The Dark Rites of Cthulhu Read online

  “Yeah, look at that,” said domino mask.

  “It’s like that one movie, with all the birds. What’s that called?” Mr. Cape said.

  “It’s called The Birds, you dumbass,” the first man said.

  The fourth man said nothing. His head was down, his chin on his chest. He was either drunk or dead.

  Mr. Cape grinned as only drunks, babies and the feebleminded do. “That’s it - The Birds. It’s like The Birds out there, all right. How many you think are out there, Sam?”

  Dennis stood up, craned his neck toward the windows to see what all the commotion was about, and then jumped when he felt a hand fall on his shoulder from behind. Turning around, he wasn’t surprised to find himself looking at two rose-colored lenses and a shining gold tooth.

  “Hello there, I’m the Astounding Radu. You were at the con, right?” asked the motel’s last guest of the night.

  “What? Oh yes, I was. Hi, I’m Dennis.” He offered his hand. He didn’t want to, but it was the polite thing to do.

  The other took it in a strong and cool grip. “Hello, Dennis. Nice to meet you. But what’s your other name?” Radu asked, flashing gold-glinting grin.

  “Oh, I’m the ah…Amazing Kraygen.” Even after six years in the trade, he felt like an ass every time he said that out loud.

  “Yes, that’s the one. Would you mind if I joined you?”

  “Sure, I guess,” Dennis said, but was thinking the opposite. He’d had quite enough of magicians after MagiCon and now only wanted to rest.

  Radu sat, produced a long-stemmed cigarette with the flick of his wrist, and asked Dennis’ permission to smoke by arching an eyebrow over the rim of his red lenses.

  “I don’t think it’s allowed –” Dennis began and then shut his mouth after the illusionist lit the smoke with a snap of his fingers. Show-off, he thought.

  “I remember you from the convention. You did that water-bottle trick, right?” Radu asked, blowing out exotic-smelling smoke.

  Wow, he remembered that! Dennis thought with more than a hint of pride. He felt a little kiss of the opiate that addicted all performers: recognition. It was tradition for all attendees of MagiCon to perform at least a few tricks, if for no other reason than to prove that they belonged to be there. The fact that someone remembered one of his amazed the Amazing Kraygen.

  “Yes, I did that. I’m sorry, but I can’t remember any of your work,” Dennis began but then quickly tried to cover his faux pas with, “but I didn’t get to the con until late, so I’m sure I missed it.”

  Radu smiled a gold-winking grin. “Don’t worry about bruising my ego, my boy. The fact of the matter is that I didn’t perform. I never do at those things.”

  “Oh, why not?” Dennis asked as he waved for the waitress to bring his bill.

  “Most of the so-called ‘professionals’ aren’t worthy to see my art,” the older man said, and Dennis had to fight the urge to roll his eyes at the smug statement. He was about to write off the ‘Astounding Radu’ as just another pompous windbag, but was surprised when the man said, “But you might be worthy to see it. Want to witness something special?”

  Dennis’ insatiable curiosity got the better of him. “Sure. What do you got?”

  “Watch what happens to our cute little waitress,” Radu whispered, and reached into his pocket. From it, he produced an antiquated silver coin of some sort. It was wide, thin, and tarnished, with some long dead man’s profile on one side, and a symbol carved into the other. The carving was a five pointed star; a pentangle which was the traditional symbol for magic. So common place was that knowledge, that many magicians had baubles and props inscribed with it. However, this pentangle was slightly different, it had something in its center that resembled both an eye and a flame. Radu then began to move the coin back and forth across the back of his fingers. It was an old test of manual dexterity, one that Dennis himself could do, and certainly nothing extraordinary.

  The waitress came to their booth. “Can I get you fellas something else?” she asked with a sweet southern belle accent. The waitress was very cute, but also jailbait. At a guess, Dennis would have placed her age at sixteen, seventeen, tops. She had curly blond hair, dark hazel eyes, and a smattering of acne that she hid well with her makeup. Pinned above one small breast was a nametag that read Sally.

