The starless sky disturbs him. Looking towards sadness and emptiness only brings bad memories. Carlyle goes back to the apartment, his mind filled with dark thoughts about incoming extinction.
When the four survivors arrive at the apartment, Victor is sitting on his armchair, reading. Carlyle knows he must be a rock, the column that supports this endeavor. Let his worries be kept, for if extinction is inevitable, he is the only one to worry about it.
"Angiolina! I'm so glad you're well!" Victor opens a smile as he gets up to hug his dear friend. Both friends hold each other for a while.
"Oh my God, Victor! It's so good finally being here. It was so horrible. I lost my princess, my family and we lost Nathan. They are all dead!" Angiolina lets her emotions get the best of her.
"It's terrible, I know. But at least you are safe, dear. Let's talk about the good things as well." Victor comforts her.
Angiolina steps back, looking him straight in the eye. She kisses him. A long, ardent kiss. Joseph, Aaron and Yura can't believe what they are seeing, but they leave the room quickly, guided by embarassment.
"I'm sorry. I don't know what I was thinking." Angiolina apologizes, fixing her hair.
"Don't apologize, if you hadn't done anything, I would." Victor says. 'What's the point of etiquette at the end of the world?' He wonders.
"What?" Angio asks without believing that she is talking to same man she used to know.
Victor Carlyle takes initiative and kisses her again. They give in to the heat of the moment.
"Who are you? And where is my friend?" Angiolina asks. Between kisses and sarcasm, Victor doesn't mind.
Chapter 24
The departure
It's a silent night. The pale moonlight offers no comfort against the dark sky. The city of São Paulo is a dark and morbid landscape. Some of the buildings are on fire. In other directions, columns of dark smoke rise to the sky, lit by fire.
The surviving insane ones, the first symptom of the end of the world, roam the streets, still looking for food. The asphault is busted, but to the titanic worms. The second symptom.
=In three days, the city has become an ecosystem of human nightmares. And each passing day brings the Star Eater closer to its feast, such as warned in Sir Nicholas' letters.
Angiolina is laying by Carlyle's side, when suddenly she feels a presence in the room. As she opens her eyes, still a little sleepy, she notices the outline of a shape by the bed, leaning against the wall. It startles Angiolina, waking Victor Carlyle up immediately.
The shape takes a few steps forward, revealing the sarcastic form of Lucky Luciano, her spiritual guardian, this time wearing a pinstripe suit and smoking his usual cigarette. Angiolina recognizes her guardian angel and lays a hand on Carlyle's shoulder, calming down the old Blade agent.
She gets up, hoping that Lucky had found the poor girl.
"Bad timing? I didn't mean to wake you up. You seemed so peaceful." The spirit justifies, laughing. Seeing Luciano is always a little disturbing. It's like you were lookind at an old faded picture.
"Of course not!" Angiolina says, covering herself with a bathrobe.
"Who is this apparition, Angio?" Victor asks.
"This is Lucky Luciano, one of my guardian spirits and my cousin." Angiolina introduces her uncommon friend. Lucky leans respectfully, but as expected from an old criminal he keeps a sarcastic smile on this face.
"So this is the powerful elder? The spirits whisper in the shadows close to this hotel." Lucky ascertains, looking to both sides. Like he could see beyond the physical world.
Then, Aaron opens the violently. As he sees the apparition, the Blade agent draws his saber and rushes in. Angiolina can see the blue flames erupting from the runes in Aaron's weapon. Lucky Luciano was caught by surprised. He tried to protect himself with his arms.
"Stay where you are, Aaron!" Victor Carlyle commands.
Aaron stops as soon as his superiot tells him so, like a soldier on a battlefield. He stays still, hand on his saber's scabbard. Yuna enters the room behind him, but only watches.
"This is Lucky Luciano. Angiolina's guardian spirit. He must not be attacked." Victor explains peacefully but firmly.
After hearing Carlyle's words, Luciano relaxes. He falls back to his usual ways. Aaron crosses his arms and waits. Yura can't stop laughing at seeing Victor and Angiolina in bed.
"Wait in the living room. All of you!" Angiolina screams, after noticing Yura's laughter. "You as well!" She says glaring at Lucky, who disappears completely.
Everyone is gathered in the living room. The morning is too cold, more than it should for this time of the year. You can see vapor clouds when people breathe. Lucky Luciano is in the room's center, looking at Angiolina, who settles herself onto an armchair. Aaron and Yura are the only ones wearing light clothes. Victor has his heavy winter overcoat.
"Come one, Luciano, what do you have on the girl?" Angiolina asks. Vapor comes from the sicilian's mouth when se speaks.
"She is being held inside Intitute Nix, at it's highest point, at Serra da Bruma."
"I knew it!"
"Yeah, but if I were you, I wouldn't be so happy."
"And is she OK? Is she still alive?" Angiolina asks. Something about the girl has awakened a sense of urgency in her. It's like they are connected to each other.
Lucky ponders for a few moments, gauging the anxious reaction of his protegée. Even though he is not sure if he should be totally honest about the poor girl's fate, he continues his report.
