The Raven Mocker (35 page)

A small stream of blood crept along the sides of the altar, heading toward them. Much of it absorbed by the room’s earthen floor, a few tiny tributaries came close enough for the entire group to watch guardedly.

Teutates nodded as if fully understanding Evelyn’s pleas for her magic to manifest against him. David could see her growing frustration and the fiend’s full amusement. He looked over at him, his smirk now mirthful.

He knows what I’m thinking? Shit!!

Teutates’ gaze moved on to Dr. Kirkland.

“
Please…take any of
them!”
he pleaded. “They don’t know you, like I do!” The professor’s whine grew shriller, and he looked around him, thrusting his shoulders toward the others. “The woman behind me, Evelyn Sherman—take her! It’s her grandfather’s fault this all happened, anyway! Yes, it’s true!!
Take her!!”

Teutates stepped around the altar and approached the group, his strange toenails scraping against the dirt. Any allure from afar proved grotesque up close. His eyes turned cold, meaner, as he regarded the professor. Bending down, he drew near enough to where the crow feathers in his hair grazed Peter’s face.

For a moment, it looked like he might kiss the professor. But in the next instant, his fingernails unfurled and severed his rawhide bonds. He grabbed Peter’s arms, dragging him up to the altar.

“
Oh, God, no-o-o!!”
Dr. Kirkland cried out.
“Take her—not me!! Oh,
please…PLEASE have MERCY!! UHA ADADOLISDI!!!”

He fought with all of his might, reminding David of a small child struggling against its mother at a grocery store.

“
Nihi esga nulisdane ayv!”
You offend me!

Teutates let out a high-pitched cackling laugh following his condemnation, though Peter continued to cry out ‘uha adadolisi!’

It looked like his captor might relent, perhaps more weary than irritated by the professor’s ceaseless droning. But instead, the fiend roared and slammed him down on top of the altar table. The reverberation echoed around them, effectively drowning the professor’s cries. Before Dr. Kirkland drew another breath, Teutates pulled out a beautiful jeweled scepter of gold with an ivory tip from inside his cloak. The tip very sharp, it easily sliced through his clothes and then pierced his sternum. With a sickening rip and tear of the surrounding flesh and ribcage, the heart fully exposed, Teutates unfurled his fingernails and plucked it out. He held the beating organ in his palm for all to see.

Peter, miraculously still alive and gasping for air, watched in horror as the monster reached into his mouth with the other hand and severed his tongue before he could clinch his teeth. A shrill scream remained stifled in his throat.

“
Pathetic use of the ancients’ tongue, so I took his…. And see? In the end it did
not
save him.”

The voice this time almost mellow, it made the delivery of the words especially chilling. While Teutates casually tossed the severed tongue behind him, where it landed on the wall with a wet splat before sliding toward the floor, David worked harder to loosen his bonds.

Blood seeped from the professor’s open chest cavity and mouth, trickling onto the altar before dripping down its sides. The carved snakes and serpents looked even more ghastly. David prayed the man was dead—especially when Teutates began to devour the heart. Only he and Evelyn watched him finish, as Miriam closed her eyes tight while trying to inch closer to her husband. Seeing Hanna’s continued repose in a fetal position, he wondered if she’d abandoned her weakened conscious mind, retreating as far as possible inside herself.

“
It’s going to be all right, babe,” he whispered soothingly to Miriam, who opened her frightened eyes, as if to gauge his confidence. He forced a smile. “I swear I’ll figure out something…I swear it on my life!”

A sardonic chuckle erupted from the altar, as Teutates watched this tender moment. His grin reeked of amused arrogance. It looked like he might be finished with Peter Kirkland’s lifeless body, and ready to move on. But first one more trick for his terrified audience. He lifted the body, tore the head off and turned it upside down above his own head. The corpse’s congealing blood flowed down upon him, covering his entire being. The monster writhed in ecstasy, and David watched in amazement as Teutates’ body completely absorbed the blood. Even the ivory breastplate that a moment ago had been immersed in crimson became pristine again.

