The Altar (12 page)

He followed Route 6 until it turned into Hartford Avenue, certainly not the best part of town. This was what he was looking for. Anyone missing from here would probably not even be missed. He passed the section 8 housing projects, which looked like they had seen better years when Federal Funding had been available, and then passed an intersection where several hookers stood half-naked and revealing their wares. A man would have to be quite desperate to stop, he thought, and continued past, despite their best efforts to flag him down. Perhaps if he needed a woman, he thought. But he needed a sixth man to replace Tony. The numbers had to be correct. He didn’t exactly know why, but he wasn’t about to disobey the thing again.

He went through a section of town with a few boarded up stores and a closed down textile mill, and then he saw what he was looking for. Standing beside the on ramp to Interstate 195 stood a homeless man with a sign—“will work for food.”

Oh, I’ll feed you all right, Seti thought, slowing down. You’ll eat better than you’ve ever eaten in your life. I just hope you like your meat rare.

The man was dirty, hadn’t shaven in weeks, and smelled like a sewer, but he would do. Seti would clean him up and he would serve his purpose. Then, when he was no longer needed, he’d be gotten rid of.

Seti rolled down his window.

“Hop in,” he said. “And I’ll get you a hot meal.”

“Are you a religious nut?” the guy asked. “If you’re gonna preach to me I’d rather stay hungry.”

Seti laughed. “I promise I won’t preach to you. Hop in. I’m going to take you somewhere where you’ll be happy—and welcomed.”

The man appeared skeptical until Seti held out a bottle of wine. Then he grinned and crawled into the car.

CHAPTER THIRTEEN

-1-

The Sunday sermon was about evil and the reality of Satan, and Pastor Mark was in rare form. In true Baptist style his sermon was long and emotional. After the recent events in his new home, Erik found himself really listening to what the pastor had to say, and agreeing with him. Just a month ago he would have listened politely and thought that demons and devils were really just fairy tales to keep people in line. Either that or convenient villains to blame for all of the bad things that happen in the world. But now he was beginning to think that demons really were real—or at least evil people who worshipped them were.

He still had not fully digested everything that Dovecrest had told him. The Indian claimed to be hundreds of years old. He had trouble believing that—yet he had seen the picture of Dovecrest in the old newspaper looking the same age as he was now.

The part about the Satanic cult was the most believable. But he still wasn’t fully convinced that the demons really existed. Perhaps if he could see the altar stone for himself. But, as the pastor had said, the existence of the stone itself didn’t matter. A Satanic cult didn’t need such a stone to justify its existence.

After the service, Erik saw Sheriff Collins in the fellowship hall drinking coffee. He excused himself from Vickie and Todd and walked over to the sheriff.

“Do you have any news?” he asked.

Collins nodded. “We traced the dead man to California. He was a drifter and has a criminal record. He disappeared about a year ago.”

“So he might be part of a cult?”

“Anything’s possible.”

“Sheriff, would you talk to Steve Harvey at the radio station? He was telling me about this Satanist he had on his show. This guy was in Rhode Island a week or so ago and might still be here. He’s from California, too.”

“I know the one you’re talking about. The F.B.I. was following them for awhile, but lost the trail.”

“Do they know everyone in the group?”

“I don’t think so,” Collins said. “But I’ll run this victim past them and see if he shows up as part of it.”

Erik nodded. “I just have a bad feeling about this.”

“So do I. I really don’t think your Indian friend had anything to do with the death of the girl. But he knows something. I wish he’d come in so I could get to the bottom of this.”

“He claims there’s a cult out there in the woods and that he killed one of them,” Erik said. “And I believe him. He’d have no reason to kill the girl.”

“Well the State Police think he did it. But I think there’s more to the story. I sure wish I could talk to him myself.”

“I don’t know if he’ll contact me or not,” Erik said. “But if he does, I’ll pass on what you’ve said.”

“I’d appreciate it.”

-2-

The new man, Bob, accepted Seti’s leadership without question. He was a Vietnam vet who’d become addicted to drugs and alcohol, and had developed a hatred for just about everything. Following the dark side was almost second nature to him.

Seti had fed him, cleaned him up, and introduced him to the group. Crissy had taken him in and given him sex. By morning, he would follow Seti and the group anywhere and do anything.

Looking as inconspicuous as possible, Seti stopped in the Dairy Mart for cigarettes and snack food, mostly Twinkies and hot dogs. An older man worked the counter. Seti sized him up and realized that he wouldn’t be much value, either as a victim or as a follower. Just another forgettable member of the human herd.

