The Adventures of Lazarus Gray (42 page)

The Dark Gentleman tried --
and failed -- to keep from grinning. "I’m ready."

"We’ll see if you are,"
Gray responded.

***

The Rook didn’t need to be
told where to go. He was already in flight before Eun ever made it
to the telephone. He borrowed Groseclose’s car without asking and
burned rubber through the rain-slicked city streets. Before
arriving in Sovereign, Max had heard the jokes about how often it
rained here, but he’d quickly learned that it wasn’t hyperbole. It
was as if God himself were constantly shedding tears for what had
become of Sovereign.

The Rook tried to ignore
the pounding in his head, but it was strong enough to force him to
grit his teeth. His vision was swimming as the world around him
intermingled with possible futures. The visions of future crimes
that he often saw were far more of a curse than a boon and he’d
prayed numerous times to be rid of them. He was forced to pull over
to the curb, knowing that he had to ride it out before he could
safely continue on his way.

The vision became clearer,
obliterating everything else. The Rook saw a dark basement, the
walls stained with gore. There were barrels or canisters of some
kind, filled with the blood of Devil Face’s victims. Samantha was
there, her nude body dangling from the ceiling, her arms stretched
above her head. Devil Face was preparing his blades but he wasn’t
alone, there was another in the shadows, nearly invisible. The
Rook, who routinely walked along the dark and narrow passage that
lay between the sane world and the supernatural, felt like he
recognized this figure: he knew she was female and that her stench
had been a constant companion to him over the years.

With a shiver that rocked
his spine, The Rook realized that Lady Death herself was there in
that room. She was no simple manifestation of Phillips’ madness,
this was the dark lady herself, the one who kissed all men at the
end of their days.

Lady Death stepped into
view, her body hidden by her robes. She moved forward until she
dominated The Rook’s vision and he could see the curve of her jaw
beneath her hood. She opened her mouth and spoke, her voice
sounding so seductive that Max nearly forgot what an awful thing
she was: he had spent his whole life fighting to avoid her and to
save others from her embrace but now, he realized how easy it would
be to fall into her arms. "Max," she whispered, "come to me. It’s
time."

A rapping on the driver’s
side window of his car snapped The Rook out of his reverie. He
turned his head to see a police officer standing there, obviously
having come to check on him. When the officer saw that The Rook
wore a mask, his eyes widened. Before anything else could happen,
The Rook floored the accelerator and left a trail of burning rubber
in his wake. There was no time to waste now: Samantha Grace was in
the presence of Death herself.

Chapter VI

Darkness

Samantha woke up to a world
of pain. The joints in her shoulders felt like they were on fire
and as her mind cleared, she realized that she was shackled by her
wrists to the ceiling of Phillips’ basement. Her clothing was gone
and her nude body was covered by a fine sheen of sweat. The back of
her head throbbed and her mouth felt abnormally dry and tasted
tinny. She realized that she had bitten her tongue before falling
unconscious and swallowed a good bit of blood.

Devil Face was about ten
feet away from her, humming a song to himself as he polished a
series of sharp knives and bone saws. His mask had been crudely
repaired with glue and even in the dim lighting, Samantha could see
that it hadn’t fully dried yet - bubbles of glue glistened in the
candlelight. Even as she tested the strength of her bonds, Samantha
recognized the tune that Devil Face was humming:
Smoke Gets In
Your Eyes
by Paul Whiteman. She suddenly realized she was never
going to like that song ever again.

Devil Face heard the
rattling of the chains and glanced over at her. His eyes traveled
up her toned legs, past the mound of Venus between her legs, over
the flat stomach and pert breasts. He caught his breath, hating the
way she made him feel. It was the way of women: to tantalize men
with their bodies until the spirit was made weak. He would very
much enjoy purifying her. He would cut away all the pieces that
teased him and then he would drain her of blood, lovingly washing
every bit of her until she was as pure as the driven
snow.

