Chapter 13
/
Ami had been in a comatose state for many, many hours. There were scratching sounds and muffled cries coming from the refrigerator, where little Solarus had gotten himself trapped. The ceiling fans in the cabin swirled lazily, continuing their mindless duty in the otherwise eerily quiet cabin.
Solarus continued to cry for help, but no one heard him. Instead Ami was hearing a whole different cry, one of anguish and despair.
Back in the cathedral, whose ruins were located somewhere in Rome, the withered, black mummy of a heradus that she had discovered was moving, like something out of a nightmarish horror movie. As it weakly started to try and crawl out of the shallow grave it had been buried in, clumps of dirt continued to fall out of the mouth and hollow eye sockets. These...remains...of Alonus, seemed to move blindly and without direction. When she got only a few feet from the grave the frail looking mummy finally collapsed. Ami just sat there, staring in horrified fascination. Had it actually even moved at all? Was she just going crazy?
The renewed silence in the cathedral was only broken by the crackling of the torches that never seemed to burn out. Ami was huddled to her knees and rocking back and forth slightly, continuing to stare at the mummy. The quiet was unnerving. Ami looked up at the bodies on the walls, until her eyes found Barabas, way at the top.
How? Are you insane, Barabas? Perhaps you are, and I'm here, trusting you, like a complete fool.
The body of Barabas snapped its eyes open. Ami stifled a scream and scooted back a few feet.
You are no fool, but I surely am. His voice was whisper quiet, so unlike the usual boom that filled her mind. Alonus can see or hear nothing now. She has returned her spirit to her ruined body, but...you will have to help her Ami, or her spirit may wander away and this time never return.
Ami was about to ask another question, but the eyes shut and she could literally feel his energy departing.
Damn you!
Ami stared long and hard at the mummy, and finally managed to get enough bravery to get up and slowly walk towards it.
/
Goliathus had woken up from a rather strange, unsettling dream. He had been wonderfully feasting on a pile of human flesh when a black, scrawny figure with hollow eyes had erupted from the blood and sinew, screaming like a banshee and pointing a finger at him.
You traitor! You wicked traitor! You would eat the heart of your own father who loved you!
He knew that voice. When was the last time he had dreamed about his mother? It had to have been centuries. Why now was this nightmare plaguing him?
The figure had turned, seeming to take in all the details of its surroundings despite having no eyes. Filth, my son. The flesh of humans is a corrosive poison. You have become FILTH. A monster!
Then just before he woke up, he saw his father, high up on the walls of the cathedral where he had put him.
What do you want, father? Leave me be.
Your mother despises you. You must earn her love again. The time will come much sooner than you think. And think you must, Goliathus. You must think hard about what matters to you.
Then his eyes opened, and here he was, still in this wretched prison. There were still a few guards around, always watching. He knew now that if he touched those bars, he would be electrocuted again.
Groaning, he got up slowly, his body aching all over. He hadn't eaten anything since he'd been here, and the hunger was fierce. It was no surprise to him that Trisha would be starving him. But he knew this was the very least of his concerns. She had much more in store for him, and there was little he could do about it. A snarl rose from his throat.
How he would love to get his claws on her, and tear her smirking face off with his teeth.
/
The mummy had moved again, causing Ami to freeze in her tracks, only steps away. But this was not the time for fear. Clenching her fingers and taking a deep breath, she knelt down and touched the leathery shoulder. The figure jumped and turned towards her, causing more of the ancient bones to crumble to dust. Ami gasped, horrified. Alonus was just falling apart before her eyes, and if she didn't do something soon, she knew this chance would be gone forever.
Alonus tell me what to do!
Food...came the weak response.
Food? Where? Ami sat back and ran a hand through her long hair. There was nothing here, no animals.
There is no food here. I don't know if I can go outside, the windows here are weird...outside there is only blackness, and no landscape, nothing.
Water? The voice was whisper thin, like leaves falling in the autumn and hitting the ground with hardly a sound.
Water. Ami looked about and saw that there was water in a large calix near where the altar had been. She got up quickly and searched around for some kind of drinking vessel, a chalice maybe? Or just a simple wooden cup, anything. For a long time she looked, then finally went to the basement, where she managed to find a rather crude drinking cup made from cracked clay. It would have to do. She ran back up the stairs and dipped the cup in the calix, filling it quickly. Alonus was propped up on her skeletal hands, head towards the floor and every now and then her entire form trembled. Each movement caused a little more dust to fall.
