by Matt Drabble
Lucy looked down at the priest, “de Payens, we have much to discuss”
He looked up slowly, severely weakened as he was without the book he felt himself crumble under her stare and slowly surrendered into her soulless black eyes “Indeed we do Lucifer, indeed we do”.
Baine had slept for a day and a night, when he finally awoke he found himself in a Travelodge room still, the Book of Enoch lay alongside him, the book had drained and then refilled his energy, his splitting migraine had now departed along with his aches and pains. He sat and then stood, he stretched his body from all angles surprised at a seeming increased flexibility, the book had his own energy that had been added to his own, he checked his watch and was surprised at the time passed, he opened the room’s curtains to be faced with a dark once night again. Although he had only partly read through the book, during his slumber the entire contents had somehow seeped through into his mind, he now knew the stories and secrets contained within its pages, he now knew the beginnings of his path to his ultimate goal, the Cube. The book had been written by his true father, the man once known as Enoch and scribed in his own blood. Enoch was a direct descendant of Adam, Gods first son, and an ancestor of Noah, Enoch had been a prophet granted a life of 365 years by God in order to spread his word to the world and preach the teachings of his lord. Enoch had been appointed a ruler and as a teacher to the people by God and had ruled over a time of peace and fair justice. He had been taken to heaven on the same month, day and hour that he was born, it was not the first time that he had been taken to heaven. Enoch was to be the scribe of God, copying down everything that he saw in heaven and eventually managing to fill three hundred and sixty six books, when his work had been toiled fully he had been called to Gods side once again where he had been transformed into the Archangel Metatron and placed at the top table ahead of all angels. Upon his transformation into Metatron his soul had formed the Metatron Cube, the 366 books containing all of Gods secrets of creation and beyond had been bound and place within the Cube, sealed forever and unavailable to mankind. His placement at Gods hand had caused terrible unrest and eventually led to a rebellion amongst the other Archangels angry at their displacement, the Archangels had stolen the Cube in order to create their own world in which to rule. Baine had learnt though that unbeknownst to God Enoch had scribed a secret 367th in his own blood, the book, known simply as The Book of Enoch. Once written, the book had been handed down secretly through his descendants until it was discovered by Hugues de Payens during a particularly torturous interrogation back in 1123 after the formation of the Knights Templar, de Payens had kept the book for his own ends immediately recognising its power and being corrupted by it. The book was written by a direct servant of God who was embedded with the Holy Spirit to serve and would later be reborn as an Archangel, it only stood to reason that the book would hold a singular power of its own. Baine knew all of this upon awakening; the book was the story of the 366 works and a key to finding the Cube, created by Enoch in his own sin of pride to show his importance at Gods side and command to his own descendants. The book however powerful was only truly accessible to a direct descendant of Enoch, only a descendant could truly unlock the key to finding the Cube, Baine now had the book in his hands and the book was back with its rightful owner.
Lucifer stood naked glaring at the priest who was now bleeding profusely and hanging by his ankles from the churches oak beams with contempt. She had been slicing de Payens for what seemed like hours, her arm was tired with the effort, she had cut at his flesh with a thousand small cuts designed to create the greatest pain possible in order to illicit his confession. The Knights Templar were designated by God to protect the Cube but even they were not furnished with its location, they were to hold the line between the two warring Archangels factions and mankind. They were charged with dispatching the angels wherever they discovered them, this was not new information as Lucifer had used this remit to whittle down the numbers of the 11th Order by surreptitiously directing the Knights wrath toward her enemies by them feeding sly information over the years. One of de Payens duties was to act upon the will of God and to dispatch those he deemed fit, however he had begun to use this weapon for his own ends in order to secure his own small feeble kingdom, anyone who had fallen across his path or incurred his wrath had been secretly fed to Baine via a network of servers, passing the victims off to his followers as Gods will. After a few hundred years his genuine messages from on high had become less frequent and his communications with God had finally dissipated completely leaving him alone and abandoned. De Payens took this as his ultimate testing and had come to believe himself a God among men, he’d gathered his flock unto himself with a zeal and vigour that had shamed his original intentions. He had obtained the Book of Enoch a long time ago and the power that had seeped out of its pages had been corrupted by its supremacy over mortal men. As he was not a descendant of Enoch the Book was never truly open to him and thus he was unable to access either the whole of the story nor find true understanding of just what he possessed and to make matters worse this earthbound servant of God was by now far removed from the watchful eye of a God who seemed to have long since placed his attention elsewhere leaving de Payens to garner his own corner of the earth corrupting his once noble order.
