by Toby Tate
And as Hunter watched in horror, Lisa began walking with him.
Seventy-three
“Lisa, stop!”
Hunter reached out and grabbed Lisa by the arm. Immediately, Blackbeard turned and, without even touching him, sent Hunter flying across the chamber and into the stone wall. The impact knocked the air out of him, and with some effort, Hunter got to his hands and knees and fought to suck in a breath.
He looked up and caught a glimpse of Lisa—who seemed to be hypnotized—exiting the chamber into the cave. Aiden followed close behind.
Hunter gathered his strength and stood, with help from Jonathan and Caesar, waiting a moment while the stars cleared from his head.
Jonathan gave him a pat on the back. “Things don’t look too good right now, do they?”
Hunter slowly shook his head as he stared down at the dirt floor of the cave. “We’re seriously fucked. How do you fight something like this?”
“With prayer, my son,” Caesar said. “With prayer.”
The three of them turned toward the chamber door and followed the group out.
Hunter wished almost immediately that they hadn’t, for what he saw in the outer cave made his skin crawl. Row upon row of corpses stood before them like sentinels from Hell. Some had mottled, gray skin, and appeared to be recently deceased. Others looked ancient, nothing but skeletons with pieces of ragged cloth hanging from their bones. All were either standing, or digging themselves out from under piles of rocks that had been built as makeshift graves. They waited like an unholy army of the dead preparing for battle.
The stench of decayed and rotting flesh sickened Hunter. He looked at Jonathan. “Blackbeard did this, didn’t he?”
Jonathan said nothing, merely stood staring.
His answer came, instead, from Oya. “Yes, he has done this. These were once followers of the Great Old Ones, and they shall serve yet again, even in death, to reinstate the Old Ones’ kingdom upon the earth. But a great many other things he will do before this night is finished.”
“Great,” Hunter mumbled. “I can hardly wait.”
Blackbeard looked around the cave at his army, a sardonic grin on his face. He raised his hands high, the lanterns casting a long shadow across the cave floor like a tide rolling in across a black ocean. “Welcome, friends. You have waited long for this day, and now your patience is rewarded.”
As they all looked on, about five feet from the ground, a very small space between them and the grotesque army seemed to warp, as if the dim light was bending and reshaping.
Hunter pointed at the spot and said to Jonathan. “What the hell is that?”
Jonathan watched the spot, his mind reeling at the implications of what he was seeing. Unbelievably, the spot seemed to expand, and Jonathan’s blood went cold. “If that’s what I think it is, we are all in deep shit.”
Hunter watched the spot, growing another few inches in the space of seconds, like a hole in a piece of fabric getting larger as the thread unraveled. “Well, what do you think it is?”
“I think it‘s a black hole.”
Seventy-four
Hunter eyed Jonathan incredulously. “A black hole? Wouldn’t a black hole create a gravity field strong enough to kill all of us?”
Jonathan continued to study the anomaly as he said, “Normally, it would. But the demon possessing Blackbeard seems to have some kind of control over its power, luckily for us.”
Rocks and dirt began to swirl on the floor of the cave, rotating around the hole, finding the opening, like dust sucked into a huge vacuum cleaner. In fact, Hunter realized that a black hole, like space, probably was a vacuum, and would not only draw them all into it, but would also crush them to nothing with its enormous gravity.
Hunter looked around at the others. Caesar, Oya, Summerfield, and Aiden all seemed mystified and mesmerized by the shapeless rip in the fabric of space and time, the unfathomable darkness within it holding untold secrets and harboring incomprehensible terrors. Blackbeard held his arms aloft, a conductor presiding over a terrifying symphony. The army of dead simply stood, waiting, watching. Even Lisa looked hypnotized, almost like a zombie, unable to move or even think for herself.
Teach suddenly spoke in his loud, booming voice, causing Hunter to jump. “Cthulhu, oh great priest and master of R’lyeh, Azathoth, Hastur, Ithaqua come forth from your exile, back to the world you once called home, to reign and rule, to live as gods among men!”
