The Dark Detective: Venator (22 page)

“Shut up and look scared,” said Max in a hoarse whisper.

“All right, but I want the Latvian Rock Monster.”

“What?” said Max.

“Oh come on! It’s not like you’ll ever let it out – I don’t see any reason why it shouldn’t join in all the fun.”

“It’s not a pet, Sophie.”

“Don’t be speciesist!” she said severely. “Rock monsters are very popular Down Under, especially the Eastern European ones.”

“Fine. But I don’t get why you took it in the first place?”

“I don’t know really. I suppose I felt sorry for it – I’m obviously spending too much time with you! Poor little monster, all trapped and caged by horrid protection spells. I wanted to set it free – not on humans, of course.”

Max couldn’t be bothered to argue – not with some really annoyed Level Three demons on their way. He threw her the rock monster and she stroked it happily before putting it in her pocket.

He hid behind a convenient arras tapestry and waited.

Moments later, he heard Sophie give a very convincing, feminine scream.

“Noooo!”

Max leapt out in time to see the corpses of two headless Brood demons flailing down the corridor and quickly turning into green slime.

But he’d been wrong about the Bruce woman’s tactics: two more Brood and the four Mamlaka demons had ducked under the silver wire and were tearing up the corridor heading straight for Sophie.

She raised her Holy water pistol with a look of grim satisfaction on her face. She picked off the two remaining Brood as if she were a trained marksman, took out another two of the Mamlakas whilst Max shot the final demons in the back and watched them explode over the priceless tapestry.

“Not so bright after all,” she said with grim satisfaction in her voice. “You boys can never resist that run-and-trip sprained ankle routine. Morons.”

Her aura pulsed a deeper, darker red as her demonic enjoyment of the kill flooded through her.

Max was very glad she was on his side. Sort of.

The temperature dropped suddenly again and Max could see his breath in front of his face.

“I think she knows we’ve just wasted her foot soldiers,” he said.

Sophie nodded. She seemed unaffected by the cold, despite her delicate satin and chiffon dress.

“She’s on to us, that’s certain, and her power is growing. She’s absorbing all the dark energy of this place – and there’s an awful lot of it. Oh, I do love a challenge!”

Which really was just asking for it, thought Max.

The cold increased and Max’s hands started to become numb. He fumbled with his Holy water pistol, trying to refill it with shaking hands. He wished he’d brought some salt with him; they were in serious danger of the Holy Water freezing.

“If she’s hunting us,” whispered Sophie. “Let’s head for the old Armoury.”

“Ancient iron weapons and old guns won’t help us,” said Max frowning. “There’s no point going to the Tower’s Arsenal – not even if they had semi-automatic machine guns and flame throwers.”

“So true, Max, darling,” said Sophie, “but don’t you think it will feel more natural making our last stand in a room built to hold weapons?”

Max wasn’t sure why he agreed, but they had to hole up somewhere and if it made Sophie happy, well, why not?

They sprinted back down the winding, stone staircase and out through the courtyard.

The Armoury was in one of the oldest parts of the Tower. It was filled with rows of pikes, broadswords and medieval maces, an attractive display of arquebuses, and Henry VIII’s vast suit of armour.

“Oh, I feel right at home here,” giggled Sophie.

Max had never felt like her humour was more misplaced but, on the other hand, it was a great attitude with which to meet the end of the world.

They waited.

The cold grew deeper and Max felt his joints stiffen. If the cold got any worse, he was going to have a lot of trouble moving in a hurry.

A sudden thought flashed into his benumbed brain.

“That’s it!” he said. “I know how to fight her!”

“Do share, Max, darling,” said Sophie.

But it was too late. They had been found.

The three Oyeb demons drifted into the room, their fangs lowered, ready to play.

Sophie soaked them with Holy water and although their clothes smoked slightly, the demons were unaffected.

The smile fell from Sophie’s face and for the first time, she looked uncertain – scared even.

Lily Bruce strolled into the room. Sophie carefully avoided looking into her eyes and Max kept his back to her, using his silver salver to take tentative glimpses. Lily Bruce was still in human form, but menace flowed from her with every beat of her blackened heart; Max could tell her humanity was ebbing out of her – for good.