"I was worried you weren’t
going to wake up," Devil Face purred, moving toward her with a
scalpel in his right hand. His foot brushed a bucket filled with
tubing and Samantha swallowed hard, not wanting to imagine what it
was for. "You’re going to be my thirteenth. That’s a sacred
number."

Samantha grimly regarded
the killer, refusing to show even the tiniest bit of fear. She
trusted that Lazarus and the others would find their way there –
and if they didn’t, she’d just have to free herself. "Should I feel
honored?"

"Yes. You
should."

"Let me go, Phillips.
You’re in enough trouble as it is. Hurt me and I can’t promise that
they’ll even let the police take you in. Lazarus might just skin
you alive."

"I doubt that. I’ve read
all about your employer. He’s committed to bringing criminals to
justice. He’d actually blame himself if anything happened to
me."

"Morgan won’t beat himself
up for putting a bullet in your brain," Samantha said with a smile.
That, at least, wasn’t a lie. Morgan carried quite a torch for her
and she knew that he’d stop at nothing to avenge her.

Devil Face brought the
scalpel up to Samantha’s cheek and drew it slowly across the skin,
leaving a thin trail of blood. "You’re so beautiful," he whispered.
"I wish you weren’t such a whore… but if you weren’t we couldn’t
share this moment together, could we? So maybe I’m secretly
glad."

Samantha flinched at the
onset of new pain, but she said nothing. Her eyes caught the
flicker of movement over Devil Face’s shoulder and she gasped. "Is
someone else here with us?" she asked, unable to maintain her
silence any longer.

Devil Face stepped back,
his eyes wide with surprise beneath his mask. "You can see
her?"

Samantha peered into the
shadows but saw nothing at all. "I thought," she began, but then
fell quiet again with a shake of her head. "It was
nothing."

Devil Face smiled,
momentarily taken aback but now once more in control. No one else
had ever seen Lady Death, not even the girls who had rested on the
precipice between the world of the living and of the dead. "Well,
it’s time we began in earnest. You’re the last one."

"What does that mean?"
Samantha asked, as Devil Face turned away from her. He moved over
to the tray of sharp implements and set down his scalpel, plucking
up one of the bone saws and examining the teeth on the
blade.

"Thirteen girls have to
die," he said, not caring if she knew his secrets. It was too late
for her and he was too close to achieving ultimate power. What
could it hurt? "And then Lady Death will cross over onto this plane
and she’ll make me her consort."

Samantha heard the dreamy
nature of his voice and couldn’t help but think he was absolutely
insane. But she’d seen some very strange things as a member of
Assistance Unlimited, so she wasn’t prepared to discount it
completely.

"I’m not sure why being
Death’s lover would be a good thing," she said, hoping to keep
Devil Face talking long enough to allow her friends to find
them.

"You haven’t felt her
touch," Devil Face replied. He turned toward her with the bone saw
in hand. As he approached, he bent down and grabbed the bucket
filled with tubing and carried it in his other hand. He set the
bucket down next to her dangling feet. "But you will soon
enough."

Samantha slammed her foot
against Devil Face in an attempt to hurt him, but her position
didn’t allow her to put any real strength behind the blow and it
elicited nothing more than a chuckle from the madman.

"Don’t fight," Devil Face
warned. "It will only make things harder for you."

The next moment was one
that Samantha would long remember. Devil Face placed the sharp
blade against her shoulder, obviously intending to remove her right
arm with no anesthetic whatsoever. Just before he began his grisly
task, a figure descended the stairs and threw himself at Devil
Face’s back. The impact knocked the villain aside, though the blade
drug painfully across Samantha’s arm, taking a long stretch of
flesh with it.

Devil Face whirled about to
see Lazarus Gray facing him, hands balled into fists. Rapidly
moving into the room were Morgan, The Dark Gentleman and Eun, all
of whom looked at Samantha with concern. Normally, she would have
felt embarrassed by her nudity but at the moment she didn’t care –
her only desire was to be freed so she could help bring this killer
to justice.

