by K X Douglas
“That still sounds like a lot of practice.”
“Eh, you get used to it. I’ve honestly only been to a couple rehearsals so far. We’re gonna try and get together at least once this week to rehearse some more, and we’ll have time when we’re setting up at the concert, too.”
The bartender came by and refilled their pitcher. Peter and Eric poured themselves another glass, while Lachlan ordered another glass of vodka.
“Peter, you sure you don’t want to tell us what happened last night?” Eric asked. “It sounds pretty rough, whatever it was.”
Peter looked around. In addition to the bartender who came by frequently, there were a few people sitting at nearby tables.
“Not here. Let’s finish our drinks and head back to the dorms.”
Eric blinked.
“Okay,” he said.
Eric paid the tab, and they all walked back to the dorms. Once they were inside, they sat around the coffee table in the living room and Peter filled them in on all that had been happening since the party where they had seen each other last. He left out any references to his true nature.
“Jesus…” Lachlan said.
“Yeah. Like I said, it’s a lot.”
“How in the hell did you manage to avoid being tracked down by the cops?”
Suddenly, Peter felt Eric’s gaze, as if it were burning a hole in his skin.
“You may have noticed that my car isn’t parked in its usual spot,” he said. “I ditched it, then I reported it stolen.”
Lachlan facepalmed.
“Of course! It’s so simple!” he said sarcastically. “But for real, you broke into a prison and busted out someone who just carried out a mass shooting. What the fuck?”
“Like I said, we’re going to need Tadhg’s help in the future now that Professor Carter’s dead. His and Silas’s help. I know that the man’s dangerous, but it’s more dangerous to have him locked up and unable to help us. That night that Isabelle was attacked, way more people could have died.”
“I still can’t remember exactly what happened that night. It’s weird,” Lachlan said. “I’m sure I didn’t drink that much, strip poker notwithstanding.”
“Yeah, memory of that night’s fuzzy for me, too,” Eric said.
Peter couldn’t tell how much of that statement was a lie.
“What exactly do you think is going to happen, that you believe it’s better to have that man go free than to have him locked up?” Lachlan asked.
“Okay, so the first thing you need to know is that I was there when the shooting happened. I was on a date with Victoria.”
“Hold up, I thought you were dating Heidi?” Eric asked.
“Open relationship. Anyways, the real reason I wanted to go was to investigate the ritual they were performing for Mabon because after I read that book that I found in the library, I started having visions of a ritual to summon more of the bug creatures just like the one that showed up on campus the night of the party.”
“Dude…what,” Lachlan said.
“Peter found a magic book in the library,” Eric said. “It’s, like, cursed or something.”
“I suppose that’s one way to put it,” Peter said. “As it turns out, the events in my vision didn’t happen on Mabon, so I’m thinking they’re going to happen on Samhain, which coincides with Halloween. There was a full moon in the sky in my dream, and Halloween will have a full moon this year, so I think that’s when they’ll try to perform the summoning. Tadhg and his son are experienced monster hunters; the professor was one, too.”
“Okay,” Lachlan said. “I think I get it. Aliens are real and shit.”
“Oh, yeah,” Eric said. “This is Serena’s father we’re talking about, by the way. The same Serena who lives a couple doors down from us.”
“What?” Lachlan said. “Anyways, do you have any back-up plans if these people become indisposed? Who else is going to keep people safe if Tadhg gets arrested again and his son isn’t able to help?”
“I have a plan. I can’t really elaborate on it, but I definitely have a back-up plan.”
“Peter, you’re going to have to explain that part at some point. Might as well do it now.”
Peter pinched the bridge of his nose.
“Fuck. I guess you’re right, Eric. Lachlan, there’s one thing you need to know about me.”
“What’s that?” Lachlan asked. “Are you a wizard or something?”
“Um, no. Look, it’s better if I show you.”
Peter stood up from the couch, walked over to an open area of floor, and transformed into his shoggoth form. Mouths opened across his back, peeking through the pile of clothing that was now on top of him, and spoke in unison.
“I’m not human. I am what’s called a shoggoth. For the past twelve years or so, I have been living amongst humans, with none the wiser except Eric and my adoptive parents.”
CHAPTER NINETEEN
Peter watched as Eric and Lachlan stared at him. He transformed back into his human form, donned his clothes and sat back on the couch.
Neither Eric nor Lachlan were bleeding, so Peter surmised that he had done it quickly enough.
“This is too much,” Lachlan said. “This is just too much. So you’re, what, an alien?”
“No,” Peter said. “My kind has only ever lived on Earth. We were created as beasts of burden by creatures known as Elder Things. It was a very tedious and dreary life; we were confined to Antarctica for I don’t know how long.”
“So where’s the real Peter?” Eric asked.
“There isn’t one, so to speak,” Peter said. “Peter Nelson is an identity I created for myself so that I could live among humans.”
“So what does this have to do with your back-up plan?” Lachlan asked.
