Suddenly Matthias didn’t seem so big, so imposing and he realized all this time he’d been looking at a monster through the lens of an abused child. Matthias Beckett was just a man, a damaged and cruel man.
‘It’s over,’ Theo straightened as his voice filled with conviction. ‘I am not evil, I never was.’
Matthias glared at him.
But it didn’t fill him with fear as it once did. In fact, it was completely the opposite, Matthias now seemed so small.
‘You are evil just like your mother,’ Matthias growled. ‘Bastard born and filled with the wiles of the devil, she seduced me.’
‘No,’ Theo’s voice hardened, ‘you took her, against her will.’
‘I married her, before God,’ he answered harshly. ‘She was mine to do with as I pleased. She was the one who sinned, she committed adultery and birthed bastards. I should have killed her and smothered you.’
‘You stole her from the man she truly loved. She never belonged to you and neither did I’ Theo smiled, his voice low and filled with resolution. ‘You have no power over me.’
Matthias’s eyes widened and his mouth parted. For a moment it seemed like a trick of the light but his skin, once mottled and reddened with rage, paled, turning white, then a sickly shade of gray. Cracks began to appear in his skin and on his face, small chips and flakes loosened and began to float away like ash on a breeze. Slowly he disintegrated before Theo’s eyes and disappeared completely.
‘Will he ever come back?’ a small voice asked.
Theo turned to find the small version of himself standing behind him, staring up at him with a tear stained face and snotty nose.
‘No,’ Theo replied softly, ‘he’s gone. He can’t hurt us anymore.’
‘He said I was evil,’ the small boy wiped his nose on his sleeve and sniffed. ‘He said I had the devil in me.’
Theo kneeled down slowly until they were the same height.
‘You were never evil,’ he told the child. ‘You have a great destiny ahead of you, and the love of an incredible woman. You just have to be brave.’
The boy’s eyes filled with tears once again, this time not with fear or pain but with a deep longing.
‘Does she love us?’ he whispered.
‘Yes,’ Theo smiled. ‘Yes, she does.’
He held out his arms and as the boy leaned in, he wrapped him up in an embrace, holding onto him tightly. The room began to crumble. Just as Matthias had, flakes of ash swept away, swirling around them and fading away, until the warm sunlight broke through.
Theo looked up to find the boy gone, as was the house he’d loathed so much. He was standing in a field, the long grass bending in the summer breeze and wildflowers brushing against his legs. He lifted his face to the blue sky and breathed deeply, feeling perhaps for the first time in his life, truly at peace.
He glanced across the field to the edge of the woods and the beginnings of an orchard to find his real father, James, standing and smiling as he gave a nod of approval.
Theo woke with a start, drawing in a deep breath as he pushed himself upright. His head spun for a moment as he regained his equilibrium. His body still felt weak and abused but he felt rested. For the first time in weeks, he wasn’t plagued by the bone deep weariness. His mind, although his head still throbbed painfully, was clearer and more able to focus.
He looked across and found Six once again sat at the table.
Pushing himself up with a little more ease than before he moved across the room and sat down, his stomach growling loudly.
‘That’s a good sign,’ she croaked. ‘I think you actually look a little better, you weren’t tossing and turning like usual. At one point I had to poke you to see if you were still breathing, I thought you might be dead.’
‘No,’ Theo smiled for the first time in days, ‘just a much-needed sleep.’
‘I imagine it was,’ she nodded, ‘you’ve been out cold for almost eighteen hours.’
‘Eighteen hours?’ he frowned in confusion. ‘And they didn’t come for me?’
Six shook her head.
‘Something’s going on,’ she glanced across the room warily as they were likely being watched, and mouthed to him discreetly, knowing he could lip read. ‘It’s not looking good.’
Theo looked down and his gaze snagged on the piles of translated prophecy Six had been working on. His eyes widened in shock as he picked it up.
It was all there in his head, all of it, the whole damn prophecy and so much more. It was as if a doorway had suddenly opened and he understood it all. The language was now second nature to him, he didn’t even have to try.
