by Frank Lauria
He looked down at Joy. “Let’s get out of here,” he said.
“Where are you taking me baby?” She tried to sound casual.
He leaned close to her ear. “For a little ride,” he whispered.
Addison was feeling good.
She threw her head back and laughed at something Raymond was saying.
Raymond gritted his teeth; he had meant to be taken seriously.
He pressed his point. “Goddamnit, why don’t you listen to me?”
“Raymond”—Addison muffled a giggle—“do you know what you’re saying?”
“Of course. I have an income to draw on.”
The smile left her face. “I’m a lot to take care of.”
He started to speak, but she cut him off. “I don’t mean money, Raymond,” she said. “I mean other things, more important things.”
“Look, I know I can take care of anything that comes up.”
She looked at him steadily. “Be sure baby, because I’m going to call you on it,”
“I’m sure,” he said, his voice telling him he wasn’t.
Her hand went across the table and covered his. In the corner of her vision she saw Seth leaving with Joy. Her eyes narrowed. She had a certain respect for the way Seth handled things. Next to Susej he was the most powerful member of the cult. At least half of the Great Plan had been his conception. He was in control, always. His life, his music, his musicians, and even her, were under his absolute direction.
“What’s the call?” Raymond was saying.
“I want you to be the kind of man that takes what he wants, no questions asked.”
“That’s easy,” he boasted.
“We’ll see.” She touched his mouth with her fingers. “But for now, how about some champagne to celebrate us?”
“Don’t you want to leave?” he asked.
“I’m a working girl, Raymond, and I’m thirsty.” She mussed his hair. Be patient, baby, you’ll get what you want,” she said.
It was exactly one bottle later that Seth returned for the last set. He was late. Joy was trailing behind him, her eyes pin-pointed from shooting speedballs, her clothes disheveled from making love.
The group was already on stage, waiting for Seth to appear. He took his time crossing the tiny dance floor.
Addison moved when she saw the light go on in the booth.
As she crossed to the stage one of the musicians straightened up and hit a chord. Instantly the group responded and started feeding sounds into the amplifier. Addison mounted the platform and waited for the ride to build before coming in. When she did, her voice was tough and level.
If you see old Bill when he gets home this mornin’
If you see old Bill when he gets home this evenin’
If you see old Billy when he gets home
tell him leave them downtown hookers alone
this mornin’ this
evenin’ so soon…
Addison beveled into the excitement she was causing. The room started revolving colors and she began to work, moving the crowd together.
You see old Sal she bakin’ bread this mornin’
You see old Sal she bakin’ bread this evenin’
You see old Sal she bakin’ bread
Someone come and tell her Billy was dead
this mornin’ this
evenin’ so soon…
She looked down at the wild-haired kids bunched in front of the bandstand and lifted her arms. They lifted their arms. She opened her voice. They began to shout. She could see Raymond at the table, moving with her.
She said oh God it can’t be so this mornin’
She said oh God it can’t be so this evenin’
She said oh God it can’t be so
I saw old Billy just an hour ago
This mornin’ this
evenin’so soon…
She angled her shoulders like a cowboy drifting down a dusty street and eased it out.
Well they’re takin’ Bill home
in a hurry-up wagon this mornin’
They’re takin’ Bill home
in a hurry-up wagon this evenin’
They’re takin’ Bill home in a hurry-up wagon
his feet all twisted and his toes are draggin’
this mornin’ this
evenin’ so soon…
She finished driving but subdued, thrusting smoothly as the organ went crazy behind her. She looked down at the homage in the faces of the people in the room and she knew that nothing could stop the Great Plan from making the changes.
A few days later, before he began his mass, Susej met with Seth and Addison for their report. He was pleased with what they told him.
“Are you sure about the girl?” he asked Seth.
“Joy’s freaky, but she’s not right for us. She hasn’t got talent for anything except crisis. She may be rich, but her mind’s useless. Why bother?”
“I’ve heard she has talent,” Addison couldn’t resist saying.
“She’s a waste of time.”
“No matter,” Susej rasped suddenly. “I have a use for her.”
Seth smiled distantly.
“And the boy?” Susej turned to Addison. “You’re sure of him?”
“I’m sure.”
“Very well.” He regarded them both, a benign smile creasing the leathery skin of his face. “You are both about to know the bounty of the Great One. Seth, you shall be at the head of his own empire. You shall create a music of worship, and you, Obizuth,” Susej addressed Addison by her ritual name, “shall create the music of a deep ritual. Soon you shall be shown a new art.”
Addison felt a flush of triumph. Her eyes went to Seth.
“Now I want the girl Joy,” Susej ordered. “I shall prepare her.”
Seth turned and left the room.
“The girl will serve,” Susej confided, touching Addison’s hair.
His hand evoked a curiosity in her. She said nothing.
“Joy will be my gift to you,” Susej said softly, as he stroked her hair. “When I first saw her in the Bowl of Observance, when she first offered herself, I knew that finally I had found the proper vehicle for your greatest moment.”
