The Tale of Three Trees
Author: Angela Elwell Hunt
Date: 1989-08-15 08:17:04+00:00
Keywords: Juvenile Fiction; Fairy Tales & Folklore; Country & Ethnic; Religious; Christian; General; Horror; Thriller
Description: Featuring the wonderful illustrations of Tim Jonke, this best-selling children's book tells the Easter story from a new and unusual point of view. Three trees on a mountain dream of what they wanted to become when they grew up. One wants to be a treasure chest, another an ocean-going boat, and the third a signpost to God. Their wishes come true in a way they never expected. Children will be deeply touched as they understand, perhaps for the first time, the significance of Christ's life and his atoning sacrifice on the cross. Recommended for ages 4 and up.
Publisher: David C Cook

Revenge of the Three

Tim Miller

© Tim Miller 2013

All rights reserved.

The right of Tim Miller to be identified as the author of this work has been asserted by him in accordance with the Copyright, Designs, and Patents Act 1988.

Cover by Kate Kingsley

Thank you to my soul mate, Lori, for working so hard on this journey with me. And to my little girl, Ashley, who will always be my princess.

Prologue

Palau, Mexico

Father Sandoval watched from the doorway as people filed into the small parish. He had been the priest there for ten years, knowing each of the families by name. There were only around one hundred members, so it was easy for him to remember everyone. As they filed in, he could see almost all his parishioners where there for the service. As they took their seats, he made his way to the front, taking his place at the altar. The entrance procession played as he walked toward the front. Upon reaching the altar, he turned to face the crowd and began the day’s mass.

“In the name of the Father, the Son, and the Holy Spirit,” he spoke in Spanish as he made the sign of the cross.

“Amen,” the congregation responded while returning the gesture.

As he began the Rite of Blessing, he sensed a warm and comforting presence. It wasn’t the first time he’d felt the presence of God during Mass. It was one of the things he loved about being a priest. The feeling was beautiful and warm; it was loving and secure.  It told him no harm would come to him, and that God was in control. He had only experienced it a few times, but each time it was amazing. This time, however, something was different.

He continued the rite while scanning the church and saw a white mist filling the parish. The crowd was experiencing the same sensations that he was. All the parishioners had a look of euphoria on their faces, as if God himself was touching each of them. Father Sandoval knew what this was, it was a physical manifestation of the Holy Ghost. There were times in scripture when it was referenced. The most notable instance of this is the first Pentecost in the book of Acts, shortly after Jesus’ death; but he’d never experienced it firsthand.

The mist filled the church, swirling around the worshipers as feelings of love and peace consumed them. If someone were to walk in right at that moment, they might think the congregation was high on drugs. It was something much more than that though, this was supernatural. Father Sandoval stopped the rite as the crowd began talking and murmuring amongst themselves. Some had started giggling, placing their hands over their mouths to stifle the noise due to the euphoria. Sandoval wasn’t sure what to do with this, as this part of the experience was new.

He reached out to touch the mist and watched his hand sail right through it. It had no smell or taste as he closed his eyes and inhaled it deeply, taking in the presence of God. Feeling the Spirit filling him and becoming one with him produced a rush he didn’t want to end. His head began to swirl with the euphoria as he himself began to smile, then giggle quietly. He was overtaken by a joy he’d never known existed.

His eyes remained closed as he held his arms out to his sides, taking in the joy, the pleasure, the aroma of God. A scream from the back of the church snapped him out of his trance. Opening his eyes, he saw a man had collapsed. He thought of going back to check on him, but he didn’t want to break away from the high he was feeling. Perhaps the man had become overwhelmed with the sensations. Looking around, Sandoval saw no one had moved other than the woman sitting next to the man who’d collapsed. He couldn’t make out who she was due to the haze.

Finally, Sandoval was able to snap out of the trance enough to walk to the back and check on the man. As he approached, he saw it was Juan Sanchez who had fallen. Juan was a middle- aged man who had attended with his family for years. Juan’s wife, Camilla was trying to shake him as she looked up at the priest. Juan, however, was not responding.

“Father!  Help him! I don’t think he’s breathing!” she said. Father Sandoval knelt down, still feeling as if he were in a trance of sorts and checked for a pulse. As he did so, there was another scream. His head jerked around and he saw several more people had collapsed. Standing and looking around, he noticed the mist was no longer white, but had turned a dark, grayish color. People had snapped out of their euphoric states and were frantically trying to help their fallen loved ones. As they did so, each of them succumbed to the mist, one by one. Some struggled a bit before they died, others just collapsed without another breath.

Some started heading for the door, trying to reach the outside as if the mist were some toxic gas. None of them made it, however. One woman grabbed Father Sandoval’s robe and held his gaze as she fell.

“Father, please! Help me! Please…” she said as she died in his arms. He lowered her to the ground, unable to save her. Now terrified, Father Sandoval could do nothing but watch as one by one his parishioners fell over dead right in front of him. He began to pray as the scene unfolded, helpless to do anything else.

“Hail Mary, full of grace. Our Lord is with thee, blessed art thou among women,” he chanted as people around him screamed as their final breaths left them. The mist had turned completely black and filled the entire church. It was as if nightfall had filled the church. The bodies of men, women and children lie about motionless, while others tugged at his leg crying out to him as they died. Sandoval couldn’t believe this thing was killing them. He had thought it might be a demon, but deep down he knew that it was the Holy Ghost himself that had come for them.

“Why Lord, why?” he whispered as he went to his knees. The booming voice in his head that left him no doubt.

“I am the Lord your God. The Day of the Lord is upon you,” the voice said, as Father Sandoval took his last breath.

Chapter 1

My name is Charlie Sims, or Pastor Charlie to some though I don’t pastor much anymore. A few years ago I had my own church near San Antonio, Texas but lots of things went wrong. I guess they didn’t go totally wrong. A man many people know as Jesus Christ came to town back then. He wasn’t calling himself Jesus, though. He went by the name of Bishop Hoover and he was trying to bring about the end of the world. It was during that ordeal when I met Lucifer himself, discovered I was part of an ancient race of half angels/half humans and that I had the power to read people’s minds, kill them and turn them into zombies, all by touching their heads. It was an eventful time in my life, almost like a second puberty.

Before all that happened, God used to reveal sinners to me - sinners who had committed acts from adultery to rape, or even murder. He would show them to me in visions, and I would kill them in the most brutal fashion I could imagine.  I saw killing as part of my calling from God, along with my pastoring, a way of carrying out God’s justice. Well, at the time I’d thought it was God. It turned out it wasn’t God at all; I was just more messed up than I had originally thought. I hadn’t had a vision since the whole end-of-the-world ordeal, and so I hadn’t killed anyone in the past few years. I suppose that was a good thing. In order to stop Jesus, or the Bishop, as I called him, I had to kill around 70,000 people in the Alamoome in San Antonio. That number of kills at one time should carry me through for a while.

During that experience, I learned Jesus was not at all what we learned about as kids in Sunday school. He was actually a bit of an asshole. Fortunately, I was able to stop him and save the world for the moment at least. Since then, I’d been working in a funeral home in Del Rio, Texas. I would assist with bodies when needed, as well as preside over funeral services, help people make arrangements along with whatever else the Salazar family needed. They were the ones who owned the funeral home.

Jorge Salazar was the owner, but was semi-retired. He still came in for return clients who’ve used the funeral home for generations. His daughter Maria currently ran the home. At twenty-five years old she had wisdom and skill beyond her years. Having grown up around the funeral home, dead bodies didn’t bother her at all. She had a way of dealing with grieving families that put everyone at ease. She was one of the best in all of South Texas at restoring bodies, no matter how bad the damage.

You’d never guess any of this by looking at her. She stood at five foot two inches, had long black hair, brown eyes and flawless brown skin. When not in dress clothes, she would often wear a summer dress around, or a tank top and shorts. On this day, I was sitting in my tiny office finishing up paperwork on a pre-arrangement I had just set up. A local man had just discovered he had cancer. His prognosis was good, but he decided to pre-arrange his funeral and pay for his funeral just in case.

“What are you doing, Charlie?” Maria asked from the doorway.

“Just finishing some papers,” I said. “What’s up?”

“Did you see the news? I had it on in the break room. It’s pretty freaky.”

I got up and joined her in the break room. A CNN reporter was standing outside of a church in Paulau, Mexico. There were vans and ambulances all around.

“I have family that lives in Palau. They said about a hundred people died in that church,” Maria said, as she placed her hand over her mouth.

“Do they know what happened?” I asked. The TV flashed images of paramedics wheeling out gurneys covered with body bags.

“No, they said someone came to check on their family. I guess they never came home after mass should have been over with. They got there and found all the bodies. My God, it’s so horrible.”

I didn’t want to break it to Maria, but God either had nothing at all to do with it, or He was entirely behind it. Either way, it reminded me of the incident at the Alamodome a few years ago. I had known after I killed Christ that it wasn’t over. For the time being, I may have put the end of the world on hold, but in doing so, I’d upset the natural order of things. No telling what effect that would have on the cosmos. It was only a matter of time before God came back for round two. My fear was that this was it.

“You okay Charlie? You don’t look so good,” Maria said. I hadn’t realized it, but I had been holding my breath, causing my face to change color. I let out a long exhale and looked at her.

“Yeah, I’m fine. Just a sad sight is all.”

“Yes it is. It’s scary. That’s not too far from here. The news thought it might be the cartel, like maybe they poisoned everybody.  I didn’t think even the cartel would defile a church, though.”

“Hard to say.” We both looked out the window as we heard a car pull up. We walked outside to see a black Suburban. Two men stepped out, both were wearing suits, but one had on a cowboy hat.

“Charlie Sims?” The man with the hat asked.

“That’s me. Can I help you?”

“I’m John O’Brien, Texas Rangers. This is Special Agent Peter Jenkins, FBI. We would like to talk to you.”

I felt my heart had jump up to my throat. I’ve had police talk to me before, and nothing good ever came of it. This most likely wouldn’t be any different.

Chapter 2

We sat in Maria’s office as Ranger O’Brien an Agent Jenkins asked me their questions. They seemed to think I had something to do with the Palau incident.

“You know Pastor Charlie, the scene in Palau didn’t look a whole lot different than the one at the Alamodome a few years back,” O’Brien said. He was leaning against a chair next to the door. He kept his hat on while in the building for some reason. Even if he took it off, he’d be much taller than me and didn’t appear to have an ounce of fat on him. Not bad shape for a guy in his mid-forties.

“I wouldn’t know,” I said. “The cops asked me about that back then, but I wasn’t there.”

“Some of your former church members said you’d been going to all of the Bishop’s previous services. Suddenly you don’t make it to one, and everyone ends up dead and the Bishop vanishes. Lots of coincidences there if you ask me.”

“I guess so. I was busy that night. I’ve been over all of this before. Do you have a point?” Jenkins was standing by Maria’s desk playing with his cell phone. He wasn’t looking up, but I’m sure he was paying attention. I had a feeling they were here just fishing for answers. The Palau thing was weird, so they figured they’d round up the usual suspects. With the similarities in the cases, I’d have done the same thing.

“He had nothing to do with that church in Palau. He’s been here working,” Maria chimed in.

“Is that so?” O’Brien asked.

“It is. We had a funeral Sunday afternoon. He was here helping me get ready.”

O’Brien looked her up and down as if she were a five course meal.

“Well, I’m sure he’s a big help around here.”

“And what is that supposed to mean?” Maria asked as she shot up out of her chair.

“Oh nothing, just thinking out loud”

“Well why you and your pal go think out loud somewhere else. Unless you have a warrant, we are done here.”

“My, my,” O’Brien said as he looked at me. “She’s sure a feisty one Charlie.”

“That she is.  I wouldn’t piss her off.” Jenkins finally put his phone down long enough to involve himself in the situation.

“Look everyone, we don’t we all just calm down a bit, okay? I apologize for my colleague here. He comes from a different era of law enforcement.” Jenkins glanced at O’Brien and rolled his eyes. “We’re just checking all leads, old and new. We have to rule everyone out. You know the drill. Ms. Salazar here told us you were here, then you were here. Thank you for your time.” He got up and walked out with O’Brien in tow. O’Brien tipped his hat as he left, and they were gone.

“Well, that was interesting.” I said.

“Shut up, Charlie.”

“What?”

“Look, when you first came here, we didn’t ask you a lot of questions. My dad knew there was something about you and told us you’d been through a lot. But you’ve been a big help here and been good to us. But what was this all about? Why would they come question you about the Alamodome?”

Maria’s huge, brown eyes glared at me. In my entire life, I’d never had so much as a girlfriend. Some people even thought I was gay. I was attracted to women, just never had time for relationships. Being a sociopath and all, I didn’t exactly have feelings like most people for one. Not to mention with me running around and cutting people up, it didn’t seem like the best way to raise a family. So I figured it was safer this way for everyone.

“I know, Maria. I’ve appreciated everything you’ve done. I told you all how I’d met that Bishop guy. I went to his services and thought something was off about him.  I’d asked around about him and even got thrown out of one service by his security. So when all those people died at the Alamodome, people thought I had something to do with it. I have no idea what they think I could have done. The authorities ended up ruling it a mass suicide, but the Bishop chickened out and took off.” I was making some of it up as I went along. There is no way she could have handled the truth. “Fact is, most of the members of my old church died there. That’s part of why I came here. I couldn’t go back to that place.  I needed a change.”

Her eyes softened as I explained. I’d realized I’d never told any of the Salazar family much information about myself. I figured the less they knew, the better.

“Wow, I had no idea. I’m really sorry.” She leaned in and gave me a quick hug. It was an odd feeling, but she felt good to hold, even if only for a second. For not being fully human, the last couple of years had brought more humanity out in me than any other time in my life. There had even been times, if I didn’t know better, where I’d have thought I was happy. This day’s visit made me feel uneasy, though. It was as if that darkness inside me was coming back again. I doubt it was every really gone, but I’d managed to put it to sleep. Between the deaths in Mexico, and the visit from the Feds, I feared it had awakened. I pushed the thought out of my mind before it affected my mood.

“Thank you,” I said. “It was a hard time, but your family has been a great help. You’ve always treated me like one of your own. That means a lot.”

“Well, we are happy to have you Charlie. Maybe one day you can have your own church again.”

“Maybe. What’s the plan for the rest of the day?”  I said, changing the subject. Before she could respond, her cell phone rang. She pressed it to her ear and said, “Yeah, okay,” a few times and began writing something down. After a minute she hung up.

“Looks like we got our plan for the today. Gotta pick up a body. There was a bad accident on the freeway. This should be a good one.” She grabbed her bag from behind the desk and headed outside to the van. I followed, trying to keep up.

Chapter 3

We arrived at the crash scene within twenty minutes. Fire trucks, ambulances and police cars lined the streets as traffic in the other lanes was at a standstill. Maria parked and we both climbed out, grabbing our cot and gloves. There was a little Honda against the guardrail with some minor damage on the front end. Another car was sitting about twenty feet away, looking more torn up in the front. The officer pointed us to the Honda.

Once we reached the car, we saw the dead girl in the passenger’s seat. She was crumpled over in an unnatural position, as if she tried to do a somersault, but backwards. I noticed the windshield was cracked into a spider web pattern with blood splattered along the interior. The girl’s head was busted wide open to the point that you couldn’t make out her face. She’d more than likely not been wearing her seatbelt. It was a shame, since the crash didn’t look all that bad. Those were usually the crashes that were the most fatal. When the car is torn to pieces, then it did its job and took the brunt of the force from the collision. When there is little damage, then the passengers took the brunt.  In this case it was this poor girl.

Maria made no expression as the firefighters helped us get the girl out of the car. We wrapped her in blankets, placed her on the cot and zipped the cover closed. After we loaded her into the van, Maria spoke to the officers, filled out some paperwork and joined me back in the van. We hadn’t spoken the entire time we were at the scene. We rarely did. When people see the funeral van show up, the scene gets really quiet and people watch our every move. We were always careful to be respectful of the body, and whatever friends or family who may be watching.

“Did they say how old she was?” I asked as Maria climbed in.

“Nineteen. She’s a UT student here on spring break.”

“Wow, that’s too bad.”

“Yeah.”

We didn’t say much the rest of the way back. When we reached the funeral home, I took the body to the back and began cleaning her off. Maria had to stop by her office and drop off the paperwork. While she was doing that, I’d prepare the body for her to embalm. Since I wasn’t a licensed funeral director I couldn’t do the actual embalming, but I could assist. I got the body in the embalming room. I placed her on the table and removed her clothes so I could wash her off. After I’d finished cleaning the body, I noticed Maria had yet to return.

I took off my apron and gloves and headed back to her office. It wasn’t like her to not get a body ready right away. As I approached, I heard her laughing in her office.  There was another voice laughing too- a man’s voice. You don’t often hear laughter in a funeral home, so I had no idea what was up. When I walked in her office, Maria was sitting at her desk, smiling and giggling as the man told her some story. He looked up at me and I recognized him right away, even though I hadn’t seen him in a few years.

“Charlie! How have you been, buddy?” He said.

Lucifer.

“Well, um, hi. What brings you here?”

“Charlie!” Maria squealed, “You don’t ever talk about friends or anything. Dennis here said you guys were good friends in college and he was in town! So nice to hear stories about you as a kid.”

“Yes, I’m sure,” I said. Lucifer winked at me with his devil-may-care grin. “Could you excuse us for a minute Maria? I’d like to catch up with my old friend for a few. The girl is all ready to go.”

“Oh, of course,” she said as she stood. “It was so nice meeting you.” Maria shook his hand and he held it for just a little too long. She headed back to the embalming room, so I closed the door once she was gone. I then turned and punched Lucifer in the arm, causing him to jump.

“Ow!”

“So you feel pain now?”

“I’m kind of in flesh here. I do that from time to time.”

“What are you doing here? Last time I saw you, you told me to stay away from you and poofed away with your tail between your legs.”

“I don’t have a tail.  That’s just a myth. But you freaked me out a little bit last time.”

When he last saw me, t had been with the Bishop, who we now know was Jesus Christ himself, having his last revival service in the Alamodome. I’d just turned over fifty thousand people in attendance into a hoard of zombies and zapped the Bishop unconscious by reaching my fingers into his skull. Apparently some things were too scary, even for the devil.

“Well you left me hanging after all that. What do you want?”

“Yes, I saw. The crucifixion was a nice touch.”

“Yeah, thanks. Next time we’ll make it a tailgate party.”

“Don’t be a smartass, Chuck.”

I cringed. I hated that nickname, particularly coming from him. “What. Do. You. Want?”

“Okay. Your handiwork last time turned everything onto its ear. The whole cosmos is in a tailspin.”

“Spare me the dramatics. What are you talking about?”

“The Old Man Upstairs wasn’t so thrilled with his boy failing to a Nephilim, of all things. So Christ is now in the Abyss.”

I almost fell out of my chair. The Abyss is what we know as hell. It’s just an eternal void of nothingness, yet you are fully conscious. There is no sound, sight, smell - nothing.  Just you hanging in empty space alone with your thoughts and sometimes the sounds of others screaming. I would imagine it sucks.

“Are you serious? Why didn’t he just come after me? He put His own on into the Abyss?”

“I hear it may not be permanent, but just enough to get his attention. He most likely will come after you, just using a different approach. As you know, things get sticky when They cross realms. There are rules and limitations.”

“Isn’t the Old Man the One who made those rules?
“Not exactly. The universe sort of has a will of its own.”

“Okay. So you didn’t answer my question. Why are you here? You obviously want something.”

“You’re so smart Chuck. Okay, you saw the thing on the news about the church in Mexico, everyone dead?”

“Yeah, the Feds and Texas Rangers were here asking me about it.”

“Well the Old Man has sent the Ghost to finish what the Bishop could not. He will be a bit harder to stop.”

“Why’s that?”

“Because he’s a ghost genius.” Lucifer rolled his eyes as if I were too stupid to bother explaining it to.

“So what? You expect me to stop him, too?”

“You’re the man, my friend.”

“And how? Turn him into a ghost-zombie?”

“You’ll figure it out,” Lucifer stood. “I gotta run. I can only maintain this body for a day or two at a time. So I’m going to go have some fun with it while I can. I’d ask you to come hang, but looks like you got your hands full with your senorita in there.”

“Whatever. You going to be in touch, or am I on my own again?”

“I’ll be in touch,” he said.

“Wonderful.”

Chapter 4

After Lucifer left, I sat there thinking. It turned out that sinking feeling I’d had earlier wasn’t a fluke. My fear was very real. It was all starting again. Once again, I would have to battle God, a part of god, or some godlike creature. However you summed it up, it wasn’t going to be a fun experience. The first time around almost killed me. There was no telling what would happen this time around. I stood and headed to the back to find Maria, when it hit me. For the first time in years, I had a vision of a sinner I needed to kill.

This one was a man here in Del Rio. He was a police officer, but he was dirty. For years he’d been taking payoffs from the drug cartel. He would hide evidence for them, get charges dropped, look the other way at their dealings. He would sometimes even execute hits for them. Other times, he helped dispose of bodies. For a man sworn to uphold the law, he made little attempt to do so. His side job had made him a rich man. Ultimately, though, he would have to die for his sins. I still had no idea where this vision came from. For most my life I had thought my visions came from God. I thought God had been using me as a weapon to carry out His will. During my dealings with the Bishop, I learned that wasn’t the case, however. I still didn’t know the source of my visions, or what drove me to do this work. I figured since I was part Nephilim, it may have something to do with my celestial DNA.

During my encounter with the Bishop years ago, I had read everything in his mind. I had seen the mind of God. Trouble was, I couldn’t remember anything I’d found. I’d tried over and over to recall those things, yet I drew a blank every time. It was somewhere in my head, but would have to surface on its own.

“You all right?”  Maria asked as she stepped out of the embalming room.

“Yeah, I’m fine.”

“You sure? You look kind of pale. What’s up with your friend?”

“Oh, nothing. He’s leaving town today and just wanted to say hello.”

“Oh, well that’s too bad,” she said, looking dejected.

