“It's an ambush,” Tara admitted. “They knew we were coming. We’ve got to turn back!”
“What about the mission?” asked Hugo, not wanting to give up.
“There are five argomenons behind that door,” she declared, trying to keep calm. “Father André is leading them, at least what's left of him... He's possessed. We need more missionaries and we need the guards! On my signal, we run for the exit...”
Just as she finished uttering these words, a shrill cry resounded in the chapel and the shadow that lay in Mary's arms jumped out of her embrace and wildly flew around them. On its signal, the group of spirits in the center of the ceiling separated into hundreds of shadows that began circling around them in a deafening turmoil.
“Now!” cried Tara, as she ran at top speed towards the exit.
All five of them rushed to the back end of the chapel. Mark, who could have run much faster than the others, stayed behind Tara to protect her instead. She had her eyes fixed on the exit as she ran. She no longer paid attention to the high-pitched screams that echoed in the room, nor to the shadows on the ceiling that were becoming more and more threatening. Only one thing mattered now: getting out of the chapel as quickly as possible.
Then, when she had almost reached the spiral staircase, a horrible noise stopped her in her tracks; a cry of pain that came deep from within Nina's core. Tara didn't dare turn around, she didn't want to believe that Nina had been hit.
But when the unbearable screams continued, one after the other, Tara had no choice but to turn around and look. Horrified, she discovered Nina lying on the ground. A gigantic black demon was kneeling next to her, stabbing her in the stomach again and again. Tara knew that just as their spheric weapons were deadly to demons, the demons themselves were deadly to angels. Nina and her angel were going to die. Her essence would disappear forever.
Tara couldn’t hold back a violent cry of pain as she threw herself on the demon to rescue her. She was no longer thinking. She could no longer see Mark who was firing point-blank at the two argomenons approaching him, nor John who was slicing apart the two spirits that were charging towards him, nor even Hugo who pierced another argomenon with a thousand holes using the glove-like weapons that covered his two hands. Likewise, she didn’t see the demon advancing slowly towards her with the assurance of someone who had already won, nor Father André, possessed and calmly moving towards her with his ax, ready to defend his offspring against the threat of the Sphere. All she saw was the frail young woman lying on the floor, her muscles contracted in pain. She no longer had the strength to resist her aggressor; her stomach had been cut open by a huge razor-like hand.
Tara ran as fast as she could. As she approached the argomenon that was in the midst of eliminating Nina, she swung her sword with all her might and sliced its head off. As the demon's horned head fell violently to the ground, the cries of horror in the chapel intensified. The spirits accelerated their course, threatening them with their increased aggressiveness. Still, Tara paid no attention. With a brutal kick, she threw the rest of the body aside, simultaneously removing the argomenon’s arm from Nina’s body. But the coach didn’t react. Tara's face turned livid. She felt as though her own life force was being sucked out of her body along with Nina’s.
However, she soon realized that she would be of no use to Nina until their enemies were eliminated. Running away was no longer an option.
She immediately turned to the second argomenon who was only a few yards away from her, and almost twice her size. She was so enraged that she no longer felt human. The glare of a demonic angel had replaced the eyes of the woman. Her physical strength had increased tenfold. As Nina lay dying, Tara no longer felt fear: all she wanted was revenge.
She took a step back before charging towards the monster that had begun to transform its hands into treacherous weapons, intent on making her suffer the same fate as Nina. However, Diane and Tara were now one: when Tara had sufficiently accelerated her pace, she leapt onto a prayer bench next to the demon, and with a sudden back flip, she cut its head off. The decapitated argomenon fell to its knees with a load thud, while the strident cries of the spirits continued to ring out in the chapel. But Tara was too enraged to stop there. Thirsty for revenge, she spun around and struck the headless body violently with her sword, cutting it in half, the two parts of its body falling on either side of Hagen's blade.
Suddenly, as her revenge-induced exploit came to an end, she heard small footsteps approaching her at full speed. Father André. She had forgotten about him. By the sound of his footsteps, she knew he was already too close for her to avoid the blow of his ax.
