Ash: Return of the Beast

by Gary Tenuta

  Ravenwood helped him to his feet and could see immediately he’d dislocated his shoulder. She gently bent his arm at the elbow. “You’re gonna hate me for this but you’ll thank me when it’s over.”

  With an expert twist she popped his shoulder back into place.

  “Holy Jesus H-Fucking Christ!” Kane hollered, wincing from the pain. Then, like some kind of a miracle, the pain was gone. He looked at her and gave his arm a few test rotations. “Let me guess. Before you were an FBI agent and a burglar, you were a chiropractor.”

  “You’re welcome,” she said.

  Another piece of burning wood dropped from above. They both jumped back and looked up into the flaming inferno. Thick smoke was billowing down into the enclosure where they were standing.

  ***

  Linda stood, sobbing, in the midst of a dozen books scattered on the floor of the den. “I don’t know where it is,” she said, tears rolling down her face. “I… I don’t even know what it is. I’ve never seen it. I swear to God. It can’t be here.”

  “Trust me, it’s here,” the Hooded Figure said. “Sarah is the reader in the family, yes?”

  “What?”

  “I heard you thinking it. Let’s see what we can find in her room, shall we?”

  He forced Linda to lead the way to Sarah’s room.

  A 3-shelf bookcase was filled with books, large and small, thick and thin. From Harry Potter and Nancy Drew to the entire 33-volume Time/Life series on Nature. But The Keys of the Gatekeeper was not there.

  The Beast spoke calmly. “I’ll have that book or your daughter will suffer the consequences. Simple as that. Do you understand me?” Then he bellowed, “Find me that book!” The hollow voice reverberated throughout the house.

  Linda fell to her knees, sobbing. “I don’t know where it is. Dear God,” she cried, “please…”

  “Don’t waste your breath. God isn’t going to help you. But… perhaps the good Lieutenant can.”

  ***

  Kane was about to offer Ravenwood a belated ‘thanks’ for fixing his shoulder when his cell phone buzzed.

  He pulled the phone from his pocket, looked at the caller ID. The last thing he expected was a call from his ex-wife. He was tempted to ignore it but he had a bad feeling it might have something to do with Sarah. Why else would she call at this time of night?

  “Linda? What is it? I’m kinda in the middle of...slow down… What?” He could barely understand what she was saying. Her words were broken up between heaving sobs and a weak connection:

  …a man in a hooded robe…in the house…says you’ll know what I mean…I don’t understand…made the scar disappear…I don’t know what…

  “Linda! Slow down, I can’t––”

  …threatened to hurt Sarah…kill her…

  “What––?”

  …wants the book… keys of the gatekeeper… belonged to your father… told him it’s here in this house… killed your father… Sarah’s in some kind of a trance… threatening to… that book… what’s happening… Brian…

  The phone went dead. Kane looked up. A portion of the shed wall had collapsed, covering the opening of the trapdoor, blocking the signal.

  “Linda? Linda! Jesus––!” He tried to call her back but the signal was gone. He stood for a moment, dazed, staring at the phone and then turned to Ravenwood.

  Ravenwood deciphered the look on his face as a mix of panic and confusion. “What the hell was that all about?”

  Kane fell back against the wall, visibly stunned. He gave Ravenwood the gist of what he could piece together from Linda’s frantic call. “How could that book be there? Why would Pete have it? It doesn’t make any goddamn sense. The bastard is holding my daughter as ransom for something I can’t give him. What the hell is going on?”

  Ravenwood, equally baffled, had no answer.

  Kane shook his head, pushed himself away from the wall and straightened his back. “Fuck it. This ends, now. You ready?”

  The click of her Glock-23 was the only answer he needed.

  Kane expected resistance from the first of the three doors they would encounter on their way through the tunnel but it opened with ease. He stepped across the threshold and glanced back at Ravenwood with a puzzled look. “I thought you said he was trying to prevent us from reaching him.”

