Evil Agreement

by Richard L Hatin

  Samuel watches every move Moloch makes, much like a student might watch and study a master.

  Moloch reaches out with his right hand and makes a gesture in front of the Reverend’s chest like he had just grabbed something and was giving it a good twist.

  The Reverend cries out in pain, “Moloch.”

  Then Moloch reaches directly into the chest of the Reverend. His powerful hand, long fingers, and razor sharp fingernails soon find what he seeks. He rips the still beating heart out of the Reverend’s chest. Moloch holds it aloft for everyone to see. The Reverend’s blood runs down his arm. The heart beats a few times then stops.

  A loud cheer rises up from among the faithful. They clap and celebrate. Moloch deposits the heart into the cup on the altar.

  It lands inside with a smacking sound.

  Moloch tosses the Reverend’s lifeless body down on the ground in front of the altar. Some people move to the body and spit on it or kick it.

  Samuel raises his arms and beckons for attention.

  The crowd quiets down.

  Samuel then speaks, “Bring to these crosses, wood from those piles.”

  Many people quickly do as he requested.

  Samuel turns to Walter and Chucky and says, “Take the gasoline from the cans near our changing tent and pour it on the wood, at the feet of the crosses. Do it quickly.”

  They move at nearly a full run to carry out his command.

  When the wood had been put in place and covered with gasoline everyone moves away from the crosses.

  “Hear me faithful,” said Samuel. “Before the great Moloch, we must show our loyalty, and destroy the traitors who would stand in our way.”

  Samuel extends his own arms outward, palm sides up. In each palm appears a ball of fire.

  “Hellfire,” whispers Phyllis to Shirley. They both seem excited.

  The balls of fire move up into the air and hover over the altar. They grow and grow. Soon, they each are the size of a medicine ball.

  Judy grows exceedingly aroused by all of this. She begins to touch herself. Her body begins to sensually gyrate. The other women also find themselves becoming aroused. The men in the coven also begin to experience heightened arousal, as they notice the aroused state the women seem to be experiencing.

  Moloch took notice of this behavior, and it pleased him.

  The balls of fire suddenly fly towards the crosses and crash directly at the feet of the two coven members tied to the crosses.

  The gasoline soaked wood explodes into flames. In a few seconds both men and their crosses are engulfed in a blazing consuming fire.

  A loud cheer sweeps through the faithful. Some of the Coven and the faithful join hands and dance with one another.

  Neither Ed nor the Judge is able to speak. Their face muscles, the only muscles on their body that they still control, convulse violently. Their mouths hang open in a silent agonizing effort to scream. Their clothes quickly burn away, exposing their flesh, which burns with a fierce consuming heat.

  The burning bodies emit a searing sound, much like steak sizzling on an open fire. As the wooden pyres burn, embers are carried aloft by the draft of the fire, and then drift away into the nighttime sky.

  The Judge’s gun, still strapped to his now burning body, let loose a shot, as the bullet in the firing chamber explodes. The bullet grazes Ed Foley’s shoulder.

  Within a couple of seconds the remaining bullets stored in the magazine also explode. Bullets and pieces of the gun fly everywhere. The flying shrapnel explodes through the air, nicking several people.

  Moloch laughs at the scene of the faithful momentarily scurrying for cover.

  All three conspirators are now dead.

  Ed whispers to Walter, “How did Samuel know?”

  Samuel heard the remark. He turns to Ed and Walter and said with a sinister smile, “You know that each of us has our devil mate. Well, one of theirs was disloyal to them but faithful to Lucifer.”

  “Samuel, look,” said a suddenly excited Ed Foley.

  31

  Aaron, Korie, Kelley and Miss Beacon were within a couple hundred feet of the clearing, when they noticed the nighttime air over the clearing glowed ever brighter. They could hear people cheering and clapping. As they moved closer, they could see flickers of still burning embers drifting upward over the tops of trees.

  The sound of the first shot rang out, soon followed by the sound of the other bullets exploding. The four moved steadily forward undeterred by these sounds. A strange, foul odor reached them as they stepped from the trail and into the edge of the clearing.

