The Complete Hidden Evil Trilogy: 3 Novels and 4 Shorts of Frightening Horror (PLUS Book I of the Portal Arcane Trilogy)

by J. Thorn

  Ravna stepped to Molly and slid his arms underneath her shoulders and the backs of her knees. Drew stepped behind Ravna, blocking the door.

  “Your souls for hers, but she will leave marked.”

  Drew lunged forward and drew the knife across Molly’s face. She cried out, eyes still closed as the blade opened a shallow cut from the corner of her eye to the edge of her jaw.

  Ravna spun away from Drew, stepping past him and Mashoka and through the door. He dropped Molly into a pile of leaves, pressing his sleeve against her wound. He returned to the cabin door and yanked at the handle, but it would not open. The ground shook and light pierced the gaps between logs, emanating from inside the cabin like a nuclear reaction.

  ***

  “Your body is weak.”

  “Power does not reside in my body, but in my soul.”

  Drew circled the floor, his eyes fixated on Mashoka’s. Saliva dangled from his chin, swaying with each movement. “Your man-child obeys like a dog. Does he give or receive?”

  Mashoka ignored the taunt, his stance ready for Gaki’s first move.

  “What’s the matter, Jap? Did I offend your sense of dignity with my accusation?”

  “I am ready to defend my soul and banish you.”

  Drew lunged forward, slashing at Mashoka’s face with the knife. The old man ducked, feeling the air move past him. He spun to face Gaki, ready for the next offensive.

  “You will not leave here alive,” Gaki said through Drew’s mouth. “I will feast on your shit like the other worthless gooks of your village.”

  He dove at Mashoka with a stabbing motion. Again, the old man turned aside the attack with a spin. He took a deep breath and his right leg buckled inward.

  “What summoned you?” Mashoka asked.

  Drew dropped both arms to his side and tilted his head sideways. “You have an interest in Gaki’s evolution?”

  “I’ve been a Hunter through many lifetimes. I have slain many demons, as I will you. I have not, however, discovered the cesspool from which you arise. If I know of it, I will be sure to destroy the gateway.”

  “The ‘cesspool’ you mention is humanity itself. The ‘gateway’ is the greed, lust, and insatiable suffering of humankind. You can no more rid the universe of Gaki than you can of air or water.”

  “Air or water does not kill,” replied Mashoka.

  “But it becomes polluted, just the same.”

  Drew swung a fist through the air and caught the old man unprepared. His hand stung Mashoka’s temple and stole his equilibrium. He fell to the floor, rolled onto his back, and held the cane across his body to defend against Drew’s next move.

  “Get up so I can knock you down again.”

  Mashoka stood, using his cane to stand. He took quick, deep breaths and felt cramps gnawing at his thighs. Drew spun counterclockwise with his left leg extended. The heel of his boot landed squarely on Mashoka’s forehead, knocking him backwards into the wall of the cabin. A cloud of dust exploded from behind the old man. Pieces of wood and dirt rained down upon him as he collapsed to the floor.

  “Get up,” said Gaki.

  Mashoka reached out and grabbed a cast-iron hook embedded in the wall. He pulled with both arms until he stood, rolling a shoulder into the log until he again faced the room and the fury of Gaki, channeled through Drew.

  “I have underestimated your strength,” said Mashoka.

  “You have, and it will cost you your life,” replied Gaki.

  Drew swung his right arm, clutching the knife in his fist. It tore through the tendons in Mashoka’s shoulder, lodging in his collarbone. The old man crumpled to the floor with a silent gasp, his left hand shaking and reaching for the embedded blade.

  Drew stood in front of Mashoka, heaving and cackling at the same time. He moved closer, pulled his right leg back, and delivered a toe-kick to Mashoka’s midsection. He struggled for breath, still grasping for the steel lodged in his flesh.

  “It’s time for you to die, Hunter of old. Your name will perish with your flesh, consumed by Gaki. The woman and the man-child are next, and then come the children. Gaki is not bound by earthly contracts.”

  “Not true. You are held to the Cycle.”

  “Fuck the Cycle and fuck you,” replied Gaki. “Do not tell me what I am bound by. I have eaten the flesh of your people for hundreds of years, and I will continue to roam and feast without hindrance from an old man or his sad apprentice.”

