“The Queen of The Apocalypse!”
HALLOWEEN NEW YORK CITY 1935 “Good evening ladies and gentleman! I’m Donovan Merrill, your host for this glorious evening here in the magnificent Neptune Ballroom located on the very roof of The Wildman Building in the heart of midtown Manhattan and as I’m standing here looking at the beautiful array of famous celebrities who have turned out for this gala charity event I really wish you could be here! Yes, folks, I’m coming to you LIVE from the celestial Neptune Ballroom through the miracle of radio and station WDLF right here in little old New York! We’re going to be covering this charity event, which in keeping with the holiday has a definite spooooooooky theme! There’s jack o’lanterns a’plenty on every table but these jack o’lanterns are made of genuine Lafitte crystal, ladies and gentlemen! Yes, you heard me right and they’re as beautiful as they are creepy, let me tell you! I don’t know whether to shudder or swipe one for the missus…hahahahahaha…just kidding, folks! “And that’s what it’s all about here tonight, folks! Having some fun and enjoying the sounds of Gustavo Gutierrez and Michael McGee’s Merry Music Monarchs! We’ve also got some special guests coming up who will be entertaining not only you wonderful people at home but the swellegents right here in the magnificent Neptune Ballroom! So just sit back and give a listen as The Merry Music Monarchs give us their rendition of “Live With Me And Be My Love”. The jaunty music filled the tremendous ballroom as men and women moved onto the dance floor with practiced, graceful ease. The party was in full swing and would go on until the early dawn, when the first crimson tinged fingers of the new born sun tapped against the windows of the world’s greatest city, striking blinding rays of light that would awaken New York to yet another glorious day. But for now, it was still as black as the bottom of the deepest crater on the dark side of the moon and it was still Halloween. A slim, black haired woman entered the ballroom, garbed in a sapphire blue evening gown. Her figure drew many admiring glances from men young and old as she moved deeper into the room with an easy, confident stride. One man nudged his friend, almost knocking that worthy’s vodka gimlet from his hand. “Pipe that babe! If she had blonde hair I’d’ve sworn she was Harlow!” The black haired woman was making her way to a knot of women clustered by one the ballroom’s four bars. The women ranged in age from 19 to 60 and she could pick up snatches of their excited babblings, as she got closer; “Oh, please do another trick for us! PLEEEEEEEZE!” “No! I want to hear about another one of your adventures!” “Did you really track down a werewolf?” “Have you thought about moving your detective practice uptown, young man?” “The papers say you smashed a cult of zombies all by yourself! Are there really zombies in New York?” The black haired woman cleared her throat for attention, which she got as the group of women parted to allow her passage through to the side of the tall man in the ebony tuxedo they were surrounding. “He didn’t exactly stop the zombie cult all by himself. Or the werewolf. Or the vampire. Or the-“ “I think they take your meaning, Rose.” The tall man smiled. Even though his angular, bony face was on the severe side the smile was wonderfully charming and full of warmth. “Ladies, allow me to introduce my partner, Rose Psychic.” “Indeed!” One indignant dowager, crusted with jewels that had been in her family since Julius Caesar was a toddler peered owlishly at Rose through her pince-nez, which was attached to a 14 karat gold thread which in turn connected to a platinum and pearl brooch pinned on her considerably well-endowed bosom. “I suppose you think it terribly clever for a young lady your age to bandy such an obviously assumed name about in proper society!” Rose smile was sweet honey laced with arsenic as she replied. “And I suppose you believe that the gentleman’s name is actually Richard Occult?” “Rose--“ Doctor Occult patted her hand. “Ladies, I thank you for you kind attentions but I’m afraid I’ve promised the first dance of the evening to my lovely partner as soon as she arrived.” “But you’ve promised a dance to us as well!” “I’ve got a case I want you to solve for me, Doctor Occult!” “You’ll be able to solve my case all by yourself, Doctor! You won’t need your partner, I’m sure!” Doctor Occult led Rose out onto the dance floor and they easily fell into step. Rose looked up at her partner with a cynical eye. “Not that I truly care or anything, but don’t you think you let that act get a bit out of hand at times?” Doctor Occult shrugged. “I’ve told you time and time again that it doesn’t hurt for me to play the fop every now and then, especially at functions like this. There’s a lot of valuable contacts to be made here that can help us in our job.” Rose snorted in a