by Kim Petersen
Jacques had frozen, his eyes wide and teary as he gazed at Ace. His arms struck stiffly above his raven head.
‘P- please. Please don’t kill me!’
Ace stabbed Jacques with his eyes and unlatched the gun’s safety. He lifted the long rifle under his chin, zeroing in on his target with a grunt. His dirty-blond colored hair sprung gray around his hairline and scraped harshly back from his bearded face. Deep wrinkles crowed at his eyes and etched sharply into the pasty skin of his forehead. He wore a long-sleeved shirt and a pair of baggy black pants that reached socked feet.
‘Who the fuck are you?’ Ace growled, stepping onto the first step.
Jacques screamed again. Arella reached him as his arms fell to his side while his eyes lolled back and he tried to focus on her.
‘Button …’ he whispered, before crumbling down.
‘Jacques!’
She tried to catch him as he began to fall. She took the brunt of his weight, tripping as she tried to dig her feet in as his body tumbled against her. Shit. Jacques wasn’t known for his delicate physique. He was six foot of solid body mass and a feather he was not. She desperately looked at Ace, who had by now lowered his rifle and squinted at her.
‘Ace! For fuck sake!’ she yelled, as Jacques inched lower as she struggled beneath his weight.
She heard car doors slamming and the sound of Regan and Lenny’s footsteps crunching on the gravel as they ran up behind her.
‘Arella?’ Ace said, taking the rest of the stairs and marching toward them.
Regan and Lenny grasped the weight of Jacques from her. She made sounds of relief and clutched at her chest while she panted. They each took one half of his body and carried him to one of the porch rocking chairs where they set him down. Lenny fanned him and crooned into his ear while Regan went back to the car to fetch some water, scowling as he passed Ace.
Ace barely glanced at Regan as he pulled Arella in for a hug.
‘Whatcha doing here Rella?’ he said against her hair.
He smelled of smoke and whiskey, but his arms felt like heaven as Arella leaned into his solid frame and held him tight. She squeezed her eyes together and relished the comfort of his closeness. A sudden wave of emotion flooded through her. She had almost forgotten how much she missed him. Even at his most sinister moments she had always found complacency in his presence.
A moment later she drew back and held him at arm’s length, searching his face with moist eyes.
‘It’s been too long.’
The blue in his eyes spread over her like a cloudless day. ‘It’s good to see you, sweetheart,’ Ace smiled.
He stole a glance at the men on his porch. Jacques was regaining consciousness as Lenny fussed over him. Regan stood at the railing looking like the gangster he was with his guarded leather stance and brooding expression. He gazed intently at them.
Ace looked back at her and gestured with a nod.
‘Who’s the beef-cake? New boyfriend?’
Arella shook her head just a little fast and looked at Regan.
‘No, that’s Regan Knowles.’
Ace made a low whistle. ‘The Regan Knowles? Impressive, good to hear you’re moving up in the world … or should I say, down?’
Regan’s eyes locked onto hers. Arella ignored the fleeting elation in her stomach.
‘I’m not moving anywhere with him. He’s why we’re here actually. I have to talk to you about something important.’
Ace’s eyes darkened like a stormy ocean.
‘I don’t do that anymore, Rella. I can’t help you. I’m staying low.’
‘Staying low from what?’
He’s moved closer to her and reduced his voice.
‘From Apepsis.’
Arella regarded him, her mind buzzed. She recalled how Ace rambled about Apepsis when his father died. His paranoia almost bordered on lunacy when he talked of being followed and hunted like a rodent. At one point before the funeral, he insisted Craig had been highjacked by the serpent god and set out to kill him. Her mother’s reaction was enough to stop Ace in his tracks when she threatened to have him assessed by a mental health unit.
She took a shaky breath, hoping her uncle had had time to curb his instability during his years out here.
‘Apepsis is why I’m here, Ace. I really need to talk. Let’s get in out of this cold. Your house looks warm and toasty from here,’ she smiled, hooking her arm through his and leading him to the stairs.