“Why is that too bad?”

“Nothing, he just seemed like a nice guy.”

“Uh no. You don’t want anything to do with him.”

“Why, Charlie?  You almost sound jealous!”

“No, I’m not jealous. Don’t be ridiculous. He comes across as nice, but he’s just bad news. Trust me.”

“Geez, Charlie. You sound like he’s the devil or something,” she said, rolling her eyes.

“Well, he’s a serious trouble maker. A big reason I hadn’t seen him in a while.”

“Okay, then. Well, the girl is all done. The family will bring some clothes in the morning so we can dress her up, even though it will be a closed casket funeral. Not much I could do with her face. I’m going to go get lunch. You hungry?”

“No, not at the moment. I was going to straighten up here. Then I have an appointment this afternoon.

“Okay. Well call me on my cell if you need anything. You really need to loosen up though, Charlie. Nothing wrong with being around other people once in a while.” If only she knew.

“I know. Just not something I’m good at.”

“No worries. See you later,” she said as she headed out.

Once she stepped out, I took a shower and changed clothes. I had work to do. Once a vision hits, the urge to complete it would eats at me until I carry it out. I needed to pay Officer Cortez a visit. But first, I needed to prepare. This was going to be a mess. I had no location, no tools, nothing. It had been two years since I’d killed anyone. So before anything else, I had to make a trip to Home Depot. The hard part would be finding a suitable location.

I climbed in my Explorer and headed to the west side of town. I figured there would be some place there I could use. Cortez worked the evening shift, from four until midnight, so I had some time to get my things together. If nothing else, I’d have to wait until tomorrow. I didn’t want to rush it, but the urge was now burning inside of me. I was like a man who hadn’t eaten in weeks running toward a buffet of food. There was no stopping me, but I couldn’t let my urges make me careless. It was going to be a long night.

Chapter 5

Maria returned to the funeral home after lunch and found Charlie hadn’t returned. He looked exhausted earlier, so she wouldn’t have been surprised if he was done for the day. He often would come in, get whatever work he had to do for the day, and leave early. She didn’t mind, though. If she needed his help, he always came when she called. She put her gloves on and headed back to finish with their most recent client.

The girl’s name was Carmen Medina. Maria had gotten her embalmed earlier, and the family agreed to a closed casket funeral due to the damage to her head and face. Maria soaked a cloth and gauze in embalming fluid and stuffed the gauze into the opening where Carmen’s face used to be. She then wrapped the cloth around the head, and then wrapped another layer of dry cloth around her. The chemicals smelled horrible, but since she had such large open wounds, the regular embalming process wouldn’t help her face. So the chemicals and gauze would slow down the decomposition and hopefully keep the bugs and maggots off of her until she was buried. Once she was wrapped up, Maria covered her with a sheet and wheeled her into the hallway behind the embalming room.

As she stepped into the hall, she was startled by a noise from the from behind her, near the garage. That was the darkest part of the hallway, even during the day. Maria didn’t spook easily, having grown up around a funeral home. She’d been around dead bodies since she was five years old, so it would take a more than a few noises to scare her. When she looked at the end of the hall, there appeared to be a person standing there.

“Hello?” she said. “Who are you? Can I help you?” She walked toward the end of the hall. By the time she reached the door, the figure was gone. She opened the door and looked around in the garage, but there was nothing around. She checked behind the van and hearse, but there was no one.

I must be tired, she thought. I’m too young to be losing my mind. Maria headed back inside and finished taking Carmen’s body into the hall, placing the gurney gently against the wall. There were two other bodies there. Both were cleaned and dressed. This back hall served as a staging area once bodies were ready for their funerals. It was out of the way and out of the sight of the public. The other two bodies’ funerals were in the next couple of days. It was unusual for there to not be a body back there. Bodies meant money for her and her family. It was kind of sad, but Maria saw her job as a calling. She was the final person to take care of her clients before they were laid to rest. Hers was a calling she was good at, and one she took great pride in. Once she had Carmen organized, Maria heard the banging again.

She walked further into the hallway and heard it again. It sounded like someone banging a frying pan against the wall. This time it was coming from her office. She walked toward it to find the door standing open. She remembered having closed it. If this was Charlie messing with her, she would deck him for sure. As she got closer, the banging got louder and louder, a shrill piercing thump, repeating itself. The noise didn’t frighten her as much as irritate her. She had a lot of work to do, and wasn’t in the mood for someone playing games.

“Hello? Charlie, is that you? I don’t got time to be fucking around. I’m gonna kick your ass if that’s you messing with me!” She stepped into her office and the pounding stopped. There was a police officer standing in front of her. He was tall, Hispanic and wearing a Del Rio police uniform. He was covered in blood and had gaping wounds on his face and neck.

Maria took a step back at the sight of him. The blood and gore didn’t bother her. It was the fact that he was up walking around in that condition that terrified her.

“Maria,” he said. His voice was hoarse, barely above a whisper.

“Are you okay? I should call an ambulance. Please, let me help you.”

“Help yourself, Maria,” he said. “Stay away from Charlie.”

“What? From Charlie? What about Charlie?”

“He’s not what you think. He is dangerous. Run away from him. Save yourself.” The man walked toward her, reaching out his hand. The coppery smell of the dried blood on his uniform made her eyes water. She backed up against the door, not sure what he was about to do. He came within a foot of her and she stepped to the side. He opened the door without looking at her and stepped out into the foyer. She walked out behind him, but when she reached the foyer he was gone.

What the hell was that? Maria thought as she crossed herself and shook her head, trying to clear her mind. Looking around, she could see no blood on the floor, no footprints of any kind. Even the coppery smell of death and decay were gone.  Looking at her hands, Maria noticed they were visibly trembling. She tried to hold back the nausea that started to sink in, or else lose her lunch in her office trashcan. Seeing dead bodies in a funeral home was not an unusual event. Seeing one walking around and talking was odd, for any location. Shock must have been setting in, causing her to feel that way. She took a few minutes to ponder the warning. It concerned her that it mentioned Charlie. Charlie had never hurt a fly, so she had no clue what this thing was talking about. That is, if she wasn’t completely crazy.

She grabbed her cell phone from her pocket and called Charlie as soon as she caught her breath.

“Hey Charlie,” she said as he answered. For the first time, she noticed how calming the sound of his voice was.

“What’s up? Everything okay?” He asked. She hoped he couldn’t sense the stress in her voice.

“Yeah. Yeah I’m fine. Just wondered what you were doing.”

“Oh, I was just catching up on some personal errands. Didn’t think you’d mind.”

“Oh no, not at all. Just making sure everything was okay.” She hung up and sat the phone down.  What was going on?

Save yourself Maria.

Chapter 6

I hung up the phone and placed it back into my pocket. It was odd for Maria to call me like that to check on me. Something had to be wrong. As badly as I wanted to go check on her, it would have to wait until I was through. I put the thought aside as I walked over to Officer Medina. He was easier to catch than I had expected. I found an old warehouse on the west side of town in his patrol zone.

I put in a call to the cops when I was a few blocks away, complaining of a suspicious person looking into people’s windows. I wanted the call to have enough priority that he’d come out in decent time, but not enough to send out multiple units. Medina got out of his car, saw me walking around, and asked what I was doing. I had changed into my hoodie, so I kept my hood up and head down as I kept walking, pretending I didn’t hear him. He finally ran up and grabbed me by the arm. I spun around and hit him on the side of the neck with a brachial stun. He stumbled back toward his car as I grabbed him from the front. I wrapped my arm around his neck in a guillotine hold and squeezed until he stopped moving. The whole thing only took a few seconds. Once he was out, I placed him into the passenger side of his car and drove to the warehouse.

Once I had him tied up, I took his car to the other side of town, ditched it in an abandoned lot and took a cab back to the warehouse. Police cars had GPS in them, so I didn’t want to lead the cops right back to the warehouse, though they’d find it eventually. I would be long gone before then, hopefully. I watched as Medina began to come to. I didn’t have a cross to tie him to like I did at my old chapel. I had to settle for some pipes in the back of the building that ran along the walls.

“What the fuck is this?” Medina said, blinking his eyes rapidly. I had stripped him to his underwear and stacked his uniform and gear on the floor a few feet from him.

“It’s retribution time, officer,” I said.

“Who the fuck are you? I’m a cop, asshole!  What kind of bullshit is this?  You untie me now!  You have no idea who you’re fucking with!”

“Well, aren’t you a bossy one.  With a foul mouth, too. Do you talk to your cartel pals that way?”

“What? Cartel pals? I don’t know what the fuck you’re talking about, asshole. But I will kill you when I get out of this!”

This was an odd interaction. He didn’t seem the least bit fazed that he practically naked and tied to a pipe, and would be dead in less than an hour. He still thought he was in charge.

“You know exactly who I’m talking about,” I said. “Taking money from them, being their bag boy, doing hits for them.  You’re supposed to be a cop! That’s the joke. You’re supposed to be out protecting society, yet you’re out doing hits for cash!”

“That’s bullshit. I don’t know what the hell you’re—” I grabbed my new knife and held it to his throat.

“Don’t!  I already know everything!”

“Okay, look. It’s complicated. I got a family okay? A cop’s salary just doesn’t go far these days. One kid is in college, the other learning to drive. You know how it is. Shit’s expensive these days! Besides, you don’t exactly say ‘no’ to the cartel!”

“Yes,” I said. “Cry me a river. People trusted you and they died. You used your authority to make money and killed people over it.”

“So what? You gonna kill me? Who are you?  Did Chavez send you?”

“I don’t know who that is. I would tell you God sent me, but that wouldn’t be accurate. I am the one who brings balance to the universe by getting rid of pieces of shit like you.”

“No, look, I can work something out. I have a lot of money stashed. We can— ” He grunted as I thrust the knife into his chest. I could Medina twitch as the knife went into his heart.  His eyes went wide and I stared into them until I saw the lights go out. That special moment when life left the person, it was always in the eyes.

Once he was dead, I had to begin the cleanup. I’d gotten a large plastic drum and several gallons of hydrofluoric acid. I cut him down, wrapped him and his gear in plastic wrap, and stuffed him into the drum. It was a tight squeeze, but I got him to fit. I filled the barrel with the acid and sealed the lid closed. The smell and fumes of the acid made my eyes burn.  I should have gotten goggles and a respirator.

I flipped the barrel onto its side and rolled it to the back of the warehouse. A stack of other drums, both plastic and metal, were lined all along the back wall of the warehouse. God only knows what was in there or for how long they had been sitting there. I pushed some of the barrels out of the way and placed mine among the rest of them. Not the most ideal way to hide a body, but anyone looking would have go to through all of them. I finished cleaning up the rest of the mess and finally got back to my Explorer. That was exhausting. If I was going to be killing again, I would need to come up with a more efficient system. In the meantime, I needed to go check on Maria.

Chapter 7

Maria’s car was still at the funeral home when I got back there. I ran inside and found her sitting in the break room watching TV.

“Everything okay?” I asked.

“Yeah, everything is fine. You get your stuff taken care of?”

“Oh yeah, all set. I was just wondering, you sounded upset when you called earlier.”

“Oh no. I thought I heard something outside, kinda creeped me out for a bit but it was nothing.” She looked around for a second. “What’s that smell? Is that you?”

Shit. The hydrofluoric acid. I hadn’t washed up before coming back.

“Oh, my car overheated and I had to look under the hood and refill the coolant. Maybe that’s why I stink.”

“I never smelled coolant like that before.  Smells like acid or some kind of nasty chemicals.  What exactly do you do when you go run errands?”

“Nothing, just the bank and stuff. I don’t know where any acid would come from. Like I said, it was hot and I was messing around under the hood of my car.”

“Guess so.” She yawned. “What time is it?”

“It’s almost nine.”

“I think I’m gonna head home. I’ll see you in the morning, Charlie. Just be sure to wash whatever that smell is off of you.”

“Sure thing. See you tomorrow.”

She got to the door, stopped and looked at me.

“Oh, Charlie?”

“Yes?”

“You’re not in some kind of trouble, are you?”

Oh, no. Now I was sure something happened while I was gone.

“No, not at all. Did something happen while I was gone?”

“Um, not really.”

“Not really? What is that supposed to mean? Something either did or didn’t.”

“I’m tired Charlie.  Good night,” she said and disappeared through the door.

The last thing I wanted was to drag Maria into my twisted world of fallen angels, deities and death. Though she already got a lot of the death part. I thought I’d left that world behind, but it had caught up to me. The fact was, there was no running or hiding from what I am, gods or no gods. The Ghost was up to something, and it seemed to be targeting churches, at least one church that I knew of so far. I needed to check a few things out for myself. I closed everything down at the funeral home, locked up, and headed back to my place.

My apartment in Del Rio was much smaller than my old one in San Antonio. I didn’t need a lot of room, though, since I wasn’t home much. I found my laptop on the bed and flipped it open. I did a search of churches and strange deaths. Turns out, in the last year or so there had been a few.  One occurred at a small church in Brazil, another in Belarus. Mexico was the most recent one. In all cases, no one knew the cause. People were just found dead, as if someone flipped a switch. I’d seen a man die that exact same way, and that is exactly what had happened. Yeshua, the “Messiah” himself, snapped his fingers and the man was dead.

Now that I had some information, I wasn’t sure what to do with it. I took a shower to clean the acidic smell off of my body and threw away the clothes I’d worn that day. Once I was changed, I headed out to my Explorer. I was in the mood for a Whataburger. I was unlocking the door when a black van pulled up behind me. Before I could see who it was, a cattle prod was thrust into my ribs and God knows how many volts of electricity went coursing through my body. My legs turned to jelly beneath me and I started to fall. I couldn’t talk or move, and I think I pissed my clean pants, as some guy in a ski mask threw me into the back of the van. Once I was in, he threw a pillowcase over my head and I heard duct tape ripping and then he bound my hands and feet.

Needless to say, this was not a good situation. I had no idea who these guys were, other than the fact that they spoke to each other in Spanish. I couldn’t move and could barely breathe. I was just going to have to wait until we got to wherever we were going to figure this out. That is, if they didn’t just kill me and dump me somewhere. It had been a long time since I’d used my little power to turn people into zombie-like freaks. Looks like that would change today if I got the chance. In the meantime, I guess I knew what it felt like to be one of my victims.

Chapter 8

River of Life Church, El Paso, TX

Pastor Robert Kirkland stood on the stage preaching to his congregation. They sat on the edge of their seats, hanging onto his every word as if the Lord God himself were speaking.  Even though it was a midweek service, the building was now packed with over five hundred people. He couldn’t believe that only a year ago they were merely holding Bible studies in his living room. Now that small fellowship of five people had grown a hundredfold in so little time. He hoped to see it grow to over five thousand by next year. As Kirkland spoke, his band played, and people stood, clapping and singing along.

“Who is ready to praise the Lord tonight?” He shouted into his headset. The crowd let out a big shout. “I don’t know about any of you, but I’m ready for the Holy Spirit to come and light this place on fire!”

“Amen!” they shouted. The band tore into a guitar solo to the tune of Amazing Grace and led right into Did You Feel the Mountains Tremble. Kirkland threw his hands into the air and danced around on stage, doing his best air guitar at one point, but no one was paying attention to him by then. The congregation was in its own state of worship, singing, dancing, and jumping up and down.  Some even collapsed in the aisles as they became overwhelmed with God’s joy. Kirkland threw his arms into the air and looked to the sky.

“Our Father in heaven, we thank you! Yes! We thank you Lord for this glorious day!  Thank you for blessing us with this wonderful church where we come to worship you. Thank you for giving us the gift of eternal life! Please show yourself tonight, oh Lord! Bless us each with your presence!”

The crowd let out another cheer as the band played and the people danced. Kirkland was pleased with his own prayer. His father had been a Pentecostal preacher for the Assemblies of God. Robert had left the denomination after they had a falling out. The Pentecostals felt Robert was a bit too radical when it came to his beliefs in spiritual gifts, such as healing and prophecy, as well as his beliefs in holy manifestations. It was for the best, he figured, since the denominations had turned into little more than religious corporations. Now, he had his own church, with no governing body to tell him how to run things.

As he watched the people dancing, Kirkland felt something warm at the top of his head. He turned around and saw each member of the band had a small flame on their heads. He almost fell off the stage when he realized what was going on. It was a sign from God! Kirkland knew, because in the book of Acts in the New Testament, after Jesus died, as the apostles were praying for guidance the Holy Spirit made his first appearance in the form of a small flame on top of their heads. The flame did them no harm, and the apostles came to know it was God working through the Spirit. The crowd began muttering and whispering as it began to notice the flames as well. By now, everyone in the congregation had the flames on their heads.

“Children of God! The Holy Spirit is among us! I’ve never seen this before. It isn’t a trick, I’m not doing any of this. I can feel it. I can feel the Lord inside of me, inside all of us!” People held their arms to the sky and began chanting in tongues. The band members continued to play their hearts out, as if they were trying to pound their instruments to pieces. Kirkland closed his eyes and raised his arms, feeling the warmth of God. No preacher he knew ever experienced anything like this. He was glad he had begun recording his services. This would get him a TV deal for sure. Before he could relish the thought, someone screamed.

A man in the front row was engulfed in flames. The people around him were screaming and crying. The loudest scream came from the man himself. His shrill cries of pain didn’t even sound human. The band stopped playing as Kirkland ran backstage and grabbed a fire extinguisher. He jumped off the stage and began spraying the man with it. Kirkland could smell the man’s flesh, hair and clothing burning as he emptied the device on the man but it had no effect whatsoever. The man fell to the ground motionless as the flames consumed his body. Then there were other screams, several more. Bodies in flames were running up and down the aisles screaming. Others began waving at the flames on their heads, trying to put them out. Even Kinkaid felt a sense of panic coming over him.

“Get it off me! Get it off me!” One man cried as he ran past Kirkland. He bolted from the sanctuary and into the foyer. He found the men’s room and ran in, trying to wash his head in the sink, running cold water over it. He looked in the mirror but the flame was still there. He grabbed paper towels and tried to smother it, but it didn’t go out. He ran back to the church as the screams grew louder. Once he was back inside, he saw everyone—members of the band, women, and children, all engulfed in flames. Some ran around while others were rolling on the ground. Still others lie motionless, already dead.

Kirkland didn’t know why this was happening. Why would the Holy Spirit do this? He could only conclude that it had to be Satan. They had been fooled, and now it was too late. He kept trying to put out the flame on his head, but to no avail. Before the fire took him, he wondered what was more horrifying, watching all his people burn to death, or knowing he was next.

Chapter 9

When they pulled the hood of me, I was hanging upside down in a dark room. There was a single light coming from behind me. The room was hot and stuffy and smelled like body odor. There was a pair of boots standing in front of me, and I heard voices behind me speaking Spanish. Finally a large Mexican man bent down so I could see his face. He had thick black hair, a beard and was wearing a Hawaiian shirt.

“Hello senor,” he said.

“Umm, hola?”

“You are in some trouble my friend.” His accent was thick and he smelled like beef jerky.  Plus, I had no idea what he was talking about.

“What kind of trouble?”

He stood back up and kicked me in the side of the face. The left side of my face stung as my body rocked from side to side like a pendulum on a grandfather clock. After a few seconds, the stinging turned to throbbing as my eyes began to water.

“Does that jar your memory senor?”

“Uh, not really. Just made my face hurt a lot.”

The man laughed as he took out a long knife and pointed it at my face.

“You’re a funny gringo. I like you. So I will tell you why you’re here and give you a chance to save yourself. Our associate, officer Medina.  You killed him.” Now how in the hell did he know that?

“What?” I asked.

“You need another memory jarring?”

“No, that’s ok. Who are you people?” I tried to move my hands, but they were bound tightly behind my back.

“You ask too many questions my friend. And who I am is not important. What is important, is who you are, who you work for, and why did you kill Medina?”

“I work for the Salazars at the funeral home.” I said. He stood and kicked me on the other side of the face. I swung back and forth again as the stinging pain seared up and down my body.

“Just so you know, I’m going to kill you before any of us leave here.” That got another laugh from Hawaiian Shirt.

“See? You’re funny guy! I might just kill you quickly.” I said nothing as he laughed at his own joke.  “Ok, so Medina,” he continued. “We had been following him since we thought he was taking money from the Melendez cartel. He seemed to be working both sides. Then you show up and stuff him in a barrel of acid. That’s how we sometimes get rid of bodies. So, it’s not a wild guess that you work for Melendez. So why did you kill our man? Was he working for you too?”

“Look, I think there’s been a mistake. Sure I guess you got me, I killed Medina,” no point in holding back now. I had no idea how many thugs were standing behind me, but I was hoping to make some kind of move. “But I’m not working for anyone.”

“Then why’d you kill him?”

“Honestly? I knew he was a dirty cop, and I wanted to see justice done.”

He stood and laughed. His partners behind me laughed too, causing him to laugh harder and harder. It was like a ten-minute long creepy giggle-fit until they all settled down. Hawaiian shirt knelt back down by me.

“Justice? Is that what you said? There is only one kind of justice here, gringo. That justice is me!” This time he punched me square in the stomach.

“Now stop playing stupid, or we are going to get very unfriendly. I have lots of tools and lots of ways to use them senor. You can tell me so I can kill you mercifully, or you can make me cut it out of you. Either way is fine with me.” He ran the knife up and down my stomach and face as he spoke. During his little speech, I had managed to loosen the duct tape that bound my hands. I was so sweaty I could slide my right hand out when I was ready.

“Okay, please don’t torture me. I will tell you everything I know,” I said.

“Very wise choice my friend. See? Maybe you’re not so stupid!”

“Yes, thank you. It’s hard for me to talk like this. Can you bend down here so I can tell you?”

He knelt down again and put his face near mine.

“Okay. Go ahead and tell me, and I will put you down with one bullet to the head.”

“Well, thank you. That’s very kind,” I said, wondering how often he had this conversation. “So here’s what I know.”

