by Barry Reese
“You’re actually pretty useful,” Evelyn said with a laugh. “I’ll have to correct Max the next time he says you’re worthless.”
“I’d appreciate that,” McKenzie said earnestly. He and Evelyn then laughed gently before noticing that Max was not joining them. He was tapping his fingers on the table, looking like his mind was a thousand miles away. “Max? What’s running through that dangerous mind of yours?”
“If Kevin Atwill is out there, he’s dangerously unhinged. He’s not just seeking vengeance against these men who wronged him somehow. He’s killing innocent people along the way. I’m just wondering what happened to him in the Amazon… and how he managed to gain these new abilities.”
“You don’t believe the stuff about the Gorgons?” Evelyn asked.
“I don’t think it would be the strangest thing we’ve ever heard.” Max rose from his seat, having made his decision. “I’m going to call in some favors of my own. Have the adventurer’s club find out if anyone’s come out of the Amazon region in recent months that attracted any kind of odd attention… while I question Mr. Wood directly.” He glanced over at Evelyn. “Fancy spending some time at the library, my love?”
“You want me to do some snooping on folklore in the Amazon region?” she asked, following his train of thought. “I can do that. Maybe we’ll find some reference to the gorgon legends in the area.”
“That’s what I’m hoping,” Max confirmed. He looked outside, at the setting sun.
Soon it would be dark enough for the Peregrine to take flight.
* * *
Evelyn left William in the care of their maid, the elderly black woman named Nettie. William adored her so much that Evelyn never felt the slightest bit of guilt about leaving him in her care.
Dressed in a red dress and heels, Evelyn caught the eye of many a man as she strode up the steps into Atlanta’s largest public library. She was well-known in the area, having starred in many local productions in addition to her screen work. Though the content of her films was generally of the unsavory B-movie side of things, she was proud of her career.
Evelyn was recognized by the head librarian, a straight-backed fellow named Oliver Lane. He doted on her whenever she visited and she was well aware that he had a bit of a crush on her. When she’d explained to him the bare essentials of her research, he’d left her at a quiet table in the back while he’d gone to fetch her materials. Within moments, he’d returned with a small stack of books.
The first hour or so of her search was very discouraging. Everything that Oliver had found regarding the Gorgons was set in Greece or the surrounding areas. Evelyn was close to abandoning the research when she opened up a book entitled A Layman’s Guide to the Book of Shadows. On one of the first pages she spotted a name that she recognized: Felix Cole, the Bookbinder. He was an acquaintance of Max’s, a collector of the arcane. He frequently took old manuscripts and bound them together into exquisite works of art. This particular volume was no exception—Evelyn found herself running the tips of her fingers along the spine, feeling the worn leather and marveling in the faint hint of spices that rose up from the inner pages. Had he somehow scented them? She wondered.
Inside the book she found exactly what she was looking for. With a triumphant smile on her lips, she began to read:
The Greeks commonly used the name Gorgo or Gorgon to describe female monsters who were a favorite subject in their art. The ancient lore concerning them is most fully summed up in Apollodorus’s Library of Mythology, in Ovid’s Metamorphoses and in Lucan’s Pharsalia. These accounts written between the 2nd century BC and the 1st century AD are all late versions of the myth of Perseus and depend on much old poetry, which has been lost.
There were three known Gorgons, all sisters: Stheno and Eurysale (who were immortal) and Medusa (who was mortal). It was said that they lived on the Atlantic shores of Africa, which linked them to the underworld, which was likewise placed in the far west. According to philogogists, the term Gorgon should denote a terrible roaring or bellowing but in Greek usage the name always refers to their glaring eyes.
The Greek hero Perseus came to their home, seeking to steal the head of a Gorgon in order to placate King Polydectes. He found the three sisters sleeping, their hair filled with living snakes and their mouths armed with great tusks like those of boars. Perseus slew Medusa and escaped the wrath of Stehno and Eurysale.
