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

by J. Thorn

  Jasper waited, contemplating the logic and not able to punch a hole in it. His face twisted, and he stomped one foot on the floor. “That ain’t true.”

  “It is,” Karen replied. “He knows if you take it or accept it, no matter what you say to him.”

  “Hold on.”

  Jasper left, and she heard his feet descending a staircase. She heard the sound of clattering glass, and then feet coming back up the steps. Jasper appeared in the doorway, holding a plastic water bottle filled with two inches of gray water.

  “This or nothin’,” he replied.

  Karen’s tongue smacked the inside of her mouth. The sight of the liquid made her forget the pain, the bruises, and her desperation. “Deal. Give it to me.”

  Jasper handed the bottle to Karen, her left hand rising along with her right because of the bonds on her wrist. She shook the bottle for the last few drops with her eyes closed. When she opened them, he could see his plan had been successful.

  “Sweet dreams. I ain’t about to let one transgression cost me everything. Figure if I dope you up, you’re less likely to tempt me into doing somethin’ stupid. Worked pretty well on ya back at the station.”

  Karen fought a losing battle against the sleeping pills that Jasper had ground and dropped into the water bottle. Her head lolled backward and rested on the edge of the tub as she slipped into unconsciousness.

  ***

  Jasper sat on the step and waited. He could not understand what the hell Gaki did or where he came from. The demon seemed to appear at random and be in the right place at the right time. Jasper was not about to be punished for not keeping his dick in his pants. He wanted Karen more than any of the dozens of women he had tortured, and he did not know why. Gaki wanted her untouched, and again, Jasper had to trust that the creature had reasons that were far greater than her purity.

  “Probably something to do with the man. Using her as leverage or something.” He chuckled, his statement sounding like a line from one of his stories on the television.

  Jasper looked over his shoulder and saw Karen’s hair splayed down the back of the claw-footed bathtub. The dark brown on white porcelain stood out even in the relative darkness of the vacant house. He stood and walked to a window. Sliding the rotted sash up, Jasper peered out on the city street below. He’d have to refill the gas tank to get back to his own station, and he had no money. Gaki would take care of him. The creature always did.

  A grumbling came from below, the sound of a muffled conversation floating through the debris of the old house. Wall paper fell like tired arms, dangling to the floor. Spray paint and graffiti covered the wall coming up the stairs, and shattered beer bottles lay in heaps of brown shards next to the front door.

  “Is it time?” Jasper yelled out. His voice carried through the place, awakening the spirits of those who had once inhabited the house.

  A shiver ran down his spine, and he shook his head. A thought, a memory from his childhood, arrived unexpectedly. He remembered his mother in an apron, fixing him dinner. The fleeting image dissipated, replaced by the groaning sounds of lost souls.

  No reply.

  He glanced to make sure Karen was still out before trudging down the stairs, where the front door remained sealed with a cheap piece of plywood. He patted all of his pockets, hoping that he had not left his can of chew in the truck. Another round of voices floated from the basement, through the kitchen, and to Jasper standing in the foyer. He knew Gaki was speaking to the man, but he could not discern the words. It would not be long now. Once Gaki spoke, the sacrifice was not far behind.

  It was then that he saw the creature emerge from the kitchen. Jasper watched its bulbous head and gaping maw as it appeared to float over the detritus on the kitchen floor. Gaki smiled at him, that sickening grin formed with sharp, pointy teeth. The creature’s eyes sank deep into its skull, and its spindly arms swayed as if moved by a stiff wind. Jasper never became used to the stench. A rancid, overpowering odor preceded the creature. He thought that Gaki smelled like death, both literally and figuratively. Jasper saw brown stains on Gaki’s face and heaved into his hand, knowing what had caused them.

  Gaki came to stand before Jasper, turning to face the cellar door. “Bring her. It is time.”

  Jasper blinked and then vomited on the floor, no longer able to keep the stench from his nose. “I had to give her drugs,” he finally said. “She was tempting me.”

  “They always have. They always will. It is their nature,” Gaki replied.

