I Will Repay

"Is there any chance that he lent his SUV to someone else?

"No, that vehicle is his pride and joy. He didn't even let Sue Marshyl drive it."

"Sir, I am sorry to have to tell you that there has been an accident involving your son's SUV."

"How is David? Is he all right? What happened......."

"Sir, I don't know the best way to put this. We're not yet sure if the body in the SUV is your David or not. The coroner hopes that there will be enough of the dentition to identify the body by dental records. If there isn't we'll need to use a DNA test. It was a bad one, sir."

Phil's face looked ashen and his shoulders sagged. "What happened to the SUV? David was a good driver. He didn't speed. What happened?"

"Sir, we don't know. Something very strange has happened. I have never seen an accident like this before in my life. The SUV had pulled off the road, slowly driven through the grass onto an old path into the woods. After it was about fifty yards off the road, out of sight from the road it suddenly caught fire. The fire was intense. There was no sign of fire while the vehicle was moving from the road to where it was found, but it was suddenly engulfed in flame from above and below. There is something else that we do not understand. The SUV had been crushed as if some giant thing had stomped on it. The car is less than three feet high from where the wheels should have been to the roof right now. There was nothing in the area to indicate how such a thing could occur. Sir, has David been involved with any strange experiments lately? I mean has he taken up interest in pyrotechnics or explosives, or such? The fire in this case was hot enough to remove all the paint from the vehicle as well as hot enough to melt some of the body panels together. Normal vehicle fires don't do that. Can you think of anything that might explain the intense heat from that fire?"

Phil sat there in shock. Not only was he ashen, but he was staring off into space seeming to be unaware of anything around him. After a couple of moments he turned to the deputy and nodded his head no. Then he spoke, or whispered, "I have no idea what could have happened. Dave has never been interested in explosives, or such. His only real interests right now are football and Sue Marshyl. I can't think of anything else to tell you. When will you know if it was David in the SUV? Will it be soon?"

"I don't know sir, the coroner has his work cut out for him. It may take a couple of more hours to open the vehicle enough to allow them to extract whats left of the body. I will let you know when we have a better idea of the identity of the body."

At that moment Mrs. Pryce came in from the attached garage and called out to her husband. He responded and called her into the living room. She was talking lightly as she entered the room, and froze when she saw her husband's face.

"Phil, what's happened? Is David safe? Has something bad happened?"

"You need to sit down honey. Now, listen and don't interrupt for a minute. Deputy, would you please repeat what you just told me?"

The deputy repeated the questions and the statements. Mrs Pryce sagged, biting her lip and fighting back tears. She didn't say anything. When the deputy finished he gave his business card to Mr. Pryce.

"If you think of anything that might help us figure out what happened, my number is on the card. Again, I am sorry to have to bring this kind of news, but that is unfortunately what I sometimes have to do."

Mr Pryce opened the door for the deputy and thanked him for letting them know.

When he returned to the living room his wife was crying.

"I'm going to call the Marshyls. They are going to have to tell Sue about the wreck."

Chapter Eight

At the Marshyl's house

The phone rang in the Marshyl's living room.

"Hello"

"Jim, this is Phil. We have just had bad news and need to have you pass the news on to Sue. It looks like David has had an accident. If what I have been told is correct, David is dead."

"What happened Phil?"

Phil recounted what he had been told. Jim listened intently. Phil couldn't see it, but Jim's face was taking on a hard look as if he were very angry.

"Phil, did you say that the fire was so hot that the paint was all gone and that the car looked like it had been stamped flat?"

"Yeah Jim, that pretty well sums up what the deputy described. It makes no sense to me. It would be one thing if the car had been hit with some form of incendiary weapon, but this doesn't sound like anything I have ever heard of before. Does it ring a bell with you?"

"I'll have to get back to you on that one Phil. I'm going to let Sue know. Give me some time to think over what you have said. In the mean time all I can say is that I am very sorry to hear about David.. If there is anything we can do to help, let us know, o.k.?"

"Thanks Jim, I'll do that."

Jim hung up the phone. He went up to his daughter's room and knocked on the door. He had to make a rather hard hearted experiment. When Sue opened the door he asked her what she was working on.

"Oh, just homework. I need to get an essay finished for English."

"Did you ask David to go find something you lost the other night?"

"Why do you ask?"

"I was wondering what you were doing in the woods Friday night. I heard from one of the other parents that they heard their kid pretending to be one of us giving you permission to leave the dance party early. What were you doing?"

"Well, if you must know I have taken up a strong interest in what used to be called the "black arts", you know magic. That night was Halloween and I thought it would be neat to try to do some magic and see if it would work."

"Come off it Sue, your mother and I have known that you have had a serious interest in magic for a long time. We heard about your summer solstice party last summer. Nobody got hurt so we weren't concerned. This time things are different."

"What do you mean, this time, is there something going on?"

"Let me tell you an interesting thing. David is dead, and I think you know something about it."

Sue fumed: "How can you say that?"

