Canticum Tenebris (Wrath of the Old Gods Book 2)

by John Triptych

  “Why do you think the Aztec gods stopped all of a sudden? They could have swept through most of the south by now.”

  “I don’t know. Maybe they’re consolidating before making the final push or maybe it’s something else, maybe another god is stopping them from advancing north towards us. This is all just speculation right now.”

  “But you’re sure the military won’t stop them if they do start to advance again though?”

  Paul shook his head. “Val, I was in the battle of London. The Fomorians took some damage from the British military, but I don’t even know if those things stayed dead because they came in an endless wave. Even with nukes, how is the military going to deploy them? You can’t hit a god with a missile and the Air Force is pretty much gone. All that they can do is maybe detonate a nuke when their positions get overrun but in the end they’ll just be bombing themselves.”

  “I see,” Valerie said as she looked away. “I guess I better be going then. My mama always wants me back to her place for dinner every night.”

  “Thanks for driving me up here, Val. Can I ask one more favor?”

  “Sure. What is it?”

  “My car’s in the garage and I may need a jump because I would bet its battery is probably drained by now.”

  “Is that it? No problem, let’s go outside- I’ll drive the SUV up to the garage and you get the jumper cables.”

  “You got it.”

  She kissed him lightly on the cheek and placed something in his hand. “This is a fully charged cell phone with my number on it. I know getting a phone signal is touch and go, but if you’re in any kind of trouble don’t hesitate to call me. NYPD is in your debt. We’ll come charging up here if you call.”

  “Okay, I appreciate the thought.”

  “One more thing.”

  “What?”

  “Stay alive. I have a feeling we’re gonna need each other again.”

  Paul screamed as he opened his eyes. Within a few seconds, he realized that he was back home and lying in his old bed. The whole house was bathed in darkness since it was still early morning but the Aurora Borealis was illuminating the night sky and he could see the outlines of the bedroom because of the near twilight. As he sat up, Paul grabbed his robe that was lying on an easy chair and put it on over his thermal underwear, before putting on a pair of moccasins on his feet. Paul stood up and walked over by the window and stared out at the snow covered hills around his house. He just didn’t feel like sleeping anymore because of the nightmares. Every time he closed his eyes he could see the faces of the dead staring back at him. How he wished that he could just go into a deep sleep and not dream at all but the furies that tormented him were relentless.

  It was then that he sensed some sort of movement upstairs, in the attic. Paul felt like there was someone walking around up there. Grabbing the flashlight that was sitting on the night table, Paul moved over to the bedroom door before briefly pausing in order to listen for more tell-tale signs of intrusion. The house seemed quiet once more, but he needed to know so he clasped the door knob, twisted it, and opened the door slightly before peering out into the second story corridor. All he could see was the faint illumination coming from the bottom of the stairwell so he turned on his flashlight and began to wave it around the passage. Still nothing. Paul made his way into the corridor as he pulled at the door panel in the ceiling and unfolded the wooden stairs leading up to the attic.

  Paul made his way up into the attic as he used the flashlight to guide him. The single arched window cast a faint bridge of light into the surrounding darkness. It was then he heard a creaking noise. Paul twisted sideways as he brought the flashlight to bear at the source of the sound.

  It was an old rocking chair. Paul remembered it once belong to Elizabeth’s mother who in turn gave it to her as a keepsake. It was rocking back and forth even though Paul didn’t feel a draft in the room. As he stared at it for a minute, his flashlight began to flicker and then died out. Once more all he could see were the faint outlines of the attic as he shook the flashlight, hoping it with turn back on again.

  That was when he saw her. Just from looking at the long auburn hair with streaks of grey that fell down to her shoulders, Paul knew almost immediately it was his dead wife. He could see the outline of her delicate chin and the pupils of her rounded eyes reflected back the pale moonlight that seeped in from the window. She was wearing a white embroidered dress, very similar to the clothes she usually wore when just puttering around the house.

