walked up the winding brick path that led to a house which would have been more at home in New England. It was that English manor style with broad wooden beams exposed in the brickwork. I rang the bell, a small man, with the face of an elephant, opened the door and bid me enter.
I followed him to the library where a steaming pot of tea and two cups sat ready on a small table between two Queen Anne chairs. The walls of the room were lined with books packed into dark wood shelves. In the rear of the room was a small marble fireplace, and in the front, a huge dormer window of leaded glass. The floors were a darkened hardwood covered with oriental carpets. It all looked somehow familiar, maybe a scene from an old movie or a painting I’d seen somewhere. The light pouring in from the window made little diamond patterns on the floor, the chairs and the table.
”How can I help you?” The good doctor asked as he poured my tea.
“I need some information about witchcraft.”
“I see, what country and time period?”
“Here. Now.”
He leaned back in his chair and sipped his tea thoughtfully.
“Are you in trouble?”
“I think there is a coven after me, the Molochians, but I have no proof and I don’t know why they’d want to harm me—I don’t even know, for sure, that they really exist.”
“Oh, they exist alright, and if they are after you, well, then you are in trouble.”
I sat there for a moment, fumbling for words as the light outside paled to a tender lavender. The doctor stood up and walked over near the fireplace to a small bookcase with a glass door. He unlocked the door and selected a book. He stood there for a moment, reading to himself then returned to his chair. As he sat down, he handed me the open book.
“The Feast of the Beast,” he said, “that’s what you’ve come to see me about, isn’t it?”
“Speedster told you?”
“No, he said you were having paranoid delusions and asked me to dispel your fantasies.”
“Great introduction.”
“It was your mention of the Molochians that gave me the idea. How much do you know about them?”
“Only what I’ve heard, that they use their own children in their rituals and place a great value on corrupting youth.”
“The name is biblical, from the god Moloch, to whom the children of Israel sacrificed their children. They made a great iron statue of the god, which they would heat until red-hot then they placed their infants onto his upturned hands. King Solomon instituted the practice during the last years of his reign to appease his pagan wives. As you know, Solomon is considered the greatest magician that ever lived and is believed to have written down conjurations by which the infernal hosts can be controlled…”
As I sat there listening to him I began to feel dizzy. Then I saw a circle of medicine men from different nations, different time periods. They were standing around a fire chanting, “What is his name?” They all point at me. “Nine Wives is his name.” They laugh. Naked women with bags on their heads came sailing through the dormer window on the last beams of twilight. The good doctor turned into Ben Franklin and the room went spinning into darkness.
Out of the darkness came the eerie chant of witches. I saw two tiny hands wrapped around a kitten’s neck, squeezing, squeezing, until the fuzzy little creature went limp. Then came the sound of applause. I saw a small boy, naked, smeared with dirt, wearing a Halloween devil mask, triumphantly swinging the dead kitten before a group of naked, masked adults. Now a small and thin, crying baby was placed at the boy’s feet and he was handed a dagger. The chanting began again. The boy looked at the baby then suddenly dropped the knife and ran crying to a female member of the group. The chanting stopped. The woman slapped the boy, then turned him back to face the pitiful infant, but the boy refused to pick up the knife.
A young girl, about nine, also masked and naked, stood up from behind the group and shouted, “I’ll do it!” She walked around in front, picked up the dagger and turned to the boy. “I want to be a star,” she told him defiantly. She then tossed her head, raised the blade and knelt down over the baby. The chant began again. There was a slight moment of hesitation then she plunged the dagger into that tiny heart.
I came to, screaming, in the good doctor’s bed. Doctor Zak held my shoulders and calmed me down.
“Relax my friend, you’ve had an out-of-body experience but it’s over now, you’re safe.”
It took me several minutes to get my bearings, I felt like my soul had been slam dunked back into my body.
“I am quite experienced in these matters, so please relax and when you are ready I want you to tell me everything that you saw.”
I took a deep breath and looked around the room. It was small and bare compared to what I’d seen of the rest of the house. It had the look and feel of a monk’s cell. Something in his manner made me feel secure enough to talk about the vision. I started babbling about witches and baby killings, sounding a little crazy even to my own trained ears. But the doctor just took it all in. He had me go over certain sections, searching for details. What kind of knife was it? What did the handle look like? Was there an inscription on the blade? Did I recognize any of the participants? Did I recognize the room? I went over and over the vision for over an hour with him. It was strange, I had never had an experience like this before and reliving it over and over was not making it any easier to take. I definitely was not having fun yet.
“Tell me, was there anything strange that happened right before you blacked out?”
“Yeah, right before I passed out I saw a group of medicine men and they called me Nine Wives. Then a group of naked women with bags on their heads walked through your dormer window and turned you into Ben Franklin.”
“I beg your pardon.”
It was time to bring the good doctor up to date on all the bizarre happenings of the past months. I knew this would take some time so I suggested we do it over dinner. The doctor was delighted. In no time we were back down in the library enjoying a lovely dinner of homemade chicken soup, fresh baked bread, apples and cheese. Once again the doctor had me go over certain sections of my story until he was sure he had all the pertinent details. When I had satisfied him completely I waited a beat then asked:
“What’s the Rabbit up to?”
“Your dead friend has become your spirit guide and protector. Though I’m not sure why, you are being allowed to view these evil rituals through his intercession. The case of Rudolph Steiner comes to mind. He was allowed to view the black magic rituals of high-ranking Nazis during World War II, in much the same way. He was protected from both the evil energy being generated and the psychic view of the adepts he was observing.”
“You think I’m observing actual events?”
“Yes, I also believe you are observing them in different time zones: past, present and future. I think that is the meaning of the medicine men, but Nine Wives I will have to ponder.”
“This is all real great but what are the naked women with bags on their heads?”
“Your friend is telling you to fall in love.”
“What?”
