Black Stump Ridge (24 page)

“I don’t rightly know, Granny.” The big man looked sheepish. “I guess I thought y’might need a hand with yore things. Carryin’ ‘em in th’ dark an’ all. An’ mebbe cover your back in case things gets, I don’t know, outta hand or somethin’.”

Truly was touched. She hugged him. “Why, I thankee mos’ kindly fer that. I don’ think they’s much you kin do t’ help with the conjurin’ side o’ things. I ain’t even lettin’ June Bug help me an’ I been teachin’ her t’ take m’place some day. As fer pertectin’ me from
him
, well, if he gets past my personal wards, ain’t nothin’ you kin do but high tail it outta there as fast as y’can. I’ll already be dead an’ way b’yond anyone’s help. If y’feel like y’just gotta lend a hand, then grab that satchel an’ step outside. I’ll catch up in a minute.”

•

Truly glanced at the glowing window on the second floor of Lawyer’s house. The white curtains hid any sign of the occupants, but she knew they were somewhere just beyond the opaque fabric.

“Ah’m gonna try t’ do this quiet-like,” she whispered to Jake. “Ah need you to step back from the openin’ an’ keep an eye out for th’ strangers. If they come out here, you gotta keep them away from me. No matter what happens, they dasn’t interfere.”

Jake said nothing. She glanced at his face. He stared, his eyes as wide as they could open, at something behind her. She turned.

“Did
he
do that?” Jake’s whisper was hoarse and full of awe.

Truly looked at the tortured metal that rose above the stones. She staggered slightly. The blood drained from her face. Her stomach knotted. Primal fear gripped her. Her bladder threatened to empty, but she managed to retain control – barely. The circular piece of steel she last saw over the opening now stood like a twisted abstract sculpture.

“Lady,” she whispered, “we got a powerful lot o’ work ahead of us t’night.”

She looked at the damage for a moment longer and then turned away. Jake stared, slack-jawed. She’d never seen him so stunned. She put her bag on the ground and placed her hands on his chest.

“Ah need you to snap out of it, boy.” She pushed gently on his chest. He took one step backwards, and then another. He shook his head. He blinked, and then looked down at her.

“I’m okay,” he said. “Last time I saw a piece o’ steel that looked like that, it was an armored personnel carrier that got hit by a LAWs rocket. No, that ain’t quite right. The APC looked a lot better. Not by much, though.”

He looked down at her again. “Whatcha need me t’ do?”

Truly guided Jake to a spot about twenty feet away from the opening and in the shadow of the house. “I need you t’ make sure no one gets any closer than this t’ me or the cave. I don’t care what you gotta do. If anyone bothers me at th’ wrong time, we’s all dead.”

“You got it, Granny.”

She smiled at him and then turned away. The smile disappeared as she walked to the bag. She carried it closer to the stone circle.

Time to make a circle of my own,
she thought. She pulled materials from the valise. Within minutes she had four thick candles burning, one at each compass point. Two tapers flickered from a portable altar in the center of the circle defined by the four large candles. Incense smoked from a ceramic bowl. Steeling herself for the cold November air, she completely disrobed and stepped to the altar. With her right hand she picked up a black handled knife. She stepped to the easternmost candle. Taking a deep breath, she raised the blade and started to chant.

“Spirits of the East, I call upon ye…

Truly heard claws scrabbling on stone as she finished her first invocation.

Too soon!
she thought.
I don’t have the circle cast, yet.

She turned. The creature was a third of the way clear of the low stone wall. It was everything she feared it would be. Wide, leathery wings slowly unfurled. Massive ram’s horns spiraled from either side of the goat head. Crimson eyes bored into her. The smell of burning sulfur filled her nostrils. One cloven hoof cleared the stone circle and stomped onto the frozen turf. Smoke and steam curled upward from the demon’s foot.

“Baphomet.” The name hissed through her lips as she recognized the being. She raised her athame towards it as she screamed her defiance. “Be gone, thou unclean thing! You are not welcome here!”

