Ancient Enemy Box Set [Books 1-4]

by Lukens, Mark

  “Why isn’t he in his truck?” Angie asked.

  “I don’t know,” Begay muttered. He looked around at the front yard through the window. “Maybe he saw something and got out to check it out.”

  David watched Begay at the window. He could tell that Begay felt helpless. He knew Begay wanted to go outside and check on Sam, but he was torn between staying in the house to protect them and going out there to help his former officer.

  The wind picked up a little, David could hear it and he felt the goosebumps on his skin. It felt like the fine hairs on his skin were standing up, like a slight electric current was suddenly in the air. It was a sensation he’d felt before when the Ancient Enemy was close.

  Begay let the curtain fall back in place and walked back to his chair, pacing the floor. Angie sat back down on the couch.

  Something slammed against the front door from outside, a wet thump.

  David had heard that sound before, the sound of wet thumps striking a door. He’d heard those same sounds in Tom Gordon’s cabin in Colorado.

  Another thump against the door, loud and heavy, but also soft, like a rock covered in a cloth.

  “What the hell?” Begay said, frozen for a moment with his shotgun in his hand.

  Billy entered the living room from the kitchen, staring at the front door.

  Three more thumps sounded against the door—five of them so far.

  Begay marched to the front door.

  “Wait,” David yelled at him.

  Begay stopped and stared at David. “You know what that is?”

  David didn’t answer because it wasn’t a simple thing to explain. He knew vaguely what the thumps were: body parts thrown against the front door, just like what had happened at Tom Gordon’s cabin in Colorado. But he didn’t know whose body parts they were. David looked at Billy Nez. The man looked frightened, like he’d just gotten a horrible premonition.

  “It could be Sam knocking at the door,” Begay said, going for the door again.

  “It isn’t Sam,” David told him.

  Again, Begay stopped in his tracks. He looked at the door; the thumps against the door had stopped now. He looked at the window, the porch light shining in through the curtains.

  Then the porch light went out. All of the lights went out and the house was plunged into darkness.

  Angie screamed and put a hand up to her mouth.

  Begay hurried over to the front window and peeked out through the curtains. He was tense, like a cat inspecting something on the floor, ready to jump back at any moment.

  The Ancient Enemy was out there, David was sure of that. But it was more than that, the Ancient Enemy had brought a killer this time, a man who would know how to get inside the house, a man who would know how to terrorize his victims and keep them off-balance and second guessing.

  Angie watched Begay as he stared out the front window. She still had one hand up to her mouth, breathing so heavily she was practically hyperventilating. “What is it?” she whispered at her husband. “What’s out there?”

  Begay looked more confused than frightened as he stared out the window.

  David had seen that expression on a man’s face before, at the cabin when Cole’s brother Trevor had stared out the cabin’s front window, staring at Frank standing in the snow, Frank who had been taken in the night and sent back to ask for things.

  But David didn’t think the Ancient Enemy was going to ask for things now. No, the Ancient Enemy had the serial killer with him this time, a man who wouldn’t hesitate to kill just for the pleasure of it.

  “I don’t see anything out there,” Begay finally answered his wife.

  CHAPTER 29

  Begay

  Iron Springs, New Mexico

  Begay moved farther to his left along the window so he could see more of the front porch, but everything was hidden in darkness. From this angle he could only see part of the front porch. It looked like there might be some stains on the concrete floor of the porch, maybe mud or footsteps, but he couldn’t be sure. The night sky was clear of clouds and full of stars, and the moonlight helped a little, but the only other light out there was from Officer Sam’s Durango. Begay was still tense as he looked out the window, ready to jump back if he needed to, his shotgun still gripped tightly in one hand.

  “I still don’t see anything out there,” Begay said. “Sam’s Durango is still running, the interior lights still on.”

  “You’re sure it’s Sam’s truck?” Angie asked.

  “Yeah. The doors are all closed, the windows rolled up. But no one’s inside.”

  “You think he’s out there chasing someone?” Awenita asked.

