Evil Origins: A Horror & Dark Fantasy Collection (55 page)

“The sacrifice.
It’s you, isn’t it?”

Mashoka nodded
up and down.

“Thank you. Thank
you for being a guide, a teacher, and a friend to me. I’ll never forget you.”

The old man
smiled and patted Ravna’s cheek with his hand.

“I will still
be with you. I came to you in this Cycle, did I not?”

Ravna bowed to Mashoka
and stood back. The old man turned and faced the door. The wind howled and
lightning flashed overhead, threatening to rip open the sky and toss the
mammoth trees to the ground. He turned the knob and pushed the door open,
followed by Ravna.

***

It took several
seconds for their eyesight to adjust to the funerary pall of the cabin. Their
other senses picked up the slack, delivering a whiff of human fear, quiet
whimpering, and a bitter taste of adrenaline. Mashoka sensed others in the room,
but none spoke.

“Gaki,” he said,
demanding the confrontation by verbalizing the creature’s name.

Ravna squinted
and his eyes began to adjust. He saw the profile of two figures, either
crouched or sitting. A glimmer caught his eye, a flash like a falling star.

“I have a right
to this flesh.”

Mashoka stepped
forward. “Unless I claim it from you.”

Ravna stood
fixated on the beastly, low grumbling of the voice speaking from the dark
corner. It sounded human and yet tainted, an old soul trapped in a dying form.

“You cannot,”
the beast replied.

“Free the
woman. She is not part of the agreement.”

“The man
exchanged her for her children. I have every right to her.”

Mashoka shook
his head and waved his cane. “Nonsense. Claiming the man or the woman, or both,
in exchange for their children disavows the Cycle. I am here to reset it. I am
here to give you the pound of flesh you demand.”

“Fuck you, old
man!”

Drew stood and
Ravna understood where the shimmer of light came from. The man wore filthy
clothes, his hair disheveled and his eyes feral. In his right hand he held a
long hunting knife. A woman sat on a wooden chair. He surmised from her
position that she was bound. Her head rested on her chest, unconscious.

“The woman goes
free,” Mashoka said. Ravna shuddered from the sound of his voice.

“If she goes, I
take you both in exchange,” replied Drew.

“You only get
what you earn, Gaki.”

“I should have
taken you decades ago, in the cave. You were such a nosy, little Jap. I ate so
many gooks that day. That’s what saved you.”

Mashoka stood,
his legs set at shoulder width. He held the cane upright, grabbing the top knob
like the hilt of a sword.

“But you
didn’t. You took the GI instead, and that line ends here. Release the woman,
now.”

Drew tilted his
head back and roared. He spun and knocked several items from the mantle. He
tore at his own clothing. “The whore must pay for her infidelity. She is
unclean.”

“Pay she must,
but not to you. You do not sit in judgment of her. She shall own her acts in
due time. Cut her free.”

Drew took the
knife. He licked the blade and giggled as he drew the sharp edge over Molly’s
ankles and wrists. Her limp body flopped to the floor, her dark hair spread
across the dirt-covered wood.

“Remove her,” Mashoka
said to Ravna.

Ravna stepped
to Molly and slid his arms underneath her shoulders and the backs of her knees.
Drew stepped behind Ravna, blocking the door.

“Your souls for
hers, but she will leave marked.”

Drew lunged
forward and drew the knife across Molly’s face. She cried out, eyes still
closed as the blade opened a shallow cut from the corner of her eye to the edge
of her jaw.

Ravna spun away
from Drew, stepping past him and Mashoka and through the door. He dropped Molly
into a pile of leaves, pressing his sleeve against her wound. He returned to
the cabin door and yanked at the handle, but it would not open. The ground
shook and light pierced the gaps between logs, emanating from inside the cabin
like a nuclear reaction.

***

“Your body is
weak.”

“Power does not
reside in my body, but in my soul.”

Drew circled
the floor, his eyes fixated on Mashoka’s. Saliva dangled from his chin, swaying
with each movement. “Your man-child obeys like a dog. Does he give or receive?”

Mashoka ignored
the taunt, his stance ready for Gaki’s first move.

“What’s the
matter, Jap? Did I offend your sense of dignity with my accusation?”

“I am ready to
defend my soul and banish you.”

