The young woman obeyed just as her husband had done, and she lay upon the lid, under which her husband lay dying. The young Satanist now moved the satanic regalia from the ancient sarcophagus over to that which her father now lay in; she then lit four black candles.
“This is it Miles, please say or do nothing in any way until the ceremony is complete.” Moira ordered politely.
“All powerful Lord Lucifer, ruler of both Hell and the Earth, I, Moira Bourbon, your most devoted follower, and the most powerful of your followers here on Earth ask you to grant a wish, give me back my father, alive and whole.” Moira cried out.
Lawson standing to one side, and acting as her acolyte, held back his laughter, his fears forgotten as he watched what he thought of as a crazy display of religious piffle. Although he thought that Moira Bourbon was undoubtedly beautiful, he now also thought that she was undoubtedly a little cracked for believing such mumbo jumbo, and very dangerous to boot. Then he saw the ornate dagger in her hand and he knew that things had gone too far. He made to move forward to stop her murdering the young woman, but Moira noticed his initial movement and now focussed on him as well as the other people under her control. Lawson now found that his body refused to work, and the fear in his heart quadrupled.
“Oh mighty and terrible Lord Lucifer, please accept this humble offering that I now dedicate to you alone.”
Moira now cut the wrists of the young woman, and her blood began to gush from the wounds and pool onto the stone lid, then it slowly trickled down the sides of the stone coffin. The body of the young woman shook in a violent spasm as her lifeblood quickly drained away, her eyes opened to look up at her murderer, and hate blazed out of them, but then the woman fainted from her blood loss. Moira then cut the young woman`s legs and feet, and her sides and stomach, for she wanted to drain the blood from the body while she still controlled Rob Hinds and his three friends. Moira put both of her hands on the stone lid and sent a massive amount of power through the blood and into the sarcophagus, power that she had taken from Hekate. The inside of the crypt was lit up by the power being emitted by Moira, and Lawson was temporarily blinded as the inside of the crypt was illuminated by the satanic energy flowing from Moira`s hands. As the light dimmed his sight returned and he watched as the blood mysteriously never reached the floor; instead it disappeared into the cold stone of the sarcophagus, even that blood that had already reached the floor, or spurted onto another surface ran back to the stone sarcophagus, and then seeped into its solid stone surface. The remaining blood in the now dead body quickly drained from the body, drawn only by the power of the Satanist. Lawson looked down upon the pale body of the woman, and he would have fainted if Moira had not used her power to keep him conscious.
When the woman was completely drained of blood, Moira had one last order for Lawson.
“Carry her body to the back of the crypt, we will hide her body in one of the oldest sarcophagi, quickly now.”
Moira had felt the men outside struggling to break free of their forced confinement, the energy that she had used in the ceremony, together with the energy she had been forced to use while she held those within the crypt in, and those outside of the crypt, under her spell, was beginning to tell on the young Satanist. With the ceremony completed, she knew that she could not continue to stop Rob Hinds and his friends for much longer.
She walked in front of Lawson, and when she found a suitable stone coffin, she turned to Lawson.
“Put the body down and help me move the lid.”
Soon they had enough of it open to dump the body inside, then they closed the stone lid, all her new plans were now completed.
With a sad and very weary heart, she did the only thing that she could do. She walked back to the Ark and stood behind it, Lawson followed her but he stood in front of the Ark, then the young Satanist opened its lid. Lawson screamed in agony as he was dragged within the satanic device. With her hands firmly holding on to the golden Ark of Baʿal Berith, for she was not giving the powerful satanic device up without a fight she first summoned up the deception demon Mughasar, and explained to it what she required, then she used the small amount of satanic energy remaining within her to call to Lucifer.
“Oh Lord Lucifer, hear my pleas, allow me your most faithful disciple to become invisible to everyone for a period of one week, so that I can help to restore my father back to full health. Once we are both back to normal, I promise to sacrifice a virgin girl in your honour. Oh great lord of all the Hell dimensions and of the Earth too, please grant this request, this I beg of you.” Moira cried out.
Outside of the crypt, Rob finally shook off the spell holding him, just as a second bright flash of light lit up the open doorway of the crypt, a shaft of light illuminating the ground outside, and then he heard Moira Bourbon`s cries for help. Rob rushed inside, closely followed by his three friends, only to see the form of Moira Bourbon slowly fading away, a giant of a demon snarled at Rob when it saw him; its arm was around her waist, and the figure of the demon was also slowly fading away. Father Pritchard threw a bottle of holy water at the demon, who screamed out in pain, and Rob now rushed forward to try to save Moira Bourbon, but she had now faded away completely, and so too had the Ark, and thankfully the demon.
“We were ordered to kill her; it seems that someone, or something, saved us the bother.” Agers cried out triumphantly.
“It looks as if you might be right John, however, when you have fought against the forces of hell for more than an hour or so, you will not be so quick to make such a statement.” Rob replied grimly. “Come on, we first have to check on the coffin of Ulysses Bourbon, and then search the house and its satanic temple, and all before the staff arrive to ask some rather awkward questions regarding the whereabouts of the mistress of the manor.”
