Light (30 page)

‘But how?  It’s the middle of the
night.  Why should they give it to me?’

‘Stop your arguments.  You annoy me.  I
am your Guardian Angel.  I can make them do what I want.  They will give you
the ladder.’

‘But wait.  If you can make them do
what you want, why do you not make the people here let me in?’

There was an impression of cold fury that
swept through Shmueli’s body.  He had enraged his Guardian Angel.

‘I’m sorry but I don’t understand.’

‘Your enemy, The Bent Ferret, lies within. 
He is a magician.  He has the ability to fight my illusions.  Now, argue no
longer.  Go to the neighbour and say to him exactly as I command you.’

There was something wrong.  Some fault in
the logic of what was happening but, try as he might, Shmueli found it
impossible to analyse events.  No, for now, he would rely on his Guardian
Angel.  At least it knew what to do.

………………………………………

He rang the front door bell.

Nothing happened for a few minutes.  Then
he heard a bolt being pulled and the door was opened.  A large and balding man
stood there scowling.  He took a look at Shmueli and his face softened.

‘Jake, is everything all right?’

Jake?  Who was Jake?

‘That is you.  He sees you as his
neighbour, Jacob Tranton.  Do not spoil the illusion.  Say what I told you.’

‘I’m sorry.  It’s somewhat embarrassing. 
I’m locked out.’

The neighbour began to smile.

‘Oh, had another row with Fiona?’

‘Say yes.  She has left home and taken
the keys.  Explain.’

Shmueli did so, ‘And I wonder if I could
borrow your ladder.’

The neighbour was laughing but he agreed
without difficulty and, to cap it all, he even agreed to retrieve the ladder
once it had been used.  The powers of the Guardian Angel were remarkable.

……………………………………

Shmueli placed the tall ladder beneath the
open window and climbed.  It still felt really strange to be doing this but he
knew that it was something that he had to do.  Soon it would be over and he
could relax again.  Thank God for that.

He reached the window and hauled himself
over the sill.

‘No!’

‘What is it?’

‘The Bent Ferret.  He has placed a
shield around the house.  I cannot enter.’

Shmueli could not believe the relief he
felt.

‘You must go in alone.’

‘Without you.  I can’t’

‘Listen to me, Shmueli.  I am your
Guardian Angel.  I would not allow you to come to harm.  You are quite safe. 
The Ferret is asleep.  It is a simple matter for you to find him and kill him. 
The shield will die with him.  Then I can enter and deal with the others.’

‘But...’

‘Do not fail me.  What must you do?’

‘Kill Tiferet.’

‘Good.  Now go.’

And Shmueli crossed the threshold and
found himself in a dark bedroom.  He could hardly make out anything in the
unlit room.  There was, however, a double bed.  Maybe that was where Tiferet
slept.  He took a pillow from the near side and walked round to the other.

That was better.  His eyes were adjusting
to the gloom.  Now he could make it out.  The head of the bed’s occupant had
long blonde hair.  It was a woman.  It was not the right room.

Carefully, Shmueli put down the pillow and
made his way to the door.  Thank goodness for that.  It was ajar and he walked
out onto the landing.  There were several other doors to choose from.  From
their positions he surmised which was the bathroom and toilet but that still
left two.  If the house was configured normally then the next door would be
another largish bedroom and the final one would lead to a box room.  Tiferet,
no doubt, would be sleeping in the bedroom.

He stepped forward and the floor creaked.

Damnation.

Immediately, a door opened downstairs and
a light came on.  There was someone else awake.  There was nothing else for
it.  He opened one of the doors, hoping that it might be the toilet.  He was
right first time.  He locked himself in.

He was just in time.  Someone was climbing
the stairs.

Shmueli had never felt so nervous in his
entire life.  What if they discovered him?  What would they do?

Whoever it was the stranger was walking
around, checking the rooms.  He could hear a door opening.  Please Lord, don’t
let him come here.  Don’t let him find me.

It seemed that his prayer was answered. 
The footsteps receded but it did not help.  Shmueli’s self-confidence had been
shot to hell.

He opened the door and looked about.  It
was clear.  He had to find somewhere to hide but where?

The box room.  He should be safe there. 
So, managing to avoid the spongy floorboard, Shmueli walked down the hallway
and opened the door.