  “Yeah, well…” she said, stepping across the threshold, “…projecting the Doppelganger and trying to stop us at the same time would require a tremendous amount of energy. Might be more than he can keep up.”

  She hit the green button on the switch box. The small, yellowed light bulbs along the overhead flickered and came on, filling the tunnel with a familiar eerie glow. “Come on. We gotta hurry while we’ve got the advantage.”

  CHAPTER 75

  When they reached the ladder at the trapdoor beneath the Inner Sanctum, Kane didn’t waste a moment. He grasped the handrail and started to pull himself up, eager to sink a couple of rounds into the Beast.

  Ravenwood grabbed his arm and stopped him. She spoke in a forced whisper. “Wait. Let me go up first.”

  “The hell. It’s my daughter he’s threatening. I’m taking the son of a bitch out, now.” He pulled away from her and got one foot on the ladder before she pulled him back again.

  Her eyes were stern. “I don’t know what the ramifications of this will be when it’s over,” she said. “But I’m in a better position than you are to establish a cover story that will protect both of us. Trust me. I’ve been in situations like this before.”

  “The hell are you talking about? Protect us from what?”

  “A murder charge.”

  Kane snorted. “Self defense.” He started up the ladder again.

  She yanked him back. “Yeah? And how’re you going to explain that to anyone? That might be Crowley up there but all anyone is going to see is the body of a dead rock star with your bullet in him and no evidence to show he was any kind of a threat to you or anyone else. Think about it.”

  “Fuck.” He spat the word out and stepped aside. “All right, goddamn it. Go!”

  Ravenwood hurried up the ladder with Kane on her tail. She raised the trapdoor just enough to peek through the shallow opening.

  The room was dark except for the undulating glow of the candles surrounding the Lucifer Seal. The large desk partially blocked her view but she could see part of the silhouetted figure sitting at the center of the circle of light. He was facing the opposite direction. That much, at least, was in her favor.

  She had to assume he must be aware of her presence. So why was he not trying to stop her? Was she stepping into a trap? She glanced over her shoulder at Kane who was breathing down her neck, eyes glaring, urging her to get on with it.

  She breathed deeply, cautiously pulled herself up onto the floor and remained in a crouched position. The air was charged with energy, palpable, heavy. The walls were alive in a silent dance of shadow and light. A wave of anxiety swept through her. She shook it off as Kane came up and crouched beside her. She pointed toward the desk. They crawled across the floor and hid behind it, their target a mere ten feet away on the other side. In a few moments it would all be over.

  With a firm grip on her firearm, Ravenwood looked at Kane. He readied his own gun, as backup, and gave the nod.

  Together, they slowly rose to their feet. Each of them drew a bead on the target. Ravenwood held her breath, her finger on the trigger, ready to squeeze off the shot. Telling the Beast to go to hell seemed like an appropriate send-off. She projected the thought with all the mental power she could muster. Vete al Diablo, asshole.

  The silhouetted figure turned suddenly, faced them, eyes shining white from deep within the shadow of the hooded cloak. Then the teeth showed, grinning, gleaming. The candles flared like hissing serpents spitting fountains of fire into the air. The Lucifer Seal erupted into a circle of flame surrounding the Beast.

  Blinded by the pyrotechnic display, Ravenwood and Kane fired simultaneously, unloading a barrage of bullets lik
e someone cranking a goddamn Gatling gun. The room quaked from the earsplitting bursts. The two shooters dropped down behind the desk and shoved another clip into their weapons. Ravenwood’s heart was pounding. Kane’s adrenaline was rushing like high-octane pumping through a fuel- injected engine. Leaning back against the desk, they gave each other a nod and returned to their firing position.

  The moment they stood up, they were blinded by an enormous blast of light from the center of the Lucifer Seal. The force of the explosion lifted them off their feet and they tumbled backward onto the floor. In the next instant the entire room was engulfed in flames.

