The Awakening (The Judas Curse Book 1)

by Angella Graff

  Abby shrugged and failed to suppress a wide, loud yawn. “I feel okay, still tired though, but better than I felt this morning. Did um… did Mark tell you what happened?”

  Greg nodded his head up and down once. “He did. Frightening, I’d imagine.”

  “You have no idea,” she said and then her cheeks went a little pink. “Or well, I guess you do have some idea.” She gave a nervous laugh and crossed her arms defensively across her chest. “No offense.”

  “None taken,” Greg said. “Do you mind if I have a look at your bruises? Mark and I are trying to put together a theory here.”

  “Oh, sure,” she said. She hiked up the sleeve on her sweater all the way past her elbow on her right arm and extended it out. Sure enough, from the crook of her arm and down over the inside of her forearm there were small, round bruises.

  Greg leaned forward, taking her arm in his hand gingerly, and he pressed on the skin around the bruises with his thumb. Abby let out a small hiss of pain and Greg looked up at her. “I apologize.” He peered down at the skin further, though Mark had no idea what Greg was looking for, and eventually the doctor released her.

  “Would you both excuse me a moment?” Abby said and stood up. When both men looked at her with concern in her eyes, she said, “Just the restroom, be out in a moment. I feel okay right now, I promise.”

  Mark took a seat in Abby’s vacated spot and looked at Greg. “Well? Is she lying?”

  “No,” Greg said. “Her eyes would have shifted when I caused her physical pain, so she’s herself at the moment. Of course, we can’t be too careful, but I can for certain tell you the bruises on her arms are injection sites, and likely she’s being drugged.”

  “Is she doing it herself?” Mark asked.

  “Doubtful. The injection sites are on her right arm, and she’s right handed. It’s not impossible, but not likely.”

  Mark let out a small breath. “So now we just need to be concerned with who is doing this, since the gods are incorporeal and seeing as we have no idea who might be involved.”

  Abby came out of the restroom looking somewhat refreshed. There was a little more color to her cheeks and she looked like she’d gotten some actual sleep. “Anyone talked to my brother yet?” she asked as she sat down a space away from Mark.

  “I called him, but unfortunately I was only able to leave a voicemail. I explained some of our concern so I’m hoping he’ll get back to us soon,” Greg said.

  Mark looked down at his watch and realized it was starting to slip into the evening hours. “Okay so, as of right now we have no motivation, no clue as to who might be possessing you, Abby, and no idea where or when your brother will be back. I think what’s most important is making sure you stay safe.”

  “Agreed, and the best way to do that is to stay together. Strength in numbers,” Greg said. “Normally I don’t abide by that reasoning, however in this case it makes sense.”

  “I agree with you,” Abby said. “Right now I don’t want to be alone. I have no idea what’s happening to me and I’m getting really freaked out.”

  “Try and remain as calm as you can,” Greg said in a soothing tone. “Nothing good will come of panicking. Right now I can’t give out too much detail, but I can promise that I have a way of protecting you should something happen to you again.”

  Mark frowned, unsure why Greg wouldn’t want to tell her about the drug, but he reasoned it had to be in case someone, a god or somehow a person, was listening. “Look, why don’t we get something to eat. We can order delivery, Greg, you can call Ben once more, and we’ll try and form a game plan.”

  “Sounds good,” Greg said and pulled out his phone.

  Mark walked into the kitchen and found an old take out menu for Chinese, and ordered a variety of dishes to be delivered. He stood in the kitchen long after the call was over, his mind racing with fear and confusion, feeling paralyzed without any information to go on.

  Had this been centuries before, Mark would have just stormed the hospital walls and taken Yehuda by force, steeling away into a mountain cave or somewhere off the grid until people forgot about him and the man who could work miracles.

