Read The Incubus, Succubus and Son of Perdition Box Set: The Len du Randt Bundle Online
Authors: Len du Randt
‘We have come to reunite son with father, father with
his God,’ one of the men finally answered.
‘How did you kill that man earlier today?’
Elijah raised his hands toward the skies, and the
Commander instinctively reached for his sidearm. ‘Our Father in Heaven,’ Elijah
said. ‘Hear the cries of your servants, and judge those who judge us. Bless
those who hear our words and act upon them, for the time is at hand.’
The skies rumbled, and the Commander began to shift his
weight uncomfortably. He decided that it would be best to get these men off the
streets and into custody as quickly as possible. ‘How did you kill that man
earlier today?’ he repeated and pulled his GLOCK .17 from its holster. ‘I am
not going to ask you gentlemen again,’ he said, again trying to sound as
intimidating as he could. He rubbed his index finger gently over the trigger of
the 9mm.
Just in case.
‘The wrath of the Lord falls upon you if you try to
harm us,’ Elijah’s older companion said. His eyes had changed to a glazy blue,
and it appeared as if he could see right through the Commander, looking into
the very soul of the man to gauge the nature of his heart. The glint of black
in his eyes reflected what he saw.
‘All right,’ the Commander said and raised his weapon
and aimed it deadlock at Elijah’s head. He slowly brought the radio to his
mouth and pressed the button. ‘Snipers, take aim.’
‘
Mother
has target A in sight,’ the radio
squawked back at the Commander. ‘Awaiting command.’ A few seconds later the
second sniper confirmed, ‘
Father
has target B in sights. Good to go.’
The Commander nodded, and then faced the two men again. ‘There are men up
there,’ he said and waved his radio in the general direction of the nearby
buildings, ‘who have high-powered rifles aimed right at your heads. Do
not
resist arrest, or these men will not hesitate to kill you.’ He nodded at the
two soldiers next to him, and they cautiously advanced toward the two men,
cuffs held ready to snap around the men’s wrists.
‘
Do not come any closer!
’ Elijah shouted so loudly
and unexpectedly that both approaching soldiers jumped back. They looked at
their Commander, unsure of how to proceed.
‘Don’t just stand there,’ the Commander yelled at his
officers. ‘Cuff them!’ The shouting just added pressure to the already confused
soldiers. They hesitated, and then looked back at their Commander to see if he
would change his mind.
He didn’t.
The officers reluctantly moved toward the men. They
were within an arm’s reach of the men when Elijah threw up his arms so
violently that one of the men let out a little cry as he shrank back.
‘You have been warned!’ he shouted. ‘If you come
any
closer, you
will
be judged!’
‘They’re gonna shoot!’ one of the soldiers yelled back
at his Commander.
The Commander couldn’t see any weapons on the two men,
but he wasn’t one for taking chances either. ‘
Fire!
’ he shouted into the
radio and squeezed the trigger. The snipers reacted instinctively, and the
shots of their high-calibre weapons exploded through the streets of Jerusalem.
The twelve ground soldiers also saw this as their green light, and unleashed
all they had on their targets. The shootout lasted only seconds, and then an
eerie silence settled over Jerusalem.
The silence was broken only by the faint whapping
sound
of helicopter blades.
- - -* * *- -
-
From a safe distance inside a
parked car, the gunshots reminded Malcolm of New Years Eve fireworks. He closed
his eyes as the soldiers crackled their ammunition at their targets, and only
once the noise subsided, did he look up again.
- - -* * *- -
-
‘What the Hell…?’
Mother
asked and took the scope away from his eye. ‘I had them right in my sights.’
‘Affirmative,’
Father
confirmed. ‘So
did I’
Mother
looked through the
scope again and studied the targets as they just stood there, blinking at the
Commander as if nothing had happened at all. He thought that he noticed the
semblance of a grin on the face of one of the men. ‘
Father
, what’s going
on?’ he breathed softly into the microphone.
‘I have no idea, sir,’ a confused reply
came back through the tiny earpiece.
‘Did we miss?’
Mother
asked,
rechecking the settings on his rifle.
‘Negative, sir,’
Father
replied.
‘It’s impossible for us both to have missed. Commander Alpha shot at them from
point-blank range. Something else is going on.’
Something else, Mother
thought.
But what?
