The chair stopped just inside the double doors, and slowly the old man gripped the arms of the wheelchair and stood with a grunt and the hum of machinery. It was then that Remy noticed the man wore some kind of body brace, an exoskeleton clamped around his withered limbs to aid him in his movement.
The old man briefly teetered, and the tattooed man was quickly beside him.
“I’ve got this, Scrimshaw,” the man snapped, and Remy recognized the voice from his cell phone.
Scrimshaw, Remy thought upon hearing the artificial man’s name. It fits.
Scrimshaw stepped back obediently as the old man gained his balance and proceeded toward the table, the motors on his elaborate brace whining with each step.
He stopped next to the chair at the head of the table, motioning for the butler to take away the wheelchair, before nodding toward his wife. “My dear,” he said.
Then he turned his deep, sunken eyes on Remy.
Remy was silent as he stared at the man who had dared to take his friend.
“Remy Chandler,” the old man said, looking him up and down. “You’re not at all what I expected.”
“Sorry to disappoint you,” Remy replied. “Maybe you’d like to see my wings?”
The old man grunted. Remy thought that it might have been a laugh.
“I am Konrad Deacon,” the man said, watching Remy carefully, searching for a sign of recognition on Remy’s face, but finding none.
“A name lost to the ages, I’m afraid.”
There was activity at the door again, and the old man turned with a mechanical whir. “Ah, the rest of our dinner guests.”
Remy stiffened at the sight of Ashley Berg in a fancy dinner dress being led into the dining room by a little boy holding a leash attached to a collar about her throat.
“This is my son, Teddy. And you of course know his playmate.”
It took all of Remy’s strength not to unleash the full fury of the Seraphim.
But he managed to behave, telling himself that this was all for Ashley’s safety.
“Please be seated.” Deacon motioned Remy toward the chair on his left as he lowered himself into the chair that Scrimshaw held out for him at the head of the table.
Ashley and the young boy sat across the table. She made eye contact with Remy as she sat.
“Are you all right?” he asked, pulling his chair in closer to the table.
His heart sank as she looked away, staring blankly at the reflective surface of her china plate.
“Of course she’s all right,” Deacon answered for her. “A minor spell of obedience and some laudanum to calm her has transformed her into the perfect houseguest.”
“She was a little wild when she first got here, but she’s adjusted quite nicely,” Scrimshaw agreed, standing attentively against the wall.
Remy looked at her again, seeing the dullness in eyes that usually twinkled with vitality. It was as if she weren’t even there, which was probably a good thing.
He turned his attention squarely on Deacon and leaned in close to the old man. “If you’ve harmed her in any way,” he said calmly, quietly, “there will be a tremendous price to pay.”
Scrimshaw moved closer to the table, but Deacon gestured him away. “I assure you, Mr. Chandler, Miss Berg has been treated with the utmost care, and will continue to be treated so as long as she remains with us.”
“As long as I decide to play along,” Remy stated.
Deacon smiled as he reached for a silver bell to the right of his plate. “Exactly.”
He rang the bell, and the doors into the dining room swiftly opened. Servants of clay filed into the room, pushing various carts that Remy guessed were carrying dinner.
Deacon’s son stood up in his seat, watching with wild eyes as the clay servant placed a silver-lidded tray in the center of the table. The boy began to grunt and howl.
There was something not quite right about this child.
“Sit, Teddy,” Deacon commanded, and the child squatted atop his seat, eyes still fixed on the covered tray.
A tureen of soup was placed on the table next, followed by smaller trays of what Remy thought might be steaming vegetables. He’d never seen anything quite like them before.
“Harvested on the land outside the estate,” Deacon commented. “My recollection is that they taste a bit like mushrooms, but it has been quite some time since solid food has entered my system.”
One of the clay servants reached across the table, removing the silver cover over the main course. Remy had no idea what he was looking at. It resembled a turkey, but he’d never seen any form of fowl that sported six limbs.
“Also from the property surrounding the estate?” he asked, knowing what the answer would be.
“Shot it myself,” Scrimshaw said proudly. “One of the few critters here that I can kill with a single shot.”
Teddy sprang up and lunged across the table, tearing off one of the animal’s limbs and jamming it into his mouth.
“Manners, Teddy. Manners,” Deacon reminded.
A servant began cutting away slices of the strange gray meat and placing them on a serving tray.
“Help yourself, Mr. Chandler,” Deacon offered.
“I’m afraid I’m not very hungry at the moment, Mr. Deacon.” Remy looked from the meal to his host. “I believe we have business to discuss.”
Deacon continued to watch as the slices of meat were cut from the beast.
“Give the young lady a slice, Godfrey,” Deacon instructed the clay man.
Godfrey used the knife and a large fork to place a slice of the meat upon Ashley’s plate. Remy was surprised to see her pick up her knife and fork and begin to eat. She’d recently forgone most meat in favor of a predominantly vegetarian diet. His concern for her was growing.
The doors swung open again, and two normal-looking people, a man and a woman, came into the room. There was nothing odd about them at first, but Remy was quickly reminded of the five that had attacked him at the farm.
