Order of the Black Sun Box Set 10

by Preston William Child

  “That ... hole ... as you put it, contains relics from all over the world. Members of the Black Sun have been scouring the globe for quite some time, bringing back anything valuable. Many of those items contain their own powers, as I'm sure you know. There are so many ... some that interest me, and some that don't ... but some of those are more your cup of tea, I imagine. Grimoires. Other books of shadows. Shrunken heads. Totems. Staffs that are supposedly imbued with magics. Everything an occult expert like yourself would love to get your hands on.”

  Jean didn't deny it. He actually took a couple steps forwards, and glanced down into the deep vault. “So what? You're bribing me to stay willingly?”

  “Not bribing,” Julian said innocently. “No. Not that. I'm simply giving you the chance to see things that you never will see otherwise. You could study these artifacts, and figure out how they work. What magic really lingers in these?”

  “You want me to figure out how they work so you can use them...”

  “So we can use them,” Julian corrected. “Together. We could unlock their secrets together.”

  Jean took another look down into the pit and shook his head. “It's tempting, I'll give you that. But I'd much prefer to be in my own home, doing whatever I liked. Not stuck here helping you and ... whatever it is you people do here.”

  “Really?” Julian asked with a raised brow. “You are going to pass on an opportunity like this? It could change your life. You've spent your life being interested in magic.” Julian pointed down into the deep vault. “This, right here, is practically a well of magic. A well of possibilities. You're just going to turn your nose up at that? I'm sure your book store in the French Quarter is a marvelous sight to behold but it can't compare to this.”

  “You're right,” Jean said. “It is far smaller than this place. It has far less information than this place, and it definitely doesn't have all of these special items that you are so proud of keeping in this place. But there is another difference too. The shop may be nothing against this archive of yours, but it is mine. I decide what goes in, what goes out, and where to sort everything. If I chose this over my own store, I would be selling my soul for something that wouldn't be mine.”

  Nina recognized the anger slowly seeping into Julian's expression. It was that raw wrath that sometimes came out in manic bursts of violence. She knew at this point how Julian could get when he was denied something. When he didn't get what he wanted, he made sure that he got it soon after. That was his way. He didn't care if he had to hurt anyone to get it, as long as things went exactly as he hoped.

  Julian bit his lip, like he was trying so hard to hold back from screaming or to keep himself from biting the occult expert's head off. “Very well, Mr. Gerard. It is your decision, after all. I understand your sentiment for a place you worked so hard to build. I get that. Perhaps it would be an easier decision to make if we simply burnt that shop to the ground.”

  Jean looked stunned at first but that shock quickly turned to anger. “You said that I could go home! Back to my shop!”

  “Yes, I did,” Julian said. “But it would be difficult to go back to that shop if there's no shop standing at all. Perhaps some more time in your cell will give you a chance to reconsider. Make sure you think about all the possible consequences of your decision, good and bad.”

  Jean looked ready to attack Julian but he knew he'd been outplayed. He'd underestimated the lengths Julian would go to get him to stay. He may have given him the option to leave, but it was hardly a real option at all.

  “Or perhaps ... perhaps a demonstration of the kind of work we do here is needed.” He turned to Elijah. “Reach into the deep vault for me. You know which one I would like.”

  Elijah didn't look thrilled at being ordered around but he followed the command and took control of the crane hanging over the pit. He punched in a number and the crane lowered down, finding the selected item that was being stored down there and pulling it back up. Elijah took the containment unit and unlocked it, removing its contents and offering the artifact to Julian.

  Julian was handed a long spear with a gleaming blade at its end. He twirled it a few times in his fingers and smiled at his prisoners. He turned to Nina in particular. “Recognize this?”

  Of course she did. It was one of the weapons that was said to be the legendary Spear of Destiny. It was the one taken from Jerusalem by Hospitaller knights centuries ago that she helped unearth in an old swamp in England. It was also the very same spear she used to kill Julian Corvus—but it was also the same weapon that revived him shortly after. She knew it well.