"Did you notice that you got immediately mad, and didn't act shocked? I suspected a problem when I heard the condition of the SUV. You must have been very angry with David. The SUV was stamped flat and burned with fire so hot that it removed all the paint from the metal. You don't get that in a normal vehicle fire. The fire started on the outside of the car, not the inside. And I suspect that you know what happened. Now spill it."

"There's nothing to spill. David went looking for a ceremonial knife that I dropped. If there has been a wreck I couldn't have had anything to do with it. I've been here all day."

"Look here young lady, I know just enough about what magic is supposed to be able to do to be suspicious that you have opened up a door that you should never have opened. We play at the idea of a "fertility religion" as a cover for our "key club" business. People are fascinated when there is a hint of the occult along with their sex games. But, we haven't been foolish enough to try to really do anything with the dark arts. I think you have taken this a bit too far. Until we find out what you have been up to, you are grounded."

"You don't want to do that dad, it's a bad idea."

"Oh, what are you going to do, put a curse on me?"

"That's an idea. I would suggest that you quietly back off. I now have power that you can't even dream of. If you try to ground me or punish me in any way you will be truly sorry that you did."

"That's does it, young lady, you are grounded and I am going to get rid of any witch type garbage that you have. You are going to wish that you never said those things. Now, start gathering up all that junk. I'll be back for it in an hour and I want all of it, do you understand?"

"Yes, I understand father, as I said before, this is a bad mistake. By the way, does mom feel the same way about this?"

"She will as soon as I have talked to her. Your freedom has just been greatly limited until we think you are responsible enough to act in a reasonable manner again."

Sue's father stomped out of the room. Sue shut the door and locked it. She remembered Crowley's dictum "There is no law, do as thou wilt." Her familiar was going to be busy today. If she was going to preserve her freedom certain obstacles and risky things had to be taken care of. Her parents were on the short list as were the two girls, and their families, who had pretended to be their parents to let them get out of the dance party early. But, if someone asked Dave's parents about the permission she would also be in trouble. That was it, both sets of parents had to go. That was a small price to pay to retain the power that she had. After all, Crowley all but said that power was everything.

With that settled in Sue's mind, she started the incantation. Yes, it was going to be a busy afternoon.

Chapter Nine

The Morning papers

The headline in the papers read, "Deaths Strike Four Families". The report was a bit vague about what had happened because the sheriff's department was not exactly sure what to make of it. The plain facts were indisputable, the parents of David Pryce and Sue Marshyl had died and all the members of two other families had died.. The coroner said his first guess was that they had died of heart attacks. . The full autopsy results would take a couple of weeks because a full toxicology screen had been requested by his office. The other strange thing noted by the paper was that all the deceased appeared to have died of causes that looked a lot like a heart attack.

The papers noted that no minor children of any of the families were left alive. Sue Marshyl was eighteen years old and as such needed no supervision. She was old enough to look after herself and was the only person alive from those four families. She thought that she was calling all the shots. Little did she know that she was living in a "fool's paradise" where the bills were about to come due.

Chapter Ten

The Call to the Pastor

The call to the pastor came at ten o'clock in the morning, the day after the bodies had been found. John wanted to know what was going on and also wanted to tell the pastor what he had been doing.

The phone rang:

"Hello, pastor Paul speaking how can I help you."

"Hi pastor, this is John. I've called to touch base and find out if anything new is happening."

"Happening is a mild word for what has been going on. First David Pryce was murdered on Sunday. The police say that his SUV looked like someone had stomped it into a three foot thick pancake. Whatever did that also burned the car so completely that there was no paint left on the metal of the body. I've talked to Dr. Bill Gregson, from our congregation. He's the assistant coroner and helped with David's autopsy. They retrieved all body parts, or the ashes of all body parts with one exception. His entire groin area was burned to powder. The coroner is very, very confused.

Dr. Bill also indicated that the cause of death for Mr. and Mrs Pryce and Mr. and Mrs Marshyl and that of the other two families was very strange. He says that they appeared to have died of heart attacks. The problem, according to Dr. Gregson, was that the protein that normally would be in the blood if it was a heart attack was not present. However, in all cases the heart muscle itself showed severe damage as if it had been burned by something. The doctors are at a loss. I have my own theory about what happened, but I have no proof. Even if I had proof, nobody in their right mind would believe me."

"Paul, tell me your theory, if I were a betting man I would wager that we have the same idea."

"John, I think that we have seen a satanic attack. I believe that there was an evil power conjured up in that clearing and that Sue Marshyl is the one who thinks that she controls it."

"I agree Paul. I'm not sure what to do about it, but I feel that I must do something. There is no court in this country who would believe what we suspect to be true. There has got to be a way to see justice done, without taking the law into our own hands."

"John, I have an idea. What if you were to .........."

Minutes passed as the conversation went on.

"Paul, as I do this please have as much of the congregation praying for me as you can. I'll make the call at midnight. Phone Bob from the Sheriff's office at ten after and have him go to the Marshyls with you riding along for prayer covering."

"You've got it John."

Chapter Eleven

Call From the Grave

It was midnight on that same night. Sue Marshyl was soundly asleep in her bed.. When the phone rang, she was a bit groggy but managed to pick up the phone:

"Hello"

"Hi Sue, are you still looking for your knife with the curved blade?"

