The Trilogy of the Void: The Complete Boxed Set

by Peter Meredith

  Hands shook him, "Will?" Now the gypsy was louder, more urgent, and Will suddenly recognized the voice.

  "Mom?"

  "Yes," Gayle said. She leaned over him, shaking his shoulders and staring into his blue eyes with her big brown ones. He was back, back in the world.

  Chapter 28

  Will

  The air in the back of the SUV felt like it had come straight from an oven, all the same, Will shivered violently and his skin sprung armies of regimentally aligned goose bumps.

  "Will! Are you ok?" Gayle was practically shouting. She turned to her daughter and asked her, "Is he going to be ok? Is this normal?"

  Before Talitha could answer, Will managed to blurt out, "I-I'm ok. W-w-where are..."

  "We're in Phoenix. The first address on the list is right there." Talitha, looking listless and pale, pointed out the window, however Will didn't look. They weren't even close to where Amy held Katie. Talitha leaned her face next to her mother's. "What happened? Did you find Mrs. Harris? Did you see dad at all?"

  Due to his many wounds, being back in the world was nearly as painful as being tortured in the Void and Will, with some urgency, struggled to get up and only answered his sister with a vague, preoccupied, "Yeah." He then turned to look at his father, lying curled around Lisa. The man looked dead, but also more at peace, no longer did his mouth gape and the lines of fear had relaxed. He looked younger than he had. Will checked, but there wasn't a pulse to be found.

  Everyone watched him in silence. "I found dad down there, he was trapped by Ba'al Fie-ere and I...I freed him." A lump the size and consistency of a pinecone lodged in his throat and it was a moment before he could go on. "It was so terrible there and he was very brave and...and so strong. But...but he's no longer in the Void. I think he's in heaven now." Will felt an almost uncontrollable urge to break down and cry like a child, but his mother hugged him close and he was able to hold it down inside of himself.

  "You did great, Will," she said, pulling back and leaving the side of his face wet from her tears. "What about Katie? Did you find out about her?"

  He told them what he had learned, and the news about Katie stunned the little group, each stood mutely save for the constant sniffling. Finally Father Vogel spoke up, "We should check the building either way. After all. I'm sure demons are notorious for lying."

  "Sure it wouldn't hurt," Will agreed. In his heart, though, he was only putting off the very difficult choice he had to make. "Tal can you smell Katie or Amy."

  "No, there's nothing."

  "But we're still so far away," Gayle pleaded, unable give up hope. Her eyes were almost black with the dark of the night and her Arizona tan very deep, Will tried not to stare or even think about what she looked like just then.

  "Tal and I will go and check the place out, Mom. Please stay here with Father Vogel, just to be on the safe side." He gave her another hug and sat her back down in the front passenger seat before turning to the building they were supposed to check out. They were in a low rent office park, where storefronts faced the street and goods were warehoused in the back.

  After a single glance, Will's stomach rolled over. A killer had worked as a welder there and had used his arc torch for horrible purposes, the man had been dead three years, but the smell of burning flesh was fresh in Will's nostrils. It wasn't the only thing that he saw. He knew that the building was empty, yet he went to it regardless.

  "We both know Amy and Katie aren't here. Why are you wasting our time?" Talitha asked when they were still twenty yards away. "Shouldn't we be trying to get in touch with the bishop and maybe the police, to try to track them down?" Her mannerisms were odd, jumping slightly from personality to personality. She looked on the verge of giving up the fight against her evil side and Will knew that he would have to tread carefully despite the sensitive questions that he had to ask.

  He kept silent until they got to the front of the abandoned business and then he asked in a soft voice, "You're a virgin aren't you?"

  At first Talitha looked shocked at the question, but hot anger was quick to follow, and it made her voice quiver, "You know that I'm not. Why do you want to know? What did Ba'al Fie-ere show you?"

  The place was deserted as he knew that it would be and he waved the priest and his mom over, only then did he answer, "I'm not talking about Ba'al Fie-ere or whatever you want to call the other being that lived inside you all those years, I'm talking about you, my sister. Did you ever make love to a man, by your own volition?"

