The Peregrine Omnibus, Volume Two (21 page)

“Dieeeeee,” the Demonness whispered, eyes rolling up into her skull.

“Something like you doesn’t appear full-blown in a modern city,” the Peregrine continued. “A mystic brought you here. Who was it and what did they want to accomplish?” When it became obvious that the Demonness wasn’t going to answer willingly, Max pulled out a glowing dagger from within his jacket. The Knife of Elohim, which had once been dipped in the blood of Christ, sizzled as he pressed it against the Demonness’s cheek. She howled like a stuck pig. “Now,” he demanded, holding the Knife inches away from her. “Answer me.”

The Demonness stopped fighting, her eyes closing with defeat. “I am a distraction, nothing more. Freeeeeee meeeee. Pleeeeease.”

Max glanced up at his wife, noting that she wore the same concerned expression that he did. “A distraction,” he repeated. “For what?”

“My master has had business in your city. Things to be reclaimed. Contacts to be reached. It is not easy to revive a dormant empire.”

The Peregrine drove his knee into her back, causing the Demonness great pain. He held his position, not letting the discomfort ease. “You’re wasting my time. I could kill you and find out what I need on my own. If you want to be sent back to your home realm in one piece, you’re going to start talking. Now.”

“The immortal Manchu walks the world once more,” the Demonness cried, opening her eyes and starting to laugh. Her words sliced deep into the Peregrine’s heart, filling him with dread. “He will slay his enemies! He will bathe in their blood! And he is not alone! No, no, no! He knows your secrets and he will torture you for a thousand days before he lets you die! He will—”

The Peregrine quickly silenced her by plunging his dagger into the side of her neck. He backed away as the mystic weapon began causing her skin to blacken and peel away, revealing red meat and bone. The Demonness howled in the night, the sounds making grown men and women hurry past in fright.

When nothing was left of her but ash, the Peregrine wiped his blade and re-sheathed it.

“Max?” Evelyn asked, her voice quavering. “I thought you said he was gone for good.”

The Peregrine reached out for his wife’s hand. He’d killed the Warlike Manchu once, only to see him revived with a hunger for human flesh. Then the Manchu had become a godlike figure, imbued with the power of the Philosopher’s Stone. He’d been trapped as living metal, seemingly forever… but evil had a way of always coming back. The man who had once tutored the Peregrine in the ways of death had become an enemy when Max had refused to rule the underworld at his side, and a blood feud had arisen between them. The Warlike Manchu had even gone so far as to kidnap Max’s son William, intending to raise the child as his own heir.

When Max finally spoke, his words were clipped and cold. “I’m going to find out if he’s back, Evelyn… and if he is, this time I’ll cut his head off and burn the body. I won’t let him hurt our family again.”

CHAPTER III

An Assemblage of Heroes

They were scattered across the globe, linked together by an amazing invention of Leonid Kaslov, the Russian superman. While Max sat in the Peregrine’s Nest in Atlanta, he stared at a large screen that had four faces on it, each neatly held within a small square. At the other locations, the people on the screen were viewing a similar image, though one with the Peregrine’s masked visage in place of their own.

Attending this virtual meeting was not only the Peregrine but also Kaslov, the dark garbed Black Bat, the mystic detective Ascott Keane, and the lovely but deadly Domino Lady. All of them were part of a loose-knit alliance, trading information as needed.

“And there you have it,” Max was saying. “The Warlike Manchu appears to be back… and we all need to be on our guard.”

The Domino Lady pursed her full lips and asked with a bit of hesitation, “Are you sure about that, Max? I know you said he’s come back from the dead before, but… maybe the Demonness was just trying to strike at you by bringing up his name.”

Ascott Keane shook his head. “Doubtful. For one thing, how would she even know about Max’s relationship with the Manchu? A creature like the Demonness is quite dangerous but hardly telepathic.”

“Sorry,” the Domino Lady muttered, obviously taking a bit of umbrage at Keane’s dismissive tone. “I guess I don’t have as much expertise with the supernatural as the rest of you.”

