Dog of Darkness

“Something has always bugged me about this place,” said Police Chief Wendell to his assistant as they looked out over the fog-infested moor. “Poor young thing, who could have possibly had such cruel intent?” The body of a half devoured young woman peered up at Wendell as he closely observed any clue which might give him insight on such a foul crime. A few hundred yards down along the leys were a flock of pheasants slain viciously in the same manner.

 

Police Chief Wendell, quite puzzled over such a senseless slaughter, commented:

“With five churches in the area, you might think people would be upright.” Shaking away the drizzling rain falling upon his face, Assistant Touk McFadin pulled his raincoat closer around his body.

“What makes you think the killer could possibly be a person, Wendell? This girl has been half devoured and you think a person could do this? Don’t you know this area is a place of strange tales and happenings? Along these leys are five churches, yes, but built during the Middle Ages and upon pagan sites. To my recollection there are no wild carnivorous animals that inhabit the area.”

“What are you saying, are you going X- Files on me, Touk?”

“No, I’m just here to assist you, sir.” Touk replied.

“Well, then let’s catch this murderous culprit be it animal or whatever.”

“Okay, I’m going to do research on this area; you can go with the body.”

“Since I’m the chief, thanks for telling me how to do my job, you go help forensics, I will do the research.”

 

The crime scene was bleak as Touk pulled away from the ancient barrow. Neither Wendell nor Touk had taken notice of two young children among the crowd of on-lookers. If they had, they would have been removed without question. Both were good men and would not have had any need of children observing such a ghastly sight as a half devoured female corpse. Wendell brooded as he stared over the darkened moor. Passing one of the medieval churches that dominated the landscape, he shuddered at the nauseating thoughts that were invading his mind, paying no attention to the smell of sulfur that filled the air.

 

At the forensics lab, Touk discovered unusual burns upon the body of the young woman.

“My God! This looks as if she had been eaten by extreme heat. The lacerated flesh openings reveal burns of second and third degrees and the claw marks reveal what appear to be burns upon the flesh wounds also.”

“I have found something of interest, Touk,” Wendell said as he walked into the lab.

“The moor is said to be haunted, and worse yet, it is cursed, supposedly by an entity appearing and reappearing every two hundred years according to the archives I have been studying at Buncton Church. According to legend, when Buncton Church was being built, a priestess of the so called “old religion” was furious that a Christian church was being erected on the sacred site of her faith, so she made a pact with the devil to protect the area from outside intruders.”

“Well, look at this.” replied Touk, pointing towards the burns on the body.

“Whoever, or whatever, attacked this woman ate, and mauled her with teeth and claws emanating extreme heat.”

 

Tired and distraught over the previous occurrence, Wendell went home to bed down for sleep. In his dreams were two young children with blue eyes and bright yellow hair standing directly in the doorway of his bedroom. Somehow, he knew he was not dreaming, even though he knew he was asleep. The children just kept watching him and repeating,

“We are the keepers of the Guardian, the opened door from which he comes.”

 

Shaking as he began peeling off the drenched clothing, and this time aware of the strange smell of sulfur that was filling his room, Wendell then awoke. “What the hell is that stench?” He glanced towards the clock. 12:01, were the big numbers in red. “Great! I’ll never get back to sleep now. Between the dreams of those devilish brats and this unusual case with Touk, I’m beginning to think I’m working way too hard.”

 

Saturday morning came none too soon for Wendell as he was awakened by the ringing of his telephone. It was Touk informing him of another killing and his presence would be needed at the new crime scene. The body of a transient had been found on a hilltop within a ring of trees approximately two miles from the previous site, half eaten, and hanging upon a tree.

 

Wendell immediately got dressed and stepped out into the thundering rain. The morning seemed darker then usual, not because of the storm, but because of the suspicion within him of true evil existing parallel to unseeing eyes. Our unseeing eyes, vaguely concerned about crime, war, or hunger in a world in which it abounds, as we are unaware of the invisible evils saturating society in such small and subtle ways, to him, this was extremely sad.

