Everyone tilted their beams up a high brick wall and spot-lit a rack of fangs dripping saliva. The lights hit a dark face with white-membraned eyes. The demon shrieked and leaped through the air into the darkness.
Scarpetti backed up. “Shit, where’d it go?”
Kyle and the others stood back to back, their lights panning the void above them. Kyle’s mind felt electric down here, as if this cave was awakening some deep part of his brain. He saw a vision of the four of them from high above, as if seeing through the creature’s eyes. He sensed where it was hiding.
“There!” Kyle raised his light beam. The demon was crawling lizardlike down a pillar. When the lights hit its eyes, it released a high-pitched growl and dove at them.
Kyle and Madu opened fire. Bullets tore into its flanks. Kyle ducked as the thing flew over his head and crashed into the wall. It rose, standing over seven feet. Their lights spot lit a sinewy torso with a protruding rib cage. Horns jutted from its shoulders. Its eyes began to glow white, as if illuminated from within.
Scarpetti raised his gun. The beast smacked him sideways. He skidded into the gloom. Madu attacked next, the machete raised over his head. The demon picked him up and hurled him. It roared at Elkheart, who backed away. Then it turned and charged toward Kyle. An arm too long for its body knocked him back against a pillar. As the demon attacked again, Kyle yelled, holding the trigger down on the submachine gun. Bullets stitched up the creature’s chest and neck, knocking it backward. It howled in pain, bleeding black blood.
Kyle discharged his gun again, hitting the demon in the face, bursting one of its glowing eyes. It fell at his feet. His father finished it off with his flamethrower. The carcass glowed with orange embers.
Scarpetti walked back, rubbing his jaw. He kicked the charred corpse. “Fucking bastard.”
Elkheart examined its monstrous head. “This breed’s different than the shifters. Look at the sizes of its claws.”
“Must be a dweller,” Madu said.
Kyle was almost afraid to ask. “What are ‘dwellers’?”
Madu said, “Demons born in the cave. They live their whole lives down here.”
Elkheart nodded. “We believe the shifters living in Hagen’s Cove only represent a fraction of the demons that exist in these tunnel systems. They’ve been mating with humans for centuries, maybe since the beginning of man. Our theory is that most of these creatures live belowground and only come out at night to hunt.”
Madu cut off a black claw and passed it to Kyle. “You’re one of us now.”
The eight-inch claw looked like an obsidian blade. Kyle squeezed it and picked up an imprint of the creature’s memories. Seeing through its eyes, he caught flashes of it running with a pack of demons through the forest at night, attacking a herd of deer…dragging a screaming woman into the cave, mating with her…at the edge of the Cree village, retreating from Grandfather Two Hawks, who fended off the demons with glowing hands. Memory after memory flooded Kyle’s head. He smelled the blood of its prey, the sweat and skin of the women it raped, felt its fear of Grandfather.
A hand grabbed his wrist, bringing Kyle back to the present.
His father looked at him with knowing eyes. “What did you see?”
Kyle wiped sweat off his face. He recounted the memories. “This demon’s at least a couple hundred years old. One of the original guardians of Macâya Forest. It was also one of the pack that attacked your camp and took Amy.”
Scarpetti looked at Kyle sideways. “How the fuck do you know that?”
Kyle ignored him and followed his father back toward the high wall. “Dad, why were they afraid of Grandfather?”
“Because he knew how to fight them.”
“I saw his hands glowing. How is that possible?”
“Cree spirit warriors have the ability to tap into other dimensions and draw power from them. Your grandfather was a master at it. That’s why the Thorpe clan left him alone.”
“Can you draw power into your hands?”
“Not very well. My years of drinking really screwed up my gift. Your ability is stronger.”
Kyle looked at his palms. They tingled as he thought about the power hidden deep within his cells. “All I know how to do is pick up imprints.”
“It takes years of training to learn how to use your gift. I had intended for Grandfather to teach you, but…” He shook his head, as if ashamed that he had failed Kyle as a father.
Scarpetti approached them. “I hate to interrupt this father-son bonding, but we don’t got all goddamn day down here.”
Elkheart nodded and placed another glow stick above the small archway to mark their exit. He checked his watch. “One hour before sundown. The ceremony will be starting soon. Let’s move.”
They continued through a chamber that had a flat stone floor. Their beams panned across giant pillars carved with hieroglyphs and reliefs of demons mating with women. Again, Kyle saw stone depictions of their demigod. “What is this place?”
“A subterranean temple,” Elkheart whispered, his tone awed. “This would have been one of the greatest archaeological discoveries of this century.” He stuck a C-4 brick to the base of the pillar.
“Now which way?” Scarpetti asked. “This place is a fucking maze.”
Elkheart looked at his son, giving him a nod.
Understanding, Kyle placed his palms on one of the stone columns. In his mind’s eye he saw warped images of a group of people carrying torches through the temple. They were cloaked in fur robes and masks of goat’s heads. With lengths of vines they pulled Lindsey behind them like a slave. The girl was blindfolded and dressed in a white gown that ended at the middle of her thighs. Lindsey’s legs were bleeding from scrapes.
