The Seven Princess and The Gates of Hell

by Steve Wharton

CHAPTER SIXTEEN

  The day after returning home Maria was busy gaining all the information she could find on Rookwood cemetery in Sydney, Australia. The most important item she was focusing on was the grave of Richard M. Tillman located in the remote section of the cemetery, There is no other grave located within three acres of his grave. It was separated by a seven foot tall cement wall that surrounded the three acres with a steel gate that was always locked. The gate was locked to keep people out of the area. Tillman was a notorious person of evil in Australia and a huge devil worshiper. There is no other grave located within three acres of his grave. The area around his grave is said to contain the essence of evil. Maria believed it was the gate to hell.

  Maria sat down with Ryan and went over all the information that she had obtained and Ryan agreed that this was the most likely site of the gate. Ryan told her he was going to need another week before they could leave because he was waiting on replacement weapons.

  The replacement weapons were delivered by Jim five days later and Ryan was thankful. He gave Jim a ten thousand dollar tip. During the week that Ryan and Maria had been waiting for the weapons Ryan had taken two of the bars of gold that he had taken from the temple and sold them, the war chest was now full again. Maria came out to the workshop and told Ryan she had made the travel arrangements and booked their hotel in Sydney. They would fly out in the morning and it was a fourteen hour flight.

  They arrived at the Sydney airport and went to their rental agency to pick up their rental and they were told that there were no Hummers there to rent so they took a Ford Expedition SUV. They loaded their bags and went to the hotel to check in, the room that they were supposed to get was not available so the hotel put them in the Presidential suite for a very modest upgrade fee. They went upstairs and put their bags down and walked the suite.

  “Now this is the way to live.” Ryan said.

  “I’ll get lost in this room.” Answered Maria.

  “It’s still early let’s take a ride out to the cemetery and snoop around a little.”

  “I’m ready when you are.” Maria answered.

  They made the drive to the cemetery and turned into the Rookwood cemetery off of Homebush Bay Drive, it was a pleasant drive and they found the cemetery to be isolated from any communities that were inhabited.” They parked the SUV and walked up to the gate that kept people out of the burial site of Richard M. Tillman. Ryan picked the lock and the padlock opened easily and they went thru the gate and slowly looked over the area.

  They saw the house at the far end and walked over to it. It was obvious that the house was not being kept up. It was run down and starting to look like it might fall down.

  Ryan said, “don’t look up but there is someone in the upstairs far left window looking at us. It appears to be a human, it does not have the appearance of a demon or a fallen.

  “What do you want to do?”

  “Keep walking around looking at the area.”

  The person watching from the window disappeared and before too long the person came out of the house and said, “What are you doing in here this is private property.”

  “Hello sir My Name is Ryan Simpson and my fiancée are visiting Australia and I was told of my great, great, great uncle Richard M. Tillman was buried here. I thought I would come and visit the grave.”

  “I don’t know of any Simpson’s in the family line.”

  “I only know what I have been told growing up, it is said that he is separated from the rest of the graves by a brick wall. No one back home knows why.”

  “I’ll tell you why but come in the house and have tea with me.”

  “We would be glad to sir.”

  They went into the dilapidated house and they were surprised to see the inside of the house was in beautiful condition. Most of the furnishing were just fantastic. They were escorted to the parlor and offered a seat. The man told them he would be just a minute with the tea.

  Ryan thanked their host and they sat back in the chairs. A few minutes later the man returned carrying a tray with tea cups and a tea pot. He sat the tray down and told his guests to help themselves. He stood back up and a pistol appeared in his hand. Ryan froze and said, “Sir we don’t mean to trespass if you want us to leave we will leave. We don’t want any trouble.”

  “It is odd to me that I have never heard of your family and we have never had any visitors before. This house has been here since 1678 and my Great, great, great grandfather has been buried here since 1720.”

  “If I ask you to go will you go?”

  “Yes sir no questions asked we will leave.”

  “Then stay and enjoy your tea and tell me of your family.”