  Begay didn’t answer.

  “Maybe it was Sam at the front door,” Angie said. “Like you said.”

  But Begay wasn’t so sure about that now. “No. He would have called out to us.”

  Not if he can’t talk, a voice whispered in Begay’s mind.

  Begay studied their large front yard. It was mostly hidden in darkness, but there was something halfway between the porch and Sam’s Durango. “I think I see something out there.”

  “What?” Angie asked.

  “I can’t make it out.” He stared out the window at the thing in the dark. It was only about three or four feet tall and skinny. It looked almost like a tree trunk that had been snapped off about four feet up. But there was no tree there in his front yard. It wasn’t a person—too thin. A child? No, still too thin. This looked more like a short ragged post in the ground.

  Begay moved away from the window. He knew he needed to go out there. Sam was out there. If Sam was in trouble he wouldn’t be able to forgive himself if he stayed in the house under the guise of protecting everyone else. He walked over to Angie and handed her the shotgun.

  “No,” Angie whispered. “Don’t go out there.”

  Begay knew Angie could use the shotgun, he had taught her to use it in the backyard years ago. He had also taught her how to use a handgun and a rifle.

  “You watch the front door,” Begay told Angie. “When I come back I’ll call out to you. I’ll identify myself. If anyone comes to the door you tell them to identify themselves or warn them that you will shoot.”

  Angie nodded, but she looked scared to death. She knew there was no use in arguing with him about it now.

  Begay still had his pistol in his hand. He went into the kitchen and opened the drawer where they kept the flashlights. He grabbed two of them. He handed one to Angie and kept one for himself. He kissed her on the cheek. “I’ll be fine,” he whispered.

  She didn’t look like she believed it.

  Billy Nez met Begay at the front door; he had an old revolver in his hand.

  “Where’d you get that?” Begay asked, nodding down at the gun in his hand.

  “My medicine bag. I did not only bring feathers and beads.”

  Begay was going to tell Billy to wait, order him to stay in the house, but he knew he couldn’t do that; he wasn’t a captain in the Navajo Tribal Police anymore, and Billy Nez could go where he wanted. Begay was about to warn Billy that it could be dangerous out there, but he saw that Billy already knew that. Begay wished they had gone somewhere else today, but it had been late and he figured they could stay the night here in the house. Besides, where could they have gone that the Ancient Enemy wouldn’t know about? Where were they truly safe?

  Maybe the killer wasn’t out there yet. Maybe Officer Sam had just stopped by and was taking a look around, checking things out. But Begay didn’t believe that. Sam would have called first, or at least knocked on the door. And the electricity going out couldn’t just be a coincidence.

  David will be in the house, Begay told himself. At least Angie and Awenita will be safe with David here.

  A voice cried from outside, a female voice, the voice of a little girl. “Help meee. Please, help me!”

  CHAPTER 30

  Begay

  Iron Springs, New Mexico

  Billy Nez’s eyes widened with fear,
his body suddenly tense and ramrod straight as he listened to the little girl call for help outside. He knew that voice. “Kai,” he whispered.

  “Acheii,” the girl screamed from outside—the Navajo word for grandfather. It was then that Begay realized it was Billy’s granddaughter out there calling him.

  Begay saw Kai in his mind, just a flash of memory from this morning when he’d seen her and her brother Yas. He’d been at their home with David, asking if they knew where their grandfather was.

  Billy brushed past Begay and unlocked the front door, tearing it open.

  Begay was about to order Billy to wait for him, but both men froze as they stared at the open front door. There were blood splatters all over the outside of the door, the blood so dark against the white paint in the moonlight. Whatever had hit the front door five times had left smears of blood behind. There were more splotches of blood on the floor of the front porch, just barely visible in the darkness, the spots that Begay had seen through the window, the spots he thought were mud or dirt tracks.

  “Help meeee!” Kai’s voice mewled out in the darkness.