But then, without warning, a shot was fired, followed by the sound of a heavy mass falling to the ground. She turned around and saw Mark, his pistol pointed in her direction. He had just shot Father André in the head. His body was sprawled out on the floor, just inches away from her. His head was pierced from temple to temple and his blood gushed out abundantly.
Nonetheless, she didn’t so much as flinch at the sight of him. She barely had time to grasp that he was dead. Trying to make herself heard amidst the screams of the spirits, she shouted to the Viking:
“Take Nina back to Emily's! Hugo needs to heal her!”
“What about you?” shouted Hugo, for whom Nina was already gone. “You can’t stay here alone!”
The spirits’ howling became louder and louder and their number grew with each passing second. The statue of the Virgin Mary now seemed to be weeping in despair.
“Others are on their way!” shouted John in a panic. “You have to come with us!”
“Obey!” shouted Tara, who couldn’t imagine losing Nina. “Save her! I'll take care of the babies!”
She ran towards the exit of the chapel, not giving her legionaries time to react. The spirits began to panic. They finally abandoned the chapel too, following her as she ran down the corridor, hounding her with their ghastly cries. Even so, Tara didn’t allow herself to be perturbed. She crossed the corridor at full speed as the black shadows shrieked in despair at not being able to stop her.
After what seemed like an eternity, she safely arrived at the door of Father André's apartment, completely out of breath. It was locked. Tara panicked. She knew she was surrounded. Moments later she would be facing more argomenons. She had to find a solution as soon as possible. In desperation, she called to her weapon for help: “Hagen!”
Instantly, the sword lit up and turned into a shotgun. Tara was so surprised by the capabilities of her weapon that she stopped for a tenth of a second to admire it, speechless. Then, without hesitation, she fired three shots at the lock, breaking the door down at the same time. She heard the women in the room screaming as the door was propelled inward. The three nuns were huddled together and one of them was holding her baby tight to protect him. Tara didn’t know if it was her weapon, or her fierce, bulging black eyes that made them look so terrified. Luckily, her sensitivity had increased enough for her to know that the three nuns were also possessed by evil spirits. They were just pretending to look vulnerable.
Without thinking, she moved forward with confidence, shooting the baby in the head while simultaneously killing the mother with a bullet to the heart.
The frantic screams of the two other nuns became louder and louder. One of them, whose monstrous eyes had suddenly become blood red, jumped up at the other end of the room, blaring her hatred at Tara as she readied to attack her with her sharp fingernails. The second mother, totally tetanized, hadn’t moved at all, her red eyes staring at her defiantly. Not knowing where to run, she remained motionless, her hands resting on her pregnant belly. Unfortunately for her, the only image left in Tara’s mind was that of the argomenon stabbing Nina in the stomach, thus, it was without hesitation that she pointed her weapon at the nun. She fired five bullets into her bulging belly, making sure the demon she carried inside her was torn to pieces. The mother dropped dead next to the first nun, her belly shredded to bits. Her blood and amniotic fluid flo
wed abundantly across the floor.
The smell that emanated from the dead nuns disgusted her so much that she stopped for a few seconds, gawking at the scene in disbelief. It was a cry of pain that drew her out of her contemplation. She turned her head in the direction of the scream and saw the third pregnant woman convulsing on the ground. Perplexed, the seraph approached her, pointing her weapon at her belly. For a reason that she didn’t quite comprehend, a mixture of horror and curiosity no doubt, she remained motionless while she watched what was going on in front of her. The womb of the future mother became deformed and under her clothing, she could see the bump begin to move. Intrigued, Tara still didn’t shoot.
Suddenly, the garments covering her pregnant belly became tinged with blood as the mother screamed in pain and her convulsions resumed. The red puddle began to spread as the garment was ripped apart, only to reveal an infant with blood-red eyes, dirty with blood and amniotic fluid. It had torn open its mother’s belly in order to escape.