  Ryan thinking quick on his feet made up a complete family and how they were related. The old man listened intently trying to pick up on any deceit in Ryan’s voice or actions. Confident that Ryan was being honest he gave them a tour of the house, he showed them every room except the basement, no one had been down there since the late seventeen hundreds. Ryan’s neck felt that old familiar feeling while he was close to the basement door. he knew the gate to hell was down there. Ryan thanked their host and told him that they were very thankful for the tour of the house.

  They left the house and headed back to the gate and their SUV. Once in the SUV and headed back to their hotel Ryan said, “I know that the gate is in the basement of that house. I just don’t know how we are going to get in there.”

  “I do think that the old man does not believe your story. I don’t think he will let us back in.”

  “I think your right about that, so how else do we get in?”

  “I need to think on that and so do you.”

  When they arrived back at the hotel Ryan got out some paper and drew the floor plan of the house. His photographic memory was helping him again. Ryan had the house and the area around the house sketched out in an hour. He noticed one thing that he might be able to use. The back of the property was close to the wall and he might be able to cut thru the wall and then into the basement.

  Ryan went to the local hardware store and bought a battery operated saw a couple of extra batteries and a couple of concrete blades, he also bought a new small backpack to replace the one he lost in Asia. He drove back to the hotel and put the batteries on charge. He packed the backpack with C-4, detonators and hand grenades. If all went well he would not need to enter the basement, he hoped to blow it from outside the house.

  They drove back to the cemetery the next morning and drove to the far side, Ryan grabbed the saw, the extra batteries and the blades. They stayed close to the wall so as not be seen from the house. Maria carried two of the nine millimeter pistols and a couple of gallons of water. Ryan had to explain that the water would be used to cool and quite the blade.

  Ryan started to make the cut into the wall and he made a two foot long pass thru the wall, he next cut a two foot wide pass. Ryan made two more identical cuts that joined the first two. He pushed the piece of concrete into the back yard of the house. Ryan then passed the backpack thru the hole and he followed. He crawled to the back of the house and found a window that with a little rubbing he could see thru.

  Ryan was shocked to see the old man in the basement and he was talking to a demon and rubbing the head of one of the hell hounds. Ryan could see the opening of the gate to hell. Ryan wasn’t sure but the brightness of the fire seem less intense. Ryan didn’t like what he was seeing in the basement but it looked like it would be an easy job to blow the gate.

  Ryan was just about to open the backpack when something grabbed him and slammed him against the wall behind him. He heard the growl to know he was up against a hell hound. Ryan felt the impact of the wall against his back and it jarred him. Ryan had no other weapons with him so he called the Angel Sword. The sword appeared in his hand and he brought the sword up to block the swing from the hound.

  Ryan was a little of an advantage because of the small area between the house and the wall. Just wide enough for him to make a full
force swing with the sword. Ryan made like he was going to swing the sword and suddenly he let go with a round house kick right to the hounds knee. The force of the kick caused the bones in the knee to break and the hound went down in pain. Ryan moved in quickly and thrust the sword as hard as he could into the eye of the hound. The force of the thrust allowed the sword to go thru the eye and into the brain of the hound. The hound burst into flames and disappeared.

  Ryan was hurting from his impact with the wall so he pushed the block of concrete thru the hole he had cut and then the backpack which he followed thru. Ryan worked the slab of concrete he had cut back into the hole. He turned to tell Maria something but she was gone. Ryan did a quick search of the area but to no avail he did not find Maria. Ryan took off to the SUV. He rounded the corner of the wall and he spotted Maria closing the door to the SUV. He ran up to her and hugged her and kissed her.

  “What was all that for?”

  “I came back out from the house area and you were gone. I looked for you but couldn’t find you. I took off running back here and saw you closing the door. When I couldn’t find you back at the wall I got scared.”

  “We need to head back to the hotel. I need some attention, my back is killing me a hell hound slammed me into the wall, I was forced to kill it with my sword.”

