The Diablo Horror (The River Book 7) (16 page)

Steven turned to follow the secretary as the other man in the
room turned to leave. They didn’t exchange a glance.
Thank god he was here,
Steven thought.
My hour would have been up had he not.

They passed through another hallway lined with tapestries,
and the secretary began to instruct Steven.

“When you enter his chamber, please stay between the pillars,
and wait until the master calls you forward. Then you can approach his desk.
There is a padded footstool you can use to kneel on while you beg for his favor.”

Kneel?
Steven thought.
I’m not going to kneel to this motherfucker! What a
bunch of intimidation bullshit!

“Be sure to relish the moment when you’re kneeling before
him,” the secretary said, leading him around a corner and down another long
hall. “Your knees will be on the same footstool as some of the most famous
knees in human history.”

More bullshit.

They walked silently until they reached another set of double
doors, and the secretary pushed them open for Steven to enter.

“Mr. Fuhrmann!” the bespectacled man announced behind him,
pulling the doors shut as he left the room.

Steven saw two large marble pillars in front of him. He stood
between them, looking deeper into the darkened room, unable to make out any
details. The room was so quiet he could hear his heart beating inside his
chest.

Probably the effect he’s after – scare the petitioner.

He felt around his neck, suddenly concerned that the leather
necklace might be showing. He pressed down on it, making sure it didn’t rise
above his collar.
Let’s not blow it here at the end.

Large flames erupted behind a stone edifice in the back of
the chamber, lighting up a room draped in red fabric. Large swaths of cloth
hung from the ceiling, singed black at the edges. A figured stood from behind a
table on a raised dais just below the flames, surrounded by marble busts. “Step
forward!” the figure called.

Christ,
Steven thought, amused.
It’s like the Wizard of Oz.

Steven walked forward, past more marble pillars. Flames
erupted behind him as he walked, cutting off his path back. As he got closer to
the standing figure, he could see it was Aka Manah, five or six feet taller
than normal, wearing a robe that reflected the light of the fire behind him. It
looked like it was made of gold.

Steven saw the padded footstool, several steps down from the
table the demon was standing behind. He walked up to it, and stood, facing Aka
Manah.
Too far away, still,
Steven thought.
Have to get closer.

“I trust you do not dare to change the terms we previously
discussed, Mr. Fuhrmann?” the demon said, staring down at Steven, noticing that
he hadn’t yet kneeled.

“I do not change the terms,” Steven said.

“Then kneel, and we’ll begin,” Aka Manah said, the flames
behind him rising dramatically as though they would lash out if Steven did not.

  “I do have a question, though, before we start,” Steven
said, still standing.

“What is it?”

“Why? Why do you do this? What do you hope to gain? You have
everything already, I can see that. So what’s the point, making deals with
humans?”

Instantly the pillars and flames vanished, leaving in their
place an empty room with dark black walls. Steven looked down and saw that the
footstool was gone, too. The only thing remaining in the room was the table and
a chair holding Aka Manah behind it, now reduced to his normal, imposing size,
and no longer wearing a robe. He was naked, as Steven had seen him in his
bedroom weeks before.

“In my thousands of years of deal making, Mr. Fuhrmann, no
one has ever opened the negotiation like that. I’m intrigued.”

A chair materialized on the side of the table opposite Aka
Manah. “Please, won’t you join me? Have a seat.”

Steven walked up the steps of the dais and sat on the chair,
sliding it under the table. He was about four or five feet away from the demon.
I’m in position,
he thought.
Now, how to do it before he detects it…

“Your opening makes me think you do indeed intend to change
your terms, otherwise you wouldn’t have said it.”

“No,” Steven said, suddenly unsure that his disguise was
working. He knew his voice sounded different than normal, and when he saw the
back of his hands he knew they had changed as well, but he was afraid Aka Manah
might pick up something from his phrasing or tone that might give him away.
Activate
the Agimat and kill him!
he thought.
Do it now!

“No, I don’t intend to change the terms,” Steven found
himself saying while he racked his brain for a way to start the attack. “I just
wanted to understand motivations. It helps one know what kind of person they’re
dealing with. This is a life changing deal for me. I’d like to know who I’m in
business with.” He closed his eyes and concentrated on the Agimat, hoping his
focus on it would trip it into working. Nothing happened.

“A philosopher businessman,” Aka Manah said, observing him.
“Sleepy, Mr. Fuhrmann?”

Steven opened his eyes. “No, why?”

“You had your eyes closed. I thought you might be tired.”

“I was just preparing to concentrate on your answer to my
question,” Steven said.

“As far as I know, you’re only trading the souls of yourself,
your wife, and your firstborn, so that hardly entitles you to my biography, let
alone my philosophy. How about you put on the table what your changes to the
terms are, and we’ll see if I can accommodate you or not.”

Do it now!
Steven thought.
How? HOW?

Aka Manah stared at him from across the table, studying him.
There was a long pause as Steven considered what to say next.
Say something,
he thought,
or the jig is up!

Aka Manah tilted his head to one side and squinted his eyes
slightly. “Having second thoughts, Mr. Fuhrmann?”

Say something!
Steven thought.
Anything!

“No,” Steven said. “I’m not having second thoughts. I want to
go through with it.”

“Then let’s make sure we’re still on the same page. Tell me
the original terms.”

He’s suspicious,
Steven thought.
I have no time left. Either I activate
the Agimat now and take him down, or he’ll be on to me.
He closed his eyes
again, and this time he dropped into the River.

He saw Aka Manah’s eyes widen slightly, then a smile spread
across his face, as though he’d found an unexpected amusement.

