Evil Agreement (38 page)

The night air began to swirl up, in front of the altar.

“Oh, almighty Moloch, slayer of the enemies of Lucifer, we
are prepared, this night, to fulfill our great covenant. We call for your
presence.”

The swirling air now contained sparking explosions of
different colored lights.

“Moloch, show yourself before us now. Let the unfaithful fear
you in life, as they should in death, and let we, your faithful, share in the
promises once made.”

Inside the swirling lights, a shape began to take form. This
shape was dark and kept shifting inside the swirling lights.

The crowd continued to sway. Some people even murmured their
own personal prayers. Young children sat or stood in silence, mesmerized by
this metamorphic spectacle. Infants, held by their parents were completely
silent.

The shape now began to take on a definite form. The air
around the swirling lights became electric. Small lightning like charges of
twisting, cracking light snapped in the surrounding air.

Just then Ed Townsend looked over at the Reverend and the
Judge. According to their prearranged signal he folded his arms. As he did so,
he reached inside his cloak and unlatched his pistol from his shoulder holster.

The Judge looked over at the Reverend and nodded.

The Reverend knew his time had come. It was now or never. His
convictions were strong. He firmly believed he was about to do the right thing
by Lucifer.

The Reverend suddenly clutched his upper left chest, and let
out a huge moan, “
OooooooH
!”

So Samuel couldn’t look into his eyes as he slumped forward onto
the altar, he turned his face away.

Samuel took notice of what the Reverend was doing. He had
expected something like this would happen.

Ed quickly pulled his pistol out and raised the weapon up
with both his hands, and took aim.

The Judge hesitated.

Samuel turned at that moment and in a flash held out his
right hand palm side facing towards Ed.

Ed was suddenly frozen in place. Every muscle in his body was
suddenly beyond his control. Only his mind was his own. He instantly knew he
had failed. His only hope now was that the Judge would follow through while
Samuel was occupied with him.

Samuel kept his arm extended towards Ed even as he returned
his attention to the imminent arrival of Moloch.

The Reverend was still bent over the altar. There had been no
shots fired. That could mean only one thing. Their planned coup had failed.

I’m still alive, must be a good sign,
thought the
Reverend.
Maybe Samuel hasn’t connected me to the planned assassination.
I’ve just got to keep faking this heart attack.

The Judge was now frozen by his own hesitant choice. Somehow
Samuel had anticipated Ed.
How?
thought the Judge.
What tipped him
off?

Moloch’s shape was nearly complete. This shape began to reach
and stretch, much like one does upon rising from an extended nap.

The swirling lights began to extinguish. Moloch was now fully
formed.

“I am here!” he bellowed to the assembled.

Everyone opened their eyes and lowered their arms. Applause
and cheering broke out.

“I am here to fulfill our great agreement. Tonight you shall
be rewarded, but first we must deal with the traitors in our midst.”

The crowd began to murmur. There was confusion and concern.

“Here Moloch, is a traitor,” said Samuel.

Moloch turned and extended his long right arm, then his hand
and finally his long gnarled index finger directly at Ed Townsend.

“Traitor, the lowest of fiends, you were planning to kill
your coven leader, and then you planned to destroy me. By your deed you would
have denied Lucifer his rightful place, here on earth.”

“What is to become of this traitor?” asked Samuel
sardonically.

Moloch turned to the crowd and gestured to them that it was
their call to make.

“Destroy him,” said some.

Others shouted, “Kill him.”

Even the children joined in with this populous demand.

“Samuel, the faithful have spoken,” said Moloch in a mocking
tone.

With that, Samuel now faced Ed and extended his two arms
towards him. Ed dropped his gun. Now his body begins to rise into the air. He
moves through the air until he is hanging in front of the cross to Samuel’s
right.

“Tie him to the cross,” commanded Samuel. Several men
standing in the front run forward. Samuel reaches under the covered altar and
tosses a bundle of rope towards them. Some of the men use their pocket knifes
to cut the length of rope and then tie up Ed Townsend.

“Samuel, what of the other traitor?” asked Moloch.

Both the Judge and the Reverend froze upon hearing those
ominous words.

“Yes, the other traitor,” said Samuel as he turned and looked
directly at the Judge. The Judge lowered his arms to his side. He looked back
at Samuel and nods.