“Why is she so special?” His touch was a tingle of pleasure that spread through her neck, loosening her shoulders.
“Because, little one”—his voice seemed to be inside her ear—“she bears your birth sign.”
Addison sighed as the ecstasy of his unnamed promise pulsed through her body.
Seth returned with Joy. He noticed immediately that something had changed. He looked at Addison and smiled.
“Come here, Joy” Susej said gently.
The girl came. She looked close to hysteria. The inexpertly applied make-up, and the way her shoulders drooped under the robe she wore, made her look as if she had just been caught trying on her mother’s clothes.
“Frightened?” His voice was soft
Unable to speak, she nodded.
“There’s no need, Joy. You have nothing to fear here.”
She flinched when she heard her name.
“Do you know what you must do?”
The girl bit her lip and looked at Seth.
“I explained everything in detail,” Seth said, smiling at Joy.
The girl began to tremble. A large tear furrowed the pancake on her cheek. She started to speak, stopped, then started again, “I. .. I’m sick, you know?” she blurted finally. “Maybe not tonight but another… ”
Susej took the girl’s face in his hands. “Nonsense,” he whispered. She stopped trembling.
“You will be well.” He dropped his hands and turned to Seth.
“She will serve.” He said. Joy remained where she was, staring straight ahead.
“Tonight this girl shall serve you, little princess.” Susej smiled at Addison, then abruptly he left the room.
“You’re on your way, little bird,” Seth remarked approvingly as he contemplated the unmoving figure of Joy.
&n
bsp; “I wonder exactly where.” Addison smiled.
“Only Susej can tell you that right now, but”—he looked at her, his eyes curiously flat—“perhaps soon I’ll be able to bridge that gap for us.”
The atmosphere in the room of worship was one of electric hilarity.
The robed men and women formed and reformed in excited groups, their conversation rushed with expectancy. Each of them had the same obsession. Susej. Each of them spoke of the priest with enthusiasm, repeating over and over the facets of his brilliance.
Addison slowly edged her way through the room to where her mother was standing, talking to a beefy, worried-looking man. Her father. His mouth was twitching and perspiration beaded his red face. When they saw Addison approaching, both Mona and Ralph Tracey stared as if they were seeing their daughter for the first time.
Addison thought she detected a glint of jealousy in her mother’s strained smile. She was right. Mona was unable to understand how Addison had come to enjoy so powerful a position with Susej.
“How nice to see you!” Mona’s voice carried its usual insincere lilt
Ralph nodded and grunted something close to a greeting. He wasn’t relaxed these days. His wife and daughter had become ominous to him.
“How nice to see you two!” Addison returned her mother’s tone. “Everything has been going splendidly since we were privileged to join Susej.”
“Yes, business has certainly picked up. Good man,” Ralph managed to say.
“He certainly seems to like you,” Mona said.
“Yes.” Addison smiled sweetly. “Thanks to the wisdom of Susej all our affairs will prosper.”
“I’m sure you’ll see to it that we’re not in want,” Mona said, her voice hard at the edges.
“Depend on it, Mona,” Addison purred, moving off toward the center of the room. She looked for Seth, then remembered that he was up in the balcony with Raymond and Joy. She wondered about Joy.
The brittle hiss of a rattle cut through the thought. She kneeled.
Susej ambled across the length of the room, followed by Muriel Destiny. She held the gold Chalice of Change in front of her. When the stocky priest reached the altar he shook the studded gourd he carried in his left hand and sent shivers into the silence with the rattle. He turned and paused, regarding his kneeling congregation for a long moment before he began. “Do what thou wilt shall be the whole of the law,” he intoned musically. “Dominus non est dignus. I proclaim the law of the Left Hand, the law of Chaos, sole regent of the run upon earth and the law of Babylon, the Earth and mother of all.”
Muriel’s bony hands reached out and placed the chalice on the altar.
“We are ready to receive the bountiful, limitless, power of the Clear One.” He raised his hands high in the air. He looked out across the room and smiled. “Make your desires known to the Clear One,” he commanded.
Addison watched as one by one the members of the cult came forward and repeated their litany of wants. As always, the requests were a repetition of the system of vanities; money, fame, beauty. Addison was satisfied that her original choice of supreme knowledge had been superior.
When he had heard the petitions of his congregation, Susej began to speak. His voice was low, conversational, as he told them of the new glory that would come to them all. He told them that they were the children of a new age of mankind. Their concerted effort within the framework of the Great Plan would bring all the bounty of the Clear One to their house. As he went on his voice rose in intensity rather than volume, carrying his words directly and sharply to each of them. Addison felt tears well up in her eyes as she realized the magnificence of Susej. The beauty of his quest
Susej swept from his announcement of the coming tide of the Great Plan to the first words of his mass.
“By Baralamenis, by the most powerful prince Genio, Lianchide… ”
He drew the triangle on the altar. “… Te Adoro ET TE INVOCO… ” he called out, passing the gourd over the Chalice of Change.
