Silas Robb: To Hell and Back

Chapter 4

Li Zhang looked around the small warehouse space in disgust. Dust covered the floor in a thick layer; boxes and wooden crates filled with Chinatown souvenirs were stacked haphazardly around the room. Some had broken open and spilled their cheap plastic contents across the floor. The air was musty and stale.

“You have much to do in preparation for the master,” Li said to his lieutenant.

“Yes Mr. Li. I just procured the place this morning. I had no idea the previous tenants had left it in such a state,” Chen said, looking nervously at Li. “Unfortunately, the previous owners are in no position to help us clean.”

“They are dead?”

“Of course. I am not sloppy.”

“But maybe a little arrogant?” Li said while raising an eyebrow.

Chen looked down. “I am sorry sir. They are dead and the bodies disposed of.”

Li walked around the room, kicking debris out of the way and stirring up dust. Upstairs he could already hear his men cleaning the office space to make it serviceable.

This area, however, was the most important, the most sacred. It would house the body and soul of the master. After it was clean, shamans would come to prepare the ground, then finally, they would enact the ritual to bring the master here. Li’s lips curled into a smile.

“Have someone work on this room right away. Someone who knows how it should be prepared. The ceiling might be a problem.”

“Yes sir,” Chen said.

“Has everything else been taken care of? Are we on schedule?” Li asked.

“Yes, our people were able to get the… item loaded onto the cargo ship in China without any problems.”

“And on this side of the ocean?”

“We have made arrangements with our people in customs to make sure the crate disappears before it is searched. We should have it here in the warehouse within the next twelve days.”

Twelve days. It seemed like an eternity. To be so close, after all these years. But Li could wait. He had waited his whole life, as his father before him had, waited for the right time for the return of his master. A few more days would not matter. Then the world would be theirs for the taking.

“What of this group, the Inquisition Project, that we were warned about? What do we know of them?”

“There is very little to know, sir. All that we have learned about them has come from your informant,” Chen said.

He reached into his pocket and pulled out a photo.

“This is Silas Robb, one of their agents. He seems to be the biggest threat from this Inquisition group in the city. He is the one your informant warned us about.”

Li took the picture. The man in it was large, wearing a biker jacket and screaming into a microphone. He looked like an i***t.

“He does not seem like much of a threat,” Li said.

“Never underestimate Silas Robb,” said a voice from the shadows of the doorway.

Two of Li’s soldiers standing by the door jumped at the voice. Before they could recover, a man stepped into the room. Or rather, he limped. He was tall, perhaps the tallest person Li had seen who wasn’t a professional basketball player, and he leaned heavily on a cane. He was dark, but not of skin color. What Li could see of his face was ancient and pale. No, it seemed as if the shadows draped themselves over his shoulders. The shadow cast by his flat-rimmed cowboy hat obscured his face, making it impossible to get a good look at the man.

The lit end of a hand-rolled cigarette flared red in the shadows under that brim, followed by a stream of acrid smelling smoke. It smelled of no tobacco that Li had ever known.

Though they had met several times before, Longmire never failed to bring a chill to Li.

“Speaking of informants,” Li said. “Hello, Mr. Longmire.”

“Reverend Longmire, if you please. Or Reverend, if you must shorten it. I earned that title in service to the Lord.”

He took a few more steps into the room. The temperature suddenly rose, like a heater had switched on. Longmire smelled of horses and road dust. Li didn’t think the man had ridden a horse down the street, but the cowboy hat and tan duster did little to change the image. Even Longmire’s slightly accented voice sounded like a combination of Max von Sydow and Clint Eastwood.

“Silas Robb is a snake, a clever snake. Just when you think you have him, he does the thing you would never expect,” Longmire said. “He has more years of life on this earth than all of us put together. He has experience.”

“You sound like you know him well?” Chen asked.

“Well enough,” he said and tapped his cane. “He gave me this limp a long time ago.”

“How long?”

“Long enough for you to know I ain’t altogether human.”

Longmire turned to Chen, and the shadow lifted from beneath his brim just enough for them to see the dead stare. The temperature in the room heated up few more degrees. Li was now sweating.

“Do you really think this man or this Inquisition group could pose a significant threat to our goals?” Li asked.

Longmire placed his cane directly in front of him and leaned forward onto it. “If I did not think he was a threat, I would never have come to offer my services when I learned of your activities.”