  "Yes...I mean no. Damn it! I never did. It was always her, the other one."

  "Why didn't you?" She started to protest and he repeated himself, as calm as he could, "Why didn't you Talitha? I need you to concentrate."

  Talitha took a long deep breath and closed her eyes before answering, "Before, I was too young. Sex is supposed to be the physical aspect of love itself, not a way to inspire the emotion, which so many people wrongly presume. With Brian, I was just about ready and then the demon came and when I returned, it was with my other self along. She made even the idea repugnant."

  As she finished speaking, the priest rolled the Jimmy up and Talitha buttoned her lips on the subject with embarrassment. Their mom hopped out quick and peeked nervously in the window, her reflection was so black that it reminded Will of Ba'al Fie-ere. This left a bad taste in his mouth and he walked away to look at his wife one more time.

  "No one's in there," Gayle said coming around to Will. "What are we going to do now?"

  "Katie is beyond our help, Mom."

  Gayle sunk to the pavement. "No! You've got magic powers, use them. You too, Talitha. Go find my baby girl, go find your sister."

  Will half expected this to set off Talitha's other personality, however his sister only looked more weary than he had ever seen and sat down against the building with her chin dragging on her chest. They all looked done in, save for the priest, who hovered nearby keeping silent. Will was quiet as well. He was afraid that he was now at the cross roads of his earlier visions, whichever way he turned from here would decide if his wife would wake, or die years from now in her endless sleep.

  He was in possession of the hell blade and it was his clear duty to destroy it. At the same time, he had an obligation to his sister and an obligation to destroy the gate that was being created through the energies of her body and soul. It seemed impossible to decide which route to take, but only because one choice was hopeless and the other would likely mean his death. Remembering Adrina's death, he shivered and a real heavy need to pee came over him.

  "I will find Katie, but not just yet. We have work to do here." He knew the direction he had to go, because it was the one his father would have chosen. "Here's what we are going to do..." In a minute, he outlined his painfully simple plan of opening a gate onto the Void.

  "But I'm not a gypsy!" his mother protested.

  "And I'm..." Talitha paused in the middle of her outburst and shot a look at her mother and then at the priest, before continuing in a quieter voice that was practically a whisper, "And I'm not a virgin."

  "And I'm not a hero," Will replied. "I'm scared to death. You guys don't know what Ba'al Zubel did to Adrina... it was horrible. But I'm going to risk it, because this has to be done."

  Father Vogel, who had stoically listened to his part in the action without flinching, said, "I agree that it has to be done, but that doesn't change the fact that essential elements to opening a gate and summoning the demon seem to be missing here."

  "Then we lose nothing," Will countered.

  "I'm Italian, not a witch," Gayle insisted.

  "Adrina hinted broadly that gypsies were nearer than I knew, I think she was worried that I would take offence if she came right out and said it. And she also said not to be fooled by a non-gypsy sounding name. And," Will looked next at his sister, "Adrina said when finding a virgin to find one with the purest soul and yours may be the purest there is, after all you stripped away all the evil in you to make...your other self."

 
Talitha had grown more pale as they had spoken, "Let's suppose that your conjecture concerning our ancestry is correct, and mom is able to open the gate. If the demon doesn't buy off on my being a virgin, you may doom her. You know about the connection. You know there will be a link between their souls. There is even a chance that the demon will posses mom. Are you willing to take that risk with what you know about... my physical history?"

  "Yes, because I don't think it'll be a risk at all. The demon we're summoning is Ba'al Zubel and he hates you so much I'm sure he will accept you as an adequate offering." He said this as gently as he could, but Talitha still blanched.

  "Ba'al? Does it have to be Ba'al?"

  "I'm afraid the summoning spells are specific and this is the one that we got from Luke and he got it from Amy, who got it from Henny."

  Vogel spoke up, "But why summon a demon at all? Why not just do that part of the spell that opens a gate?"