  Paul’s hands shook and he almost dropped the flashlight. “Elizabeth? N-No, how can this be?”

  Elizabeth said nothing as she just stared at him and frowned, blood dripping down her chin.

  It was all too much. Paul slumped over and fell on his knees as tears began to flow down his cheeks. “Oh God, I’ve missed you so much. I need you so much. I’m all alone now.”

  She held out her hands, palms forward in a strange gesture that belied either peace or reception. Paul noticed there were two identical symbols on each palm that seemed to be written in blood. It was that of two circles, the smaller one within the larger ring and both were connected by forked lines emanating from the innermost circle, like stylized streaks of lightning. Paul recognized the form as some sort of ancient symbol, but he couldn’t remember what it was exactly.

  He quickly turned sideways as several other people from his past came forward and formed a circle around him. He immediately recognized their faces. All the people he had known and who died when the Glooming began. Megan Abramson, Sir Wilfred Pyles, Constable Steve, Getz and Gover, Captain Laura Niven and the many others stared at him with blank, listless eyes as the crimson drops of blood dribbled from their down turned mouths. Paul was now terrified, but he was somehow unable to close his eyes and just continued to stare back at all of them. He couldn’t move and so stayed rooted to his spot in the middle of the attic room. Then all of them raised their hands and once more showed the same symbol on their palms just as Elizabeth had done.

  Paul shook his head. He didn’t understand what it all meant and tried to speak, but no words came out of his mouth. It was then that they converged on him and began to place their bloody hands on his body. As he felt their cold, icy touch, he began to scream in agony as they crowded in and began to smother him before the all encompassing darkness finally overtook them all.

  It was mid morning when Paul opened his eyes as he sat up with a nervous jolt. Looking around, he noticed that he was still lying in the middle of the bare attic room as the sun’s rays shined through the lone window. Was it all a dream? he thought as he sat up and picked up the flashlight that was lying on the floor. As he flipped the switch, the light beam shined faintly. The old rocking chair was still there, along with some boxes.

  Paul walked back down to the second story corridor before folding up the stairs to the attic and pushed the top panel back into place. Then he went over to his library and began to pour through his numerous books on ancient runic symbols. It would have been faster using his computer, but since the internet had gone down, doing research meant going back to the old stalwarts of printed books. After about an hour of searching and scanning through hundreds of pages, he flipped into a page of Germanic runes and saw the exact symbol he had encountered last night.

  It was called the Black Sun or the Sun Wheel. The first evidence as to the existence of the symbol came from ancient brooches found among artifacts left behind from Frankish and Germanic tribes in Western Europe. There was a prevailing but unsubstantiated theory that the symbol may have been an ancient stylized Roman swastika, but this was nothing more than pure speculation and not generally accepted among his peers. The Black Sun was then appropriated by the Neo-Paganism movement in the early Twentieth Century in Germany before being adopted by the Nazis when they came to power. As Paul continued to read the entries about the rune, he started to wonder why all the ghosts he had seen last night would show him that symbol as it seemingly had nothing to do with the Native Ame
rican demons plaguing humanity in this part of the world.

  A knock on the front door downstairs brought him back to his senses. Paul put the books down on the table and made his way to the front door before unlocking it and pulling back the knob.

  Two children stood outside the door, a boy and a girl. They looked to be around eleven or twelve years of age and both were bundled up in winter clothing. The girl seemed to be slightly older. She was a shade taller than the boy as their similar looking faces made them out to be related.

  Paul scratched his salt and pepper beard. “Hello.”

  “I saw your police car in the street yesterday,” the girl said. The boy said nothing as he just stared at him with bright blue eyes while he swayed back and forth.

  Paul nodded. “Well, it wasn’t mine, it belonged to a friend. What can I do for you?”

  The young girl bit her lip. “Oh. Okay. I thought you were maybe a cop or something.”

  “No,” Paul said. “I’m a university professor. My name is Paul. What’s yours?”

