“Your arm broken?”
“Let’s just say that he and I had a little falling-out and leave it at that,” Nick replied evasively.
“All right, I’ll do it, but what was it you were saying about the Creeper’s voice not being the Creeper’s voice?”
“If I’m right, you’ll be the first to know.”
“Friend’s don’t leave friends hanging like that,” Crow grumbled. There was no reply. Their connection was terminated. He swore, and dialed Rance.
Once the sun set, night closed fast. An hour after Nick’s conversation with Crow, the National Guardsmen finally abandoned their posts. The fleet of Hummer H1s rumbled past the Warnke trailer’s burned-out shell with their halogen lights turning the area into noon. When their taillights were out of sight, Nick and the others stepped from behind the trailer, and Glenna pointed past Tobhor’s fortress to what was now becoming a black jungle silhouette.
“There,” she said, “beyond the trees.”
“The lake?” Nick asked.
Glenna simply nodded. “We’ve got to hurry if we’re to follow the shape-shifter into its lair. I don’t know the way in,” she confessed.
“I think I know someone who does,” Nick said and quickly ran ahead of the others. “Meet me at Alick’s,” he shouted back over his shoulder.
Alick Tobhor’s ominous fortress loomed ahead in the deepening twilight. The eastern gray sky came alive with winking stars and a rising, full moon. Despite his brave facade, Nick was apprehensive about visiting the site again, being all too aware that the savage demon guardian lurked below. Even though it had saved Nick’s life at the asylum, he was uncertain whether their unspoken truce remained intact.
But Nick had to risk it, because he desperately needed Tobhor’s assistance. He fervently prayed that the ancient sorcerer was still alive. Nick abandoned caution and quickened his pace. Time was definitely not on their side. He had to hurry if he was going to have any chance of saving Neo, Lisa, and President Hanover. The shape-shifter could inject Neo with the real elixir at any moment. The mental picture of Neo’s massive NFL frame receiving a Cumalodin makeover forced Nick’s legs to greater speed.
Dark, foreboding clouds converged overhead and whipped the jungle growth while screaming gusts slowed Nick’s forward progress. Owl hoots and droning bullfrog cacophonies swept past him as he arrived at the fortress. Without pausing to catch his breath, Nick placed his open palms on the warm stones and spoke.
“Alick, this is Nick Bellamy. If you’re still alive and can hear me, please give me a sign,” he gasped.
The dark stones immediately lightened to a dusky rose and gradually brightened to crimson. Five gnarled fingers emerged from the solid surface, followed by a wrist, hand, and then an entire withered arm.
Nick wasn’t certain what to do, so he tentatively enclosed Tobhor’s hand with his.
An unfamiliar voice invaded his mind. “Nick Bellamy.”
“Alick?” Nick asked aloud.
“Yes. I am Alick Tobhor, but you don’t have to voice your words. Just think them, and I will hear,” the unseen sorcerer instructed. “I have seen you in my fortress recently. You want to help me, I believe you said, when you were confronted by the young Cumalodin.”
“Yes, that’s right. I still want to help you, but first you have to help me,” he replied.
“I will do what I can. Explain your needs.”
“I have to know the location of the three destroyers’ hideaway,” Nick said.
“And if I show you the way, what then?”
Nick hesitated. “I’ll kill them and set you free.”
Alick’s chuckle resonated in Nick’s head.
“What’s so damn funny?” Nick demanded irritably.
“I find it humorous that a mere mortal falsely believes that he can overpower three destroyers.”
“Laugh all you want, because I’m not a mere mortal. And for your information, there’s only one of the three original destroyers left. One’s dead, and your third enemy is definitely not a destroyer. I suspect it killed the first destroyer and will no doubt kill the surviving one. It’s that life-form that we have to worry about.”
“You are certain about this?”
“Yes,” he answered, his anger subsiding.
A wind gust threatened to blow Nick off the fortress, but Alick’s protruding hand tightened and held fast. After the wind subsided, Alick loosened his grip.
“I have decided to trust you,” the sorcerer said at last. “I will show you the way to the Cumalodin’s lair.”
