The Raven Mocker: Evil Returns (Cades Cove Series #2)

by Aiden James

  And now this—Please, God, make him get out of my head!!

  She could hear David scream—begging them to take him instead of her, which she’d never allow. The love of her life, it would be up to him to try and survive…someone needed to be there for the kids.

  I’ll never see them again, my dearest children!

  She turned her head toward her husband. He jerked madly at his bonds, and even with eyes clouded by tears she saw blood run down his arms, as the rawhide strips tore into his flesh around his wrists. She mouthed ‘I love you’ to him and would’ve preferred watching him over what awaited her, but a ghoulish, empty-eyed warrior suddenly obscured her view. She gasped, despite already seeing more of this vile creature than she ever cared to, its breathless rasp enough to get her to turn away.

  Teutates remained, amused and patient, the demon that Evelyn had so accurately defined from her web search. Raven mocker. That’s what she called it. But this one nothing like the pictogram from an old manuscript she showed her. A funny thought occurred to her, which made her wonder if it happens to everyone about to die. Picturing the old hag in the pictogram, running from a tribe of angry Indians after stealing the soul of a sick loved-one, she thought of Little Red Riding Hood.

  My, what big teeth you have.

  Her snicker died before its birth was complete, as a louder, deeper voice resounded in her mind.

  The better to eat you with, my dear!

  She closed her eyes tight, as the nauseating breath of Teutates drew up to her face. Near enough to take a huge bite out of her left cheek, she grimaced, helpless and resigned to a terrible demise. His amused chuckle confirmed not only the ownership of the sinister voice within her, but also further pleasure in her present agony in wondering what would come next.

  Just get it over with…. Kill me and let the others go!!

  More chuckles, joined now by dry rasps from the ghouls on either side.

  Not yet. More fun first.

  New images flowed into her head. A woman and a little girl. The ones whose heads lay just a few feet behind her against the wall.

  They started with the woman… violated? But how…oh my God! They touched her!! Touched her in a way that their boney fingers and sharp fingernails could not, and yet the damage the same. Raped in her mind … forced to orgasmic explosion beyond anything she ever experienced in life, while her husband watched!!

  Then they killed her, gutting the body like a deer and removing her heart and head. The images moved on. Daddy dead, only the little girl remained alive. Sharon was her name.

  Dear Jesus, don’t make me see this—PLEASE don’t make me watch!! ANYTHING BUT THIS!!!

  Miriam screamed. She shrieked until she began to pass out. It wasn’t enough to keep all of the images out of her awareness, but somehow lessened the immediate blow to her fraying mind. She heard David call frantically to her, and even Evelyn called her name as well. Nothing from Hanna yet, though if what she went through in her few days of captivity was anything like this, then Miriam understood the reasons for her apparent emotional and mental collapse.

  The assault continued…but now on to her body.

  Her breasts began to feel warm, and her nipples rose to where they pressed against her brassiere. A tingling sensation ran along both sides of her neck to her shoulders, growing more and more intense….

  He’s kissing me…soft, moist touches along my neck…moving down… oh, shit!!

  Other tingling sensations began along the balls of her feet, moving slowly up her legs. To her horror, both sensations moved in between her legs and her nether area. Pleasure beyond anything she’d ever known, and David was a skilled lover who seldom failed to bring her to orgasm, wave upon wave of ecstasy radiated upward from her vulva. She couldn’t stifle the moans that threatened to become joyful cries—the complete opposite of what she felt.

  I fucking hate you, you goddamned bastard!!

  Suddenly, the terrible rapture ceased. Gasping for breath, Miriam opened her eyes. Teutates and his assistants stood around her still, but she no longer drew their attention.

  “Hanigi Agowadvdi!” Go see!

  The two warriors’ grinning expressions were solemn, though hard to tell for certain with mainly hollow eye sockets to judge by. In the next instant they flew out of the room, moving back through the darkened doorway and leaving shadowed tendrils that dissolved in the air.

