The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle (71 page)

‘Good,’ Victor said. ‘Now get some sleep. I need you in
tip-top condition tomorrow.’

‘Yes, sir,’ Ryan said and turned to leave.

‘Oh, and Ryan?’

‘Yes, sir?’

‘Good night.’

‘Good...good night, my Lord.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The two men sat cross-legged under
a tree. A wide radius around them remained unaffected by the blood. From the
thick downpour of red rain, a figure stepped out into the clean radius.

The blood-soaked teenager walked up to the two men who
just observed his every move without saying anything. He sat down in front of
them and just stared at them for a minute, silently studying their faces. One
of the men was clearly older than the other, and boasted a wide beard. The
other man, visibly younger, had a hard face and a relatively shorter beard. The
teenager recognized him instantly. For a while, no one said a word. Finally,
the teenager reached into his backpack and took out a flask.

‘In this flask,’ the teenager said, ‘is supposed to be
water.’

The men just looked at him with no display of emotion.

‘The problem is that there’s not water in it, but
blood.’

Still no emotion.

‘As a gesture of good faith,’ the teenager said, ‘I
need you to turn the content of this flask back into water for me. I am
thirsty, and would also like to wash my hands and face.’

The men didn’t say a word, but the older man gave a
slight nod.

In an act of trust and faith, the teenager opened the
flask, and without checking the content, placed his lips to the container and
drank the liquid inside. The fresh water instantly quenched his aching thirst.
He then poured some of the liquid over his hands and crystal clear water came
out, with which he washed his hands and face until they were relatively clean.

‘Thank you,’ he said and reached into his backpack
again. He pulled out a plastic bag, opened it and took out various fruits and
placed them on a dry cloth in front of the men, ‘Here,’ he said, ‘I brought you
something to eat.’

The older man took an orange and started peeling it.
‘Thank you, Timothy.’

Timothy was visibly shocked. ‘How did you know my
name?’

The man Timothy knew as Elijah smiled. ‘All we know is
revealed to us from the Father.’

‘Then why are you doing all these bad things?’

‘Good or bad is in the eye of the beholder,’ the older
man answered patiently. ‘Everything we do is instructed to us by the Father.’

‘It’s been raining blood since last night. I don’t
think it would count as ‘good’ in
any
beholder’s eye.’

‘It is a discomfort, yes,’ the older man said, ‘but the
short-term discomfort is well worth it, especially if it diverts you from
eternal discomfort.’

‘Eternal discomfort?’

‘We are not here to condemn, but to convict the chosen
of sin and righteousness. Our aim is to make the people see the error of their
ways, and to repent of their sins. We are the father, punishing his rebellious
son for his unlawful deeds. Though the son may not see the long-term benefits
of the punishment, and he may even hate his father for it, it will still
inevitably save his life in the end.’

‘Why do you think we need punishing?’

‘The rod of love keeps the strong headed child from
destruction.’

Timothy sighed. ‘
What
destruction?’

‘You may not see it now, but soon you will.’

‘And you?’ Timothy asked, addressing the younger man.
‘You were in our house before the alien attacks. What did you mean what you
said,
he is coming
? Who were you talking about, and are you Elijah or
not?’

‘Your young mind seeks the truth. That is good, for you
shall find it. You are seeking Elijah, yet you missed him over two thousand
years ago.’

‘Elijah didn’t live two thousand years ago, and neither
did I.’

The younger man was impressed with the teenager’s
determination and boldness. ‘And so still you miss him today. But soon, you
will know the truth, and the truth shall set you free.’

‘Oh brother,’ Timothy said and rolled his eyes. ‘Are
you a bunch of Jesus freaks?’

A sudden clap of lightning nearby caused Timothy to cry
out in fear. The men didn’t flinch.

‘Do
not
mock things that you know nothing
about,’ the older man warned sternly.

‘I’m sorry. I...I didn’t mean it the way it sounded.’