most un-ladylike fashion. “You don’t see me wiggling my hips and battling my eyelashes in front of a bunch of rich yeggs just to fit in!” Doctor Occult sighed. This wasn’t the first time he and Rose had disagreed on this subject and he was positive it wouldn’t be the last. “Rose, what’s the harm in letting the public at large think that Doctor Richard Occult, “The Ghost Detective”, is merely a charming dabbler who’s more sham than substance? My pose of being an amusing trickster gives me a way into areas of society I normally couldn’t even hope to touch.” Rose’s face softened as she leaned in closer. “It’s just that I know how much you’ve sacrificed and these knotheads should be on their knees thanking you for everything you’ve done for them! If they only knew how often you’ve saved this city from a hellish fate-“ “Shhhh.” Doctor Occult admonished. “For once we’ve got a Halloween off, so let’s enjoy the music and dance.” Coldly bright eyes burning with an almost reptilian hatred followed Doctor Occult and Rose as they glided among the other dancers on the polished floor. Even though the ballroom blazed with light, it seemed as if the man occupied a pocket of darkness that enveloped him and hid him from sight. His hands were inside of his tuxedo jacket, fingering a dagger of barbaric design with a serrated blade. He licked his cold, dry lips as the words of his mistress burned inside his brain, which felt as if it were boiling inside his skull, so hot was he. He drew forth the wicked looking blade. It was time. He burst from the shadows, the dagger held high as he rushed like a dark wind of death in the direction of Doctor Occult. It was Rose who saw the wild-eyed man in the tuxedo rushing upon them and she screamed “Richard, look out!” while shoving him out of the path of the crazed attacker. Amazingly, he kept running right between them, toward a white haired man who, while quite tall was on the plumpish side. The crazed attacker pushed aside the blue-haired woman the tall white –haired man was dancing with and plunged the knife into the man’s chest. Screams filled the ballroom and men turned to see what was happening only to be hit in their faces with splatters of fresh, hot steaming blood as the precious fluid geysered from the chest of the white haired man who was thrashing about in agony, screaming as if his lungs would burst as his attacker savaged his chest with the serrated blade, hacking away at his rib cage, forcing him to the floor with the brutal power of his thrusts. He paused in his butchery long enough to smash his hand through the jagged hole he had made in the man’s chest and yanked forth his still beating heart, tearing it free with a rending of sinew and snapping arteries and thrust it into his mouth where he chewed away at if as if it were the most succulent of fruits. Women fainted as men rushed forth to seize him by the arms and drag him from his victim. The heart was knocked from his mouth and fell onto the polished floor where it feebly beat twice more and then stopped. The dagger clattered and was quickly picked up by Doctor Occult, who studied it intently. Rose was looking at the horribly brutalized body lying in a pool of quickly spreading blood. Even though she had seen horrors unimaginable at the side of Doctor Occult, there was something about the sheer savagery of the attack that was unnerving. “Richard-“ But Doctor Occult was deep in his examination of the blade. He swiftly plucked forth the silk handkerchief from his breast pocket and wrapped the blade up in it and passed it to Rose. “Hold onto this and don’t let anybody touch it.” He strode briskly over to where the murderer was being held by half a dozen men and even then they were barely able to contain him. “Let him go!” Doctor Occult commanded. So forceful was the steel of command in his voice that he was immediately obeyed. The murderous madman rushed at Doctor Occult, his blood-smeared face a mask of insane hatred. Doctor Occult lifted his right hand and the madman stopped as if Doctor Occult had suddenly brandished a double-barreled shotgun in his face. Doctor Occult pointed a finger at the man who seemed transfixed. Doctor Occult suddenly snapped his fingers and the madman’s eyes rolled up in his head until the whites showed and he collapsed to the floor. Doctor Occult waved to the six men who had been holding him. “I think you’ll find him easier to handle now, gentlemen.” Doctor Occult turned to the crowd of partygoers who were still in shock from the horrific events of the past few minutes. The orchestra had long stopped playing and everybody seemed too stunned to fully comprehend what had happened. Good. That meant they would be compliant to take orders. He raised his voice and said loud enough for his words to echo round the room, “I’ll need everybody to sit down at their tables and relax. We’ll all to stay here until the police