Preta's Realm (27 page)

“Sorry. I forgot how much you despise profanity. How do we defeat Gaki?”

“I must do battle with it and you must make sure it does not escape the cabin. If Gaki destroys me, you must destroy the cabin and everyone inside. He will quickly poison anyone left and the entire Hunt will have been a loss.” Mashoka took a road flare from under his coat. He handed it to Ravna. “When the time comes, light this and drop it on the floor.”

“How will I know when to do it?” asked Ravna.

“You will know,” replied Mashoka.

The old man reached for the brass door knob when Ravna grabbed his hand. “Wait.”

Mashoka looked Ravna in the eye.

“The sacrifice. It’s you, isn’t it?”

Mashoka nodded up and down.

“Thank you. Thank you for being a guide, a teacher, and a friend to me. I’ll never forget you.”

The old man smiled and patted Ravna’s cheek with his hand.

“I will still be with you. I came to you in this Cycle, did I not?”

Ravna bowed to Mashoka and stood back. The old man turned and faced the door. The wind howled and lightning flashed overhead, threatening to rip open the sky and toss the mammoth trees to the ground. He turned the knob and pushed the door open, followed by Ravna.

***

It took several seconds for their eyesight to adjust to the funerary pall of the cabin. Their other senses picked up the slack, delivering a whiff of human fear, quiet whimpering, and a bitter taste of adrenaline. Mashoka sensed others in the room, but none spoke.

“Gaki,” he said, demanding the confrontation by verbalizing the creature’s name.

Ravna squinted and his eyes began to adjust. He saw the profile of two figures, either crouched or sitting. A glimmer caught his eye, a flash like a falling star.

“I have a right to this flesh.”

Mashoka stepped forward. “Unless I claim it from you.”

Ravna stood fixated on the beastly, low grumbling of the voice speaking from the dark corner. It sounded human and yet tainted, an old soul trapped in a dying form.

“You cannot,” the beast replied.

“Free the woman. She is not part of the agreement.”

“The man exchanged her for her children. I have every right to her.”

Mashoka shook his head and waved his cane. “Nonsense. Claiming the man or the woman, or both, in exchange for their children disavows the Cycle. I am here to reset it. I am here to give you the pound of flesh you demand.”

“Fuck you, old man!”

Drew stood and Ravna understood where the shimmer of light came from. The man wore filthy clothes, his hair disheveled and his eyes feral. In his right hand he held a long hunting knife. A woman sat on a wooden chair. He surmised from her position that she was bound. Her head rested on her chest, unconscious.

“The woman goes free,” Mashoka said. Ravna shuddered from the sound of his voice.

“If she goes, I take you both in exchange,” replied Drew.

“You only get what you earn, Gaki.”

“I should have taken you decades ago, in the cave. You were such a nosy little Jap. I ate so many gooks that day. That’s what saved you.”

Mashoka stood, his legs astride at shoulder width. He held the cane upright, grabbing the top knob like the hilt of a sword.

“But you didn’t. You took the GI instead, and that line ends here. Release the woman, now.”

Drew tilted his head back and roared. He spun and knocked several items from the mantle. He tore at his own clothing. “The whore must pay for her infidelity. She is unclean.”

“Pay she must, but not to you. You do not sit in judgment of her. She shall own her acts in due time. Cut her free.”

Drew took the knife. He licked the blade and giggled as he drew the sharp edge over Molly’s ankles and wrists. Her limp body flopped to the floor, her dark hair spread across the dirt-covered wood.

“Remove her,” Mashoka said to Ravna.

Ravna stepped to Molly and slid his arms underneath her shoulder and the backs of her knees. Drew stepped behind Ravna, blocking the door.

“Your souls for hers, but she will leave marked.”

Drew lunged forward and drew the knife across Molly’s face. She cried out, eyes still closed as the blade opened a shallow cut from the corner of her eye to the edge of her jaw.

Ravna spun away from Drew, stepping past him and Mashoka and through the door. He dropped Molly into a pile of leaves, pressing his sleeve against her wound. He returned to the cabin door and yanked at the handle, but it would not open. The ground shook and light pierced the gaps between logs, emanating from inside the cabin like a nuclear reaction.

***

“Your body is weak.”

“Power does not reside in my body, but in my soul.”

Drew circled the floor, his eyes fixated on Mashoka’s. Saliva dangled from his chin, swaying with each movement. “Your man-child obeys like a dog. Does he give or receive?”

Mashoka ignored the taunt, his stance ready for Gaki’s first move.

“What’s the matter, Jap? Did I offend your sense of dignity with my accusation?”

“I am ready to defend my soul and banish you.”

Drew lunged forward, slashing at Mashoka’s face with the knife. The old man ducked, feeling the air move past him. He spun to face Gaki, ready for the next offensive.

“You will not leave here alive,” Gaki said through Drew’s mouth. “I will feast on your shit like the other worthless gooks of your village.”

