Number of the Beast (Paladin Cycle, Book One) (30 page)

A Geminus Beast! Screaming lotus!

From an ebony-rimmed archway of the temple appeared
a second winged-cat Geminus. The sheer massive size and powerful
physique caused Atticus’ heartbeat to still. The unearthly
creature’s golden-yellow eyes penetrated Atticus’, impelling him to
put distance between him and the Beast.

The terrace shook when the Geminus galloped, heading
straight for Atticus with lips snarling and fangs bared.

Atticus ran, skipping down the steps two at a time.
The Geminus circled overhead like the buzzard before Rourn’s death.
When it simultaneously dove and shrieks crescendoed, and the other
Beast’s maw snapped at his back, Atticus swung himself over the
tarnished ledge of the sprawling staircase.

He dropped a long distance to the ground below,
bending his knees to better absorb the hard landing. He rolled on
the dirt as the winged-cats’ talons clawed the terrace above; they
both hissed and roared.

The men in the streets ignored him and continued
their heinous acts of depravity. Atticus sped along the cobblestone
road, through a burning marketplace. Charred timber and molten
pools obscured the path out of the city. The wild rampant flames
lashed at anything that moved.

Together, the two Geminus Beasts dashed into the air
and perched atop the temple at the ziggurat’s summit. They purred
deafeningly, an obnoxious ear-piercing shrillness that made Atticus
slap hands over his ears.

The men and women in the streets ceased their
defilements of one another and all stared blankly up at the temple,
at the two magnanimous, deadly but regal Beasts. With zombified
dullness in their yellowed eyes, the crowd shifted their attention
toward Atticus. At once the lot of them shuffled toward Atticus,
picking up and reclaiming their weapons as they encroached.

A throng of the naked men and women closest formed a
semicircle around him. Atticus snatched his long sword and placed
his back against a charred sandalwood column.

His toes curled in an effort to grip the ground
firmly, legs and shoulders apart, sword at the ready close to his
person. When the first two, an older man and a younger man, both
wielding crude spears, came into range, Atticus lunged forward.

His sword thrust with the speed of an angry serpent,
the tip striking deeply into the old man’s abdomen, before
rebounding and swinging upward from underneath the younger man’s
arm, flinging the severed arm and spear into the dirt.

Atticus drove forward, shouldering the young man to
the ground. His slender blade slashed furiously but consciously at
the next wave of assailants. A heavy club swung at Atticus’ face.
He swiftly ducked before bringing his sword against a neck, rending
the assailants head.

Whirling around, he parried a short sword before
running the steel of his own blade clean through the naked man’s
ribs. As two more men flanked him, Atticus darted his sword from
left to right, taking both the men’s legs out with quick slashing
swipes before he stepped over a dismembered corpse.

Atticus fled, jumping over a heap of burning debris,
slaughtering two more naked men on the other side, and dashed out
the bronze gates. Never slowing, he headed straight for the bleary
mountain-scape shadowing the colorless horizon.

He climbed the rocky path and reached the top in
what seemed like seconds. A tall bearded man in an undyed lambskin
tunic gave him a nod.

Atticus asked, “Who are you?”

“Lot.” He pointed toward the city behind them.

The Geminus soared into the gray skyline. Its wings
spread, silver sunlight casting gleams off black fur. Evil. Pure
biblical evil.

And the whole city lit up, turning into a column of
white vapor. A black-and-gray mushroom cloud appeared soon
after.

The winged-cat caught in the grasp of the fatal
cloud, became ash, raining down into the flaming furnace that had
been Sodom.

The wind carried the faint sound of familiar voices,
like something out of dream.

“
He’s not ready...”

“
What if it shall come to be and you are not
prepared?”

“
You must all be prepared for the
Reckoning.”

“
He will not face the Beast alone.”

Atticus felt himself being tugged. He staggered,
sword in hand.

“We must hurry to the woods!” Rourn flung a Reaver
away with a flip of his staff.