“I do not partake of solid foods, although I do still require sustenance,” Deacon explained as the two people stood beside him. “Do you mind?”
“Go right ahead,” Remy said, curious as to what would follow.
The pair began to unbutton their shirts. Scrimshaw moved up behind his master’s chair and reached down to the back of the exoskeleton, pulling up two long, black cords, each with a very long, very sharp-looking needle attached. Without any hesitation, he turned and plunged one of the needles into the man’s chest; the other into the woman’s.
“Bon appetit,” Scrimshaw muttered, fiddling with something on the back of Deacon’s brace.
A hum began to resonate through the room, growing steadily louder.
“Ahhhhh,” Deacon groaned, eyes partially closed. “These are particularly ripe.”
The humming sound continued as Deacon opened his eyes and turned his attention to his guest.
“You’re probably as curious about me as I am of you,” the old man began. “My condition, as you see it here, is a result of my experimentation with life energies, specifically a test where I tried-and succeeded-in collecting the life force of the thousands slain by the atomic bombing of Hiroshima. Unfortunately, it left my body dramatically altered and it didn’t take me long to realize that I needed the energy of living things to continue my own life.”
Deacon nodded toward the pair standing beside him, steel needles protruding from their bare chests. “This is how I harvest the energy I need to survive,” he explained. “They are an advanced version of golem I have managed to perfect over the years. I bundled both science and sorcery to create artificial beings-vessels, if you will-that can walk among the citizenry, able to collect and store samples of people’s life energies without their notice. Once they are filled, they return here and allow me to dine upon their bounty.”
Deacon leaned his head back against the chair. Although the brace around his neck prevented his body from totally relaxing, the pleasure of f
eeding was clear on his face. Remy watched him for a moment, then realized that he appeared healthier, his cheeks flushed with a new vitality.
Younger.
“How does all of this explain why you took Ashley?” he asked.
The old man opened his eyes to slits. “With life energies also come residual memories-emotions, tastes, smells.”
The humming of the machine began to quiet, and Scrimshaw was again attentive. He approached the vessels and pulled the needles from their chests.
“About a week ago, there was a street festival in Brattleboro, Vermont,” Deacon continued as Scrimshaw carefully returned the needles and cords back to the housing compartment on the back of Deacon’s brace. “One of my vessels was there, walking among the teeming crowd, gently brushing against those who had come to enjoy the fair. These events are always my particular favorites-so filled with life and happiness. I was eager to sample the energies and dug in, so to speak, as soon as the vessel returned.”
Deacon looked at Remy with calculating eyes.
“Imagine my surprise as I feasted, bombarded by the memories of those whose energies sustained me…and I saw you, Remy Chandler. I saw you with this lovely young lady and received the slightest taste of the residual energy you left behind.”
The old man paused, his stare becoming even more intense.
“I was able to read that energy, Mr. Chandler. And I saw you for what you truly are.”
“You saw that I’m Seraphim.”
“I saw exactly that,” Deacon agreed, nodding slowly. “Through Ashley’s memories I could see the fire that lives inside you…but I also saw you had the potential to be so much more.”
He leaned forward as if to share a special secret with his guest.
“I saw you as a weapon, Remy Chandler,” Deacon said, eyes no longer dulled with age, but twinkling with life.
“An instrument for revenge to be turned on my betrayers.”
CHAPTER ELEVEN
Francis no longer carried the special key to Methuselah’s. He’d left it to Remy Chandler while he was vacationing in Hell.
But his current employer, one Lucifer Morningstar, had a unique relationship with the owner of the otherworldly gin mill, so it was never too far from where Francis needed it to be.
Still clutching the towel-wrapped skull beneath his arm, Francis walked across the weed-covered parking lot to what had been the Rubber Ducky Car Wash until the current recession had made people realize that their mileage was just as good with a dirty car. He approached the open concrete bay where filthy cars had had their offending grime washed away and peered inside.
He could feel that this was the right place and walked farther into the bay. Inside the cool space, he found a door, its glass window covered with cardboard. It had probably led to the manager’s office, but Francis sensed that at this particular moment there was something far different on the other side.
He tried the handle and found it locked. He gave it a bit of a jiggle and waited a few seconds before trying it again. The second time was a charm. The door opened with an ear-piercing squeak, and Francis
found himself looking down a long, stone corridor, at the end of which was another heavy wooden door with a red neon sign announcing METHUSELAH’S.
Francis strode down the hallway as the door to the car wash slammed closed behind him and was replaced by a wall of moist-looking rock. But he wasn’t looking at where he had been; he was thinking about where he was going. If there was any place where he could learn more about the creation whose head he carried, it would be Methuselah’s.
Placing a hand on the cold metal handle, he squeezed the latch and pushed the heavy wooden door open into the warmth of the bar. It was dark inside. It took a moment for his eyes to adjust, and when they did, he found himself looking into the not-so-friendly face of the minotaur bouncer who charged toward him on cloven feet, horned head lowered menacingly.
“Phil, you ugly son of a bitch,” Francis exclaimed, reaching up to slap the creature’s thick skull between his ears and horns. “How the hell have you been?”