The room seemed familiar.  He had been
here before.

Of course.  His Guardian Angel had said he
had been a prisoner here.  Was this the room where Tiferet had kept him?

Shmueli’s nerves had been shot to hell. 
For now he could not face the prospect of trying to kill Tiferet.  He would
wait.  When he calmed down he would try again.

Shmueli found the room’s only chair and
sat down.  Even as he did so a thought came to him.  Why was he doing this?

It seemed to come from somewhere deep
inside.

He was in a strange house, preparing to
kill.  He had to be going quite mad but then the vision returned.  The victims
of Tiferet’s evil and Shmueli nodded to himself.

There was nothing wrong.  He had to do
what his Guardian Angel wanted.  For now, however, he would wait.

And, as he relaxed, Shmueli’s eyes closed
and, for the first time in several days, he drifted off into a deep untroubled sleep.

It was as if a cloud of impenetrable fog
had been lifted from Mitch’s mind and he stared at the totality of the
colourlessness that surrounded him.  In every direction the vista was the same
and, as he gazed down at his arms and chest, he saw that he too was
insubstantial like a spirit.  Desperately he tried to remember but there was
nothing.

Nothing.

Somehow he had returned to the Earth he
knew.  The Ferret and that bastard Lapski had been planning to exorcise him. 
They had said that he was possessed and then...and then...that was it.  It was
as if he had been in a stupor ever since.  If only he understood.

It was Lapski’s doing, everything.  He was
sure of it.

So where was he now?  He had had enough. 
All he wanted was to return to the world he knew and somehow have his revenge
for what had been done to him.

Revenge.

Revenge...and he gained comfort from the
thought.

‘Revenge.’

The voice came from nowhere but,
simultaneously, seemed to be everywhere.

‘Who’s there,’ Mitch whispered, almost too
frightened to shout.

‘Relax.  I am within you.  We are
together.’

And Mitch knew that it was true.  This was
the thing that the Ferret had stated possessed him and some part of him
remembered.  Bits at first and then the gaps filled in.

He had agreed to allow a link between
himself and the creature to enable Alex Lapski to gain control of the four eyed
yid Isaacson but there was more than that.

‘You were expendable.  Lapski wanted to
gain the power of the Light and he needed me for that.  I was prepared to
assist if Lapski gave me the life that had been denied to me.  You were offered
as the vehicle to give me life.  Now Lapski is afraid of me and does not intend
to share the Light with me.’

It all made sense.  Both of them had been
used by Lapski but there was something wrong.

‘Why are you telling me this?’

‘You have been a good servant to me but
I no longer need your body to live.  My strength has grown ever since you first
crossed into Tevel.  I have fed well on the terror of that world’s inhabitants
and, come the Light, I will be able to live without you.’

‘You mean,’ and Mitch barely dared to
hope, ‘That you will let me go.’

‘It is already done, but hear my
voice.  Both of us are outcasts, used by Alex Lapski.  Together we can defeat
both him and the one he calls the Bent Ferret.’

But there was something wrong.  This thing
inside him.  It was a creature, a supernatural entity, why did it need his
help?

‘You know that I have been denied true
existence by the Creator.  To gain that I must harness the Light which is His
essence.  The Light can only be obtained through a ritual that must be
performed by a High Priest of the House of Israel.  That High Priest is the man
Jacob Tranton.’

Mitch snorted.  Jake Tranton was the
biggest wanker under the sun.  A guy with such huge promise and no ambition.

‘No.  Do not underestimate Jacob
Tranton.  I have existed within your mind these many weeks and I know of your
feelings towards him.  Jacob Tranton understands what he is and he is a danger
to us.’

Did this creature really know the truth? 
Could it really understand the way he felt about Jake?  He had never told
anyone, not even Fiona.

‘Listen to me.  You and I both desire
something.  I crave life and you covet that which you have been denied; power. 
I can give you that power.’

It was true.  Mitch knew it.  He had spent
his life pushing himself.  He had built up his body to a peak of physical
fitness but he had never achieved what he truly wanted.  By accident rather
than design he had entered journalism and had risen to be editor in chief of
one of the largest groups of local free newspapers in the country but the goal
of his true ambition was as far away as ever.  He had always intended to enter
politics but somehow none of the parties had given him the patronage he
deserved.  Then of course there was Tranton.