Sue was suddenly wide awake. Only she and David knew about that knife yet here was a caller who knew about it. What should she do?

"I didn't catch your name, who is calling please?"

"This is John Murphy Sue, you remember taking me to your clearing with David the night of the dance party don't you?"

Sue's head was reeling. She was as close to panic as she had ever been. She knew the voice was that of Mr. Murphy and she also knew beyond the shadow of a doubt that he was dead. How could this be happening? What was going on? She forced her head to clear.

"What do you want Mr. Murphy? What is it that you are after?"

"Well Sue, I know what you have done to your parents, Dave, and his parents as well as the two girls families. You didn't think that you could get away with it did you?"

Sue was almost hysterical at this point.

"What is it that you are after? What can I do to make you go away?"

"Oh, that's easy, you can write a full confession for the police and ....."

Sue interrupted, "Screw You! You're crazy. I'm not going to do any such thing. Those people had to die because they were a threat to me. You have no idea of how much power I have. If you don't go away I'll fix you good."

"I'm sorry to hear that Sue. Let me tell you one thing before I hang up. I'm only going to tell you once so please listen. You are dealing with very evil spirits who do not know the meaning of mercy or forgiveness. They will not tolerate anything that 'complicates' their existence unless it has more power than they do. There is an Almighty God just as surely as there is a fallen angle named Lucifer. Lucifer was made by the Almighty God, not the other way around. Evil separates people from the Almighty God. If that evil is not forgiven a person is doomed to spend all eternity in hell. Hell is a real place by the way. God sent His only Son into the world to pay the penalty for our sins, that includes your sins. He will forgive you if you will admit that you have sinned and recognize that Jesus died to pay for those sins and rose again from the dead to prove that He had the authority to forgive sins. Will you take that step and ask for forgiveness from God before it is too late?"

"Go to hell Mr. Murphy. I serve a powerful master, neither you nor your God can touch me."

"Let's put that to the test, shall we? I am standing in your front yard right now, with the knife that you dropped that has your finger prints all over it. The sheriff's chief investigator should be here in about ten minutes. Let's see if your magic can stop me from telling him everything."

Sue started the incantation to summon Hekatos. She was filled with the blind pride that her power was unlimited. Soon, Hekatos was standing before her. She wanted to watch him do his job. She ordered him to go down into the front yard but not do anything until she got there because she wanted to watch as he destroyed Mr. Murphy and the knife that he had.

As John stood in the front yard, the yard light came on, and Sue was at the door. John saw the black smoke like being coming out the door with her. It was at that point that John started to speak out loud:

"Almighty Father, the Creator of all that is and has been and will be, I call on you to destroy this evil that is present. Lord God, in Jesus Holy Name I call on you to send this foul being into the abyss to be held for final judgment."

Sue was shocked to see Hekatos trying to move away from Mr. Murphy.

"Hold fast there demon, you cannot flee from God.

It almost appeared that Hekatos wanted to run but was held in place against his will. Sue began to be afraid.

"Whether you run to the mountains or the bottom of the Sea, He is there. Whether you go the extremes of the earth, He is there. And you cannot hide."

At this there was a pitiful howling coming from the inky blackness. Sue was suddenly quite afraid. After all, her own private demon was acting like a wimp. Suddenly the demon spoke to Sue.

"My master has just said that you are not worth the trouble that you have given him. You have solidified the opposition to him in this area. For that you must die."

As the demon said these last words he touched Sue and she fell to the ground.

Two minutes later the sheriff's patrol car pulled into the Marshyl's driveway to find two dead bodies. Sue Marshyl was laying there and in the front yard was the body of Mr. John Murphy. He was wrapped in a bloody shirt was holding a strange knife and there was a gristly wound in Mr. Murphy's chest. The sheriff's deputy called for the coroner and the lab technicians.

Chapter Twelve

The next day

The forensic boys were sure about one thing. The fingerprints on the knife belonged to Sue Marshyl. The problem was how did the dead body of John Murphy get onto the front lawn without any tracks other than his own? This was especially confusing since the body had neither a heart nor blood. What was also clear was that it proved impossible to determine the time of death. The body was at the same temperature as the surrounding air, but the body showed no signs of decay.

Sue Marshyl's autopsy proved to be very unsettling. Her heart was burned just like the her parent's had been. Stranger still was the inverted five pointed start brand that was found on the skin over her heart.

With Sue being clearly implicated in the murder of John Murphy the sheriff obtained a search warrant to see if any information in the Marshyl house, or in files stored on their computer would give them a motive for the murder. When they began to see what the Marshyl's business really was they obtained a second search warrant for the Pryce's house as well. What they got was a clear picture of the real businesses of the Pryces and Marshyls. Many riddles about their wealth suddenly became clear..

Only pastor Paul and his flock really knew what had happened. Several families had been destroyed, or damaged, by evil. But the congregation finally understood that God's power was indisputably stronger than that of the devil.

As Martin Luther had said, hundreds of years before, our God is a mighty fortress, and he will stand between His people and those of the evil one.

Amen.