Alick released his grip on Nick’s hand, pointed at the ground, and snapped his fingers. Suddenly, a glowing, reddish-gold path, like a lava flow, appeared on the ground and disappeared into the jungle.
“Follow the magic trail into the lake. Do not be afraid. The water will not touch you as long as you stay on the path,” Alick assured him.
When Glenna and her grandsons arrived, Nick swiftly related his conversation with Alick and explained the mysterious pathway leading into the trees. Glenna nodded knowingly and was the first to step onto the reddish-gold earth.
“Let’s shake a tail feather, boys. We’ve got work to do.”
The three marched ahead, but Nick lingered at the fortress.
“Any last words of advice, Alick?” Nick asked.
“Protect Gabriella Wolfe at all costs.”
Nick was stunned. “She’s back home in your old dimension.”
“Don’t let appearances deceive you, Nick,” the sorcerer advised him, and his hand withdrew into the fortress wall. “May the Fates go with you.”
Nick jogged after the Guttentags. Now what did Alick mean by “protect Gabriella Wolfe at all costs”? Gabriella was safely exiled in the next dimension.
Wasn’t she?
Even if Gabriella were here, she was the most powerful witch in this dimension. In a more reasonable scenario, she would be the one protecting him. Nick wrote off Alick’s strange comment as the ramblings of a senile mind that was hopelessly out of touch with reality.
65
N
ick ran after the Guttentags on the path that sliced the turbulent night like a golden scimitar. The winds moaned, lightning streaked across the ebony sky, and a cold, gray curtain of rain hammered the jungle, but the four of them remained dry on the magical path. Nick was amazed that even the wind couldn’t penetrate Alick Tobhor’s powerful spell.
After a lengthy hike, the four emerged from the violent jungle onto a sandy shore. Alick’s yellow brick road continued down through the lake, and Nick frowned when he caught sight of its mucky bottom. Like Moses who had parted the Red Sea, Alick’s magical path divided the lake waters and created an arid rift that led from the shoreline to the murky lakebed below. The incline was slight, as is the case with most shallow, Florida lakes. Once again, Glenna soundlessly urged the others to get a move on. Although the lakebed was soft and reedy, their tentative footfalls made solid contact with the lighted path.
A disquieting sensation iced Nick’s flesh as they descended deeper into the lake. The lightning flashes illuminated the sluggish silhouettes of gar, bass, catfish, and three gators gliding along the unnatural abyss. Nick fought a welling anxiety of drowning if the lake should suddenly close on them. Despite the suffocating feelings of being trapped in a watery grave, he maintained his pace as they descended farther into the watery canyon.
He froze. Three recent model cars rested on the bottom to his right, but only two were close enough to identify. The third vehicle looked to be the shape of a BMW or Lexis sedan, but it was too distant to make a positive ID. The pickup truck was a Ford 250, and its front bumper was deeply embedded in the muck; the Cadillac Seville rested squarely on its four tires among oscillating plant tentacles.
Nick moved as close as he dared to the gloomy water wall to get a better look. When the lightning flickered overhead, he could easily make out the Warnke Construction Company logo on the truck, but the car’s owner remained a mystery
until a massive lightning bolt rent the night sky and illuminated an inscription on its front door.
Charlotte County Medical Examiner
Dr. George Patrick
Nick was troubled. Did the dumped vehicles mean more kidnappings or more murders? Either way, he sensed danger. Nick shook off his angst and hurried after the others.
When the four approached the lake’s center, the blazing path disappeared into a wide breach in the limestone bottom. The area surrounding the entrance was meticulously clean of muck, plant growth, and sediment. Nick grimaced. More magic.
Hugo and Fritz helped Glenna through the narrow breach. It was then that Nick saw two Duneden Dirks hidden beneath Hugo’s untucked shirt. The fabled, ancient weapon was a long dagger forged from an unearthly green metal, with red, orange, and opal-like jewels decorating the broad, golden handle. The Duneden Dirk was the purebloods’ only effective weapon against the destroyers. One slice from a Duneden Dirk, and a destroyer was history. Nick had seen one kill Hollis Danforth last year, so he knew how efficiently lethal they were. However, he suspected that the weapon would be ineffective against the shape-shifter. He hoped he was wrong.
