to stop this thing. He’d put more faith in the tanks. He looked back out the window and saw the two tanks taking up a position across the street.
The demon dropped into view, just in front of the town hall. For a moment, it blocked Todd’s vision, then it half-flew and half ran towards one of the tanks. The tank’s machine gun blazed, and bullets ricocheted off the demon and off the walls of the building. Todd instinctively ducked down and away from the window in case a stray bullet came thorough.
When he peeked back up, the demon was standing in front of the tank, holding a soldier above his head. The big gun of the tank fired at point blank range. The sound was deafening, and smoke filled the air, clouding over the area and engulfing the monster in black soot. Surely, that was enough to kill it, Todd thought. He watched and waited for the smoke to clear.
Everything was silent, shrouded in smoke and falling debris. Todd waited in anticipation.
“I think they got him,” he said softly. He glanced quickly at his mother. She looked like she was praying.
Then, as the smoke and dust finally settled, he saw it still standing there in front of the tank. The soldier it had been holding over its head was now nothing more than a piece of meat, torn and charred and ripped into pieces. But the demon was whole. It had taken a step or two backward, but still stood tall. The thing looked down at itself and picked a small, fist-sized piece of rock off its chest, where the tank shell had hit. That was all that had come off. The demon seemed to laugh, then threw the small piece of itself at the man on the tank with the machine gun, where it crushed through his helmet and instantly brained him.
Todd couldn’t watch the rest. He knew they were done for now, no matter what they did. The last thing he saw was the demon flipping the tank on its side. Then he ran over to sit by his mother, feeling the comfort of her arms around him. Although he wasn’t very good at it, and didn’t really feel like it would do any good, he joined her in silent prayer and tried hard not to pay attention to the screams and shrieks that were coming from outside the Town Hall.
2
The darkness was complete now; the last of the setting sun had disappeared, and the moon was low on the eastern horizon. But Erik didn’t need any light to see. He could feel the presence of the altar stone standing across the field. In fact, it called to him, attracted him now.
“Come,” it seemed to say. “Join with us. There’s no need to fight. You can be on the winning side.”
Erik shook his head in an attempt to clear it. He wondered if the thing was calling to Dovecrest, too, or if this piece of fun was just for his benefit.
He thought about Vickie again and this time he had a sudden bad feeling. They hadn’t made it safely to the hospital. He didn’t know how he knew, but he was sure of it.
“Join us and your family will be safe,” the voice seemed to say in his head. “They will be taken care of. You won’t have to worry anymore.”
It was almost tempting. How many times had he seen evil rewarded during his lifetime? It seemed that those with the least amount of good in them were often the most successful. Some of these people just seemed to have a knack for getting ahead. He, on the other hand, had to work for whatever he got. It hadn’t come easy. Even now, though he certainly had achieved success, there were those whose work was half as good and who earned ten times what he made….
Stop it, he told himself. You’re listening to this thing. You’re letting it get to you. You have a good home and a decent living and a great family. Stop being jealous and enjoy what you have.
“You won’t have that family for long,” the voice said. Then it sent him an image of the demon clutching Vickie and Todd by the hair, dragging them along Main Street.
“Stop it!” he said, and only when Dovecrest turned to look at him did he realize he had spoken out loud.
“Sorry,” he mumbled.
“Don’t let it turn you,” Dovecrest said. “It’ll try to show you things….”
“It already has,” Erik said softly. “The things it shows me-are they real? Will they happen?”
“Maybe. Maybe not.”
“How will I know?”
“You won’t know.”
“Vickie and Todd are in trouble. I know it. I feel it. It’s not just that thing getting to me.”
“We are all in trouble, my friend. If you really want to save your family, we have to finish our work here.”
“I know. It’s just that…waiting is so hard.”
“Waiting is harder than doing,” Dovecrest said. “But that’s what we have to do right now. We have to wait.”
“How much longer?”
Dovecrest laughed. “I don’t know. But if that thing is trying to get to you, that’s a good sign.”
“What makes you say that?”
“Because if it didn’t fear you, it wouldn’t be trying to convert you.”
“So now it’s afraid of us, right?”
“Maybe fear isn’t the right word,” Dovecrest agreed. “But we have its attention and it’s worried.”
“Then why doesn’t it just come here and destroy us before we have a chance to act?”
“I don’t know,” Dovecrest said. “But I never said it wouldn’t try.”
Erik just shook his head. “That’s what I’ve grown to love about you,” he said.
“What’s that?”
“The way you can be so comforting in times of stress.”
Dovecrest laughed. “Hey, at least I got you to stop worrying about your family, didn’t I?”
“Yeah,” Erik said. “Only now I’m worried again.”
3
The demon had enjoyed tearing up the town and killing the soldiers. The helicopter had come apart a little too easy, and the tanks hadn’t even been a challenge. But the looks on their faces when the thing had fired at it and not damaged it had been worth it all. It had heard the collective groan of despair when they’d seen it still standing. Their collective hope had evaporated into dust. They had turned and run away without a fight. It had killed a few as they fled, but for the most part it had let them go. Just its presence had damaged them enough. None of them would ever be the same. Yes, it had enjoyed the killing spree. But it was time to get back to business now. The woman and the unborn child-ultimate innocence. That’s what it wanted. To destroy it at the moment of birth.
It turned back towards the building where the woman and the boy had gone. They thought they could hide inside. But it would go inside and get them. Nothing would stop it now. It was invincible.
It could reignite itself and resume its fiery flaming shape and burn its way through the door. But it was enjoying the physical thrill of crushing and maiming in this form-hands-on, it thought. It leaped into the air once again and flew to the door of the building. The door was strong. But not strong enough. It reached out and grabbed the heavy iron handles and pulled. It resisted for just a few seconds, then popped off with a thud and a clang as it fell to the ground. The door swung back easily on its hinges now.
It could smell the fear of the woman and the child inside. It could also sense the unborn, which had no fear, only innocence. It would break, corrupt, destroy that innocence at that perfect moment of birth, just as an insult into the face of all that was good. It would do this because it could and because it must.
The last soldier made a feeble attempt at resistance. He shot the demon and tried to stab him with a bayonet. The demon grabbed his gun and twisted it into an obscene shape around the man’s neck. Then it smashed his nasal cavity up into his brain. The soldier dropped to the ground, senseless and dying, blood flowing from his nose and mouth like a river.
