The Peregrine Omnibus Volume One

by Barry Reese

  Gloria felt anxiety swell up in her belly. She couldn’t bear the thought of either the Baroness or her beloved ward being caught up in anything painful. She buttoned her blouse, well aware of her partial nudity in front of the strange man. Her clothes were fine but not nearly the equal of the Baroness’, who looked like she’d stepped straight out of a Victorian ball. “The meeting didn’t go well, m’lady?”

  “It went well enough… there were vampire lords and ladies from throughout Europe present. But the gathering was broken up by the man who prevented the rise of the Kingdom of Blood”

  Gloria gasped, her hand rising to cover her mouth. The Peregrine was well known in the vampiric community, a name that was whispered with as much fear as the undead could muster. Over four years ago, a female vampire named Camilla had nearly succeeded in bringing about a new golden age for the undead… but the Peregrine had slain her before this could come to pass. Many slumbering vampires had awakened during this, however, including the Baroness, which made Gloria secretly grateful to the Peregrine, though she would never say such aloud.

  The Baroness turned to the man, whose steely gaze remained riveted to Gloria’s steadily rising and falling cleavage. Gloria glanced down to see the front of her dress bore a tiny red stain from her nursing wound. “Keane, are you certain that he followed us?” the Baroness asked, distracting Gloria from her interest in the man.

  Keane nodded, looking unfazed by the idea that the Peregrine might be close behind them. “I’d wager my life on it,” he said with a cocky sort of grin that made Gloria weak in the knees.

  “You’re doing just that,” the vampire warned, eyes flashing.

  An explosion rocked the entire Keep, sending Gloria stumbling forward. Keane caught her in his strong arms, steadying her.

  “Milady,” Gloria exclaimed, “Should I take the baby to his room?”

  The Baroness held the baby tightly for a moment, uncertainty registering in her expression. She had long coveted a child, holding her inability to produce one as the single drawback to her undead nature. In the end, she’d stolen this child and, through supernatural means, had converted it to vampirism in such a way that it would continue to grow and mature with time. How she had managed it, Gloria could not fathom—but it mattered not. The Baroness had an heir and Gloria was lucky enough to be guardian of it.

  “No,” the Baroness said. She turned to Keane, who had adopted a wolfish grin. “Can you deal with them?” she asked.

  “My pets are already in place,” he answered. “I’d imagine the Peregrine is about to encounter them even now, though I’ll have to wake them first. But should they fail to kill him… I’ll deal with him personally.”

  * * *

  Max Davies crept through the bottom floors of the Keep, ignoring the stench of death all around him. He was no stranger to the occult and had seen enough death to last him a lifetime. In a way, it disturbed him how cold he’d become about such things, and it served as a reminder of how far he had come since taking on the mantle of the Peregrine.

  England was a land that he’d come to love via numerous trips since his marriage but this current trek would not be recorded in any photo album or journal. He and his beloved Evelyn had come here seeking to slay a woman who was close to joining together the most powerful vampire covens throughout Europe. To make matters worse, Max thought that her connections were now extending to other denizens of the dark…

  Max held the Knife of Elohim in his left hand, the blade glowing with a fierce golden glow, illuminating his passage. For over three decades, Max had been propelled into the realms of the dead, driven forward by the memory of his murdered father. As the Peregrine, he’d clashed with more horrors than any normal man should have to bear—but this particular foe disturbed him as much as any. If his research was correct, the Baroness was in possession of a child—an innocent whose life had been ruined forever through black magic and ancient evil. He had no idea if the child could be somehow saved but he would give his life in an effort to find out.

  The Peregrine grunted as those thoughts ran through his mind. He didn’t truly believe he would die tonight, for the monster that was Nyarlathotep had cursed him to a long life, one in which he’d outlive all those he loved. Max tried to forget that but it still gnawed away at the back of his brain: what would life be like without Evelyn or baby William or his friend McKenzie? They’d become so dear to him, grounding him to reality even in the face of the bizarre.

