The large double doors creaked open again, and the man Steven assumed to be Aka Manah’s secretary stuck his head inside. “Mr. Garabaldi?”
The man who had been pacing shifted his walk toward the doors and was through them in a flash. The doors closed and Steven was left with the single other man, who was still sitting, looking out the windows.
So much for bribery, Steven thought.
“If they call my name next,” the sitting man said quietly to Steven, “I’m going to tell them I’ve changed my mind and don’t wish to proceed. That’ll move you up.”
“Oh,” Steven said, surprised the man was speaking. “Thank you.”
The man glanced down at his wrist. “By my watch you’ve got forty minutes left. If the clown he just called takes as long as the first, you’ll have about twenty minutes to do the deed.”
“So you know…?” Steven asked the man, lowering his voice.
“Yes,” the man said, still staring out the window. “My only role here is to make sure you get in.”
“Ah,” Steven thought. Vohuman has put a lot into this deception. Let’s hope I can go through with it.
“Do you know what you’re going to say to him?” the man asked.
“No, I don’t,” Steven said. “Things have been moving so quickly, I have haven’t had time to think.”
“Well, you’ve got a few minutes now,” the man replied. “I suggest we shut up and you come up with something while we’re waiting.”
“Alright,” Steven said. He closed his eyes and thought. What if Aka Manah already knew what Achim Fuhrmann wanted? Surely someone wouldn’t get this far in the process without some idea of the details of the deal. If he walked in and spilled some new request or list of terms that conflicted with whatever Aka Manah might already know about Achim, it could give away the subterfuge. I need to talk generally, he thought. Not say anything specific. Find a way to get close to him, and then…what? What am I going to do?
Steven realized he still didn’t know exactly how he was going to kill the demon. Vohuman had said to do it the same way he’d killed Jason – what, with an incorporeal ax? The ax man wasn’t here to fill his mind with the delusions necessary to twist his thinking the way it had been twisted with Jason.
He paced, walking from the book shelves to the windows and back again.
He hadn’t really killed Jason with an ax. He’d killed him with some kind of power that was within him, that turned what was inside Jason against himself. Something that wouldn’t have been there had he not gone to St. Thomas with Michael. There was some little piece of evil they had planted in him, and it was enough to destroy him.
Well, if it only takes a little bit of evil for my ability to kill someone, Steven thought, Aka Manah is full of evil. There should be plenty of fuel for the fire. I just have to ignite it somehow.
The door creaked open once again, and the short, balding man with large round glasses walked into the room. “Mr. Brightcourt?”
The sitting man stood, and turned to the secretary. “I’ve changed my mind,” he said. “I no longer wish to see him. Please pass along my apologies for this change of heart, but you may proceed with this other gentleman here.” He motioned to Steven.
“Very well. Mr. Fuhrmann?” the short man said, turning to Steven. “Would you please follow me? And Mr. Brightcourt, please exit through those doors over there. Someone will escort you down to the porte-cochère.”
Steven turned to follow the secretary as the other man in the room turned to leave. They didn’t exchange a glance. Thank god he was here, Steven thought. My hour would have been up had he not.
They passed through another hallway lined with tapestries, and the secretary began to instruct Steven.
“When you enter his chamber, please stay between the pillars, and wait until the master calls you forward. Then you can approach his desk. There is a padded footstool you can use to kneel on while you beg for his favor.”
Kneel? Steven thought. I’m not going to kneel to this motherfucker! What a bunch of intimidation bullshit!
“Be sure to relish the moment when you’re kneeling before him,” the secretary said, leading him around a corner and down another long hall. “Your knees will be on the same footstool as some of the most famous knees in human history.”
More bullshit.
They walked silently until they reached another set of double doors, and the secretary pushed them open for Steven to enter.
“Mr. Fuhrmann!” the bespectacled man announced behind him, pulling the doors shut as he left the room.
