The Devil's End

by D A Fowler

  And then something happened, though it was far from anything she had expected. A deep, mournful voice bellowed out her name as a large shape intruded into the clearing. It was a pathetic sound, the serenade of a desperate, wounded animal. She didn’t look to see who it was; she couldn’t pull her eyes away from that beautiful, enchanting jewel in the sky. The onyx had just disappeared.

  The demons snapped out of their trances and whirled on the intruder in a rage. Their concentration centered elsewhere, Dennis and Lana were freed from their stupor. Dennis instinctively shoved Lana off her side of the stone before spinning off his, toppling many of the candles with them in the dirt. They watched in complete shock as the body of Spiro Guenther was lifted by invisible strings into the air and twisted like a dishrag. He fell to an indistinguishable heap just as the roar reached its crescendo and two human-shaped blue clouds appeared glowingly on the stone’s surface, giving off a powerful stench of sulfur and ozone. In the dead silence following, the clouds writhed as if in agony, their vague, watery facial features contorted in vehement accusation, bewildered and beseeching. Making an echoing, hollow gurgling sound as if they were literally drowning in their defeat, they faded until they had disappeared.

  The scene had been so spectacular, so riveting, that Dennis and Lana had failed to notice what had happened to the demons during its occurrence. All that was left of them were the clothes they had been wearing. It was as if they had simply evaporated.

  Neither of them could speak for several moments; their brains had a lot of catching up to do. When Lana’s finally caught up to the fact she was naked, she felt extremely embarrassed, although it wouldn’t have made any difference to Dennis at the time if she’d been covered with whipped cream and cherries or wrapped in a parka.

  Dennis seemed intent on sitting there with his mouth hanging open until everything he’d witnessed coagulated into some sort of sense. For an instant his mind sought to remind him of what he had done, what he had said. He resolutely refused to acknowledge it.

  But you did it, you did, you pledged your soul to the Devil…

  No way! What Devil?

  “C’mon, Dennis, we’ve gotta get out of here,” Lana mumbled, refusing to look at him. She had the impulse to grab her clothes and just start running without him into the darkness of the woods, but she was afraid of getting lost.

  He still didn’t move. “What the hell happened?”

  “Nothing that anyone will believe in a million years,” she muttered, folding her arms over her breasts and shivering. “I don’t believe it myself. But let’s go now. We’ve gotta get out of these damn woods. I just wanna go home. Which way, Dennis? Which way?” Her heart was thundering, her mind reeling. She would never be able to accept this nightmare as reality, as something that had actually happened.

  “They’ll be partying at the cemetery. Oh Jesus, the cemetery…” Dennis recalled the horrible screams coming from that direction. How little the sound had affected him then. “We’ve got to go see what happened there. If there’s…if there’s anyone left, they can give us a ride…”

  Lana looked over at the silent remains of Spiro Guenther. Her heart welled with pity. But the poor bastard had not died in vain. Perhaps no one else would ever know what he had done—inadvertently, yes, but nevertheless, he was a hero in his own right. She at least would honor his memory, if somehow she could ever cope with remembering. She was thankful that his head was twisted in such a way that she was unable to see his face, the dead eyes staring up at her with a primitive, perverted rendition of love. He had intended to save her.

  And had done so, plus a lot more. He had possibly saved the whole world.

  Dennis noticed the ledger lying on the ground. He picked it up and turned it over in his hands, his face changing to register intense hate. As much as he didn’t want to, he began to remember what the creatures had done to him, and the fact that they’d touched him at all, much less sodomized him, filled him with total rage. He started ripping out the pages and touching them to candle flame. “Those dirty motherfuckers.”

  Lana watched his actions with an intense sense of relief. The Devil’s end of the bargain had not been kept, and therefore the Obers’ contract, including any secret clauses, was null and void. The light in men’s souls would continue to be attacked, but not extinguished, and the earth would not be turned into a seething den of iniquity.

