by Tl Reeve
“Gaspar,” he said, extending his hand to me.
“No offense, but I’ll just say hi and stay right here.” I was safe between Ember and Kael. They'd protect me. This guy, however, would kill me. I knew it with every fiber of my being.
He laughed. “I won’t hurt you.”
“Said the spider to the fly,” I muttered.
This time he laughed even harder. The sound had me covering my ears. I didn’t like it. It was demonic. Like, cats screaming while rocks were being crushed. Weird description, I know, but it was the only way I could describe it. I glanced over at Paul and Felix who laughed along with Gaspar, seemingly unfazed by the sound emanating from the guy.
“They don’t hear what you do,” Ember said. “They hear perfectly normal laughter.”
“Gee, lucky them.”
Gaspar closed the distance between us. A magnetic pull I hadn’t experienced with Kael or Ember, engulfed me. It was as if my soul was trying to separate itself from my body. Like a thread popping from a hem. I mentally reached for the tattered ends of my soul, drawing them back to me, but they slipped through my fingers. Then, I realized, almost too late, this man was a reaper, not just a play on words, and he’d come for me.
I could only outrun it for so long. I'd been grateful for the years I was already given. I’d been called a miracle child one too many times. Cheated this man of his due more often or not. Yet, I wasn’t ready to go. I had so much to do. So much to see. I wanted to use this life, spared so many times over, for something good.
“I’ve been waiting for you.”
Chapter Three
Not. Creepy. At. All.
“Knock it off, Gaspar. You’ve gotten your thrill for the night.” Kael placed a protective arm around my middle.
"If you're worried they can see this," Gaspar said, "they can't. To them, we're having a joyous conversation filled with the laughter of long-lost friends. They have no idea who I really am or what I am doing here."
I guess I should be happy about that. “So, tonight is it then. I’m going to die?” I couldn’t quite meet his gaze. A deathly chill settled into my bones, turning my stomach into a solid block of ice.
Gaspar laughed again. “You’re not going to die. Is that what you believe?” The oppressive atmosphere around us lightened and I could finally breathe without feeling as though I sucked air through a plugged straw. "I want your soul, but I won't forcibly remove it."
Couldn’t prove it by me. “Sure.”
“Your soul knows its master and is drawn to me.” He pressed his chilled finger under my chin, tilting my head up, so I was forced to look at him. The horrors I saw there early were masked, clouded almost, so all I saw were his mismatched eyes. “I’d never take yours without permission.”
I blinked. What was I supposed to say? Thank you? “Uh...”
He smirked again. “It’s time to begin.”
“Huh?”
“Darkness is upon us and we have visitors to greet.” Gaspar leaned in and pressed his lips to mine. Nothing about it had been intimate or salacious. Chaste, more like it. “The kiss of death. A protection I offer freely.” His breath brushed across my cheek. “Now you can say thank you.”
“T-thank you.”
“You’re such a dick,” Kael said smacking Gaspar on the shoulder.
He shrugged.
“Are we ready?” Paul joined us.
“Y-yeah, sure. Let’s grab the gear.” I untangled myself from Gaspar’s embrace and headed for my vehicle. “We should start at the supposed property of Anton LaVey. Then work up to where Lucia was murdered.”
“It’s pretty daunting.” Paul grabbed one of the black cases out of the rear of my Jeep. “All these areas.”
“We’ll get what we can. I didn’t expect us to get it all in one shot. If we have to, we’ll come back.” I shrugged. “Besides, we also need interviews.”
“Shit,” Felix grumbled. “You’re making this an expedition.”
“Well, if we want to do it right, we’re going to have to examine everything—including the stuff that can be explained.” I grabbed my backpack and headed for the pool. “Starting here.” I placed one of our small infrared cameras on the lip of the pool facing the depiction of the goat-man.
On the way back to the group, I put the lid on the barbeque to not only keep it from starting a fire but to knock the area into complete darkness. Not that there wouldn’t be challenges. Traffic through the canyon couldn’t be stopped. Loud music either. We’d have to block it out and hope we’d get good evidence.