“Your forest fairy is no match for me, little grandmother,”
the creature’s basso voice thundered inside her head. “
I walked among the stars while she was weaving floral garlands and I shall eat this world when she is but a faint echo in time.”

It extended one scaly claw towards her. It expanded as it came closer until it was large enough to envelope her. She felt the demon’s heat radiate from it. At the last moment she reversed the point of her athame.

“You will not have me!” she screamed as the knife slid deep inside of her.

•

Jake stared in disbelief. A beautiful, young Vietnamese girl walked slowly towards him. He rubbed his eyes. Mei Li. It couldn’t be. The last time he saw her was in 1974 in Saigon. They’d shared a hooch for three months. Long, shiny black hair framed her oval face; her almond eyes smoked with sensuality and promise; her petite frame and small, firm breasts drove him wild with desire.

The war was ending. Chaos was king and ruled with an indiscriminate hand. The Americans were withdrawing and the North Vietnamese Army under General Giap was driving in from the north almost totally unopposed. She was only twenty-two and terrified.

“Why you leave me, Jake-san?”

He blinked. She stood less than ten feet from him. She was exactly as he remembered her. But, that was impossible. More than twenty years had passed.

“You say you love me long time.”
She walked closer.

“You’re not here.”

“You promise me I come America with you.”

Her perfume filled his nostrils.

“I couldn’t. They wouldn’t let me.”

“You numba ten G.I.!”
She spat. She lunged. She grew. Her mouth widened. Her teeth lengthened.
“Now I take you! I make you pay!”

 CHAPTER TWENTY-FOUR

Dave was twelve years old and it was Sunday afternoon. He was in the central Pennsylvania house he shared with his parents, his sister, Pauline, and his brother, Mark. Specifically, he was in the finished basement of their three-story home. Dark wood paneling covered the cement walls. The concrete floor was carpeted with a heavy shag rug. A white, textured drop ceiling hid the wires, beams, and pipes that ran beneath the floor above. In spite of the wood and the carpet, the overhead lights set into the false ceiling, and the strategically placed space heaters, the chill never left the room no matter what the season.

Dave sat at the heavy worktable that occupied the middle of the room. A partially completed jigsaw puzzle lay before him. He held one irregularly-shaped piece in his hand as he studied the edges. Thoughts buzzed in his head like gnats at the edge of his vision.

I’m lying on my back, my face is cold, and I have to pee.

Dave placed the piece into an opening along the edge. It fit perfectly. He studied the picture taking shape. After a moment, he shook his head. Not enough, yet. He picked up another piece.

The light’s wrong. It can’t be getting dark already. Are those stars?

He placed another piece and frowned. He didn’t like the scene slowly forming. He grasped another and studied the portion printed on it. All he saw was dark sky.

Where’s the moon? If the day is turning into night, shouldn’t there be a moon?

He stretched his hand to place it near the top.

“Whatcha doin’, Coozin?”

Dave jerked. The picture on the table scattered as the basement vanished. Suddenly he was in the woods, lying on his back, and looking up into the night sky. He turned his head to the left. Fear gripped his stomach with a tiny fist.

Is that a goblin?
He looked closer.

A short being dressed in dirty, tattered jeans crouched near his left shoulder. Sparse hair – dark and greasy – lay in lank strands over its round head. Its wide-set green eyes studied him curiously. The heavy lids closed and opened in a slow blink. The creature’s tiny hands ended in elongated claws.

This has to be a dream,
Dave thought.
Either that or I’ve fallen into Middle Earth. If he asks for his precious, I’m pretty sure I’ll scream.

“Wha’s wrong, Coozin?” The creature’s high-pitched voice sounded childlike.

Troubles, Bubbles?
Dave’s mind cackled.
I’m going crazy.

“Who are you?” he whispered.

“Levi. Levi,” the creature chortled. “M’ mama calls me Levi, and Levi dat be me. I ain’t got no las’ name, but m’ papa’s plain t’ see.”

