by R. Twine
‘Why, indeed?’ they asked in one voice. But Walter quickly found the answer to this question.
‘The newly-created mankind will belong only to him! New people will have nothing to do with the Higher Forces and they will serve Satanail only!’
‘People will preserve their gene of goodness so I’m not sure all of them will serve him,’ I objected. ‘From this follows the conclusion: Satanail himself doesn’t know what the result might be, therefore he gives the freedom of choice to human beings, though not to all of them but only to those through whose agency he acts. The Archangel knows about it and that’s why he said nobody would be able to help us but ourselves! After the Flood the Creator gave us one more chance to start everything anew from the very beginning. But we came to what we’d been destroyed for – the balance shifted towards violence again. Satanail needs my blood in a purely symbolic sense, as a kind of remembrance for him, as something to remind him of me. There’s a game going on between the two Kingdoms where we, the people, are the main characters. We’ll be gone, but others will come to replace us, and nobody knows whether this future civilization will be more perfect. There’s only one thing I know for sure: when the bowl of a destructive gene gets filled to the brim, making the balance shift towards it, is precisely when the global disaster will strike. Test-tubes, books, ghosts, invisible worlds – these are only the information carriers, the eyewitnesses of the age…’
Michael and Walter stared at me, thinking their own thoughts.
‘Yes, Miriam,’ Walter finally agreed. ‘Perished mankind will leave in its wake the very same test-tubes with the humans of the future. This is likely to be the main mission of the two worlds. By generating disasters at an increasing rate, they’ll succeed in getting rid of us. They’ll dump us like a sandbag. The human race may perish completely and thus the process will be over; or other humans will be created to replace us who will have to differ greatly from their predecessors. Otherwise it would be simply senseless to recreate the old kind of humans. And we shouldn’t forget that everything happens with the consent of the Creator! For it is the Creator himself who seals our fate, even many centuries after Creation. Satanail only carries out the task the Father had set before him in the way of punishment. It is with great sadness that I must admit you’re right, Miriam. Man himself is cutting the branch he sits on. God damn it! I never thought about it from such an angle…’ Walter said, clearly annoyed.
‘Did Samuel know he was Phil’s brother?’ I asked Walter.
‘Yes, he did,’ Walter confirmed. ‘Michael was the only one who’d been kept in the dark about it.’
‘But why? Was there any specific reason?’ I insisted.
‘I don’t know, Miriam, Phil kept me in the dark, too.’
‘Walter, are you familiar with this symbol?’ I asked him, and painted a pentagram with a heart in its middle which I saw in the bunker.
‘Yes, I am. This is the symbol of The Star of Baphomet,’ Walter replied. ‘Every member of the sect has such a pendant passed on as an inheritance. But if the inheritor’s connection with the organization is broken, the pendent is handed over to another person. But, in time, this thing can return to its origins.’
‘Do you mean to say that each pendant had been manufactured for a specific member of the sect?’
‘Exactly. There’s a folder in the bunker that contains the description of when and for whom they’d been manufactured,’ Walter replied.
‘But there’s a mountainous pile of various papers!’
Suddenly I heard a hissing sound coming from the adjacent room.
‘What is it?’ I asked, becoming alert.
‘Those are my pets!’ Walter said proudly.
‘Pets?’ I asked in astonishment.
‘The thing is, that Walter is fond of snakes,’ Michael explained.
‘What snakes?! Do you mean to say that you’re keeping snakes in your house?’ I asked, horrified.
‘Follow me,’ said Walter, and led us invitingly to a big room that looked more like a serpentarium. Behind the glass, there were about thirty cobras of various colors and tints. Some of them were dangling from the tree that stood in the middle of the terrarium, the top of its crown reaching the ceiling, others were lying curled up on the ground. Only one of them got up a little bit, opened up its hood and stared at us, swaying slightly. Michael approached the glass – and the next moment all the cobras came crawling up to him and hissed beneath his feet.