Jacob, bloody Tranton.

The biggest irony was that they had
actually been in college together, not that Tranton remembered.  Tranton was a
whiz-kid in the final year of the degree course when Mitch had been a fresher. 
Tranton was the type of person who could do whatever he wanted without trying
whilst he, Mitch, struggled to qualify.  Bastard.

Then there was Fiona, beautiful, sexy
Fiona, God how he had fancied her.  He recalled chatting her up at a party,
years ago.  Not that she remembered.  He had been doing well and then Jake
Tranton had come along.

‘Hi, there,’ was all the creep had said
but that was it.  Fiona was hooked and Mitch had gone away to find fresh
pickings.

Fucking, fucking bastard.

And now the two of them were married but
Mitch had managed to gain the last laugh after all.  Fiona who still did not
remember him had left Tranton and had done everything Mitch had asked of her to
spite her husband.  It felt so good to humiliate the bastard.

‘Yes, Mitch, you see.

 ‘You hate Jacob Tranton and I do not
trust him.  He has agreed to help me but only because I hold his friend
hostage.  He has, however, managed to defeat the Screech Owl, Lilith and I
suspect that he knows enough to effect a rescue.  That is why I need your
help.’

But how could Mitch trust the creature? 
He knew what would happen if it gained the Light.

‘It is true that when I live I will
mould the universe to be my desires but I will reward those that help me.  You
too I can mould and with the Light at your disposal you can be as God and do
whatever you wish.  I do not lie.’

And Mitch knew that it was true.

‘But what of Lapski and Tiferet?’

‘The only true danger is the Bent
Ferret but even now the boy Isaacson is preparing to kill him.  Without the
Ferret Lapski is a mere novice.  You need not concern yourself about him.  No,
the one to worry about is the High Priest, Tranton.

‘During his sojourn in the world of
Tevel he has learnt much and now he has two of the crystals in his control.

‘The key to gaining the Light are the
twelve crystals.  He who holds the crystals has the power.

‘One of the crystals lies here in
Abaddon in the Pit of Emptiness.  It is in the hands of the Guardian.’

‘The Guardian?’

‘It is of no importance.  With our link
we will defeat the Guardian and the crystal will be yours.  The next stone is
in Sheol and I will assist you in finding it.  Then you and the High Priest
will each have two.  There is however another and that will soon come to you.’

‘What?’

‘Just wait, have patience.  Even now
the Ferret is playing into my hands.

‘Then, when you have three stones you
will have power over Jacob Tranton and you will control him.  Is that not your
desire?’

And, of course it was.  It would complete
the humiliation.

‘Now, I will take you to the Pit of
Emptiness.  Soon we will be joined by the Ferret’s emissary.  For that I will
leave you.’

‘Why?’

‘Because the Ferret will know if I am
here.  You must handle it alone.  It is your first challenge.  You must prove
yourself to me.  Are you ready for the encounter?  Will you do whatever is
necessary?’

Mitch smiled.  Of course he was ready.  At
last he would have what he truly wanted.  This was not an opportunity he would
consciously miss.

‘Good.  Let us head for the Pit of
Emptiness and there you shall wait.

…………………………………

Fiona looked at the two men.  She was
quite terrified but she knew that there was nothing she could do.  Both of them
were agreed that she should make the journey and there was no argument that
could sway them.

‘Please, Fiona, don’t worry,’ said the
Professor, thankfully trying to be reassuring, but it was not enough, ‘Did you
not sleep well last night?’

‘Yes, so?’

‘You see then that I can protect you from
the En Sof.  I will not let anything happen to you.’

It did not help.  Tiferet stood there so
calm, so certain of himself and all that Fiona wanted to do was to scream at
him.  She had been through hell during the last few days; haunted by that
abomination, terrified out of her wits.  How could he possibly know what it was
like?

Now, what was he doing?

Seemingly oblivious to Fiona’s feelings
Tiferet took out the bright red crystal he always carried with him, ‘Go on,’ he
said, ‘Take it.  It can’t harm you.’

 Fiona made no move.  She did not want to
handle anything that might smack of this unearthly business.

‘Please, Fiona.  As long as you are within
these walls I can protect you.  Where you are going the En Sof will not be
restrained by physical laws.  If I am to protect you there I can only do so if
you take the crystal.  Take it.  Please.’