  Teutates grunted. For a moment his countenance bore suspicion. But then he brought his gaze back to her, his hellish smile soon returning.

  Time for a little more fun.

  Chapter Thirty-six

  Dropped into darkness, John landed hard on his butt. More of a chute than a tunnel, he slid for roughly fifty feet before the drop. Thinking he might need it, he packed a small flashlight within the breast pocket of his snowsuit. After dusting himself off, he brought it out and turned it on. It revealed the inside of a narrow corridor. The ceiling barely tall enough for him to stand, serpentine drawings covered it for as far as his eyes could see.

  If truly some sort of passageway, a wall behind him indicated the only way to go was forward. He moved cautiously, on the lookout for the two deputies and the phantoms that abducted them. After traveling almost a hundred feet through the winding tunnel, he heard the sound of water...rushing water, like a river.

  A waterfall? Here in this ravine?? Impossible!

  Difficult to picture, the stream that at one time ran through the ravine had dried up decades earlier. Yet, as he moved forward, the sound of rushing water grew stronger. And then he saw it.

  A gray marble statue, several stories high, its carved features remarkable in their realism, the subject a mix between man and reptile. A serpent’s body merged with the torso of a man…or something similar to mankind.

  He walked up to it, marveling that something like this would be here, inside a weird looking building inside the Great Smoky Mountains National Park. The details and style of the artisanship seemed much more akin to something he would expect to see in New York or some other big city—or in the standing ancient ruins of Europe or the Middle East.

  Definitely a deity, its gaze angry as it surveyed the opening to the corridor before it. Its arms and elongated hands spread out to embrace, almost welcoming if not for the sharp talons at the end of each finger. That, and long predatory teeth bared menacingly at whoever prepared to leave the safety of the corridor.

  Teutates? It had to be.

  Behind the statue a waterfall filled a large basin. As John peered out from the corridor, what awaited him further amazed his weary mind. Though his flashlight’s beam could only reach so far, the basin fed two streams that flowed through an immense gorge, an underground chasm unlike any he’d ever witnessed. Thick marble columns rose high into the air, and another, much larger corridor separated the two streams. The column closest to him bore the image of a glistening serpent in a brilliant array of color. The craftsmanship again surprised him—not to mention the invaluable content if the images were created using precious gemstones as it appeared.

  Above the waterfall’s din, he heard faint screams floating toward him. Not taking any chances, he ducked down to avoid detection. Is it a woman or a man screaming? Where the screams came from was difficult to tell. The only way to explore further meant traveling along a narrow wooden walkway that crossed the chasm in front of the statue. It looked sturdy enough to support a young boy or girl, but in no way a man John’s size.

  “Asdawadvsdi Ayv!” Follow me!

  Huh??

  The voice came as a whisper from behind him. John whirled to look around, no one there. But he recognized the voice, since the same one addressed him in his jail cell three nights ago.

  “Ududu?”

  It felt strange uttering the question this time, and he prayed it really was his grandfather, Two Eagles Cry, with him now.

  “Howaayelvdi Ayv Adatlisvi Awi inage ehi!” Trust me, Running Deer!

  The urgency in the voice reminded him of how his gr
andfather sounded when exasperated with him as a kid, but still…one couldn’t be too careful with a clever demon lurking nearby.

  The bridge creaked, and when it did, the image of a wolf appeared before him, its amber eyes aglow under the beam of his flashlight. The wolf whined, pawing the wooden slats of the bridge as if trying to get him to come aboard. But it took a push on John’s back, strong enough to make him stumble, to get him moving. The wolf wagged its tail and barked at him, eluding John’s attempt to touch it. Ignoring the bridge’s incessant creaks and groans from carrying someone his size, he focused on the wolf instead, greatly relieved when he finally made it across. Once he stepped off it, two of the wooden slats broke off, tumbling down to the murky bottom.

  Ah, hell, we’ll have to find another way out….

