His name was Count Konrad von Gessner,and he was being chauffeured on the back country road by his brother Eugene.The family's curse and blessing had not shown up in Eugene yet,but Konrads days were numbered.He took the multiple shots required to keep his condition under check.There was a cocktail of drugs-Tranquillizer,hormones,insulin,estrogen and vitamins.The doctors at the families private clinic in the USA had told him the metabolic and physical changes were accelerating and the drugs were less effective.They told him that in 6 months to a year his bodys would begin to transform and would be the death of his humanity.
Konrad wasn't worried,he'd had four wonderfl decades and had made preparations for the transformation his families tainted seed would force upon him.For the von Gessner line had always been monsters in the making,monsters which filled anyone who beheld one with equal amounts of terror and awe.His brother mentioned the slow moving drovers truck in front of them,and the speeding car which was coming from the other direction.As they watched,the on coming car seemed to hit a pothole and slide into the path of the truck.There was the sound of twisting metal and shattering glass as the truck smashed broadside into the passenger side of the out of control car.The impact sent the car bouncing into the ditch,where clouds of steam rose from its smashed radiator.
The Rools Royce slowed to a stop and Eugene spoke in hi dutch to his brother.He would check on the driver of the truck if Konrad would check on the car.As Konrad approached the car he saw the driver lay unconcious,she had smashed her head into the dashboard.It was Amanda and she wasn't going to make her appointment at Wolf Lake.
Konrad stood there,a tall European aristocrat in every sense of the word.His cape billowed behind him and silk white gloves enclosed his effeminate hands.He raised his eebrowe slightly when he took a closer look at Amanda.He had seen strange sights,and been privy to strange secrets,so he knew in an instant what kind of creature Amanda was.He carried her back to the back seat of the Rolls Royce and laid her out.A search through his own medical supplies showed him the most appropriate drug and he gave her an injection.Then he called his brother over and they spoke quietly for several minutes.The driver of the truck was alright and was already on the defensive.It was the cars fault,not his.Eugene returned to the truck,handed over some papers and told him to forget everything he had just been involved in.Do so and he could retire a wealthy and happy man.If not?Well Eugene left that hint unsaid.
Two minutes later the road was lonely and isolated once more.The drover had driven off with his truck and Amanda was in the hands of The Order of the Chimerae.The only hint that something had happened here was the smashed car at the bottom of the ditch.And it was a deep ditch.It could take days,if not weeks before anyone bothered to look in that ditch.
1561 AD July 23
Horst Gessner was relaxing on the stern deck of the Portuguese Man O War Azorean Queen.Most of his supplies had already been offloaded onto the beach beside the Brazilian jungle.He had signed aboard at Antwerp and had been the ships only passenger.He was a naturalist,and had been fascinated with tales the Portuguese brought back of a tribe in the jungle which worshipped a deity they described as Kothoga:The Devil God.He had decided to see if the tales were true and had prepared supplies for a three year expidition.Tomorrow he would join his supplies,but tonight the crew was entertaining him with horn pipe tunes and sailors jigs.They had all partied and feasted on wild boar and fresh tropical fruit from the nearby jungle.It was now time for a story,and as an old sailor told of experiences as a young sailor,Horst's ears perked up.The old sailor was describing the Kothoga.
"Aye senor,tis true,the Kothoga is as big as the pyramids of Egypt,as tiny as a tit mouse.It has bat wings,feathered wings,insect wings and no wings at all.It has no legs,two legs,four legs and six legs.Its fangs are as long as the captains cutlass,sharper then the sail makers needles,and its jaws can crush the bones of a bull elephant.It has tentacles with suckers which will suck a man dry.It hops,crawls,glides and burrows.Aye senor,it is a most fearsome beast......"
The next morn the longboat rowed Horst Gessner ashore.He was wrong about one thing though.It did not take him three years to find his devil god,but only three days.