Black Forest, Denver Cereal Volume 5 (26 page)

Noelle and Nash screamed with pain. Holding
their ears, they collapsed to the dirt.

“
Protect them!” Delphie
screamed.

“
Charlie! Teddy! Do it
now!” Jacob yelled.

Charlie and Teddy knelt down around Noelle
and Nash. Seth pulled his car into the gravel driveway of the
mansion. In one motion, Seth stepped out, put his arm over the hood
of the Bugatti, and emptied the clip of his handgun into the
creature. The creature laughed at his efforts. Flying above, the
creature spread his wings and screeched at Seth. Noelle and Nash
cowered in pain.

“
Jill! Stay with the
kids,” Jacob yelled. “I’ll let you know when you can
come.”

Jacob kissed her cheek. She stroked his
cheek, ran to the children, and set Katy down. Reloading his
handgun while he ran, Seth joined them on the hill.

“
There’s nothing you can
do,” Jacob said.

“
Ava?” Seth asked. He
holstered his weapon.

“
She’s inside,” Delphie
said. “We have to get her away from…”

Delphie gestured toward the creature. Seth
nodded.

“
Listen for me. Come when
I call you,” Jacob said to Seth. Turning to Delphie, he asked.
"Ready?”

“
Ready,” Delphie said.
Jill nodded.

With a nod, Jacob and Delphie ran into the
barn.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED & THIRTY-EIGHT

Chances

Tuesday night — 9:35 P.M.

“
Oh my God,” Delphie
gasped when she saw Ava. “Jacob!”

“
Create the vortex!” Jacob
said. “Do it now!”

Delphie created a white energetic vortex to
keep the creature off them while they worked. Unable to see Ava
clearly, Jacob began climbing a ladder attached to the barn wall.
He was halfway up the wall when he backed down a few rungs. Trying
to determine what held Ava in the air, he lingered on the ladder
for a moment.

“
What happened?” Delphie
asked.

“
The ladder is electrified
at the top,” Jacob said. “He must have expected Seth.”

“
Can you…?” Delphie
started to ask.

With one hand, Jacob used his kinetic
capacity to suspend Ava’s weight. There was a loud clanging sound
as the creature bashed against Delphie’s vortex. With his other
hand, Jacob unhooked the leather strap from Ava’s wind pipe.

Clang! The creature bashed against Delphie’s
vortex.

Jacob removed the dowel from under Ava’s
elbows. The dowel bounced on the beams until it dropped to the
ground.

Clang! The creature bashed against the
vortex.

“
Seth!” Jacob screamed.
“NOW!”

With his weapon in his hand, Seth ran into
the barn.

“
The gun won’t work. All
metal goes right through him,” Jacob yelled.

Seth holstered his handgun.

“
You have to catch her,”
Jacob said. “We’ll only have a moment before it’ll attack. Stay
with Delphie.”

Still supporting her weight, Jacob undid the
straps holding Ava’s wrists to the beam. Ava’s body dropped and the
creature attacked. The full force of the entity’s malice broke
through the vortex. Unable to support Ava’s body and fight the
creature, Jacob had to let her fall. She dropped into Seth’s arms
with a thud. Jacob repelled the creature long enough for Delphie to
pull the vortex around herself, Seth and Ava.

“
Seth! Take her to Jill,”
Jacob rushed the creature. “Go!”

Jacob’s entire attention turned to the
creature. Unlike the last time, Jacob didn’t have supplies: no
salt, no fire, nothing. He had to face the entity on his own. But
this time he had two advantages: he’d fought this entity before and
he’d weakened its power the last time. The creature seemed unable
to retreat into its semi-vapor state. Jacob pushed the creature out
of the wretched barn and into the open field.

They fought.

For every blow he ducked, the entity landed
two more. For every blow he dealt, the creature slipped through his
grasp. The creature’s keepers, the ancient Native American shamans,
joined him in the battle. They fought shoulder to shoulder against
the evil creature. Moving in, they created a tight circle around
the creature. It flew straight up. Screeching, the creature flew
over their heads toward the barn.

