by Leigh Vernon
"Is anyone hurt?" He asked calmly. "And who are you exactly?"
The man straightened his brown suit. "Mark Lans, Special Agent. I'm afraid everyone in that vehicle died. Well, everyone except the person who killed them."
Sam ignored the badge the man was holding out to him. "And the bodies?"
"Taken to our labs for prints. The vehicle has also been impounded by the Agency as well. We only need you to cooperate with us as we..."
Sam didn't wait for him to finish his statement before he rushed down the stairs. One of his drivers was just parking a car in the garage and he ordered the man to get back into it.
"Take me to the Agency," was all he said.
---
Sarah and Father Albert sat on the chairs while Gem continued to pace the room. It had been hours since Justin had been taken. Each of them had tried to weigh the possibility of where he would have been taken and the best possible way to get him out of there, but none of them had come up with anything that didn't involve getting all of them killed. So, tired out from thinking about it all, Father Albert poured himself a glass of scotch and sat down in the chair to drink slowly. Sarah had only decided to sit when she got tired of trying to get things sorted by standing. Only Gem remained on her feet, occasionally walking back and forth.
Something crashed heavily against the door, causing all of them to jump. Father Albert grabbed his big gun and aimed at the door. Sarah stood ready for battle. Gem paused for a while, then ran to open the door. She wasn't surprised to see a tired Justin standing in the doorway.
"Took you long enough," she told him before she allowed him into the room.
Sarah ran to him and hugged him tightly, tears running down his chest as she sobbed quietly. Father Albert lowered the gun and waited for the right moment before he clapped him by the shoulder.
"I'm glad you made it back," he said solemnly.
Justin nodded. Sarah quickly wiped the tears that had gathered in her eyes.
"What happened? How did you escape?" She asked.
"It's a long story," he replied. "And right now, we need to come up with a plan. Very fast!"
Gem joined the group in the middle of the room. "Why?"
Justin looked at all their faces before he said it. "He has the compass."
"And the sword?" Father Albert asked.
Justin raised it up for them to see.
"Then there is still hope," the man told them. "He may have the beast and the compass, but he still needs your blood to complete the ritual - or the blood of any other pure breed, if there even is another."
Sarah walked up to Justin. "And that witch?" She asked. There was venom in her voice.
Justin sighed. "The only thing we have managed to get out of the way - I killed her."
Sarah heaves a sigh of relief. Gem smiled widely.
"She's not dead yet," Father Albert said slowly.
"What do you mean?" Justin asked. "I drove this sword into her myself."
Father Albert shook his head. "You killed her, truly. But after you did, what happened?"
Justin was surprised at the way he asked the question. "She fell and bled to death. I saw it myself."
"Did you see anything else?" The man asked again.
"No, why?"
Father Albert went to sit on a chair. "She's a scroll. There used to be hundreds of them back in the days. They could assume any shape they wanted so they could be anyone they wanted, and they lived for a very long period of time. Now, when a scroll is born, the first thing he or she does is to look for a master. Their powers remain hidden and becomes less effective until they find one. There are rumors of scrolls who went for centuries without ever finding a master, but when they eventually find a master, their soul is bound to that one person whom they have committed their lives to. Unless he or she dies, the scroll will find a way to keep living, no matter how many times you kill them."
"This doesn't get any better, does it?" Justin asked.
He went to the cabinet where Father Albert kept drinks and poured himself one. He guzzled the hot stuff in one gulp before pouring another.
"What do we do now?" Sarah asked. "Seeing that he has the compass, I don't think it's a wise decision to keep waiting for him to make a move."
"I agree with you. We need a plan," Father Albert echoed.
"Finally," Gem said out loud. "We're making plans."
The others turned towards her.
"What? It's long overdue," she said to them all.
---
The woman stood in the middle of the road, caught in the headlights of the approaching car. The driver saw her too late, but he continued to press the horn until he hit her. She was thrown into the surrounding bushes, bones broken behind recognition. At first, the driver doubted coming out of the truck to check if she was alive or not; his instinct told him she was probably dead. No one could have survived a hit that hard. Nonetheless, he got out and walked towards the way he had seen her been thrown. The night was dark, made darker by the fact that rain was about to pour soon.
"Hey," the driver called when he noticed the body a few meters away from where he was standing. "You okay, miss?"
There was no answer, but the body twitched a bit. The man ran towards her quickly. He turned the body which had fallen face down and realized the face was all gone.
"What the...?" he muttered to himself. "How has she moved that way?"
He bent lower to examine the face when something jumped at him. At first, he thought it was a spider or a bird, swiping his hands out for safety. When he looked closer, there was nothing there but the body in front of him.
"That's strange," he said to himself.
He took one long look at the woman on the ground. There was nothing he could do now - if he called the police, they would probably figure out he was the one who had killed her. It was best to just leave her there and go on his way. Someone was going to find her sooner or later.
"I'm sorry, miss," he told her as he retraced his step back to the truck.