  “Yes,” Julian said coldly. “Yes, I thought you might.” Julian positioned the spear so its tip was touching his shirt, like he was about to impale himself. “It is hard to forget driving a blade into someone's heart isn't it?”

  Nina couldn't help but smile a little at the memory. She only wished it hadn't been temporary. “I would love to do it again. With a different spear this time.”

  “I bet you would.” Julian shifted his attention to Jean and Charles. “You should have seen her. Ran me through with this, then pushed me into an abyss. Our Dr. Gould is rather ruthless when she wants to be.”

  “You're going to pretend like it wasn't self-defense,” Nina said, shaking her head in disbelief. “Go on then. Act like you weren't trying to kill me.”

  “Tried to kill you, yes. You actually did kill me.” He wasn't speaking to Nina like they were having a conversation. It was more like he was performing a presentation for Charles and Jean. “I was dead. Truly dead. Not for long, thankfully, but I was a lifeless corpse. The power of this spear filled me up with life and brought me back, better than ever. All of my wounds were patched up. Even scars were scrubbed away, some that I have had since I was a boy. I thought it was a miracle ... but it wasn't divine intervention. And it wasn't a one-time fluke.”

  Julian pointed the spear at the subordinate that had handed it to him.

  “Lennox here was dead an hour ago. I plunged this spear into his heart and he was gone. For minutes, he was a carcass. Then, all of a sudden he was up and moving and his body had been repaired.”

  The Black Sun operative nodded but shifted uncomfortably. Nina couldn't imagine that this underling gave his consent to be killed. Julian wasn't the kind of person who asked permission. He was entitled to everything.

  “And you were okay with this?” Nina asked.

  “I was,” the man said calmly. “I trust Julian.”

  He wasn't a very convincing liar, but he was probably much too afraid to actually speak his mind in front of Julian. Nina imagined that most members of the Order of the Black Sun knew to keep their mouths shut these days. Having a psychotic sadist in charge couldn't have made for a comfortable work environment.

  Julian continued, examining the spear. “I had to know more about this. The Spear of Destiny. The Holy Lance. I owed my life to this blade after all. And the only way to learn more about its power is to use that power; to explore its limits, if there even are any at all.” Julian tapped the tip of the spear with his free index finger, like he was hoping the metal would sing. “So we know if you kill someone with the Spear of Destiny, the target will die but then be revived shortly after. But now ... my next question is this ... can the spear revive someone killed by other means? Say, a bullet to the face perhaps?”

  Julian suddenly drew a pistol from within his suit jacket, pointed it at his three prisoners and fired.

  Nina let out a gasp as Charles collapsed beside her, blood oozing from his head. His eyes were wide and frozen with shock. He'd been killed instantly, without ever even having a chance to try and defend himself. He'd been wasting away as a prisoner only to be killed without a second thought. Why even keep him around then? The old man didn't deserve to be killed on a whim just to test a theory. He wasn't a lab rat. Of course, Julian didn't care about that and certainly didn't bother with that distinction.

  Julian holstered his firearm and stood over Charles as more blood p
ooled around where his head lay. “We'll give him a minute. Have to make sure that he's good and dead before we try.”

  “Good and dead?!” Nina snapped. She was trembling. Charles had always been so kind to her and she knew how important he was to Purdue. Now both of them were gone. All because of this monster with a grudge. “You're insane!”

  Julian flashed a wicked grin like that word was a badge of honor he wore proudly. “Insane? Let's not forget that you were the first one to try this experiment, Dr. Gould.”

  “Not intentionally...” Nina said, wanting to yell but too rattled to keep fighting.

  Jean stood beside Nina, closing his eyes and mouthing some quiet eulogy for Charles.

  They waited a few minutes. Julian's icy gaze never looked away from the old butler's fresh corpse. Finally, he seemed satisfied and plunged the Spear of Destiny into the butler. He left it in and then took one step back. The demented curiosity in his eyes reminded Nina of a mad scientist from all the stories and movies. He was obsessed with playing God and controlling life and death.

