by C R Langille
Mort lay in the dirt, his blood spread under his body like a dark red carpet. Randall let out an involuntary giggle as his mind continued to crack. Something in his subconscious took over, and he pulled away from Garrett. He ran over to his brother’s destroyed body.
Mort’s blood still trickled from the small openings the pitchfork had created in his chest. Randall let his fingers brush across each wound, his chest tingling in sympathy as he swept across the punctures. Mort’s eyes remained opened as his life leaked out, giving his visage a nightmarish quality. Randall slid the eyelids closed then let his own fall shut. As the battle raged around him, he shuddered as the tears ran down his cheeks.
***
Garrett finally had the sense to move when Allison pushed into him. He turned and saw his dead family rushing towards him. He tried to jump out of the way, but Maddie leaped at him, flying through the air like a monkey. She slammed into his chest, and they both rolled into the parking lot.
Trisha scurried next to Allison, watching Garrett and Maddie fight each other, a grotesque grin splayed across her damaged face. Vertebrae snapped and cracked as she whipped her head around 180 degrees and looked at Allison.
“Isn’t it wonderful that they still play like that? Isn’t it wonderful?” Trisha asked in a deep voice, her words slurring until the last almost sounded like a moan full of pleasure and pain.
Allison blanched and tried to step away, but Trisha locked a hand onto her leg. A chill leaped from the thing’s hand and spread up Allison’s thigh, almost numbing her to the bone. She let out a scream of terror and began to kick at Trisha with her free leg.
***
Bring the Host!
Troy’s head thundered with the demand, and he nearly dropped the book. He looked to the motel and found Garrett and Allison struggling with the beautiful creations. He sank his thoughts deep into Maddie and Trisha’s minds and conveyed the urgency of the order. Both creatures shuddered and renewed their efforts.
***
Dan stopped a few feet away from Rusty. The oily tendrils of shadow were wrapped tight around the Trickster. Dan took the katana and brought it close to his face and closed his eyes. He took three deep breaths, and as he did, the katana glowed with a white light. As he released the third and final breath, his eyes snapped open sharing the same blinding light as the weapon.
Troy threw his hand up to shield his eyes and let out a cry of pain as the light washed over him. Similar cries of anguish arose from Maddie and Trisha. Dan brought the sword up and smashed it into the ground. It shattered into a myriad of pieces.
The light burst and began to swirl around the falling pieces of steel, keeping them from hitting the dirt, spinning them faster and faster. A moment later, they shot toward the black energy that burned into Rusty’s flesh. The pieces of the katana hit the oily blackness and flashed even brighter. The smoky energy started to dissipate under the intense light. Within seconds, the darkness was destroyed. The coyote got to its feet, whimpering, and limped behind the car. Dan dropped the blasted katana to the dirt and turned toward Troy, his eyes still blazing with the fiery white light.
Troy took a hesitant step back, his grip tightening on the book. Somehow, its weight gave him confidence and made the fear subside slightly.
Destroy the Spirit and the Star! Bring the Host!
Troy staggered under the immense weight behind the words, and a torrent of blood jetted from his nostrils. He fell to one knee but caught himself before falling fully into the dirt.
Dan took a step toward the downed man but stopped when the constant honk of the car horn abruptly stopped. It was a signal, and the world fell quiet in anticipation. Dan turned his attention back to the vehicle. The interior of the car was dark making it difficult to see what lurked inside. A moment later, the driver’s-side door flew off its hinges and crashed into the motel wall with a clang.
“Bring the Host!” Troy yelled.
Trisha and Maddie smiled their debauched grins and renewed their efforts. As Allison kicked once more at Trisha, the thing leaped into the air above the attack and landed on top of her. The creature’s arms snaked around Allison’s chest, pinning her hands to her sides. The snap and pop of skin and bone ground into Allison’s ears as the arms clamped down like a vise and locked into place. Its neck extended to an absurd length until it resembled some sort of horrible ostrich. It turned its head in a slow movement until it faced Allison.
