Dark City

59.

"Holy shit," Tom said as he finished reading the diary. The last twenty pages were torn out of the book.

Carl didn't look up from the journal he held. He said, "Followers of Baphomet, huh? Listen to this: 'Last night we bathed in blood of goats, sang old songs and danced naked around a pillar of fire, all fornicating under the stars like wild dogs.' Crazy people."

"Amazing what drug money can buy. Maybe one of these followers knows where Lacey is," Tom suggested. "Does she say who they are?"

"She says that when they join, they put their name in the devil's book."

Tom opened a book that was completely unlike the others. It was bound in hand-sewn leather, filled with nonsense and scribbles, poems that might have been incantations.

Under a table titled the Book of Offerings, he found a list of food, drink, animals, and then the name Alexandria Stockton. In a list titled the Book of Baphomet, there were many names, more than he could have ever expected. Several of them stood out.

Savannah Mitchell

Jacob Serrell

Sam Preston

Hannah Saunders

Adelace Hart

Tom felt a chill deep down in his bones as he read Lacey's name. Alex was never indoctrinated, after all. But Lacey.

"Hey, Lieu." Carl's radio spewed static. He picked up and asked for a progress update on the cabin. Hersh told him that he and Dorn had travelled to pick up Liam in Freehold. There they found the cabin on fire. The fire department was still working on extinguishing the flames and would let them know when it was stable.

Tom felt like he'd swallowed a bag of rocks. He and Carl exchanged worried looks.

Hersh said over the line, "They found some charred corpses on the ground floor. They're gonna take a while to ID. My guess is that Liam ain't one of them. Bastard burned it all down and split."
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Music: Muse "Forced In"