Ash Return of the Beast

CHAPTER 74



Kane flipped the light switch inside the shed. The bulb immediately popped and shattered. A shard of the glass flew at him, drawing blood just above his left eye. He stumbled backward against the wall and something heavy fell to the floor.

More dazed than injured, he pushed away from the wall and shouted a few choice curses.

Ravenwood took the flashlight and illuminated his face to check out the wound. “Lucky. Could have been your eye. Probably was intended for your eye.”

Kane stared at her. A week ago––hell, even just a day ago––he would have thought that was crazy talk. He pulled a handkerchief from his back pocket and dabbed the cut above his eye. “Come on, we’re wasting time.” He started to move forward.

“Wait…. Smell that?”

Kane stopped. “Yeah. Smells like gasoline.”

Ravenwood directed the flashlight to the floor. Gasoline was flowing around their feet. She scanned the floor, looking for the source.

“There,” she said. She pointed to a gas can that was lying on its side. The last of what must have been a full gallon was dripping from its spout. She tipped it upright with her foot. “That must be what fell off the shelf when you fell against the wall.”

“Yeah… wait… Do you smell smoke?”

Ravenwood grabbed him by the sleeve. “Let’s get out of here.”

As soon as the words left her lips the door slammed shut and a flame shot up in the corner behind a stack of paint cans. Kane tried to push the door open. “Shit!” He lunged at it again, putting the full force of his shoulder into it, but it might as well have been a brick wall. “What the f*ck!”

The gasoline slithered along the wood flooring, seeping into the cracks, creeping closer to the growing flames.

“The trapdoor,” Ravenwood said. “The tunnel! Come on!”

Kane scrambled toward the trapdoor just as the gas ignited with a dull whomp! A ribbon of fire snaked its way quickly across the floor, pushing him back toward the shed door.

He watched Ravenwood, on her hands and knees, trying to reach the handle of the trapdoor. Each time she tried, the flames lashed out to stop her. The sleeve of her coat caught fire but she quickly batted it out. She managed to wriggle out of the coat thinking she could use it to smother the encroaching flames but the entire coat caught fire and she tossed it into the corner.

The shed was quickly filling with smoke. It was nearly impossible to breathe. The flames were crawling up the walls. The heat was becoming intense.

***

The Doppelganger appeared in Linda’s darkened bedroom and yanked the covers off the bed, exposing the shapely, half-naked woman clad only in a pair of gray cotton boxers. She awoke, startled, and screamed when she saw the dark shape of the hooded figure standing at the foot of her bed. She grasped for the covers that weren’t there, brought her arms across her chest, drew her legs up. Her heart was pounding. “Who are you? Get out!”

The hooded figure remained silent and moved slightly to the left. Linda’s eyes grew wide as Sarah appeared just behind the ominous stranger’s long, heavy robe. The girl stood there, seemingly undisturbed, in her pink-and-white striped pajamas. Linda screamed at her. “Sarah! Run!”

Sarah didn’t move. Her eyes stared blankly.

“Sarah!”

Sarah responded in a quiet tone. “It’s okay, mother.” Then she moved, trance-like, to the nightstand at the side of Linda’s bed, turned on the light and tilted her head to the side. “Look, mother. He made it go away.”

Linda’s brow twisted into an expression of utter disbelief. The scar that had marred her daughter’s face was gone. For a fleeting, uncertain moment, she thought she must be dreaming. But she was awake. She knew it. Adrenaline was coursing through her veins, her heart was beating like a hummingbird’s wings. She turned to the hooded figure, not sure if she was looking at a devil or an angel. Try as she might, she could only see a hint of a face deep within the shadows of the cavernous hood. “What is this?” she demanded. “What do you want?”

The Beast raised an arm and Linda’s bathrobe rose up from the chair across the room. Her disbelieving eyes followed it as it floated through the air and dropped, as if released from an invisible hand, onto the bed. Desperate to cover herself, but afraid to touch it, she hesitated.

“Believe me, my dear lady, I’m quite comfortable with you as you are. It’s up to you. Simple as that.”

Linda’s eyes strained without success to find the face from which the oddly hollow-sounding voice had come.

She sat up slowly and, with her gaze still fixed upon the stranger, she cautiously reached for the robe, slipped it on and wrapped it tightly around her shivering body. “I… I don’t understand.” She could barely get the words out. “Wh-what is this? What’s happening? What did you do to my daughter?”

“As you can see, she’s quite all right. Better than before, in fact. I’m sure you will agree. Yes?”

Linda turned to Sarah. The girl was still standing beside the bed, blank-eyed, no expression whatsoever on her perfect face. Linda turned again to the stranger. “Why is she acting like this? What have you done to her?”

“She will be fine. Trust me. The trance is temporary, I assure you.”

For the first time in her life Linda wished she’d taken Brian’s advice to keep a gun in her nightstand. But, no way was she going to do that. Guns were horrible things. Her daughter’s face was a daily reminder. Now she hated herself for being so stubborn, so goddamn naïve. Tears welled up in her eyes. “What… what the hell are you?”

“What I am doesn’t matter. What matters is that you give me what I came for. If you don’t, then I can easily return the scar to Sarah’s face. In fact, I can make it into a deformity of hideous proportions. Something so dreadfully awful that she’d rather be dead than be seen. Of course, I could arrange that, too. It’s up to you.”

Linda was sobbing. Her voice weak, pleading. “Please… What do you want from me? I’ll give you anything. Just leave my daughter alone. Please!”

“Very good. Exactly what I wanted to hear. Now, somewhere in this house is a book. A very small book. The Keys Of The Gatekeeper. You give it to me and Sarah will be as she was. Minus the scar, of course, because I always keep my end of a bargain. Then I will take my leave and you, dear lady, will never see me again. Simple as that.”