“Looks like we’re going to have a girls’ night out again!” Trisha belched.
A moment later, the creature lifted her body into the air and carried her toward Troy. Allison struggled and lashed out, but each movement caused the thing to clamp down even harder until it was difficult to breathe.
***
Dan searched for a weapon, anything that he might be able to use to fight the thing in the car. He didn’t know what was in there, but he could feel the amount of power emanating from the vehicle, and it was more than enough to let him know it wasn’t good. He shot a furtive glance to his own Bronco, quickly weighing the possibility of reaching it in time. Allison’s screams pulled his attention, and he watched as some deformed creature carried her away.
He let out a frustrated cry and ran toward the woman. He had taken three steps when he was slammed into the dirt and rocks, all his air forced from his body. Something wrapped around his ankle sending bolts of burning pain up his leg. Whatever had a hold on him started to drag him back toward the car.
He looked and saw a black tentacle latched onto his leg. It was ashy and covered in millions of tiny hairs moving independently of one another. The hairs glowed with the same dull orange as all the other creatures’ eyes, and they pulled toward Dan like a magnet.
He grabbed and scratched the ground, trying to find a handhold. The thing in the car continued to reel him in like a caught fish. As he was dragged closer to the car, he got a better view of the inside. It was a mass of writhing shadow with one burning eye the size of a dinner plate. The eye was red and seethed with hate.
Troy chuckled at the scene and nodded in approval as Trisha brought Allison to him. He ran his fingers through Allison’s red hair then grabbed her by the cheek and wrenched her head so that they were face to face. He moved her head from side to side like he was inspecting some animal for a scientific research project.
Troy’s face bunched in confusion and his eyes rolled back. He mouthed silently into the night air as if in deep conversation with some other entity. A moment later, he let go of Allison’s face and turned to Trisha.
“Take this one to Him. Go!”
The Trisha-thing giggled and took off running down the street with Allison in tow. Allison let out a scream that faded into the night. Troy turned his attention back to Garrett and Maddie.
Garrett rolled across the ground and tried to dislodge the creature from his back. Maddie tried to wrap her arms around him like Trisha had done to Allison, but Garrett was bigger and stronger. Finally, she found her opening, and her small childlike arms extended and wrapped themselves around his torso like a python constricting around its prey.
“Randall! Help!” Garrett said in almost a wheeze, the air forced from his lungs.
Randall ignored the plea and sat quietly next to his brother’s corpse. He held Mort’s head in his lap and sat motionless in the dirt.
“Randa—!” Garrett’s cry stopped midsentence as Maddie slammed her forehead into his face. Blood blossomed from his nose, and tears instantly welled up in his eyes. She slammed her head down again, and his ears started to ring. Maddie hit him again, and with each blow pain lanced through his skull. Somehow, Garrett remained conscious through the brutal assault. His vision blurred with blood and tears, and his lungs burned for air. He was about to pass out when Maddie was pulled off him.
He could breathe again, and when he rolled onto his stomach and looked, he found Maddie locked in combat with a coyot
e. The coyote growled and ripped at the creature’s limbs, nimbly avoiding the lightning fast strikes coming at it.
The fight between the two was short but brutal. After a couple of rounds of back-and-forth, the coyote sank its fangs into the creature’s throat and ripped it out. The Maddie-thing giggled once then lay still.
Rusty looked across the field of battle at Troy and snarled. Troy smirked and pointed toward the car where Dan fought desperately to free himself before being pulled into the confines of the vehicle and to certain destruction. The coyote turned its attention to Dan’s ongoing struggle. Troy took the opportunity to slip away into the darkness.
***
The thing had almost pulled Dan to the door, and he was beginning to get desperate. He knew if whatever it was got him inside, he would be no more. For the first time in over two millennia, Dan showed his true form.