He was about to get in when he felt someone move behind him. He turned sharply, but saw nothing.
"You are probably nervous, Adam," he said to himself. "It's not your fault that woman didn't get out of the way on time."
He opened the door of the truck and climbed back in. Just as he pulled the gear, something ran across the road. He stopped and waited, listening as his own heart beat loudly. He opened the door and got out again, went to the front of the truck and checked. There was nothing there. He turned and was walking to the back when he heard a soft growl behind him. He turned slowly, realizing he was in grave danger now. When he finished his turn, he saw a huge green thing staring at him with eyes blazing. He walked back a few feet with his back and was about to run when it grabbed him.
"Help!" He screamed loudly as the creature drew him closer to itself. "Somebody help me!"
"There is no help, Adam. Only death," it replied, before it swallowed him up completely.
Chapter 18
Sam barged into the morgue, despite being told he could not go in there by the attendant. He pushed the other gurneys out of his way till he got to where Gianna had been laid. He touched her lightly, emotional to see her lying there so peacefully. The attendant was running towards him when he picked her up and walked to the waiting car. With the driver's help, he put her safely in the backseat.
"Sir," the attendant said to him as he turned to the other side of the car. "You need to show me proper ID."
He ignored the man and ducked into the car, prompting the driver to step on the accelerator quickly as they drove out.
The attendant wrung both hands together for a while before he brought out his phone and made a call to the police.
Back at the mansion, Sam placed Gianna on a stone slab inside his secret room. He gave the guards clear instructions not to allow anyone in till he was done with whatever he was doing inside.
"Should you let anyone in, you'll pay for it with your life," he emphasized
.
While inside, he grabbed an urn that contained a number of things and placed it beside her. He had stripped her naked already, the writings on her body glowing in the dark. He knew that was the only thing keeping her soul intact; otherwise, he would have lost her completely. He placed his hand where the sword had gone in through her and did an incantation silently. After a few minutes, the wound healed itself completely. Then, he went around the table, pouring the ash from the urn all over her while chanting loudly. He opened her mouth slightly and allowed the blood from his already cut arm to drop into her mouth. He walked towards her feet and touched it with his hand, while calling her name thrice. She wheezed and got up quickly, and Sam grabbed a blanket that he had kept ready and tossed it at her.
"He stabbed me, that...!"
"Save your strength," he cautioned her. "There's much to be done."
Still holding the blanket to herself, Gianna moved to a small room that connected her own room to where they were and punched in some codes. In no time, she was inside her room, where she changed into something more fitting. By the time she headed back out, Sam was already in his office. Two Special Agents were sitting across him.
"Were you referring to Gianna here?" He asked them both as she stepped in.
The men turned to look at Gianna stepping into the office. She wore the same look of surprise they did on their faces.
"Is there a problem, gentlemen?" She asked slowly.
One of them stood up from where he was and walked towards her. He wanted to be sure he wasn't dreaming, so he touched her.
"You're... You're alive?" He asked.
"Do I look dead to you?"
The sarcastic reply caught him off guard and he moved away from her quietly. The second officer was more determined when he asked her his question.
"What happened back there, Ms. Gianna?" He asked, trying to mask the surprise in his voice.
Gianna walked up to where he was sitting and deliberately stood there. "Unlike you lot, someone believed I wasn't dead when you dumped me in the morgue."
The men looked at each other awkwardly. Both of them had been there when the coroner declared her dead and gone; it shocked them to see her up and moving. No one was going to believe what they had just seen.
"As for the incident, we were attacked by a group of Powered who thought they could overpower us. The last of them had me gracing your gurneys."
"There were no other bodies there except yours and that of your men, ma'am. We even searched the surrounding area but found nothing," the first officer told her.
She turned to him. "Tell me, officer, would anyone believe you if you told them you just saw a dead woman talking to you?"
The officer shook his head.
"Same reason you wouldn't believe me if I told you what happened to our assailants." Gianna made this statement as slowly as she could, watching the men's faces color up in embarrassment. "Now, if you'd excuse me, I have a job securing the Mayor of this city from threats like the ones you couldn't handle," she finished, and walked away.
"Gentlemen, do you have any more questions for me?" Sam asked with a smile plastered to his face.
"That will be all for now," the second officer said quickly, and rose. He grabbed his mate and half-dragged him out of the office.
When they were gone, Sam called Gianna to his office.
"He's strong, too strong," was the first thing she told him.
"I know," he affirmed. "And the way I see it, he doesn't want to be one of us."
There was a pencil on his table and she fiddled with it for a while. "What should we do about him?"
"The way things are, we need to get rid of him and anyone else who stands in our way. Can I entrust you with this?"
She sighed deeply before she answered. "It's going to be hard, I must admit."
"Nothing must stand in the way of our success now, nothing."
She got to her feet and walked to the door. "I'll see to that," she said.
Sam rose to his feet too. "Before you go, there's something else. He took the sword, didn't he?"
She nodded.
