Whispers in the Woods (Firemountain Chronicles Book 1)

by Victoria Lynn Osborne

  They discovered three more bodies, wearing the membership badges of the temple, on their way to the elevators. Claw marks had shredded the elevators doors, which were still closed. A blood trail led to the doors and disappeared there. Jake was sliding his card into the call button when an evil howl split the still air of the temple.

  Jake and Dinah spun around to face a new threat, as they waited for the elevator to crawl down to their floor. Pawing the floor down the other branch of the hall was something huge.

  It stood as tall as any man and appeared to be a twisted boar that towered over them, drooling acid spittle on the carpet. Its hide bristled with iron hair down to its cloven feet; eight black tusks, which matched its eyes, jutted from a mouth full of jagged teeth. Its cry screamed to Jake, telling him to give up.

  Jake snatched the cross from Dinah’s hand and stood his ground as the thing charged. Its eyes were red with rage, and it roared with vicious anger. Behind him, it took forever for the elevator to come down; the world moved in slow motion. Dinah dug into her bag and extracted a silver vial. She wrenched off the cap. The cross sizzled in Jake’s hand, and the clear liquid slapped the charging beast in its face. With a keen of pain, it fell back, just as the elevator door slid open.

  Jake and Dinah darted inside, and the mangled doors closed. They heard a crash as something massive slammed into the doors, but the elevator ascended to the ground level uninterrupted.

  When the doors opened, several weapons cocked, and Jake found himself looking down the barrels of Firemountain’s deputies and its sheriff. Dinah and Jake slowly raised their hands.

  “You can put your weapons down,” Laya said, holstering her weapon. “I should have known you’d be here.”

  The deputies lowered their weapons, and Jake noticed that Felix was among them. “Dinah and I went to dinner last night,” Jake explained. Then he started under Laya’s glare. “Dr. Valencio, he’s still down there! He’s wounded! We found him in the sanctuary; we were looking for help.”

  Laya’s eyes narrowed, and she whipped out her notebook. “What’s down there?”

  Jake shook his head. “I’m not sure. I’ve never seen anything like it before.”

  “I was attacked by something similar a couple of nights ago. Father Conrad fought one off, which is why he is hurt so bad. I think he called it a Balezulthae,” Dinah said.

  Jake shook his head. “This is something different, and it’s waiting for you down there, so be careful.” He pushed up the sleeves on Dinah’s blouse, and Dinah winced at the light rubbing. “I need to get her to the hospital.”

  Laya looked at Dinah’s arms and nodded. “No choice, we need to get Dr. Valencio. While you’re at the hospital, let them know what to expect.” She paused again. “And be sure you come by the station to give a statement.”

  Jake opened the door to the Mercedes, and he and Dinah drove to the hospital in silence. Maybe I should visit Garrett while I’m there, he thought.

  ***

  The ER waiting room was empty when they walked in. The triage nurse glanced up when they approached her station.

  “I’m Jake Willis, we need to be seen right away. I’d like to be out of the ER before the wounded police start coming.”

  The triage nurse, an older heavy-set black woman, glared at them over her glasses. “Uh-huh,” she said. “Please have a seat. Someone will be with you shortly.”

  Jake leaned forward. “I don’t think you heard me. I’m Jake Willis; I need to be seen right away to treat Miss Steele’s wounds. You’re about to have a crisis.”

  “Sir, I don’t care who you are; we will follow procedure.”

  Jake grimaced. “Call Dr. Errol Raine.”

  The nurse glared at him but picked up the phone. “Dr. Raine, this is the ER. A Jake Willis wants to speak with you. No, Jake Willis... Hold on.” She held the phone out to him.

  “Dr. Raine… yes, it’s me. My friend needs to be looked at right away… There’ll be an emergency shortly. It should be a quick visit…. She works for the Tribune… Yes, she’s the new reporter…. Okay, I’ll give you back to her.”

  The nurse listened and nodded. She punched some keys on the phone. “Dr. Olson to the waiting room stat.” She hung up the intercom. “You’ll be seen right away.”