  Dennis watched the final page blacken and curl on the stone. He flung the cover away and stood up, still looking like a bloody fistfight demanding a place to happen. “All right, I’m ready. Let’s get dressed and get out of here.”

  After they had self-consciously put on their clothes, Dennis picked up a few candles and handed them to Lana, then gathered the remaining ones for himself. Nodding at the gap through which Spiro had appeared, he muttered, “That way. I’ll lead.”

  They stepped carefully over Spiro’s body and began to climb the upward path, branches swatting and scratching them with every step. Lana looked up one last time at the moon above them, now naked of its jeweled halo, void of its entrancing spell. It was just a plain old full moon now, a gentle face frowning in sorrow.

  Suddenly Dennis stopped and swayed, clutching his chest. “Oh, shit!”

  Alarmed, Lana reached out to support him. “What’s the matter?”

  “I can’t…breathe…” He sank to his knees, gasping loudly for air. His candles fell from his hand. “My heart…”

  Lana became hysterical. “Dennis, NO! Get up! You’ll be all right!”

  But Dennis was not going to be all right; Myrantha Ober’s insurance policy against anyone who tried to destroy the ledger was already taking effect. Even as Lana spoke he uttered a loud, strangled grunt and jerked spasmodically, then lay completely still. She fell over him and began shaking him violently. “Get up, Dennis! We gotta go! Please get up! Dennis…?”

  It took her awhile to realize that he was dead. She checked over and over for a pulse, convinced she just wasn’t checking in the right places, thinking when she put her ear to his chest she could hear something, some sign of life. When at last she accepted it, she curled into a fetal position and began to weep helplessly.

  Sometime later Lana woke with a start, surprised that she’d fallen asleep. Dennis still lay motionless beside her. She numbly rose and moved on alone, now with only the moon’s light to guide her. Her mind obediently stayed on its immediate task, putting one foot in front of the other, warding off scratchy branches, listening for the sound of wild animals. No other thoughts allowed. Not now. Just keep moving…

  What seemed hours later but was in fact only a few minutes, her body aching from the grueling uphill hike, her legs certain she had somehow been transplanted onto Mount Everest, she could hear the sound of voices. She entered the clearing and was immediately assaulted with blinding lights and a harsh command to hold it right there.

  In spite of the way things had sounded, only two of the partiers had been unable to escape the clutches of the driven madman and his trusty straight razor, besides the two he had slashed in the throes of mutual orgasm; the mummies, who were too tightly wrapped to do any serious running. The others had scattered to hide in the safety of the dark forest, and a few had hightailed it up the path and made it to their cars, thus enabled to drive to a phone and call the police. The entire force of nine was present and aiming their weapons on the terrified girl.

  “It’s the Bremmers girl,” one of them said.

  The guns were lowered, as were the powerful flashlights. They illuminated a red and white form at the officers’ feet, and when Lana figured out what it was, she thought she might vomit, but there was nothing in her stomach to heave. A renegade memory flashed. The demons doing all those terrible things to her body…and her begging for more.

  She swooned unconscious to the ground.

  Thirty-Two

  The officer who drove her home was the same one
who had interviewed her mother, which Lana discovered when he mentioned that Carol Bremmers had reported her as missing. He’d recognized her from the school picture he’d been given. In a gentle voice he told her that in a day or two, when she was able to talk, a detective, probably Louis Helm, would be around to get a report from her. But for her it was all over now, he said, and she should get plenty of rest and some food in her stomach, take it easy, and she would be her good old self in no time. She didn’t tell him what she knew, that it was over for everyone. Spiro was dead and the demons were back where they belonged. Hopefully forever.

  The police would eventually find Spiro. They would never know he had not been singularly responsible for all the bodies they would find, and Lana saw no real reason that they should be told otherwise. They would never believe the truth anyway.

  The sight of her well-lighted home made her feel at last some sort of security, of being tied to manageable reality. There was a strange car parked in the drive; a dark blue sedan. The patrol car eased up to the curb in front of the house and Pate left it running while he helped Lana up to the porch. He needed to deposit her quickly and get back to the crime scene.