  Even in centuries when churches with their armies had gotten ahold of Yehuda, Mark could just pick up a sword or a gun, and take charge. This was different, this century. Technology was doubling every year, it seemed. People were becoming more aware, less fanatical as a whole, and yet strangely more paranoid. There were cameras now, and cars, and guns and weapons Mark once could have never dreamed of. The computers surpassed his understanding, and now that Yehuda could be hidden from him, Mark was feeling, for the first time since he’d been cursed, helpless.

  He splashed a bit of water from the sink onto his face and patted himself dry with a dish towel. He tried to go back into his short term memory and remember what it felt like to just be the blind teacher, the transfer priest from Russia, no real past, no real future. Just a guy talking to high school students about classical literature and history.

  He could barely remember what that felt like now. But that was always his history, it seemed. No matter what he was doing, what century he was in, no matter how long things had seemed calm, there was the ever looming threat that someone would discover Yehuda and try to start another religious war.

  The Judas Curse, someone had called it from Mark’s past, one of the few Mark had ever let in on his secret. Mark laughed to himself and shook his head, “Oh if I only had any idea then what a curse it would continue to be…”

  Mark stood up straight and shook of the feeling of melancholy. Sinking into the what-ifs of his past was not going to help their problem now. Mark had to get to Yehuda before any real damage could be done. It was clear these beings, these false gods were using Yehuda to further their own means, but Mark couldn’t be sure why. Using Yehuda’s power was not going to bring them into physical form. Yehuda could manipulate human matter, but that was it.

  Mark walked back into the room where Greg and Abby sat, chatting quietly to each other. Greg looked up at Mark when he walked in the room. “I called, but all I got was voicemail again. I’m hoping he got my message.”

  “Well he said he was coming home,” Mark said, “when I spoke to him earlier. I told him a little about what happened to Abby. He, of course, is thinking something more along the lines of one of us hurting her, but either way, if that’ll bring him back home, it’s worth it. He’s supposed to have more information on who might have taken Yehuda.”

  Greg gave a small shrug. “Let’s hope he’s on a plane then.”

  Thirty-seven

  Ben’s plane landed on time, which was likely a record for the San Francisco airport seeing as almost every flight was delayed by fog after nine in the morning. It was a bumpy landing, but that was typical for the runway which sat right on the bay.

  Trying to curb his anxiety, Ben fidgeted in his seat until he was finally able to stand up and shuffle out in a line with the rest of the passengers. He had his bag over his shoulder, his body starting to sweat from the compressed heat created by all the bodies, and by the time he was inside the terminal, he had to physically keep himself from running outside to catch a cab.

  Luckily, once Ben made it outside, there were plenty of taxis waiting. Though the one thing he wanted more than anything was the familiar smell of his apartment, a hot shower, and a good long sleep in his bed, he gave the cab driver the address to Sacred Heart where he knew his sister would be.

  Traffic seemed to be worse than ever, which frustrated him, but he kept his temper in check for the near half-hour it took to get to the school. The gates were locked, so Ben had the driver drop him off near the entrance and he pushed the numbers on the keypad to dial into Mark’s apartment.

  “It’s Ben,” he snapped at the little speaker when Mark’s voice called out over the intercom.

  “Come in,” Mark said in a hurried tone.

  The gate buzzed and the pedestrian side clicked open. Ben threw the gate’s door wide open a
nd walked as fast as he could to the side door. He navigated the hallways with now-practiced ease and soon he was standing at Mark’s door. Mark stood there, dark glasses on, and Ben wondered if Mark had the contacts on and couldn’t see him.

  “I’m here,” Ben said in a clipped, short tone.

  Mark’s face broke into a grin. “Oh good, come in. Just in time for dinner.”

  Ben shoved past man and stormed into the living room where he saw his sister chatting happily away to Greg Asclepius. Ben immediately sat down next to her and took her by the shoulders. “Did you call your doctor?” was the first thing he blurted out.

  Abby shrugged out of his grasp and scooted back away from him. “Please don’t start this, Ben. We both know I’m not sick.”

  “I’m starting to think maybe you are,” Ben said. “I mean, if there’s something wrong, something like I had, it would distort your ability to tell the difference between reality and fantasy.”

