Witches of Dark Rock

by Tim Miller

  He cut the rabbit open and pulled its entrails out onto the altar while chanting. He’d been dabbling in the occult for a long time, but this was his first attempt at a sacrifice. He looked into formal Satanism, but was disappointed to find it was mostly just politics. He did some digging online and found some spells he hoped would help him reach out to Satan himself, or at least a really powerful demon.

  Selling his soul was no problem to him. He would happily trade his soul for absolute power here on Earth, even if it was only temporary. Not that he’d had a bad life; his life had been mostly pleasant. He was just angry. No one knew why he was angry. For years his mom took him to different doctors and therapists, but they couldn’t seem to figure it out. One of them prescribed him some medication to calm him down. He didn’t take it very long though; it made him sleep all the time. He needed to be awake, to take in everything around him.

  Taking the rabbit’s blood in his fingertips, he smeared streaks onto his face as if it were war paint. He continued to chant as he closed his eyes, and tilted his head back as he waited for the demon to manifest itself. Once he finished the chant, he waited and waited. Nothing. Opening his eyes, he looked around but there was nothing. Tilting his head back, he repeated the chant, with the same result.

  “Fuck!” he said as he turned the music off on his phone and sat there in silence. Why didn’t it work? One of the sites he read said an animal sacrifice was required. Maybe he needed something bigger than a rabbit? It did say the larger the sacrifice, the better the changes, and greater the reward. He’d just happened to have the traps handy and set them out, trapping the rabbit after a few hours.

  That settles it then. He knew what needed to be done. Zachary put out the candles, stood and went into his room to get dressed. He pulled on a black t-shirt and jeans and slid on his hoodie. Zachary glanced at the wall, his eyes landing on the mask he’d made for himself. It was something he’d made months before just because he thought it was cool. But it turns out it would serve a purpose. He’d molded it out of plaster and latex. From there, he painted it to look as demonic as he could. So it was mostly white with various markings. He had to admit, it looked pretty freaky.

  He pulled on the mask, pulled up his hoodie and looked in the mirror.

  “I am death incarnate,” he said to his reflection. “I destroy all that lay in my path.”

  Pulling on his gloves, he headed out to his car and drove off to begin his hunt. There were some additional preparations to be made. He drove just east of town and pulled onto a gravel road that ran into the woods. For the next hour he scoured the woods for items with which to build his new altar. He found several large rocks he stacked up neatly surrounded by some logs. Once that was complete he walked back to his car, opened his trunk and removed his hunting knife and drove back into town.

  He sat in the dark outside of the supermarket, parked at the end of the parking lot to avoid any of the lights. He waited until he saw someone leaving. Before long, there was a young man walking to his car. Zachary got out of his car and lurked in between cars, following the young man until the kid was fumbling with his keys. From close up, the boy looked no older than sixteen or seventeen.

  Zachary stood, his feet shuffling slightly. The boy turned at the sound of the noise, and froze in his tracks at the sight of Zachary in his mask and black clothing. Zachary at six foot two towered over the boy as he cracked him over the top of the head with the base of the knife. The boy stumbled backward as Zachary hit him again; this time the boy toppled over. Zachary caught him and dragged him back to his car and threw him into the trunk.

  Once they were back to the woods, Zachary stripped the boy naked and bound him in duct tape, then laid him on top of the altar. Zachary removed his clothing except for the mask and stood over the boy. The young man awoke, seeing Zachary and realizing his predicament, he screamed. Zachary picked up the knife and thrust it into the boy’s stomach, and sliced him open from the waist to his ribcage.

  The boy screamed in pain as Zachary ripped the incision open, and removed his insides. They spilled out over the altar as the boy cried.

  “Why are you doing this? Please let me go! It hurts! Oh God! It hurts so bad!”