Lucifer had her fingers in every dark corner of every lustfully wanton immoral nook in the city and there were many of her converts who seemed to be falling at another’s hand. Criminals, from drug dealers, pimps and rapists to petty shoplifters, burglars and thieves had been swept away, whilst there was always a thirst for criminality amongst mankind the city was becoming increasingly difficult to restock. The last of her brethren to fall was Sinclair; she had placed a lot of her time and energy into grooming the man and his appetites only to have him snatched from her in his prime. She was fully aware of Gods usage of warriors on earth to vanquish the worst offenders in order to maintain a balance, he had never interfered heavily, merely allowed mankind to run their own affairs making their own mistakes. She had however become increasingly curious at de Payens influence and seemingly ageless ability that was not granted to mortals easily and began an arduous process to insert some of her own followers into the now heavily altered Knights Templar in order to unmask the assassin who was thinning her ranks too easily. De Payens had removed any of his fellow original Knights who did not fall in with his dictatorial directions and selected only the most ardent followers; finally one of her Watchers had been successful in penetrating the Knights and had brought them details of the assassin Baine. Lucifer had deemed to slaughter this Baine until it seemed that Gabriel suddenly had a passionate interest in the man, it had been a long time since Gabriel had shown his face on this mortal coil and his very appearance at Baines’ apartment as they had waited for the assassin to return home had intrigued her, so they had watched and waited. Now this Baine seemed to be an uncontrollable entity, bouncing around ruining her carefully laid plans and throwing endless spanners in many works. Whatever Gabriel had told him, had caused massive ructions, she could feel that the balance had shifted sizeably, something large was suddenly underway and for the first time in eons God much just start looking this way again. Even after all of this time his hurtful casting aside of the Archangels for his favoured sacks of putrid flesh and bones still rankled hard, the placement of his human pet creations over his faithful angels had led to the rebellion that had torn apart the heavens and subsequently soaked the earth with rivers of blood. She and Gabriel had launched the plot to take the Cube and create their own world in which to live if God was to forsake them so vehemently, but Gabriel had been as fanatical in his ideals as God was, he had wanted to take the Cube and create his world of Eden an ideal that she and others did not share and so the civil war had erupted into bloody conflict. After Gods great and terrible flood cleansed the world of their kind leaving them scattered and few in numbers they had still sought the Cube for it was all they now knew and if Gabriel was here then Baine must hold the key.
/> The swinging gurgling mess of a man spilled blood onto her sweat streaked glistening naked form awakening her from her thoughtful musings, the church was cold and she stared longingly at her folded clothes taunting her from the pew but crimson stains were a bitch to get out of Armani and some abilities escaped even her.
“BAINE!!” the voice boomed ear piercingly in his head shattering his thoughts, Baine was sitting within the confines of the lofty central library in the rarified air of the large reference section, he had been sitting here since first light painstakingly dragging through Cardiff castles extensive history. The Book of Enoch had shown him the many corridors of its life, it was a guide and a key, but it was also a puzzle to be unlocked, it was now clear that his own emergence in Cardiff along with the approach of Gabriel and the discovery of the book were not coincidence.
“WHAT ARE YOU DOING BAINE, DO YOU NOT THINK THAT I CAN READ EVERY TRECHEROUS THOUGHT BEFORE IT EVER PASSES THROUGH YOUR TINY MIND, YOU WILL STAND AND FALL WHERE I DECREE AND AT MY WILL CHILD, AND I WILL BEAR NO INSOLENCE”
Baine managed to keep his meager breakfast from making a violent reappearance, his head felt as though it was splitting his skull apart at the seams, he looked around frantically to find the voices author but could not see Gabriel anywhere, “Where are you Gabriel?” he asked aloud.
