Demon Lights

by Michael M. Hughes

  “Don’t do it,” Claire said. “This is madness.”

  Lily smirked. “Sister, you of all people should understand how important this is. Can’t you feel them on the other side? They’ve come so far and waited so long for this moment.”

  “I look ahead,” Claire said quietly. “And I see nothing. Just emptiness. Extinction.”

  Lily frowned. “I know that must seem like a real bummer.” Her face brightened. “But our death warrant was sealed a long time ago. So you know what they say—out with the old and in with the new!” She glanced at her watch. “And while the stars are just right, we need to get this show on the road.”

  Ray turned. Mantu motioned slightly with his head to the guard next to him.

  Lily’s head snapped around. “You two,” she said to both guards. “Put a bullet in the coon’s nappy head if he moves so much as an inch off that chair.”

  They both nodded.

  “Now, children and guests, it’s finally time,” she said, rubbing her hands together. “It may feel a little strange to be inhabited by something so alien, but in time you’ll get used to it. You might even like it.” She turned to face the artifact, then inhaled deeply. She raised her hands, palms outstretched to the reflective blackness of the sphere. Then she began softly chanting. With each syllable the electrical buzz in the room grew stronger.

  Ray looked to Ellen but her eyes were still closed. He wanted to say I love you and I’m sorry and I tried. But she couldn’t see him. She was sobbing quietly, lost in her own despair.

  Claire had her eyes closed, too. Her mouth moved silently. Praying. Prayer was all she had left.

  The children raised their arms, holding out their palms as if warming them by a fire, empty eyes staring blankly at the newly fed and energized sphere. And then they began to sing.

  “William!” Ellen cried.

  The boy didn’t react. It was as if she were speaking to a stone.

  Chapter 14

  “William. William.”

  A girl’s voice. Out of the gray nothingness.

  “William, please. Listen. Look at me.”

  She emerged in front of him, first an indistinct shape, then layer by layer until she was almost real. A girl. A ghost. Who was she? Where was he? He was irritated. The nothingness felt so wonderful, and now she was pulling him out of it. And it hurt.

  He sort-of recognized her. It was those eyes. Big eyes, staring at him with what looked like concern.

  “William, it’s me. Victoria.”

  And then it all came rushing back—a wave of images and feelings that made his head ache. But he didn’t want to remember it. Didn’t want to feel his body again. In the emptiness he was somehow everything and yet nothing at all.

  Victoria. They had made some kind of promise to each other, hadn’t they?

  “What?” he said. The words came out of his head, not his mouth.

  “You need to fight it. Remember our deal? That when it was time we would fight back? Against her?”

  His head swarmed with thoughts and images. Dr. Regardie with his pipe clenched in his teeth. Playing Merkaba. Laughing with Colin as he bounced on the bed. Sitting with Victoria and Isaac holding hands in their secret circle.

  Isaac.

  “Yes, Isaac, William. Remember what they did to him?”

  He didn’t want to remember it but he began to. The gunshots, the blood in the snow, and the flames. The screaming inside his head.

  “Where are we?” William asked.

  “We’re inside the dome. Underground, in a cave, near that black thing in the silver pool. Well, that’s where our bodies are. Don’t you remember Dr. Regardie and Lily taking us down there?”

  He was confused. “Where is here?”

  “This is the other place. Where we go when we leave our bodies.”

  He was starting to remember. And with that memory came a rising anger.

  “There’s a good person with us. Out there, I mean. In the cave. She woke me up and told me to wake you, too. She’s not one of them. And she needs our help. There’s no time left.”

  William looked down at where his hands should be. They were hazy and translucent, just a little more substantial than the weird, wavering mist around them. “How do we get back?” he asked. “I feel like I’m in a dream and I can’t wake up.” And part of him didn’t want to wake up. He just wanted to go back to the soothing, timeless emptiness. Because thinking about Isaac, and the creepy dome, and especially Lily, made him hurt as if something was scraping him out from the inside.

  “William, please. We have to get back. We have to stop her. Now. Or we’re going to die.”

