The majority of the web pages listed dealt with historical text and benign non-literal references such as those sacrifices one person makes for another. I was simultaneously pleased and demoralized by the listing of sites that purported to be reservoirs of information regarding active religions that encouraged the actual sacrificing of a human victim. Upon closer inspection, they were obviously no more than idle electronic chatter, but they contained information I felt might be useful. Still, I was violently disgusted by the fact that anyone would claim to subscribe to such beliefs. The world really didn’t need any more sickos than it already had.
When all was said and done, I had conducted several searches of the “Web” using keywords ranging from BLOOD SACRIFICE to FLAYING. With each of these searches turning up a listing of site addresses, I easily investigated over one hundred web pages within a few hours. The information I gathered held references to historical events and dead religions, as well as fictional books and horror movies. All of it told me that I was on the right track in my belief that the killer was practicing for an invocation ritual, but it still didn’t tell me who or what he was trying to invoke.
The digital clock resting in the corner of my monitor screen attested to the fact that the afternoon had slipped by virtually unnoticed. It was rapidly approaching time for our meeting with Ariel’s coven, and I knew Ben would be arriving early. I logged off the network and shut down my computer after the printer spit out the last of the information I had sent to it. Much to my chagrin, I caught a glimpse of myself in a mirror as I made my way downstairs. My clothing was disheveled, my hair matted and stringy, and my face pallid and drawn. Overall, I looked like death warmed over. A glance at my watch told me I still had some time, so I decided to become acquainted with hot water and a bar of soap.
I was just climbing out of the shower when Felicity poked her head in the door and told me Ben had arrived. By the time I finished drying off and throwing on some clothes, the two of them were parked at the dining room table. I joined them and helped myself to a mug of hot ginger-mint tea.
“I did some research on invocation rites.” I indicated the sheaf of papers I had brought down from my office. “Pretty general stuff. Not much help to be honest.”
“I’ll take your word on it,” Ben nodded as he spoke. “So, Red Squaw here was tellin’ me you had a hard time of it after I dropped ya’ off this afternoon.”
“Nightmare I guess,” I told him. “I’ll get over it.”
“Uh-huh,” he grunted, unconvinced. “By the way, I dropped in on your old man.”
“I thought you might,” I nodded. “How’d he handle it? Should I be expecting a call?”
“Prob’ly not. I didn’t wanna get him all worked up, so I told him I was in the area and just stopped in to say hi.”
“Were you able to find out what you needed?”
“Yeah. I managed ta’ fit it into the conversation.”
“Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Hey, no prob, white man.”
During our conversation, Felicity had remained steadfastly silent. It suddenly dawned on me that she hadn’t expressed any interest in the somewhat cryptic exchange, so I turned my attention to her side of the table. A familiar file folder lay open across an equally familiar envelope near the center. A thick stack of crime scene photographs were spread neatly before my wife. One of the glossy monstrosities was resting carefully between her fingers as she studied it intently. All the while, she absently chewed on her lower lip as she concentrated.
“What the hell are you doing?!” I sputtered, nearly choking on a mouthful of hot tea.
“Catching up,” Felicity spoke without looking up from the pictures.
“Dammit Ben!” I turned to him. “Are you out of your mind?!”
“Hey!” He held his hands up defensively. “She told me you wanted her ta’ look at ‘em.”
“It’s not his fault, then,” she stated, deftly laying the photo she was studying on to a stack then looking up at me. “That’s what I told him.”
“Well forget it,” I exclaimed and started reaching for the grisly prints. “I don’t want you looking at these things.”
“NO!” Felicity angrily snapped, grabbing my wrist and forcing my hand away. “I didn’t ask you what you wanted!”
“Wh-wh-what?” I stammered, surprised by her sudden outburst.
“I’m not letting you get away with it this time, Rowan,” she stated, an emerald fire of determination blazing in her eyes as she held my gaze. “You’re always trying to protect me. I know why you do it…” Her voice softened. “But I’m a grown woman, not a child. I saw what this experience did to you this afternoon, and I’m not going to sit on the sidelines and watch it tear you apart. I’m going to help.”
“You don’t know what you’re getting yourself into,” I pleaded.
“And you do?” she shot back. “You yourself admitted that Ariel ripped through your defenses and almost took over. We both know that something like that could kill you.”
“Excuse me?” interjected Ben, who had remained quietly neutral until this point. “Whaddaya mean, kill ‘im?”
“If a spiritual entity,” Felicity explained, turning her attention to him, “manages to take control, especially in the case of something such as this, and plays out the last moments of its physical life, it will repeat the event with the channeling host.”
“Are you tryin’ to tell me that Ariel Tanner’s spirit or somethin’ would kill him?” Ben asked, still confused.
“Not on purpose,” she continued. “But if she was in control of his physical body and re-experienced her death, the shock could kill him, yes.” She returned her gaze to me. “You didn’t bother to tell him that did you?”
“I didn’t think I would need to worry about it,” I answered sheepishly.
“Jeezus H. Christ!” Ben exclaimed. “This is fuckin’ nuts! All I’m tryin’ to do is solve a murder here, and I got some kinda weird ass Twilight Zone episode going on around me.”
We both turned to look at him as he threw up his hands in exasperation and fell back in his chair. After a moment, he again leaned forward and rested his forearms on the table. He quietly looked from my face to Felicity’s then down at the table.
“Listen,” he said, “I’ve always figured you two for a coupl’a tree-huggin’ agnostics or somethin’, which I got no problem with. You know that. But, I don’t really know much about this whole Wicca-slash-WitchCraft thing, and ta’ be honest, I’m not sure if I wanna know any more.” He paused as if trying to pick his words carefully. “I can’t believe I’m sayin’ this, but this mornin’ I saw some stuff that I can’t explain. Right now I’m willin’ ta’ accept it. But, I also saw my best friend rollin’ around on a floor clawin’ at his chest like he was havin’ a coronary or some shit like that. Now,” he pointed a finger at me and brought his gaze up to meet mine, “YOU start bein’ straight up with me if there’s some kinda risk involved.” He then shifted his attention to Felicity. “And YOU. Watch his back or whatever you Witches do. Okay?”
“You can count on it,” she told him, her face spreading into a smile.
“Yeah,” I added, “you’re right.”
“Okay,” he said, relaxing and settling back in his seat. “So R.J. and company are s’posed to be here in about half an hour. You palefaces wouldn’t happen to have a slab of buffalo or somethin’ around here would ya’? I’m starved.”