“What are you going to do with it?” Remy asked Francis.
“If there’s a brain, or something like it, inside this skull, I’m going to use the scalpel to see what I can find out. You’d be amazed at what an all-purpose tool this is. I can see any memories stored inside there, and, if I want to, I can cut them out. You watch: All the kids will be screaming for one of these this Christmas.”
Francis plunged the blade down into the hardened clay of the cranium and closed his eyes as he took a deep breath. “Oh yeah,” he said. “No brain, per se, but there is information stored here.”
The jaw of the skull suddenly sprang open, and Francis pulled back the scalpel, dropping the skull to the floor.
“Shit,” he exclaimed, as a thick, black smoke billowed from the mouth.
Remy quickly stood, but the smoke didn’t spread. Instead, it formed a writhing cloud in the air before them.
“That’s different,” Francis said.
Remy saw that his friend had put away the scalpel and had now drawn a gun from inside his jacket, a gun that Remy had seen before-a gun that had once belonged to the Morningstar.
“Remy Chandler,” said the gravelly voice that he recognized as the one he had heard over his cell phone.
“I’m here,” Remy said, looking from his friend to the undulating mass of gray.
“If you wish to see the girl alive…”
“One of your…things already tried to kill me,” Remy interrupted. “Why should I trust anything you have to say now?”
“An unplanned misfortune,” the voice explained. “My creations sometimes have strong attachments to memories that do not belong to them, which in turn cause problems with their function. That was the case in your situation, and I apologize.”
Remy glanced at Francis to find him staring at the cloud, his finger twitching on the trigger of the gun that was once named the Pitiless.
“In any case, you will do as I instruct, or the girl-beautiful, vivacious Ashley-will meet a fate that I wouldn’t wish on your dog.”
Remy was taken aback by the acknowledgment of Marlowe.
“Get on with it,” he snarled, angered that the voice knew so much, and he so little.
“You will come when you are called,” the voice said. “And you will come alone.”
Remy waited for more, but there was nothing. The roiling smoke collapsed in on itself, gradually receding back into the open mouth of the skull like some enormously long tongue.
“I guess it told you,” Francis said, putting the gun away.
“It did, at that.” Remy’s eyes were still on the skull as Francis bent to retrieve it.
“So, what are you going to do?”
“I really don’t have a choice,” Remy replied. “I wait until I’m called.”
“Figured that’d be your answer.” Francis pushed past him into the bathroom, returning with a towel in which he wrapped the skull.
“And what are you going to do with that?” Remy asked.
“I’m gonna to take it to somebody who knows about these things,” Francis answered. “I doubt that making something like this is easy. Maybe someone in the know might be able to narrow down the playing field.”
Remy nodded, liking what he was hearing. “Thanks. I appreciate it.”
“Yeah, thought you would.” Francis put the towel-wrapped skull under his arm. “Even though it’s probably a waste of time.”
“Don’t say it,” Remy said firmly.
“Hey, you know me,” Francis said. “Always the voice of reason. Guys that can do shit like this usually play by their own rules.”
“So I’ll play by his rules until…,” Remy said.
“Until?”
“Until it’s time to play by mine.”
Francis nodded slowly as he turned his back on Remy. A section of air in front of him started to shimmer, like the reflective surface of a pond caressed by the wind. “I’ll give you a call if I learn anything,” he shot over his shoulder. Then he reached out with his free hand to tear away the vibrating section of air, ripping a hole in the very fabric of reality.
Remy could only stare as his friend entered the passage he’d summoned, and the wound in time and space quickly healed behind him.
Francis had never been able to do that before.
Remy was aware of the passage of time by the movement of the shadows beneath the drawn window shades. He watched the shadows grow stronger, bolder, pooling in patches around the room, growing in strength as the daylight surrendered its supremacy once again to the inevitable night.
He had switched off the lamp after Francis had departed, preferring the solitude of darkness. Carol Berg had called repeatedly, but he did not pick up. He couldn’t bear to speak with her now.
He couldn’t let her know that this was all because of him. All he could do now was sit and wait.
And do everything in his power to make things right.
Remy’s eyes fell on a deepening stain of black on the closet door. There was something about the shadow and the swiftness with which it seemed to move across the wooden surface, blotting out the slats as it flowed down to the floor like dripping ink.
Remy stood and cautiously approached the door, feeling the cold radiating from the area. This is it, he thought as he reached out for the door, not surprised to feel nothing beneath his fingertips but cool air. A passage had been opened for him, and he did as he was expected to do, stepping into the blackness.
The entrance gradually constricted and closed behind him, leaving him standing alone in a world composed entirely of shades of darkness. He turned slowly, attempting to get his bearings. Every one of his senses was alive, searching for something, anything, to take hold of. The place smelled of cool dampness, like an old basement, and that strange hollow sound he had heard over the phone was carried in the air.
He raised his hand, willing it to be filled with the divine light of Heaven, and his fingers started to glow, dispelling the shadows. Holding his burning hand aloft, he walked farther into the shadowy world. There was a bizarre landscape beneath the cover of darkness, and Remy thought he might have seen movement among the inhospitable terrain.