  “Kimberly Desmond, but my friends call me Kim,” the girl said as she pointed to the smaller boy. “This is my brother Troy.”

  Paul held out his hand and they both shook it. “Nice to meet you both, do you need police assistance or something?”

  Kim frowned and looked down at the snowy ground. “Sort of. Our parents went missing a few days ago and we haven’t eaten anything since yesterday.”

  Paul smiled as he stood back from the door. “Well, why don’t you come inside? I’m going to start a fire and cook some breakfast. You both can join me if you’d like. Then after you’ve eaten, I can help you look for your parents if you want.”

  Kim hesitated for bit since she was always told never to speak to strangers but she was starving and her own house was cold and it didn’t have a fireplace. She turned around and looked at Troy who just nodded his head. “Okay,” she said as she took her brother’s hand and walked into the house with him.

  5. Fission

  Colorado Springs

  For the four hundredth time that morning, Oliver Reece silently recited the Lord’s Prayer as he knelt by the side of the bed. He had been waiting for the knock on his bedroom door since early dawn. But rather than just sit around and do nothing, he felt his time would be better served by silent prayers in order to fulfill his sacred task on this very special day. Several times before, the other team members had opened the door slightly and asked if he would like something to eat but Oliver always said no. He preferred to fast as a form of penance because he would be taking lives today and he felt somewhat guilty about it, even though he knew it was for a sacred cause.

  He wasn’t always this way. Oliver had gotten married and had a daughter with a woman he met named Trisha when he dropped out of college and tried to be a stockbroker. But things fell through when the bank he was working for folded up and his clients lost millions under his investment advice. They tried to sue him to recover the lost funds, but since he didn’t have any money, they finally gave up after a few years. A four-year stint in the Air Force gave him some stability after that, but it all came crashing down when his two-year old daughter was diagnosed with acute childhood leukemia. When his little girl died nine months later, Trisha left him. After that, he wandered about aimlessly, drifting from job to job, without a purpose. That was when a co-worker at the garage asked him to tag along to a local prayer meeting. It was at that rally which was sponsored by the Rock of God Church that Oliver Reece finally saw the Lord’s calling to him and he was saved. He then quit his job and packed everything he had in a small bag and headed off to Kansas to live as a volunteer at the church compound in McPherson County. For the next three years, he had helped build the massive stadium as well as the nearby water treatment plant, steadily rising up the ranks of the church hierarchy. By the time of the Glooming, he was part of Pastor Erik Burnley’s inner circle.

  When they approached him for the mission, he knew it would require his sacrifice but he was more than willing to do it. Oliver realized that everything that Pastor Erik said had come true. The Lord was indeed testing them and the demons that had been unleashed upon the world was the final mark that signaled the end times were here. The Rock of God Church swiftly organized an armed wing to defend themselves, and they all agreed that it should be named the Soldiers of the Lord. Everyone felt that the United States Government had by now fallen into the hands of Satan and could no longer be counted upon to defend the country. So they had to take drastic measures to ensure the survival of the church as they awaited the return of their Lord Jesus Christ who would smite the unholy and bring his faithful warriors with him to heaven. Pastor Erik had decreed he did not know the exact day when the Lord would return, but they all had to be prepared and vigilant. All able-bodied men must be willing to sacrifice themselves to protect the women and children of the church. To that end, the pastor decreed they would send a statement to the Federal Government that the church must be left alone. Since Pastor Erik knew that the only way the government would ever leave them be was through the threat of force, a political declaration must be made with such severe consequences, the government would have no choice about it afterwards.

  And so to that end, the church’s inner circle conceived of a bold plan to strike at the heart of the Federal Government. It needed to be powerful to ensure that no further retaliation could be conceived against them. It was a complex operation that involved at least three separate teams, and each group needed to pull it off in order for the entire plan to succeed. There were a number of sympathizers in the military and in the US intelligence community to their cause since the days when Pastor Erik’s predictions were proven right. Now they had the exact knowledge and the means on how to pull it off, all they needed were the right men who were dedicated and skillful enough to make it all happen. Just yesterday, the first team had already infiltrated Peterson Air Force Base and was ready to activate their weapon. All that was needed now was for the second team to infiltrate Cheyenne Mountain and insert their device and all would be fulfilled.

