In the Shadows of Fate

by Rick Jurewicz

  Deacon smiled. "I'll get right on that, if that is alright with you, Miss Stratton?"

  Miranda nodded to Deacon. Deacon nodded in return, and stepped backwards out the door, shutting it firmly on the way out.

  "What was the sudden pizza interjection?" Miranda asked Jake, puzzled.

  "We haven't eaten anything good in days, Miranda. I know pizza isn't exactly health and energy food, but it will give us something to start with and then we can sit down and figure out what the hell is going on here. I am not all that sure what to think about David. He seems like his intentions are good enough, and he finally did get rid of the Oraclum, but something doesn't feel right."

  Miranda felt torn inside. If the things that David was saying were true, if Aimsley was out of harms way, and he was only trying to keep them safe - it was the only sense of hope that she has felt since what seemed like the span of a lifetime chaotically wrapped into the last few days. Trust was something that she was finding hard to come by. The things she had seen and heard and felt in the last few days were such that many haven't experienced in the course of a normal life, if there was such a thing.

  Miranda had more questions for David, and she felt that David had more to tell her. She knew that she needed to see him alone. She was also well aware that Jake would not like or easily go along with letting her out of his sight for very long.

  "Jake, it's probably going to be at least a half-hour until our dinner gets here. You look like you could use a hot shower. I'll listen for Deacon to get back, unless there is time for me to take one too before he's back," Miranda told him.

  "You can just use the shower in the other room," Jake said. The thought of a shower was a good idea, and he knew he could really use one to help him relax.

  "One of us should keep an eye on things and be out here when he gets back," said Miranda.

  "Well you can go ahead of me, I can wait for Deacon," Jake told her.

  Miranda smiled at him. "Well, I could, but..."

  Jake grimaced. "Do I smell or something?" Jake asked, lifting his arm, taking a quick sniff.

  "No...I mean, maybe a little. Honestly, I was thinking more about you keeping your wound clean. Maybe there is a first aid kit in the bathroom. I can't imagine this place not having one," she said.

  "They cleaned me up pretty good back in the car. Remember, I am a nursing student. But the shower idea sounds good anyway. I could use it to clear my head," said Jake.

  "Then I'll wait for Deacon to get back with the pizza. Take your time. I'll let you know when he gets back if you're not out yet," said Miranda.

  Jake walked up to Miranda and softly touched her cheek. She looked up at him and for a moment thought that he was going to try and kiss her. But no. She could see the apprehension in his eyes.

  "We’re gonna figure this out. I promise you, one way or another, we will get some sort of normal life back after all of this," Jake said, lowering his hand away from her face.

  "Jake," Miranda said, looking him straight in the eyes. "Nothing is ever going to be normal, ever again."

  Jake lowered his head, turned, and walked over to the bathroom, entering and shutting the door behind him. She waited for the water to start running in the shower before she approached the entrance door of the room, grabbing her leather jacket on her way. She put it on, not with any intention to try and leave the building; the jacket, worn and tattered as it was, always felt like a sort of armor to her. She wasn't sure who to trust or where the next twisted turn may come. She wanted to be ready, in her heart and in her mind. More than anything else, she wanted the truth.

  The handle of the door was a large, gold plated lever handle, and she slowly pushed down on it until it clicked open. Miranda looked both ways down the hall, but there was no one in sight anywhere. She quietly walked down to the large oak celestial doors once more. Miranda didn't know if she should knock, or just go on in. She decided to just pull the lever and go inside.

  She stepped onto the white polished entrance floor, and didn't see David behind his desk where he had stood when they first entered the extravagant office earlier that day. Something - whether it was some subtle movement, or something else - caused Miranda to turn towards the fireplace. She saw David's silhouette standing in front of the roaring fire. His back was turned to her.

  "David?" said Miranda.

  David had turned suddenly as if he was unaware that she had entered.

  "Miranda! I'm sorry, I was lost in my thoughts. So much has happened. So many revelations in the last few days. I'm so glad I have a chance to talk to you, one on one," he said, almost excitedly.

  "Please, follow me," he said, and led Miranda up to the area where his desk stood. He walked around the desk and retrieved a file folder from the left hand top drawer, placing it upon the polished surface of the mahogany top.

  "There is so much more I need to tell you. For reasons that I hope you can understand, it is only meant for you. I am sure your friend Jake is very important to you, and he truly intends the best for you, but the things that I am about to tell you are...well, they are going to be difficult for him to understand, as they would be for most others. I am hoping that is not the case so much for you," David said quizzically.

  "What is it?" she asked. She felt anxious, yet there was a strange anticipation as well.

  "I don't want you to be alarmed, Miranda. As I have said before, you are safe here, and every precaution has been taken to assure the safety of your friends and their families," David said, his tone suddenly more serious.

  "I'm not sure how you saying that at this moment isn't supposed to alarm me," she replied.

  "It may not have been the Oraclum that Enoch was after at all. It quite probably was you he wanted, Miranda," David said.

  "Why? What would he want with me?" Miranda asked.

  "You said you know what the prophecy was about. Is that correct?"

