by Matt Drabble
Baine sat low in an impossibly comfortable chair; he faced out of the high bedroom window that screened a view stretching out across the green fields until it hit the waters horizon, the peacefulness of the setting had struck him hard. The bedroom was large and open, the hardwood floors and oak beams were appealing to even his limited interior design appreciation, the walls were pastel and calming, the bedspread floral and understated, all of a sudden Baine felt a sense of home in the surroundings that he would never have selected. He closed his eyes against the open windows soft breeze and could hear the faint call of the seagull and soft lashings of the blue waves upon yellow sand. Baine had been in a relaxed state of mind since the moment he had arrived, his thoughts were rapidly clearing allowing him to form a forward plan in order to regain some of his lost momentum, despite having no tangible reason he did feel safe as though his location was suddenly held in a secret trust. He no longer had his father’s book but it seemed to no longer matter other than the nagging feeling of failing to protect his family’s legacy, he also no longer held the ancient parchment that he had retrieved from under the vast Cathedral but the mental image of the symbol was still fresh in his mind. He stood and wandered out of his room and along the landing; he followed the sound of chinking crockery and soon found himself in a large French style country kitchen that high priced designers would kill for.
“Ah come son, come in” Marie Leary shooed a drunken looking cat from a solid looking dark wood chair for him, “Sit, sit, teas just brewing, your friends are taking a stroll, I’m Marie O’Leary”
Baine sat, the large kitchen was warm and welcoming, the woman was busying herself around an old cast iron range, alternating between stirring a large pot of delicious smelling stew on the stove and thrusting small pieces of wood to fan the flames firing the old fashioned system. She soon turned and laid a dainty floral china cup before him, she took the matching teapot out from under its cosy cover and poured the steaming brown liquid, she had not asked how he took his tea or for that matter even if he wanted one Baine thought, but upon raising the drink he discovered that it was perfect and he drank with gusto.
“You have a wonderful home Mrs Leary” he surprised himself with the sentiment; it was not a phrase that he could ever remember thinking before let alone saying.
“Mrs Leary was my mother dear, call me Marie” her tone struck a maternal note in him that left him suddenly feeling a sharp pang of regret and loss as though he had missed a large part of life somewhere along the line, he felt the sting of tears that frighteningly welled behind his hard eyes, he was as confused as he was sad.
She turned to peer out of the window, Baine noticed, seemingly noticing his discomfort and not wishing to add to it, he silently thanked her.
“So tell me son, what brings you down to this neck of the woods at such an unattractive time of the calendar?”
Baine opened his mouth to spin a lie out of habit but found that he simply did not want to, “I’m looking for something” he began and then proceeded to spill his strange and violent tale across a large wooden table to a complete stranger, during the story he was unable to look at the kindly woman, choosing to lower his head and stare hard into his cup, by the time he had finished he lifted his heavy head to meet her gaze expecting to see her turn and bolt for the nearest door. She had stood for what seemed like and age whilst he had spoken continuously for the longest time in his life and found himself completely exhausted, he found her still standing with a look of impossible love and sadness radiating from her, she walked around the table and before he knew it she had clasped him in a maternally solid hugging embrace that would not be denied, his mind briefly fought against the intrusion before surrendering into her.
Lucifer walked with McCullum along the coast path their bodies wrapped together against the cold winds blowing in off of the ocean, she clung to his large reassuring presence. Ever since she had siphoned off some of her essence to save his life she had felt herself slipping closer and closer to the line of humanity than was advisable. Her life-force would forever be contained within this vessel now, she would no longer be able to switch bodies and maintain her immortality, she was now mortal, she could die as easily as the fragile humans but she had paid the price willingly. Above all she still had her most valuable asset intact, her mind was sharp and crystal clear, Gabriel would come for them soon, but she still held the key and he was sitting in a remote guesthouse recovering. McCullum would serve as her strength and together they would obtain their future. Baine would have no choice but to comply with her wishes now that Gabriel was on the warpath, she snuggled closer into her detective’s warm embrace and dreamt of a world built just for the two of them.
Irving pulled the Lexus into the hotels underground parking, the area was dark and deserted, the silence was eerie but he felt no fear despite his surroundings, he was on a holy mission and he was protected, safe within Gabriel’s comforting embrace. He had barely exited the vehicle and stretched his aching back when the echo of approaching footsteps caught his senses, as they grew closer their instigator was covered amidst the gloom but Irving felt his undeniable presence.
“Mr Irving” the voice boomed with authority bouncing off of the heavy stone walls, “So nice to see you again, have you brought me something nice?”