Leonid Kaslov raised a hand, making it clear that he had something to add. The Russian had snow-white hair and piercing blue eyes and when he spoke, it was with the authoritative tones of a born leader. “My contacts in Germany tell me that the Manchu’s body was removed from storage two months ago. Though I couldn’t get any true confirmation, there are also rumors that a division of the SS has gone rogue with their commander… the Nazis are on the lookout for a man named Baron Gustav. Given that he and his men disappeared at the same time as the Warlike Manchu’s resurrection I wouldn’t be surprised if there was some connection.”

“That seems like a stretch to me,” Domino Lady said under her breath. She kept her words low, however, sensing that the boys’ club surrounding her didn’t take her very seriously. To them, she was just the beautiful blonde with a penchant for losing her clothing in battle.
No,
she mused,
scratch that. Max never treated me that way. He always saw me as an equal, maybe because he has such a strong woman as his wife and partner.

The Peregrine tapped his chin thoughtfully. “Gustav. That name doesn’t ring any bells with me. I’ll have to see what I can dig up on him.”

“No need,” the Black Bat said with a grim smile. Anthony Quinn pretended to be a blind lawyer in his daily life, but at night, he donned a dark mask and turned his fiery gaze on the underworld. “Not that long ago, I prosecuted a man who had ties to the Nazi regime. He mentioned that name to me… I remember it because his story was so outlandish that it made me wonder if he was really insane.”

“Let’s hear it,” the Peregrine pressed, leaning forward.

“Gustav is supposed to a real secretive type. His division of the SS never interacts with the others, and they usually only operate at night. My client claimed that none of those men were quite human any longer—that they were living dead men, immune to normal pain. In short, he said they were vampires.”

“Vampire Nazis?” Kaslov asked. “It sounds absurd, but it’s no stranger than some of the other tricks Hitler has had up his sleeve in recent years.”

The Domino Lady, really socialite Ellen Patrick, couldn’t resist slinking back into the conversation. “Max, have you had time to find out what the Warlike Manchu had been doing in Atlanta while you were hunting the Six-Fingered Demonness? Was he visiting his old bases, contacting old lieutenants? What was it?”

The Peregrine smiled at Ellen, knowing that he’d made the right decision in asking her to sit in on the meeting. Most often, he turned to Kaslov or Keane for assistance, but both the Black Bat and the Domino Lady were smart, capable people. In some ways, he respected them even more than Kaslov and Keane. They had no super-attributes or mystical abilities, but they put their lives on the line day after day, battling against often overwhelming odds. They succeeded by being smarter and more attentive than their enemies. “I personally went to every one of his lairs that I know of and found that very little had been touched. But when I started rounding up his former associates, I did make a small break in the case. A man named Nick Cheung told me that he had stored a small library belonging to the Manchu. Last week the storage shed was broken into and all of the books were removed. He said that he’d never touched the books himself but from what he knew of them they were mostly listings of various legends, mystic sites, and magic spells.”

“So,” Keane observed, “it appears that the Warlike Manchu needs his books to proceed with whatever his next plan is. Given that you’ve found no clues that he’s resuming his position atop the crime cartels, I would think that means he might be plotting revenge against you—or perhaps some means of curing himself of his recent afflictions, assuming they still apply.”

The Peregrine nodded, feeling better about having shared his problems but disappointed that no one had anything concrete for him. “I’ll be back in touch, everyone. In the meantime, please keep your eyes and ears open for any sign of the Manchu. And I’ll try to see if I find out anything else about these vampire Nazis.”

One by one everyone signed off until only the Peregrine and the Domino Lady remained. Ellen smiled gratefully at her friend. “Thanks for including me in this, Max.”

“Thanks for agreeing to join us. You always have interesting insight.”

“I don’t think the others agree.”

“They do… they’re just distant sometimes. And Keane is still busy helping with the prosecution of Doctor Satan. That’s making him a bit of a grouch.”

The Domino Lady laughed at that, though she didn’t think it was quite the full truth of it. “Take care, Max. If it looks like you need some help, please don’t hesitate to give me a call.”

The Peregrine watched her face disappear from the screen and he sighed. He loved Evelyn and though that her entrance into his life had been one of the truly high points… but he couldn’t deny that Ellen Patrick was a remarkably desirable woman. Had things gone differently, he might have ended up pursuing her.

“Keep your mind on the target at hand,” he reminded himself. He was happily married, and idle daydreams about other women had no place in his heart.

