Lord Molech took Gorefguhadget’s crown and, for three hundred years, he ruled over all demons. Some say his reign was a time of terror. Others say he was a fair and beneficent ruler. For those in his kingdom on Earth, his rule was a dark time and, eventually, there were those who rose up against it. No demon could stand against him, not even to plot, or assist those who plotted against him, but the humans of that land found other allies who kept their faces hidden and worked behind the scenes, yet granted great power. It is my belief that dragons were the secret masters of the rebels, for those beasts have long been among men, whispering and plotting in the background while others die for them.
Ceri frowned. Gunt the mysterious sorcerer did not have a great opinion of dragons. Then again, the man had killed hundreds of people to make his book; it did not exactly give one a high opinion of his moral compass.
The altars and temples of Molech were torn down, crushed into dust, the land sown with salt. Even then, those places were shunned by most for centuries after. Molech’s priests were thrown into their own fires and his worship was banned among all peoples. Anyone caught venerating his name was executed by fire and laws were passed in many lands to ensure that none should worship in the ways he prescribed lest his power grown again.
With his source of power gone, the crown fell heavy upon Molech’s brow and he tore it from his head, screaming in pain. The other lords turned against him then, as did many of his once loyal followers. Only his own personal power and the loyalty of a few kept him from being utterly destroyed. The once proud Overlord of Demons was exiled beyond the Mountains of Khedra. Many believe, however, that he is still searching for a way to regain his power.
The text stopped and Ceri turned the page to see whether there was anything more. There was another plate, a painting which, at first glance appeared to be nothing more than an image of a Devos. Then there was a sensation of vertigo and the world changed. She was standing in a snow drift which came up to her knees. The wind howled around her, whipping at her hair and blowing snow which stung her face and bare arms. Standing on the other side of the book was a demon, a demon perhaps three times her height in the basic shape of a Devos. Its body was thickly muscled and there was a faint flicker light around his horns. Ceri had seen him before, in Kennington Park one wild Samhain night; the flicker had been more like a crown of flames that time.
The demon looked down at Ceri, its eyes glowing a dull red. ‘Do you now care whether you live or die, Ceridwyn Brent?’
Ceri slammed the book shut and stood in silence for several seconds while the shock wore off. That had been Molech. She had seen him, on Earth, twice now. The first time had been just after her parents died and she had walked out on Samhain hoping that something might kill her. She had told him that she did not care about her life then, and then he had said he might come back when she did. Then she had seen him outside High Towers on the Samhain just gone. He had, apparently, come to Earth and protected London south of the Thames from the worst night on record for supernatural events. He had smiled at her through the window on her birthday.
She turned and headed for the door. The thought that she might be gassed on the way out had become less of a worry; Molech, once Overlord of All Demons, seemed to have a particular interest in her.
Kennington
There was a cat lying on the porch of the house as Ceri arrived home. The smell made her stop with her foot on the bottom step. The poor creature had been dead for a while; perhaps the result of a car accident. Its fur was matted with dried blood, maggots had started on its eyeballs. To her untutored eye the animal’s ribcage appeared to have been crushed. She was wondering who had put a dead cat on her porch when the dead animal looked up at her and made a noise like a choking yowl.
‘Widder-fucking shit!’ Ceri stated emphatically, stepping back from the worm-ridden zombie. She at least had a reasonable idea who had put the cat on her doorstep.
The door opened and Lily was standing there looking down at the cat. ‘Zombie moggie?’
‘It would appear to be.’
‘Should I get a shovel?’
Ceri focussed on the cat, which seemed to be trying its best to climb to its feet. It was barely powered, the result of a weak spell designed to get the animal to their door and give her a little bit of a shock. There was no control to override; Raynor had directed the creature to crawl to this spot and lie down, and then there had been nothing. Even now the basic elements of the cat’s living personality were trying to asserts themselves. It was struggling to rise and making pathetic little mewling noises. It wanted to be cuddled.
