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emissaries to our world. Erzulie finds respite from her frigid world by inhabitingor as we say, ridingthe maggots' tiny little bodies as they burrow into the flesh of the dead and warming herself as the body decomposes. It is but a brief respite at best, as I'm sure you can imagine." |
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Placing the jar on the floor, the Dark Man picked the spike up again. |
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"Now, one of my ancestorsa man named Macumba . . . You've heard of him, I believe? Anyway, Macumba had great respect for Erzulie and thought how unfair it was that all she ever got was leftoversI hope you don't object to my little joke. So Macumba created this very special set of knives." |
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The Dark Man spun the spike slowly in front of Bryan's eyes. |
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"Now, I know what you're asking yourself: 'What makes these knives so special?' Let me show you." |
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The Hungan turned Bryan's hand over so that the palm was lying faceup and drove the spike all the way through it into the floor. Bryan opened his mouth to scream, but discoveredas Conrad had a few minutes beforethat his vocal cords were paralyzed. |
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The Dark Man waited a moment, patiently savoring every instant of Bryan's terror and pain, and then jerked the spike free. |
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"Look there. Go on, don't be like that. See, no hole. No blood." |
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It was true. Even though Bryan's hand still felt like it was resting in a vat of pure sulfuric acid, there wasn't a mark on it. |
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"That's what makes them special." The dark giant chuckled gleefully as he tested the point of the spike with his finger. "They hurt like the devil, but don't do any permanent damage. |
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"Ah, now I see you are confused. The knivesthe maggotsthe knivesthe maggots. What has all this got to do with you? I'm glad you asked." |
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The goateed man appeared at Bryan's side with a spike in each hand. At his master's signal, he drove the spikes through |
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