Chapter Nineteen
Surviving
-oOo-
Chloe wasn't sure if it was the painful throbbing at the back of her skull or the sharp chill of the room that awoke her, but she felt a presence in the room before she had even begun to open her eyes. She felt incredibly groggy, as if she had been asleep for hours, the last few minutes before she lost consciousness were only a blur in the back of her mind.
Where am I? She thought, as she went to lift her hand up to massage the back of her aching skull, but her hands were stuck fast behind her, and she appeared to be sitting on a very uncomfortable chair. Chloe's senses hit her as she remembered facing the rapist, remembered Silas pointing a gun at her, and remembered how she tried to pull the trigger. With a groan she lifted her tired head off of her chest and glanced around, her eyes still heavy with sleep.
She was in a small room, shadows filled every corner and the only window was a small arch type, stain-glass window in the top right corner of the room, allowing only a little light to enter, but enough for Chloe to see the waves of dust float and dance in the light. The rest of the room was empty, except for a large desk pushed up against the wall in front of her, mounted with scrolls and old texts and as she looked behind, there were a few assorted brooms old buckets.
Chloe began to wriggle against the tight bindings on her hands, but they were bound expertly behind the back of the chair. Chloe's jaw tightened, that rapist had her prisoner again, her skin crawled at the thought of him touching her to get her into this room, she was mostly glad she had been unconscious the whole time. And what of Silas? It must have been him who struck her back in the chapel, but why wouldn't he believe her when she told him Horus was the rapist? He had saved the very monster Chloe had been hunting down for six months. This whole time, Silas had known her attacker; it made her sick to her stomach, knowing she had shared those terrible memories with him. Chloe bowed her head and wished this was all some terrible dream. She had always hope for the day she would be able to press the muzzle of her gun against the skull of her rapist, but never had she seen herself captive again, she felt idiotic and doomed. What would he do to her now? The thought sent chills of fear down her back. No way could he rape her in the church he lived in, and even though Silas was no ideal monk, he would not stand by and watch Horus do those things to her again.
Her blood froze as the terrible memories of that night flooded her mind. No, she would never let that happen again, never, she had made that promise to herself and she would not break it. No matter what Horus did to her, no matter what he said, she would die before he laid another hand on her, before he fouled her body again. She would not be the victim.
The large wooden door in front of her clicked as a huge bolt was slide open. Chloe felt her body tense as she watched the hem of a monks robes drift into the room. She refused to meet the eyes of the intruder, staring blanking at the stone floor instead. The sandaled feet walked forward a few steps, but stopped at least two yards from where Chloe sat tied to the chair.
"I am sorry I hit you, but you gave me no other choice" Silas said, his voice cutting through the silence.
Chloe felt like shouting and screaming at the idiot man in front of her, was he so blind? Did he not see what was going on under his very nose?
"Bishop Horus has been kind to my patron; I must honour and protect him as I would Bishop Aringarosa, for he has offered us shelter and safety"
Chloe lifted her eyes to the monks, his face had a little more colour in it, he looked healthier and more alive, yet his eyes were suffering turmoil, perhaps guilt?
"You don't know what he's capable of. He's a wolf in sheep's clothing, Silas. Let me go so I can take him in, I'll ignore all of this" she said, gesturing to her bound hands and sore head.
"I am not foolish, Miss Blanc. Horus is a friend of the Bishop's, so he must be a good man" he said sharply.
"And what about Sir Leigh Teabing? Your patron said he was a good man, didn't he? And he betrayed you both. What's different this time?" she snapped.
Silas strode forward and slammed his palms down on the arm rests of the chair. His face bare inches from her own, she recalled that the last time they had been this close; they had kissed, but that felt a million miles and a million years ago now.
"This is different, Horus is a Bishop, he is a man of the Church" he hissed.
"You're a monk yet you still murdered innocent people" she hissed back.
