 
### Vampire

### Find my Grave

Published by Lazlo Ferran at Smashwords

Copyright © 2015 by Lazlo Ferran

All Rights Reserved.

Smashwords Edition, License Notes

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PRINTING HISTORY

First Edition

The Ordo Lupus Series:

ORDO LUPUS AND THE TEMPLE GATE

THE DEVIL'S OWN DICE

THE SYNCHRONICITY CODE

Credits

Pedro Diaz, Yessir, Kara, Linda Jørgensen.

Cover by omrikoresh.com

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# The Prize

The prize of £500, mentioned in the story, is genuine. If you can solve the mystery, email me (my email is at the end of this book) with the answers. The first person with the correct answers wins the prize! Please note; the cover illustration is in no way representative of the actual grave in question, and if you find a gravestone, please do not touch or violate it. It marks the burial site of a real person, and the treasure is nowhere near the grave.

# Introduction

Ah! John Wilmot! How I loved to hear him recount stories of his adventure in Bolsover Castle as we drove back to London in our carriage, drinking from a carafe of fine wine to drown our sorrows. But I found his stories hard to believe! Here is one such!

***

Sure enough, upon the next noon, I found a door and thus the circular chamber once again, where my array of weapons lay in the rack, in the centre of the twelve-pointed star on the floor.

Wearily, I lay against the plinth for what seemed hours, but I knew I should not wait too long. Outside, the Full Moon would be passing. Picking up the halberd, essentially a long-handled axe with an extended spike on the shaft and a hook at the rear of the blade, a weapon of which I had no experience, I made my way to the door marked with the stag.

I had already guessed, of course, that each door represented a sense or faculty of the body, and that I would have to deal with each in order of increasing difficulty. I did not relish dealing with the later beasts. I had also begun to notice that my own relevant sense had felt increased in each kingdom of the Underworld that I visited. If this one were no different, I would find that my hearing would be intensified.

After stepping through the door, I found myself in a forest of giant trees. I had heard tales of such trees in the New World, so perhaps this part of Hades represented that. I set off in search of a stag.

I had not gone far when I heard a distinctive bellow. It echoed among the trees in a slightly higher pitch than the English variety, but I knew it to be the call of a stag. I quickened my pace under another black sky, darker than the last.

I had to push through a thick stand of firs and scramble up an escarpment to reach a narrow grassy ridge. My quarry stepped out from behind a tree, so that we faced each other.

She looked like a woman but had the headdress of stag horns upon her head and pelt around her shoulders. She looked wild and quite intimidating.

Now, I am not an expert in the history of New World Tribes, but this woman, for woman she most certainly had to be from her shapely thighs and gait, looked more like a shaman than a native maiden. I approached her with caution.

Before I even saw it, I heard that she had contrived to get behind me somehow. I swung round, and saw her smiling at me from a distance of perhaps ten feet. Yet again, I blinked, and l heard her steps behind me. When I swung round, I saw her dart behind the tree again, perhaps seventy feet away.

How could I possibly hear such distant steps?

I recalled that each of my senses seemed heightened in my encounters and assessed that it must be so for my hearing. Nevertheless, my weapon seemed singularly useless against such a quick foe, its weight and length making it slow to turn. A sword or dagger would have been more useful!

"Can you fly? Are you a great magician?" I yelled in frustration.

"Ha! Ha! Your weapon is useless here. I don't know who made the selection for you, but they made a mistake. I feel I might not even waste time seducing you."

I blinked and opened my eyes on a sight which cast down my hopes. Before me stood a stag of enormous proportions. Perhaps ten feet high at the top of its flat head, its horns spread just as wide and as far forward. I would never reach any vital organ with the halberd. I wished that I had a spear, or even a sword or axe that I might throw. The halberd is wayward in flight!

Nevertheless, I wielded the weapon fiercely while the stag trotted toward me.

Before it reached me, it lowered its great head and tangled my blade in its prongs. Raising its head again, I felt myself lifted from the ground and had to let go the weapon. I dropped to the ground on my derriere and braced myself for death. I had just enough time to curse Henry for his folly before I felt myself tossed in the air by those great horns.

I came down with a sickening crunch but not on the ground. Somehow, links of my mail shirt had become caught upon an antler prong, and I landed squarely on its shoulder.

For a long time, the beast bucked and writhed, sometimes rolling over on stones in an effort to shake me off, but I held on with my arms around its neck for my very life.

"I will not let go until Hell freezes!" I told myself.

The stag threw me against trees several times, but each time either its own horns protected me, or else I managed to sustain the blow. Nevertheless, I wearied until I felt I would lose my grip.

"This can do neither of us any good!" I yelled over the commotion. "Why don't you let me see you as you are, and we can talk? You must be lonely!"

"No! I do not need your lies!"

This seemed new; a female demon who detected my subterfuge. I felt at a loss. In desperation, I kissed the rough fur of the beast's neck. I felt her shiver, so I continued.

***

Now you will understand why I found it so difficult to believe him! Such battles! Such women! Could such things be true? I will let you find out for yourself. But I get ahead of myself. How did this all begin?

It began with another leaden sky that hung heavily over Bolsover Castle, perched above the little village in Scarsdale.

I climbed, on horseback, to the castle with John Wilmot, the notorious libertine, vampire and 2nd Earl of Rochester for a night of revelry. John had visited Bolsover once before and had been told the most extraordinary tale of magick and secret treasure. I was to accompany him on a quest to recover the treasure using simple cunning and a large dose of bravery.

Henry, the 2nd Earl of Newcastle and son of William, the Cavalier who had tried to woo the King in 1634 was, at best, what I call a domestic vampire – drinking as little fresh blood as necessary and only in secret – but his father had been a flamboyant vampire of the First Order and had installed a secret underground labyrinth.

I am Zosimyache, the vampire from the Ordo Lupus and the Blood Moon Prophecy Volume III, soon to be published.

Ironic, isn't it, that John discovered the origin of Ordo Lupus, a secret society of Angels, in Hell? But this story is not about me, it's about a vampire posing as John Wilmot, whom I met while passing through London in 1673. The real John Wilmot had been bled dry at twelve years old by the vampire, whose only story about his life revealed him to have come from ancient Persia.

As it turned out, a small part of the treasure _was_ recovered, but by which of us, you will have to read this story to find out.

John made me swear never to reveal the secrets of Bolsover Castle to a soul or reveal his part, but I can tell you now that his gravestone is in England. What is more, I have some of my share of John's booty still, and I am offering 500 English Pounds, yes £500, to anybody that can find John's grave from the clues.

If you find the location of his grave, write to me, and I will give you the reward.

Good luck!

What follows is John's story.

***

# Chapter One

For a while, I was John Wilmot, 2nd Earl of Rochester.

No doubt you have heard my reputation. First let me reassure you that not all we vampires do is bad. I myself merely enjoy life and its pleasures.

On a previous visit to Bolsover Castle, the Earl had asked of me:

"Did you know there is a secret labyrinth my father built to solve a riddle."

"No! Tell me more Henry."

"It is hidden in the basement of the Terrace Range. My father, you see, was an occultist, a disciple of Eastern wisdom, and had obtained secrets that he believed would lead him to the riddle's solution and some great treasure of the Underworld. He spent his last years attempting to obtain this great treasure, but never succeeded."

We were greeted at the foot of the great Terrace stair, which had much declined since the great feast of 1634. But still I felt almost cleansed of my London sins as I reached its summit, turned and looked out over Carr Vale. The clouds broke apart for a moment to reveal the weak October sun, cheering my spirits.

With that, I turned and followed the Earl into the Range. He led us along passages to a vast Dining Room, where he had gathered his many guests for the evening.

A few miles behind us, in a covered carriage, followed my new mistress and protégé, the actress Elizabeth Barry, several of her more alluring friends and the fetching mistress of my companion, the vampire Zosimyache, with whom I had met a few years before.

"We shall wait here for our companions before entering," I suggested to the Earl and Zosimyache.

"As you wish. When you are announced, I will come to you."

Our companions arrived shortly after and Henry led us into the melee of guests, who were in the process of being seated.

Elizabeth wore a powder-blue open satin bodice, revealing her fulsome bosom, and a matching tabbed skirt with three-quarter length open sleeves over full silk chemise, all gifts from my generous purse. Her wig was the fullest, but with few curls, to match her own silky mane. Her companions wore less ostentatious dresses of crimson, emerald green and darkest blues, but each revealing, to their owner's taste, the virtues of their voluptuousness.

My vampire friend eschewed the traditional powdered wig in favour of his own luxuriant black hair, while I wore the most ostentatious hazel wig in my collection, as suited my rather flushed complexion.

It's fair to say that Elizabeth and I turned a few heads as we took our seats, Zosimyache to my right and our host to my left.

"Are all these guests to be here for the trial?" I asked the fair and slender Henry.

"No indeed! Only twenty or so of my closest friends and allies will accompany us to the Keep or Little Castle, as it is known. This feast is but a mere charade. I do not wish it to be known that, on this one occasion, I am continuing my father's nefarious activities!"

While we were served a dish of poached salmon cutlets, decorated with florets of the exotic caulis flower, and sipped a passable pale red wine, I considered what this disapproval of Henry's father meant. Was he prepared to induct me into his secrets simply for avarice, or did he have some other purpose? In any case, I would have to watch my step, for if he disapproved of his father's modest misbehaviour, what did he truly think of me, the most notorious libertine in all England?

"Zos?" I began, for so I called Zosimyache, "what do you say of my lover's charms? Does she not please the eye of a vampire as much as the palate?"

"Aye. I wouldn't mind a few pints from her before healing the wounds with a few kisses. The only problem would be; from where to take the red juice."

"I would suggest the breast. She is amply proportioned there, and her flesh is so soft, so tender. I am sure she wouldn't begrudge you a taste. I will ask her later."

These words I whispered into my friend's ear, for fear of Henry overhearing.

***

The meal over, Henry left his guests in the hands of his affable wife and her entourage, while roughly two-dozen of us departed in pairs for the Castle Keep.

I led Elizabeth by the hand into the Star Chamber, a glorious room, vaulted in a blue, which almost matched her dress, and with gold stars placed between the cream plasterwork.

Strewn around the room were satin cushions from the East upon Persian carpets.

"Here we can be more intimate," Henry declared, lying down with a delightful local blonde, of which I later learned he was quite fond.

So he isn't such a Saint after all!

"I have acquired some of the most bewitching harlots in the North of England for your delight John," he told me, before clicking his hands.

The doors opened and Henry's steward led in a collection of beauties to delight our eyes. They ranged from the most voluptuous hippo to the most sinuous snake. Their eyes ranged from the Demon-dark satin, which draws you into the depths of their promising bosom, to the angel eyes of children, which challenge you to be pure and kind. I am neither of those, but I do enjoy transgressing boundaries, even unspoken ones, so all these beauties entranced me.

"Thank you Henry!" I replied.

Zosimyache simply nodded his approval. Elizabeth looked none too happy but sat against me, with her delicate hand firmly upon my breast.

"Drink, smoke; take whatever you need to intoxicate yourselves," Henry said, without spirit. "You will need to reach a state of intoxication, mental, spiritual and physical before you are able to enter the labyrinth. But you must retain control of your will and purpose. Take whatever you need."

With an uncharacteristic sweep of his pale hands, he gestured to the common courtesans, and they lay among us. Large silver trays, bearing snuff, assortments of liquor, tobacco and laudanum were borne among us and I picked off a large glass of sherry. Despite his forced largesse, I had begun to dislike Henry, but I tried not to show it. Henry continued:

"I will be frank with you John; the reason you are here is because I am desperate. I simply cannot afford to maintain this estate any longer. I want to sell it, but it needs work. My funds have been decreasing, year on year, and so I must resort to desperate means to acquire wealth. When I was a child, I did not believe my father's tales of the labyrinth and what could be taken from it, but the sight of too many corpses being thrown upon waggons from the servants' entrance to the scullery made me think otherwise. I think it must be attempted, and I am prepared to let you take all you can acquire, save a small imbursement of, say, ten percent?"

I looked at Zosimyache and saw satisfaction in his eyes. We both nodded.

"Well then, that is settled," Henry replied, fondling his blonde's buttocks under her skirt.

He returned his attention to me and returned my gaze with a weak smile. The pale light in his eyes flickered out for a moment and made me blink.

"Lilith is the centrepiece of this story. As you know, some say she is the mother of all vampires and werewolves, and is the great succubus; a female demon who relieves men of sexual need but at the cost of their life. She was also the custodian of a great treasure. Let me explain. According to my father, he acquired a Hebrew poem or enchantment from a scholar, who had discovered it in a bazaar in Constantinople. At first, he merely considered it a valuable addition to his collection of occult art, but the enchantment mentions Lilith, and the more he read about the demon, the more he became convinced that the poem was the key to secret knowledge.

"Lilith was said to be the first wife of Adam. Her story originates in Babylon and comes down to us as Lamia in the Bible. In the beginning men warred on Earth. Some were victorious and began to acquire wealth. Satan could see that silver and gold held immense power over men, so set to acquiring as much of it as he could. He stored it in the Underworld and put Lilith to guard it after she coupled with Samael and could no longer attain the Garden of Eden. She was never to tell anyone about the treasure.

"But legend has it that another demon tricked her into revealing all her secrets by offering her the false hope of re-entry into the Garden. To his surprise, he found out about the treasure and wanted it for his own purposes. She so desired to lay with Adam that the demon was able to tempt her again into telling her how the treasure could be wrested from her. This enchantment tells how this may be done."

Henry recited the enchantment:

Twelve times twelve would be the tortures of he,

Who would, the witch of Beelzebub deceive,

And pass between her wicket thighs to find,

Wealth unimagined, never revealed to mankind.

The penitent may be true, stout and strong,

Quick with weapon and ne'er do wrong,

But to pass through the twelve levels of Lilith's lair,

And come back alive, is not a trial for the fair.

The victor must be quick, and wise and deceitful,

He must not heed fear, when fear eats his soul,

But most of all he must have feasted on all flesh,

For only its resistance will Lilith's trap fail to enmesh.

Twelve weapons you will need for the twelve beasts within,

And twelve are Lilith's parts which must be hacked to win.

A dagger for her tongue, a club for her nose,

Ax-kidon for her ears, fork for her eyes.

A spade you must take to her fingers to numb,

Double Ax to her feet, with mace beat venus' mound,

Sword to her hand, let not the bear grip you,

The eagle's head, with an axe you must hew.

Last, we have Lilith's three life forces;

Take a spear to her heart, heed not the lion's roars,

Without Pat-kidon, by the phoenix's flame you will be eaten,

Last of all, the chimera must be beaten.

Stand upon the twelve-pointed star and face East,

Say, "I will not be worth ought, if I beat not the beast,

That lies within me, and Prince of the Flies,

Let me cast away from Heaven, take Samael's guise.

If torture my spirit, you'll not feign to do,

I will make my way downwards to sleep forever with you,

For I am a slave to the fourth phase of cycles, the nightjar on high,

Sings of its end, my own time to die."

Now, let the penitent begin. Take up the club,

Weave your magic between Lilith and Beelzebub,

But heed this last warning. If not, seedless you go,

Lilith will eat them, e'en in pieces, this penalty she'll throw.

"It was because of the part about fear that I contacted you John," Henry continued.

The poem had a soporific effect on me; I had closed my eyes and heard him only as if from afar. I tried to open my eyes but couldn't. I could feel the dead weight of Elizabeth on my legs, but other hands had peeled off layers of my clothes and were caressing my bare skin. Henry's voice continued:

"Your poem 'A Satyr against Reason and Mankind' shows your disdain for that fear of mankind, which stems from fear itself, one I myself suffer from, though I am not a normal man. I am quite sure you are the man for the job, if you satisfy the other criteria ... ."

I became vaguely aware that I had been asked a question. I struggled to open my mouth, but only with much effort, did I utter:

"I don't like the bit about 'penitent.' I feel no penitence about anything."

"And you have children. Did you heed the warning?"

"I fear nothing for my children from some ancient rhyme!" I felt my voice growing stronger and believed that I would soon have the strength to open my eyes.

"But you feel immensely weary now? Is it not so? The power of this poem has that effect on people at its first hearing. I curse my father for ever getting me into this dire situation. Forgive me, perhaps this adventure is not for you."

"No wait!" With my exclamation, my eyes suddenly opened, and I took in the scene. Henry's head rested in the palm of his hands. Zos and I were surrounded by naked female flesh, and both our members stood to attention. I saw that he was indeed a very lusty swinger. Henry lifted his eyes, which then questioned me. "How much of the poem is accurate?"

"Ah! There are parts which are not well-understood. Yes, it is a big risk. My father always said of this venture; to fornicate, but resist lust, is the beast weapon. I often corrected his enunciation of the penultimate word, but he never corrected himself. I don't think he ever heard me; he seemed obsessed with the piece. I wish he had cared so much about me! But anyway, you fit his image. That is another reason why I think you are the right man."

I was fully awake now, but I could see that Zos struggled to open his eyes.

"The nightjar," I said, "is a symbol for Lilith, is it not?"

"Yes, and that verse took longest to decipher. At last my father realised that the 'end' in that verse refers to the Full Moon. The task is to be carried out on the Full Moon. Tonight is the Full Moon."

"And it will be my time to die! I can see this is a task for somebody who does not fear death! I do not. I only fear a slow death, one without life. I will take up this challenge!" I slapped Zosimyache's stomach. "With my friend, if he wakes up!"

Zosimyache's eyes sprung open, and he peered at us, before smiling wearily.

"It all sounds very interesting," he ventured.

"The bit about Samael," I said, proposing it as a subject of conversation. Neither my companion nor Henry responded, so I continued, "I guess this means that I have to take on some sort of disguise?"

"It would seem so," Henry replied. "But I cannot help you there. I don't know what Samael would look like."

"And all this is in the basement of the Range?"

"Yes. I want you here until our guests have left. There may be some noise. Now, I will leave you to reach intoxication. It will be a few hours until the Full Moon so I will leave you to contemplate the words of the poem. I will come for you at the appointed time, and if you are still willing, we will begin."

***

The alcohol flowed freely, and its effect merged with the dancing shadows on the ceiling from the raging log fire in that delightful plateau of consciousness that signals intoxication.

It never ceases to surprise me how different every woman's hips feel when she sits astride one. I had noticed my breeches around my knees and wondered when one of the nymphs would take advantage of my erect happiness. A breast that had played across my face, its nipple looking for a suck, had suddenly withdrew, and a buxom lass of Swedish looks lowered herself onto my willing, aching hardness. I took hold of her hips to help her rise and fall. The touch of her soft, downy skin was like the first touch I had ever had of a woman.

She moaned with feigned pleasure, skilful as she was, and draped the curtain of her long hair across my vision to tease me.

But I would not be content to have her practice a craft upon me. I wanted, not even art, but true ecstasy, and I would have it, if only for the delight of seeing the wonder in her eyes. Tis true I have a touch of cruelty in my soul. I like to arouse women to heights they had only dreamed of, only to leave them wanting more, like the true actor that I am. While I worked on her, I turned to my friend:

"Zos, how are you faring with this dire distraction?"

"We both have experienced many women John. But I am still confused by the poem and this need for intoxication. Do you understand the need?"

"Of course. We need to be sated of this world before we can leave it! Everyone knows that Lilith is the greatest succubus; she has a mighty appetite for lust and will drain any man of his life. Resisting her will be the greatest challenge, so we must be sated first!"

"Ha! You put things so well. But do you not care for the risk to your children?"

Zosimyache lay under the ministries of two slender brunettes and his mouth and ears were, for a moment, otherwise engaged, so I waited for him to emerge from their tresses, before continuing:

"I lied. Of _course_ , I fear for my children, but that is why I am the right man for this job. My greatest fear is that my children will be without an inheritance; a debaucher like myself is always short of money. I don't fear for my soul, because it has long ceased to be of any worth! For the very same reason, I do not fear death either."

"Ah. Well, at least you will have me to worry about, or else I fear you would throw your life away with such great ease!"

I did not tell my friend that I could not believe he would pass the very first test. While I had long ago lost the taste for true love, I could see it clearly in his eyes. I felt sure he would give into that particular intoxication and not retain control long enough to reach the labyrinth.

"We have both been drinkers for more than one thousand years!" he reminded me. "I won't give into intoxication!"

I smiled and cast a half-lidded eye around me.

Behind I saw Henry, still in the room, but now seated upon a red chair, which itself sat upon a sort of dais, made of thick rugs, by the door. He sat rod-straight, while seemingly enjoying the attentions of a stream of naked girls carrying fruit of various kinds. Every now and then, he would pinch one of their bottoms, but all the while his blonde girl sat at his feet, her face pressed upon his knee.

"He really is a strange fellow, that Henry!" I announced. "I am not sure I trust him."

"Why?" Zosimyache replied.

"Well, for one thing, look at him! He cannot relax and enjoy women. But there is something else. When he had just finished the poem, and while you were asleep, I caught a look in his eye, as if he were hiding something."

"Probably. He is a shy vampire."

"Hm. I must be careful though."

"You mean _we_ must be careful!"

"Of course."

***

The plateau I had found myself upon stretched deliciously out before me, and I more than once found myself spurting that jet of life into the loins of a willing female accomplice. The Swede had been very pleasant, but I required the services of a serving boy to complete her education.

"Quick!" I told him. "Do you have some of that laudanum? My mistress is waking!"