  Zachary ignored his cries as he smeared the boy’s blood all over his body, using the end of his intestines like a paint brush. Tilting his head back, he repeated the chant, this time calling out loudly to the spirits, hoping they would hear him and be pleased with his offering. After several minutes and several tries, nothing happened.

  Zachary threw the knife do the ground and screamed.

  “What is it you want? What do you want from me? I’ve given you everything!”

  He was practically hyperventilating as the rage coursed through him. He followed the rituals to the letter. He’d offered up a small animal and a human, yet the spirits were still not pleased. At least if they were, they weren’t showing it. The boy still lay on the altar sobbing, trying to wiggle his way out. Zachary picked up a large rock and smashed the boy’s head in. Even with his anger, one blow wasn’t enough. He hit him again and again until the boy’s head was a mashed up pulp of blood, tissue, brains, and skull. Zachary threw the rock to the ground, sat down next to the altar, and began to cry.

  Chapter 4

  “What do you think of these candles?” Regina asked her two friends as she held up a basil scented candle and a cinnamon one.

  “They both stink. I wish there was a regular store around here,” Summer said, referring to an occult store where they could easily find the candles and herbs they need.

  “Yeah, I’m sure that will never happen around here,” Regina said.

  “Why are we here again?” Summer asked.

  “Be nice. It’s important for Regina to come here and move past the loss of her parents. Plus I saw her body language when talking to that preacher. She was obviously intimidated by him. So we are going to learn to face our fears and not let them control our lives. Right Regina?” Angela said.

  “Why not just move away and stay away?” Summer asked.

  “That’s just running. If you don’t face it, then it’ll be the same thing wherever you move to, until you move again; rinse, repeat.”

  As the two talked, Regina placed the candles into the cart and rolled it down the aisle. Regina had on a white tank top and shorts, while Angela was wearing a yellow summer dress which was cut just low enough to reveal her anatomical heart tattoo just in between her breasts. She had said the heart was a symbol of life and since she wears her heart on her sleeve, she chose to wear it on her skin as well. Summer however, was wearing a black t-shirt with a large pentagram on the front, and black jeans. Her closet was the funniest thing to look through. There was nothing in it but black clothing. Even her underwear was black.

  Across the aisle, a woman with a toddler in her cart stared at the girls. Regina smiled, but the woman looked away and skittered off. She looked at Angela who shrugged.

  “Summer, did you have to wear that shirt on our first day out?” Regina asked.

  “It’s one of my favorite shirts!”

  “No it isn’t. You just like to make people squirm.”

  “Maybe a little.”

  “Look at it this way,” Angela said. “We can help some folks around here face their own fears as well.”

  They finished filling their cart and checked out. As they placed things onto the counter, the cashier did her best not to make eye contact. Once they paid, Angela pushed the cart to their car where they loaded it up and climbed in. As they pulled onto the road, Angela had to stomp on the brakes when a police car came screaming by with its lights and siren on. Three more cars streaked past as they pulled onto the road.

  “Holy shit,” Summer said. “I wonder what’s going on.”

  “A response like that in this town? Someone probably trampled an old lady’s flower bed,” Regina said as they all laughed.

  “Did you know your preacher friend came back the other day? After you went inside,” An
gela said. “He left for a while, but he came back and sat in his car across the street, just watching the house.”

  “How do you know?” Regina said.

  “I saw him from my window. I’m pretty sure he saw me too. I think I scared him.”

  Regina didn’t doubt that. Angela was beautiful, with long black hair and soft features. But when she gave you “the stare” she could look terrifying.

  “He was just sitting there?” Regina asked.

  “What a fucking creeper,” Summer said.

  “It’s because we’re outsiders. Even though I’m from here, I’ve been gone for so long. Then I show up with you two. He sees himself as the town shepherd and everyone here is his sheep. Anyone new that comes along, especially if they’re different, they see as against God or something,” Regina explained.

  “It’s ok,” Angela said. “Once they see we aren’t the devil or worship the devil, they’ll see us as people and not enemies.”