  But already the girl—Victoria? Was that her name?—was beginning to dissolve. She lost all form, as if a breeze had blown her into dust. The gray mist was turning into a pure and dazzling white light. He was being reabsorbed into it, and all the anger and pain and memories were being burned away by the cold whiteness. This was where he needed to be. This was where he belonged. With the song rising from deep inside.

  William!

  He was yanked backward at an incredible velocity. Then he slammed to a halt so fast he wondered if he had shattered. He knew that voice. Knew it because it was as much a part of him as his guts or his bones. The first voice he had ever heard, from before he knew who he was and before he had a name.

  William.

  “Mom,” he said. Just saying her name broke even more of whatever spell he was under. The gray mist started to solidify, as if it was being sculpted into form by invisible hands.

  “You’re doing it,” Victoria said. “Keep doing that. We have to get back inside ourselves.”

  Mom. Mom needs help.

  Color bloomed like splotches of watercolor paint. The world came into sharper focus. He was standing in a cave. His body was frozen, as if encased in hard plastic. It hurt to reenter his skin and for a moment the pain was almost unbearable. But the sense of solidity increased; he felt his feet against the rocky floor, the weight of his arms held out in front of him, the heat on his palms, his eyes inside their sockets.

  And then it came into focus. A scream tried to unlock his vocal cords but only silence emerged from his mouth.

  The sphere was no longer polished black. It was transparent. And within it swarmed indescribable things. He had seen them before, and they had told him many secrets. And they were pushing up against the inside of the sphere, thousands of them stretching back into infinity. Pushing so hard the black stone was strained and thin like a soap bubble.

  Set us free, child thing. We have waited so long.

  William, don’t look at it. Victoria again. He couldn’t move his head but he could shift his eyes enough to see her. Like him, like the other kids, Victoria was facing the horrible sphere with her hands held out in front of her. But at least she was back, like him, in her body, not lost out in the gray nowhere. He felt his mother behind him. She was in pain and terrified. And Ray was there, too. He could feel Ray’s anger like a physical presence.

  And Lily was the force keeping him immobile. Her voice rising and falling, up and down scales, spewing barbarous syllables. She was singing to the things inside the sphere. A song that made them stronger. The song that would finally set them free.

  I can’t move, he said to Victoria. I’m trying but I’m stuck.

  The things are going to get out, she said, and he could feel her terror. I can’t move, either. I don’t know how to stop them.

  He pushed with all his might but his muscles wouldn’t respond.

  Lily’s song increased in tempo. The sphere bulged toward them. The beings inside were scrabbling at the interior surface and it swelled as more of them surged forward from the depths.

  Call on him. Let him in, Victoria said. William was confused for a second, but then he understood. No. He couldn’t do that again.

  I’ll call Mr. Winston, she said. We have to try something.

  William groaned. He couldn’t do it. It had happened once, and he’d almost
lost himself forever. It was only by luck that the thing had left him. If he invited it again, he might not ever find himself again. And letting it loose could kill them all. His mom, Ray, Victoria, everyone.

  Please, William, please. Or we’re going to die.

  And as soon as he entertained the possibility he felt the god creeping up on him. Like a corporeal shadow, it stepped behind him and hovered. He said a silent prayer that he was doing the right thing, that he would find his way back.

  He said its name—Camazotz—and before the last syllable he had become the thing he feared the most.

  Chapter 15

  When the artifact started to bulge outward, Ray closed his eyes. The horrible buzzing in his head kept getting louder, so loud he could no longer hear Lily’s obscene chanting. This was it, the final moment before everything ended, before the artifact burst open and its inhabitants streamed forth like spiders from an egg sac. He could feel them, feel their hunger, their desire, their lust to enter him, to take him over, to consume him and every living thing in their path. Then the smell hit him. He started to gag. It was the smell of death, of rotted, putrid flesh that had decomposed in the hot sun. He opened his eyes.

  Lily stopped in mid-chant.

  “William!” Ellen screamed again.