Hunter listened with growing terror, knowing that inside that hole were demons far worse than Blackbeard, ready to rip the world apart at the seams.
And Hunter also realized something else. They had to act, and there was no more time.
He suddenly had an idea. It was one he didn’t particularly like, but he had little choice. While Blackbeard busied himself with his spell, and the others were distracted, Hunter stealthily made his way to Lisa’s side. He gently grabbed her arm, and to his relief she responded, looking as if she had just awakened from a dream.
Lisa looked at Hunter, bewildered. “How did we get out here?” She looked at the scene playing out around her in the cave, and then turned back to Hunter. “Never mind, I don’t think I want to know.”
Hunter could see shapes moving within the doorway. He remembered that black holes were often thought by physicists to be passageways to other dimensions, places populated by beings, possibly of higher intelligence than humans.
And, Hunter thought: unimaginably evil.
Then he began to realize that light could not escape a black hole’s gravity, so if he could see the shape within it, that meant it wasn’t a black hole, but some other anomaly, like a wormhole. That realization didn’t make him feel any better.
The dust and rocks began to swirl around them. The air in the cave moved with it, creating a whirlwind, rushing past their ears.
He swallowed hard. “Lisa, I need to ask you to do something. I need you to talk to Blackbeard. He has feelings for you. In life, women were his greatest weakness. I believe somewhere inside his mind, Teach still exists, but he either can’t, or won’t, fight the thing that has possession of him.”
Lisa stared at Hunter, wide-eyed with apprehension and fear.
Hunter gently put his hands on her shoulders. “Lisa, you’re the only one who can do this. You’ve got to try. You have to convince Teach to fight the demon.”
Lisa thought about the time in her cabin aboard the boat, when she and Blackbeard had talked, and he had actually seemed human and vulnerable. And she remembered the dream. She slowly nodded her head in understanding, and Hunter released his grip. He looked deeply into her soft, brown eyes, perhaps, he thought, for the last time.
“I love you.”
She smiled weakly. “I love you, too.”
Then, she turned and, without looking back, walked toward Edward Teach.
Seventy-five
Lisa knew as she approached the demon that this would probably be her last chance to get through to Blackbeard. The sight of the dead standing amidst the swirling maelstrom that surrounded her made her stomach tighten with fear, yet she forced herself to keep moving forward, step by dreadful step.
Blackbeard stared at her with a gaze so malevolent that Lisa felt she might wither and die. He had turned toward her without so much as moving a muscle, his body repositioning itself in space, as if time had skipped a beat as she walked. It frightened her to her very core to realize that, not only could this demon destroy her physical body, but could drag her soul down into the depths. Could Blackbeard read her mind? She couldn’t be sure, but she knew he could read eyes as well as body language.
His eyes were of a color she had never seen, red but not red, like a burning fire on an alien planet. His eyes nearly burned through her, and she wanted to run.
“I want to speak to Blackbeard, to Edward Teach,” she managed to sputter.
The demon laughed, but the laugh was strange, like several voices in unison. The sound echoed off the cave walls, causing a dozen ba
ts to dive from their hiding places among the stalactites and flee to another part of the cave, screeching as they went. The strange opening in space was shimmering in their midst, growing, shifting, causing a wind that felt almost like a tropical storm. Lisa wondered just how fast the whirlwind would go before it eventually sucked them all in.
“He belongs to me, and you belong to me, too!”
Lisa felt her feet leave the ground. She forced herself, somehow, to remain calm and not be overcome by the fear she felt welling up inside her. She began to drift toward Blackbeard.
She felt her clothes being stripped from her body by unseen hands as she floated through the air. The garments fell to the floor of the cave, one item at a time, like a bizarre striptease. In less than a minute, except for her silver cross necklace, she was nude.
Hunter watched helplessly, knowing that to make a move would cause his death and possibly Lisa’s, as well. He had to keep the faith and wait. The others in the group had all turned their attention toward Lisa and Blackbeard. Hunter noticed with disgust that Aiden was licking his lips, obviously enjoying the show. He made a mental note to kill Aiden with his bare hands.
