Mad Gods - Predatory Ethics: Book I (41 page)

This pronouncement came with a grain of salt and a
chuckle, when it was followed by his equally valid laughter as Adam West tried
to get rid of a bomb on the big screen version of
Batman
. He also loved Hammer’s awful, but chilling,
Dracula: Prince of Darkness.
Adam
thought he would be his choice to play Saruman in
Lord of the Rings.
He was just a really scary guy.

TIME: FEBRUARY 21ST, 1968. DIGBY ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA,
CANADA

1967 was a tumultuous year for many as Kosta and Adam
watched it on their TV, read about it in print or listened to it on the radio.
It began in Sicily, where over two hundred people died in an earthquake, and a
few weeks later, the Rolling Stones offered to spend the night together with a
whole lot of people.

Wild Thing
made Senator Bobby’s heart sing and the Smothers
Brothers were making everybody nervous with their tongue planted firmly in
their cheek. In Texas, Cassius Clay turned Muhammad Ali, won the heavyweight
title, and less than a week later, the top two members of the Rolling Stones
were arrested on drug charges.
Penny Lane
and
Strawberry Fields Forever
and
All You Need is Love
were the newest
Beatles songs that Adam wore out on Kosta’s ears, and in the now acknowledged
Vietnam War, U.S. troops went on their largest offensive.

Muhammad Ali was inducted into selective service, and
three weeks later in New York, he took it out on Zora Folley. The UN tried to
make public proposals for peace in Vietnam, wrapping up the month of March.
Muhammad Ali said that, “No Vietnamese ever called me a nigger,” refused to be
drafted and was stripped of his title. His troubles continued to mount with
indictment, conviction and threatened arrest. Shortly after this, Aretha
Franklin hit the air with
Respect
which Kosta considered to be pretty poetic. In the Stanley Cup that year
Toronto beat Montreal four games to two, and more members of the Rolling Stones
were arrested for drugs.

The Beatles released
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
and Adam couldn’t be talked
to for weeks; he played it over and over, wearing out two copies of the album.
Expo ‘67 was in Montreal that summer, where French leader, Charles de Gaulle,
spread separatist sentiments with “
Vive
le Quebec libre = Long live free Quebec
.”

In September, Adam emerged from his Beatles coma to
peruse the new fall line-up on TV.
Mission
Impossible, Ironside
, and the
Carol
Burnett Show
were the stand-outs, next to
Smothers Brothers, Mannix, Dragnet
and, of course,
Spider-Man.
Adam told Kosta that the
Flying Nun
could take a flying hike.

While visiting Vancouver, they watched movies that
stood out from the every day deluge of news.
The Graduate, Cool Hand Luke, Bonnie and Clyde,
the
Dirty Dozen
and Clint’s newest,
Hang ‘Em High
, influenced Adam to adopt
a new individualistic streak, which worried Kosta for a few weeks, however, it
eventually wore itself out. Adam said that it was too exhausting to maintain
and that he preferred to enjoy his peace and shows.

That year proved to be the turning point in Kosta’s
worry about Adam. It wasn’t until then that he stopped watching for signs of
the re-emergence of the one-year-old, capable of decimating a full-grown
Seeker. He thought he was escaping through the distraction of TV, movies, books
and music, and at first, he was right. His independent decision confirmed what
he read in the
Idammah-Gan
Codex
. It laid out everything the boy who became Adam,
was and would be. It also spoke of other texts, tomes that explained his
destiny in reverential, arcane and anti-Christian terms. The Luciferians might
find those texts still housed in the Vatican Secret Archives, though the
Nobility would most likely be the first to unravel their secrets. It could be
somebody in the Vatican would uncover them first, but Kosta could never be sure
of this. They might stay hidden. He did not have the resources of the Dark
Nobility and knew his time with Adam was now limited. He cherished every second
with him and smiled as Adam continued to unravel the layered meanings on
Sgt. Pepper’s Lonely Hearts Club Band
and the disappointing artsy-fartsy bullshit of
Magical Mystery Tour
.

