Building Faith
By Ellf
What is Known 6
Disclaimer: Jim Butcher owns the Dresden Files, any other works of fiction mentioned are not owned by me.
I was dead, so very very dead. Dead girl walking, only not so much on the walking front as the Red Court vampire blocked my path to the stairs out. No. Fuck no. I didn't want to die again. I wanted to live. To maybe someday possibly kinda get some sort of… Okay, that was too complicated to think about when my heart was racing at three times normal speed due to the impending doom of getting eaten. Daddy should be here, but I was pretty sure he was somewhere else. What would Daddy do if he found himself in this situation?
Stupid question. Okay, what would Mom do in this situation?
"Oh, how I love it when they're afraid," the woman in front of me said as I slowly inched backward. The being identified by the third voice as Esteban made his way toward the woman and gave her a sickeningly passionate kiss, fangs and all.
"I, uh, I believe in God, the Father Almighty, Creator of Heaven and Earth," I murmured, my hand reaching to the silver crucifix that hung around my neck, one of the few pieces of jewelry I consistently wore.
"Oh look, my love, she's begging for mercy," Esteban sneered, or at least I think he did. It was kind of hard to tell with his fangs hanging out the way they were.
"And in Jesus Christ, His only Son, our Lord," I continued, and the crucifix started heating up, warming my palm some. I gripped lower on the crucifix, lifting it out from under my sweater so it would be on display. "Who was conceived by the Holy Spirit, born of the Virgin Mary; suffered under Pontius Pilate..."
Light gleamed off of my crucifix, reflecting silvered light back at the vampires ahead of me. To either side, I knew there were more approaching, but I didn't think there were more than four here total. Four too many, honestly.
"Do you really think that can do something to us, girl?" The woman, whatever her name was, stepped toward me, but as I prayed, the light got stronger, and I saw wisps of steam coming off her skin. She blinked, and when her eyes opened, they were pools of deep black. Esteban's skin had started to undergo a similar effect.
"He descended into hell; the third day He rose again from the dead; He ascended into heaven," I continued my prayer, and the light grew brighter and brighter. I wasn't exactly sure how this was happening, but I wasn't going to let my faith waver. This had never happened before, and I needed to keep it going if I was going to even have a chance of survival. "Is seated at the right hand of God the Father Almighty; from thence He shall come to judge the living and the dead."
"You!" The woman's, no, the vampire's voice was hoarse now, and seams of skin burned up. What had been wisps of steams now took on a darker tone as it became clearer what had been happening to Esteban and the other vampire.
"Esmeralda, my love, she will die for this!" Like he wasn't going to kill me before.
"I believe in the Holy Spirit, the Holy Catholic Church, the communion of Saints, the forgiveness of sins, the resurrection of the body, and life everlasting! Amen!" My voice had raised, emboldened by the light coming from my crucifix. I had this burning feeling in me like my veins were filled with gasoline. A single twitch, and something could go wrong. "The power of Christ compels you, back the fuck off, bitch!"
The light grew brighter, and the fluorescent lighting above me flickered. I was far more interested in holding off the two vampires who still blocked the doorway to upstairs. Each of their skin had torn asunder, revealing the things they were underneath: slimy bat-like creatures with bloated bellies, indicating that they'd fed recently and they wanted to do so again.
The one that I was pretty sure had been Esmeralda growled. "You're already bleeding! Julio, Jose, Stefan, feed on her!"
I glanced away from the pair in front of me for a second, my eyes flicking to the shelves and the ceiling. Sure enough, I counted three more Red Court vampires sans flesh mask. If I hadn't been trying to actively hold them off, I probably would have gotten sick from looking at them.
Of course, glancing away from Esmeralda and Esteban, that had been a mistake. When I looked back, they were on all fours, charging me, and the other three leaped from their positions to attack as well.