  Kane rolled over, groaning from the fall. He scanned the room, looking for Ravenwood. The smoke was burning his eyes, everything was on fire. He called her name but there was no response. He struggled to his feet, shielding his face from the heat of the fire and called out again. He heard a moaning sound and spun around. She was lying on the floor next to the wall. He moved quickly through the flames, grabbed her up and carried her over to the trapdoor.

  “Ro! Can you hear me? Can you stand?”

  She nodded. Her eyes were half closed, her voice weak. “I think so, yeah.”

  He set her down and guided her into the opening in the floor. Her foot caught the first rung on the ladder and she managed to make it to the bottom just as a huge, flaming beam fell from the ceiling. It missed Kane but wedged itself crosswise in the opening. There was no way he was going to get through it.

  Burning embers showered down on Ravenwood. She looked up and could barely see Kane looking down through the sliver of space between the edge of the opening and the burning beam. “Kane!”

  “Go!” he yelled. “Get the hell out!”

  “But––!”

  “Go!”

  Another large object crashed down on top of the opening, blocking it completely. More burning embers were falling down around Ravenwood. The wood framing in the corners of the enclosure were catching on fire. Soon the flames would reach the wooden planks that lined the overhead of the tunnel. The string of lights along the overhead blinked on and off. Tears welled up in her eyes. There was no way Kane was going to make it out of that inferno. She knew she had to save herself while she still had the chance.

  When she reached the other end of the tunnel, she stopped in a breathless panic, her eyes wide. The ladder had been badly burned and was still smoldering from the fire. The bottom two rungs were gone and the rest of it was a charred skeleton of its former self. She looked around, desperate to find something, anything to stand on so she could reach the opening. There was nothing. Her only escape route, the hole in the floor just a few feet above, suddenly seemed impossibly distant.

  Having no option, she grabbed the blackened rails of the ladder, stretched her right leg up and caught the third rung. She hoisted herself up slowly but the rung cracked and fell away and she went down with it.

  She got up, brushed herself off and gazed up at the hole in the floor. “All right,” she said. “Take a breath. You’ve been in worse situations than this.” Even though, at the moment, she couldn’t really think of one. “There’s no way in hell it ends like this.”

  She examined the ladder and her eyes focused on the upper portion of the handrail. The top rung seemed untouched by the fire. If she could jump high enough, she might be able to grab it and pull herself up. But her first attempt was unsuccessful. With the second and third, she knew it was pointless. If she only had a rope, she could loop it around the upper rung. My belt! She stripped the belt from her pants and flung it upward, buckle end first, holding onto the other end. Two attempts were all it took. The belt found its mark, draped itself over the rung and dangled down just far enough that she might be able to grab it by standing on her toes.

  Stretching upward, every muscle and tendon in her legs quivering from the strain, she managed to grab the buckle and fastened the two ends together. She gave it a tug. It seemed like it would hold. It had to.

  She tightened her grip, sucked in a quick breath, and pulled herself up, walking her feet up the wall between the rungs of the ladder. One of the metal brackets, securing the wooden ladder to the wall, popped loose. The loose side of the ladder swung a few inches from the wall and she nearly lost her grip. The whole thing was about to break apart.

  With her left hand, she made a quick grab for the charred edge of the frame that bordered the opening in the floor but it cracked and broke away. She nearly fell but managed to hang onto the belt. She swung her arm out again. This time her hand gripped a solid piece of the frame. She froze in position, trying to calculate her next move. If she missed her mark with the other hand, she would fall to the ground and all hope would fall with her.

  With a swift awkward twist of her body, she let go of the belt and grabbed for the only portion of the frame that was available. It held firm.

  With her fingernails digging into the wood, her dangling legs scrambled to find some footing against the wall. Pure adrenaline came to the aid of her dwindling strength as she somehow pulled herself up and out of the pit. She emerged not into the shed as she had expected, but into the cool, open night air.

  Exhausted, panting and resting on her knees, she looked around. The shed had burned to the ground, leaving nothing but the charred remains and a hole in what was left of the floor.

  There wasn’t a minute to spare, no time to fully recover her strength. She struggled to her feet and headed off toward her SUV.