He picked up a piece of paper which held his drug fueled scrawl written in the ancient language. The words leapt off the paper at him and he found he could read it fluently, however the further down the page he went, the more his brows folded.
He glanced back at the translation and then finally his gaze landed on Six. Her blue eyes met his evenly and in that second, he realized what she’d done.
‘If they find out,’ he whispered, ‘they’ll kill you.’
She stared at him quietly, her eyes filled with a sad determination.
‘He must not be allowed to gain possession of the Book of the Heavens,’ her voice cracked, this time with anxiety. ‘If the Veritas find it first, there will be no stopping them. I can’t allow that.’
‘Six…’ he whispered, but before he could say anything else there was a great commotion outside their cell, audible even through the thick walls.
Her eyes widened and she shoved the chair back, standing abruptly and sending it sliding across the floor. She reached out and grabbed his arm.
‘Tell him she’s still alive,’ she whispered urgently.
‘Tell who?’ he shook his head in confusion.
Suddenly the door to the cell opened and several men rushed in. Theo found himself grabbed roughly and pulled back, restrained between them, and still too weak to fight his way free.
Six was likewise restrained. The two other men in the room, unlike the orderlies who were wearing medical scrubs, were wearing suits. One of them leaned forward and began quickly scooping up all of the paperwork and stuffing it into a leather briefcase. He didn’t stop until the whole table was cleared. He turned to the orderly retaining Six and nodded.
‘Take her, we leave immediately. Faraday wants her transported to Saint Germain,’ he ordered as he clipped the briefcase closed.
‘Get your hands off her!’ Theo struggled against the two men holding him.
The man spared Theo the barest look of distaste as the girl was dragged from the room, before glancing over to the other suited man. This one was, ominously, wearing a white lab coat.
‘Dr Abigail,’ the man picked up the briefcase and glanced at Theo. ‘He’s all yours, Faraday has what he needs.’
‘And if he was to be damaged in any way?’ Dr Abigail asked solicitously.
‘Like I said,’ he shrugged, ‘Faraday is done with him.’ He glanced once again at Theo, taking in his pale, thin appearance and the dark circles under his eyes. ‘I can’t imagine you’ll get much more from him.’
The man in the lab coat nodded to the men holding Theo and they dragged him from the room, into a corridor. It was the first time he’d really been out of the strange cube-like complex of cells. Now he found himself being dragged down a dark corridor of roughly dug out stone walls. He struggled but it was no use. All he could see was Doctor Abigail’s shiny shoes as they clicked along the ground in front of him.
Finally, they pulled him into a brightly lit operating room. In the center stood a theater bed surrounded with medical equipment.
The two orderlies hauled him onto the table and strapped him down, despite the sudden burst of adrenalin forcing him to fight like a feral animal.
‘Get him under control will you,’ Dr Abigail snapped. ‘If I have to sedate him it will delay the procedure. He needs to be conscious.’
When they finally managed to
get him restrained, so tightly he could barely move a millimeter, Theo found himself staring up into a set of four circular lights.
He could hear bustling around the room, but he couldn’t turn his head to see. After what seemed like an eternity, Doctor Abigail’s face loomed above him.
Now wearing surgical scrubs, a mask and gloves he removed a pen and began to mark sections across Theo’s forehead, before attaching a metal band and screwing it tightly to his head.
‘Now then Mr Beckett,’ his eyes crinkled above the surgical mask as he smiled, ‘please hold still, the brain is a very delicate organ.’
24
Elias crept along in the dark with Davis close by. A short distance from the Colosseum and along the Via De San Giovanni, they came to the Basilica de San Clemente. Both dressed in unrelieved black and with Davis’s white hair tucked underneath a black hat they skulked along the edge of the high boundary wall, past the piazza, toward the small square bell tower, topped with a scepter and cross.
They knew the entrance was the other side but that wasn’t their goal. They stopped casually by the wall, glancing in either direction to make sure no one was watching. Satisfied the way was clear, Davis grabbed Elias’s arm and pulled him clean through the wall. It was a curious sensation Elias would later think, once his stomach ceased trying to rebel and expel its measly contents.
