Conjuring Darkness Read online

“I knew it. You guys are all alike. You actually hypnotized Kate into writing a letter to bring us and the amulet here?”

  “Yes, because it is tremendously important.”

  “Did you know that we haven’t been able to reach Kate? Or that my intelligence observations tell us that she is likely involved with some dangerous people up there? You put her in danger, Jakub!”

  “No. I tried to persuade Kate not to go. I couldn’t stop her even though I tried to persuade her while she was under hypnosis. She is very stubborn.”

  “Yeah, that’s very true.” Lexi said. “And it runs in the family.”

  “If I had proof all of this would be more convincing. So Kurt actually believed this thing has magic powers?” Ryan’s voiced dripped with disbelief as he pointed to the amulet.

  “Yes, he believed it. He believed it because it’s true.” Jakub answered.

  Ryan leaned down and slapped the palms of his hands on the table. “Now Jakub, I knew Kurt Karnstein for many years and he was not the type of person to believe in magic or witchcraft. No way!”

  Abraham interjected. “Ryan, I am a lifelong student of archaeology and anthropology. I believe in science. We can dismiss most of myth and legend to people with over-active imaginations trying to make sense of something that can be explained by science.” Abraham put a hand over his heart and was waving his other hand up as if he were giving them a testimony. “I will say this and I say it with my deepest conviction for the truth. After a lifetime of research there are things that none of us understand. I have seen the evidence of a spirit world that exists all around us. Do not discount Jakub’s story so quickly.”

  Ryan looked at Lexi, who seemed to be convinced by Abraham’s words, “Lex, we talked about this and I do think there is some sort of spirit world that exists. I just don’t believe that a man can use a simple metal disc to conjure demons and control someone’s mind. So this is what I want to do. I want Jakub to prove it.”

  “Prove it? Prove it how?” Lexi asked perplexed.

  Ryan picked up the amulet and handed it to Jakub. “On me. Go ahead Jakub. See this scar here?” Ryan pointed to an old jagged scar on his left forearm. “Nobody in this room knows how I got that scar. Use your magic coin to make me tell everyone in this room how I got the scar. I want Lexi to record a video with her phone at the same time.”

  “Ryan, No!” Lexi interrupted. “You don’t need to do that. What does it matter if it’s a magic amulet or not?”

  “Because, we—I need to know. I have to know if we are really dealing with black magic and demons or if this is something else.”

  Jakub took the amulet from Ryan. “I agree with him, Lexi. I would be just as skeptical if I were him. Let me show you some of its magic.”

  “Ryan, I don’t know about this. Why mess around with this sort of thing. Jakub, tell me, you’ve said you have done this with those survivors those children from the war. Is this some kind of hypnosis?”

  “I believe that it’s very much like hypnosis. In a standard hypnosis therapy results are widely varied. At best standard hypnosis can help a patient to remember something that they have suppressed, but they really have to be willing participants and it may take a long time. It often takes multiple sessions. It’s easier for me at least to get a willing participant to perform some simple task or partially do so. That is the standard type that Shandor taught me first. It was street magic, parlor magic if you will. The power of the amulet is instant. I have never observed any residual effects in the children and I promise Ryan will not feel any pain.”

  “Well, I am familiar with hypnosis and I know that for even the most skilled person it takes time to put somebody in a state like that. If this is real, he should be able to just use the little spell and quickly.” Lexi got her phone out to record the event. Abraham took his phone out to record it as well.

  “One more thing, Lexi.” Jakub looked at her and then to the others. “There will be an apparition.”

  Ryan laughed. “Okay, now you are trying to scare us out of this because you know damn well you are on the spot.”

  “You will see.”

