Evil Agreement (14 page)

He stands in front of the altar, appearing at least nine feet
tall. He smiles at the assembled faithful. He seems to be absorbing their expressions
of awe.

Moloch speaks in his unearthly voice, “Tonight I bring you a
message from Lucifer himself. As you know, long ago your ancestors and
Lucifer’s Legions, and the pact we had agreed to, was broken. Broken by a
cowardly, God fearing, Powell. On that night long ago, we had our revenge, but
that, too, was stolen from all with the escape of a Powell family member. We
were twice denied.”

The crowd reacts as if it’s at a revival with chants of “Yes
Denied...Denied.”

Bending forward as if to better connect with his audience he
presses his point, “Yes, denied, by a Powell.”

“And who have you and your ancestors been searching for?”

“A Powell,” shouts someone from the audience.

“A male Powell,” shouted several others.

“
Yessssss
...,” says Moloch with his
snakelike tongue.

Moloch leans back and now walks along the left side of the
altar. He stops and places his powerful right hand upon the shoulder of
Reverend Mitchell.

“Speak,” commands Moloch.

“We have located a male Powell.”

There are gasps in the crowd, shouts of joy and fists pumping
in the air.

The Moloch specter now moves to stand behind the altar and
along side of Samuel.

“
Upuaut
, I thank you for this
offering. Beelzebub, Lucifer and all from the other world welcome you.
Upuaut
is now the leader of this coven, for Lucifer has
spoken through me. Let all obey or forever live amongst the land of the
undead.”

The Reverend is taken aback by this unexpected event. He
believed he would be shepherding his flock during this important time, and now he
is usurped by a new member of the coven, fourteen year old Samuel Porter. He
strains to control himself.

“Take this sign from the King of the other world. In two
days, there will be an earthquake that destroys only one thing. It will destroy
a place of worship in a place called Budapest.
A thousand lives will be lost. Know of it and know from whom it comes,” said
Moloch.

He turns to Samuel and gestures for him to proceed.
         

Samuel now takes a dagger from the altar top. He holds it
skyward. The night sky bursts with a bright flash of lightning and then another
and another.

There is no thunder. This lightning is what old timers call
heat lightning. It arrives without the usual rumble of thunder.

Samuel takes the dagger and traces a cut across Brittany’s
left wrist. Blood spurts from the cut. Samuel holds a large cup beneath the cut
to gather the blood. It soon is filled almost to the brim.

Moloch, having temporally taken on physical presence, raises
his arms up over the altar, palms side up. He takes the dagger from Samuel and
cuts his own scaly wrist. His own blood begins to drip from this cut. Samuel
holds the cup underneath Moloch’s wrist and collects this new blood into the
cup, which was nearly filled with Brittany’s
blood. Once the cup is filled Samuel carefully places it back upon the altar.
Moloch next lays his hands palms side down, above the body of Brittany,
not quite touching her. He begins to lift his hands higher into the air. The
now dying body of Brittany rises
into the air, like some sort of grand illusion. Her body next turns right side
up, facing the crowd. Blood still runs down from her cut wrist, dripping from
the ends of her fingers. She is nearly drained of blood and life. Her
complexion is ashen gray. Slowly her body begins to fade from view. In its
place is a specter of her body. This specter now appears to move towards
Moloch. Lightning flashes in the sky overhead. In a flash of bright white
light, Brittany’s specter and
Moloch’s disappear. Her red silk, blood stained robe falls from the sky and
lands upon the altar.

Samuel, now called
Upuaut
, picks up
the large cup from the altar. The blood within is still warm. He takes a small
drink. He next passes it among his fellow coven members, who also drink from
the cup. Soon the cup is passed to the crowd, who continue this unholy ritual.

The lightning is exploding all around the mountaintop.

As the cup is returned to the altar, Samuel, still
Upuaut
, leads the gathered in a closing chant.

“
Hec
uq
nim
olo
braq
,
sy
ter
sca
hur
.”

With the repeating of this chant three times, the ceremony
comes to an end. During the chanting, the coven members evolve back to their
human form. The crowd applauds one last time.