Several people within hearing range looked over at the seemingly disturbed man dismissing him as either a person with mental health problems or the usual drunkard seeking the rent free warmth of the public building.
Baine struggled to preserve his composure as he had to remain concealed beneath the radar and nosily collapsing in a large public library was not going to work, his nose had begun to bleed through the internal pressure.
“BAINE YOU ARE TO BRING ME MY BOOK AND YOU ARE TO MOVE WITH HASTE, I HAVE SCOURED THE WORLD AND WADED THROUGH OCEANS OF TIME TO SEEK THIS MOMENT OF TRIUMPTH, DO NOT TRY MY PATIENCE BOY!!!”
Baine took the book out from out of the stolen Travelodge pillowcase that he had committed it to, he hugged it fiercely to his chest and relaxed his mind into its pages, Gabriel’s voice gradually began to fade and the more it dimmed the more homicidally it raged, eventually the voice had ceased completely, Baine wiped the blood from his nose with the sleeve of his shirt staining the cuff and returned to the library.
He felt her concern across the large room; he had used the research capabilities here for the last couple of years, the “her” in question was a small stereotype of a librarian. He had no idea of her name, she was a meek woman eager to help in a quiet shy way, her manner friendly but her glances had lengthened and her face had increased in redness for the last six months or so every time that Baine came in. She was not unattractive with a slim waist and attractive swellings smothered under a succession of ugly cardigans and jumpers, in the beginning Baine had considered nailing her for his amusement but it would have meant finding a new library for his research. Infuriatingly he had found his mind drifting towards the pretty assistant on his last several visits, rather than his usual erotic wanderings he found himself wondering what she would feel like lying across his chest in the early hours, would she cradle his sleeping head against her bosom safely. After leaving a trail of brain dead female notches on his bedpost picked up in various states of inhibition loosening drunkenness, he had begun to watch with interest and intrigue as couples strolled passed his gaze hands linked in a picture of two united souls. He shook his head angrily to clear the fog of unsettling emotions that threatened to undermine his ascension to freedom. However, more and more the thought of sharing his life with another intruded at the edges of his mind, as far he was concerned becoming two instead of one would either leave one infinitely stronger or infinitely weaker and he was not sure which one he would become. He found himself looking across toward the young librarian, due to the heat she had temporarily removed the heavy woolen jumper and stood in a plain white blouse, for the first time he could see the outlines of her tight lithe figure, she was framed in front of an artistically long frosted window, the hazy light filtered through her white blouse illuminating her body as she leant backwards hands place in the small of her back thrusting her chest forward to elevate the tension in her back and shoulders, a strand of her long natural hair had fallen from its severe moorings and cascaded downwards as she stretched up. It was a simple act of abstract femininity with no comprehension of eroticism and it was this innocence that meant Baine was momentarily frozen unable to catch his breath, he had never so much as spoken to this creature and yet suddenly he was slipping. He flashed an uncharacteristic smile across the room before he realised he was doing it, she blushed furiously and raised an impossibly heavy arm in return, annoyed, flustered and confused in equal measures he buried his head back into his work.
