The Challenge of Good and Evil

by amahra

(Chapter Seven)

Distant voices woke her, but made her fear for her life; the voices sounded muffled at a greater distance, and then trailed off into silence. Esther whimpered. When she tried to raise herself, she discovered she was bound; her wrists were tied behind her back; her knees were bent with a rope around her ankles that connected to the one on her wrists. The rope cut into her flesh when she strained against it.

She forced her eye lids open as her mind battled to recover from the drug they’d given her. Her eyes were irritated by the darkness that settled all around her, like a heavy sheet. Her head ached, and she could taste her own blood. No one bothered to gag her; that frightened her even more. It could only mean, she thought, that she was being held so far from help, that if she let out an ear piercing scream, no one would come. No one would even hear her. Esther was terrified.

There–in the blackness of her prison, she pulled from the very depths of her soul every scripture she could remember; she settled on three which gave her courage and repeated them aloud: “I can do all things through Christ, who strengthens me.” “God is [my] refuge and strength, a very present help in trouble.” “He gives power to the weak. He increases the strength of [her] who has no might.”   She pulled at the rope with her fingers, it gave a little, but it cut into her flesh again. The wall of her prison was just a few inches from her knees. She decided to role around, to get an idea of the size of her confinement. When she finished rolling in every direction, she settled on it being the size of a medium walk-in closet. She lay there in a fetal position–staring into the blackness, as the scriptures rolled over and over in her mind.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven settled into his hotel room, but felt too exhausted to unpack. He called Esther again and left a message, hoping she would get back to him. He hadn’t heard from her in a couple of days. The flight to Cleveland had been marred by the heavy rain and fog which caused major inconveniences among travelers, leaving many stranded in its wake. Several main roads leading to the hotel where Steven was staying were blocked by floods or landslides, and some bridges were damaged and impassable. His taxi ride along a back graveled road was long and bumpy.

Doc called several times and left messages, but Steven knew by now, Doc realized he had not kept his promise. Steven thought the last thing he needed was a fatherly lecture. He figured that once he was able to break this psychic ring wide open, Doc would be so happy, he’d forget about being angry with him.

He called room service and ordered dinner. Then he got on his lap top to get more information on the UPC convention that was being held there in a couple of days. He had cracked some of the codes. Most of the codes dealt with a bunch of spells and ancient rituals which Steven thought were pretty silly; it was something he thought Doc would have had a field day with. One particular ancient passage stood out; it was originally spoken in Saho–a language no longer widely spoken in Africa. Only a tribe of 200,000 kept the language from becoming extinct. Steven had to contact quite a few of his professors to get this interpretation. Only one, Professor Olugbala, had refused to help. He questioned Steven thoroughly and sounded almost like Doc, warning him against further investigation of this ancient passage: He read the English interpretation aloud.

Three is the number to come into view
One is a dog; the other–a young girl
A raven’s blood by a nearby creek
The third is a woman the name in a book.

The passage didn’t really make too much sense to Steven, but he recorded it anyway.
He thought it would be something nice to give Doc to play with and add to his demonic collection. The thought made him chuckle.

Then came a knock at the door. He set aside his lap top–stood and fumbled in his pocket for a tip while walking to the door, then opened it. Doc Connelly stood in the doorway with a big smile on his face and his arms full of notes and books. The two men stared at one another momentarily.

“So I lied,” Steven said with a shrug of his shoulders. "And how did you know I was here?"

"When was the last time you did anything I said?"

Steven smirked and walked away from the door, leaving Doc with only a foot to close it. Before the two could get into an argument, the phone rang. Steven answered.

“Hello,” he said.

Connelly walked in looking for a place to unload the small pile of books and notes when he noticed a troublesome look slowly growing on Steven’s face. He set the pile on the table and slid down in a chair next to where Steven was standing. He strained to understand the call from the one-way conversation. Mid-way through it, Doc felt emotionally sick to his stomach; it was Esther’s father, and she was missing. The Reverend and Mrs. West were frantic over their daughter’s disappearance. The FBI became involved when Esther’s phone signals were tracked across state lines.

After the call, Steven, like a zombie, placed the phone on the table; he put both palms to his head and plopped down on the sofa. Doc poured a glass of water and handed it to him, which he ignored. Steven sat glassy eyed and stared at nothing. After a long moment, he broke the silence.

“I’ve got to find her,” he said through clenched teeth.

“I have a feeling if we find the UPC, we’ll find Esther,” Doc said.

“Will you stop with the UPC, we’ve got to find her,” he snapped.