  Radu cleared his throat to get Sally’s attention as Dennis took a sip of his coffee. “Yes, dear girl. I’d like to bend you over the table right now and fuck you up the ass. Could I do that?”

  Dennis’ eyes went wide and he sputtered coffee out his mouth and nose. His head whipped up to catch the look of rage that was no doubt beginning to redden the young girl’s face…and instead saw her wearing a mask of heavy-lidded serenity.

  “Sure,” was all Sally said.

  “If my friend here wanted you to suck him off while I buggered you, could he do that? What if we wanted to take pictures and send them to your mother, would that be okay?” Radu whispered, then tossed a devil’s grin Dennis’ way.

  “Sure,” was the girl’s reply.

  Dennis was thunderstruck. He couldn’t believe the filthy words coming out of the old guy’s mouth, nor could he understand why Sally Schoolgirl was taking it so well. He looked once more at the girl’s expressionless face then followed her gaze down to Radu’s hand and the silver coin that danced over his knuckles.

  Radu took a quick look around to see if anyone was hearing his whispered perversities, then continued, “And later, if we got a big Labrador Retriever and told you to get down on your hands and knees and…”

  “Okay, that’s enough,” Dennis interrupted. “What the hell is this? You two putting me on or something?”

  Radu looked at Dennis but kept the silver coin moving across the back of his hand. “No, Amazing Kraygen, it’s not a con, a scam, or swindle. This girl and I don’t know each other, nor did we arrange this beforehand.” The magician’s golden grin grew wide and predatory. “The fact is; this is magic. Not parlor tricks. Not sleight of hand. This is the real deal.”

  “Bullshit!”

  “I’ll tell you what – I could put the coin away, stop the spell, and then ask Sally those rather lewd questions again. But then, for your sake, I hope you’re a fast runner.”

  The coin danced. The waitress waited.

  “This is impossible. There’s no such thing as magic,” Dennis said. His little internal voice asked, Are you telling that to him, or yourself?

  “Why is it that those in your line of work are always the biggest skeptics, yet also the ones who want most to believe?” Radu pondered aloud, then stopped the coin from flipping and made it disappear into his hand.

  At last, Sally’s face changed. She blinked a couple of times, took a look around with wide eyes, and then said, “Uh…sorry about that, fellas. I must have been zoning out or something. What did y’all want, again?”

  “I said just bring my friend’s check. We’re ready to leave,” Radu said.

  “Sure,” the waitress said again, then turned and left.

  “I can’t believe this,” Dennis muttered to himself. He looked into Radu’s red lenses. “So what, you hypnotized her with the coin or something?”

  “Not hypnotized. I glamoured her, or, if you prefer, I charmed her. And my focus wasn’t a mere coin, but a token from a civilization lost in time. Its like hasn’t been seen by most since before the last ice age and this one came all the way from what is now Greenland.”

  “Okay, if what you say is true, and I’m not saying that it is, but if it is, then why did you show this to me?”

  Radu grinned and performed the classic magician’s gesture of trust: he turned his palms up to reveal that he had nothing in his hands. “Why, I thought that would be obvious: I’m looking for an apprentice, and I think you’re perfect for the job.”

  Dennis was shocked by that, but before he could respond there was a whump and a loud crack from one of the diner’s windows. The drunks at the booth next to the glass, the three
who were still conscious at least, all let out a ‘Whoa’ in unison. Dennis turned and saw that one window now had a large spider web crack in its center and that on the outside of the glass something black and feathered was sliding down the window, leaving a trail of blood in its wake.

  “It’s The Birds!” cried the drunk in the domino mask.

  “What the hell’s going on out there?” Came a loud bellow from the kitchen area.

  “Here’s your check, fellas…hey, what’s that?” Sally said as she turned to stare at the broken window.

  Radu snatched up the check and rose. “Come on, it’s getting too lively in here for my taste. If you wish to discuss my offer further, come to my room.” Then, before Dennis could say anything, Radu was off towards the cash register, check in one hand, wallet in the other.

  Dennis sat there for a moment, stunned and confused. What are you waiting for? These aren’t stage tricks the old guy’s offering to teach you - it’s real magic! His little voice shouted inside his head. Dennis then sprung out of his chair to follow Radu.

