Preta's Realm (26 page)

The log construction left gaps in the walls that the historians filled with plaster. Cobwebs sprawled from corner to corner, covering most of the cheap replicas placed to instill a sense of authenticity. A blue plastic bag hung from a loose nail on one wall, dog feces now fossilized inside.

“Hey, Bri,” she said.

The figure turned and Molly froze.

“Hey, hon,” Drew responded.

“I—I thought I was meeting Brian here. He found my ring. I must have left it on the table at the alley the other night. You know how hard it is to bowl with—”

“You’re rambling.”

Molly put her chin to her chest and then looked up at Drew through the flickering candlelight. “The police are looking for you. Did you kill those people, Drew?”

Drew shook his head. “Doesn’t really matter what I say, does it?” he asked.

“I know you’re not a killer.”

“The cops have me for this,” he replied. “And I’m sure they’ll have the physical evidence they need.”

“Why did you get me here, Drew? What is it you want from me?”

Drew stood and walked to Molly. He smelled her conditioner and saw the light tangle with her hair. Drew put a hand to her face and caressed her cheek.

“Remember when we used to run around, back in college? We’d work until ten or eleven, go out drinking, get food, mess around in my car, and then get home as the sun was coming up. The next day, we’d do it all again.”

Molly opened her eyes and looked into Drew’s. A tear fell from his face.

“Yeah, I remember that.”

“Feels like another lifetime ago, eh, Molly?”

“We can get you help. My mother knows a great attorney and he’s been very successful at—”

“I miss that look in your eye, the way you used to look at me.”

“Drew, listen. You have to pull it together and do this for Billy and Sara.”

“Yes, for the kids,” he replied.

Molly nodded, a nervous smile sprouting.

Drew took Molly by the shoulders and guided her to the chair he was sitting in when she arrived. She sat down and knocked a cloud of dust into the air of the musty cabin. Drew walked behind her, his hands on her shoulders. He knelt down, buried his face in her hair, and inhaled.

“What are you doing, Drew?”

He stood and put the rope around Molly’s wrists and tied them behind her back. He laced several loops around her ankles, tossing Molly’s concealed weapon to the corner.

“Drew, wait,” Molly started to say.

Drew put a finger to her lips and shook his head. “Why Brian?” he asked.

Molly curled her bottom lip under her top one. She opened her mouth and closed it several times before giving up on words and shaking her head.

“He’s gone, dead,” Drew said with an indifferent tone.

Molly heaved and then shook. “Did you kill him?” she asked.

Drew laughed and held his hands in the air. “Yes. No. Maybe. Who the fuck knows? Does it matter if it was by my hand or Gaki’s?”

Molly turned her head and gave Drew a quizzical look.

“Answer me. Why Brian?”

“You quit being you. You stopped brushing your hand over my back when walking through the kitchen. You stopped kissing me when leaving the house. You stopped being passionate.”

“And so you find that passion in my best friend? You decide to wreck our family, forsake our kids, and shit on our relationship to fuck my best friend?”

Molly shook at the increasing volume of Drew’s voice. His words rattled the cabin, masking the downpour of rain outside.

“I’m sorry,” Molly whimpered.

“I’m sure you’re fucking sorry!” he screamed. “Now you’re fucking sorry!”

“Drew, please don’t do this.”

“I have to. You don’t understand. In a way, your cheating ass made it easier. If you had not been with Brian, I wouldn’t have known what to do. But you spread your legs for him and that makes it very easy. You for them, sweetheart. You for them.”

Molly shook. She moved her fingers over the rope, looking for a space in the knots. Her feet moved back and forth, attempting to loosen the knots on her ankles.

“What are you talking about, Drew? I’m worried. I’m worried for you and for the kids.”

Drew cackled. The sound hurt her ears. “There’s nothing to worry about now. The deal’s been struck and all that’s left is to seal it.”

“Are you going to kill me, Drew? The mother of your children. Are you going to kill me? They’ll catch you and leave you to rot in prison. Billy and Sara won’t have a chance in life.”

“I’m giving them that chance, you bitch!” Drew stamped a foot in front of Molly. “Fucking Gaki never gave me a chance, but I’m saving them. I’m saving their souls, and in a way, so are you.”

Drew stepped back and reached inside his coat for a ten-inch hunting knife. The polished blade shone like a jewel in the meager light. Molly’s breath hitched and she shook her arms and legs, rattling the chair on the floor.

“Oh my God,” she cried. “Drew, please, no.”

Drew crouched down in front of Molly, his face looking up at hers. A trickle of blood came from her lip. He wiped it away with one finger and shook his head back and forth.

