Hidden Thrones
Authors: Russ Scalzo
HIDDEN THRONES
RUSS SCALZO
Put on the full
armor of God so that you can take your stand against the devil's schemes.
For our struggle
is not against flesh and blood, but against the rulers, against the
authorities, against the powers of this dark world and against the spiritual
forces of evil in the heavenly realms.
Ephesians
6:11&12
Hidden Thrones is a work of fiction.
Names, characters, places and incidents either are the product of author’s
imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual persons, living
or dead, events, or locales is entirely coincidental.
Copyright 2015 by Russ Scalzo
All rights reserved.
Cover design: Shannon Ehrola
Chronicles of the End Times Podcast
Available on iTunes
Dedication
I am blessed to have three
beautiful daughters and an incredible loving wife who knows the power of prayer
and a kid brother in whom I share many awesome memories. But none of this would
have been possible without Helen and Russell my amazing mother and father. I dedicate
this book to them. They now look upon the Lord they loved and followed all their
lives and share in the rewards of a life filled with faith.
Thank you Jesus for all you have
done and continue to do in all our lives.
Table of Contents
Hidden Thrones
The car slowly
navigated up the long, twisting, stone driveway. One had to be careful not to
drive too fast because of the thick, tall trees that towered over this narrow
passageway. A strong wind blew the giants from side to side, creating strange
and ominous shadows on the ground. It was a clear night with the exception of
an occasional harmless cloud dashing by a brilliant full moon. Finally, the car
stopped a few hundred feet from an old, three-story, Victorian house. The two young
people sat there at first, just staring. Then, looking at each other, they
broke into sly, mischievous smiles. The moon washed over the old house, giving
it an eerie presence that rivaled any Hollywood movie set, but that didn’t
bother Tom or Louise. After all, that’s why they were there.
Tom stepped out of the
car first. He was six-feet, three inches, two hundred and ten pounds, with
jet-black hair. From what everyone said, especially the girls, he was drop dead
gorgeous. The passenger-side car door opened and Louise got out holding a large
blanket. Looking up into the wind, she brushed her long blonde hair out of her
eyes. She was all that Tom was, but in a seventeen-year old girl kind of way.
Beautiful of face and body, she had it all and had no trouble showing it off.
Every boy in Blackstone High Virginia was after her and would gladly trade
places with Tom any day, anytime.
Aside from their good
looks, they had something else in common. They were totally and outrageously
out of control. Tom and Louise did anything they wanted, whenever they wanted.
They got caught having sex in one of the back stair hallways at school in their
junior year, giving no excuse or apology for their actions, and even had the
audacity to ask the principal what the big deal was. That was just the tip of
the iceberg compared to some of their more famous exploits.
Now it was their
senior year and they had every intention of making it memorable. The Oslow House
was, by everybody’s account, absolutely, positively haunted. There was no doubt
about it. Year after year, kids would pull up to the house and then drive away
too scared to go in. Many said they did but no one ever had the guts to really
do it. There was one case where a kid ran onto the porch, but then took off in
a panic when he said he saw a tall, dark figure coming toward him.
The Oslow House had
been empty for a little over thirty years. The Oslow’s, a couple in their late
forties, were mysteriously murdered in this house thirty-one years ago this
very day. Tom and Louise knew that and had been planning this escapade for some
time.
Louise walked over to
Tom, grabbed him by his belt, pulled him tight against her waist, and reaching
up, gave him a passionate kiss saying, “Let’s do this thing, babe.”
Tom looked down at her,
grinning, “All the way, Lou. All the way.”
The two walked slowly
toward the house. The swing on its big wraparound porch swayed with the night
wind, creating a foreboding squeak that only served to turn them on all the
more. As they stepped onto the porch, they smiled at each other one more time
and then opened the door. The door was solid wood and heavy, but no challenge
for Tom’s physique. He pushed the door open and they walked inside.
The front room was dark
except for the moonlight streaming through the broken glass of the windows. It
was difficult to see much of anything except shadows of old furniture and
pictures that still hung over the fireplace, just as the Oslow’s had left it
thirty years ago. Louise laid the blanket on the floor and began to take her
shirt off. Tom followed. It was clear that they planned on going for it right
in the old house, defying every story they had been told. Arrogance was their
forte. The two fell to the floor and embraced feverishly and passionately.