Both starred at one another, fiery anger in their eyes, but nothing could be said. Chloe would never be able to tell Silas what a true monster Horus was, he would have to see it for himself, but she was hardly prepared to give herself up as bait. Nothing was worth that. The door behind Silas opened again as the monk pushed away from Chloe. Her blood both froze and boiled at the sight of Horus, he held himself high like he did back in the chapel, he seemed to look down on both her and Silas, his creaseless robes heightened him and gave in a royal air, which only succeeded in making Chloe want to scratch his eyes out.
"So I see you have awakened, Officer Blanc. Maybe now we can talk" he smiled politely.
"Go to Hell" she snapped. The irony was lot lost on both Silas and Horus, who looked at one another, Silas looked alarmed and almost afraid, whereas Horus only chuckled once again, infuriating Chloe even more.
"My, my, I see we haven't lost our attitude" he said.
"You have no right to keep me here, I am an officer of the law and keeping me against my will is an offence punishable by imprisonment"
Silas again looked nervously at Bishop Horus, who instead of chuckling or smiling like an idiot who had just been told a bad joke; he ran his fingers along the table behind him, his fingertips grazing the muzzle of her pistol and her badge.
"Please believe me, Ms Blanc, I have no desire to cause trouble, I only wish to talk with you, particularly in your interest of Aringarosa" he said.
Chloe felt a light bulb go off in her brain. Of course, you idiot! She thought furiously. If Horus was indeed the man who pulled Silas out of custody and moved Aringarosa so he could watch his every move, he must be within the Council of Shadows, and as he had no scruples about raping defenceless women, he would have no qualms with ordering the deaths of innocent people.
She was looking at the leader of the Council of Shadows. What a small world, she thought bitterly, that the men she was searching for in both cases, turned out to be the same one.
"That's confidential" she muttered.
Horus smiled and rubbed his hands together; "Silas" he said, "I think it's time for your patron's medication, would you run along and see to him while I finish matters here" he smiled pleasantly.
Chloe felt a large frog in her throat as Silas starred from Horus to Chloe, but she refused to look at him, to plead with him with her eyes not to leave her here with this monster. She knew what was coming now and she would not weep and scream like last time, she would ruin this for Horus as much as she could and for starters, she would no beg Silas for help, chances are he would give it anyway.
"If you are sure, Bishop Horus. Will you not require my assistance?" he offered, still looking down at Chloe.
Horus put a friendly hand on the monks shoulder and squeezed, "I appreciate the offer, my son, but I will be fine. Go, you patron needs you"
Silas gave a fleeting glance back at Chloe and reluctantly left the room, the door shutting with terrible thud that echoed around the room. Bishop Horus rubbed his hands together and waited patiently until he was sure Silas was out of earshot before his whole expression changed. Instantly he went from a sweet well-mannered Priest, to a dangerous animal-like beast. His eyes grew distinctly darker, his mouth drew into a scowl and hate and lust radiated off of him. He jumped forward and slapped Chloe hard across the face, jerking her head sharply to the right. She hissed in pain as the stinging slap reverberated across her entire face.
"You silly little whore" he hissed into her ear, "You think you could ruin everything for me? Ruin everything I worked so hard to build?" and he struck her again, nearly knocking the whole chair over.
Horus grabbed the arm rests of each side and pressed his face up to Chloe's, she could smell a faint whiff of aftershave and an intoxicating aroma of whisky on his breath.
Just like that night, Chloe thought painfully.
"You're under arrest" Chloe breathed, "Anything you say-" she began, but another sharp slap across the face disorientated her.
"You don't get it, do you bitch! You're not going to walk out of here alive, but there's no point in wasting what's been put here for me" he growled, a scary glint in his eye as he ran his tongue over his lips. "It's been almost two weeks since I allowed myself this pleasure, I've been a good boy" he smiled sickly and leaned into Chloe, running a tongue up her cheek.
Chloe heaved, almost throwing up in her mouth, but she grabbed her strength and violently kicked out with her legs, striking the Bishop in the shins, causing him to yelp in pain and stagger backwards. Chloe tried to get to her feet, but found positioning herself with a chair tied to her back very difficult.