Steven saw two large marble pillars in front of him. He stood between them, looking deeper into the darkened room, unable to make out any details. The room was so quiet he could hear his heart beating inside his chest.
Probably the effect he’s after – scare the petitioner.
He felt around his neck, suddenly concerned that the leather necklace might be showing. He pressed down on it, making sure it didn’t rise above his collar. Let’s not blow it here at the end.
Large flames erupted behind a stone edifice in the back of the chamber, lighting up a room draped in red fabric. Large swaths of cloth hung from the ceiling, singed black at the edges. A figured stood from behind a table on a raised dais just below the flames, surrounded by marble busts. “Step forward!” the figure called.
Christ, Steven thought, amused. It’s like the Wizard of Oz.
Steven walked forward, past more marble pillars. Flames erupted behind him as he walked, cutting off his path back. As he got closer to the standing figure, he could see it was Aka Manah, five or six feet taller than normal, wearing a robe that reflected the light of the fire behind him. It looked like it was made of gold.
Steven saw the padded footstool, several steps down from the table the demon was standing behind. He walked up to it, and stood, facing Aka Manah. Too far away, still, Steven thought. Have to get closer.
“I trust you do not dare to change the terms we previously discussed, Mr. Fuhrmann?” the demon said, staring down at Steven, noticing that he hadn’t yet kneeled.
“I do not change the terms,” Steven said.
“Then kneel, and we’ll begin,” Aka Manah said, the flames behind him rising dramatically as though they would lash out if Steven did not.
“I do have a question, though, before we start,” Steven said, still standing.
“What is it?”
“Why? Why do you do this? What do you hope to gain? You have everything already, I can see that. So what’s the point, making deals with humans?”
Instantly the pillars and flames vanished, leaving in their place an empty room with dark black walls. Steven looked down and saw that the footstool was gone, too. The only thing remaining in the room was the table and a chair holding Aka Manah behind it, now reduced to his normal, imposing size, and no longer wearing a robe. He was naked, as Steven had seen him in his bedroom weeks before.
“In my thousands of years of deal making, Mr. Fuhrmann, no one has ever opened the negotiation like that. I’m intrigued.”
A chair materialized on the side of the table opposite Aka Manah. “Please, won’t you join me? Have a seat.”
Steven walked up the steps of the dais and sat on the chair, sliding it under the table. He was about four or five feet away from the demon. I’m in position, he thought. Now, how to do it before he detects it…
“Your opening makes me think you do indeed intend to change your terms, otherwise you wouldn’t have said it.”
“No,” Steven said, suddenly unsure that his disguise was working. He knew his voice sounded different than normal, and when he saw the back of his hands he knew they had changed as well, but he was afraid Aka Manah might pick up something from his phrasing or tone that might give him away. Activate the Agimat and kill him! he thought. Do it now!
“No, I don’t intend to change the terms,” Steven found himself saying while he racked his brain for a way to start the attack. “I just wanted to underst
and motivations. It helps one know what kind of person they’re dealing with. This is a life changing deal for me. I’d like to know who I’m in business with.” He closed his eyes and concentrated on the Agimat, hoping his focus on it would trip it into working. Nothing happened.
“A philosopher businessman,” Aka Manah said, observing him. “Sleepy, Mr. Fuhrmann?”
Steven opened his eyes. “No, why?”
“You had your eyes closed. I thought you might be tired.”
“I was just preparing to concentrate on your answer to my question,” Steven said.
“As far as I know, you’re only trading the souls of yourself, your wife, and your firstborn, so that hardly entitles you to my biography, let alone my philosophy. How about you put on the table what your changes to the terms are, and we’ll see if I can accommodate you or not.”
Do it now! Steven thought. How? HOW?
Aka Manah stared at him from across the table, studying him. There was a long pause as Steven considered what to say next. Say something, he thought, or the jig is up!
Aka Manah tilted his head to one side and squinted his eyes slightly. “Having second thoughts, Mr. Fuhrmann?”
Say something! Steven thought. Anything!
