The Dark Horde (31 page)

“You can do what like with me. Just leave my family alone and let them go.”

Henry shared a hearty laugh with his demonic audience, before turning to back to Brian. “Do you really think that you’re in a position to negotiate? Hahahaha. Look at you now. You’re impaled with no weapon and surrounded by an army of
Dark Horde
. There’s no one here to save you, and you have no chance or way of victory.”

“I’ll fight you until my last breath.”

Henry smiled as he shook his head gently. “Brian, Brian, Brian. You never give up... That’s what I like about you.”

“As long as I’m alive, I won’t surrender to a worm like you.”

“No Brian, you will, because you have no choice... But I’m not going to kill you, you’re actually a lot more valuable alive. You are to become another channel, you see, which is only possible if you’re still alive and have the chosen blood. All you have to do is submit to the will of the
Dark Horde
and be inseminated by the
Venomed One.
”

“Go fuck yourself. I’ll never become a sodomy slave of the
Dark Horde
like you.”

“Submit and join us, Brian, and you’ll be free to do whatever you wish with your beloved family. If you do not, I will torture, rape and butcher each and every one of them, right now before your very eyes.”

Not if I kill you first.

Brian screamed in pain as he pulled himself up on the spike piercing his right shoulder. Bringing his feet up against the wet, fleshy side of the column, he tried to launch himself off the spike...

But the robed demon standing next to him was quicker. It dug its claw into his good shoulder, drawing fresh blood, and held him fast. The obelisk beat faster, spurred into new throes of arousal.

“
STAAAY!
” it commanded.

Henry clenched his fists. “Okay, enough of civility.” He pointed to a couple of his robed demonic accomplices. “Bring out his family.”

In a frenzy of anger, Brian struggled against the massive bulk of the robed demon immobilising him, in vain. Helpless, he watched as his parents Marilyn and Herbert, his partner Sasha, his ex-wife Julie, and his children Samantha and Howard were brought before him: bound, gagged and naked. He saw with horror their red bleeding bodies, their tormented expressions...

He went limp, falling back on the spike through his shoulder. Sobs racked his body.

Death would be better.

Henry put his hands together and smiled. “Okay Brian, your pick. Who’s the first to die?”

“WHY ARE YOU DOING THIS!”

“Evolution does not have a purpose Brian, only an outcome. The
Dark Horde
are the new superior species. Their time has come.”

“WHY ME?”

“You are chosen because you carry the channelling gene, rare among your kind and sought-after by the
Dark Horde.
But unlike other carriers, only you have shown the qualities that will make you a great leader in the fight ahead.”

“WHAT, AND DESTROY EVERYTHING? NEVER!”

“Okay, I’ll pick for you.” Henry paced along the shaking line of Brian’s family, held firm by demonic abductors. Henry stopped before the youngest: nine year-old Howard.

“You’re it, Howard,” he said.

Howard squealed in terror, desperately trying to shield himself behind his mother, but to no avail. Two demons held his arms and dragged him out before Brian.

“OKAY, I’LL DO WHAT YOU WANT! JUST LET MY FAMILY GO!”

Henry smiled. “I knew you’d see reason eventually.”

“LET THEM GO!”

Henry stroked Howard’s hair. “Yes, yes. Once you’ve made the pact, they are yours.”

Brian cried as he looked at the mirror of his despair on the faces of his loved ones. “What else can I do?”

“Do you accept the
Dark Horde
into your heart and pledge your soul to them for eternity?”

Brian sobbed. “Yeees.”

Henry swept his arm over the bleeding pillar of spikes soaring over them. “THEN BEHOLD THE ESSENCE OF ETERNAL RE-CREATION! OF LIFE EVERLASTING!”

The
Dark Horde
disgorged a thundering roar as the pulsing obelisk became brighter, its beats faster. The illuminated clouds above began to spin, pulsing with electricity in time with the pillar.

Bathed in the infernal red light, the many thousands of watchers began to sway to the beat, chanting:

We are as one, as many are we. Become one, once more be.

A maelstrom of wind and flickering comets of energy formed around the beating pillar, spiralling skywards into the whirlpool of clouds directly above. As the demonic chorus raised their chant above the rising tornado, the clouds at the centre of the whirlpool dissolved, revealing a starless void wherein lurked countless watching eyes...

The domain of the Infinite Ones.

The monolith erupted into a frenzy of ejaculation, showering dark purple ichor over the assembled mass. The ichor sizzled on contact with flesh and dripped down the pillar, hardening like hot wax.

Stupefied, Brian watched as the burning ichor that landed on him began to move like amoebae, seeking and penetrating every opening into his body.

His horrified screams were drowned by the universe of other screaming voices of pain and pleasure.

When is this fucking going to end?

Soooon, Brian. Soon you will be one with uuusss.

Brian felt the sentient ichor probing the inner regions of his body. He felt his impaled arm tingle and opened his eyes to see smooth purple flesh forming around the wound... And he looked around to see the sizzling ichor re-forming the butchered bodies about him.