As he leaned in, I pulled my right hand free and pressed it against his face, my fingers sinking in through his skull as he screamed. Before his partners could react, I pulled my hand away. Hawaiian shirt was shrieking and screaming like a scared little girl. The two men that had been behind me ran to his side, but all he did was scream and flail around. They tried to grab him, but he threw himself into them, as they all tumbled into a pile in the corner. The two living men cried something in Spanish as they tried to pull away from their boss.

I pulled myself up and grabbed the bar my feet were attached to. Situations like these made me glad I’d stuck to my ab workouts. I worked the tape at my feet until it broke lose, sending me crashing to the floor. As I stood, the two men turned to face me. Before they could get to their feet, I charged and grabbed them each by the face. Within seconds, all three of them were screaming, zombiefied freaks. The noise was more than I could stand, so I placed my hand over each of them and they collapsed to the ground, dead.

My wrists, ankles and face were all throbbing, but I needed to get out of there. I went through their pockets and found a set of keys on Hawaiian Shirt guy. I ran out the door and pushed the button on the remote until I heard a car chirp. It was a black Cadillac Escalade. I hopped in and started the engine. This had turned into a complete mess. Not only was I about to go to war with the Holy Ghost itself, but I now had drug cartels after me. I wasn’t sure which one was worse.

Chapter 10

I ditched the Escalade on the south side of town and called a cab. Within twenty minutes the cab arrived and I hopped in and gave the driver my address.

“Can’t do that, Chuck,” the driver said. I knew before he’d even turned around, it was Lucifer.

“What are you doing?” Don’t you have a war to start or something?” I was getting tired of this guy always popping up.

“It’s already begun, my friend. We’re going to El Paso. The Ghost hit again.”

“In El Paso? Well that’s great, but I just had some cartel guys try to kill me.”

“Drug cartel? You going into a new line of work?” Lucifer smirked.

“No! A cop I killed the other day was a thug on their payroll. Did hits for them and everything. They somehow found out and now they think I work for another cartel.”

“Jesus, Charlie. You sure know how to piss off the wrong folks.”

“Yeah, story of my life. So what happened in El Paso?”

“Oh yeah, the Ghost. Did it in epic fashion this time. The thing burned alive every person in a church there. Torched the whole building.

“Why is He going after churches and killing His own people? And how do you know it was The Ghost? Could have been arson.”

“There is no cause to the fire. No wiring problems, no accelerant, nothing. Plus he doesn’t have people. Church folks are the easiest because during worship they are the most susceptible to His influence. They welcome His presence, and then He strikes.”

“Jesus Christ.”

“Nah, we already took care of him.”

“Right. So what about Maria?”

“What about her?”

“I can’t just ditch her. I need to talk to her.”

“We don’t got time, Chuck. We gotta get moving.”

“Well, I’m sure He won’t end the world if we take a few extra minutes. She has been one of the few folks who have been good to me. So I’m not just gonna vanish on her.”

“I’m the one who is driving, if you hadn’t noticed.”

“And I can do my little hand trick that you love so much on you. I don’t care if you are driving. Or, you could head to Maria’s for a bit.”

“Wow, making threats now, are we?”

“Look, I spent most of the evening dangling upside down in a closet while Mexican drug guys used me as a piñata. Now you want me to help go after the holy firestarter from hell. I think you can give me a few minutes with the only person I’ve ever known who comes close to being my friend. ”

“Aww, Charlie. How touching. I think you like this girl.”

“I do I guess. It’s not like I have actual feelings. But I know she cares about me, so I figure, to normal people that means something.”

Lucifer sat there and laughed.

“Dude, you should work for me full time. You’d fit right in. Hell, you’d fit in better than some of my actual demons.”

“Yeah, thanks for the offer, but I’ll pass. Look, this will just take a couple minutes. It’s like 3 am. Go by her place and I’ll tell her I had a family emergency or something. I’ll tell her I need a couple weeks.”

“Okay, we can stop by I guess.”

“You will stay in the car.”

“What? But she likes me.”

“Exactly. That’s why you’re staying in the car.”

“Charlie…”

“You know, my little magic trick works quite well on celestial beings.”

“Okay, okay. No need to get violent. I’ll stay here.”

We were both silent the rest of the drive. Truth was, I wasn’t sure what I felt for Maria, if anything. I’d never had a friend before, let alone a girlfriend. So this was uncharted territory. I figured it was best to not make too much of it. Maria was a smart, beautiful girl with her whole life in front of her. I guess if I really did care for her, I’d vanish from her life for good. She didn’t need to be dragged into anything from my crazy world.

When we reached her house, Lucifer looked back at me.

“Here we are, boss. You sure you don’t need me with you? You know for moral support?”

“Thanks but I got this.”

“Alright man,” he said as he held up his hands. “I’ll be right here.”

I climbed out of the cab and walked to Maria’s front door. I couldn’t help think that battling God was less nerve-wracking.

Chapter 11

“El Paso? Why the hell are you going to El Paso?” Maria shouted. The discussion wasn’t going as well as I had hoped. I sure wasn’t in the mood for an argument. However, there was no simple way to tell her. I couldn’t exactly tell her that in the last twelve hours, I’d dissolved a police officer in a barrel of acid, been hung upside down and tortured by drug lords who I later killed with my bare hands, but only after turning them into weird zombie things.  Maria and I were close friends, but not that close.

“It’s only a few days. Remember my college friend, Dennis?  He’s in some trouble.”

“I thought you told me he was trouble.”

“Well that’s just it. He’s in big trouble. He may be in danger, so I have to help him.”

“Can’t he go to the police? You’re a freakin’ preacher, what are you gonna do? Pray his problems away?” I couldn’t believe we were having this conversation. She was my boss and friend, yet here we were arguing like an old married couple. She was beginning to sound like a nagging wife, bitching out her husband for wanting to golf on Sunday afternoon instead of mowing the yard.

“It’s complicated Maria. Okay? You’ve always trusted me. I just need you to trust me on this one.”

“It’s just that since you’ve been working for me, you’ve never left or taken any time off at all. It’s like I need you there now. I’m used to you always being there.” She sat on the couch and crossed her arms.

“I know. That’s exactly my point. I’ve never asked for time off. I’ve never asked you for anything for that matter. I’m just asking you for this, so I can get some things straightened out.”

She sat there staring up at me from the corner of her big brown eyes. I couldn’t help but notice how good she looked. I had woken her up, so the only thing she had on was a Houston Texans football jersey, though it fit her like a dress. She wasn’t angry at me for waking her, at least. We had an odd relationship indeed.

“Okay, so, one week?” She said.

“Yes, that would be perfect. Thank you.”

“I hope so. If not, I’m gonna come out there and kick your gringo ass.”

“Fair enough. Have I ever let you down before?”

“No, you haven’t. Just be careful with, whatever it is. I should come along and watch your back. God knows you’ve probably never been in a fight.” I told her the bruises on my face were from me tripping over a curb near my apartment. If only she knew the depth of my fighting skills.

“I know. I’ll turn the other cheek.”

“You don’t have any cheeks left other than your ass.” We both laughed as she stood and hugged me before I went back to the cab.

“Took you long enough,” Lucifer said. “How was it?”

“Shut up. We are driving all the way there in a cab?”

“Nope, we’ll go get your Explorer, more leg room.”

“Wonderful. Can’t you just zap us there or something? Seems like most of you supernatural beings are rather helpless.”

“Charlie, when is it gonna sink in that you are probably more powerful than any of us?”

“How do you figure?”

“When any of us are in this realm, we are limited. Even Christ himself was, as you saw firsthand. We have some power, but it is limited by time and space. You, on the other hand, you have the best of both. You have powers unlike most in our own realm. Yet, you can live in this realm and not be affected. That’s why you won’t see the Father crossing over anytime soon.”

“What about the Ghost?”

“Now, He is another story. Since He can cross over and not have to be in physical form.  Well not totally, he needs a body or bodies to channel his power. I’ve watched him do it for centuries. That’s how the Old Testament prophets and New Testament apostles got their power. Like I said about the churches, they invite his presence, so there he can do whatever he wants. But if he wants to pull a Bishop, and do something on a bigger scale, he’ll need a conduit of sorts.”

“So how do I stop him? It’s not like I can turn him into one of those zombies.”

“No you can’t. And I’m not sure myself. Once you see the number he did in El Paso, you’ll have a better idea what we’re up against. He’s not as subtle as Christ, not healings or deception. Just straight forward destruction; kind of like you I guess.”

“Great, thanks a bunch.”

Chapter 12

Maria stood at the kitchen window watching Charlie and Dennis drive away. She hadn’t wanted him to go. For some reason she had a bad feeling about this trip. No doubt it was from the weird vision she’d had at the funeral home. She still didn’t know what to make of that. Had she been asleep and dreaming at the time? It was that, or she was losing her mind. That thought she wouldn’t even entertain. It had never been like Charlie to take off to go anywhere, let alone to El Paso. Yet, there had been something different about him recently. She’d spent her whole life around dead people, yet recently she was starting to feel creeped out. Something was going on, and she wasn’t sure if she wanted to know what it was.

She had never told Charlie about the vision. Last thing she wanted was for him to think she was crazy. At the same time, she had no idea why what Charlie thought was so important to her. She’d seen employees come and go for years and she never got attached to any of them. That’s why her dad left her to run the place. Her ability to separate business and personal issues made her the perfect choice. Yet, none of their other employees had ever been like Charlie. He was so quiet and even a little mysterious. While he’d tell her anything about himself if she asked, he never volunteered anything.

Then there was this dangerous, dark side to him. It wasn’t obvious to the casual observer he’d seem just as gentle and quiet as any other preacher. Yet, she sensed something beneath the surface. There were times when she could tell something was bothering him, and she could tell that deep down, he was quite strong, and dangerous. She had no doubt that despite his gentle demeanor, if faced with a confrontation; Charlie would kick some serious ass. It was just an aura he gave off.

She walked away from the window and into the living room. As she turned on the TV, she thought of how her mom had told her she needed to find a man. Mom wouldn’t approve of Charlie, for sure, since he was the help. Her mom would insist on her marrying another business owner or a politician. As she walked over to the couch, the doorbell rang just as she was about to sit.

“Who the hell is it now?” She said to no one. It probably wasn’t Charlie, unless he came back for some reason. She walked to the door and looked through the peephole, but there was nothing. Cracking the door open, stretching out the chain lock she looked around, but there was nothing outside.

“Hello?” she called into the darkness. “Is someone there? Is that you, Charlie?” She closed the door and locked the deadbolt. After waiting for a couple minutes, she walked back to the living room. After flipping through channels she found one of her favorite telenovelas on Telemundo. It was a rerun, and about halfway through the episode, she dozed off.

The pounding on the door startled her awake.

Boom! Boom! Boom! Over and over.

“Who’s there?” she shouted, but the pounding continued. She went to the door and pounded back. “Who the hell is this? Charlie if that’s you I’m gonna kick your fucking ass!” Then the pounding stopped. She didn’t open the door this time. She stood there waiting for several minutes, but it remained quiet. She went into the kitchen and looked out the window, but there was still nothing. There weren’t even any cars parked on the street. Part of her felt like calling the cops, but it would take almost an hour for them to even get there only to tell her she was nuts.

She went back to the living room and turned off the TV before heading to the bedroom. Just as she climbed into bed, the pounding started again. This time it was louder than before, nothing but a steady, repetitive cadence.

Boom! Boom! Boom!

She went to the drawer in her night stand and pulled out the .22 colt her father had given her. This was Texas, where dads do give their daughters guns as presents. She stormed back to the front door, gun in hand.

“Who the fuck is this? I have a gun, you asshole! I’ll shoot your ass if you don’t get the hell out of here!” She screamed through the door, but the pounding never let up. It actually began getting louder. With each new thump, she could feel her heart pounding harder and harder. The thump thump thumping of her heart keeping pace with the pounding as if they were connected.

She undid the chain and swung the door wide open as she held the gun out in front of her.

“All right bitch!” She yelled into the darkness. She couldn’t believe there was still nothing outside. Not a single sign of anyone or anything. The pounding stopped when she opened the door at least. She looked around each side of the house, even walking a few feet out onto the sidewalk, but it was clear. Shaking her head, wondering what was wrong with her, she headed back inside.

After closing the door and re-engaging all the locks, she turned away and leaned against the door, taking a deep breath. Before she could exhale, the door blew off its hinges, flinging her across the room and into the wall. Dazed, she looked around to see what had happened. When she saw what was moving toward her, her eyes grew wide, but she was unable to scream. As it got closer things began getting blurry and then dark. She thought about Charlie and how he wouldn’t be back for days. For some reason, she knew he was the only one who could save her, and then the darkness took over.

Chapter 13

We arrived in El Paso a few hours later. It was almost sunrise by the time we reached the city limits. At least Lucifer had done the majority of the driving. I slept off and on as much as I could, but Lucifer never shut up the whole way.  He is rather proud of all the horrible things he thinks he’s responsible for over the last thousand years. I guess being the most evil being in the universe gets lonely. Although I’ve never felt the need to spill my guts about every person I’ve dismembered to anyone either.

Once we were in town, we got off the freeway and onto an access road. After several more minutes, we were sitting near a field with crime scene tape set up in a large perimeter. I wasn’t sure why we were there; it was nothing but the charred remains of some building.

“Here we go Charlie, this is it,” Lucifer said as he turned off the engine.

“What is here?”

“This is where the Ghost struck.”

“The Ghost has turned to arson now? Jesus.” As I climbed out of the car, the burnt ash and cinders stung my nose. I walked over to the tape and looked at the rubble that once was a church. “What the hell did he do?”

“During their last service, the place burst into flames. A few hundred people were burned alive, no survivors.”

“What for? Why is he picking on these small churches? He trying to destroy the world one church at a time?”

“You still haven’t figured out how these guys work, have you? I thought you’d get it after the Bishop. The world doesn’t end with a bang, but with a whimper. At least that is their plan. All the church folks are expecting some cosmic showdown between mine and God’s armies. They long for raptures and rivers filled with blood. Truth is, they just want to quietly snuff you all out. It’s like a chess game to them, and you are the pieces.”

“So what happens if they succeed, like, to you and me?”

“He will throw me and my ‘minions’ into the Abyss.  He might do something worse to you. You really pissed him off. .”

“Yeah, I seem to have that effect on people.” I still wasn’t sure why we had to come all the way to El Paso just to look at this mess. He could have told me about it; it wasn’t like we would find any clues.

“So exactly why are we here?” I asked. “Last time he hit was in Mexico. Then he hits here, He could hit Utah next for all we know.”

“Nah, nothing but Mormons in Utah. Besides, there are some people I want you to meet later.”

“Are these real people or some kind of demon/spirit/ghost people of some sort?”

He laughed as he turned to face me.

“Oh they are plenty real. They’re old friends, though they don’t exactly know who I really am.”

I couldn’t begin to imagine what he was talking about, but it made me shudder to even guess. Before I could put too much thought into it, a police car rolled up. We stood still as an old officer climbed out of the cruiser and walked toward us.

“Can I help you fellas?” he asked.

“No sir,” Lucifer said. “We were just looking at the church here. My uncle was here when it happened.” He crossed himself as he spoke. “God rest his soul.” The sight made me want to puke.

“I’m sorry to hear that son, this is a crime scene though. You all can’t be here.”

We didn’t see anyone around, so we figured we could look around.”

“I think they are almost done here. Someone is supposed to be posted here watching things, so I’ll have to call that in. You boys got any ID?”

Lucifer and I looked at each other as I reached for my wallet.

“Here you go officer,” I said, handing him my license. Lucifer looked confused. It hadn’t occurred to me until then that he wouldn’t have a license since he wasn’t a real person. The underworld apparently didn’t require photo ID.

“Officer?” Lucifer said while patting his pockets, “I um, left my wallet at home it seems.”

“And where is home?”

“San Antonio.”

“Well, I guess that might be a problem.”

I could feel the tension as the two men sized each other up. The cop knew weren’t just two boys paying respects. Lucifer knew he knew. The last thing we needed was a confrontation with police to further complicate things. No question we could take him out easily; it just wasn’t necessary and would draw too much attention.

“Look officer,” I began, “we don’t mean any trouble really.  I realize my friend here looks like a reject from “Sons of Anarchy” but he’s harmless really. We drove all night to pay our respects to his uncle. He’s been a mess ever since we got news of the fire. We just wanted to stop by for a few minutes and we were about to be on our way before you pulled up.”

The officer looked back and forth at us for what seemed like an hour, stared at my license and finally handed it back to me.

“All right,” he said. “You all should get some rest before you drive anymore. You both look like hell. Then I recommend you not come back here anytime soon.” I wasn’t sure if he could feel the negative vibes coming from the two of us, or if he just decided he wanted to walk away alive today. Either way, I was grateful.

“Will do sir, thank you.” I said as I placed my license back into my wallet. The officer climbed back into his car and drove away. I looked over at Lucifer who was still stewing.

“You know, if you can fake a body, you should be able to make a fake ID.”

He looked at me and shrugged.

“Yeah, it’s never come up before.”

“So now what?” I asked.

“So now we crash for a while, then we go see my friends tonight.”

Chapter 14

We found a local motel and crashed for the day. At least Lucifer did. I should have gotten my own room. Who’d have thought the Devil himself snored loud enough to wake the dead.  It was a good thing he didn’t always have to sleep or he’d have started the zombie apocalypse by now. I did manage to sleep for a couple of hours at least. My mind was racing too much to relax anyway. I sat up for a while and watched some reruns of “CHiPs” on the high quality TV in our room until Lucifer woke up.

It was evening by the time he finally got up. We headed out to meet his friends just outside the city limits, in a small apartment complex. Once we arrived, we parked along the back of the building and I followed Lucifer into one of the buildings and up the stairs.  There was graffiti on the walls along the stair well, and some of the steps were cracked, so I had to step over them. At the second floor, we walked to one of the apartments and Lucifer knocked in a series of patterns that had to be a code. After a minute the door swung open.

The man at the door had on a black robe with a hood. He appeared to have on eyeliner as well. He lowered the hood and revealed his bald head, along with a Fu-man Chu style goatee. It was almost too cliché.

“Hello brother,” the man said. “It’s been a long time.”

“Yes old friend, it has.” Lucifer replied as the two hugged.

“Who is this?” the man asked, nodding in my direction.

“This is my friend, Charlie. He’s here to help us.”

The man looked me up and down with a look on his face as if he just swallowed something sour.

“Well, great,” he said. “Come on in, gentlemen.”

We stepped inside the apartment, which was dark and illuminated only by candles. There were several people, men and women, sitting or standing around. Many were wearing black or some kind of robes. They all looked at me with similar expressions to the man at the door. I was wearing a T-shirt and jeans. Lucifer was wearing a black leather jacket and black jeans.

“What is this place?” I whispered to Lucifer.

“They’re my friends.”

“I get that. But who are they?”

“They’re Satanists.”

I couldn’t believe he just said that. He took me to a group of Satanists. I didn’t know such a thing even existed. Growing up as a Protestant Christian, you hear stories of Satanists and Satanic cults, but no one ever sees them. They are supposed to be out sacrificing goats out in the woods. Instead they are here in an apartment holding some kind of ritual, and hanging with Satan himself.

“Oh but we do exist,” the Fu-man Chu guy said as if he could hear my thoughts.  “My name is Armando. Come join us.” He gestured to the couch and Lucifer and I sat down. Armando sat in a chair across from us.

“So Lucifer tells us that the Three are up to something again. We’ve felt a great shift in the universe recently.”

I looked at Lucifer, who just shrugged. I thought they didn’t know who he was, but who knew at this point.

“Yes, the Three. Or one of the three, the Ghost. He’s killed hundreds of folks, seems to be targeting churches.”

“So I’ve heard. He’s asked for our help.”

“Help? What can you all do?”

“We have various spells we can use that will repel the Three. They are not all powerful like many believe.”

“Oh really? I didn’t know that. How big is your group?”

“We are very small. There are only a few of us who know the truth. Most cannot accept how things really are. Lucifer seems to have close contact with the Dark Father. He’s been very helpful to us.”

So they didn’t know exactly who he was.

“Yes, I’d say he knows a lot about the Dark Father.” This whole conversation seemed surreal. I couldn’t imagine what kind of spell they could have that would stop the ghost. Lucifer was just sitting there quietly. He seemed to be checking out some girl who was all gothed out in black fishnet with black underwear beneath it. She was talking to another guy in a robe, but was looking at Lucifer out of the corner of her eye.

“So when do you all plan to cast this spell or whatever it is?”

“Oh, we’ll do it tonight. It will take a few hours, but we’re sure it will work.”

“Have you used it before?”

“No. It’s not something you do lightly. We first have to invoke their presence. Then we repel them and they will flee from this realm for seven years. I’ve read that our ancestors used it hundreds of years ago and it worked. “

That’s when it hit me. Friends of Lucifer’s or not, all of these people were going to die this night. Lucifer planned to use them as bait.

Chapter 15

Armando called everyone to gather together. The robed figures all formed a large circle around us and joined hands. Lucifer and I stayed off to the side and watched as Armando began some kind of chant. He lit several more candles on a small table within the circle. He then took out a large knife and cut along the palm of his hand. Blood dripped into the open flame of one of the candles. He passed the knife around, and each took turns cutting their hands and dripping their blood into the candles.

“Blood of the flesh, blood of the soul. Show yourself ghost, manifest and be whole.” Armando chanted over and over. I found the knife passing a bit disturbing. Seemed like a good way to get hepatitis or HIV, but maybe there was some kind of Satanic immunity or something. I looked at Lucifer who was grinning ear to ear. Of course he’d eat this up, here was his very own cult worshipping him. That could easily go to one’s head.

After several minutes, the rest of the circle began chanting with Armando.

“Blood of the flesh, blood of the soul, show yourself ghost, manifest and be whole.” While they chanted, Armando began to chant in what sounded like Aramaic. I’d studied it a bit in college, but not enough to understand what he was saying. This ritual went on for a good twenty minutes or so. I was just starting to get bored when the candles suddenly went out. At first, I thought someone had blown them out.