  Mashoka raised his head in time to see Drew’s fist smash his nose. The salty blood seeped into his mouth and the pain blinded him. He felt Gaki remove the blade from his shoulder, which seared like fire.

  “I will hunt again,” Mashoka mumbled.

  “Not me,” replied Gaki.

  Chapter 16

  Ravna pounded the door with both fists. He circled back into the driving rain, running at full speed toward it. He drove a shoulder hard into the wood and felt the jamb sway. A lightning bolt of pain shot from his arm. Ravna turned and grabbed the elbow with the opposite hand. “Pop it back in again,” he said to himself.

  His hand twisted the opposite elbow and the scorching pain of dislocation flared up again until the ball clicked back into the joint, albeit in a swollen mess of bruised tissue and tendon.

  Ravna backed up again and ran at the door, his right arm now limp and dangling like that of a puppet, the string cut by the puppeteer. He led with the right foot and drove his heel into the space just above the knob and directly beneath the latch. The weakened doorjamb cracked and an odor crept from behind it that made Ravna’s head spin. He retreated out into the storm, this time taking a five-pace run at the weakened doorway. The old wood cracked and splintered, but held. He heard a whimper from nearby and noticed that the woman was coming around. She looked at him through glazed eyes, attempting to piece together the situation like someone waking from a deep sleep.

  “Stay where you are,” Ravna said, shouting over the thunderous storm.

  “Where’s Drew?” she asked.

  Ravna looked at the door to the cabin and back to the woman. “Is that his name?” he asked her.

  She nodded her head in affirmation.

  Ravna ran to the door, placed his mouth to the opening and began to yell. “Drew!” he shouted. He heard shouting and a commotion inside, the sounds of an argument turned violent. “Drew!” he tried again. “Your wife is out here and she needs your help.”

  The battle inside subsided for a moment, but then flared up again, this time shaking the wall so hard that bricks tumbled from the top of the chimney.

  “Mashoka!” Ravna yelled.

  As if on cue, the battle inside stopped, leaving Molly and Ravna with the sound of the pounding storm. A noise like crumpling steel tore through the air and the door to the cabin burst open, the hinges powerless to stop the force from driving it into the outside wall. Ravna heard laughter, deep and resonant.

  “Who’s there?” asked the voice from inside. “Is it Goldilocks?”

  Molly turned away from the cabin, her tears lost in the rain. Ravna stood and inched closer to the threshold.

  “Mashoka?” he asked.

  “Come and see for yourself,” replied the voice.

  Ravna brushed past Drew to the crumpled body lying on the floor. He saw Mashoka’s cane and turned away from the bloody mess.

  “What have you done, Drew?”

  He stood, grinning at Ravna, blood dripping from his face. “He will hunt me no more.”

  Ravna looked into the man’s face. Drew’s eyes bounced around in their sockets like marbles rolling in a porcelain sink. His face had lost its natural color and appeared to take on a gray tint in the dim light of the cabin. Drew’s hair sat matted on the top of his head with clumps of blood and flesh strewn throughout.

  “I’ve called the police. They’re on their way.”

  Drew threw his head back in laughter. “The authorities?” asked Gaki. “They won’t save you or the woman. The deal has been brokered. She is mine. Stan
d aside or I will take you also.”

  Ravna clenched both fists and bent his knees. “Leave her be. You have taken Mashoka.”

  “The old man didn’t finish your apprenticeship, did he? Too bad, or he would have warned you of Gaki’s appetite. Don’t you tell me when I have had enough.”

  Drew swung his arm in a slow arc toward Ravna. The younger man ducked and came back to his defensive stance before Drew realized he missed.

  “The ancients passed the ritual of the Hunt to the Hunters, and I am one of that line.”

  Drew froze and looked into the eyes of Ravna. He hesitated, glancing first at the remains of Mashoka and then back at Ravna. Before he could speak, darkness engulfed his vision and the fury of the storm faded into silence.

