Lumbering over the van, it looked callously down at it's prey. Jack sensed it's wicked motives. The creature stretched one of it's thick limbs high above itself, about to strike.
Jack leaped towards the front doors just as the creature's massive fist slammed into the ground, creating a small crater where Jack had stood. The ground rumbled at the impact. The creature stepped forward and brought itself closer to the ground, down to Jack's level.
Rushing into the building, Jack slipped on the wet floor, sending him crashing against the warped wooden counter top. Quickly getting to his feet, Jack faced the open front doors.
The creature peered into the building, hesitating at the entrance as if something prevented it from charging in, a barrier keeping it out. After a few moments, it pulled away and the wind howled and whistled through the opening.
Jack backed away from the doors hoping he could find another way out. Jack turned around to take refuge in the office but noticed he was no longer in the old building.
Chapter 16
The rain and wind had ceased, and Jack was no longer in his work suit, but was in jeans and a shirt. The wooden dining table lied in front of him as he stood once again in the house from before. The woman, however, was not there.
A squeaking noise, like a couch sliding across the floor, came from a room that was to the right of Jack. Without hesitation, Jack went to the door and opened it.
Inside the room, there was a roaring fire within an ornately carved stone fireplace set within the far wall. A brown leather couch with a high back was placed in front of the fire and turned towards it, and someone sat there but Jack couldn't see who. Slowly approaching the couch, Jack controlled his breath. The floor let out a squeak from Jack's step.
Leaning over the side of the couch, Ren looked at Jack. Appearing differently than before, Ren's face was clean cut and his hair nicely combed. He also wore a suit and tie.
“Ren, you son of-” Jack gritted his teeth.
“Jack.” Ren interrupted. “You're lucky you have a friend like me. I've been awake for the last few days just working on the finishing touches for our future operation.”
“What are you doing here?” Frustrated, Jack moved closer to the fireplace to get a better look at Ren.
“What am I doing here?” Ren asked jokingly. “I'm here to celebrate our new partnership!”
“What the hell are you talking about?”
“Our purchase of the old strip club, of course.” Ren stood up and walked over to a nearby table with liquor bottles and glasses.
“The old strip club? The place where we're at?”
“The place where we were at. Yeah, it's a great location. Isolated, plenty of land to work with, plenty of holes we can dig.” Ren grabbed a bottle of liquor and two glasses. “We could bring any number of our sacrifices there and no one would know.”
“Sacrifices? What the hell are you talking about?”
Ren looked at Jack and his smile faded. “Oh no. Are you having one of your episodes again. I do hate that, as you can get quite grumpy.”
Jack opened his mouth to speak, but to his left, on top of the fireplace mantle, he saw a row of framed pictures. They were of Jack with the woman from before alongside the girl. They were all together like a family. At the park for a picnic. Making a snowman in the front yard. A young Jack in a tux embracing the woman in a beautiful wedding gown.
Ren handed Jack an empty glass.
“Is this me?” Jack said softly. His hand instinctively took the glass from Ren.
“Of course.” Ren looked at the pictures and sighed. “It's unfortunate for your daughter.”
“My daughter?” Jack whispered.
“Too bad we have to sacrifice her first. But it's the only way to secure your power, and mine also, so it's worth it.” Ren laughed. “I suppose you can always make more.”
Jack's eyes widened. “I don't remember being married or having a daughter.”
“Hmm-mmm.” Ren hummed and nodded his head. “Right, you usually keep your wedding ring in your back pocket, so it doesn't slip off your finger.”
Jack reached to his back pocket and pulled out his wedding ring. He held it in his palm, staring at it. Inscribed on the inside, “Jack and Julie forever”
Ren poured the liquor into Jack's glass. “Oops.” Ren said, noticing that he poured the last drop. “I guess you get to finish it. One of your favorite whiskeys if I'm not mistaken.”
Jack looked at the bottle in Ren's hand. Displayed on the label were witches dancing around a cauldron and raising their hands up towards a laughing moon.
