[Wizard of 4th Street 04] - The Wizard of Rue Morgue

by Simon Hawke - (ebook by Undead)

  "This is it," said Modred. "That has to be the way into the Catacombs!"

  As they slowly waded through the water toward the opposite side, Billy suddenly spoke up.

  "It's Raven," he said. "She says there's acolytes comin' up all over the city, through the sewer grates. They're killin' everyone in sight. There's a bloody war goin' on up there!"

  "They're trying to draw us off," said Modred.

  "We've got to do something," Kira said.

  "We are doing something!" Modred snapped back. "Can't you feel it? Can't you feel how close they are?"

  "What the . . . Jesus Christ!" said Wyrdrune, springing back as something in the water floated up against him.

  "What is it?" Kira said, spinning around.

  There was a body floating in the water.

  "It's Piccard," said Wyrdrune. "His throat's been torn out."

  "Look out!" said Modred. He shined his light across the tunnel. Kira turned quickly, the red beam of her laser sight lancing out. A red dot appeared on the chest of one of the men moving toward them.

  "Don't shoot! Police!"

  Several uniformed officers were moving toward them.

  "What the hell are you doing down here?" demanded Modred.

  "We were sent down to assist," said Francois as they moved closer. "What's happened here?"

  "It's agent Piccard," said Wyrdrune. "He's dead."

  "Dead?" said Francois, moving closer with the others. "How?"

  "His throat's been torn out," Makepeace said.

  "You men had better get out of here, right now," said Modred.

  "We came to help," said Max as they kept moving closer.

  "There's nothing you can do," said Modred. "Get out of here!"

  "Now just hold on a minute," said Francois. "We've got our orders. We were given specific instructions to—"

  "Renaud!" said Raven. "Have you sent any men down into the sewers?"

  "What? No, of course not. "

  "You didn't send any men down after Piccard?" "No. Why, what's—"

  "Merlin! Renaud gave no orders for anyone to go down into the sewers! Look—"

  "—out!" shouted Billy. The laser sight put a red dot on Francois's shoulder and Billy fired. Francois fell back into the water as the others lunged forward.

  Billy heard a growl behind him and turned just in time to see a huge black wolf come springing down at him from a mound of debris. He fired and missed as the beast struck him and they fell back into the water.

  "I've lost contact!" Raven said.

  Renaud had no time for her. He was at the switchboard, busy issuing orders as calls continued to come in from patrol units all over the city.

  Modred brought his gun up, but Rienzi was too close. As Modred fired, he knocked his gun aside and bore him down into the water, fingers that had become claws reaching for his throat. They were shapechanging, their faces sprouting hair, their snarling mouths revealing fangs. Red laser beams crisscrossed the tunnel as Kira's shotgun roared and one of the men went down, but they had gotten too close and Max leaped upon her, driving her down beneath the water. Makepeace took a deep breath and exhaled, blowing two of the creatures backward with hurricane force. Wyrdrune got two shots off, wounding one of them before two more bore him down and he found himself thrashing in the scummy water, trying to dislodge the beasts as they forced his head under.

  "Now," said Leila with a smile.

  "Raven," Jacqueline said, grabbing the sorceress's hand. "Raven, you've got to get me down there! Please!"

  "I . . . I've lost contact. I don't know what's happening. . . ."

  "They're in trouble, Raven! Concentrate! Get through to Merlin! Try!"

  Raven stood up. "Take my hand," she said.

  Renaud was oblivious to them as he shouted orders to the dispatchers, sending back-up units to sites where reports of assaults were coming in. Sirens screamed across the city as units converged on areas where the acolytes were spotted and the police were shooting them down as they charged in blood-crazed frenzy.

  "Raven!" he shouted. "Raven, what the hell's happening down there?"

  He turned.

  "Raven?"

  But Raven and Jacqueline had disappeared.

  The wolf snapped at Billy's throat as they thrashed in the water, then squealed with pain as Billy drove his knife deep into its shoulder. It raked his chest with its claws, then leaped away, plunging through the water and leaping up onto the rubble. It jumped across to the walkway and ran with a limp into one of the branch pipes.

  "Oh, no, you don't," snarled Billy, sloshing through the water after it.

  "Billy, don't—" said Merlin's voice inside his mind.