have arrived and an investigation into this matter is conducted.” Rose sighed. “So much for a Halloween off. What do you think this is all about?” Doctor Occult’s eyes were grim and his voice somber as he said; “I don’t know. But I have a suspicion. And if it’s what I think it is then there’s a lot more men having their hearts cut out of their chests tonight. And we’ve got to find the cause of it before dawn…or there may not be one.” “Somehow, I’m not surprised to find you here, Occult,” Captain Ellsworth said with a sort of weary resignation as he shook hands with him. Ever since the Ghost Detective had begun operating in New York, Captain Ellsworth had become a sort of unofficial liaison between Doctor Occult and the New York Police Department. Skeptical of Doctor Occult at first, thinking him to be a charlatan looking to bilk a gullible public, it hadn’t taken more than working a few cases together before Ellsworth realized that there was a very real and very dangerous supernatural subculture operating in New York and Doctor Occult was more than equipped to deal with it. Since then, the two men had formed a working relationship that had seen Ellsworth call in the Ghost Detective on several occasions. This was a first however seeing as how it was Doctor Occult who had called Police Headquarters and specifically requested Ellsworth. It would have taken far too long and wasted far too much time to have explained to another detective what was going on. The partygoers had been transferred to a lower floor where other officers were questioning them. Doctor Occult and Captain Ellsworth walked over to where the body of the white-haired man still lay. Rose nodded at Ellsworth as they joined her. She was still looking down at the man, the silk wrapped dagger in both her hands. With a few sentences, Doctor Occult related what had happened. Ellsworth hunkered down, shoved back his brown fedora and chewed thoughtfully on a toothpick as he listened. “I see his shirt is opened. Did you do that?” Ellsworth demanded. Doctor Occult also hunkered down next to Ellsworth. “I had to; I wanted to examine his chest. I was looking for something and I found it.” He pointed at the ruined rib cage. “I cleaned away some of the blood. Just enough for you to see that tattoo on his chest. Can you make it out?” “Yeah. I assume it means something to you?” “It does. It’s the sigil of Ite’pha, The Queen of The Apocalypse. I’d bet you my last box of Cracker Jacks that Police Headquarters is getting reports of men all over the city having their hearts cut out their chest and being eaten by the attackers.” “You’re talking mass murder as though it happened everyday, Occult!” Captain Ellsworth stood up. “Why aren’t you out stopping it?” Doctor Occult shook his head. “Impossible. There’s no way to tell who has this tattoo. I myself might never have learned of this until it was too late.” “What do you mean?” “That the ripping out and eating of the hearts is part a gigantic blood sacrifice that is infusing the High Priestess of The Cult of The Queen of The Apocalypse with enough spiritual energy that she will be strong enough for her body to serve as a vessel when a gateway is opened and The Queen of The Apocalypse can step through and establish her kingdom on Earth.” “Swell. What’s Halloween got to do with it?” “Well, Halloween is traditionally a time when the barriers between this world and others are weakened. But I sense another purpose behind this. I want to question the killer.” Ellsworth grunted and motioned for Doctor Occult and Rose Psychic to follow. They went to a small office adjoining the cloakroom where the killer was being held in custody by two brawny coppers. The killer was sitting limply in a chair, his head lolling back. The blood had been cleaned from his face but through his half opened mouth they could see that his teeth were still bloodstained. Rose shuddered and closed the door behind them as Doctor Occult and Captain Ellsworth stood over the unconscious man. “We haven’t been able to bring him round,” Ellsworth said. Doctor Occult smiled and bent down. The middle fingers of both his hands went to either side of the man’s neck and pressed on the carotid artery in a curious fashion and the fellow’s eyes fluttered as he regained consciousness. He looked around him with hate-filled, red eyes. He sat up a little straighter, tensing as if he were about to jump when Ellsworth drew back his topcoat and showed his .38 service revolver snug in its holster. “I’d think twice about it, boyo. You’ve ripped the heart out of Robert Lester Thurnow this night and he’s a cousin to the Wayne family out by Gotham. I don’t think anybody’d complain much if I had a reason to use this, do you?” Doctor Occult bent down and stared right into the killer’s eyes. “Speak! Tell me all you know of the devil’s work you’ve done this night! Why kill Robert Lester Thurnow