Horus rubbed his shin and leapt forward again with a growl, punching his enormous fist into Chloe's unprotected stomach. The wind was almost knocked out of her as she keeled over and fell hard onto the ground, coughing uncontrollable at the spasm of pain in her stomach. But Horus was not done, he charged several more kicks as Chloe; leaving her struggling for breath and every bit of air she took it felt like her stomach was being pummelled from the inside.
"How do you like it, bitch" Horus sneered, "Had enough? Want to scream for help? Go ahead, there's no one around, I picked the most vacant part of the church, we're all alone" he laughed and dragged her up by the chair, leaving her to rock uncertainly as he swung a left hook, momentarily causing Chloe to loose all sense of herself as dots fluttered about her vision.
"Go on, scream, scream for help" Horus ordered, holding Chloe's face up as it threatened to droop down to her chest, "Scream for me, little bitch"
Chloe glared into the mans hateful eyes and spat saliva and blood into his face, "Fuck you" she coughed.
Horus casually wiped away the mess with the sleeve of his habit and sighed, "You're not making this easy for yourself" he said.
"You mean I'm not making this easy for you" Chloe hissed, already feeling the right side of her face swelling through the torture.
"Fine" Horus hissed through gritted teeth as he cracked his knuckles. Chloe held her breath, closed her eyes and waited for it all to start again.
Chloe had no idea how long it had gone on for, and remarkable she was surprised she had held on still, but she hoped she would at least be unconscious by now. The chair she had been tied to was now shattered into timber as Horus had thrown her about in it. Her hands were still loosely tied in the ropes, but she had neither the energy nor sense to untie herself, she was now vaguely aware of where she was, but every time Horus kicked or hit her, she lost more and more sense, but she knew enough to keep him from getting near enough to touch her in that way. Every time he came close to tearing off her jacket or mounting her, she kicked out and knocked him back, which only seemed to anger him more, but as she still had breath in her body, she refused to let him rape her again. He could beat the crap out of, he may even kill her, but he would never rape her.
Horus stood over her still form as he massaged his red knuckles. She saw him in the corner of her eyes as she lay almost paralysed on the cold stone flagstones.
"Come on, little girl, don't put yourself through this" Horus said, almost sympathetically, "Just give me what I want and it'll all be over soon" he added, smiling sickly. He went to move forward again and leaned over Chloe, but she kicked out, connecting her foot with the side of the Bishops face, knocking him backwards. She was glad to see, as he got to his feet, a small amount of blood drip from his left nostril. He stemmed the flow with his sleeve and growled, "That's it, no more games" and he lunged forward, throwing his whole weight onto Chloe. The wind was momentarily knocked out of her as the Bishop pinned her legs down with his own, she tried to release her hands that were pinned painfully behind her back, but she could move enough to get them free.
"Get off of me!" she roared, feeling and hearing the desperation in her own voice.
"That's what I wanted to hear" Horus hissed hungrily as he fumbled with her top.
"No!" she yelled, kicking her legs wildly and with no avail.
If there is a God, she thought, please don't let this happen again!
"Bishop Horus!" came a voice from the middle of the room. Both Chloe and Horus froze as they looked towards the monk standing unsurely in the middle of the room, a gun held in his hand, pointing directly at Horus.
"Put it down boy, you have no idea what's happening here" growled Horus.
Silas looked hurt and confused, the look of someone who had been betrayed, "How could you? You are a Bishop of the church and you dishonour women like this"
"Silas. Put the gun down" Horus ordered.
"Get off of her" he ordered, pointing the gun a little higher, towards Horus' head. Horus complied, slowly lifting his weight off Chloe and rubbing his hands together.
"See, I'm up" he said, "Now put the gun down"
Chloe was barely conscious now, she struggled to hear all the words the two men were sharing, but she had never been so thankful to see the albino monk, and when she felt the Bishop's weight lift off of her, she felt herself giving in to the darkness, but she tried to fight it, tried to make sure Silas would be alright.