  Jasper nodded, feeling secure in having made the right decision. “I could have had her. Hell, she even said she’d give it up if I gave her a drink.”

  Gaki smiled again, recognizing Jasper’s pride in not surrendering to his primal urges. “I would have known.”

  “That’s what I told her,” said Jasper. “I told her you’d know and that I couldn’t disobey you.”

  Gaki waved a hand as if to clear the pandering from the air. “Bring her down.”

  Jasper watched as Gaki moved through the foyer and into a back bedroom. He took the vile odor with him, snapping Jasper from his momentary disorientation. He placed a hand on the banister and walked up the steps. He could see Karen’s hair, her body unresponsive and unmoving. Jasper reached into the tub and underneath her arms, dragging her body upward. She smelled of fear and defecation, neither of which would diminish new flares of heat in Jasper’s groin. He shook his head as her heels slid over the edge and bounced off the tile. Karen moaned but did not come out of the drug-induced haze.

  “You’re his now. I hope he’ll let me have at ya when he’s done, but I can’t say for sure. Gaki ain’t never not shared before. Just in case, Jasper wishes you the best.” He bent down and licked the side of Karen’s face, reaching out to pinch her nipple with his right hand. “Gettin’ grabby now shouldn’t matter. Nothin’ ever hurt by a little handful.”

  Jasper decided against placing his hand into other places, fearful that Gaki would know. He knew everything.

  Episode 3

  Thursday, September 5th

  Ravna’s eyes darted back and forth between the creature slithering down the steps and Jasper’s rough handling of Karen. With each step of his descent, Gaki brought a new wave of stench. Ravna turned to the side, unable to keep the odor from penetrating his nostrils and sliding into the back of his throat, where it threatened to fester. Jasper stood and took a step backward, nodding and yanking the visor of his cap down to the bridge of his nose.

  “Yes, sir-ee. Neither of y’all are goin’ anywhere until the boss says so.”

  Karen moaned and lifted her head, her eyes light and distant. Ravna searched her face for any sign of cognizance, but failed to find it.

  “Don’t leave us with that fucking thing,” Ravna said. “Please get us out of here.”

  Gaki stopped at the bottom of the steps, a low grumble coming from within its tight mouth. The creature’s tubular arms hung listlessly at its sides, its fingers caked with fetid liquids.

  “You can ask and I can tell ya to shove off. But please don’t go all blubbery on me. It ain’t much fun to have to deal with whimpering idiots tryin’ to save their own asses. Besides, it ain’t gonna come off as too manly in front of yer girl.”

  Karen raised her head, but it appeared too heavy for her neck to keep upright.

  “When this is done, I’m coming for you, Jasper. You need to know that, you back-country son of a bitch,” Ravna said.

  Jasper’s fist flew from his side and connected with the side of Ravna’s face. It made a wet, smacking sound.

  “Enough.” The single word came from the bottom of the steps, where Gaki remained, watching the events unfold.

  “They is all yours, boss,” Jasper said, shaking his hand in the air, opening and closing fingers still stinging from their contact with Ravna’s skull. “You want me upstairs?”

  “I want you here,” replied the creature. “These will be different. You shall take part this time.”

 
Jasper shrugged and sat on the steps. As long as he received his shot at the woman, he decided it was worth staying.

  Tuesday, September 3rd

  The old truck lumbered around the switchback as gravity pulled it down the other side of the mountain. The tires chirped, but Jasper failed to hear the sound over the stereo blaring Threefold Law from only the left side. He had meant to fix that, swing by Jimbo’s Salvage and strip a six by nine speaker from a junker, but it seemed that Gaki always placed another order before he could manage it. Jasper decided that one speaker and Gaki’s spoils were probably better than two speakers and his dog-eared girlie mags.

  “Innocent bleed!” Jasper screamed, singing along with extra enthusiasm to those two words.