Suddenly, Tom thought he heard the sound of footsteps coming down the stairs
from the second floor and turned his head to see what it was. Looking puzzled,
Louise said, “Come on, babe. What’s wrong?”
Then she heard it too.
They both jumped to their feet. Tom looked up and saw a tall, dark figure
coming down the steps. Louise stepped back and let out a blood-curdling scream.
Tom looked for something to use as a weapon and, grabbing the fireplace poker,
he stepped in front of Louise as they both began to move slowly backwards
toward the door.
The figure stopped at
the lower landing and spoke.
“Well, look who
we have here. I know you two very well,” it said in a voice so low and imposing
that it shook Tom and Louise to the very core.
“You don’t know us!”
Louise shouted nervously, her voice beginning to shake. Not knowing where the
voice even came from, she held on tighter to Tom.
“Oh, but I do, Tom
Stockshire and Louise Crowder. I’ve been watching you for some time. You’re in
my
house now.”
Though scared out of
his mind, Tom still had enough arrogance to shout, “Oh yeah? Then come and get
us, jackass!”
The figure moved at Tom
without touching the ground. In less than a second, it was in Tom’s face. Tom
swung the iron fire poker at the figure, but it passed right through it. Tom’s
eyes widened and sweat emptied from every pore of his body.
Louise screamed again
and ran to the door, shouting at Tom, “What are you doing? Run!”
At that moment, Tom
felt himself lifting off the ground, still flailing away at the dark figure in
vain. Stunned, Louise bolted out the door and began to run for the car. The
creature let out a roar like a lion and flung Tom head first into the brick
wall above the fireplace. His body fell lifelessly to the floor. The creature
moved to the door, looked out toward Louise, and let out a sound so awful that
it even shook the surrounding trees. Louise got to the car, opened the door,
and began frantically locking every door by hand. Searching for the keys, she
stopped and realized in a moment of disbelief and despair that Tom had them in
his pocket. Reaching for her handbag, she fumbled around until she found her
phone and shakily dialed 911.
“911. What is your
emergency?”
Louise’s voice was
shaking as she screamed into her phone, “Please help! We are being attacked!”
“Ma’am, I need you to
calm down. Where are you?”
“We’re at the old Oslow
House off of Conway Street! I think it killed my boyfriend!”
“Ma’am, the police are
on their way. What attacked you? Was it an animal?”
“I don’t know what it
was. It wasn’t human!”
“Are you in the house
now?”
“No. I’m in the car,
but I don’t have the keys.” Louise looked toward the house and screamed into
her phone, “Oh my God!”
“What is it? Are you
still there? Ma’am?”
“It’s coming! It’s
coming! Help me, please! Oh my God!”
The creature was now
standing just outside her car door. It peered through the window, staring at
her. Louise was frozen in fear, her eyes locked with the creature’s. Its eyes
were like deep, dark holes with no end. She was completely paralyzed. Louise
could barely hear the voice on the phone asking her the same question over and
over again.
“Ma’am, are you there?
Are you there?”
Louise raised her hand
to her ear, the phone still frozen in her hand, and spoke in a low, somber
voice. “It’s here. It’s here.”
The person on the other
end of the phone tried to stay calm, but even the pitch of her voice was
getting higher and higher.
“What’s there?
Tell me what’s happening. The police are almost to you. Stay with me. Ma’am,
are you there?”
There was no answer.
Finally, a click and then silence. Nothing but dead silence.
Jack Bennett sat at his
desk typing madly, encircled by piles of papers and books. The only thing
visible was the monitor screen that sat right in the center of it all. He was
working hard on his latest blog/podcast series, “The Growing Evil on Planet
Earth,” when his cell phone started ringing and buzzing at the corner of his
desk. He looked at it and drew a deep breath. He didn’t recognize the number so
he let it ring, not really wanting to answer it. He was always getting calls
from local police departments and various branches of the government in DC to
investigate unusual activity, but not usually at this time of night.
Finally, he picked his
phone up and swung his chair around facing what was a literal wall of books on
everything from ancient Babylonian religions to the latest reports on present
day paranormal activity. In the middle of it all was a large and very old
Bible. In fact, Jack had a whole shelf of Bibles of many translations from all
over the world. This particular one was loaded with his scribbled notes and
comments he had accumulated over many years of travel and research. He referred
to it as his secret weapon. Taking a deep breath, he answered.