The human in Tara was horrified. She couldn’t help but take a step back in repulsion before pointing her weapon at the monstrous baby that howled with all its might as it searched for an escape. She fired a shot, but the baby had already jumped out of its mother’s womb and was running at full speed around the room. Tara attempted to aim while firing a second failed shot. The baby was much too fast. While she desperately tried to kill him, she realized that the situation was quickly getting out of hand. To her surprise, the baby jumped onto the wall and then started circling around the ceiling at top speed.
Wanting to get out of there as fast as possible, Tara concentrated on the baby’s trajectory to better anticipate its next moves and finally fired a shot straight into its heart. The baby fell dead on its back, its fragile little head exploding into pieces on the floor.
Tara looked at the scene with disgust; her feet were bathing in all kinds of liquids. The room smelled of amniotic fluid, blood and death. In front of her lay the corpses of the three possessed women and two of the demon infants, the third still lay in its mother's womb. Such carnage. She could feel the blood of her victims trickling down her face as her own blood beat violently against her temples. The flesh and blood that was scattered all over the room became more and more real with each passing second. She was utterly horrified by the terrible spectacle that lay before her.
Ultimately, it was the cries of the spirits that brought her back to her brutal reality. She remembered that she had to get herself out of there as quickly as possible. She spotted a window to her right and quickly ran to it. One of the roofs of the convent was approximately four yards below her. She quickly scanned the area and found a path towards the street. She would have to jump from rooftop to rooftop. It was doable, and in any case, she had no choice. At the thought of facing a hoard of argomenons on her own, she had no difficulty mustering up the courage to jump out of the window. The fall was short but surprising. She landed abruptly and rolled over twice on the hard slate roof tiles. Once she was back on her feet, she started her race from rooftop to rooftop.
Fortunately, the convent was built in such a way that she could run around the building and return to where the car was parked. From the rooftops, she recognized Mark's motorcycle and noted that Hugo's motorcycle and Van der Worthen's four-wheeler had disappeared. For a second, she was reassured that her missionaries were safe. She had one last jump to make before she reached the ground.
She estimated the height to be about five yards. She wasn’t afraid of heights, but she had to think about how she would land before jumping from so high. As she tried to concentrate, she heard the atrocious cries of the spirits that had followed her from inside the chapel. They were just above her now, still inside the convent. She had no choice. Without deliberating any longer, she threw herself into the void and landed violently on the hard asphalt. Her body rolled several times before coming to a full stop, allowing her to resume her course to the motorcycle.
When she tried to get up, she felt a terrible pain in her right ankle, but her survival instinct took over, allowing her to jump on to the motorcycle without difficulty. Luckily, Mark had been careful to leave the keys in the ignition for her.
Tara started up the motor and made a tight U-turn in the direction of Emily's apartment. Now, the only thing that mattered to her was getting back to Nina. She hoped it wasn't too late.
When she arrived at the entrance of the building, she barely parked the motorcycle. Leaving it at the curb, she limped to the stairwell as quickly as she could. The way to Emily's apartment seemed endless. She didn't want to call for fear of receiving bad news. She wanted to see for herself.
When she finally arrived at the apartment, the door opened mechanically. Just like the first time she set foot into Emily's apartment, she discovered Mark standing behind the door, a solemn look on his face. It wasn’t a good sign.
In a tenth of a second, Tara’s muscles gave out and all her energy left her body. Her face was livid when she arrived in the medical room where she found Nina attached to a blood drip, while Hugo stitched up something inside her stomach. At her bedside, Emily held back her tears while she stroked Nina’s arm.
Tara walked into the room without thinking. Her body responded to the automatic commands given to it by the instinctive part of her brain. Her breath, her heartbeat, her whole being, depended on Nina's condition.
“Is she going to be alright?” she asked gravely.