and rip out his heart?” The killer laughed a high-pitched, deranged laugh before answering. “You should know better than anyone what The Queen Of The Apocalypse demands, Doctor Occult! The more hearts she has sacrificed in her name, still beating with the very life force of the men they are ripped from, the stronger she grows! I am but one of many who roam the city this night, taking the hearts of her servants!” Rose spoke up: “So Thurnow was a willing member of this cult?” Doctor Occult nodded as he stood up straight. “I believe so. I think that when it comes time for the ritual to be done, the victims and the killers are chosen purely at random. This fellow could just have easily have been Thurnow’s victim.” He turned to Ellsworth. “Captain, Rose and I would be of more use to you trying to track down the hiding place of this hideous cult and stopping this horror at the source. If we can find the lair of the cult and it’s High Priestess, we can stop the killing.” Captain Ellsworth was nodding. “I’ll throw a dragnet over the city. Maybe we can stop a few more of these killings!” “Anything you can do to slow down the sacrifices will be of great help, Captain. We’ll be in touch.” As Rose and Doctor Occult headed for the elevator, he held out his hand for the dagger. Rose passed it over. “I tried my best to keep it out of Captain Ellsworth’s sight. I didn’t want him asking potentially embarrassing questions about it.” “He saw it. He just pretended not to. He’s going to have more than enough to explain to The Police Commissioner as is.” Doctor Occult unwrapped the dagger and looked at it. His expert eye picked out details he pointed out to Rose. “The handle’s made of human bone…the blade’s of some unusual metal.” “Meteor,” Rose said. “Beg pardon?” “Meteor. The blade was forged from the metal of a meteor. I’ve seen this work many times before in Tibet.” Doctor Occult didn’t doubt her word for a second. Rose had become something of an expert on weapons during their time in New York, so much so that now she could look at a gun, a knife, a sword, any sort of weapon and accurately identify where it was made, who had made it and what it was made from. He held it up between them. “Shift your eyesight to the astral plane,” he commanded while doing the same himself. Both he and Rose could now see an olive green glow surrounding the blade. “Mystical residue,” Rose murmured. “Consecrated in blood by the sacrifice.” “Agreed. Thurnow’s death activated the latent power imbued in the blade, and that gives us a way to find this cult and shut it down before they do any more damage. Let’s get back home and get a few things, Rose! We’ve got a full night ahead of us!” Doctor Occult’s midtown Manhattan townhouse had been completely renovated for his purposes, and not just in terms of physical comfort. Once the contractors and workmen had done their work and removed certain walls and expanded others, it had been time for Doctor Occult and Rose to then go to work. They had drawn complex symbols on the onyx marble floor of the cavernously huge basement, which was filled with black candles four and five feet high that gave off pungent, sweet smelling smoke. The concrete walls were also covered with marvelously complex hieroglyphics and arcane formulae that were designed to expand the consciousness of those who looked upon them and contemplated the patterns of alien logic they represented. Too long a contemplation would result in madness because the human mind was never meant to dwell for very long on such bizarre concepts and geometrically impossible designs but in the relatively short time that the human brain could absorb such knowledge…ah, well then, the very fabric of reality could be twisted and molded as one wished. Doctor Occult and Rose had then stripped naked and sat back to back, chanting words of power that had once been spoken by the mages of Atlantis, Lemuria and inscribed on the black walls of Ygga, which had been home to gods of loathsome magnificence. For three hours they recited the words; "Ana’l nathrakh, u’rth va’s bethud, dokhje’l djenve…" and when they emerged from the basement the interior of the townhouse was now many times the size it previously had been, although one looking at it from the street it appeared completely unchanged. But inside were now magnificently arched corridors that seemed to go on into infinity, beautifully tiled floors, gorgeous balconies overlooking marble fountains, huge libraries with rows and rows of books. Rose was in one these immense libraries now, reading through a huge volume that looked to be as old as the world itself when Doctor Occult entered. He had changed out of his tuxedo into a plain black suit with a white shirt and thin black tie. He was shrugging into a tan colored trench coat and wearing a matching hat. Rose looked up as he walked in. “Y’know, for such a bloodthirsty cult as this