The Coming

“Meow, meow!” She said right into my face as she jumped on my chest, her voice getting louder and louder. How long she had been meowing I don’t know, but it must have been for a while. I fell asleep before I let her out for the night. I loved my cat but sometimes she could be so annoying, especially when I was not feeling well. I guess tonight was one of those times when she was annoyed with me. She continued to scold me in her sweet high pitched tone and I picked her up, but she would have none of that. She squirmed from my grip and hit the floor running. She wanted out.

“Ok, Ok.” I said. “I’m sorry!” Glancing at the clock on my night table I wasn’t surprised to find it was early morning, 1:58 to be exact. I left the bedroom and walked down the short hallway through the kitchen and living room. I stopped as Precious continued to cry out, and began scratching the front door. Ever since she was a kitten, or perhaps I should say, everytime she is a kitten, the cries she makes are very unusual. I have never heard a cat sound quite like her. When she is young it is a high pitched mew which she still uses when she wants to share a bit of my dinner. It is soft and ends with an almost clicking sound, but as she grows into an adult she learns new sounds. When she is ready to be petted she jumps in my lap and her voice sounds more like, meorrrrr, her meows blending with her purring, the sound consistent, like listening to a Yogi reciting his mantra. When she is truly upset or scared, although I, once, saw her chase a small black bear away and I don’t think she has ever backed down from anything, she lets out a deep guttural, I’m not sure how to describe it, I guess, scream is the closest I can come to the sound.

I opened the door and immediately heard a deep rumbling, phlegmy sound like you would hear from an old man clearing his throat but much deeper and twice as loud. I stepped back and slammed the door. Looking around, the cat was nowhere in sight. I cautiously opened the door again, just enough to peek out and gently called, Precious, Precious, kitty-kitty. I couldn’t see her. The night was dark as pitch. There must have been heavy clouds covering the sky, because the moon was nowhere to be seen and not a star twinkled in the early morning. The porch light, I left off and turned the living room lights out as well. My eyes were well acclimated to the dark as I stepped out on the porch carefully scanning my surroundings.

I have been living in this house, I guess it's really more of a cabin, for over eight years. It’s located in a secluded section of woods bordering the Nantahala National Forest, in fact, almost completely surrounded by it, about 40 minutes south of Asheville, and maybe the same distance from Hendersonville. I’ve always loved this area with all of the waterfalls and the Blue Ridge Parkway with its beautiful tunnels cut through the mountains. I make my annual pilgrimage over toward Bat Cave to pick apples for pies and apple butter and Brown Bettys that I sell to a local roadside stand. I also make some of the best apple cider you’ll ever put in your mouth. The cider I sell is child friendly but I also make some hard stuff, as well, that I usually keep for myself for the holidays. Sorry, I guess I’m blushing, “ha”. I don’t really have any human friends up here, and I like keeping to myself, hence the secluded cabin, but I get plenty of interaction with people who sell my goods and art work. Oh, I guess I didn’t mention I’m an artist. You’ve probably already noticed, though, with my, how can I put this, “ha-ha”, idiosyncratic lifestyle. I really am an artist though. I have a small gallery in Asheville that is run by a dealer that I’ve known since college. I went to a well known art’s school along the Georgia coast, if you’re wondering. I also have a deal with a vendor in Lake Lure in the Hickory Nut Gorge by Chimney Rock. That’s just south of Bat Cave, and no, before you ask, I don’t know if there are any bats living in the caves over there, but I wouldn’t be surprised. I also make dulcimers and sell them at the Folk Arts Center off the parkway near Asheville. Sorry, I guess I’m getting off subject here. You wanted to know what happened in the woods near my cabin?

I stood on the porch softly calling Precious for what seemed like a long time when I heard the rumbling sound again. I peered in that direction but it seemed to be coming from the side of the cabin. I cautiously stepped down each of the four steps from the porch to the stone walkway, hoping it would give me a better view. The night was just too dark. Then out of nowhere I heard a screech from the creature and more rumbling sounds but this time seeming, almost, panicked, then Precious began her guttural screams. She was fighting with this animal. I wanted to help her but I didn’t know what was out there. I started back in the cabin to get the bear spray and a flashlight, but when I opened the door to go back out, Precious casually walked into the house covered in blood.

“My God, Precious.” I screamed, grabbing her in my arms. I took her to the sink and began wiping the blood from her fur. I examined her thoroughly but could not find any bites or scratches on her. She must have scratched, whatever, animal she was fighting with to pieces with all of the blood, and chased it back into the woods.

