The Immortality Curse: A Matt Kearns Novel 3

by Greig Beck

  Rachel felt disgust. “This is what you’ve always wanted, isn’t it? From the time you first started using us, you’ve wanted this. Isn’t that right, Eleanor?”

  “Of course.” Eleanor’s wrinkled face was flushed.

  Rachel backed up. “It didn’t matter who got killed, who got hurt. We were all expendable pawns.”

  “Yes again, dear.” Eleanor ignored her now, as Greta started to carefully peel the old woman out of her clothing. Joshua turned away, but Rachel watched as the emaciated frame of the near-skeletal woman was revealed. She wore no bra as her breasts had long ago dried and flattened to little more than flaps against her chest. Greta finished by pulling down her underwear.

  Greta then took the tiny woman under the arms, lifted and lowered her into the pool, easing her down like she was laying her in a warm bath. Eleanor squeezed her eyes shut and sunk down, mouth open, until her head disappeared below the brilliant blue water.

  Rachel and Joshua watched as the water seemed to fizz and bubble around her. For some reason she was reminded of those images of the piranha-filled rivers in the Amazon when some animal wanders into a school of the hungry fish.

  Eleanor surfaced and gulped in a huge breath. Joshua stared, mesmerized, and Rachel frowned and stepped a little closer – did the woman’s hair seemed thicker, and the flesh more plump? Rachel wondered.

  She nodded and Greta eased her back under. The water frothed and bubbled furiously now, and after another minute she came back to the surface, coughed and spat, and then hauled herself up onto the rocky edge. She sat with her eyes closed, breathing in and out deeply, and perhaps waiting for her heartbeat to slow.

  Rachel stared with her mouth agape, and after a moment covered it with a hand.

  “Holy shit.” Joshua put both hands to his head. “I don’t fucking…” His mouth continued to work but no more words came.

  Eleanor sat with her head back, long golden tresses tumbling over her slender shoulders and her eyes still closed. There was a beatific smile on her angular and striking features. After another moment she raised a hand to her face, running her fingertips down over the cheekbone and tight jawline.

  She began to giggle. “Why should youth be wasted on the young?” She turned, opening luminous blue eyes. Eleanor got slowly to her feet and turned, arms wide.

  Joshua’s mouth broke into a wide smile, and Rachel was sure the man stuck his chest out a little. Even Rachel was struck by the woman’s sexiness, beauty and raw animal attractiveness. Rachel hadn’t ever used the term goddess before, but now, that’s what Eleanor was.

  Beside her Greta fell to her knees and clutched hands to her chest before they moved toward Eleanor, not touching but just hovering inches from her flesh. Her eyes were moist and her chin quivered. Never before had Rachel seen such adoration in another human being.

  Eleanor reached out and placed a hand atop the woman’s head, stroking it as one might a favored pet. She turned to Joshua, her smile widening to show a line of perfect teeth.

  “You’re right, the pool was infected – what a terrible thing.” She smiled as she examined one long, slender arm. “And it all belongs to me now.”

  Chapter 21

  Matt and Khaled crept through the forest, staying low as they approached the soft blue glow.

  “I can hear voices,” Matt whispered.

  Khaled nodded and kept as quiet and low as he could on an ankle that was obviously as painful as hell. Matt got down on his belly and started to squirm forward on his elbows. He heard Khaled grunt as he did the same. Together they came up over the rise and peered through the thick foliage.

  Joshua and Rachel stood facing him on one side of a magnificent pool of sapphire-blue water. It made him want to dive in immediately. In fact, it was more than just the multiple abrasions, the heat and dirt that coated him that made him desire the water, but every fiber of his being seemed to be screaming at him to enter it, drink from it, and become one with it.

  He knew he’d seen it before, in his dreams. The blue liquid was magnetic, its siren call almost impossible for him to resist. It took all his self-control to tear his eyes away and focus on the people.

  The large form of Greta had her back to them and stood motionless, as another figure, still obscured by her broad frame, seemed to be keeping their attention.

  “There’s the monster,” Khaled hissed. “I have a score to settle with that one.”

  “Yeah, she tried to open me up as well.” Matt’s eyes narrowed. “So, wait in line.”