  Ray felt his heart leap as the boy began to turn. He was no longer under Lily’s control. But when he faced them, Ray’s breath caught in his chest.

  William’s eyes were completely black. A sound came out of his throat that turned Ray’s blood to ice: a sharp, high-pitched shriek.

  Ellen screamed.

  William blinked twice, and his tongue, long and thin like a snake’s, darted between his lips.

  Lily’s surprise turned to delight. She grinned and spoke in a voice that sounded like someone with a throat full of vomit. “Camazotz, al-k’a mishgullah.” She bowed to William, then uttered another string of the ugly language. “What a pleasant surprise.”

  William’s head twisted quizzically. Ray couldn’t stop staring at his black eyes. There was nothing of William in them. Again his tongue shot out between his teeth, tasting the air with it. And he was changing, morphing—blurring back and forth between something dark and animal-like.

  And god, the smell.

  Lily opened her arms. “G’thalk’atu,” she said. “Come to Mother.”

  William moved so quickly it seemed instantaneous. In an invisible instant he was standing in front of Lily, staring up into her face, crouched as if ready to spring.

  The guard next to Ray jumped and pointed his gun at William. “Hey, get back—”

  Everything seemed to happen at once. William was there, in front of Lily, then he was gone. Ray felt a rush of putrid air and a shot rang out. He turned his head and William was on top of the guard, his face and hands digging in the man’s chest.

  “You fucking idiot!” Lily screamed.

  When William’s head turned toward them his face was covered in blood. Strings of flesh hung from his mouth. His obscene smile looked like it would split his face. His black eyes blinked, then he hopped on his haunches, his arms extended as if spreading outstretched wings.

  A crash from across the room. Ray turned and saw Mantu lying on his back atop the other guard. He must have launched himself from his chair and knocked the guard off his feet. The guard struggled under Mantu’s weight, still holding his pistol. Mantu drew his head forward and slammed it into the guard’s face.

  The song of the children rose in pitch.

  The guard pulled Mantu’s head back with his free hand and raised the pistol to his temple.

  “Shoot him!” Lily shouted.

  But before he could pull the trigger William was crouched atop Mantu’s chest. The boy batted the pistol away from the guard and grabbed both of his hands. With a sickening crack both wrists snapped. The guard screamed, his hands flopping loosely on the ends of his arms. Mantu lay still atop the man as he writhed and wailed, staring with his one good eye at the face of the boy perched on his chest. “It’s me, William. Please.”

  William lowered his head and looked directly into Mantu’s face. For a brief moment, Ray saw long, pointed ears coming out of the boy’s head. Then he was just a boy again. He seemed confused.

  Mantu grimaced. “It’s me, Mantu.”

  Lily shouted. “Camazotz!”

  William turned to her. Long white fangs emerged from his mouth. He kept morphing from boy to monster, blurring from one form to another.

  Lily stepped behind Ellen. Put her face next to hers and wrapped her fingers around Ellen’s neck. “G’thalk’atu al-k’a mishgullah,” she said in a singsong voice.

  William snapped to attention.

  “This one is yours, old one. Come and feast.”

  In a blur William was in front of his mother. Lily drew back Ellen’s head, exposing her neck.

  “It’s me, William! Your mother!” Ellen’s voice quavered.

  Lily laughed. “His true mother is the goddess of death. You, my dear, are nothing more than dinner.”

  Ray tried to scramble to his feet but he slipped in the pooling blood of the dead guard and fell to his knees.

  “Eat, mishgullah!” Lily shouted, forcing Ellen to her knees.

  William sniffed Ellen’s neck. His tongue flitted out and lightly touched his mother’s skin where her pulse throbbed.

  “Camazotz!”

  A voice from the semicircle of children. A girl stepped toward them. She was shorter than William, with cropped dark hair. But the voice wasn’t a girl’s. It was raspy and harsh. And her eyes were glowing pale yellow.

  “Eat!” Lily hissed.

  But William’s attention had turned to the girl. His grotesquely stretched smile froze on his face. He blinked repeatedly, his head twisting as if he were perplexed.

