The Window

by Glenn Rolfe

  The visions in the window disappeared. He stood and sucked in a sharp breath and faced the demon, Domineus.

  “Pity your friends didn’t heed my fair notice.” The demon raised its boot and brought it down with a gruesome thud on Kevin’s face. “Now, why don’t you come with me and check on your more willing companion?”

  James’s eyes flooded over. “Kevin…” he wheezed out between his hyperventilating gasps for breath.

  “Yes, well, I’m afraid he was just too pathetic to live another moment. Besides, it was self-defense,” the demon said and smirked.

  James felt the blood, hot in his veins. Tears rolled in an endless parade down his cheeks. He bared his teeth, let out a war cry of his own, and let the sudden rage propel him forward into the murderous thing sneering at him.

  Domineus welcomed his outburst, letting out an oomph as James charged head first into the creature’s stomach. James managed to lift it off its feet before stumbling over Kevin’s body. Tangled up, James and the demon tumbled to the floor.

  James rolled to his right, hurried to his feet, and ran down the hallway. He slammed the back-bedroom door open and shot a glance into the dim room.

  Eric’s naked body lay face down in the center of the king-sized bed, a series of long, bloody gashes stretched across his back. He looked like he’d been attacked by the wolf man.

  “Eric?”

  Eric lifted his head and reached a palsied hand toward him.

  “J-James…ughhh.”

  A trickle of blood ran from the corner of Eric’s parted lips. James stepped to the bed. Two hands slithered up from behind him, one gently slipped over his chest as the other found its way over his hip and onto the front of his shorts. The familiar caress brought him back into the fog and killed his need to check on his friend.

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Carrie jerked and tried to yelp beneath the sweaty hand that covered her mouth. She was wrapped tight in her captor’s arms.

  “Shhh, shut up,” he whispered.

  She recognized the voice but couldn’t place it.

  “Where’s your boyfriend and that fat-fuck brother of yours? Did they find my phone?”

  Hank.

  “They’re dead fucking meat,” he seethed.

  Carrie bit into the soft skin between his thumb and forefinger.

  “You little bitch,” he barked, letting her go and shoving her to the ground.

  Landing on her rear, she heard the dreaded crack and crunch and knew her cell in her back pocket had taken the brunt of the fall.

  “Hank, wait,” she pleaded. She looked beyond him. “Where are your friends?”

  “They’re a bunch of cowards. Went home to lick their wounds and left me to fight on my own. Now where’s Jamey the baby and that tub of lard brother of yours?” His head swiveled from side-to-side searching the darkness for them.

  “You don’t understand. There’s something terrible happening inside right now.”

  “What the are you talking about?”

  “My brother and James and Eric…they snuck in and I heard yelling and screaming…”

  “Why the hell would Jamey the Baby have to sneak into his own house?”

  “It sounds crazy, but…”

  “But…”

  “There’s something evil in there with them. A demon, or a spirit, or…I don’t know.”

  She watched the aggression drain from his bruised face. His gaze shifted from her to the house.

  “I… I don’t hear anything,” he said, looking down at her. “Are you fucking with me? Is this a set up?” He surveyed the yard.

  “What? Why? How would we know you’d be creeping around out here?” That seemed to get through at least one of the walls in Hank Jacobs’ thick cranium.

  “Well, what the hell do you mean there’s something evil in there?”

  “We came here before you guys got in that big fight. James’s dad was acting weird. He wouldn’t let any of us in. When we finally did get back, they snuck in through James’s window. The lights went crazy inside and they were screaming and thrashing around. I moved to the front porch and saw…something.”

  “What…what did you see?” he asked.

  Carrie recalled the face that turned its mangled grin to her.

  …..

  James’s resilience went into exile. His hormones dove headfirst into the lust-driven fantasy. The older Carrie’s tongue darted in and out of his mouth. Her hands rubbed the front of his shorts against his hard on. James moaned and exploded inside of his underwear.