  Something moved to his left, near the doorway to which the Peregrine had been heading. A well-placed piece of plastique had opened a sizable rift in the side of the Keep, allowing the Peregrine to enter the building. Max had chosen to head downwards in hope of finding a hidden lab or, perhaps, even the crypt belonging to the Baroness herself…

  What he saw moving into view now was almost as good. The necromancer, Keane, stepped inside, leaning heavily on his staff. The man looked extremely confident as he entered the area, a lit cigarette held tightly between two fingers. Max recognized the man quite well, for he was one of the leaders in an organization known as the Death Cabal, a shadowy group whose fingers were in more demonic schemes than he could count.

  The Peregrine crouched down behind a series of boxes, watching as Keane moved towards a far wall. The handsome man traced a design on the wall with the fingers of his free hand, a flaming sigil appearing as he did so. The bricks seemed to separate with a mind of their own, revealing a laboratory stocked with sewn-together corpses and chemistry equipment.

  Max sprang forward, startling Keane. The dark suited man turned quickly, bringing up his left arm just in time to meet the Peregrine’s blade. The Knife of Elohim cut deep into Keane’s flesh, ruining the finely tailored suit with a fine spray of blood.

  Keane danced away, shaking his wounded limb. “How nice to meet you at last. The infamous Peregrine, slayer of the damned.”

  The Peregrine looked around, ignoring the taunts from the necromancer. He stared at the nude bodies of the man’s zombie servants. The color of their flesh was a sickly blueish-white and huge stitches knitted their limbs together. Bile rose in Max’s throat. “You’re a sick little bastard, Keane. I’m going to hunt down the rest of the Cabal when I’m done with you and shut this whole sordid business down for good.”

  “This world will burn over the next few years,” Keane said in response. “War will ravage each and every nation… and we’re just offering a way for the dead to continue serving humanity.”

  The Peregrine threw his dagger, cursing as Keane ducked under the weapon, which embedded itself in a wooden door behind the villain’s head.

  Keane pointed towards one of the corpses in the room and whispered “Vzunti amundo.”

  At his words, the zombies in the room began to move, each shambling towards the Peregrine with arms outstretched.

  The Peregrine felt a smile dance across his lips. At times like these, he felt almost at peace. Because here there was no time for recriminations or self-doubt—there was only the sublimation of all else in the battle for survival.

  He was Max Davies… husband, father and vigilante.

  And thus began a battle with the undead.

  * * *

  Evelyn Gould Davies tried to keep her mind off the horrors that she saw at every turn. This Keep was like some B-movie set, with zombies, body parts and arcane devices lying about openly. She’d certainly starred in enough such films, earning a small name for herself in the cutthroat business of filmmaking. But it was times like these when she realized how false those films truly were, for nothing in them compared to the sheer insanity of reality.

  Evelyn had convinced her husband to take her on this journey, arguing that it had been quite awhile—since before the birth of their son, in fact—that they’d gone off on an extended adventure together. She’d hoped to find a bit of time for the two of them to be alone along the way but that really hadn’t panned out, unfortunately.

  Not that she’d been in a romantic state of mind the p
ast few days, anyway. Not with her and Max dealing with hordes of vampires and the unsettling notion of a vampire baby waiting in the wings.

  Now she was hunting for the dark ‘mother’ of that child, wearing riding pants and a white blouse. Her long auburn hair was tied back from her face and she wore a small domino-style mask much like the Peregrine’s, including his trademark bird beak.

  Evelyn ascended a winding staircase in the musty old Keep, standing out onto the roof of the Keep. There she found exactly what she’d both feared and hoped for: the infant child, in the arms of the vampire queen. At the vampire’s side was a young woman, who possessed a beautiful, round face. The girl looked terrified as Evelyn came into view.

  “Put the child down, Baroness.” Evelyn reached down to the holster at her waist, drawing a pistol that she directed towards the vampire and her companion.

  The Baroness smiled coldly. She held the child against her bosom like a shield. “He is beautiful, isn’t he? I bet you have a child, as well, don’t you? I can see it in your eyes. Does your own child look as beautiful as mine?”

