by Gini Koch
Chapter 38
I wasn’t watching anyone else’s face, only Jack’s. He took it in fast, did the mental calculations thing, and kept his expression extremely neutral. “I see. Does this complicate things?” He didn’t sound freaked out, he sounded like he did when we were dealing with a domestic dispute.
“The only complication is that Victoria’s father is, sadly, one of the Prince’s most powerful minions,” the Count answered for me.
“Want to clarify?” Jack asked, detective voice on full.
“Just lucky, I guess.”
This earned me a dirty look. “I want answers, Vic.” Jack didn’t sound like he was going to put up with me stalling any more. I sort of couldn’t blame him.
Oh well. I’d known it was coming. Sooner or later, you have to tell beings the truth about your family, even if you don’t want to.
“There were these two cousins, but they called themselves brothers. They were well beyond crazy -- they were evil and vicious because they could be. They stole two women and made them their wives. The younger one actually legally married a third woman. In addition to the well over thirty people they murdered, they also killed all their own children. All but one.”
Jack kept his expression very blank. “I see. What were their names?”
“They had a few first names, but went most commonly by Big and Little Harp. Big died first -- he was beheaded in seventeen-ninety-nine. Little died about five years later. The women went off. Two of them remarried and went to different parts of the country. Susan Wood, the one with the only surviving Harp child, went to Tennessee. ” I wasn’t shaking. I was proud of myself.
“How did they survive?” Sexy Cindy asked softly. “The mother and…daughter?”
I nodded. “Eudora Harp was an infant when Big died and because Little had run off, she didn’t really know him, either. Susan felt Eudora’s life had been spared because the Harps thought she was special, that she would be their legacy. Susan told Eudora all about her father -- fathers, really -- about all they’d done. No one was ever sure which Harp fathered which child. Not that it mattered.”
“Lineage does matter,” Freddy said.
“Not in this case,” the Count interjected. “In the case of the Harps, part of the reason they were so evil is that they shared one soul between them. They’d each sold half their soul to the Prince and then he mingled what was left between them. It gave them power and strength, in that sense, but it also made them what they were. Then again, they wanted to be what they were.”
“They were the Prince’s loyal and enthusiastic servants on the human plane,” I continued. “And when they died, what was left of their souls went straight to him. He created one being from them -- the Adversary.”
“Another name for the devil in the Bible,” Freddy said. “And, I assume, like the others, incorrect?”
“Right. It’s a title, really, for the Prince’s top general in the war. Reporting wasn’t all it could have been in the olden days and innumerable translations tend to mix things up a bit. In the course of time, the Prince has had many hold the position of Adversary. But none have been as successful as this one.” I took a deep breath. “In the time since the Harps became the Adversary, murder, sin, depravity, evil in general has increased exponentially. The more evil done, the stronger the Adversary grows.”
“Is it stoppable?” Jack asked.
“Yes,” the Count answered. “All the Adversaries who have come before have been destroyed by our side.”
“Usually at a great cost,” Monty added. “It was bad enough with Abaddon and Apollyon here. With the Adversary on the plane, we’ve gone from bad to horrifyingly worse.”
“Thanks for the booster speech,” Sexy Cindy said. “So, what happened to Eudora? And her mother?”
My jaw clenched. “The Adversary came back and found them.” Sexy Cindy and Freddy looked concerned, Jack looked angry. I shook my head. “You might have thought those three women would have hated the Harps, wouldn’t you? But they went back to them any time they were separated. Even when the women were imprisoned for the men’s crimes, once they were freed with provisions and a way out, they went back to them. Back to the men who had murdered their children and a slew of innocent people.”
I was still in full werewolf form and it was all I could do to keep from baring my teeth. “The Adversary arrived on the doorstep and Eudora discovered that Susan had been pining for the Harp brothers. She gave herself to them, willingly.”
“What about Eudora?” Sexy Cindy asked. “What did they do to her?”
I could barely get the words out. “They offered her immortality, to join them as the Prince’s servant.”