Ace allowed her to pull him along as she introduced him to Jacques and Lenny. His blue eyes were like icicles, his prominent jawline set strong as he sized up the men sitting in his rocking chairs. Yet he managed to mumble an apology to Jacques before shaking his hand and greeting Lenny much the same way. When Jacques finally stopped his melodramatics and over-staged sighs about Ace almost murdering him, Regan stepped closer with an outstretched hand.
Ace turned to face Regan. His eyes lingered lazily on Regan then fell to his hand suspended between them.
‘So, you’re the infamous Regan Knowles?’
‘I’m not so sure about the tag, but, yeah, I’m Regan.’
Ace clasped his fingers around Regan’s hand. As they came together, Arella didn’t miss the underlying current swirling between them, nor the curve of her uncle’s eye while he assessed Regan as if he were his prey.
‘You’re stepping on fine ground around my niece, gangster.’
Regan laughed. ‘Ha! Don’t I already know it.’
Ace regarded him with a cool stare.
‘Good, because I can eat you alive,’ he said, turning for the front door.
Arella shuddered. She remembered all too well when Ace hunted people as if they were rodents to be feasted upon. All too well his days of shapeshifting into a snake. That was the time when he and his black witch girlfriend, Madison, had concocted a plan to kidnap Arella and use her as bait to lure her mother to them. Millie was their target. As a descendant of an Ascended Angel, her mother was the serpent god’s natural enemy, just as Arella was. Needless to say, Ace and Madison’s plan hadn’t unfolded as they had hoped. With the help of her twin sister, Millie was able to save Ace from the serpent god for good. However, Madison hadn’t fared as well.
The warmth of the fire caressed Arella’s cheeks when she stepped inside the house. She told herself not to be silly and pushed those thoughts of her uncle from her mind. After all, that had occurred over 20 years ago.
The French doors of the porch opened into a vast open-plan living area. The internal walls were lacquered timber panels, while the arched tall and lofty ceiling a display of stained wooden beams and modern lighting. Twin sofas sat on the edge of a large circular rug and faced an old TV that occupied most of an even older coffee table. An elaborate black cast-iron combustion heater burned furiously in a corner.
Lenny led Jacques near the fire. They both hovered over the burning furnace while quietly taking in their surroundings. Opposite the sitting area, a strappy small dining table complete with one chair filled a tiny space along the huge windows, its surface layered with newspaper clippings, notepads and pencils.
Arella surveyed the home with curiosity. The house felt cozy and cold all at once. Her uncle certainly had little attachment to material items, yet the house he lived in was anything but ordinary. She inhaled, her lungs filling with burning ironbark and a faint trace of coffee. Coffee.
Her nose sniffed onward and toward the end of the living area. She halted in front of floor-to-ceiling windows, catching her breath when the deep lush valley met her eyes and spread before her like a perfect canvas. The early morning fog was beginning to lift, leaving behind a rolling stretch of vivid green slopes and crests as far as the eye could see. In the distance, only the tips of the mountains were visible between billowing clouds. The scene reminded her of the Golden World.
She instantly tuned out to her environment and listened to her inner-self, the part of her that connected with her angelic ancestry. She smiled as she heard their whispers bl
ow over the valley and sweep into her being. A calmness settled over her and for a split second all her anxieties dissolved with the evaporating fog. They were with her. She felt her grandmother’s essence urging her on and keeping her safe, and she knew she would revisit the Golden World in her dreams soon.
‘It’s breathtaking.’ Regan’s voice dragged her away from the whispers with a start.
Arella blinked at him and nodded, dark hair tumbling across her face and over her eye.
‘It wouldn’t be hard waking up to this every day.’
Regan’s eyes darkened. ‘No, it wouldn’t,’ he murmured.
She dropped her eyes to her boots as she felt the heat rising. She bit her bottom lip as if the action could stop the impending blush. When it didn’t, she scowled and lifted her eyes defiantly.
‘You know, it’s not necessary to try and swoon the girl in this scenario. I know you’re a bad-ass gangster and you’re used to getting any woman you want, but this,’ she gestured at the space between them. ‘This isn’t happening. You don’t get the girl here.’
Regan shook his head and laughed.