“How did you learn of our plans anyway?” Chen asked. “The only people who knew are in China, and they are part of the family. They never would have spoken to the likes of you.”

“Silence, Chen. He is here at my invitation and is a guest. You will show him respect,” Li said.

Longmire stepped close to Chen. Even from several feet away, Li could smell the rot that mingled with the scent of horse. He watched Chen’s face turn pale as he gazed beneath the brim of the hat to the shadow covered face.

“I have my connections…Chen, is it? Connections in the dark bowels of this world. Little gets past me when it deals with the blackness in all men’s hearts. Speaking of hearts,” Longmire said.

He stretched one long, bony finger out and placed it lightly against Chen’s chest. Chen screamed and fell to his knees, clutching at this chest. Li stepped forward, but Longmire raised his hand to hold him back.

“That was my touch on the blackness in your own heart that you felt. I believe that proves my point,” Longmire said.

“You said you had an idea of how to get rid of Silas Robb?” Li said.

Longmire gazed at the shocked and panting Chen for a moment more before turning back to Li.

“Doppelganger,” Longmire said.

“A Dopple—what?” Li asked. The name sounded familiar, but he could not grasp its meaning.

“A Doppelganger,” Longmire repeated. “It is a German word for a being that assumes the look of another.”

“Isn’t that just a myth?”

“We who live beyond the Pale know myth to be truth. Come now Li, you are raising your master, this Belial, and you speak to me of myths,” Longmire said and stepped close to Li. “A doppelganger will look like Silas, act like Silas, and in some cases remember like Silas. All the while it will be under my control.”

“Our Control,” Li interjected, but Longmire said nothing. “Why the complexity? Why do we not just kill him?”

Longmire made a harsh, cough-like bark. It took Li a moment to realized he was laughing.

“Killing Silas might be harder than you think. Besides, if we kill him as you suggest, the Inquisition will know something is going on. The last thing we want is too much scrutiny by that group. No, we trap him and replace him with the Doppelganger. Once he is contained, you will have all the time in the world to bring back your master and plan your conquest.” Longmire said.

“And what is it you want, Longmire?” Li asked. “I can’t believe you sought us out and offered your help from the kindness of your heart.”

you“Ah Mr. Li, you are right; there is very little kindness left in my heart. I want revenge Mr. Li, revenge for all he has taken from me.”

“Revenge, Reverend Longmire, is not profitable.”

“I beg to differ, it is the coin of the soul,” Longmire said quietly. He had walked away from Li as though inspecting the room, for which Li was grateful. He was uncomfortable around Longmire, and Li was never uncomfortable. Now the man looked back over his shoulder at Li.

“There is one thing else I will need. You see, I can provide the Doppelganger, but it will require immense power. I will need the Ring of the Jade Emperor.”

“What? Out of the question!” Li said.

He was stunned that Longmire even knew about that artifact. It was one of the most powerful relics in existence and was destined to rest on Belial’s finger. Even Chen, still pale and weak, perked up from where he leaned against a wall.

“You are not worthy of it,” Chen said. It was a credit to his loyalty that he could say such a thing after feeling Longmire’s touch on his heart.

“Unfortunately, there is no other way. I must have the ring and its power to make a creation strong enough to mimic Silas Robb. Your master knows this as well,” Longmire said.

Li looked sharply at Longmire. Had this man had some sort of dealings with the Master? Wouldn’t Belial have told him? He was liking Reverend Longmire less and less.

“Look,” Longmire said and nodded toward the wall. “I believe he approaches.”

A shadow detached from the corner and glided along the wall. It started as a nondescript blob sliding across the brick, but slowly lengthened into the form of a man. He was a tall, skeleton-thin shadow, hunched with age; his hands were held up in front of him, long fingers protruding like the talons of a large bird. A sense of menace filled the room, so strong Li fell to his knees. Its power was strong for something that was little more than a shadow puppet. But not for long master, not for long, Li thought to himself.

But not for long master, not for longLongmire lit another hand-rolled cigarette and spit on the ground. Li ached to kill the man for such lack of respect.

“Welcome, Lord Belial. This will be your new home when we finally join flesh with spirit once again,” Li said.

“No, this is not a home, but a birthplace,” the somewhat hollow and disconnected voice of Belial hissed. “My home will be above all the earth.”

The voice sounded far away; even so, Li felt the power in it. The world would tremble when they were able to raise Belial and his strength was whole.