The transformation that followed was even more incredible. The small vertical grooves in the skin disappeared, and the face and body appeared younger…the muscles bigger. Even the eyes changed, turning a deeper blue. As before, the fire’s flame mimicked Teutates’ eye color, turning the same sapphire shade. He passed his hand through the top of the cobalt blaze, where the flames licked his flesh but caused no damage.

“
Nasgi ageyv soi!”
She’s next!

The voice resounded more powerful than before, energized by blood. Teutates tossed Dr. Kirkland’s drained corpse behind him and walked over to the six heads and added a seventh. He then pointed his scepter toward Hanna, drawing an immediate protest from Evelyn.

“
No!”
she shouted, defiant. Like David, she pulled at the strap holding her wrists. “Take me instead, and let the others return home—
Please!!”

“
Oh-h-h, Two Doves Rising…what an interesting offer you make!” he replied, moving to the front of the altar. “But, what have you to barter with? You’re already mine…mine to do with as I please!”

He chuckled, soulless and without warmth. His grin widened into an impossibly broad smile, exposing all of his blood drenched teeth. They glowed eerily from the strange blue light. Even so, Evelyn strained against her bonds, desperate to shield her younger sister. Miriam wept along with her, trying to scoot closer to Hanna while David looked on, frustrated he could do little to stop this. Something even worse was about to befall them, he could feel it, like the air changing just before a spring rain.

Teutates raised his right hand above his head, the one not holding the scepter, and clicked his saber-like fingernails together.

“
Galutsv!”
Come!

A rustling noise emanated from beyond the doorway, and a large ink-like shadow moved into the room, separating into two distinct human shapes that approached Teutates. By the time they reached the altar, the specters had solidified, taking on the appearance of Native American warriors. Colorless though well defined, the pair kneeled before their master.

“
Bring me…that one,” he instructed.

But instead of pointing the scepter at Hanna, he chose Miriam.

David’s heart sank. He fought in desperation to free his wrists from his bonds, chaffing the skin to where his wrists bled.

“
No…take the one whose family created this mess in the first place!”
he cried out.
“It should be me, and me alone, Teutates! Only the slimiest slug would pick on a woman!!”

It almost worked. The blue eyes glowed with heated anger, focused completely on him. But soon the amused grin returned, and the warriors turned to face them, wearing menacing scowls beneath empty eye sockets.

“
Ayohisdi
nasgi ageyv!!”

Miriam shrieked in terror as the two phantoms leaped to where she sat, slicing away her bonds and dragging her up to the altar. David screamed for them to bring her back, pleading again to take him instead, while Evelyn shouted a litany of Cherokee curses.

Teutates chuckled, and then threw his head back…. Shrill, cackling laughter echoed throughout the entire room.

Chapter Thirty-four

A pair of tan Chevy Tahoe’s pulled up to John’s cabin just before dawn. He stood waiting by the front door, dressed in a yellow snowsuit, thick gloves, and knee-high thermal boots. Carrying his briefcase and Evelyn’s laptop, he approached the lead vehicle from the Sevier County Sheriff’s Department.

“
Sorry we’re running late,” said Butch Silva, after he rolled his window down. “We didn’t finish marking the site where that family from Oregon disappeared the other night until about thirty minutes ago. Last night’s heavy snowfall made it that much worse.”

“
I understand,” said John.

Immediate images of a couple and their two kids briefly flashed across his mind’s eye. They had disappeared while hiking near Abrams Falls in Cades Cove. He saw their pictures last night on TV, missing since Tuesday.
They’re dead—murdered by ‘him’!

“
Charley and Chris are coming with us,” Butch advised, motioning to the deputies in the truck behind him. “We’re bringing two snowmobiles along, just in case we need ‘em. Snow pack’s a bit deep in parts of the cove, so we’ll see. Go ahead and get in.”