  She turned, briefly, to look at the old mansion. The fire was spreading quickly throughout the entire structure. The windows glowed red in the dark, glaring down at her like the eyes of an angry demon. It would soon be as dead as the Beast inside––along with the Teddy Bear cop who gave his life to save his daughter.

  Ravenwood’s vision became blurred. An emotion rose up from some unfamiliar depth and stuck in her throat. She swallowed hard and continued across the yard.

  CHAPTER 76

  Sitting in her vehicle, Ravenwood wiped the tears from her face and looked in the mirror. She barely recognized the woman staring back. The dirt smudges were indistinguishable from the smeared mascara. Her black hair was a tangled mess, flecked with ash. Her clothes were ripped, partially singed and smelled of smoke. She drew in a deep breath and held it for a long moment before letting it go. She had to get a grip.

  She phoned in the fire and fished the ignition key from her pocket. She knew she had to drive to Sarah’s house to make sure the precious girl and Linda were safe. It wasn’t going to be easy, even if they were okay.

  Informing someone about the death of a family member was something she’d never had to do. That gruelling task had always been someone else’s job. The thought of having to tell Sarah…

  Ravenwood shivered as her eyes welled up again. She had no choice. She flicked a tear from her cheek and slipped the key into the ignition. Then she heard something. A voice.

  “Hey!” the voice shouted.

  She turned toward the sound and her eyes grew wide. Kane was coming at a labored half-trot across the back yard of the mansion, his hands waving for her to wait.

  She flew out of the vehicle, ran up and threw her arms around him. “Oh, my god,” she said, choking the words out. Then she realized what she was doing and stepped back. She cleared her throat, and tried to manifest some degree of composure. “I thought you were…”

  “What the hell?” he said. “You were just gonna take off and leave me here?”

  “But, I thought… How did you…?

  “I know how he got in and out of that room.”

  “What?”

  “A goddamn secret door. The fire must have tripped the mechanism. I don’t know. All I know is, I stumbled against a wall and part of it opened up.”

  “Oh, my god. I can’t believe you’re––”

  “Yeah, me neither.” He grabbed her by the arm. “Let’s get out of here. We gotta get over to Sarah’s. You drive. I’ll call Linda.”

  Ravenwood flipped the toggle switch on the da
sh. The red and blue strobes behind the front grill started flashing and she peeled out of the alley just as the fire trucks were pulling up out front.

  Kane took out his cell phone and called Linda but there was no answer.

  CHAPTER 77

  Kane fiddled nervously with his cell phone as they sped down Capitol Hill’s residential streets, heading for the freeway. He called Linda again, but still no answer. Why didn’t she pick up?

  He tried to push the worst-case scenario aside and thought back to her earlier call. He wracked his memory, scanning through her broken, chaotic words in his mind and suddenly he recalled something. She’d mentioned Pete. What had she said? The stranger had killed him? Of course he had. That was part of the whole sick agenda from the start.

  He didn’t know how he should feel about that. He’d expected it. But now… The familiar dilemma had taken on a new twist. It was a bittersweet sort of revenge. In the past, he’d felt guilty for wishing the old man dead. Now that the old man was dead, he found himself feeling guilty about the sense of relief that was slowly seeping in along with the reality of the situation. He flipped the phone open. He should call somebody, report the old man’s death. Then it hit him. The old man’s death was going to be a problem.

  If word got out that Pastor Pete was the adoptive father of Lieutenant Brian Kane and that the old man was killed by the mysterious preacher killer, the media would have a… He snapped the phone shut. There was no way in hell he wanted to deal with that. Then he remembered what Ravenwood had said about cover stories. She had resources. He was going to need her to tap those resources, big time.

  He gave a quick appraising glance at Ravenwood. Her attention was glued to the road as she maneuvered the speeding vehicle through the traffic. Physically, she was a mess. She looked like someone had dragged her out of an alley after a drunken catfight. He pulled down the visor, looked at himself in the mirror and flipped it back up. He looked even worse than she did, if that was possible.