“Longmire speaks true,” the shade of Belial continued. “He will need the ring to do my bidding.”

“But master, what if he does not give it back?”

“Oh, he will give it back,” the shade said. He slid over to Longmire’s shadow and even Longmire had to look twice. It was disconcerting to see a shadow of nothing. “He knows that when I walk the earth he will have nowhere to hide, ring or no ring, I would come after him. He knows that when my dominion is all the world, those that betray me will suffer the most.”

Longmire let out a puff of smoke right where Belial would have been if he was not just a shade.

“The ring, Li,” Longmire said.

Li nodded to Chen. Chen looked once at Longmire with disgust before heading out of the room.

“I hope you still have the Gateway Amulet? It is a precious thing I have loaned you,” Belial said in a voice barely above a whisper.

Li hissed through his teeth.

“The Gateway Amulet?” Li asked. “Longmire, you have this stone? But how?”

Longmire chuckled a mirthless, dry laugh. “I have it. It was your master who gave it to me. It does him no good on the other side; he needed it here. But first I need it. It was all part of the bargain, paid with my freedom.”

He pulled a long, thin chain from his inner pocket. At the end, a purple stone— shimmering even in the dark room—was attached

“No!” Li cried out. “It is part of the ritual, it is too precious. We must keep it here.”

A shadow hand clamped down on his shoulder. Long black fingers sunk into his flesh through the clothes. Li winced in pain, though to his credit, he didn’t pull away or run.

“You try my patience, Li. Your family has kept their faith with me all these centuries; will yours be the generation that falters? The deal was made. A deal is a deal even made in hell. He will deliver the key to my freedom when he uses it for his own revenge. Revenge that also eliminates a threat to us.”

Li’s stare burned into the darkness beneath Longmire’s hat.

Belial’s hand faded from Li’s shoulder, only to appear on Longmire’s. Longmire stiffened, and Li felt a little satisfaction. It seemed Longmire was not immune to fear.

“And Longmire, do not forget our bargain. Deep in the pit of my prison, you made your promises, and you will not betray me. If I am once again sealed in that prison for millennia, I will not be alone.” The shadow grip seemed to squeeze into Longmire’s shoulder and Li was once again rewarded with a shudder passing through Longmire’s duster-covered frame.

“I have another task for you, Longmire,” Belial’s shade continued, “But don’t worry, it will be one you enjoy. The Inquisition has another threat for us, one even you are not aware of. The Hellwatchers must be eliminated before they discover our plan.”

“Hellwatchers?” Li asked.

“Monks, servants of the Inquisition. They watch Hell from this mortal plane looking for signs. My release from the void will not go unnoticed, but we should delay raising the alarm. Kill them.”

“Won’t their deaths raise the alarm?” Longmire asked. “Just as Silas’ would?”

“They have seen nothing for centuries and the Inquisition is more concerned what is here, in front of them. They care not for some clan of forgotten monks. We only need a few days, I doubt anybody will notice that quickly.”

The shadow that was Belial dimmed.

“I grow tired,” Belial said, and his shadow crept back to the corner. “Make things ready for me Li; we are too close for there to be trouble. Mark the Inquisition and Silas Robb; they are a threat. Mark Longmire’s words and mark the time, for in only days I will rule the world.” He faded back into the shadows.

Chen came back into the room carrying a small wooden box. He also came with more men. Longmire ignored the obvious attempt at a threat. Li took the box from Chen and brought it to Longmire. When he stood only a few feet away from the Reverend, he opened the box. Inside was a ring of jade and silver inlay. Li could feel the power emanating off of it.

Apparently, so could Longmire. The shadow had lifted for a moment from under his hat and Li could see his eyes widen, flattening out the crow’s feet and weathered skin that surrounded them. As Longmire reached for the ring, Li wanted more than anything to close the box and laugh in his face, but he knew that would bring the wrath of his master. And that Li feared more than anything.

Longmire pulled out the ring and slipped it into the pocket of his jacket. “Thank you, Li. You serve your master well.”

With that, Longmire limped towards the door; the men between him and the door parted before him, avoiding touching him.

“Reverend Longmire,” Li called and the man stopped, but did not turn around. “You told me of the doppelganger, but you also mentioned trapping Silas Robb first. Where do you plan to hold him?”

“Simple. We send him home,” the reverend said and left as quickly as he had come.