Elizabeth had twice opened her eyes and asked what I thought I was doing. The poem had evidently sent her off to Hypnos, she having a sensitive sort of mind, but now her jealousy wrought its wrath. She had seen me with women before and never been jealous, either of them or my wife, but the sight of so many beauties clearly undermined her confidence.

One draft of the laudanum was enough to save me. She sighed deeply and nestled into the pit of my arm once more. The paintings of kings on the pillar panels around the room flickered in the red firelight, the faces seeming to stare disdainfully at me.

Now, there were two more curious points to note, as anybody who has attended such an orgy will have observed. The constant writhing of slippery bodies brings a comfort greater than any bed. Provided there is warmth and some amount of soft material besides, one remains focused completely on the erotic rather than the physical. Secondly, the ejaculations of so many privy members tend to make one keen to provide more of the precious fluid for the enjoyment of all. One feels the muscles of your loins straining to give rather than to take, and this has to be the greatest treasure of sensual pleasure.

"I think it's time you supped on Elizabeth's charms," I whispered to Zosimyache after he had climaxed for the first time inside a charming Baroness from the south.

I myself had already reached that innocent pass and passed straight through twice already. I had taken two bottles of fresh blood before we left London, two days before, but I felt the need for such sustenance keenly.

"Elizabeth, my love; wake up!" I whispered to the sleeping beauty on my lap. I tossed her dark tresses between my fingers, and raised her, so that her carmine lips pressed against mine own. She opened her bleary eyes and returned the kiss lustily.

"What is it my love?" she asked.

"I hunger for a little blood. So does my friend. Would you mind if we took just a little drop from you?"

"What, your friend too? But this is not something you told me I should do!"

"Our tryst is not a contract darling. I did not foresee all futures and write them down. If you love me, then we approach each new experience as if it were a field for the horses of our spirits to conquer!"

"Hm. And where pray will you take it from?"

"Zosimyache, could you do with a little blood?"

"Aye, assuredly."

"Then come and help me!"

While my friend busied himself with the tight laces at the back of Elizabeth's bodice, I made sure to release it and the chemise gently so that her full and heavy breasts fell free without discomfort to her. When both were free and she felt comfortable, I began to lick her right breast, to erect the nipple so that it would draw as much blood into the female organ as possible. Zosimyache busied himself with the left, and together we reached a moment when the blue veins in each breast were clearly pumping their fullest load.

I exposed my fangs and pierced her delicate, pale flesh, sinking their tips until I felt the warm spurt of blood.

"Ah!" I heard Zosimyache sigh softly. I knew that he too had reached a vein. Together we drained a little blood from her; perhaps a wine glass each. But in truth, there is no great artery in a woman's breast and not a feast of blood to be had.

"We need more!" I declared.

Elizabeth reclined in a state of ecstasy, that curiously brought on by a vampire's bite, and I cast my eye around the room for another fruit.

Caroline, Elizabeth's companion in the emerald green dress had arrived, wearing a powdered white wig, but she had discarded it since, and her mane of flaming red hair caught my eye. Her bodice carapace had been peeled back to reveal a pair of rosy breasts to rival Elizabeth's for beauty, and a young Lord who I knew well had set to bringing a blush of healthy arousal to the muscles of her belly. I took some more sherry while I waited for his ministrations to end, but before Caroline had been satisfied, he had become distracted by a Negress.

"Now is the time!" I told Zosimyache. "Follow me!"

But he seemed slow to respond. I glanced at him and saw that a sweet blonde, slender as a willow wand, had begun to ride him.

"You'll need blood, or you will never stave off the weight of love!" I warned him, but he ignored me. I thought his lack of will regrettable and shook my head as I made my way to the redhead.

"Let me introduce myself. We only had a formal introduction at Black Friars!" I told her.

"But I know who you are sir!"

"Yes but now you can call me John!"

"John, I seem to have been abandoned."

"Ney. I have found you!"

It is rude for a vampire to take blood immediately, so I set about satisfying the poor, young woman. Indeed, it wasn't hard. Her young body appeared supple, but firm, under my fingers, and her buttocks were the purest delight. I found my member ejaculating her praises in so short a time that I regretted not having roused Zosimyache to come and help me!

"No matter! Let my tongue be of service!" I whispered. "For it is said in Parliament that my tongue is of the greatest skill, if a little bawdy."

"Oh! Oh! Oh!" she replied.

Suddenly Zosimyache reached my side.

"You are a little late!" I admonished.

"Sorry."

"You to her lips and me to her lips!" I joked. We both set to work. I noticed that her skin blushed the deepest red at my touch; the sign of a healthy flow of blood. At last I relieved the poor woman of her Earthly burden.

To be honest, I had started to feel the emergence, in the flickering firelight and swirling intoxication, of that nether-light that all vampires inhabit, beneath our human lives. Everything took on the shadows of the spirit world, and I probably should have stopped drinking, but I took one more, large goblet of sherry. I offered another to my vampire friend, but he declined.

"I feel the need of blood!" I declared, upon draining the glass. "Would you mind dear?" I asked, turning to Caroline.

"Oh!" she replied. "Elizabeth told me this might happen. I know little of vampires! It scares me!"

"Well let me tell you that not all vampires are bad, and not all vampire bites kill. I would consider it very bad manners of any vampire to kill the friend of his lover."

"But are you men or monsters?"

"Neither and both. Let me explain. Long, long ago at the dawn of time, some leaders of men were successful enough to take a diet of pure blood. It is very nutritious, and somehow it brought changes in their bodies; better eyesight and hearing, extended dog-teeth, and, yes, the ability to extend their lives by taking those of others. They were a super-species or rather a type of creature superimposed on man. If man is the larval state, then vampires are the butterfly that man can metamorphose into, under the correct conditions."

"Oh. That sounds very beautiful. If it is just a little blood, you may take some."

"We will take just enough to satisfy ourselves but leave you short of death."

"We?"

"Zos and I," I replied, pointing to my friend.

"Oh. Will it hurt?"

"No. You will feel a pleasure beyond all others outside Heaven."

"Very well then," she replied, reclining and closing her eyes.

I took her jugular vein while my friend took her femoral artery. Personally, I don't think the choice of vein or artery does make a difference to the taste, but clearly Zosimyache had a different view.

We drained the young girl until the pressure became so low that she began to gasp, not with pleasure, but with her body's distress, so we stopped. I had Elizabeth and her companions obtain food for her and bade them look after her. I felt at the peak of intoxication and ready for my challenge. I saw a look from Henry, and he stood up.

I glanced behind me, but Zosimyache had returned to the willow-slender blonde. Hand in hand, they stood and left for a bed chamber.

"I fear your friend has failed the test already!" Henry declared. "Follow me!"

"I feel ready? Is it time?"

"Not quite, but we have preparations to make."

He led me out of the Keep, along the Wall and into the Terrace Range, where we descended the scullery stairs toward the basement.

***

Just above the scullery, Henry paused on a landing and pushed something in the corner of a panel on the wall. The panel opened like a door, and he led me by candlelight down a stone stairway.

The stairway turned left and ended in a small underground court. We were now under the south end of the Range, where I speculated there would be plenty of space for the Labyrinth.

At the end of a passage off the court, we came to an armoured door

"This is it; the Labyrinth," Henry announced. He rapped on the door, and his steward opened it from the other side.

Through a complex system of corridors, they both led me, until we reached a concealed door. Once through that, we emerged into a round, stone lined chamber. I had begun to shiver.

"This is the centre of the Labyrinth. From here, you will proceed," Henry announced.

"But why a Labyrinth. Do I need to find my way in something that your father built?"

"It is just to put off the curious," Henry explained. "You will notice twelve doors around the circumference of the room. Through each of these lays one of the twelve challenges in the enchantment. You can see that we have marked the door with the particular organ referred to, and which beast we think you will have to kill."

I turned round, taking in the doors marked with illustrations of a dragon, phoenix and chimera.

"It's quite a list! These three in particular are creatures of evil cunning and physical might! Are these all correct?"

"The poem is obscure; some are simply our best guesses."

A large, twelve-pointed star had been painted on both the stone floor and ceiling. I nodded my approval at it.

"Your weapons are all on the rack in the centre of the star," Henry continued. "Once you enter it, you must begin the challenge and we must leave. If you succeed, we will return for you. Time is meaningless during the challenge for you, so while it may seem like days or weeks have passed, even years, here it will be a matter of a few hours."

I glanced at the weapons. I recognised a sword, mace and many other weapons I had trained with as a youth. The halberd wasn't a weapon I had used.

"Is the halberd correct?" I asked Henry.

"Some of the best Hebrew scholars in the land have worked on this, but the terms 'Ax-kidon' and 'Pat-kidon' have resisted their attempts. These are our best guesses."

"Damn! So I may not even have the correct weapons for the job!"

"Who knows how old is the poem, and how great is the treasure?" Henry retorted. "Do you wish to take the challenge?"

I took a deep breath and turned my gaze to the armour that had been selected:

"Only a chainmail shirt, greaves, gloves and an open helm? The armour is light!"

"My steward is also a master armourer. He assures me this armour will give you the best chance against such a wide range of adversaries."

I glanced at the steward, and he smiled reassuringly at me.

"I accept!" I said, after another deep breath. I felt glad that I had become so intoxicated.

"Very well. It is almost time. We will withdraw. When you are ready, enter the circle, arm yourself and take the first door, the one marked with the nose. The enchantment is engraved in the rack pedestal for you. Read it once aloud before you approach the door. Do not stray from the correct order. Good luck John!"

With that, both men returned whence they came.

I must admit, my hands shook a little as I stepped into the circle. Removing my wig, I hefted the first weapon; the club. It felt well balanced. I placed it on the plinth and put on the armour. Taking up the weapon, I crouched to read the enchantment once more, and strode toward the door marked with a wolf.

***

# Chapter Two

On the other side of the door, I found myself on a dead flat landscape of crisp, white snow. It looked as if I stood on a frozen lake. The still air carried nothing but the perfume of pine needles.

This could be Scotland.

In the distance, surrounding me, stood a forest of fir trees. Nothing moved. I heard not a sound until the screech of a far-off eagle. Then I heard it; a howl. The howl drew closer so that I knew a wolf came for me.

I considered remaining on the lake, but if a pack came, I would be finished. The trees offered better cover, and climbing one represented a possible escape route. I broke into a run, dangerous in armour on a frozen lake or loch.

The howls continued to draw closer, but when I reached the first tree, they stopped.

Instead, my attention became distracted by a curl of black smoke among the firs.

Somebody to help me!

I cautiously moved through the trees, pushing aside branches, until I reached the source of the smoke; a log fire in the bottom of a dell. Rough steps cut into stone led down to a circle of stones around the fire.

I looked behind me but could see no sign of the wolves, so I leaped down the steps. Behind the fire, stood a cave, and a heavy brown animal skin had been draped across its entrance.

"Anyone here?" I yelled.

"No need to yell!" came a reply, and a small hand pushed aside the skin.

The most beautiful woman I had seen for a long time came out of the cave and planted her feet wide apart. She held an axe and had a fierce look about her. She wore what looked like a bearskin tunic, tied in at the waist with a leather thong, and her legs were concealed from her knees downwards, by high skin boots. I have heard of Amazonians but never seen a woman so dressed. I felt tempted to laugh, but when she sat upon a stone, with her legs splayed wide like a man, I felt aroused. This surprised me.

"Take a seat. We will eat soon."

"We?"

"You're hungry, are you not?"

Her accent sounded neither Scottish nor English. I could not place it. But then I reminded myself that she may well be Lilith and that I had probably already entered Hades.

I must be wary. Lilith will try to trick me.

"Did you hear the wolves?" I asked her.

"When do I not hear wolves? They live here, like me."

She placed her axe across her knees, and stirred a black pot, suspended over the flames. Putting the ladle to her lips, she blew it cool and tasted the brown broth.

"Not bad!" she declared. "I think it's ready. You had better stay here tonight."

"Are you here on your own?"

"Yes. No. I have you now."

"Ah. But I am just passing through. Do you have a man to look after you?"

"No. It will be _I_ who will look after _you_."

Her assertive attitude flustered me, so I tried another tack:

"Have you seen somebody called Lilith?"

She replied with a stare so defiantly forbidding that it made me look away.

"It is getting dark," she added.

I glanced up at the sky for the sun and noticed that the heavens were completely black.

How could I not have noticed that?

A shiver ran up my spine.

This is Hades!

I waited until she had swallowed a few mouthfuls before I tried the broth, but it tasted excellent. She gave me something like beer to drink, and when we had finished, she doused the fire and led me into the cave. I held the club ready to defend myself, but she only put down her axe and drew a pile of skins over her.

"Come. You must keep warm!" she told me.

"In _there_! You certainly are a lusty maid!"

"Shut up!"

At this, I wanted to protest, but I thought better of it, not wishing to anger Lilith, whose sexual appetite is legendary and power over life even more so. If I entered her, she would probably draw all life from me. Yet, this woman would be hard to refuse.

"You won't need your mail shirt. These furs will keep us warm," she added.

I hesitated before removing the shirt, boots, gloves and helm and laying myself beside her. She threw the skins over me, and commenced taking off the remainder of her clothes.

Even by the faint light creeping around the skin in the cave entrance, she looked exceptionally beautiful. Her body looked supple and toned, like a dancer's, and yet still voluptuous. Such a body I had not seen before.

This must surely be Lilith! I am doomed!

Once naked she began on my chemise and under breeches. I felt so surprized that I did not resist.

"You are very forthright Madame!"

She didn't reply, but once she had me naked, she commenced licking my own nipples. I noticed for the first time her body smell.

"Madame; your smell is the purest bliss! What perfume do you use?"

"None."

She had the smell of a freshly bathed woman mixed with fresh bread, beer and every sweet fruit ever discovered. Her perfume alone intoxicated me, and I felt powerless to resist her charms. Indeed, I felt eager to experience them!

"I have come here seeking battle with a wolf, and I have been seduced by a woman in bearskin!" I declared.

"You won't meet the wolf if I have my way!"

This last exclamation jarred in my mind with my idea of Lilith's trap. It wrenched me from my dream, and I wondered for the first time if this might not be Lilith, but merely a familiar or guardian spirit of hers.

"Then you are _not_ Lilith?" I ventured.

But my host had set to my member with her tongue and ignored my question.

The very veins of my loins stood to attention, but I had to live up to my declaration to Zosimyache and overcome this woman's appeal, exploit her own need if I could.

I set to pleasuring her, pulling her from my loins and taking her own velvet recess with my tongue. I pleasured her as I have never pleasured another.

"Oh yes!" she finally declared.

"The way to Lilith! Which way is it?" I asked. "Tell me, or I will stop!"

"I cannot!"

"If you tell me, I will come back for you and take you to Heaven!"

"Oh, a lie but a sweet one. I do believe I could love you. I have for so long been forsaken. But I am a mere spirit of the Underworld. Lilith will punish me!"

"When did you last dream of love?"

"Will you truly return for me?"

"Yes," I lied.

"Continue in the direction you were going. She is beyond the crest of the hill. But don't leave me yet! Lilith is old and ugly."

Now, you must remember that I had already been aroused to climax twice that evening, and a third time so soon would be beyond most men. For some time, I treated her body as the first instrument of love, and all the while her odour penetrated my nostrils, as if _she_ were the conqueror. At any time, I felt I could succumb to love, but I held on and coitus occurred. I withdrew as she climaxed and looked at my throbbing member.

"Not today" I told it.

I lay still until I heard my host breathing evenly and deeply. She was asleep.

Stealthily, I dressed and, using her own thong, bound her wrist to a heavy trunk in the cave.

Slipping out unnoticed, I climbed the steps and set off, up the hill. Leaving her smell almost broke my heart. Its magic had brought me closer to Heaven than ever.

I had barely stumbled to the crest in the dark when I heard a terrible wolf-howl behind me. I pressed on. Beyond the crest, the full moon's light gave me a better view of my surroundings, but dark shadows still surrounded me.

"Hello John. You have come for me!"

The voice sounded like enchantment itself, but when I sought the source, I saw only the biggest wolf I could ever imagine. I had thought it the shadow of another tree. It stood at least six feet to the top of its scull and bared its shining teeth in my face.

Immediately I brought my club to bear and aimed for its nose, as the enchantment had instructed. But the wolf moved quickly. While my club extended, its giant claw raked my waist, sending links of my mail flying. The wolf howled with either rage of pain and leaped upon me.

"No!" I cried in anguish, believing the moment to be my last.

With all my might, I beat the beast's nose with my elbow and forced myself aside. The wolf rolled off, but not before raking my right leg from knee to ankle with its claw. I felt no pain at first, and struggled to my knees. The beast leaped toward me again, and I had just time to launch a swing at its nose. The club, a light weapon, smashed into the soft organ, and the beast howled in pain. Blood poured from its wound, but still it came on. After pausing to wipe blood from its nose with its paw, it crouched for another leap.

This time I would not be denied. I hefted the club but waited until the last possible moment before moving. When the wolf leaped, I took advantage of that preternatural speed that comes in direst need and dropped to the ground. In the nick of time, I passed under the wolf's grasp, but not before it nicked a sliver of flesh from my forehead. I balanced myself and leaped backwards, at the same time spinning round. I came down upon the surprised beast, which had slithered to a halt against a tree in an ungainly pose; its mighty head tucked beneath its heavy body.

When it righted itself, I brought the club down squarely upon the beast's muzzle. I felt the bones crack and the skull crush to a pulp beneath my blow.

I had finished the game, but the wolf's form slowly changed into that of a woman, taller than myself, dressed all in shimmering white. Because of her size, she reminded me of my mother, though her hair shone radiantly in a golden halo around its own corn-yellow rim.

"Are you Lilith?" I tried, my lips barely conveying my words.

"Ha! Ha! You have caused me much trouble. What do you seek?"

"Your treasure."

"Which treasure. There are many treasures in the World but few in Hades, and none worth taking."

Indeed, darkness seemed to close around me as I thought this through, and shadows of lost souls seemed to wonder aimlessly past me. I began to doubt my purpose.

"Here!" Lilith said. Two demons with red tails dragged a large clay pot before me. "In that pot there is more gold than you could wish to acquire in ten of your years. Take it and go home!"

But I peered past her, to a door behind.

"What is in there, I asked?"

"More gold, but death for you."

"I'll take it!"

"Not yet. First you must make love to me!"

My weapon, armour and clothes dropped to the ground, and we were both naked. Lilith's body surrounded me, enveloped me like a vapour of purest love and desire. I felt myself dissolving, but words came into my head. I found myself reciting:

I will not be worth ought, if I beat not the beast,

That lies within me, and Prince of the Flies,

Let me cast away from Heaven, take Samael's guise.

If torture my spirit, you'll not feign to do,

I will make my way downwards to sleep forever with you,

For I am a slave to the fourth phase of cycles, the nightjar on high,

Sings of its end, my own time to die.

The enchantment seemed to work, for suddenly I saw Lilith as just another woman. I felt that she clung to me, as a wounded person might cling to life or a drowning one, a log. I tore her from me and turned about.

"I will be back!" I swore.

"I know, my love!"

***

I fell to a stone floor and found myself back in the round chamber, within the Castle Labyrinth. I still had my armour on, and in in my hand lay the club. Blood dripped from my wounded leg.

I tore off part of my discarded breeches, and bound the leg before picking up the next weapon; a silver-handled dagger.

Might as well continue while the going is good! But if this is the first step, what will the dragon and chimera be like!

A chimera, part lion, part goat and part serpent, would be the fiercest of opponents, and struck a little fear into even my hardened soul!

I turned and strode to the door marked with the serpent.

Once through, I found myself in what could have been the Garden of Eden. Once again, the black sky reminded me that I had entered Hades, but this time the shadows of lost souls seemed thicker around me.

I pushed my way through rows of lush vines and fruit trees, and could almost taste the sweet juice of fruit that depended from the branches.

"May I interest you in something tasty? Something to quench your thirst?" a sweet voice asked above me.

I looked up and saw the most gorgeous serpent, coiled around the trunk of a pomegranate tree. Its iridescent scales shimmered every colour through the spectrum, from the lushest crimson to the deepest violet. Black scales like eyes dotted its flanks, and I sought in vain for its real orbs. But then the voice came at me close to my ears and I turned. Large yellow eyes, with cat-slits for irises, hovered inches from me and then vanished, to be replaced by green-yellow eyes of a beautiful woman.

"Only a trick!" She laughed. "I thought you would like it! Welcome to my garden."

"Your garden? But I thought this might be Eden!"

"No. That is up there, somewhere." She pointed upward with her delicate fingers, which I already longed to taste. "Why are you here? Won't you put down your weapon?"

"I am here to find Lilith and I will hold onto my dagger, thanking you."

"Love, food, drink and merriment are all you will find here," she replied.

"Don't you mean lust?"

"If that is your desire!" She laughed at her own joke.

"Desire and lust are chalk and cheese!"

"How come you know so much about love? Will you teach me?"

I instantly regretted my vanity on the subject of love.

She danced around me and stopped with one hand on each of my shoulders. She reached behind me and clenched her hands, before planting a sweet kiss on my lips. I felt as if I had tasted Heaven itself; her lips seemed to ooze the juices of every fruit I had known and many I had not. I knew I had to have this woman. But I reminded myself of the woman in the cave and the anguished wolf-howl I had heard when I left her.

If this woman seduces me to sleep, she will poison me with her fangs, and I will never wake.

"Come! Which fruit do you like best?" she asked.

She led me to a glade, where, upon a soft blanket, lay a vast bowl containing hundreds of succulent fruits of all different types.

