by R. Twine
‘I’ll be looking forward to receiving it,’ Samuel said, clearly intrigued.
We went to the guests, and all of them began congratulating us over one another, kissing us and showering us with confetti. Everything around us was buzzing happily, and the atmosphere became celebratory and easy. The ceremony moved smoothly into the hall where waiters were holding champagne bottles at the ready, and the tables groaned with various delicious things.
Emerging from the excited crowd, I looked around: instead of Samuel there was Michael standing in front of me.
‘My congratulations, Miriam,’ he said softly, taking me by the hand. ‘I’d like to kiss you for the last time…’
‘For the last time? Michael, there are too many people in the hall,’ I replied, looking around.
‘Let’s go someplace where we could be alone. What do you say? All the guests are focused on eating and drinking; nobody will notice our absence. In the meantime, Jack will be entertaining Samuel,’ Michael insisted, squeezing my hand.
I froze: there was excitement in his eyes… and pain.
‘Well, if you wish me to do so… You know, I cannot refuse…’
We sneaked unnoticed to the rear of the house and went upstairs to one of the bedrooms. I was shaking like an aspen leaf. Unable to contain my emotions any more, unable to change anything, I broke down sobbing.
‘Miriam, I love you very, very much!’ Michael kept whispering.
He swept papers off the old writing desk with his hand and sat me on its smooth wooden surface. A vase containing flowers swayed, fell on the floor and broke into pieces.
‘I’ll be missing you till the end of my days… Wherever I go, whoever I meet, wherever you go yourself, I want you to know that you’re the best thing I had in my life! I loved you at first sight, the very moment I saw you. I will love you forever!’ Michael whispered, covering my face with ardent kisses. Tears were streaming down his cheeks.
‘Michael, I love you, too… My love for you is so strong…,’ I said through sobs, responding to his kisses.
Unbearable pain was tearing my heart apart.
‘Forgive me, Miriam,’ Michael whispered in my ear. ‘I won’t be able to live without you. I will die from grief… Why have you married him?’
‘My beloved Michael,’ I said, crying. ‘Forgive me. It’s only now that I understood what a terrible mistake I have made.’
There was no stopping our passion. So we made passionate love right on the table, merging into each other.
I wanted to hold this man in my arms forever.
Chapter 49
‘I’ve been looking for you everywhere, Miriam,’ Samuel said reproachfully. ‘Where have you been?’
‘I’ve been upstairs with Michael,’ I replied.
‘What have you two been doing up there?’ he hissed maliciously, giving my elbow a painful squeeze.
‘Let me go,’ I said with a threat in my voice, jerking my hand back abruptly.
‘Don’t do anything foolish… Don’t do something you’ll regret doing for the rest of your life.’
‘I’m doing what I think necessary, Samuel. And nobody’s going to make me change my mind, much less you! I will never forgive those who caused me so much pain!’
‘Calm down, Miriam. I promise we will pay everyone back for what they’ve done, no doubt about it. But if you’re going to turn our wedding into some kind of nightmarish farce, I won’t be able to help you afterward, and neither will anyone else,’ Samuel warned me.
‘You’re a deceitful son-of-a-bitch, Sam,’ I blurted out. ‘You’ve been playing your cruel game with me, the game where the rules had been set by you and your mother Agella who’s a real demon in human disguise. She’s been using you like a stupid dummy. The Book – that’s what she really wants! She doesn’t need you at all, as a matter of fact. You’d devised a sly plan against me, but do you really believe that these evil activities of yours will go unpunished?’
‘Miriam, believe me, I’m on your side… But what you’re going to stage is absolutely crazy!’
‘Get out of my way, Sam,’ I ordered angrily, barely able to control my desire to hit him hard in the face.
‘Don’t do what you’ve planned,’ he insisted. ‘If you start airing all your dirty laundry you’re only going to hurt yourself. Then you’re going to find out something you’re not going to like, that’s for sure…’
‘It’s too late to change anything,’ I said firmly and, having pushed my brand new husband aside, walked towards the center of the hall.
