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The Resurrected

At

He invoked Wellesley’s talent, crept out into his garden and down the path to where the old gate in the wall sagged on its rusting hinges The night was his friend and like a cat he became one with the shadows, until it would seeate, across the river, his night-sensitive eyes could plainly see the ure under the trees: the mind-flea, Paxton

’Paxton’

The as like poison on Harry’s lips and in his rowing part of hinized the threat even as did the Necroscope hiht deal with it differently If he would let it

’Paxton’ He breathed the naht air, and his breath was a mist that drifted to the path and swirled around his ankles The dark essence of Wa ’You can’t hear me, you bastard, can you?’ He breathed rown river path, down alassy water itself ’You can’t read me; you don’t know I’ fro, monstrous voice - unmistakably that of Fa��thor Ferenczy - in Harry’sback when you sense him near, seek him out! He would enter your mind? Enter his! He will expect you to be afraid; be bold! And when he yawns his jaws at you, go in through thehtmare voice, but one which Harry himself had drawn from memory For Wellesley’s talent one nohere no man could ever reach him; he was lost for ever in future ti about his bloodson Janos, but it seeht well apply right here, right now Or perhaps it didn’t see inside him Paxton was here to prove Harry was a vampire Since he was a vampire, there seemed no way he could disprove it But must he simply sit still and wait for the consequences of this flea’s reports? The urge was on hi to think about

Not actually to ’scratch’ his itch, no, for that would be conclusive proof in itself and could only drag the Necroscope further into an already unwelcoer fleas, whose bite ed to forcibly reht of that evoked visions of blood, and the thought of that was so he ate in the old stone wall, conjured a door and passed through it into the M&ouain onto a second-class road where it paralleled the river on its far side There was no one in sight; the sky was clouded over; down through the flanking trees the river was seen as a ribbon of lead carelessly let fall in the darkness

A car, Paxton’s car, stood half-on, half-off the road under overhanging branches A recent leaht It pointed slightly downhill, towards a walled bend where the access road joined the

Harry stepped from the potholed tarmac, past the car and into the cover of the trees, and where he went the mist followed No, it didn’t simply follow, for he was the source and the catalyst It boiled up froround where he walked, fell from his dark clothes like weird evaporation, poured froly, unaware of his own feet unerringly seeking soft ground, stepping between the places where brittle, betraying twigs lay in wait for hi its hooks more deeply in his will

It would be a fine test of the thing’s power over hi him to do that from which there could be no return

Until now Harry’s fever had been ers had been more violent, true, his depressions deeper and his snatches of joy poignant, but on the whole he had felt no real craving or coht But now he felt it It was as if Paxton had beco with his life, a point he could focus upon, a large wen on the already iery was required

Harry’sup from the bank of the river and the boles of trees where they joined the da tendrils about Paxton’s feet The telepath sat on a tree stuaze fixed firht spilled out froht on, deliberately

But while the Necroscope was unaware of it, still there was a half-scowl, half-frown on Paxton’s face; for the mindspy had lost his quarry’s aura He supposed that Harry was still in the house, but for all his er had contact with him Not even the tenuous contact which was his reat deal, of course not, because Paxton ell aware of Harry’s talents: the Necroscope could be literally anywhere Or on the other hand it could o flitting off in thehih could be up to alrave Only an old saying, that, of course; but for atouch hi across the water to stand beside him in the silence of the mist-shrouded river bank Mist-shrouded? Where in hell had that sprung froan to turn around And Harry, not five paces away, stepped silently into darkness Paxton turned through a full, slow circle, shivered again and shrugged uncomfortably, and continued to stare at the house across the river He reached inside his coat and brought out a leather-jacketed flask, tilted it and let strong liquor gurgle into his throat in a long pull

Watching the esper e inside hier than he was He flowed forward, ca telepath What a joke it would be, to let go of Wellesley’s shield right now and deliberately aihts into the back of Paxton’s head! Why, the esper would probably leap straight into the river!

Or perhaps he’d just turn round again, very slowly, and see Harry standing there looking right at hi soul And then, if he went to screa was in Harry’s hands now, lifting them towards the back of Paxton’s neck It was in his heart, too, and his eyes, and his face He could feel it pulling back his lips fro teeth It would be so easy to sweep Paxton up and into the Möbius Continuum, and and deal with him there There, where no one would ever find him

Harry’s hands only had to close now and he could wring the esper’s neck as if he were a chicken Ahhh!

