This next chapter is prettysad stuff. It sees the end of Mary's childhood and the first realmanifestation of what her father will become. Dedicated to Keep Me In The Shadows (who always has something inspiring to say even when i balls it up totally), newcomer Lucia and AnonimityX and . Whoever you guys are, i hope you read this. I thoughtwe needed someguns so i added them by the bucketload. Which is fine by me, really. Enjoy it, Skaye.
After that, Mary attended lessons every weekday morning in the study with Gabriel ploughing through the Theory of Evolution, English and American literature from the 15th Century to the present, Algebra and other academic aspects. He taught her enthusiastically about dowsing, possession, werewolves, witches, vampires, ley lines, energies and her favourite - demons. Then every afternoon, even on Saturdays, the back garden rang with gunfire as Mary obsessively learned everything to do with them. She reserved Sundays for sitting in the library with her father and listening to him read or reading herself but even then her mind was fixed on Desert Eagles, Soviets, Ingrams, Berettas, Winchester rifles, combos, bullets and rockets. In her bloody daydreams, she was now armed with a whole new arsenal. Gone was the heavy Excalibur sword of her childhood and in its place was a whole plathera of firearmswhich she wielded as expertly as she one day hoped to. She neglected her music sessions with her mother, forgot about the woods and left the ghosts to themselves.
For three whole years she was happy this way, her skills improved and, although she relished the lessons with Gabriel and never tired of hearing his stories of night-time raids on vampire houses, hiding in terror of werewolf howls when the moon swelled full and other exploits, she kept to her father's words and never trusted him. Never told him about her secret dream to become a mercenary like him, never told him about the daydreams or the loneliness or the ghosts.
She still felt a slight pang of envy whenever Gabriel's eyes followed her mother wherever she went or when she saw the little smile that passed between them. She never told her father during their Sunday time and never asked her mother why she styled her hair deliberately now or dressed in those particularly pretty clothes. Mary herself rarely dressed for show, a blouse and skirt was good enough for morning with rougher more comfortable combats and tank for the afternoon. Her hair grew longer, reaching even braided most of the way down her back.
For her sixteenth birthday, she was given the modified rocket launcher from Gabriel's presonal collectionwhich he christened Kalina An with another irritating secret smile at her mother. She was too awe-struck by the gift to care. It was lighter than it looked but fully armoured with great capacity for using many types of ammunition. It had an attached bayonet which functioned as a propelled grapnel as well as a telescopic sight and guided missiles. It was love at first sight.
She sat impatiently as her mother presented her with an exquisite green glass Art Nouveau music box which played the Pachelbel's Canon,Mary's old lullaby, and her father gave her a laptop computer. She received these gifts with a smile and great thanks and then ran off as soon as possible to put Kalina An through her paces.
She spent all day that way blissfully obliterating targets and sections of the outer wall that got in the way returning inside for a huge meal with her parents and Gabriel. Afterwards, she went with her father to his library in the hopes of talking with him about her college plans now that she was old enough to leave home if she wanted (which she didn't.) Shewould learn under Gabriel for another year then apply to go to University in England like her mother. She wanted to study Ancient World History and then start her mercenary business soon afterwards specialising in firearms. She was excited about the prospect and longed for her father's approval. To her disappointment, he was irritable and unwilling to talk, he just buried himself in the same strange old book he'd been trawling through for months but never let her see.
She left disheartened and headed back to the parlour to discuss her plans with her mother instead. As she was approaching the room, she heard her mother's piano playing the Brahms Sonata in E minor. But she could tell instantly from the high volume it wasn't her mother playing. She dashed silently to the parlour door which stood ajar and peered inside.
Gabriel sat at the piano playing softly and skilfully while her mother waltzed around the room absolutely rapturous. Mary watched hidden as she twirled and twirled to the low beautiful music arms out, face intense and serene in the firelight. She looked so much younger and happier. As the tune ended, her arms dropped and she walked easily back to the piano where Gabriel sat and leaned over him. He wrapped his arms around her neck and pulled her gently closer to him. They kissed softly and he murmured something to her Mary couldn't hear. They sat together kissing and talking for ages then Gabriel began to play Beethoven and her mother resumed her dancing. Mary stepped slowly backward stunned. She realised with a slam that she had suspected this all along. Then she became blindingly furious. She clenched her fists so hard and suddenly it hurt. She walked off breathing heavily and quickly, on the verge of crying or screaming.
The jealousy was bitter and tormented her but it was nowhere near as painful as the betrayal. How could her own mother betray her father? How could she turn her back on the family in this way? After so many years of mother, father and daughter, now it was broken.
As soon as she reached the top of her tower, she cried out in pain and sorrow, beating the stone walls with her fists. She screamed that she hated her, hated her and would kill her. Take Kalina An from her rack on the wall and blow her treacherous mother and Gabriel straight to Hell.
She sobbed and fell to her low velvet couch. She lay limp and sobbing. After fifteen minutes or so, she'd cried herself out and calmed down. She put Pantera on the LP player and sat breathing deeply and thinking for a long time. She couldn't tell her father, that was plain. His feelings would be hurt, his pride damaged and the resulting row would be the end of the family. Nor could she let her mother know she knew for fear she would apologise and Mary didn't want an apology. She much preferred to stay angry so she decided to keep her mouth shut. She wouldn't even tell Gabriel. He might tell her mother she knew or worse, he might apologise himself. She was equally as angry at him.
She would send him away personally, say he didn't please her or she'd learned all she could from him and wanted to study alone now. Perhaps if Gabriel left, things could go back to the way they used to be. Even in her furious wishful thinking she knew that was untrue. Things could never be the same again.
