Hayden slowly raised himself from behind the desk. ‘Who are you people?’
‘I don’t see why we had to wait here,’ Bast grumbled at her lot as a female. She and Gazelle had been left to guard the roof, whilst Rhun, Sparrowhawk and Zabeel had gone to rescue Hayden Ingram. Avery and Fallon had gone to see if they could release Eli the elestial from the Aten before Viper got a whiff of their presence here and nicked off into the future.
‘We were left behind in case anything goes wrong during the rescue.’ Gazelle repeated their commander’s reasoning. ‘We have to have a plan and a team B.’
‘I meant, why couldn’t one of the men have stayed here, and I go on the mission?’ Bast clarified her grievance. ‘I never get to do any of the fun stuff.’
‘Oh, I don’t know,’ Gazelle considered; she had a gun that shot golden Orme filled darts in one hand and her photon blaster in the other. ‘The way I see it, we are the frontline of defence. If Viper did teleport himself down to Gaia’s surface to find out what’s going on in Ingram’s office, he’d probably land here, on the roof.’
‘You know me so well.’ Viper’s response startled both girls to an about-face, and in that blink of an eye Bast managed to draw and join Gazelle as she aimed at Viper. Their better judgement told the women to hold their fire, however, as a wall of Viper’s people confronted them with their weapons drawn and aimed in their direction. ‘This is an unexpected surprise. Fancy seeing Nugia’s ruler, the Princess Bast, and my treacherous sister, here. I can see your ugly mush behind that pretty persona you’re wearing, Gazelle.’
‘I’m not a princess.’ Bast drew his attention away from his sister, as she still feared Viper. Bast did not.
‘Oh, but you fancy yourself as a princess all right,’ Viper accused. ‘But you won’t once my lot get finished with you. You’ll feel every bit the filthy little slut that you potentially are.’ Viper faced the palms of his hands together and then slowly drew them apart — a dark ball of electrically charged energy erupted in between. Viper cast it at Bast and she vanished.
Gazelle wanted to fire at Viper so badly, but she knew she would not live to depart and warn the others. The new weapons carried by her kindred no doubt shot dark Orme darts — two hits and there would be no bringing her back to the land of the living, as her soul would be trapped in the sub-planes forever. ‘What have you done with Bast?’ Gazelle demanded instead.
‘You really care about your new little group of friends, don’t you?’ He smiled, delighted that she now had a weakness to exploit. ‘I’ve just sent the royal lioness on the road to her darkest destiny,’ Viper taunted. ‘I have a few associates who are in need of a little pussy.’
‘Don’t you dare harm her.’ Gazelle was suddenly angered beyond belief; she would not allow the souls of the Chosen to be tarnished by the horrors she had known.
‘That’s a girl,’ Viper encouraged her. ‘Hate me, I know you want to.’
Gazelle recognised her brother’s game, but she’d grown stronger since she’d seen him last and would not buy into it. With her heart racing in her chest, she conjured an image of her commander and vanished from Viper’s sight.
‘Well, I’ll be damned,’ Viper snarled, annoyed and secretly jealous. ‘They made her one of them.’
Once Rhun had shot out all the surveillance cameras, he turned his attention back to the horrified tycoon. ‘Just think of us as your personal bodyguards, Hayden.’
‘But I have personal bodyguards! Have you been spying on my son? Who sent you?’ Hayden spat out a couple of the numerous questions he wanted answered.
‘Doc Alexander,’ Rhun advised.
‘But Doc Alexander is dead!’ Hayden refuted the claim.
‘Don’t believe everything you read in the papers.’ Rhun encouraged him to give them the benefit of the doubt.
‘But even if Doc is still alive how did he know about my situation?’ Hayden thought back to the 2020s and Doc’s involvement with the holy man, Cadfan, who had made many accurate predictions. Perhaps the old diplomat had some new prophet in tow? Doc was almost considered a saint in this day and age and Hayden came to the conclusion that if his life wasn’t safe in Doc’s hands, he couldn’t be protected.
‘This isn’t your son.’ Rhun thought Hayden might appreciate being informed of this fact.