“Keep it going everyone, its working!” Armando said from the dark.

They continued chanting as Armando kept giving his incantation of whatever is was. Then I heard a choking sound. Someone in the circle had begun gagging as if they were choking on something. We couldn’t tell who it was, but it didn’t matter. Soon there was a second person choking, then a third. Armando had stopped chanting at this point and tried to turn on the lights. He never made it to the switch though, he grabbed his throat and began gagging as well. Though with him, it didn’t stop at gagging. His throat ripped open; spraying blood all over, as he collapsed to the ground. The rest of the room was loud with the sound of choking and gagging. The sound made me want to throw up. All those people rolling around on the floor, choking and gagging. For some reason, Lucifer and I hadn’t been affected.

The lights all came back on at once and we saw everyone lying on the floor. Some had already stopped moving while others were fighting for a final breath that would never come. Suddenly the room began to fill with smoke, as if someone had started a fire. Yet there was no smell. It was more of a thick, foggy mist. The hair on my arms stood on end as I realized I was suddenly in the presence of the Ghost. The Ghost swirled around and surrounded us. I was surprised to see Lucifer hadn’t shriveled up in the presence of holiness. Yet another myth dispelled.

The mist swirled around at the center of the room and formed what looked like a funnel cloud and then began to take shape. Slowly I saw the form of a man taking shape. A pair of jeans formed, then arms, then a torso. Next thing I knew, there was a carbon copy of myself standing before me. The Ghost had taken on my appearance, perhaps to unsettle me. If so, it was working. Lucifer stood there, silently watching as the Ghost approached me.

“So you’re the great Pastor Charlie,” it said.

“I don’t know about great—“

“Shut up! I don’t know how you could still be so powerful after so many generations. We thought we had destroyed your kind.”

“Guess you thought wrong. Why not destroy me now?” It smiled and pointed in my direction.

“Oh, you’re a fast learner. Your pal here has taught you a few things. That’s good, but we can’t let this stand. No sir. You’ve seen behind the curtain. You know how hard it is to run the universe, yet keep ourselves hidden? You think you’re all smart now, don’t you? You sit there and say to yourself, ‘Oh no, they lied to me. The Bible isn’t true, God and Jesus aren’t who I thought they were, it’s all a lie. Boo-freakin’-hoo!’”

“Well, isn’t it?”

“No! We didn’t write that damn book! Men did. Men wrote it based on their perception of us, and we tried to live up to the hype, to deliver. But it’s gone too far. The Son already told you our plan, and he failed to carry it out. It’s time to start anew. Sometimes you just gotta go back to the drawing board.”

“You’re right. I already had this conversation, and my answer is the same. You three are full of yourselves, creators or not. You can’t destroy the whole world because it didn’t turn out the way you wanted. You gave us free will, don’t be mad we didn’t choose the way you wanted,” I said.

“Well, aren’t you clever? Giving you brains was the Father’s idea.”

“What a shame, that we poor creatures can think for ourselves. What will be next?” He walked up to me and looked me in the eyes. It’s a weird feeling, being stared down by yourself. As he got into my personal space, I decided to make a move. I grabbed him by the neck and placed my hand on his head. Before my fingers could sink in, he disappeared into a cloudy mist once again. The mist swirled around the room as I heard a deep laughter.

“You idiot! That won’t work on me!” And then it was gone.

Chapter 16

The drive back to Del Rio didn’t seem to take as long as the drive to El Paso did. Perhaps it’s because my mind was elsewhere most of the ride. Lucifer had been unusually quiet most of the trip. I was still rather dumbfounded by what we had just encountered earlier in the night. As if I hadn’t seen enough weird stuff in the past, this one was definitely up there. Finally I had to find out just what we were up against.

“Okay, you have to start explaining some of this shit,” I said.

“What shit?” Lucifer asked without taking his eyes off the road.

“God, the Ghost, the Bishop or whoever he was. I didn’t want to know more than I already did, but now I have to know. Who are they? I already know they are not what I thought they were. What are they? Where did they come from?”

“So you really want to know, huh?”

“I don’t want to know, but if I’m going head to head with them, I need to. Especially with the Ghost obviously pissed at me.”

“Okay, you’re right. You’ve heard of the Big Bang?”

“Yeah, the universe created in a big explosion from gases mixing. After the explosion we have matter, or something like that.”

“Yeah, something like that. Well the universe wasn’t the only thing that was created then. There were also about a dozen or so other things created. They were powerful masses of energy, these masses developed consciousness, became self-aware. Over time, people worshipped them as gods”

“Wow, okay. I thought there were only three. But I remember the Bishop mentioning there were more.”

“Right. The Three seemed to stick together for some reason. They all stayed around earth. They can manipulate space and time easily. They can be visible one minute, or invisible the next, or they can just teleport themselves anywhere in the universe.”

“I thought they created the universe.”

“They didn’t really create anything. They can manipulate matter and turn it into anything. They all stayed on earth and divided it up among different cultures for awhile. That’s how so many places came to have different gods. But over time, the Three decided they wanted the whole place to themselves, so they ran the others off.”

“Ran them off to where?”

“Different parts of the universe, I guess. No one really knows. I heard they created the Abyss and threw some of them there. The rest got scared and left on their own.”

“But aren’t they all super powerful? How could one throw another to the Abyss?”

“Legend has it, The Father is more powerful than any of them. It is believed he absorbed some of them into himself and took their energy.”

“Holy shit,” I said.

“Yeah, no kidding. So over time, they reveal themselves to men on earth as they see fit. As a result, primitive men make them gods, worship them, write religious texts and there you have it.”

“What about you all, angels or whatever?”

“Oh, yes. We were basically their slaves. Created not quite like men. There were different classes of angels like you may have read about. Messengers, archangels, and so forth; often times the Three would have us battle each other for sport. When they got bored with that, they formulated the creation of humans. Now they can watch you all kill each other all day. The Father created the Abyss to cast away anyone who opposed him, or what he deemed as his mistakes. Some of us got tired of being used for his entertainment or sent to babysit his pet humans, so we fought back.”

“How’d you not end up in the Abyss?”

“Oh I almost did. Thanks to my talking skills I was able to talk him into a deal. He let me leave and banished me to earth with anyone who wished to follow me. Eventually I know he plans to toss me and my pals in there, though. Trying to put that day off as long as I can.”

“Wow.”

“Yeah, so this is where we are. The Ghost is the one the Father has sent now. For whatever reason, they really want the world to end, but contrary to your Bible, they can’t just wipe everyone at once. They have to systematically kill everyone off. I’m not sure how it all breaks down, but there are limits to their powers.

“So I guess we need to find those limits and exploit them,” I said.

“That would be a start.”

I nodded and we didn’t say anything for the rest of the trip. Even though I already knew things weren’t what I’d thought, it was still disappointing. It was like the kind of disappointment you feel learning a magician’s secrets. What once seemed magical and mysterious suddenly has a simple explanation. It was a total letdown.

When we returned to Del Rio, Lucifer dropped me off at my Explorer. As much as I wanted to sleep, I figured I needed to let Maria know I was back. It was almost ten in the morning, so I headed to the funeral home to check on her. When I arrived, she wasn’t in her office. I walked around the outside and there was no sign of her. I went back inside and toward the back. Slowly, I opened the door to the embalming room, and there she was, finishing up a body.

“Charlie!” she said while walking over to me. She was wearing a gown and gloves that had blood and God-knows what else all over them. Holding her hands up to her sides she leaned up and kissed me on the cheek. That was new, but I tried to hide my surprise.

“Well hi,” I said. “I told you it would just be a few days.”

“I know. I’m just happy to see you I guess. It hasn’t been busy. This guy just came in this morning,” she said gesturing to the body.

“Cool. So nothing exciting happen while I was away?”

“No, it’s been pretty quiet. I’m just glad you’re ok. How was El Paso? Your friend ok?”

“Oh, it was interesting and he’s good for now. Told him I won’t always be there to bail him out,” I lied.

“No kidding. I might have to beat his ass if he gets you into trouble. Were you going to work today?”

“Well, I was hoping I could get some rest. We drove most of the night.”

“Sure. Go get some rest. I’ll see you tomorrow.” She smiled as she turned back to finish the body. I headed back to my Explorer thinking over that exchange. I wasn’t sure which was more odd, the experience I just had in El Paso, or seeing Maria acting this way.

Chapter 17

I slept so hard my head was full of weird and crazy dreams, most of which involved the Ghost in some incarnation. In one dream, the Bishop was sitting there watching as the Ghost tortured me by swirling around me so I couldn’t move. The Bishop was sipping on tea saying something like:

“Now Charlie my good friend, don’t resist, that will only piss him off.” Even from the Abyss that weirdo still haunts me. Thankfully before any more weird dreams could continue, a noise startled me awake. I shot upright and looked around the dark room. There were footsteps coming from the living room. I stepped out of my bed and headed that way as quietly as I could. Sticking my head through the door, I saw Maria standing next to the couch, looking around.

“Maria? What are you doing here? It’s almost 3 am.” She’d never just showed up at my apartment before, and I knew I’d locked the door, so I had no clue how she got in.

“Charlie, I couldn’t sleep. I had to see you.”

“What’s wrong?” As she moved closer, I saw she was only wearing a tank top and some very short shorts.

“I don’t know, I just need to be close to you.” She placed her hand on my chest and ran it down the front of my shirt. I had on a t-shirt and boxers. Her touch sent tingles up my spine. I hadn’t had much experience with girls. It’s not that I didn’t like girls, but with my calling, I just never had much time for them. Not to mention, I was never comfortable being close to girls. In college, there were a few times I’d gone on dates to try and blend in. If things went to third base or further I would freak out. It must be the sociopath in me and the fear of getting close to someone. For some reason, I wasn’t feeling that way with Maria. Being close to her felt natural; it felt good.

She reached down and tugged at the bottom of my shirt, pulling it up over my head. I wasn’t sure what to do as she began to kiss my chest and run her hands along my shoulders. Her lips and hands were soft, and smooth. I never had goose bumps before, but she was giving them to me at that moment. She took my hand and put it against her chest as she looked up at me. Her brown eyes almost glowed in the dim light. She reached down and pulled off her tank top, letting it fall to the floor. Her breasts were firm and full as I cupped them with my hands. Her nipples hardened as I massaged them with my thumbs.

She pulled my head down to her chest, placing my face between her breasts. I put my mouth over her nipple and began kissing and licking. She let out a sigh as I sucked on it gently, even carefully nibbling it and tugging at it with my teeth. Her sighs became moans as I worked my way to the other one, kissing and nibbling on that nipple as well while massaging the other breast firmly but gently. As I looked up at her, there was hunger in her eyes like I’d never seen before; in anyone. I wondered if that was how I looked when I was about to kill. Whatever that look was, I realized at that moment, Maria was the most beautiful being I had ever seen.

She then reached for my boxers and slid her hand inside, taking me in her hands. I had to catch my breath as her fingers wrapped around me, stroking me slowly. In college a few girls had touched me like that, but with very little reaction from me. It had felt weird and awkward at the time. Perhaps it was allowing myself to be vulnerable. This time, it didn’t feel vulnerable at all, it felt amazing. Her fingers worked their way up and down as her eyes remained locked on mine. With her other hand, she slid my boxers all the way off, and cupped my balls in her other hand. I thought I was going to explode right there, but I held it in. She would work her hands on me, building me up until I couldn’t hold it anymore, and then would back off bringing me back down. She repeated this over and over.

I leaned down and we kissed and she kept working her hands on me. I could barely breathe as we kissed deeply while I held her face in my hands. The whole thing felt so surreal, it was as if I was sitting outside myself just watching this take place. Even had I wanted to stop, there was no way I could have. Truth is, I don’t know if I wanted this to stop. I had never experienced such a thing. My life had been full of violence and pain, my only rush had come from killing.

As we kissed, I slid her shorts off and reached behind her, squeezing her cheeks tightly. They were soft and firm like the rest of her. As I held her, she jumped up, wrapping her legs around my waist. We stood like that, kissing as her arms were wrapped around my shoulders, and legs around my waist. Both my hands were on her ass, pressing her close to me. In that one moment, I wasn’t just myself. We were one flesh, one heartbeat, one being. Whatever it was, before I could overthink it, I turned and carried her to the bedroom.

Chapter 18

I woke up to find Maria getting dressed. I had no clue what had just happened, other than she and I having sexual experiences that I never knew existed. We had gone beyond the point of complete exhaustion before falling asleep.

“Where are you going?” I asked.

“Home,” she said as she pulled her shorts up, keeping her back to me.

“What, um, happened last night? What was this?”

“I don’t know. I don’t wanna talk about it.” She pulled her shirt on then turned around. “See you at work later,” she said before leaving. It was baffling to say the least. It served as a good reminder to me as to why I had avoided getting involved with women in the first place. Looking at my clock I saw it was about seven in the morning. I decided to get up and get dressed myself. I realized I was incredibly hungry as I finished dressing. There had to be some bagels in my near future. As I slipped on my shoes, I opened the door and found Maria standing there as if she were about to knock.

“What’s wrong?” I asked.

“Why are there cops all over outside?”

“What cops, where?” As I spoke, two guys came walking up. It was the same Fed and Texas Ranger who had visited a few days ago.

“Pastor Charlie,” The Ranger said.

“He’s not here.”

“Very funny.” There were several uniformed officers standing behind the two of them.

“Can I help you with something?”

“You can put our hands behind your back and turn around slowly.” Now this wasn’t at all how I had planned my morning.

“Am I under arrest?”

“You are, indeed. We found a bunch of dead Mexicans in a warehouse. Your fingerprints were all over the place, including the bodies. No telling how they died though.” The FBI Agent, Jenkins then spoke up.

“It looks like a biological attack of some sort. But you already knew that didn’t you?”

“Yeah, you’re right.  I keep my anthrax stash under my mattress—oomph!” The Ranger punched me in the stomach before I could finish.

“You really think you’re funny?” Jenkins continued. “Their means of death is similar to that little church in Palau, same as the dead house of Satanists in El Paso, where your fingerprints were also found.” This was sounding more serious than I had thought. I had gotten sloppy. “But we know you didn’t use any standard weapons and no way you did it with your bare hands. We’ll know in a few days after all the tests come back. But since it appears to be a bio weapon attack, you’re not being charged with murder. You’re being charged with acts of terrorism. Under the Patriot act, we can hold you until we know for sure.”

The two uniformed officers stepped up and placed the handcuffs on me and took me by the arms. I didn’t bother to resist, that would only complicate things further. Still, this was not a good situation. If it was just jail, that was one thing. Since they are invoking the patriot act, no telling where they will take me. I had never worked in government, but I’d heard stories about “suspected terrorists” who just disappeared. Once they had the cuffs on me, they walked me out to a big, black Suburban where I climbed into the back. Maria stood speechless as I walked by her. I wasn’t even sure what to say myself. They were determined to pin some kind of killings on me. Oddly enough of all the people I’d killed, most of what they had on me were people I didn’t even kill. The only exception was the Mexicans, but they had it coming.

As the Suburban began to move, I sat there wondering where they were taking me and what my next move would be. Ranger O’Brien sat in the back with me. His only purpose seemed to be trying to piss me off.

“Yep Charlie. Looks like we got you good this time. Don’t’ worry, rape isn’t as prominent in Federal prison. We keep the crazy ones like you locked up in solitary most of the time. You’ll have plenty of time to jerk yourself off and stare at the ceiling while reading your little Bible. Though your right hand won’t be as good as that sweet brown piece of ass back at your place. But I’m sure I could keep her warm for you in the meantime.

While I wanted to rip out his Adam’s apple and feed it to him, I kept my cool. I didn’t want him to see that he got to me. I tuned him out as he rambled and decided to imagine holding him down while slicing away the fat from his big belly as he screamed like a little girl. I might even feed the fat to him before I kill him just for my own fun. The zombie treatment would be too good for this asshole. For now I needed to play it cool though. Whether it be here or in prison, when the time was right, I’d make my move. Besides, the Ghost wasn’t going to stop just because I was locked up. They’d either figure out it wasn’t me, or think that I had a partner.

The Suburban came to a stop and we sat for a while, finally the door swung up en and they came and pulled me out. When I stepped outside, I saw we were outside the Del Rio Federal building.

“Looks like we’re home, buddy,” O’Brien said as he took me by the arm and walked me inside. This place wasn’t my home, and I bit my lip as we stepped into the cold, concrete building that could end up being my tomb.

Chapter 19

Maria went back to her house, still in disbelief. The past twenty four hours were almost a blur. Why had she even gone to see Charlie last night, and then slept with him? Then he gets arrested for murder of a group of Mexicans and that church they saw on TV. He was at the funeral home with her when it happened. How could he have done that? He was always so quiet and gentle. She couldn’t imagine him harming anyone. As she pulled into her driveway she parked and placed her head into her hands. The world seemed to be spinning Ever since Charlie had left for El Paso, she hadn’t felt like herself.

She went into her house and undressed as she headed straight to the shower. As the warm water poured over her, she tried to clear her mind and take in the events of the previous night. Why would I sleep with Charlie?
I care about him, but do I love him? We’ve never been like that. Turning off the water, she stepped out, toweled off and began getting dressed. Her morning ritual of preparing for the day would help clear her mind. It still worried her. She had always been in control of herself. She always took pride in not being a “crazy chick.” She never blamed hormones for erratic behavior, and always kept herself together.

Maria didn’t have time for emotions most of the time. She kept them in check so she could do what needed to be done. This time it was hard, though. Watching Charlie being dragged away in handcuffs was bad enough. The fact that they had the FBI, Texas Rangers and enough uniformed cops there to take down a small army made it much worse. Why would they need so much firepower, just to pick up Charlie? It made her wonder what he was really doing in El Paso. Charlie had always been a private person and she always respected his privacy. Now, she wished she’d asked more questions. Was Charlie really a murderer? He didn’t seem the type, but, then, Dahmer or Bundy probably didn’t, either.

Maria decided she needed to find out just what was going on with Charlie. The first thing to do was to talk to that Ranger who had arrested Charlie. He was disgusting, but she felt like she could get him to fill her in at least. She looked through her purse and found his business card and dialed the number. He picked up on the fourth ring.

“Ranger O’Brien?” She said.

“Yes Ma’am.”

“This is Maria Salazar. I was there this morning when you arrested Charlie Sims.”

“Yes, I remember.”

“I was wondering if I could talk to you about him. I have no idea what is going on.”

“Well, it’s still an open investigation. But we could use a statement from you anyway. Can you be at the Federal building in an hour?

“Yes, that’s fine.” She hung up and headed to her car. It would only take twenty minutes or so to get there, so she figured she’d stop and eat something on the way. There was a Starbucks nearby, so she hit the drive through and grabbed a frozen hazelnut latte and a bagel. With something finally in her stomach, as well as some caffeine, she felt like she was ready to take on whatever O’Brien threw at her today. She also had to brace herself for whatever she found out about her good friend.

Once at the Federal building, she walked to the lobby and checked in. After a few minutes, Ranger O’Brien came out and walked her to a small office. There, Agent Jenkins was also waiting.

“Hello Ms. Salazar,” Jenkins said.

“Hi.” She looked around. “So what’s going on with Charlie?”

“Well miss, your friend Charlie is in a lot of trouble. You remember all those people who died at the Alamodome a few years ago in San Antonio?”

“Yes, Charlie said he knew people there.”

Jenkins then went on to explain how the church members in Palau, Mexico died in a similar fashion. They had no link to Charlie on that one. However, they found three dead Mexicans, all of which had cartel ties, dead in a warehouse. They had Charlie’s fingerprints all over them, and they also died in a mysterious manner. Then there were the dead Satanists in El Paso, also with Charlie’s prints at the scene.”

“Wait a minute,” Maria objected. “Satanists?”

“That’s what they called themselves. Not Wiccan, or pagans or anything else, but full-fledged Satanists. The main guy, Armando Gutierrez has been involved with that scene for a long time. There was another set of prints we couldn’t identify. Someone who was probably with Charlie. Any idea who that might be?”

She thought for a moment about Charlie’s friend “Dennis” who was supposedly in trouble.

“He said his friend from college, Dennis, was in trouble. Said he had to go to El Paso to help him out of whatever jam he was in,” she said.

“Did he say anything else? What kind of trouble?”

“No, he didn’t say. Look, I’ve known Charlie for a few years. He’s harmless. He would never hurt anyone. I don’t know if he’s even capable.”

“You never actually know someone,” Jenkins said. “I’ve been at this job for twenty years. I’ve caught mass murderers, serial killers, terrorists, you name it. Every time, their friends and family said they weren’t capable.”

“Charlie would always say things are never what they seem,” she said.

“Charlie was probably warning you about himself.”

“So, now what happens?”

“Well, it’s still an ongoing case. Since we are working under the Patriot act, we have enough to hold him while we continue the investigation. Do you know anything else about this Dennis fellow? Have you met him?”

“He came by once, but all I know is his first name.”

“Could you describe him to a sketch artist?”

“I think so.”

“Great, I’ll have our artist meet with you. Thank you for your help Maria. I’m just glad we got him before he hurt someone else.” He stood, straightened his tie and stepped out of the office. As she sat, waiting on the sketch artist, she kept wondering how much of what Charlie had told her was true. Was everything he said a lie? Something in her mind spoke to her. It wasn’t a random thought, it was an audible voice, as if someone were literally inside her head. It was the same voice that told her to go see Charlie the night before. Her head hurt every time it spoke.

Maria, everything Charlie told you is a lie. Charlie is a lie. He will be destroyed.

As the voice spoke, she closed her eyes and a tear ran down her cheek. Something deep inside her told her the voice she was hearing was right, and that voice was not going anywhere any time soon.

Chapter 20

They stuck me in a holding cell somewhere at least three floors below ground level. I never knew there was a Federal prison here in Del Rio, but I suppose technically there wasn’t. This place was off the grid. The cell was dark, cold, and smelled like piss. I sat on the canvas bunk bed and glanced that the stainless steel toilet attached to the wall. Fortunately, I didn’t have a cell mate. It was just me alone.