There was a crack of sound.
Addison couldn’t see the Clear One, he was only seen once, but his presence tingled the nerves under her skin, and she felt the signal of his caress inside her thighs. She knew that Raymond could see him from the balcony. She couldn’t guess what Joy saw.
“Bring the candidate before the Clear One,” Susej droned.
Raymond held the banister as he came down the stairs. Seth followed, his hands at his sides.
The boy peered anxiously around the room. He stopped in front of the altar and stood awkwardly. He kept his eyes fixed on the ground, avoiding the looming presence of the Clear One.
“What is your desire?” Susej demanded.
“The… the power to rule,” Raymond mumbled.
The priest held out his hands. “Does the Clear One find the candidate acceptable?” he asked.
Addison felt the acceptance.
“So be it,” Susej ruled. “Remove your habit.”
Flushing, the boy stepped out of his robe and stood naked before the altar.
The atonal sounds began.
Addison rose to her feet and joined the forming human circle. She began to shuffle counterclockwise around the room, her feet moving erratically with the weight of the circle. Destiny took the chalice from the altar and placed it in Raymond’s quivering hands. The circle began to move faster, lighter now.
“Let it begin,” Susej exclaimed, and struck the chalice from the boy’s hands, spilling wafers to the ground.
The circle broke. The space around the altar became a writhing, scratching mass of struggling humanity as they all pushed and fought to crush the white wafers under their feet. The competition intensified, raising them to grunting pitch and they began ripping at their robes and clawing at each other’s flesh.
Addison, rolling on the floor in a violent, deliriously grinding embrace heard Raymond’s wail pierce the jumble of sound. Then Mona’s warm tongue snaked into her mouth and held her in a long searching kiss. She pulled away, cuffing Mona sharply across the face, and soft implosions of release shuddered through her belly as she heard her mother’s unrestrained groans of pleasure.
“Enough,” Susej proclaimed the end of the saturnalia.
Addison looked up. Raymond lay on the floor in front of the altar, sobbing.
The priest raised his staff and began a chant Addison had never heard. “Helon-Taul-Varf… ”
Joy walked stiffly and slowly through the room toward the altar.
“Agla-Serugeath-Casoly… ” the strange words continued.
Joy came forward until she reached the priest. Susej lifted the girl in his arms and placed her on the shrine.
Muriel approached. She placed the Chalice on the floor next to the altar. With a swift motion of her hands, she split the girl’s robe down the front. Joy’s body looked bone-thin under the shifting glow of the candles. Muriel took the rigid girl’s arm and placed it so that it hung free over the golden cup.
“Lucifer, Ouyar, Chameron, Aliseon… ” Susej began once again. As he went on, Muriel took a silver knife from the folds of her scarlet robe and, with a single, sure stroke, opened the vein at the girl’s wrist. Gently, she adjusted her arm so that the blood ran into the chalice.
“Esmony, Eparinesont, Estiot, Dumosson… ” Susej continued his prayer. “Danochar, Casmiel, Hayras… ”
He turned and went to the cup. He picked it up and held it above his head. “This is the Chalice of Supreme Sisterhood. This is the cup of Supreme Knowledge,” he said, his eyes closed. “This is the hour of Uranus in the Twelfth House. Let the Priestess of the Great One now be endowed.” He held the cup out at arm’s length.
Muriel stretched her fingers to take the chalice from his hands. Susej pushed her away roughly. He held the cup out once again.
“She who drinks from this cup will join in the sacrifice made here to the Clear One and will be favored to perform the Rite of Ose. Obizuth, Obizuth, come to the bounty of the Clear One.”
Ad
dison was startled to hear her name called out.
“Obizuth,” Susej called again.
Addison rose and went to the altar. Numbly she accepted title cup from the priest.
“Drink,” he commanded sharply.
Her first reaction was to gag, but as the blood touched her lips she felt a wave of exultation. She let the thick, warm liquid pass over her tongue. Her brain exploded with whispers, she heard a hundred chants repeated simultaneously inside the chamber of her skull.
Eagerly she drank from the cup. With each swallow she felt new glories filling her spirit, new words pouring into her consciousness. She threw her head back and drained the chalice.
When she had finished she opened her eyes, and saw the face of Muriel Destiny.
The woman’s face was pinched with rage. Addison’s eyes narrowed. She let the cup fall to the floor. She knew that she was looking at the face of a dangerous enemy.
XII
For two weeks Orient went through the motions of trying to find Malta.
During the day he made the rounds of the police, hospitals and newspapers. At dusk he returned to the Bishop’s mansion and contacted private sources by phone. Redson’s activities coordinated with Orient’s search. He sent a description of Malta to all the parishes in the city and notified religious services to contact him if the missing girl was located. Orient felt sure that the quest was hopeless, but it was comforting to know that all possibilities had been covered.
He also started his pilgrims on a crash course of the techniques of psychic defense. He took them along carefully using die step-by-step methods of the martial arts.