‘What do you mean? Of course he’s my son.’ Hayden looked at the lad frozen stock-still in the middle of the room. ‘I think I know my own boy when I see him.’
Rhun raised both eyebrows in question, and then transformed his persona to appear like Rainer. ‘Still so sure about that, are you?’
Hayden gasped, recognising his son’s voice. ‘Who are you people? What are you?’ The old man didn’t know what to think.
‘The truth is, Hayden,’ Rhun transformed back to his true form, ‘we are from the future.’ He handed the tycoon a disk that was compatible with the computer systems of this day and age. Doc had recorded some of the information he’d collected on the demon dome’s future — starting with the reports of Hayden’s death. ‘This might answer some of your questions as to why your preservation is so important.’
As Hayden sat down to view the information on the disk, Zabeel noticed their prisoner blink and so hit him with a stun bullet again. He stood observing the Leonine who was hidden inside the guise of Rainer, noting the dark aura that emanated from him — there was no doubt he was one of Viper’s people.
Rhun conjured up a NERGUZ module and placed it around the prisoner’s wrist. ‘Contained,’ he announced and the word locked the module onto his prisoner and bound him to do Rhun’s bidding. This was one of the old modules, designed by Gibal for Marduk in order that renegade immortals could be controlled. The more recent version of the device allowed the subject to maintain their psychokinetic abilities and their free will, which would prove too great a risk on this mission. This older module was the same as those Viper had laid his hands on, and Rhun could only figure that the pirate had duplicated the technology by accessing the Lord Gibal’s old files pertaining to the device, from the technologist’s last laboratory located on board the Aten. ‘You are not to remember anything said pertaining to Hayden or Rainer Ingram, their company, Viper, Mahaud, Lahmu or his senate. All the names of people and places you encounter or hear, will remain unknown to you. Do not leave my sight.’ Rhun gave his final instruction.
Hayden was riveted to his computer until the presentation ended. He wanted to believe that these people were frauds and that the presentation he’d just seen was a well-constructed hoax, but in his heart he knew that God had just spared him from death for a very good reason. ‘If this man is not my son,’ the thought came as a great relief to him, and yet at the same time it caused a stabbing panic in his chest, ‘where is Rainer? Is he still alive?’
‘Let us find out.’ Rhun turned to his prisoner. ‘Please assume your true form and tell me your name.’
‘My name is Horace.’ The Leonine pirate manifested before Hayden and the shock cast the old tycoon back into his seat.
‘Is this the product of genetic engineering in the future?’
‘This race and many others are the product of the distant past,’ Rhun explained politely. ‘They were whisked away from Gaia before the great deluge. It was only Homo sapiens that were left to drown.’
‘Whisked away by whom?’ Hayden ventured to ask.
‘A race of beings who no longer exist in the physical universe, and thus you need not concern yourself with them,’ Rhun informed him.
‘Well, actually,’ Sparrowhawk corrected, ‘if we’ve just gone back twenty years then you’d still be in the process of freeing the human races from Nefilim rule.’
‘The Nefilim?’ Hayden gasped, being a well-read man. ‘As in the Bible?’
‘Yes,’ Rhun granted. ‘Thank you, Sparrowhawk, for confusing the issue. Now,’ his sights returned to their Leonine friend, ‘tell us, Horace. Where is Rainer Ingram?’
‘I don’t know what Viper’s d
one with him,’ Horace replied.
‘Who is this … Viper?’ Hayden demanded to know.
‘We suspect he is the lead singer of Bloodlust,’ Rhun said. ‘However, as that band will not come to prominence until fifteen years from now, only Satan knows whose persona Viper is hiding behind at present.’
‘Viper remains on the Aten,’ advised the Leonine. ‘He is studying the dark laws of nature under the tutelage of a witch, who has possessed the body of one of our more foul-minded females. Viper oversees his plans for Gaia from space and sends forth agents to do his bidding here on the surface.’
‘Agents like you,’ Rhun prompted.
‘Viper’s will is strong,’ the Leonine defended; the NERGUZ prevented him from lying. ‘I was compelled by Viper to follow him down the dark path to immortality and this is my service to the Prince of Darkness who gave me immortal life.’