‘Michael, Walter’s cobras have clearly taken an immediate liking to you,’ I observed.
‘They have? What makes you think so?’ he asked, puzzled.
‘They started crawling towards you the moment they saw you,’ I replied.
‘That’s because they are locked up. They must be very bored,’ Michael explained, and then beckoned me on with a wave of his hand. ‘Come over here.’
I walked over to the terrarium. One of the cobras got up again and began hypnotizing me with her stare.
‘I don’t seem to look more attractive to them then you do,’ I said, and added with a smile. ‘Michael, your magnetism attracts not only woman but these scaly beauties, too!’
‘I consider these creatures to be the smartest among all the animals,’ Walter intervened, apparently annoyed by my laughter. ‘I’ve been bringing these cobras up since they hatched. I spend all my leisure time in their company. When I’m alone, I open the terrarium and let them out.’
Michael pressed his palm against the glass, and the cobras began crawling away to their dens.
‘Have you given them a telepathic command, Michael?’ I kept on, asking him.
‘No, I haven’t. They only do what they think necessary, Miriam. They are free creatures capable of sensing the mood of a man or any other animal and predicting their reaction even before it manifests itself,’ he said.
‘Michael, I can tell by the look in your eyes that you are fond of these asps, too,’ I observed.
‘There’s only one person I look at with loving eyes, and that person is you.’
We returned to the sitting room where the table had already been laid. But I didn’t feel like eating, I was still on edge, annoyed by the fact that I was going around in a circle. Or was I being led on in circles?
‘Let’s return to the first Book of Shadows,’ I suggested: this subject was now of the greatest interest to me.
‘Miriam, let’s forget about it if only for a second,’ Michael said imploringly, slicing up a turkey. ‘How did you get so obsessed with it? I cannot understand your maniacal interest in it.’
‘I’d like to know whom it belongs to,’ I said obstinately.
‘You can ask Satan himself about it, my dear Miriam. Maybe, you’ll be the first one to whom he’ll reveal this secret,’ Walter said with affected irony. ‘Maybe, he’ll also tell you when its owner is going to come and collect it,’ he went on. ‘But don’t forget about one insignificant circumstance: nobody has ever seen either the book or Satanail himself!’ And he laughed out loud.
Our conversation ended in a deadlock; everybody started getting annoyed with any word they considered wrong from their point of view.
‘‘To whom could this Book possibly belong? To one of Cain’s descendants? This may well be one of Satanail’s devoted followers – but how many of them are there on the earth? Nobody knows…’’ I thought.
‘Miriam,’ said Walter, interrupting my thoughts and peering into my face. ‘Are you okay? You’ve gone so pale… And you haven’t even touched your food.’
‘I have no appetite. And I’m very tired,’ I replied.
‘You may take a rest in a guest room,’ Walter suggested. ‘It’s late, and tomorrow morning you’ll decide what to do.’
I excused myself from the table and returned to Walter’s study, where I took the list of the sect members to make sure my great-grandma was really among them.
“Agatha Paul, born in Paris, the only child in the family. A widow. Has a daughter.” I read. Beneath there w
as the date of her death and a set of digits: apparently, this was a code or the number of her bank account. There was no information about the role she’d played in the secret society and about my other relatives connected with The Star of Baphomet. Probably, their surnames had been changed, because the list clearly demonstrated the continuity of generations among the members of the society. I suddenly had a feeling that the farther I advanced in my search, the more I sank into a bog I wasn’t likely to get out of unscathed.
I went upstairs to the guest room, took a shower and got into bed beside Michael. He was awake.
‘Miriam, I want you to remember that I love you. When all this is over, do you think we’ll be able to live like other normal people?’ Michael asked quietly.
