Dreamscape

by Philip R Benge

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  After Rob had sprayed the spot of light with the holy water Moira Bourbon had cursed him, for the spot of light was her only gateway by which she could maintain contact with what had been happening at Rob`s apartment, but when none of her snakes returned to her she assumed that somehow Rob had got the better of them. She decided that she urgently needed a way to use all of her immense power against him, not the measly amount she could summon up without the aid of a Satanist.

  She could not use a powerful Satanist, for they would not bend easily to her wishes, all she needed was a mortal with the minimum knowledge of Satanism. Using the Dreamscape she searched for days, or rather nights, for the tell-tale sign of black magic being attempted and finally she found such a sign in the outskirts of the city of Walchester. Here she found a young man through his dreams, one who had a desire to become a Satanist, for only then would he be able to become a man of distinction, through the power he obtained using black magic.

  The person who she found was Alistair Marchmount, a chemistry student at Walchester University, and one who was terribly smitten by a young woman, Norma Percival a mathematics student, who had as yet not even noticed him. Marchmount did not consider himself to be ugly, but there again he could not see himself as handsome either; he had to admit though that his greatest failing was that he was a little shy.

  Moira visited him in his dreams for the next week, and Marchmount finally realised that the beautiful woman who kept appearing in his dreams was another Satanist, and one who wanted to help him progress in his chosen profession.

  The next morning being Saturday meant that he did not have any lectures to attend, and so he spent the morning buying the various items that Moira had listed out for him in his dreams. After lunch, for he thought that he should eat lunch before trying out the potion, he returned to the flat that he shared with some other students and in the privacy of his bedroom he mixed many of the items in a glass bowl with a lockable plastic lid. With the potion ready for use he then drove out into the country where he could light the potion without fear of being interrupted. He pulled over at a local country park and walked into its small wooded area, and it was here that he set the glass bowl down on the ground and lit the potion within it.

  “I, Alistair Marchmount, Satanist and follower of Lord Lucifer call upon Moira Bourbon to attend me.” Marchmount called out hesitantly and just above a whisper so that no one would come to investigate just what he was doing.

  Moira Bourbon did not need to answer his summons, or do his bidding, for Marchmount was only a novice, but she needed him even if he did not know it. So she answered his summons; a plume of red smoke appeared before Marchmount, it was accompanied by the evil smell of hell that would have told an experienced Satanist that a demon was about to appear, and it had the effect of making him want to throw up, and so nauseous did he feel that he did not notice that the temperature had dropped down towards freezing.

  “Sorry about the smell Alistair, but when one travels around in this fashion there is simply no way of avoiding it.” Moira said as soon as she appeared and thankfully being in the open allowed the stench of hell to quickly dissipate.

  Moira did not rush the young student, ignoring his needs in favour of her own, no she put his first, and she did it by studying Alistair`s attire and then she gently laughed.

  “Alistair, how on earth are you going to win the fair Norma dressed like that, or indeed with that hair style, we will simply have to do something about your appearance.”

  Marchmount had stared at her from the moment that she had appeared, never had a pretty girl ever noticed him before, never mind such a beautiful one, however the question had brought him back to the moment.

  “How do you know about Norma, have you been spying on me?” Marchmount demanded to know, a little vexed that the beautiful Satanist may have seen him doing things he would rather have kept secret.

  “I am the most powerful Satanist in existence Alistair; there is nothing that either I already know or can easily find out.” Moira replied smiling at the young student. “Now then what you need is someone to take you in hand, it will cost a few hundred pounds probably, but no more, we want you to still look like the normal type of student, just better dressed so that sweet Norma will begin to notice you.”

  Marchmount looked a little stunned, was he being offered money by the beautiful Satanist standing before him, for he did not have that sum to spare on clothes, but then he reasoned that the beautiful woman standing before him was only jesting. He wondered what strings would be attached to it if she had been serious. He then realised that Moira seemed to be expecting a reply, so he stammered out his quiet answer.

  “Clothes are expensive and money is something that I do not possess much of, which is why mine are all like the ones that I have on now.” Marchmount finally managed to stammer out.

  “Tell me Alistair, which bank do you prefer, The HSBC, Barclays, which one should I visit and how much money do you want?” Moira whispered into his ear.

  Marchmount felt himself blushing as Moira remained in close proximity to him. “Go to the HSBC and bring me at least one thousand pounds.” Marchmount said in jest as he had assumed that she was teasing him.

  Immediately Moira disappeared, going to a bank in the far north of England so that even the handsome Rob Hinds, as Moira always thought of him, could not trace it back to Marchmount. Moira returned to the young student in five minutes, who was utterly amazed that she could quickly move across England at will without anyone seeing her. In fact initially he had thought that the beautiful Satanist had thought him a real jerk and had simply left him.

  Moira put her arms around the young student`s neck, and looking deeply into his eyes asked him. “Shall I take you shopping Alistair, now that we have some cash?”