Samuel now raises his arms together, as he had done with Ed,
just moments ago. Upon doing so the Judge’s body stiffens from the paralysis
induced by the Samuel’s powers. His body rises and moves through the air until
it hangs suspended, in front of the cross to Samuel’s left. Samuel retrieves
another length of rope from beneath the altar and tosses it towards the foot of
the cross. The same men cut this rope and tie the Judge to the cross.

The Judge looks over at Ed. The Judge seems more resigned to
his fate. Ed on the other hand is angry and defiant.

“What seems to be the trouble with our Reverend?” asked
Moloch mockingly.

Upon hearing Moloch speak of him the Reverend lifts his head
slightly and speaks in a faking sickly tone “I, I think I’m having a heart
attack.”

The other coven members don’t know quite what to make of
these events. They stand rigid in their positions, unsure of what is about to
happen next.

“So you say you are having a heart attack. Tell us what it
feels like,” said Samuel.

“Uh, feels like I don’t,” spoke the Reverend when suddenly
his heart felt like someone had just stabbed it with a jagged edged knife.

“Oh, God,” said the Reverend as he grabs at his chest with both
hands. His left arm tingles and aches.

“He dares to speak of God,” bellowed Moloch. “God is not here
Reverend. Does he care about you, a sinner?” hissed Moloch.

Moloch walks towards the Reverend who was now in excruciating
pain.

The coven members step aside to let Moloch move closer to the
Reverend.

Moloch lifts the Reverend’s chin with his left index finger.
His fingernail pierces the tender skin just beneath the Reverend’s chin.

The Reverend’s face on its right side begins to droop, as if
he no longer has any muscle control over that part of his face. To add to the
Reverend’s humiliation, his bowels let go, as he soils himself.

With his one finger Moloch has now lifted the Reverend high
over the altar.

“Please, Moloch?” pleads the Reverend in a whispered voice.

“He asks for mercy,” shouted Moloch.

Samuel watches every move Moloch makes, much like a student
might watch and study a master.

Moloch reaches out with his right hand and makes a gesture in
front of the Reverend’s chest like he had just grabbed something and was giving
it a good twist.

The Reverend cries out in pain, “Moloch.”

Then Moloch reaches directly into the chest of the Reverend.
His powerful hand, long fingers, and razor sharp fingernails soon find what he
seeks. He rips the still beating heart out of the Reverend’s chest. Moloch
holds it aloft for everyone to see. The Reverend’s blood runs down his arm. The
heart beats a few times then stops.

A loud cheer rises up from among the faithful. They clap and
celebrate. Moloch deposits the heart into the cup on the altar.

It lands inside with a smacking sound.

Moloch tosses the Reverend’s lifeless body down on the ground
in front of the altar. Some people move to the body and spit on it or kick it.

Samuel raises his arms and beckons for attention.

The crowd quiets down.

Samuel then speaks, “Bring to these crosses, wood from those
piles.”

Many people quickly do as he requested.

Samuel turns to Walter and Chucky and says, “Take the
gasoline from the cans near our changing tent and pour it on the wood, at the
feet of the crosses. Do it quickly.”

They move at nearly a full run to carry out his command.

When the wood had been put in place and covered with gasoline
everyone moves away from the crosses.

“Hear me faithful,” said Samuel. “Before the great Moloch, we
must show our loyalty, and destroy the traitors who would stand in our way.”

Samuel extends his own arms outward, palm sides up. In each
palm appears a ball of fire.

“Hellfire,” whispers Phyllis to Shirley. They both seem
excited.

The balls of fire move up into the air and hover over the
altar. They grow and grow. Soon, they each are the size of a medicine ball.

Judy grows exceedingly aroused by all of this. She begins to
touch herself. Her body begins to sensually gyrate. The other women also find
themselves becoming aroused. The men in the coven also begin to experience
heightened arousal, as they notice the aroused state the women seem to be
experiencing.

Moloch took notice of this behavior, and it pleased him.

The balls of fire suddenly fly towards the crosses and crash
directly at the feet of the two coven members tied to the crosses.

The gasoline soaked wood explodes into flames. In a few
seconds both men and their crosses are engulfed in a blazing consuming fire.

A loud cheer sweeps through the faithful. Some of the Coven
and the faithful join hands and dance with one another.

Neither Ed nor the Judge is able to speak. Their face
muscles, the only muscles on their body that they still control, convulse
violently. Their mouths hang open in a silent agonizing effort to scream. Their
clothes quickly burn away, exposing their flesh, which burns with a fierce
consuming heat.

