The Devil's Woods
Page 38
Not wanting to see the final showdown, Kyle looked away from the burning town. He thought of his father, the man he had barely known—alcoholic, warrior, myth chaser—and willed himself not to cry.
Feeling the power of a spirit warrior in his hands, Kyle angled the plane high above the forest and soared upward, into the night sky.
Epilogue
Six weeks later…
Hell wasn’t such a bad place after all, Lindsey thought as they fed her another purple mushroom. That was what she had eaten mostly for as long as she could remember. Mushrooms that grew in abundance from the cave walls and along the mud floor. Occasionally, when she was on her best behavior, they gave her strips of raw meat and honey-flavored mead, which made her drunk. For now, the cave dwellers only dangled mushrooms over her mouth. She bit into another cap. With each earthy crunch, she felt happier and giggled.
It was warm down here, tropical. Steam issued from vents in the craggy walls. Iridescent green light emanated from glowing emeralds embedded into the rock. Fog floated over the mud floor. Lindsey’s skin was constantly damp from the heat and the moisture that dripped from spikes that hung from the ceiling. But the bedding they had made her was soft and comfortable.
We take care of our own, her caretaker had said while brushing Lindsey’s hair.
There were others like her in the cave. The new girls always cried like she had the day she’d arrived. They were terrified they were going to die at the hand of the devil that walked through the mist. Once the new girls saw the beast take its human form and gaze at them with its luminous eyes, they realized Valak wasn’t going to kill them.
The den mother, a middle-aged woman with silver hair, watched over the girls. When they were all gathered in a circle, she taught them about how to adapt to living among the clan, and their important roles. “You are the chosen ones,” the den mother had said. “Only the lucky women get to bear a child from Great Father.”
The cavern suddenly became noisy with a crying baby.
The den mother, who was also their midwife, entered the chamber holding a bundle against her chest. “Look what I have for you,” she said, smiling. “You have a son.”
She handed the infant over to Lindsey, who cradled it and caressed its wet gray skin. The face was smooth as clay. It had no eyes. No nose. Just two air holes over a lamprey mouth filled with spirals of tiny sharp teeth. It found Lindsey’s milk-swollen breast. She grimaced as its teeth locked on to her nipple. Her son suckled greedily, taking in more than just milk.
“Will my baby always look like this?”
The older woman put a comforting hand on her arm. “In time he will learn he has the gift to change skins. His features will grow to look like you.”
Lindsey nodded. Being a mother among the clan was all so new.
The infant’s whipping tail wrapped around her arm, and she was surprised by the motherly bond she felt. Her fingers explored the strange webbing and bones covering her baby’s back. The skin flapped at her touch. “My baby has wings?”
The den mother nodded. “A child from Great Father is very special. One day your little one will grow up to rule his own clan. It is his destiny.” She pointed to a wall engraved with ancient hieroglyphs and a painting of the demon god that had fathered Lindsey’s child. The den mother smiled. “Your son will help lead his brothers and sisters when all the clans rise out of the darkness to fulfill Great Father’s prophecy.”
Some houses should be left alone.
In 1972, twenty-five people were brutally murdered in one of the bloodiest massacres in Texas history. The mystery of who committed the killings remains unsolved.
Forty years later, Sarah Donovan is dating an exciting man, Dean Stratton. Sarah’s scared of just about everything—heights, tight places, the dark—but today she must confront all her fears, as she joins Dean and another couple on an exploring adventure. The old abandoned Blevins House, the scene of the gruesome massacre, is rumored to be haunted.
The two couples are about to discover the mysterious house has been waiting all these years, craving fresh prey. And down in the cellar they will encounter a monstrous creature that hungers for more than just human flesh.
Beneath the city of Boston, evil is gathering.
While living under a bridge with the homeless, journalist Daniel Finley witnessed something that nearly cost him his sanity. After returning to normal life, he publishes a book about a mysterious group of vagrants who call themselves “the Seekers”. Are they a cult or something else? Now, Daniel is being stalked and everyone he loves is in danger.
Drake O’Malley, ruthless leader of an Irish-American mafia clan, has had his own run-ins with the vagrants. And Daniel Finley just might be the key to getting rid of Drake’s problems. But Daniel and the O’Malley Family are about to enter a living nightmare. Evil is rising from Boston’s abandoned subway tunnels. And its followers are preparing to shed blood on the street.
Darkness runs deep ...
Marty Weaver, an emotionally scarred poet, has been bullied his entire life. When he drives out to the lake to tell an old friend that he’s fallen in love with a girl named Jennifer, Marty encounters three sadistic killers who have some twisted games in store for him. But Marty has dark secrets of his own buried deep inside him. And tonight, when all the pain from the past is triggered, when those secrets are revealed, blood will flow and hell will rise.
“Moreland has assembled a masterpiece novella that I cannot recommend enough. Upon first reading, this is easily one of my favorite horror releases of the year. On second reading, it may be one of my favorite of the decade.” —Horror Underground
About the Author
Brian Moreland writes dark suspense, thrillers, and horror. His books include Dead of Winter, Shadows in the Mist, The Witching House, The Devil’s Woods, The Vagrants, Darkness Rising, Dark Needs, and coming Fall 2017, Dark Killers.
Brian loves hiking, world travel, and going on adventures. He’s been known to explore caves and rain forests from Australia and New Zealand to Costa Rica and Hawaii. He lives in Dallas, Texas where he is having fun writing new thrilling fiction.
Website: http://www.brianmoreland.com/
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