Ami approached her carefully and brought the water to her mouth but she did nothing.
She sat there blinking for a moment, then poured the water on her head. The mummy jerked and seemed to scrabble at the drops of water that hit the ground.
She didn't know it was there. God how awful it must be...
Ami decided to attempt picking her up again. Alonus writhed a bit at first but settled down quickly as Ami mentally chided her. It was not pleasant at all to feel that movement and have the leathery skin brush against her own. Carefully Ami walked her over, very slowly, and decided to gently lower the entire mummy into the water, as if a bathtub.
Ami stepped back, but at first nothing happened. Then she heard another piercing sream in her mind. Alonus' form began to writhe fiercely, splashing water all over the place, and much to her horror a black substance starting oozing from all over.
Oh god! Alonus, I'm sorry! I'm sorry! Did I do something wro-
She couldn't finish her own thought, for at that moment she witnessed the water level starting to fall away as if being absorbed by a huge sponge. Alonus' skin went from leathery to supple, although it was still just stretched over bones. Thin layers of new skin were forming over her chest cavity and in some fashion Ami could not even begin to understand, they started to move as if real breathing, although it could hardly be called lungs. It was in that moment that Ami has the sudden thought to put the bulla around Alonus' neck.
She took it off, and quickly put it over the female heradus' head. The moment the bulla touched her, Ami felt the world spin violently.
/
It seemed the awful spinning would not cease. Ami groaned, fighting and clawing her way to consciousness, and finally when the spinning calmed down, she found her eyes fixed onto a ceiling fan. She watched the blades spin for a while, then groaned again as it was making her dizzy and she turned her head away, burying her face into a pillow.
Oh. Oh god I never, ever, want to do that again.
Suddenly she realized where she was and sat up quickly, causing her to feel woozy and almost fall over again.
Where-what? The cabin? No, no wait! I can't be back here, I didn't finish!
Ami got to her feet a bit unsteadily, feeling that blind panic racing to her very core all over again. "Alonus! ALONUS? Where are you?"
Mumma! Mumma help! Cold!
Ami spun around and faced the refrigerator. "Solarus?"
Cold box! Cold! No more fishie.
Ami ran in a worried daze to the refrigerator and yanked the door open. Solarus lie in a tightly curled ball, shivering, and blinked up at her with puppy dog eyes.
Not fair. Fishie trap Sollie. Not fair.
Ami breathed a sigh of relief and picked him up. He was like a block of ice and painfully burrowed himself against her chest for warmth. She went to the bedroom upstairs and found a fleece blanket, and she wrapped him snugly in it. Solarus wasn't tired though, and despite everything he smiled at her with more of his little teeth showing. Mumma ok? No more sleep?
"Yeah, yeah I'm ok, baby. It's your grandmother I'm worried about."
Grandmumma! Alonie.
"How...how do you know?" Ami looked down into his big, moist eyes as she absently sat down on the couch.
Granddaddie. He say. Grandmumma will come. Make big fly.
Ami thought on his words, trying to make sense of it. Could Alonus be strong enough to travel, on just water? Then she realized that even if Alonus was in Rome, the moment she could get outside of the cathedral ruins she could search for food. There had to be animals somewhere nearby...she could only hope.
Alonus, please. You have to get here quickly.I don't know if there is even any time left.
/
Somewhere in Rome, only a few miles from the Roman Forum itself, a figure emerged from a pile of rubble and pulled itself free with a banshee-like cry. Fortunately it was night time, and hardly a soul was around. Anyone who would have seen it would have passed out instantly from fear.
Alonus could still not hear or smell, but she could see, despite having no eyes yet. It was the bulla, and the vision was like looking through a narrow tube. It was hard to see much of anything but what was directly in front of her. Where was she? What year was it? Why had that strange girl who somehow knew her brought her back to this wasted body?
You must not question it for now, my love. There are cows not too far from here. Eat them and restore yourself quickly. Travel lightly, hide in the shadows. You must not be seen.
Alonus knew who the voice was. Her still partially mummified body trembled and she attempted to cry out, but no sound would come.
Barabas. Why is your spirit wandering? Is it true of what our son did to you?
Not now, my dear. Not now. You must-
I must what? Help that monstrous traitor? How long has it been? Hundreds of years, thousands? I know a great deal of time has gone by. And I knew when he started this forbidden practice. Did I foresee it? Why did I choose to name him after his wretched great grandfather?