‘Who are these guys, sir?’
Father
asked.
‘I don’t know, Jim,’
Mother
replied and
realigned his scope. ‘I don’t know.’
- - -* * *- -
-
Malcolm felt sick to his stomach.
He didn’t want it to end this way. Not after what had happened in his house
during the Seder. He still had so many questions to ask the man that he wanted
to believe was Elijah. Now there would be no way of ever knowing for sure. He
let his eyes go over the buildings in the distance, and his stomach contracted
when he saw the two men, still standing.
Impossible!
He narrowed his eyes to make sure
that they were not betraying him.
They...they’re supposed to be dead! No one
could have survived that!
He rubbed his eyes, and then looked again. The men
still stood defiantly. It wasn’t until one of the men raised his hands into the
air that Malcolm noticed a familiar pattern in the clouds; a swirling pattern
of dirty clouds forming above the men. He raised his hand to his mouth and
instinctively fell back against his seat, trying his best to hold in the scream
that was trying to force its way out. He fumbled with the keys as he saw the
commander and his two officers looking up at the clouds.
Come on,
his mind screamed as the engine huffed.
Start, you damned
car!
The air was the same dark orange now as it had been the
previous time, and in the instant that Malcolm looked up at the Commander and
his men, the engine of his car growled to life. It was in that same instant
that a flash of fire shot from the clouds. His legs felt like rubber as he
tried to work the pedals of the vehicle, trying furiously to get away; but he
just managed to stall the car in the process. The air cleared and the clouds
returned to their normal puffy state, but in the place of the Commander and his
men, only charred corpses remained. Smoke bellowed from the burning wreckage of
the helicopter, and Malcolm instinctively knew that there were no survivors. He
started his car again, and this time he did manage to work the pedals as he sped
off.
‘They did
what
?’
‘They...they’re not normal,’ Malcolm said and fiddled
with his fingers. ‘They’re aliens!’ His eyes darted nervously about, and his
stomach was swirling.
Swirling like those clouds. Ready to devour me!
‘Calm down, Malcolm,’ Rabbi Morris said, trying to
disguise the fear in his own voice. ‘There must be a rational explanation for
all of this.’
Malcolm looked up and their eyes locked. ‘Twenty two
dead,’ he said. ‘These two men took about three hundred rounds
each
.
There’s nothing rational about what happened.’
‘I’ll have
The Order
look into it,’ Morris
assured his friend. ‘But for now, isn’t there a meeting that you should be
attending?’
Malcolm sat upright. ‘Oh no,’ he said as he stood up.
‘Secretary General Yoshe’s meeting!’
‘You had best be off then,’ Morris said. ‘It would not
make a good impression if one of the most important men in Israel didn’t show
up on schedule.’ His face went from a friendly smile to deadly stern. ‘Don’t
approach them,’ he said. ‘The two men. Don’t do
anything
until we’ve
heard from
The Order
. Understood?’
Malcolm nodded and walked to his car. He had almost
forgotten about the conference that Victor Yoshe had called. All the prominent
Israeli leaders were to attend; two hundred and fifty in total and not one of
them knew what it was about. He had received his invitation as a personal phone
call from Victor himself. They all did. Malcolm was impressed with Victor and
wondered what this gifted man wanted to share with them. He was about to find
out.
- - -* * *- -
-
At first, there was only silence as
the crowd of five hundred gathered in the massive auditorium. Half were
Muslims, the other half Jews. The silence was broken by a few confused
whispers. The whispers turned to buzzing, and soon, the air was vibrant and
alive as people talked, murmured and even shouted to one another. Everyone
hushed in unison as a man stepped onto the stage and walked up to the podium.
He tapped the microphone twice, and then announced in a loud voice, ‘Mr.
Speaker, Secretary General of the European Union, Victor Yoshe!’
Malcolm strained his neck to see if he could catch a
glimpse of Victor, and a round of applause erupted from the floor as he entered
the room. Malcolm shivered as a light electrical charge surged through him, and
he wondered if the others had experienced the same feeling. The applause grew
louder as Victor stepped onto the stage and walked toward the podium. The
people stood up and cheered, and the applause continued.
It’s him!