  “Yes, James,” her voice slithered in his ear. “Give in.”

  Normally, he would have been overridden with guilt and shame, but now, with this version of Carrie guiding him, he relished in the release and broke free from her mouth. He raised his hands to her tits and squeezed them until she cried out.

  “Yes, James. Touch me.”

  His fingers fumbled over her hardened nipples. A cloudy blueish mist seemed to be coming off his flesh. He ignored it. No trace of shyness or awkwardness he imagined he would feel doing such things. He felt powerful, confident. Carrie’s nipples were slick with something, but his mind refused to see. Her hand reached up into his hair. She pulled his face down into her chest. His tongue rolled around and flicked her erect nubs. The coppery substance on them staggered his lust train.

  “That’s my boy,” Domineus said from the doorway.

  James’s hand stopped just above Carrie’s pubic hair at the sound of the voice. It was no longer that of his father’s, but the demon’s, gravelly and deep.

  He reached up and batted Carrie’s arms away, but it was no longer Carrie. It was Alison. It had always been Alison. He fell on his ass and clearly saw what he could still taste in his mouth. Her body was painted in blood. Whatever the blue mist coming from his hands was it had vanished.

  “Looks like we’re going to have to break him,” she said. The voice was no longer Alison’s or Carrie’s, but the she-demon, Sanikus, that now possessed her.

  “There was blue…some kind of blue smoke or—”

  “That’s created from the energy within your soul, dear boy,” the Sanikus said.

  “We’ve been waiting so long for one like you…young, strong, a soul full of fury.” The thing with the burning eyes and his father’s skin stepped next to the evil witch covered in blood. James wanted to kill them both.

  For Kevin. For Eric.

  “Stand up, son.”

  “I’m not your son.”

  “Dear, listen to him,” Domineus said.

  “Such fire,” Sanikus replied slithering up behind Domineus and resting her chin on his shoulder. “I just know he can bring our dear boy back to us.”

  “Yes, I feel it, as well. He is the one.”

  James had no idea what they were talking about, and then it hit him—Kyrus. The child taken from them. The legend he and Kevin had found said that God had taken their son to punish them for their evil deeds.

  “Kyrus,” James said.

  The demons gasped in unison.

  “You speak my sweet boy’s name,” Sanikus said.

  “Tell us. What do you know of him?” Domineus asked.

  James knew he had to stall. He needed time to figure his way out of here. “He was your son. God took him from you and put him in Purgatory as punishment for the horrible things you did to people.”

  “Ha, ha, ha, ha. Did you hear that my love?” Domineus laughed. “God took him from us.”

  The she-demon cracked a grin but did not laugh. James thought he saw real hurt in her dark eyes.

  “Your God is nothing compared to the truth behind his wickedness.” The embers stirred to life behind Domineus’s dark gaze. Its fists clenched; James noticed the blood squeeze out from beneath its pinky fingers. The demon placed one foot before the other and approached him. James could feel the heat of this creature’s anger push toward him.

  “We were no different from any of the commoners fending for ourselves, our lives, our
boy. We scavenged for sustenance that had not been tainted or filled with the disease. We were left in the dark. We were left to die by His hand. He delivered the plague that soiled the land. Our boy, sick with fever, sick with His death, fell into eternal sleep. He delivered us into the darkness, and we had no choice but to accept its gifts.”

  “When the darkness from beyond whispered to us, and told us that we could live,” Sanikus said. “That Kyrus could live, and that we could control our fate, not Him, we listened.” The she-demon slipped her arms around Domineus waist.

  “We no longer had to worry,” Domineus said. “We watched our city die. We watched as the last of our townspeople stared at the hills for a savior to come. They looked to the gray skies for His mighty hand to reach down and lift them to the gates. They did not listen when we told them He was responsible. Instead, they backed away, begrudged us with dirty looks. They called us devils. Blamed us for all that had befallen the land.”