Drew lunged
forward, slashing at Mashoka’s face with the knife. The old man ducked, feeling
the air move past him. He spun to face Gaki, ready for the next offensive.

“You will not
leave here alive,” Gaki said through Drew’s mouth. “I will feast on your shit
like the other worthless gooks of your village.”

He dove at Mashoka
with a stabbing motion. Again, the old man turned aside the attack with a spin.
He took a deep breath and his right leg buckled inward.

“What summoned
you?” Mashoka asked.

Drew dropped
both arms to his side and tilted his head sideways. “You have an interest in
Gaki’s evolution?”

“I’ve been a
Hunter through many lifetimes. I have slain many demons, as I will you. I have
not, however, discovered the cesspool from which you arise. If I know of it, I
will be sure to destroy the gateway.”

“The ‘cesspool’
you mention is humanity itself. The ‘gateway’ is the greed, lust, and
insatiable suffering of humankind. You can no more rid the universe of Gaki
than you can of air or water.”

“Air or water
does not kill,” replied Mashoka.

“But it becomes
polluted, just the same.”

Drew swung a
fist through the air and caught the old man unprepared. His hand stung Mashoka’s
temple and stole his equilibrium. He fell to the floor, rolled onto his back,
and held the cane across his body to defend against Drew’s next move.

“Get up so I
can knock you down again.”

Mashoka stood,
using his cane to stand. He took quick, deep breaths and felt cramps gnawing at
his thighs. Drew spun counterclockwise with his left leg extended. The heel of
his boot landed squarely on Mashoka’s forehead, knocking him backwards into the
wall of the cabin. A cloud of dust exploded from behind the old man. Pieces of
wood and dirt rained down upon him as he collapsed to the floor.

“Get up,” said
Gaki.

Mashoka reached
out and grabbed a cast-iron hook embedded in the wall. He pulled with both arms
until he stood, rolling a shoulder into the log until he again faced the room
and the fury of Gaki, channeled through Drew.

“I have
underestimated your strength,” said Mashoka.

“You have, and
it will cost you your life,” replied Gaki.

Drew swung his
right arm, clutching the knife in his fist. It tore through the tendons in Mashoka’s
shoulder, lodging in his collarbone. The old man crumpled to the floor with a
silent gasp, his left hand shaking and reaching for the embedded blade.

Drew stood in
front of Mashoka, heaving and cackling at the same time. He moved closer,
pulled his right leg back, and delivered a toe-kick to Mashoka’s midsection. He
struggled for breath, still grasping for the steel lodged in his flesh.

“It’s time for
you to die, Hunter of old. Your name will perish with your flesh, consumed by
Gaki. The woman and the man-child are next, and then come the children. Gaki is
not bound by earthly contracts.”

“Not true. You
are held to the Cycle.”

“Fuck the Cycle
and fuck you,” replied Gaki. “Do not tell me what I am bound by. I have eaten
the flesh of your people for hundreds of years, and I will continue to roam and
feast without hindrance from an old man or his sad apprentice.”

Mashoka raised
his head in time to see Drew’s fist smash his nose. The salty blood seeped into
his mouth and the pain blinded him. He felt Gaki remove the blade from his
shoulder, which seared like fire.

“I will hunt
again,” Mashoka mumbled.

“Not me,”
replied Gaki.

Chapter 16

Ravna pounded
the door with both fists. He circled back into the driving rain, running at
full speed toward it. He drove a shoulder hard into the wood and felt the jamb
sway. A lightning bolt of pain shot from his arm. Ravna turned and grabbed the
elbow with the opposite hand. “Pop it back in again,” he said to himself.

His hand
twisted the opposite elbow and the scorching pain of dislocation flared up
again until the ball clicked back into the joint, albeit in a swollen mess of
bruised tissue and tendon.

Ravna backed up
again and ran at the door, his right arm now limp and dangling like that of a
puppet, the string cut by the puppeteer. He led with the right foot and drove
his heel into the space just above the knob and directly beneath the latch. The
weakened doorjamb cracked and an odor crept from behind it that made Ravna’s
head spin. He retreated out into the storm, this time taking a five-pace run at
the weakened doorway. The old wood cracked and splintered, but held. He heard a
whimper from nearby and noticed that the woman was coming around. She looked at
him through glazed eyes, attempting to piece together the situation like
someone waking from a deep sleep.