  Lana noticed that Spiro’s house had been roped off with bright orange tape and wondered what it was for, but she was far too weary to concern herself with anything other than her own problems.

  The door was opened by her mother, who upon seeing her burst into tears of joy and gathered her in her arms. Officer Pate awkwardly tipped his hat and melted quietly away.

  The scene that greeted Lana in the living room was another surprise, this an extremely pleasant one. On the couch, Luke was sitting between two of her favorite people; her father and the ever-smiling Bruce. All four met in the center of the room for a passionate joint embrace, Luke complaining that he was getting squashed. Laughing and crying at the same time, they drew apart and beheld each other with tender gratitude.

  Hugh Bremmers was first to break the happy silence. His gaze leveled lovingly on his daughter’s face, he announced softly, “Your mother and I have had a long talk, Lana. You’re all coming back to Tyler.”

  The news made Lana happier and sadder than she could ever remember feeling. She dared not ask if the family was officially reunited—wouldn’t that be asking too much?—but at least her father would no longer be countless miles away, unreachable, untouchable. But Bruce would be.

  As if reading her thoughts, Carol added, “We’ve also had a long talk with this fine young man here…seems he’s dealing with a pretty rough home situation. We were thinkin’ it probably wouldn’t be very difficult for your father and I to become his legal guardians.”

  “And if I ever get caught with so much as a gleam in my eye when I’m looking at you, I won’t live long to regret it.” Bruce beamed, drawing a warning glance from Hugh. “But anyway, are you okay? What happened to you? They found your mom’s car parked over on Teaberry, but none of the residents that were home knew anything about it. They’ve got it down at the police station combing it over for clues.”

  Lana was afraid if she recited any part of the truth, it would all spill out, every disgusting, degrading detail of the horrendous experience. She couldn’t come to terms with it herself; she could hardly share such horror with anyone else, especially not with her parents, of all people. Or Bruce. She never wanted him to know what had happened to her. What would be the point? Yes, well, there was the matter of four dead people in the house at the end of Teaberry Street, but they would be found sooner or later, regardless of her testimony.

  “I…I just wanted to drive around and think,” she lied. “I couldn’t sleep, I needed some fresh air. But then that awful fog came in and I couldn’t drive anymore, so I parked and got out. Walked for hours, got lost, somehow ended up in the woods. Then it got dark, an’ I couldn’t see where I was goin’ again. Finally I heard voices, and I followed the sound. Next thing I knew, I was walking into that blinding light and the police were telling me to hold it right there.”

  Hugh and Carol hugged their daughter, resisting any urge to voice more questions. She was home and she was safe, and that was all that mattered.

  No longer feeling threatened by an impending interrogation, Lana took a few deep breaths and marveled at her blessings. They were going back to Tyler—as a single unit, from what she had gathered—and Bruce would be coming with them. Maybe he could get Luke to mellow out. But what about Greg? She hoped he had already found someone else. That would make things a lot less awkward.

  Carol ushered everyone to the dining room table for some celebratory drinks. While she was preparing them, Bruce launched into the story of his misadventure.

  “You wouldn’t believe what I’ve been through. That dang Spiro hid out in my truck bed last night, and when I figured out something was back there and got out to see what it was, he came at me with a straight razor and tried to open my jugular. Just about succeeded too. Before I knew it, I was moving air, and he was loping right after me. I couldn’t run up to any houses because that would’ve been the last thing I ever did; I never knew Guenther could run that fast. He must’ve chased me around for a whole hour, until I thought my sides were gonna split wide open. Finally we ended up clear over by Beacon Hill and I managed to hide up in a tree. He went crazy looking for me; I could hear him pawing branches, snorting like a wild hog. I didn’t dare move, not even when I couldn’t hear him anymore; I figured he was just laying low somewhere, listening, waiting for me to reveal my location. I couldn’t have run anymore anyway. Don’t know how long I sat there, but I wouldn’t be surprised if it was more than three hours. When I finally got back to my truck, the batteries were dead because I’d left my headlights on. I was surprised somebody hadn’t called the cops about it; it was sitting right in front of an intersection. Anyway, so then I decided to come back over here. When I got here, all the lights were off, so I tapped on your window several times, but I guess you were asleep and didn’t hear me. I didn’t want to wake up your mom and I couldn’t handle the thought of walking all the way home, so I just sacked out on your front porch, figured it would take Spiro at least a week to figure out I wasn’t still somewhere in the woods.

