Sons of Dust

by P. Dalton Updyke

  “Vinny!” she cried out sharply, but Vinny ignored her, rushing past Gina.

  Marcus lunged forward, grabbing the chain at the other end. He pulled back on it, and Vinny whirled around, stunned. “Don’t let him near it!” Marcus shouted.

  The thing roared, metal flashed as the belt was raised and came down again, again, again. The strap landed blows on Vinny and Gina, opening lines of blood. Marcus pulled on the chain and Kate realized he was trying to get it away from Vinny.

  “Let me take it,” Marcus said, “Vinny! Let go!”

  But Vinny hung on, the belt raining on him freely. Kate rushed blindly at the thing that looked like Vinny’s father, aware only of the need to stop it, to stop the blows and the sound of the whip cracking through the air, the sound of Gina breathing in ragged gasps, the sound skin made when it split.

  She had to stop it.

  Stop it all.

  She lunged at the thing, her hands curled into fists, screaming, “NO MORE!”

  She swung from the shoulder, her fist landed on its back. She cocked her arm back, swung again, her fists hitting the meaty flesh with all the strength she could muster. It roared and came at her, the belt already in the air, whistling as it slashed down, landing fire on her shoulders and back. She hit it again, so close now she could smell it; rancid, moldering. The thing’s eyes were red, wild, and she knew this wasn’t a ghost or spirit or walking corpse – it was more than that.

  Dead, her mind shrieked, Vinny’s father is dead!

  But this wasn’t Vinny’s father. As it lifted the belt again, it started…changing. Features melting into some other form…the belt landed on her neck, the end slithering around her throat. The thing jerked the leather strap and Kate fell to her knees, unable to breath, the pain a white flash of agony.

  It whirled back toward Vinny, bellowing, “GIVE IT TO ME, BOY! GIVE IT NOW!”

  “No, Vinny,” she tried to be heard over the thundering roar of the beast and the sound of the whip, the wind, the rain.

  Vinny’s hand tightened on the chain and he tried to stand. “Please, Dad,” his voice was weak, exhausted and something inside of Kate snapped.

  “Stop calling it Dad!” she screamed. “It isn’t your father! It’s Lucien and you can’t give in to it! Hold on, Vinny, hold onto it!!

  But Vinny was blank.

  Marcus pulled at the chain…and it slipped out of his hands. Vinny stumbled backward, the chain dangling from his wrist. Blood ran down his face, slashes criss-crossed his features.

  The belt lashed out again, but Vinny didn’t flinch. He stood up, facing the thing, the chain in his hands. The belt struck him, but Vinny didn’t move. The thing raised its hand again…and hesitated. It lowered its hand, the belt dangling. It took a step forward, more into the meager light thrown by the candle.

  “Give it to me,” the beast said, eagerness in every syllable. “Let me have it and I’ll let you live. You walk out of here right now. Safe. Sound. Whole. I promise, I won’t hurt you. Just hand it to me, Vincent. Hand it to your old Dad.”

  “You’re not my father,” Vinny said clearly. “You’re the monster in every man but you’re not my father.”

  “GIVE IT TO ME, OR SO HELP YOU GOD, I WILL KILL YOU!”

  Vinny smiled. “So help me, God,” he said. He lifted the chain in both hands. “You got that part right. So help me, God.”

  The thing roared, sound splitting the darkness. Kate cried out and covered her ears against then noise threatening to tear her mind apart. It screamed, and screamed and then it began to change, slowly at first, then with dizzying speed. Kate realized too late what it was turning into.

  But Vinny, she thought, knew.

  He saw what was happening and he looked over at Marcus and Gina, and this time, Kate knew she was right. He was smiling.

  The blue work clothes melted away. The gray hair and stubble disappeared. His chest grew thick and matted with black hair, the muscles on his back and arms rippled, while those on his legs grew ropy and strong. His opened his mouth, roared, exposing razor sharp teeth, the tongue split down the center, the slanted yellow eyes. Just as it reached for Vinny, Vinny threw the chain behind him and Marcus caught it. The long, curved claws hooked into Vinny and Vinny cried out as the thing ripped his chest apart.

  “I command you in the name of the Lord to leave this place!” Marcus shouted. “In the name of God!”

