Order of the Golden Dawn (Neophyte Series 2)

4. A Choice On Its Own

        A MOMENT OF CONFUSION hung over the scene as I stood paralyzed in a puddle of my own making. My tear ducts felt frozen, and my eyes burned like never before. The infamous serial killer glared at me—a hellish beast of inhuman proportions straight out of my nightmares. I silently prayed there was something in the champagne distorting my reality, but the terror was all too real. This was no man, but a creature not of this world. Its demon-red eyes narrowed in the darkness, skin scaly and teeth pointed, encases within thick, untamed mutton chops. Yet, its identity was unmistakable.

'D'Onston.' The name escaped my lips in a breathless whisper as the towering figure crept forward like a shadow, its movements erratic and twisted. 'What the hell happened to you?'

He paused, torn between finishing his prey or pursuing the only witness to his crime.

'N-no,' my voice trembled as I summoned every ounce of courage. 'Y-you leave him b-be.'

The beast grinned wickedly, pleased with my defiance.

'I was wrong.' The words fell from my lips as I instinctively stepped back. 'You are no man.'

A groan came from behind him—Lewis Carroll, barely alive, moving just enough to be seen.

'Dr. D'Onston?' I raised my hands in a feeble attempt to calm the creature as it crept forth. 'Robert, can you hear me?' It advanced still, its eyes unnaturally wide, drool dripping from its scaly lips. 'It's me, Meric . . . son of Thomas Bishop, remember?'

The creature's erratic movements continued, its long arms twitching upward, preparing to strike.

'Right,' I gulped, inching backward through the fog. 'Now'd be a good time to—'

'RUN!' Carroll's voice shattered the silence, echoing through the alley and spurring me into action. But as I turned, there it stood before me, as though there were two of them. Behind me, nothing—only a dark smoke carrying the stench of sulfur, the same odour left by the veiled hag. It raised a demon-like hand, its fingers twice their natural length, sharp as daggers.

'No, no, no, please!' I stumbled back, arms raised in futile defense, bracing for death. Suddenly, a light so intense it felt like the sun materialized inches from my face, blinded me. In that brief strobe, I saw the monstrosity for what it was. D'Onston's skin was discolored, cracked like a dried oil painting stretched over muscle and bone. His greasy mustache and wild mutton chops flashed silver in the light, at odds with the familiar black eyebrows that betrayed his identity.

The light consumed the creature, leaving me quivering on the cobblestone, half-expecting that I was already dead. I couldn't comprehend what I had just witnessed—D'Onston was Jack the Ripper, the Leather Apron himself! I had seen it with my own eyes, a truth that would surely seal my fate. But what had warped him into such a demonic form? What dark forces could transform a man into a drooling, bloodthirsty beast?

My thoughts halted as Lewis's moans snapped me from momentary paralysis. The world had gone dark, like the blindness that follows a photographer's flash. I scrambled toward him, hands outstretched, feeling my way forward until my shoes touched his body, and I knelt at his side.

'Lewis?' I asked as my vision slowly restored. 'Lewis, are you okay?' He lay beneath the dim glow of an overhead lantern, disfigured beyond the reach of medical help.

'I'm . . . alive,' he replied, his voice weak, every word a struggle. 'But for how much longer . . . I cannot say.'

His body was broken beyond repair—legs shattered at the knees and bent in opposition, one arm twisted unnaturally, his entire form like a doll tossed aside after a child's tantrum. Lewis Carroll would not survive the night, this much I was certain. There were no incisions, no signs of occult ritual—just a savage attack driven by vengeful force, far beyond human capability. Here lay a loose end tied indefinitely and so discarded—the price of his threat to such a dangerous man evident in the savage manner of his disposal—if even a man was Robert D'Onston.