  “Oh babe I’m sorry I wasn’t at the wall to warn you.”

  “I don’t think it would have mattered, it totally surprised me. I never heard it.”

  They got into the SUV and Maria drove back to the hotel. By the time they arrived Ryan’s back had stiffened up to the point that he could barely walk. When they got to the room Maria went to the bath and filled the whirlpool tub, she turned on the jets and helped Ryan undress and into the tub. Ryan sat in the tub for the better part of an hour before he got out. He told Maria that a lot of the stiffness was gone. He thought a good night’s sleep would help a lot.

  Ryan crawled into the bed and was sound asleep in just a matter of minutes. Maria sat by the bed side worried about him, she had seen him with a lot more wounds then what showed on his back and not stop. If Ryan was still like this in the morning she would take him to the hospital.

  When Maria woke Ryan was sitting up watching the HNN news and drinking coffee, “How are you feeling this morning?”

  “Actually I am feeling good today, my back is a little sore but not bad.”

  The channel that Ryan was watching broke in with breaking news, the reported identified herself and said she was with ASN Channel two.

  “Í am live covering a fire at the Rookwood cemetery home and tomb of Richard M. Tillman. Mr. Tillman built the house in 1678 passed away in 1720. Mr. Tillman was accused of several murders in the very early days of Australia and it was said that he was the devils servant. Over the years the Tillman house has said to be haunted and that strange things have happened here. Believed killed in the fire was Tillman 3third great grandson Richard Tillman, I will have more later as things develop.”

  “I think we need to make a trip back out there, I believe that the demons or a fallen set the house on fire because of our visit yesterday.”

  “When do you want to go?”

  “As soon as we can get dressed.”

  “Are you up to it.”

  “Yes not a problem at all.”

  They dressed and made the drive back to the far side of the cemetery, the fire department was still there, the fire was out and they were looking for any remaining hot spots. Ryan climbed one of the trees so that he could see over the wall and he saw the firemen working and he had a clear view of the gate. He noticed that there was a unusual number of demons around the gate. Ryan thought they actually made it easier for him to take out the gate, he could toss a bag with C-4 in it from here and make the gate easily. Ryan stayed in the tree until after the fire department left the house and when they left the number of demons shrank from a high of twelve to the current number of three, but as the number of demons went down the hell hounds showed back up.

  The number of hell hounds didn’t matter much to Ryan it would take a while for them to figure out where the C-4 came from and by that time Ryan would be gone. Ryan climbed back down the tree and headed back to the SUV and told Maria what he saw and what he was going to, they got back into the SUV and drove back to the hotel.

  When they arrived back at the hotel Ryan got out one of the gym bags he had bought and packed it with C-4 and detonators and a timer. He would set the timer when he got back into the tree. Once the bag was full packed he set it by the door so he would make sure to grab it on the way back out.

  Maria had the news on and they were talking about the fire again when the reporter said, “the police are looking for two Americans to question one a male named Ryan Simpson and the other a female named Maria Johnson, police ask if you know the where-a-bouts please call them.”

  “Ryan come quick the police are looking for us to question about the fire.”

  “WHAT!”

  “That’s what the reporter just said.”

  “How in the world did they get our names?”

  “I don’t know but what do we do?”

  “We contact the police before someone else does.”

  They quickly crated up everything and called the delivery man and he came and picked up the crates with instructions to keep them they would need them back. Once the delivery man left Ryan picked up the phone and called the police and told them who he was and where did they want him and Maria to come to. He was instructed to remain in their room and the police would come to them. In less than ten minutes the policed were knocking on their door, Ryan opened the door and invited them in.

  “The officer with the sergeant stripes spoke, “Are you Ryan Simpson and Maria Johnson?”

  “Ryan answered “Yes sir we are.”

  “Were you at the Tillman home earlier today?”

  “No sir we were there yesterday?”

  “What was the reason for your visit?”