The coven members now approach Samuel, one by one. They nod
as they pass him by. The last to approach is the Reverend. He nods like the
others and passes by. Samuel, however, can see into his heart and he sees a
boiling tempest of anger and hatred.

Samuel is not in the least alarmed by what he sees in the
Reverend. Anger and hatred can be good, especially if channeled the right way.

Samuel smiles to himself with the thought,
what is bad can
be good, could it be that what is good can be bad?

The faithful are lined up to meet and greet the newest leader
of their coven.

A new coven leader, along with news of a male Powell about to
be in their midst has generated a powerful and urgent sense of optimism. The
people are excited, almost giddy in their glee over these two events. Together,
they were taken as powerful omens, signs that their day of triumph was drawing
near.

After a while, the crowd began to disperse and trail back
down the mountain.

Another series of heat lightning flashed about. The night sky
was exploding with lightning bursts as if it were a Fourth of July fireworks
grand finale.

The last to leave is Samuel.

17

Aaron and
Korie
stayed late in the
restaurant. By the time they finished their dinner, desert and then after
dinner drinks, it was nearly
eleven o’clock
.
They were the last two customers in the restaurant.

“It’s late, Aaron, why don’t we head back to our room? I’m
sure the wait staff would like to close up.”

“I guess you’re right. Their vacuuming is sort of a signal,
huh?”

“I am quite sure it is.”

They rose from their table. Aaron left a generous tip on the
table. They stopped at the register. No one was around. Aaron looked into the
kitchen’s round windows and got the attention of someone. In a moment a young
woman, their waitress, stepped through the kitchen doors and headed to the register.

“Did you enjoy your dinner tonight?” asked the young woman.

“We did, thanks,” said
Korie
.

“I left your tip on the table,” said Aaron.

“Thank you, sir.”

Taking his change, Aaron stuffs it into his pocket. Taking
Korie
by the arm, they head back to their motel room.

“Want to go for a swim?” asked
Korie
.

“Again?”

“Sure,” she responds as she pulls his arm and him
closer.
 

“Okay.”

Moments later they are swimming in the pool. It is nearly
midnight
. Northwest of their location, the night
sky explodes with brilliant flashes of lightning. There is no sound of thunder.
Korie
swims over to Aaron, puts her arms around him
and kisses him passionately. She presses her body against his. He responds to
her initiative with his own. He pulls her closer to him, lifting her partly out
of the water. His face becomes buried between the swells of her breasts. She
plays with his hair, running her fingers through his wet clinging hair. Her own
hair dangles across his forehead. She kisses the top of his head. He slowly
allows her body to slide back down. She begins to kiss him all over. He does
likewise.

Their passion is approaching a point of no return. The
lightning storm is moving slowly towards their location.

Aaron tries to unhook her top.

“No, Aaron, not here, please.”

With those words they release one another, exit the pool,
grab their towels and break into a half run back to the privacy of the motel
room. Aaron closes and locks the door to their room. When he turns around,
Korie
is standing directly behind him, naked.

Before words could be spoken she helps him out of his
swimming trucks. They both tumble onto the bed.

Earlier, Aaron had left the window to their room wide open,
with the air conditioner off. He had pulled back the curtains to let the summer
breeze blow in through the open window.

The open window now framed the arriving lightning storm.
Brilliant flashes of light streaked across the night sky. With each burst of
lightning, the dark purple clouds of the storm were outlined in several dark
shades of red, gray, yellow, pink and purple.

Korie
and Aaron’s lovemaking was
the most intense they had ever experienced as they alternated positions. The
rhythm of their passion was feverish and powerful.

Outside their window, the storm was now directly overhead.
Lightning bolts traced their irregular web across the sky. The lover’s room was
frequently illuminated by these pyrotechnics.

One earthshaking explosion of thunder shook the motel.

***

Ed Townsend had arrived too late for Samuel’s welcoming ceremony.
The faithful were already coming down the old logging road.

“Ed, have you heard the news? There’s a male Powell,” said
one of the overjoyed faithful.

“Yeah, I know.”

“Isn’t that exciting?” said another.

Bob
Senecal
spotted Ed up ahead. He
walked over to him and took him by the arm over to Ed’s car.