“Oh, Precious, I was so scared for you. You are such a good girl protecting me from that creature.” I fluffed her hair as she sat in my lap cleaning herself. She has always been a hunter.. In the beginning she would kill bugs and small lizards and leave them in front of the door at night. That changed to squirrels and rabbits and every once in a while a groundhog. Later there was even a deer. You may find this strange, but I had finally reached my limit, at which point I explained to her that randomly killing other animals was not acceptable and kept her in the house for a long time after that. When I finished, she nuzzled up to the deer and seemed to be pointing out that she had eaten half of it and was giving the rest to me. I know, it is difficult to believe that an eighteen pound cat could kill such a large animal but she also chased away that bear as well as a full grown bobcat that got too close to our trash can, bear proof trash can, of course. After that the killing stopped.

I petted Precious for a while and she purred her peculiar purr and licked herself untIl she was satisfied that she was clean, then she jumped from my lap and walked back to the door.

“I think you should stay in here with me for the rest of the night.” I told her but she casually walked around in a figure eight and meowed a couple of casual meows as she usually does when she wants to go out. “Ok, I said,” and opened the door for her. I went back to bed after taking a couple of aspirin. It had been a long day and I started getting a migraine as I arrived home earlier. All I wanted was to lie down and go to sleep. I checked the air, it was set at sixty eight degrees where I put it earlier. The blanket I had thrown over the window to block the light was still there and I removed my clothes before sliding under a light sheet. My head was hurting but luckily this migraine was a relatively mild one. I just needed to sleep it off for another twelve or thirteen hours without any outside stimulation, no light, no sound and no tight clothes that might make me sweat. I dozed off quite quickly.

The next morning I felt much better with only a slight haze to my thoughts. I opened the door to let the cat in and, of course, she was waiting for me, but behind her, pulled over the first step, was this strange huge beast covered in dark sticky blood.

“Precious!?” I scolded. “What is this?” The cat purred loudly and walked into the house. She didn’t even offer to help clean up the mess. It looked like she did more than just chase the animal, if that’s what it was, back into the woods last night. I believe what happened was that Precious killed the thing during their fight and came to rest and clean herself in the house, then, later, when I let her out, she dragged it by its tail to the porch but could not get it over the first set of steps. I went to the tool shed in the back by the garden, being careful not to disturb the circle of salt blocks that had been laid around the small building. I pushed my way through the door, noting that the rosemary and garlic wreaths I placed there would need to be changed soon. As I entered I glanced around, nothing had been disturbed. To my left on the upper shelf was a row of dolls my mother used to use with a jar of various sized needles. I had little interest in them but kept them as mementos of my mother. Below that were a row of bottles filled with various substances, tinctures, herbs and other helpful things. Then there were crystals and stones of various kinds and sizes and numerous candles. To get to the tools I had to push past the cauldron. I haven’t used it for years and I always wondered how my mother managed to smuggle such a large heavy thing out of Haiti when she left.

I grabbed the pitchfork off of the back wall and took it out to where the beast lay. I grabbed its tail and turned it around. It was heavy. Using the pitchfork, I slid the tines beneath its haunches and, with several stops to rest, I dragged it out to the prayer stone in the middle of the yard. This was a large exposure of natural granite that was located exactly in the middle of the clearing, a perfectly round clearing with a perfectly round stone altar in the middle of it. I placed the beast in the center of the stone and surrounded it with branches and wood. I went to the garden and cut numerous aromatic herbs and spread them on the carcass before setting the whole thing on fire. I still had to cover my nose with the collar of my blouse because of the smell. I watched as the creature went up in smoke, burning for hours but without a trace of the animal left as the flames receded, and noticed Precious with raised hackles watching from the tiny window sill inside of the cabin.

“I know my friend time is growing near. We must keep close watch for their return.” I whispered as I began washing the half dried blood from the steps and stone pavers.

