The Adventures of Lazarus Gray (18 page)

Lazarus and his opponent
were still locked in a tight grapple but the founder of Assistance
Unlimited was slowly gaining an advantage. Despite the undead’s
tremendous strength, Gray was possessed of an indomitable will that
often allowed him to overpower seemingly superior foes. Lazarus
gritted his teeth as he forced the mummy’s arms out from his body
and with tremendous effort, Gray suddenly brought them up and then
down, cracking them at the elbows. Bone and dust flew from the
wounds and Gray took one of the ruined limbs and used it to beat
the mummy about the head, driving it to the floor. He continued his
assault until the mummy’s head was nothing more than
powder.

The three heroes of
Assistance Unlimited stood panting, wondering what would happen
next. Femi was breathing just as hard and when she spoke, her words
were not what any of them had been expecting.

"Lazarus Gray, you have
impressed us with your display. All of you would be welcome
additions to our ranks." Femi rose from her throne and crossed the
room to where Gray stood. She placed a hand on his chest, a teasing
smile on her full lips. "Become my mate and I will see that your
friends are treated like royalty."

"No!" Achmed barked. He
immediately looked chastened when Femi turned to glare at him and
he softened his tone. "My princess, it would not be proper. He is
not of Egyptian blood. He is a commoner."

"I think it is for me to
decide such things, not for you," Femi replied coolly.

"Actually," Lazarus
interrupted, "I have no interest in bedding you. In fact, my only
reason for being here is to see that you and your allies are
silenced forever."

Femi blinked as if slapped.
It was quite clear that she had never considered that he might
actually reject her proposal. "If you refuse me, then there is only
one option left for you and your friends: death."

Gray leaned close enough to
her that she could feel his breath on her face. "I’d advise you to
reconsider. I meant my earlier offer. Surrender and I’ll do what I
can to ensure your passing is painless."

The look of rage that flew
over Femi’s face was incredible to behold. Her eyes shone with
mystic fire. "Kill him," she hissed between clenched teeth. "Kill
all of them!"

The Undying drew their
weapons, a combination of guns and knives, but Gray had already
delivered a backhanded blow to Femi that sent her flying. Normally,
he would have felt qualms about hitting a woman but in this case,
he had none. Femi was a monstrosity, doomed to un-life for heresy.
Now that she had a second chance at existence, what had she done?
Nearly killed Morgan and left a night watchman to bleed out. She
had proven her unworthiness to live.

Femi landed on her back,
scrambling into a crouch as The Undying rushed at Eun and Samantha.
She saw the Korean leaping into the air, kicking one of her men so
hard that his teeth were knocked from his mouth in a bloody spew.
Samantha had dived behind a display of Egyptian art and pottery,
exchanging gunfire with The Undying.

"You, Lazarus Gray, are
going to regret this," Femi said. Her beautiful face twisted into
something awful as her anger took hold. She stood up, looking
resplendent in her Egyptian finery, and pointed both hands at Gray.
Tendrils of foul energy shot forth from her fingers, wrapping
around him. His skin began to shrivel and Lazarus felt as if the
very life were being sucked from his lungs. "I’ll show you what it
was like for me," she stated. "I’ll see how you like being a living
mummy for the next few decades."

Gray bucked in agony,
falling to his knees. His eyes seemed to shrink into their sockets
and his mouth became as dry as sandpaper. As death seemed to swell
up, ready to envelop him, he began to remember a similar event,
another time when he had teetered on the brink of the abyss:
Lazarus saw himself staggering through a burning building. The
stench of burning flesh had made him retch and the wails of the
dying filled had filled his ears. He’d been bleeding from a number
of wounds, most notably from a massive hole in his neck. He’d held
a blood-soaked rag against his neck as he stumbled from the
building, out into the night air. It had been an autumn night in
Mexico and as he had turned back to face the flames, he saw a young
girl, no more than a child, trying in vain to escape the deathtrap.
She’d howled like a banshee, her hands reached out to him
beseechingly.