It is said that after the death of their beloved sister, the remaining Gorgons forced many of the women in nearby regions to serve them as slaves. Given their own hideous nature, they preferred to see the most beautiful of girls broken down by hard labor. With their slaves, the sisters set off across the sea with a great treasure, hoping to avoid future adventurers like Perseus.
Apocryphal accounts state that the sisters found their way into the jungles of South America. There they used their existing slaves and new ones recruited from nearby to forge a small community for themselves. When their physical bodies began to break down, their spirits merged with a set of caves in which their treasures were stored. It was said that their followers remained nearby, ready to serve the Chosen One when they emerged. This ‘chosen’ would be someone who was brave enough to accept the blessings (curse?) of the Gorgons. The monsters would pass on their petrifying gaze and the ability to enchant weapons and coins.
Evelyn closed the book, heart pounding. That explained it all then: Kevin Atwill hadn’t died at all but had instead been transformed. He now possessed the powers of the ancient Gorgons themselves, explaining how he had killed Joseph Nelson.
With a blown kiss to Oliver, Evelyn bolted from the library, armed with new knowledge.
CHAPTER VI
The Face of Evil
The Peregrine was perched on the roof of Adam Wood’s house, feeling a growing sense of amusement. News of Floyd’s arrest had made it around town and Wood had panicked, hiring several beefy bodyguards to patrol his property. None of them had detected the arrival of the Peregrine, nor were they aware that he now watched them from the shadows.
Max raised one of his pistols, exchanging the normal bullets he used for tranquilizers. There were four guards but within a minute, none of the four remained on their feet.
The Peregrine then dropped down from the roof and approached the back door. He had considered several different ways that he could confront Adam Wood. In the end, he’d decided that going in strong and hard would be the best way of ensuring cooperation.
With one strong kick, the back door shattered and allowed him entrance. He heard Wood’s exclamation of surprise from another room and the Peregrine launched himself inside, rushing forward to make sure that his quarry didn’t escape.
“Mr. Wood! I’m not here to harm you—but I need information.” The Peregrine found Adam in the living room, looking like a panicked rabbit. The statue that served as the final reminder of Joseph Nelson’s existence remained exactly where it been for the past several days.
“The Peregrine…?” Adam stammered, looking like he wasn’t sure if he felt relief or renewed terror. “You’re that vigilante the papers are always talking about.”
“The only ones who need fear me are criminals,” the Peregrine replied. He put away his gun, though his hand lingered near the Knife of Elohim, a mystical weapon that could carve its way through almost anything. “I know about your relationship with Floyd. And I know that you believe you’re being threatened by Kevin Atwill.”
Adam definitely looked relieved now. He slumped down into a chair, his haggard appearance making it clear he had barely slept in days. “I knew we shouldn’t have abandoned him… but we were frightened. And I thought he was going to die!”
“Tell me what happened, Mr. Wood. Every detail. That’s the only way I’ll be able to put a stop to this.”
Adam nodded, not caring that he was confessing to a whole series of crimes. He seemed to need this unburdening of his spirit and he was desperate for help. He told the Peregrine everything and Max remained stoic throughout.
Max had seen and heard so many kinds of evil in his forty one years of life. At the age of eight, he’d witnessed his father’s vicious murder, which had launched him on to a dark and bloody path.
When Adam was finished, the Peregrine moved forward to examine the petrified remains of Joseph Nelson. He reached behind the statue and felt for the discs, dropping them into his coat pocket without a glance at their surfaces. He wasn’t sure how he could study them without risking a look but he’d think of something. If nothing else, he needed to remove them from the scene so that no one else would be hurt by them.
“I’m going to take you someplace where you’ll be safe,” Max said, turning to face Adam. The other man simply shrugged, as if all the fight were gone from him.
The Peregrine was about to say something more when the front windows exploded inwards as a hail of bullets ripped through them. Adam screamed and fell to the floor, hands over head, while the Peregrine reacted like a man who’d seen a thousand battles: he crouched and was quickly brandishing a weapon in each hand. In his right he held the Knife of Elohim, which glowed fiercely, and in his left was clutched a pistol. He was no longer using tranquilizer bullets, which meant very bad things to whomever was about to enter the house.