  What Kelley saw seized her with an intense terror that caused her to stop. There, across the clearing, next to the offering altar, were two smoldering crosses with two charred figures hanging from them. It was the scene from her dream. It was the very scene, which she had foreseen. She spotted Moloch next to the altar and then she located her brother, Samuel, proudly standing next to the fiend from hell.

  Aaron looked around at the frenzy of the crowd. His eyes moved to the altar and it was there that he first set eyes upon his two main opponents, Moloch and the young boy that must surely be Samuel.

  Korie didn’t pay much attention to the crowd. Instead she focused directly on the altar area. She spotted Moloch, a hideous, tall, powerfully built creature. She also noticed all the coven members in their robes, and right away, their state of sexual arousal. Their movements were all too obvious.

  Korie also noticed the two burnt bodies on the crosses.

  Shit, what have we gotten ourselves into? she silently asked herself.

  Miss Beacon looked upon the entire scene and recognized the all too familiar pattern. She generally knew what was to follow, but she also knew that each previous attempt to bring forth Lucifer had its own set of surprises.

  One of the coven members spotted them. He pointed at them. Samuel turned around and looked across the clearing. His eyes met his sister’s. Samuel was now grinning from ear to ear.

  “Silence,” shouted Samuel.

  The crowd immediately behaved as directed.

  “Moloch, I present to you, Mr. Powell, his woman friend, our own Miss Beacon and of course you already know my sister, Kelley.”

  The crowd turned as one and faced them.

  “Welcome, Powell. It has been a very long time. As you can see, we have been busy awaiting your arrival. Everything is now in order.”

  Samuel stepped around the altar and stood in front of it. The faithful moved apart, leaving a path, which led directly to the top of the clearing.

  “Powell, come forward and join our coven, so the Final Covenant may be fulfilled,” said Samuel as he beckoned Aaron to leave the others.

  Aaron released Korie’s and Miss Bacon’s hands and walked toward Samuel. The faithful erupt into a loud cheer. Several members reach out and pat Aaron on the back. Aaron keeps his eyes on Samuel and Moloch. He struggles to keep his mind clear and his emotions in check.

  “Miss Beacon and Powell’s woman please come down front and join us,” said Samuel.

  Aaron moved to the backside of the altar opposite from the side where Moloch is.

  Miss Beacon released Kelley’s hand and pulled at Korie’s hand. The two women walk slowly and cautiously forward. They stop and stand in front of the altar on the same side as Aaron.

  Moloch watched their every move. His yellow colored eyes gaze down upon the women. His face is filled with a triumphant grin. He licks his lips with his serpent like tongue.

  “And now, for my dear sister who once thought she could leave our church. To show you there are no hard feelings, we are prepared to offer you, to Moloch. Dad, will you please escort her to the front?”

  It was her nightmare turned into nightmarish reality.

  She started to turn to run when her left arm was seized. She turned and noticed it was her father. His eyes were glazed over as if they were in a trance. He was dressed in a black tuxedo, and was wearing a dead, black rose in his lapel. Kelley sud
denly felt a swoosh-like wind. She then looked down at herself. She was now wearing a black wedding dress. She also had on black, arm length gloves and a black veil. In her right hand was a bouquet of dead, black roses.

  Kelley started to cry.

  “Daddy, please let me go.”

  Her father neither heard, nor even saw her. At this moment his mind and spirit were not his to command.

  The crowd of the Church of Everlasting Faith cheered wildly. There were shouts of “yes,” and “at last.”

  Kelley’s father began to walk down the parted path created by the crowd. He had to pull Kelley along.

  Moloch stood tall as he fixed his eager eyes upon the woman he was about to have, body and soul.

  Kelley fell to her knees. She was sobbing.

  Aaron looked at Korie and Miss Beacon for some sign, perhaps a signal of what to do. They offered him nothing. He closed his eyes even as he could hear Kelley’s sobbing and desperate pleading.

  “Daddy, momma, somebody, help me, please,” she cried.

