Deadrise (48 page)

His every waking moment was steeped in the study and practice of the occult, in whose circles he was now known as Mordecai Necrotura. He was serviced by a small army of evil cultists, recruited from the network of sects, cults and covens linked to his archaeological digs and expeditions. All were fanatic, black-hearted fiends, equally comfortable with high society socializing or human sacrifice. And the things he had seen! Walking Mummies in Baghdad! Werewolves in Siberia! Vampires in New York City! Ghosts in Tokyo! Demons in Africa! But still he knew that the secret of the Voices would be even greater than all of those things combined.

And that secret had been bestowed upon him in the summer of 1964.

It had been off the coast of California aboard one of his yachts. He had a crew of twenty with him and they had purchased a trio of young Chinese girls from a Triad slaver for Communion. It had been during the height of Communion, just as he was reaching orgasm, his arm deep in the girl’s eviscerated torso, clutching her faintly beating heart when the Voices had overwhelmed him, filling his head with their song, overflowing his senses with euphoric pleasure.

"Come with us!" They sang, tugging his spirit from his body into the astral plane. He felt himself rise from his body, linked to his spirit by a thin thread of silver light, rising high into the sky, miles above the yacht until the California coastline was a jagged line beneath him and the vast Pacific ocean curved over the edge of the world…rising higher until the clouds were far, far beneath him and the ground was a series of lights, which he recognized as cities, and still the sliver thread of light spiraled down away from him, linking him to his body. Soon, the soft, blue curve of the earth was beneath him as he rose out of the atmosphere into space. The stars sparkled like a billion candles against the canvas of black. The moon, fat and full, looked close enough to touch.

"Look!" The Voices sang, and out beyond the moon one of the stars began to glimmer even brighter than the others, setting itself apart from the rest. He was traveling again, the moon left behind him in a blur of motion, cool euphoric light washing through his every fiber as he raced for the twinkling star…Which, as he came to a sudden stop before the object he could see was no star, but a spaceship of some kind! It was approximately fifty feet long, black as space and looked like a tear shaped gem with sharp angles and cuts. There was a view port, and Walther found himself gently floating up before it…the interior was dimly lit, but even in the low light he could see four occupants. They were small and of general humanoid appearance, but that was where the similarities ended. Their lower body was insect like and tapered to a stubby, slug-like abdomen with oddly set hips and long legs folded beneath them like a grasshopper. The skin was scaly and hard, almost like an exoskeleton, mottled black and green and covered in slime. There were six arms, three on each side of the body, and these were thin and many jointed, ending in a small, five- digit hand with an opposable thumb, but the nails were long, black and wicked. The head looked almost like a snake, with the narrow slit eyes and a long thin snout, with a large mouth filled with two rows of sharp yellow teeth. All four of them were looking at him through his astral form through the view port.

"Yesss." Whispered the Voices, reading his thoughts before he could speak them. "We are not of your world, but we would make it our own. And you shall help us."

"When will you arrive?" There was no question in Walther’s mind about helping them. This was what the experiences of his life had prepared him for.

"In thirty of your planet’s rotations. We are but a scout, sent ahead to assess your planets defenses, soften the populace and make way for the Mothership. You shall give us shelter and provide us with nourishment. Your network of contacts and associates shall provide us with the information we seek."

"Of course! Of course! Just instruct me in what you need done."

"Be at this location in exactly thirty days." Longitude and latitude coordinates flashed into his mind, and he recognized them at once. It was an archaeological dig he was funding on a remote island in the south pacific. Uninhabited, it had once been the home to a savage headhunter tribe which engaged in cannibalism and demon worship. A rather obsessed and slightly insane archaeologist from England named Dr. Blair had sold him on funding the expedition with stories of an ancient city and a lost religion based upon black magic and human sacrifice. He had never visited the island, but he received weekly reports from Dr. Blair as well as the occasional artifact or scroll. There was one artifact in particular, a small statue of one of the demons the cannibals had worshipped, that very much resembled the Alien creatures looking at him through the view port. It had come with a small card, hand written by Dr. Blair, giving him the ancient cannibal’s native name for the demon…Krylok.