"We trusted you and yet you do this to women, you do this to Chloe?" he asked in disbelief, "How can you call yourself a man of God when you act like the devil?"
Horus stepped towards Silas, "I am still a man, Silas, and I have urges. I'm sure you do too, do you not see a woman and wish to own her, all of her"
Silas looked down at Chloe, he saw the beaten and bruised face, the lifeless eyes, he looked back at Horus, "No, not in the way you do, Bishop. She was right, you are a monster" he said.
Horus took another step forward, by Silas was not willing to fire his weapon, and he was sure the Bishop knew that.
"You would kill a Bishop; you would kill a man who has taken you and your patron into his protection and care? You are foolish, boy" he said.
Silas fidgeted on the spot, unsure of what to do, he only wished Aringarosa were there to advise him, but he was not so he would have to make his own decision. Kill a Bishop? Or let him live and continue his reign of terror?
"I must take you to the police station, Bishop. You must pay for what you have done" he said.
"And what for the crimes you have committed?" Horus asked, "The people you have killed?"
"I have repented and suffered for those mistakes. I was led astray" he explained.
"Could not the same be said for me?" Horus asked, taking another step forward.
"You don't repent, you are not sorry. I will take you to the police" Silas said firmly.
"Well I am sorry you feel that way, my son" Horus said with a sigh, "Because I will now have to dispose of you too" and without another world, he lunged at Silas with a roar, knocking the gun from his hand.
Chloe heard the instant shuffling and groans of the two men, she assumed they were fighting, but the blurring of her eyes and the roaring in her ears made it hard to see what was going on. She tried to lift her head off of the floor, but it felt so heavy she only succeeded in lifting it for a few seconds. Again she tried to move her hands which were now painfully digging into her spine, she found the ropes loosening some more and tried to screw them out from under her.
Silas and Horus continued to wrestle each other, each receiving blows from the other. Already Silas was suffering from a bloody nose while Horus was sure he had sprained something when Silas had knocked him to the ground, but they both fought on, trying to get the upper hand, both had probably the same amount of upper body strength, but the cilice on Silas' leg only made it harder for him to kick out and attack the Bishop's lower body.
Horus dived once more at Silas, knocking them both painfully into the table, knocking both Chloe's gun and badge onto the ground. Horus charged an elbow into Silas' face knocking him to the side as he grabbed the gun, both men got to their feet, panting heavily and glaring at one another, the pistol held out between the two men.
"It's too bad, Silas, you could have joined me. I didn't think someone who murdered by command would have a problem enjoying women like I do" he breathed, "I guess I will have to bury two bodies instead of just the one" he raised the gun "Pity"
From behind, Chloe and wrestled her arms free and her fingers curled around Silas' gun, with all the strength she could muster, she tried to focus down the muzzle of the gun and aimed for Horus and just as he raised his own gun, she pulled the trigger of hers and felt it kick back in her hands.
She heard, with some satisfaction, the painful groan as Horus crumpled to the ground, but she was unable to keep herself awake anymore and welcomed the rushing darkness with open arms.
-oOo-
Chloe knew she was still alive as her whole body felt like it was on fire. Every muscle she moved seemed to be a torment, but by the second day she was able to open her eyes.
The first thing she had seen was the face of her godfather. She had no clue as to how she had ended up at the hospital, but she was grateful to find herself still alive and in the company of the one man she could call family.
At first, Chloe had demanded to know what had happened, Jerome had forced her to lie down before explaining that a monk had carried her into the hospital, staying only to explain that she had been beaten by a Bishop Regis Horus, who would be found dead at Sevérin Church.
Chloe hadn't been surprised to find that Silas hadn't stuck around, but she was a little surprised that he had gone out of his way to take her to the hospital. Did he somehow feel guilty because he had not believed her in the first place? Yes, that would be it; it wouldn't have been because he cared about her at all. It was all to save his own soul. But something deep inside told her that might not be true.
