Drake (22 page)

According to LaVay he was the Torch of Baphomet, which would make him Azazel – but Azazel was a Hebrew goat-demon, and Baphomet is just a corruption of Mahomet which was the Latinization of Muhammad, so that was nothing but medieval bigotry in action and an obvious dead end. In Arabic lore there was Azazil, which as far as I could see was the same goat thing, and that was supposedly the original name of Iblis who was the Islamic devil. Ah, but then Iblis was originally a djinn not an angel so that didn't work either.
Fuck it!

I made myself take a deep breath and calm down before I lost it and threw one of the precious books through the window. OK, not that then. Back to basics again and try another tack. The name Lucifer means morning star, which equates him with the planet Venus, and therefore by the table of correspondences with the archangel Lumiel. Aha! Lumiel is the archangel of light, which also fits LaVay again who says Lucifer represents enlightenment. The Kabbalah says that Lumiel is sometimes considered to be the angel of the Earth. The name Adam derives from the Hebrew noun
ha adamah
which means… Earth.
Got you!

“Lumiel!” I bellowed, throwing every last ounce of my will in to the command. “Get in here, you cunt!”

O
f course Davidson
did die in the end, about three months later as it turned out. It wasn't a moment too soon as far as I was concerned. He never really forgave me for trying to steal the Burned Man, but he was much too far gone to do anything about it by then. The Burned Man wanted to be mine, we both knew that, and as I've said, it ruled the professor with a rod of iron. I kept going to his flat and there was nothing he could do to stop me. I think he'd realized by then that if I wanted the Burned Man badly enough to try and steal it then I must be praying for his death anyway. One joyous morning he obliged and I found him dead on the living room floor in a puddle of the bloody vomit he had choked on. I left him lying there and went straight to the study.

“It's over,” I said.

The Burned Man looked at me with glittering eyes, and grinned.

“Oh no,” it said, “it's just beginning. You've got real potential, boy, potential like I haven't seen for a thousand years or more. Do what I tell you and I'll make you more powerful than you can possibly imagine.”

T
he bolt
of pure power that shot up my spine from God only knows where almost took my head off. All the same, I couldn't help feeling just a little bit pleased with myself when Adam stepped out of the pitch darkness that had suddenly filled the doorway.

“Oh, very well done,” he said. “You're not as stupid as you look.”

“I need you to get me to wherever Trixie is,” I said. “Right now.”

He chuckled. “Oh do you now? You might know my name, diabolist, but you are a very long way from being able to order me about. You are a very long way away from that indeed, especially now that you appear to have lost the Burned Man.”

“Why do you think I want to find her?” I snapped at him. “I want it back!”

“Mmmm, I dare say you do,” he said. “You aren't all that much without it, are you?”

I gave him an ugly look. Partly because he was right, admittedly. But then again, he was there, wasn't he?

“I'm enough to get you here when I want you, you bugger,” I said. “No Burned Man this time, that was all me. I'm
that
much, mate.”

I realized that what I had just said was actually true. I never knew I had it in me, to be perfectly honest with you. The enormity of what I had done slowly began to sink in, and right then I wasn't sure how much I really liked it after all. I had managed to summon him without any help from the Burned Man, without any ritual or ingredients or anything, and that was some impressive shit whichever way you looked at it. Only now that I actually
did
look at it, of course, I realized that meant I had summoned him without any protection whatsoever.
Oh shit.

Adam smiled. A bit, anyway.

“I suppose you are,” he admitted after a moment. “Isn't it astonishing what one can sometimes find out about oneself… in extremis. Oh very well, I don't really care if you want your nasty little fetish back. What about Meselandrarasatrixiel?”

Now I don't know how much you know about controlling a summoned demon, but I'm going to take a guess at not much. Even when I'm working with the Burned Man and using the grand summoning circle and the best ingredients available they can still put up a bitch of a fight sometimes. I had called Adam without so much as a basic ring of salt around me. That was sort of like jumping out of a plane without a parachute at the best of times, except in this case I might as well have doused myself in petrol and set myself on fire before I jumped. This wasn't just any summoned demon after all, this was
Lucifer
for fuck's sake. I thought my head was about to split open from the effort I was having to put into this.

“You can have her,” I said. “She stole from me, the bitch. I just want Debbie back, and I want what's rightfully mine.”