My mother, Anaïs, found this place shortly after moving to the states. She didn’t speak much about her life in Haiti, she was only sixteen when she left. Life was difficult there, made all the more so by her light skin and green eyes. Her parents, both of whom were very dark skinned with deep brown eyes, believed her unusual coloring was a sign of great power and insisted she move to a place where it could be put to use. She told me that she felt a strange pull as she reached the coast of Florida and could not stop moving north until she found the altar. Back then it was truly in the middle of nowhere. She and her new husband settled this small piece of land before the national forest was established and were grandfathered in when they refused to sell it to the government. As long as it stays in the family we are allowed to keep it, about fifteen acres, five cleared around the altar and, as importantly, ten forested acres surrounding that, with a small former logging road to access the outside world. She met her husband on a steam boat that she took from Miami to Charleston. He was a deckhand from Germany, tall, blond and blue eyed. My mother was smitten at first sight but when she found he followed the teachings of Germanic paganism, quoting the Merseberg Charms in high German then translating them into English, she knew he was hers. Even though she was unfamiliar with the reference he used, she knew the power of incantations and herbal healing and she knew he would help her in her role to meet the evil of the world and keep it at bay.

They left Charleston and traveled by foot heading northwest through the Carolinas with all of their worldly possessions being dragged in a small cart behind them. She knew nothing of where she was. She only knew what this strange feeling inside her shared with her. It was an arduous journey for her and her husband. They had little money, just what she had saved from a menial job she had worked for about a year while still living in Miami. It wasn’t the great city it is now. It was just starting to show signs of growth with the Royal Palm Hotel having been completed a few years before her arrival from Haiti. She was hired as a maid at the hotel. Her pay was small but she managed to save almost all of it while learning English and living in the maid’s quarters on sight. Ulrich, my father, had also managed to save a bit of his earnings while sailing on various ships to exotic destinations around the world. He was a pacifist and refused to fight in someone else’s war; so, when the Great War started, he hopped aboard a ship headed to the far east and never returned to Germany.

The journey took them nearly three weeks to complete, about five days into which they stopped in a small town and were married. It wasn’t a formal wedding, just them, vowing to be true to one another. “Oh, my, am I blushing?” Their story always makes me smile when I think of that part. Well, they made their way up to this plot of land and just in time too. Ulrich was a strong man and set about building a small cabin just where this one stands. He and I, mostly he, I was only ten, had to reinforce the structure after one of the Comings left it in pieces about twenty five years ago. Yes, that's what I call them. We made the windows smaller and inserted bars in them. We tied the whole structure to the granite just beneath the soil and replaced the doors with heavy steel ones. Not that it mattered, they both lost their lives during the last one about five years later.

Mom didn’t feel it coming like she usually did, or maybe she just let it slip because they usually come every thirty five to forty years and she didn’t expect one so soon after the last one. They were both getting old. I was still only about fifteen when the creatures suddenly appeared. She was not prepared. The three of us were working the garden when the portal opened in the forest, and let through some of the meanest creatures I have ever seen. We had the salt blocks out but there was no salt between them. Luckily for me the first creatures both hit the blocks and burst into flames as they surged from the forest into the clearing. This slowed the others down which gave my father just enough time to grab me and pull me to the cabin. He tossed me through the open door like a rag doll, even at his age, he was strong. As the door slammed I heard his moan as one of the creatures stuck his tallens into my father’s stomach. Then I heard bones crushing as he snapped the creature's spine and ran to help my mother. Looking through one of the small windows I watched my mother drawing runes in the soil trying to force back the demon creatures. She already had blood streaming from cuts on her face and arms where several of the smaller creatures managed to break through her defenses. I watched as my father grabbed one after the other, tearing them to pieces, but it was my mother they wanted. She was the one with the power. They feed on her power. Then, out of nowhere, Precious went flying across the yard and into the forest screeching wildly. I know, I know, yes it is the same cat. She was my mother’s pet long before I was born. I don’t know where they got her but if I had to guess, I would say she came out of the portal. She goes through periods of life then I will find her lifeless body, usually laying in my hamper on top of my dirty clothes. The next day I will find her corpse gone, and her lying in the basket, reanimated as a kitten. There have been tales of the Cherokee medicine men and their cats with many lives, their Catamounts, having protected these mountains and their people for eons. Then the settlers began to arrive and explained these creatures away as the mountain lions that roam the forests, trust me, they are not. The medicine men by the time my parents arrived were all gone. They were pushed out by the white settlers especially during the time of the trail of tears. How can one human be so cruel to another. They’re as bad as the demons sometimes.