‘And all of your people have proven susceptible to dark Orme?’ Rhun prayed they had not.
‘There is only a handful of us who seem to generate enough evil intent and resentment to maintain this immortality. Everyone else has to be re-injected,’ Horace concluded.
This was good news for their mission indeed. ‘And which group do you fall into, Horace?’
‘I am one of the handful,’ he smiled, proud of the fact. ‘My hatred made me whole again.’ The Leonine gripped hold of his private parts. ‘Keeps me whole.’
The Dragon’s sons all looked at each other a second. ‘We won’t go there,’ Rhun decided and his brothers both agreed.
The shock of the day’s developments might have aged Hayden twenty years, but he suddenly felt filled with a great sense of purpose, the like of which he’d not felt since his boy had turned on him. Now Hayden knew that his son had not rebelled, but was being held hostage somewhere — or worse — he realised his boy needed him. ‘Will you help me bring these demons to justice and find my son?’
‘That is the whole reason why we came to your rescue, Hayden,’ Rhun confirmed, sensing the hope rising in the tycoon. ‘We shall find Rainer, hold no fear of that. But you must come with us, now. If Viper’s people do have control of the systems in this building, they’re bound to have been watching this office via those surveillance cameras I shot out, and they’ll be sending some people to find out what’s going on in here.’
‘What have I got to lose?’ Hayden answered, checking his watch. ‘I should have died twenty minutes ago, so I guess destiny has freed up my schedule.’
As Gazelle manifested before Rhun, she locked a NERGUZ around her wrist. ‘Viper’s on the roof, we have to leave.’
‘Where is Bast?’ Rhun queried, as everyone present gathered in a circle and held hands.
‘Viper has grown in power … he did something to her and she vanished. I don’t know where.’ Gazelle struggled with the words to explain what she’d witnessed. ‘Please, we must leave.’
‘Lynn Cerrig Bach,’ Rhun uttered, as he envisioned the entrance to Taliesin’s Otherworldly abode, currently being inhabited by Doc Alexander.
Avery and Fallon had visited the Aten’s Star Chamber before.
The shiny black floor reflected the stars, shining through the clear dome encompassing the entire chamber, which was so huge that one could not see the outside walls from the centre — the sea of stars just faded into black nothingness in all directions. A huge crystal chair marked the centre of the chamber; it sat atop a perfectly round set of stairs. These allowed access from any direction as the throne could rotate a full three hundred and sixty degrees. This crystal throne represented the head of the elestial crystal they were here to free.
As suspected, Avery and Fallon found the Star Chamber empty.
This was the heart of the time drive system of the Aten, and as Viper was not time hopping at present, it stood to reason that this control centre would not be in use. As Viper had no idea that Lahmu had sent a task force back into Gaia’s past, the thief had not bothered to have the time throne guarded.
Avery scaled the stairs and took a seat on the crystal throne, placing both his hands face down on the solid arms to communicate with it. Awaken Eli, the elestial, I have come to set you free.
Fallon, who was standing at the base of the stairs, was given quite a start when the floor on which she stood began to retract carrying her with it, and the full form of the crystal arose to tower before her.
Young master, thank heavens you have come. I have been trapped … blackmailed!
‘I know,’ replied Avery, ‘so let us get you out of here as quickly as possible. What must I do?’
Just will me free of the Aten, lord, Eli instructed eagerly.
A moment later the metal bonds that riveted the huge crystal to the ship withdrew and Eli was released from his nightmare.
Oh, thank you, lord, thank you, Eli stressed. I know I have caused you much grief, thus your mercy is all the more appreciated.
Avery flew back down to the floor, waving off the crystal’s gratitude, when suddenly he was possessed by a vision of Bast fighting off many attackers. ‘I think Bast is on the Aten,’ he advised, sensing that she was close at hand.
‘Yes, I feel her too.’ Fallon seconded Avery’s hunch.
‘Eli take Fallon back to the Otherworld with you. I want both of you to wait for me at the Night Hunter’s office,’ he instructed, and the huge crystal swept Fallon up in his massive hand before she had the chance to protest.
