Geniuses® IV: The Double-R Prophecy Continues: Black Magic

By Neil W. Flanzraich

Having defeated the evil Geniuses Abaddon and Arkady Astrakhan, Roger Reynolds, the leader of the world's Counsel of Geniuses, and his wife Rebecca believed they were finally done with the Astrakhans.
They were wrong. Arkan Astrakhan had come to earth from the Andromeda Galaxy to avenge his sons Abaddon and Arkady. He had been made immortal and a master sorcerer by Andromalex, the powerful demon ruler of the Andromedan underworld. That demon also committed to come to earth and help Arkan destroy the Reynolds family.
Roger and Rebecca were shocked to learn Merlin in the 6th century prophesied that in their upcoming battle Andromalex would kill Roger, his family and friends and the world would become a bleak and brutal place ruled by Astrakhan and Andromalex. Merlin's prophecies had always come true.
Will Roger find a way to prevent that doom? Their lives and the fate of the world hang in the balance.

• Language: English
• Publisher: AuthorHouse
• Release date: Sep 18, 2023
• ISBN: 9798823010955

Neil W. Flanzraich

Neil Flanzraich graduated from Harvard College and Harvard Law School. He has worked in the pharmaceutical industry for over thirty years, and is currently the executive chairman of a biotech company, and lead independent director of a New York Stock Exchange- listed company. Flanzraich and his wife, Dr. Kira Flanzraich, live in Coral Gables, Florida. They have two adult sons who live in New York City. This is the second novel in his Geniuses series.

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© 2023 Neil W. Flanzraich. All rights reserved.

This is the fourth novel in Neil W. Flanzraich’s Geniuses® series.

The name Geniuses is trademarked and owned by Neil W. Flanzraich.

No part of this book may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted by any means without the written permission of the author.

Published by AuthorHouse   02/22/2024

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1094-8 (sc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1093-1 (hc)

ISBN: 979-8-8230-1095-5 (e)

Library of Congress Control Number: 2023915440

Any people depicted in stock imagery provided by Getty Images are models,

and such images are being used for illustrative purposes only.

Certain stock imagery © Getty Images.

Because of the dynamic nature of the Internet, any web addresses or links contained in this book may have changed since publication and may no longer be valid. The views expressed in this work are solely those of the author and do not necessarily reflect the views of the publisher, and the publisher hereby disclaims any responsibility for them.

Contents

The Double-R Prophecy Continues: Black Magic

Prologue

Chapter 1 Halloween Spirit

Chapter 2 Roger’s Intuition

Chapter 3 A Dinner Party

Chapter 4 Out for a Stroll

Chapter 5 Life on Astron

Chapter 6 Andromalex

Chapter 7 A Sorcerer

Chapter 8 Two Worlds End

Chapter 9 Survival and Journey

Chapter 10 Nightmare

Chapter 11 Leaving Astrakon; the Demon’s Pledge

Chapter 12 Arrival on Earth

Chapter 13 The Mansion

Chapter 14 Clarissa’s Story

Chapter 15 Arkan’s First Night Out

Chapter 16 Building an Empire

Chapter 17 A New Face and Name

Chapter 18 Criminal Operations

Chapter 19 A Housewarming Party

Chapter 20 My Son is Missing

Chapter 21 Demon’s Pledge

Chapter 22 Delphi Answers

Chapter 23 Demon’s Journey; Evil Sending

Chapter 24 Clarissa: A Mother Again

Chapter 25 Arkan the Great

Chapter 26 Brainwave Blocking Devices

Chapter 27 Rebecca’s Secret

Chapter 28 Prophecy’s End

Chapter 29 Contemplating Doom

Chapter 30 Can You Help?

Chapter 31 A Way Out

Chapter 32 More Questions

Chapter 33 The Devil You Say!

Chapter 34 Shaking Hands

Chapter 35 Haggling

Chapter 36 Before Time

Chapter 37 A Pact with the Devil

Chapter 38 Devilish

Chapter 39 When and Where?

Chapter 40 The Seductresses

Chapter 41 Maria Gonzalez

Chapter 42 Warming Up

Chapter 43 Battle Begins

Chapter 44 The Demon Appears

Chapter 45 Unexpected Visitor

Chapter 46 The Devil isn’t Stupid

Chapter 47 Day After the Battle

Chapter 48 A Card Game

Acknowledgements

It is filled with world building and character development that is easy to love. The imaginative style of writing that Flanzraich possesses is outstanding and the amount of action, adventure, and drama reels readers into the storyline, and makes them embrace this novel and others by this author.