  Growing up I was told that Richard M. Tillman was my third great Uncle, I thought being as we are here on vacation I would stop and see his grave. I had no idea that there was someone living in the house and we met had tea, we talked about the family, we left and came back here.”

  “Have you been out of your room today?”

  “No sir we have not.”

  “We have a witness that says you were there this morning.”

  “He is mistaken we have not been out of the room today.”

  “He wrote down the plate number and we found that it is rented to you.”

  “I can’t explain that we have not been out of the room today.”

  “Can we go look at your rental?”

  “Sure lets go.”

  They went down to the garage and Ryan was really shocked to see the SUV was not there. “It’s gone” said Ryan.

  “What do you mean it’s gone?”

  “Just what I said, it’s gone Maria parked it right here last night and it’s not there now.”

  The sergeant watched Ryan’s face carefully and he could tell the he was really surprised to see the SUV was missing. He said to go back to the room he needed to contact the station and report the SUV missing.

  When they arrived back in Ryan’s room the sergeant used the room phone and called in the missing SUV. Maria looked as surprised as Ryan was when she heard the officer say the SUV was stolen. The officer thanked them for their time and said he would be back in touch. He also told them to remain in the country until the police released them. The officers left and Ryan and Maria guessed they would be cleared.

  “What about the SUV did you move it?” Ryan asked.

  “No I was shocked when the officer called in and said it was missing.”

  “I was totally blown away when I got to the garage and it wasn’t there.”

  “So what do we do about a car or truck now?”

  “I’ll see if I can get us another one,” Maria answered.

  Maria went to the phone and s
tarted calling the car rental companies to see if she could get another rental. She got lucky when she called the second company which happened to be the same one she got the rental from the first time and they had another Expedition that they could rent. Maria took care of all the required information and made arrangements to have the SUV delivered.

  Ryan called the delivery company and made arrangements to have their crates delivered. The delivery man showed back up and brought the crates and he said, “sorry I couldn’t tell you about the SUV being gone but I figured it would be better if you didn’t know and showed real surprise to the police. They should find it later tonight, I broke into it and made it look like it was stolen. Hope you don’t mind.”

  “Mind heck no it helped out a ton.”

  “Ryan gave the delivery man an extra tip for the added service. The delivery man left and Ryan turned and smiled at Maria.

  They decided to go to the hotel restaurant and have supper, they stopped at the desk and told them they were going to be eating in the restaurant and they were expecting the rental car company to bring another car for them. They were half way thru with their meal when the SUV arrived. The man from the car rental agency delivered the keys to their table. Maria and Ryan had been discussing what the plan for the gate would be. They decided that they would put on the show of sightseeing and on vacation. Once the police made up their minds that Ryan and Maria were not guilty they would go back to destroying the gate.

  They had spent the next four days doing the tourist thing when the Sydney police called and told them that they were free to leave. Ryan told Maria that they would go back to the cemetery and scout out the gate. If all was clear they would make the attempt to destroy it the next day.

  They returned to the hotel and loaded up the few items that they might need including the bag full of the C-4, Maria drove to the far side of the cemetery and parked where the SUV would be out of sight. Ryan and Maria made their way quietly to the tree that Ryan had climbed earlier and he climbed it again. Ryan looked down on the gate and saw that there was only one hell hound and one demon guarding the gate.

  Ryan opened the bag and set the timer for one minute and he swung the bag and let it go and it went right into the gate and hung about a foot and a half down into the gate. Ryan scrambled down the tree and told Maria to run. They were about half way back to the SUV when the bag blew. Pieces of the hell hound landed near them as they ran.

  They reached the SUV and jumped and Maria headed for the hotel. Once back at the hotel Ryan called the delivery company and told them to pick up the crates and send them back to San Diego. The delivery man came and picked up the packages and Ryan and Maria left right away for the airport. They checked in and boarded their plane. Ryan slept most of the way back home. Maria liked the time with Ryan sleeping it let her do the searching the next gate and that would be the gate in Rio in South America.