One final incantation by my mother banished the creatures back through the portal, but by then the damage had been done. My father lifted my mother and carried her into the cottage before collapsing on the floor, his body ravaged and torn to pieces. Not an inch of him was free of cuts. His shirt was completely torn from his body and there were large chunks of flesh missing from his chest and abdomen. I could clearly see the bones of his ribs and a small portion of his intestines poking through his skin just above his belt. I was mesmerized and completely useless as I sat there and watched his heart pulsing beneath the clear cartilage that separated his ribs each time he inhaled, shock I guess. I managed to help my mom onto the sofa. Although her cuts were not quite as extensive as my dad’s, they were still severe and her energy seemed to be completely drained from her body. I didn’t know what to do or where to start. My dad tried to sit up but just fell back onto the floor. He reached out and took mom’s hand. I grabbed anything I could and stuffed it into his wounds but nothing helped. As his blood stopped gushing from his body and started oozing, I knew it was too late. He looked into my eyes, one blue from him and one green from my mother, and smiled a genuine smile, whispering I love you. Then raising his voice he spoke to my mother in his still heavy German accent. My beautiful Anaïs, I love you. Forgive me for leaving you. She turned her head to see him and I saw the light in her eyes go dim as she looked at his ravaged body. He died at that moment, his hand dropping from hers to the floor. Her tears loosened the coagulated blood that covered her face and she reached for me drawing me to her. I am sorry this burden has to be passed to you so soon my love, her Haitian accent in contrast to his as she spoke. Remember what I have taught you. Be diligent and take care of Precious. She will always be there when you need her. My mother might have lived. I could have used the potions from the shed to heal her wounds, but no amount of divining could have healed the tear in her heart when she watched my father die.

She died in my arms. I didn’t know what to do, so I just sat there all night crying and feeling so terribly alone. “Yes, just like I’m crying now, I’m sorry.” In the morning I took my time cleaning their bodys and wrapping them in ceremonial cloth; then, I carefully dragged each one from the cabin and buried them in the soft soil of the garden. They both would have appreciated my offering their bodies back to mother earth. Then I set about burning the carcasses of the beasts, some were too big to move; so, I had to cut them into more reasonable pieces to be able to get them back to the altar. As I made my way into the forest, I found Precious lying in a bed of leaves, her body stiff and unmoving. I carried her back to the cottage and placed her on top of a blanket in one of the laundry baskets with the intent of burying her in the garden with my parents the next day, but to my surprise, after all of the corpses had been burned and rituals said, I was sitting on the porch relaxing in a cool breeze, still covered in blood, when I heard a sound from the basket. Precious was alive again with all of the same markings and the same personality that she had before, but now she was a kitten. I know that’s probably hard for you to believe, but I've seen it happen three times since. Oh gosh, I’ve gotten off subject again. You didn’t need to know the history of my family, now did you, “hah ha. Thank you for being patient with me. I’m acting like an old Fart, aren’t I?” Actually, I’m only thirty six. I’ve been thinking about pulling out the cauldron and restarting the fertility rites during the Spring Equinox. I know I’m starting to show my age but I think it’s about time that I had a daughter to follow in my footsteps, and I can assure you, I have never had a problem getting men to want me. If I find one that I have a connection with, I might keep him. If not, I’ll just take his seed.

“I know Precious, the signs are all there. It always starts with a few random creatures being spit out by the portal before it opens completely. We will just have to keep our eyes open. It could open next week or it could take five years. I’m sorry, I know you are aware of that, but you don’t have to be so short with me. That’s better, just let me pet you a bit longer and I will go see about the salt around the clearing and put some new wreaths on the shed and front door.”

We sat for a bit longer as I thought of my parents. They were so in love with each other. I don’t think I could ever love like that, but I believe my mom would be happy that I was thinking about children. She always encouraged me to continue our family, whether I married or not, probably so I wouldn’t be alone. I must admit, I truly enjoyed the festivals we used to observe each Spring and Autumn. The food and the comradery of the other worshippers as we mixed the potions and murmured the incantations that mesmerized our male partners, not that they needed more encouragement, but by the time we sang our final chants, they would do anything to please us. I loved the way my mother would only allow my father to touch her while encouraging me and the other young women to enjoy as many of the passion filled men as we wanted. My mother was so beautiful and my father so handsome as they lay naked in the grass, all of the men sleeping off their willing enchantments while the women, all flushed from their early morning trysts, laughed and talked and prepared for the next day’s meal. Many of them finding the fertility of the night transformed into babies nine months later. It was mostly my mother’s magic that created the night. Many of the other women had, at best, traces of magic, most without any at all. Pagan by name only, none of whom would be at all helpful in controlling what came out of the portal.