“Stay where you
are,” Ravna said, shouting over the thunderous storm.

“Where’s Drew?”
she asked.

Ravna looked at
the door to the cabin and back to the woman. “Is that his name?” he asked her.

She nodded her
head in affirmation.

Ravna ran to
the door, placed his mouth to the opening and began to yell. “Drew!” he
shouted. He heard shouting and a commotion inside, the sounds of an argument
turned violent. “Drew!” he tried again. “Your wife is out here and she needs
your help.”

The battle
inside subsided for a moment, but then flared up again, this time shaking the
wall so hard that bricks tumbled from the top of the chimney.

“Mashoka!”
Ravna yelled.

As if on cue,
the battle inside stopped, leaving Molly and Ravna with the sound of the
pounding storm. A noise like crumpling steel tore through the air and the door
to the cabin burst open, the hinges powerless to stop the force from driving it
into the outside wall. Ravna heard laughter, deep and resonant.

“Who’s there?”
asked the voice from inside. “Is it Goldilocks?”

Molly turned
away from the cabin, her tears lost in the rain. Ravna stood and inched closer
to the threshold.

“Mashoka?” he
asked.

“Come and see
for yourself,” replied the voice.

Ravna brushed
past Drew to the crumpled body lying on the floor. He saw Mashoka’s cane and
turned away from the bloody mess.

“What have you
done, Drew?”

He stood,
grinning at Ravna, blood dripping from his face. “He will hunt me no more.”

Ravna looked
into the man’s face. Drew’s eyes bounced around in their sockets like marbles
rolling in a porcelain sink. His face had lost its natural color and appeared
to take on a gray tint in the dim light of the cabin. Drew’s hair sat matted on
the top of his head with clumps of blood and flesh strewn throughout.

“I’ve called the
police. They’re on their way.”

Drew threw his
head back in laughter. “The authorities?” asked Gaki. “They won’t save you or
the woman. The deal has been brokered. She is mine. Stand aside or I will take
you also.”

Ravna clenched
both fists and bent his knees. “Leave her be. You have taken Mashoka.”

“The old man
didn’t finish your apprenticeship, did he? Too bad, or he would have warned you
of Gaki’s appetite. Don’t you tell me when I have had enough.”

Drew swung his
arm in a slow arc toward Ravna. The younger man ducked and came back to his
defensive stance before Drew realized he missed.

“The ancients
passed the ritual of the Hunt to the Hunters, and I am one of that line.”

Drew froze and
looked into the eyes of Ravna. He hesitated, glancing first at the remains of Mashoka
and then back at Ravna. Before he could speak, darkness engulfed his vision and
the fury of the storm faded into silence.

***

Drew opened his
eyes. He fluttered the lids until he could shake off the weight of the
darkness. He was back in the cave where Gaki had killed Vivian, but he was now
in the chair, arms and legs bound to it. The damp smell came back, filling his
mouth with a sour taste. He wore torn and frayed pants, but no shirt. His neck
ached and the rope bindings burned his flesh. He looked around at nothing but
stone walls and blackness when he heard the question.

“Comfy?” asked
Gaki.

“What are you
doing to me?” replied Drew.

“It is the
young one, Mashoka’s man-child. He has cast us into the other realm, but only
temporarily. He does not know the full ramifications of his actions.”

Drew shook his
head, unable to see Gaki. He thought about what the creature said and the
manner in which he spoke. Gaki’s speech had become specific and articulate.

“Are we stuck
here?” Drew asked.

Gaki stepped
from the shadows. His body appeared as it always had, stringy, malnourished,
and bluish-gray. But his eyes were lit with a fire Drew had not seen before.

“You are,” he
replied, pointing to the bindings on Drew’s wrists and ankles.

“Why?”

“Don’t play the
fool,” Gaki replied. “You signed the deal. You saved your offspring with the
blood of the woman.”

Drew shook his
head. He looked at his hands, which were covered with bruises akin to those
suffered by the pugilist. He felt a dull pain on the side of his head. “Are you
bringing her here?” he asked.

Gaki grinned,
revealing thin, brown teeth filed to a dull edge. “No. You are.”

“I cannot.”