“
DADDY!” Katy screamed in
horror.

Jacob raced around the side of the barn to
where the children stood. Charlie and Teddy stood like soldiers as
the creature moved in. Katy, Noelle and Nash cowered behind them.
Seth sat next to Jill while her entire focus was on Ava’s neck.

“
NO!” Seth screamed. Jill
and Seth jumped to their feet.

The creature raised a hand to strike at the
children. Pulling his handgun, Seth emptied another clip into the
creature. Unfazed, the creature grabbed him by the shoulders and
shook him. Jill moved forward and reached out toward the
creature.

With all her might, Jill struck with every
sensation she could muster that was the opposite of her healing
power. The blow seemed to strengthen the entity. The creature
dropped Seth and turned to her. Its foul mouth turned up in a smile
before it jumped to attack Jill.

“
MOMMY! NO!” Katy
screamed.

A pillar of light rose from behind Charlie
and Teddy. Through Katy, Noelle and Nash formed a laser of light.
Running from inside the barn, Delphie joined the children to direct
the light.

The creature screamed in pain but the light
held strong. The creature attacked the light with its talons and
was repelled. Pushed back, the entity ran into Jacob. With the
assistance of the laser of light, Jacob kept the creature away from
the children. After checking Seth, Jill crawled back to Ava’s prone
body.

Screeching, the creature took to the air. It
flapped its wings over the small group. Swooping in to strike at
the children again, the entity was attacked from above by an
enormous, beautiful serpent like-being. The force of the serpent’s
attack caused Jacob to fall back.

The creatures fought in the air. The purple
serpent ripped a vicious tear in the creature’s wing. The creature
plummeted to the earth. The serpent followed it to the ground.

They reengaged on the ground. The entity
swiped at the serpent. Enraged, the serpent creature blew a stream
of fire at the creature. The entity fell backward. It tried to take
to the air but with its damaged wing, it fell to the earth.

Jacob and the Native American shamans
surrounded the fight. The entity jumped to its feet, tripped then
fell onto its back. The shamans drummed and chanted in unison. The
earth opened and a dungeon appeared deep within the earth. The
shamans’ voices raised in chant. The serpent gave another stream of
fire and the evil entity fell into its earthen dungeon.

The shamans stopped. The ground shook and
the dungeon slammed closed. The tremor knocked the small group to
the ground. As if it had never stopped, the purple serpent took to
the air and passed over the helicopter before sailing off into the
night.

After all the chaos and noise, the only
sound was the wind and the helicopter

“
What the… what in the
hell was that?” Charlie whispered.

“
Which one?” Nash
asked.

“
I don’t know,” Teddy
said.

“
What did you see?” Nash
asked.

“
A dragon. I swear it
fought that evil creature,” Noelle said.

“
I saw a dragon and a… I
don’t know what,” Teddy shivered. “Charlie?”

Charlie nodded. He helped Noelle and Nash up
and held out his arms to Katy. For his own comfort as well as hers,
he lifted Katy into his arms. She let him snuggle her.

“
All safe?” Jacob
asked.

“
What did you see, Jake?”
Charlie asked.

“
I saw the earth right
itself,” Jacob said. “My mother used to say that for every natural
evil there is at least one beautiful light.”

“
Only humans have to
decide between dark and light. Everything else is born that way,”
Delphie said. “Yes, that was a light.”

Jacob took Katy from Charlie and walked to
Seth, Ava and Jill. Seth had taken off his leather coat and wrapped
it around Ava. Holding her hand, he hovered over her. One of the
flight crew arrived with emergency blankets and news. The police,
paramedics, and Ava’s parents were on their way.

“
How is she?” Jacob asked
Jill.

“
She’s going to be fine,”
Jill smiled at him.

Ava opened her mouth to say something.

“
Shh,” Jill said. “Your
voice is injured. It’s better if you don’t talk. She needs a
hospital now.”

Tears streamed down Ava’s face and she shook
her head.

“
Your parents are on their
way,” Seth said to Ava.

“
Jill? The children have a
full night ahead,” Delphie said. “Let’s get them on their
way.”

