The Dead Game (23 page)

Chapter 37

S
tepping outside, the hot sun greeted them.

The town turned dark. The sky was dark and ominous with hovering black clouds. The whole mountain rumbled and shook. Trees were swaying with their frightened leaves flying from their trembling branches. Loud blasts of thunder and dazzling displays of lightning were rapidly surrounding them from all directions. The sky directly above End House lit up with bright flashes of red and orange lights. While in the opposite direction, above the dark mansion, sizzling lightning bolts were streaking across the blackened sky.

David cried out, “What now?” as they made a mad dash to their cars.

Todd yelled out orders. “We will meet at the mansion! That’s where the eye of the storm appears to be focused!”

Their cars flew down the mountain road, speeding along the dirt path by the bed and breakfast, spewing gravel and dirt everywhere. The gingerbread house was brightly lit up. People were streaming out the front door. Shana didn’t recognize any of them, but suspected that they were Abe and Anna’s missing children.

As they drove up to the mansion, the storm intensified even further until the entire sky was lit up with lights as bright and colorful as a fireworks display. At each of the many windows, faces could be seen evilly grinning at them. They didn’t appear to be human faces. Their strangely elongated, white faces were eerily stretched out like Silly Putty. Their oversized green eyes were glowing in the darkness behind each open window.

Abe and his people caught up to them at the mansion. They stood behind their group as they watched the bizarre display of faces and figures at the front windows. They wore long overcoats over their dark clothes. Shana was intrigued to see what they had on beneath their coats. Maybe they were armed with special weapons.

“Those are the vampires that we must now extinguish!” shouted Abe above the roaring storm.

“How are we going to accomplish this feat?” asked Shana, skeptical of him and his family. 
Just what they needed now—a new gang of players thrown into the old, uncertain mix,
she sarcastically reflected.

“I’m waiting for the priest, and then all will be explained.”

Shana wasn’t satisfied with that answer, but kept silent and waited with the others.

Father John arrived soon after. Abe walked over to him and they conversed quietly for a while.

Shana whispered to Linda, “I bet that’s where Natalie and Maxell hung out: in the deserted mansion with the demonic shadows that stalked us in town.”

“Imagine! A whole vampires’ nest right inside our own town! If I’d known about this, I would never have slept at all at night.”

Father John ran over to them, hurriedly instructing everyone to hold hands. When no one moved, he insisted that it wouldn’t work unless every one of them held hands.

They formed a semicircle in the front yard of the mansion. Father John and Abe began chanting a spell from the priest’s old spell book. As the storm grew stronger, a soft moaning sound could be heard rising from within the house. The faces at the windows were moaning and grimacing in pain as they were being forcibly pulled out of the windows. They were being lifted up into the sky, where they were burnt up by the electrical forces in play over the house.

James, the supposed caretaker, came running out from the front door yelling, “Stop chanting! You are killing my people!”

When no one heeded his warnings, he raised his arms and roared out loud. His body straightened to stand taller, transforming him into a younger man. As he became angrier, he howled louder and projected his deadly fangs. “Leave at once! This is also our town! We’ve done nothing to warrant this punishment!” He stomped toward them, his eyes burning a deep shade of red.

Watching the man’s drastic metamorphosis, Todd felt his own blood run cold. Stepping forward to face his new adversary, he asked, “Do you eat humans or do you survive solely on animal blood? Was Wolf your esteemed leader?”

“We are vampires! Of course we need human blood! What happened to Wolf?”

Enraged at the vampire’s audacity to assume the part of a victim, Todd yelled back, “You are pure evil and so are your followers! Once we annihilate the vampires here and in End House, we will be finally rid of all the demons in town!”

James’ eyes turned blood red as he screamed out, “No!” as he helplessly watched his vampires continue to perish before his eyes.

A loud explosion erupted from inside the mansion, throwing dirt and rocks in their direction. James burst into flames, with his remains slowly disintegrating into the ground. Vampires, humans, and human vampires covered each other as protection from the flying debris.

