She shook her head despairingly, the tears coming with renewed ferocity.
'Do it,' he said, his voice low but full of power.
He pushed her behind him as the first panel of the door splintered inwards.
'Behind the altar,' he told her, his gaze now fixed to the sight before him.
With four powerful blows, Mathias demolished the door, huge lumps of metal and oak flying into the church under the impact of his onslaught. He passed through what remained of the door and stood in the entrance, peering into the church. In the cold light cast by the frequent flashes of lightning, the golden medallion winked evilly at Lambert who reached behind him and grasped a metal candelabra for protection. He also found a heavy golden cross which he picked up.
Mathias advanced slowly down the central aisle, heading straight for the waiting Inspector.
Lambert gripped the puny weapons until his knuckles went white, then, with a scream of angry fear, he ran at the Black Magician and swung the candlestick. The creature raised one hand to shield its face and the metal cracked savagely against its forearm. There was a snapping sound as the bone broke and Lambert pressed his advantage, using his own body as a battering ram, actually managing to knock Mathias to the ground. The two of them crashed into a row of pews and Lambert felt a powerful hand hurl him effortlessly to one side. He rolled once then was on his feet, brandishing the cross and candlestick before him. Mathias lunged and managed to grab the candlestick and Lambert felt the power in that ancient hand as it forced him back. And all the time, those blank red orbs fixed him in an unholy stare. The thin, almost transparent lips drawn back to revntl rotted teeth, the mouth opening occasionally lo reveal the gaping maw within. The stink was unbelievable.
The Inspector felt himself being forced to the ground and struck out with the golden cross, driving the end towards the empty socket which had once housed an eye. The top of the cross disappeared into the hole, swallowed up in the red light which filled the eyeless pit. Mathias only grinned and struck the weapon away, seizing Lambert in a vice like grip, and lifting him by his throat in one huge powerful hand.
'Run,' shrieked the Inspector, and he caught sight of Debbie dashing past them towards the remains of the door. Wind and rain blew in and she could feel them on her face.
Mathias turned, still holding Lambert and pointed his other hand towards the escaping
Debbie. The Inspector felt a force like an electric shock run through his entire body as, through pain-clouded eyes, he saw one of the huge wooden pews at the back of the church lift a good six feet into the air and hurtle across the entrance of the church.
Debbie screamed and fell back. Mathias now seemed to have tired of the Inspector and, with a contemptuous heave,-flung him to one side. Lambert struck the cold stone floor of the church and looked up, stunned, to see the figure of Mathias raise both arms skyward.
There was an earsplitting roar and a large rent appeared in the church roof. Masonry tumbled down. A particularly large lump hit a pew and splintered it to matchwood. Rain poured in through the hole but the Black Magician was oblivious to it and remained where he stood.
Lambert looked on in horror as a large crack appeared in one of the thick stone columns supporting the roof. Dust and ancient stone fell to the floor, mingling with the rain that was now pouring in through the roof.
And the cold. Lambert felt it once more, seeping into his bones, a cold the like of which he had never known, and with it, came the overpowering stench of rotted flesh.
Mathias was grinning, those blazing pools of blood glowing with even more vehemence.
There was an explosion as the stained glass windows shattered inward as if pushed by some giant hand from the outside. Huge jagged shards of coloured glass rained into the church, some remaining intact, others splintering again as they hit the ground. The wind rushed in through the holes, drowning out all other sounds. Lambert tried to stand and found the effort impossible. Debbie too, found herself pinned to the ground by the enveloping force which was invading the church with each second. She could only gasp as she saw her husband dragging himself across the church towards one of the broken windows.
Lambert felt as if he had lead weights secured to every limb and the act of crawling seemed an impossibility. His teeth were chattering, the combination of the driving rain and unbearable cold making his task all the more difficult. Glass cut his hands and knees as he crawled but he ignored the pain and reached out to grasp a long shard of glass which bore the face of Christ. The policeman gripped it, disregarding the blood which ran from his cut palms. He wanted to scream. He felt the cold growing more intense. The sound of the rain and the intensifying storm outside deafened him but he crawled on. Finally, by a monumental effort of will he dragged himself to his feet.
'Our Father, who art in Heaven,' he began, under his breath. Each agonized step brought him closer to Mathias who still stood with his arms outstretched. His back to the advancing policeman.
'Hallowed be thy name.'
The cold wrapped itself around Lambert like a blanket, slowing his already faltering steps. 'Thy Kingdom come, thy will be done.'
He drove himself on, tears of fear and frustration now coursing down his cheeks. The blood from his head wound still dribbling down his face. His hands, slashed open to the bone, gripped the dagger-like shard of glass. The face of Christ suddenly ran red with Lambert's blood as it cascaded over the coloured crystal.
'Give us this day our daily bread and forgive us our trespasses, as we forgive those…'
Mathias was no more than a yard away, his back still to the Inspector.
There was another resounding explosion as a further crack appeared in the central roof support pillar. More masonry sped down, shattering on the stone floor and spraying out like shrapnel.
'… Who trespass against us. And lead us not into temptation, but deliver us from evil.'
Deliver us from evil.
Mathias turned, bringing the full fury of those burning red pools to bear on Lambert.
The Inspector gave a last despairing scream and lunged forward.
Mathias couldn't avoid the thrust and, as Lambert drove forward, the Black Magician opened his mouth in silent agony as the razor sharp shard of glass pierced his heart. Lambert twisted it, indifferent to his own pain. Blood from Mathias' torn heart sprayed him, a thick, almost black ooze which stank of corruption. Lambert staggered back, watching the pus-like fluid spouting from the creature's chest.
Mathias made a desperate attempt to tear the glass free but his hands could gain no firm grip on the slippery weapon and he staggered drunkenly for a second before toppling back.
The blazing red of his eyes dulled momentarily before glowing even stronger and then, as Lambert watched, twin fountains of blood, brighter than that gushing from the creature's heart, spurted from the empty eye sockets. Mathias opened and closed his mouth, speaking silent curses, then, that too filled with dark blood.
Lambert swayed, thought he was going to faint, but Debbie's screams brought him back to his senses and he looked up in time to see that the central roof column was crumbling.
Finding new strength, he ran, vaulting the transfixed body of Mathias and reaching the door of the church just as the roof folded inward.
Debbie and he ran outside, the rain and wind buffeting them about like leaves in a gale, but they fought against it, not even turning to watch as the last remnants of the church roof crumbled inwards. Tons of old stone and rubble crashed down, shattering pews, altar, everything. Burying the body of Mathias for the last time.