The Altar (27 page)

Dovecrest, too, had crawled to his knees and he met Erik’s gaze. A small, smile parted his lips, and Erik smiled in return. The two men sat and watched as the doomed hordes moved away. They could still see the damned souls, but could no longer hear them, or feel their anguish. And they no longer attracted the damned, but repelled them.

“What happened?” Erik said, finally.

Dovecrest stood up slowly and shook himself off. “I’m not sure,” he said. “But I think our prayers were heard.”

“Heard and answered.”

“Yes. Heard and answered.”

Erik got to his feet and looked around. The masses of the damned ignored them completely now, as if they had never existed. Erik took a step towards one of them, an old man who must have died recently, since his rags were not as rotted. The soul of the man backed away in disgust.

Erik noticed that the glow of light was fading away now, and both he and his friend were returning to normal. But the feeling of refreshment remained. They had experienced just a drop of heaven here in this hellish place, and it was enough to rejuvenate their spirits, at least for the moment. Neither man knew if it would be enough to sustain them for the rest of the battle. But it was obvious that they had not been destined for this place, and, whatever happened, their fate would not mean staying here for all of eternity. Whatever they had to face, it couldn’t be worse than this, Erik thought.

“Come on,” Dovecrest said. “I have a demon to destroy.”

“And I have a family to rescue.”

CHAPTER THIRTY

-1-

Todd could tell something had happened, but he didn’t know exactly what. He knew the demon knew it, too, because it became angry and agitated and swore under its breath. Todd knew that whatever had happened must be good if the demon didn’t like it. Still, he had no idea what had to be done next.

His mother was in bad shape now. Her pains were more regular.

“The baby’s coming soon,” she told him. “Very soon. Just stay and help me, Todd.”

“It’s ok, Mom,” he said. “I’m not going anywhere. You’ll be fine.”

“Hey, you’ll be the only kid on the block to have delivered a baby,” she said. “Won’t you have a story to tell your baby sister!”

Todd forced a laugh. “Yeah, she’ll owe me big time!”

“She sure will. We’ll both owe you big time. I’ll tell you what, when we get out of here we’re going out for a huge ice cream sundae.”

“I want chocolate chip ice cream with whipped cream and cherries,” Todd said, playing along with his Mom.

“And I want strawberry. With whipped cream and nuts.”

His mother’s face winced in pain and she struggled not to cry out.

“I think she’s coming, Todd,” she said. “You know what to do?”

He nodded. She had told him what to expect and what he had to do. He thought it was gross and disgusting, but he couldn’t let that stop him. When the baby’s head came out he was supposed to hold it steady and help guide it out by pulling, but not too hard, as his mother pushed. He knew about cutting the chord, and had found a sharp stone for this purpose. And he knew about getting air into the baby’s lungs if she didn’t cry. The only thing he didn’t know was what the demon was going to do next.

He looked at the monster from the corner of his eyes. It didn’t actually look like a monster anymore. It appeared as a normal man. But he knew better. He’d seen it transform and he knew what it really was. Even now, he wondered what it was up to as it drew shapes in the sand and chanted foreign-sounding words. He knew nothing good could come of that. He’d never seen anything like that in the normal world.

He turned back to look at his mother. Her face was scrunched up in pain. He knelt down between her legs and waited. He’d never seen his mother naked before, and it made him very uncomfortable. He just wanted this whole thing to be over. He wasn’t a doctor and he didn’t know how to deliver a baby. What if something went wrong? What if it got stuck.

Todd blinked hard to hold back the tears. And suppose the baby was born ok, and things went right. What then? The demon wasn’t going to just let them all go, just like that. It had something horrible planned for them. And Todd was afraid he would be the one to come out the worst.

He’d seen that awful head growing from the thing’s shoulder earlier. Would he end up like that? He knew he’d rather die than become a monster like that. He thought if it came to that choice he’d figure out a way to kill himself. He’d keep that sharpened stone just in case he needed it for more than just cutting his sister’s chord when she was born. He might have to use it on himself.

Then his mother clenched her teeth and reared up, and a pool of liquid flowed from her and onto the sand. She’d told him this would happen, but it grossed him out anyway and he wished he could be sick. But he swallowed hard and didn’t let on that it bothered him. He had to be strong now. They were in enough trouble without him caving in and being a baby.

“It’s ok, Mom,” he said. “I’m here. We’re going to be ok.”

She forced a smile and wiped away a tear.