one seems to be, it’s odd we’ve never run into them before.” “They tend to keep a low profile. Unlike a lot of other cults they really don’t like showing themselves.” “Then why the sudden mass murder?” Doctor Occult walked over to where she sat and flipped several pages in the book she was perusing. “I remember reading something about The Queen Of The Apocalypse some years ago when I was researching information on The Spider Cult Of Shaddath Gor. That there’s a particular confluence of stars that only occurs once every ten years that is especially favorable to their sacrifice. Ah…there we go…see?” Rose looked at the page he was pointing at. “So we just got lucky that the same night happened to be Halloween. So much for our night off. So how do you suggest we find them?” Doctor Occult held up the dagger. “With this. Stand back a bit.” Rose complied and Doctor Occult closed his eyes, mumbling words that Rose could barely make out. She placed a hand on his shoulder to lend him psychic energy, as that would make the connection he was striving to make easier. The dagger shivered in his hands and slight sparks danced along the blade. Slowly it floated into the air just in front of Doctor Occult’s face. He smiled and said in a commanding voice; “Where be thy home?” The blade turned this way and that way until it stopped. Doctor Occult smiled at Rose. “The dagger will point just like a compass right back to the source.” Rose was grinning back. “The dagger’s latent magic was activated by the sacrifice and it transmitted the life force of Thurnow to the source of the spell caster. Thereby opening a conduit that works both way.” “Exactly. You get the car while I pack a few things we might need. Time we ended this business and quickly before the dawn comes.” The silver and black Duesenberg Phaeton convertible roared through the rain-slicked streets of Manhattan. A light drizzle had sprung upon in the past hour or so but Rose drove as if such conditions did not exist. She had changed out of her evening gown into a serviceable denim jumpsuit, black work boots and A-2 leather flight jacket. A wool cap was pulled down over her black hair. Her face was grimly determined as she drove with a sort of controlled recklessness. She turned down 11th Avenue with a wild screeching of tires, slightly fishtailing. She straightened out the powerful car with expert handling and continued roaring up the street. “Who do you think you are? Barney Oldfield?” Doctor Occult demanded. He was sitting next to Rose, the dagger floating between and slightly in front of them, acting as a compass, turning this way and that and it was the pointing of the dagger that accounted for Rose’s sudden changes of directions. “I thought you said we were in a hurry?” “Yes, but I’d like to arrive in one piece if that’s okay with you.” Rose threw him a fierce grin. “Sissy.” But she slowed the speed of the vehicle and navigated another turn as the dagger glowed brighter and angled to the right. They were in lower Manhattan now, driving past a series of warehouses and brownstones that looked as if they had long been abandoned. Many of the windows and doorways were boarded up. The dagger suddenly spun around and around then sped out of the window, barely missing cutting off the tip of Doctor Occult’s nose. It zoomed across the street to end up quivering in the boarded up doorway of a three-story brownstone. “Guess that’s the lair of the black-hearted villains,” Rose said. “I guess. Park the car and let’s go to work.” “Shouldn’t we call Ellsworth?” “No.” Doctor Occult’s eyes were dark and moody. “These are some especially vicious people we’re up against, Rose. For better or for worse, we’re on our own.” Rose found a parking spot and expertly whipped the Duesenberg into the space and flashed her partner a brilliant grin. “Truth to tell, I prefer it that way, dear Richard.” Doctor Occult returned the smile and climbed out. Rose reached into the back seat and withdrew something wrapped in black velvet. About four feet long, it was impossible to tell what it was. She secured it to her back with a broad leather strap and joined Doctor Occult who was standing in front of the door. He whispered to the dagger, which withdrew itself from the door and settled almost lovingly into his outstretched hand. He stowed the dagger away underneath his tan trench coat. He lifted his hands; fingers outstretched and seemed to be running them lightly over an invisible wall, which is exactly what he was doing. He motioned for Rose to stand back a bit. Doctor Occult was interlacing his fingers in a way that looked as if he was trying to break them himself. He was muttering under his breath. He drew his interlaced fingers back until they were touching his chest then thrust them forward explosively, throwing his fingers apart wide. Ten individual diamonds shapes of pure white light sped from his fingertips