“Bind him Stoop!”
The big bald man lumbered forward andgrabbed Bill. This beast of a man was at least three times the size of skinnybespectacled Bill and was glaring at him with small beady eyes. Bill was forcedto lie down on a low stone altar and had his hands and feet bound with a rope.Then – after a nod from Lilith – the man ripped Bill’s shirt open, revealing apale hairless torso.
Stoop’s real name was David and he wasLilith’s older brother, but had a young mental age. He’d always been quite ahandful, getting into all sorts of trouble. Eventually, their parents decidedto put him in care when he was sixteen. He idolised his little sister and woulddo anything she asked.
Lilith moved forward and stood overBill’s body – breathing heavily and gazing at him with wide mascarered eyes.She slowly opened the Almanac Regenerationis
that lay on the end of the altar andstudied its pages. The spell she was about to incant was long and complex. Thiswas the first time she’d performed it on a real live person and not practisedon Peanut, her battered old teddy bear. She wanted to make sure she hadn’tmissed any part of it – if it went wrong she knew Arddhu Og would be angry withher. Eventually, when she was sure the incantation was memorised, she held upthe small but lethal looking dagger, and with trembling hand held it overBill’s heaving chest.
Bill closed his eyes and waited forthe blade to strike. He was so terrified he found it almost impossible tobreathe, but after a few moments agonised anticipation he decided to open oneeye. Lilith had lowered the dagger and was looking across the church with animpatient scowl.
“Ophelia! What are you waiting for? Itsays in the book we need all his senses succumbed to the service.”
Bill saw Ophelia over in the nave,crouched over the record player.
“Sorry,” she said, pulling anapologetic face, “I’ll do it now.”
She put on a record.
What can only be described as a wildcacophony of kooky music blared out, echoing around the vaulted ceiling of theold church. Ophelia hoped it was suitable, would do what the book demanded. She’dbought it from the Groovy Vault record shop in town.
The girls had made a big effort ingiving the old church a suitably atmospheric makeover for their sacrifice. Thecandelabras around the altar were filled with blood-red candles and werecasting a soft flickering light. A pentagram was chalked on the floor and thesilver dagger was real silver. They’d studied the book’s cryptic instructionsvery carefully but were still worried about getting it all wrong.
Bill tried to free himself from therope but knew it was hopeless.
“Why me?” he moaned. “What have I everdone to you?”
“We need the blood of a virgin, andfrom what I’ve seen you definitely fit the bill.”
“A virgin?”
“Silence!”
Ophelia approached the altar carryinga small stone urn. Bill gazed at her beautiful face and felt a sinking feelingin the pit of his stomach. She hadn’t invited him to this ‘moot’ because sheactually felt something for him, the way he felt something for her. Theirs was nota romance about to blossom. She only wanted his blood.
Ophelia wondered if Professor Jarethwould be very angry at them for disobeying her instructions. She’d specificallytold them to get Simon Drew’s cask, but they had taken Lord Valentine. She knewit wasn’t what the Professor had wanted... but wouldn’t it be marvellous tomeet someone who’d actually lived through Victorian times? Imagine being ableto talk to someone from out of history. And he did sound very sexy inRowena’s journal.
“The urn is ready to receive,” shesaid, giving Bill a guilty look. She really liked this boy. They seemed to hitit off. It was a pity he had to face Lilith’s anger.
“Then it is time,” said Lilithdramatically, “time to summon our new playmate!”
Lilith had never felt more alive. Shewas actually doing it! How shocked would her parents be if they saw her now?Summoning the dead! And Stoop was here to help, not shut away in some horriblehome.
The blade glinted in Lilith’s hand asshe raised it, ready to strike at Bill’s quivering hairless torso. She lookedagain in the Almanac Regenerationis and read the Incantation of EarthlyRebirth.
I call for Percy, Lordof Brimstone, entombed and furled –
to be brought backgoodly faire from the bowels of the Netherworld.
He’s slumbered in hisgrave for many a long year –
but blood will conjurelife from this yon ceare.
Bone and flesh will growfrom whence it’s poured –
and fashion noble manwith all essences restored.
Then she decided, in her nervousness,to add a few of her own embellishments.
“I call on you, Arddhu Og, God of allthe nasty stuff. Restore life into this here dusty pot! She causally waved herhand over Bill’s prostrate form. “I offer, oh mighty Arddhu Og, this pitifullittle man.”
“Lilith please!”
“Who shall gladly offer up hisprecious life-giving blood.”
Bill squirmed as the tightly knottedrope cut into his wrists. He began to scream for help but his voice wassomewhat lost over the crazy music. Stoop lumbered forward and placed a meatyhand over his mouth.
Lilith looked down at the palehairless torso, felt the dagger in her hand. All she had to do was strike. Shewas a rebel. She was evil. She’d show her parents just how bad she could be.She closed her eyes and plunge the blade downward, slashing it across Bill’sstomach.
ChapterFive - Resurrection
Ceare is truly the most remarkable substance known toscience. Its cellular transformation is very rapid and quite miraculous. Butyou must take great pains with the source material. I experimented with bloodfrom a rotting cadaver and the result was so monstrous I cannot bear todescribe it.
– Extract from The Journal ofWilliam Whitebeam
– By William Whitebeam, Professor ofOccult Biology, 1872.
Lilithraised the dagger ready to strike again. Her hands were shaking. Now that shecould see real blood seeping out of this young man’s body it freaked her outand made her scared. She had hold back tears.
“Stop!” shrieked Ophelia. “You don’thave to kill him. Please don’t! It doesn’t say anything in the book about that.We just need ‘a fair and weighty extraction
