1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36|
“You can feel them. If they die, you don’t feel them any more.” He turned to look at me. “Can you not sense them?”
“I can sense something.”
“You’ll have to take my word for it that they’re alive.”
He returned his attention to the blueprint, musing.
“Can we climb out?” Sister Celeste asked.
“You could, but…” he sucked some air through his teeth, “it’s risky.”
“We will have to project again,” I said quietly. “Get to them that way.”
“And leave our physical bodies vulnerable? It won’t work, Salome.”
“We can lock ourselves in one of the rooms downstairs.”
He shook his head.
“Send me then,” I pleaded.
“I can’t.”
“Why not?”
“Because, Salome… I don’t know for certain whose side you’re on right now.”
[BREAK]
We moved back into the narrow corridor between the walls, closing the door. “Why did you say that?” I whispered. I was shocked at how saddened I was, but his words bit. Part of me didn’t want him to answer, but the guilt and paranoia rose to the surface. He wouldn’t look at me. Instead, he sighed and looked up at the beams above us. I wanted to flee. I did not want to see myself through someone else’s eyes.
He turned to face me, and his expression said it all, the lines across his forehead deepening. “I went to the first floor, Salome.” His voice was quiet, emotionless. My stomach dropped. He saw.
“There’s an entrance to here in that broom cupboard too. I saw you go into Mother Hildegard’s office. And I heard what you said to her.”
Adrenaline coursed through my core, a half-baked protest pushing its way out: “That doesn’t mean—”
He raised a hand. “No, it doesn’t, but you didn’t mention that you’d seen her or spoken to her. You could have told me any time between then and now.” Shame burned. “Once upon a time,” he continued, his head lowered, “you might have told me, but that’s not who you are now.”
“I was angry,” I flashed, my throat tightening as the tears rushed forward and out of my eyes. He looked at me sympathetically, but he would not break his resolve.
“It leaves me with little proof that I can trust you.”
He was right. I had been cruel. “Why didn’t you help her, then?”
“I tried.” He rubbed his neck as he spoke, the fatigue setting in. “One of them came back to collect more blood. I had to wait…” He saw my puzzled look. “You can’t just intervene like that. These ones are the underlings: the very lowest of the chain. How do I explain? They work like ants. You kill one and more come looking for it. I had to wait. By the time I cut her down… she was too far gone.”
We shared an involuntary silence for Mother Hildegard.
“What do we do?” I asked, my voice pitiful.
He folded his arms. “Have you had a run in with any of them?”
“Yes. I approached one who was draining Sister Margaret. It submitted to me and it gave me her body.”
“As in…?” he asked, his eyebrows raised.
“Yes. Giving me its prey.”
“Christ.” He studied my face. “You’re like him then?”
“No.”
“Sorry, I mean, do you have power like him?”
“I suppose I do… but he is not like them. He appears human.”
“He does, but the demon is inside, that’s for sure.”
And inside me.
He continued, oblivious to the storm breaking out in my mind. “What happened to you when you were projecting? I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help.”
I wasn’t sorry. I’d enjoyed the dream being mine, and mine alone. I wondered if his presence would have altered things, or prevented me from coming so close to Francesco. I told him what happened. He listened, the awe in his face apparent as I told him of the desert and the meeting with Scholastica herself.
“Thank you for hiding me,” I said. In the shadow, I saw him blush. “I knew it was you. I could hear you all.” I remembered another voice, my stomach tightening. “What happened to Catherine?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I last saw her on the stairwell. There were so many of them coming up… I can’t say what happened to her.”
“I do not think she is dead,” I said, thinking about what he said about how we feel each other’s presence. I could still feel hers.
“So, what shall we do about this?” I asked, trying to seem positive in the gloom.
He thought for a moment, never finding an answer.
“We can’t stand here all night. We should see if we can find a miracle in those chests,” I said, half-smiling.
We moved closer to the door, the nervous chatter on the other side dying when Muldoon turned the knob and held it open for me.
We moved back into the narrow corridor between the walls, closing the door. “Why did you say that?” I whispered. I was shocked at how saddened I was, but his words bit. Part of me didn’t want him to answer, but the guilt and paranoia rose to the surface. He wouldn’t look at me. Instead, he sighed and looked up at the beams above us. I wanted to flee. I did not want to see myself through someone else’s eyes.
He turned to face me, and his expression said it all, the lines across his forehead deepening. “I went to the first floor, Salome.” His voice was quiet, emotionless. My stomach dropped. He saw.
“There’s an entrance to here in that broom cupboard too. I saw you go into Mother Hildegard’s office. And I heard what you said to her.”
Adrenaline coursed through my core, a half-baked protest pushing its way out: “That doesn’t mean—”
He raised a hand. “No, it doesn’t, but you didn’t mention that you’d seen her or spoken to her. You could have told me any time between then and now.” Shame burned. “Once upon a time,” he continued, his head lowered, “you might have told me, but that’s not who you are now.”
“I was angry,” I flashed, my throat tightening as the tears rushed forward and out of my eyes. He looked at me sympathetically, but he would not break his resolve.
“It leaves me with little proof that I can trust you.”
He was right. I had been cruel. “Why didn’t you help her, then?”
