Black Forest, Denver Cereal Volume 5 (6 page)

The nurse set his baby girl in his arms. Her
tiny face was blue from lack of oxygen. Otherwise she was perfect.
This small child, the baby he thought was a boy, was conceived by
accident on a fun trip to Mexico after a visit to an ancient
fertility shrine. She’d fought her way to be born. She’d fought her
way to survive even one day. She was gaining weight. She was
getting better.

But it was all too much for her to endure.
Like his Sandy, his soul mate, the love of his life, she was dead.
His heart broke into a million pieces. He could hardly take a
breath. He leaned down to nuzzle Rachel’s face.

“
This isn’t happening,”
Aden whispered. “This can’t be happening.”

“
That’s what I’m saying,”
Gretel said.

Aden kissed Rachel’s face. He laid her next
to his beloved Sandy’s body.

“
Seth?” Aden asked. “How
did we get here?”

“
Jeff’s cruiser,” Seth
said.

“
How did we get out of the
mansion?” Aden asked. “Only Jake could get us out of there. Where’s
Jacob?”

He bent down to kiss Sandy’s face. With his
eyes closed, he whispered, ‘I love you.’

“
Jacob’s in the mansion,”
Seth said.

“
What are you talking
about?” Gretel asked. “We’re still in the mansion!”

“
We’re still in the
mansion,” Seth said.

“
We’re in the mansion,”
Jeff said.

Aden stroked Rachel’s cheek and kissed
Sandy’s forehead. Closing his eyes, he breathed in.

“
I’m still in the
mansion,” Aden said.

When he opened his eyes, he was standing in
the salt circle in the haunted mansion in Brighten.

“
God,” Jeff whispered.
“That was so real. How did you…?”

“
I don’t know,” Aden said.
“It was like a whisper in my brain. ‘This isn’t happening.’ That’s
what it said. ‘This isn’t happening.’ But… I could see it, smell
it, and even taste that hospital… whatever.”

“
Horrifying,” Seth said.
“This thing is willing to take our love and pervert it. My Sandy’s
not dead?”

“
No way to know. Our
phones are out. We won’t know until we leave here,” Aden said. “But
one thing’s for sure, I’m no psychic.”

“
I’m no psychic,” Seth
said. “That’s for sure. Jeff?”

“
Me neither,” Jeff
said.

“
It can take our memory,
our thoughts, our love and make it into something horrible” Seth
said. “Quickly, before it starts again…”

Seth held out his hands. Gretel and Aden
took his hands. Jeff completed the circle.

“
We did this before and…”
Jeff said.

“
If I leave here
tomorrow…” Aden began singing Leonard Skynard’s
Freebird
. “Sing. It helped me all
those years ago.”

“
Will you still remember
me?” Jeff joined Aden.

“
Music,” Seth said.
“Occupies the mind and senses. Good thinking.”

“
For I must be traveling
on now…” Gretel, Jeff and Aden sang.

“
But…” Seth
started.

“
Sing!” Aden
commanded.

“
There’s too many places
I’ve got to see…” Seth joined in.

