Silhouetted against the moon, the thing looked like a medieval gargoyle, with thick, leathery wings. It seemed to be carrying something under either arm. It was carrying something-no, someone. Erik suddenly knew who it was. The thing had Todd and Vickie.
He would have leaped out of his hiding place and into the field if Dovecrest hadn’t grabbed his shoulder and held him back. He stopped himself. The Indian was right. Taking off half cocked would only get him and his family killed. At least now there was a chance. The demon was doing him a favor. It was bringing his loved ones to him. Now he was glad he hadn’t gone off looking for them.
Still, he had no idea how to get the demon to drop them. Perhaps it was planning to kill them on the altar, like it had Dovecrest’s family. He couldn’t let that happen. There had to be something he could do.
He knelt down beside Dovecrest as the demon landed, just to the right of the altar. He wasn’t sure if Pastor Mark had driven it off, or if it had come here of its own accord. Either way, they needed to drive the thing through the portal and into the other world. But not until he’d made it set his wife and son free. That would have to come first. Then Dovecrest would go in after it. If his family were free, he’d have to stay behind and be with them. He knew he couldn’t leave his wife behind again
“You take care of your family,” Dovecrest whispered. “I can handle the other side.”
It was as if the Indian had read his mind. Erik wondered how confident Dovecrest really felt about going in alone. But his family came first. Leaving them now was no longer an option. But he’d have to free them from the demon first.
The monster crouched low and looked around as if looking for something. It seemed wary, as if it knew they were out there waiting for it. As if it feared them.
It placed Vickie down on the altar. She wasn’t moving. Erik thought she might be tied up or restrained somehow. Todd was a different matter. As soon as the monster landed, Todd had begun to squirm. The demon didn’t seem to pay any attention to him, though.
Erik didn’t know what to do. He was torn by the need to run across the field and rescue his wife, and fear that his presence would cause the thing to act, killing them all. For some reason, it had kept Vickie and Todd alive.
He was still torn by indecision when his son made the decision for him. Todd suddenly began to shout at the demon. His words echoed across the field.
“I drive you out in the name of Jesus!” the boy screamed. “I command you to put me down and leave this place. Go back to where you belong!”
As soon as Todd began screaming, Erik jumped out and ran towards his son, no longer caring what happened. Dovecrest followed closely at his heels.
Amazingly, the monster dropped the boy to the ground as if he had just turned into poison. The thing turned and faced Erik. He noticed an upside down cross had been burned into the monster’s chest. It glowed hot-white now against the obsidian stone of the demon and illuminated the field like a lantern. Apparently, Todd’s words had set the thing off.
The boy staggered to his feet and looked at his mother, who was still lying motionless on the altar. With sudden terror, Erik wondered if she were still alive.
“Come on, Mom, say the words!” Todd screamed. “Tell it to go away!”
The monster backed away towards the altar, putting itself between Erik and his wife. Realizing he couldn’t help his mother, Todd turned and ran. That’s when he saw Erik heading straight towards him.
“Dad!” he screamed. “Tell it to go away!”
Erik reached his son in the middle of the open field and grabbed him, picking him up off the ground. Dovecrest ran past and towards the demon, which really seemed to be in pain now.
“It hurts it, Dad. When you tell it to go away it hurts it. I saw Pastor Mark do it and it worked.”
Erik put his son down, then stepped forward towards the demon. If he could grab Vickie while the demon was still preoccupied….
Dovecrest began to chant in his native language and the demon backed up right to the altar. Erik charged forward but before he’d covered half the distance the thing had picked Vickie up in its arms again and stood on top of the altar stone.
“No!” he screamed. “Let her go!”
But the demon only looked up and grinned at him. Defiantly, it tucked Vickie under its left arm. It looked at Dovecrest with rage; it was obvious that the Indian’s chants were doing something to the monster. The upside down cross was burning and smoking now, lighting up the entire field like an incandescent light.
“Let her go!” Erik screamed again.
He heard a helicopter overhead. Apparently the authorities had tracked the monster here as well. If they started shooting, though, they’d hit Vickie.
He rushed forward, no longer caring about his own life or his own situation. He ran right up to the demon, grabbed Vickie by the arm, and pulled. She wouldn’t budge. His move was so quick that the demon didn’t react; it just stood there looking down at him as if it couldn’t believe what it was seeing. Dovecrest moved closer and continued his chants, louder now and with authority. Erik couldn’t understand the words, but he knew the meaning just the same. Dovecrest, in his own way, was banishing the demon, driving it out from the world of men.
Then the demon slowly knelt down on the altar as if in prayer. A sudden, vicious thought assaulted Erik like a fist to the pit of the stomach.
“She and the unborn are mine!” it said. “When I have finished with them, I will be back on this earth. You will not be able to stop me.”
Then the demon erupted in a black cloud of pungent smoke that choked Erik all the way to his lungs. He felt Vickie’s arm slipping away from him and he desperately tried to hold on. No, not slipping away, really. Melting away. Evaporating as if it were never there.