Days past as Chloe was left to heal. Fache had come to visit her and explained that he had been given his job back on probation since it turned out Silas did help lead them to the Council's key members. Aringarosa had also felt free to sing like a canary once he realised Horus could not touch him now and all the other members fell one by one. Chloe got an honourable mention and an award which she thought was a pathetic attempt to make it seem like she was supported the whole time by both the DCPJ and the Church. But she was just glad it was all over and she could return home as soon as she was ready. Jerome had made the preparation to have her apartment fixed up and in the mean time she would stay with him until it was ready. But there was just one loose end that bugged Chloe endlessly. Silas. She wanted to see him, she didn't know why; she didn't know what she would say to him. She supposed she should thank him for helping her escape, but then he had knocked her out cold in the first place. Then there was the kiss back in Les Lilas, but she could hardly think of it without recalling how he had pushed her into the bathroom. The kiss had meant nothing to him; it had all been part of his escape plan, so why did she dream of it every night. True it was a fair sight better then the old nightmare she used to have of Horus, but it still confused and frustrated her.
It was on her sixth day in hospital when she awoke to find not Jerome sitting beside her, but a man in robes and sandaled feet. Silas was sitting uncomfortable beside her bed, inspecting the vase of sunflowers on her bedside table, sent to her by Jerome.
"I didn't think you'd come" Chloe croaked. Her voice still raw. Silas jumped but tried to hide it by scratching his shoulder.
"I did not think I would come either. But I suppose I needed to thank you for saving my life" he added.
"And I suppose I need to thank you for saving mine" she replied, mildly sarcastically, "So now you've gotten that out of your system, you can go" she added harshly. She didn't know where the sudden temper came from, but she was annoyed that after all this time, he only wanted to settle his conscious.
Silas looked taken aback, then angry, "What do you mean?"
"It doesn't matter" Chloe snapped, "Only I wouldn't have needed you to save my life had you not escaped back in Les Lilas"
"And I would not have needed you to save mine if you had not have kidnapped me in the first place" he growled.
Chloe sighed in frustration and rested her sore head down on the soft pillow, "We're so pathetic" she muttered. Silas shifted his feet and leaned back on the chair.
"I am sorry I did not believe you" Silas said quietly, "And f-for…hitting you" he stretched.
"Don't worry about it" Chloe muttered, "It's over now, I can move on with my life"
Both sat in silence for a minute or two, just revelling in the others company until the quiet got too much for Silas and he got to his feet to excuse himself.
"Will you come back?" Chloe asked before she could stop herself. Silas looked surprised at first, but then gave a small smile which surprised Chloe. "I will" he said and left her alone.
-oOo-
Almost two weeks later, Chloe was finally ready to return home, she had suffered a few fractured ribs and a lot of cuts and bruises, there were still significant bruising on her face and arms, not to mention a prominent black eye that had only just started to turn yellow, but she was finding it easier and less painful to move about and was finally on her feet.
Silas didn't visit Chloe whilst she was staying with her godfather; in fact she didn't hear anything from him since that one visit in the hospital. Chloe tried to convince herself not to care, but she took the lack of interest in her recovery quite to heart and figured the monk had simply moved on with his life.
When her apartment was finally ready, Chloe moved back in, her home was distinctively different, the fresh smell of paint lingered in the air, but the burglary had been a good excuse to clear out all her old furniture and have fresh sofas and tables around her once dingy home. As she sat on her new leather sofa, Jerome walked around the rooms, making sure nothing was out of place and that no one was hiding behind the curtains. Once he was convinced that Chloe would come to no harm on her own in her apartment, he left, not forgetting to leave a bottle of wine he had brought for the occasion.