  He navigated the full-size truck through the valley and to a single traffic light. Jasper chuckled, remembering the debate over whether or not Pine Valley would put it up. Since that referendum passed almost ten years ago, more and more of the town had died. The mining company had ripped out the heart of the community when it pulled up stakes and left, leaving nothing but gaping holes in the ground and 30 percent unemployment in its wake. Almost instantly, the dilapidated, old row houses became infested with rodents and beer bottles while weeds reclaimed what remained of manicured front yards. The owner of the company reinvested his money into mountaintop removal, which required less manpower and even fewer scruples.

  Jasper cruised down Main Street, the oldest plywood now browning and covered in the tags of graffiti artists who would no longer have an audience for their art. He pulled into Smith Hardware, one of only a few remaining businesses, if he counted the police office and their citations for public drunkenness a business. Jasper climbed out of his truck, hitched his overalls up, and pushed his cap off the bridge of his nose. He inhaled the dry, clean air of the coming autumn, and when he looked at the green covering the Appalachians, he could almost feel the oranges and reds simmering beneath the surface, waiting for October’s arrival. He walked through the open door, the top of his hat kissing the bell hanging over the doorway. Jasper walked down the aisle crowded with tools toward the register, bypassing rows of pipe fittings and wire cutters held to old pegboards with layers of spider webs. He could smell the remnants of a soldering iron and fried electrical circuits.

  “What can I do ya for, son?”

  Jasper smiled at the old man, placing his hands on the counter, palms down. “Seems like the critters are coming back. Probably ’cause the nights are gittin’ cooler.”

  Hugh Smith nodded and smiled, happy to know that he would be opening the cash register at least once today. “Your usual concoction of homemade rat poison?”

  Jasper nodded. “Yes, sir. Bleach, some paint thinner, and I’ll need a new pair of plastic gloves for the mixin’.”

  Smith slapped his hand down on the counter and then spun. The old man hobbled through the doorway, disappearing into the cave that doubled as a stock room. Jasper could hear him rummaging around before he began to speak again, the sound somewhat muffled by the distance.

  “Need any buckets?”

  “I reckon I can always use more buckets,” replied Jasper.

  The old man reappeared from the back room and set the stack of white plastic buckets down. With his other hand, he placed a gallon of bleach next to them with a pair of yellow rubber gloves draped over the top.

  “Probably need two gallons this time, Hugh.”

  “One second,” replied Smith.

  Jasper watched him hobble back into the storeroom in search of another. He looked up at the stands holding kitchen gadgets such as egg slicers and mini cheese graters. The cardboard packing had yellowed, making the outdated hairstyles on the women holding them even more ridiculous. Jasper thought about the fact that his father may have removed those brand-new products from their boxes and that his hands may have been the last to touch them.

  “Two it is.” Smith’s return brought Jasper’s attention back to the task at hand. “Can I ask you something?” Smith said.

  Jasper nodded as he fished through a handful of crumpled bills.

  “Why’s a young man like yerself stick around these parts? I mean, I’m not saying I don’t like your business, but son, what does this dead town have to offer you?”

  Jasper counted the bills as he placed them on the table. He looked at the old man, reached into his pocket, and pulled out a can of snuff. Jasper opened it and tilted it toward Smith, who declined with a brush of his hand. “It’s where I was born and raised. Just like you, old-timer.”

  “But I ain’t got no future. Bank been sending me overdue notices for a year, and once they come to take my keys, I’m gonna hafta pack it up, too. Then you’ll have to drive all the way to damn near Winchester to git yer bleach from one of them superstores.”

  Jasper nodded. He placed a dip of tobacco into his mouth and shoved the yellow gloves into his back pocket. “I make my livelihood off of Skyline Drive. As long as them high-rollin’ Yanks keep driving down, I’ll be able to keep my garage afloat.”

  Smith shrugged and held his hands in the air as if he understood but was not entirely convinced. “Guess you’re leaving fate in God’s hands. As long as he provides for ya, you got nothin’ to worry about.”

  Jasper turned, the bucket and bleach in both hands. I got the boss, he thought, and he has more fun than the Almighty.