  The thing screamed again and Kate thought it was going to attack Marcus, but Marcus stepped forward to meet it and the thing whirled and tore at Vinny. Vinny’s cries echoed in Kate’s head. Gina crawled toward Vinny, screaming now herself, and Kate could make out the words. “In the name of the Lord…”

  Dimly, Kate realized her voice had joined the others. The room cracked with a new streak of white light and when the flash faded, the demon was gone.

  Chapter 43

  Marcus

  Vinny lay in a pool of blood. The chain still in his hands, Marcus knelt by Vinny’s side. Gina was weeping, but the sound of her crying was muffled and far away. As he leaned over Vinny, Marcus felt a ripping déjà vu. He’d leaned over Alex the same way a few hours before, but how it was Vinny on the ground, Vinny’s life’s blood draining out of him. Vinny dying.

  Vinny.

  Marcus touched Vinny’s face and felt the heat that was his heart erupt. See? A voice in his head cried out. See what happens when you mess with things you don’t understand? Serves you right, Marcus for thinking you’re something you’re not. Pride is the biggest sin of all, buddy, as Sister Patrice used to say, and you and Vinny and the others had too much pride—no, arrogance…

  No, not arrogance!

  Then what is it, if not conceit? You think you can stop this, any of it? What made you think you had the power? You’re just an addict, the son of a drunk. You’re nothing. Face it. It’s over and you’ve lost.

  Vinny’s hand lifted, he touched Marcus’s cheek. When he opened his mouth, blood bubbled out. His lips moved and Marcus bent over to make out what Vinny was saying.

  “—ain’t over…”

  “Hold on,” he said, “Please Vinny, just hold on.”

  “—ain’t over until he’s chained…”

  “Vinny!”

  Vinny shook his head, grimacing with the effort. His eyes were burning into Marcus’s face. “-promise me. Promise.”

  Marcus’s heart grew heavier still. “I promise,” he whispered.

  Vinny’s body relaxed. He moved his arm, lifting his right hand. “Take it.”

  Marcus covered Vinny’s hand with his own. Vinny’s fist opened and two rings fell into Marcus’s palm.

  “Use them.” Marcus could barely hear Vinny. His words were bubbles of blood. “Work…as good…as bone.”

  Dimly, Marcus was aware of Kate’s voice, weak and exhausted and sweet Jesus, so full of the agony that had become their lives. “—he’s dying Gina we have to get him to a hospital the wounds are--”

  Marcus forced her voice away. He nodded and Vinny’s eyes closed, only to open again immediately. “Finish….burn it.” He coughed and Marcus put his hand on Vinny’s chest. His hand came away wet red.

  “Burn it,” Vinny said again, his voice nothing but a weak thread. “Stop.. Marc.. you have to stop…”

  “Shhh,” Marcus wiped Vinny’s hair out of his eyes. “It’s going to be okay, Vinny. I promise. It’s going to be okay.”

  “…monster…is self…”

  Vinny closed his eyes and the muscles in his face twitched. Behind him, Gina’s sobs deepened. Kate crawled on hands and knees to Vinny’s side. She touched his neck, feeling for a pulse. Her eyes lifted, met Marcus’s. “He’s alive.” Marcus knew, with those three syllables, that while Vinny was alive, Kate wasn’t holding out much hope.

  “Alive?” Gina whispered. Now it was her turn to touch Vinny, to gently lay a hand on his neck. Her expression changed; hope lit her eyes.

  “Gina…” Kate started, but Gina shook her head.

  “I kno
w how bad he is. But Vinny’s tough. He’s going to make it.”

  “He’s dying,” Kate said softly. “Honey.” Gina shook her head again, fiercely, and the tears in her eyes spilled over. Her chin trembled. Kate pulled Gina into her arms, her eyes meeting Marcus’s over Gina’s head.

  “Get her out here,” Marcus said.

  Kate shook her head. “Not yet. We have to finish. For Bo’s sake, for Alex, for Vinny…we have to finish. We can’t let it be for nothing, Marcus.”

  Gina pulled away from Kate’s arms. “He didn’t see the monster inside,” her voice was blurry. “Whatever else happens, Vinny never saw the monster inside of him. He was always good.”

  At first, Marcus didn’t know what Gina meant, but then he remembered Vinny’s story of Mrs. Dobens. The old woman who said a monster lived in every man. A monster in every man.