“So you’re the annoying little British man who has been delaying my plans and killing off my minions,” she said in a casual voice. “And this demon tramp is helping you? Curious. How much gold did you have to offer it to get it to help you? Not that I care, because I’m going to kill you. More than that: I will utterly eradicate every atom of your being and swallow your soul completely. I can feel it when my minions expire, you know. I’ve known from the beginning what you were up to – and every step you’ve taken to try and stop me. How pathetic.”

Max was surprised. Lily Bruce was wrong: she didn’t know that the PTBs had persuaded – ordered – Sophie to help him. It gave him the faintest flicker of hope – because it meant that Lily Bruce didn’t know everything. And she didn’t know what he was going to do next.

“And you,” she said, turning the beam of her malignant eyes upon Sophie, “I shall enjoy liquefying your entrails before organising – and enjoying – your permanent termination.”

“You don’t know what you’re doing!” said Max desperately. “If you summon the Mother, it’ll mean the end of the world. Your power will be meaningless then. Why bother? In a couple of months you’ll be the President of the United States and the most powerful woman on earth!”

“I can see you’re young,” she said, amused, “But are you really that naive? Do you really think the President has any real power? I’d have to please the moronic voting public for a start. How humiliating. No, real power is ancient power. I’ve spent my entire life – several lifetimes in fact – to reach this point. Well, no point in talking any longer – hand over my amulet and I might make it a slightly quicker end for you, not lingering and tormented like your American colleague.”

She saw the shocked expression on Max’s face.

“Oh, I didn’t kill our CIA friend, Mr Caspar. I let my Mamlaka demons have him instead. They really enjoyed everything he had to tell them – they said it was quite a treat.”

The speed with which she moved was shocking: it was as if she flew across the room – straight at Sophie. The Oyebs followed her lead, completely ignoring Max.

So that was it – they were going to pick them off one at a time – and they were fast, too fast.

Max tried to keep himself calm as, from the corner of his eye, he watched Sophie fighting off the three Oyebs and Lily Bruce who now had superhuman strength.

“Leave her alone!” yelled Max. “This is what you want!”

He dangled the amulet from one hand, edging towards the window overlooking the Thames.

“If you don’t leave her alone right now, I’ll drop this into the Thames and then see which of your minions is prepared to dive into running water to get it.”

“Oh, please!” said Lily Bruce. “Do you really think that would delay me by more than a few minutes? Do you really think my minions wouldn’t obey my every word? I’m about to give them everything they ever wanted – I’m going to put Hell on Earth!”

“What is it with you demons and apocalypses?” he shouted for the second time in 24 hours.

But Lily Bruce merely smiled coldly.

Max handed over the amulet and a terrified Sophie dropped to the floor, one arm hanging at a very unnatural angle.

Lily Bruce took the amulet from Max. Then from her pocket she drew out a small, blue gemstone and placed it in the amulet’s empty centre.

Max recognised the stone as azurite; now he was really worried. His research for Walter J. told him that azurite amplified mystical powers – although he hardly thought that the woman who was about to end the world needed any more help. He could feel the demonic power gushing from the amulet reunited with its power source.

Lily Bruce put the amulet around her neck and gasped with pleasure.

“Oh! It’s better than I could ever have imagined! The power! The power! I will sit at the right hand of the Mother! I will bathe in darkness! Come to me! Come to me! I summon you! I demand your presence!”

The walls of the ancient tower began to tremble as if Hell itself was spewing out the Mother – the most ancient evil the world had ever known.

Flames leapt from the stone floor as a chasm opened at their feet. A huge, formless entity began to rise up, cloaked in stinking smoke. The Mother was awake.

Lily Bruce screamed like a woman possessed. Her hands clawed at her throat, trying to rip the amulet from her neck.

Her minions were staring at the Mother as she began to take form.

Pungent, purple flames whirled through the air like locusts. They drew together becoming denser and denser, and a face appeared at the centre of the flames – it was the Mother.

“Ah my children!” she sang, her hair flaming around her. “I am coming.”

Then she turned her blazing eyes on Lily Bruce.