Todd took another look at the demon. The monster was totally absorbed in whatever it was doing now. Todd wished the baby would hurry up and be born before this thing finished whatever weird plans it had cooked up.

-2-

Erik knew he had to find his wife and son, but he had no idea where to go next. This entire world had been designed with one thing in mind—to be completely and totally monotonous, featureless, and uninteresting. The black sand went on for as far as the eye could see, broken only by obsidian rocky outcroppings that became tedious in and of themselves. The sky—or whatever it was—was completely black and starless. Erik suspected it was more a ceiling than a sky. He had the dreadful image of being trapped underground in an infinite cave on a planet that made Jupiter look like a speck in the universe.

There was no sun or moon to point out time or direction. Only a red glow to the edges of the horizon in all directions. It shed enough light to see by, bathing everything in a hellish red tint, but did not throw enough light to give even the impression of daylight. It was like a perpetual sunset in all directions, but an ugly black-red monotone sunset not broken up by atmosphere or clouds.

The doomed souls still wandered around the place, but their movement was aimless and pathetic, and Erik tried not to look at them. He was still sickened by their presence, and didn’t think he’d ever forget their horrible touch upon him. They would be no help. He was just thankful that they now shied away from him as if he were poison.

He looked at Dovecrest and shrugged. “So where do we begin?”

Dovecrest looked carefully in every direction. He seemed to study the horizon, searching for clues. He knelt down and put his ear to the sand. He seemed so intent, so focused. But after a few moments, he stood up and shook his head.

“Nothing,” he said. “I’m not even sure they’re still here.”

“Where else would they be?”

“I don’t know. But this place is endless. I don’t even know where to begin.”

Erik shook his head. “We have to do something. We can’t just give up.”

“It won’t do any good to just go off wandering without knowing where we’re going,” Dovecrest said.

Erik nodded. “But what else can we do?”

“Unless you can make some connection with your wife...or your son....”

Erik thought for a moment. It seemed impossible, but why not? Everything that had happened to him during the past week was impossible by all scientific standards. If people could raise demons and go through a portal to the waiting room of hell, why couldn’t he establish a psychic connection with his own wife or son?

“What the hell?” he said. “No pun intended.”

He had read a little bit about meditation, and, though he was certainly no expert, he had learned how to relax and train his thoughts when he was searching for ideas in his writing. And Dovecrest had taught him how to find the altar stone. He sat down on the sand and squirmed around until he had dug himself a comfortable seat. Then he pulled his feet into his thighs, closed his eyes, and covered them with his hands. He heard Dovecrest sit down across from him, but there were no other distractions to bother him. There was no sounds of traffic, or even nature—no birds, no wind.... Not even a breeze. It was perfectly silent.

He tried to empty his mind of everything. The stillness helped, but it was difficult not to think. So much had happened. His mind had been ripped raw, his nerves pulled and prodded and tortured beyond what he could bear. He’d gone from earth to hell to heaven and now back to hell in just a few short hours—if he could even measure things by earthly time. It might have been minutes—or days, for all he knew. Time just didn’t make sense anymore. For that matter, nothing made sense.

He tried to stop the wheels from spinning in his head. But all he could think about was his family, and what he would do if he found them. They had no plan, no idea.... The frontal attack had failed miserably. Even if he could rescue his family he had no way of escaping. He wondered if Vickie was even strong enough to be moved. Had she delivered the baby yet? Was the child all right? What had happened to Todd? They could all have been killed by now, for all he knew, and all of this might be for nothing.

“Stop worrying and relax.”

It was Dovecrest’s voice, almost as if the Indian had been reading his thoughts. Erik opened his eyes and looked at him. Dovecrest had been watching him. The two men smiled.

“Ok. Let me try this again.”

This time Erik stretched out on the sand as if he were at the beach, putting his arms up over his eyes to block out the eerie, red glow. He took a deep breath, then exhaled slowly. He paced his breathing and concentrated on letting his body go loose, beginning with his feet and working upwards. He listened to the sound of his breathing as he relaxed his legs, then his hips, then his chest. He imagined a purple dot in the sky and concentrated all of his efforts of seeing it and experiencing it.

His mind went blank. Then he saw an image of his son. It came suddenly, unbidden, suddenly snapping into focus like a photograph. He saw the boy squatting in the black sand of this awful place, looking very worried and concerned. Erik knew he was seeing things as they really were when he noticed the demon standing beside Todd, its back towards the boy as it drew in the sand and seemed to be chanting. Erik knew that Todd was looking at his mother, and that Vickie was just about to give birth.