“That demon might well have been Lucifer himself, we were lucky to escape with our lives, never mind our eternal souls.” Father Pritchard said grimly as he checked inside of the coffin, and he proclaimed that it did not show any signs of its host coming back to life. Unfortunately, the coffin he checked, now only housed the remains of Moira Bourbon`s grandfather. A search of the chateau was also fruitless, and so the four men returned to England.
In London, along with Agers and Markman, Rob Hinds went reported on their mission to Sir Willoughby Brown, afterwards he planned to take a fortnight`s leave to recover from his ordeals. Having updated Sir Willoughby Brown, Agers and Markman stated that in their opinion, the matter was closed, and they left Rob alone with Sir Willoughby Brown to talk about a private matter. After asking for and receiving permission to take the two weeks leave that owed him, Rob spoke about a much more pressing matter.
“Sir Richard, I do not agree with my two colleagues, it was all rather theatrical the way that Moira Bourbon died, I simply do not believe it, however, I refrained from mentioning it in front of Agers and Markman as I prefer to talk cold blooded assassination in private.” Rob declared.
“But you said that Father Pritchard checked the coffin of Ulysses Bourbon, and that he declared that there was not a chance in hell of the skeleton within the coffin coming to life?” Sir Willoughby Brown asked quizzically.
“He did Sir Richard, but on thinking the matter through, I now believe that Moira Bourbon had more than enough time to switch the skeleton of her father with that of another one. A Satanist that possessed the power that Moira did, would not be so easily beaten, I firmly believe that we only overcame her because she was shorthanded and needed to use too much energy keeping us at bay. There is also the fact that she needed to convince you Sir Richard, that she and her father were no more, to stop you sending more agents after her.” Rob argued.
“Yes, Rob, I can see your reasoning now, OK what do you want to do? You certainly are not going to use your leave to go after her; you need a rest after all that you have been through.” Sir Willoughby Brown replied.
“No, Sir Richard, Christina and I need to spend some ordinary time together, anyway I believe that w
e need to allow Moira Bourbon those two weeks to make her believe that she and her father are now safe from further attempts on her freedom. However, in two weeks’ time I will need to take along with me two marksman, snipers of the top rank, to take out both of the Bourbons. I propose that the three of us lay low in the woods to the south of the chateau, and when the two of them are together during the late evening, when the servants have all returned home, that we take them out without ever showing ourselves. I will then search the temple beneath the chateau and bring back the Ark that Moira stole from Tartarus, we need to put that somewhere very secure to prevent any more Satanists from using it.” Rob explained.
“You have ruled out using the tranquillizer rifle this time Rob.” Sir Willoughby Brown said calmly.
“Yes, Sir Richard, the time for playing the gentleman is passed, it nearly got us killed the last time, if we are caught a second time, and against both of the Bourbons, then they will kill the people sent against them and maybe even send a demon to finish you off.” Rob replied grimly.
“And that would never do, I have only just bought a couple of crates of Cabernet Sauvignon, and I mean to finish them off before I die.” Sir Willoughby Brown replied with a grim smile upon his face.
**********
Within the new sarcophagus of Ulysses Bourbon, the body of the young stranger slowly merged into the remains of the dead Satanist, the blood of the dead woman flowing into this new body, until finally, they were one. Ulysses Bourbon lay there for a day before he woke up to find himself laying beneath a heavy stone lid of a sarcophagus. The terrible tortures he had endured while in the Dreamscape flashed into his mind and he cried out in fear, then he heard his daughter`s voice, for she had heard his fearful cry and knew that he was now conscious.
“Father, you are no longer in a hell dimension, I freed you using a powerful device I stole from the gods. You will be feeling a little groggy at the moment, however, when you are ready to leave your sarcophagus, rap on the lid and I will help you to push the heavy stone lid aside. You will not be able to see me, for I used my last remaining mystical energy to turn myself invisible, it was to make Rob Hinds believe that we are both dead. I will return to my normal self in one week`s time, by then the British agents will have returned to London to report how successful they have been. I must leave you now Father, to rest, but I will be back in the morning, when your new body will be ready to rise from the ashes of the old one, goodnight Father.”
A heavy silence followed his daughter`s words, but he soon gathered his wits and went to sleep. The following day he woke and rapped on the stone lid.
“I am here father; I will help you push the lid of the sarcophagus aside so that you will be able to resume your normal place in this unworthy world.”
Moira was feeling much refreshed after the Ark had restored her strength, she had moved the Ark back to the small temple beneath the chateau and recharged the pentagram, and in doing so had charged up the satanic device, and all the while she had rested in her bed. Her father had been safe from the Ark`s power as he was too far away from it.
Together they pushed the stone lid, and it slowly slid sideways, to crash onto the stone floor. The Satanist slowly got to his feet; he now had the form of his younger self, now appearing to be in his early twenties, although his looks had altered following the mixture of bloods and the DNA of the strangers.
**********
Far away, in Tartarus, the ancient gods and demons looked down upon Moira Bourbon, and they screamed out in anger, unfortunately for them, nobody outside of their dimension heard their cries.
