7

The winds whirled around the house. They could hear grains of dust hitting the doors. Coyotes were howling and birds were cawing. Kailie found it strange that coyotes would be this close, so early in the day. She looked at Stephen who continued staring at the pendent. James was helping Joseph stoke the fire. Stephen’s eyes were tired. Red around the lids, dark circles shading the rest.

He didn’t sleep at all, Kailie thought.

“That’s how I knew you looked familiar,” Joseph continued. The fire was stoking just right for him, now. “My grandmother had known her for some time, and she used to tell me stories of this woman. For obvious reasons, she was scared of her own shadow. She lived her whole life on Bethesda Road, in the house your parents stayed in. That’s why Kana never left.”

Stephen shook his head. “I don’t understand. Kana lived with her?”

Joseph nodded. “Up until he was seventeen. Then, he just disappeared. She had other children by that time, and, well… And she told my grandmother this, herself… When he left, it was like a ‘house being lifted off her shoulder’. He never said where he was going, and he never said how long he’d be gone. According to her, Kana was always independent. She never told him who his father was, and she thought that bothered him something silly. He had tantrums, even in his teens, almost every day. But a year before he disappeared, something awful happened. She was scared of him since.”

Stephen swallowed. Feeling dizzy, he rested his head on his hands. Kailie stroked his arms as he breathed slowly through his nose.

“What was it?” James demanded. His legs were shaking and his palms were sweaty as he subconsciously wiped them on his jeans.

Joseph took a deep breath. “Carcasses.” He pointed to the back door. “What you see out there, it might as well be a reenactment of Kana’s teen hood. Only these weren’t coyotes. Birds and squirrels were gutted from head to toe. His mother claimed that organs in some of the animals were missing.”

Stephen remembered: This is what I live on, day in, day out.

The windows weren’t open, but the candles began to flicker. No drafts were felt around the room. The only waves around the house were from the fire. As she looked at the fireplace, Kailie noticed that the fire was shrinking. Shrinking to the size of her hand, in fact. Grampy had just put a log in there, she remembered. Yet, it kept getting smaller within seconds. She looked at James, who shrugged, but Stephen seemed to be drawn to the fireplace.

“Stephen, what are you doing?” she asked.

He didn’t seem to hear her and kept moving toward the now tiny fire. It was about the size of Kailie’s index finger when Stephen’s face pressed against the stove.

“Be careful!” James shouted. When Stephen looked at him, his eyes were completely white. The veins on his face were completely visible, even ten feet away. The color traveled down his neck, into his arms, and seemed to halt at his fingers. Joseph turned him completely around.

“Stephen, look at me!” he screamed. No iris, no pupils.

Stephen stuck his tongue out and began inhaling. It sounded closer to hacking. His eyes began to bleed simultaneously. The blood wasn’t the usual red, though. It was oozing out of his eyes, out of his nose, and his skin began breaking once more. Joseph held his face gently as the room began melting.

Not shaking like an earthquake, melting. It reminded Kailie of sweating. The paint around the living room began to droop to the carpet. Pictures dropped to the carpet and a few books from the shelf tipped over. Kailie lightly touched the melting areas and they felt and smelled like wood. Huge clumps came down in the living room. The smell was getting uncomfortable for Kailie’s liking, so she plugged her nose. James just stared as he helped Joseph with Stephen. The clumps made splashes on the carpet and steam was rising out of them. It didn’t feel warm to her, but Kailie could feel heat coming from the splashes.

Like a volcano, she thought.

The paintings on the walls began to look like Picasso’s work. The faces were deformed, and the clock next to the couch appeared to be bent. The ceiling was cracking over the entire house. Slowly, at first, the cracks got bigger. Then, the split started to move like cracking ice.

“We have to get out of here!” James yelled.

Kailie shook her head. “That’s exactly what this… ‘being’ wants!”

James rolled eyes, desperate to keep his balance. “I don’t give a rat’s a*s what this ‘being’ wants! We have to go!”

