The Summoning (24 page)

Amber shook with fear as she turned around and looked at Jake. She reached for the door handle – she was ready to bolt outside into the rain and run into the woods.

“Don’t run,” Jake said.

Amber froze – she
knew
that voice.

Jake stared at her and he threw the hunting knife down onto the floorboard of the back seat and showed her that his hands were empty. “Amber,” he said. “It’s me. It’s Cutter.”

Amber stared at Jake.

“I’m Cutter.”

Jake tore his black suit coat off and then tore his blood-stained white shirt open and showed her the knife wound that Ryan had inflicted on him. He wiped away old blood from his abdomen and showed her that the stab wound was completely healed now.

“How …” Amber said.

“The wound, it’s healed,” Jake said.

Jake stared at her with Cutter’s blue eyes. “It’s me, Amber. I jumped into Jake’s body at the last second as he was dying. And I remember everything now.”

Amber shook her head, not sure what to do.

“I can go with you now. I love you.”

“I love you, too,” Amber whispered.

“I want to start over,” Jake told her. “I know I can be different if I can get another chance.”

Hours later the rain had stopped, the storm was passing Edrington by as the night edged towards dawn. And like the townspeople had said, the colder air was following the storm.

Cop cars were parked in Carol’s driveway and on the street in front of her house. An ambulance was parked on the front lawn. Cops and paramedics moved around in the flashing lights of the police cars. A few cops worked the streets, trying to keep neighbors pushed back; they stood in the road wrapped in their robes and coats.

One man, Walter, had driven several blocks and parked his car down the street. He’d walked another few blocks in the rain just to watch this scene. He smiled as he watched the cops and paramedics move around like busy little ants.

One cop fixed yellow police tape across Carol’s front porch. And another two officers guarded Mr. Murdock’s car.

The bodies of Lita and Mr. Murdock were already being placed into the ambulance. Another ambulance was on the way from a nearby town for Ryan’s body.

Inside the house, Detective Harrison watched as the paramedics wheeled the bodies out of the living room. The hands of the victims had been bagged, photos had been taken, and evidence had been collected. It was time to get them to the morgue.

Carol and Victor had been questioned. Victor had been the one who called the cops. After the terror was over he realized that the cops weren’t coming because none of the neighbors had heard gunshots because of the silencer on the gun. And that gave Victor a chance to tie up a few loose ends before he called the police. Victor went into Carol’s den to clean up the mess on the floor. Even though his side screamed in pain and the side of his face was a dull throb, he knew he had to do this for Carol – she’d never be able to explain why this stuff was here if they searched this room. He had left Carol on the couch, she was in shock, nearly catatonic, but he had to leave her for a moment so he could clean up the evidence.

He entered the den and saw that the jar with her husband’s head in it was gone. So were the other items from the suitcase. Even the brown suitcase was gone. Where had it gone? Victor wondered. Had Amber circled back around and taken it? Why would she do that? But he knew that nobody had been in this den.

But the jar and the suitcase were gone.

He didn’t want to think about where they might have gone back to. He didn’t want to think about how much of Carol’s story might have been true.

Victor bent down to roll the rug back over the pentagram and an explosion of fresh pain shot through his side. He had to wait for a moment for the pain to pass a little before he could roll the rest of the rug back in place. But he got through it. As soon as his ribs were better, he was going to sand this floor down and get rid of that pentagram and the scorch marks around it.

He walked to the doorway and went out into the hall. He closed the door to the den and went to the living room to be with Carol.

After Victor called the cops, he waited with Carol for them to get there. Carol hadn’t said a word the whole time they waited. Victor rested his hand on her hand. She stared ahead blankly, but she didn’t pull her hand away from his.

They would get through this somehow, Victor thought.

Detective Harrison, one of only two detectives on the small Edrington police department, walked over to the medical examiner who looked shell-shocked.

“What a blood bath,” the detective said.

The medical examiner nodded. “I haven’t seen anything like this in a long time. Not since the …”

“The Cutter case,” Detective Harrison finished for him.

“What did Carol say happened?” the medical examiner asked. The M.E. knew Carol, but he hadn’t been able to talk to her. She’d been questioned, and then taken to the police station. Victor had been by her side the whole time. He often wondered why she and Victor hadn’t gotten together after her husband’s death so long ago – they seemed so close now.

“She couldn’t say much, still in shock. Victor did most of the talking. He said these people broke in to kill this guy who was renting a room from Carol. Said the man’s name was Ryan Freeman. Ryan killed two of the attackers, but then he went after Carol. She picked up one of the other guys’ guns and shot him. She didn’t have a choice – it was self-defense. Seems like there might have been another wounded man that got away. But we’ll find him.”

“Why were these people after this guy?” the medical examiner asked as he looked down at Ryan’s body which was covered with a white sheet.

“Who knows?” Harrison said. “Drugs? Revenge?”

The medical examiner looked around to make sure that he and the detective were alone, that no one was within earshot. He had something to tell Harrison, and he didn’t want anyone else overhearing what he was going to say.

It was crazy, he knew that, but he needed to tell someone.

Harrison stared at the medical examiner as he glanced around at the living room. “You okay? You don’t look so good. I know you’ve seen this kind of stuff before …”

The medical examiner looked at Harrison and nodded. “It’s not that.”

“What is it? What’s wrong?”

“It’s really strange. I … I don’t even know how to explain it.”

Harrison stared at the medical examiner, waiting for him to continue.

The M.E. glanced around again, making sure no one was near them, and then he looked at Harrison. “Listen,” he said. “This can’t get out to anybody. I’ll put it in the report, but then I’m going to bury it. It just doesn’t make any sense.”

“You know me,” Harrison said. “You know I’m not going to go around talking about this stuff. Hell, I don’t even tell my wife about most of what I see.”

The M.E. nodded and sighed. But he didn’t say anything for a moment.

Harrison grew impatient. “Come on, what is it? You look … you look scared.”

The M.E. locked eyes with Harrison. “That body over there, that Ryan Freeman guy, he doesn’t have any eyes.”

Harrison winced. “No eyes?”

The M.E. went over to Ryan’s body and pulled the white sheet back away from his face so that the detective could see what he was talking about.

“See?” the M.E. said. “And I don’t mean his eyes were ripped out or cut out. I mean, it’s like … like they were never there at all.”

The show was over.

The rain had stopped. The darkness was fading as the sky lightened in the east over the mountains. The cold air was coming down from the north.

The neighborhood people were going back to their homes now. The ambulances were gone. Some of the cops had left.

Walter walked back to his car and got in. He drove back to his tidy little house near the woods and went inside.

He went to a spare bedroom where he had his own pentagram painted in white on the wood floor. He lit candles and placed them at each point of the star. He stripped naked and entered the pentagram. He kneeled down in the center. He closed his eyes.

Soon he felt a presence inside the room with him.

He heard a dripping sound from behind him.

Drip. Drip.

He could feel cold breath on the back of his neck …

Mark Lukens lives with his wife and son in Florida, not far from Tampa. He’s a full-time writer of several books including “Descendants of Magic,” a Young Adult novel he wrote with his lifelong friend, Tony Circelli. He wrote “Ancient Enemy” a supernatural tale available on Amazon and Kindle. He’s also a screenwriter with several works in progress. He has more novels coming soon, including “Night Terrors.”

He welcomes any comments and questions. You can contact him at: [email protected]