It was during that year he decided to let the chips
fall where they may. He was prepared for and met, his goal; whatever else came
next was out of his hands. He had run out of alternatives and could only wait
for the rest of the players to find the clues and come to them. He hoped his
years of planning and safeguards would be enough.

TIME: FEBRUARY 22ND, 1969. DIGBY ISLAND, BRITISH COLUMBIA,
CANADA

Kosta and Adam watched the
Magical Mystery Tour
go on though without Adam’s full enthusiasm,
while they laughed at many, yelling, “Sock it to me,” on NBC’s
Laugh-In
. The Viet Cong launched the Tet
Offensive, while Nguyen Ngoc Loan executed an enemy officer with a shot to the
head. The picture flashed all over the media and encapsulated a brutality nobody
unused to war could understand.

In March, JFK’s little brother, Bobby, announced his
bid for the Oval Office, one month after Richard Nixon announced his candidacy.
There would be another Kennedy/Nixon debate, Kosta thought.

Despite the letdown of
Magical Mystery Tour
, in comparison to
Sgt. Pepper’s
, Adam warmed to
Hey
Jude, Lady Madonna
and
Revolution.
His Beatles preoccupation was diluted by new add-ons like the Who, Cream,
Steppenwolf and Jimi Hendrix, who now joined the Rolling Stones, Doors and
Simon & Garfunkel.

April brought shock, when one of the leading forces
in the move for peace and understanding in the U.S., Martin Luther King Jr.,
was gunned down in Memphis. In Canada, a new Prime Minister took office after a
Beatlemania-like campaign. Pierre Elliot Trudeau was determined to make some
major changes, with visionaries like Tommy Douglas in parliament, following the
revolutionary Lester B. Pearson.

In the Stanley Cup the Montreal Canadiens swept St.
Louis’s Blues in four games, with a team that looked like they were setting up
for a dynasty. Adam was beside himself when Lennon and McCartney were featured
on the
Tonight Show
, while Johnny
Carson gave the desk over to substitute host and former baseballer, Joe
Garagiola.

In early June, RFK was shot while campaigning for the
presidency, and Martin Luther King Jr.’s assassin was brought to trial. In
July, in the face of unprecedented, open sexuality Pope Paul reaffirmed his
stance against birth control, which was a good call, quipped Kosta.

In August, over 6000 died in an earthquake in Iran,
while Lennon and his declared muse, Yoko Ono, took a nude picture for
Private Eye
magazine. “Yeesh,” Adam
said, “put some clothes on.”

Sixty
Minutes
premiered and was a staple
of their Sunday night viewing, while more than a week before, Richard Nixon had
asked them to sock it to him. To everyone’s shock, JFK’s widow married a little
Greek gnome, Aristotle Onassis, and LBJ halted the bombing of North Vietnam.

The year ended with the release of the Beatles’
White Album
, which marginally made up
for the release of John and Yoko’s
Two
Virgins
.

On their movie nights in Vancouver,
Yellow Submarine
confused Adam to no
end, though he enjoyed the songs.
2001: A
Space Odyssey
irritated him with its glacial pacing. He thought that Kubric
was a hack, his earlier
Strangelove
obviously a flash in the pan.

Planet of
the Apes
was a great departure from
convention, while
Romeo and Juliet
and the
Lion In Winter
were great
updates of history.
Barbarella
and
Bullitt
appealed to Adam’s testosterone,
while the
Odd Couple
and the
Party
were hilarious. Peter Sellers set
a new standard for interracial understanding of “tasty-num-nums” and “I am not
your shugeh”.
Rosemary’s Baby,
on the
other hand, seemed just plain silly. Considering the perspective from which
Adam viewed it, it was built upon far-fetched premise.

The single most comforting thing that Adam
experienced that year, or any year so far, was
Beggars Banquet
. The Stones’ lyrics for
Sympathy for the Devil
touched Adam on every level. Jagger seemed
to understand there was a mind, emotions and awareness to the embodiment of
evil. Adam remained silent through most of his listening, preferring not to
discuss it even with Kosta. It was too personal and nobody else could understand
it the way that he could.