“Got everything?” Kael came up beside me as I started for the road.
“Yep. I’m ready,” I said. “I know I don’t have to say this, but I’m going to anyway. Stay on the sidewalks. Don’t become a statistic. Also, there was recently an accident on this road. Keep your eyes open for pieces from the car that rolled over. Don’t need anyone going to the hospital tonight.”
Gaspar, Ember, and Kael joined me while Felix and Paul walked behind us. I clicked on my flashlight and started up the incline. The area had so many stories to tell. It felt a little disingenuous not telling them all. Unfortunately, telling all of it would jumble up my project. My message would be lost, and I’d sound more like a lunatic than a psychology student. I couldn’t ruin this opportunity.
As we came to the curve in the road, a car passed us. The headlights blinded me momentarily and I stopped. I swore, even though I couldn't see much, I saw a group of shadows ahead of us up on a ledge of the cliff. They were grouped together. Some stood, some crouched down. When the vehicle passed us, they were gone.
Kael dipped his head. “They’re watching you.”
I shivered. “Why?”
"Because you're one of the first people who has ever seen them."
Oh, perfect. Yay, me. I continued up the hill until we came to the driveway of the property supposedly belonging to Anton LaVey. I narrowed my eyes. Like the first-hand accounts and reports stated, all of the cameras were gone. The fence had been broken, tattered and torn from the ground in some places. The last time I saw it, there were security cameras surrounding the whole place. With it being opened, the dog had to have been taken away too which had been stated too. An uneasiness took root in my stomach. I glanced at Kael who shrugged.
“Paul, you and Felix go on up to the top of the hill where Lucia was murdered, and place a camera looking down toward Hacienda Blvd, then join us over here. I think this is where we should be searching first.” I glanced up the long driveway. Trees lining either side of the driveway, obscured my line of sight, making it impossible to see if there really was a house at the end of it or not.
“What about Jeffery?” Paul asked.
Jeffery was a teen who went missing when I’d been a child. Most said the cult residing on the particular piece of property where we’d been standing, kidnapped him, drugged him and brought him up here to perform some ritual with him. His decomposed body hadn’t been found until three years later. According to the coroner’s report, near the body lay a tourniquet and a needle. Though it’d been years since the boy had gone missing, they were still able to find trace amounts of heroin in the syringe.
The coroner called it an accidental overdose. That’s when the conspiracy theories started. Because Jeffery had been a star athlete and an honors student for La Serna High school, no one could reconcile what he did to himself. I tended to agree with them, however this time, I sided with science. We don’t know the demons others have to deal with on a daily basis. Weeks after Jeffery’s remains had been laid to rest, his mother spoke out. He did have drug problems, but they’d been really good at covering it up.
He’d been to three out-patient facilities in three years. Every time they got him on the right track, he had a setback. The anguish and resignation in his mother’s voice convinced me there hadn’t been anything unusual or paranormal with his disappearance. “No. I think even if his spirit is still in the canyon, we should leave him be. He’s been through enoug
h.”
“So, you don’t think it’s connected?” Paul adjusted his backpack on his shoulder.
“No. I never have. I think he’s a lost soul who can’t find the light,” I replied. “I would rather he try to find his peace in all this beauty than to be forced to relive everything, including his death.”
“All right,” Paul said. “You’re the boss.”
When he and Felix started up the hill, I turned to Kael, Ember, and Gaspar. “Is this safe?” Seeing all the shadow people watching us, freaked me out. I realized subconsciously, I couldn’t leave. I had a job to do. I was falling into the trappings of allowing the stories to consume me and distort the truth.
“As safe as what anything else is on this hill,” Gaspar said. “Come on. We’re burning moonlight.”