I looked around at some of the other cells, but didn’t see anyone else. I didn’t know if this was a temporary holding area, or a long term housing for people like me. Being so deep below the ground in a cage was another form of being buried alive. I tried not to laugh at the irony. After all of the things I’d done to people over the years, I supposed this would be a suitable way for me to meet my end; kind of like being in the abyss before the Abyss. I sure wasn’t expecting Lucifer or anyone else to show up here. They had me locked away tight. Before I could think too hard, I lay down on the bunk and dozed off.

I don’t know how long I’d been asleep when a guard came by and shoved a plastic tray through the little door in my cell.

“Chow time, Chuck,” he said.

“Thanks, and its Charlie,” I said. I really hated that name.

“Whatever,” he grunted as he walked away.

I picked up the tray and stared at its contents. There were mashed potatoes, mixed fruit and some kind of stew. Using the little Spork that came with it, I scarfed it all down as fast I could so I wouldn’t taste it. It was disgusting, but I was starving and needed fuel. Once it was gone, I tossed the tray aside and walked over to the cell door. There was no one down either stretch of hallway. I stood there thinking about Maria and wondering what the Feds had told her, or how much they actually knew. The thought made me a little sad, at least what I always imagined feeling sad would be like. I definitely wasn’t sure how I felt about Maria, but I knew I didn’t want her to hate me, and I didn’t want to put her in danger

I turned to walk back to the bunk when I heard keys jingling again. I stepped away as the door slid open. There was another guard there with another prisoner. He pushed the guy in and closed the door behind him.

“Hey, what’s up man?” the guy said. He was a skinny white kid who probably weighed 120 pounds, soaking wet. He had short cropped hair and some fuzz on his chin where he was trying to grow a beard. “So, you a terrorist too?”

“What the hell are you here for?” I asked.

“They said I was plotting to blow up the police station. They think I’m part of some white supremacy group. Isn’t that stupid?”

“How’d they catch you?”

“Some snitch they caught with explosives told him I was the mastermind. Total bullshit.”

“It happens. So what’s the drill? They just hold us till whenever?”

“Shit, I dunno man. I been locked up a few times but never in here. This place is one hardcore shit hole.”

“You got that right,” I said as I turned to look back out at the walkway. It struck me as odd that with all the empty cells, they’d put this kid in with me. Maybe they didn’t want us to be lonely. Before I could think of anything else, there was a sharp pain in my side, almost doubling me over. The kid had his arm around my neck and was stabbing me in the side with something sharp. The pain shot up from my side, all the way up my back and shoulder. The whole side of my body felt like it was on fire.

“The cartel told me to send you a message, puta!” he said in my ear. Besides the pain, I felt angry at myself. I should have known something was off, yet I let him get the drop on me. The idiots in the cartel still thought I was involved in their drug shit. He thrust the knife deeper into my side. I grabbed his arm and spun around, slamming him against the bars. His grip loosened and I was able to pull his wrist away holding the knife, slamming it against the bars as well. The knife fell to the floor as I grabbed the kid’s head and sank my fingers in.

There wasn’t much information for me to steal. The kid was just a mule they sent in to kill me, though he did know that there was someone inside the Feds who was working with the cartel. That’s how he got put in here with me. After a few seconds, the kid was screaming and flopping on the ground. Blood was oozing out of my side like a fountain in the meantime. The screaming was so loud, it got someone’s attention. Two guards came running up and opened the cell door.

“What the hell is going on?” one of them asked.

“He tried to stab me!” I said. “I fought him off, and he started going nuts.”

“Move to the back of the cell!” The tall guard demanded. I did so as they came inside and tried to grab on to the kid. Knowing I had to make a move, I doubled over while coughing uncontrollably. One of the guards came over to me and knelt down.

“Are you okay? Can you breathe?” I quickly stood and kicked him square on the chin, knocking him out. The other guard ran over and I threw him onto the ground and placed him in a choke hold until he passed out. Once they were both out, I reached up and finished off the kid, as his limp body fell to the floor. I grabbed the keys off one of the guards along with a retractable metal baton, and I walked out of the cell into the corridor. I slid the cell door shut behind me. I had to get out of there. I had no idea how to get out, but I would find it even if it killed me.

Chapter 21

There had to be fifty keys on the stupid key ring, and I had no idea which went to what. I ran down the long hall to the first door. It had a large lock on it, so I put the biggest key in, and to my surprise, it worked. It went to another long hallway of course, but there was a flight of stairs at the end.  I reached the stairs and started up. I had no idea where it lead, but figured I had to follow it until I found my way out. After the third flight, I realized how out of shape I was.

The sound of a door opening clattered from a floor below. Several men began yelling as I looked down and saw a guard carrying a rifle looking up at me.

“Up there!” he screamed as they all charged up toward me. It sounded like a stampede as the sound bounced off the concrete walls. I picked up my pace, but was stunned when a gunshot struck near the railing.

The fuckers are shooting at me!  I dove to the ground and looked around before getting back up. Last thing I needed was to have my head blown off.  I turned a corner at the next flight and heard steps coming from that direction as well. Shit! So much for the perfect getaway.  I stopped as the officers came charging up behind me. There was nowhere left to go. I put my hands in the air to give myself up.  There was no way I could fight my way through all of them. One of them ordered me to my knees, and I complied.

As I placed my hands on my head, the officer who stood in front of me took out his Taser and shot me right in the chest. Hot, burning pain shot through my body, causing me to go rigid. I fell to the ground and doubled over into a fetal position as the current coursed through my body. It really hurt, but I couldn’t move or do anything. He kept zapping it, as it surged through me over and over. For a minute I thought I might shit my pants. Finally he stopped and the other officer came up and kicked me square in the face. I felt the cartilage in my nose crunch under his boot as stars filled my vision and nausea overtook me. I tried to get to my feet but was too dizzy. I could taste the blood in my mouth and as it ran down my face. Before I could move any further, they were piling on me and handcuffing my hands behind my back.

This time, they put a hood over my face and began carrying me. I wasn’t sure what kind of prison guards these were, that kicked me in the face, and carried me around with a hood over my head. We went through a door and I could hear traffic, which told me we were outside. They loaded me into the back of some kind of van or SUV. I was still feeling light headed as we drove, but before long I passed out.

When I woke, I was stripped to my underwear and hanging with my hands bound over my head, tied to some kind of metal beam. My feet dangled at least six inches off the ground. I couldn’t see out of my left eye and my lips felt swollen. They apparently beat on me some more while I was passed out. Looking around I saw I was in a camp of some kind, apparently out in the desert. There were a couple of tents around and a fire burning behind me. I heard some men talking in Spanish, then a few came over to me. They were carrying AK-47s over their shoulders. One went to a tent and said something to the person inside. Another Mexican man emerged and walked up to me.

The thing I was tied to was some kind of metal rack. It looked like something you’d roast a hog on, but was much larger. I guessed that meant I was the hog. My hands were cuffed around the large metal beam and hanging from a chain.

The man walked up to me and had a twisted smile on his face.

“So you’re the one, are you?” he said.

“I’m the one what?”

“That has been killing my men.”

“Look, I think there was some mistake. I killed that cop, but I didn’t know he was one of your men. I don’t even know who you are.” I knew the cop was working for the cartel, but I had to buy some time.

“I am Domingo Esteban. The second in command of the Guajardo Cartel.”

Well, wouldn’t that be my luck. The Guajardo Cartel was probably the most violent cartel in existence, perhaps in history. They have been known to torture people for weeks on end, while giving them just enough medical attention to keep them alive. A few years ago, they caught an undercover DEA agent. They surgically removed his arms, legs, lower jaw and eyes and dumped him on the front steps of the Federal Building in Del Rio. The poor guy is still alive to this day from what I hear, but nothing but a breathing piece of meat. Needless to say, I was in a bit of trouble.

“Listen,” I said. “I have nothing to do with any cartel or anything. I’m telling you. I had other business with the cop, that’s why I killed him. You got the feds to turn me over to you, so it isn’t like you aren’t in thick with US law enforcement.”

He looked at me and laughed.

“You must think I’m stupid. Who do you work for?”

“No one! Your other guy asked me that too.”

“Right before you killed him.”

“Well yeah, he and his boys were gonna kill me.”

“Yes, true. You should have let them. They were just going to shoot you. Me? I like a good show.”

I looked around and saw at least a dozen other men standing around. Two men with AKs came over to the rack I was hanging on and began pushing it backwards. It took me a second to figure out what they were doing. I knew when I felt the flames against my back. Before I knew it, I was hanging right over the fire. The man poked the fire with a big stick, causing flames to shoot up around me.

“Now, my gringo friend, you get to experience hell first hand!” He and the others burst out laughing as the flames licked around me. This was bad, this was really bad.

Chapter 22

Maria sat in her office looking out the window. It had been a slow week at the funeral home. That was the odd thing about her business. In order to be successful, someone had to die. While she didn’t wish death on anyone, she knew if she wanted to pay her bills and keep the lights on, someone had to go. Things weren’t hurting financially for her, the business had been doing quite well for several years. For some reason, the past few weeks had been unusually slow. The sound of the front door opening shook her from her thoughts.  She walked out into the foyer to see Charlie’s friend, Dennis, or whoever he was, standing there.

“Dennis? What’s going on?”

“Hey, I was going to ask you the same thing. Charlie wasn’t home, so I thought he might be here.” He didn’t seem as cute and charming as he had the last time she saw him. Worries over what was really going on with Charlie filled her mind. Anger at Dennis began to well up inside her. All of this got weird after Dennis had showed up. Whatever Charlie was involved in, it had to do with Dennis.

“What’s wrong?” He asked.

“Charlie was arrested this morning, that’s what’s wrong.”

“Arrested, for what?”

“Don’t play stupid! Arrested for murder. They said he killed some weird cult in El Paso, and some Mexicans here. They also think he had something to do with those church deaths in El Paso and Mexico. You know anything about that? He was with you a lot of that time.”

“Damn,” Dennis said.

“Yeah, Damn! Who the hell are you? Everything was fine until you showed up! Now whatever you got Charlie into, people are dead. The FBI said Charlie must have used some biological weapon, so they can hold him under the Patriot Act as a terrorist, without trial. I’m not even sure what all that means.”

“It means they can make him disappear and don’t have to tell anyone where he went, is what it means. Where’d they take him?”

“I think to the Federal building here, why?”

“Let’s go. He didn’t kill anyone in El Paso.”

“How do you know?”

“I was there, remember.”

“Why should I believe you?”

He took a step closer and was about to speak, but stopped before he could open his mouth. Something wasn’t right.

“Maria, you okay?”

“No I’m not ok! This whole thing with Charlie has been…”

“That’s not what I mean. Are you ok? Have you felt different lately? Any strange behaviors, blackouts or blocks of time you can’t remember?”

Her mouth fell open as he spoke. There were several blocks of time in the past few days she couldn’t remember. Then there was last night with Charlie, she still had no idea why she had gone and slept with him. It all seemed like a haze, as if it was a dream.

“What’s going on Dennis? Do you know something?”

He walked over and leaned against the desk, crossing his arms.

“First off, my name isn’t Dennis.”

She glared at him for a moment. She had figured that wasn’t his real name. A strange feeling came over her. Something dark was stirring inside her, rising up. She tried to shake it off, but couldn’t. In a matter of seconds, the feeling intensified to the point that she could feel herself slipping away. As she did, something else took over. She could still see and hear, but was no longer in control. It was as if she’d become a passenger in her own body. Unable to speak on her own, yet a voice did come from her. This voice was deeper and darker; practically a growl.

“Lucifer,” she said.

“Maria?” Lucifer could feel the presence. It was the Ghost. He’d felt it in El Paso, but it had gotten stronger.

“Hahaha, yeah, sure. I’m Maria.” Her eyes were no longer brown, but glowed white.

“I know it’s you,” Lucifer whispered.

“Of course you do. It’s time for reckoning.”

“Why did you take her? She’s got no part in this.”

“I am God! She’s mine! They are all mine to do with as I please. The Lord giveth, the Lord taketh away!”

“You three are so full of yourselves. Why can’t you just leave them be?”

“Why can’t you butt out! Oh right, you don’t want to end up in the Abyss with my brother.”

“What are you going to do with her?” Lucifer said, ignoring the backhanded threat.

“Oh I have a plan. But I need you out of the way.” As the Ghost spoke from within Maria, she lunged at Lucifer, yanking him from the desk and slamming him against the wall. Her hands burned into his flesh. Lucifer screamed as he tried to push her off him, but she was too strong. The hands burned through him, into his chest. He felt her fingers touching his still beating heart, wrapping around and searing through it. He couldn’t catch his breath as he shook and convulsed. The body Lucifer had been using fell dead to the ground.

Lucifer stood over the body, and then looked to Maria. He was now in his spiritual form. He wanted to jump away from this place, but he was too weak. Taking human form always took a lot out of him. He hadn’t expected to fight right after coming out. Maria ran her hand through him and laughed as everything went black.

When Lucifer awoke, he tried to look around, but everything was dark. He knew he was awake, he had to be. He could hear screaming off in the distance, but when he tried to scream, there was no sound. He couldn’t’ move or talk. All he could do was think, and listen to the screams of others. A feeling of dread and hopelessness came over him as he realized where he was. This was the Abyss.

Chapter 23

The flames were really starting to hurt. The flesh on my feet and legs began to bubble and peel as the flames whipped against them. I wiggled around, but there was nowhere for me to go. I cried out in pain as the flames rose around me, burning my sides and underarms. I hated screaming in front of these assholes, but it was almost involuntary. I could see them laughing through the flames.  It made me want to kill them even more.

As the pain intensified, it occurred to me I might have one chance. I hadn’t done it in years, so I wasn’t sure if it would work, but I had to try it. I reached out with my mind to the men standing around the fire-- the two men with guns and Domingo. Within a few seconds, the three men were themselves screaming. I’d never fully controlled people when I turned them into zombies before, but this seemed like a good time to try. With little effort on my part, walked right into the fire, causing the flames to kick up even higher and hotter. It was like they were moths flying into a bug zapper. I finally began to swing my legs. One of the burning zombie men was just feet in front of me. I propped one foot on his shoulder and kicked with the other leg.

I got enough momentum going to kick my legs high enough to wrap my ankles around the beam, up by my hands.  I was no gymnast, but it was definitely time to start doing more stretching. Once I got both legs up, I unhooked the handcuffs from the chain and dropped to the ground. Landing square in the middle of the fire was incredibly painful. Despite my pain and soreness, I was able to jump up and out of the fire. The cool air felt like heaven on my burning skin. I had no idea how much damage I’d taken, but I felt like death.

The rest of the men in the camp stood watching me wide eyed. I wasn’t sure how long they’d been there. Long enough to watch their amigos walk straight into a fire, and then see me jump off it like I was an Olympic gymnast For some reason I had hoped one of them might help me after all that, but they just stood there like they were paralyzed. I walked toward one of them as I put my hand out, but he stepped away, pointed at me and screamed.

“El Diablo Blanco! El Diablo Blanco!” He screamed as other began yelling while running away. El Diablo Blanco? It means “The White Devil.” They were calling me The White Devil. Not A White Devil, but The White Devil. I’d been called a lot of things, but this was a new one.  I kind of liked it, but, unfortunately I was in way too much pain to enjoy it. I didn’t bother with the men who were running. They were no threat to me, and I didn’t have the energy to chase them. Instead, I stumbled into one of the tents and climbed inside. My feet were killing me, along with the rest of my body. The zombie men finally stopped screaming; the fire had consumed them.

Once inside the tent, I looked for something useful. There were several bottles of water lying around. I drank one, and poured the others over my burns. The water stung as it cooled my skin and wounds. Looking at my legs, I could see parts of them were burned black. I didn’t know how I was going to walk on them in that condition. I didn’t even know where I was. I assumed it was somewhere in Mexico, but that could be hundreds of miles from the border. As I lay there, I wondered how I would get back to Del Rio. I also wondered how my life had gotten so complicated in such a short period of time.

There was a drug cartel trying to kill me. The Feds wanted me in prison, yet it was the Feds who handed me over to the cartel. There was no telling who is working for who in this mess. And I can’t forget the “Holy Ghost” himself drifting around trying to end the world, beginning with me. I suppose if I let that happen, it would solve the other two problems, but not my first choice. I had no idea what the creature was up to at this point.

There was a duffel bag in the corner of the tent. I sifted through it and found some clothes, a .38 revolver, some boxes of ammunition, a bag of weed and a satellite phone. The phone surprised me at first, but when I considered it, it really wasn’t that surprising.   The cartel thugs would need a satellite phone if they were this far away from anything. I dialed Maria’s number, but it went to voice mail after four rings. I dropped the phone and lay back down. It’s not like I could call a cab way out here. The slightest movement hurt like hell, except in my lower legs where there was no feeling at all. I knew that this was not a good sign.

As I started drifting to sleep, the phone rang. I grabbed it and answered it.

“Hello?” I said. It was harder to speak than I thought, even after just having drunk the water. My voice sounded grainy and raspy. I recognized the number calling, it was Maria’s phone.

“Well, hello Charlie,” a weird voice said. It sounded like a man’s voice, but not a natural person. It reminded me of one of those guys on TV who are in witness protection and give an interview with a voice disguiser.

“Who is this? Where is Maria?”

“Maria is mine,” the voice said while letting out a guttural laugh. “Your friend Lucifer is gone too.”

“Gone where?”

“To the Abyss! Where he belongs. Now I just need you to come and get your girlfriend,” it laughed some more, a deep and creepy snicker.

“Well that is going to be difficult. If you were actually all knowing, you’d know that I’m out in the middle of the desert, half dead.”

“Oh, that’s too bad. I guess I will just have fun with your honey here while I finish the rest of my work. Looks like someone took care of you for me.”

“Don’t you dare hurt her.”

“Or what? You’ll take my name in vain?” It laughed some more. It apparently thought itself really funny. The laugh was enough to make the hairs on my neck stand on end. “Too bad for you Charlie. Looks like I did what my brother couldn’t. Now I will finish. And just so you know, after all the suffering you just went through, you’ll wake up in the Abyss when you die here.” It laughed again then hung up. This day couldn’t get any worse.

Chapter 24

When I woke up, it was dark outside and my feet were throbbing. I looked down and saw they didn’t look as badly as they had earlier. I figured my Nephilim DNA must help me heal quicker. I never stayed injured for very long. The burns were still pretty bad, though. I was a little concerned since other than the throbbing, I couldn’t feel anything else. I crawled to the edge of the tent, looking around. I could see the sun on the horizon, so it was early morning. The other tents were still up, but none of the cartel guys had come back.

I climbed out and stumbled to one of the other tents and dug around. This one had a first aid kit. There wasn’t much useful in the kit, but I took a blanket and tore it up. Carefully, I wrapped my ankles and feet with it. I dressed in some jeans and a blue t-shirt that I’d found. I put on two pairs of socks and pulled on a pair of boots. I had to push the pain aside for the moment and figure out where I was and how to get back to Del Rio. It also occurred to me this wasn’t the first time I was stranded in the middle of nowhere in a stranger’s clothes.

I stuck the .38 down the back of the tight jeans and started walking. I could see a road a few hundred feet away. So I headed toward it. Once on the road, I walked along the shoulder headed for what I’m pretty sure was north. I was glad I drank the water earlier, but I was also starving. I hadn’t eaten since the night before. There wasn’t anything I could do about it at the moment. The heat was getting intense too. I wished I’d kept some of the water. After walking for an hour or so, my feet felt like they were still on fire. If I didn’t get a ride soon, I wasn’t going to make it much further.

I heard a car approaching from behind me. I turned and saw a dark colored Jeep getting closer. I waved my arms as much as I could to flag it down. I hoped it wasn’t a cartel guy, or it would be a short ride. The Jeep pulled up next to me and I walked over to the window. I tried to speak to him but he would only reply in Spanish. I knew a little, but not enough to get what he was saying. I definitely didn’t know enough to explain to him what was going on.

“Yes, I need a ride. Can you help me?”

“Que?”

“Help? Ride? Please?”

“No Ingles,” he said. Then he began talking so fast I couldn’t have understood him in any language. I was tired, sore and not in the mood for this. Plus I couldn’t afford to let him drive off and leave me walking again. I was sure I’d die out here if I didn’t get a ride and out of the heat. So without another word, I pulled out the .38 and shot him in the face. Now, I had never used a gun before, knives were my thing. I have to say it is quite an effective killing tool, though it was incredibly messy. Since I was only a few feet away the bullet tore through his face and head, causing the back of his head to explode, sending blood and chunks of brains and skull all over the dashboard.

I opened the driver’s side door and dumped him out onto the road. I dragged him off the road as much as I could and got into the Jeep. The Jeep’s air conditioning felt incredible. The inside of the Jeep was soaked in blood and brains. It hurt my foot to push on the gas, but I ignored it as much as I could. I wasn’t overly concerned about the body being found. People get shot all the time in Mexico. I figured they’d chalk it up to another cartel killing. I just hoped this guy wasn’t someone important. There were enough people out to kill me at the moment.

After a few hours of driving, I saw a town ahead. Traffic was starting to pick up and the roads were getting wider. I hoped to ditch the Jeep soon, before someone noticed all the gore in the front seat. I wasn’t sure what city this was, but there was another sign that said twenty miles to the US/Mexican border. I drove through town until I was a few miles from the border. I pulled into an alley and left the Jeep and headed toward the border on foot. My feet were feeling much better as I began to walk. I wasn’t sure if the rest helped, or if they were starting to heal. It was still going to be tricky getting across. I had no ID or a passport. I’d considered that if I told the border agents that I was a tourist who had been beaten and robbed, they’d let me through. Problem was, I still had some blood on my pants and shirt. My best bet would be to find a coyote and see if he couldn’t me across.