Then both she and the demon were gone, leaving Erik crouching next to the altar, looking totally bewildered.
“I’ve lost her,” Erik said.
Just then Todd rushed out from behind him and leaped onto the altar.
“No!” Erik screamed, but it was too late. He could see the boy’s form silhouetted against the spotlight of the helicopter, which was landing just on the other side of the altar. The boy was there. Then his shape shimmered and became translucent. Then, within an instant, he was gone.
CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR
1
Pastor Mark waited for the soldier to open the helicopter door, and then he jumped out and ran to his friends who were huddled near the altar. Spotlights flooded the area. The demon was gone. It’d taken Vickie with it and, as far as Mark could see, Todd had leaped in after his mother and was gone as well.
Erik was banging his fist against the stone; his hands were bleeding and raw almost to the bone. Dovecrest stood next to the altar with his head in his hands.
“What happened?” Mark asked. “Did the boy go in?”
“Yeah,” Dovecrest said. “Only now we can’t get in. He’s locked us out.”
“How?”
“It’s complicated. But once someone follows the demon, the doorway closes. If we could have gone in at the same time….”
“So what do we do now?”
Dovecrest shook his head. “I need to look at the manuscripts. I’m sure there’s a way to unlock the door. I just have to find it.”
Mark nodded. “Then we’d better get working on it.”
He walked over to Erik and put his arm around his shoulders. Even after all these years of being a preacher, of going to funerals and being with people during their most troubled times, even after all these years he still never knew what to say. He’d memorized all of the catch phrases, and may have even believed in them. But the words never seemed enough, could never offer the comfort that was needed.
“We’ll get them back,” he said. But in his heart, he didn’t know how.
“I…I had her in my hands. I just…I just couldn’t hold on. She just evaporated right there in front of me. And then Todd….”
“It’s going to
be ok,” Mark said. “We’ll figure out something. We’ll get them back. We need to have faith. Now more than ever.”
Dovecrest came over to stand by them.
“We’ve got work to do,” the Indian said. “I think I can get us back into that portal to go after them. Are you coming?”
— 2-
Erik looked up at Dovecrest but couldn’t even hear his words. His system had suffered such a shock that even listening had become a task. He just wanted to bury his face in his hands and die. He didn’t want to think. He didn’t want to remember. But all he was left with was the memory of holding onto his wife’s arm with all of his strength and then feeling it just dissolve right there before him. It was as if she had just evaporated into thin air. No, he didn’t want to think, didn’t want to remember. He just wanted to go to sleep forever. But this voice was shouting at him, insistent.
“Erik, come on. We have to move fast or we’ll be too late. Come on. I think we can do this thing.”
“What…thing?” he asked.
“We can get them back. Come on. I think I have a way.”
“What do you want me do to?”
“We’re going to go through that portal and bring them back out. And we’re going to destroy that thing once and for all while we’re at it.”
“Go to hell!” Erik said. He felt the tears running down his cheeks, tickling a little as they flowed over his cheeks and burning his eyes. “I don’t want to do anything. I just want to die.”
“We are going to go to hell. But no one’s going to die to get there.”
He felt the two men pulling him along by the arms, the pastor on one side and the Indian on the other. His legs moved by themselves, and slowly he became aware of his surroundings. There were soldiers here now, and a helicopter. He had no idea where they had come from. There were flashlights everywhere, and the spotlight from the helicopter burned his eyes. His friends brought him over to the edge of the clearing and sat him down in the grass. One of the soldiers came over, shined a flashlight into his eyes, and opened a medical kit. The man started wrapping some bandages around his hands.
That was when he realized that his hands were cut open and bleeding from where he had pounded on the altar stone. He also realized that they hurt quite badly. He looked into the eyes of his two friends and saw their concern, not only for his family, but for him.
“Mark and I can go in,” Dovecrest said. “And you can stay here. We need someone on this side in case it comes back. But I thought you might want to come and find your wife and son.”
Erik hadn’t realized how dry his mouth felt until the soldier offered him a drink from his canteen. He took a long swallow, then another. The water was cold and helped to clear his brain.
“You think you can get me in there?”
Dovecrest nodded. “I think I know how to open the portal. But just for a moment.”
“Then I have to go. My wife’s in there. And my son. And my baby.”
“All right then. It’s you and I. Pastor, you’re going to stay here and if that thing tries to get back out, you’re going to seal this end and keep it in.”
3
Todd hadn’t thought about anything when he leaped onto the altar and fell through the doorway leading to another world, another dimension, another existence. He’d seen his mother going away and he had just reacted. He didn’t know if it were right or wrong, good or bad. His body had simply taken over his mind, and had acted on its own.
Only now, as he fell in what seemed like an endless thrill ride, did he have the time to consider what he had done. Except now he was too terrified to even think.
He felt as if he were falling from an airplane-only he was so far up that he couldn’t see the ground. Everything was so black that he couldn’t even see his fingers when he held them up in front of his eyes. He was falling fast and hard, and straight down-to what, he had no idea. If there had been a ground below, he would have smashed into it by now, and the horrible picture of the soldier smashing to the pavement haunted his memory once again.