  "I...yes. Somewhat...do you know? I wasn't entirely clear what it all meant," she said, not wanting to reveal any hint about how she may have known what was in the prophecy. She wanted to protect Dr. Vikhrov's anonymity at all costs.

  "Yes, I do indeed. The prophecy speaks of a being, not of Heaven, not of Earth," he said, and pulled a sheet of paper from the folder on his desk. The paper was written in the same script that the parchments were written in.

  "This being would be the key to releasing the fallen angel Lucifer from his eternal prison. Miranda. Can you read this?" asked David, passing Miranda the paper from his folder.

  Miranda took the paper in her hand and looked down at it.

  "No. I can't. It's just like the writing in the Oraclum," she said. Miranda held the paper out to David, but he did not take it back from her.

  David smiled at her. "Try once more, please. Look at it, really look. Relax your thoughts. See what light your mind may bring."

  Miranda looked curiously at him for a moment, and then once more examined the paper. As she stared down at the script, she could almost hear the words forming in her head by the same voice she would hear in her mind when thinking to herself. She spoke what she heard out loud to David.

  "I am of the first circle, anointed by the Lord my God, devoted on high to obey and defend in the Name, and by the Word, I am called..." she stopped and looked at David, her eyes widened. She slipped into a place in her mind, lost in that moment. She had seen this writing before. It was in her dream of the garden behind the Gale estate. The writing...those words...they were the tattoos on the back of the man Suzanne was embracing in the garden. The words inscribed on the back of her father...

  "Go on, Miranda. What does it say?" said David, his voice soothing and calm.

  She looked back down at the page again and read aloud.

  "And by the Word, I am called Gabriel," she said, and stopped reading any further.

  "Do you understand, Miranda? The prophecy never meant that the one who could set free Lucifer was not from Heaven or not from Earth. It was, in fact, foretelling the coming of a bein
g that is the product of the two," David told her.

  "You are trying to tell me that my father was the angel, Gabriel? The Gabriel, from the Bible? Do you really believe any of this? How crazy this all sounds?"

  David smiled. "I do, Miranda. I know how this sounds, but I have my reasons to believe that it is the truth. That is what I believe Enoch was after. That is why it is essential that you be protected."

  "Why do you think it's true? Is this why my family is dead? Because I got nosey about the past and walked straight into an insane asylum? The present...that was good enough. I had everything that I could have ever wanted or hoped for. I had the best parents, the best brother. My friends were good friends, and they were safe. I have destroyed everyone's lives around me!" Tears started to run down Miranda's cheeks. She turned her back to David.

  David stepped up beside her and placed his hand on her shoulder. She pulled away impulsively; David drew back his hand.

  "Miranda. Think about this - how could you have read what was on that paper?" asked David.

  "I didn't. I just imagined what it might say in my head. That's all."

  "You know that's not true. And there have been other things, haven't there? He told me that there might be, as you got older," David said.

  Miranda turned around to face him.

  "Who told you?" she asked.

  "Your father. Gabriel. He came to me. He sought me out as your only living relative. He was sick and stripped of his power, punishment for disobeying God and partaking in his forbidden love with my sister. Of course, at first I didn't believe him. He showed me the markings on his back. They all still remained, even without his divine grace. I thought they were only tattoos at first, but the doctor that I had see to him told me something extraordinary. They were like burns, just beneath the surface of the skin and they had been made from the inside out. The markings came from within, Miranda. The doctor had never seen anything like it before. I knew he was telling the truth. Unfortunately, we couldn't save his life. He was too far gone, and died a few days after he came to me."

  Miranda sat down on the steps leading up to the desk. David sat down beside her. Her head was spinning, and she could see so many things from the last few days that could only possibly be explained now. The wolf in Galestone, cowering in fear. She thought almost nothing of it at the time, but she could feel its fear as if it was her own. The dreams and the visions. The tavern owner's sudden pain when he grabbed hold of her in Galestone. She was feeling all of these things now as extensions of her own self; her emotions taking shape and form, like an energy reaching out beyond her physical self.

  "So what if it's true? What does it mean? Am I supposed to set the devil free into the world?" Miranda asked David.

  "Things are not so clear and simple always, Miranda. Prophecies are set forth by God himself. It would not have been foretold if it were not His will. So many years our family has protected the secrets of the Oraclum. It is incredible that in my lifetime it has come to pass. But it has to be your decision, Miranda. Your will. Lucifer was the bringer of light, and enlightenment. Maybe it is time that the world saw that light. If it is what God intended, you could bring the greatest gift the world has ever known. It could be the end of war, or the dawn of an entirely new era. The possibilities, they are truly astounding."

  David stood up and turned around in front of Miranda, facing her as she sat on the step before him.

  "We don't know what lies ahead, Miranda. All I can say for certain is that I will do whatever I can to help you through this. We are all the family that we have left now. I have been away for far too long. I am just sorry that I could not have come back to you sooner," he said, reaching out his hand to help her up from the step.

  Miranda reached out to her uncle to take his hand, but it only took a fraction of a second to send a jolt through her that almost knocked her back down again. The moment that his skin touched hers for the very first time, a flood of visions and emotions coursed through her entire being.