He dove at Mashoka with a stabbing motion. Again, the old man turned aside the attack with a spin. He took a deep breath and his right leg buckled inward.

“What summoned you?” Mashoka asked.

Drew dropped both arms to his side and tilted his head sideways. “You have an interest in Gaki’s evolution?”

“I’ve been a Hunter through many lifetimes. I have slain many demons, as I will you. I have not, however, discovered the cesspool from which you arise. If I know of it, I will be sure to destroy the gateway.”

“The ‘cesspool’ you mention is humanity itself. The ‘gateway’ is the greed, lust, and insatiable suffering of humankind. You can no more rid the universe of Gaki than you can of air or water.”

“Air or water does not kill,” replied Mashoka.

“But it becomes polluted, just the same.”

Drew swung a fist through the air and caught the old man unprepared. His hand stung Mashoka’s temple and stole his equilibrium. He fell to the floor, rolled onto his back, and held the cane across his body to defend against Drew’s next move.

“Get up so I can knock you down again.”

Mashoka stood, using his cane to get to his feet. He took quick, deep breaths and felt cramps gnawing at his thighs. Drew spun counterclockwise with his left leg extended. The heel of his boot landed squarely on Mashoka’s forehead, knocking him backwards into the wall of the cabin. A cloud of dust exploded from behind the old man. Pieces of wood and dirt rained down upon him as he collapsed to the floor.

“Get up,” said Gaki.

Mashoka reached out and grabbed a cast-iron hook embedded in the wall. He pulled with both arms until he stood, rolling a shoulder into the log until he again faced the room and the fury of Gaki, channeled through Drew.

“I have underestimated your strength,” said Mashoka.

“You have, and it will cost you your life,” replied Gaki.

Drew swung his right arm, clutching the knife in his fist. It tore through the tendons in Mashoka’s shoulder, lodging in his collarbone. The old man crumpled to the floor with a silent gasp, his left hand shaking and reaching for the embedded blade.

Drew stood in front of Mashoka, heaving and cackling at the same time. He moved closer, pulled his right leg back, and delivered a toe-kick to Mashoka’s midsection. He struggled for breath, still grasping for the steel lodged in his flesh.

“It’s time for you to die, Hunter of old. Your name will perish with your flesh, consumed by Gaki. The woman and the man-child are next, and then come the children. Gaki is not bound by earthly contracts.”

“Not true. You are held to the Cycle.”

“Fuck the Cycle and fuck you,” replied Gaki. “Do not tell me what I am bound by. I have eaten the flesh of your people for hundreds of years and I will continue to roam and feast without hindrance from an old man or his sad apprentice.”

Mashoka raised his head in time to see Drew’s fist smash his nose. The salty blood seeped into his mouth and the pain blinded him. He felt Gaki remove the blade from his shoulder, which seared like fire.

“I will hunt again,” Mashoka mumbled.

“Not me,” replied Gaki.

Chapter 16

Ravna pounded the door with both fists. He circled back into the driving rain, running at full speed towards it. He drove a shoulder hard into the wood and felt the jamb sway. A lightning bolt of pain shot from his arm. Ravna turned and grabbed the elbow with the opposite hand. “Pop it back in again, just like we did as a kid,” he said to himself.

His hand twisted the opposite elbow and the scorching pain of dislocation flared up again until the ball clicked back into the joint, albeit in a swollen mess of bruised tissue and tendon.

Ravna backed up again and ran at the door, his right arm now limp and dangling like that of a puppet, the string cut by the puppeteer. He led with the right foot and drove his heel into the space just above the knob and directly beneath the latch. The weakened doorjamb cracked and an odor crept from behind it that made Ravna’s head spin. He retreated out into the storm, this time taking a five-pace run at the weakened doorway. The old wood cracked and splintered, but held. He heard a whimper from nearby and noticed that the woman was coming around. She looked at him through glazed eyes, attempting to piece together the situation like someone waking from a deep sleep.

“Stay where you are,” Ravna said, shouting over the thunderous storm.

“Where’s Drew?” she asked.

Ravna looked at the door to the cabin and back to the woman. “Is that his name?” he asked her.

She shook her head in affirmation.

Ravna ran to the door, placed his mouth to the opening and began to yell. “Drew!” he shouted. He heard shouting and a commotion inside, the sounds of an argument turned violent. “Drew!” he tried again. “Your wife is out here and she needs your help.”

The battle inside subsided for a moment, but then flared up again, this time shaking the wall so hard that bricks tumbled from the top of the chimney.

“Mashoka!” Ravna yelled.

As if on cue, the battle inside stopped, leaving Molly and Ravna with the sound of the pounding storm. A noise like crumpling steel tore through the air and the door to the cabin burst open, the hinges powerless to stop the force from driving it into the outside wall. Ravna heard laughter, deep and resonant.

“Who’s there?” asked the voice from inside. “Is it Goldilocks?”