“Ed, have you heard yet?” asked Bob.

“What is it that I’m supposed to hear?” asked Ed.

“Moloch has replaced Reverend Mitchell with a new leader.”

Surprised, Ed asks, “With Who?”

“Samuel Porter.”

The name sinks is.

“I wonder why?”

“Beats me,” said Bob.

“Where’s the Reverend now?”

“Back there, somewhere,” nods Bob over his shoulder.

Heat lightning flashes overhead.

“And Porter?”

“Still up there, I believe.”

“Interesting.”

“You could say that again. Well, I’ve got to be going,” said
Bob as he heads toward his tow truck.

The crowd moved past Ed as he stood in the road waiting for
the Reverend. Spotting him, Ed walks over.

“Simon, I just heard,” said Ed.

“It is the will of Lucifer. I shall continue to serve,” said
a stoic Simon.

“What about the Powell male?” asked Ed?

The Reverend looks up at the newest burst of heat lightning.

“See Samuel for directions. He is now the chosen one. He
speaks for Moloch and for all of us now.”

His eyes are moist as if he is about to shed a tear. He turns
his head down and silently moves off to his car.

Ed watches him leave.

This sudden change in leaders for the coven has unsettled Ed.
He is a man who is accustomed to strong decisive leadership.

Shit, the boy is only fourteen, maybe fifteen,
thought
Ed.

“I am almost fifteen Mr. Townsend, but why should that
matter?” said a voice from behind him.

Ed turns around and sees no one on the path coming down the
mountain. He looks to his left, his right and now behind him, still no one.

“Mr. Townsend, we still serve the same master. Our mission is
unchanged,” said the voice.

Another flash of heat lightning, and then another. The
logging road leading up the mountain is lit up like daytime. There, standing
alone in the middle of the road, is Samuel Porter. He is about fifty feet from
Ed. He silently walks towards Ed.

Now they are standing an arms length apart.

“Take me home,” said Samuel Porter.

Without question, Ed obeys his new leader.

Neither spoke another word all the way back to Samuel
Porter’s house.

***

Korie
has fallen asleep. Aaron
carefully rolls himself out of bed. He walks over to the open window and stares
out at the last traces of the heat lightning storm. There are now breaks in the
cloud cover. After a few minutes the night clouds are gone and the night sky
sparkles with millions of stars. The three-quarter moon is now visible, high in
the southwest sky. Aaron reached down and picked up the wet swimsuit and heads
into the bathroom to hang it up. Along the way he picks up
Korie’s
as well and hangs her suit up on the shower bar alongside his. Naked, he heads
back into the room and pulls a pair of boxer shorts out of the dresser drawer.
From his luggage bag, he removes the Powell family diary.

Aaron turns on the desk lamp and sits down at the small desk
and begins to read the diary, this time cover to cover. The stories within are
compelling. He finds time just flies by. Reading the dairy, he begins to
understand the sense of mission his ancestors have felt and lived all of their
lives.

What is ahead for me?
he thought.

Aaron is beginning to appreciate his heritage. His great
grandmother several times removed and her family showed unbelievable courage in
standing up to the coven and its evil leaders. Their courageous stand prevented
the devil from taking on human form.

Why did the devil want to take on human form? What was the
rush anyway? Why then? Why was his family still hunted? Why doesn’t this coven
just move on and find someone else? Will it ever end? Is it over now? Was his
mother clever enough to have thrown them off of his trail? What risk was he
taking coming to
Vermont
?
Would he be able to recognize these people? Would they recognize him?
These
questions and hundreds more swirled around in his head.

Gradually, a sense of purpose was forming for Aaron. His
ancestors had suffered and were hounded for over a hundred years. Somehow he
felt he could bring this to some sort of end. He felt a wave of confidence
sweep through him. He began to form the outline of a plan. But first, he needed
more information. As he thought about his possible plan, he experienced a
temporary fugue. Deep from within, his mind’s eye sent him a message.