Alonus you must help him-
Help him. I would help the humans destroy him! She shrieked silently, clawing blindly at the rocks and rubble around her.
I know. I know. I felt that way at first. But I know his heart is still good.
How? How do you know this?
Because he loves a human.
Alonus froze in her tracks.
Not possible.
He has a son, my love. A son. Our grandson.
There...there is...another?
Yes, Solarus. But there is a woman, Patricia Jenner, who will kill him if she has the chance. She does not know. She does not understand. Only the pain of her brother's death now fuels her soul. I have spoken with Darius. He is not happy. He is the one who renewed my energy to this Earthly plane, so that I could fulfill this mission. You must stop her. She will turn your son to true evil with no hope of return should she succeed. Kill him she cannot. Goliathus is too old, too strong...you know this. But he is also vulnerable, and his mind has always been weak. He is too affected, too easily emotionally manipulated, although he would never admit it.
The woman Ami broke through to him because she was brave and kind. She did not hate or fear. Our son felt this and knew she was different. And I know this is the only reason why he did not kill her when he had the chance. He wanted to, but some unbelievable trace of good somehow won the battle.
He could also smell her compatibility, he calls her a breeder. When she had the child without killing it or going insane, and loved the child...Goliathus then fell in love with her, in his own way. He would deny this of course at every turn, even to himself. But it is there Alonus, I know it is.
Please. Please you must hurry.
/
Patricia Jenner had woken from her sleep with a start and with sweat covering her body. Her dream had been so pleasant at first. She had destroyed the Creeper at last. While she watched with satisfied glee the farmer Taggart and his son had chopped him up into pieces and burned his remains in a giant bonfire behind the Facility. While it crackled and popped she stood there, arms folded, and laughing. Then she spread out her arms to the sky.
I did it Darry, see? I did it!
Trish! No! You didn't do anything.
She then screamed as the figure of her brother suddenly stepped out of the flames, eyes missing and the eerie sight of orange and yellow flickering from behind. He still had the dirty and yellow BANNON shirt on. His tattoo peeked through from a torn section around his belly button. He pointed at her with cracked and bloody fingernails.
Trish no, you did nothing. You can't kill him!
Darry, no! NO NO NO!
She sank to her knees, covering her face with her hands and trying to shut out the vision. She couldn't bear to look at it.
Listen to me, sis! You have to let it go. You have no idea what you're doing. You will only make it worse!
No, Darry! NO! I WILL KILL that bastard! I WILL! She jumped back to her feet, angry now, her eyes fierce and wide. You want revenge, don't you? You're the one he killed, who he maimed! Look at you, Darry! Just LOOK at you! Trisha started to sob, taking a few steps closer to him, wishing she could just put her arms around him one more time and tell him how much she loved him. How much she loved her annoying, impossible brother.
Sis... Darry didn't step closer, but he put his arm down, and stood there. Suddenly his eyes seemed to be flickering into view.
I will tell you this. You will meet Alonus. And your world will change forever. Goodbye, sis, goodbye. I love you, too.
Now she sat up in her bed, tears streaming down her face. She pulled off the covers and hopped out of bed quickly, still wearing her clothes. The dream was just that...a dream.
Of course it couldn't be real.
And yet...who was this Alonus?
Well, it didn't matter for now. There was work to be done. Trisha headed out of the room and back into the main part of the Facility, where her captive awaited.
Let's see now. I think a little crude surgery is in order.
/
Jezelle had been sipping her tea and munching on Digestive biscuits, the only thing that didn't seem to upset her stomach lately. The soap opera on TV was boring and hardly entertaining, but what did it matter? She was old, and her time would soon be up, that she knew. With a sigh she put down her teacup carefully onto the table, and then her eye caught something to her left. A glowing, white form.
Oh!
Woman of the Seeing Eyes. I have a message.
Barabas you know you could scare an old woman right into a heart attack! I know I've seen you in dreams, but now you just up and appear like that.
Jezelle's heart hammered in her chest, her gaze now solidly locked onto the ghostly priest.
He smirked at her, just barely noticeable. Forgive me. To frighten you is not my intention.
The psychic slowly, and painfully, got to her aching feet, taking a few hesitant steps closer to him. She shivered at the cold, intruding air that now permeated the little apartment.
What is it you want, priest? I think you have already set things in motion.
I want you to help Alonus.