Ouuurs soon but not yet. You still liiiveee.

His mind broken, Brian could only laugh at the sheer insanity of it all.

He watched as the ichor made that scorpioid monstrosity’s head unnaturally whole again. Like time-lapse photography, its head was re-created in seconds. It swivelled its fearsome arachnoid visage towards him as it rose on two massive, taloned stumps for legs.

Bugger.

Gnashing its mandibles, the
Venomed One
stood before the demonic pillar, its mighty bulk towering over Brian staked at its feet.

It spoke with a voice like thunder, “
WE ARE THE DARK HORDE!
”

The audience answers, an avalanche of sound, “
WE ARE AS ONE! AS MANY ARE WE!
”

The
Venomed One
gripped Brian’s wounded arm in one of its crushing pincers and tore him from the spiked obelisk. Its booming voice crashed through his pain, “
JOIN US IN BLOOD!
”

Again the audience echoes, “
BECOME ONE! ONCE MORE BE!
”

The
Venomed One
stabbed its barbed stinger into Brian’s wound and injected its venomous ichor. Brian fell limply to the ground, unmoving.

Beyond pain, Brian felt only the world spinning as the fluid seeded new life. Consciousness of who he was began to fade...

Henry, holding Howard racked with tears, smiled back at Brian.

“So this is how it ends, is it?” Brian said.

“No, Brian. This is how it begins.”

Henry grabbed Howard’s hair in one hand and dragged a long serrated knife across Howard’s neck with the other. Howard screamed as red blood splashed down his chest and over his slayer’s arms.

With legs like jelly, Brian struggled to his feet. His head a cocktail of confused thoughts, he saw his son flop to the ground, his screams becoming gurgles as his life drained away...

And he felt anger.

“I’m sorry I lied, Brian,” Henry said. “It had to be done. Otherwise there’d be too much competition. He also carried the channelling gene, you see, but he was just backup in case you got killed. Now that you’ve joined, he’s just a risk to have around.”

Burning anger... Overwhelming.

Henry shrugged. “Don’t worry, we can always re-animate him.”

In an explosive instant, Brian launched himself at Henry, catching Henry in a headlock as he landed. “DIE!” he screamed as he rammed Henry’s head into one of the barbed and bloody spikes.

The spike spilt the crown of Henry’s skull like a watermelon, unleashing a red spray of blood and brains.

Killing never felt so good.

A frenzy of blows followed as Brian hammered Henry’s head repeatedly into the spike, reducing it to splintered pulp.

Dressed in the flesh and blood of his victim, Brian turned to his captivated audience, raised his fists and roared with fury.

Overhead, in the nebulous space between the stars, there was an answer. A singular voice, expressed through countless different mouths, resonating in the ears, hearts and minds of all present:

Congratulations... Unmaker. Your initiation is complete. We are family now, united in blood. May your rage never die.

THURSDAY 2:26
PM

Stroking his moustache, a tall and gaunt police officer sat at one end of a long rectangular table before a packed media conference. Clearing his throat, he spoke into the microphones before him, “Thank you all for coming at short notice. I am Senior Sergeant Douglas McDougall and I’m here to update you on the investigation into the murders of Barney and Frank Weston on the 9
^th
of April.”

The entire gathering now had their attention on him. Observing this, Douglas continued.

“As I mentioned earlier, Detective Superintendent Warren Bailey from the homicide division of the Criminal Investigation Branch had to cancel his attendance at this briefing. So I will say what I can about the investigation and then field your questions.

“I won’t go into operational details that could jeopardise the investigation, but I can say that we have made substantial progress on this case in the last twenty-four hours. We now have a suspect remanded in custody for questioning and whilst we haven’t ruled out the possibility of others being involved, the evidence is consistent with a lone operation. This is good news for the community of Howqua Hills, whom I must say have been fantastic in coming forward with information to help us solve this case. However, having said that, please keep the information coming, as any little bit can help.”

Douglas paused to take a breath. “The motive for the murders is as yet unclear, but there have been no related incidents.”

A reporter heckled, “Can you confirm or deny that the suspect is Henry Wilcox?”

Douglas smiled.

Let them think they’re learning something.

“I cannot reveal that yet. Only when charges are formally laid, will the name of the accused be released to the public.”

“It’s all bullshit anyway,” said Vincent, looking at the wide television screen at the Royal Hotel in Howqua Hills.

Jason laughed as he turned to the other two, Aaron and Bruce, before turning back to Vincent. “No shit, Sherlock. You were pretty quick to figure that one out, shit-for-brains.”

Aaron sculled the rest of his beer and smiled. “Least we can still get blind!”

Bruce laughed. “And you’re getting more sex now, Aaron, than you’ve ever had!”

Vincent stared at his half-empty pint of beer. “I s’pose Henry wasn’t that bad after all.”

“Yeah, he’s alright,” Bruce said.

Laughing, they all answered: “For a dumb cunt!”

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