‘Dear guests!’ I said in a calm and tranquil voice, drawing everybody’s attention to myself.
My image was displayed on a big screen, to make sure nobody missed a single word of my speech.
‘I thank you all for coming; for your attention, your gifts and love. With all my heart, I’m grateful to you for sharing this happy day with us. I want each of you to keep this celebratory event in your memory forever. I have a surprise for you… I want all of you to become witnesses.’ I made a deliberate and meaningful pause and then continued with firmness and determination. ‘I’m grateful to my friends and loved ones, to those who’ve been standing by me during all these years. I feel bitter about the fact my parents and those I loved with all my heart are not here today. Scoundrels killed them. Those terrible people stop at nothing in order to achieve their goal. They think nothing of killing anyone to preserve their secrets. And those people are here today! They are among us! They befoul the air we breathe. They are looking for the method of getting rid of unwanted people, including me.’
A heavy silence fell upon the hall. Only my voice echoed in the motionless air.
‘My accusations are not unfounded. I have evidence to prove that these people committed numerous crimes while pursuing their selfish goals. During their ritual gatherings they made human sacrifices, killing innocent people. They’ve amassed huge wealth and try to dominate the whole world. These people have concluded a pact with the devil himself and use his power for their personal gains. As a matter of fact, they are even worse than Satan because they learned to use him in carrying out their dirty deeds. I want to inform you about the following: for many centuries the Prince of Darkness has been watching human beings act only out of their own selfish interests. And now these people – yet again – have set out to take possession of what doesn’t belong to them. Now I’m going to show you that my words are true,’ I said, gesturing for the waiters to begin.
They distributed black sealed envelopes among all those present. The bank strong box whose key I’d found in the bunker contained the materials proving that the Star of Baphomet members belonged to a criminal world. I had printed these documents up so that everybody could see who Agella, Robert, Charlie, Arnaud and many other dignitaries were in reality. The strong box also contained a lot of other papers just as important.
‘What do you mean by these dirty insinuations?’ Agella asked irritably after looking through the content of the envelope.
‘Quite a few people paid for these documents with their lives, Agella. I think it was Phil who’d hidden them for me in a safe place before he died. That’s where I’ve found them. The man who strangulated him took one more important thing away,’ I said.
There was a whiff of whispering in the hall.
‘Your choice of the day for settling scores was a bad one. We could have talked this over someplace else,’ Robert said.
‘This place’s perfect for score-settling!’ I objected.
I cued up the video, and in a moment the screen began displaying hidden camera footage showing Agella talking to a prominent politician.
‘All these years Phil has been working for the secret service; he’s been snooping on you,’ a square-shouldered grey-haired man said quietly. ‘We’ve got info from a reliable source that he’s managed to amass an impressive amount of compromising material.’
‘What would you advise me to do?’ asked Agella.
‘Finish him off, of course…
And his companions, too.’
‘Yes, you’re right. But how can we possibly find out who’s been working for him? And why has he been doing this?’ she asked thoughtfully.
‘This is his revenge for his family that died: for his wife and his father you’d ordered to be killed,’ the square-shouldered man replied.
‘But he couldn’t have known about it!’ Agella insisted.
‘He did know about it,’ the man said. ‘By the way, we may not know all of his companions…’
The footage was over, and everyone’s eyes were focused again on me.
‘Agella, you also killed Michael’s wife and tried to kill him. And after killing him you’d have reached out for his children,’ I said defiantly.
Another episode appeared on the screen.
‘My dear Miriam, you’re still so young!’ Agella said, unfazed. ‘You want to find a culprit and show the world your strength and righteousness. In your naivety, you’re unaware of the fact that people like me cannot be punished because otherwise you’d have to punish all the rest of the high and mighty. How do you imagine you will do this? You’ll never be able to prove my complicity in the murders,’ Agella said, paying no attention to the damning footage.
