The Demon Rift

It's 2004. There are no smart phones, no Facebook, no Snapchat or Instagram.

"The Mall" is the town square, a place to hang for mall rats and best friends, and a mecca for shoppers. Redhill Ohio has a new mall and many hope that it will revive the town's dying economy. As Christmas approaches, it seems they may be right. Then the murders start-all of them a necessary prelude to the main event.

On Christmas Eve there will be a battle and fate of the Universe determined. For eons, it observed Earth's smoldering beginning, then its parade of life and the rise of Man. It entered our dreams, whispering, cajoling, hissing its promises of glory and power. To cause a permanent rift in the barrier that separates our universes, it created a saboteur. The child stepped into the light. Curious, the eyes . . . their color looked almost yellow. Perhaps it was the lamplight. One would think them hazel, then a sort of green with flecks of gold . . . Red pools swirled in the yellow eyes as the boy began to smile, his mouth widening into an impossible grin. Crispin had seen that grin once before, at Regents Park. There was a hyena at the London Zoo . . .