The Witch's Ladder (18 page)

“
Surprised to see her here.”

“
Who, Jean?” Michael tossed Gordon a heavy piece of nylon rope. “She’s a player now. We need her if we’re going to pull this off. Besides, she feels bad for what we did to Lieberman. Thanks to those evil little bitches, the poor woman is beside herself.” He put his arm around Jean’s shoulder. “And as it so happens, our sweet Ms. Bradford here has quite the vengeful streak in her. Don’t you, Jeannie?”

Jean shrugged off the unwanted attention and turned away without comment.

Gordon asked, “So, what’s with the leash?”

“
You still remember how to make a noose, don’t you?”

He inspected the rope carefully, weighing it in his hands as if judging its suitability for such a cause. “Hangman’s noose?”

Michael held up two fingers. “We need two. Make’em good. We don’t want them to fail.”

The request seemed unimaginably bizarre. Gordon glanced uneasily at Lilith and Jean. Both remained tight-lipped and turned away as soon as he made eye contact.

“
Gordon, we have to do this,” said Michael, noticing the awkward exchange of glances. “We’ve already discussed it. We need to do this for our own survival. You have to believe that.”

“
I understand. Just tell me how this is supposed to go down?”

Michael started across the gazebo floor, careful not to trip over the line stretched between him and Gordon. “Okay, it’s like this. After we talked, I went to see Valerie and together we went to see Jean. We had her call the twins because we knew they would believe her. She told them she overheard me and Valerie talking about a witch’s Ladder of Death that Lilith made for them.”

“
Really? Do those things work?”

“
That’s not the point, Gordon. The point is that Akasha and Shekina not only believe they work, but also that Lilith would make one and hide it on them. You got it?”

“
Yes.”

“
All right then, stop interrupting. So Jean arranged to have the twins come out here tonight to meet her.

“
They’re coming here?”

“
They think they’re going to learn where Lilith hid the witch’s ladder.”

Michael’s pacing intensified as he spoke. His strolling took him back and forth over the nylon line a dozen times without looking, yet he never tripped over it.

“
When the twins get here, you and I will be hiding in the bushes. Jean will be here in the gazebo. She’ll give the signal and we’ll jump out and ambush them just as they had us ambush Doctor Lieberman. They’re small. We can each take one. Only this time we’ll be ready with all the tools we need to finish the job right.”

He pointed to Lilith, who wheeled her hands out from behind her back and produced a roll of duct tape. For dramatics, she yanked on the roll, pulled a three-foot section of tape free and mocked an assault on Gordon, demonstrating how quickly they would have the twins completely bound and gagged.

“
That’s where Valerie and Lilith come in,” said Michael. “They’ll tape the girls up tight and have them ready for the final solution.”

“
The final solution?” Gordon held up the hangman’s noose. “This?”

“
Yes.”

“
We’re going to hang them?”

“
That’s right.”

“
Why?”

“
Because that’s what you do to evil souls. That’s how you send them back to the Eighth Sphere.”

“
But I thought we had to drain all their blood.”

“
That’s bullshit. That’s what the twins told us. They said that to get me to cut Doctor Lieberman’s throat. I did some checking. It’s commonplace in South African voodoo to use the livers of goats, sheep, dogs and even people for everything from divination to medication. And in some extreme cases, they use the livers to exercise the law of contagion. Isn’t that right, Lilith?”

“
It’s true, Gordon. The concept originated in South Africa. Since the earliest known tribes of humankind, the law of contagion had been put to the test. Often a stronger, younger tribal warrior would take on an elder tribal leader in a battle for leadership. When the younger warrior won, which was often the case, the first thing he’d do is cut out the elder’s heart.”

“
And he’d eat it?”

“
Yes, and the rest of the tribe would celebrate because they believed that their new leader would not only be stronger than the last, but also wiser.”

“
Wiser?”

“
Because after eating the heart, he would possess the additional wisdom of the elder. It’s really not much different from what they saw going on in the animal world all around them every day. The younger, stronger lions challenged the older dominant ones for control over the pride. Same thing with monkeys, jackals, hyenas and so on.”

“
And so this law of contagion, or attraction of blood, you’re sure it’s what the twins practice in order to enhance their powers of the supernatural?”

“
Apparently.” Michael strolled up to Gordon and patted him on gut. “And you better watch it, Pal. I bet your liver would feed them both for a week.”

Twenty minutes later, Valerie showed up carrying a flashlight and a can of gasoline. “Sorry, I’m late, everyone. Detective Marcella called unexpectedly to ask me questions about last night.”

“
Damn it,” said Michael. “He suspects us, doesn’t he?”

“
Not at all. He’s worried about us. He wants to provide round-the-clock protection. Can you believe it?”

Gordon said, “What if the twins show up tonight with a police escort?”

“
Let’s hope they don’t,” said Michael.

“
This is a mistake,” said Lilith. “It doesn’t feel right.”

She motioned towards the steps. Michael moved to the edge of the gazebo’s opening, blocking the exit for anyone thinking of leaving. A silver beam of moonlight caught the side of his face, and for just a moment made him look almost skeletal.

“
Listen, Lilith,” he said. “Listen everyone. This is serious business. You know what the twins are capable of. If we don’t put an end to this tonight, others will die because of our failure. The girls will either kill us or turn us in for killing Doctor Lieberman, and then they’ll be free to continue killing as they please. Am I wrong?”

His comment solicited no rebuttals.