  “I woke up right after you started your mom’s car. Wasn’t much light, but I looked up and could tell it was you when you pulled out of the driveway and turned on the headlights. I ran after you, but apparently you couldn’t see me. I thought you were probably headed over to my house, so I ended up walking home anyway. But you weren’t there.” He let out a whew. “What a nightmare, huh?”

  Lana smiled wanly. If he only knew.

  Bruce concluded his story by saying, “By then I knew it was really late, and I wasn’t about to bounce in and give my loving stepfather an excuse to turn my buns to raw hamburger; I’d had enough for one night. So I sacked out in the doghouse with Duke, in case you’re wondering why I smell like a kennel. When I woke up the next morning, I thought I’d died and gone to Heaven; all I could see was white. I mean I really believed it. I wasn’t sure why I was still in Duke’s doghouse, but I just stayed in there all day waiting for somebody to bring me my harp or whatever. By the way, I’ve decided to lay off the, uh, Mother Nature.”

  “I should hope so,” Hugh said, tossing a suspicious glance at Lana.

  “Well, imagine my surprise when the fog lifted and there I was, still right in the middle of my backyard. I thought then, oh great, I’m really in for it now. So I said to myself, ‘You’re already in a hole, dude, so why not just keep on digging?’ So I snuck away to come back over here. This time the truck was gone, so I knew right away I’d done the right thing. I didn’t expect your mom to be very happy to see me, but I was in for a nice surprise. Your dad showed up about an hour later and we all sat around and talked, worrying our heads off about you. Thank God you’re all right.”

  “You too,” Lana said softly.

  He continued in a grave tone, “I guess you don’t know ab
out Matt. We were right—those guys at the park weren’t kidding about trying to burn Marla at the stake. Crazy jerks. Apparently Matt went over to Marla’s house last night to lure her out. She’s missing now too, by the way, and her mom killed her dad and herself this morning. But they found Matt…in a ravine just outside the Mingee property line. Heard the story on the radio about an hour ago. His head exploded or something—”

  “I think that’ll do for now,” Hugh interrupted with a frown.

  Bruce grinned sheepishly, thankful that a reproof in the Bremmerses’ household didn’t include a sock in the ear. “Sorry, Mr. Bremmers.”

  “Make that Hugh. It’s all right, I just think we could talk about something more on the cheerful side. Like how old fools like me can finally come to their senses.”

  Lana impulsively grasped her father’s hand across the table. “I love you, Daddy. You’re not an old fool.”

  “All right, middle-aged, then.”

  It was just like the ‘and they lived happily ever after’ ending to a fairy tale, Lana thought, for the moment successfully blocking out the horror of the last eighteen hours. Her mother came in with a tray bearing five glasses of red wine. Luke whooped with delight at his rare opportunity to imbibe; permission was given only on the most special of occasions. For the time being Sam quietly slumbered in a far corner of his mind.

  They toasted to health and happiness, clinked their glasses and drank, Bruce chugging his. He lowered his empty glass wearing a dopey smile, his jittery nerves finally calmed by the warm tingly glow quickly spreading through him. But the feeling of peace was short lived.

  His eyes suddenly bugged outward, the smile vanishing from his lips. “Lana, what’s happening to you?”

  All eyes, including Lana’s, turned to look at her abdomen, which was inexplicably beginning to swell. Within the space of a few seconds she appeared to be in the third trimester of pregnancy.