When they looked up at the house again, it was gone from sight. All evidence of the mansion’s prior existence was completely destroyed, and in its place stood a large field of grass covered by yellow daisies. Even birds could be heard chirping. It was as if the large mansion had never stood there in all its evil glory, thought a relieved Todd.

Shana ran over to Father John and excitedly inquired, “What happened?”

“The world was waiting for man and vampire to rally their forces, which was the only way to truly annihilate the evil vampires from town,” explained the Father.

“I don’t understand,” persisted Shana. “Why could only you and Abe accomplish that? We’ve been working with vampires all along and nothing has ever helped.”

“Abe is the leader of The Watchers, a group of vampires chosen to watch over the human race and to protect them from errant vampires. I’m a priest, which is a leader in the religious world and, more importantly, I also have the spell book,” grinned Father John.

“Oh! The spell book! Now I understand,” Shana teased the priest.

Mike suddenly spoke up. “I hate to interrupt this stimulating conversation, but we seem to be having a problem over at End House. It looks like the house is going crazy from the storm. The demons are pushing their bodies through the walls! We should definitely visit there next!” Looking around at everyone, he evilly smiled. “Oh, good! We get to return to the house where all hell was first let loose.”

“Mike, have you gone totally crazy? Why would you want to return to where we almost got ourselves killed? Where Tom and Edward disappeared?” David shouted.

In response, Mike promptly turned his face away.

The others were staring at End House. In the distance, they watched as the huge menacing forms pushed their way through the walls of the house: arms, faces, and even legs could be seen stretching through the solid brick walls. Meanwhile, the storm was busy throwing lightning strikes directly into the house, slowing down the progress of the strange beings that were so intent on escaping their prison.

Father John stood before them. “We must return to End House and make sure it is destroyed for good.”

After some grumbling—mostly from David—they prepared themselves for the next task that lay ahead of them.

Their cars raced up the mountain, taking with them Abe and his family of warriors.

At End House, they watched as sections of the beautiful house were ripped off by the strong winds and flung into the ocean below. The trapped vampires were desperately clawing through the remaining walls of the raging house.

“We must help them escape, and once they’re freed we’ll be able to destroy them,” outlined Abe, staring up at the house with his family members standing around him. Their tall figures stood steady in the heavy gusts of the increasing storm, their long coats billowing in the wind. In each hand, they held a long sword. Linda noticed more ammunition beneath their coats. They stood ready for battle. 
At least they are on our side,
Linda happily realized.

Once again, Father John gathered everyone in a semicircle. While the Father and Abe chanted, everyone tightly grasped each others’ hands. The house slowly rose up from its foundation—with its imprisoned vampires still trapped inside—and then ever so slowly toppled over into the water below. As soon as it hit the water, the house disintegrated into nothingness.

From deep within the raging waters rose the dark shadows of the freed vampires—who appeared more than ready to return to town to continue with their reign of terror. However, once the chanting resumed, the shadows were stopped in their tracks and then violently ripped apart in mid-air, their cries echoing eerily as their dark light was extinguished forever. Their remains were burnt up in a cloud of smoke, with their ashes scattering across the foaming waves of the ocean.

Almost immediately, the mountain began to fill in the deep hole left behind by the destroyed house, covering it with grass and trees. Even the metal fence rearranged itself at the edge of the cliff, leaving behind a narrower precipice. The next house built on that cliff wouldn’t need to hang so low over the ocean, realized Linda, but it could be located further back in the mountain—like the remainder of the homes on the hill. However, she really didn’t believe that another house would ever be built on that spot.

As the mountain closed itself up, Linda noticed that the left section of the house remained standing for a few moments before it also dissolved into the ground. She didn’t know if she had imagined it or if that section had actually survived in a transparent form before it had gone underground. She thought back and tried to remember if she had ever entered that side of the house. She realized that the answer was no; she didn’t even know what had been there.

Turning to Todd, she haltingly asked, “Did you happen to see anything unusual with the left side of the house?”

“No. What did you see?”

