Never Fear (55 page)

A maddening cacophony of unholy
shrieks attacked his ears. Lewis tried to cover them, but to no
avail. The screams reached him no matter what he tried, drilling
through his every defense and straight into his soul.

The cyclone expanded until its edges
were touching Gideon’s machines. Suddenly the funnel snapped back
and locked into place, creating a wall of electricity and fire at
the center of the lab.

Distorted images began to appear in
the brackets, flickering fragments of creatures and people that
should have been impossible for them to view.

The images came into focus and the
room calmed. Before them, bracketed by his uncle’s invention and
humming with the power of Antoine’s spirits, was a vision of an
unearthly wasteland.

“
It worked,” was Gideon’s
breathless reply to the successful culmination of his maniacal
endeavor.

Lewis left the safety of the doorway
and a still whimpering Will and stepped toward his uncle’s
experiment. In a voice of awe and wonder he spoke his first words
since this lunacy had begun.

“
What is it?”

“
That is another
dimension.” Smug satisfaction filled his uncle’s words.

“
You uncle has built a
window into de mind of God.”

“
Nonsense. It’s not a
window. It’s a mirror. A mirror that shows us the reflections of
all our might-have-beens. Observe.” Gideon walked over to one of
the brackets and began adjusting dials. As he did, the image
changed.

A group of children were playing a
game of baseball in a park. The children were from all different
backgrounds: black, white, mixed, even a few Chinese boys among
them. Standing by the foul line, watching over everyone, was
grey-haired Antoine smiling from ear to ear.

“
Not a bad find for de
first attempt,” said Antoine, wearing the same exact smile his
mirrored self wore.

“
You don’t even like
baseball,” was Gideon’s teasingly gruff reply.

“
No, but I do enjoy seeing
de little ones enjoying demselves,” Antoine pointed out with a
hearty laugh.

“
If I wanted to watch a
baseball game, I’d go to the park. Let’s see if we can’t find
something a bit more worthy of our genius, shall we?” Gideon turned
the dials and a new moving portrait came into focus.

A man walked across a field of
corpses, dressed in grey and blue. He moved frantically, searching
the faces of the bodies. When he found the one he was looking for,
he fell to his knees and began to weep uncontrollably. Lewis
realized the man they saw was Gideon, only much younger. Younger
even than the picture his mother had given him.

Gideon shifted the dials and the
picture changed again.

Lewis gasped. The new image showed
Lewis sitting in front of a Christmas tree, digging through his
stocking. His mother was there, laughing and handing Lewis more
presents to open. In the corner of the room, sitting in a rocking
chair as if he didn’t have a care in the world, was his
father.

He felt Antoine’s firm grip on his
shoulder. He couldn’t tell if it was meant to be reassuring, or if
it was there to keep him from running headlong into his favorite
dream.

“
It’s not real, Lewis.
It’s nothing but a mirage.” His uncle’s words rang hollow in is
ears. It wasn’t a mirage. His father was right there. Close enough
to touch.

He didn’t realize his hand had been
reaching out to do just that until Antoine knocked it away. Gideon
quickly reset the dials on his machine and the image became a wall
of red and blue energy.

“
I think that’s enough for
tonight. Antoine, why don’t you take Lewis up to bed while I clean
up down here.”

Numbly, Lewis allowed himself to be
led away from the life he had always wanted.

*

Just before midnight, after everyone
else had gone to bed, Lewis snuck back down to his uncle’s
laboratory. The blue-red wall still hummed, its glow lighting the
otherwise darkened room. Carefully he moved the dials the way his
uncle had until he had again found the image of his family. He sat
there for hours, watching them open presents, play with his new
toys, eat Christmas dinner. Smiling and laughing. Being a
family.

Sometime after he had run out of
tears, but before dawn, Lewis heard a noise coming from down the
hall. Not wanting to be caught playing with his uncle’s experiment,
he rushed out of the laboratory and back to his room, completely
forgetting to reset the dials on the mirror.

December 23, 1881

Lewis didn’t see his reflection reach
for the mirror’s edge. He didn’t smell the skin burning as his
doppelganger’s hand crossed the portal’s threshold and entered our
world. He didn’t know that the happy life he had seen for himself
had been a lie, a fabrication concocted by a creature so desperate
to escape Hell that it would endure the flesh melting off its bones
to be liberated from its torments. Nor did he know that after the
demon had suffered through such an ordeal, it would hunger. No,
Lewis was ignorant of all these things and one more. Lewis also
didn’t know that Mrs. Dunham always awoke in the early hours of the
morning to bake fresh bread for the day.

*

After a night of unsettling dreams,
Lewis opened his eyes at Will’s insistent nuzzling. The Border
collie was whimpering with some urgency. Lewis dressed quickly and
followed his new pup down the stairs.

The first thing to hit him was the
smell, a layer of stench that coated the entire first floor of the
house. Vile, putrid air filled his nostrils and roiled his insides.
Lewis blocked out the smell as best he could and continued down the
stairs. If Will could manage it with his canine sense of smell,
then so could Lewis.

Further and further into the house
they went, finding more and more signs of distress. Bookcases and
end tables were strewn about, haphazardly knocked over by some
unknown force. Fingernail scratches laced the walls, marring the
beautiful woodwork Lewis had been introduced to only the day
before.

Finally they came upon his uncle.
Gideon stood like a statue in the doorway, oblivious to their
approach. Still whimpering, Will stayed in the hallway as Lewis
moved past his uncle and into the kitchen, a decision that he
immediately regretted.