I lifted Precious from my lap and went outside. Gathering herbs from the garden, I weavered them into new wreathes and placed them around the cottage and shed. I grabbed buckets of salt and spread them from salt block to salt block following the burnt grass path left from the last seeding of salt around the clearing. I did the same for the cottage and the shed. When this was completed I walked out to the outer perimeter of the property. When my parents first arrived here they realized that even more important than protecting themselves, they had to protect the outside world. To this end, they constructed a permanent six foot wall completely encircling the fifteen wooded acres. They made it from concrete infused with salt and the most powerful enchantment my mother had ever performed, to create a barrier to keep the creatures on our property. The inner barriers were only meant to slow them down so they could deal with each one on their own terms. After double checking the wall I went inside. For days I sat with Precious close by me. She was being very protective of me and I knew the Coming would be sooner rather than later.

About three weeks after the first beast came through the portal, another one appeared. The cat’s hair stood up on her back as she sensed its presence. This one was of no real concern. It was small, about the size of a rabbit, but with a mouth that stretched five times larger than its size would suggest. The teeth were so large it could not close its lips around them. Its red eyes glowed like a stop light, warning away any creature that might come near it. Saliva dripped from its eternally open maw burning through each blade of grass it dripped upon. I went outside to confront the beast but Precious quickly ran past me and hurdled the salt barrier in one smooth motion. I stood looking at the creature while the cat carefully assessed its strengths. It did not have enough power to get past the salt which meant it was relatively weak, but the cat was taking no chance with it. As the thing felt my power, it kept its attention on me. In the blink of an eye Precious found her moment and as quickly as it began it was over with the demon torn to pieces and Precious purring and rubbing against my legs with a satisfied look on her face..

“Good girl,” I praised her as I leaned down to pet her, then went inside for a trash bag to put the remains in before burning them at the altar. Feeling good about the day, I hummed an old love song, smiling to myself as I watched the fire burn.

My mother spent many hours putting together a series of runes on what to expect from the portal and the creatures that appear through it. You can not salt the portal because you never know where it will appear. The only thing that is certain is that it will be within the strip created by the wall and the clearing. She described many of the creatures as well, but it is as likely that all of them will be totally new when they appear. The most important of the runes are the ones of incantations which banish the demons back into the portal. There are several that work on an assortment of beings, so you must know them all, but more importantly, you must know how to adapt them if none are totally successful with all of the creatures. Some of them will only be slowed by the incantations until you add bits of additional phrases and finally force them back through the portal. When you do, it is good to add those enchantments to the runes. I have read my mothers tome more times than I could possibly count and I can chant the various incantations with proper intonation exactly as my mother did, but the book seems to always be in my hands of late. It is more than a source of knowledge. It is also a comfort to me. I have even added a few remarks and updated some of the runes myself. It is filled with helpful information on the Coming, but it also has more mundane uses, for instance, how to chase a demon from a human’s body or how to manipulate people against their will, the uses and cautions when using dolls to bring on happiness or illness, how to heal certain diseases and health conditions and of course the ever popular ingredients for love potions. None of these are guaranteed to work every time. In fact, even a skilled practitioner will usually be lucky to have her incantations work more than seventy five percent of the time, but the stronger your magic, the more likely it is that you will see results.

In the coming weeks I kept myself busy reading mother’s writing. Sometimes I would recite the enchantments out loud, making certain to pronounce each word precisely with the proper cadence and inflection, while Precious sat quietly watching me. But, sometimes my mind would wander back to the last Equinox and that night’s festival. Mother and Dad had been gone for several years and I was left to host the event since their passing. Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves well enough. In truth, there were 7 births as a result of it, but nothing seemed quite right to me. I laughed and danced and even participated in a little tom foolery and more than my share of hanky panky.

“Ha, ha. I’m blushing again, aren’t I?” I had come into my own as a woman by then, having just turned twenty two and, I must admit, the men couldn’t keep their hands off of me. Petit but full breasted and with full hips and my tiny waist, I was like my mom, but unlike my mother my soft mediterranean curls were in stark contrast to her kinky dark hair, and my one green and one blue eye enthralled them unlike, even, my mother could. I was as light as a feather to the guys who were there. In their bewitched intoxication, I allowed their fervor to beguile me as I encouraged each one of them to have their way with me, literally tossing me bodily from one to another. My mother would have been so proud of me. I had never let myself fully experience the sensations of the fertility festivals until that night. I guess I was trying to put my parent’s death into my past, but it only made me realize how much was missing and how empty I felt at the end of that night. It was the last festival I hosted or participated in. I understand several of the other women tried to keep the tradition alive, but after several years and a few unpleasant events that caused the beauty and meaning of the Equinox to become muddled, they turned into nothing more than unwilling orgies out in the forest, and they finally ended. I think that was for the best. Now I’m thinking it’s been long enough and it would be nice to revisit those beautiful times.