"Yesss. We are the Krylok. And as you must have deduced we have been in contact with your species for several millennia, our scouts coming every few centuries, keeping the myths alive, preparing for our eventual arrival. The primitive people of the island worshipped us as gods, now you shall make us the focus of worship once again. You shall lead the faithful of humanity to salvation. Only the faithful shall receive salvation and become our supplicants, the rest shall become our food."

"When will the mothership arrive?" There was holy devotion in Walther’s voice. The thought of the entire world population being led to the slaughter, like so many dumb cattle, filled him with such orgasmic pleasure…

"At the dawn of the new millennium." That was over thirty-five years away. "Now go Mordecai Necrotura, await our arrival in 30 days time." He felt the sensation of movement again, and he was falling back toward earth, down along the spiraling thread of silver light, down through the atmosphere, down through the clouds, down from the sky back into his body on the yacht where the last orgasmic spasm shivered through his body and the girls heart, still clutched in his hand, gave a final beat.

He stepped away from the girl, staggering a step before he regained his balance. His faithful cultists on their knees around him, chanting the arcane words of worship that he had taught them. He took several deep breaths, feeling the holy, divine power of the Krylok coursing through his veins as their Voices sang in his skull. His followers could sense it too, as if there were electricity in the air, unseen but coursing through them all, binding them to Mordecai. It was deeper and more powerful than his mind control and in that moment, looking into their eyes and seeing blind, fanatic zealotry staring back at him, Mordecai knew he owned all twenty of them body and soul…

'Mordecai!'
The Krylok’s telepathic call was muffled against his mind block, barely audible. Mordecai pulled himself from his daydream and focused instead on the small creature clad in a black hooded robe that stood at his feet.

'Mordecai Necrotura!'
He could hear its faint telepathic call once again, and the Alien was lucky at that. Had he wanted to Mordecai could have amplified the electronic mind block and shut it out completely. He could sense the creature’s anger at its inability to get past the chip and smiled with pleasure.

Recruiting Dr. Winters into the Order had been a stroke of genius, his microchip worth every penny of the 500 million it had cost to devise. Not only did it strengthen his mind block, it also allowed telepathic communication between those with the implant, even if they were devoid of psychic abilities. It was a truly remarkable device, fifty years ahead of anything of its kind. It had been unfortunate that Dr. Winters conditioning broke down and Mordecai had been forced to kill him. But even now he served a purpose as one of the walking dead outside.

"Your attempt to get past my mental defenses is as amusing as it is futile." Mordecai spoke aloud, his voice was soft yet deep, as mocking as it was commanding.

'I find you insolence irritating. There was a time when you worshipped our every word.'
The Krylok was truly angry now, its mental voice openly hostile.

"You betray my devotion and then complain that
I irritate you?"
Mordecai broke into a laugh, turning away from the Krylok and motioning to the two young acolyte boys who stood at the back of the room. Their tongues had been cut out when they were children and they had been raised to worship and serve him as God himself. One pulled the bloody robe over Mordecai’s shoulders so that he stood naked while the other began to wipe the girl’s blood from his body with a damp towel.

The Krylok was bristling with anger at his insult.
'You would be nothing without us!'

"And that debt was repaid thirty six years ago. We owe each other
nothing.
" Mordecai kept his back to the Krylok, remaining calm and letting the acolytes finish cleaning him. "But your hostility is in vain. Although I am no longer your servant, I am not your enemy. Indeed it seems we have a mutual problem." Mordecai turned away from the Krylok that had angrily confronted him, directing his question at the second creature that stood quietly near the balcony entrance. "Wouldn’t you agree Overlord?"

'That is correct. My hybrid supplicant has broken free of my control. It clings to the memory of its human life and the desire to protect its friends.'

