The Altar

by James Arthur Anderson

  The demon probed their minds again, just for fun. The dwarfish man thought of himself as the macho type. He drove a macho car, read sports magazines, and thought he was attractive to women. The tall, skinny guy wouldn’t get his hands dirty, didn’t like to sweat, and enjoyed whining and complaining as his favorite pastime. He was sneaky and unable to take responsibility. This was fun, the demon thought. Human minds were so amusing.

  Ironically enough, the macho, dwarfish man turned out to be the bigger coward. He tried hiding behind his friend, then pushed the taller man away so he could flee to the back door, all the time crying and weeping like a baby. The skinny man just dropped to his knees, shocked into silence by the sight of the molten demon standing before him.

  The demon hurled a fireball at the dwarfish man’s knees, bursting his legs into flames and bringing him down just a few feet short of the back door. It would be fun to watch him burn, so it turned its attention to the other man.

  “No. No. Please….”

  The skinny man spoke in a pleading whisper, not even expecting to be heard, but feeling the need to beg just the same. Maybe he’d save him for later, too. It paralyzed his legs with a thought, then turned to look at the books and information.

  There was something here about him and about the past. He could feel it. But there was no need to be selective. He chose a shelf of books at random and incinerated it. He was surprised by how fast the flames spread. Two centuries of human knowledge, poof, gone like that. But what was two centuries to him, who was immortal? These men thought they were so clever, but they knew nothing.

  He turned to a file cabinet and heated it until it turned cherry red. The contents exploded. The magazines went next. Then he melted the computers until they dripped onto the shelves like microwaved ice cream. The flames from the different fires were joining now, consuming the entire building.

  Finally, with relish, the demon turned its attention back to the librarians. The dwarf-like one was huddled in a ball now. The flames on his legs had gone out, but not before his limbs had been charred through like charcoal-they would never work again, no matter what happened. But the demon wasn’t leaving that to chance. It grabbed him by the ankle and pulled. The limb snapped off like a broken twig. The pain broke through the shock, making the librarian scream again. The demon grabbed him by the neck and threw him across the room where he landed on a red hot file cabinet, where he slowly baked like a potato.

  The remaining librarian continued to whimper and plead as the demon ripped off his arms, then his legs, then left the torso and head to writhe and blister in the flames.

  2

  As Erik drove back towards the church, he heard the sound of explosions in the distance, coming from the direction of the town. Apparently, the thing was on the loose again. He needed to get back to Todd and Vickie. Though he didn’t really know what he could do to save them if the thing showed up at the church.

  Vickie and Todd were anxiously waiting for him.

  “Where’s Mark” Vickie asked.

  “He’s with Dovecrest. He’s ok. They’re both ok.”

  “What a relief. It’s destroyed the library,” Vickie said, softly, so Todd couldn’t hear. “It’s all over the news.”

  “How are they explaining it?”

  “It depends. Some stations are still using the terrorist thing. Others are claiming a gas leak.”

  “Daddy, are we gonna be ok?” Todd said. “Is that thing in the woods gonna get us?”

  “We’re gonna be ok,” Erik said. “Dovecrest is going to help us.”

  “We’ve gotta kill the rock,” Todd said.

  “Yeah. We’ll do that.”

  Todd nodded. “I’m gonna go back and check out the computer again.”

  Erik watched him go, then turned to his wife.

  “Erik, I’m scared,” he said.

  “Yeah. I know.”

  “I started having contractions today.”

  “Is it…near time?”

  “I don’t know. They’re not regular.”

  “I need to get you and Todd to the city.”

  “No,” she said. “I think it’s too risky. We’d have to go through town. I think we’re safer here.”

  He nodded. She was right, at least for now. If the thing was, indeed, at the library, he’d have to go right past it to reach the main road. For now, they would be better to stay put.

  3

  Johnny Dovecrest lit a small lantern and led the Pastor into the cave. He knew the demon was nearby. He could feel it, could sense the presence. It was stronger than ever, and not the least bit shy about being seen. It was funny, he thought. In the old times it needed to stay hidden because people believed. No one believed in demons nowadays, even if they saw one with their own eyes.

  He slid a rock out of the way and took a metal box from a recess in the stones.

  “These are the ancient manuscripts of my people,” Dovecrest said. “They were written before the white man came to this land, and have been handed down through the generations.”

  “Are they in manuscript form?” Mark asked.

  “They have only been written down in the last 200 years. In the past my people believed in evil spirits. Today it is not so fashionable.”

  “That’s something our cultures have in common.”

  “Let’s bring this back to the church,” Dovecrest said. “Then we can try to make a plan.”

  “The Bible says that Jesus cast out demons. And we can cast them out in his name.”

  Dovecrest nodded and led him out of the cave. “That might drive out a demon. But it won’t kill it. Only the Great Spirit can do that. Besides, this is not just an ordinary demon. It is a creature of very great evil. A resident of hell.”

  “Won’t driving it out send it back?”

  “Sending it back is one thing. Keeping it back is another.”

