Evil in Me, page 29
The demon clutched what was left of its head and stumbled back, howling and flailing. The beast tumbled into the burning banner, tugging the banner down on top of it in a flaming, tangled heap.
There came a bright burst of flame, followed by a green plume of foul-smelling smoke. One final screech and the thing crumbled to ash right before Eduardo’s eyes.
Eduardo pulled Ruby to her feet. She let out a painful cry and collapsed, clutching her ankle where the demon had bit her. He could see it was twisted at an odd angle, was probably broken.
Smoke was rapidly filling the room. Eduardo started to pick her up and carry her, but to where? Both exists were blocked by the crowds of panicking people. He knew they’d never make it out, that those people were doomed.
“Jesus help us!” he cried, coughing on the smoke as he searched for any other way. There was another window on the right side of the stage. Eduardo hefted one of the amps and ran it into the window. The glass shattered, and a wave of fresh air came into the room, but the amp was stopped by the bars.
“No!” he cried, then noticed the amp had knocked the lower hinges loose on the bars. “Oh, Lord Jesus. Thank you!” He tugged the amp back out, and with a mighty groan, hefted it over his head and threw it with all his worth into the bars.
This time the amp smashed through.
He let out a triumphant shout and grabbed Ruby, carrying her to the window. But to his surprise, she grabbed the broken bars and wouldn’t let go.
“Tina!” she cried. “We gotta get Tina!”
“Let go!” he yelled at her.
“No! We can’t leave Tina!”
“Okay, I’ll get her. I swear. Just let go!”
She let loose and he helped her slide down the short drop to the parking lot. She landed on her good foot, then fell over onto the gravel. Eduardo had a moment’s hesitation, afraid he’d lose her, but looking at her ankle, he felt sure she wasn’t going anywhere.
Eduardo fumbled his way back through the smoke, found Tina on her knees, clutching her head. He grabbed her and pulled her over to the window, then helped her down.
He started to follow, then stopped, hearing all the screams, really hearing them. He couldn’t see much through the smoke, but knew they must be packed like sardines trying to escape. People would be dying soon, suffocating under the crush of bodies.
“No, I can’t help them,” he said, when a woman stumbled past. He grabbed her without even thinking, because he knew he could help her. “This way,” he yelled, leading her to the window.
He spotted other shadowy figures nearby. “No,” he said, yet he went for them, guiding two more kids over. He went back again, to the tangle of people this time, coughing and choking as smoke burned his eyes, wrangled a few more kids free.
“Jesus, what am I doing? I’m gonna die in here.” And it was then that he understood what was going on. God had put him here, in this burning building, for this very purpose, to save these stupid kids. This! This is all part of my redemption.
The flames were burning themselves out, which was good, but it made for more of the black choking smoke. And Eduardo knew it was this deadly smoke and the crush of the crowd that was going to get him killed, yet he continued guiding people out, must’ve led three dozen people to safety before the fire trucks finally showed up.
Eduardo climbed down out of the window, collapsed onto the gravel, gasping and heaving up a gutful of black sooty snot and bile.
The fire crews began knocking out windows and entering the building.
Eduardo pushed himself up to his feet, looking for Ruby. She was gone. So was her friend.
“Oh no,” he said. “No!”
He headed toward the Cadillac, hoping to catch them before they got away. But the car was still there.
He saw Tina. She looked frantic. He grabbed her. “Where’s Ruby?”
“Some guy, some weirdo … he took her! I don’t know—”
“Took her?” Eduardo scanned the parking lot—all was chaos, lights and sirens, a few ambulances had arrived and people were running every which way.
He let Tina go and headed up toward the road, heard a woman yelling. He slipped past a truck and spotted Ruby. She was handcuffed and some freak job with his face painted white, was trying to force her into a van. The guy punched her in the stomach, doubling her over, then shoved her in the back.
“No!” Eduardo growled and sprinted for the van, coming up fast on the creep, hitting him from behind, slamming the guy into the side of the van. The man bounced off the door and landed on the ground. Eduardo put a knee in his back.