Atticus slashed at one and kicked another. They
scurried away, popping in and out of time.

A sharp pain bit into his calf where a spider must
have pierced him. Absently, he rubbed the aching skin.

“I saw Sodom,” Atticus said. “I saw the Geminus
defeated.”

“The Reaver has shown you the past? Amazing! What
did you witness?”

“There were horrible things going on in the streets.
Men with other men. And there was a winged-cat creature...the Beast
of Sodom and Gomorrah.”

“The fall and destruction of the ancient cities of
sin,” Rourn whispered. “The birth of the first Paladins and the
last time Geminus mated on our world. If we do not stop the Beasts
then all of Texas and the rest of the world could fall into the
same immoral chaos that befell Sodom and Gomorrah.”

Side by side they raced down the streets, each block
taking eternity.

“Why must we move so slow in this world?”

“It is a space-time warp,” Rourn said. “And if you
do not return to current day Buckeye in due time then the proper
timeline will be askewed and all hope for the future of any world
will be lost.”

Isaac howled, his face raised to the
darkened skies; his claws sliced the air as he reached for the
violet clouds. In the distance, beyond a blackened mountain cliff
soared a sky eel.

Galmoria lay sprawled on
the sharp stones lining the beach. She breathed hard and slow, her
eyes rolled back into her skull. Ribbons of blood and other fluids
laced her pale jewel-encrusted naked skin. Nearby her sea wolf
stood obediently.

“
I receive your blessing,
Galmoria,” Isaac snarled.

She purred. Lips parted,
her forked tongue caressed her fangs. “Bless you, my son, and your
bitch.”

Isaac snatched her by the
throat and lifted her up. “You tried to have my mate killed.” He
roared and flung her body far into the boiling sea. She splashed
and sank like a stone. The sea wolf moaned toward the dark gray
heavens above.

Good riddance to the cunt.

As he walked towards the sea, the
large wolf began to shiver and shake. A painful barking-moan tore
from its lips. The wolf's body split in half as though an unseen
axe had cleaved through it.

With a loud thump and splash the
wolf's entrails spilled across the beach and flowed into the sea.
Standing between the two halves was Galmoria. Green pants and a
green tunic clung to her curves. A green bandana circled her
forehead. The wolf's blood and entrails had dyed her raven hair to
scarlet red.

She
approached, leather boots clomping loudly on the stone ground. When
she was within arm's reach she drew a silver sword from her side.
“Do you like mother's new outfit?” Galmoria untied her green robe
to reveal a green bra holding her large breasts tightly against her
chest. She trailed a finger between her breasts to her navel where
she drew circles in her belly button. “You must find the one named
Amy in that realm of Buckeye. She is the
beloved
and the key to our
evolution.”

Galmoria twirled. “She’ll
look like this.” Her red hair turned blonde and she wore denim
shorts and a white halter top. Galmoria stuck out her tongue, an
oblong shaped black jewel embedded in the tip.

Isaac snatched the
jeweled-tongue and tore it free from Galmoria's mouth. He glared at
its midnight coloring. It should be crimson, not black. He pitched
the gem into the water and gripped her neck. “I want the Narkush
you devil wench!”

The skin on her neck turned to
flame.

Isaac roared and snapped
his paw back.

“
It
is
the
Narkush, my foolish son.” She held out her open hand. The black
devil stone appeared on her palm. “It is special and will grant you
great strength. It bestows the gift of immortality and
indestructability. With it, you will rule over all the Zodiacs. And
none will dare challenge your authority.”

“
And what if I refuse this
‘gift’.”

“
Then I will bestow it
upon another Geminus and you, your whelp and your future cubs will
be enslaved by him, just as the rest of the Zodiacs.”

If only he could kill the fucking
cunt!

Isaac heaved a deep sigh. He took the
gem from her.

“
Embed
that Narkush onto your mate then have it transferred to the
Beloved
.” She leaned
forward and planted cold bloody lips onto his
cheek.

