The Peregrine Omnibus, Volume Two (30 page)

“I’ll handle it. I swear it.” The Peregrine stepped away, turning things over in his head. Frankenstein’s creation… a lost land hidden within the Earth… and Doctor Satan.
Can things get any stranger?
he wondered.

CHAPTER VI

Descent

Doctor Satan did not mind the darkness.

He moved down the icy passage, noting that the temperature was slowly rising as he did so. The Creature’s map had proven to be correct, leading him to the entrance to the hidden world. He had been walking down into the bowels of the Earth for what seemed an eternity, his eyes unable to pierce the gloom around him. He had an array of spells that were specifically designed for illumination but he didn’t call upon them. He found the dark to be a comforting place, where anything and everything could be just a fingertip away. The strange path that had led him to become Doctor Satan had been strewn with dark places, areas of his life where lesser men would have broken down and gone insane.

But Satan had mastered his fears long ago.

Gradually, the passage became clearer and Satan could not only spot a light in the distance but the scent of vegetation and heady perfumes. He moved faster, his gloved hands kept close to the pouches that lined the interior of his cape. Inside them were a wide variety of powders, weapons, and mystic artifacts. If the Voriums were as dangerous as the Creature suggested, Satan would be ready for them.

Satan emerged from the cave, blinking in the artificial sunlight. He stared up to see that Vorium was located beneath a huge rocky dome, from which hung a mechanized “sun.” Down below, towering spires and densely packed streets could be seen, with hundreds of men and women walking amongst them. The men wore loose-fitting clothing, mostly in blues, whites, and grays, while the women were dressed in tight blouses and short skirts that revealed far more leg than would be acceptable in polite society.

But it was the creature that suddenly flew overhead that most surprised Satan, for as its leathery wings beat wildly, propelling it higher into the sky. Satan recognized it for what it was immediately: a pterodactyl. Scanning the city once more, Satan spotted several more prehistoric creatures being used as beasts of burden by the Voriums.

With a cruel smile on his lips, Doctor Satan began to move down the pathways leading to the city, eager to make contact with the descendants of the Atlanteans. There was so much he could learn from them… and eventually steal.

* * *

“I’m sorry, honey, but I’m not sure when I’ll be getting back home.” The Peregrine reached up and adjusted the earpiece he wore, holding on more tightly to the motorized sled on which he was riding. Snow and ice flew all around his strange device, which resembled a motorcycle outfitted with a sled bottom. He’d worked on it with his friend Leonid Kaslov a few years back, intending to offer it to the United States military for excursions into frozen terrain. In the end, both Kaslov and Max had elected to keep the invention to themselves for the time being.

“You should have called me before you left,” Evelyn answered, her voice traveling the thousands of miles between Atlanta and the Peregrine’s location. “I would have come with you…” she said, her words trailing away.

“Honey, I know you would have, but the charity benefit concert is coming up in a few days, and if I’m not back, I need you to go in my place.” The Peregrine held tightly to the sled as it bounced over a mound of snow, leaving the ground momentarily before slamming back down. His usual Peregrine attire had been modified a bit, as he now wore a hooded parka over his suit and special goggles over his domino-style mask. It still wasn’t enough to block out the biting cold, however, and he suddenly missed the warmth of the typical Southern night.

Up ahead, Max could make out the outline of a wooden ship, one that looked strangely free of ice.

Evelyn sounded more amused than angry, which made Max relax a bit. “Well, if I absolutely
must
get dressed up and go out to a party, I suppose I can make the sacrifice.”

“You’re a peach, Evelyn. Give the kids a kiss and a hug from me.”

“Love you, Max.”

Max caught the tone in her voice when she said that, and he replied back earnestly, “I love you, darling. Take care.” He severed the connection, reaching down to turn off the long-range receiver. Ever since the incident with the vampire Gustav there had been a distance between them—not a major gulf, but a noticeable one, nonetheless.
It’s going to pass,
he told himself.
Just be patient.

The Peregrine slowed his vehicle to a halt a few feet from the side of the ship. A man was moving on the deck, a large behemoth who wore a hooded jacket. The hood was pulled tight about his face, which was kept at an angle, preventing Max from seeing his features.