Nick entered the angular passage and was glad that it was large enough to accommodate his size. The stuffy dank air, thick with the malodor of death, filled the passageway, and they gasped for air as if they were buried alive. Fritz appeared beside Nick and calmly advised him to slow his breathing. After a couple minutes, Nick’s lungs returned to a near-normal breathing rhythm, and the foursome continued their journey into the Cumalodin’s lair.
The stifling passage curved and zigzagged like a serpent. The malignant atmosphere steadily chipped away at Nick’s resolve to rescue Neo, Lisa, and Hanover. Doubts muddled his thoughts as if he had fallen under another magician’s spell. Retreat slipped into his thoughts from time to time as a viable alternative to confronting the shape-shifter. His pace slowed, and the distance separating him from the others lengthened. After all, he reasoned, this mission was suicide, pure and simple.
His memory painted a sketchy portrait of Gabriella. He recalled her passion. Fire. Love. If he were to die down there tonight, he’d be sacrificing the most wonderful woman in any dimension.
Nick’s mind summoned images of Lisa Anders from their wonderful night together in Fort Myers. He sighed. God, he was positive that he loved her, too. Aside from magical ability, Lisa possessed many of Gabriella’s outstanding qualities, but topping the hit parade was her strength of love for him.
Nick’s uncertainty swelled, and his strides slowed even more. How was it possible to love two women with the same intensity? The same zeal? The conflict frustrated him because he couldn’t think of a solution. Suddenly, it burst into his thoughts like a Fourth of July fireworks display. Abandon Lisa under the lake with the shape-shifter, and his problem would be solved. A life with Gabriella with no regrets. How simple.
How sordid!
Nick snapped out of his reverie. What had gotten into him, anyway? Killing off Lisa so he could marry Gabriella? How sick!
Then he understood. This inherent knowledge was part of his newly downloaded powers from the meteor: The shape-shifter was aware of their presence and attempted to persuade Nick into leaving.
“What the hell are you doing?” Hugo hissed at Nick. He had backtracked to find out what was keeping Nick.
Nick quickened his pace; Hugo scowled and nearly sprinted to rejoin his brother and grandmother.
Nick chastised himself for falling for the shape-shifter’s evil logic. It would never happen again.
After another thirty feet, the passage floor leveled, and they advanced with greater speed. Suddenly, the old woman stopped and raised her hand. The three men followed suit, alert to a possible ambush before they saw the reason for her signal.
Alick’s radiant pathway ended twenty feet ahead where the passage widened. Nick pushed past the Guttentags to the front. His uncertainty was gone and his resolve fully restored. His confidence had returned as well. He was going to save his friends and the president, and then destroy the shape-shifter. There were no more doubts. No fears. Nick didn’t know exactly how he was going to accomplish all that, but he had faith that at the right time, he would have the necessary knowledge.
“What’s the plan?” Nick whispered to Glenna.
Before she could answer, a woman’s scream enveloped them. Nick recognized it immediately. Lisa!
Suddenly, fiery pain exploded at the core of his brain and discharged energy surges that ripped through his entire body. His muscles swelled, stretched his skin, and split his clothes! His bones grew proportionately, and his head now brushed the passage ceiling.
Nick blinked repeatedly at the blinding, reddish-gold glare of Tobhor’s path. It hadn’t bothered him before, so why now? What was happening to him? But there were no answers. The excruciating agony in his head swallowed the questions as quickly as he thought them. Glenna and her grandsons quietly observed Nick’s transformation, afraid of him for the first time.
One thought overwhelmed the others in Nick’s roiling mind – save Lisa! Nick abruptly raced into the blackness beyond Tobhor’s pathway lighting, his screams mingled with Lisa’s. In his new state of being, he was no longer aware of Glenna and her grandsons.
“Did you see that?” Fritz asked uneasily.
“I’m afraid so,” she replied, troubled. “I expected something like this. Just didn’t know when.”
“He’s a goddammed freak,” Hugo snarled.