  ***

  Drew opened his eyes. He fluttered the lids until he could shake off the weight of the darkness. He was back in the cave where Gaki had killed Vivian, but he was now in the chair, arms and legs bound to it. The damp smell came back, filling his mouth with a sour taste. He wore torn and frayed pants, but no shirt. His neck ached and the rope bindings burned his flesh. He looked around at nothing but stone walls and blackness when he heard the question.

  “Comfy?” asked Gaki.

  “What are you doing to me?” replied Drew.

  “It is the young one, Mashoka’s man-child. He has cast us into the other realm, but only temporarily. He does not know the full ramifications of his actions.”

  Drew shook his head, unable to see Gaki. He thought about what the creature said and the manner in which he spoke. Gaki’s speech had become specific and articulate.

  “Are we stuck here?” Drew asked.

  Gaki stepped from the shadows. His body appeared as it always had, stringy, malnourished, and bluish-gray. But his eyes were lit with a fire Drew had not seen before.

  “You are,” he replied, pointing to the bindings on Drew’s wrists and ankles.

  “Why?”

  “Don’t play the fool,” Gaki replied. “You signed the deal. You saved your offspring with the blood of the woman.”

  Drew shook his head. He looked at his hands, which were covered with bruises akin to those suffered by the pugilist. He felt a dull pain on the side of his head. “Are you bringing her here?” he asked.

  Gaki grinned, revealing thin, brown teeth filed to a dull edge. “No. You are.”

  “I cannot.”

  “Cannot what?” asked Gaki. “You signed her over. What should the manner of her passing matter to you?”

  “She is my wife,” replied Drew.

  “She no longer belongs to you,” said Gaki.

  Drew shifted in the chair, testing the strength of the bindings. He moved his waist in the chair, but his arms and legs remained fixed. “Where are my children?”

  Gaki waved a thin, tubular arm at the wall. A dim light spread from the center as if a dying bulb was hidden in gauze. Figures moved on it, slowly coming into focus. Drew saw Billy and Sara at Molly’s parents’ house. They sat on the floor of the living room, watching television.

  “How do I know that is not some trickery of yours?” Drew asked.

  “You don’t. What you do know is that all creatures are bound to the Code. The bargain I struck with you must be sealed and I can no more back out of it than you can.”

  Drew winced, a dull throbbing starting on his left side under the rib cage.

  “Is this it for us?” Drew asked. “Will you leave me forever and let me die in peace?”

  “Yes,” replied Gaki.

  ***

  Ravna stood over Drew. The blow to the head and the kick to his ribs appeared to knock him unconscious. He laughed, thinking of the countless horror movies where he cheered for the death of the villain, the bad guy. And after all that, he could not do it. Even a wild, possessed man that killed his friend could not evoke a cold-blooded murder. If Drew came at him, he would defend himself, but Ravna could no more kill the man that lay at his feet than he could bring Mashoka back.

  He turned to the door, where the storm had descended to ground level. The winds and the darkness dropped from high above the old oaks to the leaf-covered ground. He remembered the woman he had carried out of the cabin and ran toward her. He saw the edge of the woman’s jacket protruding from a pile of leaves. Ravna ran, dodging projectiles launched through the air by the storm. He reached down to grab the woman and came up with only the jacket.

  The wind knocked Ravna off his feet and tossed him into the trunk of a dead tree. He felt the breath pushed from his lungs before passing out.

  ***

  Drew blinked. His eyes burned and he held them closed, hoping he would be back in his cubicle, joking with Brian and making fun of Johnson’s tie. The cave remained, as did the bindings. The office did not return and Gaki stood in front of him, with one significant difference.

  “Help me, Drew,” said Molly.

  He looked up and saw his wife on a mattress stained with various shades of yellows and reds. She lay naked on her back, wrists and ankles bound to the corners.

  “I will not. You cannot make me,” he said to Gaki.

  “Hunger is not the only desire that I find insatiable,” replied Gaki.

  He walked toward the mattress and bent down. His thin, black tongue lashed out at Molly’s feet and slithered up her leg, stopping at the top of her thigh.

  “No! Stop!” yelled Drew.

  Gaki’s neck twisted and he turned to face Drew, retracting his tongue. “You gave her to me. She is mine to do with as I please.”