“I don’t know what you’re talking about. What book?”

“I told you. The Keys Of The Gatekeeper. Pay attention and don’t test my patience. I don’t want to be here all night. The book!”

Linda’s mind reeled. She tried to think, tried to envision the few books on the shelf in the den. There weren’t many. She wasn’t a big reader. That was more Sarah’s thing. The Keys Of The Gatekeeper… It didn’t seem even remotely familiar.

The Beast was reading her thoughts. “Let us move to the den, then, and see what we shall see, shall we?”

Linda suddenly realized her body was moving toward the edge of the bed. “Oh, my god…” Her voice was barely more than a whimper. “What are you doing to me?” In the next moment she was standing on the floor.

“Just reminding you that I’m in control here, simple as that. Now, let’s go.”

Linda glanced down at Sarah who seemed oblivious to what was happening.

“She’ll be fine,” the Beast assured her. “Now, let’s find that book. Shall we?”

***

Ravenwood finally managed to grab the handle of the trapdoor. She flung it open. “Kane! Come on!”

Kane pulled his coat up over his head and scrambled across the floor toward Ravenwood. She was already half way down the ladder when he reached the trapdoor. He hurried down after her and tried to pull the door shut behind him but it was already on fire and a large burning piece split off and dropped down, just missing his face. His foot slipped on the ladder, he fell awkwardly to the ground. “My shoulder! Jesus!” he yelped, grimacing in pain. “F*ck!”

Ravenwood helped him to his feet and could see immediately he’d dislocated his shoulder. She gently bent his arm at the elbow. “You’re gonna hate me for this but you’ll thank me when it’s over.”

With an expert twist she popped his shoulder back into place.

“Holy Jesus H-F*cking Christ!” Kane hollered, wincing from the pain. Then, like some kind of a miracle, the pain was gone. He looked at her and gave his arm a few test rotations. “Let me guess. Before you were an FBI agent and a burglar, you were a chiropractor.”

“You’re welcome,” she said.

Another piece of burning wood dropped from above. They both jumped back and looked up into the flaming inferno. Thick smoke was billowing down into the enclosure where they were standing.

***

Linda stood, sobbing, in the midst of a dozen books scattered on the floor of the den. “I don’t know where it is,” she said, tears rolling down her face. “I… I don’t even know what it is. I’ve never seen it. I swear to God. It can’t be here.”

“Trust me, it’s here,” the Hooded Figure said. “Sarah is the reader in the family, yes?”

“What?”

“I heard you thinking it. Let’s see what we can find in her room, shall we?”

He forced Linda to lead the way to Sarah’s room.

A 3-shelf bookcase was filled with books, large and small, thick and thin. From Harry Potter and Nancy Drew to the entire 33-volume Time/Life series on Nature. But The Keys of the Gatekeeper was not there.

The Beast spoke calmly. “I’ll have that book or your daughter will suffer the consequences. Simple as that. Do you understand me?” Then he bellowed, “Find me that book!” The hollow voice reverberated throughout the house.

Linda fell to her knees, sobbing. “I don’t know where it is. Dear God,” she cried, “please…”

“Don’t waste your breath. God isn’t going to help you. But… perhaps the good Lieutenant can.”

***

Kane was about to offer Ravenwood a belated ‘thanks’ for fixing his shoulder when his cell phone buzzed.

He pulled the phone from his pocket, looked at the caller ID. The last thing he expected was a call from his ex-wife. He was tempted to ignore it but he had a bad feeling it might have something to do with Sarah. Why else would she call at this time of night?

“Linda? What is it? I’m kinda in the middle of...slow down… What?” He could barely understand what she was saying. Her words were broken up between heaving sobs and a weak connection:

…a man in a hooded robe…in the house…says you’ll know what I mean…I don’t understand…made the scar disappear…I don’t know what…

“Linda! Slow down, I can’t––”

…threatened to hurt Sarah…kill her…

“What––?”

…wants the book… keys of the gatekeeper… belonged to your father… told him it’s here in this house… killed your father… Sarah’s in some kind of a trance… threatening to… that book… what’s happening… Brian…

The phone went dead. Kane looked up. A portion of the shed wall had collapsed, covering the opening of the trapdoor, blocking the signal.

“Linda? Linda! Jesus––!” He tried to call her back but the signal was gone. He stood for a moment, dazed, staring at the phone and then turned to Ravenwood.

Ravenwood deciphered the look on his face as a mix of panic and confusion. “What the hell was that all about?”

Kane fell back against the wall, visibly stunned. He gave Ravenwood the gist of what he could piece together from Linda’s frantic call. “How could that book be there? Why would Pete have it? It doesn’t make any goddamn sense. The bastard is holding my daughter as ransom for something I can’t give him. What the hell is going on?”

Ravenwood, equally baffled, had no answer.

Kane shook his head, pushed himself away from the wall and straightened his back. “F*ck it. This ends, now. You ready?”

The click of her Glock-23 was the only answer he needed.

Kane expected resistance from the first of the three doors they would encounter on their way through the tunnel but it opened with ease. He stepped across the threshold and glanced back at Ravenwood with a puzzled look. “I thought you said he was trying to prevent us from reaching him.”

“Yeah, well…” she said, stepping across the threshold, “…projecting the Doppelganger and trying to stop us at the same time would require a tremendous amount of energy. Might be more than he can keep up.”

She hit the green button on the switch box. The small, yellowed light bulbs along the overhead flickered and came on, filling the tunnel with a familiar eerie glow. “Come on. We gotta hurry while we’ve got the advantage.”