  A man stepped from the crowd near her and helped her to her feet. For a moment she thought that maybe, at last someone was going to help her. Instead, now that she was once again on her feet he pushed her along.

  “Miss Beacon, Korie you’ve got to help me. Make this stop!”

  They both knew this was not the time to interfere.

  “Aaron, please save me,” cried Kelley.

  Aaron opened his eyes and looked at her. He wanted so very much to help, but when, how?

  Moloch reaches his arms up to the night sky. His entire scaly, green black body glistens as it reflects the nearby burning torches. He lets out a roar that shakes the ground. Even the altar shudders from the force of his bellow. It soon echoes back from across the valley.

  Moloch clenches his hands into fists. His tail swishes back and forth.

  The remaining coven members are being worked up into a highly excited state, everyone that is, except for Samuel and Aaron.

  Aaron silently prays for help from his ancestors. He prays to hear his mother’s voice. He feels powerless.

  Kelley arrived with her father. They both are standing before Moloch. Kelley is no longer sobbing. She seems to have slipped into a trance. She is looking at the ground. Her mouth is half-open.

  Moloch reaches down and takes her right hand into his own hands.

  “Go,” he says to Kelley’s father.

  Zombie like, Kelley’s father walks back into the crowd. The crowd slowly moves closer.

  Moloch picks up Kelley and lays her on the altar. He picks up the cup that still contains the Reverend’s heart. He holds the cup high over his head. His lips move, as he speaks a silent chant.

  There is rumbling from somewhere off in the distance.

  Now Moloch sweeps his right hand through the air just a few inches above Kelley’s body. As he does so her clothing disappears. She is now completely naked.

  Coven members begin tearing their shrouds off. If they have any remaining clothes, they rip those off as well. Soon naked, they begin to dance and gyrate around the altar. Their bodies begin to transform into a combination of human and their own unique devil partner.

  Aaron’s mind is racing. Suddenly his mind takes him back to the time he spent in the barn, just a couple hundred yards from here. He remembers the hundreds of lost souls crying out for justice. Aaron’s mind calls out to them. He begins speaking to them.

  Moloch leans over Kelley’s body. He licks her face with his long, snake like tongue.

  Kelley’s mind is frozen in terror.

  She can smell Moloch’s breath. It smells of death.

  Moloch takes the Reverend’s heart from the cup and drags its’ bloody flesh across her chest as he traces the sign of the pentagram.

  “Hear me now,” roars Moloch. “O almighty Lucifer, Prince of Darkness, I, Moloch, your faithful servant will take this human unto me. We will be as one. As one, we shall then call you forth to join us this night, to join with your faithful servants so you may rule this earth.”

  Continuing, Moloch spoke, “The missing member of the coven we once had is with us now. His family once stood in the way long ago. Now returned, he is here to witness your arrival, to see the final covenant fulfilled and to be here at the birth of Armageddon.”

  Moloch tosses the Reverend’s heart out into the crowd, which begins a small frenzy as people compete for a piece of the dead flesh.

  Aaron looks at Korie and Miss Beacon who haven’t dared to move. They aren’t looking at him. They both seem riveted to the actions of Moloch.

  Aaron’s dialogue with the lost souls is nearly complete.

  Moloch’s body rises into the air, until he is hovering just above the altar. He then settles down, standing upon the altar. He kneels down facing Kelley. His body has developed hideous genitals. He lies completely upon her body. His immense size alone should crush her. Instead she feels no weight.

  Kelley is now face to face with Moloch. His mouth is dripping a mucous like substance, which falls on her forehead. She wants desperately to scream, or better yet to die. Instead, all she is able to do is silently cry. Tears run down her cheeks and drip upon the altar.

  The coven members are dancing around the altar, rubbing their naked bodies upon each other. Several members reach out and touch Moloch and Kelley. Judy moves over to Aaron and rubs her body against him.

  Chucky moves over to the Miss Beacon and Korie and begins to do the same.

  Moloch’s body begins to press down upon Kelley. He has entered her. His body begins to pulsate between a black-green color to a red-green one. Then slowly his own, immense body begins to fade. Twirling lights begin to fill the air in place of where his form once was. The ground rumbles and shakes.