Jack gripped his glass tighter. The whiskey was dark even near the light of the fire. Cold too, despite not having any ice. The ring was still in Jack's palm staring up at him, trying to remind him of something, containing locked away memories within it's small metal body.
“You need to finish it.” Ren motioned towards the whiskey. “Can't go back in the bottle and it'll help you feel better.”
You need to finish it?
Jack clasped the ring and looked intently at Ren. “You said my daughter will be sacrificed?”
“Yes, she's being prepared as we speak. All you have to do is one swift motion.” Ren stabbed at the air. “Soon this will all be over.”
“Why can't I remember?” Jack asked.
Ren opened his mouth to speak, but Jack interrupted.
“I mean, if what you are saying is true, then why do I distinctly remember coming here tonight in a van to clean up the remains of a dead body?”
“This is just one of your episodes. You should have a drink.”
“Stop telling me what to do!” Jack shook with anger.
“Okay, okay.” Ren rolled his eyes and cautiously backed away to the table and set the bottle and glass down.
“None of this makes any fucking sense. I've just met you tonight and you act like we've known each other a lot longer. And a little earlier you had me locked up in a cell, accusing me of killing your daughter, telling me that I was locked up in jail or something, but then you freed me to get information.”
“Isn't there something missing?” Ren sighed in frustration, ignoring what Jack said.
“What do you mean?”
“Do you feel that something is missing?” Ren lifted his hands in front of him, moving them to emphasize his words. “Is there a feeling in your gut that you've forgotten something, that there's something you need to do, something you need to get?”
“What the fuck.” Jack said. “How the hell do you know that?”
“Because my dear friend, of many years, this is not your first episode.” Ren put his hands down and relaxed a bit. “Just finish your drink and you'll start to feel better. Trust me.”
“She told me to save her.”
“Who? Your daughter?”
“Yes.” Jack said. “She told me that I need to finish my promise to save her and her mother.”
“That's impossible because she is the price that needs to be paid. Your wife, your daughter's mother, agreed to this. Look,” Ren rolled his head. “I can see how confused you are and when you get confused you get agitated. I'm sure everything will come back to you once you have a drink.”
“Her exact words were, you need to finish it. The same words you just said about this whiskey.” Jack furrowed his brow.
“What else do you want me to tell you? That you go on these delusional escapades every now and then? That you're crazy? What?”
“Tell me the god damn truth that's what!” Jack threw his glass against the wall, shattering it. The whiskey, no longer behaving like a liquid, spread out like a sheet of dark fabric tattered at the edges and whipped violently like a flag caught in a storm. Dropping to the floor, it retreated away, slipping between the cracks of the wood panels.
As it left, the air turned cold and the roaring fire went out, leaving the room in total darkness.
Chapter 17
Jack flipped his light on, b
ut the room was empty. Ren had vanished and the pictures that stood on top of the mantle were gone. Not even the couch nor the table with the liquor remained.
Still resting in his palm, however, was the ring. Slipping it on his finger, he half expected it to spark some part of his mind to remember anything, but nothing. His memory remained as dark and empty as the room he stood in.
From another part of the house a girl's shrill cry echoed into the room and Jack's heart skipped a beat. If any of what Ren said was true, they had yet to perform the sacrifice. Jack had to save her, he had to.
Rushing out of the room, there was a long hallway to the right of the dining table. The sound came from further down. Making his way through the hall, he kept alert for anyone, or anything, that may be watching from the shadows.
Along the wall to his right were statue busts set upon pedestals. Most of them were of men or women but some were animals, resembling the gods of ancient Egypt. Old and worn, they were made of bronze, marble and even sandstone, with a few having pieces chipped off like the tip of the nose or an ear.
Just up ahead, a light flickered through a thin crack in the wall. Jack slowed his pace to a steady creep. Whispers echoed from the opening. A mysterious phrase was being chanted over and over, but couldn't make out the words.