  “You were right there with me,” Abby snapped. “You saw everything, you saw more than I did, in fact. Please don’t start with me.” Her voice was tight, begging, and her eyes were watery. “I’m so damn tired, Ben, and I can’t deal with you fighting me every step of the way.”

  Ben let out a breath and turned to Greg who was now helping Mark pull out the small, white paper boxes full of food from a large, brown bag. “Look, what we know right now is someone has been drugging her. We’re not sure who, or why, but the bruises on her arm are coming from injection sites,” Greg said.

  Ben’s face grew hot. “If either of you two have been touching my sister…”

  “We don’t know who it is,” Greg said. “I can tell you for certain I don’t remember doing anything like that, and you can attest to Asclepius’s whereabouts since you were with him the entire time I was under his influence.”

  Ben swallowed thickly. “Yes, during your slip into your other personality, I was there.”

  “And Abby insists that Mark hasn’t been touching her,” Greg said.

  “There would be no sense in me drugging your sister,” Mark said as he pulled off his glasses.

  “All we can really do is observe her,” Greg said. “Eventually, the person doing it, is going to get caught, or at the very least, reveal their motivations for using Abby.”

  Sitting back, Ben shook his head at the offered food and stared down at the floor. “So what? We just sit around waiting for my sister to lose her damn mind like the rest of you?”

  Mark let out a little sigh and settled down at the low coffee table right near Ben’s feet. “Do you have any news on our possible kidnapper?”

  “Some,” Ben said sharply. “When I get to the office tomorrow morning I’m going to be checking into a possible cult situation involving your little friend.”

  Mark’s eyes widened. “What do you mean cult situation?”

  Ben hesitated, looking over from Greg to Abby before he decided to answer. It was one thing to share facts with his sister, but it was quite another to give out sensitive information with a couple of men he believed might be involved somehow. “We located the person who last had contact with John Doe,” Ben said slowly. “Tracking him by credit card, we believe he may be involved in a cult up in Washington State.”

  Mark let out a breath. “That’s what I was afraid of.”

  Ben glared suspiciously at Mark. “Oh? Is that so?”

  Mark gave a little nod and a slightly helpless shrug. “Ben, whether you truly believe in what you’ve seen over the last few weeks or not, you can’t deny what happened to you when you touched him. You’d also be foolish to believe that the only one he ever healed was you. Imagine what a layperson could do if they discovered that ability.”

  “So you think they could have a cult involving a comatose man who can miraculously heal people?” Ben asked.

  “No,” Mark said slowly. “The funny thing about his curse is that it can pass on to others. Not for long periods of time, but long enough to change people’s lives. Men are men, and they’re greedy, and if they believe they can market this ability, I have absolute belief they would lock Yehuda in a room and use him until the well of power dried up.”

  “So his power has limits?” Ben asked.

  “Yes,” Mark said. “All power has limits, especially in mortal form. He’ll drain eventually, but not for a long time.”

  “Even without entertaining that idea, we need to recover our John Doe as quickly as possible,” Ben said. He pulled out his briefcase and set his stack of papers on the table. The first one on the table happened to be the power of attorney release signed by a judge for Mark. Ben picked it up, staring at the state seal for a moment. “This is for you, from Detective Horvath,” Ben said and handed the paper over to Mark.

  Mark took it, staring down at the page, his eyes lingering on the seal for quite some time. “What is this?”

  “What you’ve been requesting,” Ben said tiredly. “It’s the power of attorney over the John Doe. She was able to call in a favor to a judge friend and have the process expedited. If we recover him, he’s all yours, Father.”

  Mark’s cheeks pinked. “You know full well I’m not an actual priest.”

  “But you play one well,” Ben said in a dark tone. “You play a lot of things well, Mark. I’m telling you right now, if I find out you were involved in this whole cult thing, I’m going to take you down.”

  “There are no words to convey my innocence that you’d believe,” Mark said with a half shrug, “so I’m not going to try. All I can do is offer my assistance to you in this situation.”