“I’ve fought the mi-go - the aliens - before,” Peter replied. “I was the one who fought off the one that showed up that night. I can do it again. If someone succeeds in summoning the Old One that I saw in my dream, that’s a different story. We have to prevent that happening at all costs.”
“So we’re going to have to go to this…festival thingy,” Eric said. “On Halloween. Do we know where it is?”
“Probably at the same location where I went with Victoria on our date. But I’ll have to keep a lookout to see if the place changes at any point.”
“What are you going to do in the meantime?” Eric asked.
“I’m not sure,” Peter said. “If both of you want to help, I could get a hold of Silas and have him get you some guns; we could head to the firing range to practice.”
“Would guns even help?” Eric asked. “You made it sound like these things are really dangerous.”
“The mi-go, the insect-like creatures like the one that showed up on campus, are very difficult to kill, but you can do it with a gun. You just need a large quantity of ammunition. The other option is having you learn magic, but that’s much more dangerous.”
“How so?” Lachlan asked.
“You have to study a book like Von Unaussprechlichen Kulten, and humans…aren’t really meant to know the things in those books. It could drive you completely mad before you learn anything that you could use.”
“Oh…okay, then,” Lachlan said.
“The other option I’ve been thinking of is explosives, but I don’t know where to get anything like that,” Peter said. “A sufficient quality of explosives can kill even a god, as Tadhg and the professor apparently learned.”
“Yeah, I don’t think we’re going to be able to get any explosives, man,” Eric said.
“So, guns and magic it is,” Peter replied. “I’m going to get in touch with Tadhg again and see if we can’t track down the rest of his old collection. Who knows? Silas might still have some of his books somewhere. Honestly, I should probably just send him a text.”
Peter pulled out his phone and started typing.
A reply came within minutes.
Peter thought for a moment about whether or not he should tell Silas the truth. He decided against it.
“Okay, I think I can get you both guns. Silas, Serena’s brother, is gonna stop by tomorrow with a bunch of stuff.” Peter said. “Just make sure you have a place where you can hide them when it comes time for inspections. Don’t wanna get kicked out.”
“Sweet, I guess?” Lachlan said. “I’ve never even held a gun before, man.”
“Neither have I,” Eric said.
“I still haven’t needed to use the gun that he gave me before. I’m not looking forward to having to shoot people, let me tell you.”
“If this whole ritual thing is half as dangerous as you make it sound, we might have to kill somebody in order to stop it,” Eric said.
“Yeah, I know. Anyways, I think I’m gonna head out. If Silas comes by tomorrow and gives me the stuff, I’ll bring it over.”
“Take care, man,” Lachlan said. “Hey, see you at the show next weekend?”
“Sure, I’ll be there,” Peter said.
As soon as Peter went outside, he saw that the sun had set, and it would have been dark if not for the streetlights. He walked back to his dorm and spent the night looking up articles on the internet related to Solomon Carter’s death. Many of the articles neglected to mention the cause of death, merely stating that he was “found dead in his home office” and that foul play was not suspected.
I wonder what happened all of a sudden to make him kill himself. Could it have been related to the book? He did say that he was inured to the influences of insanity, but to what degree was he really? Did he know something that nobody else did, and that’s why he decided to kill himself?
Peter heard a knock on his door the next afternoon. He answered and saw Silas on the other side with another duffel bag.
“Here’s your shit,” he said as he handed the bag over to Peter. “Be careful with the books; don’t let anyone else read them. We don’t want randos on campus using magic.”
“Got it.”
“Do you have a plan for what’s going to go down that night?”
“I’m working on one,” Peter said. “Do you by chance know where I can obtain a very large volume of explosives?”
“Are you fucki-…okay, I think I might. I’ll see what I can do. Dad told you the story about how they killed Hastur, didn’t he?”
“Professor Carter did. It’s stuck with me.”
“God…anyways, take care, and good luck. I’ll see you on Halloween.”
“Yeah.”
Peter closed the door. He took the duffel bad inside and set it on his bed. Opening it, he saw several heavy, leather-bound books, handguns, and a decent stockpile of ammunition. He promptly stuffed the guns and ammunition into his mouth, swallowing them and storing them in his torso.
***
When next Friday evening came, Peter looked up the address for the bar where Lavender Universe was playing and cabbed there.
Lavender Universe had booked a show at a local dive bar, opening for another band. Peter and Eric sat at one of the tables beyond the bar counter, close to the stage. People crowded the mosh pit. Moths fluttered around the lights hanging above pool tables.
“Glad you could make it, dude,” Eric said. “Lachlan’s really hyped for this.”
Peter looked towards the stage where the band was setting up. The members all looked to be about the same age. They were dressed like they lived in a thrift shop and had been bathing in neon-coloured paint.
Lachlan hooked his guitar up to the amp and started tuning. About fifteen minutes later, they started the first song. The music, Lachlan had referred to it as “acid rock”, was slow and dense. The song’s bassline was jazz-like, but heavily downtuned, and the drumming switched time signatures often. The vocals were harsh and slurred, as if the singer were already drunk.