Mr. Hall!
the demon said.

He felt himself sucked forward toward Aka Manah, his legs
leaving the ground. When he expected to feel his body slam into the demon’s, he
instead found himself inside something else, as though Aka Manah had pulled him
into a trance inside his body. The room was gone, and he was floating. Aka
Manah appeared next to him, dressed in his dark suit and Italian shoes. He took
Steven by the hand and they ascended rapidly. Steven’s sense of vertigo took
control of his mind and he closed his eyes.

Open your eyes and look,
the demon said.

Steven opened his eyes and immediately felt the need to grab
onto something. The only thing he could hold was Aka Manah’s hand. Below him
was Europe. They were several miles above the earth, looking down.

It’s yours,
the demon said.
All of it. We’ll rule together, possess
each other. That’s where you are now, inside me, and me inside you. Unbelievable
power and wealth. The human rulers will bow to you, to us. Look at it! Together
we’ll be the most powerful force that has ever existed. You and I will be one,
forever. I’ve never made that kind of an offer to anyone before, but I’m
offering it to you.

Steven stared down, seeing his feet hanging in midair, clouds
below him obscuring parts of the geography the way he’d seen in pictures from
outer space. He felt delirious, unsure if the cause was the view or the
promises Aka Manah was making.
Demons lie,
Steven reminded himself.
If
I make a deal with him, he’ll want the Agimat for it, both pieces. Then he’s
got all the cards.

We’ll seal the deal any way you want,
the demon said.
We’ll forge the
toughest chain you can imagine, I guarantee it.

What offer can he put on the table beyond this?
Steven wondered.
He’s offering to
share power with me. Why go that far, unless he’s desperate and knows he could
lose it all?

I want my son back,
Steven said.
Can you do that?

Yes,
the demon replied.
We’ll go back two years. You’ll not buy that
house. You’ll never discover the River or get involved with your gift. Things
will go on from there.

You can do that?
Steven asked, looking down at the planet below him, the ideas
of the proposal swirling around in his brain. Jason back, alive. It felt like a
huge relief, something he desperately wanted more than sharing power with Aka
Manah.

Oh yes. I can do that. Just say yes, and it’s done.

Give up the gift for Jason?
Steven thought to himself.
I can do that. Having
Jason back is more important than the River.
He imagined Roy, living alone
in his house, them rarely seeing each other and communicating only at the
holidays. He was suddenly sad for the way he’d treated his father all those
years. He’d be more involved with him, if he took this deal. He’d listen to him
instead of arguing with him.
But what if I go back two years, and I don’t
remember any of these resolutions? I’ll be right back in the same pattern I was
in before. No connection with dad, no reason to spend more time together.
He
pictured his dad, wondering what he’d think of this offer from the demon.

He’d say, ‘demons lie’, that’s what he’d say.

Steven turned to Aka Manah.
He said I’m inside him right
now,
he thought.
I wonder what else is in here?

Steven closed his eyes and pictured inside the demon. There
were dozens of faint voices, crying out, none of them powerful enough to be
heard clearly over Aka Manah’s thoughts. Steven centered in on one of them, and
focused. He saw a man, lost and wandering aimlessly on an endless landscape.
Steven knew his story instantly – the same deal offered to him. Nice at first, but
eventual subjugation by the demon. Now the man was just a shell, wandering aimlessly
inside the demon, a deal fulfilled but not kept.
He lied when he said he’s
never offered this deal before. He’s offered it dozens of times, whenever he
needed to. He offered it to this man, and look – that will be me if I make the
same mistake. Just another one of dozens similarly duped.

No,
Steven said to the demon.
No deal.

They accelerated downward rapidly, much faster than gravity.
Within moments they were back in the room, sitting at the table. Steven felt a
little nauseous, he assumed from the rapid descent. Aka Manah sat across from
him, but he was shifting – his body was moving from left to right suddenly,
quickly, with no discernable movement in between.

I’ve seen this before,
Steven thought as he raised his hand to his mouth, afraid he
might vomit.
I’ve read about this before. How do I know about this? What is
it?

The demon rose from his chair and walked around to the side
of the table where Steven sat. His image leapt an inch forward, then backwards
as he walked. Steven felt sicker by the moment, and he leaned over in his
chair, looking away from Aka Manah, ready to puke. He felt the demon’s hand on
his back.

“You’re a half rate gifted at best,” the demon said, his
voice cutting off some words and stringing others together. “Take off the Agimat
and put it on the table.”

Steven’s stomach was cramping so hard he felt he might pass
out from the pain. He slid off the chair, feeling the demon’s hand removed from
his back, and crawled under the table. He watched as Aka Manah continued to
walk around him. His legs would skip backwards and then jerk forwards with
incredible speed, and the sight of it made him even more nauseous. He gagged,
expecting something to come up, but nothing did.
I know what this is,
he
thought.
I read something about it once. What is it?

“The human mind can handle only a few seconds of this, Mr.
Hall,” he heard the demon say above him. “You may think yourself resilient, but
I guarantee you, much more and you’ll begin to lose your mind. You’ll be a
vegetable. Toss the Agimat out, and it’ll stop. You don’t have much time.”

Time,
Steven thought.
Time.
He remembered reading a story in Roy’s book
about a little girl who had been made sick by a ghost that shifted time, but
the memory wasn’t normal – it was wrong, as though from someone else’s mind.
That’s
what he’s doing,
Steven thought.
He’s jumpcutting back and forth in
time, just fractions of a second, but enough to disorient me, make me ill.