‘True, you, personally, didn’t kill anyone. Your true servant, George Charlie and his likes, has been doing this for you… They are up to their elbows in blood. But you’ll have to face punishment anyway, Agella,’ I said threateningly.
‘It’s you who will be punished, Miriam, not me!’ Agella said in a derogatory tone of voice. ‘You’ll be punished for your stupidity!’
Nobody took my side. Nobody made an attempt to stand by me. Even detective Nino, whom I’d invited on purpose kept silent.
‘I’ve warned you, Miriam!’ Samuel spoke. ‘I’ve told you that you wouldn’t be able to change anything. Do you want to know the truth? You will – in a moment. I didn’t want to do it but you have left me no choice.’
Sam walked over to the projector and plugged in his phone.
‘This is the info the late Phil wanted to hand over to you. What you actually have got is a decoy. Phil had planned well.’ Sam took the remote controller but didn’t hurry to press the button. ‘I really love you, Miriam! This is why I’ve been trying all this time to protect you from the monster that you love with all your naïve little heart!
I had no other choice but to wait. Nobody’s been able to bring you to your senses!’
‘What do you mean, Samuel?’ I asked in bewilderment.
‘Who do I mean? I mean you, Miriam. You’ve kept on digging in… Stubbornly… There was no stopping you, nothing could make you change your mind – not your career, not money, not passion, not love…nothing!’
Samuel pressed the button and the words ‘He will be everywhere and in everyone’ flashed out on the screen.
Then Phil appeared and spoke looking straight into the camera. ‘I have devoted most of my life to my half-brother. No secret service had such a detailed file on Michael as the one I have collected. Everything began on the day Michael took an interest in my books. He would pore over them for hours in the library when I was away. I was aware of this but didn’t keep him from studying what attracted him so much. But then three of my dogs disappeared, one by one, and I had a suspicion that Michael had a hand in their disappearance. I started to notice strange things happening to him. For instance, having locked himself in his room, Michael would talk to somebody. I realized that he was capable of seeing his secret interlocutor. First I put it down to hallucinations caused by much reading or to our hereditary ability: all the men in our family could communicate with the hereafter. But later on I realized it was neither this nor that. Apparently, Michael had succeeded in establishing direct contact with Satanail. I’ve been keeping him under close watch ever since. When influenced by the Black Angel, he would undergo various transformations and, most likely, was unaware of what he was doing. It was the first time in my life that I had witnessed such metamorphoses. My son – my half-brother, to be more precise – was, perhaps, none other than Satanail himself who came to collect the first-ever woman – Eve – who was to come to Earth for the last time. It was she whom he’d been waiting for so impatiently. She was his ultimate goal. I’m knowledgeable in psychiatry, the occult and demonology. But despite my ties with the dark world I’ve been trying all my life to maintain ties with the Higher Forces. It was thanks to these forces that The Star of Baphomet and Michael failed to expose me right away. It took years for them only to begin to suspect that something was wrong. But I’d had enough time to accomplish my mission by then.’
‘Michael, Michael, where are you?’ I called desperately, looking around but he was nowhere to be seen. ‘Where are you, Michael?’
I stepped back to leave the crowd and set off looking for him but Samuel took hold of me with an iron grip and said, pain in his voice. ‘Sorry, Miriam, but you’ll have to see it out.’
‘Let go of me,’ I hissed.
‘All these years you’ve been looking for those who are to blame for all your problems, so why are you trying to run away now that the opportunity is in front of you?’
All I could call out was ‘Sam, you are a dirty scoundrel!’
More clips of surveillance camera footage appeared on the screen.
‘My dear Emmy,’ young Michael was saying to a beautiful young girl, you’re the only one I love. Though we are very young, I want our lives to merge into one.’