“What did Eudora do?” Jack asked softly.
I couldn’t talk. Because all I could do was growl.
Monty cleared his throat. “She stood up to them, to her parents, to the Adversary.” He chuckled. “She told them to go back to Hell, where they belonged.”
“Then what happened?” Freddy asked.
I found my voice. “Then they brought Hell to her, right there.”
*****
Eudora watched the monster that was her father grow into something indescribable, but terrifying. Her mother gazed upon it lovingly, and Eudora’s stomach clenched.
“You will join us, or we will obliterate you from existence,” the thing said to her, voice booming. Horrifying things, things of nightmare, surrounded her. Eldritch flames surrounded them, and a pit appeared before her, filled with noxious smells and worse things.
Eudora was terrified, but she shook her head as defiantly as she could. “I won’t. Go back to Hell, where you all belong. You’re an abomination in the eyes of the Lord, and I won’t ever join you.”
“You will obey us! We are your father!”
“No, you’re not. You’re nothing but evil.”
“They are your father,” her mother said. “You should come with us, dear. We can be a real family.” Her mother was so calm, so happy, it was more horrifying than the monster and everything else around her ever could be.
“If this is what my family can be, then I choose to be an orphan. And I choose God, not you.” Eudora prayed silently, wondering if God was listening.
“No god is stronger than us! You pray to a god who cares nothing for you. You were created by sin, born in sin, and now, you will die from sin, and be cast to the great nothingness.” The monster made some movements, the creatures closed in, and Eudora braced herself. She wanted to run but knew she couldn’t escape this -- there was nowhere to go, no way out.
A bolt of lighting came from the clear skies and struck the pit, destroying it, returning the smooth ground between her and her parents. More lightning flashed and crackled, and the horrors around her screamed in agony as they were destroyed. Eudora heard a voice, in her mind more than through her ears. She has chosen, and she is mine. And I will protect my child.
Then lightning flashed around the monster that was her father, caging it. Eudora didn’t question, she took the opportunity and fled. But even though the monster was hindered, as she looked over her shoulder, she saw it coming for her.
She heard a wolf’s howl in the distance, and then another, closer. Soon the air was filled with the sound of a full pack in hunt. She was running right towards the howling, but if she stopped, worse horror awaited her.
Just before she reached the woods the pack appeared. But they didn’t look like real wolves. They seemed like a cross between a wolf and a man. They stood on their hind legs, they were bigger than any wolf she’d seen, and they were talking. Not in a language she could understand, but not in animal growls or grunts, either.
The pack surrounded her and Eudora stopped running. One stepped closer to her and nodded his head. “You choose Yahweh or Usen?”
“Excuse me?” Being polite in this situation seemed more surreal than anything else had tonight, but despite the evidence, her mother had, apparently, raised her right.
“Choose your God.�
� The wolf which, upon closer inspection truly looked more like a wolf-man, seemed impatient. Not that she could blame him. It was easy to hear the monster, since it was bellowing for her and her blood.
She blinked. “I choose whoever answered my prayer, whoever sent the lightning.”
“Huh, that’s Yahweh. Usen sent us,” he added, somewhat reproachfully.
“Should I pick both? I ask because we’re all about to die.”
He shrugged. “Good friends, no problem.” He cocked his head. “Okay, Usen says fine for you to go to Yahweh, more natural for you.” He smiled, which wasn’t all that comforting to look at. “Call me Black Wolf. Won’t hurt. Much.” Then he lunged, grabbed her arms, and bit her neck.
Eudora would have screamed, but Black Wolf had been too fast. She waited for the other wolves to attack and eat her alive, but they didn’t. Instead they moved to stand between her and Black Wolf, who was still holding her, and the oncoming monster.
She realized she was still alive, though she felt like she was on fire. “What’s going on?”
“Change coming. Have to wait.”
“For what?”
“For you to undie.”
Eudora heard snarling and turned to see the wolf pack attack the monster. They were doing a good job against it, but it was clear it was stronger. “Are they going to die?”