‘We still have a long way to go, Michael,’ I replied. ‘Somebody’s pulling invisible strings leading me where they want me to go, supplying me with the kind of information they need to nudge me further ahead. I’m a puppet in somebody’s hands. We live in total chaos, where everything is tangled up,’ I complained. ‘We can get help from above or below but this help is rendered for a reason, everything has its price. My affection and love for you and Samuel is not incidental, it’s as if someone made me fall in love with both of you. How can we live together, Michael, being aware that Samuel, who is your brother, will always stand between us? You cannot even imagine how much it pains me!’
Michael listened to me silently and then said.
‘In this life, even the strongest are vulnerable…’
Then he put his arms around me, and we made love trying to shake off the stress of the day.
Chapter 42
‘Hi, Samuel! How are you, my dear? I’ve decided to surprise you by coming uninvited,’ Agella said, kissing her only son. ‘You’ve done a good job! I’m sure we’re on the right path towards our success.’
‘I’m fed up with playing this idiotic game,’ Samuel replied by way of a greeting. ‘I think Miriam suspects what’s really going on because I’ve been lying and leading a double life for too long. And there’s that Michael…’
‘She may be suspicious, but they are still too far from understanding the whole truth,’ Agella interrupted him, lighting a cigarette. ‘There’s one main thing they are still unaware of: you’re my son,’ she said, taking a puff. ‘I’m going to use this information when an opportune time comes,’ Agella added with a sly smile. ‘As for your relationship with Luisa… You should have prevented it from leaking to the media; the birth of a baby girl should have been kept secret. In the olden days this was far easier to do,’ Agella complained.
‘Times have changed, and now it’s next to impossible to keep anything secret,’ Samuel replied apologetically.
‘You should always stick to the goal you’ve set before you, the more so, because we’ve been making good progress lately. Even if Michael doesn’t deserve to become our Master, I think he has to do it anyway. He’ll have to perish forever only after he does this.’ Agella paused for a while and then went on. ‘Then I’ll admit officially that you’re my son; and as long as you’re also Sean’s son, you’ll become entitled to a double inheritance as well as command over The Star of Baphomet. After you marry Miriam, we’ll acquire unlimited power! And your would-be son will become the first human being of pure blood since the death of the first-ever people! This very first-born baby is going to become the cornerstone of the new civilization!’ she exclaimed.
‘But why does it have to be our son, why not someone else’s?’ Samuel asked, pouring some whisky on the rocks for himself and his mother. ‘As far as I can understand, this human being has to appear out of the vial, right?’
‘Samuel,’ said Agella, exhaling the cigarette smoke, ‘you got it wrong. The vial has nothing to do with it. Miriam has the genes we need, and when you have a son he will get everything that’s necessary! There are my genes and Satanail’s genes within you, consequently if a baby-boy is born – and he will be born anyway – he will automatically possess everything this vial contains! Understand?’
‘Do you mean to say the vial mix is identical to the one we already have? I mean, the one I and Miriam have? This vial is kept just in case Miriam does not want me to be the father of her child, isn’t it? Then the baby boy will have to appear out of this vial, right?’
‘Exactly. This vial contains not only Miriam’s blood and Satan’s seed which passed through your body, but your genes, too,’ said Agella, clearly glad to see that it was beginning to dawn on Samuel what it was all about. With a contented look on her face, she took a drag of a cigarette and let out a thin streak of smoke.
‘What about Michael? What if Miriam gets pregnant by him?’ Samuel asked.
‘This brings us to the crux of the matter, my dear. Michael is your brother, and it would be better for us if Miriam gets pregnant exactly from you. Her pregnancy must begin right after you declare yourselves husband and wife. Therefore, if you want to get rich and have limitless power, it’s you who has to marry her, not Michael!’
‘What if Miriam refuses?’ he asked.
‘She shall not refuse!’ Agella said dismissively. ‘You must make her want you to marry her! You know how to make women adore you, so I’m positive that you’ll succeed in finding the right way of treating Miriam. Arrogance is only going to spoil everything in such a delicate issue. After your baby is born, we’ll be able to get rid of her, too, because we will not need her any more.’
