The Devil's Apprentice

by William Massa

  The Hexecutioner

  4: The Devil’s Apprentice

  WILLIAM MASSA

  CRITICAL MASS PUBLISHING

  Copyright © 2020 by WILLIAM MASSA

  All rights reserved.

  No part of this book may be reproduced in any form or by any electronic or mechanical means, including information storage and retrieval systems, without written permission from the author, except for the use of brief quotations in a book review.

  Cover Design: Raul Ferran/Jun Ares/shutterstock

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  Contents

  Meet the Hexecutioner

  Chapter 1

  Chapter 2

  Chapter 3

  Chapter 4

  Chapter 5

  Chapter 6

  Chapter 7

  Chapter 8

  Chapter 9

  Chapter 10

  Chapter 11

  Chapter 12

  Chapter 13

  Chapter 14

  Chapter 15

  Chapter 16

  Also by WILLIAM MASSA

  About the Author

  Meet the Hexecutioner

  Three years ago, FBI Special Agent Jaxon Weylock was the Bureau’s leading expert on violent crime. A renowned profiler, he’d put some of the most dangerous serial killers behind bars. Weylock prided himself as a man who understood the dark side, but he was wrong.

  During a horrific murder investigation in New York City, Weylock came face to face with true evil. He soon learned that the latest murderer he was trying to bring to justice wasn’t human.

  He was hunting a demon.

  Before long, Weylock was fighting for his sanity as the creature took possession of his soul.

  In the end, he quit the FBI and ended up at the monastery of the Holy Knight in Italy, a non-denominational spiritual order renowned for treating the victims of demonic possession.

  For two long years, Weylock lived a nightmare as he fought an internal battle against the demon. Ultimately, he defeated the creature and seized control of the monster’s black magic power; a feat accomplished only once in a generation.

  On that fateful day when Jaxon Weylock won his battle over the demon, he became the Hexecutioner—judge, jury, and executioner of paranormal evil.

  The demon doesn’t possess the Hexecutioner; the Hexecutioner possesses the demon.

  To help Weylock wield this infernal power, the monks of the Holy Knight covered his entire body in protective religious tattoos that allow him to channel the demon’s magic and turn its infernal power into a weapon for good.

  Tapping into the creature’s hellish abilities, the Hexecutioner can conjure force fields, phase through solid objects, fire blasts of raw energy, and transform his thoughts into physical reality.

  Unfortunately, these fantastic powers come at a high price. The Hexecutioner controls the beast—for now—but it is a delicate balance, an endless internal war.

  Helping Weylock in his supernatural missions of vengeance is his magical book of the dead, the Necrodex. The ancient tome serves as Weylock’s guide and compass in this new war. The restless spirits of the victims of supernatural evil communicate through its yellowed pages and point the Hexecutioner toward the next beast that needs to be tracked down and destroyed.

  Over the centuries, many men and women have embraced the role and duties of the Hexecutioner. Champions of both the living and the dead, these devoted souls walk a lonely path, their holy mission of otherworldly vengeance both a blessing and a curse.

  These are the tales of the newest supernatural avenger to have inherited the mantle of the Hexecutioner.

  This is Jaxon Weylock’s story.

  A story that has only just begun.

  Chapter One

  Saying goodbye to her dog was the hardest part for Chloe.

  He was a rescue, and they’d been inseparable for the last year. When she dropped him off at her best friend’s apartment, Max sensed that something was up.

  Chloe tried to calm down the anxious golden retriever, whose tail was frantically whipping back and forth.

  “Hey, boy, it will be okay, I’ll only be out of town for three days,” she said. “Aunt Sophie will take excellent care of you. She’ll spoil you rotten.”

  Max whimpered, not ready to be separated from his mistress.

  The poor dog had been through a lot before their paths crossed at the animal shelter. Max’s scarred hindquarters served as a reminder of the cruelty that some folks were capable of.

  Chloe’s resolve wavered. It had been her idea to invite her boyfriend on a three-day hike through the California mountains to celebrate their six-month anniversary. Now, she suddenly wondered if she’d made a mistake. She’d considered bringing Max along but feared the trip might freak him out even more than spending three days with Sophie.

  As Chloe hugged her whining pet, she considered blowing off her hiking trip. A long look from Sophie urged her not to.

  “Max will be all right with me, won’t you, boy?”

  Sophie gave the dog an enormous bear hug, and the pup calmed. Aunt Sophie was cool too, it seemed.

  “I don’t know about this,” Chloe said.

  “Why am I getting the feeling that you might be the one with separation anxiety issues? I think Max here is picking up on your emotions.”

  Chloe stared at her best friend. She was a wise one.

  “If you’re calm about saying goodbye, Max will follow your example.”

  Chloe considered Sophie’s words. She was right, of course. Chloe had taken in Max right after getting out of a not-so-healthy relationship and found a kindred spirit in the love-starved pup. The retriever had played an essential role in helping her move on with her life. They both had needed each other during low points in their lives and developed a co-dependent relationship. Working from home had further intensified their bond.