**********
Two weeks later Rob and another of the SIS agents, Malcolm Palmer, met up with two members of an elite company of the British armed forces. These two officers had driven down from the Paris, having first visited the British Embassy and collected two sniper rifles and a long range listening device that had been sent to France via the Embassy`s diplomatic bags. The four men then drove from the Guéret Aerodrome to the Bourbon chateau near to Montluçon, here Palmer dropped the other three men off and drove away, he would return to collect them as soon as Rob contacted him. Rob had thought it would be safer this way, rather than leave their car to be seen by a passing gendarme, or even a neighbour of the Bourbons.
The three-man assassination team slipped quietly through the woods, it was mid-afternoon, and they arrived at the meadow around the chateau and lay down within the undergrowth, biding their time.
Moira Bourbon and her father were sitting outside their chateau enjoying a glass of wine after a lazy lunch, and Rob immediately recognised her, despite another change in makeup and hairstyle, this time she went for the pixie cut. Looking at the young man sitting next to her, it took Rob a while to finally realise that this was Ulysses Bourbon, use of the long range listening device confirmed this when he heard Moira Bourbon refer to the man as father. Rob had wanted to be certain that the two people he was about to murder were in fact the two Satanists and this fact was now confirmed.
Later, Moira and her father retired to the chateau, as a cold breeze had sprung up, and the assassins waited for darkness, and for the staff at the chateau to leave for home after a long day attending to the master and mistress. The three men outside moved forward, careful to not make a sound that would alert two very dangerous opponents. Rob knew that the Bourbons kept a number of guard dogs, so he did not want to get too close to the house, lest the dogs catch their scent and alarm their targets; thankfully the wind was blowing towards Rob and the two marksmen. Rob had chosen a large oak tree; some fifty feet away from the house, as the place to make the hit, and thirty minutes later the two Satanists walked into a well-lit room, the study, and stood within sight of the two officers. They had a clear shot, and two pops broke the silence of the night, Rob watched as the windows broke and the two Satanists fell to the floor and out of their view.
“Come on we need to ensure that they are dead.” Rob ordered and led the two officers at a trot to the chateau.
From around the corner of the building three large mastiffs appeared, however, these killing machines were no match for the two marksman who quickly shot the dogs. Rob and the two officers rushed inside the chateau, and were soon looking down upon the still bodies of the two Satanists. Rob took out his automatic pistol and put a bullet through each of their heads, just to ensure that this time they would not return from the grave, and then he used the remote control to open the secret panel.
“Ok, we need to take these two bodies down into the temple; this will ensure that they are not found for a while, maybe ever, the bodies of the three guard dogs will also need to be carried down there.” Rob ordered.
The two officers each dragged a body to the hidden doorway, and then down the stairs, Rob leading the way into the small temple. There within a pentagram was the Ark; however, Rob did not touch it, unsure of what might happen if he did so, he also warned the two officers against doing so. Instead, he looked for something to put it in, and he found the blanket box, this he upturned, and carrying it over to the satanic device, dropped it over the Ark, and in this way he was able to carry the satanic device back up to the study. Rob also collected all of the satanic books he could find in the chateau, not only for Father Pritchard to study, should he wish to, but to keep them from falling into unfriendly hands. Then, after a call to Palmer, the three men left the chateau and six hours later Rob was sitting opposite Sir Willoughby Brown who was looking down upon the lid of the golden Ark.
“Many more missions like the last two Rob, and we will need a bigger store room for your growing collection of satanic devices.” Sir Willoughby Brown joked. “I will have all of the sides of the Ark photographed, including the top and the bottom, and then maybe your priest, Father Pritchard, will agree to go over the photographs with a fine tooth comb. When he is done, he can then wade through all of those books that you brought back, to see if he can find any mention of the device. Only then will I even speak about opening the device, I remember
what happened to the Nazis in the Indiana Jones Film, and I would not like the same thing to happen here in London.”
“I am sure that David will agree to help us, as for me, with the Parkstons and Bourbons out of the game, hopefully I can now get back to an easier foe, such as Russian spies and Al-Qaeda terrorists.” Rob replied with a grin.
The End
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About the Author
I was born in London, England. Like most of the world, I had to work hard to pay my mortgage and all the other bills, so I only had the time and the energy to write some short stories. My wife and I have a son who is now married to a lovely wife and they have five children of their own. Since retiring to the Greek island of Crete, I have finally found the time and the energy to write some full-length Science Fiction stories.
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Other Books by the Author
Colonies of Earth Series in order
Galaxy Spies
Time Storm
Rebirth
Trial by Ordeal
The Colonies of Earth Collection
Horror Stories
Strange tales; three short mild horror stories
A Rob Hinds Story
Kidnapped and Bound for Hell; A full-length black magic story
David Charlton stories, a science fiction series
Rescue Mission to the Stars
The Treasure of Altaraus
Return to Mazere
Other science fiction stories
Quasar
The Venetou
Invasion Earth
Short children`s stories
Three Journeys of the Scary Kind
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