  A young man hurried into the waiting room. His chocolate hair was carefully styled, and the name tag on his white lab coat said ‘Mark Olson MD’, right above a pocket protector. “I’m Dr. Olson. You must be Mr. Willis and Miss Steele.”

  “It’s Ms. Steele or Dinah.” Dinah shook his hand.

  Dr. Olson smiled at her and led them back to an examination room. He carefully removed the bandages and studied the wounds. “These look like acid burns.”

  Jake shook his head and relayed the story. Dr. Olson listened closely and a nurse, one of the sisters, entered. She was dressed identically to Sister Agnes. “Would you please dress Miss Steele’s wounds? These are unholy wounds so you will need to dress them appropriately. I’ll be right back with your orders.”

  Jake nodded. “We still need to fill out paperwork for insurance.”

  The nun looked him up and down as she soaked the bandages in holy water. “Stop by the desk when you leave.” She dabbed an antiseptic on Dinah’s wounds. Dinah yelped as the nurse wrapped the wounds with the sterile bandages soaked in holy water.

  Dr. Olson had just returned with a bundle of paperwork and a small stack of prescriptions when an alarm sounded. “All ER personnel to the ambulance bay stat.”

  “It seems you were right, thank you. If you have any questions, please call either your regular doctor or me. You're ready to go.”

  Dr. Olson and the nurse disappeared through the door. The staff rushed past their door on their way to the ambulance bay, calling out orders.

  “We need to get out of the way,” Dinah said as she finished putting on her blouse.

  A nurse sprinted down the hall. Dinah’s second sight revealed she was surrounded by a golden aura. What is that? she thought.

  The nurse wove through the patients, sometimes touching them, sometimes just observing. Those she touched stopped moaning.

  Dinah put her hand on Jake’s arm. “Do you see that?”

  Jake’s brow furrowed. “No, what do you see?”

  “I’m not sure.”

  The heavy-set nurse shooed them out of the hall. “We need the room.”

  Jake and Dinah wove through the staff on their way back to the lobby. They stopped at the registration desk. “Here, sign this,” the registration representative said, shoving a consent form under Dinah’s nose. “Don’t worry about the card. We have the paper’s card on file.”

  Dinah scribbled her signature on the form, and she and Jake vacated the busy ER. Several white-faced deputies waited for their turn, clutching bloody arms; some had blood dripping down their faces, and a few had leg wounds.

  Laya stood by her squad car, observing the mess. “We stopped it. Luckily we had holy water. It just ignored the bullets.”

  “We need to do something about this,” Jake said. “They get stronger every night. If we don’t slow them down, there may not be a town much longer. We’ll come to the station later tonight with weapons. Maybe, if you can get some deputies to help, we can slow down the attacks a bit.”

  Laya nodded. “We don’t have iron weapons, so thanks. I’ll look for volunteers. Are you sure you should be the one that does this? After all, we don’t have another Willis if anything happens to you…”

  “I don’t think the town has much of a choice. It was my uncle that first discovered this cult. He died trying to stop it, and he failed in the process. I doubt we can stop it tonight, but maybe we can slow it down just a bit so that we can breathe. We only have a couple more days before the gate fully opens. If we don’t slow down the attacks, we won’t be able to defeat whatever comes through it.”

  “Meet me at the sheriff’s office at 8 pm.”

  Jake and Dinah drove to the boarding house in silence. H
er mind whirled as she struggled to put together what was happening. His uncle had mentioned Esmae in his journal. Could it be the same girl?

  Dinah moaned in pain as the car jolted over a pothole.

  “Are you all right?” Jake asked.

  Dinah nodded. “I’m just thinking about how crazy this is. I mean, when I came here I knew this sort of stuff didn’t happen. No one, where I come from, believes in the supernatural, yet here it’s part of your daily lives. Now we’ve agreed to meet with the sheriff this evening to go demon-hunting. This is just insane.” She stared out at the picture-perfect houses. “It just seems so crazy.”

  As soon as they pulled into the gravel drive next to the boarding house, they knew something was wrong. The front door was destroyed and hanging from one hinge; blood trails led off the porch and onto the grass; a bloodied body, one of the boarders Dinah hadn’t met yet, sprawled on the damp lawn, his blood pooling about him and soaking into the ground.