  Sophie pressed on. “Listen, I haven’t seen you this happy in like forever. You landed yourself a good guy. You two deserve time to yourselves. Make some fun memories. You’ll have a blast out there.”

  Chloe still hesitated, running her fingers through Max’s fur.

  “Max will be waiting for you when you get back. I swear. Say goodbye already and get out here.”

  “Okay, I will. And thanks, Soph.”

  Chloe nodded and gave herself an internal push. She snuggled with Max one last time and swallowed the growing lump in her throat. Chloe gave Sophie a hug, too, and then stepped out of the apartment and waved goodbye. Only once she was downstairs did the first tears wet her eyes.

  Erik was sitting in the passenger seat of her Jeep. He studied her with concern, picking up on her distress. Unlike Chloe’s callous ex, Erik actually gave a shit about her feelings and emotional state. He knew how hard this was for her.

  “How’s Max holding up?” he asked.

  Chloe didn’t require a degree in psychology to know that Erik was really asking her how she was holding up.

  Chloe smiled and gave her beau the thumbs-up sign, embarrassed that she’d been caught crying. After all, she was supposed to be stronger than this. She prided herself for being a bit of tomboy who drove a Jeep and loved roughing it outdoors and wasn’t prone to emotional outbursts. Her dad was a cop, and he’d raised her to be one tough cookie.

  Don’t lose it now. It will only be three days.

  Chloe clenched her jaw, determined to control her emotions.

  She slipped behind the wheel of the Jeep and gave Erik a quick kiss. He had the good looks of a pop idol but with none of the hubris. He was from Manhattan originally, but now worked a
s a coder in the Bay Area, which probably explained why he was so excited and even a little nervous about their upcoming nature adventure.

  “So, are you ready to spend three incredible days in the wilderness?” she asked.

  Chloe was psyching herself up as much as him, determined to get into the spirit of this trip. They were about to backpack one of the most pristine watersheds in Northern California. It was going to be amazing, and Chloe refused to let her worries about Max ruin the trip before it began.

  Erik grinned with genuine excitement and said, “I was born ready.”

  “Weaverville, here we come!” Chloe shouted and cranked up the radio.

  Still, as she pulled into traffic, she couldn’t shake the irrational feeling that she would never see her dog again.

  She would turn out to be right.

  Chapter Two

  As Sacramento receded behind them, Chloe’s mood improved. The tunes and the beautiful California landscape lifted her spirits. Erik started singing along to the cheesy 80s song blasting from her Jeep’s speaker system, and she quickly joined in. Erik couldn’t carry a tune to save his life, but what he lacked in musical talent, he made up in pure attitude.

  It took them close to four hours to reach the Trinity Alps Resort, and Erik’s entertaining personality made the time fly by. It had only been six months, but Chloe was starting to think she might have found The One. God knew she’d dated enough duds in the past.

  Chloe planned for them to spend the night at the Bridge Campground next to the trailhead so they could get an early start the next day. She had always enjoyed the outdoors and spent many a weekend exploring local trails with Max during her single days, but those short hikes were amateur hour compared to this three-day expedition.

  After a night cuddling in their tent, they were up at the crack of dawn and on their way. A wide variety of trees lined the shady trail, and Chloe enjoyed pointing out the distinct types to her city slicker boyfriend. “Those are the sugar pine, the ones on your right are ponderosa pine, and the ones a little up ahead are maples.”

  Erik stared at her as if she was a rocket scientist. Then he broke into a grin. “I love it when you go all nature girl on me.”

  She smiled back at him, a twinkle in her eyes.

  Erik took a long look at her giant backpack, which made his rucksack look like a glorified fanny pack.

  “What else ya got in there? Don’t tell me—you brought a bow and arrow, too.”

  “Someone has to keep us safe from all the bears and rattlesnakes.”

  Erik cocked an eyebrow. “Are you fucking with me?”

  “Maybe,” she said, smiling.

  Chloe was playing around, but only to a degree. She’d brought a klaxon along just in case a bear should cause trouble, but so far, the only animals she’d spotted were birds.

  “You’re enjoying this, aren’t you?” Erik said. “Getting off on torturing the New Yorker. Just wait until I take you on your first subway ride through the Bronx.”

  “I can’t wait.”

  Their banter continued as they climbed the mountain. The trail maintained a gentle grade for a few miles before it grew steeper. Sweat poured down Chloe’s face, and she took a deep swig of water from her bottle. She and Erik had already needed to refill from a stream they passed, sterilizing the water with pills. It made her feel like a real outdoorswoman—and it didn’t hurt that Erik was looking at her like she was a superhero.

  The scenery was breathtaking, but the company was even better. They could walk in focused silence for one hour and then be chatting and laughing away the next. The day-to-day challenges of Chloe’s marketing career shrank away, and the world just became about the two of them.

  Chloe felt truly happy. When was the last time that had happened? Sophie was right—she’d had landed herself a good guy.