Something in me… sparked. The world slowed down around me, and the light above me shattered, slowly giving off a shower of glass and glowing electrical embers that stuck mid-air, soundless. The three vampires that had been leaping at me through the air, paused, mid-flight like they were hung there on the air. Esmeralda and Esteban oozed toward me on all-fours at slug-like speeds, though clearly they were trying for faster. Whatever this was, now was my chance.
With Esmeralda and Esteban still blocking the doorway to the upward stairs, I didn't want to risk trying to go by them in case whatever this was wore off. Instead I ran in the opposite direction, at my top speed. I needed to be as far from these vampires as I could be. I popped open the subbasement staircase, noting that it seemed to freeze in place when I got it opened all the way, and I dashed down the stairs. The lights nearby shattered as I passed, and I continued down the stairs. One flight, two flights… this should have been the bottom; I remembered there only being two subbasements to this building, but there was a third flight, and I wanted to put as much distance between me and them as possible, so further down I went.
I came to a landing at the bottom of the stairwell, and I saw the outline of what looked to be a door of some sort, set into the wall such that it was flush. I'm honestly not sure how I managed to notice it, but I chalked it up to whatever was going on with the slowed time. I placed my hand against it, and once my hand brushed it, a spark leaped from my hand onto the door, causing what looked like a magical circle to appear in glowing purple light. The door moved inward, while my hand was on it, and I stepped through the doorway.
Releasing my hold on the door, I looked around the room underneath, noting its pitch-black darkness, unable to make out anything beyond what looked like a writing desk… and was that a stuffed raven above the desk?
The door slammed shut behind me, and I could feel whatever effect had been going on end. With the door closed, there wasn't any light to even attempt to see anything in here, but I was reasonably confident that it would be hard for the vampires to get me in here. Breathing a sigh of relief, I did the only logical thing I could as I happened upon an empty trash can, or at least I hoped that was what it was.
I evacuated the contents of my stomach. Violently.
The relief that the closed door had brought was counteracted primarily by my bodily functions once I found the wastebasket. I didn't know if the Reds could breach the door, and while I was fairly certain I could focus my belief and faith well enough to hold them off if necessary through that single opening, I had absolutely no clue how I'd manage to get them away so I could get home. Additionally, I didn't have a cell phone; I'd had change to use a pay phone, but given my current situation, that seemed like an unlikely proposition.
My eyes struggled to adjust to the dark of the room. There wasn't any ambient light for my pupils to grab onto; it had been a combination of luck and observation from the open door to allow me to find the wastebasket. I felt along the wall for a light switch, remaining as silent as I could. The Reds were almost certainly still out there, and whatever had happened in that room had worn off.
No light switch. Okay, that was fine. My heart was pounding loud enough that I could hear it in my chest, but that was fine. I'd improvise. I moved my backpack off my back and into my arms, unzipping it. I dug around in the bag for a bit before my hands grasped what I was looking for. I pulled a little pink Bic lighter out of my backpack that I kept around for… various reasons. I wasn't a smoker, per se, but some of my friends were; it helped to be a person with a lighter sometimes.
Giving mental thanks to my friends and their sometimes illicit activities, I flicked the lighter, managing a couple sparks. Okay, so my hands were still shaking. Wobbling from what had happened. Those five Red Court vampires had killed someone and they were going to come here to kill me. They'd nearly done so already, and I'd only escaped due to a sudden change in the way time worked. Or a sudden burst of superspeed, but whatever it was, I had escaped into an area I was trapped in, with no freaking light because the lighter didn't want to work the first time.
So I tried again, holding my hand steady this time. I flicked my Bic, and as the wheel turned, the sparks ignited the gas coming out when I pushed the button, giving me a small flame. I held the flame above my head, and I noticed a three-pronged candelabra on the writing desk with three half-length white candles. I made my way over to the writing desk, still in silence.
Maybe they were searching the other floors for me first. Did they split up to do so? Or were they together, searching for any sign of me, sign of my scent? Did I move fast enough that my scent didn't leave a trail from my blood? Was the seal on the door enough to stop them?