The burning bodies emit a searing sound, much like steak
sizzling on an open fire. As the wooden pyres burn, embers are carried aloft by
the draft of the fire, and then drift away into the nighttime sky.

The Judge’s gun, still strapped to his now burning body, let
loose a shot, as the bullet in the firing chamber explodes. The bullet grazes
Ed Foley’s shoulder.

Within a couple of seconds the remaining bullets stored in
the magazine also explode. Bullets and pieces of the gun fly everywhere. The
flying shrapnel explodes through the air, nicking several people.

Moloch laughs at the scene of the faithful momentarily
scurrying for cover.

All three conspirators are now dead.

Ed whispers to Walter, “How did Samuel know?”

Samuel heard the remark. He turns to Ed and Walter and said
with a sinister smile, “You know that each of us has our devil mate. Well, one
of theirs was disloyal to them but faithful to Lucifer.”

“Samuel, look,” said a suddenly excited Ed Foley.

31

Aaron,
Korie
, Kelley and Miss
Beacon were within a couple hundred feet of the clearing, when they noticed the
nighttime air over the clearing glowed ever brighter. They could hear people
cheering and clapping. As they moved closer, they could see flickers of still
burning embers drifting upward over the tops of trees.

The sound of the first shot rang out, soon followed by the
sound of the other bullets exploding. The four moved steadily forward
undeterred by these sounds. A strange, foul odor reached them as they stepped
from the trail and into the edge of the clearing.

What Kelley saw seized her with an intense terror that caused
her to stop. There, across the clearing, next to the offering altar, were two
smoldering crosses with two charred figures hanging from them. It was the scene
from her dream. It was the very scene, which she had foreseen. She spotted
Moloch next to the altar and then she located her brother, Samuel, proudly
standing next to the fiend from hell.

Aaron looked around at the frenzy of the crowd. His eyes
moved to the altar and it was there that he first set eyes upon his two main
opponents, Moloch and the young boy that must surely be Samuel.

Korie
didn’t pay much attention to
the crowd. Instead she focused directly on the altar area. She spotted Moloch,
a hideous, tall, powerfully built creature. She also noticed all the coven
members in their robes, and right away, their state of sexual arousal. Their
movements were all too obvious.

Korie
also noticed the two burnt
bodies on the crosses.

Shit, what have we gotten ourselves into
? she silently
asked herself.

Miss Beacon looked upon the entire scene and recognized the
all too familiar pattern. She generally knew what was to follow, but she also
knew that each previous attempt to bring forth Lucifer had its own set of
surprises.

One of the coven members spotted them. He pointed at them.
Samuel turned around and looked across the clearing. His eyes met his sister’s.
Samuel was now grinning from ear to ear.

“Silence,” shouted Samuel.

The crowd immediately behaved as directed.

“Moloch, I present to you, Mr. Powell, his woman friend, our
own Miss Beacon and of course you already know my sister, Kelley.”

The crowd turned as one and faced them.

“Welcome, Powell. It has been a very long time. As you can
see, we have been busy awaiting your arrival. Everything is now in order.”

Samuel stepped around the altar and stood in front of it. The
faithful moved apart, leaving a path, which led directly to the top of the
clearing.

“Powell, come forward and join our coven, so the Final
Covenant may be fulfilled,” said Samuel as he beckoned Aaron to leave the
others.

Aaron released
Korie’s
and Miss
Bacon’s hands and walked toward Samuel. The faithful erupt into a loud cheer.
Several members reach out and pat Aaron on the back. Aaron keeps his eyes on
Samuel and Moloch. He struggles to keep his mind clear and his emotions in
check.

“Miss Beacon and Powell’s woman please come down front and
join us,” said Samuel.

Aaron moved to the backside of the altar opposite from the
side where Moloch is.

Miss Beacon released Kelley’s hand and pulled at
Korie’s
hand. The two women walk slowly and cautiously
forward. They stop and stand in front of the altar on the same side as Aaron.

Moloch watched their every move. His yellow colored eyes gaze
down upon the women. His face is filled with a triumphant grin. He licks his
lips with his serpent like tongue.

“And now, for my dear sister who once thought she could leave
our church. To show you there are no hard feelings, we are prepared to offer
you, to Moloch. Dad, will you please escort her to the front?”