Chapter Twenty-Three
November 5, 1180
I must keep this brief, for we move with haste. Sir Geoffrey and his unholy brethren have escaped. The sounds of battle roused me from my musings. As I emerged into the daylight, I came across carnage that I haven’t witnessed since our struggles in the Holy Land.
Somehow, the captives freed themselves and made their way into the mountain’s depths, yet not before killing everything near them. Some of our men tried to stop them it seems, but the enemy was too numerous. Our men, the native men, it mattered not. All who stood in the path of that group of demons were torn limb from limb.
I cannot find Sir Ralph. I fear the worst; however, one of his men-at-arms said Sir Geoffrey and his ilk dragged him into the mountain. The village elder and his warriors have agreed to accompany the rest of my men and me. We venture forth to end this quest one way or another. May our Lord and Savior have mercy on our souls and guide us with his light.
-Sir William Brock
Canyon Shadows, Utah
Dan clenched his teeth in pain as his skin tore along with his shirt. The pain disappeared, replaced with euphoria and a sense of freedom. A moment later, gigantic wings spread from his back and kicked up dust as they gave a testing flap and stretched to full length. Jet black feathers fanned out similar to a raven’s wing, but bits of white and brown seeped into the bottom feathers, giving the wings a strange contrast of light and dark. Dan flapped the wings, bringing himself to his feet, buffeting the car with a mighty gust of wind. He crouched down then leaped into the air, using the wings to take him even higher.
The strength of the wings, as well as an inhuman source of power, surged against the thing in the car. The tentacle stretched taught, and a monstrous cry that sounded like the mix of nails on a chalkboard and a deep guttural bark of a hyena shot from the dark of the car’s insides.
Dan fought against the pull and beat his wings furiously. The white glow in his eyes flared brightly, and he rose even higher into the air. For half a heartbeat, the car lurched forward as the creature inside fought for control, and then it was pulled through the doorway and into the night.
Rusty, now changed back to his human form, watched as the thing trailed behind Dan into the air. The entire creature now pulsed with a dull yellow glow that started to beat faster and brighter as its fear and sense of survival kicked into overdrive.
Cries of rage and fear echoed into the night as Dan took it higher and higher into the sky. There was an immense pull on his leg and searing pain as the creature tightened its grip, but still, he continued to climb in altitude. The hot desert air gave way to the cooler temperatures of the sky above. It was exhilarating to fly once again, even with the abomination attached to his leg.
The creature’s movements became much more methodical, and several tentacles shot upward, wrapping around Dan’s arms, legs, and wings. Without Dan’s strength and power, both creature and angel plummeted back toward the earth.
***
“Well, that’s not good,” Rusty said, watching the two fall from the sky.
The small dot that was Dan and his newfound friend grew larger and larger as it got closer and closer. Rusty reached behind his back and produced the obsidian knife once more. The runes still glowed with a powerful red and blue energy.
Dan was now the one who was struggling. He ripped and tore at the ropy tendrils that embraced him, but each time he got free from one, another took its place. It was like fighting a hydra of sticky spaghetti. The ground rushed up to meet them, and it would only be mere seconds before both of them were obliterated. The thing wrapped around him made a noise that reminded Dan of a chuckle.
Finally, Rusty could make out some small details of the two. He glanced down at the knife in his hand with a loving look.
“Well, buddy, we’ve been through some crazy times you and me. Looks like this is it. Fly true,” he said.
Then, he let out a sigh and whipped the knife into the air towards the falling pair. The knife left a contrail of red and blue light as it spun end over end, flying an impossible distance but never losing speed. It slammed into the creature with a clap of thunder. The night sky lit up with a bright burst of red and blue lightning. The creature let out a roar of pure frustrated wrath which soon turned into pain. Electricity crawled across its tentacled form, burning it away until nothing but ash remained.
As soon as its tendrils loosened on his wings, Dan burst free and swooped up and away from the ground. What was left of the creature floated to the parking lot, covering everything in the area with a fine, grotesque silt.
