The Darkest Gateway

by Jeri Westerson

  “Now let’s all quiet down,” said the Reverend. He was wearing his clerical collar and I thought that more than anything else let him calm the crowd. “Are you listening to yourselves? You sound like the cast of some horror movie. That isn’t a sane argument. Kylie Strange has only brought something beautiful to this town: a lovely shop and customers who are now patronizing your store and yours,” he said, pointing out various retail owners. “I mean, are you really accusing Fred Boone who has been a solid citizen in this community for over sixty years?”

  Some hung their heads, shuffling guiltily.

  Reverend Howard stared them all down. “I’m ashamed of some of the things I’ve been hearing from otherwise intelligent people. There are logical explanations to what you think you’ve been seeing. And it has nothing to do with Kylie and Fred Boone’s Wiccans.”

  Everyone was quiet for a moment, until… “You of all people, Reverend,” said someone from the crowd. A man stepped forward wearing a work shirt with a name stitched onto it. “You’re supposed to see the evil that’s around us and protect us. But I think there is something evil here. Something…not of this world. I know what I saw. Other people saw it too. Something big flying over us and it wasn’t no explosion from a gas line. It was some kind of beast. And I don’t care if it don’t sound sane or not. Nothing like that ever happened…until she came to town.”

  He turned to glare at me again. I had never seen such spitting hatred as I saw in his eyes.

  The assembly burst into argument again, some siding with Work Shirt and some arguing against. I was thinking a hasty retreat might be in order.

  Doc seemed about to throw up some sort of protection spell, but I put a hand on his arm and got in close. “That’s all we need. Do you really want to show our hand? Do you really want to prove that guy right?”

  “Dear goddess,” he muttered. “You’re right, of course. We are in a right pickle.”

  I suddenly wished Erasmus was here, but that would have created the same problem.

  A woman stepped forward, wearing a stiff pea coat despite the warmth of the room. Her hair was done in ragged braids and she had one of those hard midwestern Depression-era faces. “If she’s so new to town, how come she started in with them Wiccans right away? She’s always hanging with them. And just what was it they was spraying on my front door? I watched them. They was doing it at the crack of dawn to everyone’s houses. It’s either poison or some sort of hypnosis or spell or something.”

  Ed stepped forward in front of the table. “They were helping the county,” he said. “They were spraying for maple beetles—”

  “There ain’t no such thing as maple beetles,” said Work Shirt. “I looked it up. I saw you and the deputy spraying that shit, too. You’re in on it with them.”

  “Roger Farley!” cried Reverend Howard. “Lisa Smith!” he said, scowling at Depression Woman. “I can’t believe I’m hearing this from you two! It’s absurd. Are you listening to yourselves?”

  “I saw them Wiccans spraying that stuff, too,” said a farmer type. “And screw it. I’m not calling them Wiccans no more. They’re witches, plain and simple. Back in Salem, they knew how to take care of their like.”

  I knew Salem would get dragged into it, I said in my head.

  Hezekiah tried to bring order back by pounding the table with his gavel. “Now listen! Hush up, all of you! That’s all just plain crazy talk. Doc and his Wiccans aren’t doing any harm and you know it. And there are no such things as flying beasts!”

  The ceiling exploded. Cracked plaster, acoustic tiles, and snapped trusses rained down on the screaming crowd. And then Baphomet landed right in the middle of the carnage, with his stupid goat face and his huge bat wings.

  This was not helping!

  People scattered, scrambling over one another to escape. Some just dropped to their knees and began praying.

  I swept my glance toward Ed, who was aiming his gun two-handed at Baphy. George had managed to get his hands on his rifle. Though his aim was shaky—I realized that this was his first encounter with Goat Guy—he kept a fairly steady bead on him.

  Reverend Howard was open-mouthed and flat against the far wall. And Ruth…

  Well, well. Ruth was standing at a doorway, looking up at Baphomet, her mouth in a firm line. She seemed a little too nonplussed. Had she called on him? Damn her!

  The Wiccans fanned out around him. At Doc’s signal, they all raised their hands and started chanting.