  “That, I won’t need,” Ben said. “Detective Horvath and I will be setting up a team to raid the cult just as soon as we can get enough information and a warrant.”

  “That may be unwise,” Greg said, speaking for the first time in a long time.

  “Oh?” Ben asked.

  “Look, you don’t seem to comprehend what you’re dealing with. Yes, there are going to be regular, run of the mill people in there, but there are also going to be others who are not exactly themselves, and some of them have pretty dangerous abilities.”

  “Is that a threat?” Ben asked, his eyebrows knitted downwards.

  Greg let out a groan of frustration. “No, damn it. Not everything is a threat, detective! It’s a warning, because despite your obvious disdain for everything we say and do, I actually don’t want you to get hurt, and you could. Easily. They could take you out if they wanted to, and with the trouble you’ve been causing, part of me is wondering why they haven’t already.”

  Ben’s face fell into an expressionless mask, his eyes narrow, but soft. “I don’t have time for this.”

  “I realize that’s what you believe,” Greg said. “However, you need to accept that you might require our help.”

  “What help could you possibly offer?” Ben snapped.

  There was a pregnant pause that filled the room, and Ben shifted under the weight of it. Several moments passed before anyone spoke, and instead of Greg, it was Mark. “Your friend Stella told me to look for cults when you went outside to use your phone at lunch the other day,” he said.

  Ben’s eyes snapped over to Mark. At the very mention of Stella’s name, Ben felt a slight pang in his chest. The fact was, he missed her. He missed the feeling of being relaxed, feeling sane, surrounded by reason when she was around. He didn’t enjoy being suspicious and angry all of the time, but he couldn’t seem to help himself when Mark, Greg and Abby were around.

  “What are you saying?” Ben asked in a quiet voice.

  “I’m saying that she told me to search for cults on my own, and then she set you on the same path,” Mark said. “I know you don’t want to believe that she’s not everything she appears to be, and that’s fine, but I’m telling you right now she knows the only way we’re going to get to Yehuda is if you let Greg and me help.”

  “What help could you possibly offer?” Ben repeated, his voice tight. He wanted to call Stella right then and ask her if that wa
s true, demand answers from her if she really thought these insane men could possibly help him.

  Mark glanced over at Abby, who was staring down at her feet, and then back to Ben. “Abby’s being used,” he said carefully. “By them, whoever they are, and I haven’t said this to anyone before now but, I think we can use it to our advantage.”

  At this point, Abby looked up, her eyes fixed on Mark. “What?” she said.

  Ben echoed the statement. “What are you talking about?”

  “I’m saying that Abby might be able to get us in,” Mark repeated. “Look, one of them is using Abby, drugging her and taking over her body. We don’t know which one is doing it, and we don’t know why, but we can use it to our advantage.”

  “Explain,” Ben said.

  “We let whatever it is, take over Abby. Abby goes into the cult compound, as soon as we’re certain that’s the one, and then she lets us in,” Mark said with a shrug.

  “What makes you think that whatever is using me is going to let you in?” Abby asked. “I mean, it clearly it thinks you’re all one big joke.”

  Mark’s cheeks flared red and he cleared his throat. “Right, but we have something on our side.”

  “And that would be?” Ben asked.

  “This,” Greg said and displayed the bottle of the small, blue pills. “This right here is a time release capsule. This will allow whatever it is to take over Abby for a couple of hours. It’ll buy her enough time to get in and get settled before the god is kicked out of her body, and once she’s coherent, she can allow us entrance.”

  “Won’t they notice when she’s not possessed anymore?” Mark asked.

  “Eventually, but I think if Abby can be clever enough, she can get us inside before anyone notices. Remember, most of the people inside there are just plain, ordinary people. There are only a handful of gods left, and that’s including all of the gods from other cultures. If this cult is operating at a typical capacity, there are going to be upwards of two hundred regular mortal beings who won’t know the difference.”