‘What if Michael never agrees to become the Master – then what?’ Samuel asked.
‘Then we’ll wait and see,’ Agella replied.
‘Wait? Wait for what? And for how long?’ Samuel insisted.
‘Only time will tell, my dear. And we’re going to wait for as long as necessary,’ Agella said with finality.
‘I hope your plan is well-thought-out, because if Miriam or Michael ferret something out, all our efforts will go down the drain. By the way, what about the Archangel? The thing is that he can intervene at any time.’
‘The Archangel needs Miriam and her intact body – and that is precisely what he’s going to get. As for Michael, he rejects his satanic essence, therefore he’ll be easy prey for us.’
‘Something about your plan doesn’t add up, but I don’t know exactly what it is yet,’ Samuel said thoughtfully, studying Agella’s face.
‘Don’t worry, sonny, you say so because you have no experience,’ she said. ‘What feelings do you have for Miriam?’
‘I love that bright and beautiful woman,’ he replied. ‘So I care about what happens to her.’
‘Miriam’s just another silly girl who has great conceit about herself,’ Agella said in a malicious tone of voice. ‘If she was as clever as you consider her to be, she’d ask herself a simple question: how could she have managed to get the leading role in Tragic Love?’
‘She asked, and more than once,’ Samuel countered.
‘Still, she thinks she was selected thanks to her beauty and talent. She cannot even imagine that I was behind it! That I needed it first of all! It was the surest way for you to take hold of her. Samuel, you have to kill your love for her, otherwise something may go awry.’
‘I can’t do it for the time being, Agella. If I don’t love her, I won’t be able to get her to marry me. Michael stands between us, and it’s getting harder and harder for me to talk Miriam into marrying me. Especially since she found out about my child…’
‘This is your own fault, Samuel! You’re eager to drag every woman you come across into your bed, I’ve already warned you against it, and more than once. Sometimes you don’t use your head at all, son! When you get married, you’ll become the most influential and powerful man in the world. Then I’ll find the first Book of Shadows and take hold of it. When this mission is accomplished, Miriam will have to disappear, as I’ve already told you, and there mustn’t be any objections and arguments on your part. Therefore you’ll have to tune your feelings onto the right wavelength,’ demanded Agella.
‘But why ar
e you so sure you’ll be able to find the Book of Shadows?’
‘I know it for sure, Samuel! I also know that when its owner lays his hands on it, it’ll be easier for me to retrieve the Book from him than from the devil!’ Agella said in a loud voice.
‘I’m different from you, I don’t want any more victims,’ Samuel said and added demandingly. ‘Leave Miriam, Michael and his children alone.’
‘If we leave them alone, then we will never get what we are striving for. Don’t be so sentimental,’ Agella said, taking a gulp of Irish whiskey.
‘I prefer solving problems in a civilized way, without any bloodshed.’
‘It can’t be done without bloodshed in this case. These two have to get out of our way.’
‘I can’t understand why you are so obsessed about getting rid of Miriam…’
‘In time, you will understand,’ Agella said, interrupting him.
‘People who act out of aggression and arrogance don’t always get what they want,’ Samuel countered.
‘It’s a pity that you’re so spineless and loyal… People like you often lose,’ she said with annoyance.
‘All right. Have it your way. Our goal is more important, after all.’
‘At last I’m hearing you say clever things, son,’ Agella said, brightening up.
‘Tell me then, why did you have to kill Michael’s wife? Who needed this unnecessary sacrifice?’ Samuel enquired.
‘There’s nothing in this world that’s unnecessary,’ Agella replied. ‘I had nothing to do with the murder of his wife, in fact.’
‘Then who did?’
‘Samuel, I don’t care a bit about his wife, when did you get so suddenly interested in her fate?’ Agella asked angrily.
‘Just out of curiosity,’ he answered, confused.