by Barry Reese
“Well… there are questions about a murder…”
“Surely you don’t suspect my son of being implicated…?”
“Oh, no! But I have to ask…”
“I’ve never understood why you have to waste your time with such nonsense. You should be able to focus on truly important matters… like finding the true killer behind Mr. Beauregard’s death.”
“How did you know—?”
The elder Mr. Davies leaned in close to him and the sheriff found himself unable to look away from the man’s eyes. They seemed to hold such power… such knowledge… as if their owner had been to Hell and back, returning with truths that the sheriff could never comprehend. “There is nothing to be learned here. You will return to your car, speaking politely to Josh and Nettie as you go… and then you will refuse to follow up any more leads related to my son. Do you understand?”
“Sheriff?”
The sheriff jumped, whirling about to see Josh and Nettie watching him with fearful expressions. The sheriff looked around for Max’s father but there was no sign of him. Hitching up his belt and trying to calm the pounding of his heart, the lawman answered “Just getting’ ready to head back to the station. Tell Mr. Davies and his father that I’m sorry for the trouble.”
Josh watched the man’s back as he hurried out the door, a dumbfounded look upon his face. “Mr. Davies… and his father? What the heck was that about?”
“Don’t ask me,” Nettie answered. “Mr. Davies’ daddy died a long, long time ago.”
“Maybe it was a ghost.”
“Don’t you be startin’ on about ghosts,” Nettie warned. “Plenty of strangeness in this world without bringin’ in ghosts. They need to stay where they be and let the livin’ do the livin’.”
CHAPTER XV
Tomb of Horrors
Jacob Trench wiped the sweat from his brow. He had grown used to pain and discomfort over the past few years, but even he felt the stifling air settling into his lungs, making him long for fresh air. The German workers he’d been given were laboring hard, most of them having dispatched their shirts to keep cool.
When he’d first entered the area beneath the Druselturm, Trench had enjoyed the cool air and the moist smell of earth… but as soon as the work began, the setting became more and more oppressive. The only thing that gave him any solace was the knowledge that Max Davies was probably suffering through even worse times. Even if he managed to evade the police back in Atlanta, there were creatures given the singular task of preventing him from reaching Germany.
“How goes it, Mr. Trench?”
Jacob turned to see his agent in the Reich, Schmidt, approaching. Much to Jacob’s chagrin, Schmidt looked fresh as a daisy. “They’ve moved away a lot of earth with their shovels and revealed a sealed doorway of some kind. One of them is lining the area with dynamite now. As soon as it’s blown open, we’re inside.”
Schmidt smiled, showing perfectly straight teeth. “You make it sound so easy. That is something I have noticed about you Americans—no matter how incredible the task, it is always something that can be overcome by your… ingenuity.”
“Our work ethic is second to none,” Trench replied, all too aware that he was standing to the side, sweating, while the Germans did the backbreaking labor. “I’m sure you’ll get a medal for your role in this. Hitler loves anything related to the occult, doesn’t he?”
“He does not view this as some sort of hobby, Mr. Trench. He values things that might help him and the German people.”
“Right.” Trench relaxed a bit as one of the foremen stepped up to him. Trench had forgotten the man’s name but he had been in charge of setting the explosives. “Are we ready?”
The other man nodded, answering in fractured English. “Ready to go boom. Back away.”
Trench did so, aware of Schmidt at his side. K’ntu had disappeared, which wasn’t unusual. The Asian had a tendency to vanish for weeks at a time, reappearing just when it was most inconvenient for Jacob.
Kneeling in the dirt, Trench heard the men counting slowly in German. He glanced up at the ceiling, hoping they knew their explosives as well as they thought they did. The last thing he wanted was to join Rosenkreuz in a tomb beneath the Druselturm.
The explosion made his ears ring and sent dust flying. Jacob coughed, burying his face in his hands until the cloud began to fade. He moved forward, even before he could see the gaping hole the dynamite had left behind. A new odor was drifting into the room, one that carried the weight of ages.