‘Yes, you did,’ the younger man said. ‘This generation
lacks the fear of the Lord; but you are beginning to understand. Soon, your own
will turn against you, but you must remain strong in your beliefs to the bitter
end.’

‘Who is going to turn against me?’ Timothy asked
confused.

‘The two men suddenly looked up, and then at one
another and stood up. ‘You must leave,’ the older man said; his voice lowered
to a hush. ‘We will talk later.’

Timothy looked over his shoulder. He couldn’t see
anything through the curtain of blood. ‘Who is going to turn against me?’ he
repeated. He felt a presence of pure evil approach and his stomach churned. He
looked over his shoulder again, but still couldn’t see anything.

‘Who is going to—?’

‘Leave,’ the younger man said; his voice mingled with
urgency and fear. ‘
Now!
’

‘No!’ Timothy protested. ‘First tell me who is—’

He didn’t finish his sentence, for he suddenly found
himself in his bedroom; alone.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The two men waited; their eyes
fixated at a specific area of the red sheet of rain. A man walked through it
from the outside, his clothes still dry and unaffected by the harsh downpour.
There was no trace of blood on either his hands or face, and even his hair was
dry and perfectly combed. A hint of recognition crossed the two men’s faces as
Victor approached them. He walked up to an arm’s length of them and stopped.

‘Nice show,’ he said and waved his hand through the
air. ‘It’s a tad bit dramatic, but impressive nonetheless.’

‘We do not seek your companionship, Son of Perdition,’
Elijah said. ‘
Leave!
’

‘Oh come now fellas,’ Victor said, the corners of his
lips tweaking upward. ‘Play nice.’

The men didn’t reply. They had no intention of
‘playing’ his game.

‘I’m here because I received a ton of complaints from
the locals about you two. It appears that you have been quite a thorn in the
peaceful, local community’s side. Would you be so kind as to comment?’

The men just stood there, staring at Victor.

‘Fine. Don’t speak, but by my own authority I
command
you to make this bloody rain stop.’ He smirked at the double meaning hidden in
his words.

The older man raised his hand, and the rain stopped
instantly. The red sheet was gone, and in its place were buildings, cars,
trees, and grass; all covered in blood.

‘Thank you, boys,’ Victor said. ‘Much obliged.’

‘Now leave,’ Elijah said.

‘I’ll see you soon,’ Victor said and walked away. The
men didn’t take their eyes off him until he disappeared around the corner of a
building.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Trevor had an incoming email:

GMN Update Report: Bali Blast
kills many.

The heading caught him by surprise.
There were no acts of terrorism since the alien attacks, except for those two
reported guys in Jerusalem who toasted people for no apparent reason. Trevor
double clicked on the mail and it opened on his screen:

Community Shelter:

An explosion rocked the town of
Bali last night as a community shelter exploded unexpectedly. 47 people were
killed instantly, and hundreds wounded in what appears to be a terrorist
attack. Since the initial blast, hundreds of other bombs have detonated around
the world; killing thousands more. The attacks have all been linked to one
terrorist organization.

European Empire President, Victor Yoshe, was quick on
the scene to give his condolences to the families of those lost and hurt. He
has vowed to resolve this matter in the utmost urgent sense, and will hold a
detailed press conference later this week to discuss the matter in full.

Bloody Rain in Jerusalem:

Jerusalem came to a horrible
standstill as all the water in the city turned to blood. Shortly after, it
rained blood, drenching some citizens who found that they had no means of
cleaning themselves. There were no immediate explanations for the phenomenon,
but it soon became apparent that the two men who were the cause of recent
disruptions in Jerusalem might have been involved. Mr. Yoshe made his
appearance in Jerusalem to confront the two men, and ordered them to stop their
spiteful acts of terror. They promptly obeyed, and the rain stopped. A
spokesperson for the Israeli government said that it would take the city weeks,
if not months, to clean the mess. He also confirmed that even though the rain
had stopped, the blood still keeps flowing from their taps.