Random objects around the house began flying around the living room. They formed a rather large circle that moved into the dining room. The pendent around Stephen’s neck was a very bright white now. Kailie could barely look at him as it glowed on. His mouth was now closed, his eyes still white as ever. He began to walk slowly toward the door. The pendent seemed to float near his chest, but it never touched him. The back door flew into the backyard, with a wave of Stephen’s hand. His face stared directly at Kailie as object continued flying around. Still no iris or pupils in his eyes. When his voice came, Kailie could feel herself growing cold through the warm room.

“You’ve stepped in my blood.” Kana’s voice. “You’ve disgraced my name. Now, you will pay.” So steady, so cold. Colder than any snow she had ever felt in her life. As he walked in Stephen’s body, blood dripped down Stephen’s arms. His skin on his arms cracked open, his lips looking like the worst cold sores Kailie ever saw. A harsh wind blew in their faces, making her hair fly everywhere. James could barely keep his eyes open, it was so strong. Joseph did his best to hold on to whatever was handy. All the while, Stephen’s body moved without difficulty.

The pendent around his neck became brighter as Kailie continued to stare. When she stepped forward, she could feel a solid matter between her and Stephen. A force field to protect his body, Kailie thought. The pendent was making a larger, bright circle around Stephen, like a cocoon. The sclera in his eyes was slowly turning black. It looked like a river of black, filling in any empty space.

“Kailie, get back!” Joseph ordered. He pulled at her arms to get near him. James helped him, never leaving this creature’s gaze.

He’s taunting us, James thought. He wants us to make a move toward him. Give him the excuse.

When Joseph yanked at her arm, it snapped Kailie back to the issue at hand. She felt like, until then, she was asleep somehow. The pendent drew her in, urging her to follow. His voice, Kana’s voice, drew her closer to Stephen’s body. His lips never moved, though. All who step in the blood of He, will writhe for eternity. The words rang in her head. They were all she heard, even as her friend and grandfather were shouting at her. Those words were all she remembered until James grabbed her. He yanked her down from what seemed like floating. He held on to her like she was a balloon.

What was once the size of Kailie’s finger now expanded outside of the fire place. As they stared on, the fire exploded in front of them. Chard beams spread across the floor, burning parts of their skin. With a scream of agony, Joseph moved Kailie away from the opening. James ran to the kitchen, Joseph following close by. Kailie, however, didn’t move an inch. The explosion never touched her and she walked closer to Stephen’s body.

“Kailie Hartman,” Kana whispered. “Ancestor of the man who cursed me to Earth. If it weren’t for that vile scum, I’d be with Him right now.” Stephen’s face started to twitch as Kana spoke. Kailie knew it wasn’t Kana’s doing, but he didn’t seem to notice, anyway. Kana spoke, but Stephen’s eyes had a look of strain. The words fell out of him all at once. A robot giving out information. That’s all he was. All the while, he was a statue toward her.

Stephen’s hair, long and greasy, flew with the draft in the house. It never touched his face as Kana, through Stephen, continued to gaze at Kailie. His eyes were blacker than the night sky. He moved to the door but his feet were levitating from the carpet. He turned his gaze to Joseph. Kailie never saw such a look of hate from anyone before.

“Your family cursed me,” Kana bellowed, his voice rising. “Now, I curse you.”

He moved his arms in a motion that would push something away from him. There was nothing but air around him, Stephen’s bloody hand making a motion like he was gripping something. The white around the pendent looked like fire, and she felt the heat from ten feet away. What was once the illusion of wind turned into smoke. A gray cloud circled the three of them, covering Stephen’s body. Behind her, Kailie heard coughing and choking. James. It was so thick, she couldn’t see the walls, much less any person, in front of her. Kailie felt something small and wet on her hands. When she looked down, she saw it was red. Blood. Warm and sticky. No doubt in her mind. James continued coughing something fierce. She didn’t see Stephen anymore, at all. Only Kana’s raspy, cold voice reminded her that he was still in the house.

