The Peregrine Omnibus Volume One (52 page)

CHAPTER V

The Horror Grows

Ellen’s escort was a thin shifty-eyed man named Hermann. Hermann didn’t bother to engage her in small talk as he led her down the same hallway that Max had traveled past only moments before. He did ask her once if she had any special requirements, which momentarily confused her.

“Implements,” he explained. “Like certain kinds of knives or rope… and costumes. Do you want to have special clothing set out for you to wear?”

Ellen found herself wondering who this fellow was and how he’d come to be here. He looked like he should have been at home, playing with a dog while his wife fixed dinner in the kitchen. “What do you like to do with them? I’m new at this,” she said with a soft giggle, the kind that usually made men melt in her presence.

The question seemed to disturb him. “I don’t take part in those kinds of things. I… serve a different function. We all play our parts.” He gestured towards one of the doors and began backing away. “She’s inside there. Enjoy yourself.”

Ellen stared at his retreating form for a moment. This entire affair was far more confusing than she’d ever anticipated. From what little they’d learned about Bloodwerks, Ellen had expected nothing more than a group of spoiled sadists looking for victims to play with. Instead, they had dead men walking about with no memory of having died… and servants who seemed anything but pleased with their work.

Ellen turned back to the door and reached out with a trembling hand. She obviously wasn’t planning to actually hurt whoever had been selected for her to torture but she wasn’t sure how she was going to manage to hide that fact on her way out. She considered asking Max for advice but didn’t want to use the mental link in that fashion. It seemed taxing for the Peregrine and Ellen wanted to hold it in reserve for as long as possible.

She moved into the dim interior of the room, letting the door slam shut behind her. She wasn’t quite sure what to expect, but what she received as her eyes adjusted to the gloom was the absolute unexpected. There, tied up and whimpering before her, was her missing friend Sally Wingforth.

* * *

Max held the struggling German tightly with one hand, reaching into an interior pocket of his own coat with the other. He pulled forth a dagger that shone a brilliant yellow in the dim light. The Knife of Elohim was a mystical weapon that had once been bathed in the blood of Christ and the Peregrine considered it one of the most potent weapons in his arsenal.

“Talk to me, Horst. Or I’ll kill you again… You really don’t remember what happened the last time?”

Horst suddenly realized that he was in deep trouble. His eyes widened noticeably and he began to stammer. “Pl-please, Mr. Davies! I can explain.”

“I killed you on the train. You turned to dust.”

“Let me show you something,” Horst begged. “Please.”

“Don’t try anything, Horst… or I’ll see how you like dying a second time.”

The German let out a sigh as the Peregrine relaxed his hold enough for the slender man to fumble around in his pockets. He drew forth a small black stone painted with a red circle on the very top. “This is a Soul Blade.” He flicked it from side to side as he spoke, causing something to ‘snap’ inside it. The rock was suddenly transformed into a shimmering purple knife that shimmered and crackled in the air.

Max narrowed his eyes, staring at the odd device. It seemed to send off an air of foreboding that chilled the blood in Max’s veins. “That thing’s straight out of hell,” the Peregrine whispered.

“Most people come in and kill their victims, Mr. Davies. That what they’ve paid for… but some people can agree to become more than that. They can offer their souls to a higher power—the Old Ones who serve as the backing forces behind Bloodwerks. I did that. My soul was taken from me and split into six pieces, each occupy a ceramic body mystically shaped to look human. That’s what this shell is… and what it was you killed earlier.”

“And the blade does… what does it do exactly?”

“We use it to scrape out a person’s soul—it does it magically, without harming the body. Once the soul is separated, it can be bent to the will of the club and split into its new shells. The body that’s left behind—the human form—can then be inhabited by one of the Old Ones. They were banished from the human plane but by taking over a body of flesh and blood, they can avoid the curse that sent them into the void.”

“So you’re telling me that not only are there six of you in ceramic shells… but there’s a demon running around in your original body?”

“There are only five of my ceramic forms now,” Horst reminded him with a trace of bitterness. “Once all six are destroyed, my soul goes straight to hell.”

“Sally Wingforth,” the Peregrine said, giving the man another good shake. “Do you remember her?”