  "Lay off, old man!" shouted Billy. " 'E's mine!"

  "Billy, not now! Raven's trying to get through. . . ."

  But Billy was already scrambling up onto the pile of rubble, leaping down onto the walkway and plunging through the branch pipe after Michel. Merlin, in astral contact with the sorceress, could do nothing to stop him as he sped down the tunnel, his short height allowing him to run full speed without having to bend over. He came out the other side in time to see Michel, in human form, splashing through the sewer channel. He made a flying dive and brought him down.

  Michel, his naked skin slick with the slimy water, slipped out of his grasp and they fought in the knee-deep water, struggling for the knife. Michel was wounded in the shoulder, but he was larger and his desperate fury gave him strength.

  As they struggled, his features started to transform. An animal growl rumbled up from deep in his throat and hair started sprouting from his face. His ears extended and developed furry tufts, claws sprouted from his fingers and his bared teeth lengthened into fangs. He drove a hairy knee into Billy's groin and twisted the knife out of his grasp as Billy grunted and doubled over with pain. With a snarl, he drove the knife with all his might at Billy's midsection . . . and suddenly there was a blinding flash of white light from the fire opal stone in Billy's ring and the knife blade glanced off solid steel.

  Michel backed off, stunned, as the doubled-over, form of Billy was suddenly replaced by a large and powerful knight in full armor. Gorlois slowly straightened up, towering over him, and Michel stared fearfully at the dull green light that came from behind the slit in the steel helmet's visor.

  "No. . . ." said Michel, shaking his head. "No, please . . . don't. . . ."

  He threw the knife, but the blade struck the visor with a clang and glanced off. Michel turned and fled.

  Gorlois slowly drew his broadsword as Michel splashed panic-stricken through the water. He drew back his arm and hurled the blade. It whistled through the air and struck the werewolf in the back, penetrating through his chest. Michel fell facedown into the water, the weight of the sword rolling him over to float on his back, the bloody sword point protruding from his chest like a small mast. In death, he slowly reverted back to human form, his sightless eyes staring up at the roof of the tunnel.

  Modred drove his fist into Rienzi's face and he fell back into the water. Modred had lost both his flashlight and his weapon, as had Wyrdrune and Kira. Makepeace held out his arms, sweeping them outward in an arc, and a glowing arch appeared beneath the roof of the tunnel, illuminating the entire area. And then he saw them, standing in the huge fissure in the wall that led into the Catacombs. Three figures cloaked in dark robes.

  "Modred, look out!" he shouted.

  Leila hurled a powerful bolt of thaumaturgic energy and it struck Modred in the chest, picking him up and hurling him all the way across the tunnel. He struck the wall with tremendous force and collapsed onto the walkway. Pain exploded in his head and he teetered on the edge of consciousness.

  "No! God damn it, no!"

  The runestone in his chest blazed and he felt its revitalizing power coursing through him.

  At the same moment, the emerald in Wyrdrune's forehead flashed and a beam of force shot out from it, striking the men holding him down and throwing them back into the water. Balen extend
ed his arms, fingers splayed wide apart, energy crackling around them. An amorphous red mass formed in the air and flew toward Wyrdrune like an airborne amoeba, undulating and expanding as it hurtled at him. It washed over him and Wyrdrune cried out as he was wreathed in a crackling crimson aura that lifted him up out of the water and held him struggling in midair as he screamed with pain, feeling the life force of the Dark One inundating him, trying to drain him of his soul. Makepeace inhaled deeply and the aura was sucked away from Wyrdrune, releasing him to fall with a splash into the water. Then Makepeace exhaled, blowing the undulating red cloud back toward the necromancers. Balen threw up his hand quickly and a spout of water shot up from the channel, extinguishing the pulsating cloud before it could reach him.

  Kira thrashed beneath the water as Max held her down, his powerful hands squeezing her throat. She raised her hand up out of the water and the runestone flashed. A bright blue flash of energy exploded in Max's eyes and he cried out, releasing her and bringing his hands up to his face. She came up, coughing, gasping for breath, and was struck in the chest by a powerful beam of force as Azreal directed all his energy at her, throwing her back into the water.