The Book of Enoch offered no maps or details on the Cube, that would be too easy he thought bitterly, it only showed him one image now, that of a Roman fort from the first century over and over again. Baine had found himself in Cardiff’s central library wading through dust and yellowing pages of history, he had actually been here several times before as assassinations required detailed knowledge at times and he had spent many hours pouring over microfilm of his victim’s biographies. He had felt the tug of the large city centre castle and always trusting his instincts he had begun there, the castle itself lay in the very heart of the capital dating back nearly 2000 years dating back to the arrival of the Romans in the first century AD, historians believe that the Romans originally built three forts on the site however only the last evidence of only one remains. The building was later renovated and rebuilt after the Norman Conquest almost a millennium later. In 1833 to 1834 the castle was damaged in Welsh revolts and was refortified by the de Clare family in the 13th century in anticipation of future attacks which never occurred resulting in the superb condition of the castle today. The castle lay in the possession of many noble families each altering and changing the castle until in 1766 it passed by marriage into the Bute family, by the 1860’s the 3rd Marquees was reputed to be the richest man in the world. From 1866 he had employed William Burges, who was considered to be a genius amongst architects, to transform the castles lodgings with extravagance and opulence throughout creating each room with its own unique theme. It was the original Roman forts that drew his attention, he found a Cardiff University website that held information of an archeological nature, the information related to digs that took place between 1974 and 1984 but built on information obtained in the later 19th and early 20th century,
The first fort c.A.D.55-75. The first Roman fort at Cardiff appears to have been a large one. Excavations under the Castle Green (the eastern half of the castle interior) revealed a large timber-framed building over 46m long N-S and possibly as wide, situated near the northern end of the Green. The date and size both indicate a military function and this may be part of a headquarters building or possibly a commander’s house. Some way south of this was a further timber building complex, the plan of which is unlike most standard military fort buildings and which might, therefore, be an officer’s house. The 2005-6 excavations revealed a further building, possibly a barrack block, under the later south castle bank. Finds, including coins, link these structures with the Neronian period. The lack of any defences, despite excavations on several sites within the castle interior, suggests a fort which was larger than the standard 3-5 acres (1-2 hectares) of a single auxiliary unit. A fort of the so-called ‘vexillation’ type of c.30 acres (12 hectares) is probable, having its perimeter outside the present castle enclosure.
The large military buildings function was immediately clear to him, it had housed the Book of Enoch, he could suddenly picture the Roman Commander surrounding himself with a fortress to guard the book, he could see the officer, tall and proud with a warriors stance and an air of supreme authority, he was Marcus Antonius and he was another son of Enoch, charged with the protection of the book and the continuity of its place within the generations of his father. He was a commander in
the army of the Emperor Nero in 59 AD; he had led his soldiers in the defeat of the Silures and had personally exiled the leader Caractacus back to Rome bringing about the occupation of South Wales. Marcus had held his position for many years surrounding himself with loyal legionnaires who did not question his lack of aging through time, aaccording to the text books the Romans had departed these shores around 400 AD and there was little known about the century’s history between then and the Norman occupation of the castle in around 1091 AD. Baine knew that he had to walk upon the ground of his brother in order to see his path forward by discovering the trail of his past. The sun was fading fast he walked out through the library’s reception area, he paused by the main desk and stopped to speak to the assistant but he found his throat dry and his mouth empty, he offered his first genuine smile, the warmth on his face felt new but pleasant, she looked as nervous and barren as he was. This close up he realised that she was indeed far more attractive than he had first noticed, her eyes were a crystal blue that held his gaze for an electric moment, he could see that she wore a small neat name badge over her left breast but for some inexplicable reason he did not look, feeling that to place a name on her would leave him dangerous exposed. Eventually he reluctantly broke the contact and strolled outside feeling her watching his departure, he closed his eyes and gave himself a hard mental slap, he had work to do, soon it would be dark and that was when he did his best work.
Gabriel boiled and raged in torrents of fury, he had existed since the dawn of time whilst man swam in the deep and crawled in the filth waiting for limbs to be given and life to begin, he had watched as the infantile insects staggered about the earth blindly causing much mirth and entertainment amongst his kind as they sought to gain their place and stature as Gods chosen. Now here he stood rejected and cast aside by a lesser being that knew not his place and had the sheer impudence to ignore his will. Gabriel strode about the deserted office building that the 11th Order had taken whilst they were anchored to this plane, whilst his two companions kept their distance and counsel. They had to remain within these putrid flesh suits and all of their limitations. In heaven his powers had been boundless but on this mortal coil he had to seek shelter and sustenance, he looked down and squeezed his powerful fists cracking the fragile bones, he watched as they straightened and reformed before him repairing the torn flesh and grafting the shattered bones. At the back of the room Michael and Raphael stood silently, their heads bowed in reverence as Gabriel had unleashed his anger on the brittle furniture that now lay scattered and broken; they waited serenely for the storm to pass as they had total faith in their general. Eventually Gabriel settled and with his back to his kin leant palms down on a lone sturdy desk that lay lonely amidst the carnage of its wooden brothers. Gabriel mentally slowed the revolting heart that pounded against his ribcage; these human bodies came equipped with emotions that seemed easy to raise and slow to control.