  The crowd now chants “Moloch, Moloch, Moloch.”

  Kelley, once able to move, stretches her arms above her head.

  Aaron is looking down at her. She opens her eyes and they are yellow as Moloch’s eyes once were.

  Her hands caress her body. She explores herself.

  Aaron knows she is no longer Kelley, but a human vessel for Moloch.

  Kelley sits up and then slides off the altar.

  Samuel watches this transformation with keen interest. He was very proud of what he has been able to accomplish. He couldn’t wait for Old Scratch’s arrival so that Armageddon could begin. Samuel believes he will be called upon to play a prominent role in Satan’s plans. His luck couldn’t be better. His own devil partner, Upuaut, pushes to become manifested in Samuel’s body. The transformation has begun.

  Kelley walks towards Samuel. As she does, her skin’s complexion begins to transform. It darkens, it becomes scaly. Her feet transform into hooves. Her body glistens and pulsates as the changing process continues.

  “Dear Brother,” said Kelley with a deep throaty hiss in her voice.

  “Yes, Kelley, or Moloch or.”

  “You seem happy. Are you happy?”

  “Oh, yes, yes.”

  “Are you two proud of yourselves?”

  “Yes, we are. We were the only ones who could make this happen. Remember that many others had tried and failed. We were the only ones,” they bragged.

  “Then it seems you both should be rewarded,” she hissed.

  Kelley now had a serpent like tongue, which seemed to dart in and out of her mouth.

  Kelley reaches out to her bother and his transforming body with her left hand. He reaches out for her. He was expecting an embrace.

  She grabs Samuel by the throat. Her grip is powerful. It catches him by surprise. He gasps for air. None would be forthcoming.

  With one powerful hand she lifts Samuel’s body into the air. He begins kicking. His arms reach up and try to pry himself loose from his sister’s grip. It is no use.

  Kelley looks over at Aaron and smiles.

  Aaron looks back at her and returns the smile.

  “Put him down,” says Aaron.

  “You dare command me,” answers Kell
ey.

  “Yes.”

  “You pitiful human. You have nothing. You command nothing. You are too late to stop me.”

  “You’re wrong. I am not alone, and I will stop you.”

  The coven members stop dancing. The crowd grows quiet. Korie and Miss Beacon watch Aaron intently.

  Except for the “cracking” and “popping” sounds from the torches there is complete silence.

  Samuel has by now turned blue. He has lost consciousness. He hangs limply from Kelley’s outstretched arm.

  Suddenly a wind picks up.

  Kelley was not the cause of this wind. She turns her head to try to determine who or what was causing this.

  Hundreds of distant voices are heard racing towards the clearing.

  The crowd turns to look towards the trail road. Suddenly the specters of hundreds of souls appear. These souls appear in their original human form. It was the souls of all the people slain by the coven and other church members since that fateful night over a hundred and sixty years ago.

  They’re shouting. Their voices carried by the wind. It was unmistakable. They’re here to demand justice.

  Kelley drops her brother’s body to the ground. His interrupted devolution into Upuaut was nearly complete. She runs to the altar and jumps up on it. She stands defiantly with her hands on her hips.

  “How dare you come here to challenge me!”

  “They aren’t here to challenge you. They are here to defeat you,” said Aaron.

  “Grab him” commanded Kelley. The coven members began to move towards him.

  Suddenly gunshots rang out. In rapid succession coven members fall to the ground, shot dead.

  Kelley looks over and sees Korie with a smoking gun in her hand.

  In a furious rage, Kelley extends her left hand at Korie and suddenly the gun flies from Korie’s hand. Now on the ground, the gun turns white hot and melts away.

  Kelley lifts her arm and Korie is lifted into the air.

  Miss Beacon shouts at Kelley.

  “Moloch, you are weak and a failure. How many times have you failed Lucifer?”

  Angrily Kelley sweeps her right hand towards Miss Beacon who is suddenly picked up into the air and tossed backwards several feet. She lands on top of several church members, knocking them down in the process.