He made heavy use of pedals to change the sound coming out of the amp, and it almost eclipsed the minimalistic vocals entirely. Songs blended into each other, as there was no intermission and they did not announce song names in between. The audience seemed to be enraptured all throughout.
The performance lasted for just over a half hour. When they finished their last song, they walked to the front of the stage and bowed to raucous applause.
“We are Lavender Universe!” the vocalist said into the microphone. “We’re local, and this was our first show! Thank you all for coming!”
The band members began hauling their gear off of the stage. Once they were finished, the main act took over and started their sound check. Eventually, Lachlan joined the two of them at their table. He looked absolutely exhausted.
“You did great, man,” Eric said, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Yeah, that was awesome,” Peter said.
“Thanks, guys,” Lachlan replied.
They ordered more drinks as they watched the next band perform. They were called The Epsilon Covenant, and they played similar music to Lavender Universe.
“So, you hear from that guy yet?” Eric asked. He had to yell in order to be heard over the music.
“Yeah, I have your guns and some of Tadhg’s books,” Peter replied.
“How does this work?” Lachlan asked. “Learning magic, I mean.”
“Well, I can read the books ahead of time and point you to the parts where the spells are, so you don’t have to read the whole thing. That’d be really dangerous.”
“And then we just read something and commit it to memory?” Eric asked.
“Yeah, pretty much,” Peter said. “Once you learn a spell or two, we’ll have to find a secluded place if we want to practice. That’s it, really.”
“Have you even heard from this dude since you busted him out of prison?” Lachlan asked.
“Tadhg? Well, not since he texted me to tell me that Professor Carter had killed himself.”
“What’s up with that, anyways?” Lachlan asked. “Are they sure there was no foul play involved?”
“As far as I’ve seen on the news, there wasn’t,” Peter said. “They didn’t announce the cause of death, but I think that’s what you’re supposed to do when someone kills themselves.”
“Do you think there’s anything suspicious about his death from what you’ve read?” Eric asked.
“You know, now that you mention it, I’m not sure,” Peter said. “I can only assume that all the time he’s spent delving into the secrets of the universe finally caught up with him, and he couldn’t handle the truth. He told me that he was inured to all that, but he was only human. I think he finally hit his breaking point.”
The Epsilon Covenant’s set lasted for just under an hour. As they started to pack up, Eric finished his drink and paid the tab.
“I think I’ve had enough to drink for one week. I’m gonna head home.”
When he stood up, he had to brace himself against the back of the chair to avoid stumbling over. He called a cab and shambled to the entrance.
A minute of silence ensued as the bar staff turned on the jukebox and the crowd gradually started to thin. Peter finished his beer and looked over at Lachlan, who had gone through nearly a dozen glasses of vodka across the evening.
“Dude, I’m really glad you could come to the concert.” He slurred his speech almost to the point of gibberish.
“It’s no problem, man,” Peter replied. “I really enjoyed it.”
“You have no fucking idea how much I’ve been stressing over this concert!” Lachlan shouted. “I’m really bad at public speaking and stuff because I’m not good with crowds; I’m the guy who keeps hav
ing the nightmare where you have to give a speech to class and you look down and see that you’re naked!”
“Is this the first time you’ve performed in front of a crowd?”
“Yeah, man, first time. It was really nerve-wracking! I’ve been really stressed out lately with that, and everything that’s been going on around campus, and the stuff you told Eric and I last week…”
“Me too. I’ve been pretty stressed o-.”
“But don’t worry, I’m not, like, scared of you now or anything! I still trust you, man.”
“I’m glad to hear it,” Peter said with a smile.
An awkward silence ensued for nearly a minute.
“Peter, I have a confession to make,” he said.
“What is it?”
But Lachlan said nothing. He simply grabbed Peter by the shoulder, leaned forward, and kissed him.
CHAPTER TWENTY
The kiss lasted for only a few seconds, but to Peter it might as well have lasted an hour. Lachlan’s beard brushed up against his cheeks, and the spicy scent of cologne filled his nostrils. They broke apart, and Lachlan leaned back. A moment later, his expression changed, as if something had dawned on him.
“Fuck! I did that in the wrong order!” he said. “I was supposed to say that I like you first. Fuck!”
Peter could only make a confused expression at the man.
“I fucked up, man. I wasn’t supposed to do that!”
“Lachlan, it’s okay. I don’t mind.”
“No, you don’t understand! This isn’t how it was supposed to happen! I was lost in the moment, and I’ve had too much to drink, and I wasn’t supposed to tell you until we were alone.”
If anyone was watching them at the moment, Peter didn’t care, and apparently neither did Lachlan.
Peter stood up from his seat and embraced the man.
“It’s okay, Lachlan. It’s okay. You’ve done nothing wrong.”
Lachlan could only sob into Peter’s shoulder.
“I’ll call a cab. We can head home; you can get some sleep and sober up. We’ll talk tomorrow.”
I really wish I had Eric’s number right now. That way, I could send him a text and let him know what’s going on.