“No,” Steven said. “I’m not having second thoughts. I want to go through with it.”
“Then let’s make sure we’re still on the same page. Tell me the original terms.”
He’s suspicious, Steven thought. I have no time left. Either I activate the Agimat now and take him down, or he’ll be on to me. He closed his eyes again, and this time he dropped into the River.
He saw Aka Manah’s eyes widen slightly, then a smile spread across his face, as though he’d found an unexpected amusement.
Mr. Hall! the demon said.
He felt himself sucked forward toward Aka Manah, his legs leaving the ground. When he expected to feel his body slam into the demon’s, he instead found himself inside something else, as though Aka Manah had pulled him into a trance inside his body. The room was gone, and he was floating. Aka Manah appeared next to him, dressed in his dark suit and Italian shoes. He took Steven by the hand and they ascended rapidly. Steven’s sense of vertigo took control of his mind and he closed his eyes.
Open your eyes and look, the demon said.
Steven opened his eyes and immediately felt the need to grab onto something. The only thing he could hold was Aka Manah’s hand. Below him was Europe. They were several miles above the earth, looking down.
It’s yours, the demon said. All of it. We’ll rule together, possess each other. That’s where you are now, inside me, and me inside you. Unbelievable power and wealth. The human rulers will bow to you, to us. Look at it! Together we’ll be the most powerful force that has ever existed. You and I will be one, forever. I’ve never made that kind of an offer to anyone before, but I’m offering it to you.
Steven stared down, seeing his feet hanging in midair, clouds below him obscuring parts of the geography the way he’d seen in pictures from outer space. He felt delirious, unsure if the cause was the view or the promises Aka Manah was making. Demons lie, Steven reminded himself. If I make a deal with him, he’ll want the Agimat for it, both pieces. Then he’s got all the cards.
We’ll seal the deal any way you want, the demon said. We’ll forge the toughest chain you can imagine, I guarantee it.
What offer can he put on the table beyond this? Steven wondered. He’s offering to share power with me. Why go that far, unless he’s desperate and knows he could lose it all?
I want my son back, Steven said. Can you do that?
Yes, the demon replied. We’ll go back two years. You’ll not buy that house. You’ll never discover the River or get involved with your gift. Things will go on from there.
You can do that? Steven asked, looking down at the planet below him, the ideas of the proposal swirling around in his brain. Jason back, alive. It felt like a huge relief, something he desperately wanted more than sharing power with Aka Manah.
Oh yes. I can do that. Just say yes, and it’s done.
Give up the gift for Jason? Steven thought to himself. I can do that. Having Jason back is more important than the River. He imagined Roy, living alone in his house, them rarely seeing each other and communicating only at the holidays. He was suddenly sad for the way he’d treated his father all those years. He’d be more involved with him, if he took this deal. He’d listen to him instead of arguing with him. But what if I go back two years, and I don’t remember any of these resolutions? I’ll be right back in the same pattern I was in before. No connection with dad, no reason to spend more time together. He pictured his dad, wondering what he’d think of this offer from the demon.
He’d say, ‘demons lie’, that’s what he’d say.
Steven turned to Aka Manah. He said I’m inside him right now, he thought. I wonder what else is in here?
Steven closed his eyes and pictured inside the demon. There were dozens of faint voices, crying out, none of them powerful enough to be heard clearly over Aka Manah’s thoughts. Steven centered in on one of them, and focused. He saw a man, lost and wandering aimlessly on an endless landscape. Steven knew his story instantly – the same deal offered to him. Nice at first, but eventual subjugation by the demon. Now the man was just a shell, wandering aimlessly inside the demon, a deal fulfilled but not kept. He lied when he said he’s never offered this deal before. He’s offered it dozens of times, whenever he needed to. He offered it to this man, and look – that will be me if I make the same mistake. Just another one of dozens similarly duped.
No, Steven said to the demon. No deal.