‘Sick bastard,’ Ceri whispered. Her fist clenched and the magic animating the corpse vanished in an instant. The cat sagged back onto the boards. The air being driven from its lungs as it relaxed sounded almost like a sigh. She raised her voice. ‘We’ll bury it at the back. I’ll lay it to rest, the poor thing.’
‘Raynor playing games?’ Lily asked; more of a suggestion really.
‘Well, I’ve no real way of telling, but that would be my guess.’
Lily smirked. ‘Twill will kick his butt up and down Vauxhall Bridge if he keeps leaving dead animals on the porch.’
Ceri grimaced. ‘Personally I was hoping he’ll stop at dead animals.’
May 31st
There were no more dead animals on the doorstep, but Ceri felt odd as she walked back from Battersea in the early hours. The feeling that she was being watched would not leave her until she turned into the end of St Agnes Place and heard what sounded like a child’s laugh. Stopping, she looked around, but there was nothing to see. She turned, heading down the narrow part of the street toward High Towers.
The sudden sense of alarm came as a shock. Her hand was on the gate and suddenly she was feeling worried, even scared. Her heart was racing. Her fists clenched as she fought the urge to run. Lily! The feelings were coming from Lily! She was in trouble… somewhere… The Park!
Vaulting the fence she ran across the garden to the side gate and through that to the path which led into the park proper. There was light in the sky, but it just made the shadows darker. In her panic to find Lily, she almost fluffed a simple night vision spell, but the half-light was suddenly brighter and she spotted the three figures near a tree. Two were crouched, the other looking around as though keeping watch. Ceri ran toward them.
There were more than three; two more of them were hidden behind the tree trunk and they were holding down a struggling figure. One of them was bent down at Lily’s neck…
Ceri summoned her power, the spell forming in her mind in a second. She raised her arms and brought them down, not for any really magical reason, but it felt right; she needed some violent action. Blazing sunlight lashed down from the sky; a beam of bright light from nowhere which blanketed the figures beside the tree. The vampires screamed, blinded by the sudden daylight, and leapt away. Ceri was dimly aware of how small they seemed before one of them, the watchman, regained enough sense to turn and hiss at her. Ceri lifted her hand, a ball of fire forming in it. The vampire snarled, appearing to consider its next move. It seemed little more than an animal, not like any vampire Ceri had seen. What alarmed her more was that the vamp was little more than a teenager, a boy of maybe fourteen, and he had not been dead long.
Lily was struggling to her feet and Ceri moved toward her, into the circle of daylight still streaming down from the sky. There was blood on Lily’s neck and her dress was torn open. As Ceri got closer she saw blood running down Lily’s left leg from the inside of her thigh. Keeping her eyes on the vampires as best she could, Ceri moved closer. ‘Lil? Are you okay?’
‘I’ve been better.’ Her voice sounded husky. Ceri could feel the euphoria of the vampire’s saliva over their link. Lily was fighting it, but it was obvious from the way she was shaking that it was a hard fight. ‘They’re kids, Ceri. The bastard turned a bunch of kids.’
Ceri was watching the one who had been on guard. He seemed to be the leader, and the oldest. One
of them looked to be about six or seven. And all of them looked feral. ‘He did more than turn them. He…’ She stopped as the vamps suddenly ran off. The light in the sky was growing brighter and Ceri suspected their almost animal brains were considering it a threat. It was; in daylight they would be effectively blind.
Closing her hand around the flames, Ceri slipped her arm around Lily and started to half-carry her toward the house. ‘You can hold on to the house?’ she asked. ‘I’ll heal you up there.’
‘Legs are weak. They jumped me before I could fight… too many…’
Ceri clenched her will and almost forced power into Lily. She felt the half-succubus straighten against her. ‘That should help. Damn it! I should’ve seen this. I was so sure he wouldn’t come at us directly.’
‘Unless he didn’t. Maybe he’s after you and I am an indirect attack.’
They went through the arbour at the side of the house and Ceri propped Lily against the wall to open the door into the second kitchen. ‘Take your coat off,’ Ceri instructed as soon as they were inside and the door was closed. Lily let the leather garment fall to the floor and stood there, leaning against the kitchen counter. Ceri moved closer, looking at the wound on Lily’s neck. The vamp had certainly been young; the punctures were torn and a little hesitant. It was bad; Lily had lost a lot of blood.