  Jake and Dinah crept toward the house; a chill ran down their spines. Greta was sprawled in the entry hall. A bullet had drilled a hole in the back of her skull and obliterated her face. She clutched a cordless phone in her cold hand. Jake eased the phone from her stiff fingers and called 911. As he reported what had happened, Dinah moved further into the house.

  The desk sergeant said most of the squad was still at the hospital, but someone would be down shortly.

  Jake placed the phone back on the cradle and followed Dinah up the stairs. The parlor and dining room had been ransacked. Drawers had been pulled out of the chests and tables. He caught up with Dinah on the second floor.

  “Where are the rest of the boarders?” Dinah whispered. “Where’s Leontine?”

  A wall panel slid open to reveal a panic room. Leontine and five other boarders crowded inside the tiny room. “Is he gone?” Leontine asked.

  “Who?” Jake asked.

  “The patient that attacked us. He was searching for something.”

  “He’s gone,” Dinah said. “What happened?”

  “Last night someone pounded on the door. Phil checked the front door, and Greta called the police. The house has protections against the supernatural, so we knew it wasn't demonic. When I heard the front door shatter, I ran upstairs and alerted the tenants. Phil and Greta delayed him long enough for me to get the rest of the tenants into the panic room. We stayed here until we heard your voices. I heard their screams, but I couldn't risk the rest of the tenants, not even for Greta.” She started to cry.

  “The police’ll be here shortly,” Jake said.

  Leontine dabbed her eyes with a lace-trimmed handkerchief. The men that shared the room with her started to wander through the halls, looking in their rooms and evaluating the damage. “Do you have a place to stay for a couple of days while we get the house cleaned up?” Leontine asked Dinah.

  Jake looked at Dinah. “She’s welcome to stay with me.”

  Leontine nodded. “Is that okay with you?”

  Dinah shrugged. “Why not? I’ve nowhere else to go.”

  Jake looked at her sharply and was immediately concerned. She looked so pale. Big black circles had formed under Dinah’s eyes, and she had begun to shake. He lunged forward and caught her just as she fainted. As he carried her up to her rooms, Leontine opened the door for them. This part of the house seemed undisturbed, though the door had been forced open.

  He laid her on the bed while he gathered some fresh clothes and shoved them into a duffle bag.

  Dinah stirred and opened her eyes. “What happened?”

  “I believe you fainted. I'm going to take you to the manor for a couple of days while they get this place cleaned up. I'm packing a few changes of clothes.”

  Dinah got up to retrieve her laptop. She swayed on her feet, barely able to keep her balance.

  “Careful,” Leontine said, holding her up. “You’ve had some major shocks in the past couple of days.”

  “I’ll be fine,” Dinah said, shaking her off. “We should get going before the police find you at yet another murder scene.” She waggled her eyebrows at Jake.

  “Your sarcasm doth underwhelm,” Jake said with a mock bow and zipped up her duffle.

  Leontine helped Dinah down the stairs and into Jake’s car. “Take care of yourself. I’ll call Jake’s house when the repairs are done.”

  Dinah lay back in the plush leather seats. She shuddered as she buckled her seatbelt, but other than that, she was soundless.

  “Are you hungry?” he asked when they entered the front door of the manor. Dinah nodded. “Come on,” he said, steering her toward the kitchen.

  A plump woman in her late fifties hummed as she prepared food in the kitchen. Her orange hair was caught up in a hair net, and she wore a white apron. The floors gleamed in the spotless kitchen. On the commercial gas range, a pot of soup bubbled away, and Jake’s stomach rumbled at the smell.

  “Hannah, I’d like you to meet Miss Steele,” Jake said, interrupting her work.

  The woman’s bright blue eyes twinkled as she turned to greet them. “I’ve heard quite a bit about you, Miss. I’m pleased to meet you. So, what can I do for you, Master Willis?”

  “We haven’t had breakfast yet, and we’re starved. Do you have anything ready?”