  Something in Marcus’s memory clicked; the words tumbled into comprehension and he understood not only what Mrs. Dobens had meant, but what Vinny had said.

  Marcus put his head down, taking hold of Vinny’s hand. He gripped it, hard, grief flowing through him like dye. His heart didn’t feel like it was breaking; it was melting, liquefying into a hot sorrow.

  “We have to find Lucien,” Kate said. “There’s not much time.”

  Marcus lifted Vinny’s hand to his lips. He kissed it. “No. There isn’t much time left at all.”

  “We need the chain,” she said gently. “Do you want to carry it, or do you want me to?”

  “I’ll take it.” Marcus lifted his face, looked at Kate squarely. “I’m taking Vinny, too. I can’t leave him here.”

  Kate took his other hand, squeezed it. “Marcus,” her voice was no more than a whisper. “We can’t move him. Moving him could hurt him more. When it’s over, we’ll call an ambulance.”

  “He’ll be dead by then.” Marcus didn’t mean to sound angry, but knew he did.

  Kate blinked and Marcus could see her trying to find another tack, a gentle way to tell him there was no hope. “Yes. He might be dead by then. And if he is, Marcus, he is. This is only Vinny’s body. His soul will already be gone. What happens to the shell doesn’t matter.”

  “It matters to me!” he said harshly. “I’m not leaving him here.”

  He thought Kate would argue with him, but she didn’t. She kissed his cheek and nodded.

  “Gina?” she said. “Can you make it downstairs by yourself?”

  Gina, small and frail, nodded. Tears streamed down her cheeks.

  Kate touched Marcus’s face with a stroke so gentle that the melting of Marcus’s heart sped up. “Let’s take him downstairs,” she said.

  They carried him into the parlor, put him on the couch. Vinny’s pulse was faint and erratic. Vinny, the real Vinny, was almost gone. Marcus turned Vinny’s hand over. The bracelet flashed as Marcus unhooked the clasp.

  The heavy links were warm against Marcus’s skin.

  “What are you doing?” Gina asked.

  Marcus didn’t answer. He pulled the two rings from his pocket and laid them on the table. Without a word, Kate handed him the chain.

  The chain was old, bones brittle with age. Marcus lifted the man’s wedding ring and slipped it over Vinny’s bracelet. It was harder to pick up Bo’s ring. He had to swallow back tears as he reached for the sterling silver. Kate must have seen his hesitation, or maybe his grief, and she picked it up for him, sliding the ring over the links of gold Vinny had worn for so many years.

  “Here,” Gina said. She put her hands to the back of her neck, fumbled with a clasp, then handed him a delicate chain. “St. Jude,” she said. “My father’s. My link to the chain.”

  Marcus slipped the chain through the ring. He reached into his pocket and pulled out Alex’s crucifix. Pain, jagged and deep, hit him again. When he was through, Kate handed him a bracelet.

  “My mother’s,” she said simply.

  Lastly, Marcus slipped a ring off of his finger. The ring Bo had given him when he graduated Law School. The pain pierced him again, but was it easier to take? Marcus thought maybe it was.

  Taking a deep breath, he slipped one end of Vinny’s bracelet through the last circle of bone. He brought the chain through, clasped it to the other end and lifted it.

  “Six more links,” Kate said softly.

  “We’re the last three,” Gina’s voice was stronger. Kate’s body jerked.

  “What did you say?”

  Gina’s eyes blazed. “The last three. We can’t let there be any more.”

  Marcus saw something flash over Kate’s face. “What is it, Kate?”

  “When we were at the cemetery yesterday…”

  Yesterday, Marcus thought, was it really only yesterday?

  “—there was a moment when I looked around and realized we were the only ones left in the cemetery. I remembered this flash – we’re the last three here.”

  No one spoke.

  Rain hit the windows, slashed against the glass.

  “What do we do now?” Gina asked.

  Marcus was so tired, suddenly, so very, very tired. “We have to chain him.”

  “But how?”

  “Is the Bible still in the dining room?” Marcus asked. Kate nodded. He rose to his feet and went to get it. The hallway was shrouded in darkness. He had to feel his way across the foyer to the dining room, touching the walls as he went. The wind shrieked, buffeting the house. What’s happening out there? He wondered. How many more are dying? How many others has he killed?

