The Darkest Gateway

by Jeri Westerson

  I panicked. Some Chosen Host I was. “Get ready? What can we do?”

  Nick smiled. “Just you watch. Okay, everyone. This is not a drill. Positions!”

  Suddenly, everyone mobilized. Even Bob and Charise were falling into assigned groups. Everyone grabbed paper bags that were set in a row against the front wall near the door.

  There were scouts crouching near the windows sketching symbols on them with wax, while an old air raid siren went off somewhere in town, notifying everyone to take cover.

  I grabbed the crossbow and the Spear and crouched next to the people at the window. There was a shudder like an earthquake and then a shadow passed over the road. A fireball suddenly erupted in the street. Despite trying to be ready, people screamed. I might have been one of them.

  The roof and rafters creaked but nothing happened. Another fireball split a tree across Lyndon Road and part of it fell onto the street. And then a black shadow landed with a rumble. Baphomet was tall again, twelve, fifteen feet, and he fluttered his bat wings as he strode toward my door. “Kylie Strange! I command you to come out.”

  I grasped tight to the Spear of Mortal Pain and started to rise, but several hands shoved me back down. What the—

  We waited. I glanced around at the villagers but they were all concentrating on looking out through the symbol-scrawled windows. People were reaching into their bags, sharing with their neighbors. It looked like different colored powders clutched in their hands.

  “Send out Kylie Strange, people of Moody Bog, and be spared. It’s her and her book I want, not your lives.”

  He got no reply, getting angrier by the second.

  I grabbed the Spear and hit the button, letting it extend. “Can I open this window?” I asked of the teen who had scrawled a symbol on it.

  He looked to Nick for confirmation. “Yeah,” said the guy who I think was named Brad. “Go ahead.”

  “Good.” I stood up and lifted the sash. “Hey Baphy! How’s your eye?”

  He turned his head. Oooh. That eye was bad. Looked as bad as Doug’s.

  Baphomet’s goat face sneered. “I will personally eat you alive,” he said in that cow voice.

  “I don’t see that happening. I’ve got this spear and you’ve still got one good eye left. I’d like to correct that.”

  He roared. With both hands, he flung balls of power at my shop. I ducked, but they bounced off and dissipated in a shimmering wave. That was one pissed-off goat.

  “Okay, Moody Bog,” I said to the assembled villagers. “Show us what you’ve got.”

  Those crouching by the window rose. One by one they opened the sashes, and on Nick’s “Go!” they all tossed the colorful powder and chanted, “Wayward one, begone! Goddesses and angels protect this house. Wayward one, begone! Goddesses and angels protect this house.” Over and over again they chanted and threw clumps of powder, creating a rainbow shower all around the shop.

  At first, nothing happened. But as I watched, the piles of powder shimmered and bubbled and started to rise. They formed into something like multi-colored bats, which fluttered and rose higher, moving toward Baphomet. No sooner had one risen from the powder than the next one was clumping and flying upward. From all around my shop, colorful bats fluttered toward Baphy, almost looking like butterflies. He backed away from them, wary at first. Until they zoomed at him, self-destructing when they hit him in little explosions of color. I could tell they stung, because now he was seriously batting at them, backing away, grimacing when they hit. Because more were coming, and faster.

  Baphy swung his arms wildly now. He tried to summon a fireball but the bats converged on his hands and started gnawing away. He screamed and whipped around. Finally, he rose into the air, pumping his huge wings, but the bats pursued him. Some of us ran outside, those not chanting, and watched him fly. He was spiraling out of control. He clipped the top of a few tall pines and landed hard on the village green, still struggling and bellowing. He rolled but couldn’t seem to dislodge the bats. He pumped his wings again and soared higher until he was out of sight, still pursued by a rainbow of fluttering creatures.

  Everyone cheered, including me. But it didn’t take me long to sober. “Okay, guys,” I said. “That was great. But that only scared him off for now. He’ll be back.”

  “We knew it was only temporary,” said a young girl whom I thought was called Emma. She was out of breath and flushed with shining eyes. “But it worked!”