Dan glided back to solid ground and walked up to Rusty, flexing his wings as he moved. Rusty gave a whistle and nodded in approval.
“Feels good doesn’t it?” Rusty asked, “I imagine it would be like seeing Black Sabbath in concert with AC/DC opening!”
“It’s been too long,” Dan replied.
“Hell yeah!” Rusty said bobbing his head up and down with excitement.
“Thank you,” Dan said.
“No problem, but now you owe me,” Rusty said, his voice shifting to a flat, serious tone.
“We have to move; they have Allison. We’ve got to get her back before they present her to that… thing under the mountain,” Dan said.
At the mention of Allison, Garrett finally broke from his stupor and started processing again. He slowly walked closer to Rusty and Dan, wary of both—one who had recently changed into a coyote and back again and one who looked like something from church mythology.
“Where did they take her?” Garrett asked.
Rusty and Dan cast a glance his way then resumed their conversation.
“Do you think she’s the Host?” Rusty asked.
“Yes, I do. There is something special about her,” Dan said, walking to his Bronco.
“Special, eh? I’d say. She is certainly a looker. Good on you. ‘Bout time you let loose and had some fun,” Rusty said, following Dan. “I remember the last redhead I dated. She lived in Texas. Her name was Sonja, or Sandra, or—”
“Oh, yeah? Did you take her out to dinner? How about you tell me while we move? We’re wasting time,” Dan growled as he got to the vehicle and tried to get in. The last time he had let his wings out was ages before Broncos had even been a thought. After a couple of failed attempts, he slammed the door.
“Excuse me!” Garrett said, louder this time, “But I think I deserve some answers! Where did they take her? And who are they? Who are you?”
Dan turned, wondering if it was worth the time to explain. He let out a sigh and walked over to Garrett. Garrett shrank back slightly from him but tried to stand up as tall as he could. It was like a Chihuahua standing up to a Doberman as far as presence was concerned.
Dan put a hand on Garrett’s shoulder. Something about the winged man instilled both a fear and a sense of protection that made his mind scream at him to run the opposite direction only to then whisper and say everything was all right.
“Go home, Garrett. T
his is a power that you can’t deal with,” Dan said.
“The hell I will! What the shit is happening? I think I’m losing my fucking mind!” Garrett said, rubbing at his sore neck.
Rusty grabbed a pen and rummaged in his backpack. A moment later, he stood up and faced Garrett. He put on a pair of aviator sunglasses and held the pen up.
“Look right into this and I’ll explain everything,” Rusty said with a straight face.
“What the hell?” Garrett asked.
Dan shot Rusty a confused look. Rusty looked to Garrett and then to Dan who shrugged his shoulders and let out a laugh.
“Haven’t you seen Men in Black? Will Smith? Tommy Lee Jones? Come on!” Rusty said.
“Not the time,” Dan said solemnly. “Look, just go home; it will be safer for you. I’ll get Allison back. I promise.”
“I can’t go home. There’s no way that I could up and leave knowing that she’s out there somewhere. Look deep inside and I think you understand, so before you get into some speech about how it would be safer if I left, understand that I’ll go after her myself if need be,” Garrett stated plainly.
Dan furrowed his brow as he looked into Garrett’s eyes. Garrett met his gaze and stared back into Dan’s orbs, of which now the white light had subsided but left a faint swirling vortex in the back of his pupils. Garrett couldn’t help but think of pictures of faraway galaxies that he had seen as a child in science class as he looked into Dan’s orbs.
Rusty let out a small chuckle and slapped Dan on the shoulder.
“I think he has you there, hombre,” Rusty said.
“Fine, but you listen to what I have to say and follow my orders without hesitation, got it? Otherwise, you’re on your own, and if you get possessed by It, I won’t hesitate to put you down,” Dan stated more than asked.
“Got it,” Garrett said, “What about him?” he asked, pointing to Randall. “We just can’t leave him here.”