Lisa floated a foot off the ground as the demon eyed her lustfully, looking her over like a side of beef in a slaughterhouse. She was mortified and felt a tremor course through her.
Stalagmites all around the cave floor suddenly began moving on their own, twitching and undulating back and forth, some going around in circles and others stretching up, as if reaching out to grab the nearest body.
“Teach!” she screamed. Then Lisa took another breath, raised her hand up, and closed it around her crucifix.
Calmly, she said his name. “Edward.”
The look in Blackbeard’s eyes wavered momentarily, appearing lost, confused.
Lisa took advantage of it. “Edward, you don’t want to do this. These demons, the Old Ones, they aren’t your friends. You are not one of them. They come from a world that knows nothing of love and honor, of duty and sacrifice. Their world is ruled by chaos and fear. Even as a pirate, as Blackbeard, you understood what it was to be human. These things, they aren’t human, will never be human. Look at them!”
As Lisa floated before him, Blackbeard turned and stared into the wormhole. From within the opening, which was now nearly a foot wide, a monstrous tentacle snaked through, feeling the air like a cockroach using an antenna to test its surroundings. As Lisa watched, she saw below the tentacle what looked like the burning red pupil of a huge, malicious eye.
And it looked directly at her.
Lisa closed her eyes tightly to block out the vision, then opened them and focused her attention on Blackbeard. “Edward, listen to me. You’ve been given another chance. After all these centuries, you can make things right and redeem yourself. You can put an end to this, and save your own soul.”
The stalagmites stopped their gyrations, as if someone had turned off a switch.
Suddenly, Oya was moving toward them. “Silence, woman! We have come too far to be stopped by some half-breed.”
Oya looked toward Aiden and Jason. “Shut her up. Permanently.”
Seventy-six
Aiden slowly raised his pistol and aimed directly at Lisa. She watched as a grin appeared on his face as he began to squeeze the trigger.
Suddenly, the gun fell from his hand and clattered on the cave floor as he glanced down and Lisa saw what appeared to be a bloody rope spilling from his body—his intestines.
His agonized wail turned Lisa’s blood to ice. Standing next to Aiden, she saw one of the recent dead holding a long, curved knife—cold, pupil-less eyes staring. Aiden collapsed in the dirt like a broken marionette. His body convulsed for several minutes, then finally lay still.
“Leave her alone,” Blackbeard said simply. Lisa felt relieved, and more vulnerable than she had ever felt in her life, hanging naked a foot off the ground and unable to move.
Blackbeard turned back to the hole that had now opened at least another six inches, and the wind inside the cave had to be blowing fifty miles per hour, Lisa thought. Rocks and dirt pelted her skin, each one stinging her like pellets from a BB-gun.
Another huge, strangely-colored tentacle reached out from the hole, slimy and alien, appearing to come from nowhere. A second eye became visible. Strange, ungodly howls began emanating from within the opening, sending terror through Lisa’s bones, but Jason and Oya seemed almost to revel in it.
To her dismay, Blackbeard raised his arms once again. “Ithaqua, Mordiggian, Othuyeg, Rhan-Tegoth, come forth, reveal yourselves, let yourselves be known.”
Lisa thought she heard the least bit of uncertainty in Blackbeard’s voice now, and she knew she had succeeded in sowing the seeds of doubt.
Now, she had to finish the job. “Edward.”
Blackbeard slowly swiveled his head toward Lisa, the fire in his eyes now reduced to a glow.
“Edward, they’re using you. Can’t you see? They’re using you to bring them into the world, and when they’re done, they’ll destroy you, just as they destroy every human. There will be no ruling beside them. The demon that possesses you will keep you enslaved for eternity. You’ll never be free. Don’t let them do it, Edward. Be the man that you once were, the man that I know you are. Defy them. Defy them as you once defied the world, and show them you won’t go without a fight.”