—Pacific Book Review

Readers will be left both satisfied and wanting more.

—Pacific Book Review

If you are looking for a novel – or series – to introduce your young reader to fantasy and science fiction, then Neil Flanzraich books are the perfect choice. This is a series which will stick with readers for years to come.

—Pacific Book Review

In perfect fashion for an action/fantasy series like this, the stakes continue to get higher in this installment, building up to what promises to be a final showdown between good and evil forces.

—The US Review of Books

New readers will get a crash course in the history of this franchise while faithful followers are treated to an exciting and surprising conclusion well worth the wait.

—The US Review of Books

This book is

dedicated to: My darling wife Kira, the love of

my life; my sons Derek and Jordan; my daughter-in-law Sara,

and my adorable granddaughters Isla Rae and Nora Skye

The Double-R Prophecy Continues:

Black Magic

T he cosmos, incomprehensibly vast, is magical. Trillions of galaxies, sextillions of stars, and countless planets, moons and asteroids all spinning, swirling and spiraling in limitless space, not caring about, or even noticing, the inhabitants of our little planet.

On Earth, a momentous conflict between good and evil, foreseen 15 centuries ago by the wizard Merlin, races toward its climax.

A few virtuous Geniuses will battle an ancient sorcerer and the demon ruler of the Andromedan underworld. Their lives and the fate of our planet hang in the balance.

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Prologue

L ate on November 2 nd , Roger Reynolds and his wife Rebecca were in bed. As Rebecca slept, Roger thought ¹ about Merlin’s warning.

Life can change from moment to moment – one moment, secure and happy; the next, imperiled and anguished.

Roger thought of the millennia-long conflict between the evil Genius Astrakhan family and his own family, and recent seesawing events:

We’ve been on a wild ride the last 48 hours. I try to take life’s ups and downs in stride, and be ready for whatever comes next. But I really didn’t want another bad turn of fortune’s wheel.

It all began more than 2,500 years ago as a desperate conflict between Arkan Astrakhan, who ruled the planet Astron in the Andromeda Galaxy, and my ancestor, Raghnall Reynolds, who led the planet Regolon in the same galaxy. The conflict ended in the destruction of both planets and almost all their inhabitants.

To save his newly born son from his planet’s destruction, Raghnall Reynolds sent him to Earth. To save his newly born twin sons, Arkan Astrakhan sent one to another planet in the Andromeda Galaxy, and the other to Earth.

Before putting his sons into space vehicles, Astrakhan implanted in their brains and DNA: (i) the evil principles he lived by, and (ii) hatred of the Reynolds family.

A demon had granted immortality to Arkan and both his sons. His son Abaddon, who landed on Earth, was an evil fiend. In the sixth century he betrayed and slew my ancestor Sir Reginald Reynolds, and his wife and little daughter.

Over the next 1,500 years, Abaddon caused plagues and provoked wars killing millions. He also tortured and killed generations of my family.

Then, five years ago Abaddon attacked us. The wizard Merlin and I fought and killed him. I hoped we were done with the Astrakhans. But three years later his brother Arkady came to Earth for vengeance. Arkady had spent 2,500 years brutally conquering and ruling the planet he landed on in the Andromeda Galaxy.

On Earth, Arkady attacked us. After a long struggle, I rendered him unconscious. Rather than continue the killing between our families, I let Arkady live. I removed his Genius powers and his implanted evil and hatred, and set him free. We were finally done with the Astrakhans, I thought.

Early this morning my daughter Roxanne and her husband Andor told us she was pregnant. Such wonderful news! Since only 500 Geniuses live on Earth, we joyfully celebrate births.

Thinking we were rid of the Astrakhans and learning a grandchild was on the way, Rebecca and I were overjoyed, and our family and friends began celebrating. Minutes later, our ancient friend Merlin arrived outside our home with a terrible warning:

[T]he travails I foresaw in the sixth century for you and your family are not yet over. Be on your guard. Evil is again coming your way, and travels at great speed! Be strong. This, I fear, will be a more terrifying challenge than any you have yet faced.

Merlin vanished, and Rebecca and I returned to the ongoing celebration. We smiled, but our hearts were filled with dread. We hadn’t yet recovered from our last battle, and another terrifying challenge was racing toward us. Fortune’s wheel had taken another turn.

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Chapter 1

Halloween Spirit

A large mansion on the outskirts of D.C., October 31, 10 p.m.