There was a sudden flash of brilliance, followed closely by what sounded like a clap of thunder, and Remy experienced an intense pain in his burning hand, and quickly pulled it to him.
There was no doubt about it; he’d been shot.
“Extinguish your damnable light, you fool,” boomed a voice from somewhere in the gloom.
Remy fell to his knees, clutching his bleeding hand against his chest, waves of pain coursing through his body with each beat of his heart. He could feel his rage growing, eclipsing any logical thought. The pressure of Ashley being taken coupled with the shrieking pain in his injured hand made it difficult for him to see beyond the violence that the Seraphim could unleash.
But he managed to hold it together, watching as a pair of muted green lights like cat’s eyes grew steadily closer, as did an engine’s roar. And then a vintage limousine stopped just inches from him with a squeal of brakes. Remy stood as the driver’s-side door swung open and a powerful figure unfolded itself from within, rifle by its side.
“Sorry for shooting you,” the man said. “But your fire would have drawn the beasts in droves.”
He stepped into the green light thrown by the vehicle’s headlights, and Remy could see that the pale skin of his face was adorned with swirling, patterned tattoos. He slung his weapon over his shoulder and smiled.
“Besides, what harm could a little gunshot do to an angel of Heaven?”
Remy’s anger was about to be unleashed when a horrible roar echoed through the endless night surrounding them.
“They’ve seen your light after all,” the pale man said. “We should get to the house quickly.” He turned and strode back to the car, pausing as he opened the driver’s-side door. “Are you coming, or do you plan to acquaint yourself with one of the hungry beasts that call the Shadow Lands home? It’s rea
lly up to you.”
Remy hesitated, but then the roar came again, this time much closer, and he climbed into the passenger’s side of the limousine beside the tattooed figure.
“Thought you’d change your mind,” the man said, putting the car in drive, turning it around, and stomping on the accelerator.
Remy had no idea how he could tell where he was going in the inky darkness, but it was obvious that he could.
“Shit,” the pale man hissed as he glanced into the rearview mirror.
Remy turned to look out through the back window, and was shocked to see something quickly coming up behind them, its monstrous shape faintly illuminated in the greenish glow thrown by the vehicle’s taillights. Then it fell back, once again lost in the swirling darkness. And just as he was about to look away, Remy thought he saw something else: a small humanoid figure wearing a hooded cloak and peering out from the shadows, before disappearing in the blink of an eye.
“Hold the wheel,” the driver bellowed, releasing his grip before Remy could even reach across. The car began to swerve, but Remy managed to take hold of the wheel and control of the vehicle.
The tattooed man had rolled down the window and was hanging out with his rifle, taking aim at whatever it was that pursued them.
Remy gazed up into the mirror just as the beast surged out from the darkness, its flesh blacker than the shadows surrounding it. It had no eyes, but its mouth was enormous and round and ringed with multiple rows of saw blade-like teeth. It galloped on all fours, its powerful limbs tight with muscle. It stretched its neck and was just about to take the bumper in its open maw when the rifleman fired.
The creature reared back with a pain-filled shriek. For a moment it was lost in the shadows, but it emerged at an even faster clip, enraged by its injury. The tattooed man did not hesitate, firing three more times in rapid succession. With the last of the shots, the great beast pitched forward in a tumble, and Remy caught a glimpse of other, smaller monsters of shadow pouncing on their dead pursuer before there was once again only blackness in the rear window.
The driver drew himself back inside, placing his rifle on the seat between them.
“That should distract them,” he said, relieving Remy of his steering duties. “They’d just as soon eat one of their own as chase us.”
“Good shooting,” Remy said.
“Living here in the Shadow Lands, you can’t afford to be anything but.”
Remy was about to ask some questions when he thought he saw something through the ebony pitch ahead. At first he didn’t believe his eyes, but then realized that, in fact, what he saw was real.
A mansion sat in the midst of the darkness, its every window alive with light, tinted the same unearthly green of the car’s headlights.
“Welcome to the Deacon estate,” the driver said, as he blew the car’s horn.
And the wrought-iron gates across the driveway slowly parted wide to receive them.
CHAPTER TEN
“Get out,” the tattooed man ordered, bringing the vintage car to a stop in front of the steps of the elaborate home.
Remy gave him a quick glance before doing as he was told. He had barely closed the door again before the limousine sped off around the side of house, leaving him at the bottom of the stairs, bathed in the green glow of the house lights. He briefly stared off into the pitch darkness of the shadows beyond, imagining what nightmares waited there.
The sound of someone clearing his throat startled Remy, and he turned quickly to see a shape standing in the entryway to the house.
Remy began to climb the stairs as the figure beckoned for him to enter, and then came to realize that it wasn’t a someone who had cleared his throat, but a something.
It was dressed in the classic tuxedo of a butler, but the creature appeared anything but human; in fact, it seemed to be crudely sculpted from clay. It was featureless except for the most rudimentary details-deep, shadow-filled indentations for eyes, two holes in the flat of its face for nostrils, and a crooked slash for a mouth.