 

As he arrived at the crime scene, Touk was standing in the rain ready to give him details concerning the latest murder.

“Well, Touk, my rain-drenched lad, what you got?”

Touk motioned for the Chief to follow him as he began explaining.

“Well, like I said on the phone, it is the body of a man. This character was tied to a bloody tree and eaten! Looking closely, I could detect burns near and around the lacerated flesh just like the last victim.”

As he was looking at the dead man hanging upon the tree, Wendell said:

“How do you think he was put upon this tree?”

“Get those kids out of here now!” cried Touk, walking towards the crowd of people and paying no attention to him. “In fact, all of you, leave. Now!”

“Wait!” cried Wendell, whose gaze fell upon the young golden-haired boy and girl.

“Would you believe they appeared in my dreams last night? They were saying something about an opened door or something, actually it was rather uncanny.”

“Should I fetch them for questioning, sir?”

“No, it was just a dream, we’ll wrap this up for the day. There is nothing we can find here anyway, not until the rain settles. Take the body to the lab, besides its identity, I’m sure you will find nothing different from the last body. Tomorrow is Sunday, are you ready for mass, Touk? You and I are going to pay a visit to Buncton Church, so be ready.”

“What! Buncton Church? What do you expect to find there? Besides, I’m not a religious person, you know that.”

“Early mass begins at 7:00 A.M. sharp, be ready by 6:00.”

 

Sunday morning was rainy and bleak just like the previous day. Wendell and Touk drove silently outside of Birmingham towards the small village, outside people would travel eighteen miles to Buncton Church. Neither were prepared for what would certainly be an experience both would remember for the rest of their days.

 

Clashes of thunder broke each moment of silence as they stepped into the dark and damp cathedral. Ignoring menacing stares from the people, Touk and Wendell found themselves an empty pew and sat down. Wendell straightened his tie then glanced at Touk. As the choir began singing “Christus factus est pro nobis,” he placed a strong hand upon Touk’s shoulder to maybe ease his nervous mind.

 

The thunder clapped and rain fell rapidly upon the roof in perfect harmony with the voices of the choir. Touk, rubbing his eyes to clear his vision did not see the large black dog with fiery red eyes materialize in the aisle. Wendell, seeing the beast grabbed Touk and rose to leave, but blocking the doorway were the two small children in a shroud of fog Wendell had seen in his dream. People then began screaming as the creature walked ferociously up and down the aisle of the church with its mouth grinning white teeth and pouring out blackish-gray sulfurous smoke.

 

“We are the keepers of the Guardian, the doorway from which he comes,” the two children intoned. The beast then lunged at a young woman, ripping out her esophagus as blood began squirting upon her Sunday’s best. Convulsing, the monstrous evil shook her upper body like a wolf on a rabbit.

“We are the keepers of the Guardian, the doorway from which he comes.” The children continued to chant as the temple raged on in chaos.

 

The dog suddenly began looking directly at the priest with eyes of electric red ferocity. Speaking through the two children who were still blocking the doorway the blackish apparition spoke:

“You foolish, stupid man, you pray to a God whose religion you do not practice, you are powerless against me. Your God would not dwell here. You have blasphemed the stones of the old ones to rebuild this temple for your own purpose. Even your own God finds you vile. So the evil that I am, will consume you.”

 

Attacking the priest, he began eating and crunching hungrily upon flesh and bone. The priests now mauled and bloody face stared at nothing. As the blackish demon stood over the limp body of death, Wendell suddenly got an idea. He ran towards the children and began shaking them. The demonic animal then disappeared and reappeared again like a malfunctioning hologram, finally exploding, raining sulfurous ash and puffs of smoke. The children then collapsed upon the floor, as they were released from the trance and spell of this dog of darkness.

 

Pulling into Birmingham Mental Hospital, where the two young children had been committed, Touk and Wendell walked away down the hall where they could hear the insane rhythmic chants coming from the childrens room:

“I am burning, I am burning.”