“You’re not going anywhere, asshole!” Eduardo shouted.
“Eduardo,” Ruby gasped, trying to tell him something.
That’s when Eduardo heard the blast, felt the slug go into his gut.
Eduardo fell back against the van, clutching his stomach.
The creep crawled to his feet, a gun in his hand. He wiped the blood off his mouth, spat, then shot Eduardo three more times.
Eduardo slid to the ground, lay there groaning with tears streaming from his eyes as he watched the van drive away. The world was growing dim. He reached for the plastic Jesus around his neck. Kissed it.
“Redemption,” he whispered, and his world went dark.
ICE PICK
Ruby jolted awake, glanced around the inside of the van, moaned. It wasn’t a nightmare, she was still here, still tied up. This was really happening.
She was pretty sure they’d been driving the whole night, but it was hard to tell, as she’d nodded off a few times, exhausted from terror. But she knew they must be hundreds of miles from Atlanta by now, that they could be anywhere, that no one would even be looking for them this far away.
They’d stopped only once that she could remember, not too long ago, sometime after leaving the highway. That was when he’d stripped her down to her underwear and strapped her to the ties in the rear of the van. One side of her face was swollen and hot from where he’d slapped and punched her when she’d tried to resist.
She sat now on a small bed, her back against the paneled doors, her hands cuffed to either wall, her ankles bound together at the base of the bed.
The van slowed and hit a bump, then another. Ruby couldn’t see the driver because there was a panel between them, but she could see a little out of the front, enough to tell it was morning and they were on a dirt road in the woods somewhere.
Beel, are you there?
I am here.
God … I’m so scared.
I am here.
The van stopped, backed up, pulled forward, straightened. The man cut the engine and popped his head around the panel, studied Ruby. His makeup was smeared and he looked like a melting ghoul.
“Have to relieve the old bladder,” he said and grinned. “Be right back, gumdrop. Don’t you go nowhere.”
Beel, please. Do something.
He didn’t reply.
Beel?
I am here, Ruby. I … I do not know.
Ruby began to tremble. And even through the terror, the knowledge that she was about to die horribly, that she was going to Hell, whatever that meant, an overwhelming sadness took her. It was her mother, it was knowing she’d never see her again, would never be able to hug her and tell her in person, that she loved her. “Mom … I love you, Mom.”
The side door slid open and the man climbed in, shutting it behind him.
“Goodness gracious, that felt good. Not healthy holding it in that long, y’know.” He took a seat on the short bench next to Ruby.
“Hi, I’m Richard, but most folks call me Dick. I don’t like being called Dick. Don’t know who does, really. So, Richard, okay? That sound good?”
Ruby said nothing.
Dick unbuttoned his shirt and tugged it off, followed by his pants, stripping down to his dingy briefs and socks. He scratched his flabby belly, then grabbed the handle of a duffel bag and slid it over. There came a metal clang that chilled Ruby’s teeth. He unzipped the bag and began removing tools, setting them on the small table beside him.
“Please,” Ruby pleaded. “Please, don’t do this.”
He stopped and looked at her for a long moment. “Well, okay then. If you really don’t want me to, I won’t.” He started putting the tools back into the bag, a screwdriver, pliers, ice pick. He stopped and smiled at her. “Just kidding.” He let out a big laugh and pulled the tools back out. He laughed again. “That would’ve been funny though, huh?”
“Listen,” Ruby said. “You kill me and you’re gonna release it. The demon. It’ll come for you. Gonna take you straight to Hell.”
Dick paused, seemed to be contemplating this. “No … I don’t think so. I mean, I might’ve bought into that a few days ago. But I’ve come to see things differently of late.”
“You’re doing Satan’s bidding. Playing right into his hands.”