Kyle searched for Jessica, but couldn’t see her.
A goat-faced figure jerked a tether hard and a girl fell to her knees. The cry of pain was Jessica’s.
Rage and fear coursed through Kyle, heating his blood. He pulled away from the pillar. “We have to hurry.”
* * *
For the first time in her life, Jessica understood what it was like to be blind. Hours had passed since she’d last seen light. Or any kind of detail. Was this what death was like? A continuous awareness of nothing?
No, she believed in God. Believed life after death began with the soul traveling to some heavenly place. There’d be sunshine, gardens, waterfalls—and celestial beings. And if she had her way, she’d be surrounded by the souls of all the people she loved. She would get a hug from her Gramm every day. Jessica had always felt her grandmother’s spirit was watching over her and would be waiting on the other side when Jessica crossed over. Her Gramm’s arms would be open and she’d have that big smile on her face like she did whenever Jessica had come for a visit as a girl.
No, not dead yet. She could feel her heart beating. Could feel the fabric of the gown they had dressed her in. The scratchy wicker sandals on her feet. She lay on a cold stone slab. Wooden bindings held her wrists and ankles in place, the skin beneath them torn from her repeated attempts to get free.
While her vision had left with their torches, her hearing remained acute. She heard every drop of water splash into a puddle. Every skitter. Every screech. When the darkness fell silent, like now, she heard her own breathing. And the girl, Lindsey Hanson, sobbing somewhere nearby.
“Hey,” Jessica whispered. “Lindsey.”
Sniffles. “Yes?”
“It’s going to be okay.”
“I’m…so…scared. I hate the dark.”
“When I was a little girl,” Jessica said, “I used to be deathly afraid of my closet when my room was dark. At bedtime, my parents would turn out the lights, but I could never fall asleep right away. I’d sit there in bed holding my doll, Matilda, and watch the closet. I swear that door opened a crack. And the more I watched it, the more that door opened just a little bit more.”
“And? What happened?” Lindsey asked.
“Well, at first I got really scared and hid under my blankets. Eac
h night I got braver, though, and would stare at the closet a bit longer. After about a week, I realized there’s nothing to be afraid of. The dark can’t hurt me.”
Lindsey sniffled. “It’s not the dark I’m afraid of.”
“My friends will come for us. I know they will.” She pictured Kyle’s face in her mind, the look he wore when she caught him staring. It was so tender that it brought tears to her eyes. “Think about what you’ll do when we get out.”
“Take a bath.”
Jessica laughed. That the girl could still joke was a good sign. “What else?” she asked, encouraging Lindsey to keep talking.
“I don’t know. I can’t see it. What about you?”
“I’ll finish getting my medical degree. Travel with Doctors Without Borders. I am scheduled to visit Ecuador this fall and work with the children there.” She’d seen pictures and she let herself imagine their faces now. God still had a purpose for her. She believed that. Her life wouldn’t end here in this cave.
The waiting continued. The maddening nothingness. Endless black. Like that gap in her closet, the door opening ever wider. The darkness leering at her.
Stare it down, Jess. Keep thinking positive. She thought of Kyle. She tried to imagine their first date in Seattle, wondering where he might take her. Dinner and a show, perhaps. A kiss at the top of the Space Needle would be nice. The fantasy vanished as wet fingers stroked her legs. Jessica gasped. All the fears she had buried crawled across her skin like spiders.
Seconds later, Lindsey screamed.
A match struck. In a flash of blinding light, Jessica glimpsed a man with a bull’s head. He lit a torch and touched the flame to a metal bowl on an altar. A small fire spread, illuminating a statue of woven sticks with a demon skull.
Then she heard the call of bugle horns.
* * *
Somewhere in the darkness ahead of the four men, horns blew. They droned on, sounding like ships lost in the night. Kyle’s heart quickened. He followed the mercenaries through a low doorway and saw faint, shimmering light in the distance.
Elkheart raised his fist, instructing the team to stop. He turned off his helmet and flashlight and peered through night vision binoculars. “Kill your lights. We’re here.”
“Jessica?” Kyle asked.
“Alive. Now gear up.”
They turned off their headlamps and put on night vision goggles. Kyle switched on the infrared illuminator. The world turned pale green in the goggles. He could see some details and the glow of flames rippling in the distance. His father, Madu and Scarpetti looked like specters. Kyle’s peripheral vision disappeared. The blackness at the edge of his vision stirred up his claustrophobia. He breathed, trying to control the fear flapping in his chest. Just focus on finding Jessica.
He inserted a fresh clip into his submachine gun. He checked to make sure his strobe light was still strapped to the barrel. For protection, he gripped the antler handle of his knife and called in his spirit guides. Again, it vibrated in his hand.
Madu’s eyes met Kyle’s. No smile this time. The Zulu warrior looked fierce and ready for battle. Scarpetti looked agitated. Elkheart stuck another C-4 brick on a pillar and signaled the rest to move deeper into the cave.