John climbed into the passenger seat, setting the laptop between him and the sheriff. After removing his gloves, he opened the briefcase.

“
I brought along some interesting items that Evelyn was researching when she disappeared,” he explained. “I’ll fill you in on everything on the way there.”

“
Sounds good.” Butch gave the ten-four signal to Charley Peacock and the vehicles headed toward the road that would take them deeper into the state park. “You told me on the phone that you want to visit John Oliver’s cabin. Correct?”

“
Yes,” John confirmed. “Our destination is the old ravine not far from there.”

“
The one we used to take the girls to when we were kids?” Butch looked surprised.

“
That’s the place,” said John, smiling wanly. “Do you remember when the university dug up some remains from the ravine last month?”

“
Yeah, vaguely.”

“
Well…what’s been going on lately around here is somehow related to that.” John glanced over at him, gauging his reaction. Butch didn’t give an indication one way or another, though John sensed his willingness to hear more. “Including what became of the family you mentioned earlier.”

They had reached the end of Beaver Falls Trail, the road that in reality was just a very long driveway to John’s cabin. Butch shot John another surprised look. Only this time, he looked uneasy. Something about what they found earlier that morning, at the missing family’s campsite.

Very bad…lots of blood in the snow.

Butch didn’t reply, other than a thoughtful nod while turning onto Pine View Road. He didn’t say anything until they were back on Cades Cove’s main thoroughfare and had almost reached the Oliver property. John wanted to tell him what he’d learned about the monster, Teutates. But once he realized they would likely arrive at their destination before he could finish, he decided to wait. Plenty of time to go over this later…as long as they didn’t encounter the damned raven mocker.

That’s what it is! Something that sucks the life out of the weak and frail….

“
John Oliver’s place should be just up ahead,” Butch advised, clearing his throat. “Now…you said something about the university’s forensic team digging up some remains recently…. Why would that have anything to do with the missing family I mentioned?”

“
It has to do with the ancient knowledge of my people,” said John. “Something woke up out there, when Peter Kirkland and Walter Pollack decided to tear up the entire area looking for treasure, instead of keeping their excavation to where the murdered girl was buried, the one I told you about yesterday.”

“
And you believe this thing that woke up is running around killing folks, huh?”

“
Yes. I do.”

John eyed him serious. Butch’s immediate response a snicker, he stifled it when he saw that John’s countenance remained stoic.

“
Well, good buddy… I’d hate to be the one to face some so-called ‘raven mocker’.” His efforts to maintain a solemn expression failed when he looked over at John again. He chuckled. “Yeah, I read that stuff I copied from Evelyn’s notepad again last night. I’m sorry. But that mo-jo nonsense doesn’t work for me…. On the other hand, if we find some trace of where your granddaughters and your friends from Colorado disappeared to, it’ll be worth the trip out here this morning.”

John nodded, thoughtful, and leaned forward in the passenger seat. He worried that his friend’s nonchalant attitude might come back to hurt them. Meanwhile, they reached the fork that would take them to the parking area just outside the Oliver site.

“
If not, well…it’ll mean I’ll have to come up with a serious explanation as to why I dragged two of my best deputies out here. That wouldn’t be good for you either, because—”

“
Stop, Butch, and look!” said John, pointing to the horizon at the edge of the snow covered meadow in front of John Oliver’s homestead. In the distance, beyond the entrance to the old, forgotten path, an orange haze brightened the early morning sky, like a forest fire. But this wasn’t a fire, John knew. In his mind’s eye, he saw what it meant…an amazing transformation had taken place in the ravine.

Butch followed John’s gaze, pulling his Tahoe through two feet of snow and on up to the very same spot where just two month’s earlier David Hobbs had parked his rented LeSabre, the night he faced Allie Mae’s ghost alone. Charley brought the other vehicle up alongside his truck, cutting his engine.