to streak forward and strike the invisible barrier. Ectoplasm solidified into a brittle, glass-like substance that shattered into dime-sized pieces that clattered and clashed into sparkling shards on the wet pavement. Rose grinned. “I always did like how you knock on a door.” Doctor Occult adjusted his fedora, pulling it so low over his forehead that the top half of his face was obscured in deep shadow. “Let’s go to work.” “You know, dear Richard, if I didn’t know any better, I’d say this smacked of supernaturalism.” Rose’s flippant remark served to mask the unease both of them felt. From the minute they had entered the building they had felt uncanny, eldritch forces swirling around them, kept at bay by their own powerful personal auras. But the unmistakable gathering of evil forces was manifesting itself in the house. They found the stairs to the basement and walked down. And they had been walking for nearly twenty minutes now. Which was plainly impossible. In addition, Doctor Occult plucked back the cuff of his sleeve to show Rose that his watch had stopped. “I don’t suppose you forgot to wind it?” “No.” “Maybe it stopped on its own.” “Rose, this is a Girard-Perregaux. It’s easier to believe that the sun stopped rising in the west. No. Whatever is going on here is taking place outside of the normal realm of Time and Space as we know it.” “Gracious.” They continued on and the creaking wooden staircase eventually stopped. They stood in a stone corridor lit with massive wall scones in which huge globes of fire swirled and crackled. Doctor Occult motioned for Rose to follow. The corridor intersected with three others. Rose’s hearing, which had always been more sensitive than her partner’s, heard footsteps approach and she plucked on his sleeve, pulling him back into the shadows where they waited and watched. The shadows cast the light of the fire spheres was strong enough to clearly see a single line of men slowly walking down one of the stone corridors. The men were from all walks of life, representing a cross section of the inhabitants of New York. White, Black, Hispanic, Asian. Some were dressed in business suits. Others in formal evening wear. A few even wore the uniform of police officers and firemen. Some wore casual dress as if they had been at home listening to the radio. But they all shared two things in common. All were splattered with crimson gore and they all carried wicker baskets they held in front of them as carefully as if the baskets held newborn babes. There were some sixty men all together and when they had passed, Doctor Occult and Rose gave them a bit to get ahead then followed. The men had walked into a huge bowl shaped chamber. So old was the chamber that the domed ceiling was crusted with stalactites. A huge pit in the center of the chamber’s floor was churning and swirling with a whirlpool of pure evil energy that was so foul Rose had to stop and spit, so polluted did the air suddenly taste. The men were walking up to the pit and opening their baskets. They tipped their baskets out and human hearts spilled out to drop into the pit. Above the pit, on a dais of petrified human skulls fused together into a hideous grisly monument, stood a woman of magnificently Amazonian proportions who was naked save for a jeweled loincloth and a headdress that flashed and sparkled with brilliantly cut gems. Her waves of dusky red hair spilled around alabaster shoulders and her voice was a throaty exhortation of passion: “Yes, YES, YES! Give all the hearts of this city to Ite’pha that she may manifest herself on this world and bring about the final Apocalypse that will turn this Earth in a hell that will last for a thousand thousand years.” “How tired,” Rose murmured. “How shall we handle this, dear Richard? Shall I go for Her Tackiness?” “No. I will deal with her. You keep her minions busy.” “Ah. I see. Never let it be said you would pass up a chance to meet such a lovely young thing, even if she is trying to bring about the end of the world.” Doctor Occult grinned at his partner and leaned forward to kiss her on the cheek. “Go charm the gentlemen while I handle the lady.” He sprang from their hiding place and so nimble was he that he had cleared half the distance between him and the High Priestess before the men knew he was there. Shouts of alarm and yells to seize him filled the chamber but Doctor Occult was as nimble as a lynx as he maneuvered between the men, his long arms pistoning out, his bony fists cracking against a jaw here and there. So powerful were his blows that one blow was sufficient to send any man unfortunate enough to be on the receiving end flying backwards into his fellows. But soon they had something else to worry about that took their attention from Doctor Occult. Rose Psychic attacked from the rear, wielding a five foot long broadsword of barbaric design. Despite the obvious weight of the