  As they approached Dovecrest’s cabin they heard an explosion. A fireball erupted from ahead, and flames erupted from the windows.

  “Hide!” Dovecrest said.

  They dove behind a boulder and watched as the demon emerged from what had been the back door of the cabin. It carried a man’s body in its left hand, holding him upright by the hair of his head. Dovecrest couldn’t recognize the poor wretch through the flames, but it was obvious that the man was in agony, literally burning up from the inside. The demon turned its victim and held him up to his face. Then, it spoke, in a raging, steaming voice that was almost human, but definitely not from this world.

  “My name is Wrath!” it said. “Look at me and feel my flames. Feel the fury of hell!”

  The man screamed and his head literally exploded in the demon’s hand, blowing apart like a firework in a blaze of red, yellow, and orange. Splinters of burned flesh, bone, and brain fell like shrapnel, and the now headless body fell to the ground. The demon stood holding a handful of hair and laughing.

  The growth on its neck-what was left of the cult leader-was not laughing. His clouded eyes were contorted in pain as he endured his torture. Once again, Dovecrest locked eyes with the being that had once been human, and once again he saw the man begging, pleading to be set free. The man seemed to see hope in Dovecrest, and the Indian realized how important his task was-not just for lives but for souls.

  The demon-Wrath, it had called itself-seemed to sense that something was happening with it’s deformed twin, and stopped laughing. It stood tall and looked out into the woods. Dovecrest and Mark remained still as the demon seemed to search into the trees, looking for a sign of life. Dovecrest could feel his heart beating hard within his chest. He was sure the demon could hear it if it tried. He counted the seconds. The monster was silent. Only the sound of cracking flames from his cabin broke the silence.

  He looked at Mark and saw the internal battle going on within the pastor. He knew that Mark wanted to confront the thing with his God and, with a word, banish it back to where it had come from. He shook his head back and forth, very slowly, and mouthed the words �
�no, not yet. Not now.”

  He could almost see the gears turning in the pastor’s mind. He felt the man’s faith, but he also knew that the time wasn’t right. It would be suicide.

  He shook his head again. Mark looked at him for a long moment. Then he nodded, bowed his head and his lips began to move in silent prayer.

  Still, the demon did not stir. If the thing came any closer, or discovered them, the decision would be made for them. Dovecrest held his breath and waited, expecting to die at any moment.

  Then, without any apparent reason, the demon made a deep, throaty noise and turned away. Dovecrest peeked around the boulder and saw it walking away. Its flames seemed to be cooling, from cherry red to orange, to yellow. The thing on its shoulder appeared to be just a ball of flesh from the back. It flopped up and down on the monster’s shoulders as if it were sleeping or dead.

  Dovecrest tapped Mark on the shoulder and motioned for him to wait as the demon turned right and down Farmington Road. He motioned Mark to follow him as he kept the boulder between them and the monster, hoping against hope that it didn’t stop and look back.

  “He answered my prayer,” Mark said. “And he would have defended me.”

  Dovecrest didn’t say anything for a moment.

  “Perhaps,” he said finally. “But it’s heading towards the church. Does your cell phone work?”

  Mark nodded.

  “Then call them and warn them. Tell Erik to meet us back at his house.”

  “We should have fought.”

  “Doesn’t your Bible teach that there is a time for everything?”

  “Yes.”

  “Then now is the time for us to join forces and gather strength. The white man and the Indian. The old and the new. We must join our spirits as one. Only then can the fight begin.”

  “We have joined forces.”

  “But we have not yet joined spirits. Your God and mine. Come. We’ll gather our strength. Then we will know. He will tell us. But in His own time.”

  CHAPTER NINETEEN

  1

  Erik didn’t know what to do. He sat in the fellowship hall of the church and watched the television, hoping for an update on what was going on. There was nothing new, though, and the newscasters were resorting to old footage and old reports. Apparently, the authorities weren’t letting the news people get too close and the government wasn’t saying anything. It seemed apparent that they weren’t letting anyone into town, and were encouraging people to get out.

  Erik knew the truth, but who would listen? And if they did, what good would it do? He knew the demon had been on the outer edges of town earlier. Now he might be anywhere. He felt like he needed to get Vickie and Todd to a safe place in the city; he also felt like he had to stay and help destroy this thing, or else no one would be safe anywhere.

  Vickie hurried in, pulling Todd in tow. Her face was pasty white.

  “We’ve gotta go, Hon,” she said.

  “Is it…time…. The baby?”

  “No, no,” Mark called. “The thing just ruined Dovecrest’s place. It’s headed this way.”

  “Does the staff know?”

  “They’re on their way out. Come on. We’ve gotta run. They want us to meet at our house.”

  “Let’s go out the back. It’s closer.”

  He led them up the back stairs and out to the parking lot. He could hear screams from the front of the church, and knew that the thing was in sight..

  “Hurry,” he said. “And don’t scream or yell, no matter what you see. It’ll only attract it.”