New Pope to be selected soon:

With no sign of the Pope, the
Vatican has started making the necessary preparations of electing a successor
for the leadership position. A secret conclave will be held in which a select
few Cardinals will decide the Pope’s official successor. The decision will be
declared during a public ceremony. More on this as events unfold.

Trevor finished the rest of the
mail, and then saved it in his private folder. He got up to get himself some
coffee. The office appeared eerily empty without the constant rambling of the
Eckard brothers and their little cult following. He glanced at their empty
cubicles, and then thought about Norman.

Damn you, Norman! Why you?
A single tear rolled down his cheek
as he made his way to the kitchen.

.VIII.

 
‘The European Union on
Monday took its first major step to turn itself into a military power, as its
defence ministers pledged troops and equipment to create a 60,000 member force
by 2003...The force could be sent into the field within 60 days and could stay
as long as a year, under the European Union’s plans.’

-
Tampa Tribune, November 21, 2000

Cameras flashed and reporters
almost trampled one another to death as Victor walked onto a little platform
that had been erected specifically for the purpose of the press conference.
They were all anxious to hear his views on the terrorist massacres, and
wondered if he would pin it on aliens again. But the main reason for their
excitement was his mere presence. It overwhelmed them completely. Victor
stepped up to the podium, sternly scanning his eyes over everyone in the crowd.

Everyone fell silent.

‘Ladies and Gentlemen of the press,’ he said and then
paused. ‘Citizens of a world united. It is with great grief and sorrow that I
have to address you all here today.’

Cameras flashed, but the people were silent.

‘Last week, in the city of Bali, an unknown terrorist
group attacked a local community shelter, instantly killing forty seven people,
and injuring hundreds more. Since the initial attack, they have detonated
hundreds of subsequent bombs, killing thousands of people.’

He paused, allowing the people to notice his utter
disgust from his facial expression.

‘These were innocent people,’ he finally said, ‘good
people.’ He raised the tempo of his speech slightly. ‘We cannot stand for this.
We cannot on one side demand peace and safety, and on the other declare war
against one another.’ He raised the tone and tempo a little more. ‘We cannot
fight against aliens
and
ourselves.’ His voice finally broke through the
climatic level. ‘For a house divided against itself
will
fall!’

Yeah!
The reporters voiced their agreements, as their
cameras flashed in unison.

Victor allowed them to finish off naturally before
continuing. ‘It is for this purpose that I have decided to create a force that
will protect us from the forces of evil, alien or domestic. Ladies and
Gentlemen of the press, I give you:
N-Force!
’

 A hush fell over the crowd as a soldier marched
onto the platform toward the podium. His uniform consisted mainly of black and
grey, and there was a white arm band wrapped tightly around his right arm.
There was a purple circle on the arm band, and a purple letter Y blended neatly
into the centre of the circle. The soldier stopped short of Victor and then
stomped his boot into the ground and saluted. Victor returned the salute, and
the soldier then turned to face the crowd, stomping his boot into the ground
again.

‘N-Force is a global effort to ensure peace and safety.
It is the merger of all military, police, hospital and fire fighting forces on
the planet. We have created
one
force that will deal with evil in a
strict and swift manner.’

Cameras flashed, but the soldier didn’t blink.

‘We defeated the alien threat because we stood united
together as one force of justice; and just like we overcame the alien invaders,
so too shall we overcome the evil within humankind. To achieve this goal, we
will impose a gun ban on all non-N-Force civilians.’

The reporters buzzed.

‘This means that no one except N-Force soldiers would
be allowed to own or carry a firearm or any calibre, even if you have a licence
to own it. All citizens across the world have a three month window period, in
which they should hand in all firearms they have in their possession at the
nearest N-Force office; which would be any police station, fire department,
hospital, or government office.’

Everyone’s hands shot up immediately and all the
reporters shouted their questions simultaneously. Victor merely lifted his
hand, and the crowd calmed down.