Recoiling, he growled. “I
will not expire one of her nine lives without just
cause.”

“
If you wish to rule as
the King of all then you will do as mother asks.”

Shedding her clothes, she
sauntered toward the sea, still holding the silver long sword.
Galmoria waded into the waters, turned toward him. With the sword
lifted, she began sinking beneath the ocean.

The sky, beach and water dissipated,
fading into white, leaving nothing but a distant still silhouette
of the drowning blonde girl.

# # #

As the landscape of the sepia forest
loomed closer, Rourn divulged wisdom that could only come from
beyond the cosmic realms of life and death and beyond.

“
The longer you remain in
this space-time warp the threat for multiversal destruction is
imminent. Remain too long before escaping and you will return to a
distant future of the reality in whence you entered; or worse, you
may never return at all. In either of those cases the timeline will
be ultimately skewed and all universes may suffer beyond
comprehension.

“
It has been laid upon me
now, a divergence in the proper timeline already, that I must guide
you to the cosmic thread wherein you can return to modern Buckeye,
Texas.”

“
Won’t you return as
well?”

“
I cannot,” Rourn said.
“The Dark Trinity kept to his promise in giving me the position as
a Spirit Guide. It was always my destiny declared by the stars and
planets beyond the comprehension of mortal men. The Order
mistakened me as a warrior, yet the universal forces beyond flesh
and bone never made such follies.”

“
Then alone I shall stand
against the Beast who took your life and took you from
me.”

“
But you shall not stand
alone, my brother. There is another and soon you will know him, and
know his role within all of this threatening madness.”

The pale woodlands of
Sacred Oaks drew near. The trees and shrubbery loomed more gloomily
than any lost and forgotten ghost of antiquity. Forlorn and
melancholy, concealed in dreary paleness, and mournful
patience.

“
Come quickly before it is
too late,” Rourn urged as he dashed boldly into the beige
forest.

Atticus sprinted after Rourn. Their
pace accelerated the closer they drew to the woodland edge. Rourn’s
wispy silhouette sailed into the somber thicket.

Before
long
Atticus stood beside the cloudy water
that rested lifelessly and dull. Yet, upon the ashen wood porch of
the nearby breezeway house was a behemoth scorpion that challenged
the size of any stallion Atticus had ever beheld. It capered about
the porch, stinger raised, beckoning his
challenge.

“
What monster is this?”
Atticus asked.

 
Rourn said, “The
gateway thread back to your time is beneath the pond. You must seek
it out immediately.”

Below the depths of the still waters,
Atticus realized, was where Rourn meant for him to go.

“
I won’t leave you,”
Atticus said.

The scorpion crept off the porch and
hurried its way toward them.

“
Destiny never meant for
you to do this alone. You will find your allies in
Buckeye.”

“
But you are my
Twin!”

The scorpion scurried
along the edge of the pond; its beady eyes piercing
Atticus.

“
I am not your Twin.”
Rourn shoved Atticus into the pond.

Ira touched Lynn's sweat-soaked
forehead and glided her fingers down her new mistress' cheeks.
Warm, shallow breaths exhaled from Lynn's parted lips as did
trickles of saliva. Ira peeled the brown satin sheet from Lynn's
naked body. The bottom sheet was saturated in sweat even though Ira
had already changed the linens once in the last twelve
hours.

Weakened not only by the metamorphosis
but also by her mate’s physical ailments from his battle with the
demon mother, Mistress Lynn lay in a deep sleep.

But Ira knew that if she did not wake
soon the metamorphosis would drain every ounce of her life and
consume her.

When she finished cleaning
the bed sheets, working carefully around Mistress Lynn's body, she
dressed her in a clean silky red nightgown and soared downstairs to
fetch a platter of raw veal.

Sitting the food on the foot of the
bed, Ira plucked a piece of the tender meat and touched it to
Mistress Lynn's lips. Red juices dripped onto the corners of her
mouth, trailing down her chin, but Ira could not get Lynn to part
her lips.