  Ray took advantage of the distraction. He pushed out of the steaming puddle of blood with his feet. Lily had her eyes on William and the girl. Mantu was still lying quietly atop the blubbering guard, but he caught Ray’s eye to let him know he was ready. Claire stared at the girl and mumbled something under her breath.

  Then the girl began to transform. For a moment, she grew to twice her size. Her head became a lion’s, and enormous wings rose and spread to her side. Her feet were the black-nailed talons of some hideous bird.

  William leapt at her.

  “Stop it!” Lily screamed. “Come to me, G’thalk’atu.”

  But the two children were tangled, clawing, rolling about the stone floor. As they fought they transformed, and Ray saw thick, veined bat wings, the razor-sharp bird talons, a clash of fangs, and—in an absurdity he knew he could never forget—the fur-tipped tail of a lion. And the sharp, raspy voice mixed with the plaintive cries of the girl as she called William’s name over and over. William. Stop it and come back.

  Lily chanted in a foul tongue, her face twisted in rage.

  The two blurry creatures rolled perilously close to the artifact and its poisonous pool.

  Ray drew himself to his knees. Across from him, Mantu did the same. The gun was only a few feet away from Mantu’s cuffed hands. Claire’s eyes had rolled back into her head and her lips were moving furiously.

  William had Victoria pinned beneath him. Her eyes had become those of a young, frightened child, but his were still endless black holes.

  “William, it’s your friend!” Claire shouted. “Don’t hurt her!”

  William lowered his face until it was almost touching the girl’s. He opened his mouth and bloody saliva dripped from his fangs.

  “Get Lily,” Claire screamed.

  Victoria lifted her head, stared straight into the black pools of William’s eyes, and kissed him.

  —

  Lily pulled Ellen roughly to her feet from behind, her forearm across her neck. She turned and glared first at Mantu and then at Ray. “Don’t you fucking move,” she said. Ellen’s eyes bulged. Ray had no doubt Lily could break her neck instantly.

  Then Ray followed Lily’s gaze. Willia
m and the girl were back to their normal forms, the boy squatting above her chest as he gazed into her face. Her features were drawn in fear and her lips trembled. She was hyperventilating. William blinked, as if he had just awoken from a dream.

  Then an enormous crash shook the roof of the cave above them, followed by the shriek of shredding metal. The entire cave rumbled and the lights blinked rapidly off and on, then went out.

  Ray propelled himself to his feet in the direction of Lily and Ellen.

  He knew it was Lily when his mouth tasted the fabric of the heavy robe. He bit down as hard as he could as the three of them tumbled to the stone floor, then his jaw exploded in pain. Lily’s elbow had smashed it, dislodging his teeth from their hold. He fell backward just as a foot connected with his head. One of the fingers of his good hand snapped beneath his weight and he screamed as the bone broke.

  In the darkness Lily snarled.

  Ray was struggling to his feet when the lights popped on. William and Victoria were holding each other tightly. Claire had fallen to her knees atop a shattered plastic chair. Mantu had his back half-turned to them, juggling the pistol awkwardly in his cuffed hands. Lily held a fistful of Ellen’s hair, and Ellen wobbled on her knees inches from the deadly pool. Blood from Ray’s bite ran down Lily’s shoulder and into Ellen’s hair.

  Ray tasted Lily’s warm blood on his lips. He didn’t dare look down at his finger. He could feel it pointing in the wrong direction.

  Claire wheezed and coughed and tried to get her breath. Bright red spittle sprayed from her mouth.

  “Mom!” William shouted.

  Lily yanked Ellen’s head back. One slight push and that would be the end. “Say goodbye, Ray,” she said.

  “Let her go or I’ll fucking shoot you,” Mantu said. He grimaced as he twisted his wrists and fumbled with the pistol.

  A thin smile crept across Lily’s face. “If you shoot me—and assuming you can manage to point that in the right direction—Ellen goes with me.” She pulled the fistful of hair and Ellen cried out. “I believe they call this a Mexican standoff. You lose either way.”