Dreamscape Read online

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  Rob Hinds was walking across a burnt and blasted land; it was filled with the burnt remains of trees and animals, the heat of this terrible land being almost too much for him to bear. From the black sky above him a terrifying thunderstorm suddenly exploded into life, lightning lighting up the land while the accompanying thunder almost deafened him. Hot rain now beat down upon him, in seconds he was drenched through to his skin, desperately he looked around for shelter, and in the far distance he saw the black outline of a house and decided to head towards it. He tried to increase his pace, but the ground between him and the shelter offered by the distant house was broken and it hid many channels that were now filling with water. He soon found out that haste did not necessarily mean more speed, for he had stepped into a deep hole full of rainwater, and then he tripped when his foot caught the far side of the hole, sending him sprawling. He landed heavily on the wet ground, and swore as he felt the hot muddy water enter through his already wet clothing. Swearing again he stood up, only to find himself transported to the inside of what seemed to be a very old Victorian house. The house was lit by paraffin lamps, the odour of burning paraffin permeating into every corner of the building. As he stood there trying to overcome his confusion he heard screaming coming from somewhere upstairs, his initial confusion disappeared with the need for action and he started towards the staircase that climbed up towards the screams, his saturated clothing leaving a trail of water behind him. Before he even got to the stairs he heard heavy thuds from behind him, he turned around to see a creature of hell coming towards him, it was a two headed dragon straight out of Tartarus. Although he was startled by the sight of the monster, it did not cause him to freeze; for one thing he recognised it from the time Moira Bourbon had carried him off to die in that hell dimension, thankfully for Rob that part of her plan had failed.

  As he readied himself to react to whatever the creature did, one of the heads roared at him, but it was only to distract him, for from the mouth of the other head flames shot straight towards him. Rob had seen the creature do exactly this while he had been tied up and waiting for death in Tartarus, he quickly dove through an open doorway that was directly opposite him, for this time the fates had appeared to smile kindly upon a champion. He pulled out his weapon and aimed it at the empty doorway; however the creature did not burst through the open doorway but through the wall alongside it. The dragon lowered its heads and roared once again at its prey, and just as Rob fired his weapon, but the bullets had no effect on the creature from hell. The dragon seemed to smile at his ineffective weapon and then it lunged at him, knocking him off his feet, his automatic pistol flying from his hand. The dragon gently put one of its front legs upon him to stop him from escaping, then its two heads came closer to his and its large tongues came out and licked his face, growls coming from its massive maws.

  Rob could smell the rancid breath of the creature, but thankfully it was now that he woke up with a start, fear filled his heart for he had thought that death was only a second away. Realising that it had been just another of the nightmares that had been plaguing his sleep lately, he sat up. He felt and looked exhausted, his breathing was ragged and his sleep had certainly not refreshed him. Christina, his wife, was also awake, and looking very concerned for her husband, for just lately he had not been able to enjoy a full night`s sleep, which meant that neither could she. Christina was worried about two things, her husband`s health, and whether Moira Bourbon was in fact dead, for this seemed to be very much like her evil handiwork.

  “Another nightmare Rob, you really do need to see someone about them, your recent encounters with evil may still be affecting you Darling.” Christina Hinds said anxiously.

  “You may be right Darling, thankfully my work for the coming week is light, I only have to take a train ride and collect a file, that`s all, nothing satanic thank god.” Rob replied exhaustedly.

  It was a month after their encounter with the hell snake and almost a year had passed since Rob Hinds` satanic encounter with Moira Bourbon; fortunately Rob had no idea of her newly acquired position, or the new powers that went along with her new job. This knowledge alone would have given him sleepless nights, and had he also known that she had regained possession of the Ark of Baʿal Berith; he would have had sleepless years, if he was allowed to live beyond Christmas.

  Rob lay back down and as he was so very tired, and he soon fell asleep and did not wake up until nine o`clock in the morning, and it was just as he was beginning to wake up that he heard a voice speaking to him.

  “Rob, Moira Bourbon is after revenge, be careful my friend she is stalking you.”

  Rob sat up instantly and looked for the speaker, it had sounded very much like his friend Gerry Handley, but he was dead! The room was empty, however, his friend Father Pritchard had once received a warning message from beyond the grave, that time it had been from John Ryman, Rob`s dead brother-in-law, and that time it had seen them taken to Tartarus by Moira Bourbon, and it was there that Gerry Handley had died.

  Feeling just a little anxious about the future, Rob rose, shaved and showered and then enjoyed a leisurely Sunday breakfast with his wife and her younger sister Cassie, he did not mention the warning for fear of scaring his wife or her sister, he would wait for any further developments before mentioning it to anyone.

  Rob had been temporarily taken off the active list after yet another dangerous case, this one involving Daesh terrorists, on Monday morning all he had to do was to collect some documents from a Colonel Masters, a retired MI5 agent who had some information for him regarding another MI5 agent.

  Monday morning soon came along and with no need to go directly to the office that day Rob took a leisurely walk to the train station; his destination was the city of Oxford.