was nowhere to be seen. If I made a run for it, I'd die from the bite before I made it very far.
'Does he await over there?' I nodded my head toward the building.
'Yes, please allow us to escort you.'
'Naw, I think I can get there myself.' I flicked off Abomination's safety as I raised the stubby weapon. BOOM. I blasted a round of buckshot into the chest of the first cultist, then jerked the muzzle onto the next one. BOOM. Both of them went down like the sacks of crap that they were.
'It's on now, Hood!' I shouted as I stepped over the bodies and walked toward the building. I was missing my honeymoon for this.
The lights all died at once. His voice came from the air itself. 'Of course. I'm impressed that you're still able to walk. Usually by now the bitten is nearly comatose. I can see it though. The fever is burning you up. Your muscles are weakening. You're bleeding internally. It won't be long now.'
I'd managed to smash most of the glow sticks by the time I reached the manicured front lawn. I activated the brilliant flashlight attached to my shotgun's rail and swept it over the front of the building. There was a sign: mortuary.
'Oh, that just figures,' I muttered, clambering up the steps.
'Yes, I own twenty of these around the world, as well as several dedicated crematoriums and livestock- rendering factories. It gives me plenty of raw materials. Art supplies, if you will.'
The double doors at the entrance were beautifully carved wood and stained glass. I smashed them open with my boot. I moved through, my shotgun light pulsing. I checked to see if the flashlight was malfunctioning, but I realized it was because of how badly my limbs were shaking. It was a nice waiting room. Large displays of flowers were set in vases under the stained glass windows. Nothing moved in here. My illuminated green reflection bounced back from the glass.
His voice came from just ahead of me. 'Nice glow sticks. Are you going to a rave?'
The chapel was one of those bland, nondenominational types, but with one obviously recent addition. The flashlight beam illuminated a giant-golden-squid idol tied to the wall. I swept the light back and forth. The room was huge and there were deep shadows everywhere. The tremors in my legs were making it difficult to move quickly. I had to pause and lean against a pew to catch my breath. Something hot and wet dripped down my face. I wiped it away, then studied my glove under the glow sticks. My nose had started bleeding.
'Show yourself!' I screamed.
'Certainly,' the response came from directly behind me.
I turned, whipping Abomination around. There was nothing there.
'Why must we fight, Owen? Why do you rage against your destiny?'
'Face me,' I hissed. 'Let's finish this like men!' A finger tapped me on the shoulder. I spun and blasted a round of buckshot through a stained glass window. A curtain moved and I shot it too. 'Damn it!' There was movement overhead, a massive shadow slinking across the ceiling.
I raised my gun as it dropped. The light caused the shape to shrink. Jerking the trigger, I managed to pump several rounds upward before impact. It slammed me into the carpet. I kept firing. The shape rose. My flashlight beam cut a path through the shadow, leaving nothing but a man in a robe. I shot Hood repeatedly in the chest, silver buckshot tearing right through him. I kept on shooting even as my flashlight exploded.
He disappeared into the darkness.
Now all I had was the pale green glow coming from my armor. I dropped Abomination into its sling. 'You killed me, Hood. I'm going to return the favor!' I reached for the pouch on my back and pulled out a pair of road flares. They ignited with a hiss of flame and sparks. 'I'm gonna burn this motherfucker down!' I laughed maniacally as I tossed the flares to the far end of the room and reached back for more. Once I had thrown a flare into each corner I drew another magazine from my chest rig and reloaded my shotgun. One of the curtains was on fire and the carpet had caught at the far end. Now that was more like it. Flames licked up the wall, casting flickering light across the chapel. I glanced back and forth, searching for my target.
'Monster Hunters are always hell on the furniture,' he whispered in my ear. I turned, too slow, and he blocked my shotgun. Hood's sneering face was inches from my own. He head-butted me. Stars exploded in my vision. Then he hit me, once, twice, fists colliding with my face, robes snapping around his arms, and finished it off by kicking me brutally hard in the stomach. I collided with a pew, flipped over it, and landed on my back.
Gasping for air, I started to crawl. I was so weak. Water began to fall from the ceiling. Fire sprinklers. I coughed uncontrollably. My body was tearing itself apart.
'You have any idea what this'll do to my insurance?' He leapt onto the top of the pew I had gone over, and crouched there, watching, enjoying my plight. The light from the flares was dying, extinguished by the sprinklers. As the light dimmed, Hood seemed to blur and grow. I flipped Abomination to full auto and emptied an entire magazine through his body. He leapt from the pew, splinters flying in every direction, and vanished back into the shadows. I rolled onto my stomach and clawed my way across the carpet beneath the other pews. It wasn't like I could hide. I glowed in the dark.
'I defeated Earl Harbinger and Agent Franks simultaneously. What exactly do you think you're going to accomplish? Part of me exists in a dimension beyond your understanding. You couldn't stop me in broad daylight on your best day, let alone half-dead and in the dark.'
I found an open space between rows and rolled into it, whacking my head in the process. I reached for the satchel with Milo's super flash-bang. I could barely feel my hands and they blundered about clumsily like they were asleep.
'You still haven't wrapped your brain around what's really going on! Come on, Owen, don't disappoint me like this.'
It hurt to move, but I raised my head and looked. I could make out Hood, in human form, leaning against the far wall, arms folded. 'Okay, then why don't you educate me, asshole. What's your master plan, besides feed me to your stupid god?'
'That's the spirit.' He chuckled. 'As you learned last year, it's a real chore for an Old One to enter our world. They exist in a reality different from our own. The rules of our existence are fatal to them. The few trapped here are dead yet dreaming. Their spawn can only exist inside a body created in this world or as disembodied spirits. The Elder Things are far too great to lower themselves in that way. For them to exist in this plane they must first bend our reality to match their own.'
'Yeah, I know, and they need somebody like me to do that for them.' I had to keep blinking. I didn't know if it was because of the sprinklers, or if my eyes had started bleeding. No time to worry about it. I had to focus. When I set this thing off, I would only have a few seconds to take him out.
'Very good. You're a very special man. Preordained before your birth to wield the key to the planes, the Avatar of Chaos himself, blessed with powers beyond that of any mortal man.'
'Blah, blah, blah,' I gasped. 'Get to the point. I ain't got all day.'
'That's your gift, your curse. Lord Machado was the last, but he was too weak. But then you were too strong. You have no idea how jealous I am of you.' He pushed away from the wall and walked casually down the aisle toward me. 'If only I had been born with your blessings
… If only you knew… But I do go on, and your time is so very short. To achieve my life's work, I needed something to appease the Dread Overlord. Sacrificing you will suffice, and I needed the means to control his gift, which in a way, your side has also provided me.' He snapped his fingers. 'Torres, my son, would you bring in our guest, please?'
There was the sound of doors opening. I jerked around toward the front of the chapel. It had opened into a viewing area. Fifteen feet away, half a dozen robed acolytes stood beside an ornate coffin.
'Anthony…' I hissed, raising my shotgun, my feverish mind forgetting that it was empty. The former Fed dipped his head at me. There was a hint of madness in his eyes. They opened the casket's lid, revealing the occupant. Falling water beat a cadence onto the silk.
Julie?
My laboring heart skipped a beat.
No. It wasn't her. The figure was perfectly still, hands folded peacefully across her chest, just below where someone had driven a wooden stake through her heart.
Susan…
'Susan Shackleford stole the artifact. She took it from DeSoya Caverns after you so carelessly discarded it.