Dick plucked up the ice pick. “See, I’m thinking just the opposite … that I’m doing God’s bidding here. Which is a pretty funny thing, considering that I was an atheist up until yesterday. But, man, oh man, it just seems that God, the Good Lord Jesus, has been there for me every step of the way. He practically handed you to me out of that fire last night. I mean, it was biblical. Still haven’t got over that. And…” He tapped his head. “This song, this sweet, terrible song. It’s like angels are singing to me … leading me right to you. If that isn’t enough to convince a man that God exists, I don’t know what is.”
“It’s the demon singing to you. Can’t you see that?”
“No … I don’t think so. The way I see it is, you’re some sort of servant of Satan, a witch perhaps. I mean, heck, you had a demon following you around, protecting you. Like to see you explain that one.”
He waited. “Yeah, that’s about what I thought.” He tapped her nose with the ice pick. “Well, whatever you are. God wants you dead.”
He jabbed the tool into her shoulder. Ruby fought not to scream, but couldn’t help it as he twisted the tool around; the pain overwhelming.
Dick watched mesmerized as the blood rolled down her arm, then he pulled the tool free and started lapping the blood, licking his way up to the wound, then sucking on it, slurping loudly.
Ruby struggled to tug her hands free, the cuffs biting into her wrists. She struggled to breathe, her whole body shivering and shaking. She was on the verge of fainting, hoping she would, anything to escape the pain, the horror.
After a minute he leaned back. Blood was smeared into his makeup. He smacked his lips. “God, that’s amazing.” He burped. “Really, it’s the cat’s pajamas. But, y’know, it’s somewhat troubling. Want to know why?”
Ruby didn’t, all she wanted was to be as far away from this man as she could get.
“Because this isn’t who I am.” One of his eyes began to twitch. “It brings everything into question. I don’t even know if I’m evil anymore. You see, this used to all be horrible to me. Something I had to force myself to do. I would cry right along with my victim. But I’m not crying now. No, because I want to do this. No, I need to do this, have to. And that’s all wrong. It’s more of a compulsion then, right? Are you following? How is this act evil, if I can’t control it? Or worse, if it controls me? How am I morally culpable? It’s a real conundrum.”
He squinted at her. “Hey, are you listening? You look like you’re thinking about something else.” Dick tapped the ice pick against his teeth. “Boy, I sure got a lot to unpack here … a lot to mull over. But I can work it out later, because right now, right now, all that matters is that I’ve never felt more alive.”
He stabbed Ruby in the belly.
* * *
Tina tapped the glass of the WREK broadcast room.
Greg looked up from the board, gave her a small smile, and waved her in; he’d been expecting her.
“Here’s one of my all-time favorite bands, X, to put a little pep in your morning commute,” he said, speaking into the mic. He pushed play on one of the cassettes, tugged off his headphones, and stood up.
“Greg, I’m … I’m sorry about … I shouldn’t of…” Tina started, but didn’t know where to go from there. She’d been up all night and was exhausted, hadn’t even had a chance to change out of her smoke-stained stage dress.
“Hey, no. We’re not gonna worry about any of that. Not now. Besides, seems I’m in the habit of rewarding bad behavior.”
She gave him a weak smirk and shook her head.
He came around the desk and gave her a hug. “Any word? Anything about your friend?”
Tina fought back tears. “No. I mean a lot of folks saw the van. Got the license plate and all. The police are looking everywhere. But it’s like the van just disappeared.”
“Okay, I got the tape queued up. You sure you’re up for this? I can do it if not.”
“I got it,” Tina said, taking a long sip of Greg’s coffee. “Anything for Ruby.”
Greg put his headphones back on and handed a pair to Tina.
The current song wound down and Greg clicked on his mic.
“Good morning, WREK listeners. I hate to have to share such sad news with you, but for those who haven’t heard, there was a terrible fire at the Metroplex club last night. According to eyewitnesses, a man wearing bizarre face paint threw two firebombs into the building. Four people suffocated during the panic to escape, and a fifth died from smoke inhalation. Dozen more are still being treated. Thankfully, the fire department was able to extinguish the flames before more lives were lost.
“But that’s only part of the story. Apparently, the same suspect that set the blaze also shot and killed a man in the parking lot. The shooting taking place as that man tried to stop the suspect from kidnapping a woman.”