“I tried.” He rubbed his neck as he spoke, the fatigue setting in. “One of them came back to collect more blood. I had to wait…” He saw my puzzled look. “You can’t just intervene like that. These ones are the underlings: the very lowest of the chain. How do I explain? They work like ants. You kill one and more come looking for it. I had to wait. By the time I cut her down… she was too far gone.”
We shared an involuntary silence for Mother Hildegard.
“What do we do?” I asked, my voice pitiful.
He folded his arms. “Have you had a run in with any of them?”
“Yes. I approached one who was draining Sister Margaret. It submitted to me and it gave me her body.”
“As in…?” he asked, his eyebrows raised.
“Yes. Giving me its prey.”
“Christ.” He studied my face. “You’re like him then?”
“No.”
“Sorry, I mean, do you have power like him?”
“I suppose I do… but he is not like them. He appears human.”
“He does, but the demon is inside, that’s for sure.”
And inside me.
He continued, oblivious to the storm breaking out in my mind. “What happened to you when you were projecting? I’m sorry I wasn’t there to help.”
I wasn’t sorry. I’d enjoyed the dream being mine, and mine alone. I wondered if his presence would have altered things, or prevented me from coming so close to Francesco. I told him what happened. He listened, the awe in his face apparent as I told him of the desert and the meeting with Scholastica herself.
“Thank you for hiding me,” I said. In the shadow, I saw him blush. “I knew it was you. I could hear you all.” I remembered another voice, my stomach tightening. “What happened to Catherine?”
“I don’t know,” he said. “I last saw her on the stairwell. There were so many of them coming up… I can’t say what happened to her.”
“I do not think she is dead,” I said, thinking about what he said about how we feel each other’s presence. I could still feel hers.
“So, what shall we do about this?” I asked, trying to seem positive in the gloom.
He thought for a moment, never finding an answer.
“We can’t stand here all night. We should see if we can find a miracle in those chests,” I said, half-smiling.
We moved closer to the door, the nervous chatter on the other side dying when Muldoon turned the knob and held it open for me.
[BREAK]
“Sisters,” I said, “the creature downstairs is my brother.” My tongue thickened, my face hot under the scrutiny. No one uttered a word. “I know him well,” I continued, “half-demon, half-man.” I looked around at them, their eyes fixed on my monstrous face, “But not just man… Nephilim.” They turned to look at each other in stunned suspicion. The Nephilim were but a legend to them. Muldoon flicked through a heavy book and opened the page on the Nephilim, passing it around.
“You were brought into the Order of St Michael for a reason. You were due to learn this, but there was not enough time to complete your training.” I did not know if what I was saying was true, but I sensed they needed courage more than candour. “He can trick your mind, he can summon visions to frighten you. He can even speak to you in your dreams. He thrives on dividing us, causing us to doubt. He can do many things, because as I said, he is powerful. But you are powerful, too. Before Mother Hildegard let him in, we could dreamwalk together.”
Sister Celeste frowned. “But we—”
I shook my head. “No, that is true: we did not get far, however we could do it. Now we cannot. I can no longer communicate with Father John.” I took a deep breath, suppressing my thoughts of him. “And at first it frightened me. I lost hope. But you are still here. It is my belief that we are struggling because we lack faith. We have replaced it with fear.”
Sister Mary Frances spoke, her eyes looking into the abyss: “But everyone is dead.” She brought her attention to the rest of us and started to breathe heavily, her hands shaking. “Oh God. Everyone is dead!”
I rushed to her and knelt down, meeting her level. “We are not dead. What good does it do your sisters to panic and fixate on the deaths of those who are not in the room with us?” I grabbed her hand and squeezed it. “Avenge them. Why are we here if not to fight against Evil? We must have faith in each other.”
“But… vengeance is—”
“These are not men. These are demons.”
“But… I—”
In my mind I handed her a seedling and closed her fingers around it. “Have faith. Have faith in everyone in this room. This is all we have left.”
I stood up again and addressed the others. “Pray with me.”
We said the prayer of the Archangel, the leaden air slowly lifting as we summoned The Order’s namesake. When we were done, I brought my hand to my bosom, feeling for the item I wasn’t prepared to look at, nor was I ready to show it to the others. Its outline, easy to feel under my tunic, rested against my stomach, my belt just about keeping it in place. I wanted to be alone to study it properly. I wondered when that would be now there was an apparent apocalypse upon us.
“Find what you can in these chests,” I said, “and on these shelves. We will go down, and we are not coming back up to hide.”
Muldoon approached the mantelpiece and removed the sword from the wall. He handed it to me. It was heavy in my hands. “What about you?” I asked, confused.
He crossed the room and retrieved the stake from the table.
1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10 | 11 | 12 | 13 | 14 | 15 | 16 | 17 | 18 | 19 | 20 | 21 | 22 | 23 | 24 | 25 | 26 | 27 | 28 | 29 | 30 | 31 | 32 | 33 | 34 | 35 | 36|
As well as the option to upgrade your subscription to paid, I do also have books that you can purchase as well as a ko-fi and paypal.
If you’re enjoying Salome, you really would enjoy The Muldoon Mysteries series. There are currently two books (standalones) in this series. Click the image below to find out more about them, and find them on Tiny Worlds.
My books are now available at Tiny Worlds
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.