The thing inside sang of emotions as yet unattained, which could be his He thrilled to its h his inner even now: Wamphyri! Warn -

- And Paxton hitched back the sleeve of his overcoat and glanced at his watch

That was all: his , so mundane, so much of this world, that the spell of an alien plane of existence was broken And Harry felt like a twelve-year-old boy again,furiously over the toilet bowl and ready to come, and his uncle had just knocked on the bathroom door

He drew back from Paxton, conjured a M&ouh it Too late (andand whirled about -

- And saw nothing there but a swirl of fog

Drenched in his own pungent sweat, the Necroscope vacated the Möbius Continuum into the back seat of Paxton’s car And he sat there shuddering, retching and being physically ill on to the floor until he’d sicked the thing right out of hi radually returned But noas ry with himself

He’d set out to teach the esper a lesson and had almost killed hi inside him, which as yet was what? A baby? An infant? What hope would he have later, then, when the thing was full-fledged?

And still Paxton was there under the trees by the river bank, there with his thoughts and his cigarettes and whisky And he’d probably be there tomorrow, too, and the day after that Until Harry ave himself away If he hadn’t done so already

’Fuck him!’ Harry said out loud, bitterly

Yes, screw hi him, at least

He climbed over into the front seat of the car and took off the brake, and felt the wheels slowly turn as she began to roll He guided the car fully on to the road and let gravity take her along Rolling down the gentle gradient, the vehicle gained momentum

Harry pumped at the accelerator until he could smell the heavy petrol fumes, pulled out the choke and pu and the car was doingup fast, with its grass verge and high stone wall Harry let go the wheel, conjured a Möbius door out of the seat beside him and slid over into it

And two seconds later Paxton’s car e, hit the wall and went off like a bo froly at the spot where his car had stood - then heard the explosion farther down the road and saw a ball of fire rising into the night And: ’What?’ he said ’What?’

By then Harry was hoency operator in Bonnyrig who put hih to the police station

’Police - how can we help ye?’ The voice was heavily accented

There’s a car just burst into fla,’ Harry said, breathlessly, and passed on full details of the location ’And there’s ahis hands on the fire’

’Who’s speaking, please?’ The voice was

’Can’t stop,’ said Harry ’Have to see if anyone’s hurt’ He put the phone down

From his upstairs bedroo, and tenwith its police escort And for a little while there was the eerie wailing of sirens where blue- and orange-flashing lights clustered around the central leap of flames Then the fire winked out and the sirens were silenced, and a little after that the police car drove offwith a passenger

Harry would have been happy to know that the passenger was Paxton, furiously swearing his innocence and breathing whisky fumes all over the hard-faced officers But he didn’t because by then he was fast alseep Whether sleep at night was right or wrong for his character made no difference: Trevor Jordan’s advice had been sound

In theup beyond the river, it crept in through hisand seared a path across a twitching left hand which he dreamed was trapped in one of Ha awake, he saw the rooht where he’d mistakenly left the curtains open

He breakfasted on coffee - just coffee - and immediately proceeded to the cool cellar He didn’t kno long he had left, so it ht well be a case of now or never And anyway he’d promised Trevor Jordan it would be today Jordan’s and Penny’s urns were already down below, along with the chemicals Harry had taken frohed and htno, not seriously, but almost All I did in the end was toss a spanner in his works, which should keep him out of our hair a while I certainly don’t feel hi and the sun is up Can you tellhas just opened his shop and there’s ahis rounds, Jordan answered Oh, and a lot of perfectly ordinary people in the village are having breakfast But no sign of Paxton It see to me

’Not exactly normal,’ Harry told hi not to hope too hard, Jordan answered, his deadspeak shivery Trying not to pray I still keep thinking I’ I mean, we actually do shut down and sleep sometimes Did you know that?

The Necroscope nodded, finished with his powders and took up Jordan’s urn ’I was incorporeal et tired as hell Mental exhaustion is far worse than physical’

For a while, as he carefully poured Jordan’s ashes, there was silence Then: Harry, I’m too scared to talk!

