Heathen/Nemesis

were a dozen or more people in the room, all seated, all staring at his dangling, vulnerable form.

‘You have been a help to us and now we are done with you,’ said the first man, smiling up at him.

‘No,’ shouted Connelly.

He heard the sound of liquid slurping in a metal container as Farrell approached him from behind.

‘What are you doing?’ he shrieked, twisting about madly on the ropes that suspended him.

He felt cold, thick fluid being splashed on him.

He smelled the petrol as it covered his skin.

‘No,’ he bellowed. ‘For God’s sake, please don’t. Please.’ His voice cracked as it rose in pitch. More of the reeking petrol was doused over him. It matted the hair on his chest and ran down over his pubic hair and penis, dripping from his feet.

Tears of helplessness and terror welled up in his eyes.

‘You can’t do this, please,’ he wailed.

The first figure struck a match and held it up in front of him, the tiny yellow flame glowing brightly.

‘No,’ Connelly screamed, his yell so loud it seemed his lungs would burst.

‘Thank you for your help,’ said the figure, and tossed the match at him.

The petrol ignited immediately, a loud whump filling the room as it consumed Connelly’s body, which twisted insanely on the ropes as he screamed in uncontrollable agony.

From those watching there was movement. They stood and, as one, began to applaud. There was some laughter.

Connelly’s body continued to burn.

Fifty

It was raining outside, a thin veil of rain that was blown by the wind so that it appeared to undulate in the air like gossamer curtains. Droplets of fluid formed on the window and trickled down, puddling on the sills.

Donna Ward glanced distractedly out of the window for a second, her mind racing, her hand on her book.

The pages were stiffened with age and the tome smelt fusty, like a damp cloth left to dry on a radiator. Some of the words on the pages were faint, barely legible. Donna had squinted at them as she’d read. Some of the words did not even make sense to her but, through the confusion, she’d been able to salvage enough to piece together roughly the contents.

If not for the help of the librarian she might not even have found the book.

After checking into The Holiday Inn, Edinburgh, she had travelled to the library indicated in Ward’s notes and diary, not really sure what she sought. The library was large and, rather than hunt through the endless rows of volumes dating as far back as 1530, she had sought the help of the librarian. The woman was in her mid-thirties, dressed in a black trouser suit and white sweater. She was a little overweight, her hands a touch too pudgy when she reached for various books and took them from the shelves. The badge she wore on one lapel proclaimed that her name was Molly. She seemed eager to help and selected half a dozen books for Donna to look at concerning The Hell Fire Club. She herself knew little or nothing about the organisation, and Donna wished she could have happened upon someone as knowledgeable on the subject as Mahoney had been.

This time she was on her own.

There were only a handful of other people in the library reference section; the normal air of peace and quiet one would expect in such a place seemed to have become an unnatural silence. Donna glanced round at the other occupants of the room but they were all hunched over their chosen books, seated at the wooden desks. Every so often the sound of a dropped pencil or pen would break the solitude, but apart from that the only sound was that of the wind outside, whipping around the building, hurling rain at the windows so hard it sounded as if thousands of tiny pebbles were being bounced off the glass.

Donna returned to the book, bending closer to make out the words:

Initiates into these clubs did undertake to join in deeds most foule to Christian Man. Some such as cannot bee described. The Acts demanded of them were as different as those Clubs themselves. Of the Clubs in existence there were the Mohocles The Blasters, The Bucks, The Bloods and, most vile of all The Sons of Midnight. These Heathen groups practised rites som would pray God not to here.

Donna flicked ahead a few pages but could see no way of hastening her search for the information she sought. She continued to read;

Those who joined were forced to fornicate in the presence of others. Some would beat the women afterwards. But these vile tasks were as welcome to them for they knew no love of God nor worship of Him. Only the pleasure of the flesh and pleasing their Masters was their joy. They killed too and found pleasure in it. After fornication with a woman then the one who would join would show his love of the Unholy by taking a child and killing it. The skull he would keep in his abode. A sign and an offering to those he wanted to join. Som would kill the unborn child or children of women and som ript open their bellys to take the child as offering. The skull of that child would always be theres. A sign of their villainy and proofe of their love of Evil.

Donna chewed her lip contemplatively as she read, forced to run her index finger beneath the words, so jumbled and irregularly formed were they on the faded page.

All these Evils are set down in great and Anciente Bookes called Grimoires. These books much prized by thes societys were filld with incantations and secrets known only to those who trod the dark pathes. Each club had a GRIMOIRE and where in every member would write his name as to show love of Evil and to show kinship with others of Evil.

Donna fumbled in her handbag, looking for a piece of paper and a pen. She found a notepad from the Shelbourne and scribbled the word Grimoire down.

She wondered where they kept the dictionaries.

The hand on her shoulder made her jump.

She turned to see Molly standing there.

‘Sorry if I startled you,’ she said, smiling. ‘I just wondered how you were getting on.’ She nodded towards the books in front of Donna.

‘I’m okay,’ she said, her heart slowing slightly. She administered herself a swift mental rebuke for nervousness. ‘I need a dictionary, please.’

Molly nodded and hurried off to fetch one, returning a moment later. She handed it to Donna and stood by her as she flipped through it, running her finger down the columns of words until she found what she sought.

GRIMOIRE; (Archaic) (Grim-wah) Old Norman French word; (i) A Book of Spells and invocations.

(ii) A book supposedly used for contacting Devils and Demons. Usually ascribed to Witches or Satanists.

She re-read the definition, then closed the book and handed it back to Molly who smiled.

‘Can I help you with anything else?’ she wanted to know.

Donna ran a hand through her hair and sighed wearily. Her shoulders felt stiff and she could feel the beginnings of a headache gnawing at her skull.

‘No thanks,’ Donna said gratefully. ‘I think I’ve finished.’

She glanced at the books in front of her, then at her watch.

It was approaching 4.15 p.m. She’d been in the library for close to four hours now.

All the reading and yet she wasn’t even sure she’d made any progress. Because she wasn’t sure what She was looking for. She knew more about The Hell Fire Club; she was certain that was what her husband had been working on. She knew that members had to fornicate and kill a child to gain entry. She knew that they relied on a