  A hazy glow formed around Baphomet and he looked down at their spell with disdain.

  The glow was getting stronger, pushing toward the god. He seemed to be getting a little bit nervous as it began to surround him. Then he bared his teeth, crossed his arms over his chest like he was gathering himself, and snapped them open. The glow shot back, knocking my Wiccans over. I was lucky to catch Doc before he fell and broke something.

  By then all of the townsfolk had fled, emptying the hall. None of the board members remained. Even Ruth Russell was gone.

  Doc wrestled out of my grip spitting mad. “That will not do!” he cried. He stood up and began a different incantation. There was suddenly a purple aura around him and when Seraphina joined him, the aura spread to her. Then Nick stood beside him, then Jolene.

  They could do what they needed to do. And I could do what I could do. I whipped out the Spear of Mortal Pain from my jacket. Pushing the button, it telescoped out into a ten-foot long sharp weapon.

  I grasped it in both hands and stalked up to Baphy. “You are pissing me off!” I yelled.

  His weird goat eyes slid toward me. “Kylie Strange,” he said in that odd voice, somewhere between a lowing bull and a male baritone. “You continue to be a thorn in my side. Give me the book.”

  “What is with you people and the Booke? You can’t open it.”

  “Mortals cannot open it. I am an immortal. I can.”

  Oh. I didn’t like that. “And I suppose you want it to open a gateway to let in flowers and unicorns?”

  “No.” He leaned his twelve-foot-tall body down until his face was close to mine. I could smell the muskiness of the black fur on his face and shoulders, the male sweat from his human-looking torso, and some other scents like sulfur and tar. “I want to open a Hell Gate and let my brother and sister gods in. Mortals turned their backs on us centuries ago. I want them to pay for that insult.”

  “Is that all? Why didn’t you say so in the first place?” Before he could draw back—and before I could chicken out—I hauled back with the spear and rammed it right into his eye.

  It slipped out of my hands as he reared up, the spear still sticking out of his eye like a cocktail pick in an olive. He howled like the late banshee, screaming and cursing in some strange outmoded language, before he grasped the spear in a taloned hand and yanked it out. He threw it to the floor and I surprised myself with the presence of mind to go get it.

  I must have really got him good, because he continued to howl, to clutch at his eye where black goo trickled over his fingers. He staggered back and leaned against the wall, which crumbled beneath him. Then he staggered forward and I thought he might fall on us. But he righted himself, beat his wings, and lifted from the floor, the wind knocking us all back. With a powerful stroke, he shot into the sky and disappeared.

  I hadn’t killed him but that spear lived up to its name. “Good spear!” I said, shaking it.

  “Kylie!” Jolene ran toward me. “Oh my God. You scared him off.”

  I mimed jabbing him. “Right in the eye.”

  “Good work!”

  Nick slapped me on the shoulder. “That was wicked awesome!”

  “He’s only gone temporarily,” said Seraphina. I noticed they were all still glowing purple.

  “What’s with the purple?” I asked.

  Doc waved his hand impatiently and it disappeared. “A powerful protection spell we’ve been working on.” He put his hands on his hips and looked up at the hole in the ceiling. “That was a poorly timed appea
rance.”

  “Yeah. Now what? The whole town knows.”

  “And thinks we’re conjuring him,” said Nick, running his hand through his hair.

  Ed and Deputy George ran up to us. “You okay, Kylie?”

  “Yeah. Did you see?” I jabbed the spear again. “Got him in the eye.”

  “Yeah,” said Ed uncertainly. “I saw.” He glanced back toward the ruined door.

  But what had everyone else seen? Only Baphomet and me before they scattered. “Do they still think we’re the bad guys?”

  “I don’t think they think we’re the good guys.”

  “Well, that’s not fair.”

  “Everyone’s scared,” said George breathlessly. He held his rifle down at his side. “So am I, truth be told.”

  “We can’t have the town against us, too.” I pressed the button to bring the spear back down to ruler size. “Did you see poor Reverend Howard?”