  Erik was glad they lived in a small town where you didn’t have to lock your car doors. He jumped into the car and started it up as Vickie slid in beside him and Todd hopped into the back seat. He was hoping the thing wasn’t in the driveway or the road-he’d just have to assume it wasn’t and hope for the best. He gunned the engine, peeled out of the parking lot and around the front of the church.

  Sure enough, it was waiting in the street right outside the church’s front door. It looked different now, though, no longer hot and fiery. Now it was cold and black, the exact color and texture of the altar stone, in fact. It was as if the demon’s lava flow had cooled and turned into volcanic rock. Even the once-human twin head on its neck seemed petrified. In fact, for a moment he thought he was looking at a statue. Then the thing moved.

  With amazing quickness, the thing charged forward. That’s when Erik saw where the scream had come from. It was Vera, the church secretary, an elderly woman, who was standing frozen on the front steps to the church. The demon reached out and grabbed the woman by the throat, stifling her screams immediately. The woman flailed her arms and legs like a windmill, and her eyes bulged out in their sockets.

  The demon shook her like a rag doll. Erik pulled the car to the far side of the driveway, hoping he could make it around the monster. He debated whether to help old Vera-but he had no idea what he could do.

  Suddenly Vickie gasped and clenched her belly.

  “Contractions,” she said between gasps. “Oh, dear God, not now.”

  The dilemma regarding Vera resolved itself quickly; the monster stepped forward and hurled her like a major league fastball against the stone foundation of the church, where she hit head first. Erik could hear the cracking of her skull even through the closed windows of the car. He took a quick look and saw a dark patch of blood flowing down the wall and pooling up on the ground. Vera’s twisted body lie contorted and lifeless on the ground.

  “Todd, get down on the floor,” Todd said, as he gunned the engine in a desperate attempt to race past the demon before it noticed him. “Hold on!”

  He targeted the right part of the driveway where it joined the road, punched the gas pedal to the floor, and prayed with all of his heart. The car rushed forward, throwing him back against the seat. He tried not to look at the demon, but he couldn’t help it. It was like trying to drive by a car wreck on the highway without looking-you knew it was wrong, that it wouldn’t be good to see, and that it would just hold up traffic even more. But you looked anyway.

  He had hoped the demon would be more interested in what was inside the church than what was outside. His hope was only partially fulfilled. The thing smashed its head through the front door, but then turned around when it heard the car racing towards it. It looked almost comical, like something out of a cartoon-this huge, fierce, rock-solid demon, now complete with horns and quartz-like fangs, standing there with a smashed door around its neck like a broken picture frame. If the effect had been done in a horror movie, Erik would have laughed. Instead, he just gritted his teeth and pressed as hard as he could on the gas pedal, gripping the steering wheel so hard that his knuckles turned white.

  He wouldn’t have believed that anything so large and so solid could move so quickly. The effect was even stranger now that the demon had transformed itself into a solid shape. It was like watching a rock run. Erik instinctively knew that he wouldn’t make it. The demon would catch him just as he reached the road.

  Without even thinking, he turned the steering wheel hard right at the last instant. The car jumped the curbstone and went up onto the grass and directly for a tree. He yanked the wheel left, scraped the side of the tree with the passenger door, then tugged it to the right. He could feel the demon close now as its solid presence cast a shadow over the car. Vickie was still gasping in timed rhythm next to him. Todd, thankfully, was quiet and on the floor. Erik hoped he had his eyes closed and his head buried in his hands.

  He felt the car slam into the landscaping, taking out a layout of flowers and running over and through a small stone wall. Sparks flied as the chassis scraped cement. The right front wheel rode up the stone wall and Erik thought the car would flip. Then it jolted back down, almost knocking him against the roof.

  He saw the demon’s hand shoot out towards the car and just miss grabbing the roof, and the car righted itself. He felt the stone fingers scrape along the back of the vehicle like nails on a blackboard, searching for a grip. T
he car slowed and he gunned the engine again. It leaped forward, eluding the grip for a moment. Then he felt the car slow and stop as the demonic hand wrapped around the rear bumper.

  He pressed the accelerator down so hard he felt like his foot would go through the floorboards. The wheels spun as Erik engaged the demon in a terrible tug-of-war. He felt the car being pulled backwards. Then, as if it were suddenly being launched from a slingshot, the car lurched forward. Erik looked in the rear view mirror and saw the demon holding the bumper in his hands. It twisted the metal into a pretzel and threw it to the ground as Erik maneuvered the car onto the road and sped down Route 102 towards Farmington Road and his home.

  2

  The demon knew it had missed a major opportunity as it watched the car speed off into the distance. It half-thought of catching it, then decided it wasn’t worth the effort. At least not yet. There would be time for that later.

  It twisted up the mangled bumper like a paper clip and threw it on the ground. It hadn’t realized that the woman was in labor until it was too late. Those were the best kind-a two for one. And what could be more innocent than a mother and her newborn. That would have been very good.

  But the brat wasn’t born yet, so it had time. That’s one thing it did have-plenty of time. It had eternity.

  It looked back at the church, the home of its enemy, the home of those who would destroy it. Something would have to be done about this church. It would send a clear message.