place.”
“So you’re saying that a group of devil worshippers lived here in the late 1600’s?” Erik asked.
“Yes. But their ways of worship were evil and included death and suffering. This stone in the picture is real- very real. They built it from a rock that fell from the sky, and they would sacrifice living men, women, and children upon it.
“The tribe didn’t like what was going on. We worship a good god, a god of life who cares for his people, not a god of pain and suffering. Even so, we might not have interfered if our own children did not start to disappear.
“So we sent a messenger to the city to Roger Williams. We did not want war with the city or with the white man, but we could no longer tolerate the Evil Ones. Roger Williams agreed that these Evil Ones must be stopped. Some white men came and helped us. We rounded up the evil ones and put them to death. There were twelve of them and their leader. The twelve were killed swiftly. But the leader was infested with a powerful demon that had to be killed by fire.
“The men from the city told us we would have to build a huge fire and tie the leader to a stake in the center where he would be burned alive. So that is what we did. As he burned, we could hear the demon within him screaming. And the demon promised us that it would be back, and be more powerful than ever before. The burning didn’t kill the demon; it only drove it back into the pits of hell. And it has been waiting for a chance to return ever since.
“As the medicine man, I was given charge to watch over this place and make sure the demon did not return. And since that time I have watched. God has entrusted me with this duty, and after I reached my 60th birthday, he granted me the gift of never growing older.”
The Indian stopped for a moment and smiled. “I only wish I could have been granted that gift at the age of 30.”
Erik and Mark forced a small laugh.
“And so now the demon is coming back?”
“I am afraid so, my friend.”
“These Evil Ones,” Erik said. “What happened to their bodies?”
“They were buried along with the ashes of their leader, and markers were put in place to keep them dead.”
“The historical graveyard,” Erik said.
“Yes.”
“The graveyard was disturbed by a bulldozer when the new road was put through. That’s what started all of this.”
“Yes,” Dovecrest said. “I feared that is what happened. Now I know it for sure.”
“The altar stone,” Erik said. “Why wasn’t it destroyed?”
“It cannot be destroyed. It was formed with powerful magic from beyond the earth itself. We have tried to destroy it, but it cannot be destroyed.”
“So what, exactly, is happening now?” Mark asked.
“The demon is trying to come back. It feeds off of the pain and suffering of others. It demands a sacrifice, and grows stronger with each one. After it has grown strong enough, it will appear on earth in the flesh, where it will kill and destroy.”
“The missing girl-was she….”
“She was sacrificed tonight. The demon has a new group of followers and they took her to the altar. I thought I could stop them, but I failed. She was killed.”
“We’re going to have to call the sheriff,” Mark said.
“It won’t do any good,” Dovecrest said. “The law won’t help us now. The girl is dead and they won’t find her-unless it wants her to be found. I wounded the leader and I may have killed one of the others. But it will find replacements easily enough. No. We’re going to have to handle this ourselves.”
“But how?” Erik asked. “Do we burn the leader at the stake again?”
“That won’t destroy it. That only sends it back to where it comes from. Then it will come back again. I think the only way to destroy it is to go to where it comes from.”
“In other words, you need to go to hell,” Erik said, and then realized that what he said might sound flippant.
“Yes,” Dovecrest said. “I think that’s exactly what has to be done.”
“Ok,” the pastor said. “Suppose you’re right. Suppose the only way to destroy this thing it to go where it lives, even if that place is hell. How do you get there?”
Dovecrest swallowed the last of his coffee and thought for a moment. “I don’t know,” he said finally. “I just don’t know.”
4
Vickie was waiting for him when Erik got home. “Where have you been?” she asked. “I was so worried. “It’s almost ten o’clock.”
“I ran into Pastor Mark and we went for coffee,” he explained. “I’m sorry, Vic. I should have called.”
“It’s all right,” she said. “But with all that’s been going on, I was worried about you.”
“Thanks,” he said, giving her a hug. “It’s nice to be worried about. But I didn’t mean to upset you.”
She smiled at him. “Todd was worried too, for a little while. Then he said it was ok, that you were all right. It’s like he knew.”
“Is he sleeping?”
“He’s in bed. Sleeping? I don’t know about that.”
“I’ll go check on him.”
Erik found that his son was still awake, but at least he was quiet and in bed with just a nightlight on. He wouldn’t go to bed without it any more.
“You doing ok, Sport?”
“I’m ok, Dad. But that missing girl’s dead.”
“How do you know that?”
“I don’t know how. But I know. I could just feel it. But I knew you were ok.”
Erik nodded. Even though it didn’t make sense, it made sense. “I talked with Johnny Dovecrest and Pastor Mark about that rock,” he said. “And we’re going to put a stop to what’s going on.”
“I’m not sure you can do that, Dad.”
“I’m not sure I can do that either. But with the pastor’s help, and Dovecrest, I think we can.”
Todd didn’t look too convinced as Erik studied his face by the dim light of the nightlight. And Erik admitted to himself that he wasn’t very convinced either. But they had to do something.
“It’ll all work out fine,” he said, and he kissed his son goodnight. “Just don’t tell your mother about any of this yet. It would only upset her.”
“I won’t, Dad. There isn’t anything she could do anyway.”
Erik nodded. It was really quite funny how quickly his whole world had turned upside down, he thought. He’d woke up this morning living in a normal, mundane world, and now, just a few hours later, he was having no trouble at all believing in demons and magic. Some small part of his brain still wanted to be skeptical. That would make it easy-he’d be able to just bury his head in the sand and ignore it, and it would all go away, would never have existed.
But in his soul, he knew the truth, and his son knew it too. His son felt it. Todd had almost become the thing’s first victim. He’s experienced it, and that made him somehow closer to it.
“Good night,” Erik said, and wandered back downstairs to spend some time with his wife. He thought he’d better take advantage of a few quiet moments while he could, because he had the feeling that things were going to get extremely wild in the days to come.