  The other magician - the only real magician in the entire motel - had already paid the bill and was walking down the main hall at a brisk pace to his room. Dennis had to jog to catch up, and as he did, his constant companion asked, Why do you think Radu was so afraid of a kamikaze crow?

  To say that the rest of the night was magical would give someone the wrong idea, but it would be accurate. Radu has begun his instructions just after eight o’clock by producing an old book from his suitcase. No, it didn’t have skulls on it and it wasn’t bound in human skin. It was clothbound in green, obviously an antique, and had a title so faded that some of the letters had been worn away. Dennis could still make out what had once been there; Cultus Maleficarum.

  “Well that sounds…ominous,” Dennis said.

  “If you knew the title of the book it was copied from, you’d really think so.” Radu said with a smirk.

  “What’s that?”

  “Never mind, suffice to say, it is a muddled and incomplete translation of the Latin, but it is in English and I assumed you don’t read Latin.”

  “So this is what, a spell book?”

  Radu let out a chuckle. “Not in the way you’re thinking. It’s not a proper Grimoire, but it does contain knowledge. Usually it can take weeks, even months to decipher the hidden meanings, but lucky for you, you’ve got me here to help you along.”

  It was now almost midnight and Dennis was both exhausted and exhilarated. He had seen, read about, and done things he had never thought possible. He levitated a chair with Radu sitting in it. With the aid of the room’s mirror, he had scryed into another motel room and watched the girl with the spiky green hair enjoy some private time with a special ‘magic wand’ that she surely never used in her stage act. He had even summoned balls of flame that hovered over his outstretched palm and was only slightly surprised when Radu had told him that the fiery wisps were actually alive. Now Dennis stood in an elaborately-drawn magic circle of protection preparing to chant a spell that would bring forth a ‘messenger of death’, whatever that was. To say that he was scared would have been an understatement, but his ever-present need to know more kept him going, though the little voice in his head surprisingly wasn’t happy about it.

  You’re playing with dangerous things and you don’t even know this Radu, the voice warned. Why is he teaching you all this? Would you show these secrets to someone you’d only just met by chance in a diner? Something is definitely wrong here.

  As much as Dennis hated to admit it, the little voice was right. This was all too much, too fast.

  “Look, Radu, I don’t think that I can do this.”

  “Sure you can,” the wizard said as he carefully poured red sand onto the floor, making his own magic circle. “Now be quiet and be still. It’s almost midnight on Halloween. That’s a very special time. The ancient druids who first began the Feast of Samhain recognized the importance of the celestial alignment that occurred at that time of year. It’s a time when barriers between the spheres are thin. It is a time perfect for contacting those from outside.”

  “Uh-huh,” Dennis agreed without knowing what Radu was talking about.

  “Of course these days it’s all cheap masks and candy. Like so much of the old truths, it has been forgotten, almost purposely so. But that does not mean it is any less potent.”

  “Well thanks for the history lesson, but I really don’t think I can summon up a demon.” Dennis insisted. He wanted to leave now, but couldn’t. He looked down at the intricate pattern of sand and knew that the slightest misstep would break the symbol and could doom him to eternal suffering. Or so Radu had told him earlier.

  Who cares? The spell hasn’t started yet, just leave, his little voice pleaded.

  “My dear Kraygen,” Radu started, as if he talked to a child, “It’s not a ‘demon’, not as you know such things, anyway. Also before tonight you didn’t think magic was real, and you were wrong about that. You didn’t think you could cast spells or make charms, and you did that easily enough. This is really no different.”

  “This is crazy, and I’m…” Dennis began, preparing to leave the circle, when Radu whirled about, glaring.

  “If you know what’s good for you, Kraygen, you’ll stay right where you are.” Radu’s words dripped with menace, and he aimed a finger at him as if to stress the point.

  “Goddammit, my name is Dennis!”