  She saw a boy with a cold, icy look in his eyes; his dark mop of hair, looking down at the child she knew was herself in her crib. She could feel his resent as if it were heat resonating from his soul. He was no longer the spoiled youngest of the family. It was all about Miranda now, getting all of the attention and all of the favors. His own mother favored her over him, he had felt. He hated Miranda from the very beginning.

  A place far darker came now in her mind’s eye. She could see a man being beaten and dragged before David. The man was bloody and dirty, and David grabbed him by the hair and pulled his face to his own.

  "Ah, look what fate has brought me now, the father of that little bitch. What my whore of a sister saw in you, I'll never know. Did you miss me as well?" snarled David. "Take him down by the docks. Beat him some more, then chain him to blocks and throw him into the river!"

  David took the man's chin in his hand and looked with the deepest hatred in his eyes into the man's swollen and bloodied face.

  "You should have never come back," said David, and raised his hand across the man's face, striking hard with the back of his fist; the darkest satisfaction beaming from his cruel eyes.

  As they began to drag the man away, Miranda could see the beaten man was her father, Gabriel. David saw the script markings through the back of his torn shirt.

  "Stop!" yelled David, and the vision changed once more.

  David sat alone in a dark room, holding a telephone to his ear. Miranda could hear every word from both sides of the conversation.

  “What is her name?” asked David, his voice a cold and contemptuous hiss.

  “Miranda Stratton. She came to Galestone telling people she is working on an article about Michigan mining history. What do you think?”

  Miranda recognized Harry Thornton's voice.

  “It’s her," David said.

  “How can you be sure of it?” asked Harry.

  “I KNOW it is her,” David said.

  “What do you want me to do?” asked Harry.

  Next, Miranda saw David speaking to Deacon in the very room where she now was in front of him, touching his hand.

  "So how do you want this handled?" asked Deacon.

  "It is essential that she trust me entirely. Nothing can go out of plan from this point on. Cain and Skye should have never lost track of her. They should have been on her from the moment they were through eliminating her family," said David, in the same odious tone as he'd had while confronting Gabriel.

  "Why exactly did her family have to die?" asked Deacon.

  "I need her to feel alone. I need her to feel despair. I need her to know that I am all she has left. The world is changing, my friend. Sacrifices must be made."

  "And what of Cain and Skye?"

  David stood silent for a moment, thinking on the question.

  "Kill them. Do it in front of her. Be her hero. Let me be her savior. They are collateral damage for a greater cause."

  Miranda gasped and fell back to the step she had been sitting on before David had reached out to her.

  "Miranda! Are you all right? What is it? What's wrong?" David asked, his face full of apparent agitation and concern.

  Miranda could feel that familiar rush of anxiety coming over her, and was attempting desperately to fight it. She tried not to look directly at David. She didn't want to give anything away of the emotional tempest rising inside of her. It was a rush of hate and fear and rage and sickness all at once.

  "I get panic attacks," she said to him, still trying to compose herself. Her breathing was starting to get heavier.

  "Let me help you," said David, reaching out to her once again, but she held up her hand to him.

  "No, please, it's alright. I just have to work through these things on my own. Thank you." The last two words she had said to him were forced out, and made her feel even sicker to say them.

  David backed a few feet away from her to give her space. She brought herself to her feet, and forced a smile at David.

&nb
sp; "It there anything I can do? Should I call a doctor?” asked David. "I have the very best at my disposal."

  "No. No, I'm okay. There has been just so much going on. I am surprised it hadn't caught up with me before now. I'm so embarrassed," she said, still holding her nervous smile. "I've had these things happen ever since I was a kid. I think I just need to get back to the room, take a hot shower and get to bed. Jake is probably wondering where I am. I'm sure he must be frantic."

  David nodded his head to her. She started to walk past him slowly, steadily placing her foot upon the first step toward the door.

  "Miranda," David said. His voice sounded different than it had sounded only moments before.

  Miranda stopped, but did not turn to face David. She stood still, her arms by her sides. She could feel her hands starting to tremble slightly. She slowly put them into her jacket pockets as she stood just a few feet away from David. Her right hand felt the cool handle of her Spyderco Delica, and she wrapped her fingers tightly around it.

  "Have you ever heard of sodium amytal?" asked David. Miranda could hear him moving around behind her, his steps slow and steady. She still did not turn her head, for fear that her face may give up too much too soon. She had to play along as best as she could, until she could get back to Jake and figure out what they needed to do next. Before she could respond, David continued.

  "Sodium amytal is more commonly referred to as 'truth serum'. There is no real magic or mystery to truth serum, really. It's just a combination of chemicals that cause both sedative and hypnotic responses, altering some of the higher cognitive functions. At least, that is how Wikipedia describes it. But in my experience, I have found it highly effective in extracting information from people who are...resistant to sharing knowledge that I desire."

  "That's very interesting," Miranda said, desperately trying to disguise the tension in her voice. She still would not turn to face David. "I should really get back to the room. I'm feeling sick..."