I met with several of my old coven a week before the Autumn Equinox and they were excited about reuniting the girls for the festival. The Autumn festival was unlike the one in the Spring. It was more a gathering to thank Mother Earth for her bounty and to renew our bond with nature; although, it did usually end with everyone naked in the grass, but it was more about long term relationships. This one, unlike in the spring, also included children, but, of course, none of the physical bonding took place until the children were safely put to bed and well into sleep. When the festival began, one of the few coven members who had any ability to manipulate nature’s power came to me and said I have something special for you tonight. I’ve invited a new friend of mine. He is an Earth worshiper from Norway. I think you will like him. I told her I can’t wait.

I knew him the moment I saw him. About an hour into the ceremony, he walked up to the fire in the middle of the altar, rubbing his hands together and feeling the warmth of the flames. I sat chanting a healing song for the Earth and all of its creatures as the children sat with their mothers mesmerized by the flashes of flames when I tossed herbs beneath the bubbling cauldron. His bowed head raised and his eyes caught mine. He was instantly captivated, and so was I. He seemed so familiar to me, as if we had met before. He was about my age and was not the most beautiful man at the gathering but he was ruggedly handsome and he knew it. His demeanor was regal, straightening his shoulders and pulling himself up to his full six foot four height. His blue eyes twinkled as the flames danced from one to the other just as my fathers had. His body appeared lean and well muscled and I’m embarrassed to say that my first thought when I saw him was I can’t wait to see those flames flickering across his naked body as I stumbled through the rest of the chant. I stood and addressed the crowd of twenty two Pagans and their children. It is time to eat, please join me in the feast laid out before you. Just outside of the light of the fire I arranged tables that surrounded the altar. Torches were lit at even intervals to provide light and keep unwanted animals away. Each person took a cup from one of the tables. Using the ladle on the side of the cauldron, they filled their cups with a sweet hot cider that had been boiling for hours, creating a wonderfully fragrant, herb infused hot, healing beverage for a cool Autumn night. We toasted the mother of all of the world and helped ourselves to a smorgasbord of flavorful treats from broths to stews and soups, to hearty vegetable and mushroom dishes, and wonderfully decadent desserts of all sorts. Our new guest eventually made his way over to introduce himself to me. He told me his name was Rolf and he was from a small town in Norway, Hammerfest, the most northern town in the country. We talked for several hours, before I asked my leave of him to help put the children to bed. Most of the younger ones had to be carried into the cabin having already been up long past their normal bed time. I watched as Rolf brought a final child into the cabin alongside his mother who was carrying his younger sibling. I was amazed by his tenderness.

Looking at him I whispered, “you’ve done this before?”

His response, also quiet and under his breath, was, “I have a younger brother and two younger sisters.” All of the little ones were sound asleep before we left the cabin. I took his arm as we walked back out to the altar. He reached down and grabbed a branch stoking the fire as I threw more wood onto it, building it as high as I could. Each person partnered with their significant others, most spouses or couples, two lesbian couples and one gay couple and gathered close to the altar, warming themselves in blankets by the fire. We talked for a while. It was a beautiful night with the moon beaming down and the Milky Way stretched from horizon to horizon. I snuggled up next to Rolf but before anyone could become more intimate I heard a rustling in the trees just beyond clearing. We all turned to look in that direction. There was a terrible spitting sound followed by a deep phlegmy rumbling, very much like the sound of the first creature that had come through the portal a couple of months before. The creature that Precious had killed and dragged to the front porch. I realized at that moment that I had not seen the cat all night. I jumped to my feet and yelled for everyone to get in the cabin. They were slow to react at first but when the beast became visible in the light of the fire with Precious clinging fiercely to its back and ripping pieces from its neck, they screamed and started pushing their way past each other for the relative safety of the building. Each one panicking, they bottle necked at the door until I pulled them apart and guided them through. Rolf was the last one in. He was behind me shoving me into the house. I side stepped him and stepped back through the doorway before he could stop me. Stay inside I said. The house is protected. You can’t go out there he responded as I turned and walked down the stairs to face the monster. I heard many screeching and growling sounds coming from the forest now and I whispered, mother help us. I knew the Coming had begun. Many of the smaller, lesser if you will, creatures could not get past the salt barrier and stood at the edge of the clearing hissing and screeching horrible unsettling sounds. The one that had already made it through I left in the capable claws of Precious and ran out to the altar. I spread blessed salt and mixed it with the soil I scraped from the ground and began drawing defensive symbols in it chanting all the while. The creature that Precious had been fighting fell to the ground with a thud. In seconds she was standing beside me, hackles raised, meowing her deep guttural cry. Then they came.

