Another figure came from the stairs. This was a fifth commando and he carried the frail form of Sebastian Clarke in his arms. The old man gave an approving look at the carnage and his eyes fell upon Asami chained to the altar. His yellow-toothed grin spread wide and Asami quickly realized it wasn’t her that caught his interest, but the mural behind her.
“Roland?” asked Sebastian.
“Three survivors,” said Roland, spinning his prisoner around to face Sebastian. Roland looked down at Derek Hudson with great interest. “You’ll want to see this, sir.”
Sebastian motioned forward and his man carried him over, moving behind the altar. Once Sebastian laid eyes on Hudson’s body, his eyes lit up with fascination. “Yes…it exists…”
“Do we need him?” asked Roland, keeping the barrel of the gun pressed to his prisoner’s forehead.
“No, he’s useless,” said Sebastian. Roland gave a nod and pulled the trigger. The cultist collapsed in a heap, blood seeping from the bullet hole in his head.
“The hell is wrong with you?” asked Elisa, struggling against her captors.
“Put me down, Gordon,” said Sebastian. The commando set Sebastian beside Hudson, who seemed to have retreated back into his near-comatose state after everything that had happened in the past hour. Sebastian ran his wrinkled fingers over the carvings in Hudson’s flesh, tracing the script. “Finally…after all these years…”
“Someone mind filling me in? I’m a little lost here,” said Lucas.
“It’s Hudson!” said Asami. “He carved the Necronomicon into his body!”
“Shit…” muttered Elisa. She struggled more against the captors, but they held her tightly.
Asami fixed her gaze on one of the men who held her partner and the kitsune’s eyes began to burn. “Elisa, kagande!”
Elisa stopped struggling and looked up to see Asami’s face in the midst of transformation. She immediately bent forward as best she could and Asami opened her mouth wide. A small fireball formed within her jaws and shot forth, striking Elisa’s captor in his head. He screamed and released his prisoner, hands going to his burning face. The other three soldiers were so shocked their grasp slackened just enough for Lucas and Elisa to pull free. Elisa kicked one of the men in the jaw, throwing him against the wall. She grabbed his weapon from his loosened grip.
Lucas took the handgun from the holster of one of the soldiers, a Beretta M9, and opened fire on the two men who held him. Before they could take another step, Roland pointed his own weapon at Asami and Gordon drew his Beretta, aiming it at Lucas and Elisa. The pair of myth hunters froze in their tracks, their newly-obtained guns aimed right back at the two commandos.
“One wrong move and she dies,” said Roland.
Lucas shrugged. “Go ahead, shoot the bitch. Never cared much for her any way.”
“Shut up!” said Elisa.
“Sir, we have what we need, let’s get out of here,” said Roland.
Sebastian ignored the advice of his number two, so mesmerized was he by the carvings in Hudson’s flesh. He traced the markings over Hudson’s chest and abdomen, speaking the words of the Necronomicon in a hushed voice. The markings inexplicably lit up like burning embers, and Hudson’s back arched, heaving his torso into the air. Sebastian placed his hands on Hudson’s chest and shut his eyes, his mouth open in a state of what could only be described as ecstasy.
The air quickly cooled and the candles flickered. Everyone present heard a ringing in their ears, one that sounded like a chorus of agonized souls wailing in pain. Roland and Gordon backed as far away from Sebastian, Hudson, and the altar as possible. Asami looked down from the altar, her eyes widening.
“I dunno what the hell’s going on, but I’m gonna go on a limb and say it’s probably not good.”
Sebastian rose from the ground, standing for the first time in years under his own power. Although he still looked the same, there was no mistaking that he’d been infused with a new kind of vitality. He opened his eyes and they held the same emerald glow as those of the Dark Priest. Sebastian circled around the altar and saw the Dark Priest’s body. He held up his hand and the Dark Priest’s body rose, hovering in the air. The man went into a coughing fit and Sebastian grinned.
“Still alive? Good. That makes this next part so much more satisfying.”