Oh, Lord,
Dave thought.
I’m dealing with an inbred retard.

The being stopped capering. The green eyes narrowed. “I ain’t no retard. I know that word, Coozin. It’s a ugly word. It means stoopid. I ain’t stoopid. Jus’ ’cause I’s ugly an’ cain’t read don’t mean I ain’t smart like you an’ everbody else. Ah’m jus’ as good as ennybody else.”

Icy fingers tap-danced down Dave’s spine.
Did this creature just read his thoughts?

“Ain’t no cree-chur neither,” Levi growled, confirming Dave’s fears. He crept menacingly towards him. “Ah’m a man, same’s you.”

“I’m sorry. I didn’t mean anything by it.” Dave shivered, only partially from the cold. “I’m hurt. My head. My legs.”

Levi relaxed and looked closer. He sniffed at Dave. “You ain’t from ’roun’ here.”

Dave shook his head. Jagged spikes dug into the back of his eyeballs.

Levi crept towards Dave’s feet.

He moves like a chimpanzee,
Dave thought.

Levi looked back at him, his eyes narrowed. “What’s a ’panzee? Looks like some kinda ape. Ah done tole ya once’t already. Ah ain’t no animal. Ah is a man.”

“Yes. You’re right. You’re a man.” The effort to speak made Dave pant. “It’s just how you move, that’s all.” He lay back from the exertion. A warning pain shot up his leg. His left leg was mercifully numb.

Levi squinted at him for a moment longer. Mollified, he returned his attention to Dave’s leg, but did not touch it.

“Well, well, looky-here, looky-here.” He made a clicking noise. He looked back at Dave but Dave was looking at the sky once more. “Looks like y’all found one o’ Jake’s traps. Gotcher foot good, it did, it did. Yep. Got’er real good an’ tight.”

“Trap?” Dave looked at Levi who was fast becoming a hunched shape in the failing light.

Levi shuffled back to where Dave could see him more clearly. “Yep. Trap. Jake puts’em out all ’roun’ here so no one gets too close to his still. ‘specially strangers like you.”

Moonshiners? What next?
Dave looked skyward and gently shook his head. Pain grated inside his skull.
This movie just gets better and better.

“Ah’ll be raht back, Coozin.” Levi turned to shuffle away. “Ah gotta find somethin’ t’ open th’ jaws so’s ah kin free yore foot.”

“You’re leaving? Where are you going? Don’t leave me out here by myself.”

“Not fur. Don’t you worry none. Ah’ll be raht back. You’ll see.” Levi scrambled away into the darkness.

“Come back!” Dave hollered. “Don’t leave me!”

Only the silence of the dark forest replied.

“Son of a bitch,” he muttered. “If I ever get free, I’m gonna find that little monster and show him how a deer feels.”

Slowly, carefully, Dave forced himself to a sitting position. He waited until the world stopped spinning. While he struggled to stop his panting, he looked at his legs stretched out in front of him. The left one looked all right. The jeans cuff was dark and damp, but it didn’t look like blood.

He looked at the right leg and nearly threw up. He closed his eyes until the nausea passed. Even with his eyes squeezed tightly shut, he could still see the jaws cutting deeply into his leg just above his ankle. Why hadn’t he worn his leather boots? They laced halfway up his calf. He remembered thinking that they were too much trouble; his sneakers would be good enough. It wasn’t like he had to worry about snakebites at this time of the year. He shook his head. Obviously there were other things that bit that were unaffected by the cold.

He looked at his leg once more. He thought he might be able to pry the jaws apart, but positioning himself to where he could reach it was going to hurt. A lot.

Bracing himself, Dave eased his butt toward the trap, slowly bending his knee and sliding his hands alongside his hips as he did so. Despite his caution, pain slammed into his brain. His vision grayed. Sounds grew faint and distant. His face tingled and felt clammy. A few seconds passed. The grayness faded. He waited for a few more seconds, taking deep breaths and preparing for the pain he knew would come next.