“He lied to me!” the stranger bellowed. “And you’ve come to find him, haven’t you?”

The Peregrine hesitated—he hadn’t really been expecting to find anyone waiting for him and wasn’t sure that this fellow wasn’t working with Satan. “If you’re talking about Doctor Satan, then yes, I am.”

The hulking figure moved to the edge of the deck’s railing. He jumped over the side, landing deep in the snow without any warning. He rose up to his full height, towering over the Peregrine. “He said he was fixing my face. I helped him in return for that favor, but he was a liar and a cheat. I don’t know what I expected… he does run around calling himself
Satan
, after all.”

The Peregrine felt a smile spreading over his face. The man before him was so large that he’d expected to find a near-mindless brute, but the man’s words and voice suggested he was highly intelligent. “I’m called the Peregrine. I’d appreciate any help you could give me in finding Doctor Satan. He’s wanted for a long list of crimes, and I’m here to bring him to justice.”

“You plan to turn him over to the authorities?”

The Peregrine paused before finally shaking his head. “Honestly? No, I don’t. He’s escaped from them too many times. I’m here to end it. Forever.”

The tall man nodded. “Then I’ll help you. I don’t suffer betrayal well. I want him to die.”

“You mentioned that he was supposed to fix your face. I’m a wealthy man. I might be able to pay for you to get some medical help, Mister…”

“Call me Vincent,” the stranger said. He reached up with a yellowish hand and pushed back his hood, revealing a face that was twisted and inhuman. The man’s long black hair whipped about in the icy winds. “And I don’t think there’s any surgery that your doctors could do to make me look any better, do you?”

Max recovered from his shock very quickly. “You’d be surprised. I have friends who are a bit more talented than the run-of-the-mill doctors you might have encountered before.”

Vincent studied him closely, and Max was struck again by how deeply intelligent the creature before him was. When the disfigured man spoke again, Max found himself nodding in agreement without even thinking about it. “I want to go with you. This place where Satan has gone is far more dangerous than he suspects. And I want to personally wrap my hands about his throat.”

CHAPTER VII

The Unholy

Doctor Satan’s arrival in Vorium had not gone unnoticed. He had scarcely set foot within the city proper before a small congregation of men and women had moved forward to greet him. The leader of the group was a thin, white-haired man in his early sixties. The man introduced himself as Lex.

“We’ve been anticipating your arrival for quite some time,” Lex said, leading Satan on a tour of the city. He had already shown the villain a power plant that ran on electromagnetism and several breeding facilities for the creatures who served as beasts of burden.

“You have?” Satan asked suspiciously, his eyes studying Lex’s face. “How could you have known I was coming?”

“We know a great many things, Doctor. As you know, we are the heirs of Atlantis. When that great continent sank beneath the seas, joining R’leyh in its aquatic slumber, the few survivors took their writings and belongings and made for a new home. They found it here, in Vorium.”

Satan glanced over at a pretty young girl who was walking past. She flattered him with an admiring smile and Satan noted that not one of them had seemed the least bit perturbed by his garb. Even for a man who was used to the strange, this was all a bit odd.

“You haven’t told me how you knew I would be coming,” Satan reminded.

“Because the prophecies said so, and all signs pointed to this as being the period when the avatar would arrive.” Lex stopped the procession just outside a massive temple, in front of which stood a fifteen-foot tall statue depicting a horrible creature. Its face was vaguely octopoid, with long dangling tentacles. Its body was misshapen and smooth, with two large wings jutting from its back. “And now here you are: A man whose mind and body have been shaped to become the vessel for the Star-Spawn.”

Satan’s eyes narrowed. “You want to use me as a host for an elder god?”

“Oh, yes. Many years ago, another came through our portal. He was strong and powerful, but he proved to be an improper host—but now here you are here. And you will help us restore the dark gods to their proper glory!”

Doctor Satan reached out and grabbed Lex by the throat. The rest of the group gasped but made no move to help their leader. “Let’s get one thing straight,” Satan hissed. “I am not here to be anyone’s pawn. I have plans of my own and they don’t include giving up my body to some demon who wasn’t powerful enough to keep himself from getting banished in the first place. So if you really know anything about me, then you should believe me when I tell you this: Give me what I want or I’m going to bring this city down around your ears!”