“Gaki never said it had to be a painful, torturous end. Sit still and let me save our children. Your blood will save them from eternal damnation. My life and your blood. Isn’t that the ultimate sacrifice parents make?”

He drew the knife up to Molly’s face. She closed her eyes and tilted her head back to expose the white crease of her neck.

“You’ve lost your mind and you will pay for that in hell,” she whispered.

“I’m paying now. My grandfather paid and I’m sure my entire line has paid. That ends today. Gaki can possess another soul, take another into the curse. My obligation ends now.”

Drew lifted the blade. His hand shook back and forth. He turned the sharp edge towards Molly’s throat. Drew placed the steel on her skin and felt the pressure on it. He closed his eyes and dropped his head. He looked up again and Molly was staring at him. Her eyes bored through his.

“The cunt betrayed you. She let your best friend stick his dick inside her. He came on her. Stop hesitating and seal the deal. Spill her blood and your children are free.”

Drew heard Gaki’s words coming from Molly’s mouth. He stuttered and turned away. When Drew looked back into her face, he saw the terrified look of his wife. She whimpered, tears streaming down her cheek.

Drew pushed the knife into Molly’s neck and pierced the skin under her left ear. He felt her shake and watched the first drop of blood taint the blade. Drew began to slide the serrated edge across her throat when a force shook the cabin. It sounded as if a lightning bolt exploded on the structure. The manufactured artifacts fell from the mantle and dust rained down on Molly and Drew. He dropped the knife and fell to the side as the door to the cabin burst open in a confusing mix of light, wind, and blinding rain.

Chapter 15

“You plaster the walls of your domicile with filth and now you must fill my head with the sounds of it as well.”

Ravna used an exaggerated motion to punch the power button on the car stereo. The old man had no appreciation for the heavy vibe of Threefold Law.

“His home?”

Mashoka shook his head.

“Work?”

“Centennial Park. He is there.”

Ravna pulled the Ford Taurus into the right lane, the rear axle rod groaning underneath the seventy-thousand miles accumulated on it. Mashoka put the window down a few inches in order to better see inside the fury of the storm. Water splashed onto the dashboard.

“C’mon, man!” cried Ravna. “Only ten more payments and this girl is all mine.”

The old man ignored the remark and squinted. “Faster,” he said. “There isn’t much time left.”

Ravna accelerated and maneuvered the car as best he could without being reckless. The rain came harder and the water poured across the road, ignoring the storm drains lodged under the curb.

“I’ve never seen rain like this.”

“It is Gaki. He is trying to keep us from him.”

Ravna drove further until he came upon the entrance to the park. The wind swayed the trees back and forth while the rain carried currents of leaves and debris down the sidewalk.

“This looks like something out of Middle Earth.”

Mashoka turned an eye to Ravna and shrugged his shoulders.

“Fangorn Forest? The Two Towers? The Lord of the Rings?”

Mashoka continued looking at Ravna with a blank stare.

“You sure he’s in there?”

“I feel him.”

Ravna parked the car a hundred feet from the entrance. He jumped out and ran around to the other side, where he opened the door for Mashoka. He allowed the old man to grab his elbows and Ravna lifted him off the seat and onto his feet.

“Bet Gaki is shaking in his boots now that he sees you coming.”

Mashoka ignored the sarcasm and bent down for his cane on the floor of the car. He nodded at the gate. The rain came sideways, pushing the men off the asphalt path. They stumbled to the gate and through it.

“Which way?” Ravna asked, screaming over the torrential rain.

Mashoka pointed to the right and hobbled back on the asphalt path towards the cabin. Ravna came up beside him and offered assistance, but the old man shrugged him off.

“What do we do when we get there?”

“Gaki is there with the trapped soul. However, he has another, too. He plans to take both.”

“Two people?”

“One cannot explain the ways of Gaki. The one under the spell is poised to take the life of another, probably someone close.”

Ravna and Mashoka turned around the bend and saw the cabin. It sat like a rotten tooth inside a mouth of naked, spindly trees.

“Can’t we call the police?”

“Sure. Call Father William, too, while you’re at.”

Ravna smiled, impressed with the Mashoka’s sharp wit. The old man continued towards the cabin. The rain subsided, still a major thunderstorm but no longer powerful enough to knock them from the path.

“Gaki has accepted our challenge. He knows we’re here.”

They stood at the threshold of the door. The wind and the rain continued its natural symphony and nothing could be heard from inside the structure.

“What’s the plan?” Ravna asked in a whisper.

“There is no plan,” replied Mashoka.

“Surely we didn’t come here to die at the foot of a demon, for fuck’s sake?”

Mashoka grimaced.