  Talitha sighed before answering, "These spells come from demons who would gain nothing if any old gate was opened. I'm sure the spells are interwoven. Will, can you look at my neck? I'm feeling pretty weak."

  The necrosis looked to be spreading and the wound itself had not closed and was oozing fluids that looked just like blood except that it was grey.

  When he told her, she tried to put on a brave smile. "Pretty soon, a sacrifice is all that I'll be good for."

  "You're not going to be sacrificed, that's not how it's going to work. When mom summons Ba'al, I'll challenge it. All I have to do is hold on for seconds, two or three at the most and while that's happening, Father Vogel will simply stab the blade into the opening and bam! Mom closes the gate and brings you with her. With Ba'al focused on me and then with the sword flying passed him, he'll be too preoccupied to worry about you two." He paused looking around at the three of them. They were a sad looking lot, even the priest who's lips were now drawn too tight to be anything else but a show of nerves.

  "You forget, Will. The incantations are magically encrypted," Vogel replied.

  Like an autumn tree in an early storm, whose limbs droop and fail under the weight of unexpected snow, Will sagged at the pronouncement. His plan, his only plan was all he had. There was nothing else rattling around in his brain in the way of an idea. That is, other than praying, which seemed his only option, but just then, he knew.

  "Wait! You're wrong, Father. Luke did something to this incantation. I just had a vision: Luke was bent over the papers. He said Ixino Ianai and then there was this green light... I think it was a counter-spell or something, so that the gypsy from last night could read it." As he spoke, he hurriedly pulled out the coffee stained paper. "Mom, try it."

  Gayle took the papers, looking timid and shy. She said the words in a whisper, " Ixino Ianai ."

  Green light blazed briefly and then she stared at the papers in disbelief. "I can read this," she said in surprise. "I'm really a gypsy?" Gayle asked, stunned.

  Talitha held her hand. "If you're a gypsy, then I'm one too, mom."

  Gayle gave her a little smile. "Ok, us gypsies have to stick together. What do I do?"

  "Let me see," Talitha said, taking the papers. In minutes, she'd read over the incantation, frowning nonstop, as she did, "This shouldn't be so easy. These papers should be burned as soon as possible." No one disagreed. "I'm going to need a sharp knife and some blood, sorry Father, but yours would serve the purpose the best."

  No one had a knife, but since glass had to be broken to gain access to the building, its shards were used instead; one shard for the priest's blood and another for the ceremony. Talitha went to work drawing the diagrams on the empty floor while her mother sat near, mumbling over the words to the spell, trying to wrap her tongue around the demonic language. It made Will physically sick to hear and he went to the car and sat with Lisa. With no one around, he began singing to the baby inside of her, hoping that she at least could hear him.

  A few minutes later, Gayle came out, "We're ready."

  Will's butterflies had been bad before, but now they kicked into high gear and he suddenly remembered how he had needed to pee. It would have to wait, his mom looked like she was about to vomit and he didn't want to delay the spell any more.

  Still, he did pause to kiss his wife one last time and then hurried into the darkened building. The diagrams had been drawn very close to the front window of the building where the light from the nearly full moon and the street lamps gave them some visibility. Talitha lay in the middle of the diagram and her shaking hands she held close to her chest. His mother knelt beside her just outside of the drawing. She looked dead pale in her fright. Father Vogel stood to the side and in his hands he held the hell blade wrapped in a towel.

  Will went to the circle opposite him. "Ok, Mom."

  This was the extent of their preamble. The four of them looked back and forth at each other, but no one could find even the simplest words of encouragement and Gayle's lips seemed incapable of anything but quivering until she saw that the other three were staring at her, waiting.

  She read from the paper in a stuttering voice, but all the same, the words were demonic in nature and Will felt them grating on his soul. It was as if sand had been poured into his chest and scritched annoyingly as he breathed. Quicker than expected Gayle finished and looked around, breathing rapidly, panting like some long forgotten hound.

  "The blood! Cut your left hand and then cut Tal's and press your hands together. Hurry." Will ordered, remembering his dream from the day before. Had it only been the day before? This thought staggered him. So much had happened since then.