  “Did you see Ruth Russell?” said Jolene.

  I looked around. “Where are they now?”

  Ed seemed concerned. “I don’t know.” He was right to be worried. Everything they just said about us turned out to be true. If they’d only stuck around, they would have seen me fight the god not side with him.

  Jan and Kevin Ayrs pushed their way back through the carnage in the hall and ran up to Jolene. Her mother grabbed her and Kevin wrapped his arms around the both of them.

  “Mom! Dad! Not in front of the coven!”

  “Is this what you’ve been doing all this time, young lady?” her father gasped.

  She struggled and got free of them. “We’ve been trying to stop him.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Jan tearfully. “I thought you were just doing some benign pagan things. Crystals and herbs.”

  “I have been. But…there’s also been some supernatural stuff going on and we…” she gestured toward the other Wiccans, “have been trying to help. There’s a lot of dangerous stuff happening.”

  “Fred!” said Kevin, stalking up to Doc. “I trusted you to keep my daughter safe.”

  “And I have, Kevin. But you must understand, we couldn’t do half the things we’ve needed to do if it wasn’t for Jolene. We need her. If you’re thinking of forbidding her—”

  “That’s exactly what we’re going to do!”

  “Kev, I give you my word that I will keep her safe. But darn it, we need her. You’ve seen what we’re up against.”

  “Against? Are you trying to tell me you didn’t conjure that creature?”

  “That’s exactly what I’m telling you, Kev.”

  “Mr. Ayrs,” offered Nick, “I’ve been looking after her like a big brother. But honest to God—or whatever—we just can’t get along without her skills. We’d probably all be dead by now if it wasn’t for her.”

  Kevin ran his hands over his argyle vest. His face contorted with indecision. He looked to his wife, who gazed sorrowfully at her daughter.

  “Mom, Dad, believe them. We’re doing important work. We have a job to do.”

  “Well…what did that…that creature mean about a book?”

  Right on cue, the Booke of the Hidden popped into existence in front of me. Kevin and Jan leapt back, hands over their mouths.

  I grabbed it out of the air and held it tight. “He meant this. Boy, what to say?” I looked pleadingly at Doc.

  “You’d best tell them the whole thing.”

  “This,” I began, showing them the Booke.

  “‘Booke of the Hidden’?” Kevin read the cover.

  “Right. I found it in the wall of my shop. For reasons too complicated to explain, I opened it and it released all these creatures into the world. The creatures have been killing all the people in town. I’ve been killing the creatures and putting them back in the Booke, but it hasn’t been easy. And Doc’s coven has been helping. Jolene’s found a lot of really important information for us. It’s been keeping me alive. So…so if you can see your way to letting her continue, we’ll all be looking out for her…as we’ve been doing.”

  “Does she even really work at your shop?”

  “Oh, yeah! She’s been great there too. Um…sorry for lying to you, but, as you can see…” I swept an arm over the chaos. The roof was caved in in the middle; the chairs and tables were overturned, and some were crushed; the double doors were knocked off their hinges from so many people scrambling to escape.

  Everyone had high-tailed it out of there, including Reverend Howard and Ruth Russell. Had they all just gone home?

  Wait a minute. In that split second of realization, my chest suddenly burst with fear. “My shop!”

  I threw the Booke aside and ran.

  Chapter Nine

  I slammed my car into gear and peeled out of the parking lot. Some cars and trucks tried to bar my path when they noticed it was me, but I burst through a low fence, off-roaded it over the village green, and hit the street. Erasmus suddenly appeared by my side. He didn’t have to say anything. I saw it all on his face.

  “Get to my shop,” I told him. “Make sure no one is making trouble.”

  He didn’t say a word, just disappeared again.

  It wouldn’t take me long to get there, and I could already see a line of cars…and someone had something that looked like fire.

  I punched it around the back way through the woods, shut off the engine at my back garden, and ran around to the front. Someone had some burning rags on a stick, ready to lob it at my place. I skidded to a stop and held up my hands. I was lit by all the headlights of the villagers parked in the street.

