by Tanya Simon
Daniel shut the meeting room door and shushed his followers as a barrage of questions flooded the room.
“Silence!” he shouted over the din, “Do you want to die?”
The room grew silent. Manuel went to the center of the room and waited.
“Brother Manuel will let us know how his meeting with the princess went.” Daniel stepped aside.
“She has no memory of her people.” He swallowed. “She does not know how to use her powers. I grabbed her arm. She looked panicked and was about to call for help. She could have easily made me let go.”
The room erupted again.
Daniel glared and the room went silent. “I had suspected this might be the case.” He raised his hand to keep the silence. “And if Cain finds her he will definitely remind her of everything. He has to, to fulfill the prophecy. When this happens we will seek her out again. Until that time we must be ready to save the next sacrifice.”
The room was full of fear, but no one defied him. He opened the door and slowly his followers shuffled out.
“Spread the word to the others. Make sure you are careful not to be heard.”
“Daniel?” Abigail took his hand in hers.
“I can only hope she and the Shivana will eventually help us, for if they don’t the Roodmasi are doomed.” He put his arm around her slight shoulders and led her from the room.
“Oh Daniel!” she covered her face. “I can sense we are running out of time.”
Mystery tried to ignore it when Seth took a pill and downed his orange juice instead of eating the breakfast she had fixed. She knew it was something they should talk about, but she didn’t even know where to begin or how it had gotten to this point without her noticing it. His drug abuse had gotten to a point where it was encroaching on all of their life together. She sat down and tried to eat her eggs.
“I am sorry about last night, I was just tired.” Seth brushed her hair back and kissed her neck. He caressed her breast and tried to turn her to face him. He glared at her when she pulled away.
“Is everything alright at the hospital?” Mystery thought if she could get him to tell her what was wrong they could work on the reasons for the pills without her having to confront him.
“Yes. I was just tired!” He walked over to the window. “You know becoming a doctor is harder than learning about ghosts!” he snapped nastily. “Don’t you think it was a tiny bit embarrassing for me? I am 26 and haven’t been with my fiancée in ages and I couldn’t get it up!”
“I… You.” Mystery took a deep breath and did what she hadn’t wanted to do. “I just want to know why you are taking the pills, Seth? What is going on you can not tell me, but is so bad you would also risk everything you have worked for?” Mystery kept her voice even; she didn’t want to set off a fight.
“Oh this is just great! As if, I don’t have enough pressure on me, without you accusing me of being a drug addict!” He stormed out of the kitchen. Mystery followed.
“I am not accusing you of anything, but you had pills for breakfast.” her voice cracked and she flopped down in her favorite chair.
Seth came over and squatted down in front of her. “I have a extremely difficult case I am working on. Between the rounds and the lack of sleep and trying to figure out what is wrong with this lady. I am anxious. So, I took a Xanax for my nerves and some ibuprofen for the killer headache I have.” He hugged her. “I am sorry I yelled. The pressure is incredible. I just wasn’t as prepared for it as I thought I was.”
Mystery pushed back so she could look at him. “At least take a muffin and some coffee with you.” She brushed his hair out of his face. “I am sorry too, I just see you taking way more medicine than you did even a couple of months ago. I worry about you.”
“I’ve got it under control, you don’t have to worry. I better grab a muffin and coffee and hit it. Dr. Francisco has a fit when we are late.” He stood and headed for the kitchen. He came back in the room with a baggy and a thermos. “I will be back around nine, tonight. Will you still be up?”
“Yeah, I have a test to study for.” She stood.
He grabbed her and kissed her breathless. “I’ll see you tonight.”
“Yep.” Mystery smiled at him. “I’ll be here.”
Seth rushed out. Mystery said a quiet prayer he was right and they didn’t have a problem.
4
Abigail waved her hand and all the candles in the chamber flared to life. She went to the center of the pentagram etched into the stone floor and raised her arms cupping her hands upward. Abigail closed her eyes and called to the spirits of each watchtower. The circle around the pentagram began to shine, a soft breeze blew the flames of the candles, and Abigail began to glow softly. She knelt in the circle and focused on the task at hand. Concentrating on an image of the Beast sacrificing an innocent…
Mystery woke up and rolled over in the bed, she wished Seth would come home. She sat up with a start, there were voices coming from the foot of the bed.
“Who’s there?” Mystery whispered into the darkness.
When no one responded she turned on the bedside lamp. Seeing no one, Mystery crawled to the end of the bed and peered over. She pulled back with a shriek; her bed was no longer in her bedroom but high atop some sort of rock ledge. She closed her eyes and willed herself to take two deep breaths; when she opened her eyes she was still on the ledge. She lay down with her head at the foot of the bed and examined the chamber below the ledge.
Tears streamed down Abigail’s cheeks, she hated to frighten the princess but they had no choice, time was running short. She focused and sent Mystery the visual of the ritual sacrifice…
There was a raised dais in the shape of a pentagram in the center of the chamber. The rock walls glistened with moisture. Huge torches hung throughout the chamber, their light flickering on the robed figures gathered around the dais. She noticed a naked teenaged girl strapped to the dais. She smiled stupidly as two of the figures came forward, each handing the figure closest to the dais a bowl, which he took and set on each side of the girl’s head.
