The Adventures of Gravedigger, Volume 2 Read online

  Gravedigger staggered, every breath now feeling like it was being dragged out across broken glass. She hissed as Pandora struck again, catching her in the right leg. It was a glancing blow but it left a small streak of blood across her thigh.

  “You may have defeated me the last time we fought,” Pandora said, triumph seeping into her words. “But this time is different. I know that this has to be our final battle. I can’t afford to let you stop me from doing what has to be done!”

  Gravedigger blocked a two-handed stroke of Pandora’s blade and the two women began a deadly ballet, each moving in perfect unison with the other. Their battle led them back-and-forth across the room where Charity’s old life had ended and in the gloom Gravedigger thought for a moment that she could sense her old mentor watching her. He reminded her that an outright victory wasn’t needed, for a plan had been hatched, one that required only that Gravedigger hold out long enough.

  Each woman alternated between being on the offensive and merely trying to protect herself. Gravedigger was caught twice more by cuts to her midsection while Pandora winced when her opponent’s sword left a gash on her right cheek.

  Slowly, the tide of the battle seemed to shift. Pandora’s actions began to grow slower but it was a peculiar sort of fatigue that differed greatly from their last encounter, when she had been betrayed by Locke’s body. This time, not only did her limbs begin to feel leaden but her vision was swimming as well.

  Gravedigger, in response, stopped the fierce nature of her own attacks. Instead, she began focusing on merely blocking Pandora’s awkward thrusts.

  When Pandora finally began to sway, Gravedigger dispensed with her own sword entirely, delivering a backhanded blow with her fist. It sent Pandora toppling to the ground.

  After kicking the woman’s weapon away, Gravedigger knelt at Pandora’s side. “I’m sorry,” she said.

  “What did you do to me?” Pandora asked, barely able to focus on Gravedigger.

  “The crossbow bolt I hit you with was drugged.” Gravedigger hurried from the room and then returned with a small object that was wrapped up in cloth. Setting it on the floor, she removed its covering and set it between Pandora’s breasts.

  “No,” the immortal whispered. “Please don’t do that. Kill me if you want but not this…”

  The Silver Skull seemed to stare at Pandora with its glittering eyes.

  “You left it behind when you escaped from Hendry Hall,” Gravedigger said.

  “Please…” Pandora pleaded. “Death. Just kill me.”

  “I thought about doing that,” Gravedigger admitted. “But I’m afraid that destroying your body might just free your spirit. You’d be able to take over someone else and then we’d be doing this all over again. The only way I can make sure you can’t harm anyone ever again is to put you back in your prison and then hide The Silver Skull.”

  Mercifully for Pandora, she finally blacked out, preventing her from bearing witness to the horror that was to come.

  Gravedigger had no idea of the exact spell that the Norse sorcerer had used to bind Pandora but she had found similar rituals in her library. There was no reason to think that she’d fail to successfully imprison her enemy but Gravedigger knew that such things were very specific. It was possible that the binding spell could be much stronger or weaker than the other, along with possibly unforeseen side effects.

  Still, it was the best idea that she had been able to come up with.

  With only a little hesitation, Gravedigger placed one hand on Pandora’s head and the other atop The Silver Skull.

  Then she began to chant. The words were incredibly old and many of the deities being invoked were unknown to modern man. They still had power, which was proven when Pandora’s body began to shake and a milky white substance oozed from her nostrils, turning slowly in the air before finding passage into The Silver Skull. Gravedigger continued her chanting through the entire process, which took far longer than she anticipated. By the time she was finished, she was exhausted and her breathing was ragged. She knew she needed medical treatment. Even with her faster-than-normal healing, there was a limit.

  Gravedigger wrapped up The Silver Skull and then took stock of the body that had been left vacant by Pandora. She had wondered if there was a chance that Locke might be able to resume control of the body but there was no pulse and she wasn’t breathing.

  The threat of Pandora was over, her spirit locked away once more. It seemed a cruel end for a woman who had given in to mere curiosity but if there was one thing that Charity had learned, it was that life was rarely fair.

  PANDORA’S MIND EXISTED in the void once more, adrift in the miniature universe that lay within The Silver Skull. She wanted to scream but she had no mouth. She wanted to beat upon the walls of her prison but she had no hands.