“And you! Human! You dared to call me?! You dared to
summon
me? You thought to make
demands
of me? I am beyond your wildest dreams! And I do not need you sitting at my right hand. I do not need you at all!”

The demon minions looked pleased. Being ordered around by a human had clearly been a humiliating experience that they hadn’t enjoyed.

Max realised that the amulet had tricked Lily Bruce; it had pretended to offer her power but really she was being consumed by it.

Max knew he had one, slim chance – and he took it.

He swung the golden censer in front of him, sending demons flying in all directions, then flung himself sideways and snatched the amulet from around Lily Bruce’s neck. Her body was encased in flames as if she were burning up from the inside. Max felt the heat sear his hand but he tugged hard. It was too much for Lily Bruce: the amulet’s chain severed her head from her body. Her dismayed eyeballs rolled into the chasm and were swallowed up by the flames.

The Mother howled in fury. She still wasn’t fully formed.

Max had one last card to play – then the game was over.

He stood upright, eyes closed, muttering the incantation that would warp the time frame of his enemies.

“God! I hope I said that right!”

He opened his eyes and saw the three Oyebs looking as if they were wading in treacle. Sophie was definitely the worse for wear; her hair was dishevelled and one arm had been pulled out of its socket. She shrugged her shoulder and Max heard a ‘pop’ as the arm clunked back into place.

Max tossed the silver letter opener to Sophie. The time frame magicks held the Oyebs in its weird web, and Max watched with satisfaction as she finished them off one by one.

But then the Mother broke free of Max’s spell and rose like a tsunami of evil, her hands, torso and head now fully formed. She pinned Sophie to the wall by her throat and began to squeeze. Sophie was helpless against the strength of the Mother’s evil.

“Give me my amulet!” shrieked the Mother, her voice wailing like a siren.

Max was afraid his eardrums would split.

“The amulet! Give it to me or I finish her now!”

“Max!” gasped Sophie. “Give her the amulet! Please! We can’t beat her like this. Everything is
different.
”

“Sophie, no!” yelled Max.

“Please!
Trust
me! It’s our only chance!”

Max knew with certainty that he was going to die. He couldn’t bear the look of naked terror on Sophie’s face, but more than anything, she had implored him to trust her. It was the only thing he had left to give her – his trust and the amulet.

He almost missed the tiny wink she gave him. He suddenly understood what she meant. It was their last chance – then they were out of options.

He tossed the amulet to the Mother’s free hand and she cackled with delight.

Sophie took her chance.

“Take that, you old hag!”

She smashed the Mother in the face with what looked like a small brick.

For a moment the Mother looked merely surprised, then fear blossomed on her face.

The brick was not a brick, but a small Latvian rock monster. It fastened itself over the Mother’s face, draining demonic energy from the Mother – and from the doppelganger amulet. Instead of increasing her power and allowing her to take form, the demonic energy was being drained from her and into the primitive, ancient stone. The Mother fell to the ground, the rock monster still attached to her face.

The rock monster swelled furiously to the size of a massive boulder. It grew larger and larger as it absorbed her power; the Mother screamed and thrashed her arms and legs, trying to force the boulder monster from her.

But she was no match for the power that she herself had unleashed. Every drop of demonic life was squashed from the Mother: the evil flooded out of her in a gush of black and back into the chasm that had spawned her.

Max and Sophie leaped onto a table to avoid being engulfed by the evil that swirled around their feet.

A hissing, boiling sound rose from the ground, and all the evil was sucked down, down, down, back into Hell.

All that was left was a boulder, a broken amulet and the headless carcass that had been Lily Temple Bruce.

“How did you know that was going to work?” said Max.

“I didn’t – I guessed,” said Sophie, smiling crookedly. “Latvian rock monsters are primitive, unthinking demons. I thought the amulet wouldn’t be able to overwhelm it, and if I could combine that primitive power with the power of the doppelganger amulet, it would be enough to take her down – and I was right.”

Carefully, Max picked up the two tarnished amulets and gently removed the azurite from the doppelganger. He’d have to think of a way of keeping these from anyone who might seek to use them for evil purposes in the future. He had no idea how he was going to do that. Max had to admit his brain was currently a thought-free environment.