‘What?’ she said.
‘You are being ludicrous.’
‘Why?’
‘Because I always get the girl.’
Ace chose that moment to interject. He held up two steaming mugs of coffee.
‘Coffee?’ he said, shoving the mugs toward each of them and curling his lip when he handed Regan his. He focused on Arella and gestured toward the sitting area. ‘Come sit and tell me what you came here for.’
Arella nodded. She flashed Regan a long glare before tossing her head and following Ace to the sofas.
They sipped on coffee while Arella brought Ace up to speed on the events so far. She explained all she knew about the Serenity Seed, Zane Crais and Keira and their hybrid forms, and how they intended to use the seed’s power to rule the world with the serpent god. When she was done, she then prompted Regan to share his ancestral beliefs surrounding the seed.
Ace listened silently, speaking only when Regan finished talking about his uncle Vincent, his years in the coven and his family’s loyalty to Apepsis. The edges of his face hardened with his stare, then his eyes swung to Arella.
‘You brought a member of that serpent-worshiping coven to my home?’ he said incredulously.
‘Well, yes – but he’s not like them, he’s …’
‘He’s what?’ Ace growled, leaning in his chair toward her. His eyes pierced her like a pointed probe. ‘You should know better than that after our past. How long have you known this man? Not long enough to know he can be trusted! I bet he’s working for Apepsis. I bet he’s got the dark powers.’ He turned to Regan, his words spitting over one another. ‘Am I right, gangster-man? Apepsis has given you powers too, hasn’t he? Are you a shapeshifter? A hybrid like Zane? Or something else?’
Regan was about to reply when Arella spoke first.
‘Ace!’ she shrieked, rising from the sofa and crouching in front of him. She reached up and stroked his cheek, gently directing his eyes from Regan to herself.
‘Do you trust me?’
Ace nodded reluctantly.
‘Admittedly, I felt the same way as you at the start, but he’s saved my life more than once. People are not always what they seem. You know this better than anyone,’ she said softly.
Ace grunted and threw a grudging look toward Regan.
‘If you hurt my niece, I’ll rip your heart out and feed it to the possums, understand?’
‘Understood,’ Regan replied.
Ace grinned, his gaze lingering on Regan. ‘Good. Now, about this Serenity Seed. Your best bet is to go straight to the source of evil.’
‘Huh? You mean actually go to these beastly people?’ Jacques’ expression was awash with horror.
‘Many years ago, I spent time with a woman who came from the serpent-coven,’ Ace regarded Regan. ‘Your serpent-coven. She spoke of prophecy scrolls that were hidden deep within the elder’s chambers. She told me when she was a girl she once snuck inside the chamber and saw shelves full of rolled up texts and old journals written a hundred years previously. All were chronicles of past generations, and all outlined the coven’s history and future predictions surrounding the rise of their god, Apepsis.’
Arella frowned and looked at Regan.
‘Does this sound familiar?’
He nodded. ‘There is such a chamber. The core of our origins is stored there and only the elders have access to it. We call it The Triquetra Sphere; it represents the past, present and future. How did your friend even get into that chamber? It is heavily guarded.’
Ace chuckled, and his expression glazed.
‘She had some sneaky traits, that one,’ he said.
‘So, why there? I mean, if that information was already available to Vincent Knowles, wouldn’t he have found the seed by now and got onto ruling the earth with Apepsis?’ Lenny said.
Jacques furiously nodded as he clutched Lenny’s hand.
‘Right, Pookie!’ he steered his gray eyes at Ace. ‘Pookie’s right, it doesn’t make sense, and it’s way too dangerous to go into the snake-den.’
‘Pookie?’ Ace suppressed a laugh. He took a sip of his coffee while they all watched him.
Arella sighed impatiently.
‘Ace, Lenny does have a good point. Surely the coven would know if they possessed such information.’
Ace hung his head to the side and smiled.
‘Like people, Arella, things are not always as they seem. That place is filled with magic. I’d bet my life the scroll is waiting to appear for the right person,’ he said, looking directly at Regan.
Arella gasped. A wintry chill stung her spine as she stared at Regan.