  Begay realized that Kai’s voice was coming from the object he had seen in the front yard, the short shadowy thing he couldn’t make out in the darkness.

  Billy bolted out the door with his revolver in his hand. “Kai, hold on! I’m coming!”

  “Billy, wait!” Begay yelled, but Billy wasn’t waiting.

  Begay turned to Angie. “Come lock this deadbolt when I leave. You don’t unlock this door for anyone except us!”

  Angie took a step forward and nodded, the shotgun still clenched in her hands. Her eyes were so big and round with fear.

  Begay twisted the lock on the doorknob and rushed outside, pulling the door closed behind him. He looked down at the concrete floor of the front porch as he ran to the edge of it, shining his flashlight beam down at the splatters of blood all over the surface. It looked like someone had dunked a basketball in blood and bounced it all over the front porch and front door.

  A moment later Begay was running through his front yard. Billy was already ten yards ahead of him, running towards Sam’s Durango, kicking up sand as he sprinted. Begay had his flashlight trained on Billy, but the light beam was swaying back and forth as he ran. A cold wind blew, rattling the leaves of the cottonwoods at the other end of the yard, the line of trees marking the end of his property on that side.

  Billy had stopped running. He had stopped cold. His body was suddenly very still, his shoulders slumping like all the strength and energy had suddenly drained out of him. He lowered his gun down to his side. He was standing in front of the object in the middle of the yard.

  Begay’s chest was burning from the short run, his heart jackhammering in his chest. His knees and back already hurt, and he couldn’t catch his breath. But he caught up to Billy and stood right beside him, staring at the object he’d seen from the window, the object he thought had looked like a thin tree trunk broken off around four feet high. He couldn’t understand now how he could have possibly thought this was a tree trunk. Maybe his mind hadn’t been able to process what he was seeing from the living room window, or maybe a part of his mind didn’t want to really see what it was. But now that he was standing right in front of it, there was no pretending that it was something else. It was a stack of heads, like some kind of morbid totem pole, all of the faces pointed towards them. Officer Sam’s head was on the bottom. His eyes were purplish and swollen shut, his mouth a grim line, his face squished just a bit perhaps from the weight of the four heads stacked on top of his. The head on top of Sam’s head was Doli’s husband. Begay couldn’t recall the man’s name, but he remembered that he was always in trouble. His eyes were halfway open, the eyeballs glazed and white. His nose looked broken, crushed in. Dried blood was caked under his nose and all over the lips of his open mouth. His tongue was swollen inside, forcing his mouth open a little. The head of Billy’s daughter, Doli, was on top of her husband’s head. Her long hair was parted in the middle and flowing down onto the sides of her husband’s face. Her eyes were almost closed. There were cuts and spots of blood on her face. The head on top of Doli’s head was Yas, her son. And the head on the top of the stack was Kai’s head.

  Begay wasn’t sure how the heads were stacked up straight like they were; he thought maybe there was a wooden pole or piece of rebar shoved into the ground and the heads had been stuck down onto the stick like a shish kabob.

  Billy still hadn’t moved. His face was a mask of shock and sorrow. He stared at his granddaughter’s face.

  “We have to get back inside,” Begay told Billy. He was shocked by the obscene totem pole, but he’d been prepared for something like this; after what he’d seen in the ghost town seven years ago, he knew what the Ancient Enemy was capable of.

  Billy didn’t answer Begay, he just whispered Kai’s name.

  “Help me,” Kai whispered, her words just barely heard.

  Begay’s eyes shot back to Kai’s head on top of all of the others. Her eyes had been closed but now they were wide open, her pupils looking like two round black polished stones set in her face, the large eyes of a child. Begay shined his flashlight beam at the girl’s face. There was no expression on her face, but her eyes remained open as her lips trembled. “Help me, acheii.”

  She can’t be talking. She doesn’t have a neck anymore. No vocal chords. The Ancient Enemy is in there somewhere, a sliver of itself inside this totem pole, controlling this abomination, making the girl talk.