Jill got up from the ground. She winked at
Seth and went to the children. Seth took Jill’s place at Ava’s
head. He leaned down to kiss her face.

“
How did you make that
cool light?” Teddy asked Noelle.

“
I was so scared that I
grabbed Nash,” Noelle said.

“
Katy was going to run to
her mom,” Nash said. “I grabbed her to protect her.”

Nash and Noelle looked at Katy sitting on
Jacob’s hip. Katy laughed like she’d made a funny joke. Noelle
laughed with Katy. They began to walk back to the helicopter.

“
Scrappy Doo,” Charlie
whispered to Nash.

“
Katy?” Nash nodded
conspiratorially. He nudged Teddy and nodded to Katy, “Scrappy
Doo.”

Teddy laughed. Jacob slipped his arm around
Jill and walked back to the helicopter.

“
How are you?” she
asked.

“
Battered but good. I may
need your magic touch,” Jacob raised his eyebrows suggestively. She
blushed. “You?”

“
Happy for Ava,” Jill
said. “She’s head over heels for Seth. Do you think he’s the
same?”

“
I don’t know him well
enough to know,” Jacob said.

“
But their
future?”

“
Bright,” Jacob smiled.
Most women would be overwhelmed by the horror, filth, and evil
terror of the last few moments. But his Jill’s only focus was on
love. He kissed her head. “Why don’t you go with the kids and
Delphie? I can get back with Seth. He’ll need the
company.”

“
I saw the car too,” Jill
smiled at him.

Jacob laughed. He helped her into the
helicopter and lifted Katy in after her. Katy ran off to sit next
to Noelle. Standing back, he waved to Zack and watched the
helicopter rise. He jogged across the field. When he approached he
heard Ava’s whisper of a voice. He was about to turn away when he
heard:

“
Joystick Jake,” Seth
laughed.

“
High school.” Laughing,
Jacob shrugged. He looked up to see Seth and Ava
kissing.

“
Would you mind…?” Seth
asked.

Jacob shook his head and walked down the
hill toward the mansion. Seth bent over Ava.

“
You’re going to be all
right now,” Seth said.

“
Please don’t leave me,”
Ava whispered. Her voice came with a deep rasp. He had to put his
head next to her mouth to hear her.

“
We don’t have much of a
choice,” he said. “Your parents will be here to care for you. You
need peace, quiet, and time. You have to grieve… Beth, this
horrible experience… it takes time and peace. I can’t give you that
now.”

“
You haven’t found him,”
Ava whispered. Seth kissed her face.

“
I barely found you,” Seth
said.

“
But you did,” Ava
said.

They heard a siren. Across the dark field,
they could see the flashing lights of emergency vehicles racing in
their direction.

“
You won’t forget me,” Ava
said.

He shook his head.

“
You’ll wait for me,” Ava
said.

He nodded. He looked up to watch the
Brighton police cruise come up the old driveway. He was about to
get up when Ava grabbed his hand. She eyes searched his face until
their eyes caught.

“
You’ll find him,” Ava
said.

“
I’ll do my best,” Seth
said.

“
I love you,” she
said.

Seth smiled. She chuckled

“
You love me,” she said.
“You just can’t say it. It’s all right. Bonita told me.”

He touched her face and stood up to meet the
paramedics running toward him. Jacob ran up the hill to stand with
him while they worked on Ava. They had loaded Ava onto a stretcher
when a Denver Police helicopter landed in the muddy field. Ava’s
mother and father ran to her side. Police officers swarmed the
area. The Chief of Police came to stand next to Seth.

“
Good work, O’Malley,” the
Chief said. “New Mexico State Police confirmed the residence. You
were right. There’s an entire room of photos and detailed logs of
murders. We’ll be able to recover the rest of the bodies next
week.”

Seth nodded.

“
Go home,” the Chief said.
“You’ll need to make a full statement, your friends too. IAD’s
going to want a piece of you for disobeying a direct order. Then,
I’m going to need you to find the bastard who did this. But for
now, I’m giving you a few days leave.”