The front door was soon as bullet-ridden as the windows, allowing a group of four to enter. There were three women, all looking like they were of Latin descent, wearing white robes of Grecian appearance. The women were all beautiful but their expressions bespoke only murderous intent and each of them carried automatic rifles. The fourth member of the group was male and of unusual appearance. He wore a porcelain mask with carved human features that resembled those of a beautiful and somewhat amused young man.
“Hello, Adam,” the man in the mask said. “It’s been a long time, hasn’t it? Life’s treated you well.”
From his spot on the floor, Adam trembled in fear. “Kevin…? My god, it is you!”
The Peregrine didn’t bother letting this reunion continue to play out. He was certain that no good was going to come of this—after all, if Atwill was here to talk things out calmly, he wouldn’t have brought armed companions with him, he reasoned. The Peregrine took out one of the women by hurling his dagger. It caught her in the neck, sending her down in a spray of red.
The other two women opened fire but found their target impossible to hit. The Peregrine dove to his right, evading a strafing line of fire and taking refuge behind Adam’s couch. He paused a moment, withdrawing his second pistol, before rising and returning fire with both guns blazing.
Both of the females went flying backwards as the Peregrine’s attacks hit home. They landed at the feet of Kevin Atwill, who remained where he was, having not moved once during the entire exchange.
“It’s time to stop this, Atwill,” Max whispered, turning his guns on the masked figure. “No matter what’s happened to you, we can get you some help.”
“Help?” Atwill chuckled. “I’m long past that. Are there things about my situation that I’d like to change? Of course! But there are definite advantages to all this. I’m not the man I used to be, so to speak.”
Adam surprised both the Peregrine and Atwill by screaming and jumping to his feet. He sprinted towards his old friend, obviously intending to strike back at the figure who’d haunted him for so long.
“Adam, no!” the Peregrine shouted, knowing that there was no way he could fire with the two men now grappling. Cursing under his breath, the Peregrine moved forward to try and separate them.
Atwill, meanwhile, had grabbed hold of the flailing Adam. “Look at me, my friend. Look at what you did to me.”
The Peregrine grabbed hold of Atwill’s shoulder but it was too late. Atwill had reached up and pulled away his mask, staring straight into Adam’s eyes. Max barely had time to turn away before he too, was caught in the dangerous man’s gaze.
A sound like cracking ice filled the air and the Peregrine used all his strength to toss Atwill away. The villain tumbled down onto the floor and the Peregrine spared a quick glance at Adam, who was quickly falling prey to the strange mineral covering produced by the Gordon effect.
The Peregrine pulled off his jacket and threw it towards Atwill, letting the material cover the man’s face. Max then jumped atop him, pressing the barrel of a gun against the side of Atwill’s head. “Do you feel that?” he barked. “That’s a gun! I’ll use it if I have to!”
Atwill’s laughter continued, mocking and mad. He reached up and grabbed hold of the Peregrine’s gun, which immediately began to change like Adam had—a dark substance spreading across its surface.
Max threw the gun away, jumping back just before the substance reached his gloves. Atwill rose up, shaking his head. “I am a man reborn, Mr. Peregrine… I have powers that come from the gods themselves.” Atwill reached up to pull away the Peregrine’s jacket and reveal his face but the sounds of sirens outside made him pause. He tossed away the garment and bent quickly to seize his mask. Before the Peregrine could launch another attack, a large billowing cloud of smoke engulfed Atwill.
Max snatched out at the air but failed to make contact with Atwill. The villain was becoming insubstantial, vanishing into the ether.
Within seconds, the Peregrine was the only living thing left in Adam Wood’s house. Well aware that the police were outside, Max elected to avoid putting McKenzie into a difficult position and so he fled out the back, anger flaring inside his heart.