Chloe smiled as she poured herself a glass and sat in the welcoming silence. Finally for a long time, she felt free and almost happy. That terrible black cloud had moved on and she could see nothing but sunshine in the immediate future, of course she would have to deal with the paper work and attend a few trials about the past few days, but once that was over, she could start living again, but there was just one part of her old like that she wanted to keep a hold off, so she got up from her sofa, leaving the half-empty glass of wine and got into her rental car (her own car back at the garage for repairs) and made her way towards Saint Sulpice. The sky was already dark by four in the evening which made the church loom more then ever, but she hobbled painfully up the steps towards the church and was enveloped by the inviting warmth of the torches and subtle soft lighting of the hallways. She found the pews empty, save for one elderly woman praying in the front row; carefully she sat herself down a few more rows back, where she had the last time.
She found her eyes resting on the alter in front and feeling a warmth spread through her limbs as she settled comfortably against the wooden pew. She heard movement down the aisle and saw a shadow move to her left as a figure in a robe settled next to her, his pale hands clasped on his lap. Chloe gingerly moved herself to sit more upright, hissing at a sharp pain in her ribs.
"Are you feeling well?" Silas asked.
"As well as can be" Chloe replied, she looked at the monk who was starring at her with something like compassion in his red eyes, "You said you would visit"
Silas looked down sheepishly, "I am sorry. Since Bishop Aringarosa has gotten back on his feet he has kept me very busy"
"To be honest I would have been surprised if you had turned up" said Chloe, "Besides I interrogated you, I kidnapped you, why would you care?" she added.
"I don't know, but I do" Silas answered. Chloe caught his eye for a moment and saw the same lost expression in his eyes that had been there the second he had kissed her back in Les Lilas. There was just one thing she needed him to know.
"I'm not angry with you anymore, for what you did back at the motel in Les Lilas. You found a weakness and you exploited it to escape, I understand" she said, more to the floor then to Silas, who was clearly starring at the side of her head as she spoke.
Then he surprised her and leaned a little further towards her, "I must confess something to you" he said, Chloe starred at him, "It only occurred to me to escape whilst we were…" he faltered, obviously rather embarrassed.
Chloe felt momentarily shocked, but she leaned back against the back of the pew and sighed, "What does this mean?" she asked.
Silas copied her action, "I don't know, but I cannot think of not seeing you again"
Chloe felt a small smile pull at her lips, "I feel the same"
However Silas looked more disturbed and anxious, he turned to face Chloe, "But you must understand, I am a man of God, I have lived this life for so long I don't think I could survive in your world. Do you think you could give me time?" he asked.
Chloe felt overwhelmed with his sudden openness and smiled, "I've lived in fear for so long, I need time to find myself too" she said. Silas nodded and with a few seconds hesitation, he lifted his hand out of his lap and let it rest on her own, then with a smile they both looked up at the crucifix, feeling like life was about to get a little better.
THE END
-oOo-
Ohio-isn'tfor-lovers - I wrote as fast as my little fingers could go! I was really looking forward to writing this chappie, not just coz it's the last one, but I love the ending with Chloe and Silas.
Chloe04 - Hey, thanks. Always a pleasure to hear how much you're enjoying my story.
Hugmuffin666 - I just had to add one last cliffie on this fic, little evil me!
Sword Pen - Hey, thanks. Considering she's my own design, I really appreciate the positive intake on Chloe. She's a kick-arse female.
Pampers Baby Dry - As I said above, I tried to get this one up asap, coz I know how fustrating it is to have someone write a cliffie and not update until about two months later. Grr!
phoenixrisingGhostLoveScore - Hey hun. I am so wanting some of those cookies!
Mish - I did wonder who might get the connection between the rapist and Bishop Horus, well done! And I do have a secret passion for cliff hangers as well.
fugaziclash - Well Silas doesn't disappoint, he totally kicked Bishop arse on this one! Thanks for reviewing.
Moonlight-Sonata-Xx - Thanks for the review, hopefully this chappie is up to your standards, let me know!
A/N: Phew! I've finally finished this story, which I think is probably my favourite, but then I haven't done many and have a lot of ideas floating about in my brain it might explode! But seriously, thanks for reviewing, especially to phoenixrising GhostLoveScore and Possessed-Gummy-Bear-Inferno, who've been there pretty much since the beginning, you rock guys! Peace out.