Ali took advantage of every second when the light of some distant lightning illuminated the room to observe his pale face and his body, squeezed on the library of her room. The noise, a lightning bolt, its light in delayed and she saw a tuft of curly hair that fell like a golden spring to the cheek of that creature. A few minutes passed until the next roar and then she observed his straight nose and his expressionless lips chiselled into a marble face. Two more minutes, the noise, the light and his thin arms: one holding the weight of his body that rested on his side resting on the wood, the other, on the leg that was flexed against his chest. One minute, a short lightning, only his white pants and something she couldn’t distinguish on his shoulders. Fifteen seconds, the noise, the light and the empty library.
A strange disappointment brushstroke of sadness. It followed five minutes of darkness where only the sound of the storm and the sound of her own breathing made Ali know that she was still awake. Then, there was a roar that shook the earth, then a light that illuminated the entire room as if it were daytime and she found those emerald eyes at a distance of a hand from her and his golden hair brushed her face while he perched on the bed as if he weighed nothing.
4
Revenge
Ali yelled. The light disappeared and she found herself defenseless. She had goose bumps as she felt at the mercy of that creature. Would it be a vampire? Would they have sent him to kill her? However, the blue-haired vampire seemed eager to do it with her own hands. Ali's survival instinct overcame fear and she tried to run for the door.
“No...” whispered a cold and hard voice like ice.
He managed to take her by the arm but Ali got rid of him at once, jumped to the window and without thinking twice she threw herself on the tree. The next second she was in the yard and the other, fleeing in the rain in the direction of Chase's house. He got me into this and he'll get me out, she thought.
Chase appeared at the door immediately at Ali's desperate cries. She didn’t let him talk.
“An awful creature is chasing me!” Ali said while throwing herself in his arms. She felt confused then because, actually, the sensation of being hunted by a vampire was horrific but the creature she had seen surpassed in beauty and splendor those paintings of angels found in the great churches. She remembered Chase's words: If the demons are meant to tempt us, they must be very seductive. And the vampires were half demons... “He's a vampire Chase! They are coming for me! Help me!” She moaned more terrified the more she spoke.
“Burn it! Like the last time...” Chase suggested. “There’s no other way!”
“I don’t know how I did it!”
Why did he continue with that when her life was in such a risk?
“Let's go with Sirus and let's finish listening to what he has to say” he decided and started walking without even closing the door.
With Chase's arm around her shoulders, both walked briskly in the direction of the gloomy alley where the sorcerer lived.
“How did you do it that time?” He insisted.
“I don’t know! That damn vampire was about to kill you, I saw her approaching you and… I felt a terrible rage. I don’t know why I raised my hand... It was a reflex act I suppose, or my hand acted on its own... And then it just happened”.
“Of course...” Chase murmured thoughtfully as they ran grabbed by the hands. “You know how to do it but unconsciously! That gift of yours, or whatever, emerges in extreme situations...”
“I can’t risk!”
They were reaching to the street where Sirus's house was when they heard footsteps approaching from behind. Ali turned around but couldn’t see anything in the middle of such darkness. Suddenly, a heavy bulge jumped on them causing them to hit the wet floor. Ali turned to the sky and managed to glimpse the blue hair of the vampire crossing it in gentle waves. The black leather boots landed in front of her face, splashing her with mud. A confident, malevolent smile crossed the face of her fierce attacker. She had come for her revenge and nothing would stop her.
Ali made an attempt to burn her but she realized that it was not anger but terror what she felt this time. The girl laughed and continued to do so as she watched how Chase and Ali tried to crawl out of reach. A new blow from nothingness itself threw them back to the ground. Everything that followed was very fast. Another four vampires joined the first and surrounded the defenseless couple. The tall boy on the right punched Chase and then carried him in his arms as if he were a baby while the girl with the blue hair lifted Ali by the hair and then did the same as his partner. She understood then why Chase did not struggle to break free: once the arms of the vampires closed, they were strong and hard like those of a statue. They did not move even though Ali writhed frantically.
The vampires opened the door of a shed with a simple kick and introduced them into it. They threw them to the ground with a loud blow and closed the door. Ali felt something hot touch her cheek, she ran his hand and when she saw it she realized it was blood. The sound of a spark caught her attention. Someone had lit a match and raised it in the air as it made its way through the walls of the room. He was lighting the hundreds of candles that hung half-melted from numerous chandeliers. In the dim light of the small but numerous flames, the place offered the appearance of a giant pagan altar.
The vampire laughed again approaching.
“I'm Annabeth” introduced herself. With the charm of a fairy, she knelt beside the unconscious Chase and looked at Ali. The redhead emanated a feline sensuality but Annabeth was beautiful and delicate as a doll. "You murdered my sister..." She hissed like a snake ready to launch her venom. "And you'll pay the price three times. First, I want you to see your brother die as I did...”
After the announcement, Annabeth lifted Chase by the neck and he began to wake up.
“He is not my brother!” Ali said quickly.