Chapter 25

Maria stood outside the large church. It was a huge cathedral, with large stone steps and huge wooden double doors. She didn’t know where she was or how she’d gotten there exactly. There was something controlling her, something inside of her. She saw what it had done to Dennis, or Lucifer as it had called him. This must be what being possessed is like; or perhaps she was possessed. She’d seen movies about demon possession before. She never considered what happened to the person’s consciousness who was possessed. Now she realized she was just a passenger in her own body. She could see, hear, feel and smell everything, yet could do nothing on her own.

She stood watching the double doors as strong wind began swirling around her. A large, dark cloud rose around her, rising up like two large pillars. Then the doors of the church blew inward. The people inside jumped and shouted as the blast startled them to her presence. One of the heavy doors landed on a parishioner. Several others ran to his aid, but they would be of no help.

“What is the meaning of this?” the priest shouted. “This is God’s house!”

“That’s right Padre,” Maria heard herself say. “It’s my house, and I’ve come to take it back.”

“What do you—” the priest began, but was interrupted by the stained glass behind him shattering and raining down on him. He fell to the ground under the glass shards, but tried to get back to his feet. Chunks of skin hung off his face, and blood poured down it. Behind Maria, people were screaming and shouting. She turned to see them running out the back doors. Before anyone could make it, the doorway buckled, and collapsed on top of itself, blocking the only way out. The crowd stopped and looked at Maria. She couldn’t see herself, but felt her face contort into a twisted smile. The priest began yelling at her from behind.

“I adjure you, ancient serpent, by the judge of the living and the dead, by your Creator, by the Creator of the whole universe, by Him who has the power to consign you to hell, to depart forthwith in fear, along with your savage minions, from this servant of God, who seeks refuge in the fold of the Church. I adjure you again!” He was citing the Rite of Exorcism. Little did he know those words would have no meaning to the creature that had come for him.

Before he could get out another word, the black cloud protruded from Maria once again and swirled around the church. Everything it touched fell over dead. Men, women, children of all ages; old or young didn’t matter. They died where they stood. The priest was one of the first to go. From inside her body, Maria wanted to scream; to cry out for it all to stop. She wanted to run and help the dying people around her, but she was helpless. All she could do was sit and watch the carnage around her.

Within minutes, the screams stopped. Maria looked around as the dark mist lurked through the building, searching for any remaining survivor. There were some women and babies in the nursery downstairs. Maria wanted to die herself, as she sensed the life leaving each of the children and women in the nursery one by one. Helplessly, she walked through the church rubble and back outside. Once in the open, she heard the voice of the thing inside her speaking.

“Don’t worry my dear,” the thing said, “Your boyfriend will be dead soon. Once I finish here, so will you. Then you may rest in peace.”

Chapter 26

I found a guy who was carrying several migrant workers across the border. I didn’t have any cash, so I traded him the gun for a ride. I sat in the back of a box truck packed in with at least thirty other people, none of whom spoke English, for almost four hours. It was so hot back there, I probably lost ten pounds in sweat alone. Don’t even get me started on the smell. I’d have rather stuck my face in a bucket of dead fish, it reeked so badly. I managed to fall asleep, and remained so for the better part of the ride. The old lady next to me didn’t seem to mind my propping my head on her shoulder. If she did, she didn’t say so to me.

Once we arrived, the back door flew open and the man told us all to get out. He looked me up and down, shaking his head and gestured for me to keep moving. He apparently didn’t give a lot of rides to white Americans. Once again, I was in the middle of nowhere. There was a large chain link fence, part of it was cut open and bent into place. We all walked through the opening and onto U.S. soil. I was surprised to see no border patrol around, but I guess they couldn’t watch hundreds of miles of border. Once through the fence, there was another truck waiting.

We climbed into the back of that truck and drove for another hour or so. It stopped again and let us all out. We were at a bus station in Laredo, Texas; just a few hours from Del Rio. One of my fellow travelers paid for my bus ticket. He must have felt sorry for me. I was filthy, I smelled horrible and probably looked like I just went a few rounds with Chuck Liddell. The bus ride to Del Rio was uneventful. Once back in town, I walked back to my apartment where I kept a spare key on top of the light by the door. I let myself in and walked straight to bed. I was hungry too, but that would have to wait.

I carefully peeled off what I could of the borrowed clothes. Most of my burns had healed, but I was still in a lot of pain. I was afraid to look too closely at my feet or legs. I climbed into bed without covering up. I had no idea how long I’d been gone or what was happening with Maria, but I needed some rest if I was to be any good to anyone. Within a few minutes, sleep pulled me into the dark place. Hopefully there would be no dreams. I’d lived enough nightmares the last few days.

When I woke up, I felt like a new person. My feet and legs had mostly healed, though I still felt some throbbing throughout my body. I eased out of bed and limped into the bathroom. I climbed into the shower, and let the water pour over me, massaging my aches and pains. It was the best thing I’d felt in ages. Well, besides the other night with Maria. I still wasn’t sure what to make of that.

After washing off, I got dressed and pulled out my laptop. I looked through local and national news sites to see if anything had been reported about my arrest or “escape” from federal custody. There was nothing at all that I could find. Someone within the Feds sold me out to the cartel. Chances are, the whole case against me was all made up to get me to the cartel. I needed to find out who was behind it. Problem was, I had much bigger issues on my hands with the Ghost. The cartel was going to be a headache in the meantime. Hopefully after the show I put on in the desert, they’d leave me alone once they heard I was El Blanco Diablo.

I heated up a TV dinner out of the freezer and choked it down as if it was the last meal I’d ever eat.  I found my extra keys and headed out to my Explorer, and drove to the funeral home. I doubted Maria would be there, but figured it would be a place to start. The Ghost, or whatever it was, had her, was controlling her, but I had no idea what it’d be up to. When I arrived at the funeral home, it was empty as I had suspected. I knew Lucifer would be no help since he was in the Abyss. It looked like once again I was on my own to fight God.

I went into Maria’s office and looked around her desk. There were papers and notes lying around. It was as if she were in the middle of something when she was taken. The sound of the front door opening rang through the halls as the sound of footsteps approached. I stood and walked into the foyer to find Ranger O’Brien and Agent Jenkins.

“Well well, Charlie Sims. For a fugitive, you sure didn’t run very far did you?”

My blood pressure shot up at the mere sight of them.

“I’m not a fugitive. You arrested me on bullshit, then delivered me to the cartel.”

The two men looked at each other and laughed.

“What are you talking about? You killed a federal guard.”

“You locked me up with a cartel thug who was sent to kill me. Then, when I got away, your guards hand delivered me to the cartel, who tried to barbecue me over a bon fire.”

“Well now,” O’Brien said, “That’s quite a story. Why don’t you come with us and we can sort this out.”

“I’m not going anywhere with you two.”

“Look Charlie,” Jenkins started. “I don’t know what happened at the jail. We had a dozen guards with stab wounds saying you cut them all with a shiv and sliced up your cell mate.”

“Trust me, if I was gonna cut someone, they wouldn’t be around to tell you about it.”

“Well, we just want to get to the bottom of this. Not to mention, you’re still wanted on the previous charges.”

“Bullshit. Someone inside your agency is crooked. This whole thing is a crock of made up shit. You have Federal agents who are working for the cartel. I’d be more worried about that than little old me.”

Jenkins walked toward me and tried to grab my arm as he reached for his handcuffs. This time I wouldn’t go quietly. I slapped his arm away and placed my hand on his head, feeling my fingers sink in. Within seconds, I knew everything about Agent Jenkins.

Chapter 27

I killed Jenkins before he could start screaming. Ranger O’Brien looked at me wide eyed as he drew his gun on me.

“Get your hands up! Do it! Hands in the air!” he shouted. I did as he said.

“I get that you’re freaked, but your anger is misplaced. Jenkins was dirty. The Cartel had dirt on him. He had apparently been coercing female informants to have sex with him and one of them filmed it.

“What the hell are you talking about? Shut your damn mouth!”

“I’m telling you. The girl had given the tape to the cartel. They used it to blackmail him. Once he started working for them, he couldn’t stop. He’s been at it for years. Info he’s given them has resulted in deaths to other Feds, Texas Rangers, and Border Patrol officers. Once this was all over, he was going to kill you too. He’s not the only Fed who was dirty either. There is a bunch of them down here.”

“How do you know that?”

“I just do. Hard to explain.”

“You better try to explain. What did you do to him just now?”

Part of me just wanted to tell him and get it out there. Maybe I could get him on board as an ally. Though last time I made a cop my ally, he was killed before he knew what he was involved in.

“It’s complicated. Trust me though, I just saved your ass. And would you please stop pointing that gun at me, unless you plan on shooting me.”

He lowered the gun and looked around. I could tell he had no idea what to do.

“Where’s your girlfriend?” he asked.

“She’s not my girlfriend, and her whereabouts is an even more complicated issue.”

“What the hell are you into son?”

“Hell sums it up pretty good.”

“So how was he gonna kill me if you’re so smart?”

“He was going to shoot you with your own gun and make it look like a suicide. He’s done it before to other cops. He’s good at it.”

“Jesus Christ on a cracker.”

That was a new one. I had to try not to laugh.

“Jenkins was the lead agent out of the Del Rio field office. He had two other agents assigned to him. You suppose they were dirty?”

“More than likely. I’d say you have quite a mess on your hands. Whatever they are or were up to, they would take out anyone they didn’t trust. They obviously didn’t trust you. Suicide would suck too. You wouldn’t even get the typical hero cop funeral.”

“Shut the hell up already. What kind of preacher are you?”

“Not a very good one, obviously. Look, we are both neck deep in shit. We don’t have a lot of time. Maybe we can help each other.”

“And just why would I need your help? I need to take you in!”

“Right, so they can hand me back over to the cartel and kill you. Great plan.”

“How did you get away from them if they had you tied up in some bonfire?”

“You saw what I just did to Jenkins didn’t you? No one plans for that, so it works in my favor.”

“My God.”

“He’s not exactly on our side right now.”

We stood in silence for a minute. O’Brien finally holstered his gun and looked up at me.

“So what is going on with your girlfriend or whatever she is?”

“She’s in danger.”

“The cartel?”

“No, worse.”

He rolled his eyes and looked around.

“Okay,” he said. “I’ll have to make some calls. We’ll find her, then deal with this situation.

Sounded like a good idea, if the cartel butted out long enough.

Chapter 28

Before we left, I took Jenkins’ body and placed him on a gurney in the back, covering him in sheets. Fortunately I worked at the one place were seeing dead bodies was normal. As we climbed into O’Brien’s truck, his phone went off. He held it to his ear grunting as his forehead wrinkled. Then he hung up.

“Shit,” he said.

“What?”

“There’s been another church killing. This one completely imploded. Everyone’s dead.”

“Where at?”

“In San Antonio. Guess that’s where we’re headed.”

“Great.”

The drive was several hours long. O’Brien tried to make small talk, but all he wanted to talk about was NASCAR and the Dallas Cowboys. I could tell I made him uncomfortable. I had that effect on people, especially after they just watched me kill a man with my fingertips. By the time we reached San Antonio he had given up on the chatter. The church was on the southwest side of the city. It had been a large Catholic Church, but now it looked like it got blasted by a hurricane. It was nothing but a pile of rubble.

“God Almighty!” O’Brien said as we pulled up.

“Unfortunately,” I replied.

“Huh?”

“Long story.”

“You know what this is about?’

“Kind of. We find Maria, we’ll solve this mess.”

“She did this?”

“No. Well yes, but no. I don’t know. It’s hard to explain. I don’t even know what to tell you so you’ll believe me.” As I spoke, a strange feeling of déjà vu came over me. It made me think of the last time I was involved in this mess, a San Antonio cop named Jim Stanton came after me. After seeing some of the things the Three could do, he decided to help me after I explained it. He died rather early in the process of his involvement. I had no doubt O’Brien wouldn’t fare much better, Texas Ranger or not.

“Well, try to enlighten me.”

“Later. Let’s see what is going on out here. Trust me, you aren’t going to believe a word I tell you when I do explain.”

“Shit, I’d believe just about anything at this point.”

We climbed out of the truck and walked toward the rubble. There were still fire and ambulance crews around. As we approached, a police officer approached us.

“This is a crime scene. You folks can’t be here.”

O’Brien flashed his Texas Ranger star and the officer stepped aside.

“Who is this?” The officer asked, pointing at me.

“A pain in my ass,” O’Brien said as we kept moving.

“You’re such a sweetheart.” I said.

“Go fuck yourself. You’re lucky I didn’t shoot you back in Del Rio. Hell, I still might.”

“You’ll be dead before you can skin leather.”

“Well aren’t you just he cowboy.”

“Try me.”

“Okay, look asshole. I don’t like you, and I don’t trust you. But as it is, we are in the middle of some multi-pronged shit storm and you seem to have some hand in it not to mention, if you’re right about the Feds, then I need to watch my own ass. So let’s find your psycho girlfriend, deal with her, then I can take care of this shit with the Feds and cartel.”

He turned away from me and walked toward the rubble, I followed behind him. I wasn’t even sure why we were there. It wasn’t like we were going to find anything. When we got closer, I saw that crews were sifting through the rubble. I couldn’t see any bodies, but they could have been buried.

“So how did that little girl do all this?” O’Brien asked.

“I tried to tell you before, it’s not her, or she’s not herself.” I was going to have to explain. He was already involved, and keeping him in the dark wouldn’t help him at this point. So I told him everything. He kept a straight enough face during most of my explanation. I started with the Bishop, even told him what happened at the Alamodome, except I blamed all the dead people on the Bishop. Then I explained to him about the Ghost, Lucifer and everything else that had happened that I could think of; leaving out the part about me cutting people up and dissolving them in lye of course.

He stared blankly at me for several minutes, took off his hat, wiped his brow then replaced the hat.

“So let me get this straight. You’re telling me that Jesus came back as some crazy old man preacher, did miracles, but was gonna destroy the world. Then he turned a bunch of people at the Alamodome into zombies and you somehow killed him and the zombies. Now the Holy Spirit is back and is possessing your girlfriend and destroying churches. Oh yeah, and the devil who is really a good guy, was helping you until the Holy Spirit got hold of him? Did I get all that right?”

“A bit of an over simplification and she’s not my girlfriend. But yeah, something like that.”

“You are seriously out of your fuckin’ mind son. Now I know I should have shot you back there.”

“Look! You saw what I did to Jenkins and didn’t even break a sweat. You should see what I can do when I’m really pissed. And this shit with the churches is just the beginning.”

“So let’s just say this is all true. How are you gonna stop the thing? Oh and by the way, I’m Southern Baptist, so never mind you just told me my whole belief system I was raised on is complete and utter horse shit. You’re lucky we’re not in Lubbock. They’d draw and quarter your ass up there.”

“Yeah, I don’t doubt that. And I was a Pentecostal preacher for Christ’s sake. So yes, it is a bit jarring when you learn the truth. But it is what it is. I’d rather know the truth and deal with its ugliness than keep living a lie.”

Before he could say anything, automatic gunfire went off from behind us. We both dove to the ground as a Dodge Charger raced by; a man leaning out the back window with an AK-47 was firing in our direction. O’Brien remained on his stomach, but returned fire with his side arm. The Charger was already gone by the time he got a shot off. He stood and looked down at me. I slowly got to my feet as he holstered his weapon.

“Shit son,” he said. “Looks like someone wants you dead, multiple choice.”

Chapter 29

Maria wanted to scream. As her body walked around, everything was a haze, as if she was caught in some bizarre dream. Watching people in the church die was more than she could handle. Every time she tried to scream, the Ghost stifled her voice deep within herself. If she could have controlled her own body long enough to walk into oncoming traffic she would have done so. At least then, she’d be free. As long as the Ghost remained inside her, she’d remain its prisoner.

She thought of Charlie and wondered if he was still alive. For some reason, she felt like Charlie could help her. Whenever her thoughts turned to Charlie, the Ghost would become angry, she could feel it. At one point, it rumbled so hard against her, she lost consciousness. She feared Charlie may be dead, but held on to hope that he’d come for her. Maria sensed it was more than just anger the thing felt toward Charlie. It was fear.

Currently, she found herself on the roof of a tall building. Night was beginning to fall on San Antonio, and she could see all over the city. She hoped Charlie was out there somewhere. Last she’d heard, the Ghost told her Charlie would be dead soon. He’d gotten away from the FBI somehow, but someone was trying to kill him. He couldn’t be dead, though. She had always sensed something about Charlie, something different. While he was always so quiet and unassuming, he had this heaviness about him. Something told her he was a fighter. As she observed the city, the smoke that had surrounded her started to drift upward, filling the night sky.

Over the next several hours, she watched the sky turn red and overcast. If Charlie were in the city, she didn’t know what he could do to help her. The Ghost seemed so powerful, it had no limits. She made a desperate attempt to reach out to Charlie with her mind, hoping he could somehow feel or sense her. She felt the thing push back at her, but she kept pressing. After a couple minutes, she felt herself fading deeper within herself. She had no more fight left as she watched the city skyline drifting further away. She made an attempted to throw herself off the building, to plummet to her death, but failed to move a single muscle. If she couldn’t be free, she hoped to never wake up again.

Chapter 30

I watched O’Brien sort through the shell casings after the shooting. Fortunately no one was hit. After the Dodge took off, a few patrol cars want after it.

“So, was that the cartel?” I asked.

“I don’t know. Drive bys aren’t usually their style. But no telling. If they saw you do any of that shit I saw you do, you probably scared the hell out of them. Didn’t seem like they were trying that hard to hit us though. Might have just been sending a message.”

“That’s some message. How’d they know we were here?”

“How the hell should I know? You think I’m dirty too?”

“I don’t know. Are you? There’s one way for me to find out,” I said, holding up my right hand.

“The fuck there is. Don’t make me cut your hand off.”

“Right. I think Maria is close by.”

“She’s here in the city?”

“Yeah, somewhere.”  I wasn’t sure how I knew she was close. If I didn’t know better, I’d think she was trying to reach out to me in some way. It was only for a second, but I still had no doubt she was near, and she was terrified. Something horrible was about to happen. I had no idea what, but it wouldn’t be pretty whatever it was. “I think we should go.”

“Go where?

“Anywhere but here,” I said.

We got back to O’Brien’s truck and drove off. The sun was starting to set as we drove through downtown San Antonio. The sky was taking on a strange, reddish hue. As we got closer to the river, there were people screaming and running up to the bridges that cross the river all throughout downtown San Antonio. .

“What the hell is going on there?” O’Brien said as he pulled over. We got out and walked toward the river. We reached one of the bridges and walked down the steps to reach the Riverwalk. As we headed down the steps a man came running past me. I grabbed him to get his attention.

“Hey,” I said. “What’s going on?”

“Blood!” He said.

“Blood? What blood?’

“The river! The river is blood!”

“What? How?”

“I don’t know. We were just walking around and suddenly it just turned red, as if something huge died in there. But it’s all over. It’s not dye, it’s thick, red blood. You can smell it. It’s awful.”

“Jesus Christ.” I said.

“What is going on here, preacher man?” O’Brien asked.

“It’s the plagues. The ten plagues of Egypt. The Ghost is launching them onto the city.”

“Ten plagues of Egypt?”

“I thought you were Southern Baptist. You didn’t learn about Moses in Sunday School? The Ten Commandments? Charlton Heston? Anything?”

“Funny, smart ass. You mean like all the locusts and shit?”

“Yes,” I said. “Locusts and shit. He’s doing it, and there’s more coming.”

“What for? He trying to release slaves or something?”

“I don’t know. To fuck with us, or teach us a lesson. That or to soften us up for the big kill.”

“Well, that’s not encouraging at all.”

“Sorry.”

“I think I liked it better when I thought God was some nice old man in the sky who wanted to save us all.”

“Yeah well, Santa isn’t real either and Lance Armstrong was doped to the hilt. Sucks having our illusions shattered, but it is what it is.”

“God, you’re jaded for a preacher.”

“Guess so.” We reached the river and the man had been right. The coppery stench of blood made me want to gag; and I’d been around lots of blood before. O’Brien didn’t look much better. I thought he was going to puke by the looks of him. As far as we could see, the river was flowing with thick, pure blood.

“What a disgusting mess,” O’Brien said. He was holding a handkerchief over his face. “How many plagues are there?”

“Ten total. This is the first. He’s just getting started.”

Chapter 31

We went to the Texas Ranger’s field office in San Antonio. It was late, but O’Brien said he needed to call his superiors. By the time we’d left the river, there were fire trucks and other city workers showing up. I wasn’t sure what they thought they could do, but they were there nonetheless. The office was south of the downtown a ways. There was a Department of Public Safety branch in there as well. The Ranger’s office was hidden in the back.

O’Brien grabbed the phone and dialed one of his bosses. I sat in a chair while he explained the situation to his lieutenant over the phone. Hearing only one side of the conversation was actually pretty comical.

“Yes sir. It was blood. What? No, the whole river. No there isn’t blood in the river. The river turned into blood. No, sir I’m not bullshitting you. The whole thing is like the old Bible story about Moses. I got a preacher guy here who explained it. Yeah, he said it’s like the ten plagues. I don’t know what they all are. Yes sir, yes sir, I’ll keep looking into it.” He looked at me as he hung up.

“I feel like a damn idiot,” he said.

“What’d he say?”

“Said to find out what in the hell is going on and if it’s some kinda bible plague shit, I better hope the four horsemen come by and lop off my head if I don’t get this straightened out.”

“Wow, that’s quite an ultimatum.”

“Eh, it’s the Texas Rangers. We don’t bullshit around. Speaking of which, how long is this mess supposed to last? And what will be next?”

“Frogs.”

“Frogs?”

“Yeah, frogs, tens of thousands of them. They’ll come out of the river and be all over the place.”

“Jesus.”

“Yeah, I don’t like amphibians, they’re slimy.”

“Are you shittin’ me? Mr. Fry=people’s-brains-with-his-bare-hands is scared of frogs?”

“I didn’t say I was scared, just that I didn’t like them.”

“So where we gonna find your girl. She’s in the city like you said. She’s probably the one doing this shit.”