  Greta stepped aside revealing the hidden figure, and Matt couldn’t help his breath catching in his chest. It was a naked woman, magnificent in her beauty.

  “Oh my god,” Matt whispered. “I’ve seen her before.”

  “She is a goddess,” Khaled breathed.

  “Yes, she is.” Matt frowned, craning forward. “No, it can’t be. I think that’s…?”

  “Who?” Khaled moved aside more of the fronds in front of him.

  “Eleanor van Helling.” Matt stared.

  “The old hag?” Khaled squinted back at the figure. “Impossible.”

  “They did it; they found it, the Fountain of Youth.” He couldn’t help grinning. “It’s real; it’s damn well real.”

  “I never really expected it to be true. Neither did the prince.” Khaled blinked several times. “And now Eleanor van Helling is restored.” His mouth turned down. “But God does not reward the evil with such gifts.”

  Matt then saw the obelisk at the end of the pool. “Hey, do you still have your field glasses?”

  Khaled pulled them from a pouch at his hip and handed them to Matt, who brought them to his eyes. As he expected it was Chaldaic script.

  He whispered the words: “Those who are chosen, must choose. Those who take, have everything taken.”

  “What does that mean?” Khaled looked at him in the darkness.

  Matt shook his head. “I’m not sure. Maybe I’m translating it wrong.”

  “Sounds like a warning.” The Saudi turned back to the pool.

  “Yes, it does.” Matt watched Joshua nod as something was said to him. He held up the small vial in his hand that contained some of the blue glowing liquid. While they watched he brought it to his lips and upended it.

  “Looks like he just voted to join the club.” Matt said.

  *

  “Go ahead.” Eleanor said. “Besides, there will be no more drinking from the pool now. You may be the last common man I allow, ever.” She giggled. “I can choose who to bestow this gift upon.” She giggled again and clasped her hands together. “We’ll be gods among mere mortals.”

  The huge Greta grunted, and Eleanor eased around, her brows turning down in a pitying expression. “And you of course, my darling, faithful Greta. In time.” She turned back to Joshua and nodded.

  “Go on, bottoms up.”

  Joshua held up the vial. “This is madness.” He looked at it for a moment or two. “This place; it must be making us hallucinate.”

  “Don’t,” Rachel said.

  “Um, I’m only doing it to record my sensations. Like a test subject of sorts.” He looked at the glowing blue vial, smiled dreamily, and then put it to his lips.

  Rachel saw his throat work as he downed it in a single swallow, eager to become part of Greta’s band of immortals.

  He closed his eyes, breathing calmly as a smile began to spread over his face. Rachel’s forehead furrowed as she watched all the abrasions, bruises and cuts on his face first lighten, close, and then vanish.

  Joshua took off his glasses, blinked, and then began to grin. He dropped the spectacles to the ground. “I feel…”

  “Marvelous,” Eleanor finished for him. She turned to the hulking Greta. “Shoot him in the chest.”

  Greta lifted the gun without hesitation and fired, hitting Joshua dead center. He was blown backwards into the dirt, sitting there in stunned silence, one hand to the bloom of blood spreading across his ribs. He flopped back, dead.

 
; Greta saw Rachel flinch, and she immediately turned the gun on her.

  “Drop your weapon,” Eleanor said, evenly. “Now.”

  Rachel hesitated, wondering if it was possible to draw and fire before the large woman put a hole in her chest – unlikely in the extreme, she knew.

  “My dear, if I wanted you dead, you’d be laying at my feet right now. Now drop it, or I’ll ask Greta to blow a little hole in your gun arm and then take the weapon from you. She never misses. Drop it – last chance.”

  The muzzle of Greta’s gun moved to point at the meat of Rachel’s shoulder.

  Rachel growled through gritted teeth, and then let her gun fall to the ground. Beside her, Joshua groaned.

  “Huh?” Her head whipped around – the man had been shot through the heart at close range. The muscular organ was tough, but would have been obliterated – he should be as dead as dead can be. Rachel rushed to crouch beside him.

  Joshua sat up, coughed blood and gripped his chest.

  “Back away, my dear,” Eleanor said lightly. “I want to see something.”

  Joshua coughed again, but then took a deep juddering breath. “Fucking ouch.”