I sat down and took one.

"How do I know it is not poisoned?" I asked.

"Give me any!" she instructed.

I passed her a golden apple, and she bit into it lustily, letting its juices ran down her chin.

"Here!" she said, tossing the fruit to me. I bit into it and reclined in olfactory bliss.

"If only all Hell were as sweet as this, I might be tempted ne'er to do good again!" I declared.

"I know. It is tempting, isn't _it_?" She giggled.

I found her innocent glee disarming and lay down my dagger.

She stood up and began to dance to some music that only she could hear. As she moved, her shift swung away from her body, this time revealing a breast, that time a hip or her Venus mound. She seemed careless of the unveiling, and I felt like a child.

This spirit is more dangerous than the last!

We continued to feast on fruit and she to dance, until I became sleepy.

"It's quite alright to sleep here!" she declared, lying beside me. She arched her back, making a mound in the cloth of her shift with each perky young bud of a breast. After the advances of the cave-woman, I felt unsure what to do next, but my hand decided for me, reaching out and slipping beneath her shift to clench her muscled thigh. She turned to me, her eyes shining with a dark delight.

Soon we both lay naked and writhed like serpents in each other's arms. I became enraptured at her taste and licked every part of her soft body. My tongue seemed on fire with love, and even I forgot whether this could be love or lust. At the peak of my heart's desire, I found that my body could not supply the means. I fell away from her, disappointed.

"It doesn't matter. Your tongue is enough!" she whispered.

Working with my tongue, I entered a dream world, with no taste impossible to find in the crevices of her body.

***

I woke from the dream to abject horror; I could not move! Opening my eyes, I saw that my body had become entirely encircled by the coils of the iridescent serpent, almost to my shoulder.

"Do not fret!" a silky-smooth voice implored. "Sleep will be long and restful. You will live here forever!"

Damn my weakness! I slept! Where is my dagger?

I remembered putting the dagger aside, which seemed a blessing, because although I could still move my right hand, I could no longer reach my belt. My feet were still free, so, hoping to surprise the serpent, I used every means possible to lever the weight of my body to one side, toward the blanket where I hoped the dagger lay.

The ploy worked to a degree, for we rolled once before the serpent steadied herself with her tail. However, I had also used this moment to wriggle my right arm free and reach for the blanket.

"There! I can see it!" I told myself. "On the blanket lies my dagger. If I can only pull it toward me!"

The edge of the blanket lay inches beyond my reach.

Not having any shots left in my breech, I kissed the scaly flesh of the serpent.

"Darling! My love, don't you ache for love?" I entreated.

"True love is impossible here. I know you are here only to meet the Witch!"

"But I _have_ found love. Doesn't your heart tell that it is so? Why do you hurt me? I have been _more_ than happy with you! I have found my own Heaven!"

Of course, I lied, but she relaxed the tightness of her grip for just a moment, curious about my feelings and forgetting her jeopardy. Her release proved just enough for my fingers to lunge and grip the edge of the blanket. With a tug, I had the dagger in my palm and twisted, so that I held it at her throat!

"No!" she hissed.

As soon as her tongue flickered between her fangs, I took it off. Her coils left me, and I saw only the curled body of a wounded girl. Blood oozed from her mouth.

I had no time to stop. I ran from the glade, not knowing which way to go. Soon I reached the edge of the vast orchard and stood at the top of cliff, overlooking a rocky valley. I prepared to scramble down it, but a voice stopped me;

"You almost failed this time. You will already be tired. Why don't you let me ease your pain?"

I turned to face a Serpent, one of Biblical scale, towering ten or fifteen feet above me. I felt too weary to fight and almost surrendered myself.

The beast's head swooped down and swung about my neck.

I felt ill-equipped with just a dagger so stepped away from the coil. I stepped into the buttress of the beast's torso, knocking myself to the ground. The dagger almost slipped from my grasp. Blindly, I slashed behind me. I must have caught something for I felt flesh tear.

This enraged my attacker. It whipped a coil of its great body over my head for the first part of its constricting death.

But I had just the wit to leap over the coil, as it slashed beneath me, and land on the neck of the beast. I clung to its scales. I had to put the dagger between my teeth to hold on.

Inch by slow inch, I climbed the Serpent's back until my hands were around its head.

"You will not reach my tongue so easily!" the Serpent declared.

"By foul means of fair, I will do so!" I told myself.

Clinging tightly with one arm, I took hold of the dagger and sunk it into first one eye and then the other of my attacker. It hissed in agony.

"You fight like all men, without honour!" the beast hissed in my own language.

But now it could not see. Its tongue flicked out and for a moment, the Serpent forgot itself and flicked the appendage toward me. It took only one brave sweep with my dagger to sever the great tongue. It fell, writhing, to the rocky ground. Almost at once, the beast transformed into the white Queen of the Underworld; Lilith.

Again, Lilith grasped me to her vast bosom, and I wanted to cry, for I felt so weary.

"Don't worry darling!" she uttered. "You have me. I will hold you forever!"

However, this time I had been so angered and frightened by the mistake I had made with the first serpent that I did not fall for her lies. I closed my eyes and focused on an image of the circular chamber in my mind. This eased the force of her lust, but still my loins ached, as if my sap were being drawn out against my will. It became a pleasure and pain beyond all endurance. I had to begin reciting the incantation once again. Before I had finished, she let me go, and I found myself upon the desert floor at the bottom of a great cliff.

No doubt she had left me at the bottom of the cliff, upon which I had stood earlier, in her bitterness, for I knew I could not climb the great buttress. I looked around me and saw that the cliff stood at the fork of two long valleys. Choosing the right hand, I set off.

Days I wandered in the dry heat of that valley. The sun boiled my brains until I could no longer think, either of life or death, but only of walking. Placing one foot in front of the other became my only task. I expended every effort of will in doing so.

At last I came to a grassy knoll. Beyond it, I saw a fig tree. I ate all its fruit hungrily and later drank at a pool. Before long I had the strength to look around me and saw that the valley had climbed, so that now I stood but a short distance below the plateau, upon which I guessed the orchard lay. I made my way in that direction. Sure enough, upon the next noon, I found a door and thus the circular chamber once again.

***

Wearily, I lay against the plinth for what seemed hours, but I knew I should not wait too long. Outside, the Full Moon would be passing. Picking up the halberd, essentially a long-handled axe with an extended spike on the shaft and a hook at the rear of the blade, a weapon of which I had no experience, I made my way to the door marked with the stag.

I had already guessed, of course, that each door represented a sense or faculty of the body, and that I would have to deal with each in order of increasing difficulty. I did not relish dealing with the later beasts. I had also begun to notice that my own relevant sense had felt increased in each kingdom of the Underworld that I visited. If this one were no different, I would find that my hearing would be intensified.

After stepping through the door, I found myself in a forest of giant trees. I had heard tales of such trees in the New World, so perhaps this part of Hades represented that. I set off in search of a stag.

I had not gone far when I heard a distinctive bellow. It echoed among the trees in a slightly higher pitch than the English variety, but I knew it to be the call of a stag. I quickened my pace under another black sky, darker than the last.

I had to push through a thick stand of firs and scramble up an escarpment to reach a narrow grassy ridge. My quarry stepped out from behind a tree, so that we faced each other.

She looked like a woman but had the headdress of stag horns upon her head and pelt around her shoulders. She looked wild and quite intimidating.

Now, I am not an expert in the history of New World Tribes, but this woman, for woman she most certainly had to be from her shapely thighs and gait, looked more like a shaman than a native maiden. I approached her with caution.

Before I even saw it, I heard that she had contrived to get behind me somehow. I swung round, and saw her smiling at me from a distance of perhaps ten feet. Yet again, I blinked, and l heard her steps behind me. When I swung round, I saw her dart behind the tree again, perhaps seventy feet away.

How could I possibly hear such distant steps?

I recalled that each of my senses seemed heightened in my encounters and assessed that it must be so for my hearing. Nevertheless, my weapon seemed singularly useless against such a quick foe, its weight and length making it slow to turn. A sword or dagger would have been more useful!

"Can you fly? Are you a great magician?" I yelled in frustration.

"Ha! Ha! Your weapon is useless here. I don't know who made the selection for you, but they made a mistake. I feel I might not even waste time seducing you."

I blinked and opened my eyes on a sight which cast down my hopes. Before me stood a stag of enormous proportions. Perhaps ten feet high at the top of its flat head, its horns spread just as wide and as far forward. I would never reach any vital organ with the halberd. I wished that I had a spear, or even a sword or axe that I might throw. The halberd is wayward in flight!

Nevertheless, I wielded the weapon fiercely while the stag trotted toward me.

Before it reached me, it lowered its great head and tangled my blade in its prongs. Raising its head again, I felt myself lifted from the ground and had to let go the weapon. I dropped to the ground on my derriere and braced myself for death. I had just enough time to curse Henry for his folly before I felt myself tossed in the air by those great horns.

I came down with a sickening crunch but not on the ground. Somehow, links of my mail shirt had become caught upon an antler prong, and I landed squarely on its shoulder.

For a long time, the beast bucked and writhed, sometimes rolling over on stones in an effort to shake me off, but I held on with my arms around its neck for my very life.

"I will not let go until Hell freezes!" I told myself.

The stag threw me against trees several times, but each time either its own horns protected me, or else I managed to sustain the blow. Nevertheless, I wearied until I felt I would lose my grip.

"This can do neither of us any good!" I yelled over the commotion. "Why don't you let me see you as you are, and we can talk? You must be lonely!"

"No! I do not need your lies!"

This seemed new; a female demon who detected my subterfuge. I felt at a loss. In desperation, I kissed the rough fur of the beast's neck. I felt her shiver so I continued.

"No!" she bellowed. "You will not trick me! I have been longing for the Great Mistress's favour, and this will bring it. I will _have_ your death!"

But my kisses seemed to have a power beyond her expectation, for the bucking and prancing reduced in fervour until she stood still.

Slowly she returned to the shape of the bearskin woman again, and we collapsed together, both too exhausted to move. I fell into a deep sleep, and I am sure she did too. How long we lay like that I do not know.

My dreams were full of baying wolves, bellowing stags and a red moon that laughed at me. I cursed it many times, and my bad luck for my fortune. I swore that if I reached the round chamber again, I would give up the adventure.

So at last I became aware of a great struggle within myself, a struggle to awake. I felt that something terrible was happening to me and that I must awake.

With a tremendous effort, I forced my eyes open. The women lay asleep beside me still, but she had begun to stir.

I probably have a few seconds at most!

I scrambled to my feet and sought a weapon of any kind. Her headdress seemed best, but if I removed it, I knew I would wake her. I spied the remains of my weapon near a tree and grabbed it. The spike and blade remained but little else. Running back to the woman, I braced myself. I had never killed a woman before and never killed another person in cold blood. It took all my resolve to press the blade upon her throat until the blood spurted forth, and she gurgled her last.

I shall never forget the look in her eye; as one whose greatest love has betrayed her!

***

Against Lilith, I knew the broken weapon would not avail me. What could I do?

I thought for a while and knew that I had to make my own weapon; a spear. I had no cord and twine with which to bind my own blade to a shaft, so a simple spear seemed the only option. I sought a straight branch at least fifteen feet long, and after much time, I found one. I cut a sharp blade into its tip with my halberd.

Balancing the spear by whittling as I walked, I headed away from the tip of the ridge, reasoning that this way would lead to Lilith. When I had balanced my home-made weapon, I lodged the broken halberd in my belt, and probed through the thickening trees. I deem that Lilith felt impatient that night for she stepped into my path.

"So you survived, even with a useless weapon! I see you are resourceful!" she cooed, before transforming into a stag, which dwarfed my previous assailant. Her neck might still be within the reach of my blade however, so I felt not so hopeless. I saw too a pot of gold beside a tree.

I glanced at the pot and told her:

"I see that your cave must be near and that this time perhaps you fear my success!"

"Brave words!"

With that, she reared on her hind legs, as if to dare me to strike. I must admit, I felt too overwhelmed to move, but just stared at the fur of her underbelly. I felt too the allure of this demon of Hades; she could bewitch even me and force my will from me.

She lowered her head for a toss, but I anticipated her and leaped to the right. Frustrated, she swung to face me, and in that moment, I lunged for her heart with my spear. As the wooden tip penetrated her flesh, I felt something smash into my ear. The impact knocked me to the ground, and I felt the cold rush of blood from my ear. But when I felt for it, there seemed really very little left of the organ. Not only could I not hear anything from that side of my head, but from the other I heard only a loud ringing. I rolled over to look at the stag and saw the spear hanging from her breast. But clearly it had not reached her heart for she stood, legs apart, preparing for another charge.

The tail of the spear swung wildly as she approached, and I stared resolutely into her eyes, not wishing to give away my intentions.

Will the spear come within my grasp?

I feared the worst when the blade swung out of reach a moment before her foremost prong reached me. But with her stride, the weapon swung back toward my hand, and I gripped it. Driving it into the ground beside me, I let her force the blade through her own heart.

It had no effect other than to make her laugh!

Of course!

I had forgotten the purpose of my challenge; to remove her ears!

The blade had stopped her. However, she had come close enough that a second line of attack suggested itself. Before she could back off, I stepped deftly onto one of her antler prongs and using the rest like a ladder, mounted to her head.

She shook herself this way and that to remove me, but this time my resolve was total. While I clung on with my legs around her antler shaft, I released my halberd tip and removed one of her ears. Her bucking increased so I buried the blade in her neck and lashed myself to the antler with my belt.

Though she must have known it to be hopeless, she continued to leap and twist while I advanced the blade toward her furthest ear. In a moment of her exhaustion, I sliced off her appendage and fell to the ground.

Before me, once again, stood Lilith.

"It was closer this time!" she said. "Next time you might lose. Why don't you take the gold and go, for I weary of this game! Satan has other duties for me, and he is not to be thwarted!"

"No, I guess not. Why don't you let me pass?" I entreated.

"Not until you have defeated me twelve times and taken away all my powers. That is my right!"

"Who decrees it?"

"Satan!"

"Are you sure his Will is absolute?"

This seemed to anger her for she clutched me to her giant, feminine godhead, and I felt myself sinking into an endless abyss of desire. Never before had I felt such a loss of will. A desperation grew in me that almost froze my thoughts. But then, creeping in, came the memory of the warding incantation, so I repeated it. At first only in my mind, but as my resolve grew, out loud, I repeated it until Lilith let me go.

Now I stood alone again in the forest. My ear bled terribly, and I feared my leg wound from the Serpent had become infected. I knew I must cut out the infection.

Before I could change my mind, I took the halberd blade and sliced off flesh from my calf until the wound looked clean. I must have screamed terribly, for the forest became silent after. Panting and sweating in blinding pain, I staggered back to where I hoped the door would be. I found it and entered again the round chamber.

Upon the wall, I knew there to be four torches so I removed one. Wrapping the bloody rag of my breech around the halberd blade, I thrust it into the flame. Then I seared my wound until smoke rose from my flesh. I must have passed out, for I woke on the floor and had to repeat the procedure on my torn ear.

After some minutes to recover, and wearily, I took up the pitch-fork and headed for the correct door.

Thick tropical jungle met me on the other side. I feared the tiger more than any other beast on Earth, and so I did also in the Underworld. Tigers are the quickest, most powerful of adversaries and only to be faced with the musket. I had none however.

I thrust the fork before me, and stepped warily through the undergrowth. I saw every aspect of the jungle with preternatural clarity, and it did not surprise me when I discerned the movement of a familiar beast; a tiger.

"Ah, there you are!" I said jauntily. My voice probably didn't carry, but the tiger had seen me. It came toward me, and behind it stepped a dainty maiden.

I saw then that the tiger wore a collar and the maiden, only a loin-cloth. She had dark skin but not so dark as that of a Negress, and her hair shone like obsidian under a blue light. I ached for her already, but only when she released the tiger and, after a wary glance at me it loped off, did I relax and lower my weapon.

"So you are the tigress sent to seduce me this time?" I suggested.

"If it pleases you. I am sure Lilith would rather not waste her time!"

I appreciated her omission of the words 'with you' from the end of her declaration; it showed a degree of courtesy on her part.

"Thank you. We each have our purposes," I replied

"Yes, but won't you tarry awhile?"

She lowered herself to a grassy knoll, and bade me sit beside her. A clear pool, into which a rivulet trickled, lay beside her so she scooped a handful of water and held it below my lips. I drank the water and felt relieved of a great thirst. But then I glanced at a second scoop, and spied all kinds of creatures swimming within it.

"Excellent eyesight has its drawbacks!" I declared.

"Yes. A woman fears it in men."

"Why so?"

"No woman feels her beauty without defect. That is how I ended up here!"

"Please explain."

"I had a love so great that I feared every rival. They said I possessed the greatest beauty in all Genoa, but I feared my lover discerned my defect."

"Which was?"

"My legs are too short!"

"Stand up! Turn around!"

She complied.

"Your legs are not an inch too long or short," I told her "I would say their beauty equals that of all your other parts."

"Ah! Now, I _know_ you are right, but a young girl is prone to such fears. Then I believe it so. A woman moved into our neighbourhood with the longest, smoothest legs I had ever seen, and I saw my love speaking to her. I resolved to remove her by fair means or foul. Fair did not prove possible, so I persuaded somebody to put her in the ground. For that I have been damned here until Judgement Day."

For the first time in Hades, I felt sympathy for somebody. I reached out and put my arm around her sweet shoulders while she sobbed.

"There! There! One day, you may escape!" I told her.

"But until then I cannot experience love."

Her sweet form and direst need moved me, and I planted a fulsome kiss on her dark pink lips. The buds of her breasts rose in hope so I kissed them too. Before long, I had placed my weapon on the ground while we both grappled with the problem of penitence and absolution. It was not mine to bestow, but if I could, I would have forgiven her. Instead, I gave her the fruit of my loins and something like love.

"I know you do not love me," she whispered, "But you are kind."

"Tell me then the way to Lilith, so that I may leave you in peace. For I had to kill the last demon maiden."

"I know. She was my sister. She is here, because I persuaded her to kill my rival."

"Oh God, let it not be so!" I wailed. I felt guilty beyond measure. "I fear I deserve to serve in Hades more than you!"

"If you could only put in a good word for me in your prayers, I would refrain from eating your eyes," she whispered, so quietly that I doubted I had heard correctly.

We made love again, and while I lay thinking about her plight after, I fell asleep.

***

Sure enough when I woke, my eyes were still in their sockets. I heard the strangest breathing behind me, so I turned, only to see a large tigress, soundly asleep.

She could have easily killed me in my sleep!

I debated for some time what to do. If I didn't take out her eyes with my fork, she would follow me and be duty-bound to stop my progress. I would have to take her eyes out anyway, but it would amount to a battle. It would be easier for me if I did the foul deed now.

I resolved that if I did it, I would indeed repent of my sins after the challenge had been completed, and say a prayer for her every day of the rest of my life.

With tears in my eyes, I knelt beside her, lifted the fork and brought it down upon the tiger's eyes. At the last moment, it opened those fearful orbs, but they held no fear for me, only a willingness, and I am sure the tiger smiled.

I completed the crime, and left the scene sorrowfully. Not once had the tiger stirred beyond the smile.

I did not know which way to go, and tears blurred my sight, so that I stumbled for a long time from tree to tree. I fear I would never have found Lilith, if she hadn't found me.

"Take me for I am sad beyond measure!" I told the great tiger before me. It seemed only the size of the sleeping, eyeless one, and I felt at loss as to its lack of size.

"I only want your eyes so those I will take!" she declared.

This seems the one thing that could have stirred me to action, for I love the sight of women more than life itself. To be blind and living would send me to the very darkest dungeon of Hell, a place I had never conceived.

"No!" I implored wearily. "Kill me or fight!"

She leaped upon me and reached for my eyes with her dog-teeth. They were aptly set apart for the task, and now I understood her diminutive size.

She clenched her jaw, but I twisted my face so that her tooth penetrated my cheek to the bone. I screamed and wriggled from her clasp. Standing unsteadily, I thrust out my fork, making her back off.

"I tire of this!" she bellowed and rushed at me. I had no time to think. I backed away and tripped over some obstruction. Falling back, I could only hold up my fork in defence, and the leaping tiger impaled itself on its tongs.

I knew from experience that this would not kill the beast, so when it crashed into a tree on the fulcrum of the fork handle and fell to the ground in a heap, I heaved out the weapon from her breast and drove it with all my might into her eyes.

"You have luck on your side. Usually this is Beelzebub's weapon," Lilith told me, standing white and pale as a snowy mountain. "You confuse me John. Are you a servant of my Master too?"

"I hope not!"

"Take the pot of gold and go!"

She shook her head and turned away from me! Now I feared that she might not try and tempt me, so again I uttered the incantation. At the line; 'If torture my spirit, you'll not feign to do,' she stopped and turned. Clearly Satan was not ready for me yet!

"Very well," she murmured, "But remember this; your lust is my desire. You cannot win!"

She embraced me, and we rolled upon long grass in the jungle for days. I have never felt such happiness. I had no wish to leave and I knew I would not.

But slowly and surely, memories of my children entered my mind. At first, they seemed ghosts, but then I remembered both my wife, Elizabeth, and my lover of the same name. My desire for them seemed cleaner, and I felt it more clearly than my lust for Lilith. While my need of her never diminished, my desire for them seemed to grow until I resolved to leave her.