“I have no idea where to start. And like I said, she’s not herself—” a sharp pain seared through my head. It only hurt for a few seconds then let up. Just as I was about to finish my sentence, the pain hit again. This time I heard something.

Charlie!

It was Maria. She was trying to reach out to me again. This time she left no doubt, practically screaming inside my head. O’Brien was looking at me as if I’d lost my mind.

Charlie! Help me!

“Where are you?” I said out loud.

“Where is who? Who are you talking to? What is the matter with you?” O’Brien asked. The pain subsided and I calmed down.

“It was her,” I said.

“Her who? Maria?”

“Yeah, it was like she was trying to contact me. She said ‘Charlie, help me.’ But then was gone.”

“What, is she psychic or something?”

“Not that I know of. The Ghost is controlling her. Maybe she was able to use that to reach out to me. Whatever it was, it was quick and then gone.”

“Well it woulda been nice if she told you where she was.”

“I know, not much I could do. So now what?”

“For now, we’re gonna get some sleep. There’s some cots in the back. I’ll set them up and we can get a fresh start in the morning.”

“All right.”

“Oh, and just because we’re spending the night in the same room, don’t mean we’re gonna be spooning in the wee hours of the morning.”

“Got it,” I said. Fine by me.

Chapter 32

By morning there were news crews and fire trucks all over the city. The bloody water was all over the city, and had made its way into the city’s water supply as well. When I went to the bathroom, blood filled the toilet bowl as I flushed. It had to be the most bizarre thing I’d ever seen. When I turned on the faucet, blood came out as well. Guess I wouldn’t be taking a shower unless I wanted something like a scene out of Psycho. O’Brien was still asleep. I figured he’d be up before me, but he was still out cold on one of the couches. Part of me wanted to sneak off and leave him on his own. But I had a feeling if I did that, he’d get himself killed before noon.

When I went back into the main office, he’d finally woken up and was sitting up. He stood and put his shirt on, then his cowboy hat. I was amazed he actually took it off to sleep.

“Mornin’ kid,” he said. “I see we’re all still here. At least the world didn’t end.”

“There’s blood in the toilet,” I said.

“What? You start your period or something?”

“Classy. No. I mean, the running water, all of it, is blood. The toilet, the sink, all blood. It’s not just the river.”

“Christ. We need to find your girl before she wrecks the whole state.”

“I don’t think she’s limiting herself to the state, but I get your drift.”

“No, I don’t think you do,” a voice said from the doorway. We turned and saw another man in a cowboy hat standing there. He was short and looked to be in his fifties but the wrinkles around his eyes showed that he’d been around the block a few times. Not sure if he’d ever been around this particular block.

“Lt. Majors. Good morning. This is the preacher guy I was telling you about.”

“Yes, I know who he is. What the hell do you think you are doing O’Brien?”

“Trying to get to the bottom of this shit,” O’Brien said.

“By running around with a federal fugitive who is wanted on about twenty-thousand counts of murder? You out of your fucking mind?  I should arrest both of your asses.”

“Look, Lieutenant, I know it sounds crazy but he’s got some good idea what’s going on.”

“Oh, that’s right. You know all about the end of the world apocalyptic bullshit. The CDC is gonna be here today and the governor is already crawling up our asses. And you’re running around with this asshole who should be locked up. Of all the preachers in this town you could have talked to, you picked this prick?”

“Ok, hold on a damn minute,” I said. I couldn’t take anymore. “For one, I could easily kill the both of you. Two, we don’t have time to be standing here jerking each other off.  Lieutenant, I don’t know the first thing about you, and all you know about me is that someone told you I killed a bunch of people. Tell you what. Let me help you get to the bottom of all this, and then I’ll turn myself in.”

“Oh right. I should just take you at your word,” Majors said. “Fuck that. I’m taking you in right now.” He moved toward me while reaching for his cuffs. O’Brien just stood there, afraid to confront his boss. I wasn’t about to go back into federal custody, or anyone else’s custody for that matter. I didn’t want to kill Majors though; he could prove to be useful. As he grabbed my arm, I swatted his hand away. Without hesitating, he took a swing at my face and caught me in the jaw. The guy was much quicker for his age than he looked. I stumbled back as dove at me, knocking me onto the ground.

As I landed, I wrapped my legs around his waist and pulled him toward me. It was a move I learned in Jiu jitsu, known as “pulling guard”. If you don’t know what it is, it looks like some weird sex position, but it’s quite effective at defending yourself from your back. He leaned in trying to punch me. I kicked my legs around his head and placed him in a triangle choke. That is basically choking him out with my legs. His face turned several shades of red as I squeezed. I saw O’Brien out of the corner of my eye, watching us wide-eyed.

“That’s enough!” O’Brien finally yelled.  “Let him go Charlie!”

“The asshole came after me. I’m just gonna choke him out, I won’t hurt him.”

“The hell you will. Let him up now.” O’Brien ran at me and kicked me in the stomach. I had to release my hold from Majors as O’Brien kicked at me repeatedly. I got to my feet and ducked one of O’Brien’s punches, and hit punched him in his side. He doubled over just as Majors came rushing from behind, plowing into me. I ran into a door and we tumbled through the doorway and into the parking lot. Majors was on top of me punching me in the face and head. I turned my head away and tried to knock him off me, when he stopped. I looked up and he was staring at something behind me. I craned my head around and saw a frog was sitting near my head. Majors got off of me as I stood up. We both looked around and saw at least a dozen frogs along the sidewalk and parking lot. Several were hopping in through the open door.

We walked out to the street and saw total chaos. There were frogs everywhere. Cars were sliding off the road with slick tires after having run over so many. People were running into whatever building they could find. One woman had been knocked to the ground and was covered from head to toe by the things. The second plague was beginning.

Chapter 33

The stench of the frogs was worse than the blood. I’m not sure if they came from the sewers, or if they just naturally smell that bad. The three of us stood there watching the bizarre scene unfold in front of us. It was like something out of an old Alfred Hitchcock movie, either that, or a bad SyFy Channel movie. My face hurt like hell from Majors punching me. The little guy really packed a wallop.

“Holy shit,” O’Brien said. “This really is the end of the world. We better repent or something.”

“Trust me,” I began. “Your god is not what you think he is. Repentance won’t help.”

“But don’t the Bible say—“

“Forget that damn book. It’s all bullshit. Men wrote it; ancient men who didn’t know how else to explain what they were experiencing. God and the Ghost are not gods. They think and act like it, but they’re not.”  O’Brien looked like he might cry at this revelation.

“So, what exactly are they?”

“I don’t have time to explain it.”

“Look, kids. I hate to interrupt y’all’s Sunday school lesson, but we are about neck deep in shit if you haven’t noticed,” Majors chimed in. I rubbed my jaw as I looked at him.

“You’re pretty strong for a little guy,” I said.

“Well, no shit. I’m a Goddamn-Texas-fucking-Ranger. You think they hire girl scouts for this job?” Majors replied. Since these were the only two Rangers I’d ever met, I didn’t have any point of reference. One thing was certain, Texas Rangers did not lack in self-confidence. Still, something about Majors seemed off, but I couldn’t put a finger on it.

“Okay,” I said. “My guess is that the Ghost will be in or near another church. That’s been his thing so far.”

“What the hell is ‘the Ghost'?” Majors asked.

“It’s that thing that has Maria. The one causing all the chaos. We find her, we find the Ghost, and I can stop it.”

“First, who the hell is Maria? Second, what Ghost and just what the hell are you talking about?”

I tried to get Majors up to speed as quickly as I could. I’d already explained it all to O’Brien, it didn’t sound any less crazy as I told Majors.

“And you know all this how? You special or something?”

“Yes, I am special. I’m not just any preacher. I have a few tricks up my sleeve myself. Just ask your buddy over there,” I said pointing at O’Brien.

“He does boss, he’s a bit of a freak. He can do some weird shit.”

All this male bonding was starting to get on my nerves. I hadn’t bonded with anyone my whole life. Now in the span of a week, I’d had sex with a girl who I seemed to feel something for, and was now fighting with two Texas Rangers as if we were all brothers. This was almost more distressing to me than taking on the Ghost. It made me wish I could just slip away for a few hours and kill someone in my old-fashioned way. That would have to wait, unfortunately. I had a feeling I’d get the chance to kill soon enough.

“All right,” Majors said. “I’ll take preacher boy here and we’ll check out some churches on the north side. O’Brien, you take the south.”

“L.T., that’s going to take forever. Both sides of town are huge,” O’Brien protested.

“Yes, I am aware. We aren’t going to get any help with all this chaos, so we have to work with what we have, which is just us. And you,” Majors said, turning to me. “Don’t think you’re off the hook. I’m taking you along so I can keep an eye on you. And I think O’Brien is right, you seem to have a handle on this no one else does. So you might be able to help. If not, I’ll just shoot you where you stand and move on. Got it?”

“Right,” I said.

“Good, now let’s go.”

We ran outside toward Major’s pickup. “Run” is a strong word, actually… We hopped and leaped over what frogs we could. I felt them squish under my feet as I ran across their soft little bodies. Amidst all the frogs, I noticed the sky was still red. I wasn’t sure what that signified, other than more plagues to come. We climbed in the truck as frogs jumped onto my lap and by my feet. I threw or kicked them out as fast as I could and closed the door.

“Damn that’s some crazy shit!” Majors said.

“Yeah, that’s an understatement. So where we headed?”

“I think up to Live Oak. There are some big churches up that way. Something tells me people would be headed to church in all this. He might like a big crowd.”

I was impressed at his insight, so I left it be. Seemed like as good a place as any to look, despite it being a bit of a drive. Live Oak was at least thirty minutes away in the best of traffic. Getting onto I-35 was easy. However once we reached the downtown area, traffic was bumper to bumper and not moving at all.

“Shit, I shoulda known,” Majors said. “The whole city is freaking out. God knows how many accidents we’ll have to sit through.” We finally worked our way to one of the exit ramps, and pulled off at Cesear Chavez. “May as well try the side roads. Can’t be any worse.”

As we drove along, he was right. Traffic was all headed away from us, trying to get away from downtown, not go toward it. However, gradually traffic slowed down for us once again.

“Now what is holding everyone up? Majors asked. Looking ahead, the air looked hazy. It looked like a huge, dark cloud was heading toward us. Majors got out of the truck to see what was going on. I had a bad feeling, so I stayed in the truck and watched as he walked toward the fog. Other drivers had gotten out to watch as well. The cloud’s movement looked odd, though. It’s movements were fluid, almost as if it were alive. No sooner had the thought crossed my mind when Majors came running back to the truck as if his hair were on fire. He jumped in and slammed the door while scratching himself feverishly.

“Gnats! It’s a huge swarm of gnats. Tons of them and they itch like hell!” He was practically having a seizure trying to get the tiny insects off himself. I grabbed the owner’s manual from the glove box and began swatting him all over his back and arms. Looking out the window I could see the cloud of gnats had moved in, surrounding us in every direction. As I kept swatting, gnats started coming through the truck’s vents and were suddenly all over me. The itching wasn’t too bad at first, but suddenly felt like my skin was in fire. Things had just gotten a whole lot worse.

Chapter 34

Cars crashed all around us as Major’s truck leapt forward. Someone had plowed into the back of us. The gnats were all over us, I could even feel them going into my nose and mouth. Majors was trying to say something but he couldn’t speak. I looked up to see another car skidding sideways and slamming into the side of the truck. The airbags deployed as my head jerked about. We slammed into another car when I grabbed Majors and pulled him out of the vehicle. We had to get off the streets before we got killed.

We worked our way through the street and into the first building we could find. It was a deli. When we stepped in, the smell of fresh sandwiches was disrupted by gnats buzzing up my nose. A few still made it inside, but the door sealed well enough to keep them out for the moment.

“What in the hell is going on Charlie?” Majors asked.

“It’s the next plague, gnats.”

“Aren’t they supposed to happen further apart?”

“I’m not sure, but I don’t know how literal the Ghost is taking it either.”

“Are they almost over with?”

“You kidding? There’s ten total. We’re on number three.”

“Well, shit.”

“Not yet. They keep getting worse.”

I noticed strange movements in the streets as I looked through the glass door. There were a group of Hispanic men with guns outside running toward us. One of them fired when he saw me. Thankfully the round hit the wall near the doorway and not the glass door itself. It had to be cartel guys. They must have been following us.

“We got company,” I told Majors. He drew his pistol. “Some of these guys are carrying AK-47s. Not sure how much good that thing will do.”

“You might be surprised—” before he could finish, more gunfire erupted from outside. The few people who were in the deli ran toward the back. One woman went down hard as a bullet struck her in the back, spraying blood everywhere. Majors and I ducked behind a table while getting as close to the ground as we could. Of all the things I’d been through in the past few years, gunfire was something I could never get used to. I’d have made a horrible cop. Guns were so loud and intrusive. Knives were small, quiet and personal. A round ricocheted off the floor just a few feet from my head. I pressed harder against the floor and tried to slither behind the counter where Majors already was hiding.

One of the men came through the broken glass as the gnats swarmed into the deli. The large man didn’t seem effected by the tiny bugs swirling around him. Despite my best efforts, I bumped the side of the counter as I lay behind it. I could see through a crack between the wall and counter. The man looked right in my direction and pointed his AK-47 right at me. Or at least where he thought I was, which he was right. If he was going to shoot, then this would be it. The counter was made of thick wood, but it wouldn’t stop a barrage of AK-47 rounds.  I’d figured this battle with the gods would be the end of me; I just figured thought my end would be more epic than being shot in a deli by some thug.

I closed my eyes, waiting for the end, but instead I heard the man gasp, and the gun fall to the ground. I opened my eyes and saw Majors standing behind the man with his hands on him. But the big Mexican wasn’t a man anymore, he was a pile of what looked like white crystals. The other cartel thugs were standing around in the same state.

“What the hell?” I said.

“Salt,” Majors said. “I turned them into salt.”

“What? How---“

“I’m like you Charlie. I’m a Nephilim.”

Chapter 35

“What are you talking about? You a Nephilim?” I couldn’t believe what I was hearing. Earlier he was acting as if he had no idea about anything biblical. Now he says he’s just like me. Before Majors could answer, two more men came storming in. They hesitated when they saw their two partners as giant lumps of salt. That gave Majors enough time to draw his sidearm and shoot both of them in the chest. I watched them fall where they stood. Their timing was kind of handy, actually: the gnats seemed to focus more on the salt and dead bodies, causing the air around us to thin out a little.

“I said I’m like you Charlie. I’m part Nephilim. As you saw, I can turn people into salt. Unlike you though, I’ve known what I am for a long time. There are actually several of us. We’ve also known who you are; been watching you for a while.”

“Watching me? What for? You guys some kind of weird cult?”  I know I sounded like a raving lunatic, but this was getting to be too much. I had no idea even who I was, let alone that there were others out there.

“I knew about you since sometime before the Bishop turned up. Nephilim give off a unique aura or energy. You may not be able to tell right now. Only those of us who know what we’re looking for can see it.”

“So how do you know what to look for?  Oh, and by the way, thanks for helping me out when the Bishop was doing his thing,” I grumbled. “I cannot believe you left me to fight him all by myself.”

“We thought of intervening with the Bishop, but you seemed to have a handle on it.”

I wanted to punch him in the face. We could have probably taken down the Bishop without killing seventy-thousand people if I’d had some help.

“You arrogant asshole! You know how many people died because of what I had to do in there? What if you’d helped? We could have saved some lives and still stopped him.” I was breathing heavily, and, without realizing it, had covered the space between us. I was standing right in front of Majors, glaring into his eyes. “How many others like us are there?” I asked shakily. I really wanted to punch him in the face.

“Calm down, son. It wouldn’t have been any different. There’s only six of us, seven including you. We stick together but try to stay out of sight of regular folks. We call ourselves the Bastards of the Fallen.”

“How catchy.”

“I like it. Most of us live here in the southwest. I’m not sure why, but this part of the country seems to be a hotbed for the supernatural.”

“So I’ve noticed,” I said. “So, were you all planning on getting involved here? Or were you gonna let me figure this out on my own, too?”

“If we weren’t going to get involved, I wouldn’t be here. I had to wait for the right time to reveal myself. If these plagues let up a bit, I can get the others together so you can meet them. We need to work together on this one.  The Bishop was bad, but the Ghost is no joke.”

It was so weird hearing Majors talk like this. Seemed like a few minutes ago, he was a badass Texas Ranger who took no shit and only knew what was right in front of him. How he’s the bastard offspring of a fallen angel who can turn people into blocks of salt and talking about God, demons and fallen angels. Then again, nothing should surprise me at this point.

“What about O’Brien? I asked.

“He’s got enough to keep himself busy for a while.”

“You don’t think he’ll get himself killed?”

“He should be fine on the south side church hopping. Besides, with these damn gnats, he’s probably holed up somewhere.”

We made our way back to the truck as the gnats began to thin out. I was relieved that they were dissipating, but knew another plague would be coming soon. Majors pulled out a satellite phone and dialed. He walked to the rear of the truck so I couldn’t hear. After a few minutes he climbed back into the cab.

“Okay, we’re gonna meet up tonight. There’s a pavilion near the river. We’ll meet up there,” he said.

“Tonight? We could get hit with another plague before then.”

“Plagues are coming regardless. May as well see what we can throw at the summbitch.”

As much as I hated to admit, he had a point. Until we got a location on Maria, and/or the Ghost, we would be chasing our tails and trying to survive each plague.

“So what do we do in the meantime?” I asked.

“I suggest we find shelter. What plague is next?”

“Flies,” I said. “You really don’t know what the plagues are?”

“Just because I’m part Nephilim don’t make me a Bible scholar. I never thought much of it till the Bishop showed up. That’s why you’re probably the most valuable out of all of us. After what you did in the Alamodome, I’d say the most powerful too.”

We climbed into the truck and headed further downtown to find a place to hang out before the flies hit. I wasn’t sure whether or not to look forward to meeting the others. Guess if it didn’t go well, I could always kill them.

Chapter 36

We got a room at the Drury Hotel downtown. They tried to tell us they were closed, but Majors showed his Ranger star and they suddenly had a room for us. We weren’t tired, but we needed to rest up before the next plague hit. We’d just gotten to our room when I saw them through the window; flies, millions of them, or at least enough to make the sky go dark. Majors turned on the TV to local news. There was a pretty anchor lady named Elsa Ramon discussing the plagues.  She said they were hitting all over Texas, from Eagle Pass clear up to Dallas. Even El Paso had felt some of the effects, but not as intensely.

“Jesus Christ,” Majors said. “This is a cluster fuck.”

“I think it went beyond cluster fuck at blood in the water, but whatever works.”

We watched the rest of the news, then a Jersey Shore rerun, after which I decided I’d rather sit outside during the plagues than sit through another episode.

“All right, sport, it’s show time. Let’s go meet the gang,” Majors said as he stood, putting his hat back on. It was getting dark outside and the flies were finally starting to subside. We headed downstairs and back to Major’s truck. Within a few minutes we arrived at Hemisfair Park and walked to the meeting point. The group was there waiting for us.

There were five of them. Two were girls. One was short and wearing what looked like a sports bra with bicycle shorts and was covered in tattoos. Her name was Shadoe. The other girl was taller, blonde and wearing a pink hoodie and jeans. Her name was Gina. The three guys were of varying height and weight. Eli was tall and heavy set. His hair was cropped into a crew cut and he had on a Korn t-shirt. Next to him was a muscular black man named Michael. He had on a wife beater and had a large dragon tattoo on his right shoulder that went all the way down his arm. Then there was Rico. He was large and muscular, with long black hair pulled back into a pony tail. He reminded me of a young Danny Trejo. After the introductions, we got down to business. Right away, I knew some of them didn’t like me.

“So this is the big fuckin’ hero, huh?” Shadoe said.

“I’ve seen him in action, trust me. He’s got the skills. He could kill most if not all of us easily.” Majors said.

“I’d like to see his ass try it,” Rico said. “He don’t know what we can do.”

“Let’s play nice. He’s on our team. His girlfriend is possessed by the Ghost. He can help us find her, then we find the Ghost and put an end to this,” Majors explained.

“She’s not my girlfriend,” I objected.

“Whatever. Now O’Brien told me earlier she tried to communicate with you, like telepathically. Could you reach her doing that?

“I don’t know. It was an accident the last time, and I didn’t do anything, it was all her.”

“This is one of Shadoe’s abilities. She can help you do it.”

“Uh, no way. He’s not touching me,” Shadoe protested.

“Don’t flatter yourself,” I told her. She replied by flipping me the middle finger.

“Shadoe,” Majors chimed in. “I’m not asking you to let him massage your ass. You just gotta hold his hand for a few minutes so he can reach her. Let him figure out where she is so we can stop this.”

“How we gonna kill a ghost anyway?” Michael asked. “You got some ghostbusting shit or what? This thing is like God or something. Once we find them, then what?”

“I don’t know,” Majors said. “I’m sure all of us together can do something. It seems to be limited in its power. Charlie took out the Son all by himself. I’m sure all of us working together would be quite powerful.”

It wasn’t much of a pep talk and I could tell by all their eyes that they didn’t believe it either. I had no idea how Majors found all these folks, or what the rest of them could do. Eli and Gina were the only two who didn’t speak. They seemed to be the quiet ones of the bunch, which was not necessarily a bad thing. That, or they were hiding something. Majors walked over to Shadoe and talked to her privately for a few minutes. I don’t know what he said to her, but after several minutes I interrupted.

“Hey, I don’t mean to be pushy, but the next plague is dead livestock. Now that might not affect us right here in the city, but the plague after that is boils; on everyone. Now I don’t know about you all, but I don’t want to be covered from head to toe in boils. I hear it hurts like hell. After that its thunder and hail, so whatever we’re gonna do, we should get to it.

Majors looked at me without speaking, then looked at Shadoe. She rolled her eyes.

“All right,” she said. “Let’s get this over with.” She walked over to me and grabbed both of my hands. “Close your eyes, and try to reach out to your girl with your mind, as if you’re trying to speak to her. Clear everything else form your thoughts and focus on her.”