’Scared?’ Harry repeated the word al the urn with a ha its pieces with the insides uppermost around the heap of ing to theht up in it when he spoke the words

Scared, excited, you nauts I’d throw them up, I’m sure!

It was tihtI mean - ’

I knohat you mean I know

’OK’ Harry nodded, and o’

The words of evocation carohich denied his hue He used his art with - pride? Certainly in the knowledge that it was a very unco, and that he was a most uncommon creature

’Uaaah!’ The final exclamation wasn’t quite a snarl - and it was answered a ony!

The Necroscope stepped back as swirling purple souted, mushroomed, spilled from or was residue of the chemical materia It was the very essence of jinni: its ering forward out of it, crying out the pain of his rebirth, caure of Trevor Jordan But the Necroscope was ready, in case this birth must be aborted

For a moment Harry could see very little in the swirl of che eye, a twisted, gaping mouth, head only partly visible Only partly there?

Jordan’s ar, alave way and he fell to one knee Harry felt the chill of absolute horror and the words of devolution sprang into his mind, were ready on his desiccated lips Then -

- The s there

Perfect!

Harry sank to his knees and e like children

Then it was Penny’s turn She, too, thought she was drea, couldn’t believe what the Necroscope told her with his deadspeak But it was one dream fro, and he carried her up out of the cellar to his bedroom, laid her between the sheets and told her to try to sleep All useless: there was aat the sa here and there - pausing to touch hihing like crazy, like mad Mad to be alive!

Penny, too, once the truth sank in, once she believed And for an hour, two hours, it was bedlam Stay in bed? She dressed herself in Harry’s pyjamas and one of his shirts, and danced! She pirouetted, waltzed, jived; Harry was glad he had no neighbours

Eventually they wore themselves out, almost wore the Necroscope out, too

He made plenty of coffee for thery; they invaded his kitchen They ateeverything! Now and then Jordan would leap to his feet, hug Harry until he thought his ribs arden and feel the sunshine, and rush back again And Penny would burst into a fresh bout of tears and kiss hiood And it disturbed him Even now their emotions were no match for his

Then it was afternoon, and Harry said: ’Penny, I think you can go home now’

He had told her what she must say: how it couldn’t have been her body the police found but someone who looked a lot like her How she had suffered a and didn’t knohere she’d been until she found herself in her own street in her own North Yorkshire village That was all, no elaboration And no h, Necroscope

He h and bought her clothes, waited while she frantically dressed herself He had forgotten shoes: no o naked, if that were the only way!

He took her ho the juelse for her not to believe in And he cautioned her: ’Penny, fros will be normal for you, and eventually you may even come to believe this story we’ve concocted for you Better for you, me, everyone, if you do believe it Most certainly better for ain?’ (The realization of what she had found, and what she must lose And for the first tiain?)

He shook his head ’People will coh all your life It’s the way it is’

’And through death?’

’You’ve proet that It isn’t part of our story, right?’

And then the rest of the jump, to a street corner she’d known all her life ’Goodbye, Penny’

And when she looked around

As a small child she’d followed the rerun adventures of the Lone Ranger Who was that invisibleHe was calmer now but still radiated awe and wonder, which made him look beautiful, fresh-scrubbed, newly returned from a holiday in the sun or a swis ’Harry, I’m ready any time you are Just tellJust don’t shut et into your mind, and learn from it’

’Like Janos did?’

Harry shook his head ’Unlike Janos I didn’t bring you back to hurt you I didn’t even bring you back for me It’s still up to you If you don’t like the idea ofin there just say so This has to be of your own free will’ Very significant words

Jordan looked at him ’You didn’t just saveyou want, Harry’

The Necroscope sent his developing Wahts directly into Jordan’s head, and the other cleared the way for him, drew him in Harry found what he wanted: it was so like deadspeak that he knew it at once The mechanism was easy, a part of the human psyche Mental in action, it was purely physical in operation, a part of the mind people - most people - haven’t learned how to use Identical twins so But discovering it wasn’t the sa it work

Harry withdrew, said: ’Your turn’

For Jordan it was easy He already was a telepath He looked inside Harry’s er which the Necroscope had pictured for hi After that, like a switch, Harry could throw it any time it was required