He put a stunningly beautiful ring on the girl’s finger and kissed her. They looked so happy!
The next episode showed this girl on a beach. She walked into the ocean and swam. After a while Michael appeared in the water. He surfaced behind the girl, grabbed her by the head and immersed it into the water keeping it down with his hand. When her body ceased convulsing, he let it adrift and swam towards the shore as if nothing had happened.
I shuddered and gasped for air. My legs became lead-heavy and began pulling me down towards the floor. The crowd booed. All those present began expressing their outrage and talking loudly to each other.
‘Oh, my God,’ I whispered in desperation after I saw Michael appear on the screen again. He was leaving the flat which belonged to his friend. The next morning his friend – a young guy – was found dead. The doctors said he had died from an overdose of drugs.
The screen went black for a moment, but in a little while it came to life again. Black candles were burning. People in black cloaks could be seen through the haze. Sprawled on a huge table was a naked woman. A man was making love to her while the people who surrounded the bed were screaming wildly. The man’s face was covered by a mask, there was a cloak hanging from his shoulders.
When he came and got off the woman’s body the crowd went wilder still, howling approvingly.
‘You may begin!’ he said giving his permission. This was Michael’s voice – the one I could recognize out of thousands of voices…
Taking their turns, the men in black cloaks would clamber onto the victim and rape her.
‘This woman went missing many years ago,’ Samuel commented and added maliciously through clenched teeth. ‘I knew her personally, Miriam.’
‘Silence! Nobody move! Everybody freeze!’ Detective Nino shouted suddenly over the noise in the hall. ‘Let’s see it out! The police have cordoned the castle off so that nobody can leave here!’
The episodes went one by one. The tears that stood in my eyes prevented me from seeing clearly what was happening on the screen. Suddenly my stare focused on my photograph – Michael was holding it in his hand. I pulled myself together and peered into the screen.
Our car was being filmed by someone from afar. It was careening down the highway on a weird trajectory. The video footage was of poor quality but I easily recognized myself in the girl who rolled head over heels to the roadside…
I felt a heavy pulse hammering in my temples. My blood pressure surged, and my nose started bleeding profusely.
‘Here you are,
Miriam,’ Samuel said caringly, handing me a handkerchief. The guests began discussing heatedly what they’d just seen.
Natalie’s house… Michael coming out of her garage…
A blurry veil dimmed my vision; my legs gave way, but Samuel scooped me up just in time. I was no longer able to look at the screen.
‘Sam, take me out of here, please,’ I whispered in a barely audible voice. ‘I need to see Michael, it’s urgent. I know where he is.’
‘Only on one condition, Miriam,’ Samuel said.
‘What condition?’ I asked in a voice devoid of emotion.
‘I’ll go with you!’
I nodded. I wouldn’t have been able to walk by myself anyway.
Having noticed the state I was in, the detective waved his hand allowing us to leave, and Samuel led me through the crowd.
We made for the chapel. I knew Michael was there.
He was sitting in a chair with his legs crossed, waiting for me. Suddenly I felt a surge of inner strength coming as if out of nowhere, my thoughts cleared, and I began to see the sense in what happened.
‘You’ve come way too soon, Miriam. I was expecting you to appear at exactly the time we’ve agreed upon. Why haven’t you stayed on to see everything out?’ Michael asked carelessly.
I looked straight into his eyes: his entire appearance emanated serenity.
‘I never would have thought you would have used me all this time,’ I said reproachfully. My throat was parched, and my voice became screechy as if it wasn’t mine. ‘Why have you been doing this? For the sake of what?’
‘I’ve been doing this for your sake, for my sake, for the sake of all mankind. For the sake of the Creator himself, as a matter of fact!’ he answered.
‘The Creator has nothing to do with all this, Michael…’
‘It’s the Creator, Miriam, who plays a major role in everything that’s going on,’ Michael objected. ‘Nobody will be punished against His will.’