  The wolf whined again, drawing his attention to a steep marble staircase that would take him to the corridor. Leading the way once again, the wolf checked several times to make sure he followed.

  He couldn’t believe the enormous size of the gorge’s main room—in itself many times larger than the structure’s outer size indicated. Is this really the same place, or some other world? The illumination steadily improving, the room resembled an immense cathedral or temple. More and more columns, each decorated with the same serpent images.

  The screams had grown silent, but resumed once he reached the corridor...getting louder and more plaintive than before.

  Sounds like a man to me… better hurry!

  He now had a better idea where the screams originated from. Another staircase loomed in the distance, and at the top sat an open doorway. A bluish glow emanated from the room, getting brighter as he approached.

  That’s got to be the right place! I’m coming Evelyn, Hanna!! Hold on, everyone!!!

  The wolf began to trot faster and John stepped up his pace. A loud roar suddenly filled the air behind him, followed by powerful wings flapping. He couldn’t see the thing clearly, its shadow hovering near the top of the columns high above. But it moved very fast. It rose up toward the doorway where the blue light emanated from, blotting it out…for a moment.

  It’s coming back… for me?

  Even the wolf whined, cowering low to the corridor’s tiled floor before running over to the nearest column’s base. John followed after it, though not anywhere near as quick. He stumbled and fell. The wolf’s barks grew urgent for him to scramble to safety. That opportunity was lost by the time he picked himself up again. A colossal dragon descended, its hungry mouth opened wide, poised to devour him.

  Chapter Thirty-seven

  The pain in his wrists severe, David was almost free. Making progress at last!

  He kept a worried eye on what took place at the altar. Until a few moments ago, he knew for certain that the love of his life, his dear Miriam, would perish. At least she hadn’t been hurt physically…pretty sure, anyway. But with that much blood on her, how could one know for sure?

  She’s breathing…all curled up like Hanna. The other assholes held her, they made her cry. Goddamn them ALL!!!

  Teutates seemed preoccupied with something other than Miriam. He held his scepter out before him…lost in admiration? The golden handle glistened, covered with jewels similar to the ones his aunt brought last week with her from Chattanooga. One stone missing, the barren circular space on the handle looked vaguely familiar.

  Quit worrying about shit like that and get these suckers off, man! Don’t plan on him staying in that stupor for long!!

  That observation proved prophetic, as a moment later the two fiends returned, carrying a local sheriff’s deputy between them. The man wasn’t much older than David, in his late-thirties with similar blond hair, and putting up a desperate fight. He clawed to free himself, screaming between whimpers. It drew a terrified look from Evelyn, and even Hanna looked up. Miriam remained in her fetal position on the altar’s table, trembling.

  Teutates smiled and motioned for his assistants to bring the man to him. He pushed Miriam off of the altar, her prone body landing with a thud on the floor. But her life had been spared…for now.

  David looked up and saw the monster eyeing him, amused.

  “David Hobbs… Perhaps you will enjoy how we deal with infidels… those who don’t believe ‘I AM’!” he announced, his tone deep and graveled with a touch of mirth.

  David looked away. Afraid to look at anyone, loath to witness what happened next, he focused on the floor around his knees. All the while, he worked his wrists.

  Hurts like a mother…but the left one is almost through…and the other isn’t far behind.

  As soon as the phantoms finished dragging their captive to the altar, Teutates brought his scepter up to the man’s face. For a moment, he studied him while drawing the ultra-sharp ivory tip across his forehead and down along each cheek. David peeked in time to see several rivers of blood form, the deputy whimpering louder while his knees buckled under him.

  Teutates brought one of his unfurled fingernails underneath the man’s chin, allowing the blood to collect inside it. When full, he brought it to his mouth and drank.

  “This is the faint remembrance of you, since very shortly your life force and essence will be gone from this world forever,” he told the man. “But as you die, know that you’ve provided great pleasure and delight this day, and a feast of flesh for my servants.”