He paused in the newly-revealed doorway, staring into a complicated series of passageways, all adorned with runes that carried tremendous occult power. “We’ve found it,” he whispered.
“Yes. You have.”
The voice came from the depths of the tomb and made the workers at Jacob’s back jump in alarm. How could there be someone inside there? Someone alive? It was impossible!
Trench stumbled away from the door, hearing footsteps within. They were coming closer…
“Trench!” Schmidt shouted. “What is going on here?”
“I don’t… I don’t know.”
Suddenly several creatures burst forth from within the tomb. They looked like desiccated corpses, but they moved with astonishing swiftness. Each was naked, with sunken cheeks and flesh that outlined the bones underneath. One or two had been female in life, but most were obviously male. They attacked the workers with glee, making sounds that reminded Trench of dogs at play. Amidst the yips of the attackers and the cries of the dying, Trench realized that he alone was untouched.
Trench turned towards Schmidt, seeing that one of the female monsters had the German gripped about the head. Her hands were pulling his face towards her open mouth, as if to give him a gory sort of kiss. When he was within range, the female leaned forward and bit down hard, tearing away at Schmidt’s handsome face.
“She is ravenous,” a voice said from behind Trench. It was the same man who had spoken before and Trench turned slowly to face him, wondering what he would see.
The figure looked old, like a dried-up husk… but he retained much more vitality than the monsters did. He had long dark hair that hung in a braid down his back and his clothing was that of an ancient Egyptian priest. A ceremonial dagger hung on one sunken hip. A cobra wrapped itself lovingly around one of the man’s ankles.
“They… belong to you?” Trench asked when he’d found his voice.
“They are my spiritual children. Men and women who chose the life eternal…”
Trench felt the urge to retch as the man reached out and touched his shoulder. The odor of him was like that of spoiled fish. “Are you…?” He started, but found his throat seizing up, rendering him unable to finish the question.
The man nodded sagely. “I am Christian Rosenkreuz. And I possess the key to Lucifer’s Cage.”
Trench’s eyes flew open wide. He felt like he had years ago, when he’d finally found the temple in Tibet. “Give it to me,” he hissed, startling himself with the forcefulness of his desire.
Rosenkreuz laughed softly. “Patience. Since gaining the Secret Knowledge of the East, I have found that a man must always exercise patience as his highest virtue. There is something I expect from you before I share the key.”
“What?”
Rosenkreuz’s lips parted in a leer. “A bride.”
CHAPTER XVI
Arrival of the Peregrine
Evelyn fidgeted a bit, trying to ignore the smell of the pigs that grunted all around her. “This was your plan?” she asked, for seemingly the thousandth time. “Max Davies, I will never trust you again!”
Max smiled, jostled a bit by the bumpy road. The two of them were in the back of a truck, one loaded with pigs and slop. The latter was thankfully sturdily contained, but the former were too plentiful to ignore. “It’s gotten us here, hasn’t it?”
“Not very quickly, I’m afraid! Trench is likely to have opened the tomb and taken off by now.” Evelyn tried to ignore the stains that d
otted her trousers. Whatever that was, she bet it would never come out in the wash.
“I don’t think so,” Max answered, reaching over to remove a small twig from the curls of her hair. “I haven’t had a single vision since we arrived in Germany and I’m positive that if Trench had opened the cage, I’d know.”
“Isn’t it a silly thing to even try?”
“What?”
“Opening this Lucifer’s Cage thing. If it is the embodiment of evil inside there, what makes Trench think that the thing won’t just betray him? I mean, it is evil.”
“That’s a good question… and it’s one that’s plagued me many times, in similar circumstances. There’s something inside some people that make them susceptible to foolish risks, I believe.”
The truck came rumbling to a stop, just a mile or two away from the Druselturm. Max had paid the driver handsomely to take them there as quickly as possible and the poor farmer had readily agreed, particularly after seeing that Max was offering American money.