Malcolm thought. He noticed that Victor walked with
perfect stride, neither too fast, nor too slow. His centre of balance was
flawless as he made his way to the microphone, and he didn’t appear to be fazed
by the hundreds of important people that he was about to address. When Victor
reached the podium, he stood there for a while, allowing the people their
enthusiastic greeting. He appeared to soak up as much of the attention as
possible, and only after a minute did the applause die down and the people take
their seats again.
Victor scanned his eyes across the crowd, a smile
forming on his lips as he leaned toward the microphone.
‘Thank you for your warm welcome, friends,’ he said. ‘I
would like to thank you all for attending on such short notice.’
A few nods.
‘I am sure that you will agree that we have all had an
emotionally and physically tiresome period during our battle with the aliens.’
More nods.
‘We have been dealt a terrible blow, my friends. Many
of us have lost family members, friends, and colleagues.’
Malcolm choked as he thought about Angie. Tears welled
in his eyes, and he glanced around to see that most of the others also shared
his pain.
‘We have won the battle,’ Victor said, and for a
moment, his eyes locked with Malcolm’s. ‘But the war is far from over.’ He
shifted his eyes from Malcolm’s and then swept over the rest of the audience
again. ‘We have learnt a powerful and important lesson and we would be unwise
to allow this lesson to be lost on us.’
Nods of agreement.
‘We have learned that we do not realize what we have,
until we do not have it anymore. We have learned that it is not by looking into
the past that one expands, but by sharing a vision of the future.’ Victor’s
voice built up momentum and passion as he spoke. ‘We learned that by holding
hands and standing together as a unity, that we are
unstoppable.
’
Victor took his time and readjusted the cuff of his
jacket.
‘I was merely the one that brought you together.
You
did the work.
You
beat the aliens.
You
saved the world!’
The response was overwhelming, and Victor had to raise
his hand to restore the calm again.
‘We have seen our unity in action. We have seen what
power we can wield by speaking as one voice. The time has come to show the
world that true peace can only be achieved by brotherly love for one another;
and brotherly love can only be acquired by being born of the same substance.
Today, we must be born again, not physically, but mentally. We must forsake the
limited thinking and traditions of our forefathers with their hatred and
bickering towards one another. We must share a future by living in the present,
the here and now.’
There was no applause; only a stunned silence.
‘I propose a seven-year trial period in which you may
test my claims,’ he said. He spoke perfectly, without falter. ‘If at the end of
the seven years, you have not seen significant results for the better, you will
be more than welcome to go your separate ways and return to your old ways.’
For a long moment he studied the audience. He knew them
all by name, and knew more about them then they knew about themselves. ‘If it
works, and we are, at the end of the seven years, better off than we are now;
better neighbours, better human beings; then the era of peace and safety could
be extended indefinitely.’
Malcolm looked through the crowd, searching for a
familiar face, and then smiled when he saw that Kassim had done the same and
was looking at him. Both smiled warmly, and they both agreed with Victor that
they could indeed live as ‘one.’
It was an odd feeling of mutual agreement, and had
Victor made claims like this only a week before, he would most probably have
been killed in less than an hour after his speech. Under the given
circumstances, he was right, and everyone
knew
it.
‘We have lost the precious Dome of the Rock and the
Kabaa at Mecca,’ Victor said and held up his hand to keep the Muslims from an
outcry. ‘We can only blame the aliens for what happened. There is nothing good
that can come from constantly festering on things that have happened in the
past. I will thus allow the Jews to reclaim the ground that the Dome stood on
so that they can rebuild their Temple on its proper foundations. It will serve
as a visual symbol of our unity and strength.’
This time there was uproar and most of the Muslims
stood up and waved their fists in the air. They were visibly upset, and Victor
had to calm them down again.
‘The Muslims,’ he said and extended his hand to them,
‘will receive Iraq as their own independent state. With the help of modern
architecture and Molecular Nanotechnology combined with more traditional
building methods, we will unite together under one banner to build the most
advanced super city in the world. All eyes on Earth will gaze upon the achievement
of the Muslims and Jews; thinking that if two age-old enemies could stand
together and achieve such greatness, that anyone could achieve it. People from
all over the world will renew their thinking and stand together, healing the
Earth, and sharing wealth, thoughts, ideas, and peace. Let us stand together
and embrace our future together, as
one
.’