  “If it is no trouble Moira, for I must admit that I really do not have any clothes sense.” Marchmount replied nervously for he still did not believe all that was happening to him.

  Moira could see that, but all she did was to smile at him, and then she took his arm and moments later they were standing in the town centre, here she took him to all of the designer shops that Walchester had in its old and picturesque streets. When she had kitted him out to her liking they visited an up market hair dresser who gave Marchmount the latest style in haircuts.

  Some of the money she had earmarked to order more of the ingredients needed to create the demon cocktail Rakiremanin, her dark lord`s favourite drink, for the local ingredients were really not up to scratch, this was to keep him happy while she concentrated on matters that concerned only her. For what Lord Asbaritch did not know need not concern him, Moira reasoned and he must never find out. To this end she gave Alistair a list of ingredients, they included a large cask of white wine, a generous mixture of molasses, some herbs and spices to give it its exotic flavour and colour. The next batch of ingredients came under the heading of slugs and snails and puppy dog’s tails, enough to say that it took a strong stomach to drink such a concoction knowing just what was in it. Finally, a special preparation of wood alcohol was added to the concoction, it gave it strength and a certain something extra.

  Moira told Marchmount that whenever he conjured up a demon that he was to give the demon a jug of this powerful alcoholic drink, but under no circumstances was he to drink any himself, for it could just damage his digestive tracts. She now had him drive her to various retail outlets where she had him purchase some of each of the items on the list, and these she sent back to the Fortress of Asbaritch, although she did allow him to retain a small quantity of each for when he was ready to conjure up a demon.

  For a minute there was silence between them, and Marchmount not wanting the beautiful Satanist to grow bored with his company told her of the old haunted house that the paranormal club that he belonged to was planning to visit. Now Moira had had a change of heart regarding Rob, just that morning she had decided that he would be the ideal tool to assist her in freeing her father fro
m the hell dimension of Tartarus. And after hearing about the haunted house she immediately realised that this was how she could make Rob assist her in the dangerous task, before she finally killed Rob. Therefore she turned to Marchmount and asked him a question.

  “Alistair.” She whispered huskily into his ear. “Would it be alright if I joined you at the haunted house, you see I want to play a practical joke on some people, and your haunted house sounds just the way to go about it?”

  “Of course Moira, please do, I look forward to seeing you there.” Marchmount replied in almost a hypnotic daze.

  “Alistair, will it be all right if I occasionally drop in on you, to see how you are and to hear how the plans for the visit to the haunted house are progressing?” Moira asked in her sweetest of voices.

  “Of course Moira, I will always be delighted to see you.” Marchmount gulped out.

  Moira was spending so much time on the young student only because she needed him, by being so pleasant to him she ensured that he would only think nice things about her, and would want to see more of her, and with his answer she could now enter the mortal`s world on any particular day without waiting for the young Satanist to call summon her.

  Many demons would have liked to enter the world of the mortals in this way, without the need to await a summons, and then only for a very limited time under the control of a Satanist, but they did not have access to the Dreamscape. Even her dark lord did not use it in this way, for he was more than happy with his life and did not feel the need to enter the mortal`s world which he looked on as rather barbaric.

  Before Moira left the young student she took out of a bag two exercise books, one of them looked to be well used, for Moira had used it just over two years ago when she was herself a novice. The other one was a much newer exercise book.

  “This well used book contains a list of the minor demons and all that you will need to do and to say to be able to safely conjure them up, it also explains what actions the demons will do for you.” Moira explained giving him the book. “Always have a chalice of Rakiremanin to hand; it will make the demon more ready to obey you as you are only a beginner.”

  Moira then gave him the second book. “This book contains many simple spells, some to compel a person to do something, others to make life easier. It also instructs you in the correct way to go about making up a charged pentagram, something that you may want to make use of when you begin to conjure up even minor demons, to begin with anyway.” Moira said sweetly but then she became serious.

  “Alistair, keep these books in a safe place, do not allow anyone else to see them. You will need to find an apartment of your own so that you can work without the fear of interruption, up until then I suggest that you make use of our first meeting place, but take care that you are not observed. The more that you use these books the more powerful and affluent a Satanist you will become.” Moira told the young student.

  For the next week Moira entered Marchmount`s dreams and each time she asked him to ensure that the group went to the haunted house on the weekend before Christmas, repeating her wish to join him there. Each time Marchmount begged her to do so, reinforcing the original order to cross the dimensions, even if he did not realise it.

  Each morning Marchmount visited Professor Inglis to ask him how their plans were progressing regarding the trip to the haunted house, and then stressing that the weekend before Christmas would be the best time to make the trip. Finally, Professor Inglis was able to confirm that everything had been booked; they were due at the haunted house the weekend before Christmas, just as Moira had wanted, for she needed the time in between to ready her own plans.