"I killed them," Lazarus
hissed, even as Femi cast her dark spells on him. "All those people
in the house – men, women and children. I killed them." He looked
up at Femi and his mouth twisted into an expression of disdain. "I
can’t let you kill me. Not yet. Not until I know why I did those
things."

Amazingly, Gray managed to
force his way back to his feet. Even as his skin turned an
unhealthy shade of white, Lazarus drew out one of his daggers. He
took careful aim at Femi, who stared at him in disbelief. The knife
flew through the air, embedding itself between her eyes. She gasped
and fell back, her body beginning to decompose immediately. Her
skin fell away in patches of dried earth and her skeleton
disassembled, shattering as they hit the floor.

Achmed, who had been firing
upon Samantha, howled in agony. He shouted for his men to cease
their attacks and slowly they did as he asked, facing their
adversaries warily. Lazarus was healing quickly, now that Femi’s
magic was no longer working on him, and he watched as Achmed crept
over to the remains of Femi, kneeling at her side. He ran his
fingers through the pile of dust and bone, tears shining on his
cheeks.

"You monsters," Achmed
whined. "You destroyed her. She was the last remnant of the great
Egyptian dynasties and you killed her."

"She should have died long
ago," Gray responded. He looked toward the hallway as a set of
uniformed officers rushed into the room. Evidently, the sounds of
gunfire had finally attracted the authorities.

"Chief? You okay?" Samantha
asked, moving to stand at his side. He looked distracted and she
was worried that his injuries were more severe than they
looked.

"I killed
children."

Samantha blinked. "Chief?"
She looked around at the police officers, which were rounding up
The Undying and taking a statement from Eun. "What are you talking
about?"

"While Femi was attacking
me, I had a vision of the past. I think I may have done some awful
things, Samantha." He looked at her and his emerald-colored eye
shimmered, even as his brown one seemed to darken. Samantha had
always found it peculiar how they could do that. "It’s time to stop
playing around with the mystery of who I really am. The time’s come
for me to find out once and for all."

Samantha took his hand.
"All that matters is who you are now, Chief. The old you… maybe he
should stay dead and buried."

Gray looked down at the
dusty remains of Princess Femi. "That’s the problem, I’m afraid.
Sometimes the dead don’t stay in their graves."

***

Morgan Watts was sitting up
in his hospital bed when Samantha slipped into his room. She had a
brown paper bag with her, from which the smells of Morgan’s
favorite burger – a bacon & cheese concoction from Murray’s
Deli – rose up invitingly. "Mind some company?" she asked, holding
up the bag.

Morgan smiled. "Not at all.
Especially when you’re bearing gifts!"

Samantha sat on the edge of
his bed and offered him the bag. "How do you feel?"

"Rotten. But getting
better. Sorry I missed all the fireworks."

"I think you saw plenty."
Samantha waited until Morgan had pulled the hamburger out and taken
the first bite before she began speaking again. "I’m sorry I
slapped you. It wasn’t fair. I had been leading you on a bit. It’s
not that I don’t like you in that way – I think I could – but we’re
friends and coworkers and it’s just not wise to get involved. So,
how about we go out for coffee sometime and agree to keep it
simple."

Morgan stared at her with
wide eyes and a mouthful of hamburger. He swallowed hard and
settled back. "I’d like that," he said slowly. "To be honest, I
thought you might be harboring feelings for Lazarus and that’s why
you weren’t interested in me."

With cheeks flaming red,
Samantha laughed and looked away. "No! That’d be silly. The Chief
doesn’t have time for romance."

"If I were him, I’d make
the time where you were concerned." Samantha looked pointedly at
him and he shrugged his shoulders. "I’m saying that as a friend, of
course."

A smirk appeared on
Samantha’s face. "Of course." She noticed a basket of flowers
sitting nearby and stood up to look at them. "Who sent you
flowers?"

"Dunno. They were there
when I woke up. Haven’t even looked at the card yet. I figured they
were from Assistance Unlimited."

Samantha picked up the card
and opened it. She knew that no one at the office had sent them and
was curious who had. "Mind if I take a look?"

"Go ahead."