  Chapter Eleven

  Lexi record now.” Jakub placed the amulet flat against Ryan’s forehead and quietly whispered. Immediately his hand seemed to be immersed in a green and blue light. Abraham, who had been seated next to Jakub scrambled out of his chair and quickly moved closer to the door. The light spread between Jakub and Ryan. It grew larger, spreading above their heads. The light appeared to have sweeping lines that slowly rolled and spun around. It was as if there were gossamer sheets, rolling in the supernatural haze. The muscles on Ryan’s face quickly became completely relaxed and he had a blank stare. Lexi covered her mouth, to prevent herself from calling out to Ryan. Jakub then commanded Ryan. “You will go over to Lexi and tell us how you received the scar on your left forearm. When you are done you will kiss Lexi and then you will be awake.”

  Ryan stood up and pointed to the scar on his arm. “I got this scar while trying to escape Nicaraguan border agents last year. I fell while climbing on a rock cliff. He gently pushed Lexi’s phone aside. As he walked away from Jakub, the glowing lightshow subsided and stopped. Ryan put his hands on her face as he lightly kissed her mouth. Suddenly Ryan looked alert but confused. “What? How did I get over here?”

  “You are not going to believe this.” Lexi played the video clip on the phone to Ryan.

  “What the hell? What is that glowing thing? Is that a ghost or something?” Ryan’s eyebrows were furrowed and he leaned toward the phone’s little screen. “I can’t believe it. You were telling me the truth, Jakub.” Ryan’s previous sarcastic tone had been completely washed away. “Uh, why did I go over and kiss Lexi?”

  “I really don’t know what it is. I’ve come to the conclusion that it is some sort of magic energy, or perhaps an actual entity of some kind. And you kissed her because I commanded you to. I wanted to show you that I could completely control you.”

  Jakub smiled gently at the pair. “Besides, it doesn’t take any special powers to see you two are in love. Now listen, I am growing tired and I must finish. Please forgive me for hypnotizing your sister into telling you to come here with the amulet, but I need you to take the amulet to the site at Gobekli Tepe and bury it.”

  Abraham broke his long silence. “I will go with you. I’m familiar with the site and Sumerian mythology as well. I’m convinced that Jakub is correct. The amulet is very powerful and none of us can know what evil spirits might be conjured up with it. It needs to be neutralized, buried again.”

  Ryan and Lexi were both astounded by what had just happened. Now, there was no doubt in their minds that everything Jakub said was true. “Of course, we are going to get Kate and we will bury this as deep as we can up there.” They both walked toward the door next to Abraham.

  Jakub called out one last warning. “Whatever happens, do not try to use the amulet in the manner I just did. Bury it! Bury that thing deep in the ground where it belongs.” Jakub stood up and said, “go now please, I am very tired.”

  The three silently walked out into the blinding afternoon sunlight. Everything that Jakub had shown them left them utterly speechless. It was one thing to hear fantastic stories of a supernatural nature, but it was something else entirely to witness it firsthand.

  “Wow. Just wow.” Lexi said.

  Ryan stopped and looked at her “Wow is right. I still can’t comprehend how that worked. I don’t think I ever will, but I’m convinced now that Jakub is right. Kate is getting herself into a world that is very dangerous. The people that she has been seen with are probably looking for the amulet. She probably told them it’s buried out there still.”

  “Yes, I think so too. Now that we have all seen just one of the powers of the amulet.” Abraham paused, taking in the sights around him. “Ryan, please contact your friends from Mossad and let them know where we are headed. I think they can help in getting us into the area. I’ll stop by your hotel this evening and
then we can discuss our plans over a meal.”

  Chapter Twelve

  Ryan looked over into the bedroom of the suite and saw that Lexi was sound asleep on the bed. He had brought the locked cases up from the vehicle and went through the items. One case held the pieces for a complete M-16, two semi-automatic pistols, his revolver, a very large sniper rifle, and plenty of ammunition.

  The other case contained a complete first aid kit as well as hand-held GPS units. He tried to come up with a plan to gain entrance into the area of the site with all of his equipment. If they were to go into the country as tourists they might not get permission to cross into that province, due to the conflict unfolding across the border. A quick call to Ben for help with insertion gave him few resources. Mossad wouldn’t be of any help to him, but Ben provided Ryan with a contact in the border region that would be traveling close enough to observe Kate for a short while.