Nervously she took the stone.

‘Feel it, let its energy flow with you. 
Go on.  Hold it against your forehead.  Can you feel anything?’

It was so faint, a light tingling, barely
noticeable.  She told him.

‘That’s all I expected.  Good.  This stone
is the Odem, the stone for the tribe of Reuben.  It has been in my possession
for some time now and is attuned to me.  Now it is charged to you.  If you are
to stay free of the En Sof you must keep it with you at all times.  Do you
understand?’

‘Yes, I think so.’

‘Good.  Now you will use the Odem to find
its fellows.’

‘But I’m not one of the descendants of
Cordozo.  I’m not even Jewish.  What good’ll it do me?’

Ben gave an exasperated snort, so typical
of the man’s impatience.

‘Give me strength.  You have been with us
for this long and you still do not understand.’

Fiona held herself in check.  If she had
not been so nervous she would have lost her temper.

‘So listen to me.  These crystals have an
affinity with each other.  It is barely noticeable in this world but in worlds
where the physical laws are different one of these stones can easily be used to
locate another.  Now do you see?’

Fiona shook her head.

‘God give me strength.

‘If you have my crystal it will be
possible for me to talk to you using the five remaining stones.  If there are
any problems you can be pulled back to Earth.

‘So, I will activate the crystal.  Return
it to me.’

She did so and watched as he spoke an
invocation.  It was complete gibberish as far as she was concerned.

‘Good.  It is done.’

‘Now what?’

‘Now we will push through at a place where
the fabric of Abaddon is weak.’

‘How?’

‘Abaddon is the place of lost souls.  It
is not a world of the living.  For some distance surrounding a living person
there will be an area where Abaddon’s equilibrium is affected.  It is there
that I can break through.  So far I have detected two such living presences
though I do not know who they are.  When you arrive you will be with one of the
presences.’

Fiona said nothing.  It still made no real
sense to her but who was she to argue with Professor Tiferet; and what if he
was wrong?  Could he truly protect her from the En Sof?  He could barely
protect himself when it had appeared here but there was nothing she could do. 
Soon she would be leaving the Earth she knew and entering a place called
Abaddon.  Neither Alex Lapski or the Professor had told her anything about that
world save for one thing and that one thing played heavily upon her.  Abaddon
was the place of lost souls.  It was the place that Christians called Hell.

Fiona Tranton was going straight to Hell
and the thought terrified her...absolutely.

‘Stand in the centre of the Sefirotic
Tree.’

Reluctantly she walked forward and did as
instructed then waited as the two men chanted their mantras.

It was like before.  The lines between the
nodes lighting in myriad laser beams and the glowing orb slowly forming with no
more substance than a soap bubble that wafted down towards her.  With a feeling
of terror she realised what was about to happen.

Oh God, no!

‘Stay calm.  You are quite safe, I assure
you.’

Easy for you to say, Professor, she
thought.

‘Remember.  Do not talk to any of the
souls you meet.  They are the lost.  You must not give them hope.  Remember.’

And then it was upon her, surrounding her,
engulfing her.  Her head spinning, the world twisting; faster, faster; a
fairground roundabout driven by a manic operator, the side shows passing at a
phenomenal rate as they became just splashes of uncoordinated colour, and then,
with a disconcerting suddenness, the colour drained.  The world became empty
and the dizzy spinning jolted to an instant and maddening halt.

Wherever it was she had arrived.

Abaddon.

Fiona was quite unprepared for what she
was experiencing.  If this was Hell it was not the Hell she expected to see.

The place was nothing.  No colour, no
sound, no smell, nothing.  It was the loneliest world imaginable.

A profound stillness came upon her that
banished all trace of fear and, in wonder, she walked; forward, she presumed.  If
Tiferet was right there was a living human here, close by.  Mitch, Jake,
Cherry, who?

The crystal.  Could it help her?

She held it in the palm of her hand and
watched as it glowed orange.  There were shadows in its facets, shadows that
were resolving into an image.

‘Fiona.’

The voice was in her head but she knew who
it was; Tiferet.  His plan was working.

‘You have arrived.  I do not know whom
you will find.  If it is Mitch you must make certain that the En Sof is not
with him before you approach.’