I didn't have enough answers, so, flicking my Bic again, I lit the three candles of the candelabra, and I looked around. The light reflected off of the darkened eyes of the stuffed raven that hung above the writing desk, which itself had numerous papers strewn about. A bookshelf embedded into the wall held more, papers, scrolls, even a few books. Looking around the room, I could see a simple cot, the wastebasket I released my lunch into, and more shelves with papers that bore the brownish yellow tinge of age. Some looked like maps, perhaps, but I couldn't tell of what from the angle and light.
On the floor glinted a silver ring, just five feet from the door. A magic circle, perhaps? Someone had set up a permanent circle in this room, but for what? It didn't look like this was anyone's magic lab. I moved to look over the papers, still listening for anything to indicate that Esteban, Esmeralda, and their trio of minions had found the door yet, and I noted what was front and center.
Whoever this room belonged to had been drafting a letter. They hadn't mailed it off or dated it yet, clearly, but the inkwell they had been using had yet to dry, indicating they had been working on it today. Yes, they had used an inkwell and dip pen. I think someone had been reading a bit too much Harry Potter. I began to read the letter.
Mr. Peabody,
If you would convey to the Merlin and the rest of the Senior Council that what we have found buried in this city's tunnels is nothing short of remarkable. This ritual book, if used in the correct hands, could prove invaluable in the war against the Red Court, but if traditional White Council methods were to be used with this ritual book, it could negate all significance of the find.
The being referenced in this ritual book is a complete unknown, but initial contacts with it seem to be mostly positive. Ja're'be'wo'kay is a benevolent being who can bestow power upon those who call upon it and would allow the easy defeat of the vampires by the Council with the aid of us, its ally. If standard procedure for this book were to happen, Ja're'be'wo'kay would be stretched thin eventually, and perhaps it would be unable to perform the duties of the ritual. While we here at the Venatori Umbrorum understand this need when it comes to rituals that would break the Laws of Magic simply by their use, I must stress that this ritual is different.
Please consider my offer and send a representative of the Council to Chicago to meet with me. I would love to show this book to an interested wizard.
Janice Alexander,
Venator Segundus
Venatori Umbrorum
Chicago Branch
Oh. That… was… special. Now I knew what the Reds were probably after, and I had no clue if they had managed to get ahold of it yet. I folded up the letter and stuffed it into my backpack. The name Peabody sounded familiar to me, but I couldn't place why it was significant. Regardless, it wouldn't do to leave this letter just sitting there with the information it contained. If I could find this ritual book, it would probably be a good idea for it to just get lost, but if the Reds had it… No, I couldn't think like that.
I sighed, and lightly hit the desk with my hand. A book tipped down from up above, its weight overwhelming it as it came tumbling down at me. I don't know why, but I didn't move as the book fell and struck me on the top of my head before bouncing down onto the desk. Glancing at the book, I bit my lower lip. That had been remarkably convenient, which meant that the book might have been more than it should have been, but it was innocuous, the size of a young adult novel if I were to be honest if not for its darkened leather cover.
I reached into my bag and pulled out a book that was around the same size, pulling the jacket off of it and stuffing it back into my bag. I slipped the jacket over the leather-bound book and placed it too in my bag.
A loud banging against the door caused me to jump slightly and reach for my crucifix. The vampires wouldn't take me if I could avoid it. I looked around the room for something I could use as an improvised sword or weapon to keep them at bay in a combination of faith and steel, but nothing was available.
The door banged again, this time followed by a voice. "Miss, I know you're in there." The voice was male, not too deep, and it carried a tone of… something I couldn't put my finger on. This wasn't one of the Red Court vampires. "If you could please open the door, I could help you."
I wasn't sure that he couldn't just break down the door himself, but I didn't know who or what was out there. I was pretty sure that the Reds would just try breaking down the door, but this person had simply just knocked.
"How?" My voice must have sounded strained; I know I felt it. "How could you help? Who are you?"
With what sounded clearly like an exaggerated sigh, the man on the other side of the door answered me. "My name is Thomas Raith. Come with me if you want to live."