The rescue team maneuvered between the pillars. Through his goggles, Kyle saw that some of the columns had been built into cave walls pocked with catacombs. A shadow-shape moved in one of the crevices. Madu shown his light into the cave hole, but the creature was no longer there.
Walking alongside his father, Kyle used his instincts to search for Jessica. He still couldn’t see her, but he could feel her up ahead. I’m coming for you, Jess. He sensed another presence in the chamber where she and Lindsey waited. It was a very different vibration than he had gotten off the shifters and the dwellers. This beast felt like darkness eternal, like the embodiment of all of humanity’s hatred and fear. A demigod created from pure evil. The things it wanted to do to Jessica and Lindsey made Kyle sick to his stomach. Fueled his fury. He walked faster toward the flame glowing in the distance.
The bugle horns trailed off. Then Kyle heard what sounded like a thousand cawing crows.
The squad stopped at a ledge that overlooked the corner of a stage. Kyle spotted a giant wood statue with a monstrous skull. On a stone platform below it, a cloaked figure waved burning incense over two women in white gowns. The sight of Jessica lying on a block of granite caused Kyle to gasp with fear and relief.
* * *
The cawing that echoed off the stone walls was deafening. Jessica wished she could cover her ears. Her wrists fought against the bindings.
The fur-robed figure standing a few feet away pulled off the bull’s head mask. Mayor Thorpe grinned at her. His pale face was painted with red symbols. He dropped his robe, standing naked before her. Strange hieroglyphs covered Mayor Thorpe’s face, arms and legs. He raised his palms—each decorated with an all-seeing eye.
The crow sounds stopped. Then Jessica heard the scrapes and footsteps of bodies moving in the darkness behind her. The temple filled with growls and ghoulish moans. She was thankful she couldn’t see the hellish congregation.
Mayor Thorpe opened a thick book and shouted out strange words, as if speaking in an ancient language no longer spoken. His voice boomed inside the cavern. As he gave his sermon, his fingers glided up Jessica’s leg and arm. Caressed her cheek. He did the same to Lindsey, walking full circle back to the altar. Then he turned to face a set of stone steps that ascended into blackness. He yelled some form of incantation. Behind Jessica, the demons chanted. “Va-lak, Va-lak, Va-lak…”
Above the stage, an archway lit up with a pulsing green light. Fog drifted down the staircase. Pounding footsteps approached. A shadow took form in the glow.
Lindsey screamed.
Jessica looked at the teenage girl tied to the stone slab five feet away.
Stop screaming! she wanted to say. You’ll draw the thing.
Iridescent green light swirled around the statue of the demon god. The cool mist clouded Jessica’s vision. Then the chamber filled with a sound like a mallet pounding stones. In the dim light, she made out a tall form descending the steps. She saw legs covered in dark fur. Knees that bent the wrong way at the joints. A massive head covered in black thorns.
Mayor Thorpe kneeled at the foot of the stage. “Store Fader, Valak!”
A large hand with too many claws touched the mayor’s shoulder. Then the great beast turned toward Jessica.
She snapped her eyes shut.
The footsteps drew closer.
The devil was breathing right above her now.
Stare it down, Jess.
She opened her eyes again, saw its face and screamed.
* * *
As green fog drifted across the platform, Kyle lost sight of Jessica. In the mist, a giant silhouette had walked down the steps. Kyle caught glimpses of multiple arms sprouting from its torso. A swooping tail. The Macâya crossed the stage.
One of the girls cried out. Jessica.
Kyle rushed forward.
The mercenaries grabbed him, pulling him back behind a pillar.
Elkheart got in Kyle’s face. “Not yet. We go on my command.”
Demons cackled from the dark pit beneath the stage and surrounding catacombs.
The sounds of the girls wailing caused Kyle to panic. “We have to do something.”
“Follow my lead.” Elkheart gave hand signals to Madu and Scarpetti. They split off and took high positions, aiming their guns at the pit.
Kyle and his father moved from pillar to pillar until they were directly behind the stage. Through the smoke, Kyle watched in horror as the Macâya’s body stood over Jessica and Lindsey. Their screams drowned out all the other sounds.
Elkheart barked into the radio headsets, “Strobes on!”
In the distance, Madu and Scarpetti switched on their strobe lights. The chamber turned bright. In the chaotic flickers, Kyle saw a large gathering of demons inside a rectangular pit below.
They reeled at the lights, growling. Some backed into the void. Others charged up the steps toward the mercenaries. Madu sprayed the horde with rapid fire. Scarpetti launched grenades. The demons shrieked as explosions of shrapnel tore through them. Severed limbs, gore and bone fragments scattered through the air. All across the pit, shredded bodies collapsed into piles, but the legion seemed endless as more demons kept attacking from the dark.
Kyle ran into the pulsing green mist that covered the stage. His father lit a Molotov cocktail and hurled it into the pit. Flames spread across several creatures near the stage. Dozens more rushed from the blackness. Elkheart torched them with his flamethrower. “Help cut the girls loose!”
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