The words printed on the
card made Samantha pause and, for some reason she couldn’t fathom,
they seemed to bode ill for all involved:

Get well soon. I look forward to
getting to know you and your friends.

Sincerely, Miya.

Samantha stared at the
card, picturing the attractive Asian woman who had so unsettled
Lazarus. She crumpled up the card in her hand and tossed it into
the trash.

"Who are they
from?"

"Wrong room," she said
cheerily. She picked up the flowers and headed for the door. "I’ll
make sure they get where they should have gone."

Morgan watched her go,
taking another bite of his hamburger. Women, he mused. You just
never knew about them.

THE END

An Adventure of Lazarus
Gray

Written by Barry Reese

Chapter I

Blood Red

"Who am I?"

Under normal circumstances,
such a question would have seemed absurd. But where Lazarus Gray
was concerned, it was a perfectly valid inquiry.

Just over eighteen months
before, he had woken up near the Sovereign City Harbor, battered
and weary. He’d had no memory of who he was or how he’d come to be
there and the only clue to his identity had been a strange coin on
his person. It had depicted a nude man with the head of a lion, the
words ‘Lazarus Gray’ printed below the image.

Within minutes of coming
to, Lazarus had found himself the target of an assassination
attempt. That had set the tone for his time in Sovereign City,
which had been filled with one dangerous threat after another.
Along the way, he had formed Assistance, Unlimited, a group
dedicated to aiding those for whom there was nowhere else to turn.
He had adopted the name he’d found on the coin, hoping that it
would draw out anyone who might know the truth.

It had taken far too long
for Gray’s liking, but in the end, the strategy had worked. Miya
Shimada had arrived outside the Assistance Unlimited headquarters
and her arrival had brought with it a flood of contradictory
memories: he knew that he and Miya had been lovers but he also knew
that they’d had an awful fight that had ended their relationship.
Furthermore, he’d seen images of himself setting fire to a small
building in Mexico, deliberately killing men, women and
children.

Now Lazarus and Miya were
dining together at Amici’s, an upscale restaurant in the heart of
the city. Normally, reservations had to be in place for weeks ahead
of time but the maitre d’ had once been nearly put to death by a
bizarre and insidious form of poison. Assistance Unlimited had not
only managed to find an antidote, they had also proven beyond a
reasonable doubt that the person responsible for the attempted
murder was the man’s own brother.

Miya took a sip from her
glass of wine and cast a glance outside. It was raining cats and
dogs, as it always seemed to do in gloomy Sovereign. She saw men
and women scampering about in vain attempts at staying dry, their
feet splashing in the puddles that lined the streets. "Is this
really how you want to spend the evening?" she asked. "I was hoping
to renew our friendship before diving into all the mysteries
surrounding you."

Gray’s impassive face
showed no trace of emotion. He was a handsome man, with hair that
was more gray than brown, making him appear older than he was. His
eyes were mismatched, with one being a dull brown, while the other
glittered like an emerald. He wore a dark suit and driving gloves.
"Miya, I’ve spent the past eighteen months not knowing if I was a
monster or a saint, or something in-between. Do you realize that I
don’t even know my real name? I’d love to renew our friendship, as
you put it, but the first step to doing that is you telling me all
you know about my past."

Miya stared down at the
pasta on her plate. "Can I at least eat while we talk?"

"Feel free."

Miya sighed, noticing that
Lazarus didn’t bother picking up his own silverware. He was
obviously planning to wait until she’d explained things. She
reached up and brushed a strand of raven black hair behind her ear
and she caught him watching the motion. A tiny smile touched her
lips. So he did still find her attractive. That was nice to know.
She knew that her mixed heritage – she was a Japanese-American—gave
her an exotic appearance and she’d accentuated it by wearing a
Western style evening dress and Japanese-themed earrings and
necklace. "We met nearly eight years ago, in Tokyo. You were there
with a German named Walther Lunt and I was working in my father’s
shop. The two of you came in just before closing and Lunt told my
father that he was there to purchase a small statue called The
McGuinness Obeslisk."