Mystery watched as he sprinkled fluid from each bowl on the girl’s forehead, murmuring words as he sprinkled. Mystery strained to understand the words he was saying, but they were too far away. She shrank back when the figure closest to the dais looked up at her and smiled. When she couldn’t stand it anymore she crawled back to the foot of her bed and watched fascinated as the figure dipped a dagger in each bowl. The figure raised the dagger over his head and plunged it into the girl’s chest. Mystery screamed, but they all ignored her, as the figure ripped out the girl’s still beating heart. The figure looked up at her and lowered the hood of his robes, his blue eyes laughing at her; he sunk his teeth into the heart. Blood dripped down his chin and he began laugh.
Abigail concentrated on staying inside Mystery’s thoughts, it was much harder than she had expected for someone who didn’t even know she had psychic ability. It should have been very easy to slip into her thoughts and plant whatever she liked into them. However, Mystery fought on a subconscious level, making Abigail have to fight to stay inside her thoughts, sweat glistened in the light of the candles as she fought Mystery’s subconscious mind…
Mystery woke up in her room, screaming. She shakily turned on the light and looked around her taking comfort in the familiar things she saw. After a few minutes, she stood on trembling legs and went into the bathroom. She looked in the mirror; her own tired reflection looked back at her. Shaking her head at herself, she drew a glass of water and took a sip. She gagged at the taste and looking down saw it wasn’t water in the glass, but urine. Mystery flung the glass across the room and it broke against the wall. She rinsed her mouth out with the antiseptic mouthwash on the counter and went downstairs to get the mop and dustpan to clean up the mess.
Mystery got the mop and dustpan, and headed back upstairs. As she climbed the stairs she turned her head and saw the picture of her father and her fishing on Puget Sound when she was seven. She too
k it down and ran her fingers over her father’s image.
“Oh! Daddy! I wish life were still that simple.” She chuckled at herself for talking to a picture. She placed it back on the wall and continued up the stairs.
Abigail strained to keep inside Mystery’s thoughts. She began to cry in earnest when she felt the girl’s pain and frustration with her life. She took a couple of deep breaths, refocused, and continued sending….
When she went into the bathroom, she shrieked, dropping the mop and dustpan. There was no glass in the corner; there was no smelly splash on the wall and floor. The bathroom was clean and only the smell of the lemony cleaner she used to clean it drifted through the room. “Okay, Mystery. Just sit down.” She slid down the wall and sat on the floor. “You are not losing it. You have had a rough couple of days.” Mystery buried her head in her up drawn knees and decided to sit right there and wait for Seth.
Abigail slid out of Mystery’s thoughts, hoping the vision would kindle memories of her people and impress on her the importance of stopping the Beast before he finished them all.
Mystery rushed out of the supermarket, she had to get home and begin studying for her Core Theories mid-term. She needed to get a couple of loads of laundry done; both she and Seth were down to their emergency underwear. Maybe, if she hurried and put up the groceries, she could get a pot roast on. It would give them leftovers for a couple of days.
She popped open her trunk and began to load the bags into it. Mystery flinched when someone’s shadow fell over the cart. Looking up, she saw the same bald man who had stopped her on the library steps.
“Look, mister. I told you last time I had no idea what you were talking about and I still don’t. So why don’t you leave me alone before I scream for help.” Mystery picked up another bag and turned to put it in the trunk.
“Even after the dream, you still have no memory of your people or why you are so desperately needed. Time is short, Your Highness, or we would not push you so hard. You must remember your people!”
Mystery put the last bag in the trunk and closed it. “I don’t know what you are talking about. I am no princess. I have no people, except my family. You have the wrong person.” Mystery hurried around to the door.
“In the dream your bed was on a rock ledge and when you looked down into the chamber below, you saw a man sacrifice a teenage girl. He smiled as he ate her heart.” Manuel opened the car door for Mystery, and then he continued. “When you went to get a drink of water it tasted like the urine the man in the dream had sprinkled on the girl. When you looked down it was urine, so, you threw the glass against the wall. When you went back to clean up the mess, nothing was there.”
“How could you know? I didn’t even tell Seth the entire dream.”
“We disturbed your dreams because we hoped it would trigger your memory.”
“I don’t want anything to do with any of it! Stay away from me or I will involve the police!” Mystery pulled the door out of his hand and slammed it shut. She turned the ignition, pushed the car into gear and pealed out of the parking lot.
As Manuel watched her go, he knew her people could not wait for her memory to come back and there was a good chance even when it did she would still ignore her birthright.
Mystery pulled into her driveway and tried to calm herself down. After a few cleansing breathes she got the groceries from the trunk and went inside. She took the groceries back to the kitchen and went to listen to the messages. There were several hang-ups and two messages from Seth saying he just needed to hear her voice. Mystery smiled. She didn’t know what the bald man was talking about, but Seth and her father were her only family. She shook her head and went to put up the groceries and start the roast before she hit the books. As she seasoned the roast she decided she would keep her encounters with baldy to herself.