“I don't know,” answered Hugo sincerely, too focused on what he was doing to feel any empathy. “Medicine alone won't cure her. Her soul was touched, and her body has a hole right in the middle of it. I can patch up a few pieces, but I can't work miracles.”
On these words, Tara felt her throat tighten so violently that she began to suffocate. An insurmountable pain had taken over her whole body as she realized that she was about to lose Nina.
“I can make her survive for a few hours, or a few days at the most,” Hugo resumed, inserting another needle into Nina's abdomen, “while I wait for another idea to come to me... But by then, her soul will surely have been consumed by the argomenon’s poison.”
The mere thought of it made Tara feel faint. Her legs started to give way as she brutally lost her balance. She was caught by Mark who took her into his arms as if her body was light as a feather. She tried to stand up but her legs were no longer responding. Her head spun so fast that she became nauseous. Little by little, the images in her mind became blurry and dark. The sounds became more distant and she could barely feel Mark's arms around her waist. Finally, she heard John utter a few words in the distance. They said that she was in shock. She didn’t understand. She wanted to resist, but her spirit seemed to be flying away, as if Diane herself was abandoning her.
Chapter 17
Madeleine was peacefully asleep in her large bed. Her heavy goose feather duvet was almost too hot for the provincial climate. Three o'clock in the morning had sounded. Dark and silent, the castle was immersed in the calm of the night.
Suddenly, at one of her most vulnerable moments, a slender shadow appeared at her bedside out of nowhere. Tall and thin, it waited patiently for the duchess to rise.
Even in her sleep, the young woman could feel the presence that was now next to her face. Very quickly, her survival instinct took over as she opened her eyes and frantically looked around the room in search of the threat, her heart beating wildly. Then, she turned her head in the direction of the being that she knew was observing her, while abruptly sitting up in her bed. She was embarrassed to have been caught partaking in such a typically human activity, and especially because it put her into a position of weakness.
In front of her stood a huge, sinister angel who looked at her impassively with his big, black and yellow eyes. Enkaz. He expressed no emotion, except disgust for this human pastime that Madeleine was engaged in, only because her human body required it.
When she was sufficiently alert, he placed his large, cold hand on the young woman's forehead. Suddenly, she b
egan to see the faces of all the missionaries who were stationed in the south of France and whom she had to approach in order to train and lead them. As soon as she saw a missionary’s face, she immediately knew everything about them: their name, their history, their current living conditions, where to find them and how to approach them. She saw no less than a dozen faces scrolling by at full speed in the short instant in which the information was transferred to her. Starting now, her mission was to find each one of these people and trigger their Revelation.
Then, when all the faces had been recorded in her mind, another seraph appeared, grand and majestic: Hermée. She had Venetian blonde hair and thin, smiling lips. She worked in the same region as her and was none other than the eldest De Villiers sister, Johanna. Following this information, six other faces appeared to her, and among them, Ruben's face. They were all missionaries in the service of Hermée, which forbade Madeleine to claim any rights whatsoever over them.
Realizing that the Decision-Makers knew about her relationship with Ruben, Madeleine couldn’t help but gag. Once again, she was embarrassed by her human reaction, and even more so because she was physically connected to Enkaz while she had it. Of course, the dark angel was aware of her embarrassment, but he had no visible reaction.
A few seconds later, when his mission was accomplished, he removed his hand from her forehead. Seemingly disgruntled, he disappeared into the Sphere without saying another word.
Now alone in her room, Madeleine sweat with anxiety as she thought about her love affair with Ruben. Only moments ago, the Decision-Makers had let her know, through Enkaz, that They were aware of the relationship. Now, nothing would ever be the same again. As a seraph, she wasn’t allowed to have a romantic affair with a soldier. Moreover, Ruben didn’t belong to her. He was in the service of Hermée, another seraph whom she knew very well and who, in addition, didn’t carry Diane in her heart. If only she had known. She would certainly have thought twice before falling in love with him. If the Decision-Makers deemed it necessary, They could annihilate them both.
HAGEN: 1. Revelations Page 34