Blackbeard stared into her eyes, and she knew that her words had struck a chord. Then, he softened, and she thought his face looked troubled, as if a great battle was being waged between his body and his soul.
Lisa’s heart leapt as she slowly began descending. In seconds, her bare feet touched the cold floor of the cave, and she glanced at Hunter, who was now moving swiftly toward her. He grabbed hold of Lisa, steadying her, and she glanced at Blackbeard.
The pirate looked at them, and Lisa saw in those eyes the recognition of fellow humans, and she realized she had broken through.
Then, Blackbeard spoke his final word.
“Run.”
Seventy-seven
As quickly as they could, Lisa and Hunter gathered Lisa’s clothes from the cave floor. She pulled them on as they worked their way toward the others.
Jonathan eyed the pair. “So he’s letting us go, just like that?”
Hunter looked at Oya and Jason, who seemed conflicted about what they should do—hold them prisoner or let them go.
Hunter suddenly felt compassion for the man who had been his friend, or so he had thought. “Jason, don’t get caught up in this. It’s insane. It’s like Lisa said. These things aren’t human. Humans to them are nothing more than cattle, bred to be slaughtered.” But Hunter could see he wasn’t breaking through.
Jason raised his pistol, and, quick as lightning, Caesar snatched it out of his hand and turned the barrel on Jason and Oya. The pair stared at him, nonplussed by the turn of fortune.
Jason shook his head, a humorless smile forming on his lips. “Hunter, your God is weak. The world is already in chaos. War, famine, disease—the Great Old Ones knew nothing of these things. You’re right, they aren’t human, and that’s their biggest virtue. They offer a world free from the shortcomings of mankind, a world where your every whim is satisfied. Instant gratification. Do as thou wilt.”
“You forgot one part of that saying, Jason: ‘Do as thou wilt as long as it harms none.’ Do you really think those things are just benevolent beings, waiting to grant your every wish? You better think again, my friend. They’ll rip you apart the minute they break into our dimension.”
The monstrous things inhabiting the wormhole seemed to hear them, and the eerie, otherworldly howling intensified. The wind inside the cave neared hurricane force, the stinging rocks and sand becoming nearly unbearable.
Blackbeard turned and stared at the group, and Hunter could see his power to control the demon was nearly at an end. His eyes pleaded with them, telling them that this was their last chance, or they would have to face the consequences.
Hunter eyed
Jason, and thought about forcing him out of the cave at gunpoint. But he knew that would be useless, and might cause them trouble if he were to escape.
Now, it was Lisa’s turn to plead. “Jason, be reasonable. Come with us.”
“Why, so I can watch you live happily-ever-after together? No thanks. I’ll take my chances with them. Better to reign in Hell than serve in Heaven.”
Hunter shook his head, saddened by those words, but helpless to do anything. “I hope you know what you’re doing. Good luck, my friend.”
Caesar said to Hunter, “Go. I’ll make sure they don’t follow, then I‘ll catch up with you.”
Hunter nodded thanks at Caesar, and then he, Jonathan, and Lisa started for the other side of the cave, and freedom. They cautiously waded through the army of corpses, who seemed not to notice them, but who only waited for the word that had yet to be given.
Seventy-eight
Teach watched as the wormhole grew to three feet, fading in and out like a television broadcast from a too-distant source, and shifting in shape like a living, breathing thing. On the other side were infinitely evil, hideous beings of monstrous proportions waiting for their chance to enter into the earthly realm. Some of the beings were slug-like creatures with multiple appendages, some had claws or tentacles, and still others were nothing more than gigantic worms with gaping, tooth-filled maws which devoured everything in their path. All were demons, like himself, banished from the three-dimensional universe before the Age of Man by the Outer Gods, or by God himself, for unspeakable acts of blasphemy.
But he had been given another chance. He had managed to maintain control of this body until it had been reanimated by Jason Summerfield. He turned and looked at Jason and the priest, Oya. Jason had set him free, given him another chance at reigning supreme over this world, and he had intended to take it. But did he really owe the man anything?