  “You’re very optimistic,” Summer said.

  “Well, if we don’t let people get to know us, how will they stop judging us?”

  “I don’t know. You have more faith in people than I do.”

  “Just hang in there girl,” Angela said. As they arrived at the house, Rev. Bannerman’s car was across the street from the house yet again. This time, he was starting the Cadillac and driving away as they pulled in.

  “Now what was he doing? God!” Summer said. “We’ve been here maybe two days and this guy keeps sniffing around. Fucking weirdo.”

  They got out and unloaded the car. Each of the girls had their hands and arms filled with bags. Angela fumbled with the keys as they approached the door, which was slightly ajar.

  “What the hell?” Angela said. “Did you lock the door when we left?”

  “Yeah, I’m positive I did,” Regina said.

  Angela looked down the road and stuck her head into the house.

  “I can’t believe it,” she said. “That preacher was in our house?” She walked all the way inside and sat the bags down. Looking around, it didn’t appear anything had been disturbed. “He broke in here. That son of a bitch.”

  If she wasn’t frightened about the break in, Regina might have found Angela’s change in tone toward the preacher amusing.

  “You sure he did?” Summer asked.

  “I’m positive, unless one of you started wearing Old Spice.”

  Chapter 5

  Merle Bannerman pulled up to the house once again and noticed one of the cars was gone. He parked across the street and walked to the front door, and rang the doorbell. There was no answer. He looked around and peeked in the window. As a servant of God, he was determined to figure out what it was about these women that bothered him. That is why what he was about to do was not a sin.

  Digging into his pocket he pulled out his Leatherman multi tool and pulled out some of the attachments. Sticking one of them into the lock, he wiggled it until he heard the deadbolt unlatch and slowly opened the door. He had taken a locksmith course on the internet a few years before, where he learned to pick locks as well as make himself keys. He had keys for most of the homes in Dark Rock.

  He stepped inside and closed the door behind him. There were boxes stacked up through the house. Some were still packed or had belongings strewn about. He walked up to one of the boxes and started looking through their clothing. One pile of clothes was all black, mostly heavy metal shirts. Going into the kitchen he noticed the fridge was bare, but there were empty fast food wrappers in the trash.

  He walked back through the living room and up the stairs. The bedrooms each had stacks of boxes in them. There was one which was mostly empty. As he stepped inside, he stopped at the doorway. A pentagram was drawn onto the floor and surrounded by candles. His jaw dropped at the sight. Witchcraft! Merle had a bad feeling about these women, and now he knew why.

  Immediately he knelt down and prayed for the blood of Jesus to rain down upon this house of Lucifer. He took the pocket Bible out of his inside jacket pocket and used it to knock the candles over as he prayed the blood of Jesus throughout the room.

  “In the name of the Lord Jesus Christ, I cast out any and all unclean spirits who have manifested themselves in this place! I order you in the name of Jesus straight back to Hell from which you came!” he shouted as he waved his bible around and chanted, “In the blood of Jesus” over and over.

  Slowly he backed out of the room when his phone rang. Once out of the room, he answered. It was the Chief of Police, Barry Harmon. Barry had retired from the Austin Police several years before, so he took the job in Dark Rock as the Chief. Dark Rock was typically a “retirement” job for most police chiefs that came through.

  “Hey Barry, what’s going on?”

  “Sorry to bother you Reverend. I got something here that I think I need you to have a look at.”

  “What is that?”

  “Can you just come out east of town? You’ll see the police cars there. It’s pretty crazy.”

  “I’d like to know what I’m walking into,” Merle said.

  “Someone killed the Williams boy last night. And it’s bad. Like he’s laid out on some kind of altar all cut to pieces.”

  “What?”

  “Someone sacrificed him Reverend. It’s a fucking human sacrifice, right here in our little town. I’ve never seen anything like it.”

  “Oh my God. Are you sure? A human sacrifice?”