"No, she is not OK. She is a prisioner and she is being tortured constantly. I'm afraid she is going to suffer permanent damage if we don't act quickly." Angiolina puts her hand on his face and his eyes fill with tears. She knew about that as well.
"She is not going to last much." Lucky Luciano infers.
"Couldn't you help her?" Angiolina asks, helpless. Victor Carlyle comforts her, holding her hand.
"We implanted a suggestion in the mind of the nurse who treated her. She is an easy target and soon will make a move to try and free her. That would be the perfect momento to act." Lucky reasons.
"Did you leave anyone with her?" Angiolina asks, now hopeful.
"Clemenza."
"Good choice." The Sicilian says. Clemenza was one of the greatest heads of the Sicilian mob, a cruel assassin who worked as the right arm of Lucky Luciano and had sincere admiration for the Famiglia.
Angiolina gets up, dropping the blanks that keeps her warm to the ground. She paces back and forth, thinking. Everyone watched her, in silence. The decision is up to the Sicilian now. She stops in front of the apartment's big window and gazes at the still dark city.
In a few years, the sun will rise, I'll get my stuff and get out of here!"
"FInally!" Yura screams, stretching her arms and cracking her neck.
Aaron doesn't say anything, but he also gets up and starts packing the map which was on the table and his research. Victor looks at them and smiles. He surely understands what's going through his beloved's mind right now. Joseph gets up and goes to the bedroom ti pack. No one said anything. All survivors acted as soldiers, ready to fullfil their duty. Lucky Luciano looks at her and just nods affirmingly.
When the cold sun comes out, Victor Carlyle, Angiolina, Yura, Aaron and Joseph are already packed and ready to go. A little earlier, Yura and Aaron found them adequate transportation for the trip to Serra da Bruma, in São Paulo's countryside.
After an hour of searching, Yura found a van parked in front of a school and took close to the garage's elevator door. She also took the bike that got her to the hotel.
"Let's go. Here are some orders and strategy!
We are ten kilometers away from the highway that leads to the old Fazend Salgado. We need to be prepared to find any resistance until we get there, our transportation will attract attention." Victor Carlyle dictates, a true combatant. All five are paying attention to every word.
"Yura; you are our scout in your bike. Let us know from time to time the
dangers and obstacles. Always look for the safestpath, don't risk it." Yura nods her head agreeingly.
"Joseph; you drive the bus. I need Aaron in free in case there is trouble. Aaron, you are in charge of the bus's security, but in case of need you might have to act as Yura's support." Carlyle determines, Joseph and Aaron also agree, nodding their heads.
"Angiolina, you stay with me in the back seats. Any doubts, gentlemen?"
"I can help too! Luciano can protect us inside the bus and can summon something worse, if we need it." Angiolina declares, thinking about her guardian spirits and the Shadow.
"Are you sure you can control a Shadow?" Carlyle asks, thinking back to the taçl they had in the bedroom, when Angiolina explained what happened.
Yes, I'm sure. It's in my blood. Don't worry."
"OK, summon them." Carlyle confirms.
As soon as she gets confirmation, Angiolina closes her eyes and starts to whisper.
"Come, immortals of the ethereal plane, I summon your aid in our quest. The sacrifice of blood will be your payment." As she does it, the air becomes heavy, as if the garage were now crowded by people they couldn't see. Some windows get foggy, as if something very cold was close to them. In some spots, the steam follows a standard pattern, like someone was beathing close to the glass.
Joseph looks back and sees blurry outlines in the seats close to the windows, like glitches in an old picture. By concentrating and focusing his vision, these presences acquire distinct forms to him.
"My God!"
"You're beginning to see with your mind's eye?" Angiolina asks, when she notices Joseph is seeing her spirits.
The doctor rubs his eyes, trying to understand what he is seeing better, and analyzes them one by one, each of these supernatural manifestations. They are spirtis of people, each one of them wearing the clothes they were wearing when they died. In total, there are seven entities. The first one is Lucky Luciano, always close to Angiolina, like a true bodyguard.
Also, he can see details in the entities that show how they died very clearly. Lucky's chest is open and bleeding, his heart crushed. Luciano died of a heart attack.
Joseph eyes the next presence. A girl who looks like Angiolina is hugged to the Sicilian, laying her head on Angiolina's arm. This child's body is covered with bite marks.
When Joseph notices she is Angiolina's niece, he puts his hands to his face. Angiolina stares at him and, with an expression of comprehension, hugs her niece's spirit, who looks for comfort in her arms. The doctor can see that her eyes are brimming with tears. Angiolina is hanging on, but she didn't know that summoning her spirits would attract her niece. Deep down, she still blames herself for her death.
Joseph continues looking at the other entities "sitting" in the bus. Meanwhile, Victor Carlyle talks to Yura and Aaron outside.