You’re not getting away with these murders, Atwill. I promise you that.
CHAPTER VII
Ghostly Whispers
Evelyn didn’t know much about the mysterious woman named Whisper and that was probably for the best, at least as far as Max Davies was concerned. Whisper was lovely, with lustrous dark hair and an ample figure that was prominently displayed by her tight black dresses. The plunging neckline seemed to draw one’s eyes towards that area of her anatomy but the Peregrine was made of sterner stuff than most men—so his eyes only occasionally veered down the path of lustful desire.
Max’s wife wasn’t a particularly jealous person but the air of sexuality that pervaded Whisper’s home would have set any woman ill at ease.
The Peregrine had come here straightaway after his encounter with Kevin Atwill, knowing the time had come to call upon a higher authority for help. Whisper’s home was in downtown Atlanta, an unassuming business sign hanging out front, inviting visitors to come inside for palm readings and the like.
The Peregrine’s past dealings with her had come during an affair involving the mad monk Rasputin but she’d been willing to aid him on other occasions since—and now was the time to take her up on it.
“Can you tell me where he is?” he inquired, feeling the aches and pains that come when you’re nearly 42 and you’ve just thrown your body around to avoid being shot.
Whisper stared at him from behind her table, upon which lay a variety of scrying tools. Smoke from cinnamon-scented incense filled the air between the vigilante and his ally. “Your father was here earlier today,” she said, not answering his question but instead causing his mind to veer off into new pathways.
Max’s father had haunted him for over three decades, sending forth painful visions of future crimes so that the Peregrine could prevent them from happening. Several years ago, Max’s father had told him he would not be returning from beyond the void and that there strained relationship would have to be put to bed at last. They had reconciled only for Warren Davies to return to aid him once more with Whisper’s assistance. Since then, Max had not seen his father, though he’d often felt his presence.
“What did he say?” Max asked, unable to stay focused on the mystery surrounding Atwill. Seeing his father gunned down by criminals remained one of the defining moments in his life.
“He said to tell you that there were forces still massing against you. You’ve attracted the attention of many demons and their masters.”
The Peregrine narrowed his eyes, unable to believe that his father would materialize ju
st to pass on something that his son knew already. “Anything else?”
“No. Nothing else.”
“Atwill,” the Peregrine said, dismissing the conversation track about his father. They had made peace with each other but Max had no time to waste on idle chitchat. If his father had information that was truly useful, he would welcome it. “Can you find him?”
Whisper closed her eyes and leaned forward, letting the trails of smoke around her dance like maddened snakes. She was ravishingly beautiful but there was an air of danger that surrounded her and it always kept the Peregrine on edge. “You have worried him. Since his transformation, no one has ever been able to resist his powers. He sees you as an obstacle in his path that must be cleared. If you do not stop him first, he will target you with every fiber of his being.”
The Peregrine shifted, not frightened in the least. He had been the target of vampires, chaos gods and devils—one man with a porcelain mask didn’t terrify him.
Whisper’s voice maintained its ethereal manner as she continued, revealing what her inner eye was showing her. “He has moved his operations to a large boat, anchored just off Cumberland Island. He has nearly a dozen women with him, all trained killers.” When Whisper opened her eyes again, she smiled softly at the Peregrine. “That’s all I can see.”
“You’ve told me plenty.” The Peregrine nodded in thanks and began to move to the door. He paused briefly, glancing back at Whisper and softening his tone. “If my father comes to see you again…”
“Yes?”
“Tell him that William has his eyes.”
Whisper watched as the Peregrine exited her home, hurrying towards his waiting car. From the darkness behind her, a figure emerged, looking much like Max Davies, only with subtle differences. “You should have spoken to him,” she said reproachfully. “There’s no reason for such distance between you.”
Warren Davies saw his son driving away and shook his head. “I manipulated him for years, Whisper. He’s forgiven me but he hasn’t forgotten. I don’t want to do anything to suggest I’m doing it still.”