Remy carefully watched the clay figure for any sign of hostility, but it remained perfectly still as he passed it and stepped inside the house.
He stopped and gazed about the foyer in amazement. Everywhere there could possibly be a source of illumination, there it was: electric lights, candelabra, candlesticks dripping thick trails of wax on just about every flat surface. The floor itself was strangely uneven, the large windows were askew in their frames, and a nearby staircase canted upward at an odd angle. It was as if the home had been disassembled and put back together by someone who had had one too many cocktails.
The door closed behind him, and Remy turned to see the clay butler standing there, waiting. The creature motioned toward a nearby corridor, and Remy followed it from the foyer, doing as the creature did-bracing one hand against the wall to navigate the strangely slanted floor.
They reached the doors at the end of the hall and the butler pushed them open to reveal an elaborate library inside. It too appeared to have suffered the strange, distorting effects that plagued the rest of the house: books piled on the floor in multiple stacks, unable to sit on the slanted shelves.
The butler started to leave.
“I guess I’m supposed to wait?” Remy asked.
The butler paused briefly, nodding its great clay head as it pulled the heavy wooden doors of the library closed behind it.
“Great,” Remy said, struggling with the urge to leave the library, clad in the armor of war, to tear apart the estate as he searched for Ashley. That was what the Seraphim would do, but in this particular instance, Remy believed that a cooler head would prevail.
Everything had to be right with this one. No risks taken unless necessary. He could not allow Ashley to be harmed in any way. He could not give in to the Seraphim’s penchant for violence.
He had to find out more-about Ashley’s captor and about what he wanted from Remy. He had to bring Ashley home safe and sound.
The door opened, and the tattooed man entered.
“Mr. Deacon is getting dressed for dinner. He’ll join us shortly,” the man said. He crossed the library to a large decorative wooden globe suspended within the framework of a stand.
“Drink?” he asked, opening the globe to reveal crystal decanters of liquor sequestered inside.
“No, thanks,” Remy said. “I’m not feeling all that social at the moment.”
The man chuckled, taking a tumbler for himself. “Don’t tell me you’re still upset that one of Mr. Deacon’s vessels tried to kill you.”
“That and the abduction of one of my friends. Yeah, I guess you could say I’m still upset.”
The pale man poured what looked to be some good Scotch into the glass and returned the decanter to the globe, closing the lid. “That was all a mistake,” he said, taking a sip of his drink as he strolled about the room.
“A mistake,” Remy repeated with a nod. “Sure, it was. Who are you again?”
“Me? Let’s just say I’m Mr. Deacon’s right hand.”
“Deacon,” Remy repeated the name thoughtfully. “Wasn’t that the name of the family that owned the farm where that little mistake occurred?”
The man sat down in a leather chair and crossed his legs. “Yes, it was,” he said. “The farm belonged to the Deacon family for a very long time. As a matter of fact, my master was born there.”
“Your master?” Remy asked, surprised at the moniker. “That’s a little dramatic, don’t you think?”
“No, not really. He created me from nothing and gave me life. I really should be calling him my god.”
Remy started to look at the figure in a different light.
“Created you?”
The man had some more to drink. “He certainly did, just as he created that monkey-suited slab of clay that showed you in, and all the others.”
“You’re one of those…vessels?”
“Same basic design, but different function,” the man explained. “I’m not sent
out for collection.”
“And what do these vessels collect?” Remy asked, recalling his experience with the creatures. “Energy? Life forces?”
The tattooed man smiled, the dark lines on his pale face taking on an entirely new configuration. “Aren’t you the smart one? You must be a detective.”
Remy felt the urge to wipe the smile from the artificial life-form’s face. “So how about filling me in on the rest?” he suggested instead. “Start with why these energies are being collected.”
The creature was about to answer when there came the tinkling of a bell. “That would be for us,” he said, draining his glass and leaving it on the tilted surface of a table beside his chair as he stood.
“So you’re not going to answer my question?” Remy asked, following him to the door.
“I’m sure Mr. Deacon will be more than happy to answer your questions,” the man said, letting Remy step out into the tilting hall. “But right now, dinner is served.”
The dining room was elaborate and sloped to one side, although the dining table had been modified so that it sat level on the uneven floor.
Remy saw that he wasn’t the first to arrive. A female figure sat alone at the end of the table. He was just about to introduce himself when he realized that she was dead-long dead, from the looks of her mummified flesh.
He turned to the tattooed man for explanation.
“The master’s wife,” he said. “He doesn’t have the heart to put her in the ground.”
The woman’s body was propped stiffly in the chair. She was wearing a powder blue dress, and the shriveled flesh about her neck was adorned with fine pearls. Her hair was freshly set.
A huge, crystal chandelier hung above the table, making the fine dinnerware sparkle in its green-tinted light. Remy counted the place settings: five.
A faint, high-pitched whine filled the air outside the dining room, growing louder as it slowly approached. Eventually an elaborate electric wheelchair appeared in the doorway, the clay butler walking stiffly behind it. The chair carried the hunched and shriveled body of an old man, his formal tuxedo hanging from his skeletal frame.
In the House of the Wicked rc-5 Page 10