Irving attempted to keep his dignity but his knees buckled under the weight of his ascension and fell to the floor as a quivering child, “My life for you, my life for you” was all he could manage as Gabriel placed a warm hand upon his head.
Gabriel left the kneeling man and moved around to the luxury cars boot, he lifted the lid and peered into the illuminated space, a small cruel smile crept across his thin lips, and he turned back to the pitiful Superintendent. A thought occurred to him furrowing his brow as he looked from Irving to the hanging open car boot door, in one fluid flowing motion he had grabbed the policeman’s collar and dragged him the short distance, he placed Irving’s disorientated head on the lip and held it there with one hand and took hold of the boot lid with the other. Irving barely had time to look up bewildered before the lid slammed down with terrifying force, Gabriel slammed the boot lid down again and again with increasing ferocity when he finally let go of Irving the mans head was a bloody mess of unrecognisable pulp and the body slid leaving its own red trail onto the car park floor. Gabriel was more interested in examining the boot lid which was surprisingly un-dented; he caressed the metal impressed with the quality and made a mental note to pick up a similar car when his hectic schedule eased a little. He fished the keys out of the dead mans pocket and hefted the body into the boot on top of his precious cargo, the car started first time and purred encouragingly, ever since he had decided to engage the darker desires that confused his mind he had found a beautiful clarity within the raging storm. He hummed quietly to himself and pulled out into the rather bright and cheery day, all the while ignoring the shattering screams that came from the cars spacious boot as his freight woke from its drugged sleep and discovered a new roommate.
Baine sat upon the hard kitchen chair mortified by his sudden loss of control, the old woman had pottered away to the stove and soon filled the room with delicious aromas that made his mouth water and stomach rumble. He had spent his entire existence alone but never lonely, the dizzying turn of events that had laid a family, a love and a meaning before him now weighed heavily upon his already tired shoulders.
“So what’s next son?” asked Marie without turning around, she seemed to have instinctively realised that he had needed a little space, “perhaps it is time for you to take your friends into your confidence”
“You’ve no idea just who they are nor just what she is capable of” answered Baine wearily, “she is too dangerous to be trusted, she’d slit my throat just as soon as the mood took her”.
“People change you know, are you the same man that begun this quest of yours?”
“But she’s not.., she’s not even human and he only used to be” Baine struggled to vocalise
his thoughts on his travelling companions; Lucifer had sought to take his life in one moment of rage and yet had saved him in a later moment of compassion. There was little doubt as to her softening, she displayed an awkward tenderness for the detective, he had seen little from his prone position in the farmhouse but her concern had been real then.
“I know that trust is not an emotion that any of us can easily afford but perhaps an alliance of sorts could be of mutual benefit” Lucifer’s voice from behind them startled Baine but not he noticed their landlady. “I don’t have confidence in your ability to play well with others Baine, but none of us can go at Gabriel alone and expect to survive” she tested
“I might” Baine barked sulkily
“Children” Marie chided gently, “Must I bang your head together to make you play nice?”
“And what of him” Baine jerked a thumb at the hulking policeman who stood motionless watching the door, “where exactly does he fit into all of this?”
“He is of no concern to you” Lucifer looked up at McCullum lovingly, “he only matters to me” she dismissed
Baine reached across the table towards her arrogance and grabbed her fiercely by the wrist, to his astonishment he felt only weakness, McCullum immediately sprang forward and wrenched Baine to his feet, in a flash he was looking deep into the detectives eyes, they were a silvery glaze.
“Easy my love” Lucifer place a gentle hand on McCullum’s wrist and the painful strength was gone in an instant, “let me explain” she continued as they sat slowly again at the kitchen table.
Baine sat whilst she told him of her resurrection sacrifice, all the while he kept a subtle watch on Mrs O’Leary who seemed to remain unfazed by all that he had told her and now a new story from the lips of a seemingly ex-archangel. However different this new version of Lucifer was it was still difficult to forget her screaming face bent over him at the police station when she had lost all control and was about to start peeling the flesh from his bones. One thing was indisputable though, in spite of his empty boasts he knew that he could not face Gabriel alone and expect to survive, if he ever wanted to see his dancer again he was going to have to dance with the devil.
“Well all I’ve got left to go on is some weird symbol” Baine ventured, “I’m not sure what it means or even just what the hell it is”
“Can I see, maybe in this old head chocked full of useless knowledge something will spark” the landlady interjected, she wiped her hands on a floral apron and returned to the large oak table.
Baine looked around and picked up a well worn and chewed pencil and an opened envelope, he closed his eyes and recalled the symbol from the Cathedral’s lower basement, he carefully drew the shape again and pushed the drawing across the table.