  “Sit, sit.” She motioned to a small table tucked in the corner of the kitchen.

  “I used to eat in this room all the time when I was a kid,” Jake said as he pulled out Dinah’s chair for her.

  Hannah brought over a couple of bowls of oatmeal with raisins, granola, brown sugar, and dried fruit. She also brought a plate of sausage. Jake and Dinah dug into the food, suspending conversation until they were done eating.

  Dinah shifted in her seat as she tried to keep her arms from resting on the table. The coffee was welcome, and Dinah knew that things would be all right. The comfort food was just what they needed, and even Dinah felt livelier.

  “Come on, let me take you to your room,” Jake said.

  Dinah followed Jake through the house to a suite of rooms like those at the boarding house.

  He helped her slide out of her clothes and put on a flannel nightgown, then pulled up the covers and quietly shut the door. Hopefully she would sleep and not have any nightmares.

  ***

  While she slept, Jake studied his uncle’s notes in his rooms. He brooded over the book that Dinah had found but none of the keys in his uncle’s study could begin to translate the text. There was something achingly familiar about the script, but it remained an enigma.

  Finally he retreated to the billiards room and sipped some forty-year-old scotch while staring at the fire. What was going on? Were any of the other founders going to come to their aid? These questions and more whirled in his mind as he waited for Dinah to wake up.

  It was three when she finally awoke. She padded down the stairs and paused by the door to the billiards room.

  “How are you feeling?” Jake asked when he noticed her standing there; his vision blurred from the scotch.

  “Better, thank you.” She strode into the room with a new resolve. “I want this to end.”

  “Master Willis,” Hendricks said, knocking on the door. “Miss Steele has a visitor.”

  He stood aside to let the woman enter.

  “Janelle,” Dinah cried. “It’s good to see you.”

  “I am actually here on business. I was at the temple and heard that you could see the energy. I need you to be at the Sabbath tonight when we reconsecrate the grove.”

  “We need to stop Gleebelix from rising.” Dinah’s fists were clenched. “Do we really have time to waste on this?”

  Janelle fingered her policeman’s belt. “We have no choice. Though the grove might not be where the gate is, it is feeding into the demonic. We need to shut it down. The stars aren’t quite aligned yet for Gleebelix to come forth. You told us as much. Come to the park at sunset, please. Perhaps you can better guide our energy.”

  Dinah pursed her lips. The sun was sinking low on
the horizon. She glanced over to Jake, whose face was unreadable. There was so much to do and so little time. She sighed and nodded. After all, maybe she would learn something.

  The moon was full as they joined the witches in Grove Stand Park. Several coven members stayed out of the circle in case the all-too-human cultists came back. Dinah stood just outside the circle as the bells rang vespers, calling the nuns to prayer.

  “We take back the night this night.” Janelle stood tall, clutching a short wand made of maple in her hand. “I have asked one who can see the energies to join us, to help us direct our energy to where it will do the most good.”

  “Blessed be,” the coven intoned.

  “By air and fire, by water and earth, I call upon the elements to rise and make holy our site.”

  Janelle sprinkled water in all four corners. Emerald green light flared up at the rocks. The circle was closed, and energy filled the space.

  Dinah could hardly breathe; the energy weighed down on her, ancient and deep emerald green. The altar stone glowed black, its unholy aura fighting back.

  Dinah gasped. “The altar. You must concentrate your energy there. Break that, and you will break the hold on the grove.”

  Janelle reached for it, and though every fiber of Dinah’s being screamed at her not to touch it, she dared not call out.

  One after another the coven touched the stone. Soon all thirteen members had their hands or wands on the stone.

  Green energy flowed from them, saturating the stone. The shadows reared back, trying to break the energy. Jake squeezed Dinah’s arm. “I can hear them calling.”

  “It isn’t as strong as Christianity is for fighting them, but it is stronger than the shadows anticipated,” Dinah whispered back.

  The green energy pushed the shadows back. Finally, with an explosion of light that knocked the coven back and would have flung them from the circle of stones if not for the magical circle, the shadows retreated, leaving soothing, healing green energy in their wake.