  “What do you think you’re doing?” I said in challenge.

  He didn’t look threatened. “I’m gonna burn down this witch house.”

  “Not while I’m here to stop you.”

  “Maybe you aren’t gonna stop me.” He cocked back his arm when suddenly the torch went out.

  Erasmus appeared beside me with a big thunderclap…the drama queen. His voice was unnaturally amplified when he declared, “Stand aside!”

  Some did draw back, but I noticed a lot of folks seemed to have gun racks in their trucks…and the racks were empty.

  “Now look,” I said, lowering my hands and trying for a reasonable tone. “I know what you think you saw, but I was trying to fight that guy.”

  “That was the Devil!” said one of the faces in the dark. “And he came when you called on him.”

  “No, he isn’t and no, I didn’t. That was…that was Baphomet and he’s a…a sort of god. But not a very nice one. I’ve been trying to stop him.”

  “Where’d he come from, then?” said Torch Guy.

  I could easily implicate Doug, but looking across at the angry mob, I just didn’t have the heart to sic them on him.

  “There’s something you should know,” I said instead. “There’s this Booke…” On cue, it appeared again before me to more gasps and even a few screams. “This Booke. I found it here in this house. It’s been around for centuries, thousands of years in one form or another. And when you open it, it opens a gateway where terrible creatures come out.” My throat was hot. I swallowed through a lump as hot tears spilled down my face. I couldn’t help it. I kept thinking of the litany of names Ed had read at the meeting. All those dead people. “And…and the creatures killed those people. Your people. I’m sorry. It was my fault for opening the Booke, but I didn’t know.” I wiped my face with my sleeve. “And Doc and his coven have been helping me. I don’t know what else to do. So I guess you have every right to torch me and my place—”

  “Kylie!” said Erasmus. There was fear on his face, not that he couldn’t whisk me away, but perhaps that I might not let him. He’d probably seen his share of villagers rising up and killing the Chosen Host.

  “But I hope you don’t,” I continued. “I hope you decide to help me. I’m really not working for evil.”

  “So who’s this?” said Torch Guy, gesturing toward Erasmus.

  “He’s a demon. But he’s okay!”

  Me
gan, our waitress from Moody Bog Café spoke up. “I…I saw him with Kylie at the café the other night,” she said cautiously. “He seemed…really polite.”

  “What about our children?” said a woman in the back. “How do we keep them safe?”

  “I don’t know. I mean, Doc can help you with some protection charms. If you want them.”

  “We’re good Christians here,” said another woman in a long parka. “We don’t want your devil charms in our house.”

  “They aren’t devil charms. They’re keeping the baddies away.”

  “Wicca is a pagan faith,” said Doc suddenly from the back of the crowd. He slowly moved forward, and the villagers stepped aside like they didn’t want him touching them. Doc made his way to my side and put a hand gently on my shoulder. “But being a pagan doesn’t mean we reject the faith of others. In fact, we embrace all faiths. I’m still a Christian, but I also understand there is more than even the Bible tells us. I only strive for truth, in all it’s facets. And being a doctor, my calling has always been to heal, not destroy. Now, some of you have known me a long time, I daresay, all your lives.”

  As he spoke, Nick pushed through to stand beside him. And then Seraphina came from the other direction and stood beside Erasmus. Even Jolene, a parent on each hand, wended her way forward until the three of them stood with us.

  “And you know I have never steered you wrong,” Doc went on. “We’re sorry for not telling you about the troubles we’ve encountered.” It was hard to see the faces of the crowd, backlit as they were. But everyone seemed to be listening. “But…” He shook his head. “How the heck were we going to explain it? Well, now you’ve seen some of it for yourselves. Look. If you destroy this young lady’s house and business, you will have accomplished nothing. And if you run us out of town, the wickedness won’t stop. In fact, it’s set to get a lot dicier by the end of the week. So you can either help us destroy evil, or you can stand in the way of our good work and do the exact opposite of what you want to accomplish. Yes, there’s evil in our town, but it isn’t anyone standing up here in front of you.”