“No!” A girl's voice shrieked.
Feeling his heart pounding, Jack peered through the opening.
The room was large and wide. Candles, hundreds of them, were spaced evenly around the walls and placed on top of brass holders, lighting up the room. Bookshelves lined up along the walls, each one reaching almost as high as the ceiling. The floor was a tiled orange-brownish marble with inlaid mosaic circles every ten feet depicting spirals within spirals. In the far right corner was a large oak study desk with a book placed on top, opened and revealing a half written page. A quill pen and inkwell lied next to it.
In the middle of the room was the girl, who seemed to be a little older than the last time Jack saw her, around ten years old now. She was tied to a stone altar shaped like a jagged arrow head that was dark and black like soot and it's texture smooth with only a few rough patches. Towering over the girl at about twice her height, it jutted upwards through the floor as if the very tip of a mountain had pierced the room.
Robed figures were grouped in front of her, about eight in all. Their faces were hidden and the chanting came from them. Two robed figures stood closer to the girl, separate from the rest. These two pulled back their hoods, revealing themselves. One was the woman that Jack had seen twice earlier and in the photographs, her name was Julie as revealed by the inscription on the ring. And the other was Mekel.
“Stop!” The girl cried.
Julie stood silent, looking upon her bound daughter, almost proudly, but then hesitation crawled across her face. She pulled out a crooked dagger from a pocket on her robe and then turned, holding it out for Mekel. He took it and stepped forward. Writhing with fear, the girl let out a short-lived scream which trailed off into a sobbing whimper.
“Please.” She pleaded.
Jack noticed on the wall, near the desk, there was a large doorway which looked like it connected to the hallway that he was in, just up ahead and around the corner. There were too many of them for Jack to fight alone, he needed to cause a distraction.
Holding the dagger in front of the girl, Mekel pointed it towards her chest.
“Get away from me.” She whimpered. Her helpless eyes were fixated on the point of the blade.
Mekel pulled the dagger away and tilted his head up towards the ceiling. He held out his arms above him and began reciting a prayer in a language long lost to time, utterances not heard by mortal ears for generations. The words put the other robed figures into a trance and they hummed along with Mekel's rhythm and tone.
“Del-la for-sam du-Rak.” Mekel chanted. His eyes widened and his body twitched with mild spasms as if he received some unseen power from above. He let out a large breath and relaxed his body by putting his arms to his side, hanging his head down, and becoming motionless. The chanting from the others ceased and a quietness overtook the room.
Squirming in her bindings, the girl looked upon Mekel's limp body with worried suspicion.
Mekel sprang to life again, snapping his head up to gaze upon the girl with eyes that belonged to Mekel, but something else peered through them, an evil, ancient force that raged with blood lust.
“Stop, get away. Help!” The girl screamed.
A crashing noise came from the hallway, startling the group. Julie with the other robed figures rushed to the doors, but Mekel stayed with the girl. Opening the doors, the group found one of the statue busts pushed off it's pedestal and lying on the floor, broken to pieces.
“Someone is here. Search the hallway.” Julie pointed her fingers to a few that were with her and they moved into the hallway. The others stayed with her, overlooking the mess.
Jack peered back into the room from the opening. His distraction worked and the girl was only being guarded by Mekel who had his back turned. Now was his time to strike.
“What's happening? Did you find anyone?” Mekel demanded.
“A statue has been desecrated.” Julie said, still looking over the broken pieces for possible clues. “We're searching the hallway now.”
Silently stepping into the room through the opening, Jack saw to his right a walking cane leaning against one of the bookshelves. The shaft was a stained golden oak and it had a silver crow's head for a handle. Taking it, he crept up behind Mekel. The girl noticed Jack, but diverted her attention to Mekel who gazed intently at the open doors.
“Please let me go.” The girl began crying as a way to draw attention to herself.
“Shut up.” Mekel threatened. “Or I'll cut your tongue out.”