All of the coven was made aware by mother why she and Ulrich had come to this mountain and about the Coming and the portal and the demons that spewed from it every few decades, but none of them had ever seen it happen. They noticed the salt that was always present around the compound, and the wall, and the herbs that help ward off evil, but most thought it was superstition, and the few who didn’t, took it as the ramblings of an eccentric lady. They knew now.

I noticed the light from the cabin grow lighter and I looked at the door. Rolf and two women stood there calling to me, begging me to come inside. I could see the terror in the womens faces and the concern on Rolf’s. An arm reached out and yanked the door hard enough to pull the three of them back inside. I had been preparing for this moment all of my life but when I looked out into the trees my heart stopped for a moment. I had seen my mother and father fighting the demons twice before but I don’t think I had ever seen this many. It was like the demon union, local 103, had convened and they were out to test this new guardian by throwing everything they had at her. They were everywhere. I was like a deer in headlights, frozen, unable to move until I felt a hand softly squeeze my shoulder. I looked up. It was Rolf. Go back inside, I screamed at him. Calm yourself woman, he said gently in his heavy accent. I have no magic but I will stay here by your side and help as I can. He gave me a calming smile looking deep into my eyes and I felt something release inside of me. I felt what I thought I would never feel in my life. I felt the fear slip away. I felt the deep meaning of the love that my mother had for my father and why she could not continue to live after he died. I felt a oneness with the world around me and with the man kneeling beside me. He said he had no magic, but I felt his magic take hold of me and beguile me and without the need for potion or enchantment I felt myself fall completely in love with him. All of this in an instant in time.

The creatures were almost upon us when I used an incantation that I learned as a child. One that only I can use. I can project my energy into a field around me that no demon can break through. As strong as mom was, she couldn’t do this. The beasts hit the energy and bounced off to my right where Rolf was waiting to break their backs or rip their heads off. He grabbed one that seemed to be made of silicon and tried to break its spine but it didn’t have one, then he pulled its head off and it grew a new one. This continued for several minutes until he finally threw it into the fire. Under different circumstances it would have been quite funny and I caught myself giggling as I watched him. Then I yelled, no, not that one. It has acid saliva. It was one of the rabbit creatures. Rolf grabbed a still burning piece of firewood from under the cauldron and bashed its head in from a distance. The larger creatures were taking their time getting to us. So many had passed through the barrier that they had trampled the salt and spread it so thin that the lesser beasts could now come through. We dispatched what seemed like a hundred of them before the stream slowed and most of those left were the larger, more dangerous ones. I started chanting again as they drew nearer. And they slowed visibly. Several actually flew backwards into the woods as they were banished into the portal. Precious was everywhere destroying what remained of the smaller beasts. Blood blanketed the ground around us in blues and reds and yellows. It was like modern art and I took a moment to appreciate the patterns as they merged and morphed into various shapes and colors. Concentrate, Rolf admonished me.