In the horrifying dark,
they belted out
Freebird
at the top of their lungs.

~~~~~~~~

Monday early morning — 1:27 A.M.

Like a thick blanket, the dark descended
around Jacob. Everything light extinguished from his world. The
horror and perversion of a thousand malevolent voices penetrated
his mind. He collapsed to his knees.

Every horror flashed through his mind.
Loving memory twisted with hate. Jill’s kind face contorted with
hate when she looked at him. Before his eyes, precious Katy was hit
by a bus. Her body dragged under the bus for a block until the
wheels finally came to rest on her head. Valerie refused to even
look at a ‘loser like him’. His mother despised the man he’d
become. Delphie laughed at him behind his back.

His worst fear had come true.

He was alone and unloved. He couldn’t
protect the ones he loved most. He’d lost everything that mattered
to him. His mind spun tale after horrifying tale.

Rage boiled in his blood. How could this
happen? How could they do this to him? How could they betray him
like this? His shoulders collapsed forward in defeat.

He would have to die. They would have to
die. Death was the only option, the only release from this
tremendous pain.

Out of habit more than anything else, his
right hand touched the tungsten wedding band Jill had slipped on
his hand.

“
We give you this ring as
a symbol of our love for you,” Jill and Katy’s voice broke through
the dark cloud. “As it circles your finger, let it always remind
you of our eternal love, surrounding and enfolding you day and
night.”

The entity’s dark pressure increased around
him.

“
Katy and I are here,” He
heard Jill’s voice.

“
Jill,” he whispered.
“Katy.”

“
Mom, Steve, Candy and Meg
are here to help. We’re sending healing love to you. Val and Mike
are on their way to get you. I know you can hear me.”

“
And Daddy?” Katy’s voice
was clear as a bell. “Don’t forget.”

“
Salt then blue fire,”
Jill said.

“
NOW!” Jacob heard a
chorus of voices – Jill’s, her brothers’ and sisters’, her mother’s
clear Russian accent, Celia’s voice, as well as the voices of the
long forgotten dead.

Deep inside the entity, Jacob threw a
handful of salt. Because the creature wasn’t in its diffuse form,
the salt burned the entity from the inside. It screamed with rage.
Moving quickly, Jacob’s fingers flew in practiced motion to light
the propane torch. The blue flame continued what the salt had
started.

Recoiling from around Jacob, the creature
let out a bone chilling screech. It pulled all of its darkness with
it itself, then expanded again. Jacob met it with another handful
of salt and the torch. The creature recoiled.

It condensed into the serpent, human
form.

Spinning in place, the entity ran from the
kitchen. Jacob followed in close pursuit. Tiny broken tendrils flew
behind the creature. The creature flew through the Mansion’s back
wall into the dark night. Jacob crashed through the back door.

He followed the entity across the dry land
and up the hill toward the large pole barn. The entity flew around
the barn to an open area behind the barn’s entrance. It gave Jacob
one last look before seeping into the earth.

Jacob skidded to a stop. The apparition of
an ancient shaman appeared before him.

“
Go back. Send the others
home,” the shaman said.

“
But…”

“
We will stand guard,” the
shaman said.

A host of twenty shaman apparitions appeared
around him. With a nod, Jacob turned and ran back toward the house.
From his vantage point on the hill, he saw Valerie’s aged Mustang
turn into the driveway. Valerie and Mike were here. He ran into the
house and down the hallway. Sliding open the doors to the great
room, he had to laugh.

Delphie was standing in the middle of a sea
of apparitions. The ghosts were talking all at once. Hearing the
doors, Delphie turned toward him.

“
It’s time,” she
said.

He nodded and opened a spirit door. Like the
afternoon sun on a summer day, a glorious golden light filled the
room. The spirits flew toward the other side where their loved ones
waited for them. The room began to clear. When the last of the
children had retreated, one of the mothers came to thank them.

“
We’ve been trapped here
since getting sick,” she said. “Bless you for rescuing
us.”

With a soft smile, she followed her
children. Delphie positively beamed.

“
It feels really good to
help them,” Delphie said.

“
Yeah,” Jacob
nodded.

The seam began to slowly close.

“
Shall we…?” Delphie
started.

Delphie turned toward the door and stopped