“
Look,” said Valerie, pointing at a set of approaching headlights. “That’s them!”

Michael, Gordon, Valerie and Lilith scurried behind the gazebo and into the brush surrounding the structure. Jean took up position in the center of the floor. A twig snapped behind her, and then another as the others settled into the thicket.

“
Quiet back there,” she said in a muted shout. “They’re almost here.”

She turned to face the headlights. More rustling stirred the branches, another snap and then silence.

“
Hello, ladies,” she said, smiling as Akasha and Shekina exited the car and neared the gazebo. “I’m glad you came. I was so afraid for you when I heard Lilith talking about that witch’s ladder, I just had to call.”

“
We’re glad you did,” Shekina replied, climbing the three wooden steps into the gazebo. Her sister followed. “I knew Lilith was making one of those dreadful things for us. I honestly don’t know why she despises us so.”

“
Me neither, Shekina. I like you girls. You’re strong-willed, smart and independent. I suppose that’s why Lilith doesn’t like you. She’s jealous and intimidated by you.”

“
Jealous, I’m sure,” Akasha replied. “But I hardly think she’s intimidated, the way she flaunts her witchcraft at us all the time.”

Jean forced a smile. “I bet your witchcraft is every bit as good as hers.”

“
What makes you think we practice witchcraft?”

“
Well, don’t you…I mean, I assumed, considering your background. Don’t you come from Messina?”

“
You know Messina?”

“
I know of it. It’s a virtual hotbed of voodoo and witchcraft culture in South Africa. Isn’t it?”

“
Hmm…yes, well there are some in Messina who dabble in those kinds of things, but we certainly don’t. It’s more the ways of the elders and not of our generation.”

“
I see.”

“
Jean, you called us here to tell us about the witch’s ladder. Do you know where Lilith hid it?”

“
Yes, of course.”

In the shrubs behind the gazebo, another twig snapped. Akasha turned quickly to look.

“
Yes, the witch’s ladder,” said Jean, coerced by the sound of the twig. “I do know where you’ll find it.” She led the twins to the far end of the gazebo away from the exit, against the railing overlooking the lake. “There,” she said, pointing across the water, evoking the coded phrase signaling the boys to spring into action. “What you seek is out there. You have to look closely. It is there, and the time is now.”

“
What are you talking about?”

“
I said the time is now!”

A flutter of snapping twigs and cracking branches spilled from the shadows behind the gazebo. The twins turned around in time to see Michael and Gordon storming the structure like charging bulls. They struck with such shocking speed and surprise that even Jean shrieked with terror. They rounded the corner and pounced unmercifully on the girls, taking them down easily with no regard for the broken bones or lacerations that each undoubtedly suffered. Valerie and Lilith quickly emerged with duct tape and nylon rope in hand.

“
Hold her steady,” Valerie ordered, referring to Akasha who struggled considerably harder than her twin. “Don’t let the little bitch get away.”

“
Ouch,” Gordon cried. “She bit me!”

“
Hold her!” Michael yelled.

“
Damn it. She bit me again.”

“
Ok, I got her, I got her.”

“
Watch her feet Michael,” Jean said.

“
I got ‘em. Hurry up with the tape already.”

Bodies rolled back and forth, thumping and slapping painfully along the floorboards. Somewhere in the mayhem, Akasha managed to slip out from under Gordon’s weight and began scurrying for the exit.

“
Stop her!” Valerie hollered. “Don’t let her get away!”

Michael reached out from the midst of twisted limbs and snatched Akasha by the ankle. Valerie tore a foot-long strip of tape off the roll and slapped it across Akasha’s mouth. The next piece found Shekina’s lips.

“
That should shut them up,” she said, and she commenced hog-tying Shekina’s ankles and wrists with all the finesse of a rodeo cowgirl. The kicking and squirming continued among muffled moans, but their struggle to escape meant only more pain.

Gordon and Michael pulled the girls to their feet. Valerie slipped a hangman’s noose around each of their delicate necks. With the ropes cinched tight, the boys pulled on the lines and hoisted the two into the air. Their wire-frame bodies wrenched violently, but their bound hands and ankles, wrapped tighter than a witch’s knot, afforded them no room for escape.

Thus was the last memory of life on Earth for Shekina and Akasha Kayo.

“
It’s a bit unsettling to watch, isn’t it?” Valerie remarked, noting Jean’s difficulty in coming to terms with the affair.

“
It is,” she said, turning her eyes away. “I’m sorry. I thought I could do this.”

“
Don’t go off on us now, Jeanie,” Michael warned. “It’s too late to turn back. Just remind yourself that these two are vicious, evil, sadistic agents of Satan.”

“
I know, Michael. In my heart I know you’re right. I just…I hate to see the suffering.”

“
They’re not suffering. They can’t feel a thing.”

Jean looked back at the girls, their bodies hanging limp. Only the occasional twitch gave indications that life still lingered within their tiny bones. “No?”

“
That’s right. Trust me. The twitching is involuntary muscle spasms. They blacked out as soon as we hoisted them into the air.”

She may have wanted to believe him, but the opposite was probably true. In all likelihood, the twins forgot about their broken bones and lacerations the moment the noose tightened around their necks and jerked them skyward. There they would have learned that the frailty of their build provided no comfort once the noose and gravity began a tug-of-war on their bodies—their pain increasing exponentially until the last spasm subsided. Until that moment came, Jean closed her eyes and turned away.

“
What do we do now?” Gordon asked.