  The spear protruded from Charles' body but the old man remained motionless on the floor. He didn't stir at all; not even a twitch. The spear's powers of revival weren't resuscitating him like they had for Julian and apparently for Lennox. Its power wasn't working. This death had been for nothing. Charles was just another one of Julian's victims, senselessly murdered for no good reason at all.

  Suddenly, Charles let out a petrifying gasp, like he was sucking in all of the air in the room. The sound was almost inhuman, like no lungs should even have that much capacity. But sure enough, he was breathing. He was alive.

  Julian gave a satisfied smile and pulled the spear from Charles' chest. The old butler barely seemed to notice and the wound from the impalement immediately sealed itself. The bullet hole in his head was nowhere to be seen. He unsteadily climbed to his feet. He seemed younger somehow, or at least moved with a bit more vigor, and more life.

  “You ... you killed me...” Charles said, looking himself over. He put his fingers to his brow, where the bullet had been. “I was dead!”

  “Yes.” Julian raised the spear up and showed it to him. “And now you are not. You're welcome. Just be happy that this experiment was a resounding, wonderful success.”

  Charles looked around in utter shock. Nina couldn't imagine the trauma this all must have caused. Sure he was alive, but he would remember his death for the rest of his life, however long that was. And it was all just for the sake of Julian's twisted experiment.

  “Why didn't you use him!?” Nina hissed, pointing at Lennox. “He already said he would be happy to die for you. He already did it once!”

  “Killing Lennox with the spear was a far less risky test. My own death already proved that it could at least work once. Trying to use it to revive someone killed by a gunshot wound, this was something completely new. I wouldn't risk my own men's lives for that.”

  “Oh, of course not,” Nina said with a leer. “You would just kill an innocent man instead.”

  “Yes,” Julian said bluntly. “But relax, Dr. Gould. It worked. There's no need to keep complaining. You loved making discoveries with David Purdue ... well now you're part of a discovery that's going to change the world.”

  Julian looked up and down the length of the spear. He examined it carefully like it could explode if he wasn't careful with it. “The only thing left to do now is to see just how long someone can be dead for the spear to be able to bring them back. Can it make a bag of bones a person again? A pile of ash?”

  The implications were admittedly incredible but Nina would be far more enthusiastic about it all if the Spear of Destiny was in someone else's hands. In Julian's possession, that power wouldn't be used for anything good, she was sure of that. He may have brought Charles back to life but didn't do it out of any actual compassion. He had no idea if it was going to work. It was just as likely—if not more so—that Charles was going to stay dead.

  “Take them back to their cells,” Julian ordered and some of the Black Sun operatives immediately appeared behind them. “I'll give you all some time to think about what you just saw, and what you may want to see more of in the future. Think on it.” He turned to Elijah Dane and handed him the Spear of Destiny. “If you could put this back where it belongs.”

  Nina replayed those moments in her head the entire way back to her cell. Charles falling to the floor, dead. Julian stabbing the butler with the Spear of Destiny. Charles rising back up from the dead with his wounds healed.

  The Spear of Destiny had brought him back to life despite him being killed by a bullet. She thought it had been a fluke that Julian was brought back. That dying from the spear was what helped that weapon bring him back. But no, it could resurrect and repair anyone dead. Anyone.

  As her cell door was locked behind her, she thought about the person she wanted to see alive again most. David Purdue had been left to burn in his own home. She couldn't imagine how painful that must have been, how horrible it was to die that way. There couldn't be much left of him in the rubble of the Purdue estate. There might even only be ash ... but maybe that was enough. Maybe the Spear of Destiny's power could revive him anyway.

  She had to see for herself. She had to get out of this cage, get that spear, and get back to Purdue's remains. If the Spear of Destiny could bring back people from death, no matter how they died, then there very well could still be a chance.