"Excellent." He walked to her and placed a white stone in her hand. "Take this with you; you'll know when he's around."
---
The rain was more than determined to drench Adam as he walked through the streets of West Michigan. Once or twice, a car zoomed past and splashed water on him. He didn't make any attempts to clean himself or run from the splash - he just kept walking towards a certain direction, unbothered about anything else. When he was a few more meters away from his destination, he paused briefly and looks around the area. What he was looking for was around the corner. He found it quickly and ran towards it.
"Hey, man," someone called from behind as he ran through the rain. "You good? You should get out of the rain or you're going to catch a cold, or something else. These streets ain't safe no more."
Adam stopped running and turned to the man who had just spoken to him. There was something familiar about the man that made it impossible for him to be ignored.
"Garey?" Adam asked.
"Yo! You know my name?" The man asked. "Yeah, man. That's me. I'm Garey."
Adam walked towards him. "Where is Justin?"
Garey suddenly developed cold feet. In the last couple of days, this was the third person to ask him where Justin was. The first two were men dressed in all-black attire.
"Whatcha want with my homie?" He asked.
"I need to find him; he's the only one who can help me."
Garey opened the door and stood in the walkway while Adam remained in the rain.
"Help you with what?" He asked.
Adam looked around the house. It was empty, save for the man in front of him.
"He owes me a debt."
Garey broke into laughter suddenly. "I know Justin, man. He ain't owe nobody nothing." He saw the look in Adam's eyes and moved a little closer. "You sure you don't wanna come in? I got hot chocolate and all, you know?"
The man shook his head. "Where is Justin?" He asked again.
For a brief moment, Garey stopped talking and took a closer look at the man in front of him. He looked like he had been through a lot recently. His clothes were torn in a few places, and he looked like he could use a decent bath and a shave.
"Where you from, man?" Garey asked. "If I'm going to tell you where Justin is, you gotta give me details ‘bout you."
"My name is Adam, and I want to see Justin."
Garey looked at him puzzlingly. "Yeah. You said that before, but you gotta give me somethin' more. You know what I'm saying?"
Adam continued to stare at him.
"You feel me, Adam? You gotta give me some more info about why you need to see Justin. Besides, I ain't seen him in a long time now."
Garey's words were barely out when Adam punched him in the face. He staggered back and was about to hit the man back when he felt, rather than heard, a gunshot. The last thing he saw before he died was Adam's confused look, staring at him like he didn't have a clue as to why he had shot the man dead.
Chapter 19
"So, basically it's going to be hard to defeat him once he finds a way to wake the Seventh from his generational sleep?" Justin asked Father Albert. "We now have to deal with the beast, the Seventh, the scroll who's supposed to be dead but isn't, and this Sam guy?"
"That pretty much covers it, if you consider the fact that Sam has a lot of men too." The man's answer had an underlying tone that Justin was finding difficult to interpret.
"That said, is there a way to get rid of this guy inside of me?" Justin asked.
In the last couple of days, he had been having nightmares about a life he hadn't lived before. Sometimes, he had flashes during the day like he was really living that life. It was becoming hard to keep up with the constant headaches.
"I wish I had an answer for that but somehow, I feel he's connected to all of this in a certain way. What it is, I can't place a finger on yet," the older man answered
. "But he'll have to leave eventually; there's no way he can share your mind forever."
Justin nodded and walked towards the door. "And this plan, are you sure it will work?" He asked.
Father Albert looked towards the fireplace. "I have no idea if it will work or not, but I'm certain we have to try."
Justin opened the door and walked outside. Father Albert got up from where he was sitting and grabbed a key. He went to the door and locked it before he went to a portion of the wall. He inserted the key into a hidden lock and turned it slowly. A door opened and he stepped in, making sure to lock it behind him. He went down a number of stairs and switched on a couple of overhead lights. Lying on various gurneys were the different bodies of men with the same physique as Justin. He walked down the room and opened another door. Inside the room were two other gurneys. One of them was empty apart for a piece of clothing, but the other one had a body on it.
There was transparent glass at the entrance of the room. He closed the door and went to stand before the glass. He pressed a button, and something startled the body on the gurney awake. It looked around like it was lost until its eyes found Father Albert's. It stared for a long time, unsure of what was happening.
"Test subject three fifty, do you know who you are?" Father Albert said into a microphone outside the glass.
The subject was shocked to hear the sound coming loudly from within the room. It looked around frantically, trying to discover where the sound was coming from.
"Day sixty-six. Subject is still healthy and alive, but is not responsive to human commands," Father Albert said into a recorder he held in his hand. He walked back to the door and pressed a button. The subject went back to the gurney and slept on it. Father Albert turned out the lights as he walked back to the stairs. From where she was, Gem hid with her hands over her mouth. She couldn't believe what she had just seen.
---
Sarah insisted on going over the plan again with Justin. She felt that they might have missed out certain details that may or may not be imperative to the success of the plan. He wanted to argue about the possibility of that ever happening, since he was very certain Father Albert was a very meticulous man.