  As Modred struggled to his feet, Leila stretched her arms out to finish him off, but in that moment, Raven and Jacqueline appeared, standing on the walkway across the tunnel. Jacqueline held her gun out in both hands and fired four rapid shots at Balen. They struck him in the chest and threw him back into the darkness of the fissure. Raven held out her arms and sent a bolt of energy at Leila. It struck her and she staggered, then turned toward Raven with a snarl and hurled a ball of fire straight back at her. It struck the sorceress and burst, wreathing her in flame. Raven screamed and fell into the sewer channel. Clouds of steam billowed up as she struck the water.

  "Kira!" Modred shouted. He tore open his wet suit and a crimson beam shot out from his gleaming ruby runestone, striking Kira's upraised palm. Another beam shot out from her sapphire runestone and lanced across the tunnel, striking the glowing emerald in Wyrdrune's forehead. A third beam blazed forth from the emerald runestone, shooting back to Modred and their energies were united in the Living Triangle as the flashing pyramid of power was formed, rising over them and filling the entire tunnel with a blinding light that strobed with crackling bolts of green and red and blue.

  "No!" shouted Leila, springing to her feet and pushing Azreal forward as she scrambled back into the entrance to the Catacombs.

  Azreal screamed as the energy of the Living Triangle enveloped him. His cloak burst into flame and his screams echoed through the tunnel as the flesh melted from his bones.

  Throughout the city, the Dark Ones' acolytes dropped in their tracks as Leila desperately summoned up a final spell. Her form shifted and her features seemed to flow as she dropped down to all fours and became transformed into a sleek and sinewy jaguar. With a powerful leap, she took off running down the corridor as a rumbling echoed through the subterranean chamber and the ceiling of the tunnel behind her fell in. The walls crumbled, sealing the passageway behind her.

  "Max!" said Jacqueline, splashing through the water toward him. "Max, are you all right?"

  "Jacqueline?" he said.

  "It's me, Max," she said. "It's all right. You're safe. It's over now."

  "Jacqueline . . ." he said, groping for her blindly. "What happened? I can't see!"

  There was a rumbling all around them.

  "Look out!" shouted Wyrdrune. "It's all coming down!"

  The walls and ceiling of the tunnel started to collapse. Debris rained down into the water around them as the ceiling buckled and fell in on them. Kira dragged Raven up out of the water and pulled her back toward the shelter of a branch pipe. Wyrdrune scrambled to Jacqueline's side and together, supporting Max between them, they hurried toward one of the connecting tunnels, Makepeace forming a protective shield of force around them. Modred covered his head with his hands as concrete rained down upon him, splashing into the sewer channel and filling the tunnel with a cloud of dust. Moments later, it was over. A large part of the ceiling had fallen in and several of the tunnel walls had collapsed completely, leaving them in darkness filled with swirling concrete dust.

  "Kira!" Wyrdrune shouted.

  "I'm all right," she called back from inside the branch pipe where she crouched over the sorceress. "But Raven's hurt. She's been badly burned. Where's Modred?"

  "I'm right here," he said, struggling to push his way out of a pile of debris. His arms and face were cut and bleeding, and his chest was burned and blistered where Leila's bolt of energy had struck. Parts of the rubber wet suit had melted into his skin. He groaned with pain and stumbled to his feet. He shut his eyes and drew a ragged breath, but he could already feel the runestone healing him.

  "Hold on," Makepeace called out to them. "I'll give us some light."

  He held out his hands, fingers spread wide, and tiny, sparkling particles formed in the air, floated out into the center of the tunnel and hovered like a swarm of multicolored fireflies, illuminating the area around them. Rienzi and several of the men who'd come with Max stood around, dazed, not knowing what had happened or how they'd got there.

  Modred limped through the turbid water to where the others were. He paused by the bullet-riddled body of Balen, lying crumpled and broken beneath a mound of concrete and collapsed steel beams. The body of the necromancer was rapidly decomposing, turning to dust right before his eyes. Nothing remained of Azreal.

  "Did we get them all?" asked Wyrdrune.

  Modred gazed at the debris sealing off the entrance to the Catacombs. "No," he said. "The third one got away. Perhaps she was buried in the cave-in."

  "Where's Billy?" Wyrdrune asked.