The vampire stopped and threw Chase with such fury that he went to the other side of the room.
“Then I'll keep my appetite for you!” She bellowed, throwing herself at her.
The impact dragged Ali several meters back. Her hands took Annabeth by the neck to drive those open jaws from her face. The girl's red eyes were those of a psychopathic murderer, confused between anger and bloody pleasure. Chase appeared behind the vamp and the three revived last night's struggle at the gates of the club. However, this time at least twenty other vampires appeared and the results were very different. The vampires managed to dominate them easily and they were divided into two groups. Ali watched as the others dragged Chase into the gloom of a corner.
“Nooooo!!! Chase!” Ali's scream tore through the air.
She struggled to get away from Annabeth uselessly and heard Chase give one last agonizing scream as the vampire did her part with her.
She felt Annabeth's sharp fangs sinking into the skin of her neck like knives and it was as if they drained all of her energy at once. She wanted to provoke that supposed gift of her to incinerate them all but she began to faint. The last thing that came to her from this world was the image of Chase's immobile legs and a distant and desperate cry. Then, a light at the end of a dark tunnel.
5
Redentto
The sky was full of angels. It was as beautiful as they described it. Floating was a pleasant feeling. Her mind was empty and there was no pain even though she felt a little stunned as if she had been drugged. Two images returned insistently to her mind: the constant movement of black feathers as a giant wing flapped and the most perfect face she had ever seen. The strange thing was that there was something familiar about him. Maybe, she thought, she had known him in life.
Ali woke up heavily. She told herself that everything had been a dream or, rather, a nightmare. She felt that profound relief that follows the moment of awakening from a bad dream and verifying that all the horror lived had been nothing more than a deception of her mind. She sat on the edge of the bed, still removing the remains of the dream that she was not allowed to wake up. She looked for the lamp on her b
edside table, but instead of hitting the hard surface, her hand sank into emptiness.
Where the hell was she? The room was dark and empty, with stone walls. To her right were three narrow windows terminated in an arch, arranged side by side, of which the middle was a little higher than the other two. Ali looked out and was able to see a large lawn. She was on the first floor of a huge and imposing building that she suddenly recognized. She was not dead, she was in Salisbury Cathedral.
Her hand flew instinctively to her neck. Two dry scars gave her a sharp pang of pain upon coming into contact with her fingers. They were real. Tears rolled down her cheeks, soaking in that strange shirt that was not hers, while Chase's death played over and over in her head. His screams, his last terrified look, blood and then silence. With her face buried in the pillow, Ali cried for what seemed like hours.
Time passed but nobody came to look for her. Outside, the sky had taken on an intense orange color, a sign that the twilight was spreading towards a new night. She had never spent a whole day outside her house without warning her father. She decided then that it was time to go back. Her father would surely be dead with worry.
She walked slowly to the door, opened it and went out into a long stone corridor. Somehow she managed to get to the main ship without running into anyone. The place was huge, supported by stone columns with arches and a vaulted ceiling. There were hundreds of chairs, almost all empty at that hour. In the center of the room there was a large baptismal font, similar to a flower with four petals, and from its tips, ending in pitcher-like beaks, it spilled four laces of water into holes in the floor.
The fountain was dark green. A passage from Isaiah chapter 43 that her father loved very much was written around it: Do not be afraid because I have redeemed you, I have called you by your name; you are mine. If you pass through the waters, I will be with you, and by the rivers, they will not drown you. If you walk by fire, it will not burn you, nor will the flame burn in you. Its surface overflowing with water looked like a mirror that reflected all the beauty of the cathedral and its glorious stained glass windows. There, on the water, a young man was leaning. His hair was golden like gold and fell into wispy curls tangled almost to his shoulders. A strand of hair fell subtly on his face hiding it. He wore white pants and a black shirt that highlighted his pale arms. His hands were hidden in his pockets giving him a casual attitude although Ali thought seemed more like one of those sad angels guarding the tombs.
Ali approached him hesitantly. She looked for his face in the fountain and among the shadow projected by his hair she found two huge eyes of an intense emerald green. She flinched and backed away. Then she scrutinize him with more attention.
“You… You are…”
No. It couldn’t be him. That creature had wings. This was a boy of flesh and blood, who wasn’t more than twenty years old.
“You're welcome” said the boy coldly.
The same voice and the same glacial tone that had whispered in the room of her house last night: it had to be him! Then he turned to look at her. It was impossible to confuse those feline eyes that had been watching her last nights. Without saying a word, the boy turned and began to move away as if nothing.
She had an inexplicable sense of recognition and the name came to her mind dictated by a distant but firm voice.
“Kaliel ...” muttered Ali, not knowing why.
The boy stopped short. Still with his hands in his pockets, he only turned his face towards her as if he was going to say something over his shoulder but then he regretted and continued on his way.
“Leave him alone. It's a bit grumpy...” a female voice warned behind her. “I'm Sabrina”.
