God, I hate this place, thought Marco Lombardi as he perched on the uncomfortable plywood bench and waited like a good boy, as instructed. The large room was shabby and unkempt, with straw littering the floor and clumps of it swept up against the base of the wall, so it looked more like a stable than a meeting room. Hardly a fitting place for an animal to spend its time in, let alone that thing kept down there. How many years had it spent roaming its private underworld, its personal dominion, just waiting for the next soul to gorge upon?
Lombardi’s lips curled at the thought and he rubbed his hands together as he pondered who would be next to face that inhuman beast. In all these years he had only ever caught a glimpse of it once, and he had to admit it had terrified him to the core. Yet that couldn’t even begin to approach the dread that those who sought to face it must have felt. Anyway, that wasn’t something to concern him because he wasn’t looking to usurp Father, but only to change the direction of things to come. And given his faith in Avi Legrundy, that change would be coming soon enough.
In all these years he had never been able to get used to this place, and he yearned at every opportunity to return to the opulence of the city. Maybe he had become softened by a lavish lifestyle but, given all the hard work he had put in, it was something that he felt he thoroughly deserved. What was the point of creating such wealth and opportunity only to be force-fed this diet of antiquated rubbish from a bygone era he no longer even respected. How could Father expect him, of all people, to continue on a path that would ultimately lead to the misery of billions of others? Of course it was not the thought of this consequence that concerned him but rather that he had to waste his own time participating in it.
Lombardi again glanced around his dilapidated surroundings and shook his head disparagingly. With its cracked grey plaster walls and stuffy atmosphere the room looked less like an office and more like a storage room. What a shithole.
Just then the sound of the door opening had Lombardi snapping to attention. He stood up immediately as the tall, hooded figure of Father glided into the room and closed the door behind him. Only the lower portion of his mouth could be seen as the sagging hood covered the rest of his features.
‘Forgive my tardiness, Marco, but I had things to attend to that could not have waited.’
Whether through respect or indoctrination, Lombardi gave a vigorous shake of the head. ‘Not at all, Father. Thank you for seeing me.’
With a slow nod, Father placed a gloved hand on Lombardi’s shoulder. ‘This has been a long road for us, son, and I am aware that your patience and loyalty have been tested, but you will be rewarded with everything you deserve.’
Lombardi nodded gratefully and seized upon Father’s words to begin his prepared speech. ‘That means everything to me, but it is also why I asked for this meeting.’
Father remained silent and he stood back, with his hands clasped, and waited for the young man to explain himself.
‘I believe I have discovered the person directing Avi Legrundy against us,’ Lombardi said proudly, then paused for a reaction but, on getting none, continued with his revelation. ‘I tracked several phone calls made to her by none other than Sofia, and it appears she is the one who has been trying to thwart your careful plans.
‘But why?’ Father asked, sounding deeply unconvinced.
‘Perhaps a lack of faith in what we are trying to achieve?’
There was an awkward pause before Father began to nod slowly. ‘Her willingness to conform has always worried me, I have to admit, but I never thought she would go this far.’
Lombardi struggled to prevent a smile forming on his lips but nevertheless he succeeded and he now pushed ahead with his story. ‘I was as shocked as you are now, to say the least, but I assure you I’ve told no one else of her treachery in regards to you and how you may wish to proceed.’
Father’s hooded head swayed from side to side, and he folded his arms before turning away in apparent dismay. ‘What do you think we should do then, Marco?’
This question caught Lombardi off guard, but he smiled graciously and was now totally taken aback by the deference he was being shown by his leader. ‘Well, I think firstly Sofia must be confronted with the truth of her disloyalty, and then I would like to personally meet with Miss Legrundy and determine whether she was in any way involved with this betrayal or simply weak-minded and tricked into compliance.’
As Father mulled over the suggestion, Lombardi couldn’t help but feel an enormous sense of satisfaction at his own cunning. Once the Red Death had got rid of Alex Harker, and that idiot sidekick of his, he could meet with Legrundy, take back the item she had retrieved from them, then deal with her in person, and in doing so tie up any loose ends connecting him to anything questionable. With that achieved he could finish off what had started and take his place at the head of the family. Perfection itself, and a scapegoat offered.
‘Yes, Marco, that would be good,’ Father replied, and turned his attention back to the younger man. ‘But only if I had not already managed to contact Miss Legrundy myself.’
Lombardi’s heart sank like a stone and his breathing grew shallow and erratic. ‘You’ve spoken to her?’
‘Yes, Marco, and what she had to say was really quite enlightening. She said that it was you that had been instructing her, purportedly on my behalf.’
‘That’s a lie,’ Lombardi said defiantly, even though he was beginning to sweat and his voice starting to tremble nervously. ‘Why would I do such a thing?’
Father grasped him by the shoulders and gave him a light shake. ‘Did you really think you could so easily pit us against each other, Marco? Did you really think I hadn’t noticed your loyalty ebbing away these past few months? Such a waste of talent.’
Father released him and turned to face the opposite wall. ‘I was thinking of having you taught a lesson in the same way as poor old Donitz, but I believe you should have the chance to prove yourself once more and let him decide.’
Lombardi knew exactly what was being offered and he had no intention of taking it. He leapt towards the door and swung it open – whereupon he came to a dead stop at what he saw ahead. Sofia stood there in the doorway and glared at him menacingly, as seven of his brothers and sisters stood ranged behind her. ‘All debts must be repaid, Marco, and betrayal is a difficult one to reimburse.’
With Sofia at the fore, the group poured into the room and wrestled Lombardi to the floor. He kicked and screamed wildly, but with little effect, so it was all over before it even really started. Within seconds they had overpowered him with ease.
‘Consider yourself fortunate,’ Sofia yelled over the commotion, then she swept away a small pile of hay alongside the far wall to reveal an old wooden trap-door set in the floor. Its surface was covered with carved symbols of scorpions, swastikas, snakes and beaked ravens, all of them surrounding a large bull’s head with two thick horns protruding from it. ‘Not many are given the chance to test their mettle and thus gain entry to the hallowed Kingdom of God. The true god.’
Lombardi was now sobbing uncontrollably as the trap-door was flung open. He was dragged towards it with his feet scraping against the wooden floorboards as he tried in vain to resist those pushing him ever closer towards that dark gap in the floor. The smell it emitted was truly awful and just as he attempted to scream for forgiveness, someone muzzled him with an open palm and in one swift thrust, he was dumped head first, through the trap-door and disappeared from sight somewhere down into that gloomy darkness.
The others now withdrew from the opening and Father approached with a hand in one of his robe pockets, from which he now produced a small knife with a leather-wrapped handle, and dropped it inside just as Sofia slammed the trap-door shut again.
‘Let us pray for the brother lost to us, and hope he returns to us with a purified heart.’
The group gathered around the trap-door with clasped hands and began to murmur a prayer, even as somewhere beneath them, a deafening roar cut through the air with such power that its vibrations could be felt through the wood flooring itself.
That’s when the screaming began.