"Ummm… Ash, didn't you say there was a town nearby?" Ethan asked.
They had been driving for hours since leaving the cabin in the woods, yet the road still seemed surrounded by trees on both sides.
Ash leaned forward slightly over the steering wheel, squinting through the windshield.
"We should be near it," he said.
A few seconds later the trees began thinning.
The road curved ahead, and beyond the last line of woods a small village finally came into view.
The car rolled out of the woods and onto the narrow road leading toward the village.
A few houses appeared first, scattered along the roadside with wooden fences and old mailboxes standing beside them.
The road continued straight ahead into the center where several small buildings stood together — a diner, a grocery store, and a gas pump that looked like it had been there for years.
Ash slowed the car as they entered.
"Well… this is the place," he said.
The village looked quiet.
Too quiet.
No people outside. No movement on the streets.
Ethan was observing everything.
"Strange," he murmured.
Wednesday's eyes moved across the empty buildings, studying the place carefully.
Enid leaned forward from the back seat, trying to see outside.
"I thought small towns were supposed to be lively in the morning," Enid said, pressing her face closer to the window.
Wednesday didn't look impressed.
"According to whom?" she asked calmly.
"Small towns like this usually hide more secrets than cities," Wednesday added. "The difference is they have fewer places to bury them."
"Ash, stop the car," Ethan suddenly said
Ash hit the brakes.
Ethan had already smelled it.
Blood.
Wednesday opened the door and stepped out. Ethan jumped onto her shoulder.
"You stay in the car," he said calmly. "Wednesday and I will go and check."
She walked toward one of the nearby houses. The yard looked quiet at first, but as she moved closer something lay near the steps.
Half of a body.
Only the upper torso remained. The mouth had been torn open unnaturally wide, the tongue ripped out and hanging loose while deep claw marks covered the chest.
Wednesday crouched slightly, studying the corpse.
"These things seem to enjoy human torture," she said after a moment. Judging from the expression frozen on the man's face, the death had been slow and terrifying.
"Well, they are demonic entities," Ethan replied from her shoulder. "What did you expect?"
That was enough confirmation for him.
The Dark One's creatures were already in the village.
Then a scream tore through the air.
Lucy.
Wednesday turned instantly and ran back toward the car.
The scene there had already changed.
Something hovered above the vehicle.
A flying creature that had once been human flapped ragged wings grown from torn flesh while clawed hands gripped the roof of the car, trying to lift it off the ground with the people still inside.
Selene reacted immediately.
She leaned out of the window and fired.
Two shots rang out.
The bullets tore straight through the creature's head, splattering it apart midair as the body collapsed and crashed onto the road beside the car.
Enid stepped out of the car slowly.
By now she had seen enough of those things that she could face them without completely losing her composure.
The first time would have ended with screaming and running, but after everything that had happened in the woods she had learned to keep herself together.
That didn't mean they stopped being disgusting.
"I thought these things only attacked at night," she said cautiously.
"That's usually the case," Ethan replied from Wednesday's shoulder. "But I guess something else is happening."
Before anyone could say more, the light around them began to change.
The sun had been bright just moments ago, hanging high in the sky above the village. Now the brightness faded as a layer of dark clouds slid across it.
The shadow moved quickly.
Within seconds the sunlight was swallowed completely.
The village dimmed.
A cold wind began to move through the empty street, rustling the trees while loose papers and dust rolled across the road.
Enid slowly looked up at the sky.
"That is definitely not a good sign… right?" she asked.
"Yeah," Ethan said quietly.
"That means something strange is happening."
Inside the small diner, the furniture had been pushed aside.
The floor was covered in blood.
A large pentagram had been drawn across the tiles, its lines thick and dark, the symbols around it carved in jagged strokes. Several terrified villagers stood inside the circle, their bodies trembling as if something unseen was already pulling at them.
At the center of the room stood the Dark One.
The Book of the Dead rested open in its hands.
Its twisted face bent toward the pages as it read aloud in the harsh, ancient language of Kandaar.
"Klaatu… verata… nictu…"
The words rolled through the diner like something alive.
The air inside the room began to vibrate as the Dark One continued the chant.
"Barra… kandara… esh tal… Nekra dominus…"
The symbols around the pentagram glowed faintly.
The people inside the circle screamed.
Thin streams of blood began pulling from their bodies, drawn out through their skin as if invisible hands were tearing it free. The blood flowed downward into the pentagram, filling the carved lines while the chanting continued.
"Zara neth… kandaar… mortis ven… ahshta vel…"
The pentagram pulsed.
Suddenly the circle erupted.
A violent column of blood shot upward from the center of the ritual, blasting straight through the ceiling of the diner and into the sky above the village.
Outside, the clouds twisted.
The sky turned dark red as the beam reached upward, spreading across the horizon while thunder rolled through the air.
Storm winds began forming above the town.
Inside the diner, the Dark One lifted its head and laughed.
"Hahahahah!"
The storm outside grew stronger.
"The gateway opened,"
"No one can stop us now."
*****
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