“When are you going to get it through that thick skull of yours that this is not just about Esther?”

“Oh yeah…um…this is about Hell Gate doors opening and …and demons flying through to eat up our children and….I don’t give a rat’s ass! You got that! I’ve got to go back and find Esther.

“You can’t bail out on me now; I need you to finish breaking those codes,” Doc said frantically. “Something’s big is going down here in a few days, and I need you to concentrate on more than just Esther.”

“I’m on the next flight out of here; if you want to stay and fight demons, “stay!”

“Now you listen to me,” Doc said angrily, “I’ve researched and tracked these people for over a decade. And I’m this close,”( Doc made a symbol of an inch with his thumb and forefinger,) “ to finding and stopping the deadliest group of people on this planet, and I’m not going to let your love-sick ass, over some woman who doesn’t even want you, screw things up!”

Doc saw the life drain right out of his face. Steven turned, walked over to the window, shoved both hands in his pockets and stared out. Connelly knew he had crossed the line; he felt badly about it. The kid had confided in him about a subject so delicate, and he’d just thrown it back in his face.

“Son, I didn’t mean to go there.”

“Just leave.”

“Steve. …”

“Leave!”

Connelly gathered up the things he had brought and walked to the door. He opened it and looked over his shoulder at Steven. Doc had never seen him look so fragile. He dropped his head and slowly closed the door behind him. Steven stood there, and stared at the storm.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
.
It was beginning to get light when Esther noticed a window above her. A six foot ladder was needed to reach it. The light streamed through. It bounced off the solid walls of her confinement and fell over her hand bag that had been tossed in with her. The confines had spilled out. She could see her compact, wallet, keys and most important, her cell phone. Why had these people left so many important items with her, she thought, unless they knew she couldn’t loose herself or escape? She settled on their being stupid and tried desperately to wiggle out of the ropes.   She hoped the phone wasn't dead.

She rolled over to her hand bag and tried to maneuver her fingers to grab the compact. Esther moaned and whimpered a bit because the rope cut deep and burned her wrists. She wiggled and squirmed and stretched as her fingers inched towards the compact. Her hands were bound so closely to her body that she couldn’t get a good reach. .

She rested for a while then strained against the ropes again. It seemed hours before she reached
it–but with a price; her entire hand dripped with blood. When she did grasped the compact, it slipped from her fingers. It continued to slip until Esther was exhausted. She decided to lay there and let the blood dry. She stretched and then, if nothing could have gotten worst, her fingers began to cramp on the hand that she had won so many inches by her stretching. Her hand became a painful ball. Esther moaned and tried to straighten her hand but couldn’t. She gasped at the horrible pain.

She wiggled her body around and reached for the compact with her other hand and grabbed it and held on tightly. She opened it and began to strike it against the floor until the mirror broke. She held a piece of the broken glass as it gnawed away at the rope until her hands were free. After cutting the rest of her body free, Esther grabbed the phone and prayed it worked. She thought hard: In case I only have a few minutes, who can I speak to and get the most out of the minutes. She couldn’t call the police, because she didn’t know where she was. She wanted desperately to call her parents, but it would only worry them more since she had no idea of how to get out of this. She dialed Steven, but it seemed a bad connection. Slowly she slid down the wall with the phone held tightly and sobbed.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Steven continued to eat while his phone rang; when he saw it was doc, he reached over and clicked it off. He wouldn't be going anywhere any time soon. He was stuck there while city workers struggled to clear main roads and bridges. The thunder roared, and the lightning cracked the sky as heavy rain caused the cancellation of all flights leaving Cleveland. After eating, he settled back on the sofa and dozed off.

Doc busied himself with tracking the UPC. He learned they had rented an old mansion on Kingston Hill–about three miles inside the city limits. The mansion, build around the early 1800s, belonged to a wealthy old miser. One night in one of his worst jealous rages, he strangled his beautiful young wife to death, drowned their two daughters and hanged himself. No one could get their dog to leave the house. Weeks later, the dog was spotted in the front yard; it had starved to death.

The room was beginning to get dark when the room phone rang. Steven rose and clicked on the lamp next to the sofa where he lay.

“Hello.”

“Steve,” Doc said, “now don’t hang up. I just want to know if you’d heard anything about Esther.”

“No.” Steven hung up the phone.

He stretched and looked at his watch. He had been asleep for a couple of hours. He checked his phone and saw that it was off and he clicked it on. Then he checked for any messages.  When he saw Esther’s phone number, he jumped straight up and dialed back. But all he got was a not in service message. He banged himself on the forehead with the palm of his hand for being stupid. He sat staring at his phone for nearly and hour, commanding it to ring. And it did. He jumped and clicked green so hard, the phone nearly popped out of his hand.