Lex blinked as Satan shoved him away. He smoothed down his clothing and sneered. “Of course, Doctor. I just assumed that you would want to—”

“I don’t.”

“Then perhaps you are not the one we sought.” Lex gestured to one of the others with him. “Marvyn, it looks like we’re going to have to enact our backup plan.”

Satan cursed as the one called Marvyn threw himself against him, seeking to wrap his arms about the villain in a bear hug. Satan managed to dislodge him, but not before one of the women raised both hands and uttered a series of spell-casting phrases. A bolt of eldritch energy slammed into Doctor Satan and nearly knocked him off his feet. He replied in kind, throwing a hex spell that literally ripped the woman in half. As her internal organs splattered to the ground, the rest of Lex’s group began their own assault on the evil Doctor, using both physical and mystical means. Satan slew three more of them before he was finally battered to his knees.

He knelt there, panting and trying to blink away the pain, when Lex nudged him with a foot, drawing his attention up to the man’s eyes. “You really should have accepted your destiny willingly, Doctor Satan. It’s going to be ever so much more painful this way.”

* * *

The journey to Vorium’s entrance was a strange one. Vincent was far too large to share the Peregrine’s vehicle, but he had proven to be quite capable of keeping up on foot, sprinting and jumping over mounds of snow and ice. The two of them didn’t talk much on the way, as the roar of the engine would have made it difficult, but Max did learn that the man with him was, indeed, the inspiration for the book that had nearly scared him to death as a kid.

He had also learned the horrible secret of Vorium: That the men and women there were slaves to an awful Elder God, one who needed a powerful body to animate. If they used a normal man or woman, the body burned out within hours. They had attempted to use Vincent but his dead flesh had proven impossible for the demon to inhabit.

While Max could think of no one who deserved such a fate better than Doctor Satan, there was always the chance that Satan would somehow turn the situation to his advantage, and the Peregrine didn’t want to take that chance.

After arriving at the ice cave, Max had left his ice speeder parked just outside, setting up a remote device that would send a distress signal to Ascott Keane if Max didn’t disarm it within six hours.

“Are you ready, Vincent?” he asked.

The behemoth nodded. His face was once more hidden beneath his hood.

Together, they set off, the monster taking the front. He walked the passage like its every step was burned into his memory—which in some ways, it was. He’d felt such a feeling of warmth upon entering the hidden city. The people had rejoiced in his arrival and hadn’t blinked an eye at his appearance. But then he’d uncovered the truth: He was an object to them, not a real human being. His flight to escape had been painful, not just physically but emotionally as well.

After the long trek through darkness, Max noticed that gradually his surroundings were coming into sharper focus. He could also hear the chanting of many voices up ahead, their words sounding strange and disconcerting:

“Eng natta atu! Atrius sliggum chthulhu! Acka natta atu eng!”

Vincent stepped into the world of Vorium, looking down into the city. He motioned for the Peregrine to approach at his side, gesturing towards an area where the sounds of chanting seemed loudest. “The temple. That’s where Doctor Satan would—”

Vincent ducked suddenly as something large whipped past his head, momentarily covering him in its shadow. He whirled about to see that a pterodactyl had snatched up the Peregrine and was carrying him away in its powerful talons.

For his part, Max was even more stunned than his powerful companion. His ribs were being squeezed painfully and he didn’t dare look down, knowing he was far enough up to ensure a painful death if he was to be dropped. The leathery underside of the pterodactyl was right in front of him, and Max tried to convince himself that this was no nightmare; it was all too real.

The Peregrine had no idea where the creature was taking him, but he doubted it was anyplace nice. Most likely, it would be to a nest of some sort, where the beast intended to feed. The Peregrine fumbled in his jacket, unable to reach his pistols, but his gloved hands came back with the Knife of Elohim.

The mystic weapon did only normal damage against those who weren’t evil, and animals usually fell into the realm of those who weren’t harmed by its supernatural properties. Still, he had nothing else to try and strike out with, and he had quickly decided it was better to risk death by falling than it was to wait for the beast to land.