“D-don’t…” muttered the Dark Priest, his voice weak. “It will…consume you…”
The muscles in Sebastian’s outstretched fingers tightened and the Dark Priest’s body seized up. He screamed, an aura of green surrounding him and extending from his body down to Sebastian’s outstretched hand. The Dark Priest’s body quickly lost mass, shriveling and decaying into a near-lifeless husk. As that change occurred, another happened to Sebastian Clarke. His body grew taller, stronger. His skin tightened and the wrinkles faded. The hair that had gone white with age now quickly darkened. The yellowed teeth were now a bright white. And the eyes still possessed the same sinister intensity coupled with the unholy glow.
CHAPTER SEVENTEEN
The Dark Priest’s body hit the ground with a loud thump, his arm going limp and hanging over the edge of the dais. Roland and Gordon now both held their guns on their employer. Sebastian Clarke was a new man in every sense of the word—youthful, vital, and strong.
“S-sir?” asked Roland.
“Calm down, Roland. It’s still me,” said Sebastian.
With Roland and Gordon distracted by Sebastian’s new surge of power, Lucas took the opportunity to take out Sebastian. He squeezed the trigger of the Beretta, emptying all remaining rounds into the once-elderly man. Roland and Gordon reacted almost instantly, returning Lucas’ fire.
Elisa grabbed Lucas and shoved him to the ground, shooting back as she did and striking Gordon twice in the arm. Roland checked Gordon and Elisa slapped Lucas. “You trying to get us killed?”
“I saw an opportunity and I went for it,” said Lucas.
A dark chuckle erupted. The gunfight happened so quickly that no one noticed Sebastian’s body never fell. He stood upright and looked down amusingly at the holes Lucas’ bullets had punched into his body.
“Yet another failure, Mr. Davalos,” said Sebastian. “You’re starting to rack those up, it seems.”
“How?” asked Lucas. “Roland took out the guy in the robe with one shot.”
“Our old friend grew weak with age. Like I once had,” said Sebastian.
“Sir, we have everything we need,” said Roland. “Take the man with the Necronomicon and get out of here.”
“That is exactly what I plan to do.” Sebastian turned and made a gesture. Hudson rose in the air, still unconscious. But he awoke as Sebastian concentrated his power on tearing the man’s flesh from his bones. Hudson wailed in extreme pain, his skin with the precious text of the Necronomicon on it peeling from his body, blood flowing everywhere. Hudson could do nothing more than scream out and with every cry, Sebastian’s grin widened.
Hudson’s bloody muscles were exposed to the world, and his eyes pleaded for release from the pain. Sebastian granted that, draining the energy from Hudson just as he had done to the Dark Priest. Sebastian then hurled Hudson’s body across the room and it struck the wall right near Elisa and Lucas, leaving a bloody smear leading down to the limp form.
Sebastian concentrated next on the skin, moving his hands in methodical gestures, folding the skin over and over again until it was compacted enough to be held in his hands. The blood still remained however, leaking through his fingers and hitting the floor.
“You’re a monster…” muttered Elisa. “Do you have any idea what you’ve done?”
“Of course I do,” said Sebastian. “I’ve guaranteed my survival for the next several centuries.”
“Sir, we should leave,” said Roland. “Gordon’s been injured.”
Sebastian glanced over at Gordon. “Yes, I see that. Allow me.” He held up a hand and quickly turned his wrist. Gordon’s head followed that exact movement, rapidly twisting and a c
rack that indicated the snap of his neck. Gordon dropped at Roland’s feet, who just stared at his teammate in shock.
“M-Mr. Clarke…?”
“You’ve been a very faithful lieutenant, Mr. Palmer,” said Sebastian. “But I’m afraid your services are no longer required.”
Elisa held up her gun at Sebastian. “You really think I’m going to let you walk out of here with the Necronomicon?”
“I don’t think you’re really in a position to protest, Ms. Hill,” said Sebastian.
“You’re just going to kill us now, huh?” asked Lucas.
Sebastian snickered. “Oh, heavens no. What I did to Gordon would be far too clean for you. I have something else in mind.” Sebastian looked down at the skin and read out a portion of the text. Once again, the symbols burned brightly and there was a sound of grunting and moaning.