“We’re here,” Max said, jumping off the truck and offering a hand to help Evelyn down. Despite the smudges on her cheeks and the slight disarray to her hair, she looked lovely in the moonlight and Max told her so.
Evelyn gave him a secret sort of smile, her eyes shining. “If you think I look good now, wait until later. I clean up much better, I promise.”
“I can’t wait,” Max answered, giving her hand a quick squeeze before walking around to the driver’s side door. He thanked the man in German, slipping him an extra five dollars if the driver would disavow any knowledge of them.
When the truck had continued on its way, Max turned back to Evelyn, his expression grown cold and serious. “I still wish you would wait for me.”
“Don’t worry… whatever strange vision you had about me isn’t necessarily going to come true. You said that yourself.”
“It’s a lot less likely to come true if you’re not in the tomb with me,” Max countered. “Please.”
Evelyn avoided his gaze, instead reaching into her ample cleavage and retrieving a small strip of black cloth. To Max’s astonishment, she tied it about her head, fitting two small eyeholes over the appropriate areas. “There. To protect my identity.”
“You’re being quite silly,” Max whispered, though he couldn’t help but be amused. He realized that this was the first time he could ever recall being on a mission and feeling so jovial at the same time. Maybe you were right, father, he mused. Maybe I let my crusade be a solitary one for far too long.
“Shouldn’t you don your own mask?” Evelyn asked. She had produced a small pistol from somewhere and was checking to make sure the gun was fully loaded.
Max stepped off the road, into the growing shadow. He changed quickly, old habits stepping to the fore. If Evelyn were serious about this, he would stop trying to dissuade her. “That gun won’t do much damage to a full grown man… and even less to a monster from beyond.”
“You have a spare I could borrow, then?”
Max considered it, but finally shook his head no. He had two pistols on him but he would most likely need both. “Just be aware of its limitations. Use it to threaten an attacker, but don’t have faith it’ll save your skin in a pinch.”
“You fill me with confidence,” she responded dryly.
The Peregrine didn’t bother responding. Instead, he began moving through the shadows at a steady clip. He heard Evelyn keeping pace behind him but he didn’t allow his own speed to slacken. If they were going to make it out of this alive, he would have to—
Max stumbled to the ground, pain suddenly rendering him unable to move. In his mind’s eye he could see Trench, standing alongside another man… one dressed like an Egyptian priest. They were moving through the oddly shaped tomb of Christian Rosenkreuz, a tomb that was filled with objects of dark power. “He’s alive,” Max said aloud, realization flooding through him. “Rosenkreuz is alive…”
“Max?” Evelyn asked, reaching out a shaking hand to grasp at his shoulder.
The Peregrine shook his head to clear it of the dark images, but one lingered beyond the rest. Rosenkreuz had been showing something to Jacob… a golden key. Turning his attention back to Evelyn, the Peregrine answered, “I saw him. Trench has opened the tomb. Rosenkreuz is with him. He’s going to give him the key!”
“But… how could he still be alive? Is he one of those zombie things?”
“No. He seemed different from those that we saw in Atlanta.” The Peregrine rose to his feet again, his jaw firmly set. “I think he’s something else entirely.”
Evelyn started to ask something further, but her words were lost in the sudden roar of flames. A wall of fire rose up between her and Max, one that would have swallowed her whole had the Peregrine not shoved her back at the last moment. Beyond the flames, which extended now in a full square around the Peregrine, Evelyn could see nothing… but she heard voices.
Alongside Max’s, there was another.
CHAPTER XVII
K’ntu
The Peregrine coughed as the smoke filled his lungs, but he been in many fires during his adventuring career. Flame did not frighten him… nor did the Asian man who had materialized before him.
It was K’ntu, the aged advisor to Jacob Trench.
“Is your boy Jacob with you?” the Peregrine asked, drawing both his pistols and brandishing them before him.