The old woman looked for at least a full minute without speaking, he lined and kindly face fully focused, she suddenly looked up, her eyes dancing and for the briefest second Baine could see the young woman wrapped in an elderly suit,
“It’s not a symbol or a character, it a place” she laughed, “Wait here” she leapt up from the table to a clumsy collection of papers and leaflets, she quickly rooted through spilling and disguarding as she went, “Here, here,” she waved a small flyer and thrust it into his hands, “It’s a burial chamber a few miles east of here”
Baine took the leaflet and stared at the picture on the front, the name read Pentre Ifan and apparently it was a Bronze Age megalithic site dating from around 4000 BC, the photograph on the front of the flyer showed a three large lumps of rock supporting another one, he compared his drawing to the picture and the resemblance could not be denied.
“It would appear Mr Baine that perhaps you are not so lost after all”.
“So how do we go at this?” Baine asked the table
“We need a plan of intricacy to stand a chance against Gabriel, he still has significant resources at his disposal” Lucifer answered, “bull in a china shop antics won’t work here, but I think that I may just have our salvation”
Baine leant in closer, “Is this the part where you unveil our secret plan and we fade to bla…”
CHAPTER XII
TRUE NATURES
“When the Lord your God brings you into the land you are entering to possess and drives out before you many nations . . . then you must destroy them totally. Make no treaty with them, and show them no mercy”
Deuteronomy 7:1-2
Baine walked into the kitchen first thing the following morning to find it empty, he had changed into casual jeans and a warm hooded top that the kindly guest house owner had leant him, he had learnt from the flyer that she had given him that Pentre Ifan was thought to have been originally a burial chamber from at least 4000 years ago and the horizontal capstone was still in place and was said to weigh around 40 tonnes. Even through the slightly grainy photograph he felt the pull of the site, he could not explain it but it somehow felt right and all he had left now was his instincts. He had returned to bid farewell to their kind host but now he found himself deserted. Suddenly he felt panicked, where was the woman, was it not strange that they had fallen into her home, just what exactly was she, in a week where he had experienced everything that he had was she sent to him as a help or was she far more dangerous than that. He span around desperately looking for a weapon, he could not believe that he had been so careless, from behind him he felt the door handle turn and the door ease open, a flash of light reflected on a blade and he reached out and snatched up a carving knife, he held the weapon from the handle backwards and horizontal assuming a warriors stance prepared to meet anything that came through the door. What came through the door was an elderly woman holding a small basket containing a variety of picked flowers; Baine only just had time to hide the knife along with his embarrassment before she saw him.
“Easy tiger” she said well humouredly
Baine fidgeted nervously, ever since all of this had begun, shaking him violently out of the shallow comfort of his relatively uncomplicated world, he had been on the back foot, uncharacteristically unsure and indecisive. Just about every time that he thought he had finally gained a solid foothold the sands shifted and the earth crumbled beneath his feet sending him scrambling frantically for purchase. One minute he had been born of purpose, he received his targets and followed instinctively without question or indeed the desire to question, his life had been simple but now his was a mind unleashed. The concept of freedom was great in theory but in reality there was no guide, no structure only endless possibilities and vast empty spaces waiting to be filled. Here he sat with two people, one a somewhat depowered archangel who was considered by humanity to be the devil and a police detective who now resembled a silent superhuman Frankenstein monster. Both of whom he would have considered enemies only days previously all on the same path to retrieve some mythical object that everyone was willing to kill and die over but no-one was even sure if it existed at all or if it did just what it was capable of. All Baine knew was that his path led to only one destination, a deserted beach somewhere warm and free from all of this interference where his only companion would be his dancer.
The walls of the old woman’s home had provided a welcome respite from the lies and motives of those around him, Gabriel wanted him dead but not before he had claimed his precious prize. The Cube seemed to be the only substance that would hold sway over his own future, whether or not it was indeed the mythical item that the Grigori and the 11th Order believed it to be, he was not so sure, but as long as they believed it, it held enough power for him to extricate himself out of this madness.
“So are you off then?” the kind woman’s enquiring voice shook him from his self indulgence
“Yes” he spoke quietly but firmly and stood up to emphasise his desire to start gaining some sort of forward momentum again,
“Thank you Marie, you’ve been a great help” he stepped forward and swallowed her wrinkled but surprisingly smooth hand in both of his, “Really, a great help”
“My pleasure son” her
eyes met his and he recoiled slightly as the contact was electric, the moment passed quickly leaving him unsure if it had only existed at all outside of his imagination.