CHAPTER 79
Once they were all gathered together in the galley, Simon thanked the group for their attention.
“We have to make this quick,” Novak warned him. “I dropped anchor because I don’t trust letting us drift. Not with all the debris out there. But we don’t have a guard posted on the decks, and I like that even less.”
“I’ll try to be as succinct as I can,” Simon promised. “Although Sarah has some things to share, as well. ”
She nodded.
“I suppose we’ll start at the beginning,” Simon continued. “In the beginning, God created—”
“I don’t believe in God,” Caterina interrupted.
“Yeah,” Novak said. “I’ve got to be honest, Simon. If this is going to be nothing more than a Sunday School meeting, then I think we should get back to work right now. While we’re down here talking, there’s not telling what could be creeping up on us out there.”
“You may call it God,” Simon said, ignoring them. “Others know it as Yahweh, Allah, etcetera. All the name refers to is the power behind the creation of the universe. Regardless of your individual beliefs, there are certain universal truths, and one of them is that the Creator, whose true name is known only to a handful of people, created the heavens and the Earth. In order to create this new universe, the Creator needed a lot of energy. So the Creator destroyed the universe that existed before ours, down to the very last atom, and utilized the harvested energies as building blocks. The old universe ceased to exist.”
Gail frowned. “So God is Galactus?”
“Pardon?”
She grinned. “Never mind. I’m sorry for interrupting.”
“Thirteen denizens of that previous universe escaped the destruction. These beings are collectively known to my organization and other occultists as the Thirteen. They are not gods or demons, and are not susceptible to the same magic and supernatural laws that govern, banish or bind demons, angels, and other entities. Very specific methods must be used when confronting them. They are one of the reasons Black Lodge was created. The Thirteen have one single-minded goal—the total obliteration of everything the Creator has made, meaning our Earth and all of the other Earths, as well as the rest of our universe.”
“Other Earths?” Henry asked.
“Yes. The universe is composed of alternate realities. In my organization, we referred to these alternate planes of existence as levels. Just as there are different planets in the sky, there are also different versions of those planets, existing simultaneously on a different level of the universe. The Thirteen wish to destroy them all.”
“And Leviathan is one of the Thirteen?” Gail asked.
“Exactly. Our Earth recently came under attack by both Leviathan and Behemoth—two members of the Thirteen. I no longer sense Behemoth’s presence, which means his physical form may have been destroyed.”
“Is Behemoth a giant worm?” Sarah asked. “I mean, bigger than the rest of them?”
“Yes. Don’t tell me you’ve encountered him, as well?”
“I think maybe I have.”
“Then you do indeed have a story to tell. Nevertheless, Leviathan is still present. He is aware of me just as I am aware of him. Black Lodge operatives have stopped him on other levels. As the last of my kind on this Earth, he will seek me out and destroy me. That’s what he is doing right now.”
“But what is he?” Henry asked.
“I had a friend that called him Cthulhu,” Sarah said.
Simon nodded. “That is one name for him, yes. As is Kraken, Tlaloc, Dagon, He of One Thousand Tentacles, and the Lord of the Great Deep. His true size and measurements are unknown. Suffice to say, he is massive. He has a squid-like head, a beard of tentacles, webbed hands and feet, a long tail, and wings.”
“Sounds like Godzilla,” Mylon mumbled.
“That’s a remarkably apt comparison,” Simon said.
Novak groaned. “And now he’s coming for us?”
“I’m afraid so.”
“Well, fuck that. Short of tossing you over the side so he leaves us alone, how do we get rid of him?”
“I’m hoping Sarah can tell us,” Simon said, turning to her. “After all, if she’s escaped him once before, perhaps she knows a way we can do so again. If not, then I’m afraid all might be lost.”
CHAPTER 80
They sat in silence for a moment, pondering the ramifications of Simon’s dire pronouncement. Then, one by one, they turned to look at Sarah.
“Well,” Gail asked, “how do we defeat this thing?”
“I don’t know,” Sarah said. “I honestly don’t. When it attacked us in Baltimore, it left eventually.”
She recounted her encounter with Leviathan, beginning with the cult on the nearby rooftop, the arrival of the vampire-like mermaid, the ill-fated rescue mission that Kevin and the others had launched in an attempt to disrupt the cult’s sacrificial ceremony, how that – and the murder of the mermaid – had led to Leviathan’s emergence, the creature’s subsequent attack on their building, and how she, Salty, and Kevin had escaped.
“And it just left?” Novak asked. “That doesn’t make any sense.”
The others all began to talk at once, but Simon held up his hand, signaling silence.
“It makes perfect sense,” he said. “The girl, Lori, was a sacrifice. Leviathan held Kevin responsible for killing one of its brides—the mermaid. In retaliation, it took Kevin’s female. Sated, it then departed.”
Caterina frowned. “But why wouldn’t it kill the rest of them?”
“I’ve always wondered that myself,” Sarah muttered.
“It’s because we are insignificant to Leviathan,” Simon said. “Normally, humanity is beneath his attention, other than as bothersome insects who must be destroyed. But we as individuals? Leviathan could care less. When we come across a nest of wasps, do we have a stronger loathing for one particular wasp from the hive more so than the others? No. All we know is that we want to destroy the entire nest. That’s how Leviathan views us. He didn’t bother with Sarah and her two friends because he figured they’d die anyway, sooner or later, once his ultimate goal was achieved.”
“Then why is he after you?” Novak leaned back in his chair and propped his feet up on the table. “If we’re nothing more than gnats to this thing, why is he now focused on you?”
“Because I am a particularly bothersome wasp,” Simon said. “Leviathan senses my presence… and my power. He knows that I have abilities not shared by most of humanity. He thinks I have it in me to halt his destruction and reverse what has happened.”
“Do you?” Henry asked.
Simon shook his head. “No. As I said, all I can do at this point is save our lives. I can’t save our planet. But Leviathan doesn’t know that.”
Novak dropped his feet to the floor with a loud thud. His chair squeaked across the floor as he stood abruptly. “Then what the hell do we do, Simon?”
“Hope that we reach LeHorn’s Hollow before Leviathan reaches us.”
Novak opened his mouth to respond, but suddenly, the hull clanged like a bell, the sound deep and hollow and reverberating throughout the entire ship. The vessel lurched violently to one side, spilling the crew’s gear and belongings onto the deck. Screaming, they held on tight as the ship rocked again.
“I reckon maybe it’s too late,” Henry said.
“Did we hit something?” Gail asked.
“No,” said Novak, his face ashen. “Something hit us…”