"You underestimated the strength of the human spirit... Again. Our will to fight and be free." Mordecai laughed. To think he had once held these creatures in awe and worshipped at their feet just as his acolytes now groveled at his. He let out another long laugh while the acolytes took away the damp, blood stained towels and brought him a fresh white robe. Once donned, he dismissed the acolytes with a thought, and they exited the room. Now there was just Mordecai, two of his white robed, AK-47 wielding Templar's, the two Krylok and their Sentinels.

'The hybrid is an abomination and must be destroyed.'
Despite the Overlords attempts to shield his mind, Mordecai could sense fear in the creature.

"Would that have been my fate had I accepted your
worm?"
Memories of the past flooded Mordecai’s mind, visions of the horrors seen and the choices made on that small, uncharted pacific island in 1964.

'No. You are weaker. Your will would have crumbled and I would have dominated you.'
He could sense the glee in the Overlords insult. Mordecai returned it with another long, mocking laugh.

"Look at us, fighting amongst ourselves. What more but us killing one another could our enemy ask for?"

'You cannot be trusted supplicant!'
The subordinate Krylok put in, still bristling with anger.

"I grow tired of you insults! And Mordecai Necrotura is NO CREATURES SUPPLICANT!" Mordecai snapped, his large green eyes sparkling with psychotic rage. Before the Krylok could react Mordecai lashed out telepathically, sinking a tendril into the aliens mind, which after a lifetime of telepathic contact was as familiar as an old robe, and charged it with pain. The small alien fell to the floor writhing in agony, squealing a high-pitched wail that reminded him of the slaughterhouse of his youth. One of the superzombies raised its rifle to shoot him…

'STOP!'
The Overlords telepathic scream was buffered by the microchip but Mordecai still felt the power of the creatures ESP. The superzombie lowered its weapon and Mordecai released his agonizing hold on the downed Krylok with a small chuckle.

"You really should control your underlings better, it is rather embarrassing." Mordecai sat down in the high-backed leather chair behind his desk.

'The hybrid must be destroyed! It is too dangerous for one such as he to be roaming free. With the knowledge and abilities he possesses he could become a terminal threat to our existence. He has complete instinctive knowledge of our technology and weapons, tactics and abilities.'
The Overlord did not say any more but Mordecai knew exactly what he was getting at. With the hybrid free of their control and loyal to humanity and earth, it could become one of mankind’s greatest weapons. While Mordecai gave a grudging nod of respect for humanity, he cursed the reality of the situation as it affected his own plans of world conquest, which were quite separate from those of the Krylok.

Just then a priority security report came across the telepathic frequency provided by the microchip implant. The three Templar’s who had gone out in the boat to spy on the intruders had been killed. Two by the intruders but the third, the pilot of the boat, was killed by the hybrid as it came from beneath the water. This had been confirmed both visually, as well as by the Templar’s dying telepathic transmission.

"Your hybrid just killed one of my Templar’s." Mordecai said accusingly. "It is your creation and therefore your problem. No more of my flock will die hunting your hybrid while you have three Sentinels about."

'No more of your sheep need to die. The hybrid will not attack them so long as they stay within your compound.'

"This is MY domain Overlord. My Templar’s come and go as I command; they do not hide like frightened children."

'So the hybrid is both our problems.'
What passed for a smile flashed across the Overlords slimy, reptilian snout with a flash of sharp, yellow teeth.

"The people occupying Dr. Winter’s estate are my problem. They have not been there forty-eight hours and already they’ve become a nuisance. It’s time to eliminate them. The horde of drones and my Templar’s can handle that easily enough; do you think your sentinels can hunt down the hybrid?"

'As I told you before, the hybrids bond to its human friends is very strong. Logic dictates that he will be there defending his friends from your Templar’s. When he appears, the Sentinels will eliminate him.'

"What of Park City?" Mordecai had spies in the city, but so far all of their reports had been of the city defenders keeping the city secure.