“Hope not. How you feel?”
“Strange.” This was true. Her body now felt icy and leaden.
Black Wolf nodded. “Common. When you feel hunger, tell me.”
“Hunger? We’re fighting something from Hell. I’m not going to stop for supper.” No sooner were these words out of her mouth than it hit -- she was ravenous, more hungry than she’d ever been.
Black Wolf could tell, possibly because she was growling. “Good. Change complete.” He barked and growled, and the other wolves leapt off the monster and ran into the woods. “Follow me.” He turned and ran.
Eudora did as she was told, the hunger told her she had to do what Black Wolf said. But she was running strangely. She looked down. She was on all fours, running on paws, not hands and feet. She didn’t stop to ask how or why, she sped up. She was faster this way. As she followed the pack she heard the monster screaming obscenities, its voice getting farther and father away until she could hear it no more.
Chapter 39
“I changed my name as soon as our pack reached a larger group of undeads.”
“I’d have gotten rid of Eudora as fast as I could, too, girl,” Sexy Cindy said.
“I wanted to get rid of Harp more. Besides, Black Wolf named me Victoria.” For victory, my victory over the Prince. My throat felt tight. Black Wolf had been more of a father to me than anyone else. He’d made me a werewolf, he’d taught me how to be a good one, and he’d loved me. While Wolfe was sort of obvious, I’d taken that as my last name to honor him, not so much to species-identify.
“Lucky for you his werewolf pack was nearby,” Jack said.
“Black Wolf’s pack was assigned to, in that sense, outpost duty. Their job was to find new undeads formed or created too far from Necropolis and bring them back safely.”
“Was?” Freddy asked. “What do they do now?”
I looked away. “They’re all…gone. The Adversary marked them and found them…one by one.”
“They live on in memory,” the Count said gently. “Now,” he added more briskly, “since we’re all up on history, we need to determine our next steps.”
“Where are all our angels?” I hoped they were following leads, not at the hospital already. I chose not to think about any worse possibilities.
“They couldn’t take the smell, literally,” the Count said. “Once the Adversary was run off they had to move as well.”
“So, what interfered with Vic’s wrist-com?” Jack asked.
“The Adversary,” Clyde answered. “He has much power.”
“Power to disrupt isn’t all that big a deal, either,” I added. “Just mess up something here at headquarters and all of a sudden, we can’t talk to each other any more.” I tried not to growl but didn’t manage all that well. “So, how many of us were ‘here’ as dupes?”
“You, Mister Wagner, Miss Cindy, and Frederick,” H.P. answered. “We arrived as the altercation was dying down.”
“It was good timing that you’d checked in when you did,” the Count said to me. I didn’t preen -- luck was great but it wasn’t something to brag about. “Because I knew where you were and who you were with, I was quite clear that I was dealing with doppelgängers.”
“How’d they get in?” Jack asked, back to full on cop. He even had his pad and pen out. “From what I’ve seen, there are a variety of beings who could’ve and should’ve smelled the Adversary.”
“The minions don’t give off much of an odor unless they want to or have been injured in some way,” the Count explained. “Even a werewolf would have to be up close to one in order to spot the differences in smell.”
“Which is why we look so great,” Gretel said. “The three of us got here first. For some reason, the Adversary didn’t focus a lot of attention on Ralph. Can’t say the same for me and Hansel.”
“That seems odd,” Jack offered. “I would think the Adversary would view every werewolf as a reminder of…Eudora.” He said the last word carefully.
“Me. You mean dear old Dad would want to kill all werewolves because I’m one. And, yes, you’re right.”
Ralph gave me a hurt look. “I fought as hard as the others. I’m not a turncoat, either.”
“We know, Ralphie,” Maurice said. He grimaced at me. “I’d assume your not-so-dearly suspects you and Ralph are an item. In which case, leave him alone until he can be destroyed or turned in front of you.”