But then, just as he was leaving, he saw her. She had gorgeous red hair—not the carrot red kind, which he loathed, but the flaming red of an autumn sunset, and emerald green eyes that were just to die for. He felt his loins twitch as she entered the convenience store, and he tried hard not to stare. What was even better, she was pregnant and it looked like her due date was very soon.

He felt the growth on his neck burn him, and he winced in pain, trying to hide the contortions that the thing induced in his face.

“This one,” the monster said. “She’ll do just nicely. Her child can replace the one you killed.”

Yes, Seti thought. It would be two for the price of one. He licked his lips at the thought of the fun he could have with her.

He took his shopping bags and walked slowly to his car, hoping she would leave soon so he could follow her and see where she lived. He slid into the driver’s seat and lit a cigarette while he waited. He turned on the engine and played with the radio to make himself look inconspicuous. Moments later, his efforts were rewarded and she left the store.

She was wearing an attractive blue maternity dress and he guessed that she had just come from church. How quaint. He watched as she climbed into the passenger’s seat of a white SUV. A man was driving and a boy sat in the back seat. The boy gave him a piercing look as the SUV backed up and then drove off onto Farmington Road.

Again he felt the monster speaking to him, yet not really speaking. The boy was the one that got away, it explained. How perfect it would be to take his mother, and then later, to take him.

Seti thought it would be fun to take the whole family, then the demon reminded him that it was planning on taking the whole town. Seti was anxious to move this to the next level and get rid of the thing growing from his body, but the monster seemed more patient now that it had a foothold on the physical world. Still, Seti felt that he needed another victim soon, just to take out his own frustrations.

He followed the SUV at a respectable distance and noted when it turned left into the driveway of one of the raised ranch houses that had just been built. Yes, how perfect, he thought. Their back yard borders the woods. This one would be easy pickings.

“But not until the time is right,” the voice said sternly, punctuated with another red-hot pain that almost made Seti lose control of his car.

“Not when I’m driving!” he screamed. “You’ll kill us both.”

“No,” the voice said. “I’ll only kill you. I can’t be killed, remember.”

And Seti wondered, for the first time, if the thing would destroy him once it was finished with him, or if he really would earn great rewards.

-3-

After dinner, Erik mowed the lawn and then sat out on the patio to relax and think. He was just starting to doze off when Vickie came out.

“There’s someone on the phone for you, Hon.”

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know.”

Erik figured it was a telemarketer and was about to have at them for bothering him on Sunday. But it was Johnny Dovecrest.

“Mr. Hunter, can you meet me at my cabin in twenty minutes?” Dovecrest said.

“Yeah. Sure. Where are you now?”

“Never mind. Just meet me there. I have to show you some things.”

“Ok,” he said, and the line went dead.

Vickie gave him a puzzled look.

“That was Dovecrest,” he said. “He wants me to meet him.”

“You don’t think he killed that girl, do you?” Vickie asked.

“No. I’m sure he didn’t. Maybe he wants to explain, or to turn himself in. I’d better meet him.”

“Should I call Sheriff Collins?”

“No. He trusts me. I can’t betray that.”

Vickie nodded. “You be careful.”

“I will,” he said, and kissed her.

Dovecrest’s cabin was empty when he reached it, but the door was still open so he let himself in. He sat down in Dovecrest’s rocking chair and waited. Although the cabin had electricity, new appliances, and cable TV, the place still made him feel as if he were living in the past. It smelled old. Not unpleasant. It was the kind of smell and experience he’d had when visiting historical houses, like the House of the Seven Gables in Salem. It was almost comforting in a way to know that this structure had stood here for so long.

He wondered whether Dovecrest would even show up, and then he heard a creak on the wooden step outside the back door. Dovecrest snuck in, holding a finger to his lips to keep Erik from talking. Then he motioned for Erik to follow.

“Hold on to my back,” Dovecrest whispered, “and just follow.”

Erik grabbed into a fold of Dovecrest’s cotton shirt, and allowed himself to be led into the woods. Amazingly, the Indian didn’t use a flashlight, but walked effortlessly through the deep, dense woods as if he were strolling through his living room.

They walked for what seemed fifty yards or so, though Erik had no real way of knowing, and then stopped. Dovecrest turned his head all around and seemed to sniff the air. He held up a finger to gauge the wind, then peered upward, even though nothing was visible though the canopy of trees.

“Do you want to see the altar stone for yourself?” he asked.

Erik swallowed hard. He’d thought he did. But now he wasn’t so sure.

“Yes,” he said, finally.