‘This law will go hand-in-hand with a disarmament law
that will force all countries to destroy their missiles and other weapons of
mass destruction. As long as there are weapons, there can be no trust. And
without trust, there can be no peace. I am confident that you will relay this
information accurately to the rest of the population.’

‘Do we know who was responsible for the bombings yet?’
A reporter shouted from within the crowd.

‘Although no one has claimed responsibility yet, rest
assured that N-Force is looking into the matter and those responsible
will
be brought to justice.’

More questions were asked, and Victor answered each
one. When he was done, he saluted the crowd and the N-Force officer, and then
left the stage in perfect stride.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Andrew frowned. The book that he
borrowed from Trevor was more confusing than he had originally anticipated. The
lingo threw him off, and it felt like he was reading instructions for building
guided missiles. His head pounded, and although he felt like giving up on more
than one occasion;
something
drove him. He felt it in his gut. The book
had something important to say, and he wanted to know what it was.

How could this be so hard?
He thought.
It’s only plain
English!

He scanned his eyes across the content again and slowly
became aware of the background noise coming from the television. He banged his
fist down hard against the table and flung the book across the room. It crashed
into his wall unit at the opposite end of the room and bumped a framed picture
off the shelf, which shattered on the floor.

‘Leave me alone!’ he shouted.

He covered his face in his hands and breathed deeply.
Why was it so hard to understand a simple book? He couldn’t understand it. It
almost felt as if he couldn’t read at all. Victor’s voice from the television
made him look up.

‘Yes,’ he answered a reporter. ‘Those who do not hand
in their firearms within the three month window period will be regarded as
terrorists, and will be treated as such in the harshest sense.’

‘And how would the other world leaders react to your
disarmament plan?’

Victor smiled. ‘We had a meeting, and the “world
leaders” are all in favour of the disarmament plan, as well as the creation of
N-Force. Finally, true peace is within our grasp.’

A shiver went down Andrew’s spine, and he switched off
the television. He looked at the book lying on the floor at the opposite end of
the room. He sighed deeply and walked over to it. Against his better judgement,
he picked up the book and flipped through it again, letting his eyes glide over
the content in hope that he would find something,
anything
that he could
relate to. He then opened the book at the first chapter, and read the heading.
It read like computer programming code. The words stood out bold, but still he
couldn’t figure out what it meant. Frustrated, he scanned his eyes over the
heading again and read it aloud:
‘The-One-World-Empire-And-The-Rise-of-The-Antichrist.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Before the overwhelming stench,
there were the fish. Tiny black blots in a river filled with blood. They
drifted slowly downstream, spreading the odour of decay as they went. It was
only a matter of time before it filled the whole of Jerusalem, and spread to
other regions of Israel, as far as Ramallah, Jericho, and Hebron. The GMN
Jerusalem Post was the first newspaper to cover the fish-phenomenon. The fish
was only the beginning of the problem. Attracted by the horrible stench were
the flies and gnats. They started out as a few random swarms, but it soon
turned to a full scale plague, swiftly spreading deadly diseases across Jerusalem.

It was only a matter of time before the plague would
infest the entire West Bank area. Slowly, like a cancer, it would spread out
even further.

Benny violently waved his fly swatter around. He
gnashed his teeth, cursing furiously as he flailed his arms about. He couldn’t
afford to be distracted from his mission, especially by something as small as a
gnat. The mission in itself was supposed to be simple:
Get in. Take out the
false prophets responsible. Get out.

He could see the two men through his binoculars. They
were standing at the Damascus gate, obviously unaffected by the blood, stench,
or the millions of insects flying about. Benny needed no more confirmation that
it was indeed they who had been causing this disturbance. He would now execute
the first phase of his plan. He scanned the surrounding area, looking for
possible escape routes, places where he could hide, and general obstacles. He
heard the news about what these two had done, and had no intention of being
zapped by whatever had incinerated the others. He had a plan; a distraction. He
wanted to see what they were capable of from a distance; to see if he could
detect a weakness. If he spotted one, he would then make his move to strike
them down.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

‘We could end this, you know,’
Rabbi Morris suggested to Malcolm. ‘We could get rid of them if he fails.’