  She had nothing.

  She was alone.

  And then she felt it; a mournful psychic wail, of despair and loneliness.

  Desperately, she sought it out and finally located its source: Locke. The woman’s spirit had been yanked out along with her own.

  Pandora finally reached out to her and the two embraced on a spiritual level.

  “I survived centuries in here,” Pandora thought/said and she knew that Locke sensed her words. “That was when I was alone. Now we have each other. The time will come when we are freed once more. We merely have to be patient. In time, all will be ours.”

  Locke said nothing, still lost in her suffering.

  CHARITY GRACE OPENED her eyes and found that Mitchell was lying next to her, a smile on his lips. “Good morning,” she whispered, leaning in for a quick snuggle.

  His arm went over her and he kissed the top of her head. “You missed the big announcement at breakfast.”

  “You shouldn’t let me sleep so late.”

  “I couldn’t wake you with a marching band.”

  With her voice buried into his chest, her words had a muffled quality to them. “So what announcement are you talking about? If you’re going to say that Li’s pregnant, I’m going to scream.”

  “No. It was about Mortimer. He’s planning to run for Mayor.”

  “Mayor? Of what?” Charity pulled away and pushed herself up onto her elbows.

  “Sovereign.”

  “That’s insane. The election’s only a year away and nobody knows him.”

  “Insanity defines a lot of what we do, I think.”

  “The sort of scrutiny he’s about to get could shine a lot of light on us.”

  “True. But just think how convenient it would be to have one of us sitting in the Mayor’s office.”

  Charity closed her eyes and tilted her head back. She had a dozen thoughts running through her head all at once but eventually she shoved them all out of the way. “No. I’m not going to worry about this.”

  “You’re not?” Mitchell asked in surprise.

  “No. It’s his decision and I’ll support him if that’s what he wants to do.” Sliding out from under the sheets, Charity pulled on a robe and tied it around her slender form. “Let’s take everybody out for lunch to celebrate.”

  “Are you feeling okay?” Mitchell inquired, arching an eyebrow.

  “That demon… What he said about beating myself up and then talking to Pandora… it made me realize something. I have three years and that may be all I get. I want to do it right and I want to earn my way to having a lot more but I shouldn’t ignore the gift I’ve been given. I have friends and a home. I have something that I believe in… all for the very first time. No matter what The Voice decides three years from now, I have today and I shouldn’t waste it.”

  Mitchell nodded. “I like that way of thinking.”

  “Good, because I’m going to try and do more of it. Simply killing the bad guys isn’t enough to make me the kind of person I want to be and I don’t think it’s going to be enough for The Voice, either. I need to be… a better me.” With a suddenly wicked smile, she undid her robe and let it fall. “Want to join me in the
bath?”

  Mitchell stood up, laughing. “I like this way of thinking, too. Let’s do more of it.”

  They embraced and in that moment, Charity did not think of monsters or killers or the value of her soul.

  She thought only of her friends and the love she felt for them.

  And The Voice was pleased.

  THE END

  GRAVE MATTERS

  OR…

  I THINK THEY’RE BUGGING MY HOUSE!

  Hello, Faithful Readers! I hope you enjoyed the second adventure of Charity Grace – it was certainly a lot of fun to write.

  As I said before the first book came out, I wanted to do a series that was a little bit different than what I’d written before and which would stand out among the hordes of New Pulp series that are coming out. Having a female lead who didn’t rely upon her sexuality to get by was one difference and having her set right smack-dab in the middle of pulp’s golden age was meant to reinforce that. There are several excellent modern-day New Pulps that star female heroes but the ones that are set in the 1930s and 1940s tend to fall back on the femme fatale mode of characterization… and I wanted to have a hero who was a bit more than that. Hopefully Charity Grace is a character that you enjoy as a person.

  I also wanted someone who has a very defined purpose… but one that went beyond the usual revenge motivation. Charity is driven to kill evil men but it’s part of a spiritual quest – and as we had mentioned in the first book and reinforced in this one, it’s not enough to simply be a vigilante who offs the bad guys. She has to become a better person.