“Supreme punishment for disobedience or annoyance. Yep, sounds like my family.” I examined Ralph. He was the best of the lot, but it didn’t look like he’d been sitting it out, hiding in the doghouse somewhere. “Saying Ralph looks the least hurt is sort of damning with faint praise. If I didn’t have the rest of you to compare him to, we’d be rushing him over to the hospital right now.”
“Speaking of which,” Edgar said, “let’s get all of us over there now. The sooner the better.”
Internal communications had been disrupted and was still offline, which was why no one had come up to help, as near as I could tell. The four of us who weren’t injured took the worst hurt, so I had Gretel, Jack had Hansel, Freddy had Amanda, and Sexy Cindy had Maurice. The others did the mutually hurt lean and drag and in this attractive way, we managed to get to the lift and down levels, in shifts.
By the time the last load arrived we’d gotten some help, and one of the ghosts in attendance had flitted off to the hospital. The emergency personnel arrived as we reached the exit.
Much medical chaos ensued, but finally even Ralph was on a gurney and headed off to give the little undeads tour group a real wake up call in terms of choosing their adult careers carefully. If they were still there. I realized we were very close to dawn. This night had flown. I wondered what the day would bring and if we’d get to sleep or not. I didn’t want to place a bet on it, per the base of my tail.
Sure enough, as the four of us stood in the Necropolis Enforcement doorway, wondering what to do next, the suns started their slow rise. The undead world had its own sun, moons and stars. Thankfully, they followed the Earth solar cycle, or at least they appeared to. It was always interesting to watch sunrise in Necropolis, though, because it was the clearest point in the day where you could tell for sure you were in one plane of existence and watching another at the same time. I made sure the others weren’t in a position to look. Beautiful, yes. Potentially disconcerting, bigger yes. And we had enough disconcertion going on; we didn’t need any help from the planetary elements.
“I got some information from the Count while we were waiting for his gurney,” Jack said. “Big fight, but he didn’t sound like he thought the Adversary was trying all that hard.”
/> “Makes sense. They have a larger plan than just getting rid of us. But still, disabling Necropolis Enforcement permanently would have to be a good thing in the Prince’s mind. So, why was the damage so minimal? In that sense?”
“They want you,” Freddy suggested.
“Maybe.” I thought about it. Didn’t come up with enough. “Did the Count, or anyone else, mention if the dupes were destroyed?”
“Yeah,” Sexy Cindy said. “I heard all the vampires talking. Ralph, Hansel and Gretel all wounded the dupes, and when the vamps arrived with all the angels, they destroyed the dupes completely. That’s when the Adversary appeared. I think part of it was in each dupe.”
“Yeah, they can do that. It’s one of the reasons they’re so strong. They were used to having divided souls, so doing it comes naturally and easily to them now.”
“You think they’re in more of the doppelgängers than just the four of ours?” Jack asked.
“Not sure. If so, it would explain why the Adversary wasn’t able to kill everyone or destroy the building. It’s a possibility, but there are others, too. Besides, I’m pretty sure Abaddon is walking around in Tomio’s skin, and that means Apollyon is probably the Tomio doppelgänger. So, find a Tomio, find a major minion.”
“Hitler could be in Tomio, too, you said,” Sexy Cindy reminded me.
“Yeah, but he’s vain. He’ll look like himself as fast as possible. So even if he used Tomio’s body to get through, he’s in a dupe and it’s altered to look like him now.” One small blessing, because every being knew what Hitler looked like, alive or undead.
“But why didn’t they show up to everyone who was tailing them?” Jack sounded as frustrated as I felt. “I mean, maybe they could have fooled Amanda and Maurice, but Black Angel Two?”
“And Black Angel One.” It didn’t make sense.
“Sure it makes sense,” a smooth male voice said from behind me. “If you remember that angels have strong psychic powers.” I turned around, knowing who I was going to see. Sure enough, I got the glittering grin as he went on. “Abaddon and Apollyon were as powerful as Lucifer when they fell.”