It was her nightmare turned into nightmarish reality.

She started to turn to run when her left arm was seized. She
turned and noticed it was her father. His eyes were glazed over as if they were
in a trance. He was dressed in a black tuxedo, and was wearing a dead, black
rose in his lapel. Kelley suddenly felt a swoosh-like wind. She then looked
down at herself. She was now wearing a black wedding dress. She also had on
black, arm length gloves and a black veil. In her right hand was a bouquet of
dead, black roses.

Kelley started to cry.

“Daddy, please let me go.”

Her father neither heard, nor even saw her. At this moment
his mind and spirit were not his to command.

The crowd of the Church
of Everlasting Faith cheered
wildly. There were shouts of “yes,” and “at last.”

Kelley’s father began to walk down the parted path created by
the crowd. He had to pull Kelley along.

Moloch stood tall as he fixed his eager eyes upon the woman
he was about to have, body and soul.

Kelley fell to her knees. She was sobbing.

Aaron looked at
Korie
and Miss
Beacon for some sign, perhaps a signal of what to do. They offered him nothing.
He closed his eyes even as he could hear Kelley’s sobbing and desperate
pleading.

“Daddy, momma, somebody, help me, please,” she cried.

A man stepped from the crowd near her and helped her to her
feet. For a moment she thought that maybe, at last someone was going to help
her. Instead, now that she was once again on her feet he pushed her along.

“Miss Beacon,
Korie
you’ve got to
help me. Make this stop!”

They both knew this was not the time to interfere.

“Aaron, please save me,” cried Kelley.

Aaron opened his eyes and looked at her. He wanted so very
much to help, but when, how?

Moloch reaches his arms up to the night sky. His entire
scaly, green black body glistens as it reflects the nearby burning torches. He
lets out a roar that shakes the ground. Even the altar shudders from the force
of his bellow. It soon echoes back from across the valley.

Moloch clenches his hands into fists. His tail swishes back
and forth.

The remaining coven members are being worked up into a highly
excited state, everyone that is, except for Samuel and Aaron.

Aaron silently prays for help from his ancestors. He prays to
hear his mother’s voice. He feels powerless.

Kelley arrived with her father. They both are standing before
Moloch. Kelley is no longer sobbing. She seems to have slipped into a trance.
She is looking at the ground. Her mouth is half-open.

Moloch reaches down and takes her right hand into his own
hands.

“Go,” he says to Kelley’s father.

Zombie like, Kelley’s father walks back into the crowd. The
crowd slowly moves closer.

Moloch picks up Kelley and lays her on the altar. He picks up
the cup that still contains the Reverend’s heart. He holds the cup high over
his head. His lips move, as he speaks a silent chant.

There is rumbling from somewhere off in the distance.

Now Moloch sweeps his right hand through the air just a few
inches above Kelley’s body. As he does so her clothing disappears. She is now
completely naked.

Coven members begin tearing their shrouds off. If they have
any remaining clothes, they rip those off as well. Soon naked, they begin to
dance and gyrate around the altar. Their bodies begin to transform into a
combination of human and their own unique devil partner.

Aaron’s mind is racing. Suddenly his mind takes him back to
the time he spent in the barn, just a couple hundred yards from here. He
remembers the hundreds of lost souls crying out for justice. Aaron’s mind calls
out to them. He begins speaking to them.

Moloch leans over Kelley’s body. He licks her face with his
long, snake like tongue.

Kelley’s mind is frozen in terror.

She can smell Moloch’s breath. It smells of death.

Moloch takes the Reverend’s heart from the cup and drags its’
bloody flesh across her chest as he traces the sign of the pentagram.

“Hear me now,” roars Moloch. “O almighty Lucifer, Prince of
Darkness, I, Moloch, your faithful servant will take this human unto me. We
will be as one. As one, we shall then call you forth to join us this night, to
join with your faithful servants so you may rule this earth.”

Continuing, Moloch spoke, “The missing member of the coven we
once had is with us now. His family once stood in the way long ago. Now
returned, he is here to witness your arrival, to see the final covenant
fulfilled and to be here at the birth of Armageddon.”

Moloch tosses the Reverend’s heart out into the crowd, which
begins a small frenzy as people compete for a piece of the dead flesh.

Aaron looks at
Korie
and Miss
Beacon who haven’t dared to move. They aren’t looking at him. They both seem
riveted to the actions of Moloch.