Ali turned to the blond girl who held out her hand. She, too, had something angelic in her features. She shook her hand in great confusion and did not know what to say.
“Good thing you woke up! We thought you would not return” she smiled and Ali noticed fangs more sharp than normal.
“How many hours did I sleep?”
“Two days” Sabrina replied cautiously.
“Two days!?” Ali exclaimed and her voice echoed throughout the ship.
Her father had already reported her to the police. She imagined him fainting from hunger without being able to pass a mouthful of worry.
“You cannot leave the Cathedral” the blonde informed her holding her by the arm. “At least not for now. The Cathedral protects you. Come on, follow me”.
Dragging her gently, Sabrina hurried to the back of the ship. They climbed stairs and crossed darker corridors until they found a large wooden door hidden behind the statue of an angel. A chimney crackled at the end of the enormous room whose walls were covered with books to the ceiling. A large varnished dark wood table occupied the center of the room. Further on, a step led up to a kind of living room with red carpets and blue velvet armchairs. Another boy rested in one of them reading a book. A girl with carrot-colored hair was talking to a blond man who was watching the flames standing with his back to the door.
“I see that at last you have awakened. I'm glad you survived...” commented the man in a voice devoid of emotion. “Do you have any idea what you've done?”
Ali didn’t say a word. She wasn’t sure who he was going to.
The man turned to her and his face disturbed her. His eyes were large and amber and his looks were cold and penetrating. But his features were delicate in a way that made him doubt whether it was a man or a woman. His voice did not show his gender either. He was completely androgynous.
“You went into the vampires lair and murdered one” said the man. “You broke a millennial pact and you made us break it to save you later”.
“What?”
“I don’t think she understands what happens”, Sabrina said.
The man took a few steps to Ali with an impassive expression and invited her to sit on one of the chairs with a gesture.
“You can call me Mikah. This is Sabrina, as you already know. They are Jared, Sharon”, he said pointing to the young man reading and the girl with red hair respectively. But then, the list of names continued while other young people stepped forward when they heard that they were named and appeared from the nothingness itself as if they had always been there. “They are the Redentto: creatures of the night, dark spirits condemned to hell without having mediated their choice and who now seek forgiveness from God”.
“Vampires?” Ali asked looking at those scandalously perfect faces.
“Some of them…”
“They rescued me from those vampires?”
A vague hope flashed across her chest and she stood up.
“There was a boy with me” the words came out hasty. “He's here, too?”
A hysterical smile appeared on her face but the Redentto exchanged looks of confusion.
“There was no other human there” said Sabrina.
“My boyfriend was with me!”
She could feel the tears pounding back into her irritated eyes.
“We registered the place before we left” added Jared, the boy with the book. “I am sorry…”
For some reason, he was the only one who seemed to feel sorry for her grief. There was pain in his expression too.
Ali broke down crying again. Her hope had withered as fast as it had blossomed. She dropped to her knees and Sabrina crouched beside her.
“Maybe he managed to get out when we broke in. Don’t be discouraged, we'll look for it” comforted her.
If so, Chase wouldn’t have left her, right?
“But you murdered one of them”, Mikah said. “You were the one who broke the pact in the first place”.
“What pact? What are you talking about?” Ali wailed. “This is nonsense! I have to go back to my father...”
Ali tried to flee but Sabrina stopped her easily.
“Pay close attention to everything I am going to tell you Alanis Elliot since you have put us all in great danger and yourself too. I'm not kidding”, Mikah hissed harshly. “I know you know t
he world of shadows but your father has made you forget, I know you can see the Children of God and that you have other gifts so dangerous that made Johnny keep you hidden all this time. And yet you disobeyed him, you did what for so long he tried to avoid and you interfered in the earthly truce that Heaven and Hell have”.
“What are you talking about?”
Ali stirred furiously, unable to escape from Sabrina.
“Each human decides which path to take. Angels and demons develop their influences but none can snatch one soul from the other by force. However, you killed a vampire and you made us do the same to save you. The war between the hosts of Good and Evil is imminent”.
6
God fire
"Leave me alone!" Ali yelled as the young man who was reading, Jared, silently led her to the bottom of a stone corridor.
Again, she found herself trapped by iron arms that made no effort when she writhed desperately to escape.
You are insane! Please, I just want to tell my father that I'm fine! Then I will do everything you want. I swear!
Jared stopped in front of a huge solid wood door and opened it for her: it was a room. Then, he pushed Ali inside with all the delicacy that his exacerbated strength allowed him. He was about to leave when the girl's pleading voice stopped him.
“My father is all I have left in this world” she whimpered. “If I don’t do something they're going to kill him...”
“Tomorrow you will go, as soon as the sun comes out. The power of the Shadows intensifies in the night. It is very risky”.
“It could be too late” she objected slowly approaching the young man who seemed to be moved before her prayers.
“Darry won’t make any move today” he assured her. “He is one of those who plan their next movement very well”.
Dark Temptation Page 4