L ate at night on Halloween, a tall old man walked down the marble steps of his mansion. Despite his heavy black cashmere coat, he was cold. He impatiently waited a few seconds for his car.

The old man barked at his chauffeur, Take me to Laurel Heights in Arlington, Virginia, and be quick about it! The driver held his tongue.

Earlier the old man read that residents of Laurel Heights had decorated their neighborhood for Halloween. He thought: I dislike many things done on Earth, but the celebration of Halloween particularly offends me. It’s an insulting mimicry of the supernatural.

The streets in the area had been closed to traffic. When they’d driven as close as they could, the old man exited the car and put the chauffeur to sleep, thinking: One less witness.

Hours before, Stockton Street was teeming with trick or treaters. Now it was deserted, except for the old man. Looking at least 75, he was an erect 6-feet-5 and extremely thin. His face was horribly scarred. A wide-brimmed black hat was pulled low over his head, hiding his face.

Surveying the street quickly, the old man slowly walked back. Stopping at a rusty old hearse – with a plastic skeleton sitting in the driver’s seat – he pointed his left index finger at the vehicle. The skeleton became real, and eerily gleaming eyeballs appeared in its bony eye sockets.

The old engine sputtered to life. Maniacally laughing, the skeleton drove the hearse wildly down the street, knocking over decorations and a fire hydrant. This flooded the street. The old man was just warming up.

He paused at a house decorated like a pirate ship. Pointing his finger, he whispered in a language never spoken on Earth, and the house became a 16th century brigantine. Ghoulish pirates hoisted the ship’s sails. Rising with a loud groan, the ship sailed into the night sky.

He passed three crepe-paper witches hanging from a tree. Words whispered and fingers moved. The witches came alive. Cackling, they took to the sky. Three witches in pointy hats and capes flew on broomsticks across the moonlit sky.

Next the old man stopped at a haunted house, filled with cardboard and plastic ghosts and demons. He pointed a finger. All those ghosts and demons came alive, howling and wildly running through the neighborhood.

The large lawn next to the haunted house had been decorated as a cemetery. Dyed, eco-friendly foam tombstones were inscribed with amusing epitaphs.

More whispers and finger movements, and the cemetery sprang to life. Ghosts, zombies, ghouls and skeletons rose from graves, and staggered down the street, screaming and moaning.

Hearing the commotion, some residents stepped fearfully out of their houses. Terrified by what they saw, they retreated behind locked doors and called the police. The Arlington County Police Department turned out in force – six squad cars and a SWAT vehicle.

The stunned police officers had no idea how to restrain these creatures from a nightmare. Seeing a tall man amid the chaos, they called to him with a bullhorn.

The man would have liked to incinerate them all, but thought better of it: I won’t be able to conceal their disappearance from the two people whom I really don’t want to know I’m alive and on Earth.

Deciding he’d adequately expressed his displeasure with Halloween foolishness, the old man whispered. His spells vanished. The hearse returned to its place, and the skeleton was again plastic with no eyes; the pirate ship became a house, and returned to its foundation; the graves closed. Every ghost, zombie, skeleton, ghoul and witch dissolved into the night air.

The old man left the damage done by the open hydrant and set on fire all the hanging decorations, thinking: This will keep the authorities busy. The media can speculate about what happened.

To facilitate his departure, he put the police to sleep: They’ll wake in an hour with no memory of anything. Any tales of howling ghouls will be dismissed as mass hysteria.

But there was one casualty. Back at his mansion, the man angrily told the chauffeur to put the car away quickly. Driving off, the chauffeur thought, I hate working for this sinister old man.

Unfortunately for the driver, the man read minds. He thought: You hate working for me. Well, permit me to solve your problem. As the chauffeur walked from the garage, the ground opened and he disappeared into it, never to be seen again.

The media chose not to take the vandalism seriously. Some said it was the work of witches or demons. Others, speculated, tongue-in-cheek, it had an extraterrestrial origin, like crop circles.

The local newspaper’s headline read: "Was It the Grinch Who Stole Halloween?"

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Chapter 2

Roger’s Intuition

The Reynolds home, Golden Gables, Md., November 3, 2:30 a.m.

I n bed with his Rebecca, Roger Reynolds thought: It’s amazing; Rebecca is even more desirable than when we fell in love during World War II. Of course, we Geniuses age exceedingly slowly, but what surprises me is the stress of these years, especially the last five, have neither affected her beauty, nor her character. I love my darling more than ever. Her love keeps me going.

Then he thought about Merlin’s warning: He warned me before Abaddon Astrakhan attacked us, and then again before Arkady arrived on