It was like he’d suddenly become liquid and was oozing through the wall. He could feel every molecule of his body squeezing in between the micro fractures in the mortar. Once he reached the other side, he leaned against the brick wall now at his back and drew in a breath.
‘Bit of a shock the first time,’ Davis whispered in the dark.
‘You’re not kidding,’ Elias breathed through his nose as the nausea calmed.
They looked up and found themselves under one of the covered walkways that ran either side of the courtyard garden. Moving quietly past the elegant columns supporting the roof, they headed closer to the main Church. Built in 1120, it was considered the most modern part of the building. The white structure glowed pale in the moonlight as they approached the main door.
‘You ready?’ Davis asked.
Elias nodded and braced himself. This time, as he felt himself sliding through the solid door, it was slightly more tolerable, but he couldn’t see himself ever getting used to this. He much preferred to travel by witch smoke.
They stood just inside the entrance and glanced up at the fat, golden cherubs mounted above the doorway and looking down at them. The church was dimly lit, revealing heavily decorated mosaic floors and rows of glossy wooden pews either side of them. The high vaulted ceilings were ornately and lavishly decorated. Made of wood and gold, they were decorated in geometric patterns, stars and palm leaves relating to the papacy. In the center was a huge painting by Chiari, of Saint Clement being lifted up to Heaven by many angels… cue more chubby naked cherubs.
Ignoring the Schola Cantorum which was essentially the choir area, they headed straight for the nearest steps downward, knowing they needed to get to the lowest point.
They headed down the rough stone stairs and bare brick walls, descending to the older Basilica, the 4th century church beneath the opulent 11th century one above them. As they reached it, they found themselves in a warren of archways and vaulted brick ceilings. They moved quickly and stealthily through the empty aisle and across the central knave to the next lot of stairs which delved even deeper into the bowels of San Clemente and down to the 1st century mint beneath.
These steps were even rougher stone, worn away by centuries. The stairs zig zagged slightly and finally opened out into the lowest level. Part of it was a house from the 2nd century and part of it was the 1st century mint. They ignored this and headed into the section which had once been a house and to the temple at its center, known as the altar of Mithras.
‘Well?’ Elias asked, watching as Davis hunkered down and pressed his hand to the dusty ground in front of the rough stone altar.
‘There’s a river that runs below here,’ Davis frowned. ‘It’s been diverted. There’s definitely something else under here. Something more modern.’
Elias glanced up at the rough ceiling, hewn from rock.
‘How the hell did they manage to build something way down here?’ he wondered staring up at the layers of ancient ruins above their heads. ‘And without anyone knowing?’
‘I imagine the right people did know,’ Davis straightened. ‘I think they might have started in another location and burrowed in deep underneath the Basilica, but it seems like a lot of trouble to go to.’
‘They would have wanted to draw on the power of this place,’ Elias mused as he looked down at his feet. ‘So, it’s beneath us?’
Davis nodded.
‘I suspect there’s another, easier way in and given time I could probably find it, but…’
‘Theo might not have that much time,’ Elias nodded. ‘Okay, so we’re doing this the hard way?’
‘Afraid so,’ Davis replied.
‘Okay,’ Elias steeled himself for the drop. ‘Up here has been relatively clear, no warding, or guards, but down there may be a whole different story. I simply don’t know what we’re walking into. I don’t even know if my magic will work, so be careful.’
Davis nodded in agreement as he reached out and grabbed Elias’s arm.
‘Ready?’ he asked.
‘Ready,’ Elias confirmed.
‘Okay here goes.’
There was that curious melting sensation once again and then suddenly they were falling.
Theo felt a sharp scratch and a cool sensation running up the length of his arm.
‘Just relax Mr Beckett,’ Dr Abigail muttered. ‘We are just administering a paralytic, so you won’t be able to move. I’m afraid you will be awake during the procedure as we need certain areas of your brain to be active.’
The more panic was starting to rise, the less Theo could feel. He couldn’t move, he couldn’t speak. Every muscle was frozen in place.