  Lexi stood in the bedroom doorway, stretching her arms out. When she saw the array of weapons spread out on the floor in front of Ryan, her stretch came to an abrupt end. “Holy cats, Ryan! What are you expecting?” Except for the brief rescue in Colombia Lexi had only gotten to know the relaxed and gentle Ryan. Though, she knew that sooner or later she would get to know his other side.

  “Anything. Everything. You have to prepare for the worst. That’s the only way to approach this situation. There are way too many unknowns, Lexi. My focus is keeping you safe while getting your sister the hell out of there.”

  “Okay, Ryan I understand your reasoning, but I thought you said the area wasn’t dangerous. Is there something I ought to know about?”

  “No it WASN’T that dangerous, but now I really don’t know what to expect. You’ve got Kate wandering around some archaeological dig, poking for spooky magic, not to mention spirits and a pissed off night demoness. Listen, I have no idea if I could even kill one of those things if it came to that, but I sure as hell would want to give it my best fight. I’m hoping that Abraham will have some answers on all this when he gets here.”

  Lexi watched two ships out on the horizon slip away from the edge of the world from the balcony doorway. “I hope he does too. At this point I’m desperate to just take all this information and come up with a plan to get Kate.”

  “I made a few calls. I contacted someone that Ben hooked me up with in the area. He plans to be going through the region today. I asked him to see if he can locate exactly where Kate is and give us a general idea of her activity. We should hear back pretty soon.” Ryan started packing away his gear while Lexi went to get ready for Abraham’s visit.

  It wasn’t long until the room phone rang, announcing that Abraham was waiting in the lobby. When Lexi and Ryan arrived in the lobby Abraham was back to his earlier cheery self. The trio headed off to a nearby restaurant that Abraham assured would allow them privacy. Once they had made themselves comfortable, Abraham set out a few books and some images he had copied from others. He quickly set himself in teacher mode, and began to point out what they could make sense of from what happened earlier. “I know you two have a lot of questions. I may have some answers, but certainly not all of them. Oh, and I am not as long winded as Jakub.”

  “First, a quick down and dirty lesson on the Sumerian belief system. The Sumerians were the oldest known civilization. Their beliefs originated long before their cities were built. So this is some old stuff we are talking about here. Everything we’ve learned about their complex religion has come directly from them. The Sumerians had the first written language and they left tons of information for us on clay tablets. We have incantations, magic spells, curses, and cures written by their priests, sorcerers, and fortune tellers. These writings tell us they lived in a world with hundreds of Gods, spirits, and demons. Somewhere between six hundred and a thousand different ones, maybe even more.

  None of these supernatural beings were purely good. Most of these Gods would act with benevolence or wrath whenever it pleased them. You could say they were very fickle and could turn on themselves or people at any time, much like the Gods of Greek or Norse mythology. The demons however, were incapable of good, they were pure evil. There was a constant struggle in the realm of the spirits between all of these with mankind caught in the middle.”

  “What about the amulet? Have you-” Lexi asked.

  “How do I kill a demon, Abraham?” Ryan interrupted a surprised Lexi.

  “Hold on to that question, Ryan. Lexi, I think you wanted to know about the amulet. I had a good look at the thing when Jakub once came to me with it many years ago. At that time, my work was focused on other studies and I didn’t have the time or resources to identify any of the characters or symbology on it. I talked about this briefly at Jakub’s house, but I think it would be good to give you a little more information. First the image on one side depicts Lilitu, the female night demon that transforms into an owl. This is what I know of Lilitu from the original Sumerian clay tablets. These are the things they said about her. She is a demon, so she is only capable of evil. It is said she can fly at night as an owl. She is a succubus and devours the spirits and blood of the living.