‘Oh! Son of the serpent god … the Dark Star,’ she whispered.
‘Exactly,’ Ace murmured, before drinking from his mug again. ‘The Dark Star.’
Regan was silent. All their eyes were on him, yet all he felt was Arella’s fear, her uncertainty. Her internal panic seized through him and suspended in his heart as it did in hers. Her aquamarine eyes fluttered uneasily as she looked at him. And he knew her trepidation was for him.
A brief smile appeared over his lips before dissolving into a grim line. He’d have to muster deep inside himself if he was going to ease her mind about going to the coven and sneaking into The Triquetra Sphere. His brows creased with that thought, and he realized he’d never felt the need to comfort another person’s worry in his whole life. So odd these new feelings, he thought, forcing a smile and making it stick this time. He was beginning to suspect this is something how love might feel. Love! An absurd notion for the likes of him. Especially now. Especially with someone he hardly knew.
He sighed and tried to focus on the matter at hand. Love. He had always considered those feelings for the weak. He was not weak. He was the Dark Star. He was death. Yet still, he too had witnessed the twin flames in her eyes and heard the words calling to him from her soul and resonating somewhere deep within him.
Anam Cara.
Arella’s lips were moving, her face ashen against the glow of the fire. She was talking to him. He came back to the present in time to process her question.
‘What do you think, Regan?’
‘Hmm?’
‘About the scrolls in that sphere chamber of yours?’ she said, rolling her eyes.
‘It makes sense. I am the son of Apepsis. It’s worth a try if it leads us to the seed.’
‘Hold on a second!’ Jacques quipped from across the rug. ‘If Apepsis talks directly to Vincent, Alexander and Zane – why wouldn’t he talk to you? After all, you are his son.’
Regan shrugged. ‘I guess it’s my internal conflict. I have felt a sense separation since I was eight years old. Deep inside, I never wanted to be a part of the coven and their cruel practices and beliefs. I never knew who I really was, so I just keep on being who they expect me to be – if that makes sense?’
Jacques frowned. ‘H
mm … oh you poor thing! That is just heartbreaking for you; how horrible. I know of a great psychiatrist if you’re interested, her name is doctor …’
‘Jacques!’ Arella cut in.
‘What?’ He shrugged before pouting and curling closer to Lenny.
‘Apepsis needs a true dark heart to communicate steadily with us. He feeds off hatred, jealousy, envy and fear. He feeds off the weak. Hate is weak …’ Ace explained, his voice trailing as he glanced away.
Regan studied Ace. If hate is weak, what does that make love? Who were these people? He sensed his presence made Ace uncomfortable. He was miffed why he gave a shit.
Regan turned to Arella. ‘It will be dangerous, I’ll go alone.’
Her eyes blazed. ‘Like hell you will! This shit landed at my doorstep, killed Logan and kidnapped my best friend; I need to finish this. I’m coming with you,’ she fumed.
‘Arella’s right, she needs to go with you. She’s an Ascended Angel. Do you even realize what that means?’ Ace said.
‘I only know the Ascended Angels are the rival enemies of Apepsis and the coven. That’s why she should stay away. They’ll kill her,’ he replied.
‘Not if she’s with you, they won’t. Besides, the Ascended Angels are the only beings that can stop Apepsis. It is the reason they exist. The reason God allows them to incarnate with celestial powers, don’t you see? They are pure love,’ Ace said. He clasped Arella’s hands who was now sitting next to him. ‘Arella is pure love.’
Regan regarded her.
Pure love?
Anam Cara.
He knew he wasn’t going to win this one. He nodded.
‘Okay, but Lenny and Jacques stay here with you till it’s over – deal?’
They agreed on the plan. Jacques and Lenny didn’t resist too much either. Regan figured they had both already seen enough. Both had their lives threatened, and they had to flee their apartment due to a bunch of gangster hybrid creatures. He could see the relief in their eyes, even though they made unconvincing sounds to the contrary. There was nothing more they could do to help them secure the Serenity Seed and defeat Zane Crais. Not unless they too developed supernatural powers.