The next day she spoke with her father as he worked in his library, still reading the same old book as before, she noted. She told him in a casual, even tone that she had found Gabriel's tutelage immensely helpful but was done with it and wanted to study on her own from now on until college. To her satisfaction, he approved and relayed the message to her mother and Gabriel himself which she was grateful for. Gabriel took it well and arranged to leave the next week. Her mother was crestfallen but covered it up well and said with a genuine smile that it was whatever made Mary happy that was important.
Mary felt dreadful when Gabriel left. She stood in the little tower room and watched his car speed off along the drive keeping both eyes fixed on it like a target until it was out of sight. Then she wrathfully snatched Kalina An from it's place on the wall and stormed down to the firing range where she fired rounds and rounds of ammunition crying at his betrayal, at her father always being right, at her mother's disloyalty, at her own stupidity and gullibility. She felt sick realising she'd been used to keep her father out of the way while they met together in secret. For three years this had been going on. Had Gabriel stayed there to teach her at all?
By evening, she'd calmed down enough to sit for the normal family dinner. Her father sent his apologies but said he was "too busy" to eat with them. She sat opposite her mother and they ate in silence trying to act normally. It failed. As soon as the meal was over, both rose without a word and went their separate ways.
For the next year, Mary still studied though erratically, spending whole days at the firing range and studying long into the night. She was alone a lot more often and couldn't bear to hear her mother's beautiful playing. It brought out in her such an anger.
She listened to her LP's alone, Pantera, Metallica, Iron Maiden, Black Sabbath, The Cult...these were her companions for that painful year. She used her laptop to order more music and clothes from outside. She rebelled against her austere father and conventional mother and bought short skirts, high boots, jewellery with spikes and chains. She practised obsessively with her guns and all but gave up on her Sunday sessions in the library with her father. He barely emerged from there any more; he even slept on the couch in the library some nights. Her mother made several attempts to reunite them all and made many heartfelt pleas to them to abandon their pursuits every evening just for an hour for their traditional dinner and fireside talk but to no avail.
In Mary's 18th year she was preparing to leave. She no longer wanted to go to college; she now wanted to skip straight to demon hunting and freelance mercenary work. She'd travel alone for a while until she found a nice demon-infested city and then settle there and make her living doing what she did best. Perhaps if she made enough money she could even go into experimental arms manufacture. That would be a dream come true. She was nervous about telling her parents her plans but found her mother anyway very encouraging. With a genuine smile, she said that if she was younger and braver it would be her dream as well. They sat together in the parlour by the cold daytime fireplace for half an hour or so in a comfortable silence, the first real time they'd connected since Mary's disastrous 16th birthday.
Her father gave her five minutes of his reasonably undivided attention which was something of a record recently. She explained her plans and an odd look came over his face. He seemed conflicted, drawn, a vein tugged involuntarily under his eye making his whole eye flutter. He gave her a weak smile and stood up to embrace her awkwardly. His ribs protruded and his skin was sallow. His hair had all but fallen out and there was little light in his mismatched eyes. He held her all the same.
"Mary. My Mary. Good luck, my dear, in whatever you do. I'm glad you are escaping here before..." here he paused, his voice faltering. Mary had smiled brightly but a little concerned.
"Before what, father?" she'd asked trying to keep her tone light and teasing.
His face turned suddenly mean and he rounded on her practically snarling;
"You dare ask? You, child, upon whom I bestowed all my knowledge, distilling it into you slowly over time, praying that somehow it would alchemise with your natural talent and make you into something great? I waste my time. You, my child, who leave me now to become a mere travelling thug like that worthless thief Loggia. Curse on you. Leave me!"
His last words were so loud Mary was scared right out of his library. She ran a little way down the hall before calming enough to assure herself it was lack of sleep and insecurity about her leaving that were making him irritable. She decided to leave it a few weeks before confronting him about it again and in the mean time began looking around on the Internet for a car. Actually choosing and purchasing one would involve going into the nearest major town fifty miles away which she hadn't done for over three years and could hardly remember.
Nonetheless, she set out the next day in her mother's Jaguar, alone and for the first time really free. She rolled down the top of the car despite the light rain and pumped Iron Maiden's Wildest Dreams through the stereo. She smiled to herself and drummed her fingers on the wheel in time with the music, happy and content and totally alone.
The drive was long but seemed to take no time at all, the mountains gave way to woods then fields and finally small towns and suburbs. The city was busy and crowded and more full of life than anything Mary had ever seen. It was loud and dirty and massive. She drove straight into it looking around at everything with slightly fearful awe. It was sharper than she remembered. Skyscrapers reached up twenty and thirty stories, cars zipped past along the freeway bypass. Hundreds of thousands of people walked the streets and no two were exactly the same. She was dazzled.
On her way to find the car, she saw a young man swerving through the streets at a semi-illegal pace on a slightly beat up Vincent Black Shadow, the greatest bike of the age in Mary's opinion. She watched spellbound as the mans knee almost scraped the road on a corner, heard his short laugh as it didn't and then went on to take the next corner in exactly the same fashion. She stood staring until he was out of sight. And suddenly she didn't want a car anymore. She tracked down a motorcycle dealer and bought herself a red Warrior. She had to pay almost twice the normal price to convince the dealer to sell it to her since she didn't have a license but it was, in her view, worth it. She had it delivered home and drove back triumphant to tell her parents. She neglected even to buy a helmet and knee pads but it just didn't matter.
She had her first wings to fly, so to speak.