I closed my eyes and did what she said. Oddly enough, it was easier to focus on Maria and Maria alone than I had imagined.

Chapter 37

Maria stood atop the Tower of the Americas watching the destruction the thing inside her was causing. It was killing her to see the gnats, frogs and flies swarming throughout the city. People had to have been hurt or even killed, and there was nothing she could do to stop it. Not only that, but she was part of it; even against her will, she could not deny her culpability. She didn’t know if Charlie had heard her cry earlier, or even if he was still alive. Was he killed in the desert or by the plagues? She had no way to know.

Maria…

The voice cried out, but not from inside her head but from outside of her. Someone was actually speaking to her.

Charlie? Where are you? Please help me! I’m trapped, the thing is inside me, he’s killing everything.

Yes, I know, she heard Charlie say. I’m with some people who can help. We can destroy it.

How will you do that? I don’t know what it’s going to do. I know it will kill me when it’s done with me.

No. I won’t let that happen. I need to know where you are.

The Tower. I’m at the top of the Tower of the Americas. I can see everything from here. Before she could say anymore, there was a sharp, dizzying pain in her head. It was as if a thunderbolt shot through her brain, almost causing her to black out.

You stupid cunt! The thing said. You think your boyfriend can save you? I let him reach you so you can watch him die. Him and his group of freak show friends. They are all unnatural creatures. It hesitated while scanning her mind. Ooooh. You don’t know what he is! Oh my dear. Your boyfriend is something special indeed. His genes are corrupt. The angels who fell from Heaven came to earth many generations ago, and they took human women as their wives. As a result their children were monstrous freaks, with all sorts of bizarre powers. Charlie is descended from these creatures. You should see the horrible things he can do, or already has done. Your boyfriend is a murderer!

Maria didn’t know how to respond. She wasn’t even sure what the voice was talking about. Something about Charlie being part fallen angel and being a murderer. The cops told her he was a murderer too. She didn’t want it to be true, but didn’t know what to think at this point. He’d always been so kind and gentle with her, though there was a lot she didn’t know about him. She didn’t have time think on it further as the sky turned a darker shade of red.

As the color changed, she could hear people crying from within the city. She shuttered as she began to feel the suffering occurring down below. Another plague was about to begin. She had no idea what, but figured it would be horrible. She didn’t know all of the plagues, but knew they would continue to get worse. Charlie’s voice still echoed inside her head, and she hoped he would get there soon.

Chapter 38

I broke contact with Shadoe and stepped away from her. I wasn’t sure if she could see or hear anything that had been said. As I looked around, the rest of the group was staring at me as if I was about to spout some shocking new revelation. They all began to scratch themselves as large, painful boils began to appear. This was the next plague. It must have started while I was talking to Maria.  I began to itch as well; I saw the boils on my hands and could feel them all over my chest and back.

“The Tower,” I said. “She’s on top of the Tower of the Americas.”

“So you talked to her?” Majors asked.

“He did. I could hear,” Shadoe said. “It was creepy. That thing is powerful, I could feel it.” She acted as if she didn’t notice the boils. Tough girl. “So what’s the plan?” She asked while turning to me.

“We go to the tower and fuck that thing up,” I said.

“And just how do you propose we do that?” Majors asked.

“With all of us, we can do something.”

“I’m not getting killed saving your girlfriend, dude!” Rico said as he walked up to me. His pock-marked face looked even worse covered in boils. Even though he was twice my size, I didn’t back away.

“Then stay here and scratch your ass. I don’t care,” I said.

“Well maybe you should care,” he stuck his finger less than an inch from my face.

“You might wanna get out of my face, slick.”

“Okay, that’s it. Knock it off!” Majors yelled. “We’re on the same team. And Rico, you’re coming along or you’re out, got it?”

“Whatever dude,” he said as he backed away.

“I say we just get up there and hit that thing hard and fast; but we have to do it without hurting Maria,” I said.

“And how do you expect us to do that?” Shadoe asked. “She’s already dead, you know. You can’t save her. That thing won’t let us.”

“She’s not dead! I will go up there and take that thing on myself if I have to! So you all can come with me, or stay the fuck here. Anyone tries to mess with me, I will make you wish you were dead. I’ll show you more pain than you ever knew existed!”

They stood around me wide eyed as I turned and began walking toward the Tower. It wasn’t too far from where we were. I’d reach it in about ten minutes on foot. As I headed toward the Tower, I heard the others walking up behind me. I guess they’d made up their minds but I wasn’t going to wait.

When I reached the base of the Tower, I looked up at the huge structure. It was much taller than I’d imagined. The main doors to the lobby were open, so I was able to enter with no problem. The elevator was also working, so I pushed the up button and waited for it to arrive. The rest of the Bastards filed in as I waited.

“Glad you all decided to join me.”

“We figured, may as well go out fighting,” Majors said. “Can’t let you have all the fun.”

The elevator dinged as we stepped on board. It sped upward and we reached the observation deck in a matter of minutes. We followed Majors out of the elevator who led us to what looked like a maintenance door that led to the roof. It was locked however.

“You have a key?” I asked.

“Nope, better.” Majors said. “Rico!” Rico walked up, grabbed the door knob and squeezed. In seconds, it glowed red-hot. The heat was so intense, I could feel it five feet away. The knob finally fell off and the door swung open to reveal a stairwell.

“Okay kids,” Majors began. “This is it.”

We walked up the two flights of stairs and reached the door to the roof. I took a deep breath as I glanced at everyone’s eyes. Fear showed on each of their faces. They were about to go head to head with God in battle, and they were horrified. I was nervous, but this wasn’t my first tangle with one of the Three. My biggest concern was Maria, which upset me more than anything. In any other circumstance, she would just be collateral damage, like the 70,000 people I had to kill in the Alamodome. Yet because I’d allowed myself to feel something for her, I wanted to beat the Ghost without hurting her. That may not be possible.

I liked things better when I had no feelings. A year ago I could have killed Maria just as easily as anyone else. While I had no qualms about killing a stadium full of people, I couldn’t stand the idea of hurting her. Whatever I was about to face on that roof, I had no doubt it would change me forever.

Chapter 39

When we stepped onto the roof, the first thing we saw were antennas, lots of them. There were small and medium sized devices all around the top of the tower, with one huge one in the center. They operated the various communications and entertainment devices in the restaurant, bar and other facilities the Tower housed. I looked around and didn’t see anything other than a magnificent view of the city. The wind was much stronger at this height as well. I would have to watch my step. It would be a quick battle if I got blown off the Tower after my first few steps.

“Where is she?” Majors asked.

“I don’t see her. We’ll have to try and walk around,” I answered. The roof went downward at a sharp slant, then there was a railing that went around the edge. I walked carefully down toward the railing. When I felt myself losing my balance, I fell to my butt and scooted myself carefully to the railing. The rest of the Bastards did the same as I did, except for Eli. For some reason he decided to stay on his feet the whole way. Some of them weren’t all the way to the rail yet when he went racing by, almost at a dead run. The roof was too steep for him to slow himself down.

“Eli! Stop!” Majors yelled. “Fall down to stop yourself, you’re going too fast!” Eli didn’t listen, and kept moving down the roof, headed right toward me. Since I wasn’t here to be his hero, I stepped aside. He was way too big and moving far too fast for me to even try to stop him. He hit the railing full speed and toppled right over. Shadoe screamed as he plummeted to the ground. Oddly enough, he didn’t yell or scream. Maybe he was a mute, since he’d never spoken a word since I’d been around him. He sure wouldn’t be talking anymore.

“You asshole! You could have saved him!” Shadoe screamed at me.

“Are you kidding? That kid was a moose. He’d have taken me right over with him.”

“Fuck you. I hope your bitch girlfriend dies!”

I felt like I should have been angry with her, but that would have been counterproductive at this point. We worked our way along the railing. I hadn’t gone far when I saw Maria. She was standing on the edge of the railing looking out at the city. Black smoke was surrounding her and drifting upward toward the sky. She turned in my direction, her face contorted into a twisted smile.

“Well, Charlie,” She said in that awful, guttural voice. “Glad you could make it.” She looked around at the rest of the group. “Aww, how cute. You brought your little friends too.”

Michael and Rico ran around me, heading right for her. They both reached her, grabbing each of her arms. Rico put his hand on her face as if he was going to burn her too. Before I could move, she had flung them both off the roof as if they were rag dolls. Gina, who was behind me and Shadoe, and had also been silent so far, had circled round us and was up along the top of the roof.

“Is that what you brought to fight me Charlie? These weaklings? I’m insulted.” Maria said.

Gina fired a lightning bolt from the palm of her hand, striking Maria square in the back. The blast caused Maria to stumble toward the railing but that was it. Gina looked stunned, but went to fire another one. Before she could get it off, Maria had returned fire, shooting her own bolt of lightning. Gina never stood a chance. The bolt hit her in the chest and she instantly burst into flames. She screamed and fell on her face, rolling down the roof and sliding under the railing, then falling to the ground below. That left Majors and me.

“I got an idea,” he said. “You talk to her, distract her while I try to get close. All I have to do is touch her for a second and she’s a pile of salt. Over and done.”

“You are not turning her into salt. There has to be another way.”

“That isn’t your girl no more man. She’s gone. That thing took her a long time ago. She just wasted my entire crew as if they were ants. We’ll be dead too if we don’t do this!”

“You’re not going to touch her.”

“I’ll turn your ass into salt, too, if you don’t get out of my way—” before he could finish, I punched him in the face. I must have got him right on the button since he collapsed, out cold. I thought of throwing him over the railing. Instead I just helped him down and placed him flat on his back.

“Well, Charlie, looky there. We’re all alone now. How romantic,” the thing inside Maria said. “Now we can really have some fun.”

Chapter 40

Maria couldn’t believe she was looking Charlie dead in the eyes. He was a mere thirty feet from her, yet she felt like he was a million miles away. She wanted to run to him, to reach out and grab him. Yet she couldn’t. She remained a prisoner in her own body, held hostage by the Ghost. She watched in horror as it easily destroyed each of Charlie’s friends, with no regard for the special powers they all seemed to have. She wasn’t sure what Charlie could do, but she hoped that whatever it was, it was enough to would save her.

He even killed one of his own friends trying to save her. She’d wished one of them would kill her. Just destroy her body so she would no longer be a part of the Ghost’s destruction. Death would be a welcome release.

How touching. Your half-breed boyfriend cares about you. That freak has never cared about anything, the creature said to her. Too bad he can’t save you. I will let you watch while I skin him alive.

A shiver ran through her as the thing spoke. She had never seen Charlie fight, so she had no idea what he was capable of. Perhaps he really was a killer. If so, that would do him good in this case.

Charlie will kill you, she told the thing.

Oh really? Take a look at this. In an instant, Maria was transported back thousands of years. She saw the beginning of earth and the formation of the planets. Then she saw wars and battles. There was a race of people being held captive in Egypt. She saw the same plagues she’d witnessed earlier. At the end of the plagues, she felt herself floating, drifting high above Egypt. The same black cloud that had been following her was still there, surrounding her. As the cloud spread throughout the land, people began to scream as their first born sons all die before their eyes. She went through other parts of history, all the way through the crucifixion of Christ and to the formation of the early church. There were few instances where she wasn’t striking someone dead, or watching someone die. In the same instant, she was back on the tower.

So, now you know who I am. Your pal Charlie doesn’t stand a chance. He is a half-bred abomination. His friends were too. Now, he is all that is left of his kind, and I shall eradicate him for good.

Before Maria could respond, the thing began pushing her back within herself. Things around her grew dark and blurry as the world around her began to fade away. It was putting her back to sleep while it carried on its work. She wished it would just kill her, but knew that wouldn’t happen until it was finished.

If for just one moment there was a way that she could take control of her body, she would fling herself over the railing and to her death. The thing wouldn’t die, but she would be free. She knew it was totally selfish. One way or another, the thing would destroy Charlie, the entire city, and maybe even more. She didn’t see how Charlie stood a chance. She wouldn’t be able to watch the fight, though. She faded back into the dark as she saw Charlie quickly running toward her.

Chapter 41

As I got closer to Maria, I could see that her eyes appeared pitch black. They say the eyes are the windows to the soul. Looking into her eyes was like looking into two empty, bottomless wells. There was nothing there-her soul had been eaten up by the Ghost.

“Come here, Charlie. Come give your girl a big kiss! Hahahahaha!” the thing sounded hideous. I had no idea what I was going to do. I don’t have a large crowd of people to turn into zombies. The red sky turned black as I made my way toward her. She held her hand out to me and for some reason I ducked. It was a good thing I had since a lightning bolt came screeching toward me, zipping over my head.

“Oh, good reflexes! But can you do this?” The Ghost said as she leaped from the railing, all the way to the top of the large antenna above the roof. She laughed at me while wrapping her arms and legs around it. “Come and get me, Charlie!”

This was not good. I had no idea how to get up there, or how she was holding on against the heavy winds. I got on all fours and crawled up the roof to the tower’s peak. I made my way over the railing and smaller antennas to begin the climb up the larger one. I was relieved there was a maintenance ladder attached to the side of the antenna. I grabbed on and began climbing. I can’t say that I’d ever been afraid of heights, but looking down at the ladder and seeing the city over 650 feet below didn’t exactly build my confidence.

As I climbed, I could hear Maria laughing again.

“Come on, lover boy. Come and get me. You gonna cut me up like you do your other victims? Let me see you try. Maybe you should crucify me like you did the Bishop! Oh, you’d have to nail your honey to a cross in order to do it. What a shame! Hahahaha!”

I seriously wanted to fuck that thing up. I’d seen it when it wasn’t in a body. It was just a large plume of cloud or smoke. I had no idea how to kill it in that form. No, I was going to have to do something with it while it was inside of Maria. I finally reached her, holding tightly to the ladder while she clung to the antenna as if she were a spider. We were at the highest point in the city.

“Well, you made it tough guy.”

“Yeah, I’m here. So you gonna kill me, then her? Or both?”

“I’m not going to kill her, Charlie. You are!” It said as it reached for me. An electric charge coursed through my body as she grabbed my shoulder. I jerked back but felt my grip loosen. “Be careful Charlie! It’s a long way down!”

I reached around trying to grab her, but she moved just out of my reach. She grabbed me around the waist from behind. I almost let go again as more pain shot through my body. This time she wasn’t letting up. Her fingers dug deeper into my side, burning through my flesh. If I didn’t do something, my insides would be cooked in minutes.

She continued to laugh as wave after wave seared through me. Without thinking, I grabbed her by the face and felt my fingers sinking in. I didn’t think this would work, but it was my last hope. I didn’t want to turn Maria into a zombie, but maybe after the Ghost was gone, she’d turn back. As my fingers sank in deeper, Maria cried out in her own voice.

“Charlie! You’re hurting me! Please stop! Help me!” I almost let go, but I knew the Ghost was trying to fool me. After a few seconds, I felt something else through my fingers, then my arm. The pain was gone and replaced by a tingling, almost burning sensation. The black mist began to swirl around me as the burning got stronger and stronger, and then I began to feel euphoric. I became lightheaded and suddenly felt better and stronger than I’d ever felt before.

What are you doing? The Ghost said, but it wasn’t coming from Maria. It was inside my head. I realized that was drawing the Ghost into myself. I continued pulling it in until my strength drained out of me. I felt lightheaded and weak as my vision blurred. I finally let go of Maria. For the first time, her eyes were her own again. I wanted to reach out to her but she couldn’t cling to the antenna any longer, and she fell away.  Immediately, I dove after her. The strong winds blew us just beyond the roof as we began plunging toward the earth.

“Charlie!” Maria cried as she fell. I suddenly felt strong again. Stronger than I’d ever felt before. I was in a nose dive and gaining on Maria in our free fall. She reached up to me as I got closer to her, finally grabbing on to me as we continued to plummet almost 700 feet to the ground below. I could see the pavement coming up faster and faster. For some reason, I wasn’t afraid as the ground got closer. I pushed Maria over my shoulder and flipped around just as I hit the ground feet first with a crash. I went to one knee, placing my right hand on the ground in front of me to brace myself. The pavement all around me cracked in all directions. It took me a few seconds to process what had just happened. I sat Maria down as I stood. She looked dazed and scared, yet she looked like herself, which was enough for me.

“Charlie? What did you do?”

“I’m not sure. I think it’s inside of me now.”

“What? How is it not controlling you?”

“I don’t know. That fall should have killed us both. I feel strong, like I’m feeding off its power.”

“Oh my God.”

“Something like that,” I made a feeble effort at wry humor. Maria collapsed in my arms and I held her tight. I wasn’t sure what to make of all this.

“Well, isn’t that the cutest thing.” Majors said from behind me. I turned and saw he was walking toward me from the tower. He must have woken up.

“You missed the show,” I said.

“I know. I owe you a punch in the face.  Told you she was your girlfriend.”

“Yeah, yeah.”

“I saw what happened up there. That thing isn’t possessing you?”

“I think I’m possessing it.”

Let me out of here Charlie! I will rip you apart piece by piece, from the inside out! I heard the Ghost’s voice scream from inside my head.

No, you won’t. I’m not like Maria. You’re part of me now. And I’m gonna use you to destroy the Father.

You can’t--- I silenced the voice with my own thoughts and never heard it again.

“So, what happens now?” Maria asked.

“I think it’s time I go to Him.”

“Who?”

“The Son and the Ghost came to me. I’m not going to wait for the Father. I’m taking the fight to Him.

Epilogue

Somewhere in Mexico

I sat outside the mansion while the tejano music blasted from the inside. It took a bit of work, but I was able to find out when and where I could find the leaders of the Guajardo Cartel. There were three main guys. The big fish was Benicio Alvarez. He was a nasty son of a bitch too. When his son got arrested, he bailed him out of jail and had one of his guys peel his skin off one inch at a time. It took them three weeks, and involved a blood transfusion so he’d stay alive during the process.  He did all that to his own kid just to make an example of him.

The outer wall to the compound was over ten feet tall. I hadn’t had a chance to see what I could do now that I had the Ghost inside me, but I was sure I had some of its powers. The night air was cool as made my way from the hills to the wall. There was a sentry standing guard on the one side. I crept up behind him without making a sound. I couldn’t believe how silently I was able to move. That must have had something to do with my new abilities. It was as if I was willing my silence. I was on before he knew what hit him. In one quick motion, pulled the knife out of its sheath, it was a Marine K-Bar I found at an Army/Navy store. Grabbing him by the head, I slit his throat, on the right side, cutting deep into his carotid artery, and sliced all the way along his neck and through his windpipe.

I could have just broken his neck, would have been less messy, but tonight I wanted blood. The cartel had caused me enough problems and had been trying to kill me for weeks. It was time to put an end to them for good. When the sentry fell, I stepped over his body and worked my way around the wall. I reached the main gate where there was only one guard. I figured there would be more, but I must have killed the other one. The guard there was leaning against the gate, playing with a cell phone. It must have been a boring job. They were out in the middle of nowhere and guarding the outside of a fortress.  No one could get through even if they didn’t have guards. No one, except me.

This guard looked up just as I came around the corner. He reached for his gun, but I grabbed him by the shirt and thrust the knife into his throat. The gun fell from his hand as he thrashed and struggled.  He gurgled and gasped as the air rushed from his windpipe. It took an unusually long amount of time, but after a minute or so he went down.  I felt around his belt and found a device on his belt. It looked like a garage door opener but was smaller. I activated it and the large gate swung open. I stepped inside and closed the gate behind me.

The music got louder and louder as I made my way to the house. I heard people talking and laughing as I approached. There was a couple standing outside laughing loudly. They saw me as I walked by, but didn’t even look at me. I walked right through the front door where a door man tried to stop me.  He said something to me in Spanish, but didn’t finish. I thrust the knife into his windpipe and watched him fall. A woman screamed from the hallway as she turned and ran. I followed her and arrived into the main room where the party was.

Dozens of people were there staring at me. The music had stopped and I saw several men with AK-47s pointed at me.

“Who the fuck are you?” A man said from the corner. I turned and saw him sitting in a large chair. He was wearing what looked like an expensive suit, holding a drink in his right hand.  “Whoever you are, you are very stupid senor. You are dead.”  The man in the chair was none other than Benicio Alvarez.

“I don’t think so,” I said. I had thought of this ahead of time, but wasn’t sure it would work. I focused my thoughts on the men with guns. I had meant to make the guns turn red hot so they could drop them. Instead, the guns exploded in their hands. The men all fell to the ground screaming and staring at the bloody stumps where their arms use to be. Their faces were peppered with shrapnel. A few died from the blast, the rest were just all fucked up.

Benicio jumped to his feet, but using my mind again, I stopped him. He froze in his tracks as I focused all my energy on the center of his forehead. Sweat poured down his face when I saw his flesh start to bubble. His face, and hands began bubbling and popping as if his skin was boiling. The rest of the guests began screaming as Benicio’s skin began to slowly start running down his face, exposing his bare skull. Flesh and blood oozed and dripped from his fingers as he collapsed, nothing left but a bloody heap of bone and tissue.

“Who are you?” someone screamed from behind me.

“I am El Diablo Blanco,” I said. “And I’ve come to send you all to Hell.”

Table of Contents

Copyright

Prologue

Chapter 1

Chapter 2

Chapter 3

Chapter 4

Chapter 5

Chapter 6

Chapter 7

Chapter 8

Chapter 9

Chapter 10

Chapter 11

Chapter 12

Chapter 13

Chapter 14

Chapter 15

Chapter 16

Chapter 17

Chapter 18

Chapter 19

Chapter 20

Chapter 21

Chapter 22

Chapter 23

Chapter 24

Chapter 25

Chapter 26

Chapter 27

Chapter 28

Chapter 29

Chapter 30

Chapter 31

Chapter 32

Chapter 33

Chapter 34

Chapter 35

Chapter 36

Chapter 37

Chapter 38

Chapter 39

Chapter 40

Chapter 41

Epilogue