Twill appeared, red light flashing around her as she rushed into the room. ‘Vampire?’ she said immediately.
‘Several,’ Lily husked. The euphoric effect was gone now, but her throat looked bruised.
Light flared around Ceri’s fingers as she moved them over the tears in Lily’s throat. The wounds closed and the bruised flesh returned to a more normal colour. ‘Twill, we need to brew up some of that stuff for accelerating blood production.’ She dropped to her knees and checked Lily’s inner thigh, a task made easy by the Dragon’s waitressing dress. The wounds there were cleaner; a slightly more adult vampire, perhaps. A flicker of light and the bite marks closed as the others had.
‘I’m on it,’ Twill said, buzzing off into the hall at speed to go down to the store room in the cellar.
Ceri stood up. ‘Let’s get you up to the lounge and sat down. You’re still weak.’
‘And you’ve used quite enough power,’ Lily replied, her voice sounding more normal, but still carrying a hint of huskiness.
Ceri could see the threads of magical residue lacing the pattern of her hand, the result of drawing on a lot of energy; she ignored it. ‘If you go to work tomorrow, Michael and I will be with you. I’ll arrange it with Alexandra in the morning.’
‘You should call the cops. Now. There are five feral vampire children running around town. That’s not good.’
Ceri nodded. ‘Once you’re in front of the fire in the lounge. It’s daylight. They won’t be doing much until evening now.’
Nodding, Lily pushed herself away from the counter and started for the door. She looked wobbly on her feet and Ceri moved quickly to help support her. She had never seen Lily move with such little grace and that, aside from anything else, indicated how close a call it had been.
~~~
‘A little anaemic,’ Alexandra said as she examined the whites of Lily’s eyes with a professional demeanour, ‘but that potion of yours should help build her red blood cell count quickly. I would recommend a day’s rest, but I’d imagine several hours rest and a gentle session in bed should suffice.’ The old wolf smiled. ‘Bedside manner takes on an entirely new meaning with you, child.’
Lily smiled back. She was sat on Ceri’s wing-backed chair in the lounge with Alexandra currently sat on the footstool beside it so that she could examine her “patient.” Not used to sitting in the actual chair, Lily was feeling uncomfortable. ‘You didn’t have to come over here, you know? I’m quite fit enough to get to Battersea.’
‘You’d deny me an excuse to get out of the park?’ The Alpha climbed to her feet and took a couple of paces over to the second of the leather chairs in the lounge. Ceri slipped onto the footstool before Lily could react, grinning up at the half-succubus in an exact reversal of their usual positions.
Lily squirmed a little in her seat. ‘Of course I wouldn’t. Thanks for coming to check on me.’ She frowned at Ceri who was fairly obviously enjoying the chance to turn the tables and play at being Lily’s pet.
On either side of Alexandra’s chair were Michael and his Captain, Anita. An incredibly statuesque woman, tall, muscled, and attractive, Anita looked like she had stepped out of the pages of a barbarian fantasy novel, particularly since she had arrived in fur and was now a nude Amazon. If Conan had been real, Anita was the kind of woman he would have drooled over. As it was, she was dating Ceri’s martial arts instructor.
‘I’m perfectly happy for you to borrow Michael tonight,’ Anita said ‘I need him back in the park by tomorrow evening though. I have a date with Ray and Michael’s agreed to be Captain for the weekend.’
‘I think that’ll work,’ Ceri said, grinning. ‘Doing anything special?’
Anita’s cheeks coloured a little. Always something of a career woman, she was a little embarrassed that she had somehow picked up a boyfriend, and a human one at that. ‘Actually we’re going out of town. To a hotel in Devon. We’re going to walk on the Downs.’
‘Nice.’ Ceri’s eyes narrowed speculatively. ‘It’d be nicer if he could be a wolf some of the time.’
‘Well, yes, but you’re not coming with us.’
Ceri’s grin was mischievous. ‘Drop by here before you leave. I might be able to arrange something.’