One day I stood in a stone temple on a hill and invoked the incantation. Lilith came to me and implored me to stay. She used all her womanly powers to persuade me. Oftentimes I felt the sap of my loins rising to the point beyond endurance, but I held on and found myself back in the round chamber.

***

# Chapter Three

Imagine my shock when I found myself beyond the door marked with a monkey and serving in a graveyard!

A foreman set me to work with the spade, digging two more graves, before I could break for luncheon.

This doesn't look like Hades!

Above, a blue sky arched, and I saw no sign of a monkey.

I continued to dig for a while but then shoved the spade into a pile of dirt.

"This is ridiculous!" I blurted. "I didn't come here for this!"

"What did you come here for then?" said a quiet voice behind me, sounding more than a bit Irish.

I turned and saw an old, bearded man on a stool with a hurdy-gurdy on his lap. Beside him sat a large monkey, which grinned at me like a lunatic before returning to its task of cracking nuts from their casing with its sharp teeth.

"That is a fine-looking beast you have!" I declared. "Is it female?"

"Might be. It comes from Deepest Africk!"

Without pause, he began to turn the wheel of the instrument and sing a lay. It was long, and I didn't catch all the words, but they most certainly told the tale of the beast beside him and how it had some magical abilities. It seemed that those who harmed it lost their souls in some way and forever. The exact means seemed to vary, but I got the general idea. The singer completed his tune and astonished me by asking;

"Would you look after her for me until dawn? I must go somewhere. Don't forget what the song foretold, if any harm should come to her!"

Since the graveyard seemed the least likely place to find an ape, and an ape I needed, I had to agree!

The foreman returned with a pie and jug of ale for me and remarked that the:

"Monkey will do you no good! Dig until you reach the coffin and remove it. Then you can finish for the night!"

Of course, I ate the food and drank the ale, but I had no intention of digging any more. I unleashed the monkey from a post and made for the gate, but as soon as the leash became free, the beast let out the most terrible wailing! Within moments the foreman returned with an axe and threatened to kill her, if he heard one more sound.

Damnation! It looks like I have to stay here with this beast until dawn!

"Furthermore!" the foreman added, "If that coffin isn't out before I leave, I will kill it anyway!"

I set to digging again with vigour and felt not the least surprise when my spade hit good oak. I began clearing soil around the coffin but felt astonished when the monkey leaped into the grave and started throwing out the soil for me. In no time at all, the ape's great arms had cleared the way, and together we lifted out the box.

The sun had already sunk below the tree-lined horizon and darkness settled over the yard. The foreman returned and muttered his satisfaction before leaving.

"You did well!" the monkey told me.

"So you _are_ a demon!" I replied.

"Perhaps, but have you read the inscription on the coffin?"

"I can't see it! Why?"

"Try to feel it! You will be able to read it that way!"

"Don't be ridiculous!" I protested.

I leaped into the pit and ran my fingers over the wooden lid of the box. To my amazement I not only felt letters but found that I could understand them! They read:

William Bonnay of Witney, Oxfordshire

I had no need to read the rest.

"One of my victims!" I explained in horror! "You just made me dig up one of my victims!"

"Not I!" exclaimed the beast, whereupon it turned into the most gorgeous red-headed maiden I ever saw. Her bodice heaved over a bosom only slightly less appetising than that of Lilith herself. Indeed, for a moment I wondered if this could _be_ her.

"We have all night to pass together!" she declared. "I have here a blanket. Why don't we nestle underneath it and keep away the bad spirits!"

"I like your strategy Madame, but I fear for my fingers!"

"Then keep on your gloves!"

But try as I might, I could not find any satisfactory way to enjoy her fleshy confection. Indeed, it took me more than an hour to remove her bodice with steel-clad fingers.

"Confound it! I will remove them, but you mustn't bite my fingers!"

"I wouldn't do that! Not until your victim climbs from his grave to take your soul!"

I didn't quite know what to say to this, but I had no need; kissing her flesh and arousing those mounds of love drove me nearly wild with lust. It is a certain truth that using one's lips alone on a woman can be satisfying. For some reason, which God must have ordained, one needs to feel her volume with your hands to fully enjoy her.

We were just entering coitus when she wriggled from underneath me.

"What are you doing?" I implored.

"Look! He's coming for you."

At that moment, I heard the most ungodly howl, so I ran to the edge of the grave. Peering over, I saw something no vampire should ever see; the gnarled and rotted green fingers of my victim of fifty years before had curled around the rim of the lid, and it began to rise.

"I am coming for you John!" the foul cadaver croaked.

"But I am not _ready_ for death!" I howled.

I had recalled an old legend; if a vampire ever meets his victims in the underworld, and they bite him, he would be dead forever. If he attempts to kill them, he will be dead forever and damned forever, even beyond Judgement Day. If anything could strike terror into a vampire, this situation could!

"You will come. You will come," the voice declared.

"No!" I yelled, and leaped upon the lid. The box slammed shut, removing two of the corpse's fingers. They writhed on the floor of the grave, but I tried to ignore them. I forced the lid down and held on. Overhead the moon cast shadows of tree branches across the coffin. They seemed to mock me, as they waved in the warm breeze.

"I have to hold on all night!" I yelled to the demon monkey.

Not only that, but I am free to bite your fingers now!

She leaped into the coffin and grabbed one of my hands. Changing back into an ape, she bit into my finger, grinding the bone with her teeth. I screamed in agony and tried to push her away.

"If you hurt me, you will forfeit your soul. Remember the song!" she chortled.

What am I to do! The night has not yet passed one hour! I will never make it to dawn!

I ran back to the blanket, picked up my steel gloves and ran back to the coffin just in time to stop William from escaping. The disappointment on his decaying face seemed nothing compared with my horror, when the demon bit into the still-exposed little finger of my left hand before I could put on my gloves. I heard a sickening crunch, and the finger came right off!

"Ha! I have the first victory!" she yelled.

She danced a jig of delight, and in my anguish, I considered lopping off her head with the spade, which lay by my feet. The song's curse prevented me.

It seems I will lose my soul tonight, one way or another!

My finger screamed at me with its pain. I had to do something.

Surmising that a corpse, even an undead one, could not kill a demon, I saw only one option.

When next she ran at me, I took up the spade and aimed an almighty swipe at the demon's head. I intended not to kill but to stun and the clanging blow sent her to the ground, senseless.

Without delay, I picked her up and waited for William to get the coffin lid completely open. He had begun to struggle out of his prison when I dropped a guest on top of him, the demon monkey. She crashed down on him, forcing him back into the coffin and pinning him down. I managed to get the lid down and heave the coffin onto its side against the grave wall.

Blood poured from my finger stump and hurt me terribly, but I had to finish the job. Hacking a hole into the base of the coffin with the spade edge, I began to shovel soil onto the box. I didn't stop until I had weighted it down sufficiently to trap its unhappy occupants.

The sound of the demon's wailing combined with the sickly moans of the ghoul were almost too much to bear. That night must have been the longest of my life.

I whispered a quick prayer of Thanksgiving when the sun's light finally filtered through a tree.

In the meantime, I had bound my finger as best I could, and now I commenced disinterring my victims.

William seemed to have fallen back into the sleep of death, so I left him to slumber, but the demon monkey seemed lively enough. It immediately snapped its jaws in the vicinity of my fingers, so I knocked it out once more.

I tied the beast to the post with the leash and waited. The hurdy-gurdy man hadn't come, and I could wait no longer. I had escaped the curse of the song, so I took up the spade and brought it down upon the beast's hands, taking all of its fingers off.

***

I left that scene as quickly as my feet would take me. Not knowing where else to go, I passed through the churchyard to the church itself. I felt in need of some spiritual cleansing.

For the first time since the glory of Byzantium, I stepped over the threshold and knelt at the altar.

"God, if you have any mercy in your heart for vampires, let me survive this ordeal, at least until I reach the circular chamber again. There, I will consider withdrawal from this folly."

It was not a prayer, but a short conversation, with no answer.

But then an answer did come.

A statue of Mary rose from its plinth and came down to me. Slowly, it transformed into Lilith herself.

"But how can you come here!" I raged. "This is the house of God you accursed Demon. Go back whence you came!"

"You are not a priest. You have not the power to sway even the meanest demon, let alone the great Lilith! Pray at a pew and I may let you go!"

Then I made one of those foolish mistakes that even the wisest men make in the hour of disturbed emotions. To kneel upon a cushion, I placed my hands on the bible rail. For a moment I dropped my eyes, but I heard the sound of something breaking and felt a rush of air. Only by the rudest form of luck, did I throw my hands over my face and thus remove my fingers from the path of a great sword, which Lilith had released from its fastenings on the wall. Its old blade bit deeply into the oak of the rail, and I stumbled to the floor.

"Once again, you have escaped death John Wilmot. But you will not escape me!" Lilith wailed.

She swooped down and settled upon the brow of my despair. She caressed my soul until I bled out my last desire.

"I see far into your soul and see what you want most!" she cackled. "Even if you can escape me now, I will have your soul for Beelzebub!"

"So you do not fully understand me yet?" I taunted. "But why do you need to understand me? Surely the reason is not just to serve your Master. You crave yet, do you not, some aftertaste, some faint echo of the World Above. You must remember when you were an innocent child, and the thought of life and love taunts you!"

In truth, my bitter fear of my nemesis in the shape of William Bonnay had finally flushed all feeling from my heart, though not desire, for that is not a property of the heart alone. I felt remote and had been able to observe her intentions for the first time. In fact, I felt that I could trick her. The thought gave me hope, and with one yell of defiance, I wrenched myself free and found myself back in the round chamber once more.

I sat down and put my weary head in my broken hands. I considered deeply the possibility of leaving the Labyrinth, and leaving all hope of the treasure behind. I had no appetite for the _any_ challenge, let alone the next; a dragon!

And on top of this fear I had laid the task of cauterising another painful wound. I didn't know how much more I could take.

But after a long while I remembered the point of my mission. I was dissolute, a wretch, whose only fame seemed to be a few bawdy poems, a trumped-up title and a reputation for drinking and whoring. I had nothing to leave my children of wisdom or love; only financial security. Surely that had to be the only thing that could make a man continue on this quest.

I burned the flesh of my finger stump, took up the heavy mace and stepped through the door marked with a dragon and a very large phallus.

'I wish Henry had left some water or wine for me!' I briefly thought, before finding myself in the echoing passage of a great castle.

My boots broadcast my steps to any that could hear, though I tried to tread quietly. I proceeded to check each room for a dragon or an adversary. All seemed unnaturally quiet.

I reached the end of a colonnade and stepped out onto a parapet. What met my eyes would have seemed like a dream, were it not for the black vault of sky above. Even below the castle hung white clouds; the building seemed to be floating in the sky. I ran along the wall of the castle and peered over, but no sign of any ground could I see. Far, far below, tilled fields patched a landscape that could have been inhabited by toy people, almost too small for the hand to hold!

I heard a loud roar and swung round. On the furthest tower pinnacle, I saw a huge dragon, whose scales shone in the false sunlight, rising over a hill. It roared again, and I saw that it had somewhat the body of a woman; huge breasts and wide hips. But when I blinked, it had gone.

"Are you not lonely?" a voiced cooed nearby.

I swung again and found myself facing a small dragon.

"Sometimes," I said. "You are a very modestly sized dragon!" I exclaimed, and immediately regretted my impertinence.

"Because you are a very modestly endowed beast!" she retorted, glancing at my groin, whose cloth under my shirt I must admit had suddenly become tumescent from the growth of my desire. Indeed, the beast had breasts and wide hips. Its face had the pleasing form of a beautiful woman's. I began to wonder what might be between its legs.

"Ah, a sheath to fit the sword!" I replied.

"Let's go inside and make ourselves comfortable."

She led me to a boudoir and bade me lie on some silk cushions strewn about. Their design was Eastern and unfamiliar to me

"Where am I? I mean; where is this in imitation of?" I asked.

"I was the mistress of a Knights Templar in the Holy Land when I fell into Hades," the voice replied. I saw that it now belonged to a sultry maiden with a veil to cover all her face, save almond shaped eyes of cinnamon colour. She wore loose silks that showed her slim but shapely form beautifully, as she set about serving me food and wine.

"I must admit, I am exceedingly hungry," I noted. "So this is a Knight's castle?"

"A ghostly representation of it, I suppose. His name was Sir Edmund Holsover. I loved him dearly. Would you like to hear of him?"

"If it pleases you. I always loved tales of the Holy Wars as a child."

"The year was 1136. Edmund's castle had been secure for some time and his own knights and retainer staff had begun to assimilate themselves into the local population. I was the daughter of a young merchant, who caught his eye.

"At first, I wasn't interested; my father had always told me if I ever so much as looked at a Christian soldier, he would cut out my eyes!

"But Edmund possessed wealth beyond even my father's dreams, and his influence in local business seemed great enough to turn my father's mind to thoughts of an alliance. He fostered Edmund's interest, even against my wishes. I loved another boy and felt that the English knights would be too old for me.

"Then Edmund took a wife, and I became jealous. Then I truly desired him and gradually became his lover. I only thought to supplant the English Lady, but Edmund preferred me for his bed only.

"Edmund's sign was the dragon; a tale existed in his family of a predecessor killing a dragon and becoming a Knight by this means. Edmund seemed obsessed with this idea and talked constantly of it. I found out a great secret about him; not only was he Knight Templar, but he belonged to a secret order called Ordo Lupus. What that means I am still not quite sure, but he would never come to my bed on the Full Moon, and I would hear the howl of wolf in the hills that night. Wolves never came to our town at any other time during my life. Later, I discovered that he had started the secret brotherhood with three of his friends.

"Some said he was a werewolf, seeking a Holy order to give his life purpose, or perhaps disguise it. But I only know that he took great interest in any mythical creatures of the Underworld and would set off on missions to destroy them. Some of his knights would also vanish on the Full Moon, and they also would go on these trips.

"He became so obsessed by the idea of killing a dragon that I took to dressing up as one to please his fantasy. In this way, I hoped to gain his favour.

"But one night, my plans went astray. There was another girl, Ailene, who loved him also but with an innocence that I had lost. I spied on him as usual and caught him invoking some oath of Ordo Lupus. I grew scared and retreated, but he heard me and sought me. I ran back to my apartment where Ailene slept. I convinced her that now would be a good time for her to go to our Master in the dragon costume, so she put it on. At that moment, Edmund broke into our apartment, drunk out of his mind and ran his sword right through Ailene, believing her to be me!

"That is why I have been damned to live as a dragon until Judgement Day."

"It is a sad tale. I know of Ordo Lupus. Most vampires resent being grouped with the Serpents and other demons that work for the Blood Moon Prophesy to come true; the end days, as described in the Bible in Acts 2:20 and Revelation 6:12, when Satan will rule Earth. But we are much closer to Ordo Lupus, the Brotherhood of Wolf Angels as we call them, in our philosophy. Your crime was misadventure and not murder. I do not see why you are so damned."

"Oh John, can you not help me? You certainly need me. She never comes down from the tower to the courtyard, but spends most of her time on a mountain top. You will never reach her unless I take you, and I will take you if you help me."

"What can I do?"

"You are a vampire. Your bite can bring eternal life of a sort. Perhaps your bite can restore life to me, and I can escape Hades!"

"Well first of all, I have no power here. My bite will do nothing except hurt a little."

As she talked, she began to unfasten her veil.

"But try! You must! It is an event so unusual that perhaps the Laws here will be overturned, or at least part slightly to let me through! Drain all life from me as you would another, but here it will be the life of the Undead. Perhaps it will restore true life to me!"

"But if I do that, how will I get to the mountain top?"

Now she unfastened her silk garment and unwound it so that in time, she revealed her breasts to me. They were full round, and her nipples were as dark as the cinnamon of her eyes.

"You must bite me as I fly with you on my back and drain the last vestige of life as we land. Can you do that?"

My loins began to strain as they had never strained before. I felt as if my member were twice as long as usual, and the blood began to drain from my brain. I felt dizzy in a way that excited me further. I wondered if I might pass out from mere desire. I quickly removed my gloves, mail shirt and boots and lay down. The apparition in front of me removed the last of her vestments and lay down naked beside me. She kissed my finger stub, and it seemed to heal. The pain went and the skin lost its lividity. She moved to my leg and healed the wounds there. Then she moved to the wound of desire that she had opened in my loins.

"Your sap needs somewhere to flow other than around your own body," she murmured. "Do not pay attention to the heightened desire you feel. This is only Lilith's trick. Simply relax and we will become true lovers."

"But won't she punish you for helping me?"

"Yes, but she can do no more than increase my suffering by a fraction. It will be worth that to hope for life again."

***

We lay together all night. I must admit that I have never found a woman so willing as she. Her every inch became my hunting ground, and I hunted out every desire I could have ever had, even in such a long life as mine.

When sun rose, I woke to find her sleeping in my arms. We truly seemed lovers and conspirators. I began to fear for her, for I knew her ploy would not work. But I had to remind myself that my only need was to find Lilith.

Nevertheless, when she bade me mount her winged back, I almost refused. The plea caught in my throat when I remembered that my adventures had some purpose, though I could not remember what.

"You must wound me, so that Lilith will suspect nothing!" My host cried. "Use your mace on my hips!"

I wished I were back in Bolsover Castle.

"May I not know your name so that I may remember you?"

"It is forbidden to give your real name in Hades."

"Please. It will cure me of my guilt."

"Aisha. We are almost there! Hit me and take the first bite!"

We approached the white tip of a mountain, so I smashed the mace into her hips will all my might. My finger and leg had both miraculously healed. Perhaps I should not use such a religious term, but it seemed a miracle to me. Wielding the weapon seemed easy so, I quickly moved to a vein of her shoulder. Not knowing the anatomy of a dragon, I had to remove several scales with a point of the mace to find a vein, before I could sink my teeth in her flesh.

"Ah!" she sighed, as her blood left her body. "I feel that it will work."

I shook my head silently but moved to the other shoulder and took more blood. By the time she landed, the poor Demon looked almost spent. With her last sigh, she said:

"I truly love you."

I almost wept.

"So once again you arrive for your lesson!" Lilith said.

I stood beside a very large, black dragon. She stood as tall as a small ship, and her eyes glowed with the coals of fires that would burn for eternity.

"Are you still angry with me darling?" I asked.

"That was eons ago here. I have forgotten. I suppose you forced her with another of your lies?"

"Something like that."

"You won't find this hulk so easy."

She leaped toward me, and one of great breasts came crashing down upon me. I lay pinned to the ground, with the mace beside me.

What hope have I against this great beast?

But then I remembered that I had not to kill the beast but only to destroy her sexual organ; not so easy with a female dragon!

I lay silent and eventually she had to lift her breast to see if I still lived. At once, I beat the breast with the mace, but this only stimulated her. At once I saw my advantage and cooed words of love while smashing her areole with my weapon. Her vast bud became erect, and she cooed back her satisfaction, lowering herself upon a sharp rock, to satisfy her infernal need

I saw then that she was in the grip of ecstasy and could no longer help herself. I ran to her rear and yelled:

"Let me help you!"

When next her rear came down, I let her orifice fall upon my mace, braced against a rock. The weapon went in, and I quickly found out how ideal had been its choice.

"Oh, that is lovely!" she simpered.

I let her enjoy herself for some time, watching, without a word, the blood from my mace spikes trickling out onto the stone.

Soon the blood became a flood, and I began to wrench the mace this way and that, to increase the flow.

With a terrible sound, Lilith screamed, "Tricked again!" and transformed into her usual voluptuous self.

She fell upon me with an ardour unforeseen. I felt powerless against her power to extract from me every juicy spoonful.

For weeks it seemed that I wasted away under her onslaught. My weapon rusted and I became desiccated, like an Egypt Mummy.

At the last, I felt my life slipping from me. I had no power to resist, and I almost became trapped within Hades.

With my last gasp, I called for help of some kind, and, as if in a dream, I saw a shape, as of a small dragon, just like Aisha, lift me up. It carried me back to the castle.

Lilith screamed her anguish, while a gentle voice said, "Remember me!" and something pushed me through a door.

I lay on the floor of the circular chamber for hours. Only the fact that the food and wine I had drunk had come from the hand of a lover, saved me from the desiccation of Lilith. Her inflicted wounds seemed to be healed by the former's sustenance. Slowly I recovered and gathered my wits.

Fearful that the Full Moon had almost passed, I took up the double-headed axe, and leaped through the door marked with a centaur.

The second of my mythical foes stood ready to meet me.

I breathed the name Aisha with every step I took and hardly seemed to notice when the beast spoke my name.

"I will race you!" the hoofed beast declared. "The loser will forfeit their legs!"

"That's not very fair. You move faster than I!"

"Very well. You choose the course."

I looked around me and deemed that I stood somewhere in ancient Greece. The sea sparkled under a glorious sun, though the sky above glowered a menacing black.

I spied a small island, perhaps a mile out to sea, not much more than a rock.

Being a good swimmer and not able to think of any other means of winning at such short notice, I pointed to the island.

"That will be our finishing point!" I declared.

Truly my groin ached with the exertions of the last few Hades days, and I feared I could not even run. In haste I added:

"But we must pass through the whole extent of the nearest village, visiting all the brothels before reaching it, and you must tell me where the village is!"

"Phew! That is a lot of conditions! Very well. The village is that way. You will reach a road. Turn left and you will find the village."

I noticed with satisfaction that the centaur was hung very nicely.

"Go!" the centaur added and sped off.