It was Morgan who reached
her first, steadfastly keeping his eyes off her nakedness. He
fumbled with the locks around her wrists, concern for her making
him sloppy. "We’ll get that cut sewn up," he said, as if her
bleeding arm was important to her.

Eun saw that Morgan was
busy with Samantha so he moved to assist his employer, The Dark
Gentleman in tow. Devil Face was swinging his blade with great
skill, forcing Lazarus to keep his distance.

"There’s too many of them,"
Devil Face hissed. "Please – help me!"

The Dark Gentleman glanced
around, wondering whom it was that Devil Face was talking
to.

"He’s talking to the woman
over there," Lazarus explained, nodding his head in the direction
of Lady Death.

"I don’t see
anyone!"

"She’s there. Trust me."
Lazarus knew that the woman before them was not human. His past
experiences as a member of the Illuminati had included many forays
into the supernatural. As such, his mind was open to perceiving
things that most people could simply not accept. He could see Lady
Death as clearly as Devil Face could – and, truthfully, so could
all of his aides, but because of the unreality of the situation,
their minds refused to accept what their eyes beheld. Thus, they
could not acknowledge it.

Lazarus ducked under a
swipe of Devil Face’s blade and struck out with a karate chop that
knocked the air from the man’s lungs. Devil Face recovered quickly,
however, driving the bone saw against Gray’s neck an instant later.
Blood spilled freely, but Lazarus knew that it would look worse
than it really was: nothing vital had been struck.

Eun smelled something
awful, like an ancient tomb had been thrown open. He gagged and
backed away, his eyes widening as half a dozen figures emerged from
the shadows, shambling toward them with open sores dotting their
skins and portions of white bone protruding. These were the undead,
summoned forth by Lady Death and their presence was a sign of just
how close Devil Face was to completing his awful ritual. He had
loosened the barriers between Death’s realm and those of mortal
man… and now her warriors were spilling through.

The first of the zombies
uttered a long, guttural moan and reached for Eun. The young Korean
batted the hand aside and unleashed a series of kick punches and
kicks, most of which had no obvious effect. To Eun, it felt like he
was attacking a side of beef. It wasn’t until one of his fists
crashed through the thing’s ribs and was momentarily stuck that he
realized the full danger he was in: these creatures were not alive
and were thus immune to all forms of pain.

Eun looked about and saw
that the monsters, all of which were grabbing at his clothes and
hair, now surrounded him. One of them dug its claws into the meat
of Eun’s arm, tearing into the flesh and spilling blood.

The Dark Gentleman shared
Eun’s horror. Unlike the members of Assistance Unlimited, this was
his first contact with the supernatural and it was almost enough to
shake his sanity. But his sense of self-preservation was strong
enough to propel him into combat, shooting several bullets into the
torso of the nearest zombie. The impacts caused the undead creature
to pause but didn’t deter it from coming onward.

Lazarus knew that things
were quickly spiraling out of control and made an effort to end his
battle with Devil Face all the faster. He lowered his shoulder and
charged like a maddened bull, slamming his bulk into the big man’s
chest. They tumbled back until the basement wall halted Devil
Face’s progress. Devil Face grunted hard and struck wildly with the
bone saw. He repeatedly cut Gray’s face and shoulders, but the
leader of Assistance Unlimited ignored the pain and continued
pummeling his enemy, breaking ribs, smashing a nose and finally
fracturing Devil Face’s hip.

The man who had lived as
Robert Phillips these past few years, coasting on a fabricated past
until he had achieved a position of power, now knew that his plans
were swiftly coming to an end. He sagged to his knees, pain
blotting out all rational thought. He saw The Rook entering the
basement and he wanted to curse the unfairness of it all, but he
knew that it was his own fault. He had stuck to a plan for years,
killing only those girls who wouldn’t be missed. But Schuller had
been an impulse murder and it had led to his downfall.