TIME: AUGUST 14TH, 1970. VATICAN

Lancaster Martin was not a man who was prone to
hysterics. After hours of exhaustive searching, he came to the unmarked door of
the Apostolic Testis and knocked, waiting entrance. The door opened a crack and
Sister LaParee squeezed out, smiled at the father and asked if she could be of
assistance.

“May I come in, Sister? There is something I wish to
discuss with you privately. May we go inside?”

Father Martin’s bafflement was evident as Sister
LaParee attempted to deflect the question. “I’m afraid that is out of the
question Father. My Mother Superior has given strict orders no one is to enter
without express permission from the Secretary of State or the Major Prefect.”
Although her face registered regret, it also revealed an unshakable conviction
she would keep everybody out, short of Christ, Himself.

Father Martin’s face went comically blank struck by
the finality and suddenness of the statement, though he tried to maintain
decorum. “Have you seen Father Quentin, Sister? I’ve been looking for him a few
hours and have yet to find him. There is a situation about which he must be
informed.”

A short shake of her head and shorter smile creased
her plump face. Sister LaParee stared blankly at the Jesuit father, waiting for
him to go or to make further inquiry.

“Sister, the barring of the Apostolic Testis arriving
on the heels of Father Quentin’s disappearance, and after losing some of our
most important texts from the Secret Archives, has got to be connected. Please,
I must find Father Quentin. Can you tell me where he might be?” Martin’s face
was contorted with worry and confusion and he stumbled over his statement. “I
know he’s in the Vatican. I must find someone to warn of our loss.”

“I wish there was something I could do Father but my
hands are tied. Perhaps it would help to speak to Secretary Ciriaci?”

Father Martin nodded, thanked Sister LaParee for her
time and was off as quickly as his robes would allow him. He stopped short of
running, but drew many looks as he hurried past clergy and church officials,
lost either in prayer or politics. He had no intention of going to Cardinal
Ciriaci or Cardinal Raimondi; he went straight for the only man he still
trusted — his own Cardinal Bae.

He rushed into his office, past the shocked clerk who
didn’t have the time to inquire about the nature of his business. Once he entered
the office Father Martin saw that the cardinal was with the other two men whom
he wanted to avoid — Ciriaci and Raimondi. The soft-spoken Jesuit nodded
a greeting to both men and asked if he could speak to the Cardinal in private.
Father Martin’s exclusionary tactics seemed to insult the Secretary of State
and the Major Prefect of the Apostolic Penitentiary, the Pope’s personal second
and confessor. They curtly nodded their heads and left with grim faces.

“I hope what you have to say is important Lancaster.
You’ve just insulted the two most powerful men next to the Pontiff, himself.
What is so urgent?”

“My deepest apologies, Your Worship, but in this
matter, I could only trust you. I’ve been told some texts we’ve been consulting
in the Secret Archives have been sold. Specifically they dealt with the enemy’s
child and his past incarnations. They were in use, as recently as yesterday. In
fact I only rested a short time but when I returned, they were gone!” At his
pronouncement, Martin was surprised to see that his master was unaffected.

“
Le Menace
D’Ours D’Enfer, The Sangrael Gospel, The Tome de Les Parfaits
, and
the Idammah-Gan Codex
, is that correct?
The two cardinals, whom you so rashly dismissed, had already brought this to my
attention. You must come up with something better than this to justify and
excuse your behavior Father Martin.”

“You know how important these texts are Cardinal. They
were the target of an earlier removal attempt, and now, were sold outright. Who
is this officer of the church who acquired them?” Martin asked warily. He was
beginning to suspect his own Master-general of complicity with those whom they
had uncovered. Maybe the records they found in South Carolina weren’t as
complete as they had believed.

“I don’t like the way you’re looking at me Lancaster.
The identity of the person who bought them is irrelevant. The cardinals did not
tell me who he was. However, they assured me that he is a high-ranking cleric.
That is all that you and I need to know.”