  “You were supposed to be there with us, acheii,” the girl whispered. “You were supposed to protect us.”

  Tears slipped out of Billy’s eyes, but he was so still, his body deflated, shoulders sagging, the revolver loose in his hand, ready to slip out of numb fingers and fall to the ground.

  Begay grabbed Billy, turning him away from the stack of heads, shaking him, trying to snap him out of the stupor that had taken him over. “Billy Nez! It’s not Kai anymore! She’s dead now. The Ancient Enemy is controlling this. We need to get back inside the house.” He wasn’t going to wait much longer for Billy. He hoped Angie and Awenita were safe inside with David, but he couldn’t be absolutely sure of it. If Billy wasn’t going to come back with him, then Begay was going to have to leave him out here alone.

  Billy seemed to suddenly come to life and Begay wondered if his words had finally gotten through to the man. Billy’s eyes narrowed, his eyebrows knitting together, his mouth turning down into a severe frown—a growing thunderstorm of rage on his face. He tore himself from Begay’s grasp and ran away from the stack of severed heads, running deeper into the yard, waving his gun as he ran. “Come show yourself!” he screamed at the darkness.

  “Billy, no!” Begay yelled. He couldn’t run after Billy now, he didn’t have the strength for it. He needed to get back to the house. The Ancient Enemy would be going for the house now—he was sure of it.

  Billy seemed to blend into the darkness, but Begay could still see him like a shadow moving along the moonlit ground. From the darker shadows of the cottonwood trees, something large and quick darted across the sand, slamming into Billy, lifting him up and spinning him around in the air. Billy was caught in a web of living darkness.

  It was too late for Billy now. He screamed as he was pulled apart.

  Begay turned to run back to the house. A man stood in his way. The man was tall, his clean-shaven head and face so pale and luminous in the moonlight.

  It was the killer and he had something in his hand.

  Begay raised his gun up, tried to get off a shot, but the killer had already swung the weapon in his hand. Begay felt a blast of pain in the side of his head and his body went numb, and then his world turned to blackness.

  CHAPTER 31

  David

  Iron Springs, New Mexico

  Angie kept the shotgun aimed at the front door like Begay had told her to. The weapon was getting heavy and her hands and arms were trembling, but she wasn’t going to set it down. Sh
e had backed up towards the kitchen with Awenita and David right behind her.

  “I heard yelling out there,” David’s aunt said.

  Angie nodded.

  David had heard it too. Captain Begay had been yelling, but now it was quiet and it had remained quiet for a few minutes now. That might be bad, but it might be good. Maybe Captain Begay was still alive. But there had been other screams, too. Billy’s screams. Those screams had been cut short. The wind rushed up and then died down quickly. Now there were no sounds coming from outside except the faint rumbling of the police cruiser parked out on the road.

  “We need to call the police,” Awenita said. “Get some help.” She ran for the phone on the wall in the kitchen. She grabbed the receiver and punched at the buttons frantically. She hung the phone up, slamming it into the cradle, then picked it up and tried the buttons again. The phone was dead.

  “Let me have your cell phone,” Awenita told David when she came back.

  “Cell phone service isn’t the greatest out here,” Angie warned.

  David pulled his phone out of his pocket and gave it to his aunt. He’d been waiting to get a text from Stella but maybe the service here wasn’t letting her messages get through. Or maybe Cole and Stella were having a hard time with cell reception in Costa Rica—they were in a pretty remote area of the country.

  Awenita dialed a number into David’s phone, waited a second, and then sighed in frustration. “No service.” She moved around in the kitchen and the dining room, trying the phone again and again.

  It’s not going to work, David thought. The Ancient Enemy isn’t going to let it work.

  “The captain will be back soon,” Angie said as she stared at the front door with her shotgun still aimed at it. “He’ll know what to do.”

  “Officer Sam’s car is out there,” Awenita said when she came back and handed the cell phone back to David. “They’ll know his car is here. He probably called it in when he got here. They’ll come looking for him soon.”