  The unusual thing about this amulet is the seven pointed star on the other side. More commonly we find the eight pointed star represented Inana. So this seven pointed star is always unique to find. The seven pointed star, or pentagram, has been used as a symbol for thousands of years, and with very different meanings. In this case, I have concluded that each of the seven points of the star represent a powerful force which radiates to the center. The crossing lines create the pentagon shape in the middle. The pentagon shape has its own meaning. It means creation or rebirth.”

  “So what exactly are those seven forces? And what would they be creating?” Lexi asked.

  “I was confused about that myself, Lexi. I had no idea what these seven forces could be, until I decoded the language of the markings surrounding the star. They indicate a conjuring spell. It conjures a demon known as The Seven. This was a demon I had never heard of. I dug through everything I had with no luck, until one day I stumbled upon an excellent research paper.”

  Abraham shuffled through the photocopied pages from his stack of reference materials. “I have something somewhere.” He looked closely at each page. “Yes, here it is. Read what this says.”

  Ryan and Lexi looked over the highlighted words and attempted to make sense of the ancient reference.

  They are Seven:

  Seven are they in the depth of the primeval water,

  They are Seven,

  Seven Witches are its adornment,

  They are the ones who fly around,

  They roam the world,

  Together Seven witches are the Utukku,

  They are Seven of Seven, Seven Times Seven

  “Okay that is interesting, but it makes no sense. What do you think, Lexi?”

  “My guess is that it’s about seven witches?”

  “Yes, seven witches. Together, their powers combine to become an Utukku. The Utukku is a very evil demon. The use of the number seven in the last line tells us this evil demon is incredibly powerful. Seven was a magic number to the Sumerians and when they wanted to express a very large or important quantity, they would often use the number of seven multiplied by seven.”

  “Okay Abraham, do you think the star side of the amulet conjures these seven demons that are also seven witches?” Ryan was trying to grasp what Abraham was speculating.

  “Yes, that is it exactly. Seven witches who were really seven demons, demons in human form. The seven pointed star symbol is a diagram that represents this unique combination of witches and demons into one force.”

  “Okay guys—now that seems a little frightening to imagine.” Lexi seemed unnerved as the image filled her mind.

  “Lexi, guess who found this reference? It was none other than Kate. I found an article she submitted to the department of Mesopotamian studies in Ankara, Turkey. As a normal routine they send me copies of these sorts of things for my review.
This came in last month. I thought it was something old because the name was Ekaterina Salenko, I assumed it was something I had received from your mother. She was very much involved in the work at the Gobekli Tepe site, by the way. Then I saw the dates and realized this is not from your mother’s research, but your sister’s from about six months ago.”

  Lexi looked surprised. “Wow I didn’t know what research my mom was involved in. I didn’t even know what Kate was working on, even though I tried to find out. When I went to Kate’s house to retrieve the amulet I looked at her computer. There was nothing there. No research work, no travel plans. It looked to me like she barely used it, but it doesn’t surprise me at all. Kurt was always preaching about how most of the programs and websites on the internet were being used by the government to snoop on people.”

  Abraham continued, “I have to tell you something that Kate hid from Jakub. She did discover that the amulet was indeed magical. In the course of her research, she discovered that it was linked to an ancient Sumerian witchcraft cult.”

  “The Seven?” Ryan speculated.

  “Exactly. She learned that in ancient times these same witches had occupied the temple at Gobekli Tepe, and that is where they performed their rituals. The witches had the power of possession. They also had the skill to conjure a specific demon to let it take possession of them. Perhaps in the world of so many demons the seven demons were sort of on the lower end of demonic ability. At some point they decided to join forces to become one very uh, how would you say? Badass demon. Conceivably the only way they could achieve that type of super power was by possessing these human witches and performing their special magic. The only thing they feared was one specific demon. It was their only known enemy.”

  “Lilitu!” Ryan and Lexi announced together. “Jinx!”

  “Very good. The two of you are excellent students.”

  “So, they WERE witches, right? I mean thousands of years ago. They would be long dead now. So what is the danger?” Lexi pointedly asked Abraham.