Dark Lord Rob's DarkForce

The Devil and Brother Woodbine

     "I don't get it," I said. "I mean, why build a doorway to Hell? What'd he want to do, sell them something?"
     It was a feeble joke at best, but Woodbine chuckled. "Isn't that a good question though? Why would anyone want a door to Hell in their basement? A question I asked myself many, many times in the weeks after my first fateful visit to this strange, strange house. You see, after we left here on that long-ago night, the others swore they were never going back, but I didn't. Instead, I became curious. I spent time in the library, spent time in the town hall, spent time at the barbershop talking to old-timers. And when was through, I knew two things: the first, the secret I just told you, and the second, that I would own this house!"
     "Why?" Nathan asked, "Why would you want to?"
     Woodbine placed a hand on Nathan's shoulder in a paternal manner. "To keep the world safe, young Nathan. To keep the demons in their place."
     Woodbine waved his arms, encompassing the room in a flourish. "I realized, as I read about Madigan Smythe and his mad ideas, that Smythe was the ultimate misanthrope. While some suspected that his motive for conjuring Hell on earth was a wont for power, and other more charitable types, including the 'Smythe apologists' that you find in the metaphysical section of the local Barnes and Noble, held that his was acting out of sheer curiosity about the nature of evil and the reality of conventional views of the Afterlife, I had figured it out. Though Smythe loved power, and was certainly the sort to perform a potentially disastrous ritual just to see how it would turn out, his motives in doing this were even less pure than that. Simply put, he wished to destroy Mankind."
     "That seems a bit too James Bond to me," Nathan said, shaking his head slightly.
     "Read some of his books! 'I, Deity'; 'Laughter in Gehenna'; 'The Hand That Smites the Cradle'; the man hated humankind with a vengeance, and I mean that literally. He believed that the opening of the 'Demonic Portal', as he referred to it in veiled language in several of his books, would unleash a diabolic power into the land, and humanity would perish in a sea of fire and blood."
     "I guess it didn't work out that way," I ventured.
     Woodbine nodded. "Fortunately for us, Smythe was not the Beast he liked people to see him as. Many of his intimate friends acknowledged that he 'wasn't such a bad chap as all that'; I personally believe that he had a 'good side' to his soul, and that this was what eventually caused hum to balk before the implementation of his Great Plan."
     "Hell on Earth, Bad Will to Man." I flashed a full-of-myself-and-I-know-it smile.
     Woodbine just arched an eyebrow and went on. "Either that, or he was given a glimpse of the horror he was about to unleash and it scared even him. Anyway, at some point he erected this vast door here, which as you will note is adorned with a wide variety of arcane protective symbols. I've personally counted three hundred recognizable sigils of protection from various religions and schools thereof, from the Cross and Star of David on down to the S'kerr a'Sephet, used by the followers of Boldror Krad in 7th century Turkey..."
     "Is that a swastika?" I said, noticing the familiar hooked cross on an upper corner of the door.
     "Yes. It's originally an Indian holy sign, misappropriated by the Nazis. But that was after this house was built."
     "Duh!" said Nathan, swatting me on the head.
     "Smythe's second layer of defense, his 'Second Seal', is the antechamber we just passed through. I don't know how or why, but the lanterns extract energy from the souls of whomever is on the grounds and somehow use it to hold back the energies beyond the Door... I'm not sure how it works, but it does work. It can have a deleterious effect on whomever inhabits the house, over time... but with the large number of souls we have to draw on in the Brotherhood that hasn't been a problem."
     "What happens when the house is uninhabited?"
     "Good question. Simply put, Evil starts to leak out. There's an increase in paranormal phenomena in town, the crime rate goes up and crimes become more bizarre; and of course, Sin in general becomes more rampant."
     "How can you tell?" I asked rhetorically, but Nathan shushed me with a more sensible question.
     "Have you ever opened the Door?"
     A shadow crossed Woodbine's eyes. "Only once. The first night."

Next: Beyond the Door