I hurled my Will at him so hard sweat broke out all over my body and my knees began to tremble as my mind ranted at him in desperate fury.
Thou shalt do my bidding Lumiel, I bind thee to my Will Lumiel Lucifer Morningstar, my Will be done I
command
you to do my bidding!

Oh dear God what was I doing? I
command
you? Wasn't that exactly what he had been trying to tempt Trixie to do? I could feel that quicksand beneath me again, shifting, sinking ever downwards. Fuck it, it was too late to worry about that now.

“Well…” Adam said, and his thin lips slowly twisted into a cruel smile. “Oh, I suppose it might be fun to watch, at that. You can have your woman and your Burned Man, and I get the angel. Deal?”

My words do not bind me to thee, fallen abomination. I command thee, Lumiel Lucifer. My Will prevail, my Will be done.

“Deal,” I lied.

“Very well then,” he said. “Come with me.”

He gestured towards the impenetrable darkness filling the doorway. Just then I noticed the talisman lying on the floor beside the altar where Trixie had obviously discarded it. I had no way of knowing if there was any more of the opening spell left in it or not, but I picked it up and slipped it into my pocket anyway. You never knew, it might still work and if it did there was always a chance it might come in handy. I nodded and followed him into the shadows.

I
stepped
out of the darkness and stood beside Lucifer, the first of the fallen. Fuck me, I never thought I'd get to say that.

“Well,” he said, “is this what you were looking for, diabolist?”

I stared at the sight in front of me. We were back in the same underground car park or whatever it was that Ally and her sisters had dragged me to when they had kidnapped me that time before. There was even a parked van, albeit a different one. That was all that was the same, though.

The whole space seemed to be burning, and howling with an unnatural hot wind. Trixie and Ally were circling each other like furious lionesses, Ally cutting and slashing with the steel claws of her right hand. She had made up for the loss of the other set with a long, wickedly curved black dagger. Trixie had a flaming sword in her right hand, and in her left she held the Burned Man tightly around its middle. Both of the women had minor cuts and scratches in half a dozen places already, and the look on their faces was pure murder. I watched their steel ballet in stunned silence until Trixie turned enough for me to see her face properly. Her eyes were on fire.

That always happens.

“Dear God,” I whispered.

She must have seen us there, for all that. She gestured urgently for me to keep out of the way. I had no idea how she was withstanding the Burned Man's curse, but somehow she was. Her face was set in a mask of furious concentration as she cut and thrust one-handed with her sword, flames boiling from between her eyelids. I wondered how she could even see at all any more. I started towards her, but Adam put a restraining hand on my shoulder.

“Your woman is in the vehicle,” he said.

My woman…
Debbie!
I hadn't forgotten her, honest to God I hadn't, it was just that the sight of Trixie and Ally battling it out like that had knocked all other thoughts out of my head. I wrenched free of Adam's grip and dashed towards the van, dodging pools of liquid fire on the ground as I went, and never stopping to wonder exactly where they had come from. It looked like both the girls had brought out their big guns tonight, and to be honest, the less I had to do with their war the better it was likely to be for the state of my health. I ducked and dived my way to the back of the van, and pulled myself inside. And there was Debbie.

Ally hadn't been gentle with her, that was for certain. She was still dressed, sort of, that was something I supposed. All the same, Ally's bullwhip had cut great bloody slashes through her jeans and T-shirt, and she had been beaten black and blue. She was tied up with the same greasy nylon rope that Meg had used on me when her and Tess had dragged me here the first time.

“Don?” Debbie croaked as she looked up at me through swollen blackened eyes, obviously struggling to focus. “Don, is that you?”

Oh dear God, this was all my fault. I knew it was, and I could see in her face that she knew damn well that it was too.

“Yeah baby, it's me,” I said.

She was tied to some sort of crude wooden frame that had been erected in the back of the van, her wrists and ankles bound tightly to the rough, splintery uprights. If I'd been one of those macho guys who carry a big knife around with them I could have slashed through her bonds and carried her dramatically off to freedom, but I'm afraid I've never been that sort of bloke at all. I frowned for a moment, then fished Lavender's talisman out of my pocket.

One more charge,
I prayed,
please God give me just one more charge in this fucking thing
. I pressed my thumb down on the mystery third glyph, and focused. The talisman shivered in my hand, and I felt the mental image of a cutting edge appear in my mind. This was obviously the same spell that Trixie had used to cut the Burned Man out of my altar. If it would go through that then I reckoned it could certainly cut through a few ropes.