Though my legs seemed much stronger than usual, I could barely walk, because of the pain in my loins. I stumbled along under the midday heat. I reached the road but had to sit down before continuing. I began to wish that I had waited until sunset for the start of the race, but then I reminded myself that Greeks always take siestas.

My own appendage hung limp as a dead goose's neck and hurt terribly as I walked. I felt grateful that my adversary this time was a male, because I could not have performed for any woman.

When I reached the village, mid-afternoon had arrived and many stores were closed. Almost nobody walked the streets so I had difficulty finding directions to the nearest brothel.

"We only have three!" cackled the old hag.

I entered the premises and found that the centaur had already been and gone. Some of the harlots were receiving medication for their wounds, suffered during fornication with the beast. Others were merely receiving smelling salts. They all looked delirious. When they asked to see my manhood, I lifted my mail shirt, and they laughed until they almost cried, before falling into their own delirium once more.

I moved to the second brothel, where the story seemed the same; the beast had been and recently gone, and left many lusty maids in a state of delirium. I began to fear that I would be too late.

I hurried on to the last brothel and found to my relief that the centaur still lay abed with four of the lusty maidens. He staggered out for some wine and laughed at me, before retiring.

"What have you got?" one of the hags enquired.

I showed her and endured a round of laughter from my audience.

"I must be going," I told them, "Have you heard? The Persians are coming. Every man over the age of sixteen and under forty will be called away. They say it will last for years. The army will come tonight!"

This sent all the maidens and old hags in a frenzy, and they made for the centaur's room.

I hobbled back to our starting point as fast as I could and made it to the beach in the lead.

I had removed my armour and taken to the water when I heard the thundering of hooves on the cliffs behind me. I did not look back as I swam heartily for the rock. In water, my disability affected my speed not at all.

"I curse you, you cheat!" the centaur bellowed behind me.

His legs pounded the water like a threshing mill, but I had almost reached the rock. I touched its green surface just before the hand of the beast.

"I won!" I yelled.

I climbed out, followed by my competitor, who sunk down on the rock, disconsolate.

"I have never lost before!" he cried. "I fear I must keep my honour and give you my legs."

"Yes!" I replied, satisfied.

"But let's not be hasty. I think we should fight for it!"

I began to reply, but a thundering voice from the heavens drowned me out:

"Fool of a nag!"

It sounded like Lilith, and moments later, a great wave came over the horizon and flushed us both from the rock. I struggled to stay afloat, and when the wave had crashed against the cliff, I made for the beach.

Alas, the beast did not do so well; I found his broken and twisted body on the sand; his limbs had all been snapped.

Lilith appeared to me, a centaur of unsurpassed size and glory. Its white coat shone like silk in the sun, and its mane shimmered like white grass in moonlight.

She stood before a cave, and the usual pot of gold lay before her. I struggled to my feet and opened the lid of the pot. Taking out one gold coin, I held it up to the light. I guessed there had to be at least 20,000 guineas in the pot, more than enough to keep me happy for the rest of my life, but not my children. I sighed.

"You cannot leave here until you have resisted me!" Lilith trumpeted.

"But I can't. I have no desire. I showed her my limp privy member."

"I tell you what. You can have this one for free, if you can reach it with your member!"

She took the gold coin and inserted it into her Venusian passage. Then she knelt down and proffered her ripe buttocks to me. They were too much of a temptation.

I felt my hardness growing and even the need to insert myself into an adventure for the gold. I placed my feet firmly apart and entered the cavern of delight. For some time, I tried to locate the gold. Dampness, of course, doesn't help one's purchase when you are exploring a merchant's cave. I fished and fished, and eventually had to admit defeat.

I had just started to withdraw my probe when I lost my balance and trod on something sharp. My stomach muscles convulsed, and my bladder jolted, telling me that it had become too full to delay its relief much longer. Thus pressured, my member extended another inch and touched something cold.

"Found it!" I hollered before having to withdraw my member, and relieve myself behind some rocks.

"I think we will call that one a draw!" Lilith exclaimed.

***

For once, I had time to catch my breath in the circular chamber. I read again the enchantment and noted again the line about weaving magic between Lilith and Beelzebub. I also noted the next beast I would face; a bear.

A bear is at least a creature of this world, though its power is undoubted.

I did not feel the same degree of fear therefore when I stood in a grassy glade with a sword and heard the roar of such a beast.

But confidence turned to confusion when I saw Julia. I had loved Julia when I first took John Wilmot's character. He had been aged twelve, and what man wouldn't find love easy in the body of a boy? The more I tried to seduce Julia, the deeper I fell into love with her. Indeed, I have never loved so completely before or since. She died from the dreaded bubonic plague before we could consummate our love, so it had remained in me, perfect, like a flower in aspic.

Suddenly she stepped out of aspic and into the glade.

"Julia!" I mouthed.

"Hello John."

I stepped toward her but tripped over the mail shirt, which hung to my feet. I stood no taller than a boy again. The gloves fell from my hands, and I removed the rest, until I stood in only my under breeches.

Julia took my hand and we walked beneath the trees. It must have been May, for bluebells were out in their myriad purple motes, making a soft carpet for our feet. Green fern fingers reached for our legs as we walked through a runnel.

"I missed you so much. Is this a dream?"

"I don't know John. I missed you too. Where have you been? You said to meet you here, and I have come here every day since. That must have been months ago. I have been so worried about you!"

"I ... I am not sure where I have been." I thought I remembered getting married and many women, but they could have been fantasies. I didn't care. I only wanted to kiss you again. "Let's sit down."

I took her downy arm in my hand and lowered her to a tussock. She splayed her dress hem out and crossed her white legs. I felt a natural reaction in my member for the first time since meeting Aisha. But was that just a nightmare? I pushed the pictures from my mind.

"I love you so much Julia," I whispered.

I lay beside her and half over her, taking her warm lips in my own.

Perhaps I have no need of arms after all!

Her tiny bodice was laced down the front, forbidden for an adult woman but not uncommon in one so young. I found my fingers playing with the knot, but Julia's delicate fingers settled upon my own.

"Tell me about vampires John."

"What? Why?"

Her question had shocked me. I never thought she could have guessed what I really was.

"I don't know much!" I added.

"Then tell me what you know," she breathed, leading my fingers to the knot of her lacing. With my heart racing, I began to untie it. The sun beat down upon me like the nosy eye of a parent.

"Well, I don't think all vampires are bad. Some say that they are humans, simply people who have learned to live on blood alone. It changes their physical nature ... I am not sure."

"So it wouldn't be bad if I loved one?"

She reclined so that she lay flat on her back and put her arms behind her. I had finished releasing her bonds and pulled aside her bodice. To my delight and astonishment, she wore no chemise underneath. I let my hand lie on her chest and tried to keep breathing.

"I don't think so. Oh Julia, you are so beautiful!"

"Then come to me John."

I rolled on top of her and removed my under breeches. My member throbbed as if it were a warning beacon, but I heeded it not. Julia embraced me, and I sought for her opening. But I found I could not breathe.

"Julia! You are hurting me!"

My eyes closed in agony, and when they opened, I saw the face of a bear. Its mighty arms crushed me against its chest, so that breathing became my only concern. I heard a loud crack and moments later another. The bear released me and laughed.

I rolled on the ground in despair.

Both my arms are broken!

"I have won this time!" came a voice from the trees. It was Lilith. I couldn't see her, but I imagined her naked form, laughing at me. Even in my pain, I desired her again. It is true that I have a cruel streak in me, and cruelty admires greater cruelty.

I have been a fool! I thought I had learned to trick Lilith, but while I have been learning, she has discerned all my secrets, and tricked me as easily as a magician would a child! Now I will have to give up!

It took me some effort to stand, and even greater will to find the door back to the chamber.

When I reached the plinth, I collapsed against it and passed out.

***

I woke in agony. My arms hung limp by my side. I yelled for help but none came. I managed to stand and walk to the secret door, but there seemed no way for me to open it.

Then I remembered Aisha and wondered if she could help. But hard as I pushed, I could not even make _that_ door open. It seemed as if I could pass through each door only once.

Aisha healed me so perhaps someone else will _this_ time.

I had only to push the door for it to open, but I needed the axe. Try as I might, I could not remove it from the rack; pain in my arms when I tried to move my fingers threatened to make me faint again. In desperation, I sat against the plinth, and used my legs to manoeuvre my right hand close to the break in the other arm. With my fingers I could feel the break, and knew it to be a fairly straight one. I had only to stretch the arm for the bone halves to snap back into place. Remember that I felt desperate. If I had not been, I could not have done what followed:

By trial and error, I managed to get one wrist wedged between the axe handle and the weapon rack. Bracing my legs against the base of the stone plinth, I began to pull. I stopped, because the pain felt too great to endure.

There is no alternative. I have to do this!

Bracing my legs again, I tried one strong, sustained pull and felt the bone fragments slide apart. The pain made my bite a great part of my lip away, and sweat poured down my face, but I kept pulling until I knew the two fragments were divided by a small gap. Then I slowly relaxed.

The pain when the fractured bone halves met felt indescribable. I did pass out, I am sure, for I woke on the floor again. But this time I could move my left arm a few inches without fainting. Repeating the manoeuvre, I felt for the fracture in the right forearm, just above the wrist. It seemed more complicated, and I did not feel I could get the bones back in place on my own. I just managed to bind the fracture of the left arm with some rag, using my teeth and my 'good' hand, before sitting down to rest again. Only then did I notice a fresh set of armour, lying on the plinth. I felt sure it hadn't been there before.

"Henry! Help! Henry!"

No answer came.

I staggered to the secret door and fumbled painfully with the handle. I quickly proved that it remained locked.

"Henry!" I yelled one last time, in anguish!

I needed help, and where else to find it but in Hades?

"Of course!" I laughed, almost hysterically.

The situation seemed so ludicrous to me that I couldn't stop laughing, until my tears became those of sadness. Nobody had come to help me, only to replace the armour. Did Henry want me to die? Had he deliberately given me the wrong weapon for one door?

Casting my doubts from my mind, I managed to put on the new armour, pick the axe up from the rack and drop it to the floor. From there, I kicked it to the door and kicked the portal open.

With one last kick of the axe, I was through.

I found myself on the side of a dune, in a desert of red sand.

Damn! This is not the best place to get help! What is more, I can't even move my axe!

I refused to give up, however, and lay down next to the axe. After a great deal of effort, I managed to fumble it securely into my belt.

When I had regained my breath, I staggered to my feet and began to walk as straight as I could at ninety degrees of a circle to the sun. In this way I hoped to make the most of shade at the beginning and end of each day, for the dunes were tall.

On the second day, I could go no further. I found myself with my cheek on the hot sand and my lips invoking the incantation from the poem:

If torture my spirit, you'll not feign to do ... .

I knew I had become delirious at times, but I no longer cared. Without water, everything had become pain.

"Ah! I found you at last!"

Were those words in my head?

"I hardly expected to find an infidel in the desert and alone! Good thing for you that I speak French!"

Something seemed to be pushing me; trying to roll me over.

"Drink this!" the merry voice said.

Truth to tell, I would have drunk anything at that moment. I managed to part my thick lips, and a cool elixir dripped down my throat.

"Not too _much_ ," the voice said, "or you will be sick."

More water fell upon my eyes, whose lids had become fixed closed. Soon I managed to open them and look upon a brown-faced man with a red and white turban.

I tried to say, "Thank you," but no words could I speak yet.

After a while, he lifted me on to an already heavily laden ass, and I managed to hold myself upright.

"On we go then!" the man said, half singing to himself.

But then he truly did sing. I could not understand his song, but I knew what sort of man he was.

"You're a Saracen!" I finally managed to yell.

"Yes, and you are an infidel, but I won't hold that against you. What are you doing here? That is what I want to know."

I had to look at the black sky to assure myself that I travelled in Hades.

Is this spirit insane?

"My arms! My arms are broken!" I added. "Can you help me?"

"Yes! Yes! All in good time! I am looking for something."

While he cast his eyes frequently to the right, occasionally he would look high up into the sky, though I knew not what for!

Suddenly a black speck began to grow, and an eagle swooped in to land on the Saracen's arm. It carried something limp in its claws.

The Saracen said something in Arabic and then turned to the right. My ass followed the marks of the leader's horse without any instruction from me.

Just before sunset, I thought I spied some trees on the horizon, and about an hour later, we reached an oasis.

"Ah! Here at last. I knew it couldn't be far, once Ain returned with supper!"

"What is your name?" I asked.

"You can call me Muhammad," he replied, helping me down. The eagle screeched once and flew on to the trees. "She is afraid of you. Silly girl! Here, I will attempt to heal your arms. What is _your_ name?"

"John."

I breathed a huge sigh of relief now we had found an oasis, but even after Muhammad had helped me down and laid me by a fire, I feared that he could do little for my arms.

"First you must eat to gain strength," he told me. "I presume you can suffer yourself to eat rabbit?"

"Indeed! It will be fine."

After he we had supped, he boiled more water and placed linen in it. He came over to me and examined my arms.

"Who set the left one?" he asked.

"I had to do it. I couldn't bind it."

"Well, you were very lucky. You were _also_ brave; I have never heard of a man setting his own arm! Anyway, it is healing, miraculously. I will bind it, but the fracture is such that it has held together and started to mend. Have you used the arm since?"

"No. I have simply been walking."

"That has saved it. Now, for the other."

After pressing the swelling around my wrist for some time, frequently making me cry out in pain, he sat back and looked into my eyes, before saying:

"This is a complex break. I fear I will have to cut your wrist open to work out what to do. I simply cannot tell what to do through this swelling. Are you able to endure this? I can give you wine but little else to help."

"Do it now!"

"Very well."

I cannot recall all that happened in the next few hours. I writhed in agony but always tried to keep my wrist still. I proved a poor patient, and Muhammad had to bind my wrist to a log so that he could continue. I fainted many times, and, when I could see clearly, I would not like to tell you what I saw; the operation was gruesome. At last, Muhammad seemed satisfied and stitched together my wrist.

"Only time will tell if it will heal. It wasn't as bad as I expected!"

His words encouraged me, and I fell immediately into a deep sleep.

I half thought the eagle came to me and told me to, "Get well," while I slept.

***

"We need to stock up on food before we leave here!" Muhammad said in the morning. "Your thrashing about scared any animal worth eating away from the oasis. They will not be back until we leave, unless Ain and I can find them first. You rest here. We will be back before nightfall. Don't go anywhere!"

I laughed at his poor joke.

At about midday, I had just drunk from a leather flask of water, when I noticed a black dot, sweeping low across the sky. After circling twice, it descended in a long spiral and landed beside me.

"Feeling better?" it asked.

"Ain?"

"Yes. Who else. I get bored of hunting sometimes. I thought I would take a rest and talk to you. Muhammad won't notice. He is hardly aware that I am a demon. He was damned along with his wife, so he is almost happy in Hades!"

The eagle transformed into the shape of a veiled Saracen woman. She had almost the beauty of Aisha, but I could not say _quite_. She came over to me and drank from the flask.

"I am glad you are healed. I didn't want to seduce a wounded man. Rather, I didn't want to try, I know the limits of my beauty."

She removed the veil from her face and smiled at me. Her face looked astoundingly beautiful.

I felt my hardness waking up rather earlier than my intention with respect to desire. I also felt that I detected some kindness and curiosity in Ain.

"Why didn't you heal me? Couldn't you do it?" I asked.

"I could, but that would anger the Great Witch. I don't want that. I want an easy life. But I am curious about a man that can have both arms broken and come back to Hades. Is your true love here? We haven't had scandal like _that_ since Orpheus!"

"No, I came here, because I had nowhere else to go for help!" I laughed at the absurdity of my predicament, and Ain joined in. She moved closer and lowered her cloak from her cleavage.

I saw that Ain had high, pert breasts. Her waist looked so narrow that I think I could have encircled it with my hands. She leaned in, and I felt her breath on my face.

"I don't think I can hold you, but I want to," I moaned.

"I am as light as a feather. May I perch, sorry, sit on you?"

"Certainly. What if Muhammad sees you?"

"He will be angry perhaps that I neglected my duties. Would you be happier if I told you he would be jealous?"

"Actually, yes!"

"Ha! I see you are a rascal; isn't that the word?"

She had already straddled me and begun to slide my mail shirt up to my stomach. I didn't dare move my arms.

"How do I find Lilith in this God-forsaken ... . Sorry, I mean this desert?"

"First you have to keep your head, and I will try to take it! But not until we have had a little fun!"

She dragged down my under breeches and lifted her skirt before sitting squarely on the post. Not able to assist, I could only watch as she proved her riding skill equalled that of her hunting one. I felt my juices replenishing the thirst of her lips twice before she let me go.

"I will come and talk again in two days. You should have use of your limbs by then."

***

I didn't feel so confident about her prediction, but it proved correct. Within two days, I felt able to ride, so Muhammad led us away from the oasis.

"Where are we going?" I asked.

"Back to my home and my wife! Ha!"

"You are not a soldier then?"

"I was once, but I became a merchant. Now, if you must know. I enjoy wandering whenever the wife has her mother to stay!"

"She is damned as well? Your family is truly cursed!"

"Or foolish!"

Muhammad looked at me suspiciously for some days after this. On the twentieth day, it became obvious that our journey had almost come to an end. We had travelled from watering hole to watering hole, and now I could see a city's jagged outline on the horizon.

Ain came to me that night and told me that she would leave the next day.

"If you want to find the Great Witch, you must come with me."

Why is every deal in Hades a double-edged sword!

At noon, she left Muhammad's hand and flew back into the desert. He deemed it strange but kept on riding, whereas I, after some thought, told him I would wait a day or two before entering the city.

I dismounted and we said our farewells.

"I can never thank you enough!" I told him.

"If I didn't know you were a vampyr, I would ask you to put in a good word for me and my wife but not my mother-in-law! Ha!"

I followed Ain. I followed her right into a sandstorm!

"What a fool I am!" I told myself again as the sand piled over my head.

A day passed with the sand rising higher. I had to keep wriggling to stay afloat, and I kept my face under me to create a pocket of air. On the third day, I grew too exhausted to move.

But a growl drew me to life. I stood up only a moment before a panther leaped upon me and bore me to the ground. I drew my axe with my weak hand, my left, and hefted it toward the beast's neck. It came at me as if it were possessed, but after I suffered many bites and scratches, I took off its head.

"Right appendage, wrong body!" Ain mocked.

She flew away and circled high above, but I saw that she did not fly alone. A cloud of black shapes whirled around and gradually descended toward me.

"Oh no!" I yelled.

A whole gang of vultures landed on me and commenced hacking apart my body. They concentrated mostly on my neck, and I thought it unfair that Ain used another animal to do her work for her.

"This is breaking the rules of Hades!" I cried.

"Rules in Hades don't exist!"

Ain could not help but draw closer to watch my end. Through the blood in my eyes and the fluttering of a thousand frenzied wings, I saw that she perched on a rock, not ten feet from me. I waited until she reached a distance of only six feet, and then I dived.

With one desperate effort I launched the axe and saw it slice off her head.

Her body seemed stilled by surprise for a moment, before toppling over.

Enough of the vultures lay dead around me to convince them that a dead eagle would be less painful to eat. They left me and devoured Ain, who gradually changed into a woman in death.

I ran from the scene and waited for the scavengers to leave. Sated at last, they flew into the sunset, and I retrieved my axe, in the nick of time!

"How do you feel my darling?" I heard Lilith coo. I turned to face an eagle that could easily have picked up Muhammad's horse. "I have become fond of you," Lilith added.

I supposed she lied, but I could not be sure.

"One last fight?" I asked.

"Must we? I made something for you."

She pointed to a bundle on the sand with her beak, and I walked over to it. I unwrapped a huge axe of pure gold.

"If you take that back, wrapped in cloth, Henry will not know you have found some treasure. He will take nothing from you."

"What makes you so sure he would take it?"

"He has taken your mistress! Already, she is in his bed. He told her you had betrayed her."

"You're lying!"

"Can you be sure? If it were true, wouldn't it be in my interest to tell you?"

Lilith had finally planted the seed of greatest doubt in my mind. Like a nervous schoolboy, I hopped from foot to foot, not knowing what to do next. I made the stupid mistake of turning away from Lilith for a moment and she pounced.

She tore at my neck, and I had to pull apart each half of her beak to remove my head in one piece. In doing so, I had dropped my axe and had to dive for it.

Now, I am known as a fair swordsman, but few know that I had a friend when we were boys in ancient Persia, who so loved the axe that I became greatly experience with it. An axe is great for slicing but can also be used as a club and a throwing weapon. I knew that this eagle's neck would prove too thick to cut through with one slice, so throwing made no sense.

Instead, I picked up the weapon, spun round and brought the blade down on the beast's foot, taking off two of its talons. The eagle screamed in agony, and I smashed the flat of the blade into the other leg, toppling the beast.

Wasting no time, I leaped onto its back and began hewing its neck. I felt great distaste at the task, but after three or four strokes, the head came off, and Lilith once more stood before me.

"You seem more like an Angel each time darling!" I told her. Always she appeared at death.

"Let us join dear, for you did well today. I had no idea you were so skilled. I could even leave Beelzebub for you, if it were possible."

She looked coyly at me, and I discerned some truth in her words. But truth in the mouth of a Demon can be a lie as well. I would try a lie too, for it is said that a liar cannot detect a lie while they are themselves lying.

"I love you Lilith. It is true!"

And so I hoped to set the seed of doubt in her heart too. We joined, and copulation seemed greater than all other truths. I have loved a Demon, and I know God will not forget it!