“Hello, this is
Bennett.”
“Jack, it’s Frank. We
need you to come down to the old Oslow House right away.”
Frank Lederman was an
FBI agent with a special division of the federal government out of Washington
D.C. The nation’s capitol was a mere forty-five minute drive from Jack’s house
so he and Frank saw a lot of each other. Frank investigated paranormal
activity, a new fascination in Washington, and this night he had been called in
by the Blackstone Police Department to look into an unusual case.
“Frank, is this a new
cell number? I almost didn’t pick up. You do know its 12:30 in the morning,
don’t you?” Jack inquired, sounding exhausted. “Whatever it is, can’t it wait
until at least dawn?”
“No, it can’t and
besides, I know you aren’t sleeping. You’re probably sitting at that mountain
of cut down trees you call a desk right now, pounding away on your keyboard.
This is a weird one Jack, and I mean weird.”
“Let me guess - more
kids messing around at that old house again?” Jack half asked, with a bored
look on his face.
“Not quite. We have a
homicide on our hands this time. Two young kids from Blackstone High - one dead
and one in complete shock.”
Jack spun back around
in his chair and said, “Okay, I’ll be there in twenty minutes.” He changed his
shirt, grabbed a bottle of water and headed out the door.
Jack had just turned
forty years old a couple of weeks before. At an average height of five feet,
eleven inches, he was not overly handsome, but good-looking nonetheless. He
kept himself in relatively good shape by walking and playing softball when he
had the chance. Although Jack had never married and wasn’t really much for
socializing, he always kept busy with his work. Over the years there had been a
couple of ladies in his life, but there was no one special at present.
It was a fairly short
drive to the old house. Jack pulled down the long driveway and parked next to
one of the three police cars that were sitting with their lights flashing. It
was a sobering scene as he watched the ambulance silently and slowly pull away.
Jack had seen a lot of strange things over the years, but he never got used to
seeing the death of anyone so young.
Frank walked up to him
and urged, “You have to see this.”
The two men made their
way onto the porch and then into the house. The main room was now lit up with a
couple of floodlights and there was a forensic team already hard at work
collecting evidence. Jack looked around and immediately noticed the blood on
the brick wall above the fireplace and the large pool of blood on the floor
below.
He drew a deep breath.
“Okay,
what have you got so far?”
Frank tilted his head
to the side. “Not much. The girl is the one who called it in. Apparently she
ran to the car and was able to lock herself in, but couldn’t get away because
we found the keys in the vic’s pocket. She was in a nearly catatonic state when
we got here. From the hair and fragments from the victim’s scalp that we found
imbedded in the brick, it appears that he hit the wall with incredible impact,
then collapsed on the floor and bled out. We’re not sure at this point, but it
looks likely he was already dead when he hit the floor.”
“Was the girl attacked
physically?” Jack asked with concern.
Frank shook his head.
“No, but she’s not able to talk. I mean she’s gone, like nobody home. We tried
to get her to say something, but she just stared out into space and kept
saying,
He’s coming. He’s coming.
”
Jack leaned in and
asked, “Who’s coming?”
“I don’t know, Jack. If
I knew, I wouldn’t have called you.”
Hmm
,
Jack thought. “Have you searched the rest of the house?”
“Yeah. Nothing.”
Jack turned, took a
good look around and said, “This ceiling has to be at least ten feet high.”
“Eleven to be exact,”
Frank remarked raising his arm and revealing the tape measure in his hand.
“So the question is who
or what would have the strength to throw someone that hard and that high to
cause that kind of damage?”
“That’s just it. Plus
our vic was 6’3” and had to weigh at least 200 pounds. There are no bears
around here and besides, there were no other marks on the body.”
“We need to talk to the
girl as soon as possible. We need to hear what she saw and find out who she
thinks is coming. How about the 911 call? Do you have that?”
“Yeah, I’ve got it here
on my phone. Give me a minute and I’ll play it for you.”
Frank hit play and Jack
listened intently. He knew what he was listening for, and then he heard it.
“We’re at the old Oslow
house off of Conway Street! I think it killed my boyfriend!
“Ma’am the police are
on their way. What attacked you? Was it an animal?”
“I don’t know what it
was. It wasn’t human!”
Jack turned to Frank
and said, “You’re right. This is a strange one.”