  “Please, I beg you—don’t do it…I’ll do anything—ANYTHING YOU ASK!!” the deputy cried out between heartrending sobs, a wet spot in his crotch spreading quickly. “Don’t h-hurt me-e-e! Have mercy, PL-L-E-E-E-A-S-S-S-E-E!!!”

  “I understand,” said Teutates, his tone soothing. “Perhaps there is a way to work this out…a way that suits you better.”

  He motioned for the others to release him, and when they complied with Teutates’ wish, he pulled him close to his bosom, walking around the altar with his arm around his shoulders.

  Up until then, the deputy would’ve only seen the older, dusty remains along the wall and the fresh blood dripping down the sides of the altar. But the look on his face confirmed for David that he hadn’t seen the row of severed heads until now.

  He shrieked and tried to escape, managing one step to freedom before Teutates subdued him. Flinging him like a rag doll over his shoulder, the deputy landed harder than Dr. Kirkland, flat on his back upon the altar, splashing blood from prior victims onto his mortified audience. Teutates held him fast and whispered something undecipherable to the warriors, who had fallen to their knees in deference when he took the deputy from their grasp.

  The foul guardians smiled and stood up. Savage in their attack, one pulled the man’s head back to scalp him while the other ripped open his parka and sweater. David tried to ignore his pitiful cries, glancing at Evelyn who wept near Hanna, and his beloved Miriam, who brought her hands up to shield her ears, her eyes tightly shut. But nothing could prepare them for what came next.

  Once the deputy’s abdomen and chest lay bare, the warriors tore a hole in his belly. Each grabbed a portion of his intestines and began to slowly devour them. Blood and other tissue flowed freely as the deputy writhed in unspeakable agony, and whose ear-splitting screams poured out hoarsely from his open throat.

  No relief …at least not soon enough. Long before he died, Evelyn passed out from the horror, and Miriam came closer to Hanna’s comatose state. A feeling of weakness swept through David, his last memory of the event, spurred on by revulsion and the sense of kinship with someone whose fate he would soon share. Then everything faded to black, where the cacophony of Teutates’ hearty laughter and the deputy’s final cries could no longer reach him.

  Chapter Thirty-eight

  The flying serpent looked like it might take yet another pass. It miraculously missed John the first time, it’s hot, foul breath grazing his snowsuit as he fell on his back. The colorful creature’s jaws snapped loudly, closing on empty air.

  I must get up! Where did Grandfather’s spirit go?

  John looked anxiously around him, knowi
ng in a matter of seconds the soaring menace would plunge again, this time correcting its earlier misjudgment. In his mind’s eye, the images divided. One showed him escaping certain death, reunited with Two Eagles Cry morphed as a wolf. The other an omen of serrated separation …bitten in half with his lower torso and legs falling sideways to the ground, the upper half providing nourishment to the giant reptile.

  In the dimness behind him, near the edge of the corridor, two glowing eyes peered from behind a pillar, no more than twenty feet away. A terrible cramp in his left thigh, he ignored it and limped over to whatever waited for him there, the echo from his boot heels resounding in the air above him. They not only revealed his location at present, but also his intended destination.

  Stay low, Running Deer…Dive!!

  The serpent’s talons ripped his hood away, tearing it away from the rest of his snowsuit. He rolled away from his attacker, scurrying around the column’s base. The creature’s tall shadow hovered nearby, its owner’s claws scraping across the floor’s marble squares, retracing John’s prior movements as it tracked his scent.

  Quietly, he removed his boots, his socked feet chilled by the marble floor. He turned to check on his pursuer’s latest location.

  “Asdawadvda Ayv Gani!” Follow my lead!

  The voice from earlier again, this time whispered from the shadows roughly thirty feet away. Two columns away, the wolf’s glowing eyes appeared, accompanied by its panting. Meanwhile, snorts from the serpent distracted him, from the other side of the column he presently hid behind.