  The Bible was on the table. Marcus carried it back, the weight of it in his hands was welcome, comforting in a way he could never put into words.

  One of the women had lit another candle. The room was brighter, not necessarily a good thing. He could see Vinny plainly now. Someone had covered Vinny with an afghan. The blue wool was already darkening with Vinny’s blood. Within minutes, the handmade blanket wouldn’t be blue anymore; it would be purple. For once, he wished for total darkness.

  “Before when Lucien talked to us, he called us the Sons of Dust. We never made any kind of connection to that, other than that’s what he called us.” Kate was watching him, her eyes steady. Gina’s eyes were closed and Marcus wondered briefly if she’d fallen into an exhausted sleep. “It has to mean something. The phrase has to come from somewhere.”

  “Book of Ezekiel,” Gina said without opening her eyes. “Ezekiel was a priest. He said God talked to him and gave him messages to give to the people of Israel. God called him a son of dust and Ezekiel used those words, Sons of Dust, to begin all of his sermons.”

  Marcus opened the Bible, turning the thin pages until he came to the Book of Ezekiel. He scanned the text, turning pages, and then his hand froze. He read the passage through, then read it again, out loud. “Sons of Dust, prepare chains for my people, for the land is full of bloody crimes…”

  Kate got up, moving around the room restlessly.

  “…I looked in vain for anyone who would build again the wall of righteousness that guards the land, who could stand in the gap and defend you from my attacks, but I found not one. And so the Lord God says: I will pour out my anger upon you; I will consume you with the fire of my wrath.”

  “Vinny said that,” Kate interrupted. “He said we had to chain Lucien, then burn it.”

  “Burn what?” Gina asked.

  Kate opened her arms. “Everything.”

  Everything. Burn everything. Sure, why not? Chain a demon then set a fire. All in a day’s work. No rest for the weary. Or wicked. Marcus leaned forward, the book on his lap, “You know what I don’t get? Why didn’t Lucien destroy the chain?”

  Kate picked up her drink, took another swallow. “He can’t,” she said simply.

  “The chain is more than a chain,” Gina said. “It’s like a physical list of his crimes. Each piece is a sin. Lucien can’t destroy it, even with all his power. The only thing that could set Lucien truly free is forgiveness. If we give him the chain, he’d have the power to break it.”

/>   “The act of handing him the chain would symbolize our acceptance…or apathy.” Ice tinkled against the glass as Kate sat back. The circles under her eyes were darker now, more pronounced. “When we were kids, we didn’t know what Lucien was. When we started to break the chain, we thought we were righting a wrong. We were willing to free him, even not knowing what he’d done – the ultimate act of forgiveness. But now we know what he is, what he can do. If we give him the chain, we’re handing him the power to be free.”

  “We can’t stop now,” Gina’s voice was slurred with exhaustion. “No matter how tired we are, or afraid, we can’t stop until it’s done.”

  “No acceptance, no apathy, no forgiveness,” Kate said and Marcus was startled by the fierceness of her tone, the hard set to her jaw. He pictured Bo, seeing her in his mind’s eye, turning toward him at the door of his apartment. She was wearing a blue coat, the color a perfect match to her eyes. Her long hair was loose, drifting to her shoulders in a soft wave. She paused at the door, her eyes dancing with secret amusement and she winked at him, her lips curving into a smile, the smile that lifted his heart and set it soaring.

  No, he thought, No acceptance. No apathy. No forgiveness. God help us all.

  Chapter 44

  Gina

  All right, Geenie. It’s time to stop putting it off. You know what you gotta do. Stop wasting time. The cup’s come to you and it isn’t gonna pass.

  Gina opened her eyes. Her leg throbbed, the pain a steady pulse that matched her heart beat. Every nerve and fiber in her body shrieked at her. Feel that, Gina Marie? Feel that stab of agony? How about that one? Hospital, the nurse in her head spoke up. You need to be in a hospital. You’ve done all you could to help, but now you have to think about yourself. What’s best for you. Get to a hospital, Gina. Let Marcus and Kate finish.

  Sounded good. Reasonable. Okey dokey and good plan but Gina knew she couldn’t do it. The voice of reason wasn’t one she could listen to now. She was going to stay and fight with the others, even if it killed her. C’mon, Geenie. The quicker you start, the quicker it ends.