‘No! I’m coming with you,’ she insisted, trying to break loose of Eli’s grasp.
‘I’ll come for you soon, I promise.’ Avery waved as Eli vanished with his fiancée and then focused his will on finding Bast.
Avery found himself in the master living quarters located beneath the Star Chamber. These chambers now seemed more like a public hotel than the private abode of a God.
There were several men of Leonine-Nefilim descent lying unconscious on the floor about him and Bast was showing off her psychic know-how and warrioress skills on the half a dozen men still conscious. Avery considered aiding her to fight off her attackers, but she seemed to be enjoying herself and so he waited in the wings until she’d downed the last man standing with a kick to his jaw.
‘Did I say that I never get to do any of the fun stuff? Shame on me.’ She taunted the moaning males around her, as Avery applauded her display.
‘Why are you here?’ Avery approached her to inquire.
‘Viper has a new magic trick.’ Bast shrugged. ‘He sent me here. I suppose this lot were meant to intimidate me.’ She cast her eyes over the carpet of bodies around them. ‘They may have taken dark Orme, but their psychic and fighting skills are very underdeveloped.’
The exit door in the chamber opened and Lirathea floated into the room. Only it was not Lirathea who was wearing her body today, for underneath the facade was the dark, rotting presence of Mahaud, with eyes glowing as red as hot coals.
The problem was that Avery couldn’t discern at this distance if the crone was projecting the persona of his sister, or if the witch had snatched his sister’s physical body. ‘You want me to believe that you could comfortably exist inside Lirathea’s light-filled form,’ he scoffed.
Maelgwn and Tory, having seen their other three sons safely to Lynn Cerrig Bach, had popped in to check on Avery’s progress on the Aten and were horrified to see Mahaud sporting their daughter’s body.
‘Well,’ replied the witch in her choir of guttural voices, ‘she gave it up of her own free will, so I’m comfortable enough with the arrangement.’ She slid her hands down over Lirathea’s much admired form. ‘What a shame your Falcon brother isn’t here, eh?’ She blew Avery a kiss as she massaged between her legs with both her hands, moaning with delight.
Bast, who was admittedly shocked by the witch’s foul implications, looked Avery’s way to find him fuming and having never seen him lose his cool, she gripped hold of him to prevent him doing anything rash. ‘She’s just baiting you.’
‘I haven’t been a virgin for eons.’ Th
e witch laughed at Avery’s dismay. ‘Never mind, Viper will just have to do the honours.’
Avery cut loose from Bast’s hold, of the mind to attack the witch.
It’s only a vehicle, Avery.
Lirathea? Avery calmed to communicate with her.
The witch can do me no true harm as I am immortal in body and soul. Mahaud may have my body right now, but my soul is standing right beside you.
‘Lirathea?’ Maelgwn willed to see their daughter, as did Tory. This latest development warranted an explanation.
Lirathea made her etheric form visible to her parents. ‘Not now, father.’ Her attention returned to Mahaud and her brother. ‘I want you to leave, Avery,’ she implored him.
‘Still, it’s not your sister that I am really after,’ Mahaud advised.
‘Wait, Avery.’ Maelgwn overruled Lirathea’s order. ‘Let’s see what she’s up to.’
‘I know what she’s up to.’ Lirathea overruled her father. ‘Avery, leave!’
Avery found the argument in his head between his father and sister most disconcerting.
‘If you tell me where that mother of yours is hiding out, I could let you have your sister’s body back,’ Mahaud proposed. ‘Bear in mind that she has not yet died a mortal death and still feels in the mortal way.’ The witch produced a handheld electric prod and held the live end to her breast a moment.
Lirathea shrieked as she felt the impact and Avery heard her pained cry echo through his mind.
Tory and Maelgwn rushed to Lirathea’s side, helpless to ease her suffering.
‘Tell her to nominate a place and I shall leave my vacated body there for her,’ Tory advised her son.
Mother? Avery was nearly shocked into querying her presence aloud. When did you arrive?
‘If Lirathea is harmed in any way the deal is off.’ Tory kept Avery focused. ‘Please tell her.’