Shadows on the Wall 

Chapter 78 - The Erchomenos: The One Who is to Come 

by Dawn


Opening Voiceover (Thayer David) The foretold return of the Leviathan race
marches closer as a small band of people familiar with the battles others
consider plays of science fiction, congregates at the oldest Collins estate. 
These are people who are well aware of the nature of evil pressing down upon
them.  They are not strangers to the underworld or its people.  Now, there is a
new and even more frightening development as time sifts through the glass and
continues to run out in their effort to stop the darkness that is at the
doorstep.  

* The skies over Collinsport grew more ominous as each moment passed.  The moon
had taken on the crimson hue of bright blood as stars rained down throughout
the sky.  The tides answered the call of the moon as the ocean swelled and grew
more violent.  The very town itself seemed on the verge of being washed into
the sea as the ground trembled and shook.  Everyone could sense the coming of
something sinister, but the question remained…What?  Even the residents atop
the hill, the residents of Collinwood, could feel the race toward the impending
apocalypse.  

"Mother?!" exclaimed Julia as she guided the terrified woman toward the chairs
before the fireplace.  "Vicki, perhaps you should quickly fill us in on exactly
what has been going on!  When, how, who??" Julia was nearly speechless as she
gazed at the young woman before her whose appearance seemed to alter by the
minute.  

"No time to answer your questions," she gasped, clutching at her distended
abdomen in horror.  

"Barnabas, help her.  Take her upstairs and get her into bed.  I'll be there in
just a moment." Julia Hoffman watched in disbelief as Barnabas aided Vicki up
the stairs.  She had never considered that the one who was foretold would make
an entrance in the same manner as the Christ of the Bible.  Only this child,
this was no child of good.  This was no child of light.  * 

Seeking answers as well as the missing Vicki, Quentin ventured to Stokes', only
to encounter more questions and concerns as he progressed.  The amulet around
his neck grew hotter and more uncomfortable as the minutes ticked past. 
Perhaps Stokes could shed some insights into the strange occurrences at hand.  

Finding the cottage dark, Quentin turned back toward the Old House.  Something
called to him, drew him back toward the ancient house.  He sensed that all of
his questions would be answered on this night, this new eve, once he found
Vicki.  Yes, the Old House beckoned and he frantically raced ahead.  

* "She's calm for the moment Barnabas.  I gave her something to relax her until
we can decide exactly how to help her." 

"Help her?  Julia, you must realize that this…this thing…is not human.  This is
not a normal human pregnancy.  A woman doesn't just appear at the door on the
verge of delivery, having conceived in apparently a matter of minutes!" 

"Calm yourself Barnabas.  Of course I can see what is happening here.  I'm not
blind.  Nor am I immune to the sense of the Leviathans." She agitatedly rubbed
her temple as the pressure within momentarily increased.  

"Can you feel it too?  Can you feel the evil that is radiating from Victoria
and that 'creature' that she carries?" 

The couple, absorbed in their discussion, did not hear Angelique enter the
room.  

"It is darkness in its truest form.  There is a prevailing sense of it all
around us.  Whatever it is, it is coming, and soon." Angelique stood facing
them with a sense of fear and heightened awareness.  "It is coming.  I can feel
it.  I could see it in Sky's eyes just moments ago, his demeanor, it's all
changed.  He's gone to see if Vicki is resting.  But, we all know, there is no
stopping what will be." 

Barnabas answered the sudden rap on the double doors, not surprised to find
Eliot Stokes on the threshold.  He quickly entered and joined into the
conversation at hand.  There was no need to ask the nature of the discussion
for it was the only topic on anyone's lips.  The townsfolk were fleeing the
town by any means possible, fear and panic gripping the entire region. 
Religious scholars along the coast were leading prayer vigils as the darker
side of humanity looted the abandoned stores and homes.  

"I fear the moment is nearly upon us, my friends.  The apocalypse is near." 

"Nearer than you think Eliot," Julia stated.  "Victoria Winters appeared here
just a short while ago and she is quite visibly pregnant, a state which did not
exist earlier today.  She is now in labor and the delivery of this 'entity' is
not that far away." 

"Certainly it must be destroyed if we are to prevent what is destined to
happen.  Don't you agree Eliot?" Barnabas turned to the professor for support. 

"Barnabas, I'm not quite sure what to believe.  I'm not so sure that the baby's
destruction will divert the evil at hand.  It could have the opposite affect. 
There is just no way to know." 

"But it's inhuman!" 

"I would have to agree with Barnabas, Eliot.  What we know of the prophesy
supports the return of the Leviathan leader.  Certainly the parallels of this
pregnancy and the Biblical nativity are ironically similar.  Etherial entity
impregnates young woman in order to bring his progeny into power on earth…"
Julia frowned in disgust.  "Only this being is not a divine being.  This is a
creature of the underworld and the leader of the ancient race that would again
rule the world in darkness.  It must be destroyed!" 

"You'll do no such thing!" raged Quentin Collins from his post in the hallway. 
All eyes turned toward the heaving, disheveled menace that glared at them with
wild black eyes.  "This is MY child!  You will do nothing to harm him!" 

Julia made quick note of the change in Quentin and the Leviathan charm showing
at his open collar.  This was not the Quentin Collins they all knew.  This was
another of those chosen to fulfill a role to enact the final scenes.  

But, before anyone could respond to his rage and command, Vicki came shrieking
across the landing and down the stairs.  Everyone was thrown back or knocked
from their feet by a solid wave of power that emanated from the raging,
black-eyed woman whose face was maliciously contorted.  White hair streaming
behind her misshapen form, Vicki streaked from the house to the screams, "It's
COMING!  The time is at hand!" 

Quentin gave immediate chase, calling after Vicki as she raced toward Widows'
Hill.  The others were close behind, no one certain what they were facing in
the moments ahead.  

'I must stop this!  It's got to end here, now, before the cataclysm that is at
hand can unfold.  The world as I know it will end.  They'll have won because of
me!  Because of HIM!  I can't let him win!" 

Suddenly, the being, the child in her womb moved and her maternal instincts
flared.  Vicki's human desire to be a mother, to nurture life, conflicted with
her need to end the atrocities she knew would soon occur as she peered over the
edge of the cliff, ready to hurl herself and the parasitic creature inside her
to an instant death on the rocks below.  

Taking a step closer to the edge, hearing the voices of Quentin, Barnabas, and
the others approaching, she was poised to take the step when the cliffs heaved,
the ocean swelled to tidal proportions and meteors streaked the skies.  Halting
in her tracks, the forces of nature converged and the red moon swelled forming
a huge image of Petofi.  With a voice booming as thunder, his commands could
not be ignored.  

"Accept your destiny Victoria!  The time is at hand." 

And as the assembly watched in horror, the earth pitched and rumbled as
Victoria Winters stood in a beam of light, wailing, the blood of impending
birth flowing down her legs.  


To Be Continued .....