“The left side lingered for a while in a shadowy form, before melting into the ground. What was on that side?”

“Nothing much—the first floor had an empty ballroom, and the upstairs had two empty bedrooms. And…oh! There was a locked door leading down to the tunnels beneath the house.”

“What was in those tunnels? And where did they lead?”

Todd replied, “I haven’t heard anything recently about the tunnels. I don’t think anyone has gone down there for quite some years. There have been many rumors circulating about the tunnels being dungeons where people were trapped and tortured. I do remember hearing that the door wouldn’t open for anyone.”

“Well, the left side of the house is now also underground in these tunnels. The dungeons could hold any number of evils. Maybe Tom and Edward—and possibly other humans, who’ve disappeared from town—could be down in those dungeons. Remember, we briefly visited the tunnels when the stairs extended themselves below End House. It was terrifying down there with all those ghoulish creatures grabbing at us. The tunnel seemed to descend forever into a deep, dark pit of nothingness.”

“Let’s not worry about this now. Maybe nothing will come of it—and if it does, we can deal with it in the future. I don’t want to frighten the others more than they have been already.”

Linda nodded her head in agreement. 
Great
, she thought, 
more secrets to add to our ever-growing list.
She was definitely not going to sweep this secret under the rug. If Tom and Edward were trapped down there, then she was going to find a way to free them. She was not going to allow demons to control her town and her friends any longer.

Looking around, she was instantly amused when she realized that they’d been holding hands with Abe and Anna’s family, trusting them with their lives without even knowing their names. She walked over to them, pulling Shana along behind her, to ask Abe to introduce them to his family.

“I’m pleased for everyone to finally meet. My family has lived in secret for far too long.”

He first brought over a tall, good-looking, dark-haired man with bright green eyes, and with him a tall, beautiful, green-eyed redhead. “This is my oldest son, Charles, and his wife Georgina.”

Next walked over a tall young man with curly blond hair and large soulful dark eyes; the woman beside him was petite with curly blonde hair and large brown eyes.

“This is my third son Brian and his lovely wife Melinda. They are newlyweds and are seriously thinking about settling in Oasis.”

A tall, dark-haired man came over, “Hi! My name is Peter, the second oldest of our large brood, and this is my wife Patricia. We’re also considering moving to Oasis.” His wife was a pretty, petite blonde with huge blue eyes surrounded by very long black eyelashes.

Linda found the women to be very open and easygoing: Melinda had a bubbly personality; Georgina was a little bit quieter but generously graced everyone with her beautiful smile; and Patricia shyly smiled as everyone introduced themselves.

David and Louise stood off to the side by themselves, not trusting the newcomers yet.

Mike stood by himself with his arms defiantly crossed across his chest.

A fourth couple tentatively joined the others. Abe introduced them as his daughter, Samantha, and his youngest son, Jonathan. He explained that Samantha lived in Italy while Jonathan resided mostly in Greece. Jonathan traveled the globe, carrying out different assignments for the elders. He laughingly added that his son loved his yacht more than anything or anyone in the world.

Samantha was tall and blonde with soft features and a striking figure, while Jonathan was tall and handsome with dark hair and deep-blue eyes. Because of their outstanding beauty, Linda thought they looked ethereal or otherworldly—which was exactly what they were.

After all the introductions were made, Abe and Anna and their extended family bid farewell to everyone. Linda looked around but couldn’t find Father John anywhere. He had disappeared at some point earlier—after the destruction of End House. He didn’t even stay to meet Abe’s family. This had Linda worried. She questioned Shana, David, and Mike about his absence, but no one had noticed him leaving. She looked around for him, but had to finally give up and follow the others back to their cars.

Chapter 38

W
hen Abe returned to his house, he finally opened his hand to reveal the small folded-up piece of paper that Father John had surreptitiously slipped into his palm. The Father had quickly brushed past him just before he’d disappeared. Abe sat on his bed in the darkened room, slowly unfolding the note.

Written inside were the few words “Meet me at midnight at the church.”