  ***

  Jasper decided to drop off the gloves, buckets, and bleach at the house. He saw no reason to leave them in the truck. Sometimes he needed his hands, and it would just be easier to leave the materials in the basement. Gaki would appreciate his preparation.

  He drove through the town and turned right off Main Street and onto Maple. The row houses stood in a line, decayed and drooping toward the ground. Storms from the previous spring had toppled many of the old trees, which now hung with ghostly arms spread wide. Many of the roofs had collapsed inward, sagging and unable to hold the weight of the ice dams that had formed on them during the previous winter. Jasper pulled into the driveway and killed the engine. Beyond the hot pistons that picked at the engine block, the street sat in silence. Even the stray dogs had left the neighborhood, no longer able to scrape by on the dry goods plundered from abandoned kitchens. Blue, plastic shopping bags fluttered in the chain-link fences like birds snared by an invisible hand.

  “Damn neighbors,” Jasper said, laughing at his own joke as he kicked a brown paper bag into the adjacent yard. “Keep yer trash on your own property.”

  He walked around to the rear of the house, where a shiny, stainless-steel lock hung over an equally brilliant latch. Jasper fished through his keychain until he found the right one. He opened the lock and hung it on the outside of the latch before pushing the kitchen door open and letting the odors escape. He cursed, mad at himself for not remembering to keep the windows open. Flesh broke down in the summer heat, and the ensuing smell was so potent that Jasper would have to wear a mask inside. He loved to play, but was not so fond of cleaning up his toys.

  Jasper turned to walk back to the truck and grab the supplies from the hardware store. Gaki wanted twice what he usually needed. It had been a while since Jasper delivered two at one time, and he licked his lips at the prospect of doing it again. The decision to play with both of the college girls had come out of necessity, but Jasper was pleased with the outcome. Gaki had let him have both provided he take care of both. That was a lesson learned; a single gallon of bleach only went so far. From now on, it would always be one gallon for each toy.

  “I didn’t see the friend sleeping in the backseat or I would have let that car pass,” he said while picking up the bleach. “Sometimes life gives ya things you don’t expect, and ain’t that the best kind of present?”

  He chuckled to himself and began to whistle in anticipation of the games. Gaki had told him to prepare for two. This was going to be different, and Jasper could not wait for his turn.

  ***

  A late-summer rain came and went, leaving a layer of fog on the m
ountains, where it lay like a shawl on an old woman’s shoulders. Jasper sat behind the desk in the office, his feet propped up on the edge, staring out the rain-streaked window at the road. Not many veered far enough from Skyline Drive to find their way to his pumps, but the ones who did were enough to keep him alive. Some of the women were stronger than others, and he would have to go back and look for their purses later, but most wept and pleaded for their lives with their handbags strung over a shoulder. The rain had brought a touch of humidity, and Jasper considered cranking up the old fan sitting in the corner.

  “Two are coming. A man and a woman. I need you to use the woman to capture the man.”

  Jasper thought about the boss’ order, which had been very different from the others. Usually, Gaki told him what to expect, and it was almost always female travelers from up north. It was so much more fun when the ladies blubbered with their fast-talking Yankee tongues. Every so many weeks, Gaki would tell him what was headed his way. But this one was different. Jasper knew Gaki was up to something, but he would keep his head down and do as he was told. He saw the power of the creature and decided there was no use in asking questions when the answers did not matter.

  The phone startled Jasper from his daydream. He glanced at the calendar, displaying March of 1997. He should have removed it years ago, but the topless babe in black leather boots sprawled across the motorcycle had convinced him to leave it on the wall. Jasper lifted the cradle of the beige handset streaked with grease and black fingerprints.

  “Jasper’s,” he said with a quick burst of breath. Labored breathing came from the other end. Jasper dropped his feet to the floor and sat forward on his chair until his elbows rested on the top of the desk. “Boss.” He waited, knowing it took Gaki several seconds before he was able to put his thoughts into words.

  “They’re coming.”

  “When?”

  “Tomorrow or possibly the next day.”