The next spirit Joseph sees is a man dressed in a very old outfit. A Pheonician. In truth, he wears a toga, like the ones in Roman Empire movies. This person is no older than twenty-five but in his time was already a functioning adult. His copper-colored skin implies a life close to the sea. His shaved hair implies military service. Several cuts and stabs in his chest show that he was attacked by several different weapons. Maybe he was betrayed by his companions. This ancient man's eyes are completely dark and empty. Joseph feels sad, lonely, when he observes this entity.
Carrying on with his analysis, Joseph focuses his supernatural vision on the next individual. The doctor can't avert his gaze, observing this sad sould is an evil addiction. Soon he thinks about Andreas. Angiolina told him about the fate of his lover; if only he had had more time at his side. For the first time, he regrets having worked so much.
Some moments later, his thoughts are interrupted by Carlyle and Aaron entering the bus. Both wear severe coutenances, certainly a reflection of the conversation they had with Yura outside. Yura is still outside, testing her bike. Carlyle goes to the back, where Angiolina is sitting.
Yura signals with her thumbs up. Aaron closes the van's door.
"Let's go, we have to get to a safe place before it goes dark." Aaron says, still gravely serious.
Yura speeds away on her bike and stops beside the driver's window. "Handsome, wait here, I'm going to try and get Nathan's luggage. Angiolina told us he left everal weapons inside the car.
"Ok, but be careful, it's not worth it to risk your life over guns." Joseph says, concerned.
"Dot worry, I can take care of myself."
Chapter 25
Tietê's Riverbank
Yura's bike darts up Hotel Azzurra's garage ramp. She pauses for a few moments and observes the area around Nathan's vehicle. It's safe. Except for two insane ones roaming the area, everything looks chipper. Nothing the Blade agent can't handle. She rushes in.
She deals with the insane ones in a clean and precise manner, leaning and striking each one in the neck with her axe. Aftermaking sure she has no unwantd company, she gets down from the bike.
Some meters away from the car, she finds the body of Angiolina's niece. Yura makes a silent prayer looking at the girl. At a distance, she can see that Joseph has already maneuvered the bus out of the garage. The doctor honks slightly, letting her know he is ready.
Carlyle and Angiolina watch Yura through the window. He carries a grave countenance, worried about what they might find at Serra da Bruma. In the conversation between him, Aaron and Yura moments before they entered the bus, he let them know that Fazenda Coronel Salgado used tothe native territory, before it was taken.
The Blade had been researching the natives for quite some time. Their studies say that Kahi Anu made pacts with the old spirits of the region, famous for the intense supernatural activity and for how frequently people go missing there. Besides that, the farm itself was a stage for suffering. Many deaths happened inside that land, making it it haunted and damned.
Joseph honks again. Yura finally finds the luggage with the guns. She takes a backpack from the car and fills it with all the guns she can fit there. She shouts to Aaron, letting him know about the guns.
Aaron comes to pick up the backpack. The Watchdog had gathered quite the gun collection, he notices. He separartes all the guns, first the pistols, then the rifles and a shotgun. He then loads them one by one, leaving a rifle by the van's dashboard. Joseph looks at it, slightly surprised.
"It's better to leave this one with you, doctor." Aaron says.
Joseph doesn't like it, but he knows how to handle a gun. He doesn't argue. Yura waves her hand and Aaron nods agreeingly. She goes ahead, around two hundred yards away from the bus, waving every time she finds free room. Joseph needs to dodge abandoned cars in several moments.
Yura has already eliminated many insane ones and worms during the way. When she needed an extra hand, the bus stopped and Aaron helped her. Aside from the cold who got worse by the minute, the agents' strategy was working.
A few hours later, they get to a big avenue on Tietês iverbank. One of the rivers around São Paulo, this one is completely taken by pollution, filled with stinky waste floating in it.
The avenue is in terrible state. Hundreds of cars are abandoned. Some have had their windows broken, others are missing parts. There are bodies and darkened blood everywhere.
The scenario is the same anywhere the eye can reach. An endless graveyard of abandoned cars and creatures feeding on the remains.
The survivors are on guard. Joseph follows Yura's instructions precisely. The bus rolls slowly through the car graveyard. They need to stop several times to get rid of groups of insane ones that block their path.
Angiolina's guardian spirits ward off most ofthe insane ones and other bigger creatures that can be seen crawling among the cars. Joseph keeps driving ths bus. The vehicle keeps going forward through the abandoned cars, opening a trail in the avenue. Some of the cars fall in the water, creating waves in the Tietê river. Victor, from time to time, looks at Angiolina, concerned.
"We are not going to be able to get past the avenue before sunset
. At this rate, were going to have to sleep here." Joseph notices, driving carefully. He steers the wheel calmly, stretching his neck and looking at the rear view mirrors, taking all the precautions to avoid damaging the bus while maneuvering through the cars.
Aaron still had his attention on the threats. He answers: "I know, when it goes dark, the insane ones are not going to avoid the bus anymore. We are going to need a quick solution or we're going to have one hell of a night."
"There might be a solution." A contemplative Joseph answers, almost talking to himself.
"And what would it be?" Aaron asks.
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