He wasn’t too eager to visit the church so late. But he had no choice.

Later, when everyone was asleep, Abe snuck out of the house and walked to town. As he quietly approached the church, he saw for the first time the utter devastation the last storm had bestowed on the beautiful building. The once-white church was now darkened to almost black. All of its windows had been blown out and its roof had caved in. The tall bell tower was no longer visible; it must be lying somewhere amidst the rubble of the building’s interior.

He didn’t see the priest anywhere outside, so he walked through doorway or what had been the doorway. He climbed over large pieces of wood that must have been the front doors. Inside, nothing remained standing. Statues lay smashed on the ground. The pews had been crushed flat by the fallen roof. Even the stained-glass windows had been shattered to pieces.

As he was silently lamenting over this terrible loss, he heard a shuffling noise behind him. Swiftly turning around, he found the Father quietly approaching him.

“I don’t have good news for you,” unhappily announced the priest.

“Of course,” replied Abe.

“I have much to explain. Please sit down beside me on the one pew that has been left standing.”

They walked down the center aisle to the small pew at the front right corner of the room. After they sat down, Father John began to explain. “The Dead had been created by Wolf, not only because of his everlasting need for domination, but because he wanted to destroy the whole town, including vampires, human vampires, and humans….”

“We already knew that,” impatiently interrupted Abe.

“But what you didn’t know was that this destruction was an essential component of Wolf’s master plan. The total destruction to be brought forth by The Dead had been designed to bring man and vampire together: you and me. Only then would Wolf be able to release his family from the spell that had trapped them for centuries in the dungeons beneath End House. My ancestors’ book spoke about a powerful witch, her spell, and even the way to break the spell.”

“But Wolf was already dead when End House was destroyed. Who had followed through with his plan?”

“Wait! Let me finish the story,” replied the priest. “Over two hundred years ago, a witch unleashed a spell on Wolf’s family because of their complete debauchery and cruelty against humanity. She trapped them below End House to roam the dark dungeons for all eternity. That is, until End House was destroyed by us. Our chanting released the demons from their dark hold and let them loose once more. They are now free to leave the dungeons to set forth on the world an evil that hasn’t been seen for over two hundred years.”

“Back to my earlier question: who followed through with this ingenious plan?” again interrupted Abe.

Ignoring his question, the Father continued, “Everyone—human and vampire alike—has wrongly assumed that peace is now attainable: that the evil demon presence is finally gone from Oasis. But no one has guessed at the awful truth. Beneath the pretty field of flowers growing on End House property, exists an evil so great and powerful that even the elders can’t fight it on their own.

“And to answer your question, Wolf is still alive and present in town. He has just taken on a different form.”

Abe rolled his eyes. “Even Wolf can’t reincarnate himself.”

“I’m terribly sorry to prove you wrong. When Wolf was dying in the alligator pool, I witnessed his evil spirit alight from his body and pass over our group. He is now living in one of us, one of us who had been present at Wolf’s annihilation. Wolf’s body has been destroyed but the soul of one of our own has been taken over by him. One day soon, this evil one will finally lead his family out of the dungeons to finish their mission. They will rise up to destroy mankind on their demented journey to rule the world.”

Abe put his hands over his eyes in despair over the new turn of events. After a few moments, he looked up at Father John and softly asked, “What can we do?”

“First, we must keep a close eye on the humans in town. Vampires can’t enter another vampire’s body; they can take control only of a human or a human vampire. So Wolf is residing in one of the human vampires, or in one of the humans from town. I think it is more likely that one of the humans has absorbed Wolf’s entity into their own. As soon as we spot unusual activity in town, we should be ready to enter the dungeons of End House to seek out and destroy Wolf’s family. I believe you should alert your whole family. I will inform Hayden and the elders of this new threat. The most important thing for us to do now is to make sure that we are ready! We have to be prepared for everything and anything!”

At the front steps of the church, the vampire leader and the religious leader shook hands and parted ways: each on his own mission to free Oasis from the deadly grip of the evil demons.