  "He went after the werewolf," Kira said. "Down that pipe over there . . ." She turned and her voice trailed off as she saw that the entrance to the pipe was buried behind a pile of fallen debris. "Oh, no . . ."she said.

  Suddenly, the mound of rubble burst outward with tremendous force and an armored knight stepped out into the tunnel. He straightened up and Rienzi's jaw dropped open as he saw the huge figure standing only several feet away from him. He squeezed his eyes shut and opened them again, but the knight was gone and Billy stood in his place!

  "Gor'blimey, what a mess," he said, looking around. "D'we win?"

  Sergeant Legault stood inside an alleyway with three other officers, staring down at the bodies of Colette and three scruffy teenagers, two boys and a girl. Behind them, paramedics were busy patching up a young man while two other officers were trying to calm his hysterical girlfriend. The young man's nose was broken and his eyes were puffed and swollen. His lip was cut and his ear was bleeding. He had been badly beaten and his shirt had been torn open. The blood from the wounds in his chest and stomach had soaked his clothes and left sticky red trails on his skin.

  The two young people had left a nearby nightclub and were walking back to their apartment when they were suddenly set upon by four inhuman-looking creatures who came leaping at them out of the shadows and dragged them back into the alley. A passing unit had responded to their frenzied screams and as the officers rushed into the alley, the attackers had turned from their intended victims and launched themselves at the policemen, who had emptied their weapons into them.

  "I don't understand," one of the officers said to Legault as he stared down at the bodies. "They weren't human! They were . . . monsters! I saw with my own eyes!"

  As the paramedics placed the wounded young man on a stretcher and loaded him into the ambulance, helping his girlfriend in after him, the officer speaking with Legault shook his head in utter bafflement.

  "We did not shoot children!" he insisted. "You must believe me, Sergeant!"

  "I believe you," said Legault.

  "It's a nightmare. You should have seen them. They were not like this. They were. . . ." His voice trailed off.

  Legault merely nodded.

  "It was necromancy, wasn't it?" one of the other officers said. "It had to be. There
's no other explanation."

  Legault said nothing.

  "The media is going to have a field day with this," the third officer said. "Some kind of satanic murder cult, transformed by necromancy, suddenly coming up out of the sewers and attacking everyone in sight. And who knows how many more of them might be hiding down there?"

  "I don't think that there are anymore," Legault said. "And if there were, then they have probably reverted back to normal, like the others we have captured."

  "What I don't understand is why," the first policeman said. "Why did they do it? What was the point? There had to be a reason!"

  "When you're dealing with insanity," Legault said, "there's not always a reason. At least not one that we could understand. In any case, it makes no difference. It's out of our hands now. The I.T.C. will be wrapping up the case." He took a deep breath and exhaled heavily. "And if you ask me, they're more than welcome to it. I've had enough for one night. And for many, many sleepless nights to come." He turned and started walking slowly back to the patrol car.

  Epilogue

  It was morning and they all sat in their hotel suite with Renaud, waiting for the limousine that would take them to the airport. Their bags were packed and sitting by the door and, though they hadn't had a chance to see very much of Paris except what lay beneath the city streets, they were all anxious to get home.

  "I've spoken with the doctors at the hospital," Renaud said, "and they assure me that Raven will recover. Her burns were quite severe, but with the aid of rest and thaumaturgic treatments, she should be fit enough to return to duty within six to eight months.

  "I'm relieved to hear that," Kira said. "For a while there, I wasn't sure she'd make it."

  "She's strong and she's a fighter," said Renaud. "She'll make it."

  "What about Max Siegal and the others?" Wyrdrune asked.

  "Three of them did not survive," Renaud said. "We found their bodies buried in the collapsed tunnel. The street above it buckled for almost a block and the entire area has had to be closed off until repairs can be effected If nothing else, at least this will ensure that the city finally gets around to repairing the dilapidated sewer system. It's been long overdue. As for the Catacombs, they're sealed off once again. If there are any other entrances, they will be discovered in the process of the inspection for the repair work and they will be sealed off, as well. I expect we may find some more bodies down there before we're through. As for Siegal, Rienzi and the others who survived, well, they were very lucky. The ones you wounded in your struggle will recover. None of them remember anything about what happened. And perhaps that's all for the best."