Missing... Presumed dead!

Slowly, Klyne forced himself to open his eyes and uncertainly looked around. He was still within the painted circle and swaying violently he walked to its edge. The two men who had been with them, now lay dead, half in, half out of the circle. His head ached; his mind whirled, he slumped back to the cold floor as his legs gave way beneath him. Taking a deep breath, he stood again, this time managing to stagger towards the door, where the three large bolts were still in place. In a stupor he pulled back the bolts and fell into the arms of Peter Steele.
    "Don’t take me! I didn’t look! I didn’t look!"
    "It’s okay, Klyne. It’s me, Peter Steele."
    "They’ve gone! But the door is locked! The windows locked! And they’ve gone!"
    "Who’re gone? What happened here?" asked Henn, but Klyne answered with only a giggle. As Steele held Klyne tightly to prevent him from falling, Henn went straight into the room with Maria and Tretow at his side.
    "I’ll take him home, he needs rest. He’ll tell us in due course." Henn nodded at Steele’s suggestion and walked over to look at the two dead men. He unashamedly gasped at what he saw, both men had the same hideous look. Their hands still outstretch in the action of clawing at something. Wide open eyes red with blood. Mouths gapping open as if they could still be silently screaming. Their faces set in death with the unimaginable horrors they had witnessed in life.
    "What on earth happened here and where’s Vacily? I thought he said he was staying with Klyne?"
    "Alex, it wasn’t from earth that was here," said Maria Tretow slowly. "Whatever it was, I think it took our Vacily away with it. As soon as I know what, or who, then I will have some idea as to where he is now and hopefully get him back."

Once back at headquarters Steele remained with Klyne as Dr Taylor administered a sedative. Slowly the young man’s heart rate returned to nearly normal, although his eyes still had a wild, faraway look and his face remained deathly pale. Steele gentle helped him back into the office, the sooner they found out what had happened the more chance they would have of finding Sukoloff.
    "Klyne, I know this is difficult," said Henn softly. "We have to know if we’re going to save him. Can you talk about it?"
    "I think so," he said taking a deep breath. "He seemed to know what was going to happen. He knew and kept praying. All the time praying. He told me not to look."
    "Try again, only slower."
    "He told me to keep my eyes closed tight. So I did. I felt him holding me... He held so tight he left a mark. Then he pushed me and I fell. By the time I opened my eyes both him and Scarab were gone."
    "Scarab!?" Both Henn and Proctor jumped to their feet. "Are you sure it was Scarab?" Henn pushed a button on the intercom and ordered a file to be brought in and looked again at the message Sukoloff had sent.
    "Damn it! Yes it’s here, ‘Can save Klyne, Scar... Scarab is here.’" When the files arrived Henn showed an old photograph to Klyne.
"That’s him, he was chanting and laughing. He said, ‘finally, Sukoloff, I’ve got you.’ That’s what he said!"
    "I thought you told me Vacily had killed Scarab?" whispered Proctor.
    "He did! First part of the puzzle solved. Will bring old adversary back. They did, back from Hell." Henn stopped as he saw all the questioning looks, then painfully explained about the man in the photo. "None of you knew Scarab or wanted to. He was Pia once, then he became a double agent for Kijac. Most of Kijac’s schemes were dreamt up by Scarab. Because of his traitorous behaviour, Vacily was led into a trap believing Scarab to be his back up field officer. A young girl, boy and their Mother were killed and Vacily badly wounded. We stopped Kijac’s plans, but Vacily never went back in the field again. Scarab was the only man for whom I saw Vacily unashamedly show his hatred for. Now slowly, Klyne, what did you see? Anything might help."
    Klyne told of the terrors he had witnessed; of Sukoloff’s praying; of the noises and the foul smelling red eyed horses. It was at this point that Maria stopped him with a start of panic in her soft voice. "How many? How many horses were there?"
    "Four," Klyne replied.
    "No, oh no!" she said a sob in her voice. "Anything apart from that! Please try to remember, the man Scarab, did he say anything that you understood?"
    "Yes, some of it, although I thought he was mad. He was calling someone... That’s it! I remember now. He said, ‘I call on you oh Horsemen of the Apocalypse to claim what is rightly yours.’ Then he said our names. What does it mean? It’s all nonsense isn’t it? Some cruel joke? Isn’t it?"
    His question remained unanswered as Maria sat down again and buried her head in her hands. "It’s useless, we’ve lost him." she said.
    Everyone just looked blankly at her and it was Tretow who eventually broke the silence. "Ma, we have to get him back. He’s been through so much just to stay, we can’t give up on him. Call him back."
    "Darling," she said smiling sadly. "There are so many things we don’t know and so many that we can’t interfere with. The horsemen are the greatest force known. Famine, Pestilence, War and Death. Vacily knew he couldn’t get into the circle because Scarab would have caused it to resist any supernatural forces. It protects those already inside. So he pushed Klyne into the safety of the circle and pulled Scarab out. The horsemen took the two souls not protected by the circle."
    Tretow began shouting, bitterness and anger all too evident in his voice. "But two others died. They took four, not two. Get them to give Vacily back."
    "They can take as many as they like. Those men must have looked into the face of death. Nobody can survive that. Death took their souls as well. Once the horsemen take someone, then they can’t come back. We don’t even know where the souls are taken. But we can’t get them back."
    "Well you’d better damn well try!"
    "Tret, please, I’ll get people to search and to call him. But as we have no idea were he is, it’s going to be an impossible task."
    Henn was stunned, how could this be? One minute you’re running free and the next gone? Maybe Sukoloff was a prisoner of the highest, or perhaps lowest counter organisation ever known, the loathsomeness and darkness of the underworld. Held captive for all eternity with no hope of salvation. Henn suggested that a Priest could help by at least guiding the souls towards the light.
    Maria explained. "At the time of the exorcism it might have helped, but now? Alex, it’s like their millions of miles away in any direction you can think of. Maybe they did go to the light, Vacily’s praying might have helped. They could be in Gehenna or one of the many dimensions that connect everything."
    "Ma, surely all you have to do is look in two places, Heaven and... You know?"
    "I wish it were that simple. Out there is like an atom surrounding a nucleus and thousands of atoms make up a tiny particle of something recognisable to the naked eye. All I know is that Vacily was a lost soul and so may still be lost in a world full of lost lonely souls. But I pray he went over the line and found his Elysian fields."