  Nina needed David Purdue more than ever—she needed him back.

  So she got to work thinking of how to make that happen ... and the first part of that plan was that she needed to escape, and she needed to do it soon.

  10

  CHAPTER TEN – THE PLUNGE INTO DARKNESS

  “Deploy.”

  The Deepsea Challenger unhooked from the ship and splashed down, dropping through the surface. Lights lit up all around the vessel and it roared to life around Purdue, starting its descent through the shifting currents of the sea.

  “So far so good?” came Sam's voice through Purdue's headset.

  “Not drowning yet,” Purdue replied. He tried to adjust to the controls in front of him. They were thankfully not too complicated and the screens gave him detailed readouts of the sub's status as well as the surrounding water. “It's actually rather cozy in here.”

  “That's good because you're going to be down there for a few hours, at least. Longer if something goes wrong.”

  “Trying to stay optimistic, Sam,” Purdue said, cursing under his breath. “I'm already diving real deep. There's no need to need to drag me down any further with your pessimism. Honestly, if you ask me, it should be you in this goddamn thing. You're the only one of us who wasn't fighting off pirates and the Wharf Man on the last voyage.”

  “Maybe not,” Sam laughed in his ear. “But I just did my part in saving you, don't you think? I more than made up for it in that warehouse. Met the Wharf Man and everything.”

  “You didn't save anyone,” Purdue said with a chuckle. “That was Aya. You failed to save me with that Shakespearean performance of yours, aye. But I suppose that was a start. Just a start.”

  There was a moment of silence before Sam added, “I'm also claustrophobic.”

  “Since when?”

  “Since they asked who was going to be bringing that tube down to the ocean floor, of course.”

  “Ah,” Purdue said, trying to hold in his laughter. He forgot how much he sometimes enjoyed Sam's presence. After everything they'd been through—together, with Nina—they knew each other very well. They knew how to ease the others' nervousness. “Fair enough then. Your conscience can be clear when I drown and get crushed by the ever increasing pressure. Not like anyone will be able to save me down here anyway.”

  “I have my swim trousers on just in case. And my goggles and everything. I'll be more than ready to dive down there and get you when needed.”

  “I bet you will.”

  Both of them were laughing and when the laughter faded, there was a
moment of silence between them.

  “I hope you find something down there,” Sam said, obviously still not convinced by this particular treasure hunt.

  “So do I,” Purdue said. “Otherwise this will all have just been a terrible waste of both time and money. And worst of all, you will be proven right, and I really can't have that.”

  Their humorous little jabs were the only thing distracting Purdue from the water around him as he descended farther down. They both knew what was at stake. There was still a chance that Nina's survival depended on them. They needed to free her from the Order of the Black Sun. And this treasure in the trench could be the only thing powerful enough to do that.

  The water around him was initially murky but still bright enough to see his surroundings well enough. It was a dark blue that felt so much different than the world above. It was so still and quiet. He was already much further down than he would have ever been able to get to from swimming. He was further down than any human body would ever allow on its own. A few more minutes passed and he wondered when he had reached a deep enough depth that would crush most people.

  It was a peculiar feeling to be completely alone for miles, with no way of anyone reaching you and no chance of bumping into anyone else. All the company he would have were the fish that would become stranger and stranger looking the farther he went down.

  How many people had gone this far? It couldn't have been many. The few previous explorers like James Cameron and the others. Anyone else would have just been a sinking body. His mind raced with thoughts of sailors buried at sea. How many remains were drifting along down here? He didn't want to join them. He just wanted to get what he came for then get the hell back up to the surface.

  Hopefully, Admiral Ogden's prize was waiting for him down in the dark. The water grew blacker the more he drifted away from the sun high above. It didn't take long for the Deepsea Challenger to be the only thing shining any sort of light around him. He was surrounded by complete darkness. It brought a crippling sense of dread with it; he felt like he would never see sunlight again or breath in any fresh air. It would just be wet and dark for all time.