‘How?’

‘With the Ark.’

Malcolm stroked his beard while he contemplated the
Rabbi’s suggestion. He seriously wanted to get rid of the prophets, but didn’t
want to risk exposing the Ark too soon.
The Order
saw it fit to reveal
the Ark only
after
the Temple had been rebuilt.

‘I agree with you,’ he answered finally. ‘But that
option is unfortunately not available to us at this moment. Not yet, anyway. We
will have to wait and see if our mutual ‘friend’ can accomplish his mission.’

‘Then we wait,’ the Rabbi confirmed. ‘But keep the
suggestion at the back of your mind.’

Malcolm nodded. ‘Absolutely.’

- - -*  *  *- -
-

Andrew was close to breaking point.
No matter how hard he tried, he couldn’t understand what the book was trying to
tell him. ‘No wonder Norman wanted to give it away,’ he sneered sarcastically.
It was time for Arch Bishop Pascale’s ‘Daily Bread,’ and he decided that he
would rest his brain for a moment and watch the program. The book hit the table
with an intentionally loud
thud
. He glared at the cover for a moment,
and then redirected his attention toward the television.

‘Join me now,’ Antonio beckoned, ‘as we examine the one
true religion.’

Andrew had seen Antonio before, but only in photographs
and magazines. This was the first time that he clearly saw the person behind
the name. His voice was different than he had initially imagined it would be,
but it was pleasant to the ear. He was visibly older than Victor, but wielded
the same level of charisma.

After a thirty minute message which consisted mainly of
random quotes from the Bible and the Koran, he requested the viewers to
meditate and become ‘one’ with Victor’s request for disarmament and peace. He
then stared directly into the camera, and it felt to Andrew as if he could see
into his very soul. ‘I ask anyone with any sort of physical wound or
disfigurement to touch their television screens. Any problem. It could be AIDS,
cancer, a broken arm, an ulcer;
anything
. Just touch the screen, and
focus on the wound or disease that you would want me to heal.’

All across the world, millions of hands touched
television screens, in some places; four or more people touched the same
screen.

Andrew looked at his hand. A few years earlier, he had
almost lost his index finger due to an ice-skating accident. The doctors
couldn’t cast the broken finger, due to slashed tendons, so they inserted a
metal spike in his finger instead to keep the finger as straight as possible while
still allowing the tendons to grow back. The result was that his finger could
never again be straightened fully. The segment at the end permanently pointed
downwards.

‘As you touch the screen,’ Antonio motivated, ‘imagine
the strength returning to your body. Imagine the cancer dissolving, the bones
mending, and the wounds healing. Reclaim your right to a healthy life.’

Andrew made a fist, and then relaxed his hand again,
still looking at the odd little tip of his index finger.
What do I have to
lose?
He thought to himself and placed his hand on the screen. A surge of
static electricity shot through his body and he jerked his hand away. He
frowned and then took a step back from the television. ‘Well, that was just
stupi—’

He looked at his hand.

‘What the...?’

He rolled it into a fist.

‘Impossible...’

He opened his hand up all the way and then held his
left hand next to his right and compared the two index fingers. His heart
banged around violently in his chest.

His finger had been healed.

- - -*  *  *- -
-

The money easily swayed the boy. He
grabbed the crispy notes from Benny’s bloodstained hands, and promised to
execute the task. And now it was just a matter of waiting. Eventually Benny
spotted the boy through his binoculars. He approached them casually, looking
like a beggar.

Benny could vaguely see the men’s expressions as they
eyed the boy walking toward them. Right on cue, and so unexpectedly that it
surprised even Benny; the boy pulled out a hand gun and fired at the men from
point-blank range. Benny specifically instructed the boy to aim at their faces,
which he did.