walking. A male and a female apparition floated near the door. They
looked like they were teenagers. They wore bellbottoms and sported
long hair of the 1970s.

“
If you hurry, you can
still…” Jacob said.

“
We need to talk to Gary,”
the girl said.

“
Who?” Jacob
asked.

“
Aden,” Delphie
said.

“
Aden?” Jacob
asked.

“
He lived here,” the boy
said. “We know him. We…”

“
You’re the lovers,”
Delphie gasped. “Jacob, this is the couple from under the
Castle.”

“
We need to talk to Gary,”
the girl repeated.

“
Why?” Jacob
asked.

“
He will know,” the boy
said.

“
He will know,” the girl
said.

CHAPTER ONE HUNDRED &
TWENTY-SIX
The day after

Monday early morning — 2:25 A.M.

“
He’s going
down!”

Valerie screamed from her perch in the
parking area where a somewhat hostile uniformed police officer had
instructed her and Mike to stand. She took off toward the haunted
mansion. She wove her way through the sea of Kevlar wrapped police
officers and forensic people descending on the mansion’s main
entrance. Tiny in comparison to the officers, she made little
progress.

Mike barreled through the crowd. Trampling
and pushing people out of the way, he got to Jacob before he hit
the ground. He grabbed Jacob and threw him over his shoulder.

“
Where do you think you’re
going?” a Colorado Bureau of Investigations agent asked. “I was
talking to him.”

“
You can talk to him
later,” Mike said.

Out of breath, Valerie finally reached
them.

“
Please,” Valerie said.
“My brother is ill. He’s not leaving town. You can interview him
later, when he’s better.”

“
I can easily arrest him
if I…” the agent said. “You’re Valerie Lipson.”

“
I am,” Valerie said.
“This is my little brother, Jacob.”

“
Let them go,” Seth said.
“I know where to find him.”

“
But…”

“
O’Malley’s the boss,” the
CBI Agent in charge said on his way toward the house. “Do as he
says.”

“
Take him home,” Seth
said. “He did amazing things tonight.”

Mike nodded. He took Valerie’s hand and
dragged her through the crowd of officers. At the car, she opened
her passenger door and put the seat down. Mike laid Jacob in the
back seat. Valerie jumped in and Mike sprayed gravel down the
driveway.

“
What do we do?” Valerie
asked. “He can’t drink this water if he’s passed out. Should we
take him to the hospital?”

“
They don’t have cures for
evil spirit soul invasion at the hospital,” Mike said. “Let’s get
away from the place and see what I can do. I’m not as strong as
Jill but…”

Jacob groaned. Valerie shook his
shoulder.

“
Wake up Jake,” Valerie
said.

“
I’m awake,” he
said.

“
Then drink this.” Valerie
thrust a bottle of water into his hands. “Do it now.”

“
I don’t want to,” he
said.

Valerie climbed into the back seat. She only
had a second before he could over power her. She plugged his nose
and poured the water into his mouth. He coughed, sputtered then sat
up. Seeing her stern look, he knew better than to protest.

“
Why am I drinking this?”
he asked.

“
Because you promised you
would when you came up here,” Valerie said. “Do it.”

His face twisted into a sneer but he drank
the rest of the water.

“
Oh God, pull over,” Jacob
said.

Mike pulled the Mustang to the curb. Jacob
flew out of the car and threw up. Valerie rubbed his back until he
was done. Mike gave him a hand towel. Valerie held out another
bottle of water.

“
What is all of this?”
Jacob asked.

“
Drink it and we’ll tell
you,” Mike said.

He put his hand on Jacob’s shoulder. Jacob
screamed.

“
What the hell are you
doing to me?” Jacob pulled his shirt back and an angry red palm
print appeared on his skin where Mike’s hand had been.

“
Oh God.” Tears began to
fall from Valerie’s eyes. “It’s worse than you said it would
be.”

“
I said?” Surprised, Jacob
turned his whole attention to her.

“
You told me that you were
vulnerable to this thing,” Valerie said. “You told me to get Jill
and her family to prepare at least a liter of healing water for you
to drink. You said you’d throw it up and if it had truly invaded
your soul this would happen. You told me and Mike to come. You said
that I was the only one who could get through to you no matter
what.”

Valerie’s cool hand touched his
shoulder.

“
I said no such a thing,”
Jacob laughed. “When did I say that? Why would I say it? I was fine
until you…”

“
You tell me Jacob
Marlowe, when have I ever lied to you?” Valerie yelled at him in
her best bossy sister voice. Her index finger pounded into his
chest. “You name one time. Go on. Name one time.”