“Hello!” Steven shouted.

“Steve,” Esther whispered excitedly.

“Baby. Oh God…baby.” Steven noticed that she whispered. “Where are you? Are you in danger?”

“Yes.”

“Who’s got you? Just tell me where you are?”

“I don’t know.”

“What!?”

“I mean, I’m not sure. I think I’m still in Cleveland. But I don’t know where.”

“Cleveland!?” Steven blurted. What the hell are you doing in Cleveland? That’s where I am. I’m staying at this little Mom and Pop hotel right down from St Paul’s Bible College. I followed Madame Reece here to a convention.”

“What…you’re in Cleveland? Oh Steve…I’m so scared. That’s who I followed here. But she told me that I was to be some guest of honor or something. People seemed so friendly at first, and the next thing I know, I woke up all tied up in the basement of this huge place, like a spooky castle.”

"Honey, did they hurt you."

"Well, after eating some blueberry pie, I complained of feeling dizzy, you know, but they just looked at me, smiling...Madame Reece too. When I realized what was happening to me, I ran; but they ran after me and tried to restrain me. I managed to break away, then someone hit me from behind. I don't remember anything after that, except waking up in a dark room. But I managed to get loose."

"That Bitch! Baby, where are you now?"

"I'm using a phone in this huge library on the first level at the far end of the house. It's only a matter of time before they realize I've escaped; then they'll come looking for me, and for the life of me, I can't find an exit anywhere."

"Look, you stay put; don't go roaming around there, you hear me?"

"Yes."

"I'm coming to get you."

"Oh Steve, be careful. I don't know why they did this to me. I...I don't know what they want with me."

"You keep saying 'they.'  Who else besides Madame Reece is in the house?"

"Hush! Did you hear that?"

"What?" Steven said.

"Again. You hear it? A click...like someone's listening."

"Get off the phone! Get off the phone!" Steven shouted.

The phone went dead.

"Oh God, please," he mumbled to himself, "don't let them hurt her."

A knock came on the door. Steven opened it and Doc pushed by him all excited. Before Doc could tell Steven his good news, Steven blurted out that he’d heard from Esther. He told Doc what Esther had told him and Doc surprised him by telling him that he was sure she was being held at the Kingston Hills mansion. Doc had downloaded a map to the mansion and the original Blue Prints, including house floor plans. The mansion was a very valuable show place in this small town, so it wasn’t hard for Doc to download pictures of the exterior and interior designs.

“That’s great,” Steven said as he picked up the phone.

“What are you doing?” Doc asked.

“I’m calling the police; what do you think?”

“Put the phone down, Steve.”

“What do mean? You said you were sure of where she was being held.”

“Cops are no match for these people.”

“Every minute she is in that house puts her in danger of loosing her life,” Steven said frantically. They probably know by now that she’s escaped from where they had her. They could be tearing the place up looking for her right now. Or maybe they’ve found her."

“I understand your fears, and I share them,” Doc said, “but sending the police will only alert them that we’re on to them and that we know where they are; they might run off and take Esther with them. And you'd never see her again. And besides, what do cops know about fighting demons?”

"And you do?" Steven asked.

"What do you think I've been researching all these years? Were you listening to anything I'd said?"

“So what the hell do we do?”

"That depends. Have you broken the codes?"

"Yes."

"All of them?"

"Hey Doc, remember Esther; she's being held captive by that witch and God knows who else."

"Son, I know; but we can't go storming in there unequipped."

"What the hell do we need; we grab Esther and beat the hell out of there."

"No Steve. We need a plan."

"No!  You need a plan. I'm going after her now!" Steven started for the door. Then he turned and realized he didn't know how to get there without Doc.

"I wondered how long it would take you to figure that out," said Doc.

"Are you coming or not?"

"Alright," Doc said,” get the codes; it's an hour drive. We'll have to take the back road all the way there because of the storm. I'll study them on the way.

"What if we don't make it there in time? Steven said frantically.

Esther is a smart girl; she escaped once. I believe she'll keep out of their way until we get there."

"No cab driver in his right mind is going to travel out there in this storm," Steven said.

"We won't need a cab. I've rented a car. You drive."

"You sure you know what you're doing?"

"If you want that woman of yours in one piece, you better follow me, he said."

Doc, with a 'kick ass' look on his face, grabbed the notes from Steven and headed for the door. Steven, impressed with Doc's attitude, smiled and followed him.

"Hey, old man, wait for me."