Page 61 of Sins of the Heart
readable. Dagan did a quick translation, reading aloud.
“For all men who shall enter this place…impure…
there will be judgment…an end shall be made for
him…I shall cast the fear of myself into him…his head
cut off, his soul putrefied…for this is the first of twenty-
one gates to the domain of Osiris.”
Since all of those gates were in the Underworld in
the territory of Osiris, Dagan knew for a fact that this
door was not one of them.
“What’s he playing at?” Alastor stood at his shoulder.
“Let’s find out.” Dagan closed his fist around the
lock and yanked hard. One side of his mouth curved
up as the metal gave way. The door opened soundlessly, the hinges well oiled. The old-penny stink of
blood was so thick he could almost reach out and touch
it. “Smells like we hit the mother lode.”
He stepped into the windowless room and turned a
slow circle. The concrete floor sloped away from the
bare brick walls in a subtle grade to a drain in the center. In the corner was a plastic tub sink and beside it a
fridge plugged into a portable generator that chugged
with a steady hum.
“High-end generator,” Alastor observed.
“Let’s see what’s so special…” Cold air rushed free
as Dagan opened the refrigerator door and, with it, a
whole can of worms. Plastic wrap couldn’t obscure the
contents: a half dozen neatly arranged human heads in
various stages of decomposition and an open box of
baking soda.
“Wonder if he changes it every three months.”
Dagan held up the box.
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