  His mom acted as though her hand was without feeling. Very quickly and without the least grimace she slashed open her palm and then did the same for her daughter. Only then did she pause. Drawing in a deep breath, it looked as though she were about to speak, but instead she grabbed her daughter's hand and squeezed.

  "Uhhh!" Talitha gasped, and then gritted her teeth, somehow able to cope with the pain that Will knew from his visions had to be extreme.

  Bamn! The sound of metal on metal boomed throughout the building sending echoes chasing each other around the empty rooms. Will and Father Vogel both jumped at the noise and Talitha began to writhe in misery still holding on to her mother's hand. Gayle's eyes bugged and she looked about, unsure of what to do and Will was just about to reassure her, when a great rush of air whipped passed him in a sudden soundless fury. Black vapors began to churn six feet above his sister. They started small, twisting and boiling, but very quickly they grew into a great frothing cloud.

  The gate was open!

  Will clutched his chest with both hands as fear grew inside him, and then another metallic sound rang out. It smote the air, running along in hard fast waves like a heavy wind, sounding more like a death knell than anything else. This sound meant that the demon had accepted the offering of Talitha and was coming to claim the gate, but for the moment it felt to Will that the opening was still unattended.

  Childish hope surged in him. Pushing aside the painful responsibility that he had taken on he cried, "Now Vogel! The sword!"

  The room, in the space of seconds, had become fantastically cold and the priest didn't so much as dart forward, but lurched instead, honest fear touching his face for the first time. His eyes however, were determined and he yanked out the broken sword, when at that moment the demon, Ba'al Zubel arrived and sent his mind through the gate. The creature immediately discerned the priest in all his goodness and attacked. Father Vogel screamed and then began jittering in place as if he were being electrocuted; the sword dropped from his hands and clattered on the cement.

  Twelve feet away, Will saw the sword bouncing on the floor and it seemed to be dancing on his heart. He knew a desperate need to make a dash for it and destroy it, and he even took a half step in its direction before he stopped, gripped by a chaos of uncertainty. On one hand, the poor priest was giving him precious seconds by enduring what looked like a horror of pain, but Will had been down that road before. He kn
ew that if the demon went unchallenged, it would torture each of them in turn and he would get no closer to the sword than Ba'al would permit.

  Yet Will paused in shock, in dread fear and fascination. Sudden lines, fine and red as if drawn from a pen, appeared on the priest's face. These split open and blood poured from the thin wounds, drenching the man. The lines then started to trace downwards running beneath the man's clothes and Vogel began tearing at his shirt, ripping it away.

  It was then that another muffled scream caught Will's attention. It was his mother. Gayle hadn't let go of Talitha's hand and was now jerking about trying to free herself, her eyes were wild with panic.

  "It's taking me too, Will! Oh God, help! Eeeiiieee!" The scream went right to Will's soul.

  Everything had gone dreadfully wrong and all because Will had hoped for an easy victory. He should not have sent the priest at the gate; rather he should have waited for the demon and challenged him as he had planned. But he had known the pain involved and had so badly wanted to pass the cup from his lips that he had hesitated. And now his misery would be a hundred fold worse.

  "Ba'al," his voice cracked. In his mind, he saw the image of Adrina's arms being rolled up and heard the terrible snapping of her bones. "Ba'al I challenge you." This was louder, but went ignored as the priest fell to floor and looked to be attacking himself. "Ba'al Zubel! Do you fear me? Are you afraid of Will Jern?"

  This last could not be ignored and the demon turned on Will and their minds clashed.

  It was not an epic battle of titanic forces, rather it was one man looking small in the presence of his foe, the dread Ba'al Zubel, ruler of the eternal Void.

  The world and the room around Will went black and became at first intangible and then distant, as if it no longer mattered. The one thing that did was the demon. It had grown to magnificent proportions, a tremendous fiend with jet-black wings that stretched beyond into the darkness that surrounded them. Its greedy mouth was filled with long sharp, rapacious teeth and its hunger for Will's soul was undeniable.