  “So, we did Him a favor,” Sanikus continued. “And we finished them off, one-by-one, men and women—by that time, there were no children left. His diseases had taken them.”

  “But you said the darkness would help Kyrus live?” James said.

  “And, in time…” she said. “the darkness delivered on its promise.”

  “Come with us, James,” Domineus reached out a hand. “Let us show you.”

  They grabbed him by his arms. He went along, buying himself time to figure out his next move. Domineus kicked the bathroom door inward, pulled him inside, and pushed him before the bathroom mirror.

  The reflection that stared back, the boy, had no eyes.

  Chapter Thirty-Three

  James was pulled into another trance, but this one was different. Instead of sexual visions, he was being shown Kyrus’s story. Emotions wracked his body. At first cold and painful; and then, euphoric and free. In the span of thirty seconds, James felt the most horrendous, biting ache in his stomach that he’d ever known followed by a love and happiness he knew he’d never match again, not here on Earth anyway.

  The first vision was of an inky blackness as it slithered in and enveloped the warmth like a clear pool tainted with oil. The feeling was one of great loss. The water began to drain, and he was falling. Ripped from the womb of God’s love and grace, he joined Kyrus on his awful descent from peace, through the nothing of Purgatory, and finally back to Earth.

  The trance showed him what they, the Seekers, had done.

  “Oh my, my sweet, sweet boy,” Sanikus cried.

  James gazed out through the child’s eyes and saw an injured woman with flowing blonde locks, covered in death, blood and rent flesh hanging in tatters over flashes of bone, standing and reaching out toward him.

  “The Dark Lord’s promise…. just look at him, Domineus. He has returned.”

  “I knew it. I knew we would receive him…” Domineus, sporting a beard and mustache, black trousers, and a white, blood-stained shirt that looked more like something a woman would wear, moved to his demon-wife and steadied her by placing his hands on her shoulders.

  “Kyrus?” she said.

  But James heard nothing. The boy had no voice.

  “What’s the matter with him?” she cried. Her face scrunching, concern sweeping over her features.

  “Nothing, he’s fine. Look at him. Let us finish this. He will be fine, I promise you, my love.”

  He was ushered to a room upstairs.

  James now felt the boy’s emotions—fear, anger, and above all, a great sadness. Kyrus knew what his parents were, what they had become, and what they had done. He knew they had murdered, killed more of God’s beloved in some heinous act of treason against His commands. They were responsible for his current predicament. Stolen from His heart and arms. Taken by some wicked act by the lost and the desperate. They had ceased to be his parents when they turned to the monster from beyond, from the other side.

  God had spared him.

  The boy wondered where the Lord was now and if he would ever ascend again.

  The boy stood in a room, empty save for a bed and a rocking chair by a window. Kyrus stood staring up at dark clouds.

  I am your vessel, Lord. Please, I have remained faithful and patient. I have witnessed more death, more betrayal. Please, free me from these monstrosities. What will, what purpose do I serve in the face of such evil?

  James waited for an answer to the thoughts playing through the boy’s conscience.

  If you have a plan, Lord, give me a sign. Give me a sign this instant.

  The heavy, gray rain came pouring down, pounding the glass.

  I beg of you, Lord. A sign. Please.

  Only the rain replied.

  If you will not answer, then I must take course of my own. Forgive me, Lord.

  Kyrus watched as the thing that had once been his mother joined his father at the grave. He left the window, opened the bedroom door, and walked a shadowy hallway until he reached the red door at the corridor’s end. He pulled it open and ascended the murky staircase.

  A maelstrom of feelings swirled through the boy’s abused soul, hatred, desperation, melancholy, abandonment, and finally emptiness…so deep, so hopeless….

  Forgive me, Lord.

