The Devil's Touch

The spokesman for the trio, a man who looked to be in his late thirties or early forties, flushed at Sam's challenging and insulting question. He was a burly man, with thick arms, padded with muscles, heavy shoulders, and a barrel chest. He also had a beer belly hanging over his belt buckle. He said, 'You just about a smart-ass, ain't you, punk?'

Autumn colors were beginning to paint the land. The timber behind the men shone in spots like burnished copper. Birches dotted the timber, and the needles of the tamaracks were drooping downward. Small junipers, red cedars, maple and beech were in abundance. Stalks of goldenrod stood in the open spaces. It was the beginning of a beautiful season near the park.

'I've been known to speak my mind,' Sam replied. There was no backup in the young man. He had proved himself, to himself, too many times to be in the least bit timid.

The man balled his hands into fists.

'Not yet, Mack,' the man to his right said. 'Not yet. 'It isn't time.'

The burly man relaxed. He grinned at Sam. His teeth were yellow, with several missing, leaving black gaps in his mouth. 'O.K., boy,' he said. 'You can go pat your young pussy some more. You're off the hook—for awhile.'

The trio wheeled about and quickly disappeared into the timber. They moved swiftly and silently among the brush, and Sam knew they were all expert woodsmen. He tucked that thought back into his mind for storage.

Sam walked back to his truck, backed up and turned around, heading back to town.

'What in the world was that all about?' Desiree asked. 'Those men frightened me.'

Sam glanced at her. She did indeed appear to be frightened. Her face was pale.

'I don't know, Desiree,' he replied, the clouds once more gathering in his mind, slowing reason. 'Local roughnecks, I guess. Looking for a laugh at someone else's expense. You find them all over the country. Down in our Southern states, law-abiding people call them trash. I'm not so certain that isn't an apt description of them.'

She slowly nodded her head in agreement. 'What did they mean: 'You're off the hook—for awhile?' What's going on in this town, Sam?'

Sam fought to clear his head, and succeeded for a moment. He could not for the life of him recall how he came to be with Desiree. He remembered kissing her, holding her, but could not understand why he did those things. He could remember nothing about Janet. He shook his head.

'Are you all right, Sam?'

'I don't know,' he replied honestly. 'I wish I knew.'

'Turn here,' the dark voice whispered in Nydia's brain. 'It's all right. You are doing the correct thing, and you know it.'

'Yes,' she muttered.

She turned down the street where Jon Le Moyne lived. Something … odd seemed to be in possession of her mental and physical functions. Or at least that part of her she inherited from her mother. Any doubts as to the wrongfulness of what she was doing were blown away, leaving her mind under the lightless throes of the evil that clung invisibly about her.

She slowed when she saw Jon sitting on the front steps of his house. She pulled over to the curb and cut the engine. It was very quiet in this part of town. She could see no one. But they were watching her from the shaded windows of homes. She looked at Jon. He was a very handsome young man.

As if by magic—which it was, of the darker type—Nydia viewed the clear picture of Sam and Desiree leaping into her mind, and the old rage became fresh, stronger than ever before.

'Go to him,' the voice whispered.

Still Nydia hesitated, the good within her battling the evil.

Jon sat on the porch, looking at the woman he had erotically shared so many nights and dreams with. Soon he would be touching her skin, gently cupping the breasts he had passionately kissed in his fevered imagination. He would be feeling her hands on him. The coven leader had told him last night Nydia would be coming to him. Jon had not thought that possible, but did not question the Leader.

Now she was here.

Nydia's hands gripped the steering wheel as more powerful, darker forces entered her mind, the forces bringing with them the actual scenes of Sam and Desiree standing by the road, embracing, kissing, touching, grinding against each other. She watched as Sam's hand slipped down the young woman's waist to caress her buttocks.

'You bastard!' she hissed.

And Evil defeated Good once more.

The vision faded. Nydia got out of the car and walked up toward the boy. He stood up and opened the screen door to the porch. She hesitated for only a few seconds, then stepped inside the door. The door closed behind her.

'No!' the voice spoke like thunder. 'We interfered once before. This time they must combat the Dark One by themselves.'

The ageless warrior of warriors looked at his God.

'They are mortals fighting forces they cannot understand or reckon with.'

'They understand!' the voice roared, echoing throughout the firmament. 'They have only to open the pages of their Bible and read it! It is all there for them to learn.'

'They don't have the time.'