“I recognize her name. She was originally going to die for my pleasure but one of the Old Ones coveted her body—and I could understand why. So young and firm…! So I scraped out her soul and she became one of us. Like me.”

The Peregrine hefted the Knife of Elohim. “Horst… two down. Four to go.”

Before the German could respond, the Peregrine plunged the dagger into the villain’s chest. Within seconds, the sadist was gone, leaving behind only the stench of death and a pile of ceramic ash.

Looking back to the still terrified girl who was bound to the room’s only piece of furniture, the Peregrine managed a smile. “I’m going to get you out of here… and I’m going to take down the bastards who did this to you.”

The girl’s eyes shone with sudden relief.

CHAPTER VI

The Old Ones

McKenzie ignored the whining that came from the bound young man in the corner. The victim that had been selected for the Georgia lawman looked to be in his early thirties, with reddish-brown hair and penetrating green eyes. He was naked save for a small loin cloth that hid his genitals.

McKenzie walked over the length of the room, checking to make sure there were no hidden listening or recording devices. Once he was certain he was safe, he finally turned his attentions to the imprisoned figure. He knelt at the boy’s side, disgusted at the way the boy flinched from his touch. He wasn’t angry at the youth but rather at the group of people who had instilled such fear into him.

“Listen,” he said, beginning to untie the fellow’s bonds. “Don’t scream, okay? I’m not going to hurt you. I’m with people who are trying to shut this place down.”

The man stared at him with confused eyes but he stood up quickly as soon as his limbs were free and began screaming for help at the top of his lungs.

“Wait!” McKenzie exclaimed. “What are you doing? I told you to be quiet!”

The man answered in a rash of gibberish that McKenzie vaguely recognized as something akin to Swedish. Realizing the fellow couldn’t speak English and his screams might jeopardize everything, McKenzie had no choice but to deck the man with one punch.

“Sorry about that, pal,” McKenzie whispered under his breath. In the aftermath, he realized that he might have been a bit hasty—after all, surely the people who worked at Bloodwerks were more than used to hearing screams coming from their rooms. Nevertheless, the silence now gave McKenzie the freedom to think coherently.

I think I know what’s going on
, Max projected into McKenzie’s head. The police officer blinked in surprise, still not totally used to having someone speaking directly into his brain.

How bad is it?
McKenzie thought back.

The whole thing is a front for demons who were banished from the Earth centuries ago. They’re carving out hollow spots inside human bodies that they can then inhabit. And some of the souls they’ve carved out are then put into ceramic bodies made to look like normal humans.

McKenzie felt a smile dance upon his lips.
Do you have any idea how absolutely insane that sounds? God, I love having met you, Max.

Ellen Patrick interrupted the two, her mental ‘voice’ joining the conversation.
I just ran into Sally.

The surprise that came from McKenzie was almost palpable but it was met by an equal amount of pity from Max.

She’s one of them, isn’t she?
Max asked.
One of the ceramics…

Yes
, Ellen confirmed.
But it gets worse than that. She was here waiting on me. The second she got a good look at me, it was like a light flipped on in her head. She tried to
kill
me, Max, the second I freed her.

McKenzie felt confusion beginning to reign inside his head.
Waitaminute. She was waiting for you in the room? But that must mean—

“That we know who you are,” a voice confirmed from behind him. “And we can read your thoughts.”

Abruptly, McKenzie felt the mental link he shared with the others forcibly cut. He reached for the pistol hidden under his coat but the strong grip of a man’s hand stopped him in place.

“Please don’t make this any worse than it has to be, Mr. McKenzie. You and your friends are caught like flies in our web.”

McKenzie turned to face a broad-shouldered man with dark hair and eyes. He would have been handsome if not for the somewhat sickly complexion he wore. “Guess we must seem pretty stupid for trying this, huh?” the police chief asked, speaking his natural Southern drawl for the first time since arriving at the club.

“Yes,” the man answered with a chuckle. “You do.”

“So you’re one of the demons?”

“Yes. I am an Old One. I walked this world long before your species had crawled from the mud and learned how to stand upright.”