sword, Rose handled it as easily as if it were a wooden twig. She laid into the men with a will, singing: “We swear to revenge them! No joy shall be tasted, The harp shall be silent, the maiden unwed, Our halls shall be silent and our fields shall lie wasted, Till vengeance is wreak’d on the murderer’s head!” Rose had no patience for these men and no tolerance them. They had ruthlessly ripped living, beating hearts with no more compassion than an earthquake had for the people it killed. In her eyes this was justice she was meeting out and she did so with a frightening ease, spinning and whirling like a ballerina of death and wherever she passed she left men screaming in a pool of their own steaming blood, clutching at severed limbs and trying to hold onto their entrails. Doctor Occult bounded up the dais of skulls. Even in such a situation he was struck by the supernaturally enhanced raw sexually of the High Priestess. He murmured words of power under his breath, designed to keep his head clear. It was obvious that this was how the High Priestess had managed to enslave so many men and Doctor Occult could feel his own body responding to the waves of pure sex she was radiating. She smiled with full red lips. “Powerful in The Art you may be, Doctor Occult, but still you are a man!” She pointed a long, blood-red nail at him. “And like all men your heart will go to feed The Queen of The Apocalypse! And such an exceptional heart as yours will be a trophy indeed!” “I like my heart right where it is, thank you very much.” Doctor Occult looked down into the swirling pit of energy. “Do you really know what you’re doing? I mean, do you really know?” “Of course I do! For years my body has been augmented with the ancient magic spells written in the blood of gods in The Book of Icacahalolo the Unborn! These are spells that were designed for one purpose! To make my body a fit vessel for The Queen of The Apocalypse! To house her divine essence! To preserve-URK!” Doctor Occult seized his opportunity while the High Priestess was otherwise occupied describing her otherworldly heritage. He came in fast and low with a charge that would have wrung envy from a star football quarterback, smashing into the High Priestess. She was nearly a foot taller and had fifty pounds of solid muscle on him. She also knew how to take his attack and return it with interest, bringing her interlaced hands down solidly in the middle of Doctor Occult’s back, smashing him to the rough surface of the dais. Doctor Occult looked down and the empty, yawning black sockets of the fused together skulls looked back at him. He rolled to the side as the High Priestess’ foot came smashing down, barely missing his head. The energy roaring and swirling in the pit was growing more intense and louder by the minute. Rose backflipped up over and out of the circle of men who had tried to ring her. “Richard! Stop your infernal dawdling and dispose of her! I can’t keep this up all night, you know!” She brought the sword down on top of the skull of a man dressed in doctor’s scrubs. The sword cleanly cleaved the head right down to the base of the neck. Blood sprayed as if fired from a high pressure hose. Rose kicked the body free of the sword and backed up as the other men regrouped and came in close. The pit was at her back and Rose felt as if thousand of tiny little mouths were nibbling at her legs and arms. “RICHARD!” Doctor Occult had his hands more than full as he scrambled to his feet, avoiding the High Priestess and trying to gain some distance so that he could effectively attack. But she was far faster than he would have expected a woman of her size and he could swear that she appeared to be…growing larger…he quickly wiped his eyes. Yes, she was getting larger….her skin darkening and thickening, her fingernails thickening into bony claws that sought to tear into his flesh. Doctor Occult reached into a pocket of his trench coat and drew forth something that he thrust before him, driving the High Priestess back as golden energy spilled from the object in his sinewy hand: a golden disc with a multifaceted designed that resembled a Celtic cross. The High Priestess screamed with a throat that was no longer human as she reeled backwards. There was a clattering behind him and Doctor Occult threw a quick look over his shoulder. Rose Psychic had thrown the broadsword up on top of the dais of skulls. The once bright shining blade was now encrusted with gore from the tip of the blade to the hilt. Rose scrambled up to join Doctor Occult, snatching up the broadsword. “Seemed as if it were far safer up here,” Rose murmured. “Take a look.” The whirlpool of energy had grown until there was nothing left of the stone floor. The dais of skulls was literally floating on top of the whirlpool. The men were all gone, presumeably sucked into the vortex. “If you’re going to end this, dear Richard, now would