When she was done, she picked up the blue shoe box and put it on her lap. She took out a newspaper clipping and laid it on the coffee table. The headline read THIRTEEN DEAD IN BIZARRE CHRISTMAS DAY SLAYING. Beneath the headline, there was a black and white photo of the church at Clara.
“Before any of this happened,” Sherry said, “I was already investigating that church. In late November, the sheriff’s wife, Mary Cantrell, came to the office and told me she wanted to hire me to investigate the place. I asked her why and she said there was something weird going on there. Black magic rituals and that kind of thing. Obviously, I told her I’d take the job.”
“Mary Cantrell hired you?” I asked. “We were under the impression that you were following her.”
Sherry frowned at me. “Who told you that?”
“Her daughter.”
Understanding flickered in her eyes. “Ah, that makes sense. Let me tell my story from the beginning and you’ll see why the Cantrell girl thought I was following her mother.”
“Okay,” I said, picking up my beer and relaxing back into the sofa.
“I went to the church,” Sherry said, “and my eye of Horus tattoo lit up like it was the fourth of July. There was a serious glamor over that place. Have you seen those windows?”
“Yeah, we saw them,” I said.
“Felicity too?”
Felicity nodded. “Yes, I saw them through a faerie stone.”
“Then you know the kind of thing we’re dealing with here. I dug through some old local records and found out that before there was even a church in that location, those woods had been used by some sort of black magic cult that worshipped a beast they called Gibl. There are reports of monster sightings in that area going back hundreds of years. The place got a reputation for being cursed centuries ago and nobody went into those woods during the daytime, never mind at night.”
She got some more papers out of the shoe box and laid them out on the table. They were photocopies of newspaper pages from the late nineteenth century and all of them had stories about a creature sighted in the woods around Clara.
“And this is the really interesting one,” she said, pointing to a page of the Dearmont Observer that had the headline LOCAL CHURCH STRUCK BY LIGHTNING. There was a grainy photo of the church, a black burn mark traveling from its roof and along the wall to the ground. A number of men stood by the church, smiling at the camera.
“Look at this guy here,” Sherry said, pointing to a lone figure skulking by the church doors. Unlike the others, he wasn’t smiling; his face looked sullen. Despite the grainy quality of the picture, I recognized the young man immediately.
“Luke Fairweather,” I said.
Sherry nodded. “Uh huh. Now look when this photograph was taken.”
I checked the date on the top of the page. June 21, 1932. I looked at Sherry. “So what is he? Vampire? Faerie?”
She shook her head. “From what I can tell, he’s a human being who is being kept alive by black magic. I think something happened that day when the church got hit by lightning. After that, a lot of people left the congregation. Now, I know some folk around here are superstitious, and having a church struck by lightning might be seen as some sort of divine disapproval but I think there’s more to it than that. I think this is the moment the place became evil. Look at the church window in that photograph. You can just see the edge of it there.”
The photo showed the edge of one of the stained glass windows. The scene on the window was of the crucifixion of Christ.
“What do you see?” Felicity asked.
“We see the same as you,” I told her. “The crucifixion.”
“You see, I think the church was normal until the day it got hit by lightning,” Sherry said. “It was built in a cursed wood where there had been monster sightings since forever and the family that ran it was odd but I don’t think there was anything evil about the church until that day in 1932. And I discovered a record from 1934 that listed the pastor of the church as Pastor Luke Fairweather.”
I pointed at the photo of the lightning-struck church. “That lightning was probably the result of some spell Luke had cast, maybe to show off his power to the other members of the Fairweather family. They gave him the job of pastor and he took the church down the road he wanted it to go in all along, the worship of the creature called Gibl.”
“But why would they do that?” Felicity asked. “If they were normal God-fearing people, they wouldn’t hand the church over to a monster-worshipping black magician.”
“You aren’t taking into account how black magic corrupts those whose lives it touches,” Sherry said. “Once he got them involved in the dark arts, they would become addicted to its power like it was heroin. And Luke had some sort of immortality thing going on so as the older members of the family passed away, he could corrupt the next generation and the next until the entire family became worshippers of this Gibl creature. It was all they knew. And anyone who didn’t fall into line probably became a monster snack.”
“And that’s what happened to Simon Fairweather on Christmas Day,” I said. “Luke considered Simon an unbeliever so he made him part of a thirteen-course dinner for Gibl.”
“Along with Mary Cantrell and eleven others,” Felicity said. She looked at Sherry. “I don’t understand what Mary was doing at the church. You said she hired you to investigate it but her daughter told us Mary was a member of the church—obsessed with it, in fact.”
Sherry sighed and her brown eyes saddened. “When I told Mary about my research into the church, she insisted that she wanted to help me take it down. She offered to go undercover and find out what she could from the inside. I couldn’t have done that myself because Luke would instantly know who I was.
“I told Mary no, but she said if I didn’t help her, she’d go undercover and investigate the church by herself. I got the impression that she thought she had something to prove to her family. Her husband was the sheriff, her daughter a deputy, and I think Mary wanted to make them proud of her by taking down some bad guys herself.