Suddenly Todd’s eyes widened, and Erik could see his gasp.

“Dad!” he heard him whisper. “Are you dead?”

Erik channeled his thoughts to comfort the boy. “Shhh. I’m not dead. I’m still here. I’m coming for you. Just don’t let it know you know.”

Todd forced a smile, and then the picture faded, slowly, as if at the end of a scene in a movie. Erik was suddenly aware of where the boy was. Every muscle in his body was tense and tightened up like a guitar string. He felt sweat pouring down his face.

“Erik...Erik.... Are you all right?”

Dovecrest was calling to him. He opened his eyes slowly.

“Yeah. I’m fine,” he said. “They’re still alive. And I know where they are.”

-3-

Todd tried not to show his feelings as the vision of his father passed. It had been so real, as if it had been happening right there in front of him. Dad was alive! He knew it. He had seen him. Had heard him. And he was coming for them. He even knew where they were.

He tried to keep his feelings quiet, though. He knew the demon could tap into people’s thoughts and feelings, and he didn’t want to give anything away. Surprise might be his Dad’s only advantage and he didn’t want to take that away. It was all they had going for them right now.

He looked at his mother and wondered if she knew, if she had seen Dad, too. Her face was all twisted in pain, though, and her eyes were closed. She gritted her teeth and seemed to be straining as she tried to push the baby out.

“She’s coming, Todd,” she said, her voice barely above a whisper. “You know what to do.”

“Ok, Mom,” he said. He tried to sound confident but his insides were torn up with fear. If only this baby could wait a little while longer, until his Dad could get here. Dad would know what to do.

But it wasn’t meant to be that way. He saw a blackness appear, and realized it was the top of the baby’s head. She had thick, black hair, a fact that both surprised and fascinated him. He’d thought babies had no hair. But this one seemed to have a full head of it.

He put his hands down and her head pushed forward into his grasp.

“Hold her head, Todd,” his mother said. “Don’t let her drop.”

Todd held her head firmly. He found that he didn’t have to pull her; his mother’s pushing was enough. She was wet and sticky, covered in blood and mucus, not at all clean and neat like the babies he’d seen on television. He pulled her slowly away, and quickly cut the chord like his mother had told him. A gush over afterbirth followed and the baby began to cry.

Todd was surprised at how quick the birth itself had been. It was weird, because it had taken so long to get to that part, and then it was over.

His mother tried to sit up.

“Can I see her?” she asked.

Todd crawled around her and placed the baby in her arms. She took her and carefully cradled her.

That was when Todd saw the demon coming closer.

“Ah, what have we here?” it said. “Just what we’ve all been waiting for. I’m afraid I’m going to have to take that.”

“No! You can’t have my baby!” his Mom screamed.

The demon reached forward. His Mom scuttled back, trying to get away.

“No!” she screamed.

The demon moved towards her, arms outstretched as she held the baby away. Todd could see the outcome as clear as if it had already happened. The demon would kill the baby as part of some weird ritual that it did to get more power. He could see it all before it even happened. And he knew what had to be done.

Without even thinking, he grabbed the baby from his mother’s arms and darted away from the demon. He knew it would buy just a few moments, at best, but his body just reacted from instinct. This was his baby sister. He couldn’t let this thing take her. He put his head down and ran for the horizon, using every bit of speed he could get. He didn’t look back, didn’t even think about what would happen next.

-4-

Erik knew where he had to go as clearly as if he had a compass in his head. Not that a compass would have done any good in this place that had no directions. But his path was marked clear and straight.

He and Dovecrest had set off immediately once Erik knew where to go.

“I don’t think they’re very far away,” he said. “The demon is still there. Do we have a plan yet?”

“Find them,” Dovecrest said. “And then see what happens.”

“I’m really not comfortable with ‘see what happens’,” Erik replied.

“Neither am I. But do you have a better idea?”

Erik had to admit that he had no idea. Still, he couldn’t hide his frustration.

“Didn’t your legends give any idea about what we do once we find it?”

“It never went that far,” Dovecrest said. “I’m afraid we’re writing the instruction manual.”

“That’s a comforting thought.”

“This is a comforting place.”

Erik forced a laugh and tried not to betray the terror that was eating away at him. It was ridiculous—to have come so far and still not know what to do. If the thing didn’t have Vickie and Todd he would have just turned around and gone back home. Although come to think of it, he didn’t know how to do that, either.

He knew it wasn’t much farther. They had to pick up the pace.