  People were high-fiving each other. I had a whole town of witches and warlocks now. But I worried about those that weren’t with us and what they would do. There were a lot of firearms in a rural town like this. I didn’t know how we could protect ourselves from that.

  “Has anyone talked to Reverend Howard?” I asked of those near me.

  Nick popped up, dusting colored powder from his hands. “He’s holed up in the church with some of the more conservative people in town. At least that’s what I’ve heard. What happened to all that liberalism he was spouting?”

  “Yeah. I wonder that too.”

  “Now don’t go and cast aspersions,” warned Doc, coming up behind me. “He was trying to talk them down from violence. I talked to him on the phone just a few hours ago. He knows what we’re doing and he says to keep on doing it.”

  That was a relief. We needed people with a voice on our side. “Any more word on Ruth Russell?” I asked him quietly.

  “Not a peep. Frankly, I’m worried about her.”

  “You’re worried about her? Don’t you think this is all about her?”

  “Kylie, I’ve known her a long time. I just can’t get up the ruffles to be suspicious of her.”

  “Well, it’s time to wake up, Doc. There’s no time for second guessing.”

  “I caution patience. There’s always time to second guess. Wasn’t it first impressions that got you on the wrong side of a few of our conservative townsfolk? Like George?”

  I glanced toward Nick. It was true that George had been dead-set against the Wiccans at first, even though he’d been secretly dating Nick. And now he was a full-fledged member. But Ruth was a whole other story. She had never wanted to welcome me. Every bone in her body seemed against me and mine. And I was worried that she might be conspiring to pull another ritual like she did when murdering Dan Parker. Doc’s homespun cracker barrel attitude was never going to convince me that she’d never been a part of that!

  Erasmus suddenly appeared next to me. He had a gleam in his eye. “I have a whole new appreciation for humans,” he muttered.

  “We can kick ass when we need to.”

  “So I see. Twenty-first century, eh? It’s turning out to be the most interesting century to date.”

  The police siren sounded in the distance. Poor Ed and George. They’d never been so busy in their lives. Just keeping their own heads was probably wearing them down. The air raid siren called the all clear and everyone seemed to relax for a bit. Seraphina and Charise were passing out tea and coffee, while Marge from Moody Bog Market sliced pecan loaf.

  Doug was leaning against the wall, arms crossed over his chest and scanning the room. I sidled up to him. “Thanks for coming to the side of the light.”

  He glanced at me with his one good eye and smiled. “When the god you summoned turns on you, it’s time to make a change.”

  “I’m sorry about Dean.”

  The smile faded. “Yeah. He got it trying to defend me. He was a good guy. Despite following me.”

  I didn’t say anything. Doug knew how I felt.

  “And hey. Thanks for getting Goat Face in the eye.” He tapped the gauze covering his own injured eye. “A little eye for an eye. I like your biblical view.”

  “Yeah, well. He pissed me off.”

  “Remind me never to piss you off again.”

  I elbowed him good-naturedly. “This would probably be a good time to patch things up with Ed. If you can catch him in between runs.”

  “Probably. Anything’s possible. He never came by the other n
ight, by the way. Too busy, I guess. And you know what? I’m kinda sorry you aren’t gonna be part of the family now.”

  “Oh really?”

  “Yeah. He needs someone to get him in line. But…” He stretched his neck to glance at Erasmus, who was trying to lose his groupies again. “You’re set on him, huh?”

  I followed his gaze and smiled. Erasmus was being his grumpy self, trying to stare down the groupies, which only seemed to encourage them. It was pretty adorable. “I am. Don’t ask me why.”

  He got in close. “Have you ever considered that it’s that book?”

  I didn’t say anything, because I had thought of that. Lots of times. That maybe once the Booke was gone I wouldn’t feel that way about Erasmus, or he about me. But I just as quickly rejected it. Wouldn’t Erasmus have known if that were a symptom of the Booke? And it’d started happening to me almost the moment I met him. I was pretty sure Constance Howland never had any twinkle in her eye about him.

  I gave Doug a smile as an answer and moved along.

  Charise and I made eye contact but she looked away pretty quick. I didn’t think there would be any heart-to-hearts with her anytime soon.

