Alone. Standing between death and life, clutching a straw of hope and a fragment of love.
I struck my bloody fist on my breast and uttered the Word.
"Pelican."
The wall dissolved and something shoved me forward. Falling to my knees, I heard behind me the clang of a great door closing.
Until the next time.
The Hospital
Again, I awoke, this time to unfamiliar pain in a familiar atmosphere – a hospital – but in a bed in one of the wards. At first it was enough to catalogue the sources and intensities of my various pains – a heavy throb in my left ankle, sharp jabs from the skin of my face and hands, and dull rumbles from almost everywhere else, taking turns. For several days, I suffered a terrible weariness unaccounted for by the injuries I had sustained.
Over the course of those days, I was informed by physicians, visitors and police that I had been found on the ground floor of a burning warehouse near the river, minutes before the upper floor collapsed. Near me was a dead man, who had apparently bled out from a wound in his throat. Several bodies were found buried in shallow graves in the building's courtyard, one of them the man who had recently worked as a janitor at the Antonescu Clinic. As far as could be determined, he and the other individuals had suffered mutilations and amputations, possibly before death, but more likely afterward.
I related to the police officers who questioned me how I had met Edwin Seale at the Blind Beggar, and had been sufficiently intrigued by things he had told me to accompany him to his home. I told them I had seen a half-full jug of ether on the premises. Unstable compounds would have formed on exposure to air and light. The jug had exploded, and an overturned lantern had started the fire.
But I did not tell them that Edwin Seale was one of the fourteen men I had revivified while serving at a military hospital in the Great War, when my name was Herbert West.
If you enjoyed this story, you may wish to read the rest of the books in the series.
THE HERBERT WEST SERIES
Book 1. The Friendship of Mortals
Herbert West can revivify the dead – after a fashion. Librarian Charles Milburn agrees to help him, compromising his principles and his romance with Alma Halsey, daughter of the Dean of Medicine. West’s experiments become increasingly dangerous, but when he prepares to cross the ultimate border, only Charles can save his life – if his conscience lets him.
Book 2. Islands of the Gulf Volume 1, The Journey
To Andre Boudreau, Herbert West is The Doctor, who saved his life in the Great War. Andre will follow him into Hell if necessary. Margaret Bellgarde knows him as Dr. Francis Dexter, attractive but mysterious. One day she will be shocked by what she is willing to do for his sake. But who is he really? She doesn’t know – and the possibilities are disturbing.
Book 3. Islands of the Gulf Volume 2, The Treasure
Abandoned and abused, young Herbert West resorts to drastic measures to survive. At Miskatonic University, he becomes a scientist who commits crimes and creates monstrosities. Decades later, haunted by his past, he finds safety as Dr. Francis Dexter of Bellefleur Island, but his divided nature threatens those he loves and forces him to face the truth about his healing powers.
Book 4. Hunting the Phoenix
Journalist Alma Halsey chases the story of a lifetime to Providence, Rhode Island and finds more than she expected – an old lover, Charles Milburn, and an old adversary, renegade physician Herbert West, living under the name Francis Dexter. Fire throws her into proximity with them both, rekindling romance and completing a great transformation.
THE SUPPLEMENTS
Supplement 1. The Nexus
Nearing the end of his long life, Miskatonic University professor Augustus Quarrington retraces the path to his entanglement with one of his most interesting – and dangerous – students: Herbert West.
Supplement 2. From the Annexe
Miskatonic University librarian Charles Milburn was Herbert West's assistant and closest friend. He has already revealed much about their association in The Friendship of Mortals. But not everything. This is the part he left out.
Supplement 3. A Visit to Luxor
Reformed necromancer Francis Dexter (formerly known as Herbert West) and his servant Andre Boudreau visit Luxor, Egypt in the year 1935. A climb up el-Qurn, the sacred mountain behind the Valley of the Kings, leads to an encounter with bandits, and with one who "was of the old native blood and looked like a Pharaoh."
Supplement 4. One of the Fourteen
Dr. Francis Dexter arrives in London intending to atone for wrongs committed by his former self, Herbert West. A chance meeting in a pub leads to disturbing revelations by a veteran of the Great War, and forces Dexter to relive a terrible journey in the black region between death and life.
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