“You’ve got a lot of fucking nerve walking through that door like you own the place,” Phil said, getting so close to Francis’ face that he could have easily reached up to give the gold ring hanging from the beast’s flaring nostrils a good yank.
The minotaur’s dark, animal eyes bored into the fallen Guardian’s, and Francis began to think that maybe he had made a mistake when the bull-man let out a barking laugh and pulled the fallen angel up into his thick, muscular arms.
“We all thought you were dead,” Phil cried, practically squeezing the life from Francis as he spun him around. “Hey, boss,” he called out, dropping Francis and turning toward the wooden bar across the room. “Look who it is.”
Francis watched the large stone man behind the bar drying a beer mug with a filthy rag.
“Well, I’ll be a son of a bitch,” Methuselah said. The expression on his stone face changed ever so slightly, but Francis knew he was smiling. “How are you, Francis?”
“I’m good,” the former Guardian said, strolling across the floor to the bar, Phil at his side.
“Didn’t I say he was still alive?” the minotaur said, throwing his powerful arm around Francis’ shoulders. “I said it would take a lot more than Tartarus going ass end over teakettle to put Francis down for the count.”
“You did say that,” Methuselah agreed, still drying the inside of the heavy glass mug.
“Nice to know that somebody’s got a little faith in me,” Francis said as he grabbed a stool and took a seat, placing the towel-wrapped skull atop the bar.
There were some strange-looking folks sitting on either side, and as he made brief eye contact with them, they decided they no longer wanted to sit at the bar and slunk off for the privacy of one of the many tables that littered the floor.
“Great to have you back, Francis.” Phil gave him one last hard slap on the shoulder before returning to his post at the front door.
“I never even knew he liked me,” Francis said to the stone man.
“He just about broke down in tears when he heard the rumors of your untimely demise,” Methuselah said, slinging the dirty towel over a broad shoulder. “What can I get you?”
“The usual would be nice.”
“Your buddy was in here not too long ago,” the bar’s owner said as he picked up a glass tumbler from beneath the bar and turned to a display of dusty old bottles behind him.
“Chandler?” Francis asked. “Yeah, he’s still got my key.”
“You don’t need a key.” Methuselah shook his head as he poured a drink for Francis. “You’ve got the all-access pass now.”
“And Phil loves me.”
“And Phil loves you,” Methuselah agreed, placing the drink in front of him. “Think that gets you a free appetizer once a month or something.”
“Sweet.” Francis took a large swig of the ancient Scotch. “Remind me of that the next time I’m in.”
“Yeah, I’ll do that.”
They were silent then, the sounds of the bar-multiple voices conversing softly in myriad languages, forked tongues lapping eagerly at libations, the ghost of Roy Orbison singing from the vintage Wurlitzer jukebox at the far end of the establishment-reminding Francis that he’d been away for a while.
And how good it was to be back.
“More?” Methuselah held up the old bottle.
“You twisted my arm,” Francis said, pushing the tumbler toward him.
“So, you on the clock?” Methuselah asked, tipping the bottle’s golden contents into the empty glass.
“Not right now.”
“Looking for work? I got a few freelance gigs that could provide you with some nice shekels for one or two of those medieval playthings you like to collect,” the stone man said as he placed the glass stopper back into the bottle and passed the tumbler to Francis.
“Actually, I’m poking around for Chandler,” Francis said. “Got something I
want to show you.”
“A free appetizer doesn’t make us that intimate,” Methuselah joked.
Francis smirked, sliding the wrapped skull toward the bartender. “I thought you might be able to tell me something about this.”
“What’s the Seraphim gotten himself involved with this time?” Methuselah asked, unwrapping the towel with thick stone fingers. “Holy shit,” he exclaimed, staring at the skull.
“Were my suspicions right?” Francis asked, taking a drink.
Methuselah picked up the skull and carefully ran his fingers over its rough surface. “Whoever’s responsible does exceptional work,” the barkeep said, his stone eyes scrutinizing the object in his great hands. “I’d love to see the rest of it.”
“Yeah, too bad it was destroyed in a fire of divine reckoning.”
“Hate when that happens,” Methuselah said, setting the skull down on the bar, gaze still riveted to it. “Where did you say it came from?”
“I didn’t,” Francis replied. “When it was whole, it and a few others attacked Chandler, but that’s pretty much all I know. It’s got something to do with a case he’s working on.”
“Doesn’t it always?”
“From your mouth to my ears.” Francis held up his glass in a toast. “From what I was told, it looked completely human.”
“You don’t say,” the stone man said. “If I had known this level of golem quality was out there somewhere, I’d have seriously been thinking of an upgrade.”
Methuselah was one of the oldest original human beings on the planet, but far too many years of wear and tear had caused his body to break down. Wanting to continue with the long-lived existence he’d grown accustomed to, the old man had decided to transplant his life force into the body of a golem.
He was the first person Francis had thought of upon seeing the stone skull Remy found.
“So it is a golem?” Francis asked.
“It’s a golem, all right,” Methuselah confirmed. “But it’s top-of-the-line.”
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