They accelerated downward rapidly, much faster than gravity. Within moments they were back in the room, sitting at the table. Steven felt a little nauseous, he assumed from the rapid descent. Aka Manah sat across from him, but he was shifting – his body was moving from left to right suddenly, quickly, with no discernable movement in between.
I’ve seen this before, Steven thought as he raised his hand to his mouth, afraid he might vomit. I’ve read about this before. How do I know about this? What is it?
The demon rose from his chair and walked around to the side of the table where Steven sat. His image leapt an inch forward, then backwards as he walked. Steven felt sicker by the moment, and he leaned over in his chair, looking away from Aka Manah, ready to puke. He felt the demon’s hand on his back.
“You’re a half rate gifted at best,” the demon said, his voice cutting off some words and stringing others together. “Take off the Agimat and put it on the table.”
Steven’s stomach was cramping so hard he felt he might pass out from the pain. He slid off the chair, feeling the demon’s hand removed from his back, and crawled under the table. He watched as Aka Manah continued to walk around him. His legs would skip backwards and then jerk forwards with incredible speed, and the sight of it made him even more nauseous. He gagged, expecting something to come up, but nothing did. I know what this is, he thought. I read something about it once. What is it?
“The human mind can handle only a few seconds of this, Mr. Hall,” he heard the demon say above him. “You may think yourself resilient, but I guarantee you, much more and you’ll begin to lose your mind. You’ll be a vegetable. Toss the Agimat out, and it’ll stop. You don’t have much time.”
Time, Steven thought. Time. He remembered reading a story in Roy’s book about a little girl who had been made sick by a ghost that shifted time, but the memory wasn’t normal – it was wrong, as though from someone else’s mind. That’s what he’s doing, Steven thought. He’s jumpcutting back and forth in time, just fractions of a second, but enough to disorient me, make me ill.
Steven dropped into the River. He watched the demon’s legs circling the table. Instead of being thrown by the strange time changes, Steven studied the movement, trying to understand it. The longer he watched the walking legs, the smoother they became. He was starting to sync himself with the time cutting the demon
was performing. He didn’t know how he was doing it, but he felt his nausea begin to subside, and his mind eased.
“Throw it out, Mr. Hall,” Aka Manah said. “Before you pass out for good.”
I’m nowhere near to passing out, you son of a bitch, Steven said, still in the River.
The pacing around the table stopped. Steven felt the table lift above him. He looked up and saw Aka Manah holding it above his head before he tossed it into a corner of the room, where it broke into pieces.
You think you’re so smart, the demon hissed. You won’t just lose your son, you’ll lose them all. I’ll wipe them all out when I’m done with you.
Steven watched as a large ax materialized in the demon’s hands and he swung it down onto Steven’s leg, nearly severing it from his body. He felt numb where the amputation occurred, but no pain.
Just like Diablo, Steven thought. He can’t kill me physically because of the Agimat. He’s trying to kill me in the River. Trying to use a memory of mine to do it.
Steven tried to shield himself from the next swing, but the demon’s ax sliced into his shoulder, sticking in him for a moment. The demon tugged at the ax, and after a couple of strong pulls it released from his body and he saw the blade rise over Aka Manah again, ready for another strike.
Steven felt the numbness spread to his shoulder, and he realized that parts of him were beginning to disappear. In the River the ax wasn’t making him bleed out blood, it caused him to bleed out something else, something critical to who he was. He’s slicing me up, Steven thought, and when he’s done, I will be gone.
Another blow of the ax landed on his left arm, and he saw the limb fly from his body, the numbness spreading to that area quickly.
He could still move; with one leg he pushed himself along the ground, sliding away from the demon. Aka Manah merely walked forward, positioning himself for another strike.
Steven watched as the demon raised the ax again. This time he brought it down into Steven’s gut, and he had the sensation of searing pain, followed by paralysis, unable to feel anything below his waist. His mind ordered his leg to slide further away, but he couldn’t tell if he’d been successful in moving or not.
The Diablo Horror (The River Book 7) Page 15