  Eleanor tittered like a teenager. “I’m not surprised it hurt. After all, you were just shot through the heart. How do you feel?”

  “Fuck you.”

  “I bet you’d like to, but I’m well out of your league now, little boy.” She smiled and folded her slender arms across her perked breasts. “It was just part of a test, my dear. It seems we’ll be very hard to kill. Almost impossible really.” She grinned and let her eyes slide to her large servant. “Almost.”

  “Now, for the second part of our little test,” Eleanor said. “Greta, you know what to do.”

  Greta turned back to the sitting scientist and advanced on him quickly. She gripped his hair with one hand, and with the other, she drew the long silver knife and began to rapidly saw through his neck. Joshua thrashed and blood fountained.

  Rachel felt like she was going to faint, and Joshua’s scream chilled her blood. Or perhaps it was her own screaming that she heard. In a few seconds, the man gurgled one last time, and then the woman stepped aside to let the headless body fall back on the ground. She held the head up, facing Eleanor.

  The woman stared at it, concentrating intently on the still-twitching features. After another few moments the nerves quietened and the dead face grew slack. Eleanor nodded.

  “Good, you can dispose of it now, my dear. He’s dead – for good, this time.”

  “Why?” Rachel swallowed the bile in her mouth, and tried not to inhale the hot, coppery smell of fresh blood.

  “Yes, I wondered that as well, my dear.” Eleanor looked bemused. “When they removed my beloved Clarence’s head, it made me wonder why. Now we know. It seems we aren’t invulnerable after all. Removing the head will finish us for good.”

  Greta dropped the head next to the body. It thumped to the ground, tongue lolling. The huge woman was devoid of emotion as she stood stock still with her forearms drenched red like a ghastly pair of ballroom gloves.

  Rachel wished she still had her gun, as she knew that one word from Eleanor and Greta would be sawing at Rachel’s neck in an instant.

  Eleanor finally stepped from the pool and began to don her old clothing. She smirked at how tight some of the items were, the top stretching impossibly across her full breasts. She looked up, holding her arms out.

  “How do I look?” she turned slowly. Her beatific face an angelic mask hiding the evil within.

  “My beautiful mistress,” Greta whispered, her eyes glowing with love, lust and worship. She reached out to stroke Eleanor’s golden tresses.

  Eleanor then faced Rachel. “No words from you, Agent Bromilow? You used to have so much to say.”

  Rachel looked around, searching for an escape route should she need one. “Why am I still alive?”

  Eleanor shrugged. “One of you had to stay alive to help me get home; it just turned out to be you, hmm?”

  “And then you…” She bit off her words. There was no way the woman would let her live and trust her to keep the precious secret. As soon as they were out of danger, she’d have the giantess remove her head.

  “Yes?” Eleanor asked.

  Rachel smiled. “I was going to say: and you look great.”

  Eleanor nodded and went to turn away but then froze. Greta came to stand slightly in front of her, squaring her shoulders. In one hand was Rachel’s gun and in the other the bloody blade she had just used on Joshua.

  Rachel followed their gaze, and saw a tall, bearded man standing near the obelisk at the end of the pool. She had no idea how long he had been there watching them, but if he had seen what Greta had done, then the word savages might be on his mind.

  He held up a hand, the palm toward them in a universal gesture of greeting. Eleanor smiled in return and half-turned to Greta.

  “This pool belongs to us. He must be one of them, so we’ll need to take his head.”

  *

  Matt and Khaled had watched with horror as Greta had decapitated Joshua. It had happened so fast and unexpectedly that neither man could have done anything other than rush into the path of either Greta’s gun or knife.

  But it was the brutality and ferociousness that had shocked Matt and Khaled so greatly. The large woman never hesitated for a moment.

  “She truly is a monster,” Khaled breathed.

  “Yes, and obviously trained to do Eleanor’s bidding. It’s no wonder she keeps her so close.” Matt tore his eyes away, and then was jolted by the strange new figure. “Hey, look.” Matt motioned to the far end of the glowing blue pool. “There’s someone there.”

  “Who the hell is that?” Khaled asked.