  The boy rushed to the window and stopped short. He knew of their power. Knew that reflections were their portal, their key. His parents were long gone replaced by these dreadful, evil seekers. He saw them cross the lawn rushing from the rain toward the house. Time was of the essence. He had only this one chance. His desire to stop them outweighed his fear or faith.

  He kicked out the cobweb-protected window sending shards of broken glass to the ground far below. He stepped into the vacant sill and turned to face the attic door. He wanted them to see.

  James felt the glass puncture the boy’s palms and into the bottoms of his bare feet, as the rain pounded upon his back and the hurt in his heart swelled.

  Pounding footsteps approached as the demons climbed the attic stairs and pushed through the attic door. He saw the confusion in Sanikus’ eyes as Kyrus leaned back and let go.

  Please forgive me, Lord, and accept my sacrifice, accept my soul back into your good graces…

  Chapter Thirty-Four

  James realized they meant to give his body to their dead boy. He gazed at the hollow-eyed thing in the mirror.

  “He doesn’t want to come back,” James said.

  “Did you hear that, my love,” Domineus asked.

  James saw the uncertainty in her black eyes.

  “Why do you say this?” she asked.

  “Love, he is merely buying time.”

  James’s head was yanked violently back.

  “You’ve provided us with a great amount of fun, young James, you and your friends, but like all things, the time has come to say good-bye.”

  “Why do you say my Kyrus does not wish to come back?” Sanikus pleaded.

  He had to stall them for himself and for the soul of their innocent child.

  “He knows nothing, my love.”

  The grip in his hair tightened as Domineus pressed his face to the unmoving image on the other side.

  James could still feel the boy’s sorrow. Kyrus was lost, trapped in Purgatory. James was the boy’s only hope.

  “James?” Carrie voice drifted from another room.

  Oh no. Why was he in here?

  Domineus’s grip loosened.

  “Oh, more friends?” he said. “And your little girlfriend no less.” Domineus nodded in the direction of the voice. “Go on, my love. Bring her here.”

  “But we don’t need her. We’re so close.”

  “All will be as it should, my love. Now go.”

  James saw the doubt in her eyes. It was quick, but Sanikus appeared to be unsure.

  There was an opening and he had to take it.

  “Go and bring her to me.”

  She left them.

  Returning his attention to James, Domineus said, “Your little tricks might work on her. She so des
perately wants this. I remember our son. As he was in life, in my arms, before He took him. I also remember how he was when we finally got him back. When we finally, after years and years of this work… mutilating, twisting, toying with countless sacrifices just to have a chance at having our boy in our company. Well, I remember what she refuses to admit. I know our boy is gone. He’s a traitor just like his God.”

  “You…you know why he jumped.”

  “Yes, and I also know that it cost him dearly as it did me to see his mother broken again.”

  “You don’t want him back.” The words fell from James’s mouth.

  “Well, well, young James. I’m curious. What makes you say that?”

  “You’re only bringing him back to kill him for good.”

  Domineus smiled behind his father’s broken lips.

  “And she doesn’t have a clue,” James said.

  …..

  “James?” Carrie called.

  Hank stepped beside her and grabbed the baseball bat sitting in front of James’s closet.

  “If you guys are fucking with me your little boyfriend could get a serious hemorrhage when I slug him in the face with his own bat.”

  Stepping through the darkened room, she wished this were all an elaborate hoax. She wanted James and Kevin and Eric to jump out and scare them shitless.

  Hank stepped past her with the bat in hand. He peered around the corner and out into the hall.

  “Jesus fuck me sideways,” Hank said.

  He nearly fell into her, stumbling back into the room.

  Carrie grasped onto Hank’s back, cowering behind him, eyes locked on the person standing in the doorway.

  A naked woman stood covered in blood in the moonlit room and smiled.

  Carrie’s stomach filled with icy millipedes. The boys were all in here with this woman, this thing. Carrie could feel Hank trembling beneath her touch.

  “Whoa…hey…are you, all right?” Hank asked.

  “Where are they?” Carrie said.