We slipped through the gaping hole in the fence and took our first steps onto the property. Another legend has it, this estate could have even belonged to the city. Supposedly an illegal oil derrick sat at the crest of the hill. Every drop of crude the derrick pulled, the city would make a profit off of it. What they used the money for, I don’t know, and neither did the workers I’d talked to a couple of weeks ago.
“It’s real, you know,” Ember said, coming up beside me. “All the things you’ve read or seen.”
“Which parts though? Which stories? There are so many. There’s also enough facts in some instances to refute the ghost stories." We trudged up the long, winding driveway. I thought for sure we'd see the crest, but with each step, it seemed to get farther away than closer.
“All of them have bits of truth to them. You just have to open your eyes to see it.”
Like I didn’t? “We’ll see.”
“This property isn’t Anton LaVey’s,” Gaspar said.
“Then who did it belong to? The city records don’t show a current owner nor do they show any previous owners. Yet, there had to be something here. Why evidence of there being cameras on the property, and the gate, which had barbwire added to it about five years ago, also the guard dog.”
“An eccentric couple.” Ember placed his hand on my shoulder. “They were preppers. Doomsday people. They believed the sky was falling the night the plane crashed. The next day, even though the truth had been reported, they started squirreling supplies away.”
I stopped mid-stride. “You want me to believe that some couple lived in a bomb shelter because a stupid airplane crashed into the hillside?”
Ember laughed. The silky-smooth sound slid across my skin. “Well, that could be a lie too. After all, this whole canyon is one big urban legend.”
I pushed him off of me. “Jerk. I thought you were here to help?”
He laughed again. “I’m here to keep you safe.”
“By lying to me?”
He wrapped his arm around me again. “No, by keeping your mind open. What you know about this place... Sometimes the truth obscures the reality.”
Yeah, that wasn’t double talk at all. “Whatever.”
We came around another bend in the driveway and I stopped dead in my tracks. Nothing prepared me for what I saw. There, in the distance, a foundation from a building was all that remained. I believed all the rumors and legends of what could be here, but the reality of it, blew me away. Judging by the size, I’d be more inclined to believe the orphanage stood at this location, not where we'd set up our base camp.
“Whoa,” I murmured stepping closer to the ruins.
What remained of the cinder block and brick walls had been chard from the fires in 1989 and 2010. Graffiti covered some of the walls while warnings were placed on others. Upside down pentagrams along with 666s—the mark of the beast, were scrawled across empty spaces. I had to get a closer look. I needed to record this evidence. I pulled my camera from my pocket and took some photos. Then I grabbed my digital recorder.
“I am standing at a site—multiple sites it would seem. The foundation of a building that could have once stood at least three stories tall and at a football field long, sprawls out before me. There is no parking lot that I have seen as of yet. I will continue looking.” I clicked off the recorder and put it back into my pocket. “I’m going in.”
Gaspar grabbed my arm. “I wouldn’t.” His odd gaze darkened into something dangerous and finite. “This is not the place for you to be exploring.”
I glanced over at Ember and Kael. They were both keeping their distance from the property. “What’s wrong with it?”
“Death is there.”
I laughed. “You are death.”
Gaspar shook his head. “Not the same.”
A cold chill ran down my spine and settled in my stomach. “Tell me?”
“It’s not safe.” He ushered me away from the site, deeper into the property. “This isn’t a good place to be. Observing and touching is a no-no. I should have explained earlier. I’m sorry.”
I was officially freaked out. “You’re not making any sense. Didn’t you promise to keep me safe... All of you?”
“We did,” Ember said. “We will show you everything.”
The keyword being, 'show.' "Fine." I hitched my backpack higher. "Lead the way, oh great and wise protectors."
“I think she’s mocking us,” Kael teased.
"Me? Never." I stayed with Gaspar as we walked along an old dusty trail. In the distance, I could hear the beating of drums. I wrinkled my nose. I was sure if anyone got into the canyon, we’d have seen them. So, what the fuck was going on? “Uh, guys?”
“Shit,” Gaspar muttered. “It’s already begun.”