"But now I must go and rescue my wife from Henry!" I declared.

"Oh, you lying fiend! You take what you want and go! All men are the same!"

With that, I set off into the desert. I had marked where the oases each lay and steered by the stars. Eventually I found my original tracks, and so came to the door and the round chamber.

I considered battering down the door and avenging myself upon Henry, but then I paused.

I only have three challenges to go! Perhaps I really can succeed!

Sitting down to rest for a while, I unintentionally began to fall asleep. Luckily, I jerked awake just as Hypnos took me. I flexed my healed arms and took up the great spear. Turning round, I headed for the door marked with the lion and heart.

"How appropriate!" I said to myself.

Stepping through the door, I found myself not in Africk but in a circus cage. Three lions circled me, looking for a weakness.

"I will be back in the morning my dears!" declared a male voice before the last torchlight winked out.

"Wait!" I shouted, but he didn't hear me.

I had been left alone with three lions for a night! I turned back to my foes, and you can imagine my horror when I saw that one of them had transformed into my wife, Elizabeth!

In affairs of the heart, the tiniest fear is magnified tenfold, and I remembered that Lilith said Henry had taken Elizabeth hostage.

Suppose she fought him and has been killed! Maybe I am too late, and this is she!

But I could not believe that her soul would have been so quickly placed into a role of seduction if that were the case. My senses returned to me, but now an idea occurred:

What if Henry has constructed the likeness of a circus beyond that door in order to have me kill Elizabeth without knowing it? He could then blame me for her murder and keep the treasure for himself. Yes, that might be it.

I could not see the sky, so could not verify whether this was Hades or Henry's basement. Doubt flooded my mind and my heart palpitated. Now my fear had been thrown back upon the one organ I could not control!

"Darling!" I whispered. "What are you doing here?"

"Henry tried to seduce me, and I resisted him! He told me you had begun a quest and had bedded many women in my absence! I didn't believe him! Tell me it is not true?"

"It is not true darling," I told her, with some assurance, because indeed I had not been in a bed yet in Hades.

"He told me you had a lover, that actress Elizabeth Barry. Your son said the same thing. Is _that_ true?"

Now I felt caught, but the situation demanded action so I said:

"Behind me Izzie. I can prove my innocence later. This spear will protect us; get behind me!"

"These lions will obey the will of him or her who speaks the truth. That is what Henry told me. They are under his enchantment! Tell me now if it is true or false!"

What fiendish trap is this! I know not where I am or how to combat this interrogation!

"It's false darling! I haven't bedded Miss Barry!"

Immediately, the two lions pounced toward me so I had to ward them off with the spear.

"Alright! Alright! It's true, I slept with her ... ."

The lions halted and licked their paws.

"When?" Elizabeth asked, suddenly tearful.

"I don't remember. Several ... ." The lions looked at me. "No, many times! Oh Lord!" The lions backed away.

"Oh John! How could you? I don't know what to say!"

In truth, neither did I. Though I have been unfaithful to my wife, I truly love her. My love for her is boundless and deep. After all, I spent so many years wooing her and suffered so much to attain the hand of one so far above my station. Furthermore, she too is a creative force, just like Elizabeth Barry. I have indeed been a lucky man! But now my fortune wheel had turned full circle. There seemed only one way out; to kill the lions before I did any more damage to my marriage.

"Leave them be!" Elizabeth commanded, when I lunged for the nearest, a lioness. "They threaten you not. Kill them, and you will take away the last shred of respect I have for you. Our marriage hangs in the balance. Don't risk the last bond!"

I couldn't argue with that so I let the spear point fall to the sawdust.

"What is your love for Miss Barry like?"

If you are man and have been asked this question, you will know that it is a trap without equal; flattering to deceive in such magnitude that any man who has ever escaped it without further suffering could only be a god. If you are a woman, you will know this too.

"I ... I am not sure it is love, but I have a purely intellectual bond with her!" I blurted.

"Intellectual? _Intellectual!_ So I am not _intellectual_?"

"Indeed, you are dear and many other things, whereas she has only the intellectual faculty to attract me. That is why my feelings are so much less for her than for _you_!"

"But I have seen her. She is comely. Does that not attract you?"

"No more ... . I mean; no!"

"You are a poor liar John. I know that you are weak for female flesh. That is why I took you. It is a simple weakness, and one that a woman can easily master, both in herself and her lover. A child is no more complex, and that is why I can forgive you!"

This last felt very hurtful, stinging, but I could only admire its justice. Truly Elizabeth showed me that I was at heart, just a fool. I loved her more for it.

"One last question, for now," she announced. "Are you a vampire?"

This, at least, I could answer easily:

"Yes dear. Do you forgive me?"

"We cannot command the way we are born so I can forgive you that too." She came toward me. "But know this; you will not lie abed with me for the same period you have been seeing Miss Barry. I have a spy that will deliver me the truth in this, so have no hope otherwise!"

I groaned. This would mean no copulation with my wife for years. I had only to hope she would want another child.

"Yes dear!"

She reached me and bade me lie down.

"Now hold me," she asked, "while the night passes."

"But the lions?"

"They will not attack unless you lie."

I wanted to say that was why I wouldn't lie down but thought better of the jest. I took her in my arms, and we fell asleep.

***

I dreamed of putting my head in a lion's mouth and attempting to tell the lion how beautiful were its rotting teeth. Each time I tried, the great mouth closed around my neck.

Suddenly I woke to the sound of roaring. I could not move. Then I felt something pierce my chest and I tried to pull away. Opening my eyes, I saw the smallest of the three lions with its jowls clamped around my heart.

"You were so easy to fool!" the lion told me, and I knew it wasn't Elizabeth at all but a Demon. I had been tricked again! "But I feel sorry for you; your love for your Elizabeth is true! I cannot do it!"

I lifted my spear, which I had had the wits to hold on to tightly in sleep and thrust it toward the beast's breast. But I too could not complete the deed. The beast transformed into the form of Elizabeth at the last moment, and I could not violate that angelic form.

"I would rather be a Christian in the circus, about to be eaten by lions, than to have to kill you!" I wailed, before closing my eyes and sinking my spear into her heart.

"You should be careful what you wish for!" growled a familiar voice.

I opened my eyes and saw that I had been fastened to a stake in the Roman Coliseum. I wore only rags, had no weapon, and Lilith, in the form of a huge male lion, circled me.

"You took away my weapon. That is not permitted!" I howled.

"I merely fulfilled your wish!" she retorted. "Moreover, I am unable to take the form of your loved ones as completely as you imagine, so I went with you into Elizabeth's dreams. She knows everything you told her. She will believe the encounter to have truly happened when she wakes!"

"No! No! No! You have destroyed my marriage!"

"There is always a price to be paid for love in Hades!"

"You have stripped away my dignity, my marriage, my health, my hope and my integrity, what little of it I had. What is there left?"

"These total the value you put on a pile of gold John. Consider it well. But you haven't totalled it all up yet. There is still the addition of your soul, your mind and your children."

"I give up! I cannot go on!"

"You can make _that_ decision later. Right now, you are mine for the taking!"

There seemed no way out of this predicament. I looked to the Christian to my right. An old man with a white beard, he saw my anguish and told me:

"Pray to God and he will save you!"

"But I have sinned so many times. I don't think I even believe in him. And I am a vampire. There is no point praying!"

"He may not save your body, but he can save your soul!"

I said a quick prayer, having little belief in its efficacy, but I did feel a little shape of hope form in my heart. I tried the incantation from the poem, and once again, the phrase; 'weave your magic between Lilith and Beelzebub,' stirred me. Perhaps this was a dream too? Perhaps I lay asleep on the floor of the round chamber still, and Lilith had engineered this dream, just like the last? The idea seemed plausible, since my wishes had never come to anything before in Hades. One of the other lions lunged for the old Christian, and within moments, the old man's body parts had become a bloody feast for the beast.

I soiled myself with fear but held my wits enough to try a ploy:

"Lilith, do you know why Beelzebub has sent me?"

"What? Sent you? You are being silly. Just rest your head on the post, relax, and I will make this as painless as possible. Your heart has nothing to fix on in your world anymore anyway. Elizabeth's remaining feelings for you are simple loyalty and convenience."

Ignoring her, I replied, "He is testing you. He fears you have been disloyal to him at least once and is preparing your successor."

Lilith became quiet. She paced up and down for some time before asking:

"What should I do then?"

"This is a dream. I know I am right. So kill me to prove your loyalty, but let me escape the dream. I pledge to tell every demon I meet on the rest of my quest that you are fearsome and loyal to the Prince of the Flies beyond all question. I will tell them how you punished Aisha for her treachery but then felt pity for her, because she had worked her magic so well on me. Beelzebub cannot have eyes everywhere can he? Surely only God has that power, and he may help you in this case."

"You really think so?"

"Yes. Maybe!"

"You are right that only He Above can see all. Even Beelzebub, my wayward lover, cannot see and tell all. Very well. I release you!"

Immediately I found myself stepping back through the door, but my sleeping form still lay on the floor, against the plinth. The room felt eerie. I felt like a ghost, as I took up the poleaxe, a weapon similar to the halberd, but with a blunt head like a hammer instead of a spike and headed for the penultimate door.

As an afterthought, I pressed the lion door, not sure whether I had already gone through it. But it would not open anyway.

I think I am going mad! At least I must have been correct about the dream!

With my mind on shaky ground, as it were, I stepped through the phoenix door.

I found myself in a small, stone chamber with a round opening on its far side. Ahead of me, on a stone pillar, a phoenix sat upon its nest. Through the opening, no larger than the phoenix but too small for me to pass through, I could see desert. But I could not espy the sky.

The phoenix itself stood about the size of a goose, and its feathers wore the myriad colours of a raging fire. Its red eyes pierced me as if I were not there.

"Good day!" I said, not knowing how else to begin a conversation with a phoenix.

"Not yet!" it replied.

"What do you mean?"

"I don't want to talk to you twice."

"Why would you do that?"

"Wait."

"A door opened behind me, and I turned to see myself entering the room with a poleaxe. My other 'self' walked up and merged with my own body. I felt a shiver but no more discomfort than that."

"Now you are both here, we can begin!" the phoenix said. "I have been waiting so long for somebody to talk to, I didn't want to risk saying something for a second time but less perfectly!"

"I quite understand," I replied, feeling a little unsure of my own sanity.

"What would you like to ask me?" said the bird.

"Well, I don't want to ask you anything. I just want your brain."

"Is that a dish in your country right now?"

I didn't know how to respond to this joke. The phoenix laughed and added:

"I jest. Seriously, we both know there will be a fight, but have you ever met a phoenix before? Wouldn't you like to know me better?"

"I suppose I have as much time as you want!"

"As much time as _you_ want!" it corrected, fluttering its wings as if I had unsettled it.

"Ask me the right question and you will get a treat!" it said.

"Alright. Where did phoenixes come from?"

"Ah! Good question. Not the one I wanted but perhaps better! I came from the dreams of the first men! Earth is as God dreamt it, many eons ago, but men shape the images in their minds, and God allowed the strongest dreams of men to take flight in the real world, for a while. But soon I will fade, as do all dreams of men. Only God's endures. I am the only phoenix! Actually, my name is a nonce word. The name appeared in a text, lost long ago. It represented the images in your dream that have no lasting form, only function, and are replaced with a new form continually as the dream flows. As an idea, I will exist forever!"

"I am confused. So you represent something that doesn't exist?"

"No. Only the name. I was originally called the Johinda or Johina bird. Men believed a bird existed that could survive a forest fire. In actual fact, the bird retreated to a burrow during fires. But that is of no consequence. Even men will fade from their own dreams one day!"

"Now you have really confused me! Is this place real or Hades?"

"To somebody that lives in Hades this is real, but I am _not_."

"Am I mad?"

"You can never know that. Isn't this fun. Excuse me, I have to just go and do something."

The bird left through the opening, and I pondered what it had said. I could understand little of it, and yet it seemed perfectly rational. Shaking my head, I peered over the edge of the nest of sticks, looking for an egg, but I could see none. Just as I stepped back, the bird returned. It did not settle on the nest but landed on the floor beside me, taking the shape of a beautiful red-haired maiden. She stood very tall and slender, and moved like a ballerina.

"Where did you go?"

"When you are the dream of many, you are kept very busy." The woman spun round, making her white shift lift in the draft of air created. "Which do you prefer, this or feathers," she asked, gesturing toward her body with her hand.

"This, I suppose, but it depends for what purpose!"

"You will be consumed by fire anyway, there is no escape from Lilith, so why not enjoy the conflagration?" she suggested, putting her white arms around my neck. "By the way, you have the wrong weapon. Your Hebraic translators are not very good!"

The mention of Lilith reminds me of something! Oh yes!

"Lilith has always been accursedly loyal to Beelzebub, and I have never managed to escape her yet!"

I dropped the weapon and cursed. Taking hold of her, I loosened her shift and let it fall to the ground. The fire of my loins consumed me as I entered her, and we rose to the heights of love's flame. Her red hair and her delicate freckles reminded me both of Julia and Elizabeth Barry, but her body existed nowhere in my memory or imagination. After I had burned for her three times, she changed back into the bird, left me and flew to the pillar.

"Now we shall burn together!" she exclaimed.

At once, the chamber filled with smoke and then fire. I choked and cursed my luck. I would never make it home to see my family.

What folly! To die with a dream, a non-existent thing!

As the flames began to consume my body, I began to wonder if the pain could be real. If the phoenix was a dream, then surely this fire must be also. Trying to shut out the agony, I pondered again what the bird had told me of dreams.

I thought of the nonce word and tried to imagine that I stood back in the round Castle chamber. This didn't work, so I began to recite the incantation and slowly, but surely, the pain left me. I continued to invoke the words, then to shout them, then to sing them, as if they were a psalm, until I found myself falling though dark space.

Around and around I spun, with Lilith beside me.

"You have grown John. You are almost worthy of my love now!"

We clasped each other and fell down, and down.

"Where are we falling to?" I screamed.

"To the very lowest dungeon of Hell. Beelzebub himself wants to see you!"

"I told the Demon what you wanted darling! Let me go!"

"Then give me your heart. Tell me you love me more than either Julia, your wife or darling mistress! Mean it, and I will let you go! But do not forget me. I will come to you in your dreams for the rest of your life!"

"I love you! I love you! I love you! Yes, I mean it!"

I truly meant it and knew that I had cursed myself forever. I had lost my heart more truly than if it had been cut out. Indeed, I wished now that it _had been_ cut out!

But I found myself, on hands and knees, kneeling on the cold flag stones of the round chamber.

***

# Chapter Four

I didn't move for long minutes. The pain left my body but not my heart. By the time I struggled to my feet, I no longer felt human.

"Now, most surely, I am a demon of Hades!"

I looked for the last weapon, a hammer, but it had gone!

"Henry! You bastard!" I hollered. "Now I know that you want me to fail. Having come this far, I have given you the knowledge you need. You will try for the treasure yourself, but you will fail!"

I had no intention of leaving him any gold. I had paid the price, and now I would take the treasure. If my wife was still alive, she would at least be rich for the rest of her days!

I pushed open the door marked with the chimera and found myself inside another stone chamber!

Damn! I can't see even the outside, let alone the sky!

I peered around me and saw that the walls were of solid granite blocks. Moreover, I recognised the chamber from engravings in books; the King's Chamber in the Great Pyramid of Cheops.

But how can I see. It must be pitch black in here!

Putting this down to the fact that the door had been marked with a ghost and that this would be the test of my soul, a faculty, if it existed, which might alleviate the need for any other senses, I began to explore.

The granite felt cool to the touch as I headed for the long sloping corridor that I knew should exist through the tiny portal at the floor of the chamber.

I found the corridor and noted that the huge granite plugging blocks had already descended into the slanting passage beyond.

If this is Hades, it does not represent a time before the pyramid was completed. There may be no way out!

The air smelled stuffy, supporting my theory. I stopped walking and heard the echoes of my own footsteps receding, but they were accompanied by other, lighter taps.

"Who goes there?" I called.

I struggled down the slanted chamber, called the Grand Gallery, until I reached its end and could step into the horizontal passageway that led to the Queen's chamber. I remembered there being a Lower Chamber, but there seemed to be no way to reach it.

My heart almost leaped out of my mouth when a young man accosted me:

"Have you seen Khufu? I was playing with him just now, and he has gone!"

"I don't know. Who are you?"

"Meritites! Who are you?"

"John Wilmot. I am lost! Where is this place?"

"I am not sure. I thought it was the riverbank, but then I found this old tomb. I have been running for nearly a wnwt!"

"Oh, I see!" Clearly, I would have linguistic problems here!

"Come on, let's find him!"

Meritites ran to the Queen's Chamber, so I followed.

When I reached the chamber, Meritites wasn't there. I looked around but could not find him.

"Meritites!" I called but got no reply.

Perhaps he is the chimera? I must be warier.

But there seemed something familiar about the boy's face. I couldn't quite place it and considered this while I walked back to the other end of the corridor. I have met many faces in my life, so it took a long time to search my memory for even a fraction of their number.

Then I saw it; a large clay pot. I knew what it contained, but even so, when I lifted the lid, I gasped at the gold coins, filling it to its brim.

"Lilith!" I yelled. "You want me to give up?"

She didn't reply.

***

"Do you have children?" a voice behind me said, more than an hour later, when I had finished exploring the pyramid's corridors and found _no_ way out. I turned round and saw Meritites again.

"Yes. Four. Why?"

"I thought so. You look like a man who has lost something most precious. I see a sadness in you."

"But I haven't lost my children!" I protested. Even though I felt sure of my facts, a fear colder and sharper than any I have ever known or imagined leaked into my soul.

"You will soon!" Meritites said, laughing and skipping off.

Once again, I followed, and again I lost him.

I returned to the King's Chamber and pondered the empty sarcophagus.

For centuries scholars have wondered whether Cheops was ever entombed here at all, for it is said that when Arabs finally entered the pyramid, the sarcophagus already lay empty.

Now I could see for myself that this was so.

Perhaps there is still a great treasure in here!

The thought galvanised me. I began searching the walls for a clue; a hieroglyph, anything.

I still searched when I noticed a pretty woman, to my side.

"I found him!" she said, when I faced her. I could see she wept.

"Who?"

"Khufu. He is dead!"

"Then you are Meritites? A woman?"

She nodded.

Her dark hair had been cut short before, or else tucked into her tunic. Now her lacquered tresses formed a thick mantle around her kohled and rouged face. Her eyes, of deepest green, were framed darkly but gave her a hypnotic beauty.

"How could I ever have thought you a boy?" I exclaimed loudly.

But then I looked more closely and recognised her green eyes. They were those of my mistress, Elizabeth, and the face, a younger version of her own. Another shiver ran through me.

"He built this!" she said, indicating the walls with a sweep of her sweet arms.

I quite lost my senses at this point. The thought of Elizabeth trapped in this Hell seemed too much to bear. I love my wife with a quietude that will last as long as my soul, but I love my mistress with a love that makes life bearable. My wife makes death as bearable as life, but no prize will you get from me for guessing which I crave the most.

"Did you hear me?" Meritites, or Elizabeth, asked.

"No, sorry!"

"I said Khufu built this tomb and I can't escape!"

"Oh, then Khufu is Cheops. Our historians are useless. But I cannot escape either. Let us try together!"

As we walked away from the chamber, stooping under the low lintel of its exit, I couldn't help reaching out and touching Elizabeth's legs.

"Oh!" she said softly. "I haven't had a man yet. It feels nice, but I can't!"

"I only wanted to touch you, for I feel I know you. I apologize."

She faced me squarely, and her eyes seemed to dance with joy.

"You may touch me but only in here. If my family find out, I will no longer be eligible to marry Pharaoh."

I couldn't help myself. I lifted her tunic hem and saw that she wore no underclothes. Her naked buttocks moved with a rhythm and sway that entranced me.

"Do you like what you see?" she asked.

"Yes," I breathed.

As she walked, I unfastened her belt and let it drop to the floor. When I lifted her hem higher, she raised her arms, and I pulled the tunic up to her neck. She turned slightly, and I saw that her breasts were ripe, though not yet as full as they would be when I met her in my own century. Her nipples looked ready to suckle. I pulled the tunic completely from her and cast it aside.

She walked naked before me, and I too began to remove my attire.

By the time we reached the flat passage to the Queen's Chamber again, we walked hand in hand, naked, but my privy member had never been less private and wanted to imitate the blocks in the chamber behind us.

"Do you see how those blocks above have slid down to block our exit?" I asked.

"Yes."

"May I show you what that event must have looked like?"

"Of course!"

When we had almost reached the Queen's Chamber, I dropped behind her, and she stopped. Parting her buttocks, I slid my member to block her exit completely and made sure that the fit was exact and complete.

A little blood coursed down her leg and she groaned as the block slid home.

"Oh!" she said. "I can see that I have much to learn about architecture. I wanted Khufu to teach me, but I see that it will be you!"

Suddenly she turned to face me, and I found myself in the clasp of the chimera! Its lion jowls parted in a hideous grin, exposing giant fangs, and its coiled goat-prongs pointed to my eyes. Below these features, the long serpent tail coiled to trap my legs.

I am caught! How could something so beautiful become so hideous!

"Your children or your life!" the beast growled. Behind the growl, I could hear the triumphant voice of Lilith and knew that she had won at last.

"Give me one last chance; an hour to think it over!" I whimpered.

