Chapter Eight
"Thanks for letting me come so quickly," she smiled at Emmett
when he opened the door and pushed her way in.
"No problem, Miss Nakimura. Err, I mean, Grace."
"Gracie! How nice to see you!
Merle caught Grace in the embrace of a sumowrestler and she
winced a little.
Come in, sit down. Oh, have you eaten yet? I think there's
some leftovers..."
There was a peculiar smell around them. Smells like burned
chicken and pizza, Grace thought as she tried to analyze it.
They all sat down as far from the kitchen as possible and Grace
comfortably leaned back in the huge chair she had sensed being the less recently
used one.
"Now, what's the problem, dear?"
"Well, first there's this word I don't understand. What's a
lunarist?"
"A kind of religion, right, mother?" Emmett said and scratched
his bald head.
"Yes, partly." Mrs. Smith pondered a little bit. "It's a religion
where the main gods are Luna, that's the other name for the moon, and then
there's our Lord."
"No harm in that?" Grace asked, feeling relieved.
"Well, yes, actually there is. You see, the lunarists existed
only as a small group for all time, until some point in the thirteen hundreds,
you know, the time with knights and dragons and such? Then they became a
really big society. During a few, short years, the lunarists terrorized villages,
killing and sacrificing with religious fever. Until the shattenjaeger put
a stop to it of course," she mused.
"But what about these worshipers nowadays? Could they be
dangerous?"
"Mostly, yes. But there are very few lunarists in this century,
Grace. Why?"
Without replying, Grace searched her pockets for one of the
photos she had taken with her. She handed it to Merle.
"This is nice," the demonologist smiled. "When is it?"
Grace leaned over her shoulder, looking too. It was a picture
of her and Gabriel standing in the courtyard of schloss Ritter on a sunny
day.
"This summer. But take a look at this."
She gave another picture to Merle who frowned.
"Who's this?"
"That is Wrath."
The photo pictured Gabriel and Wrath in front of Ludwig's cross
at Starnberger See. They were both laughing, taking no notice of the
camera.
"The same day." Grace added, but as she looked at Merle Smith
she didn't think her friend was really listening. "Merle?"
"It's the same..." Mrs. Smith murmured and shook her head in
amazement.
"What?"
"This man..." she touched the photo with a chubby finger. "Is
he a lunarist?"
"Yes, I think so. His wife is, and she said 'we'..."
"This man, this Wrath, has great power." Grace looked at Mrs.
Smith and immediately recognized the blank expression in her eyes. "You see,
the most lunarists are Weres."
"And what's a Were?"
"A shapeshifting sort of demon."
Graces jaw dropped.
"What?!"
"Yes. Well, not demons from hell, no no. They come from another
place, another realm you might say. This foreign realm is simply called Eyeana.
Most harmful creatures come from that place."
"But you say Were... Were as in," her voice trembled,
"werewolf?"
"Sometimes. But werewolves is only a type of Were. The true
ones are much, much more powerful."
"Wait, wait. Are you telling me Wrath is a werewolf? Because,
that's impossible."
A third photo.
"This is his lover, Grey. We're really close friends..." Graces
voice trailed off into silence.
"I'm not sure if she is, these are just photos after all! But
Wrath is most definitely not human."
"Then what is he?" Grace whispered and fixed her gaze on her
feet.
"Something that has the capability of killing you and Gabriel
in the blink of an eye. And that is why you'll need protection."
"But they would never..!"
"Vade retro, lunarii were." Mrs. Smith said firmly.
"Repeat after me."
With hesitation, Grace did so. The words felt clumsy and
rectangular in her mouth.
"What language is this?"
"Latin. Simply means begone or leave or even die if you add
some power of your own." She winked. "Say it if these two ever attack you.
Gabriel has his talisman but you don't."
"And what if it doesn't work?"
"Repeat. It will work."
With the Latin words ringing in her head, Grace left the Smiths.
Wrath and Grey, demons from another realm? Not likely!
When the Chinese woman I had followed to this place
emerged from the house front door again, I couldn't help but smile. So full
of intention was this one, more curious or determined than any other Mortal
I had recognized in the constant flow of time. She was on our tracks.
Should I kill her? It would be an easy thing, of course, but
would it give the correct impression I wanted to make?
But, no. She wasn't the shattenjaeger I was looking for. I
needed to end Gabriel Knight's life before he could create any descendant.
Before my children could create a bond between him and this woman.
Yes, she's a real threat to me in that way. It would be better
to have her dead.
Grace flinched at the sound of a van going past
her with such speed that her hair blew aside. She had been deep in thought,
making herself careless. She stopped and felt her pulse slowly calming down.
The sun was beginning to fade between two clouds and she couldn't help a
sigh. She always felt so good when it shone.
She was close to home, if the bookstore really was home now.
She felt pressed, even though their friends were just living there for a
small time they were beginning to become a little mysterious. She could see
a customer with two big bags emerge from the store door. Gabe must be up
to his neck in them, she thought, so she decided to take a walk through the
park to rinse and sort out what she'd just heard from Mrs. Smith.
Shapeshifting demons from another realm? The thought was laughable,
really.
Then the grass behind her rustled. And Shatter leapt.