“What?” Confusion filled me. “What’s already begun?”
“Remember we’ll protect you.” Kael stood in front of me. His brilliant blue eyes darkened with determination. “You won’t be harmed.”
One second, I was standing between Gaspar and Ember and in the next, I stood completely naked in a circle surrounded by men. I didn’t know how I got there or what’d happened to my clothes. My heart hammered as fear clogged my throat. Dread mixed with anxiety as warning bells went off in my mind. I needed to get out of there. I had to go home. My mom was right. I had no business in these hills. I fucked up.
The drumming came from shadowed figures above us on a rocky ridge not more than a few feet from us. A small fire illuminated the area allowing me to see those who waited. Ember, Kael, and Gaspar were there along with several other men in black cloaks. A red upside-down pentagram along with a goat's head was embroidered on their hooded cloaks.
A scream of terror built in the back of my throat. Kael had been right. Tonight, someone would be sacrificed, and that someone, was me. I tried to cover myself as best as I could. I was exposed to them. I was betrayed by three ghosts. I fell for their line. I fell for their spiel about them being my protectors. The kiss of death being my security. Bullshit, it was the signing of my death warrant.
With everything I could muster, I beckoned my guardians. I called for this to end. I called for the white light of protection to shield me from the satanic worshipers. I raised my hand and threw every ounce of venom I could into my words. “Begone, you who are foul and unclean. Begone, you who trespass within the light. Begone, you who scurry across the ground of your demonic bellies. Leave this mortal realm. You don’t belong here. You have no power here. You have no life here. This is my realm. I am in control here.”
Nothing happened.
Chapter Four
A man began to laugh. The sound layered together so it was as if three people joined him. He stepped around Ember and lowered his hood. "Welcome, Simone." He held his arms wide. "Tonight is your rebirth."
I stared at the figure. He didn't represent a man or a demon, but a cross between both. He had coal-colored skin, yellow eyes and elongated teeth that protruded over his lips. His mouth also didn't move when he spoke. I took a step back from him and grunted when I ran into something solid.
“Shh,” Gaspar whispered. “You’re safe. I swear.”
“Fuck you.” I stomped on his foot and shoved away f
rom him. “You said this wouldn’t happen. You said if I stepped into the—”
He cut me off with a kiss. His mouth covered mine and I swore I forgot who I was and where I was. Our tongue clashed and retreated. I should hate him, but for whatever reason, I couldn’t get enough of him. My blood sang through my veins. My heart pounded, and I was sure it would fly out of my chest. He skimmed his fingertips down my sides, leaving a trail of goosebumps in its wake.
My nipples hardened to the point of pain while my clit ached. Everything around us slowly faded into nothing. I couldn’t hear the drums or the chanting. Couldn’t see anything vaguely familiar, though I’d closed my eyes unwilling to see the end coming for me. When my back touched something soft and pillowy, I peeked through my lashes, curious as to where I’d been taken. I was no longer in the canyon with a demon. I’d been transported to somewhere else, somewhere peaceful.
“I made a promise I said I would keep,” Gaspar reminded me.
“Where are we?”
“Someplace safe.” He kissed me again. “I’ve been waiting for this moment a long time.”
I gazed up at him. Gone was the cloak and dark clothes. His pale muscular body lay beside me. He appeared content to stroke and tease my flesh until I was insane with arousal. I should be furious at him, but I found all the anger and feelings of betrayal evaporated the minute his lips touched mine.
“Have you?”
He nodded as he tugged on my nipple. “Yes. You see us as ghosts and we’ve introduced ourselves as such to keep you from running from us, but we’re not.”
Shock spiked within me then dissipated. “What are you?”
He grinned. “Death.” He kissed me again, this time tugging my body over his. I straddled his lap and felt the probing tip of his cock tap my clit. “Mostly your protector. I’ll explain later. For now...” He fit the head of his erection at my entrance then eased into me. “Better than a wet dream.”