“So I said I’d work with her on the case. I didn’t want her to go wandering in there by herself and get hurt. Every time she was going to the church or meeting with other members of the congregation, she’d let me know and I’d follow her. I was trying to protect her more than anything else, making sure she didn’t get into trouble.”
She finished her beer and put the empty bottle on the table. “It didn’t turn out that way. Mary infiltrated the group too well and when twelve people from the congregation were chosen to attend a special Christmas Day service, she was one of them. She called me on Christmas Eve and told me something big was going down and we might be able to kill Gibl. Up until then, all we’d uncovered was a bunch of crazy people praying to a monster.
“I wanted to kick down the church doors and start busting heads but there was nothing I could act on, no evidence that the pastor and the congregation weren’t just deluded. Mary said the pastor had assured the twelve chosen ones that Gibl would make an appearance on Christmas Day so I figured if that monster was ever going to appear, that was the time.”
She paused, sniffed the air, and said, “I think that lasagna’s ready.”
“I’ll go get it,” I said.
“I’ll help you.” Felicity followed me into the kitchen. When we got in there, she whispered, “Alec, if Cantrell finds out that Sherry is here, you’ll be arrested for harboring a fugitive.”
“So he won’t find out,” I said, grabbing the oven mitt and taking the lasagna out of the oven. I got three dishes and began slicing the pasta into three portions.
“You don’t seem too bothered about it,” Felicity said.
“Cantrell is in a world of his own right now, trying to figure out if there’s a connection between the death of his wife and what he saw happen to Deirdre Summers. He’s probably hoping the two aren’t related because nobody wants to think of their loved one being eaten by a monster.”
She
sighed. “Well, just make sure you don’t get in trouble over this. I don’t want to have to visit you in prison.”
“You’d visit me?” I asked.
“Of course. I’d bake you something every day.”
“It might be worth going to prison just for that,” I said with a smile.
She narrowed her eyes at me. “I bake for you all the time as it is. I always bring food to the office.”
“Not every day, though. And if I went to prison, you’d have to add an extra ingredient.”
“What’s that?”
“A file.”
Felicity rolled her eyes and went to hit me playfully on the shoulder. I caught her forearm and pushed her back gently against the wall, keeping her arm pinned above her head. Our faces were close, so close I could feel Felicity’s breath against my mouth.
Her dark eyes looked into mine for a second and then she closed them and leaned forward slightly. We kissed. She tasted of sweet tea and lip gloss. I released her forearm and Felicity lowered her hand so her palm pressed against mine, our fingers entwining.
Sherry’s voice came from the living room. “A girl could die of hunger around here.”
We broke the kiss and looked into each other’s eyes as we laughed. I reluctantly let go of Felicity’s hand and stepped back, dazed by what had just happened. “Wow,” I said.
Felicity grinned. “Yeah, wow.”
“We should get that lasagna to Sherry,” I said.
Felicity nodded. “Definitely.”
I handed her a dish and followed her into the living room with the other two and some forks.
“What were you two doing in there?” Sherry asked. “Making kissy-face at each other?”
Felicity looked at me sheepishly and I was sure a similar expression was on my face.
“Oh, sorry,” Sherry said, holding up her hands in front of her face and turning her head to one side. “None of my business.”
We sat on the sofa and I handed Sherry her lasagna and a fork. She tasted the food and closed her eyes in satisfaction. “Mmm, that’s good. Now, where were we?”
“You were telling us about Christmas Day,” I said.
“Oh, yeah. So, I waited on Mary’s street in my Jeep until she came out of her house and got into her husband’s Dodge Ram. It had been snowing heavily so I guess she wanted to take the pickup in case she needed to use the four-wheel drive. I followed her over to the church but I stayed a mile or so behind her because I wanted everyone to be in the church by the time I got there. That way, I could park my Jeep with the other vehicles and get my stuff out of the back while they were all busy in there doing their thing.
“When I got to the church, everyone was inside. I got out of the Jeep and opened up the back. I had an enchanted sword and a crossbow with silver-tipped bolts. I had no idea what would kill the monster and my research didn’t reveal anything specific so I planned to get some ranged attacks with the crossbow and then move in with the sword. The enchanted blades kill just about everything.”
She took another bite of lasagna and waited until she’d swallowed it before continuing. “I shut the Jeep and stood there for a while for something to happen. There was chanting coming from inside the church and, even though I didn’t recognize the language, I knew it was some kind of summoning spell. So I moved closer to the doors, ready to run in there if the summoning succeeded and Gibl appeared. That’s when I heard screaming and the sounds of bodies being thrown against the walls. I pulled the doors open and rushed inside, sword in hand, ready to slice up anything that wasn’t human.
“The place smelled of blood and sulfur and there were bodies lying on the floor, as well as pieces of broken furniture. In the center of the room, there was a dark bulky shape that stood as high as the church ceiling. I couldn’t make out any features because it was fading slowly, returning to whatever hell it came from. Luke Fairweather was standing by the altar, magic sparking from his hands. I knew who he was because Mary and I had researched the entire family and Mary said that even though Simon was the current pastor of the church, she got the feeling it was Luke pulling all the strings.”
“That makes sense,” I said. “Luke thought Simon was a blasphemer and sacrificed him to Gibl.”