  As I was working on this novel, I came across some artwork for DC’s new Pandora comic. Their anti-heroine by that name wears a cloak and wields pistols, delivering harsh justice to her enemies. Visually, she bore a rather interesting resemblance to Gravedigger. Considering that I was already writing a story that featured Pandora as the villain, having a DC Comics character that looked so much like my hero was an odd coincidence. In their version, Pandora unleashed the Sins from a box that was shaped like a golden skull. In mine, Pandora herself had been trapped in a silver skull!

  Despite those few similarities, the plotlines that DC and I ended up using were quite different. Even so, it was close enough that I rewrote one of my scenes to better define the differences between my version of Pandora and theirs. In the end, theirs is meant to be a hero. In mine, she may be sympathetic but she’s also all kinds of crazy.

  Keep in mind that I discussed in detail the origins of my character in the first volume and while they had a few comic book influences (mostly from the Valiant Universe), DC’s Pandora was not one of them – at that time, the character had only appeared a few times and was most notable for having helped reboot their continuity in Flashpoint.

  The use of a silver skull in my story actually came from a Shadow novel by that title that was published in The Shadow Magazine January 1, 1939. I decided to use The Silver Skull as the subtitle for this adventure since I had elected not to use Pandora’s name in any capacity.

  So, what’s next for Gravedigger? Look for another volume in about a year’s time, with the Mortimer Quinn for Mayor plotline bubbling in the back of both it and the fifth volume of Lazarus Gray. Since we’ve dealt with “The Other” that was teased in volume one, we’ll have a clear path for whatever I decide to do for the next book. I definitely want to continue to focus on the interpersonal lives of our cast and shine a light on Charity’s personal growth.

  Stop by my blog (http://www.barryreese.net) to keep up with the goings-on in all my pulp stories, as well as take a gander at exclusive artwork.

  Also be sure to look at the rest of The Sovereign City Project, which includes my own Lazarus Gray series, Derrick Ferguson’s Fortune McCall books and Tommy Hancock’s Doc Daye.

  See you in volume three!

  A TIMELINE OF THE UNIVERSE

  ACCORDING TO BARRY REESE

  Major Events specific to certain stories and novels are included in brackets. Some of this information contains SPOILERS for The Peregrine, Lazarus Gray, Eobard Grace and other stories.

  ~ 800 Viking warrior Grimarr dies of disease but is resurrected as the Sword of Hel. He adventures for some time as Hel’s agent on Earth. [“Dogs of War” and “In the Name of Hel,” Tales of the Norse Gods].

  1748 – Johann Adam Weishaupt is born.

  1750 – Guan-Yin embarks on a quest to find her lost father, which takes her to Skull Island [Guan-Yin and the Horrors of Skull Island].

  1776 – Johann Adam Weishaupt forms The Illuminati. He adopts the guise of the original Lazarus Gray in group meetings, reflecting his “rebirth” and the “moral ambiguity” of the group. In Sovereign City, a Hessian soldier dies in battle, his spirit resurrected as an headless warrior.

  1793 – Mortimer Quinn comes to Sovereign City, investigating the tales of a Headless Horseman [Gravedigger Volume One]

  1865 – Eobard Grace returns home from his actions in the American Civil War. Takes possession of the Book of Shadows from his uncle Frederick. [“The World of Shadow,” The Family Grace: An Extraordinary History]

  1877 – Eobard Grace is summoned to the World of Shadows, where he battles Uris-Kor and fathers a son, Korben. [“The World of Shadow,” The Family Grace: An Extraordinary History]

  1885 – Along with his niece Miriam and her paramour Ian Sinclair, Eobard returns to the World of Shadows to halt the merging of that world with Earth. [“The Flesh Wheel,” The Family Grace: An Extraordinary History]

  1890 – Eobard fathers a second son, Leopold.

  1895 – Felix Cole (the Bookbinder) is born.

  1900 – Max Davies is born to publisher Warren Davies and his wife, heiress Margaret Davies.

  1901 – Leonid Kaslov is born.

  1905 – Richard Winthrop is born in San Francisco.