  Matt watched as Eleanor carefully took the gun from Greta, and kept it behind her back. The huge woman stood stone still, the long blade still dripping with Joshua’s blood down at her side.

  The bearded figure looked at each of the three women, and then up at the obelisk. He laid a hand on one of the chest-high stacks of rock and started to speak, and Matt strained to hear. The man started with Hebrew, and then switched to German, then Russian, before changing smoothly to English. As a language expert, Matt marveled at the fluency of each of the tongues he used, as each one was without the hint of an accent.

  “Why have you come?” His voice was stentorian, powerful and commanding.

  Eleanor bowed slightly. “We only came to… seek knowledge. I am Eleanor van Helling, of the New York van Hellings. My husband was here; Clarence van Helling. Perhaps you met him?” She waited a moment until it was clear the man was not going to respond. “And whom am I addressing, sir?”

  The man looked her up and down. “I see you came to seek more than knowledge. You would take, and you would kill for your own personal gain.” His expression dropped. “Your soul is as black as the pit of hell itself.”

  Eleanor snorted. “No need to be rude.” She smiled. “And you are?”

  He held his arms wide. “I am just a servant. A keeper of the last of God’s great secrets.” His voice lowered. “And a defender against those who would seek to steal it, destroy it, or debase it.”

  Eleanor lifted one long arm, looking at the silken flesh. “Steal it? No, it was a gift, and one I gratefully accept.”

  “Join us.” The man lifted an arm and beckoned over their heads. Rachel turned, following his gaze. She looked along the wall of trees where Matt and Khaled were concealed.

  “Oh, shit.” Matt got down.

  The man looked almost cheerful. “Come, please, Khaled ibn Al Sudairi and Professor Matthew James Kearns, come out. You have nothing to fear from me.”

  “What?” Rachel stared now.

  “Well, do we go down, or run and hide?” Matt asked.

  “We’ve run enough,” Khaled said and got to his feet. “Be ready. Greta is the real danger, and she can’t kill us both at once.”

  “We jump her?” Matt also got to his feet.

&
nbsp; “If we have to.” Khaled then Matt came out of the foliage.

  Eleanor threw her head back and laughed. “You’re both harder to kill than a pair of roaches.”

  Rachel embraced Matt, shaking her head. “Thank god you’re alive. I’m so sorry, I should have trusted you.” She then put a hand on Khaled’s shoulder, and leaned closer. “She’s already ordered Greta to kill Joshua.”

  “We know,” Khaled said.

  “Welcome, Matthew.” The tall, bearded man smiled benevolently. “You, I’ve been expecting for some time.”

  “Noah,” Matt said, not being able to keep the awe from his voice.

  “Yes.” The bearded man smiled.

  “Kearns, he’s infected, isn’t he?” Eleanor asked, her lip curled.

  “Infected? No, he was chosen.” He turned a fierce gaze on Eleanor. “You were not.”

  Eleanor sneered. “You don’t know who I am.” She smiled cruelly. “I agree this is one secret that should be kept. And as long as I benefit I promise to keep it for you. Although I may share it with a few of the better people I have in mind.”

  Noah’s eyes were hawk-like in their intensity. “I know who you are, Eleanor van Helling, and what you are capable of.” His eyes slid to the tall Greta, who seemed like an attack dog barely held back on its leash. He smiled sadly. “And I know you have ordered this pitiful being to kill many times on your behalf.”

  His eyes then blazed with a dark fire. “Yes, I know who you are, and I know what you are. You are dust, you are nothing at all, and you will fall.” He looked up at the obelisk again, pointing to the ancient script. “Those who are chosen, must choose. Those who take, have everything taken.”

  Eleanor smiled thinly. “Oh, I think you’ll find me a little harder to deal with.” She lifted the gun from behind her back.

  “Really, you?” Noah held his arms wide. “Alexander of Macedonia, King Xerses of Persia, Caligula, Napoleon, Adolf Hitler, Stalin, Mao Zedong – great people of history have sought out this secret, and some have even found it. But all of them are dust now.”

  He reached down and scooped up some of the water in his palm. He looked down into it. “When the great waters finally receded, we found that there were more things that survived than my sons, their wives and the few animals.” He smiled. “Sometimes the tiniest of us are the most powerful.”