They looked down at the dead bodies. One by one the bodies stirred, rising up from the ground and standing under their own power. They were mindless slaves to Sebastian’s power, capable of only one thing—devouring any living flesh they encountered.
“I hope you enjoy your last moments together,” said Sebastian. “Oh and Ms. Hill, Ms. Asami, I can’t thank you enough. None of this would have happened if not for your hard work.”
Elisa tried to move after Sebastian as he ascended the staircase, but the zombies blocked her path. She brought up her gun and fired into a few heads, striking others who came too close with the pistol’s handle. Lucas was out of ammunition and could only use his gun as a blunt weapon, holding it by the barrel and striking as hard as he could.
Roland still had ammunition and he fired a round into Gordon’s head on the dais, then another into the face of the orderly who had held Hudson. He heard the rattling of chains and his attention was drawn to Asami.
“Hey, d’ya mind?”
Roland considered his options and realized he didn’t have many. He aimed his gun at the lock and looked at Asami. “No hard feelings about threatening to shoot you, right?”
“I think that’s the least of your worries right now, cowboy!”
Roland gave a nod and fired at the lock, blowing it open. Asami rose from the altar and pulled the chains from her body. She looked up and saw the zombies coming towards the dais. Asami pounced, growling as her claws emerged in mid-jump. When she tackled the zombie, the claws were fully elongated and tore easily into the dead flesh.
Elisa fired into another zombie. She hadn’t used a gun in forever and her aim was a bit rusty. To make matters worse, she was quickly running short on bullets. “I don’t have enough ammo for all of them!” she shouted.
“Hill!”
She heard her name shouted by Roland. When she looked in his direction, she saw him toss something in the air. They were her kukri daggers. Elisa handed the gun off to Lucas and jumped while the zombies tried to grab at her legs. She caught the daggers in both hands and landed with her knees bent. The zombies allowed her some space for a brief instant and Elisa held each kukri in a reverse grip, a smile spreading over her face.
“Now we’re talking.”
A zombie lunged towards her. Elisa drove one of the daggers into his forehead. She heard a snarl from behind and she took the first kukri out, turning just enough to jam the second blade into another zombie’s chest. A third zombie approached from behind, but Lucas squeezed off a quick shot from the gun Elisa handed to him, hitting the creature between its eyes.
Asami fought at the foot of the steps to the dais. Her hands moved like an orange blur, leaving a trail of red in the wake of her claws. The kitsune’s actions cleared enough of a path for Roland to descend the steps, unloading his Beretta on any zombies that came close enough.
“Did you know about this?” asked Asami.
Roland shook his head. “Not a damn clue! You think I would’ve come along with Clarke if I knew he was going to stick me in an episode of The Walking Dead?”
“Honestly, I’ve got no idea,” said Asami. “Seen people do crazier shit of their own free will.”
“I’ll do a lot of crazy shit for money, but raising zombies is where I draw the line.”
“I just love a man with principles,” said Asami.
Elisa twirled the kukri in her hands, switching to a standard grip. She jumped at one of the zombies, crossing her arms and separating them rapidly, tearing into the beast’s throat. Blood spilled down the front of his hospital scrubs and he collapsed before her. Behind where he stood, two other zombies came at her. Elisa stepped and turned, performing a spinning roundhouse that struck both her opponents across their faces.
A zombie came too close to Lucas and he struck his elbow in its face. He pivoted and blew a hole in the undead head. Lucas brought his gun up, holding it in both hands, but when he pulled the trigger, there was only a click. Lucas groaned and pistol-whipped the closest zombie. He ducked and charged into a lunging zombie, flipping it onto its back. Lucas stood upright and turned, stomping on the zombie’s head until it was nothing more than a splatter. “I’m out!”
“You forget who half these zombies used to be?” shouted Roland.