There were some applause, but it had been coming mostly
from the Jewish side. They were overwhelmed by the prospect of finally being
able to rebuild their Temple. The Muslims were still sceptical, but had heeded
Victor’s words and were prepared to test his claims. Malcolm took the
initiative and stood up.
Kassim did the same, and the two men walked toward each
other before the hushed crowd. They stood in front of each other for a moment,
looking sternly at one another, and then Malcolm smiled, and so did Kassim. The
two shook hands, and Malcolm pulled Kassim closer and embraced him as a father
would embrace a son.
The applause erupted again, and everyone stood up and
embraced another, not as enemies and not as friends, but as family. The chain
of hatred had been broken. The hatred between Ishmael and Isaac had melted, and
now there was only a vision of the future, and the greatness that could be
achieved together. They finally sat down again, but this time it wasn’t Jews
and Muslims in their respected halves: they sat together, mixed for the very
first time.
‘This is an exciting day,’ Victor said when he finally
spoke again. ‘It is a big step that we have taken; but one that will set a new
course for the future of Earth. Under a new banner we shall rise up from the
ashes of this terrible war. This banner will proclaim the glue of our unity; it
will shout to the nations. This banner will proclaim globally that, together,
we
will
accomplish all that we set out to achieve. This banner will
promote everything that every soul on Earth yearns for: Peace and Safety.’
Everyone roared and stood up. Victor smiled warmly as
he waved his hand, then he turned and walked back across the stage. The
paperwork would be dealt with later, but everyone knew their respective roles
and what was expected of them. They had to convey their messages to their
people, and then the healing could begin. Kassim tried to say something to Malcolm,
but his voice was drowned by the cheering and clapping of the people. Malcolm
just smiled and looked at Victor, who, with one final wave, left the stage.
- - -* * *- -
-
The dream was disturbing. Trevor
was drenched in sweat and he rolled around violently. Yet, his mind wouldn’t
grasp that he was only dreaming. He moaned softly as thunder rumbled in the
distance.
Run, Trevor!
It was a voice that he recognized, but he couldn’t
quite place where he had heard it before. It was female. He looked around, and
discovered that he was standing on a war stricken street. People were running
as buildings and vehicles around him exploded. The thunder rumbled on in the
distance, and his brain converted it to explosions.
Trevor!
The voice yelled.
Get away from there! Run!
‘I can’t,’ Trevor shouted back. ‘I...I’m afraid!’
Trevor was a little boy again, confused and frightened.
People were being shot around him, and explosions ripped the streets apart.
Trevor!
The voice shouted again.
‘Mommy?’ Trevor asked.
Wait, son!
He heard a male voice shout.
I’m coming to get you!
‘Daddy?’ Trevor looked around, but couldn’t see his
father. Flames were now spreading around him, and sudden warmth trickled down
his leg. ‘Daddy...’
I’m here!
Trevor looked up and saw the silhouette of a man on the
other side of the wall of flames. The figure jumped through the flames, and
Trevor started crying when he saw his father. ‘I’m here for you, son,’ his
father said lovingly. ‘I came back for you.’
Trevor looked into his father’s eyes, and for a split
second, time stopped. In that split second, it was only the two of them: father
and son. His father came to rescue him, and would take Trevor in his powerful
arms and save him from the bad men and the burning flames. He would cover
Trevor with his body and leap through the flames to safety, and then they would
be on their way. A bullet
zinged
past Trevor’s ear and struck something
close to him with a dull
thud
.
‘Come, Daddy,’ the little boy shouted and tugged at his
father. ‘Let’s go.’ His father remained motionless and as Trevor tugged his
arm, the man fell forward and slammed into the ground. ‘Come, Daddy!’ he
shouted, but his father didn’t move. He just lay there. Trevor’s heart skipped
a beat when the barrel of a gun poked against his head. He looked up, and then
everything went black.
- - -* * *- -
-
Trevor woke up trying to scream,
but his throat would release nothing more than a coarse yelp. He sat up
straight in his bed, drenched in sweat. His heart beat so hard that he thought
it might burst through his chest at any moment.
His hair, sticky with perspiration, clung to his
forehead as if glued in place, and aside from a thin stream of light coming
from the small space under his bedroom door, everything was pitch black. It
took a minute before he could force himself to move. He heard Andrew and René
talking in the living room and decided that he might as well join them. He knew
that he wouldn’t be able to sleep again soon anyway.