I tried each incantation in turn but none stopped the remaining creatures. I had never seen anything like them and was at a loss for words as I drew ever more complex patterns in the salt on the altar. They were large, perhaps 9 feet tall at the shoulder. Generally walking on four legs, but in short spurts, they could raise themselves onto their back two feet and cover short distances amazingly quickly. They were covered in short, dark, coarse hair with a bulbous head that sprang from their shoulders like a pimple on a human face, totally without a neck. Emerging through their lipless mouths were two sets of four inch fangs growing from both upper and lower jaws, saliva glistening and dripping from the tips, and from each front paw were retractable foot long spike-like nails. The three eyes on their faces were small and dark and spread equal distance across their forehead. Then one attacked, faster than I would have thought possible. It grabbed Rolf and dragged him back toward the woods. He defended himself as best as he could but the thing was too big and too strong for him to get away. It had impaled his shoulder with one of its claws. I screamed, “Nooo!”, and started chanting louder and more intensely spewing meaningless words embedded in my incantations. The demon stopped as if it had frozen for just a few seconds just as all of the other ones around it did. It then dropped Rolf and turned its attention back to me. He lay there in the grass bleeding from the wound to his shoulder, his left arm twisted backward in an awkward position obviously broken, likely a compound fracture. The thing made his way slowly back in my direction. He seemed to have trouble moving. I started my chants again as I noticed four more of the creatures moving in my direction. I couldn’t remember the words I used to stun them the first time and blurted anything I could think of, but they kept coming. The first one was within a few yards of me when I threw my barrier back up between us. He began to pound on it with ungodly strength. It was all I could do to hold him back, much less draw the needed symbols in the salted soil. Then I heard something behind me. We’re here to help, one of the two women said as they sat beside me, behind my enchantment and started copying my symbols over and over again. This slowed the creatures a bit more and I chanted again. I said something that seemed to resound throughout the forest and all of the beasts were dragged screaming toward the portal except the one in front me and the one that Precious was attempting to tear to pieces. He was doing a good job until the creature reached out and in a blink ran a claw through the middle of the cat and threw her to the ground. Out of nowhere an ax came hurtling through the air and split that creature’s head in two, its brains oozing out and down its face. It didn’t kill it, it only slowed the thing down. I looked in Rolf’s direction. I couldn’t see him through the darkness, but he must have been the one who threw the ax, which meant he was still alive. This boosted my spirit slightly and renewed my strength. I was still struggling to find just the right words in the incantation and the correct inflection but I knew I was close. Just a few more tries and the beast began to move slowly backward toward the forest and the portal. I dropped my barrier to concentrate on the chant, repeating it over and over, varying the cadence slightly each time; then, all of a sudden the creature reached out with his claw in a last effort to impale me, when a body flew in front of me. The claw embedded itself in the person’s thigh where it broke off. He rolled over and I could see his twisted arm wrapped against his body in his blood stained shirt, it was Rolf who saved me. A last chant sent the two remaining demons back into the portal where they came from. All three of us, crying, I thanked my two friends for their help and together we managed to get Rolf to the steps where we were met by two men who carried him into the cabin.

I spent the next week applying poultices and bandages to Rolf’s wound and setting and splinting his broken arm. I felt six different breaks when I was setting it. How he managed to bind it and get over to save my life, I can only imagine. He had to have been in excruciating pain. While I was taking his shirt off to tend to his wounds I found he had a lot of deep scars all over his muscular body. When I asked him about them, he simply replied, yours aren’t the only demons in this world; then he said, sorry about the cat. I said, don’t worry about her, as she jumped up on his chest purring softly as most kittens do. Ah, your familiar still lives. I am glad. I smiled at him. I have traveled for many years searching for someone of the Cunning, be she witch or enchantress whom I may serve. You are the first I have found, though many I have met claim to be of the mystic faith. I am happy I have finally found you. I do not believe this is the first time we have met and I choose to be yours, he hesitated for a moment , thinking, as your Ayami, though I am yet human. I give myself to you, to protect you as best I may, to teach you of the worlds of which you have yet to see, and to love you, again, if you will allow me, for I have loved you through many lifetimes. His words rang true as I listened to him. He touched my wrist with his remaining good hand and it felt so right, his warm fingers engulfing my tiny hand. I felt as if we had known each other forever, and I leaned over and kissed him, regretting that the night had not gone as planned.

Well, as you can see, we have had several uneventful years since the last Coming. We have started holding the Spring and Autumn Equinox festivals on a regular basis again, as well as the Summer and Winter Solstice events, much more somber events, not all of our events end up in writhing naked bodies. Rolf, as you can see, has added standing stones around the edge of the clearing. He will be capping them in the next few weeks and said that they should help to control the demons the next time they come. Yes, that’s Rolf, over there playing with our beautiful 3 year old daughter. He has taught me many things about the creatures that exist on the other side of the Portal. His knowledge on the subject is amazing and I have almost doubled the size of mother’s tome. He has taught me how to laugh again and how to be patient when it comes to love; speaking of which, as much as I thought I knew about the intimate arts, he has taught me a few things there too! “Ha, Ha, ha, ha, ha!

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