“Leave Bethesda’s neighboring towns, and I’ll leave you in peace! If not… well… who knows…” His voice echoed through the walls, hurting Kailie’s ears. But she heard the creature. Heard him loud and clear. It was the first time she heard him raise his voice. There was no mistaking it. It reminded her of a drill sergeant she saw on television a couple years ago. Hell, two days ago feel like a couple years had passed! What she heard next made her want to throw up.

“Kailie,” it whispered. Stephen’s voice. “Kailie, don’t give in to this monster. Please… Protect your loved ones…”

Was it real, or in her head? Was it Kana playing more tricks? She couldn’t tell. She looked around, by instinct, but couldn’t see James or Joseph anywhere. The smoke was so thick and black, she could barely see her own hands in front of her body. There were some light gray areas in front of her. They took swirling shapes and danced a rhythm she wasn’t familiar with. Rubbing her eyes to see more clearly, she froze at the next “scene” that came up in the smoke.

Someone was strangling James, and dogs were chewing at her grandfather. Strangling them next to Stephen’s shack on Bethesda. Corpses lay around them and she could slightly hear coyotes howling in a distance. It was like watching a movie where coyotes or wolves howling was a bad sign for the main characters. Like a movie, all she could do was watch. James had what looked like claws wrapped around his neck. Not claws from a cat. Claws similar to a raptor’s. Screams erupted as Kailie continued watching. The screams sounded gargled, like someone was drowning. Still looking at the illusion of James, his eyes popped out of his skull. Dogs rushed immediately to the would-be dinner. Blood rained down on them, their bodies sinking into the ground. Kailie could feel the warm liquid spray on her face as the smoke began to thin.

That was all Kailie saw before the smoke vanished before their eyes. No traces of it were left. Stephen was gone, too. The walls were in their usual patterns and books and other belongings of the house were crowded everywhere on the carpet. No signs of disturbance appeared on the walls. James and Joseph cowered in the dining room, coughing. James had marks on his neck. Her grandfather was bleeding on the floor, his face pale and shiny.

A magic trick. Very funny, a*****e! she thought.

“We have to help him!” James screamed.

He held Joseph’s face still as he coughed up blood. His chest was bleeding, but it wasn’t a random cut or burn. Kailie saw that it was specifically, carefully, carved into his skin, much like a tattoo. His chest was the only part of his body, she assumed, that was handled “delicately”. Below his chest, his intestines started spilling out across the floor. The metallic smell of iron filled Kailie’s nose, intoxicating her senses, oh so heavily. Her head swirled as the iron circled around her head, Joseph still coughing, James still begging for help.

Snakes piled around the dining room where Joseph lay. James’s hands instinctively jerked away as they slithered by. He looked around and didn’t see any holes in the walls where they could have come from. They just appeared. Dropped from the smoke. They softly moved Joseph’s shirt to reveal more of his chest. The markings were a simple Spanish phrase: Alma del Diablo. It was more likely burned into his skin, rather than bloody. Blood never seeped down his chest, just stood frozen in place. All the while, he pointed toward the bookshelf, his arm lightly shaking.

“Kailie,” Joseph whispered. She ran toward him, tears in her eyes.

“Grampy?” She tried to sniff back some tears, but it was no use. The only family she had left was dying in her arms. “What is it, Grampy?”

Sputtering blood, he continued softly. “You must summon him. Summon him for help or the apocalypse will rise. I love you, my child. From the minute you were born. You are humanity’s only hope.”

He exhaled a couple more times, resting his head on the ground. After a few seconds, it was quiet. The color went out of his face in under a minute. Blood seeped out of his stomach, running slowly near the snakes. Their heads were diamond-shaped, so Kailie knew not to irritate them, if she could help it.

She stared at Joseph. Her grandfather, her whole world, the rest of her family, was gone.

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