K’ntu stood with the flames dancing behind him. A self-satisfied smile lay upon his face and his eyes, which seemed so ancient and wise, were full of mirth. His robes whipped about in the wind, which had appeared to fan the flames. “He is busy at work. Our master will soon be unleashed from his prison.”
“Shouldn’t you be there with him? Celebrate the occasion?”
“I thought it best that I come to you, Mr. Davies. Jacob does not realize the threat you pose.”
“But you do, I take it.”
“Most certainly. You have a gift, one both potent and terrible. Your mind is attuned to the Other Side. That is what allows your father to keep his tether to this world. You are the portal through which he exists.”
Max frowned. How did K’ntu know…?
“I know many things,” the old man answered, as if reading the Peregrine’s thoughts. “For I have lived a very long time… and my eyes can see past the veils of reality.”
“Then I guess you knew these were coming, didn’t you?” Max raised both pistols and fired, unleashing a torrent of bullets. To his amazement, however, K’ntu dodged them all. He was a blur of movement, his actions too fast for the human eye to follow.
“You think I am human, do you?” K’ntu taunted. “You think that I have stayed alive all these centuries because of some spell or potion? I still live because my kind are far older than you and yours!”
Beyond the flames, the Peregrine heard Evelyn calling his name. He didn’t respond, hoping to keep K’tnu’s attention fully on him. “Then what are you? A demon?”
“There was life on this sphere before mankind’s ascendance, Mr. Davies. My kind once ruled over land and sea… until the false God of the Christians chose to hand over power to the short-lived hairless apes that he loved so much!”
The Peregrine jumped back as K’ntu rushed at him, the man’s aged fingers elongating into claws. They raked at the air, just missing Max’s face and neck. The Peregrine answered with another flurry of bullets, emptying his chambers. He began to reload, noticing that this time there were bloody smears appearing beneath the Asian’s clothing. He had hit his foe, but it was not enough. He hurriedly reloaded, this time using the special rounds he himself had invented. These could take down an elephant…
K’ntu whirled about, his face changing in color. Beneath his skin, scales began to appear, gradually becoming larger until they swelled out and over the human mask he wore. These scales spread out over his entire body and Max watched in mounting horror as something began to press against the backside of the old man’s pants. It burst through a moment later, swinging
from side to side. A reptilian tale.
“Do you see me now?” K’tnu hissed. “Mankind’s primal fear of reptiles dates back to the wars our kind waged, long ago. But once the master is free, he will reward his faithful followers… and humanity will serve as our cattle!”
K’ntu jumped into the air and the Peregrine fired again, this time using his more powerful rounds. They tore into the lizard man’s belly, spilling blood that sizzled upon the ground. But they did not prevent K’ntu from landing hard atop the Peregrine, sending him tumbling down. Claws and teeth raked across Max’s torso, drawing bloody lines across his flesh.
Max twisted beneath his powerful flow, disgusted by the way K’ntu’s skin felt against his own. It was like rolling about with a python, one whose stamina was far greater than any human’s.
The Peregrine managed to swing his feet up, latching them around K’ntu’s head. He rolled then, knocking his foe from atop him. K’ntu landed close enough to the flames that his tail brushed against them and made him jerk away.
Ignoring the pain he felt, the Peregrine struggled to his knees and reached into his cloak. He drew out a dagger, the one that he’d found in Darkholme’s lair. The blade was inscribed with mystic runes of a sort that Max did not recognize… but given the fact that his bullets were having too little effect, Max hoped they might carry some power he could use against K’ntu.
The lizard man was stalking his prey once more, blood dripping from a dozen or more bullet holes. “You are brave for a human, Mr. Davies. But surely you realize that there are cycles to all things… mankind and its God have ruled in ascendancy for far too long. It is only natural for things to reverse upon occasion. Put down your weapons and beg for mercy… perhaps I shall grant it to you. Perhaps you will be allowed to serve in our master’s army!”