  As the first day went by, she lost track of all sense of time. Breathtaking beauty surrounded them at every turn. Waterfalls and gorges abounded. They only ran into a few other hikers. Everyone smiled, everyone said hi, everyone was enjoying themselves as much as they were. One man they passed had offered to take a picture of them on Chloe’s phone, and she could just imagine posting it on Instagram when they returned to the land of cell service.

  It might not be heaven, but it was as close as you could get on Earth.

  After a fantastic day, they reached the lake, 6,000 feet up, and made camp. Sitting down after hours of hiking felt like a welcome respite. The food tasted better, and so did the bottle of red wine Erik produced from his backpack.

  “Who said I wasn’t ready for the outdoors?” he declared with a grin.

  “Just shut up and fill up my glass.”

  As the darkness settled over the stunning landscape, and they at last grew tired of marveling at the sparkling stars, they retreated into their tent. Once inside, they couldn’t keep their hands off each other. They were both grimy but still had enough energy to fool around—good thing they brought all those protein bars.

  There was something romantic about being out here in the wilderness all by themselves.

  At least that’s how Chloe felt. Erik, however, seemed nervous and distracted. He kept reacting with alarm to the slightest unfamiliar sound, the outdoors playing tricks with his imagination.

  “What was that?” he asked as he pulled away from her, his muscles tight.

  “Sounded like an owl, I’d say.” Chloe made a chomping motion with her hands. “Or maybe it’s a big bad wolf sneaking up on our tent.”

  “Get the hell out of here.”

  She merely giggled.

  “This isn’t funny, you know.”

  “We’re in the woods. We’ll hear weird sounds. That’s what makes it fun.”

  Erik gave her a lopsided smile. “Okay, if you say so. You’re the expert.”

  He leaned in to kiss her again. But a moment later, they both heard a sound like snapping branches outside their tent.

  Erik swapped a nervous look with her. “Does that sound like an owl to you?”

  Chloe shook her head. Definitely not an owl.

  “What is that? Is there someone outside our tent?”

  Chloe wasn’t too worried about bears, but people sneaking around their tent were another matter. She hadn’t told Erik about the concealed firearm she carried in a shoulder holster. Her father hadn’t raised a fool. She would not venture into the woods at night unless she was packing.

  More disturbing noises filled the night.

  Twack, twack, twack.

  To Chloe’s ears, it sounded like someone was repeatedly slapping a heavy object against a tree. Her body on edge, Chloe listened intently. There was something familiar about the noise.

  Was someone chopping wood outside their tent in the middle of the night?

  Erik shot her a long look, his hand tight around her wrist.

  She couldn’t blame him for being disturbed. She was fucking disturbed.

  These sounds weren’t normal.

  Chloe was about to reach for her pistol when the commotion died down. An eerie silence followed.

  If this were a horror movie, one of them would venture out of the tent at this point to investigate the disturbance. But this was the real world, and Chloe planned to stay put, her firearm in hand. If some asshole was planning to mess with them, she was ready.

  Most likely, someone else had set up their camp nearby and was chopping some wood for a bonfire. Yeah, that almost made sense—

  The thought died in her mind as the whacking sound resumed, much closer now. The blows were harder, more aggressive, like someone had declared war on the forest. What in God’s name was going on?

  The sound stopped again.

  Chloe wasn’t scared now. She was mad. Was someone playing a sick game with them?

  She flicked the safety off her gun but kept her finger away from the trigger.

  Erik’s eyes widened in surprise when he spotted in the firearm in her hand. She nodded grimly, and he looked relieved to let her
handle the situation.

  His relief proved to be short-lived.

  Something long and sharp exploded through the tent wall. For a split second, the machete gleamed in the glow of the small battery-power lantern before it lanced Erik’s back and exploded from his chest in a red spray. One moment, Erik was looking at her; the next, his shocked gaze turned down toward the blood-smeared tip of the machete sprouting from his gored chest.

  Chloe stared, stunned into paralysis by the unfolding horror.

  For an eternal beat, time stood still.

  A trail of blood trickled from Erik’s lips. His stunned expression showed he was still trying to comprehend what was happening to him when the blade was violently wrenched out again.

  Blood gushed from the hole in his chest.

  With a gurgling rasp, the man of Chloe’s dreams collapsed in a heap and was dead by the time his face hit the tent floor.

  Chloe stared at her lifeless lover, a statue.

  As if in a nightmare, her head finally turned toward the torn tent wall and the darkness beyond. The warm night breeze slapped her face, but she felt numb. A creature incapable of human emotion, beyond grief, unwilling to accept that Erik was gone.

  But her dad’s training was bone deep. She brought up her gun without even realizing what she was doing, sensing shadowy movement behind the gash in the tent. The moment Chloe caught sight of an inky silhouette; she squeezed the trigger.

  Deafening gunfire filled the tent as her weapon unloaded into the darkness.

  And then the gun stopped firing, the magazine spent.

  Chloe continued to squeeze the trigger.

  A moment later, the shadow circled the tent. None of her bullets had hit the bastard. He was gearing up to stick his machete through the tent again, Chloe knew it. The flimsy fabric walls were nothing but an illusion of safety. She had to get out of there.