The beast slowly released me and I backed away. There seemed no point thinking of the fighting anymore, even bare-fisted. I just wanted to escape. I no longer trusted myself or Lilith and felt quite prepared to die in Egypt, if only it saved my soul and my children. But in truth, I had lost my mind and wondered in a nightmare of half-forgotten thoughts and ideas. I had heard a rumour of a secret tunnel, and in my madness, I sought it.

Left alone, I walked back to the small open area where both corridors to royal chambers met and peered at a flag stone in the corner. It looked just like the rest.

Beautiful work!

I found a loose shard of granite and began to etch the edge of the flag stone, digging into what I could now see to be tightly packed dirt and not stone.

After half an hour of frenzied effort, I had the flag stone loose and lifted it away. Sure enough, below it, a vertical shaft fell away. I clambered into it, and inched my way down.

I guessed my hour had elapsed when I found myself in a grotto.

"Your time is up!" Lilith's voice bellowed. "I am coming for you!"

I found a small niche and sat down to await her. I really had reached the end of my endurance. I leaned back, dislodging a stone. Behind it, I saw a tiny niche, holding a statuette in red onyx and jade, no bigger than my hand.

I lifted it up and found it to actually be a lever. I pulled it, and stones moved in the wall behind me. With Lilith only moments away, I peered into a vast chamber and saw a sight that I doubt any other man has ever seen; piles of gold ornaments and coins, stacked as high as the ceiling and one hundred feet deep or more. I had found the treasure but too late!

"Ha! Ha!"

I laughed until Lilith found me and carried me back to the place where I had first arrived. She opened a secret door and pushed me through.

"I will miss you John!" she whispered. "Don't forget this!" She shoved a clay pot through the door and placed it beside me.

***

# Chapter Five

I sat beside the pot of gold for a few minutes to regain my composure, before beginning to smash through the door with the earlier discarded axe.

Henry must have heard me and thought his chances of survival were better if he made a pretence of helping me. He and his steward opened the door from the other side, and I glowered at him.

"You tricked me!" I declared. "Somebody removed the hammer; the final and most vital weapon!"

"It wasn't I!" Henry declared, casting a glance at his steward, whose agitation told me it couldn't have been him.

"I am leaving with my gold!" I said "Bring a barrow. Where is Zosimyache? Is he still here?"

"It is but half past the fourth hour!" Henry declared. "He is still abed, with a blonde wench."

"Raise him if you want to keep your head, and bring a closed carriage to the main steps. Tell Zosimyache to meet me there!"

"Get a wagon ... and a barrow!" Henry ordered his steward.

My gaze must have been so fierce that it struck fear for his very soul into Henry. He never attempted to thwart me. Only when we had loaded the wagon did he protest:

"Will you not write down what you saw before you leave? My father would have wanted it so!"

"Bugger your father!" I yelled as the carriage departed.

It had occurred to me that Henry's father had probably abandoned his quest for the very same reason as I; to save his children. I didn't mean what I said to Henry, but I no longer had any time for him.

Zosimyache and I had left the castle grounds before the sun rose and sped our way toward London. He drove. I had instructed my friend to leave the women behind. I did not want any witnesses to my dishevelled and distraught state.

"What in Hell happened to you?" my friend asked at a halt.

"I cannot tell you all that I saw, but I will record it as a memoir. Right now, I have to get back to Elizabeth and my family as soon as possible. This gold is all I won from the very hands of Beelzebub. Zosimyache, never let Henry tempt you into that challenge, not if you value your soul and that of your loved ones. I fear I may have forfeit mine, and narrowly avoided forfeiting those of my children and wife. At least I hope _that_ is so. I must find out if they are still live!"

My friend simply shook his head, so I asked another question:

"Is Elizabeth alright?"

"I saw her as I rose to come to you. She looked deeply concerned but had no sign of illness or injury about her."

"Good. That is good. I feared for her too. Let's continue the journey! Drive as if the hounds of Hell are behind us, as they probably are!"

"But what did you see?"

"It's not what I saw but what I felt; the cold hand of Hell creeping into my soul. I hope you never feel it!"

***

A week passed before I felt able to tell myself life could go on. I felt no different, apart from the cold memories that filled my hours when I tried to sleep. Elizabeth and the children were fine, and my wife seemed very glad of the sack of gold I handed over. I didn't give her more than one quarter of the pot's contents, for I felt that might be tempting her own fate.

However, I felt very restless and took to wandering in England's lush countryside. Even in winter, its colours took my mind from thoughts of Hell. Its blue sky comforted me especially.

I decided to bury the pot with its remaining gold. Where, I will not say, but since I cannot take it with me, and by the time you read this I will have escaped _this_ life, I have left clues for the resourceful to find, that they might make some good use of it. I would prefer it to be my friend Zosimyache, and yet I fear that giving it to him would endanger _his_ soul.

In 1680, I could no longer bear to live as John Wilmot. Since my misadventure, I never drank spirit or beer, never touched laudanum or snuff again and never wenched once. Nevertheless, I felt as if somebody were following me each hour of the day and watching me at night. I caught a journeyman carpenter unawares in Wiltshire and bled him dry before taking his name, Nathanial Cross. I lived in that form for until 1720, when I drained another body, that of Thomas.

Thomas will be my last victim. I have decided to depart life forever. In that way, I hope to have a slim chance of gaining Heaven on Judgement Day. Zosimyache is the only friend I have from my life as John Wilmot, and I leave him this memoir.

***

It is October. I find it harder each week to walk in this aged body and will attempt it no more. Today was a fine day so I walked nearly two miles before returning and setting down this poem. I know not what to call it, so I will name it The Poem. It will be the last clue as to the location of the buried gold.

The Poem

Another walk, angry walk,

\- made a mistake,

My mother's warnin'.

Smells of first autumn,

My nostrils intake.

Sweet honeysuckle wafts,

From Ivy flowers,

Fresh paint shimmers,

Under by a boatman's fingers,

Pickling fresh onions into jars,

Konics shuffle, shift away grass.

The distant regretful knell of two bells;-

"That, which a being was ... ,"

The yard lifts another hull aloft,

White smoke belches from megalithic Hell.

And so I leave.

Autumn's ground,

Like grinded coffee,

Breathes in pungent, soily,

Fulsome, round.

***

# Epilogue

John had seen something so terrifying that in 1680 he passed into the character of another and concealed his existence until his death in the 18th Century. During that time, he remained sober as a judge and never indulged in anything that could be called debauchery. What is more, he chose a final death rather than take another life, in the hope that his soul would attain Heaven.

I didn't stay long after John and I left Bolsover Castle. I had an appointment with a rather gorgeous blonde, called Silvia, at the Waterfall Café Motel, where I would be going under the guise of one Byron Monk. Unfortunately, things didn't go to plan, but at least I would meet my first werewolf in 1st Century Jerusalem. But you will learn more about him and my adventure, in the Ordo Lupus books.

The End

You should now have found the first name of John's last victim and the location of the graveyard from the poem. Once you know his last name as well, you will be able to tell me the location of the graveyard and the exact year and month of the death on the gravestone. The clue to his last name is in one of the first four Ordo Lupus books. You can get the first book, Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate free when you sign up for my free newsletter. Chapter One follows after the Epilogue.

Read more about Zosimyache in Vampire: Beneficence: (Short Stories Volume III) and the Ordo Lupus and the Blood Moon Prophecy series, starting with book 4, The Synchronicity Code and the mythology behind the Ordo Lupus and the Blood Moon Prophecy series in Rip: Grail of the Secret Sun.

# Glossary

Abed – in bed

Africk – Africa

Bade – told

Bedded – taken to bed/slept with/seduced

Beelzebub – A Hebrew name for Satan meaning "Lord/Prince of the Flies"

Borne – carried

Great Witch – Lilith

Great Mistress – Lilith

Harlot – Prostitute

Hades – The Greek Underworld or Hell

Hurdy-gurdy - violin-shaped instrument played by turning a wheel

Morpheus – Greek god of sleep

Ne'er – never

Privy member – penis

Supped – eaten supper

Tis – It is

***

Read Chapter one of Book1, Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate, next.

# Ordo Lupus and the Temple Gate

Lazlo Ferran

Third Edition

Copyright © 2010 by Lazlo Ferran

All Rights Reserved

### Chapter One

"I feel so alone. Even though there's a whole city's congregation in the Cathedral, 158 feet below me, none of them know I am here or of the battle is about to take place above them. I crouch down behind the sarcophagus, right next to the builder's hoist, my hand near the knot that ties the rope to the massive oak roof-brace. And I wait. I am recording all this on the mini cassette recorder I have brought with me.

How did I get here?

Obviously the little wolf-angel statues had led me to this place and time, and you could say that it started in childhood with the incident in Highgate Cemetery, but really, the hinge-point, or the point at which my life became unhinged, was the murder of my daughter, Annie."

I felt as if we were under water. The air around us rippled and shifted like the surface of a clear sea, seen from underneath. Suddenly a dark slit opened and something horrific came through it.

"Annie!" I screamed and threw her behind me, against the wall, crushing her there. A long, scaly arm whipped around me and took hold of her arm. It pulled her with a strength far greater than my own. In desperation I pulled against it but the arm and the hideous black body, topped with something like a giant snake's head that towered over me, pulled Annie into the slit.

With one last scream of, "Daddy!" she was gone and the slit closed up. I ran at it, clawing at the air, but there was nothing there.

"Please God, no!" I cried at the top of my lungs, the tears starting to fall. I did not understand what had just happened but the simple fact that Annie was gone was the only thing that mattered. I fell to my knees and wept for a few minutes before the will to search and do something gained strength inside me. I walked around sobbing, looking into every doorway, around every corner and eying every car suspiciously, before finally somebody saw the state I was in and spoke to me.

I couldn't speak for the sobbing and I started to hyperventilate. I was desperate for help but unable to get my emotions under control.

Hearing my confused mix of French and English, the middle-aged man spoke in English.

"Wait here Monsieur. I will get help! I will only be a minute." He ran to the end of the street and called out something in French. Several voices answered and he ran back. "Just a few minutes Monsieur."

The normally pretty, tree-lined, street of Nevers looked like a scene from Thérèse Raquin. Murder had taken place and all was black and rotten.

The Gendarmes arrived and one of them recognised me from the earlier accident when Annie had nearly been run down by a car. I explained as best I could what had happened, at first believing that truth was best, but when their faces looked back at me with indulgent sympathy I simply said that something or somebody had grabbed my daughter. A search was launched and before long I was in the police station with Rose, my wife of thirty-nine years, holding my hand. The whole of Nevers rang with the sound of sirens. Of course I was distraught, as was Rose, and at first she exerted enormous self-control to appear calm, but as each hour passed and nothing happened, she began to grow angry.

"You should have taken her on the main road. What were you thinking?"

Her angry words became a torrent and I felt an anger rising in me too. I had not told her what I had actually seen but finally I could take it no more. "It was a snake," I said quietly.

"What?"

I took a very deep breath before continuing. I felt a mad laugh forming in my mouth as I talked, as it dawned on me that my wife would not believe me.

"I don't know if the Gendarmes told you but Annie was almost hit by a car earlier. I pulled her out of the way just in time. It was that 'evil presence' again. That is why I took the side street. Then suddenly the air around us seemed to distort and there was a kind of slit in it. Out of this something came, maybe five metres tall, like a snake with, with wings. It had arms too and it reached for Annie and – and took her!" I burst into tears again as I finished.

To my surprise Rose put her arm around me. "Oh, Darling." She seemed to believe me and the relief was a release for me. I clutched at her and sobbed into her soft and sweet-smelling pink cardigan.

A uniformed Gendarme brought us each a cup of coffee and turned to leave us. We heard a chorus of loud voices starting up behind him and I stepped over to find out what was happening. The man who had given us the coffee stepped in front of me, blocking my path. "S'il vous plaît Monsieur. Asseyez-vous et attendez-nous."

"This is bad Rose. I know it!" I could see from the look of panic in her eyes that she agreed.

"Monsieur. It is very bad news. I am sorry." A well-dressed officer in plain clothes was addressing us but we hardly heard his voice. He said something to the effect that a girl had been found viciously killed and they believed it was our daughter. They would need us to identify the body as soon as we could.

We held hands as we looked at the little body. Even her face had been mutilated but we recognised our little girl. Rose couldn't look but I had the unbearable urge to lift the sheet and look at the body. The Coroner's assistant grabbed my hand to stop me but I gave him such a challenging look he pulled his hand away. The sight was enough not only to make me weep for Annie's soul but for my own, too.

***

The indescribable horror of it all left us feeling numb, and over the next few weeks which stretched like forlorn eternities, we simply sat around the house staring into space, going through the most basic routines to get through the day. We never looked at each other. Edward, my son and youngest child, had been sent to stay with my mother in London but even the burden of this guilt added to our sorrows. Mourning was so difficult because neither of us understood what had happened. However, it was only at the end of those two heart-broken weeks that I discovered exactly what it was that Rose didn't understand.

The Gendarmes' report, marked 20 August 1984 had made the case that Annie had been murdered by a perverted psychopath; although I had been helpful with my evidence, I'd had to avoid a description by saying I had not seen the killer's face in order that they conduct any enquiry at all. We had even made the national newspapers and we often read them, not so much out of a wish to find any new evidence but because it seemed to keep Annie alive in some way. We hated each other for doing it though, and when we spoke it was usually hateful or at best polite.

I was surprised then when Rose looked up from another article one evening and said, "You did the right thing."

"What?"

"Keeping quiet about that wretched snake thing."

"Oh. Well they wouldn't have believed me."

"No. But I need to know now, darling. I cannot wait any longer. What did happen?"

"What do you mean?"

"I have listened to your story for too long now. You are sick and we both know it. I have protected you but now I need to know. You have to give me that much. I will keep quiet. Trust me."

"No! I mean, no I am not sick. That is really what I saw. You know, about my special, talent! I have a special sense for evil and you have seen this happening."

"Oh you and your 'special sight'! Just stop it! I don't want to hear about it anymore. It's just luck or coincidence or whatever... It doesn't explain what happened to our little girl."

The way she spat the words 'special gift' sent my mind reeling. I had not kept what my grandfather had called my 'gift' from her and thought she understood. Now it seemed she had been patronising me all this time.

"You didn't see the body. You didn't see Annie. She looked like she had been squeezed by something!"

"It could have been anything. Who knows what a perverted psychopath might do to a body."

"You don't believe me?"

"Whatever it is, I need the truth." She screamed the word 'truth' with a vehemence I had never heard before in her, and with that she was weeping. I had nothing left I could add so I walked over to comfort her but she pushed me away.

***

We began to drift apart from this time on. Edward helped to bind us together but we were never close again. The last time we visited England together was to visit my parents and my grandfather's grave ten years earlier. We had missed the funeral because my parents hadn't told us. I assumed at the time it had to be because they thought we had too many other things on our minds. I had felt no urge since to visit his grave. Now I really wanted to see it.

There had been a bond between my grandfather and me. He understood certain things about me that no one else did. Once, on a visit to him when I was still a child, he gave me a rare and ancient book. 'A History of the Supernatural and Mythical Beasts and Customs of Central and Southern Europe' by Edgar de Boulon. I didn't understand why at the time and simply read the old book out of fascination with the subject.

Antonia, the younger of my two younger sisters at fifty-five, had brought along her new husband who was a curious late addition to the family for me. We had to spend some time getting to know him before finally visiting grandfather's grave.

My already fragile parents – now both in their eighties – looked nervously at each other when I asked where he was buried.

"Yes. We will take you there but you will be disappointed son." There was that ever-present frailty about my father as he spoke to me.

"Oh, why? Did you keep the money for yourself and give him a cardboard box?" I said laughing.

"No." My father smiled weakly. "But it will not be as you expect. It's a lovely spot though."

I felt a little angry now and confused. I had liked the old man a lot and knowing there was a rift between him and my father, I began to suspect the worst.

"It's not what you're probably thinking son. There was a supplementary part to the Will, something we couldn't show you. Your grandfather requested just an urn and stone tablet."

"You mean you burned him? But he always said he never wanted to be cremated."

"Yes. That's right."

"But I don't understand. What are you trying to tell me?" My father was sometimes infuriatingly incapable of giving a straight answer, especially when he was uncomfortable with something.

"Best we take you there," he said. My Mother nodded and smiled. I think she would have hugged me had Rose not been there.

The tablet was small, flat and of polished black granite, and lay under the shade of a hazelnut tree on the edge of the old graveyard. It had my grandfather's name and then said simply.

My spirit away to my family home,

My body too.

If you feel sad looking at me,

Then smile again for I look not at you.

My anger left me immediately. I understood somehow, that my grandfather was not here, and I also understood that there was a secret, which I would learn eventually.

***

To satisfy Rose I attended sessions with a therapist for six months with no progress. Either I was not insane or else he could not find what was wrong with me. I never told him that I was sure I wasn't mad or even damaged.

I began to look more closely at my grandfather's book and my own research so far into the occult powers in Southern Europe; in my trade as an antiques dealer I often came across books on the occult. At least the book offered me the glimmer of a possibility that I might understand what had happened to Annie.

It was the description of flying snakes at the end of the book which really caught my attention. I was desperate, and my memory of the creature's appearance could fit the description in the book. Understanding this became a passion for me, gradually overwhelming all other daily thoughts.

What I couldn't initially understand was the description in the book of all these 'snake like' things as wargs. In my experience – in the works of J. R. R. Tolkien and many other classical works – wargs were described as moving on four legs and looking like very large dogs – in other words, wolf-like. I researched the etymology of the word 'Warg' and finally found an entry that offered an explanation:

The Old English word 'wearg'.

Mary Gerstein, in an article, has attempted to equate the Germanic word 'warg' with 'werwolf, but many experts now reject this. Warg and wearg can be traced back to a root that may have meant 'strangler'.

As soon as I saw the word 'strangler', I thought of 'constrictor' and the family of snakes called 'constrictors'. Perhaps an eyewitness in Medieval Europe had described the serpents as constrictors or stranglers and the writer, not having seen what they were writing of described them as Wargs. But then this didn't make sense either. The only thing that did make sense was that the writer knew the true meaning of the word 'warg' and that the text was copied from a much older text, perhaps from as far back as the Dark Ages. The writer's name was Edgar de Boulon and I had tried many times to find out more about him with no success.

I didn't even know if he knew my family or not although my grandfather had claimed he had.

***

I was in my office, drinking coffee and browsing through Le Monde when the headline on page three caught my eye.

Young Woman's Mangled Body Found in Lyon Back Street

I read on. "The young woman, dressed in evening attire and now identified as Seline Godin was found on the night of Friday 11 July in the Rue Calas, a quiet street in Lyon. Police would like to speak to anybody in that vicinity around 11.40 pm. An intense police search is under way to catch the killer and although there is little evidence to go on, the body is described as being crushed, 'as if by a giant fist'."

Spluttering into my coffee, I swung my legs off the table and reread the article slowly. When I finished, I picked up the telephone and dialed our home number.

"Darling. Have you seen the article in Le Monde today?"

"No. What article?"

"I am coming home. Wait there!"

I slammed the phone down, grabbed the car-keys, and paper, and drove home as fast as I could.

"God, you look a mess!" She leaned close to me. "And you stink. Look at this." She pulled at my shirt front. "You lost a button."

I showed her the newspaper.

"Um hm. Yes it is interesting. You know what I think?" she said after quickly scanning the article.

"What?"

"Well I hardly like to say, really?"

"Go on?"

"Well it could be the same murderer. Perhaps he is back."

She looked nervously at me for my reaction. Obviously I knew she was thinking of a human murderer, but I didn't care. For now it was enough to have caught her interest.

The newspaper was dated Friday, 14 July, 1985. Rose, or the dragon as I now called her, and I had drifted apart and I spent more and more time at the office; often staying late to read my occult books and getting very drunk, mainly on ouzo. We were moving towards divorce and we both knew it. Since the day Annie had died our marriage had been a train heading for the buffers. Nothing we could do or say seemed to make things any better. My one slim hope of redemption, and thus of saving the marriage had been somehow to prove that I really had seen what I had described to her, but the very pursuit of this truth seemed to her further proof of my madness.

I didn't stay, and back at the office, I rifled through piles of documents looking for just one particular one with a telephone number on it. In the years between the death of Annie and now, I had joined several occult societies. One such society I had joined – the Venerable Order of St. John of Jerusalem, a revival of the Knights Hospitallers – had only gained general acceptance as a serious society in 1963, and through their newsletter I had started up a correspondence with a Henry de Silva.

Henry lived in France, in Lyon in fact, but had been born in England and served in the Army in World War II. Shortly after his wife had died of cancer he had moved to Lyon to pursue his passion for genealogy. He believed his ancestors to have been Huguenots although I always thought his family name sounded more Spanish, which would make them unlikely Protestant refugees. However he was a genial fellow and his knowledge of Medieval France and the Occult was impressive. I was sure I could recall seeing his telephone number on one of his letters and I wanted to call him straight away. After turning half the office upside down I found it.

"Henry."

"Yes?"

I reminded him who I was.

"Have you seen that article in Le Monde? About the girl who was found dead in Lyon? You must have heard of it?"

"Yes. Of course. How could I not. It's been all over the papers. Strange isn't it?"

"Strange? Well no. I didn't think so. It sounds just like what happened to Annie!"

"Ah yes. I thought you would say that. You shouldn't get too excited dear boy but I admit, it has potential."

"Listen. Can we possibly get together some time? I really need your confidence and I have a lot of stuff to show you."

