I've added some based on the chat discussions. They should be in bold type. Let me know what you think.

Helluva Start

by Dave Krenitsky

"Thank you officer," Father Schmid said. "He's been having a hard time since his father..."

"I know the story," Sargent Lowitzki said. "I hope you can do something."

The priest nodded and led the young man from the station. "Your mother called me. Asked me to pick you up."

"Yea, what could go wrong with a priest and a boy?" Zack said.

The father unlocked the car door and walked to the driver side. "We all have crosses to bear. Your father would not have wanted this for you."

"Then why did he leave?"

Father Schmid glanced at Zack and picked up his phone. "Tobias, I've picked up Zackariah. I think it is time to show him." He listened for a bit. "Okay, we'll be at your place shortly." He started the car and pulled into the road.

"Where are we going?" Zack asked.

"To a man named Tobias. He worked with, ah, was trained by your father."

"Trained? For what?"

"Very few can do what your father and Tobias can do. We had hoped that you would be older but that is life."

"For what?" Zack asked.

"You won't believe. You have to see." Father Schmid stopped talking.

"Right," Zack stared out the window. A light rain had started but grew heavier with each passing block.

 

They walked up the stairs and the priest opened the door. It wasn't locked.

"Good way to get robbed," Zack said.

"Not a chance of that. Tobias will be in the back," Father Schmid said. He led the way down a narrow hall. In the room at the end Tobias was placing some items in a bag. He looked up at the two.

"He does look like his father. Good sign I hope," Tobias said.

Zack scanned the room. The walls were lined with bookcases filled with old dusty volumes and religious crap. Hard to tell if any of it was worth stealing. His eyes stopped at the floor. A large pentagram was painted in the center of the room. "This some kind of seance? My father going to talk me into going straight? All I did was take a car. Kids do that all the time."

"You're not a kid anymore and Grand Theft Auto is not a game for you. Stand still." Tobias left the symbol painted on the floor and walked to the priest. "Is he worth it?" he asked.

"I promised his mother I would care for him after his father failed to return. It's hard for a boy without a father especially in his neighborhood.

"Should have moved."

"His mother has faith. She knows the risks and the danger if we fail."

"I don't have much hope for this one."

"Where there is faith there is hope."

Tobias snorted and picked up some candles. "I am going to take you to your father. His resting place actually," Tobias said.

"He's really dead?" Zack asked.

"Yes. But I'll warn you this in not an easy thing to see," Tobias said.

"Where are we going?"

Tobias placed the candles at the points of the pentagram then motioned Zackariah to enter the pentagram. "There are things a man can do for which there is no forgiveness. This is where those men go. Where there are men and creatures like that there need to be men to watch over them. Your father was one of those men."

Tobias looked at the priest then picked up his bag. He turned and walked into the pentagram. "It's like this. I'll invoke the portal, we'll cross over and I'll take you on a short tour. You keep your mouth shut and do exactly as I say. Got that?"

"Right, keep quiet and follow orders. I've heard that all my life."

Father Schmid lit the candles and nodded to Tobias.

Tobias pulled a small book from the bag and started to read. The air turned hot, muggy and sulfurous. Zack's eyes widened. Suddenly they were falling for what seemed like seconds. They hit the ground with the impact of stepping off a curb unawares.

"What the--"

"Quiet," Tobias said. He looked around and dropped the book into the bag. Then he pulled out a sword.

"What's that? Where are we?"

"Quiet you don't want to attract any of the," he looked at Zack with a grin, "locals. We'll go to the top of that hill. From there we should be able to see if anything is around. Stay close." He started walking up the hill, the ground was gray and crunchy.

Zack looked around and noticed that Tobias was disappearing up the hill. He started running to catch up. "What is this place?" he whispered.

Tobias smiled, "You're learning. This is for lack of a better term, Hell. My job and your late father's was to keep the creatures who dwell here, here and to keep humans on earth."

"My father came here?"

"Many times. He brought me here my first time same as I'm bringing you. There are some rules you must follow." Tobias started talking. They reached the top of the hill. Tobias scanned the horizon. He pointed to another hill. "You're father's resting place is over there."

"Are we taking him back?"

"Not possible. He's in a protection circle. It needs to be renewed. If it fails it will attract things. Very bad things. More than we can handle."

"So we just leave him."

"Afraid so. You can pray over him as I renew the circle."

They reached the top of the hill. On the far side inside a faintly glowing circle of light the ground had been torn up. Inside was a man's skeleton and the skeletons of several creatures with fangs and claws.

"Did those things kill my father," Zack asked.

"Yes but not before he trapped them inside and killed them."

"Why?"

"To save my life." Tobias knelt down and pulled some items from his bag. He placed one hand on the glowing circle and started reading from his book. After a bit he stood and repacked his bag. "We should go. Any ritual like this attracts these creatures."

They walked in silence. "My father died saving you?"

"I forgot the first rule – Nothing in Hell is as it seems."

They crested another hill. Below them three scaly creature the size of Great Danes circled a girl and a small puppy.

"Hey, leave her--"

Tobias grabbed Zack's collar as he started toward the fight and pulled him down. "Remember, the first rule in hell is nothing is as it seems." The creatures had stopped circling the girl and started up the hill. "You don't know who, if any, are the good guys."

"But the girl?"

"May not be one. Could be a glamor to lure the other demons in."

"And these lizard things coming at us?"

"Now those are bad." He reached in to the bag, pulled out a gun and handed it to Zack.

"Alright, this, this, this is a squirt gun."

"Holy water. Won't kill them but will make them think twice about approaching us." The lizard creatures had reached the two and started their circling. "Keep you back to mine and only squirt them if they lunge at you."