  “I don’t know what else this would be. That’s why I’m calling you. I’m not a religious expert, but I know you know this stuff. Can you come out and take a look? Tell me what we’re dealing with?” Barry asked.

  “I definitely will,” Merle said and hung up.

  He ran out of the house as fast as he could, not realizing he failed to close and lock the door behind him. As he drove away in his Cadillac, he also didn’t see the witches pulling into their driveway behind him. On his way to meet with the Chief, he thought about the timing. Regina moves into town with her little coven of witches, and in just one day, they have a satanic sacrifice. A teenage boy no less. This was no coincidence.

  It was hard to believe Regina Tyler had gotten mixed up with these kinds of people. She had been such a good Christian girl growing up. Her parents never missed a Sunday. He remembered leading her to the Lord when she was six years old during vacation bible school. What a sweet little girl she’d been.

  This is why he discouraged young people from attending secular colleges. The Devil was alive and well in them. These young Christians were like low hanging fruit; ripe for the picking and Satan picked them by the bushel. Not only did Regina sell her soul to the Devil, but she brought him and his harlots into his town.

  The Williams boy was Danny Williams. He was sixteen years old and had just gotten his driver’s license a few months ago. His dad Andrew, was a deacon at the church, and had been for many years. What a horrible way to lose a child. As he pulled up, there were a dozen police cars with their lights flashing all along the road. He parked behind one of them and climbed out. Barry was there waiting for him.

  “Thank you for coming out Reverend,” Barry said. “I’m warning you; it’s an awful sight.”

  “I’m sure it is. Let’s go do this.”

  As they walked through the woods, Merle’s Prada shoes squished through the soft ground as branches poked at his suit. One flicked him in the face, knocking his glasses of. He picked them up, and wiped them with a handkerchief before sliding them back on. Once they arrived at the crime scene, Merle froze.

  “You ok Reverend? I told you it was rough,” Barry said.

  Merle saw the boy or what was left of him spread out on the makeshift altar; his stomach cut open and his guts strewn about. The boy’s head had been completely smashed in. Merle had done many funerals in his time, and was no stranger to death. But this was the most horrific thing he’d ever seen. Whoever or whatever did this was pure evil.

  “You see what I mean, Reverend?” Barry said. “There are some c
andles on the ground around here too. So what do you think? Is this some satanic ritual, or some kind of wannabe?”

  “It’s Satanic all right. And I know who did it.”

  Chapter 6

  Regina was hanging up her clothes when the doorbell rang. She walked downstairs when Summer called out.

  “I’ll get it!” she said. Regina was already downstairs when she watched Summer opening the door. Standing in the doorway were several police officers. One of them looked much older than the other two.

  “Afternoon ladies. Sorry to bother you. Can I have a word with you all?” the older one said.

  “You got a warrant?” Summer asked.

  “Summer, don’t be rude,” Regina said. “I’m glad you stopped by. We were about to call the police.”

  “Well good then. Mind if I come in? I’m Barry Harmon. I’m the police chief here.”

  “I guess so,” Regina said opening the door the rest of the way. Angela came down stairs to see what was happening. “Did you want sit down?”

  “No. I’m fine. I just wanted to have a word with you all,” he said. “We had a murder in town this morning. Well, last night actually. Happened out east of town. Pretty ugly.”

  “Wow, that’s horrible,” Angela said. “Did you catch whoever did it?”

  “Well that’s the thing. This was a teenage boy. He was cut up pretty badly. It was very ritualistic. So much so, I’d say he was sacrificed.”

  “Sacrificed?”

  “Yeah. You know. Someone tied him to an altar-like structure and sliced him up badly. Then they smashed his head all in,” he said. Regina noticed he was trying not to stare at Angela’s tattoo.

  “Holy shit,” Regina said. “But you don’t know who did it?”

  “With this kind of thing, we had Reverend Bannerman come out and take a look at it. He said it looked like the work of a satanic cult, or witchcraft.”