  But when Seraphina had a moment, I sat next to her. “These guys have done an amazing job,” I said. “I guess I should say that all of the coven has done an amazing job organizing them.”

  “Well, it’s always better when people want to help. And it looks like we might have far more in the coven when all this is over.”

  “Seraphina, what do you think is going to happen to the magic when the Booke is gone for good?”

  “I think you know the answer to that. It will fade and we’ll all go back to the way we were.”

  “Will you be satisfied with that? I mean, once you’ve done real magic—”

  “Oh my dear. We’ve always done real magic. It just manifests itself differently. I think that a lot of people here today will be pleased with what we can do afterwards.”

  I was still a bit skeptical about the others, but I was convinced she and Doc would be okay. Jolene would continue her research, and Nick…well. Nick was a werewolf and that wasn’t going to go away.

  It made me think of Jeff. I searched around, looking for him. Kids always seemed to gravitate toward him. Women, too. Especially good-looking ones. And sure enough, he was surrounded by admirers, both kids and ladies with stars in their eyes.

  “Hey, Jeff.”

  “Hey, Kylie. How’s the Chosen Hosting going?”

  “Well, you know.”

  “We’ll see you later, Jeff,” said one curvaceous brunette, waggling her fingers at him. His eyes followed her as she went into the kitchen.

  “Hey, you’ve got to be careful now that you’re a…you know. What if you accidentally bit someone in the throes of passion?”

  He glared at me. “Did I ever do that with you?”

  “No. But you weren’t on wolfsbane then. You are taking your wolfsbane, right?”

  “God! Nag, nag, nag. Of course, I am!”

  “Well, you’ve got to be careful.”

  “Believe me, I think about it 24/7,” he said sourly. “There isn’t a moment when I don’t.”

  “I’m sorry.”

  “Don’t keep apologizing. It isn’t your fault.” He crossed his arms and closed up. I hated seeing that. Jeff was always so gregarious. I shouldn’t have spoiled it for him when he was getting a bit of his old self back. But maybe it was time to drop some of the habits of his youth.

  I clutched at the amulet. It suddenly struck me what I was doing. I was saying good-bye to everyone. Trying to find out if they’d be all right. Because I didn’t think I’d be around to see that they were. My heart pounded. It all scared me...for a moment. But then the Booke sent an undulating wave of calm toward me. When I turned, it was skimming in the air coming toward me. People fell silent and moved out of its way. When it hovered in front of me, its magic pulsed, engulfing me, soothing me. It wanted to be one with me…and I wanted it too.

  I grabbed my coat to sit outside away from prying eyes. The Booke followed me. As soon as I was alone, I reached out and cradled it against my chest. And I realized that I was soothing it. “No one’s going to get you,” I told it. I meant Baphomet.

  But did I? Was that all I meant?

  It knew my plans. Oh yes it did. And it didn’t want to be destroyed. It wanted to flourish. It wanted new life. It wanted me.

  I was becoming the Booke and the Booke was becoming me. And it was too close to Halloween to ignore it. I felt it whisper that there was still a creature out there. Headless.

  “Let me tell you where it is,” the Booke whispered, and I closed my eyes and listened.

  “Kylie.”

  I ignored Erasmus.

  “Kylie.”

  It was like my mother trying to wake me for school. I was dead to the world and just wanted to sleep.

  “Kylie!”

  I kept my eyes shut, trying to listen. “What is it, Erasmus?”

  “Open your eyes. See where you are.”

  “What do you mean?” But when I opened my eyes, we were deep in the forest. “Why did you transport me here?”

  He gazed at me steadily. “I didn’t do it.” He stared at the Booke meaningfully.

  Chapter Thirteen

  I whipped my head around, seeing only dense forest and shadows. “Oh shit.”

  “You are drawing ever closer to the book. It transported you here.”

  I was afraid to hold it and afraid to let it go. “It was talking to me. It wanted to show me where Headless was.”

  “And it took you there.”

  “Erasmus, I’m scared.”