  Evelyn took a deep breath. They were very high up and if the Baroness were to throw the child from the roof, she wasn’t sure at all that she’d be fast enough to catch him before he tumbled over the side.

  “What do you want with a child, Baroness? Surely he’s just a liability to you… Give him back to me. If you truly care for him, I promise you that I’ll make sure he gets the best care possible.”

  “Little Kenny needs his mother,” the young girl shouted. She hid behind the Baroness like a frightened schoolgirl and Evelyn felt surprise at the girl’s vehemence.

  “As you can see,” the Baroness purred, “There are some who don’t think I’m as bad an influence as you seem to. This is my child. And I will not give him up. Ever.” Her eyes glinted darkly. “He is an infant vampire, probably the only one that has ever existed in this world’s history. And he needs the special guidance that only I can give.”

  Evelyn rushed forward, knowing that she could never use her pistol without the possibility of hitting the innocent child. She grabbed the baby, startling the Baroness, who screamed as Evelyn pulled the infant free of the vampire woman. Though Evelyn didn’t know why she trusted the girl to not hurt the baby, she shoved the infant into Gloria’s arms, eliciting a heartbreaking wail from the baby.

  The Baroness snarled in fury, backhanding Evelyn with her all undead strength. The force of the blow sent Evelyn hurtling through the air and she landed with a bone-jarring crunch. She felt something snap in her left arm and pain shot through her brain, almost making her black out.

  Evelyn stared through the stars that threatened to obscure her vision, looking off the end of the roof. Down, far below, Max stumbled out from the interior of the Keep. Three shambling members of the undead were in hot pursuit and the Peregrine’s bullets found homes in their skulls, ending their progress.

  Forcing herself to look away, Evelyn glanced up in time to see the Baroness approaching once more. The sunrise was just beginning to hint at its appearance in the distance but Evelyn knew she had no chance of surviving until then—one way or another, this conflict had to end with either her or the Baroness meeting their end.

  “Stop doing this to yourself,” the Baroness said. She towered over the fallen Evelyn, hands clenched into fists. “You have no hope of stopping me… surely you can see that. I can either offer you a quick death or eternal life. Just say the word.” The Baroness exposed her sharpened teeth, licking at her full lips in anticipation of the kill.

  Evelyn reacted the only way she knew how—by lashing out. She swept outwards with her foot, knocking the vampire’s legs out from under her. As soon as the Baroness hit the rooftop, Evelyn was on her. She lacked a vampire’s strength, but she made up for that with the sheer fury of a wounded woman, making it quite clear that the old adage was still true: Hell hath no fury like a woman scorned.

  One blow after another came down upon the Baroness and Evelyn felt a warm wetness on her own face. Tears, mixed with splatters of blood that flew upwards from the vampire’s head and face. A squelching sound began to replace the dull thud of knuckles against flesh and the vampire’s head was reduced to an almost liquid state as Evelyn suddenly grabbed the woman’s head and slammed it down repeatedly. Despite the injury to her arm, the adrenaline that flowed through Evelyn gave her strength.

  And when the violence ceased, Evelyn felt her heart aching even worse than before. She pulled herself up and off the vampire, blood and gore dripping from her hands.

  “It’s over,” she whispered, feeling dizzy and sick. “You disgusting creature… may you rot in hell.”

  “She’s not dead, you know.”

  Evelyn turned to see the girl, Gloria, still standing nearby. She held the baby close to her chest. “The Baroness will return.”

  “No. She won’t,” Evelyn answered. “Because I’m going to drive a stake through her heart and cut her head off. Then I’m going to burn the body and scatter the ashes from one side of England to the other.”

  Gloria backed away. “You took away his mum…”

  Evelyn, her face still splattered with blood, shook her head slowly. “Where’s your mum, luv? Did you run away?”