He knew he was falling because he could feel the air rushing past him, like when you put your hand out the window of the car on a long trip on the highway. Only this felt even faster than what the car would go. His stomach also knew he was falling. He felt that it was at least a ten story building behind him already, and loosing ground with each second.
He felt like he should be screaming-that’s what people did in the movies when they fell-but he couldn’t. For one thing, he was falling too fast to even catch his breath long enough to scream. And for another, he knew no one would hear and it would be a waste of energy. In fact, he wasn’t even sure if he could even dent this soundless vacuum with a scream. It would be like putting a drop of red paint into the ocean and expecting it to change color.
He wondered how much longer he would fall. After all, he couldn’t fall forever, could he? That was impossible. Then again, so were demons that turned from molten lava into winged obsidian and that could overturn a tank and disappear into an ancient stone. Or at least he thought they were impossible until now. No, the rules of the universe, as he knew them, had definitely changed. And not for the better.
After what seemed like an eternity, he thought his fall might be slowing down, and he sensed that he was now falling forward and not just down. It was like he was flying. Not flying, exactly, because he couldn’t go back up. Gliding, maybe. Gliding downward.
As he fell, he also felt it getting hotter. He’d overheard his Dad and the Indian talking about following this demon into hell. Apparently, that’s where he was falling. Into hell. He wondered if he’d meet up with the devil. He supposed even Satan couldn’t be much worse than this demon he’d already run into.
Finally, he felt the fall slowing, but the intensity of the fires was increasing. He felt sweat pouring from his forehead, and in the distance he could see a red-hot glow, like the top of an active, flowing volcano. Only this volcano didn’t seem to reach upward. Instead, it was reversed, pointing downward, like it had been turned upside down and he was entering it from its base and heading towards the volcanic cone.
Before he got to the center, though, he slowed almost to a stop, and then felt solid ground beneath his feet. He dropped to his knees and reached down. The ground was made of the very same rock as the altar stone was made of. He wondered if this was another place or another planet. But the first thing he had to do was find his mother.
4
Erik and Dovecrest joined hands and stood beside the altar, while Mark and the soldiers stood back and out of the way, just in case the portal tried to draw them in.
“Are you ready?” Dovecrest asked.
“Yes,” Erik said. He didn’t want to wait another minute. He needed to do something and do it now. He’d already done too much waiting for one day.
“All right,” the Indian said. “It may take a few minutes to prepare the way. But when it happens, we’ll know. We jump onto the altar together and go through.”
“I’m ready.”
Dovecrest began a low, melodic chant in his native language. At first the chant was so subtle that Erik thought the man was humming, and thought it odd. But gradually the pitch and volume increased and it turned from a hum into a song. Erik couldn’t understand the words, or even the meaning, but he found the cadence and rhythm comforting, somehow, as if this were a familiar song he had heard since he was a child. He closed his eyes and tried to relax. If this worked, he’d need all of his strength and all of his wits. He still wasn’t sure how they’d destroy the demon when they found it, and Dovecrest had done his best to avoid all mention of that subject. It was as if he himself didn’t know.
But Erik knew they couldn’t do anything until they passed this first test and actually crossed over into the demon’s realm. He wondered if it were really hell, or just a different world, or a different reality. He’d never quite thought of hell as having a portal connecting it with this world. Apparently, though, those devil worshippe
rs from colonial times had created just such a portal, a gate. A gateway to hell.
He felt the Indian’s voice growing stronger, more confident, and he felt the real world beginning to dissolve around him. Once it began, it happened quickly. He opened his eyes and saw the altar clouding over with a smooth, gray mist.
Dovecrest squeezed his hand.
“Now,” he said, reverting to English as he stopped his chant.
The two men jumped onto the altar. Erik felt its solid, rocky surface beneath his feet, but only for a moment. Then the very rock itself began to transform. First it turned rubbery, as if he were standing on the surface of a jogging track that had been covered with that cork-like rubbery substance designed to absorb shock. Then it became even more spongy; he felt his feet sink in more deeply. He had his eyes open but couldn’t see anything through the haze.
It seemed that sound had not become nonexistent also. It felt like he was inside a hollow chamber and insulated from all noise. Even if he tried to talk he suspected his voice would just not exist here. It was if he were entering some gigantic vacuum.
He looked over at Dovecrest but could not see the man, even though their hands were still tightly locked. Then the very rock beneath them disappeared. The solid bottom dropped away and the very ground beneath his feet was gone and he began to fall.
PART THREE: INFERNO
Abandon hope all ye who enter here.
— Dante
To bottomless perdition, there to dwell
In adamantine chains and penal fire.
— John Milton
CHAPTER TWENTY-FIVE
1
Todd could not believe the emptiness of this place. It was as if he were the only living thing in the universe. He thought he’d wind up next to his Mom and that the demon would be waiting for him. But there was no one, nothing in sight. Only that awful rock-the same stuff the altar was made of-and it went on forever.
The Altar Page 23