Twill appeared in the doorway before Anita could reply. ‘Two people coming up the path. It’s probably Kate and John, the woman is a witch.’
Ceri bounced to her feet. ‘I’ll go let them in. You’re welcome to stay. Michael, would you get a couple of chairs out for the detectives?’
John was looking serious, but that was fairly normal. Kate was also looking serious, however, and that suggested that things were not going well. ‘How’s Lily?’ The witch detective asked as soon as the door opened.
‘You can come and see yourself. Her main complaint is that that blood potion tastes like sand.’ Ceri stepped back to allow them in.
‘It does,’ John replied, ‘but I’ve felt a lot better since I started taking it.’
Ceri giggled. ‘Twill threatened to tie her down and force feed her if necessary. She wisely decided to drink the potions.’
John gave a stiff little chuckle, trying to keep his working cool going. ‘Not many people can stand up to Twill when she’s right.’
‘I’m never wrong, detective.’ Twill materialised, apparently from nowhere, right in front of John’s face and he stopped dead in his tracks before stepping back.
‘No, ma’am.’
Twill’s lips curled into a smile. ‘Coffee?’
‘Yes, please,’ John said and Twill flitted off toward the kitchen. John exhaled.
‘We have wolves here,’ Ceri said, hiding her smirk. ‘In the lounge. I hope you’re not worried about talking shop in front of them.’
John started up the staircase. ‘Michael’s a Special Advisor, just like you. I assume you’ve got Alexandra and Anita here, and the Chief trusts both of them more than some of his officers. Besides, didn’t Alexandra put you on the trail of this Raynor character?’
‘Fair enough, come on into the infirmary.’
‘I am not that sick!’ Lily protested as they walked in.
‘Her hearing is certainly working,’ Kate commented.
‘Good morning, detectives,’ Alexandra said, bowing her head to them as they sat down and Ceri returned to her footstool. The Alpha’s lips twitched. ‘I hope my Captain isn’t too distracting. She doesn’t carry clothes with her unless she knows she’ll need them.’
John gave a small cough. ‘I’m a married man. I think I can manage. Lily, how are you holding up?’
‘I’m fine, or I will be. All I’m saying is that you must really love your wife to keep drink
ing that potion.’
John’s lips twitched. ‘I do, but that’s beside the point. What happened?’
Lily sighed. ‘I was coming home. I thought something was a little off when I got to the park, but I couldn’t feel or see anything so I just picked up the pace a little. Then they jumped me. They were just kids, but with a vampire’s strength and speed. Four of them, initially, I think. A fifth turned up shortly after.’
‘I think the fifth was trailing me coming back from Battersea,’ Ceri put in. ‘I heard a kid laugh just before I got to the house. Then I heard Lily cry out from the park and ran in.’ It was a lie, but the alternative was telling them that she had bound Lily to her; which was illegal and immoral, and Ceri had only done it to save Lily’s sanity, but the law would not see it that way.
‘I caught something of their desires,’ Lily went on. ‘They were focussed, very focussed. Not like any vampire I’ve ever read before. I think they were controlled, sort of. They were almost animals.’
Ceri nodded. ‘They looked feral.’
‘We think they attacked a work crew in the Underground sometime after they left here,’ Kate said. ‘North of the river, between six and seven o’clock. Two dead, one in critical condition.’
‘And,’ John said, ‘we’ve had a ten per cent rise in missing persons reports over the last three days. Four children went missing yesterday evening from Hammersmith. Another vanished the night before around Clapham. There have been various adults as well, from various parts of the city.’
‘Raynor is building himself an army,’ Alexandra commented.
‘Clapham’s our turf,’ Anita said, her eyes tightening. ‘I’ll increase patrols.’
‘Patrol in fours,’ Ceri said, ‘and no one goes after him solo.’
‘For a vampire?’
‘Not an ordinary vampire. He’s something like fifteen hundred years old. He doesn’t decay like other vampires. He’s turning anyone he kills. He’s got a lot of power, more than any vamp I’ve ever seen before. You be careful.’
Thaumatology 08 - Ancient Page 14