Aaron’s dialogue with the lost souls is nearly complete.

Moloch’s body rises into the air, until he is hovering just
above the altar. He then settles down, standing upon the altar. He kneels down
facing Kelley. His body has developed hideous genitals. He lies completely upon
her body. His immense size alone should crush her. Instead she feels no weight.

Kelley is now face to face with Moloch. His mouth is dripping
a mucous like substance, which falls on her forehead. She wants desperately to
scream, or better yet to die. Instead, all she is able to do is silently cry.
Tears run down her cheeks and drip upon the altar.

The coven members are dancing around the altar, rubbing their
naked bodies upon each other. Several members reach out and touch Moloch and
Kelley. Judy moves over to Aaron and rubs her body against him.

Chucky moves over to the Miss Beacon and
Korie
and begins to do the same.

Moloch’s body begins to press down upon Kelley. He has
entered her. His body begins to pulsate between a black-green color to a
red-green one. Then slowly his own, immense body begins to fade. Twirling
lights begin to fill the air in place of where his form once was. The ground
rumbles and shakes.

The crowd now chants “Moloch, Moloch, Moloch.”

Kelley, once able to move, stretches her arms above her head.

Aaron is looking down at her. She opens her eyes and they are
yellow as Moloch’s eyes once were.

Her hands caress her body. She explores herself.

Aaron knows she is no longer Kelley, but a human vessel for
Moloch.

Kelley sits up and then slides off the altar.

Samuel watches this transformation with keen interest. He was
very proud of what he has been able to accomplish. He couldn’t wait for Old
Scratch’s arrival so that Armageddon could begin. Samuel believes he will be
called upon to play a prominent role in Satan’s plans. His luck couldn’t be
better. His own devil partner,
Upuaut
, pushes to
become manifested in Samuel’s body. The transformation has begun.

Kelley walks towards Samuel. As she does, her skin’s
complexion begins to transform. It darkens, it becomes scaly. Her feet
transform into hooves. Her body glistens and pulsates as the changing process
continues.

“Dear Brother,” said Kelley with a deep throaty hiss in her
voice.

“Yes, Kelley, or Moloch or.”

“You seem happy. Are you happy?”

“Oh, yes, yes.”

“Are you two proud of yourselves?”

“Yes, we are. We were the only ones who could make this happen.
Remember that many others had tried and failed. We were the only ones,” they
bragged.

“Then it seems you both should be rewarded,” she hissed.

Kelley now had a serpent like tongue, which seemed to dart in
and out of her mouth.

Kelley reaches out to her bother and his transforming body
with her left hand. He reaches out for her. He was expecting an embrace.

She grabs Samuel by the throat. Her grip is powerful. It
catches him by surprise. He gasps for air. None would be forthcoming.

With one powerful hand she lifts Samuel’s body into the air.
He begins kicking. His arms reach up and try to pry himself loose from his
sister’s grip. It is no use.

Kelley looks over at Aaron and smiles.

Aaron looks back at her and returns the smile.

“Put him down,” says Aaron.

“You dare command me,” answers Kelley.

“Yes.”

“You pitiful human. You have nothing. You command nothing.
You are too late to stop me.”

“You’re wrong. I am not alone, and I will stop you.”

The coven members stop dancing. The crowd grows quiet.
Korie
and Miss Beacon watch Aaron intently.

Except for the “cracking” and “popping” sounds from the
torches there is complete silence.

Samuel has by now turned blue. He has lost consciousness. He
hangs limply from Kelley’s outstretched arm.

Suddenly a wind picks up.

Kelley was not the cause of this wind. She turns her head to
try to determine who or what was causing this.

Hundreds of distant voices are heard racing towards the
clearing.

The crowd turns to look towards the trail road. Suddenly the
specters of hundreds of souls appear. These souls appear in their original
human form. It was the souls of all the people slain by the coven and other
church members since that fateful night over a hundred and sixty years ago.

They’re shouting. Their voices carried by the wind. It was
unmistakable. They’re here to demand justice.

Kelley drops her brother’s body to the ground. His
interrupted devolution into
Upuaut
was nearly
complete. She runs to the altar and jumps up on it. She stands defiantly with
her hands on her hips.

“How dare you come here to challenge me!”

“They aren’t here to challenge you. They are here to defeat
you,” said Aaron.

“Grab him” commanded Kelley. The coven members began to move
towards him.