I moved the talisman carefully in my hand, focusing the image of the cutting edge on the ropes and being very careful indeed to keep it away from Debbie herself. Trixie had said it was for opening things, and I dreaded to think what might happen if you were to slip up and open a person by mistake. The ropes parted like butter in front of a chemical laser, and Debbie sagged forwards as the tension released in her shoulders and legs. I had almost finished cutting through the last of the ropes when the remaining power in the spell gave out. I dropped the now useless talisman on the floor of the van and tore at the last frayed rope with my fingernails until it finally gave way. I pulled Debbie into my arms and held her tightly.

“It's OK, baby,” I whispered into her hair. “It's OK, I've got you now. I won't ever let you go again.”

I thought maybe I could get to quite like this white knight business after all. You know, rescuing the fair maiden from the foul monster and all that. Right at that moment it had a certain sort of appeal, I had to admit. Debbie wrenched free of my arms and put her whole body behind a right hook that felt like it almost broke my jaw.

“You son of a bitch!” she screamed at me. “Do you seriously think I want anything to do with you after this? Are you fucking
insane?
Your slut
tortured
me, because of you! Get out of my life! Get out of my fucking
sight!
”

Oh dear. So much for the big heroic rescue, then.

“I can't really do that right now,” I said, rubbing the side of my jaw where she had belted me. “There's World War Bitch going on outside, in case you hadn't noticed.”

I turned to look over my shoulder, and saw that it was still true. Ally and Trixie were raining hell on each other out there while Adam stood back well out of the way with his hands in the pockets of his overly expensive-looking coat, watching with a smug smile on his face.

The Burned Man's curse must have been really taking its toll on Trixie, because Ally was easily giving as good as she got now, if not more so. I watched in astonishment as she raised the black dagger overhead and raked her claws down its blade, striking sparks. Crimson lightning flared along the length of the curved blade, and another pool of liquid fire erupted from the ground at Trixie's feet.

“Damn it!” Trixie screamed as she threw herself out of the way, rolling and coming up to her feet in her guard position with the Burned Man still clutched tightly in her other hand. “How are you so strong, you whore?”

Ally threw her head back and laughed, her long red hair blowing in the hot wind that seemed to be coming from the fires themselves.

“I made a deal,” she said, circling Trixie again now with her dagger held low down by her left hip. “Your pretty boyfriend doesn't love you any more, sweetcheeks.”

I darted a glance at Adam, but his smooth face still bore the same highly punchable expression of self-satisfaction that it usually did.

“You're lying!” Trixie shouted at her.

“He gave me my sisters back,” Ally said. “Oh, you may have destroyed their bodies but they're right here, inside me. Three Furies in one flesh, three times the power. Oh, and he gave me
this!
”

She feinted with her claws and drove the dagger savagely upwards with her other hand. Trixie twisted away at the last moment, but the evil-looking black blade still carved a long scratch in her side. Trixie staggered backwards as red lightning flickered along the length of the wound. She dashed the back of her sword-arm across her burning eyes.

Ally laughed again. “And all I have to do in return is kill you!”

“Adam!” Trixie wailed. “Tell me this isn't true, Adam!”

“Three Furies trapped in one body, my dear,” Adam said. He didn't seem to raise his voice, yet it boomed quite clearly over the howling wind all the same. “Destroy her now, and you destroy all of them at a stroke. You can end your war forever, right here and now.”

“Oh you
shit!
” Ally said.

“I
can't
,” Trixie screamed. “They can't die!”

Ally attacked again, her face twisted into a livid grimace of hatred. Trixie fell back before the flurry of blows, her sword moving in a blur as she parried desperately. Whether Furies could die or not seemed to be a moot point by then, from what I could see. At this rate, Trixie was going to lose.

“Use the power of Hell, and you can do anything!” Adam bellowed.

Trixie screamed in pain and rage, and caught Ally with a spinning kick so hard it made her fly backwards across the burning concrete.

“I don't know how!” Trixie sobbed. She held the Burned Man aloft, shaking it in her hand. “Kill her, you little monster!”

“Get fucked,” the Burned Man said. “You
stole
me, you mad bint. You want me to help you? Fucking make me.”