“Well, here’s something that doesn’t make sense,” Sherry said. “I started sprinting across the church with my sword ready and all the time I was telling myself that it was crazy to attack a magician like that. I expected a bolt of energy to come flying out of his fingers and blow me away at any second. But that never happened. Luke turned tail and ran through a door at the rear of the building. I heard voices outside and figured the rest of the family was coming to inspect the monster’s handiwork. So I went back to the Jeep and got out of there.
“As I was heading back up that road that leads to the houses, I ran into some kind of magical barrier blocking my way. So I turned off the road and drove into the woods but there wasn’t any trail I could follow and eventually I got stuck among the trees. I walked to the highway and hitched a ride from a passing trucker. Next thing I knew, my face was on the TV and the FBI was hunting me.”
“The sheriff and his daughter arrived at the church and found the bodies,” I told her. “All of the circumstantial evidence pointed to you. Amy knew you’d followed her mother to the church that day and when the police found your Jeep and it looked like you’d fled, they put two and two together.”
“And came up with five,” Sherry said.
“I don’t think they take monsters from other realms into consideration when they carry out their investigation,” I said. I ate the last forkful of my lasagna and then waved my fork at Sherry. “What were you looking for in my books?”
She put her plate on the coffee table and leaned toward us. “Luke Fairweather isn’t done killing yet. That’s why he ran when he faced me at the church instead of blasting me to pieces.”
“He’s saving up his magical energy for something big,” I said. “He could have blasted Felicity and me when we were at his house but he chose to let one of the family shoot me instead.”
“Whatever he’s up to,” Sherry said, “the church massacre was only a part of it. There’s more to come. I was checking your books to see if I could find any black magic rituals that involve killing thirteen people.”
“There are lots of them,” Felicity said. “Thirteen is a powerful magical number.”
“Yeah, I discovered how many there are when I looked through the Grimoire of Dark Magic.” Sherry shook her head. “So we’re back at square one. I was hoping to find which particular ritual or formula he’s following so I could predict when he’s next going to cast a spell and deplete some of that energy he’s been storing up. At the moment, he’s so full of power that attacking him would be suicide. When he releases some of that magic into a spell, that would be a good time to strike.”
Felicity closed her eyes and her brow furrowed. She began reciting something to herself.
“You okay?” I asked her.
“I’m mentally going through all the rituals I know of that require a sacrifice of thirteen victims,” she said. “Maybe I can find one that specifically requires a sacrifice of thirteen people in a church.”
“Has she got a database in her head?” Sherry asked, pointing at Felicity.
“She has a good memory,” I said.
Felicity opened her eyes and sighed in frustration. “It’s no good, there are too many.”
“How about the altar on the island?” I asked. “Do the symbols help to narrow it down?”
Felicity shook her head. “No, but if I knew which spell Luke used to summon Gibl, I might be able to work out the ritual he’s following.” Her eyes widened as an idea came to her. “Of course, why didn’t I think of it before? We might be able to find out exactly which spell he used. It should be on the crystal from the Apollo Stone.”
“You have my Apollo Stone?” Sherry asked.
“Yeah, it’s in there.” I pointed to the cardboard box in
the corner of the room.
She went over to the box and took out the Apollo Stone. “Do you have a crystal reader?”
I nodded. “In the car.”
“Okay, so let’s fire it up and see what’s on here.” She took the crystal from the center of the stone and held it up to the light. “It’s recorded something because the crystal has gone cloudy. When there’s nothing on them, they’re clearer.”
“I’ll get the reader,” I said. I went out to the car and took the box out of the trunk. The rain had stopped, leaving the street glistening. The night breeze was warm and humid, tinged with the smell of night blooming jasmine in one of the nearby gardens. The smell reminded me of Felicity’s perfume.
I took the crystal reader back inside and put it on the coffee table. “Are you sure this is going to show us anything useful?” I asked Felicity. “Luke summoned the monster at the church, not the island, on Christmas Day.”
“No, he didn’t,” she said. “Not technically speaking. The reason he made that altar on the island out of a tree trunk is because he set it up as a permanent anchor point for Gibl to cross over into this realm. The tree is part of nature and it’s better than a manmade altar for making a portal that’s bound to a specific area. The summoning that took place at the church merely invited the monster to that location from the island.”
“So Luke would have summoned it to the island first and it waited there until his second spell transported it to the church?” I asked.
Felicity nodded. “He would have needed to use a lot of power to summon Gibl from its realm to the church. Since he already had the portal on the island set up, it would be much easier to summon it there and then later use a minor summoning to get it to the church.” She shrugged. “That’s what I’d do anyway.”
“It’s worth taking a look,” I said. Sherry handed me the crystal and I put it into the depression on the top of the reader, making sure the face with the projection hole was pointing at the wall. I turned out the lights.
A soft, blue glow emanated from the crystal and the box. A beam of blue light was projected on the wall. At first, nothing happened and we were all staring at a glowing blue square but then images formed like ghosts becoming corporeal. I saw trees, the sky, and the clearing on the island, all in blue monochrome.
The Harbinger PI Box Set Page 43