"I think we've saved the girl," Zack said.

"Think about this. Why would three large predators leave a young girl and a puppy to attack two large armed men?"

"Uh, why?"

"We're the easier targets."

The three creatures lunged as one. Zack screamed and fell hitting one with a stream of holy water. It screamed and rolled to the ground trying to scrape the water from its skin. Tobias skewered another on his sword but the third leapt for his back. It's jaws clamped on his shoulder and they rolled to the ground.

Zack picked up his gun and sprayed the creature on Tobias's back. It screeched and released the older man then turned to stare at Zack. He pulled the trigger again but only a few drops dribbled out.

"Here," called Tobias throwing the sword which stuck in the dirt at Zack's feet.

He pulled it free and pointed it at the creature. The first creature finished its rolling on the ground and stalked toward Tobias. Tobias was covered in blood and one arm flopped at his side. With the other he rummaged through the bag and pulled out a dagger just as the creature jumped. They rolled together for a bit then lay still.

"Tobias, Tobias," Zack yelled. He tried to work his way over to him but the creature in front of him kept between them. He could see the girl and the dog working their way up the hill.

Near the top the girl paused and scratched a circle around herself. She bent down and touched it while closing her eyes. The creature backed up a few steps then lunged for the girl. The air above the circle glimmered in a flash and the creature fell to the ground in front of the puppy. The puppy suddenly grew to the size of the creature and sprouted two more heads. One head twisted the creatures head completely around and then dropped the still form to the ground.

Zack backed away from the dog who slowly shrank back to its puppy like form. As he approached the girl the puppy started growing again. He yelped and jumped into the circle behind her. The again three headed dog leapt but stopped before the circle pressing against it as if it were glass.

"You're human," the girl said. She looked at the dog and said, "Amicus." The dog shrank down and two heads disappeared. Then she looked at Tobias,"Your friend."

"Tobias," Zack called and ran to him. He pushed the creature's body away and rolled Tobias onto his back. The dagger was embedded in the creatures chest.

"The book," Tobias said. He reached for the bag. "Finish the spell, go home, take her. Remember the light."

"Book, spell, light. What light?"

Tobias closed his eyes and exhaled. He did not inhale.

"Tobias," Zack cried but he was gone. He looked up at the girl and she stepped through the circle. The line in the sand unzipped until it was gone.

The girl came and stood next to Zack. "Your friend seemed nice. He killed two of the lizard dogs. That's not easy."

"His name was Tobias."

"You shouldn't say names." She looked around. "Mine is Gabby," she whispered.

"I thought you said not to--"

"But you're human. You entered my circle."

"We should go." He picked up Tobias's bag and pulled the book from it. "He said to finish the spell." In the distance he could see a light. It was not in the direction they had come from. Was he supposed to return to where they had entered hell or go to the light. "Back or the light," he said aloud.

"What light?" Gabby asked.

"That one," he pointed. "Can't you see it?"

"No," she answered. They heard a howl in the distance. "More creatures coming. I'll protect your friend." She pushed Zack away and drew a circle in the sand. She pulled Tobias's hand so it touched the circle and took his other hand. With eyes closed she mumbled a few words and a brief shimmer filled the circle. As she stepped out of the circle the shimmer dimmed. "We should go. All this magic and your friend will attract more lizard dogs."

"We can't leave his body-" Zack bounced off the glowing circle.

"Nothing can get in. Not until he's gone." The howling was closer. "Now," she said.

Zack looked at the tracks they had made climbing the hill then at the light. Was he supposed to go to the light? But things here were not as they seemed. If he could only remember. He thought of how much he wanted to get home. The light got brighter. "This way," He took Gabby's hand and started toward the light. The puppy pushed himself between them.

"Otis, you're such a jealous guy. Where are we going anyway?" Gabby asked.

"Home, my home. Brooklyn." The light flared a little.

As they neared the light they heard growling and snarling behind them. "The lizard dogs must have found their friends."

"And they're mad?" Zack asked.

"No just fighting over who gets to eat first. And mad that they can't get to your friend's body."

Zack stopped and put the bag down.

"Why we stopping?

"We're in the light." He pulled the book from the bag and opened it to the marker. He tried to remember the last words Tobias had said from the book.

Gabby had been looking around. "I don't see any light. You sure?"

"Yes. Quiet. I'm trying to remember." The words started out familiar enough but as he read on they seemed to be fading from his memory.

A howl sounded. "Better hurry."

Zack started to read. The air turned cold and biting. Suddenly they were floating then standing in the room where he had started. Otis was his full sized three headed self. He took one look at the priest and growled. None of the sound was in the human hearing range but the windows rattled and the candle flames flickered brightly.

"He's a friend. Ah, amicus."

One of Otis's heads turned toward Zack and then to Gabby. Gabby looked at Zack who nodded. "Amicus," said Gabby. She looked at the pentagram on the floor and put her hand on one of Otis's collars. "Stay," she said. She moved the other hand toward a line of the pentagram and it passed through it. She yelped and pulled her hand resting on Otis away. She shook it and looked at the priest.

"Oh, sorry." He blew out one of the candles and motioned to her. "You never know what could come through. Where's Tobias?"

"He's, he's..." Zack stuttered.

"Dead. A lizard dog got him. But he got two himself." Gabby put her hand through the line and moved the other toward Otis. She was able to pet him and smiled. "Come," she said to the dog and giggled as he hesitated as he neared the line. "Don't be such a baby."

Otis walked through keeping one set of eyes on the priest and another on Zack. The third set was closed as Gabby scratched him behind the ears.

 END