  “No, it’s not. You’ve always been Kraygen. The other name was forced upon you by witless parents. This is exactly who you were meant to be.” Radu sneered. “Do you think our meeting was chance on this night of all nights? Do you think someone with my power would waste my time going to a convention of buffoons and charlatans if I wasn’t looking for someone special?”

  “What do you mean?” The question came out tiny and terrified, as if Dennis’ little, inner voice had at last spoken aloud.

  “I need someone like you, someone with the spark. It is the only way this will work, the only way they will mistake…” Behind Radu’s red lenses, his eyes widened: the look of someone who’d almost said too much.

  Before Dennis could ask Radu what he was going to say, the room’s window began to rattle. He turned his head toward the quivering glass. At first he saw only blackness, but soon he could recognize shapes: wings, feathers, gleaming obsidian eyes, and dark beaks far too many to count. A huge mass of large black birds swarmed at the window, crashing into it, trying to get in.

  “What the hell is that?” Dennis cried out.

  Radu laughed a joyless laugh. “That would be the murder. You know, a group of crows? Interesting that when crows gather they should be called a murder, don’t you think?”

  “What are they doing?” Dennis turned back to the old wizard. “What do they want?”

  Radu snorted, went back to pouring sand to finish his circle and said nonchalantly, “They want me. Do you know what a psychopomp is?”

  “No.”

  “They escort the souls of the living to the underworld at their time of death. They can take many forms; usually birds like sparrows, owls, and whippoorwills, but crows are the most…tenacious. Those damn birds are here because my bill is way past due. You see, I should have died many years ago but I decided not to, and that really pissed them off. But don’t worry, that window is warded and it will keep them out for as long as I need it to.”

  Radu was now done with the sand, so he placed the bottle into his suitcase and withdrew an ancient papyrus scroll. He then stepped into his magic circle. Once there, he removed his red spectacles and threw them onto the bed. He did the same with the gold cap, sliding it off his tooth.

  “There,” he said. “That’s better.” He unclipped his fake ponytail, tossed it away. “You see, after I cheated death, the psychopomps didn’t go away. They knew I wasn’t meant to be alive and they were determined to fix that. Now, one-on-one they’re easy enough to deal with, but over time their numbers swell and swell until there’s a hu
ge murder constantly hounding me. That can be most problematic.”

  “So what has this to do with me?” Dennis asked as he raised his foot and tried to step outside his circle of sand.

  Radu acted immediately with a wave of his hand and an utterance of alien sounds that could hardly be called words, “M’ng wal thuhey ia yog-sothoth cul xil’thatul!”

  Dennis put his foot back down. He tried, but he was unable to lift it again.

  “What did you do to me?” Dennis shrieked.

  “Don’t worry. I just wanted to make sure that when I cast this spell I’m not alone in this room. That would be very bad.”

  Radu unrolled the scroll in his hands and continued gloating to his chosen victim. “You see this? This is the original scroll of Everlasting Life I used all those years ago. It’s absolutely ancient and priceless, penned by the Black Pharaoh, Nephren-ka himself more than a millennia ago. What am I doing with it now, you may ask? I’m going to use it to solve my crow problem. You see, that murder is here to take a soul away. If I give them one, they’ll be satisfied and leave me alone – at least for a few years.”

  Cold realization of what was happening and worse, what was going to happen, uncoiled in Dennis’ mind like a waking serpent. He willed his paralyzed legs to move, but to no effect.

  “Unfortunately I can’t sacrifice just anyone to the little black bastards to get them off my back,” Radu continued. “I found that one out the hard way the first time I tried to bribe the psychopomps and it cost me dearly.”

  Radu motioned to his left eye, and now that it was no longer behind the red lenses, Dennis could see faint scars around the socket and that it didn’t move. It was pale blue and made of glass.

  “No, I have to find someone with a soul somewhat like mine in order to fool them. That means someone with a talent for sorcery. As you can imagine, wizards are none too common in this day and age, despite the popularity of Harry Potter. Luckily for me, I discovered that those with untapped potential often take to playacting the lives they were born to lead. That’s where you and those other fools at the convention come in. Too bad that you happen to have the brightest spark in that pathetic bunch. You offer me the greatest chance of success with this.”