  “Yes… My dad was… mean to me. But the Baroness, she took me in.” She looked down at the baby and her face softened. “She loved me and she gave me this pretty boy. He needs me. I’ve never been needed before…”

  Evelyn saw Max step into view. His clothing was torn in places, but his flesh seemed intact. Bits of brain and blood were splattered across his chest. He started to speak, to tell her that Keane had fled into the night, when he spotted Gloria with the baby.

  Evelyn motioned for him to remain silent, keeping her attention focused on the girl. “He still needs you. I won’t take him from you.”

  Gloria looked disbelieving. “You… won’t?”

  “No. He has… needs… that I don’t understand. I need someone who loves him and knows him to teach me how to care for him.” She offered a hand. “Please. Let me show you that I’m not a monster. And let me hold him.”

  Gloria looked at her for a long moment, her eyes studying those of the older woman. With shaking hands, she passed the baby over to Evelyn, who held him gently. His mouth opened and closed, bright pink gums coming into view. He whimpered softly and Evelyn cooed, soothing him.

  “Thank you…?” she asked, looking into the girl’s eyes.

  “Gloria.”

  The Peregrine glanced over at the soupy remains of the vampire’s head. He then turned back to Evelyn and put an arm around her shoulders. Behind them, the sun rose over the hills and shone its warming rays down upon them. “You okay, Evelyn?”

  “Yes,” she replied, bending forward to kiss the child’s forehead. “How could I not be, Max? It’s the start of a whole new day.”

  CHAPTER III

  Old Friends Reunited

  December 23, 1940—Atlanta, Georgia, 9:45 PM

  Evelyn cradled little Kenneth in her arms, marveling at the way his eyes seemed to follow her every move. His skin was white, almost startlingly so, but his eyes were the purest blue that she had ever seen. “He’s lovely, isn’t he? Almost like a little china doll.”

  Max watched Evelyn with a bemused expression, sipping his iced tea and keeping one eye on their own son, who was toddling about the Christmas Tree. He was glad to see her so happy, but he worried about her… for this child was no normal infant. Born to vampire parents, young Kenneth subsisted on a daily diet of fresh blood—administered at the moment by the young girl named Gloria. The girl had been a servant of the Baroness and was fiercely protective of the child—even now, she hovered like a specter nearby, ensuring that the baby was not mistreated. “I’m just glad he’s someplace safe, Evelyn. Being with that witch was anything but.”

  Evelyn flashed him a warning with her eyes. Gloria was still adamant that there be no criticism of the Baroness and Evelyn was willing to let the
girl slowly come out of the hypnotic spell she’d been under. “When is Leonid arriving?” she said, shifting the subject.

  Max checked his watch after stealing a glance at his wife’s cleavage. She was wearing a dark green dress that was one of his favorites and it accentuated her figure, which remained a bit fuller since William’s birth—much to Max’s appreciation. “He should be here any moment. It’s going to be nice having the house so full this year. We’ve never had a Christmas with friends before.”

  Evelyn smiled. Their maid, an older black woman named Nettie, bustled into the room with a tray of cookies and milk in her hands. She set it down on the table, fussing a bit with William, who had cackled with glee upon seeing her. The little boy was turning into the spitting image of his father and Nettie doted on him. The maid cast a worried look at Kenneth, however. She had not questioned his appearance or his odd behaviors but Max spotted a cross about her neck.

  “Can I get you folks anythin’ else?” she asked.

  “That’s more than enough,” Max said. “You go on to bed now.”

  Nettie did as she was told, though she continued to watch Kenneth closely.

  “She’s afraid of him,” Evelyn murmured, handing the baby off to Gloria. She picked up William, making sure that he didn’t overindulge on the cookies.

  “Can you blame her?” Max asked, lowering his voice as Gloria stepped towards the window with the baby in her arms. The wind was howling outside but there was no sign of that all too rare Atlanta occurrence—a white Christmas. “He’s not human, Evelyn. I’m not sure there’s anything we can do to turn him back, either. Leopold is looking through every book in the Nova Alliance library and I’ve even asked Whisper to let me know if she comes across anything… but we might have to face the facts: he feeds off human blood. He’s a predator. And no amount of coddling is going to change that.”