  Gently, he pried the Booke from my fingers and held it for a moment, studying its cover. He must have looked at it countless times over the centuries, including when it was just a scroll. He must have been surprised when books were invented with pages and covers. Maybe he loved the thing. Maybe he hated it. It was his prison and his curse. But it was also the only life he’d ever known. I had the feeling that he wouldn’t be sorry to see it go, even if he had to go with it. But I couldn’t let that happen. It was unthinkable having a world without Erasmus.

  He pushed the Booke away. It glided a few feet, as if it were floating on the surface of a lake. But I felt its pull and it turned and headed toward me again.

  Erasmus grabbed it, shook it. “Begone!” he cried, and it vanished in a huff.

  “It’s getting stronger,” I said.

  “I know.”

  “It transported me.”

  “It is a gateway.”

  He meant it as an explanation on how it got me there, but I began to think. “It is a gateway. And a key.”

  “So it would seem.”

  “Maybe there’s a way to use it to lock Baphomet away.”

  He shook his head. “We must concentrate on destroying it.”

  “I won’t. Not until I can release you from it.”

  “Kylie…” He sighed. “It may not be possible. You must prepare yourself for—”

  “No! I won’t be responsible for killing you. I refuse.”

  “If you wait much longer, you may not be able to refuse the book anything.”

  He was right. Even now, when the Booke was far away and I knew exactly where it was, I was drawn to it. Wanted to do its bidding. “What am I going to do, Erasmus?”

  “For now, you must hunt the Dullahan.”

  A spike of fear stabbed at my chest. “I don’t have the crossbow. Wait.” I reached inside my jacket. The Spear of Mortal Pain was still there. I yanked it out and pressed the button. It clicked to its full length, point glistening.

  Erasmus took a step away. I didn’t blame him. After all, he’d been stabbed with it once and said it lived up to its name.

  It wasn’t as safe as the crossbow since I’d have to get right up to the creatures to get them, but it would do in a pinch.

  “Listen,” I said, pointing a finger at him. “I’ll do this now, but t
onight we are going to do our research and then after, we are going to break that bed making love. Do you understand me?”

  He had a shocked look on his face for only a moment before his whole demeanor changed and a wicked smile curled his lips. “Anything you say.”

  “All right then.” Grab life while you’ve got it, Kylie. But for now… I clutched the spear in both hands and stalked forward into the darkening woods. I figured Headless wouldn’t be where the trees were close together. He probably needed to be by a road, the better to encounter people. So I followed that tingle in the back of my head that was probably the Booke and headed downward to where the highway was.

  I walked along the edge of the asphalt. A light sprinkling of rain had begun. I reached back and tugged my hood over my head. Cars moved along the road. I saw the people in them follow me with widening eyes, a hooded woman holding a spear, a man in a long duster following her. Yeah, that didn’t happen every day. Stick around here and you’ll see plenty, I yelled in my head.

  My phone rang. I dug it out of my pocket and answered. “Hi, Doc.”

  “Kylie, some of the folks here seemed to think you, uh, well vanished. I tried to reassure them that it was just Mr. Dark—”

  “No, it was me. Or, more accurately, the Booke. It’s getting stronger. Tonight, we really have to concentrate on finding a way to deal with Satan. Grab some of your oldest books and come back to the shop. Right now, I’m hunting Headless.”

  He was trying to say something, but I didn’t want to talk anymore so I clicked it off. I stuffed my phone back in my pocket and curled my fingers around the spear shaft again. I didn’t want to do the Booke trick where I closed my eyes and went as one with it. We were getting too darned close as it was. If I used logic, I thought I would be just as successful.

  Erasmus said nothing as we trudged up the slick road in the rain. I kept my ears pricked for any unusual sounds. I figured Erasmus would have my back and scan the skies for me in case Baphy showed, though I doubted he would. He was probably off somewhere licking his wounds. I wondered if there was something we could bribe him with, but it seemed all he wanted was worshippers. Maybe Satan wanted that too. I hoped Jolene could find the answer. I was itching to leave for the Netherworld and dreading it at the same time, but I was sure that whatever happened, I would beg for Erasmus’ life. Not much else mattered besides destroying the Booke.