Thoughts of the Warlike Manchu caused any lustful notions to evaporate immediately. That killer was out there, somewhere… but what was he up to?

Back on the trail,
he thought to himself. In moments, he was back in his roadster, ready to continue his pursuit of the Manchu.

CHAPTER IV

A Love Reborn

The Warlike Manchu stared at himself in the mirror, at a face that was so much younger than it should have been. Thanks to a special serum of his own creation, he had lived several lifetimes, always avoiding the heavy specter of old age. Indeed, he’d come to consider himself immortal… until the Peregrine had ended his existence twice in the past few years. But always he was restored, and eventually his former pupil would learn the harsh lessons about what happened to those who betrayed the Warlike Manchu.

The Manchu dressed in an elaborate set of red robes, a rampant dragon emblazed upon them in gold. His long moustache dropped downwards and his hair was tied in back. His eyes had a feline quality to them and his fingernails were just long enough to pose a threat to others in combat. An air of pure evil clung to him like incense.

A change in the air in the room alerted him that he was no longer alone. “Baron Gustav… What can I do for you?” he asked, turning around to face his host and benefactor.

The vampire wore his SS uniform but his face belied his inhuman nature. Vampires were able to mimic humanity well enough when they chose to do so, with only their elongated canines to give them away. But when they relaxed, as the baron was doing right now, their features took on a more sinister cast. His ears now ended in points at their tips, and the bones of his face seemed more prominent. “The last of your belongings have been brought onboard,” Gustav said. He moved over to one of the windows in the Manchu’s room and gazed out into the clouds. “What do you think of our vehicle? The pride of the Reich’s aeronautics division.”

The Warlike Manchu inclined his head. They were flying onboard a massive zeppelin, the fastest in the world. It was armed with powerful bombs and mounted machine guns, making it more than capable of defending itself if needed. “A most impressive creation,” the Manchu admitted. “Now that the final pieces of my library are onboard, I can begin formulating the specifics of our plan.”

Gustav watched him through narrowed eyes. “Still no sign of your alchemical abilities?”

“None. They appear to have been voided during the period I was inanimate. Thankfully, my hunger for human flesh has been cured as well. That was the only side-effect of my first resurrection that I found distasteful.”

“A pity. If you still considered humans to be food, we would have something in common.”

The Warlike Manchu made a face that revealed how little he wanted to have in common with the baron. “I care nothing for your politics, or for your Fuehrer, Baron. I would just as soon repay my debt to you and be allowed my freedom, with your cure for my condition in hand.”

“Actually,” the baron said with a chuckle, “I’m not longer loyal to the Fuehrer. Our friendship seems a thing of the past. I require your assistance for personal reasons. I want enough power to assume control of the Reich when Hitler is gone, whether it is through his own folly or by my hand.”

“Interesting. So in addition to being an inhuman beast, you are also treacherous.”

Gustav crossed the room in the blink of an eye, his vampiric speed too fast for a normal man to follow. He held his hand around the Warlike Manchu’s throat and squeezed, but found that the master villain refused to flinch or show any sign of fear. “You are alive now because of my goodwill. Do not squander it.” He shoved the Manchu away and the villain staggered but retained his dignity. “Now,” the baron demanded, “before we reach our destination, I want you to tell me about the Peregrine. Who is he? How has he managed to bedevil you and the Fuehrer?”

The Warlike Manchu strode towards a table upon which some of his files had been set. So far it seemed that none of the vampire SS had rifled through his things, but he wasn’t sure of that. It bothered him to think of his belongings being handled by fools like these. He picked up a folder and opened it, holding up a photograph of the Peregrine. It had been taken as the vigilante was perched on an Atlanta rooftop. “This is Max Davies, a.k.a the Peregrine. After witnessing the brutal murder of his philanthropist father, he pledged that he would protect the innocent. Shortly thereafter, he began experiencing painful visions of future crimes. Though useful, he loathed these potential clues. Realizing that he needed to be more than an angry youth to truly make a difference, he traveled the world and learned all that he could about philosophy, the sciences, and various martial arts. During this period, he became my pupil, not realizing that I was working atop a massive criminal empire. I thought I could twist him to my own ends… but I failed.”