  1908 – Warren Davies is murdered by Ted Grossett, a killer nicknamed “Death’s Head”. [“Lucifer’s Cage”, the Peregrine Volume One, more details shown in “Origins,” the Peregrine Volume One] Hans Merkel kills his own father. [“Blitzkrieg,” the Peregrine Volume One]

  1910 – Evelyn Gould is born.

  1913 – Felix Cole meets the Cockroach Man and becomes part of The Great Work. [“The Great Work,” The Family Grace: An Extraordinary History]

  1914 – Margaret Davies passes away in her sleep. Max is adopted by his uncle Reginald.

  1915 – Felix Cole marries Charlotte Grace, Eobard Grace’s cousin.

  1916 – Leonid Kaslov’s father Nikolai becomes involved in the plot to assassinate Rasputin.

  1917 – Betsy Cole is born to Felix and Charlotte Grace Cole. Nikolai Kaslov is murdered.

  1918 – Max Davies begins wandering the world. Richard Winthrop’s parents die in an accident.

  1922 – Warlike Manchu tutors Max Davies in Kyoto.

  1925 – Max Davies becomes the Peregrine, operating throughout Europe.

  1926 – Charlotte Grace dies. Richard Winthrop has a brief romance with exchange student Sarah Dumas.

  1927 – Richard Winthrop graduates from Yale. On the night of his graduation, he is recruited into The Illuminati. Max and Leopold Grace battle the Red Lord in Paris. Richard Winthrop meets Miya Shimada in Japan, where he purchases The McGuinness Obelisk for The Illuminati.

  1928 – The Peregrine returns to Boston. Dexter van Melkebeek (later to be known as The Darkling) receives his training in Tibet from Tenzin.

  1929 – Max Davies is one of the judges for the Miss Beantown contest [“The Miss Beantown Affair,” The Peregrine Volume Three]. Richard Winthrop destroys a coven of vampires in Mexico.

  1930 – Richard Winthrop pursues The Devil’s Heart in Peru [“Eidolon,” Lazarus Gray Volume Three].

  1932 – The Peregrine hunts down his father’s killer [“Origins,” the Peregrine Volume One]. The Darkling returns to the United States.

  1933 – Jacob Trench uncovers Lucifer’s Cage. [“Lucifer’s Cage”, the Peregrine Volume One] The Peregrine battles Doctor York [All-Star
Pulp Comics # 1] After a failed attempt at betraying The Illuminati, Richard Winthrop wakes up on the shores of Sovereign City with no memory of his name or past. He has only one clue to his past in his possession: a small medallion adorned with the words Lazarus Gray and the image of a naked man with the head of a lion. [“The Girl With the Phantom Eyes,” Lazarus Gray Volume One]

  1934 – Now calling himself Lazarus Gray, Richard Winthrop forms Assistance Unlimited in Sovereign City. He recruits Samantha Grace, Morgan Watts and Eun Jiwon [“The Girl With the Phantom Eyes,” Lazarus Gray Volume One] Walther Lunt aids German scientists in unleashing the power Die Glocke, which in turn frees the demonic forces of Satan’s Circus [“Die Glocke,” Lazarus Gray Volume Two]. The entity who will become known as The Black Terror is created [“The Making of a Hero,” Lazarus Gray Volume Two].

  1935 – Felix Cole and his daughter Betsy seek out the Book of Eibon. [“The Great Work,” The Family Grace: An Extraordinary History] Assistance Unlimited undertakes a number of missions, defeating the likes of Walther Lunt, Doc Pemberley, Malcolm Goodwill & Black Heart, Princess Femi & The Undying, Mr. Skull, The Axeman and The Yellow Claw [“The Girl With the Phantom Eyes,” “The Devil’s Bible,” “The Corpse Screams at Midnight,” “The Burning Skull,” “The Axeman of Sovereign City,” and “The God of Hate,” Lazarus Gray Volume One] The Peregrine journeys to Sovereign City and teams up with Assistance Unlimited to battle Devil Face [“Darkness, Spreading Its Wings of Black,” The Peregrine Volume Two and Lazarus Gray Volume One)]. Lazarus Gray and Assistance Unlimited become embroiled in the search for Die Glocke [“Die Glocke,” Lazarus Gray Volume Two]