Glenna slapped his face. “I won’t have you insulting our friends like that, Hugo,” she admonished him. “Do you understand?”
Hugo rubbed the stinging handprint on his cheek. “Yes, ma’am.”
“Good,” she said with finality. “Poor Nick. He’ll be so disappointed to find out that he has some of the same genes as his brother, Thomas.”
Fritz nodded. “Yeah, the Creeper. Are you going to tell him?”
“There isn’t time. I just hope that Nick can handle his new identity. If not, the world as we know it is finished.”
66
B
efore Nick traveled much farther into the eerie passage, his body completed its transformation into a primitive beast. His mind was altered as well. There were no longer any thoughts concerning Gabriella or Lisa. His emotions were reduced to a single instinct - kill.
The passage grew wider and brighter as he hunted the source of the woman’s agonizing screams. Nick’s breathing was coarse and brutish as his expanded lungs fed his phenomenal growth. His muscles seemed to become more resilient and energetic with each powerful stride.
Suddenly, he spied an enemy from the corner of his eye, and he immediately assaulted it. The enemy turned out to be the dusty skull of an ancient humanoid. The top of the skull had been pried away so that its brains could be removed. Nick crushed it into bony splinters with his thickset, reptilian foot, while his slanted, elliptical eyes charily inspected the area.
Human skulls and bones were piled as far as he could see. The malignant stench of death assaulted his primitive nostrils, but instead of evoking fear and revulsion, the malodor intensified his murderous instinct. Layers of brittle, centuries-old, gray bone littered the floor like petrified wood littering an ocean shore and crunched beneath his feet.
This was the Cumalodin trophy room. A celebration of thousands of years of carnage.
Nick drew back his black, leathery lips into a snarl and revealed the yellow, dagger-like teeth lining his reptilian jaw. It was killing time.
He charged through the remaining passage and burst into a cavern the size of Carnegie Hall. The milky quartz limestone walls were rutted from centuries of sculpting water, and the cathedral ceiling was webbed with earthquake fractures. Nick’s yellow, hourglass eyes roamed the vast area and stopped at the grotesque, granite sculpture standing at the head of a sacrificial table. The massive figure and bloodstained table were similar to the ones outside the castle in the Lake Griffin grotto. The scene provok
ed memories of the Mortal Eclipse experiments, and Nick’s rage swelled.
Two young Cumalodins scuffled over a few bloody bones in the center of the cavern while two dozen more of the small killing machines snapped and snarled at three figures manacled to the left wall. A powerful hunger surged through his being, but it wasn’t for food. It wanted to inflict death!
Nick sensed there was an invisible force field that kept the creatures at bay and the prisoners from escaping. Lisa, Neo, and President Hanover were safe – for now. Next, he quickly located the shape-shifter. It had taken its human form and grinned malevolently at Nick. It moved closer to the prisoners as if it feared the mutated Nick.
“We’ve been expecting you, Bellamy,” it said. “Let me introduce myself.” It bowed slightly. “I’m Sloan McGrath.”
Surprisingly, Nick found it difficult to respond. His thick, forked tongue wasn’t created for easy speaking.
“Whatever you say,” he managed in a rumbling, bass voice. “You’re the hitch-hiker from the spaceship that crashed in Europe.”
It laughed impassively. “I see you’ve done your homework. Yes, hitchhiker is an apt depiction.” It began pacing, and the young, ravenous Cumalodins scampered out of its way.
As if having received a mental command, the beasts’ heads pivoted toward Nick. Growls rolled from their menacing mouths, and a few aggressive ones moved toward him. Nick shuddered as another tremendous burst of energy fortified his muscles and honed his primordial impulses. Nick snarled savagely at the creatures, and they quickly retreated.
McGrath continued. “I am responsible for the spaceship’s misfortune. I slaughtered the alien crew as we were about to fly by your primitive little planet. You see, I was searching for a world to rule, and your planet fit the bill. By using the Cumalodins as my invincible soldiers, I would have made short work of your puny human resistance, but I didn’t know about the meteor storm that had exiled purebloods and destroyers in this dimension. I hadn’t counted on their remarkable magical abilities.
The Ancient Breed Page 38