Greg sighed. “The woman that was abducted was Ruby Tucker, the lead singer of the Night Mares, the band playing during the attack. This morning, I have Tina Tang, the guitarist for the Night Mares, joining us. She has something she’d like to share with everyone.”
Greg nodded to Tina and she leaned into the mic. “I watched a man kidnap my best friend last night. I’ve never felt so helpless in my life. But I’m not giving up on her. Never gonna give up on her, because she’s not only my best friend, she’s also a bright light in the world … there’s a spark of magic in everything she does. Like her song, ‘Evil in Me.’ Ruby believed that this song was a spell, that it would free her from the many demons in her life. That all she needed was for folks to sing along, that their voices, their spirits, would lift her up and set her free. So, I’m gonna play her song this morning and I’m hoping every one of you out there will lend Ruby your voice and a bit of your heart. Hoping that maybe, just maybe, we can send some magic her way. Enough to set her loose of this terrible man.”
“So, here it is, folks. ‘Evil in Me,’ by Ruby Tucker and the Night Mares.”
Greg clicked play and the song began, Ruby’s voice drifting out over the airways, sending a chill down Tina’s spine. When the chorus came around, Tina and Greg joined in. Tina hoping and praying everyone out there did too. Greg once told her that WREK reached upward of sixty thousand listeners on any given morning. Tina figured if even half of them were to sing, something would happen, something big.
* * *
“Beel,” a distant voice called. “Beel,” this time a little clearer. It was Lord Sheelbeth. “It is over. It is done. The girl will be dead soon. I am sorry it has come to this.”
Beel knew it was over; the worms’ song ringing loudly in his ears. Do not kill her, he pleaded. There is no need to kill her now. You have me.
“It is too late, Beel. You have made your choice.”
Spare her … make the man stop. You can do that.
“You are not hearing me. The woman is mortally wounded. She is dying.”
Beel could feel Ruby’s diminishing heartbeat, could plainly see she’d lost too much blood.
The man, this Dick, was slurping at Ruby’s neck. He released her, leaned back against the wall of the van and gasped—Ruby’s blood dripping from his lips, his chin, all down his bare chest, staining his underwear red. The man pulled the ice pick out of Ruby’s neck and laid it on the table. He must’ve stuck Ruby a dozen times with that ice pick, all over her body, drinking from each fresh wound like some ghoulish vampire.
“Wow,” he burped and wiped his mouth. “That was … sublime. The bee’s knees, I’m telling you. Never felt anything like it.”
“Beel,” Lord Sheelbeth called. “Finish it … wipe the ring and come home. There is no need for you to share her pain any longer.”
Beel knew there was nothing left that he could do for Ruby, it was only a waiting game at this point.
Beel set Ruby’s thumb to the ring, started to wipe it clean.
Ruby moaned.
Just a little longer, Beel pleaded with Sheelbeth. Please. I do not wish to leave her to die alone with this madman.
“No!” Lord Sheelbeth said sternly, her voice growing sharp. “You must do it now, right now!” Beel detected a touch of panic. Why? What did Lord Sheelbeth possibly have to worry about at this point?
“Beel, quick, wipe the ring. This is your last chance, or the flame!”
Beel felt it then, a tingling in the air. Ruby, Beel called. Ruby, do you feel that?
Ruby didn’t respond.
It was all around them, growing stronger.
Dick sat up, looked furtively about. “What’s that?”
The curtains ruffled as though from a light breeze, only there was none.
The magic, Beel thought. By all the stars, it is the magic!
Dick pushed aside the curtain, peered out into the morning light. “I don’t like this. Not one bit.” He picked up a long knife and glared at Ruby. “This is more of your witchy voodoo. Isn’t it?”
Beel could hear it now, or rather feel it—vibrations in the air. The vibrations moved to the tune of Ruby’s song, “Evil in Me,” growing stronger by the second. He didn’t know how or why, didn’t care. Ruby, do you not feel it?