Lucas understood what he meant—a lot of them were the mercenaries Sebastian hired and they still had their guns and spare ammunition. Lucas stuck the empty Beretta into the waistband of his pants so he could pick up one of the automatic rifles. He checked the ammunition and pulled the trigger. The magazine quickly fed the bullets one after another through the rifle, perforating any of the zombies that came too close to him. He almost wanted to laugh as he unloaded his new toy on them. It wasn’t often he had the opportunity to kill like this with so little impunity.
Roland ejected an empty magazine from his gun and drew a fresh one from his belt. The entire process of reloading took just a moment, becoming nearly a reflex from years of practice. Once the new clip was ready, Roland didn’t waste a second firing off several more shots into the closest attackers.
Asami moved away from Roland, cutting a path through the zombies. She had only one goal in mind and that was protecting Elisa. Asami’s claws tore through her foes with a wrathful fury she often didn’t display, but she wouldn’t let anything happen to her partner.
Elisa didn’t notice Asami’s approach, she was too busy extracting a dagger from a lifeless zombie’s throat. When another zombie was about to ambush her, Asami grabbed its head and twisted with such force that she tore it from the neck. That was the final zombie and Asami scoffed at the head before tossing it over her shoulder. Her transformation took place, changing her back into the form of a young, Japanese beauty.
“Why is it every time you ask me to go somewhere, I end up getting captured and almost killed?”
Elisa shrugged and wiped the daggers on her shorts, which she had worn ever since Tahiti. “Just lucky, I guess.”
Lucas began salvaging weapons and ammunition from the dead commandos. As he went about his work, he noticed Roland staring at him and balked. “What? They’ve got no more use for it.”
“No, it’s fine,” said Roland, a sigh escaping his lips while he holstered his gun.
Lucas looked at the head of the soldier whose magazines he was lifting. The man’s face was reduced to hamburger after taking several rounds. “Were you close with these guys?”
Roland shook his head, resting his hands on his belt. “Clarke hired them for this gig. Gordon, though. I knew him.”
Lucas gave a tiny nod. “I’m sorry.”
“Don’t be, he was an asshole.”
Lucas chortled. “Sorry about all that shit on the plane. It was just—”
“Posturing, I know. Trying to get under my skin, make me sloppy. Would’ve probably done the same in your place,” said Roland.
The women came over and rejoined the men. They all stood facing each other in a circle. “So what happens now?” asked Asami.
“We know the Necronomicon’s real and worse, Clarke’s found a way to access some of its power,” said Elisa. “But it could be worse than that.”
> “He can move shit with his mind and command zombies, how could it possibly be worse?” asked Roland.
“Because if the Necronomicon is real, it only follows that the legends of it have some truth to them,” said Elisa. “And based on that, I’m willing to bet that Clarke hasn’t even begun to scratch the surface of what that thing is capable of.”
“So we gotta find and kill him before he finishes his studies,” said Asami.
“Didn’t you see what happened?” asked Roland, gesturing to the dais. “Lucas emptied a magazine into Clarke and it didn’t even slow him down. How are you going to kill that?”
“Ever kill a Dragon King?” asked Asami.
Roland blinked, taken aback by the question. “A…what?”
“Exactly,” said Asami. “Relax, cowboy, this is what we do.”
“Everything has a weakness, something we can exploit,” said Elisa. “We just have to find Clarke’s.”
Lucas folded his arms. “And fast. Can’t risk him spending too much time alone with that book…or whatever it is.”
A noise came from the dais. The quartet turned their heads and they were surprised to see the Dark Priest weakly raising his arm. Elisa ran over to his side with the others following. She knelt down beside him and pulled his hood back. Beneath it, he had brown skin and his head was completely free of hair. Whatever Sebastian had done to him left him wrinkled, almost like a mummy. His eyes, once green and burning with ancient power, were now a dark brown and the spark of life was barely a flicker.
“Take it easy,” said Elisa.
He shook his head. “No…not much time…”
“He knows something about the Necronomicon,” said Asami, standing over Elisa with her hands on her hips. “Said something about sacrificing me to end his torment. Called me an ‘unclean.’”
“He meant you’re not human,” said Elisa.
Curse of the Necronomicon (The Myth Hunter Book 3) Page 8