“Well… if you’re half as smart as you seem to think you are,” McKenzie said with a smile. “Then you better turn tail and run. Because I’ve seen my buddy Max fight with things twice as deadly as you and win. Your little operation here is going down the tubes.”

“Your faith in the Peregrine is admirable. But he is known to us… and today is the day that he dies!”

McKenzie spotted the attack just milliseconds before it came. The man clenched a fist and made to drive it straight into McKenzie’s face but the policeman ducked under the blow and responded with his own punch into his opponent’s midsection. The fellow staggered back in surprise and McKenzie dug out his pistol, pointing it at the other man’s head. “If you like living in that new body of yours, my little demon, then I’d suggest you watch your next step very carefully. Got it?”

The man smiled coldly. “Kill this body and I’ll merely claim another soon enough. Perhaps I’ll even take yours…”

McKenzie saw the man lunge for him and he pulled the trigger without hesitation. The back of the man’s head blew apart as the bullet ripped its way through and the lifeless corpse fell at McKenzie’s feet.

From the hallway, the sounds of combat reached McKenzie’s ears.

CHAPTER VII

Domino Dancing

The Domino Lady felt more secure with the thin mask in place over her eyes. It somehow seemed to protect her more than any body armor ever could. As soon as McKenzie’s mind had been severed from their link, both she and Max had donned their respective masks and dashed into the hall. The terrified girl who had been Max’s “toy” for the evening remained in her room, cowering in the darkness, though her bonds had been removed. Given the uncertainty about what lay outside in the hall, Max had cautioned her to remain where she was for the time being.

The Peregrine and the Domino Lady spotted one another immediately and moved to each other’s side, just as a half dozen men accompanied Jakob into the hallway. “Stay as close as possible,” Max whispered. “If we get separated, my mental link might not be able to work—I can feel them jamming it somehow.”

The Domino Lady nodded, her beautiful features set in grim determination. She held a small silver plated .22 caliber automatic in her right hand. Held fast in a garter on her leg was a small syringe with a fast-acting knockout drug but Ellen had no reason to think she’d be needing that particular weapon—this was to be a battle to the death.

The Peregrine held a weapon in each hand, as was his favored method of combat. In his right hand a specially modified pistol was clutched tightly. Capable of firing nearly a hundred times without needing to be reloaded, the weapon was powerful enough to stop a bull elephant. In the Peregrine’s left hand was the mystical Knife of Elohim, which glowed a golden yellow in the presence of the Old Ones.

“Please, Mr. Davies… there’s no need for bloodshed,” Jakob said with a smile. “Though of course we’re familiar enough with it… I admire your bravery in coming here. We have accumulated many enemies over the years but no one has ever caused such a stir!”

“How did you know about us?” the Peregrine asked, stalling for time as he examined their options.

“Those of us who are Old Ones can sense the thoughts of humans. Your mind was mostly a blank to us—your innate skills make it hard to read you. But Mr. McKenzie and the delicious Miss Patrick were all too open to us.” As he said this, Jakob roamed his eyes lasciviously up and down her body and she shivered, remembering how she had offered him a better look back in the club.

“You’re a disgusting slime,” the Domino Lady hissed. “So many innocent people whose lives you’ve ruined…”

Jakob shrugged, his followers beginning to move forward in an attempt to surround the heroes. The Peregrine and the Domino Lady moved to stand back-to-back, ready for battle. “I ended their pathetic little existences. Humans squander so much of their lives. I’m doing some of them a favor—a few survive as pets for us, the others… well, at least their bodies go to
some
good use.”

“Don’t bother trying to reason with him,” Max whispered. “He’s a demon. He can’t fathom human emotion.”

“Actually, I understand it quite well,” Jakob responded. “I merely choose to view it as you view the whining of a dog. Annoying, occasionally sympathetic… but mostly just background noise.”

The Peregrine made a small expression of disgust and opened fire on the woman closest to him. She was a thin, wiry thing with stringy blonde hair and her face exploded outwards when his bullet hit home. There was no point in continuing this discussion—he had seen and heard enough. The only way out of the hallway was through the door leading into the club and that meant going through Jakob and his cronies.