be the best time.” “Can you handle her while I do so?” “With pleasure.” Rose leaped to the attack, the sword a whirling curtain of steel as she hacked and slashed away at the monstrous High Priestess. “You’re losing your looks, dearie,” Rose mocked with a delighted smile. “What, forgot your milk bath today?” Doctor Occult stood on the edge of the dais of skulls and took a deep breath. He held the golden disk firmly in both hands. It had been given to him by The Seven long ago and was an artifact of enormous mystical power. He only hoped it would be enough to do what had to be done. He took a deep breath and leaped directly into the whirlpool of power and was immediately sucked into its howling depths. The realm inside was one of pure Chaos. Unformed, unmade Chaos that eagerly sought to spill over into the realm of Earth and feed on the varies energies and life-forces that were so abundant on that world. Doctor Occult was carried along helplessly by waves of energy that would had consumed him as soon as he entered the vortex if it hadn’t been for The Symbol of The Seven. But now he wondered if even The Symbol was going to be enough to close this vortex. It was so much more powerful than he had imagined… And now something was coming at him, swimming through the currents of energy like a monstrous, deformed aquatic life form. Doctor Occult had seen many entities that had given him cause to doubt the sanity of the universe but few had been as repulsive as the grotesquely hell-born monster that was The Queen of The Apocalypse, Ite’pha. His mind was struggling, attempting to perceive Ite’pha in concepts that would allow him to look upon her without going mad…but he was losing. The fabric of his human conceptions was being torn to shreds like wet issue paper. In desperation his mind screamed out for the one person he could always count on to help him. “ROSE!” And as always, Rose Psychic answered. As Doctor Occult floated in the tidal waves of Chaos-stuff, something streaked by him like a living spear. It was Rose, the shining broadsword in front of her as she plummeted right at The Queen of The Apocalypse. “NOW, RICHARD!” Rose plunged right into the disgusting substance that was Ite’pha, the sword cleaving through whatever it was that made up such a horrid mass and at the same time Richard Occult thrust The Symbol forward and said a Word of Power that he had never said before and would never say again. The sound of The Queen of The Apocalypse being refused passage to The Realm of Earth was one that Richard Occult and Rose Psychic would take with them to their graves. The whirlpool of Chaos spun itself away into nothingness, expelling them as if they were garbage. The howling, roaring portal to another dimension sucked in on itself, cascading back into wherever it had originally come from. Doctor Occult and Rose got to their feet, their bodies aching and sore. Their surroundings had changed. Now they were just in an ordinary basement with a dirt floor. “I’d lay pay that this basement always looked like this,” Doctor Occult said simply, replacing The Symbol in his pocket. He took his fedora, slapped it against his leg a couple of times to knock off the dried protoplasm and replaced it firmly on his head. “How’d you make out against The High Preistess?” In silent answer, Rose pointed with the broadsword. Doctor Occult peered into the gloom of the corner where something incredible old and hideously ugly cringed. The High Priestess was no longer young and beautiful. Her skin was a pebbly, reptilian green. Her eyes were fearful and mad. “Please…” she croaked in a voice dry as the dust of Egypt….”…kill me…” Rose moved forward with the sword held high but Doctor Occult restrained her. “No. She’s responsible for a lot of deaths tonight. She got what she deserved.” “Richard…we can’t leave her like this…” “Watch me.” Doctor Occult turned and left the basement. It was a minute before Rose followed. He didn’t turn around to see if she had obeyed him or not. Maybe she did. Maybe she didn’t. The sun was rising beautifully over Manhattan, burning off the rain clouds. It was going to be a wonderful day. Doctor Occult breathed in the fresh morning air and was glad he was alive to see it. Rose Psychic threw the broadsword into the back seat of the Duesenberg. “I’ll allow you to treat me to a champagne breakfast at The Cobalt Club, Richard. I think it’s the least you can do to thank me for my hard work.” Doctor Occult grinned as he settled into the passenger seat. “I totally agree, Rose. I totally agree. Perhaps we’ll invite Captain Ellsworth to join us and we can make our report to him at the same time.” “And then?” Doctor Occult lifted his face to the sun. It felt good. “And then I think I’ll go for a walk in the park.” “May I join you?” Doctor Occult leaned over and tenderly kissed her. “Always, Rose.” The End... Previous Issue | Next Issue |