Horrifying could not begin to describe
the tableau of gore that lay before him. Mrs. Dunham’s body lay in
front of the stove. She had been ripped open and unburdened of her
internal organs. The few ribs that had not been broken were now
protruding from her hollowed-out corpse at an angle of ninety
degrees. Her head lay a few feet away. It was only missing its
tongue. Mrs. Dunham’s eyes remained open, forever imprinted with
the terror of her final moments. Lewis’ stomach heaved. He managed
to swallow down the vomit, but the taste of bile lingered in his
mouth. He stepped out of the room, fearing that he would be unable
to keep control of another such outburst.

There was a heavy knocking at the door
and unseen chimes began ringing throughout the house. Will barked
at the noise, and Lewis was sure that his pup shared his master’s
fear and discomfort.

The noise jolted Gideon from his dire
contemplations, and finally he too stepped away from the terrible
scene.

“
That will be the police.
Perhaps it’s best if you took Will to the library, keep him out of
the way while they’re here. I’ll join you shortly.”

Lewis knew that the task was meant to
keep them both out of the way and he would normally bristle at
being condescended to, but in this particular instance he was
grateful to his uncle for the opportunity to get as far away from
this horrid scene as possible.

Lewis only took three wrong turns on
his way to the library. The further from the smell they got, the
more Will seemed to perk up, though his new pup was still quite
rattled from the experience.

They sat in silence in the library as
the police did their work. Nearly an hour had gone by when his
uncle stepped through the door, with Antoine trailing in his
wake.

“
Yours were not de only
ill words ta reach me doorstep dis morning. Der were two other poor
souls ta share Mrs. Dunham’s fate last night.”

“
Tell me,” was Gideon’s
cold response to the disturbing news.

“
Remi St. Croix was found
in de basement of Touro, ripped te shreds, and pieces of Walter
Jackson were found in tree different rooms of de iron works on
Tchoupitoulas. Der be no coincidence about dis Professor. Dis be
the work of Loa. We have unleashed de evil spirits on our home. Dis
blood be on our hands.” Antoine trembled as he spoke the last
words.

“
What exactly we’ve
unleashed is yet to be assessed. But I do agree with you that this
is no coincidence and the burden of guilt is ours to
bear.”

Lewis felt a sinking feeling in his
gut. If these murders were a result of his uncle’s mirror, then
they were Lewis’ fault. He’d been the one to sneak back down and
play with the dials. Lewis wanted to say something but held his
tongue. Gideon was his uncle, but he’d only met the man last night.
What did one say at a time like this? How could he tell his uncle
that he was responsible for these people’s horrible
deaths?

“
Three murders in three
different wards. Even if we lucked upon a group of honest officers,
they won’t know what they’re truly up against. How could they if we
don’t even know? Without our involvement there is no chance that
this does not become a bloodbath of Biblical scale. Besides which
is the matter of a debt to be repaid.” Gideon paused for moment.
“Lewis, grab your pistol. We’re going out.”

“
Out” by Gideon’s
definition was the crime scene closest to his residence, a hospital
called Touro Infirmary. Lewis’ first full day in New Orleans was
not going as he had expected. It was shocking to him that his uncle
could be so untouched by the gruesome murder of his housekeeper,
but if the man felt any emotion at all, he was keeping it buried
deep inside.

The approach to the hospital was
clogged by a crowd of gawkers and hysterical citizens. A line of
stalwart officers had their batons out and were quite literally
beating the mob back with a stick. With a mix of contempt and
frustration, Gideon instructed their driver to keep
moving.

“
Maybe we have more luck
at de Ironworks?” said Antoine.

“
We’d better,” was his
uncle’s terse reply.

The additional half-mile ride was more
than a frustrating annoyance for Lewis, as it left him with time to
dwell on the horrible deaths multiple people had suffered because
of his own weakness. The thought ate away at him as they arrived at
their secondary destination.

Gideon was a striking sight as he
climbed out of the carriage. His hat was slightly askew, and he had
removed his jacket and rolled up his white shirtsleeves. His maroon
vest was accentuated by a purple cravat that was the color of
royalty. The silver-plated pistols that hung naturally on each of
his uncle’s hips and the dark glasses that covered his eyes gave
his cultivated aura of refined casualness a lethal
seriousness.

Gideon handed Lewis his black medical
bag and started giving orders.

“
Lewis, stay here and out
of trouble. Antione, work some of that voodoo doctor charm and get
us in to see that body.” Lewis’ stomach revolted at merely the
thought of seeing another sight like Mrs. Dunham, and for once he
was glad to be left holding the bag.

From where they exited the carriage,
they could see the police carrying three different black bags from
the building. The sight of three body bags sent Lewis into panic
spiral. Antoine had said that there had been only one death here.
His heart ached and his breath shortened as the weight of two more
deaths crushed down upon his soul.

Lewis was not the only one shaken by
the thought of two more bodies. Antoine’s voice cracked as he spoke
to the officer impeding their path.

“
Excuse me, constable, but
I was told der had been only de one man killed.”

“
That’s right,” the
constable replied coarsely.

“
Why den tree
bags?”

“
He was killed in a very
nasty way.” The constable paused to let the words sink
in.

“
If you’ll allow me, my
name is Professor Gideon Giles. I’m with the university, and I’m
doing some research. I was hoping I might get a look at the room
where the unfortunate man was found.” Gideon started to walk past
the officer, but he was stopped with a firm hand.

“
I don’t care who you’re
with. No one’s getting in here without a badge. Now get moving
before I haul you down for irritating an officer.” The officer
stared them down until, reluctantly, Gideon walked away.

“
Damn. I need to know what
happened in there. I wouldn’t even need to see the scene. Just a
look at the detective’s notebook would be enough,” his uncle
complained once they were out of earshot.

Lewis could see the head detective
giving orders to various officers and had an idea.