody garments,” said Gaki.
Drew heard a car. A sedan sat in the driveway with the front of the car closest to the curb. The trunk popped open and Drew began dragging the bags to it. The street kept its silence.
***
The streetlights blew by in a cloud of spring mist. Drew reached over and turned the volume knob to the right. The sinister riff from Threefold Law scorched the sedan’s speaker system, one more accustomed to Raffi or Barney than the epic doom of Revenant.
“Wait for the sun behind the eastern heights,” Drew sang with J. Thorn, the lead singer. He tapped his fingers on the top of the steering wheel and glanced down at the needle of the speedometer, edging closer to eighty.
“Keep going.”
Drew looked up into the mirror until his eyes met Gaki’s. He nodded and then laughed at the thought of the corny movie about an old, rich, white woman and her black chauffer.
“Sho ’nough,” Drew replied with a fabricated southern drawl.
The car gripped the winding highway. Drew wished he could have afforded the German engineering. Two children and a cubicle made that an impossibility.
“Mind if I smoke?”
Gaki stared straight ahead, unmoving in the backseat.
“Didn’t think so.”
Drew grabbed a cigar from the middle console. He had seen the box inside the glass-fronted humidor on the way out of the woman’s house. Considering he had helped dispose of the woman’s body, Drew doubted the man would mind if he smoked some of his cigars. The plastic wrap crinkled as the sweet, rich fragrance of flavor-soaked tobacco filled the car. Drew looked down for the cigarette lighter and pushed the knob in. After a few seconds, he grabbed the plastic knob and held it to the end of the cigar. A few wisps of gray smoke curled out as Drew inhaled and exhaled rapidly. He blew a mouthful of the tobacco out the window, dropped two inches to allow the smoke to escape.
“Don’t want you to become a victim of second-hand smoke.”
Again, Gaki did not reply except with a long stare. The nicotine buzz made Drew’s head light. He smiled and inhaled again, tasting the smoke and rolling his tongue through the warm air.
“I’m good with you now.”
Gaki growled.
“No, really. I mean, I’ll hang if they ever catch me. No way I could possibly blame this on my Gaki friend, the fucking creature that tortured my grandfather in Japan during World War II and then reappeared to wreck my goddamn life. Nobody would believe that, would they, Gakster. I could say that I didn’t rape the women. I could plead that I was innocent of killing Johnson, but somehow, someway, they’d find DNA evidence tying me to it. Wouldn’t they, you motherfucker?”
Drew slammed the accelerator to the floor. The engine came to life and pulled the sedan along the highway as the song “Earth” pumped through the speakers.
“You cannot kill me,” Gaki said. His mouth did not move, but Drew heard him over the roar of the engine and the music pulsing from the sound system.
“I don’t have to kill you, dickhead. I only have to kill me.”
Drew spun the steering wheel to the left, slamming the driver side of the vehicle into the concrete barrier. Tongues of fire leapt from the collision and sparks fell into the car through the cracked windows. Drew felt the tires lifting from the pavement and the suspension shimmy as he began to lose control of the vehicle.
“You have not paid your dues. You still owe life,” Gaki said.
“Nope. Don’t think so. I believe that if I turn this fucking car into a pile of smoldering ash, that I’m free. You can’t mind-fuck me anymore, can’t hold me prisoner in my own body.”
“It didn’t free you from your grandfather�
�s debt.”
Drew opened his mouth and the cigar fell to the floor. He smelled the rancid odor of burning fabric. His eyebrows creased and he used both hands to take hold of the steering wheel and bring the vehicle back under control, the dashed, white lines disappearing beneath them.
“You can’t.”
Gaki smiled. The thin, dark line on its face curled up at the edges. Drew felt the creature mocking him. “I will.”
Drew slammed his head into the steering wheel, opening a laceration that oozed blood. He screamed and tried punching through the roof of the car with his right hand. Gaki sat unmoved.
“He’s innocent.”
“For now,” replied Gaki. “If you do not fulfill your duty, I will have your son do it.”
Drew screamed again. He cried and gritted his teeth until blood spewed from his forehead and his mouth. The speedometer on the car dropped from one hundred and thirty to ninety, and then to seventy. At sixty-five miles per hour, the trees and sound wall bordering the highway slowed to a crawl.
“This stops with me. I will fulfill whatever fucking duty you think my line owns, but it stops with me. My soul for my son and his sons.”
Gaki coughed and stared at Drew through the mirror. “You have no ground to negotiate. You will do as I command.”
Drew pulled the vehicle to the shoulder. Pebbles and debris rattled the undercarriage of the car with deafening accuracy. He slammed the breaks, sending a cloud of dust into the air and blocking out the rest of the world.
“If you’re taking my son anyway, then you have no grounds for negotiation.”
Gaki nodded. He grumbled.
“Well,” asked Drew. “What’s it gonna be, fucker?”
“I shall hold you liable and release your line from the curse, but your duty is not yet fulfilled.”
Drew shook. He reached down and found the remains of the cigar, which had burnt down and out. Drew placed it between his lips, gnawing at the tobacco and spitting leaf fragments out.
“Of course it ain’t. Who’s next?”
Gaki grinned again.