To force your will straight down into Hell and take control of a demon directly without the use of the ritual summoning circle or any of the required ingredients was the very pinnacle of the diabolist's art. This wasn't even just raw summoning, like I had somehow managed to do with Adam. This was total mind control, utter domination. It was the highest level of attainment one could reach, or the lowest level of damnation to which one could sink, depending on your point of view. I had never even attempted it myself, but that was exactly what Adam was urging Trixie to do now – and so was the Burned Man. Oh yes, it thought it could break free if she fell all right, and by then I believed it.

Ally was getting back to her feet now, the dagger held out in front of her like a pistol. She slashed her claws against it once more, triggering it somehow, and lightning flickered and then leapt from the blade and arced through the air to strike Trixie in the chest. She screamed and fell to her knees. Her sword tumbled from her fingers and lay there burning, but she still gripped the Burned Man tightly in her other hand.

“Do what I tell you!” she shrieked at it, almost demented in her rage.

I could see she was focusing the full force of her will into the Burned Man now. The corona of white light around her flared like the sun for a moment, then the illusion collapsed as she lost concentration on it. I gaped as I saw the corrupted horror of her true aura. Her golden glow was streaked with writhing threads of black and green rot.

She's not quite as angelic as she used to be, Ally had said.

No shit.

Trixie's hair was on fire now, and molten flames were licking out of the corners of her eyes and running down her cheeks like tears. The Burned Man bellowed with laughter in her shaking grip.

“Do it now!” Adam urged her. “Three Furies in one body – destroy the trinity and you can be free at last. Use the power, Meselandrarasatrixiel! Reach down its throat into Hell and
make
it obey you!”

“That's right Blondie,
make
me!”

She has her own path to follow, Adam had told me, but you know what? Fuck Adam. Trixie needed my help right then, and I owed it to her. I owed her this much for forgiving me, if nothing else, and the look of naked lust on the Burned Man's face was enough to convince me. I couldn't just stand by and let this happen any longer.

I jumped out of the back of the van and ran to Trixie's side, dodging around the flames and narrowly avoiding a swipe of Ally's claws that would probably have disembowelled me on the spot.

“Trixie, no!” I screamed at her. “Don't! It's not worth it,
she's
not worth it! If you fall now they'll never let you go home. Give me back the Burned Man and
I'll
do it! It's not too late for you. I'm damned anyway, but you… you're not, Trixie. Please, I can't watch you fall!”

I dropped to my knees beside her and reached out my hands for the Burned Man.

“Leave… me…
alone!
” she bellowed.

Trixie swept an arm out and hurled me bodily away from her, sending me sprawling. She turned back to Ally with a look of pure, simple hatred. Flames erupted from her right hand and streaked across the expanse of burning concrete. Ally threw herself out of their way with an expression of astonishment and sudden horror on her face.

“Come and take me, angel!” the Burned Man roared at her, its poisonous black aura billowing around it. “Shitting hellfire but I've been looking forward to this!”

“You…” Trixie snarled, and turned the full savagery of her insane stare on the Burned Man. “You will… do… as I…
command!
”

“Yes!” Adam hissed.

Trixie's own aura was darkening by the second, the rotten-looking black streaks spreading and expanding as though they were eating what was left of the beautiful golden angel she had once been. I struggled onto my knees, beginning to despair as I watched it happen before my eyes.

“Help her!” I screamed in sheer desperation. “Excelsior Deus trismegistus in nomine Patris et Filii et Spiritus Sancti for fuck's sake someone help her! Please, she's
falling!
”

The very world tore open.

Golden light and thunder and searing heat and freezing, howling terror filled my head to bursting point. It felt as though every nuclear explosion in history had all happened at once, right behind me. A wave of indescribable pressure hurled me onto my face on the stained concrete and pinned me down in obeisance.

A single word shattered the air like a sonic boom.

“
Stop
.”

“Dominion!” Trixie wailed.

I managed to lift my head enough to see the Burned Man tumble from her hands. Its monstrous black aura shrivelled, and all the fires went out at once. Trixie collapsed to the floor in a sobbing, smouldering heap. Adam turned on his heel and disappeared into the darkness. Ally gaped at me, at whatever was behind me. She shrieked. Her mouth stretched wide in an endless scream of agony, opening so far that it tore at the edges. Her long red hair crisped to ashes and blew away. Skin and flesh split open and peeled bloodlessly back from her face and from her hands and her throat and scalp until the blackened skeleton beneath was exposed. Maggots and grave worms writhed in the open cavities of her desiccated flesh as her eyes boiled and collapsed into her head.