Manuel cried as he drove up the mountain leading to the aerie. They couldn’t count on the princess and without her they would surely fail to stop the Beast from destroying the Roodmasi. As he drove through the glen of trees, which led to the gates of the compound, he wiped his eyes and performed a glamour so they would not be red. He spoke to the guard at the gate and drove to his parking place. He steadied himself, cloaked his thoughts and climbed out of his SUV. As he walked to the aerie entrance he smiled and waved at the other coven members he passed. He swung up the stairs leading to his chamber and whistled to himself, the perfect picture of calm.
He let himself into his chamber and turned on the light.
“Well old friend, did the dream help any?” Daniel said from his position in the chair.
“No. She cannot help us. She will involve the police if we approach her again.” Manuel sat on his bed and rubbed his weary eyes. “She refuses to remember. She is afraid.”
“For that we cannot blame her. She was only three when she was taken. We are not part of her world.” Daniel stood. “I will tell the others we will have to manage without the princess.” He let himself out and closed the door behind him.
Manuel stretched out on his bed. Without her help they would all die.
5
Kim Owens slammed her bedroom door shut and began to pace furiously across her messy room. “They just don’t get being 16 anymore!” She kicked a stray shoe out of her path. “This is the party of the year, I have to be there!” She flung a thick, blue strand of hair over her shoulder and didn’t even notice she was chewing on her blackened lips, the black lipstick coming off on her teeth.
She sat down on her bed and put on a pair of holey high tops. She arranged pillows under the rumpled covers on her bed, shaping them like a body. Kim opened her bedroom window and threw her purse out onto the roof overhang just below her room. She reached back and turned out her bedroom light, and crawled out onto the ledge. Kim crab walked to the edge of the overhang and lowered herself over the edge. She let go and landed with a solid thud checking to make sure no one had heard. When no lights came on in her room, she stood and ran down the street, not stopping until she rounded the corner. Slowing down, she listened for sounds of her parents following. She stopped for a moment when she noticed how quiet it was. Her entire neighborhood appeared to be asleep; there were no lights to warm the windows. No voices leaked out into the night, as they did every night since she had lived there. The Spencer’s dog was not barking for once. It was spooky. Shivering, Kim dismissed the hair standing on the nape of her neck and quickened her pace. She gasped when clouds drifted in front of the moon, engulfing the street in darkness.
Kim had begun to think about turning around and going home when she heard a whisper in the darkness.
“Your destiny awaits.” Whispered a man’s voice.
“Who’s there?” Kim said as she began backing towards home.
“Your future.” A man said as he stepped from the shadows.
Kim tried to scream, but her voice had deserted her. As the clouds drifted away from the moon, she noticed his piercing blue eyes. She wanted to run but his eyes held her in place.
“I am Cain,” the man said as he caressed her face. “You have nothing to fear.”
Kim relaxed, the man was right she had nothing to fear, he would keep her safe and he would show her the way.
“Rest now my child,” he said as he lifted her into his arms.
Kim’s eyes drifted closed as they walked into the shadows…
Kim awakened to find herself chained to a bed. As she twisted around to see where she was, she noticed the bed was the only furniture in the room, save a wooden chair at the foot of the bed. The walls were rock, the ceiling curved, and there were no windows. A heavy, worn wooden door covered the only opening in the room. She closed her eyes and tried to concentrate on keeping it together, but the fear was swarming in, stealing her ability to think straight. She choked off a scream when the door opened. Her mouth dropped open as a beautiful woman with long, wavy red hair stepped into the room and closed the door behind her. The woman walked over and sat down on the edge of the bed, carefully ar
ranging her red robe around her.
“I am Raevanne, Shivana of the Roodmasi.” She said in a musical voice. Kim blanched and tried to draw herself into a little ball.
“Ah. I see you have heard of us.” She leaned closer and studied Kim’s face. “Where did you hear our name?”
“I… have… had a friend who messed around with satanic worship.” Kim swallowed hard. “He said the Roodmasi were the real deal, they had a real connection to the Dark Master.” She began to cry. “He wanted to join them and out of nowhere he started hanging out with these sickos who wore black all the time and claimed to be able to summon demons.” Kim sobbed and looked away, “He disappeared, along with his new buddies. They would hold their meetings in this old warehouse downtown. Me and another friend went to search it. The place looked like a war zone, chairs turned over, shell casings on the floor, the windows blown out. On one wall was this large symbol, it was painted in…” She swallowed, “blood. There were …body parts flung carelessly all over the warehouse. My friend grabbed my hand and we ran out of there. When we were back to our neighborhood, he finally told me the symbol meant Roodmasi and I should forget I saw it and I should never mention it to anyone.” Kim turned back to Raevanne. “I swear I’ve never mentioned it before and I never will again! So you can let me go!”