  Drew closed his eyes and pulled as hard as he could on the bindings. He felt a slight give in the rope on his wrists, and he pushed and pulled until he felt the pressure ease. His fingers squirmed, resuming the circulation to his hands.

  “No, please don’t,” Molly said.

  Drew kept his eyes shut, trying to block the mental images of the creature lording over Molly. Through it all, she bore his children and he would not let her suffer undue pain. If she had to go so the children could live, so be it, but Drew would not sit by and let Gaki desecrate her.

  Drew pulled his left hand free and looked over his right shoulder as he focused on freeing the right hand as well. A sharp cramp struck in his upper back, beneath the shoulder blade. The pain stole his breath and paralyzed him for a moment before he bent down and began untying the bonds on his ankles. He opened his eyes and saw Gaki on top of Molly, his bare, bony frame on her white skin. He heard guttural noises coming from the creature and Molly crying softly beneath them.

  He stood and kicked the chair to one side. Pain shot through both feet and his left arm was numb. Gaki hissed and stood. It turned to face Drew, rotting teeth protruding through a desperate smile.

  “She is mine,” Gaki said. His thin arm lashed out and caught Drew’s head with the back of his hand. Drew winced and felt a startling pain as he tumbled to the ground, eyes swimming inside their sockets.

  “I did not agree to her torture and rape,” Drew said. His ears rang and his eyes stung with tears.

  “Get up,” Gaki said, spitting the words through his broken teeth.

  Drew stood, tilting to one side and holding his head where Gaki had struck him. The creature reared back again, this time delivering a fisted blow to Drew’s face. His nose shattered under the force of the punch, and Drew immediately tasted the warm blood flooding into his mouth and down the back of his throat. Gaki stood back and watched as Drew stumbled in the cavern, grasping at the slimy walls like a sailor on a wet deck.

  “I can punish you with pain like you have never experienced, and then put you back on the earthly plane. You will beg for death before I am through.”

  Drew looked at Molly. White streaks ran down her face where the tears had cleared jagged lines through the dirt. Her knees moved up and down, instinctively checking the bindings and hoping they were beginning to loosen. She kept her eyes closed and bit at her bottom lip. He stood and wiped the blood from his face.

  “Do what you must. I will take
her myself if I have to. She will not suffer your disgusting ways.”

  Gaki laughed, the sound echoing off the cavern walls and threatening to shatter Drew’s skull. The creature held the upper hand in his own dimension, and Drew realized his attempt to defeat him here was futile. If he would save Molly from more pain and himself from eternal torture, he would need to shift the fight elsewhere.

  “The one you call ‘man-child.’ He is hunting you as we speak.”

  Gaki stopped laughing and hissed. “The old man had not even begun the boy’s teachings. He would not know where to find me.”

  “Are you sure?” Drew asked, sensing a hint of uncertainty coming from the demon.

  “A most feeble attempt at distraction, one that will not save you from me. Nor will it save her.”

  A sound like pebbles cascading over stone came from the dark corner of the cavern. Drew stopped and squinted, trying to find the source of the noise.

  “You see? It’s him. He is searching for a way in.”

  Gaki loped into the darkness like a creature accustomed to running on four legs instead of two. He disappeared past Drew toward the phantom sounds. Drew ran to Molly and knelt at her side.

  “Wake me up, Drew. I want out of this nightmare.”

  He started to reply and then shut his mouth. It might be better if she thought this experience was a nightmare. Even if he could, Drew realized he did not have enough time to explain it to her. Gaki would return and take his vengeance on both of them.

  “Hey, hon. Do you remember the time we went to West Palm Beach together?”

  Molly smiled through cracked and blistered lips. Her eyes remained closed.

  “We lied to our parents, blew off school, and owned the beach for that week in October. I want you to think of that now. Visualize the beach, the calm waters, us. Can you do that?”

  Molly’s head moved up and down.

  “Good. That memory will get you out of this dream. Lie still and go back to West Palm Beach.”

  A satisfied look spread across her face. Drew saw her jaw relax and a slight smile turned up the corners of her mouth. He went to work on her bindings. With frantic motions, he freed her left hand and then her right. Drew dashed to her ankles and pulled at the rope when he sensed motion coming out of the darkness. “Hold on, hon. Almost free.”