"Well certainly. I would love to see you."

"When is good for you?"

"Well anytime. My social calendar is hardly full you know."

"Tomorrow? Midday?"

"Um. Yes I think so. I will have to get my cleaner to brush the house down a bit."

***

Henry gave me directions and the following morning I stuffed all the books, artifacts and documents I needed into my white Citroën DS and, after calling home to freshen up a bit, drove the 200 km down to Lyon.

I parked in the only space available, a few blocks down from a narrow four-story town house in the inner suburbs, painted in a pale shade of pink, with sky-blue awnings over the tall and narrow windows. I pulled on the antiquated bell-pull outside the paneled front door and a voice echoed in the narrow street from above.

"Push the door when you hear the buzz! Come up to the second floor."

On the second floor landing Henry was waiting for me, leaning on a silver-topped walking stick and wearing a cream-coloured suit.

His pointed white beard jerked up and down as he welcomed me. "Come in! Come in dear boy."

He followed me in to his flat but I noticed he moved very slowly and seemed in some discomfort. He was even breathless before he lowered himself onto a Windsor back chair next to a lovely oak dining table against the wall by the window.

"Angina dear boy. Too much good-living in the Army."

I chuckled politely. "Where were you based?"

"India until the War. Then a spell in Burma."

He didn't look at me as he spoke. I knew the fighting in Burma had been some of the most intense in the War. I also knew typhoid and malaria were rife.

"So good to meet you at last dear boy. I hope you don't mind if I don't stand. Sherry? Or something else?" His brown eyes danced and glinted behind a delicate pair of gold-rimmed pince-nez glasses as he spoke.

There was a small silver platter with a cut-glass sherry decanter in the centre and three clean glasses upturned next to it.

"Sherry is fine."

He reached painfully over the table and poured a glass for me.

"Now what wonders have you brought me to look at?"

The first thing I showed him was the book by Edgar de Boulon. I had inserted white cards to mark pages of interest and he read slowly, affirming what he read with quiet 'um hms' while I slowly slipped the sherry. It felt very pleasant with a nice cool breeze whispering though the window in the early summer heat. I watched his face closely as he read the section about flying snakes and how they were supposed to constrict space. His eyes looked up at me just once for an instant. He finished reading and sat back in his chair. I knew him well enough from his letters to know that he formed opinions slowly, and gave them seldom, so I didn't expect an immediate response. He still seemed to be waiting.

"That last passage interests me the most," I said grinning inanely at him. "I... Do you think I could possibly trouble you for another glass of sherry? Dutch courage!"

"Of course dear boy. Help yourself!"

"You know I was with Annie when she was... murdered? Well I told The Gendarmes that I had not got a good look at the killer but actually I did. My wife thinks I am insane but what I saw most resembled a ... snake." I hadn't told Henry the details of what I had seen – about the snake – before. A bead of sweat started rolling down my forehead. I knew I could lose a friend now, or gain an ally, if he believed me. "Annie's body was squeezed ... crushed as if by a giant fist or perhaps a large constrictor snake." I immediately felt the absurdity of what I was saying and felt powerless to back up my description.

"Tell me more about what you saw!" I looked up and Henry was leaning towards me, eagerly waiting to hear more.

I smiled, grateful and relieved at last to find a willing ear. "Well it was huge! It towered over us but you know... I couldn't see anything clearly. It was as if it were in a dream. Everything shimmered. In fact the air had seemed to be like water when it appeared."

"Yes. That would be so."

"What?"

"Don't mind me. We will discuss it later. Just tell me all you can about what you saw."

"Well. Obviously, once I could feel it take a hold of Annie I wasn't so interested in what it was. I just wanted to hold on to her but it was immensely strong. It was like pulling against a pick-up truck. There was no way I could stop it."

"But it was a snake you say? How did it take hold?"

"Yes sorry. Annie was behind me, against a wall but it seemed to have some kind of appendage, arms maybe. In fact in moments I felt it was more like a man than a snake. If it had eyes I could not look at them. It also seemed to be burning somehow, and I thought I could smell the stench of burning flesh. I am sure it must have made a sound like a scream or roar but I was shouting too and Annie was screaming so I cannot clearly remember that. I could not tell you about colours or even if it had wings. It was dark. That is about it really."

"Yes." Henry seemed to consider the information for a moment. "Yes I have heard of these, these Warg before. Actually I don't think of them as Warg at all but it will do as a term for now. The book of your grandfather's is very famous you know. In fact it is very rare and very valuable. I believe only five were ever printed. Actually the author is not Edgar de Boulon. That is just an alias for a Count, whose name escapes me right now, but what really interests me is this reference here." He turned the book to face me, open on another marked page and pointed to a book title mentioned in the text. "This is a book I have been seeking for years and I believe it is a book you really need to get hold of too. I have heard that two leaves of this book, of which only one copy is thought to have survived, is available on the black-market, for a very high price. I wonder if perhaps you might be interested in obtaining such a thing?"

I read the title – 'De Secretis Scientia Occultis'.

"Why is it of such great interest to us?"

"Well, dear boy. What I have heard is that this particular document has some secret information about the snake-demons, as most of us in-the-know call them. Of course the whole book is probably of huge importance to us but I only know of the two leaves that are available for now. Who knows why? Perhaps it's a copy. Perhaps the owner of the book needs to raise cash. Perhaps it's a fake. There is only one way to know for sure and that is to get a look at it. Of course it's way out of my price-range."

"Well how much would you need?"

"Well I think the bidding will start at perhaps 8,000 Guineas."

"Whew! For just one page?"

"Well four actually unless one is an end-leaf or we are very unlucky. There should be something on both sides!" He laughed at his little joke.

I pondered the amount, could I really justify spending that amount to Rose?

"I could raise it, possibly. My antiques business is very successful now. Let me think about it."

"Well alright. But don't think too long. These things have a habit of vanishing just as quickly as they appear." The wit of this comment was not lost on me. "Now is there something else you want to tell me?"

"No. I don't think so."

"Are you sure? What about any special abilities of your own?"

I looked at him suddenly amazed. "How did you know about that?"

"Ah ha! Well?"

"Well I am so used to my wife scoffing at everything lately I had begun to doubt it myself but you know during the War M.I.6 was very interested in my talents. In fact I think that's why they recruited me."

"Did they now?"

"It seems that I can sense the approach or presence of evil. Or at least bad spirits and usually I can avoid them myself although, unfortunately, that doesn't extend to my friends or close family. I wish it did. It seems pointless being the only one protected sometimes."

"Now, now. Don't get bitter old boy."

"Sorry."

"Anyway that's what I thought you might say. You see I know a lot more about you than you think, or than I thought until today."

"I don't understand."

"No. I am not sure either and until I am I would prefer to make a few enquiries but I can tell you one thing."

"Yes."

"This death in Lyon is not the first of its type recently."

"No?"

"No. I noticed a previous one five days before in Avignon and another a few days before that in Montpellier. Are you seeing a pattern here?"

"Well apart from the fact that each is a little further North than the last, no."

"That is it. The murderer, whatever or whoever it is, must be traveling north. Each murder victim is described as being badly mangled in a similar way to Seline."

"Why is it travelling north then?"

"Well I don't know. Perhaps it is looking for something?"

"Um. Maybe."

After showing Henry the rest of my documents and a sample of Romanian wolf statues I had brought with me, including the large one of snake and wolf man fighting, he in turn showed me some manuscripts and maps that he had. They were fascinating and I took my time looking through them and taking notes. By the time we had finished it was mid-afternoon and after a sandwich, I rose to leave.

"Henry. It has been a pleasure and very enlightening to meet you. I am going to seriously consider bidding for this book. I will call you tomorrow or the next day." Henry started to struggle to his feet. "Don't get up. I can see myself out."

"Such a pleasure dear boy. Such a very great pleasure for me. You are welcome any time."

As I left the room I noticed for perhaps the third time a very large crucifix on the wall above the ornate fireplace. I became conscious now of just how strange it was. Seemingly bolted together from two very misshapen cross pieces of some hard wood like oak, it was burned around the edges and carved loosely into some kind of relief design which I couldn't quite make out because of the damage. It seemed a very odd thing to be hanging in Henry's lounge. My instinct was to ask about it but my intuition was that it was too early to ask such intimate questions so I left with just a call over my shoulder. "See you soon Henry. Take care!"

I opened the door to his flat and stepped out onto the landing. Facing the stairs, I wondered how on earth he managed them. I walked down the corridor on the landing towards the back of the building and saw one of those old lifts in a wrought-iron cage.

As I walked back to the car, I had a very uncomfortable feeling that I was being watched or followed. The hairs stood up on the back of my neck and for a moment I felt sick.

***

It didn't take me long to reach a decision on 'De Secretis Scientia Occultis'. I was seriously wealthy by now although most of the money was wrapped up in the antiques business but it was my business and there was no reason I should not start to enjoy what I had worked so hard to build up. Also, getting involved in the intriguing world of black-market deals for rare arcane books was too much to resist. A few days after our meeting I telephoned Henry.

"Henry, I have the money and I want to bid for this page. What do we do now?"

"Excellent dear boy. How much?"

"I have 100,000 Francs – just over 9,000 Guineas but I don't want to bid above 8,000 to start with."

"No. We will start at 7,000 but I am sure it will end up more. Leave it with me!"

We drove towards Paris in my Citroën. In the driving rain around Troyes the radio reception became so bad I turned it off and listened to Henry talking – when he wasn't rustling the map.

"Typical French car, this Citroën; strange looking, but when all is said, it is well made." He tapped the dash with the head of his stick which he insisted on keeping between his legs as we drove.

I was feeling cramp in my legs as we had driven all morning and into the early afternoon. We hadn't even stopped for food, Henry passing me egg and ham or cheese sandwiches as I drove.

Shortly after passing through a little village called Vatry Henry called out, "Right at the next turning."

"Are you sure? We are in the middle of nowhere."

"Not nowhere dear boy; near to a beautiful rare manuscript!" His eyes shone as I glanced at him. The wipers were working overtime and I peered out into the watery gloom for the turning.

"There! I see it." We slowed and I turned the car onto a gravel track and stopped. "The instructions said to wait here, didn't they?"

"Um hm."

Just at that moment through a break in the clouds, the sun burst forth and the rain slowed revealing a beautiful rainbow arching across the gentle landscape before us. France had never looked more beautiful to me. We were in the Marne region of France, East of Paris and a major wine-growing region. Many of the fields we had passed had been vineyards but the fields here were green and fallow.

A figure in raincoat and galoshes appeared ahead of us and pointed behind him. I started the car and passed him, the car steadily crunching the loose stoned beneath its wheels.

"Wind down the window, Henry."

"Do you want a lift?" I called to the man.

"No, sir. It is only one hundred metres." The man spoke in English but with a heavy German accent, I thought.

"This looks dodgy Henry. What do you think?"

"Not what I was expecting. This dealer has a good reputation though. I wouldn't worry too much. Probably just wants privacy."

Roughly one hundred yards on, I saw a sky-blue caravan beside the track and since there was no other possible meeting place I stopped the car there. I helped Henry out. The clouds were already scurrying away leaving blue sky in their place and colours and smells that seemed even more vivid in the afterglow of the rain.

Parked next to the caravan was a beautiful silver Rolls Royce Silver Cloud. A splash of mud on its gleaming wing was an affront, like a smudge of lipstick on a fashionably decadent model in a photo shoot.

The door to the caravan swung open and a black-jacketed arm with black leather gloves held it open while we climbed the three mini-steps to enter.

"Velcome Gentlemen! Sit down! Sit down!" This voice also sounded German but I couldn't yet make out the shape of its owner as there were no lights on. I could make out a small, thin table supported by one spindly leg with a briefcase on it and then, against the window behind it I started to make out the dealer. He had something like a trilby hat on and dark glasses. His pin-striped suit, although very expensive and probably Saville Row, struggled to contain any part of his massive frame, which I guessed to be all of twenty five stones. He also wore black kid-leather gloves and a white cane rested against the seat, to his right. He seemed to be blind.

"Champagne, Gentlemen?"

"That would be very nice," said Henry, lowering himself very carefully onto the stool indicated for him in front of the table. I sat on mine, next to him. I thought, and I guessed Henry thought too, that we must look quite comical perched on such fragile stools at such a fragile table.

"André. Pour please." said the large man.

The black-suited and gloved André, who must really have been a bodyguard, produced a silver tray from somewhere. The tray had three filled flutes of Champagne Bollinger, nestled beside the opened bottle on it. The champagne was delicious. André's piercing blue eyes looked bored but he was polite.

Suddenly the whole caravan started rocking from side to side gently and a might roar and whistle filled the air. A train rushed by somewhere nearby and I knew we must be right alongside a railway line.

"Now, Gentlemen. Let me show you something." A mantle of thick, silver hair flowed from under the hat of our host as he opened the case. I still could not clearly see his face. "Please use the gloves."

Two pairs of white archivist's gloves lay on top of the document and Henry and I both put on a pair each. Henry then lifted up the single, brownish top leaf with cursive Latin script on it. He held it close to his glasses. To my surprise the document had not be torn or even carefully cut from a book but unstitched, and it consisted of four, full pages of a book, with the stitch holes clearly showing down the middle seam. I managed to conceal my delight and surprise, and noticed that Henry did the same.

"Oh yes. It's beautiful."

"You read Latin Sir?"

"Yes. But the buyer does not."

"Ah." I think he smiled at me, judging by the curling of his lips. "Please, if you can read it, do not talk to each other from now on about the content. Once you have approved it, Monsieur de Silva, your friend will propose a price."

I guessed he was nervous; we were simply after the content and once we had deduced this we wouldn't want to buy. I kept quiet with difficulty until, I guessed, Henry must have read at least one paragraph. "Well? Henry. Is it what we are looking for?"

"Hm." He seemed miles away. "Oh yes. Yes dear boy. It is genuine as far as I can tell. The ink looks authentic and the vellum. It talks about what we are interested in."

"Alright," I said. "I am prepared to make you an offer. 7,500 Guineas."

"Well that would be fine Mr er?" Neither of us answered him. "That would be fine if I didn't know how interested you are in this." He was relishing this and I knew he would want to go a lot higher. I decided to try a gambit of my own.

"Well if the man who wanted to buy this was also hoping to, one day, buy the whole document, then he would be a fool to offer over what he could afford for the first few sheets."

The man laughed. "Touché!"

Henry smiled at me. He had noticed not only my ploy, but that I had already learned from him to use the word document, as a sign of respect, rather than 'book'. A book was an object, a document was a historical record, something much more vital.

"Point taken Sir. But I do believe you are prepared to offer a little more."

"8,200."

"Um. A serious offer. But I would have to leave now if that was your limit. André. Would you?" He pointed to the document and André took it gently from Henry, placed it back in the case and closed it. Henry looked a little flustered.

"Really, I cannot go much higher. But 8,400 I think is a very fair offer."

"André. Another glass of Champagne for us all." He sipped his and considered the offer. He took so long, I almost offered him more but managed to stop myself.

"Are you serious about the rest of the document, sir?"

"Yes. I would at least like to see it."

"How do you know I have it?"

"I don't. Do you?"

"I have access to it. A buyer who was to offer 8,500 for a single leaf would secure a viewing, say within a week?"

Now I smiled. He was probably now exploring how much he could get for the whole document. I waited for a very long time, considering this.

"8,500 it is then. And an appointment within one week?"

"Done, Sir."

I reached over to shake his hand but he pulled away. I knew then that he wasn't blind.

The exchange took place with me carefully counting out the money without revealing how much I had left. Then with the precious document in its case tucked securely under my arm I helped Henry while he rose stiffly from the seat with the aid of his stick. We clambered awkwardly out of the caravan and walked back to the car. The second bodyguard watched us while we started the car, turned around, and drove off.

***

We talked excitedly as we drove. Henry told me that the first paragraph had given him a possible explanation for the phases of strange deaths, from crushing, every sixty years.

"It says something about the heartbeat of God."

"Yes. Go on!"

"Well, it says the victims of these demons called Warg are usually, but not always, crushed, and that they are summoned by the Devil." He looked at my face for a reaction.

"Well none of that is really surprising, although it is a bit vague and par for the course for 13th Century superstition, don't you think?"

"Yes but the really good bit is this. It says, and I am not sure of this so I need to get home and check my Latin, it says that the serpents appear as if from water in the air! I feel sure that the next paragraph will reveal more. I caught a few words but that André fellow took it back from me before I could really see anything much."

We argued about what this might mean for a while, and after stopping for petrol, perhaps two hours later, I could bare it no longer.

"I really need to know what it says. Let's stop now and read it. I can't wait." I pulled the car over at the next entrance to a field, and we stopped right in front of the old wooden gate. The sun was lowering in the West, although it was still early and a cloud, like a bloody gash, stretched across the sky just above the horizon. I opened the boot, passed the case to Henry, and then paced up and down in the early evening while Henry read the pages of 'De Secretis Scientia Occultis'.

"It says here something about an order called – Ordo Lupus. Yes. Notice that it distinguished between wolf and warg. Did you also notice how it said serpents earlier when talking about the water in the air?"

"No, I don't read Latin, remember?"

"Yes, sorry. It also mentions something about a counter-brotherhood of some sort, and a Catholic priesthood who were violently opposed to both, believing them both heretical. There is something else about some kind of potent symbol or something but I cannot really make much of it."

"Tantalising but it doesn't really help us very much. I guess that's just what he wanted, the old scoundrel. Did you notice he wasn't even blind?"

"Oh yes. It's just a ruse, so that he can watch us better. I have seen other dealers do all sorts of strange things to get an edge. Didn't you feel me kick you under the table?"

"Don't you think it's an awfully big coincidence that this one page just happens to have information about the Warg, the one thing I am most interested in? How did he know that?"

"Yes, it is too much for a coincidence, but you haven't noticed the most significant thing about recent events at all, have you?"

"Haven't I? What's that?"

"Well it's so obvious I am not surprised you haven't seen it."

He was being coy so I walked over to the driver's side door and stuck my head in. Henry looked at me sheepishly.

"Go on."

"Well I don't like to point this out to you really because I know how you are suffering inside. At least I think I know. I haven't lost a child myself, both of mine are grown up and married, but I lost many friends during the war and I am sure your suffering is worse." He chose his words carefully and I was touched.

"Henry. Just say it. Right now I badly need to understand things – understand just something. Anything to make sense of all this."

"Alright, dear boy. Well, what struck me was that this serpent targeted your daughter at all. I mean, why you? You say you can sense evil and I believe you. From what you say, your grandfather had connections to this society, Ordo Lupus, who seem to be opposed to these Warg. So why somebody close to you?"

"Yes. Yes, I never thought of that. I see what you mean. Perhaps that means something?" My heart lifted just a little, at the thought, for the first time since starting down this mysterious road to explain Annie's death. At the same time, a cold thrill ran down my spine. What was I dealing with here? Was a demon actually baiting me?

"Henry. You're a genius! Now let's get home and have some of that excellent sherry of yours." The countryside in the dimming light suddenly seemed threatening.

Henry, even with the aid of his Latin reference books, could deduce no more from the four pages of 'De Secretis Scientia Occultis', but he received an invitation for me to view the whole book seven days later.

Henry telephoned the evening before the meeting was to take place. "I have some bad news dear boy. The meeting has been cancelled. Mr Kalmus has sold to somebody else."

"Somebody else! Well, who?"

"I don't know yet. I am trying to find out."

"Why the hell did he sell? I don't get it. Why offer it to us and then just sell." Shit! I wondered if I could sue for breach of contract. The viewing had been part of the deal, hadn't it? But then how do you sue someone working on the black market?

"Hi, Henry. What have you found out?" I was answering an answer-phone message from Henry a few months later.

"Well, I never did find out who the buyer actually was, but a friend has told me something very interesting. Apparently the Bibliothèque Nationale now has a copy. Now I know they didn't have a copy a few years ago but I don't know how recently they acquired it. They have kept very quiet about it and considering that most experts think there are only three copies in existence and possibly just the one, it is most unusual."

"So is it possible to see it?"

"Well yes apparently it is. It's held at the François-Mitterrand Library in Paris. You have to go there and see it."

***

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# Biography of Lazlo Ferran

During Lazlo Ferran's extraordinary life, he has been an aeronautical engineering student, dispatch rider, graphic designer full-time busker guitarist and singer (recording two albums, one of Arabic music featuring the rhythms of Hossam Ramzy). He has traveled widely and had a long and successful career within the science industry but now left employment in the public sector to concentrate on writing. He has lived and worked in London since 1985 and grew up in the home counties of England.

Brought up as a Buddhist, in recent years he has moved towards an informal Christian belief and has had close contact with Islam and Hinduism. He has a deep and lasting interest in theology and philosophy. His ideas and observations form the core of his novels. Here, evil, good, luck and faith battle for control of the souls who inhabit his worlds.

He has traveled widely, living for a while in Cairo during 1982. Later, he spent some time in Central Asia having various adventures, one of which was getting married in the traditional Kyrgyz style. He has a keen interest in the Far East, Middle East, Asia and Eastern Europe - the latter informing his series of books about vampires and werewolves. He keeps very busy writing in his spare time and pursuing his other interests of history, genealogy and history of the movies.

From the author:

Thank you for reading my story and I hope you liked it. I value very much feedback from people and need this if each book is to be better than the last, so if you could take the time to post a comment on my blog or simply email me, I would appreciate it.

Where to find Lazlo Ferran

Blog: http://www.lazloferran.com

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