  Oliver opened his eyes as he heard the three knocks on his door. He stood up as the door opened and another man appeared behind it who was dressed in nondescript clothing. “They spotted the convoy, Reece,” he said.

  “Okay, start up the truck. I’ll be out in a few minutes,” Oliver said as the man left but kept the door open. He made sure the small wooden cross was around his neck before he stowed it underneath the collar of his military fatigues before putting on his boots. Oliver had made his daughter wear the very same cross on her neck just before she died. He wanted it with him now because he knew he would see her again very soon. The last thing he took from the bedroom was the military ID sitting on the night table.

  As he walked out into the living room of the small house he saw two other men standing there. The third man who came into his room was at the warehouse next door and he heard the truck’s engines starting. The other two men just nodded at him and all three made the sign of the cross before they started to shake each other’s hands.

  The first man bit his lip as he grabbed Oliver’s shoulder with a gentle squeeze. “May God be with you, Reece.”

  “And you,” Oliver said.

  The second man was a bit more heavy set and his eyes were wrinkled from monitoring the portable radio all night. “We placed a Thermos full of coffee in the passenger seat and a couple of sandwiches in case you get hungry, Reece. You should’ve eaten something last night.”

  Oliver smiled faintly. “Thanks, but fasting is good for the soul.”

  Both men nodded as if there wasn’t anything more to say.

  It didn’t take long for Oliver to catch up with the rest of the convoy of M1078 LMTV light utility trucks as they rolled along State Highway-94. As the dozen trucks turned left onto US Route 24, the third LMTV in the convoy slowed down as Oliver accelerated past the others and took its spot. The unit’s commanding officer had briefed the first three LMTV drivers that anoth
er light utility truck, that was a last minute addition, would be joining them the moment they got to the outskirts of Colorado Springs so there was no surprise as Oliver effortlessly became part of the line. Although the delivery convoy was supposed to be an active military one, the shortage of personnel forced the top brass to make a last-minute change and employ a National Guard transportation unit to handle this month’s food shipment to the Cheyenne Mountain Complex. Even though the original transport manifest said thirteen delivery trucks would be making the journey from Virginia to Colorado Springs, the vehicles only numbered twelve until just a few minutes ago, but now they were at full strength due to the fact that a military checkpoint was nearby. The timing was absolutely critical to make sure the watchers would be fooled.

  Oliver’s throat was dry as he slowed down with the rest of the convoy when they got near the exit ramp leading to Peterson Air Force Base. Even though he had promised himself that he would be fasting, Oliver gave into temptation as he poured a small cup of steaming black coffee from the Thermos. His lips drew back at the bitter taste when he took the first sip. The others forgot to put any sort of creamer or sugar in it but he was so thirsty that he drank the rest of the cup using short sips anyway. The Air Force base was adjacent to the Municipal Airport and both places shared the airfield. As he began to accelerate the truck again while being waived through the military checkpoint, he noticed the four Marine One helicopters parked out in the distance where the nearby parking lot was located. Since there was nothing but static on the walkie-talkie lying in the nearby passenger seat, he surmised that everything was on schedule so he looked to the front and concentrated on his driving. A few minutes passed and the convoy finally got through the checkpoint, then began to accelerate southwards along the highway again.

  The food convoy soon turned westwards as they passed by just south of the city of Colorado Springs. Oliver was specifically chosen for this mission because he had been here before when he was a non-commissioned officer in the Air Force. But most of all, Pastor Erik knew he could be trusted and was motivated to pull it off. Since the military didn’t allow any sort of civilian traffic along this highway, it was a relatively smooth drive as the convoy turned southwards along State Highway-115 before going west again along the twisting turns of Norad Road.