“Then I will help you find it. You will need to know how to find it if I’m not here. So pay attention.”

“Ok.”

“Good. First, you must understand that the stone not only exists here, but it also exists beyond.”

“Beyond?”

“Yes. Beyond. Beyond what, I’m not sure. But while it is of this earth, it is also
not
of this earth. It leads to a different place. A different time, maybe, or a place where there is no time. In your religion it might be the Hell that you speak of. I do not know for sure.”

“I’m not sure I understand, but....”

“I am not sure I understand either. I am only telling you what I have learned and believe to be true. The thing that we are fighting comes from that other world. The closest word for it in your language would be a demon, but I’m not sure even that exactly fits.”

Dovecrest paused and sniffed the air again.

“In ancient times we stopped the demon by sending it back to where it came from and sealing it off. We did this by purging the host of the evil through fire. It was successful in keeping it away for over 300 years. But now it is back again, and this time it will be more difficult.

“I have examined the old scrolls and the ancient legends of my people. The secret is buried away in our songs and our dances. The only way to destroy the demon is to destroy it in its own world, not this one.”

“So you’re saying that we have to go...go to Hell to kill this thing?”

Erik almost laughed at how ridiculous it sounded. How many times in his life had he told someone to “go to hell?”

But Dovecrest did not seem amused by the idea.

“Yes. One of us must go into the other world and kill the demon before it fully appears in this world. Or, if we fail and it does enter our world, then we must once again send it back to its domain. Only this time we must go in with it and finish the job by destroying it where it lives.”

“How do we do that?” Erik asked.

“That is not for you to know yet,” Dovecrest replied. “Let us take things one step at a time. I will be the one to go into the other world. But I will need the help of others here in this world.”

Erik nodded. “I’ll share this with Pastor Mark. And the sheriff.”

“Any help we get would be needed. But we need people we can trust. People who will believe. That is why I must show you how to find the stone. Are you ready?’

“Yes.”

“Good. Close your eyes and relax your body completely.”

The dark was so complete that closing his eyes made no difference to Erik, but he complied. The night air suddenly felt cool. He could feel the soft breeze and hear the sound of the crickets.

“Just relax,” Dovecrest said. “Relax and feel all that the forest shows you. Reach out your mind and your heart.”

Erik felt almost embarrassed to be out here alone with this Indian. It was actually quite creepy. But the complete darkness also made him feel invisible.

“Relax,” Dovecrest said again, in a soothing, hypnotic voice. “Just experience your surroundings.”

It took a few moments, but Erik could experience the forest without seeing it. He felt the canopy of leaves overhead. He heard the breeze and the movement of insects. He felt the strong, earthy attraction of the ancient oaks, huge living creatures themselves, an primeval part of the very earth.

And then, quite suddenly, he felt something else. He snapped his eyes open and flinched.

“You found it,” Dovecrest said.”

“What....”

“You found it. You sense it. I could tell.”

“It was...it is...unnatural. Not of this place. It doesn’t belong.”

“No. It does not belong. Now, take me to it.”

“Can’t you...just draw a map or something? Put up signs?”

Dovecrest laughed softly. “No. You do not understand. The stone is of this world, but
not
of this world. It’s location—here—is not always the same.”

“You mean it...moves?”

“Yes. It moves. But if you use your senses, your instinct, it cannot hide. You will find it.”

Erik did sense it and began moving forward. It wasn’t very far away now, and he would find it.

-4-

Erik had taken just two steps forward when a huge spotlight burned into his eyes. He held his arms up over his face and instinctively dropped to one knee.

“F.B.I.! Put your hands up!”

Erik could feel rather than see Dovecrest launch into a run, and then a gunshot cracked in the air.

“Stop and put your hands up!” the voice shouted.

Erik squinted through his fingers and saw that Dovecrest had complied. The shot had been a warning. Then he saw that a half-dozen camouflaged men were surrounding them, with M-16 rifles trained on him and the Indian. He very carefully put his hands up over his head and wondered what he had gotten himself into.

He felt his hands lowered behind his back and a pair of handcuffs being placed on his wrists. The leader of the men turned him around and looked at him by the light of the flashlight.

“Am I under arrest?” Erik asked.

“You are being taken in for questioning.”

“Then why do we need these,” he said motioning to the cuffs.

“Those are for your own protection,” the agent said.

“Don’t forget what you learned tonight,” Dovecrest said. “You are going to need it.”

“Right now, I think I’m going to need my lawyer,” he replied.

“You can call him as soon as we reach town,” the agent replied.