Still sorting through the pieces of the broken statue, Julie glanced towards the altar and saw Jack creeping up behind Mekel.
“Mekel, watch out!” She shouted. But it was too late.
Jack struck Mekel across the head and knocked him to the ground. Retrieving the black crooked dagger from Mekel's grasp, Jack cut the ropes off the girl's hands and she fell into his arms with a warm embrace.
“Daddy!” Her face had a strange sheen to it, a glow perhaps, as if she had her own internal source of light that emanated through her skin.
Julie and the others took a cautious step forward.
“Back.” Jack commanded, holding the dagger up. He pushed the girl behind him and she tightly gripped his hand.
“You don't know what you're doing.” Julie's demeanor and voice was calm. “She has to be sacrificed, she doesn't belong here.”
“Get away from her you sickos.” Jack waved the dagger towards them, stepping closer to the opening he came in through, which he just noticed was an outward turned bookshelf. A secret entrance he must have accidentally stumbled upon. “No one is being sacrificed tonight.”
“Some things aren't as they seem.” Julie said. “Within her is a great evil and it must be cleansed.”
The bookshelf opening slammed shut and a lock turned, sealing it.
“See, there's no way out.” Julie stepped forward and held out her hand as an acceptance of his anticipated surrender. “You now have the dagger. Put her back on the altar and finish what you started.”
“I didn't start this.” Jack yelled. “I don't remember any of this.”
Behind him were windows that overlooked a garden dimly lit from the moonlight. Jack looked down at the girl.
“Hey, go and open those.” He pointed at the window latches. She hurried to one of the windows, unlocked it and swung it open.
“Don't do this Jack.” Julie and the group continued getting closer and closer to them, increasing their distance covered with each step. “Her death is the only way to set things right, to put you on the path of absolute power.”
The girl jumped from the window and landed onto a brick pathway not far below.
&
nbsp; “You're supposed to be her mother.” Jack chided as he stepped up onto the window pane. “I don't know exactly what's going on here, but you're not getting the girl.”
Without hesitation, Jack jumped out the window.
Chapter 18
The ledge was only about eight feet down, but his knees still hurt from landing.
Not too bad, and neither ankle twisted.
The sky was clear with a full moon lighting up the garden. The robed figures rushed to the edge of the window and looked down at the two.
Hustling away with the girl, Jack took note that not a single one jumped down from the window to follow them, which wasn't a good sign. Perhaps they feared what dwelt here.
They walked past a white archway made of three beams of wood that twisted around each other, interlocked in a random weaving pattern, and entered a garden area. To the left was the mansion, which rose up about four stories high and stretched for a distance and then turned right, semi-enclosing the garden. The rest was encircled by tall rows of hedges that seemed to form some larger pattern, but couldn't be seen at the ground level.
In front of them was a dried up fountain with a closed lotus flower statue resting in the center. Surrounding the flower were four long swords that were lodged, blade tip down, into large concrete skulls. The sword handles were tilted toward the lotus.
Jack examined the girl and how she intently searched around, also looking for a way out. “What's your name?” He asked.
“My name?” The girl asked. “I don't know, I was never named.”
“What about your mother, didn't she name you?” Jack asked.
“No, she wanted to wait for you.”
“Tonight has been a nightmare for me.” Jack said under a deep breath. “I don't understand anything what's happening. Why would your mother want to kill you?”
“Mother didn't try to kill me.”
“Yes she did. The woman back there, Julie.”
“The woman back there wasn't mother.” She said. “You'll see her in just a little bit.”
On the fountain, the swords creaked and tilted away from the lotus statue, grinding against the concrete skulls, as if activating a mechanism. The petals rotated outward and revealed something hidden in the center of the flower. A foul odor emanated from the fountain, overtaking Jack's senses. The putrid creature from before, with the mutilated elongated arm, uncurled and hobbled out. It's face deformed and swollen, it sniffed in the air for their scent.