‘Right then,’ Dr Abigail muttered, as the high-pitched whine of a small surgical power saw filled the air. ‘I think we’re ready.’
He began to lower the small circular saw towards Theo’s head when a loud noise went off outside the room, a shrill kind of pulsing, like an alarm.
Dr Abigail lifted his head up, setting the saw down as he pulled his mask down to his chin.
‘What’s that?’ he frowned.
‘The alarm, Sir,’ one of the orderlies answered.
‘I know that fool,’ he snapped. ‘Go and see what is going on.’
They both hurried from the room, leaving Dr Abigail alone with Theo, who was clearly no threat in his current condition.
‘I have to admit Mr Beckett,’ Dr Abigail said conversationally as he edged around the table, stepping more fully into Theo’s eye line. ‘I am most anxious to get a look at that beautiful brain of yours. To have a seer of your pedigree. Although it would have been better if you had more control of your visions, but I can’t deny the raw potential is there. If I can pinpoint what makes the visions possible then I could possibly replicate it in others. It’s very exciting work, groundbreaking you might say.’
‘Break this,’ a deep voice muttered from behind him.
Dr Abigail turned sharply and there was a sudden loud clang. He fell against the bed, his eyes rolled back in his head, flopping over Theo’s paralyzed legs before slowly sliding to the floor, with a satisfying thud.
Nate suddenly appeared in Theo’s eye line, clutching an oxygen tank with small smear of blood on it. He set it down on the ground and hurried over to a nearby cabinet, searching through small glass bottles and vials until he found what he wanted.
He couldn’t feel anything as Nate leaned over him and stuck the needle in his neck.
‘I’m sorry,’ he winced. ‘I know I’m always sticking needles in you but this time it’s necessary. I’ve given you something to counteract the paralytic, but it might take a moment to work
.’
He busied himself by unfastening all the restraints. He also removed the cuffs on Theo’s arm allowing him to once again use his ability to transform his tattoo into a blade. Not that it was going to do him a lot of good, he doubted he had the strength to wield it. Finally, Nate reached up and quickly and efficiently unscrewed the band holding his head in place.
The feeling was slowly returning to his arms and legs, accompanied by the stinging sensation of pins and needles stabbing into his skin.
Nate glanced at the door anxiously; the wailing alarm was now accompanied by shouts and more worryingly the sound of gunfire.
‘Time to go,’ Nate pulled Theo off the table and slung his arm over his shoulder, taking the brunt of his weight.
Theo sloppily put one foot in front of the other as Nate half dragged, half carried him to the door.
‘Wwwhhashapin?’
Nate glanced at Theo as he opened the door and poked his head out warily. Although his speech was slurred, he had a pretty good idea what he was trying to say.
‘I don’t know,’ Nate shook his head. ‘Looks like all hell’s broken loose in here.’
Smoke filled the corridor and the once bright lighting was on emergency backup, giving the place a sinister red glow.
‘Wherssix?’
‘I don’t know man,’ he replied as he dragged Theo quickly down the hall. ‘She’s gone. I tried to get to her first, but they hustled her out of here so quick I couldn’t stop them. I came after you next. I don’t know what the hell’s going on, but it may work in our favor if I can find a way out of here.’
‘Wherarewe?’
‘That’s just it, I don’t know,’ Nate shook his head. ‘I was blindfolded when they brought me here. We could be anywhere, but I tell you what, anywhere is better than here.’ He reached around behind him and pulled a handgun from where it was tucked into the waistband of his jeans. ‘Now keep your head down and keep moving.’
Davis’s body rippled as the bullet passed straight through him and slammed into the wall behind him. He stalked through the corridor as the desperate guard kept firing, but it was no good. Every single bullet passed straight through him as if he wasn’t even solid. Davis reached the guy and as his fingers solidified, he wrapped them around the gun barrel. He yanked it from the wide-eyed man’s hand and cracked him across the head, sending him barreling into the wall with glazed eyes. Lifting the gun, without hesitation he aimed and took out two more men.
Necropolis Page 31