Aaron could see an altar sitting in a field along side a hill.
Next to this altar are two huge burning bonfires. There were several people
standing behind this altar. He couldn’t see their faces because they were
wearing robes with hoods pulled up over their heads. Each of them gestured to
him to come forward. He could feel his body gliding up the hillside. As he came
closer, he could see a woman’s shroud covered body lying upon this altar. The
shroud was pulled over her face. Robe covered people now surrounded him. They
were placing their hands all over his body. A couple of the hoods were tossed
back to reveal that the person within was a woman. These women began to caress
his body with sensual strokes. They removed their robes and began to rub
themselves against his body. A couple of other hooded people tossed their hoods
off. These were men who were smiling. These men were speaking to him, but he
could not hear any spoken words. Standing to the back of this group of people
was a hooded, cloaked one who was much larger then the others. This one now
reached towards Aaron to hand him a large shiny dagger. He could feel himself
take the instrument in his hand. He looked at the handle of this dagger—it
seemed to be embossed with tiny figures.

As he looked closer, he could see that these tiny figures
were moving, they were alive. Somehow these figures were bound to the dagger’s
handle.

The naked women had managed to arouse him to a sensual pitch.
As he looked at them, they smiled at him with a sinister look that both
frightened him and aroused him as well. Suddenly, he noticed their eyes. Their
eyes were shiny, cold black. He now turned to face the altar. The large hooded
person pulled back the shroud uncovering the woman. She was naked. He looked
down at her. Something was familiar. He forced himself to look at her face. It
was
Korie
.

The large hooded person now pulled his hood back to reveal
himself to Aaron. This was no human. It was a scaly, fearsome creature. Its
head had two horns jutting from its forehead. Its eyes were a smoldering red.
This creature smiled at Aaron. Its smile revealed yellowed misshapen teeth. The
creature took Aaron’s hand that held the dagger into its own. The creature was
raising Aaron’s hand with the dagger pointed down at the body of
Korie
. The tiny, but alive figures on the daggers handle squirmed
inside Aaron’s hand. One such creature managed to push herself through. She had
squeezed between Aaron’s second and third fingers. Aaron was struggling against
the grip on his hand. He glanced at this tiny human figure between his fingers.
It was his mother. She shouted at him.

The only sound his dream experience allowed was her shout.

 
“No...”

Aaron was resisting with all of his strength.

“Mom, help me,” he responded.

His hand holding the dagger began to descend. He struggled
mightily. The other hooded people were clapping their approval. The naked women
that had been seducing him just moments before were pressing against him. Their
arms had joined the hideous creature in pushing Aaron’s hand downward.

With all of his might he let loose a scream, “No...”

Korie
was now knelling beside him.

“What’s wrong?” she asked.

He turned to his left and looked at her and for a moment he
wasn’t quite sure whether he was still dreaming or whether he was awake.
Korie
was wearing a white terry cloth robe loosely tied at
the waist.

She stood up, pulled Aaron to his feet, and held him in her
arms.

“You must have been having a nightmare.”

He couldn’t answer her, not yet.

“Why don’t you come back to bed? It’s nearly
five o’clock
in the morning. Have you been reading
the dairy all night long? It’s no wonder you had a bad dream?”

Aaron stared at her in disbelief. His dream had been so
vivid, so real to him.

He suddenly broke fully free from the fugue that he had been
in. He grabbed
Korie
by the arms and looked deep into
her eyes.

“
Korie
, I could have...”

She pulled herself free and took hold of his head. She kissed
him before he could continue.

“You need to get some rest, we’ll talk later,” she said.

“You’re probably right,” he said slumping down onto the bed.

Korie
pushed him back onto the bed
and tucked him in with the bed sheet.
Korie
now
turned and headed towards the bathroom. As she walked towards the bedroom the
light shining from under their motel room caught her attention. Something or
someone moved just on the other side of their room’s door. The light was broken
by a shadow, which moved across the light.

Someone has been listening at our door,
she thought.

Korie
ran to the door. She stood on
her tiptoes and looked through the door’s peephole. She couldn’t see anyone
outside the door. She unlatched the door chain, unbolted the door lock and
pulled the door open. She looked to her left, no one. She quickly looked to her
right and she noticed someone turn around the corner of the hallway.

“Hey, wait up,” she shouted.

She ran after the mysterious person.