How? How am I gonna do that? You see this face? This wrinkled face with eyes that can barely see anymore? I am too old to go gallavantin' around with some long lost love of yours. And certainly no heradus. I may understand them now, but I'm not ashamed to say they give me a fright like nothing I've ever known. No, no, Barabas. You just leave me be now.
She turned to walk away and head to her bedroom, but the ancient Roman quickly rematerialized right in front of her. Jezelle gave a jump and nearly fell backwards, but it seemed some unseen force steadied her balance.
I know old woman, I know. But you are gifted. I am not asking for any physical labor. Just help her. When she arrives here in this county, I will direct her to you.
Here? In this apartment? Are you out of your mind? Jezelle waved a hand at him. Now I know for sure you're crazy! Out of your damned mind! She can't come here! We'll have fifty senior citizens being carted out of this building on stretchers! You hear me?
There was deep laughter, echoing throughout her mind. No, not here. Go to your old home. You still own it, no one is there.
To my old home? I can't go back there. It's got too many bad memories for me. That's why I'm not selling that place. Just gonna have them tear it down...
Jezelle. Please. The time for argument is gone. I need your help, and now. Do you want to stop Goliathus? You know he cannot be killed. The only way to stop him is to change him. To bring him back to what he once was. And young Solarus, he is innocent. He is a vibrant soul and his heart is good. He loves his mother. I cannot rest until I know that both my son and grandson are safe.
And Alonus?
I hope to see a future for her as well. I know there are others. Perhaps she will even fall in love with another human. Their race will return.
Oh, wait a minute now...I don't know about that, Barabas. What if we just end up with another Creeper, somewhere down the line?
I suppose that always such a risk will linger. But I know they are good. You will not have much to fear with Alonus as queen. She is a magnificent heradus, and her heart knows no evil.
Hm. If you say so. So, what am I gonna do exactly when she gets here? She clicked her tongue. Now you gonna make me go and get my car out from the garage, haven't driven for years, you know that? I gotta go and see if I got money for gas-
Jezelle stopped her mental thoughts. The priest has suddenly vanished. All that remained was a lingering coolness in the air.
Well. Isn't that just like a man.
/
Jezelle drove her rusty, ancient Oldsmobile down Route 9. She just couldn't believe that she had let some ghostly priest talk her into this. But damn...of course this wasn't just any ol' ghost. This was Barabas. Why she felt compelled to help him, she really couldn't say. But it was going to take a whole lot of fear control to face what she knew she was going to have to face, one way or the other.
I have a feeling this will be my last hoorah. Heh, go figure. Some old black woman like me gonna help a whole race come back into being.
Lord help me. Her face had gone very serious as she stared on ahead down the road.
Finally another half an hour later down the endless road, her old, dilapidated home came into view. It was really nothing special with loose tiles on the roof and an overgrown garden that was more like a mini jungle. The house looked as if someone had not lived there for nearly a century, as far as she was concerned.
Jezelle however was particularly surprised that she had literally been able to just sneak out of the nursing home.
Security my ass. I probably AM better off at home. As she turned right and parked the car slowly into the dusty gravel driveway, she took a good look around before even opening her door. No, no heradus creature thing yet. That was good, her poor old heart couldn't take much more sudden arrivals.
The door creaked open and she stepped out. "Home. I guess I'm back home...for now."
She got to her door and almost put the key in the lock when she swore she heard something. Quickly she turned her stiff neck to look about behind her but nothing was there.
I really hate this.
/
Time for surgery. This was gonna be fun.
The Creeper was strung up by chains, held fast against the back wall and only place of his prison that wasn't electrified. He was getting quite weak, and so his struggling had been rather useless. Of course he still managed to break a chain or two, but Trisha had solved that problem by having her man zap him again with their tasers a few more dozen times.
That has ceased his movements real fast.
When the men were absolutely certain he wasn't going anywhere, Trish had ordered the door opened, and surrounded by at least ten of them with tasers at the ready, had gone in to confront him.
"Well. Let's see what's it's like to play you for one day." She somehow managed to stare him in the eyes as she said this, but he only glared back at her in his usual unsettling fashion.
He said nothing. Had had not spoken anything since he had said to her "Do what you will."
Well that was fine, she certainly was going to do whatever she felt like.
Anything to make him pay, to make him suffer for killing her brother.
"I say the eyes go first, boys. What do you think?"
It was Michael who nodded, and motioned for them to move in. In their hands they now had long prod-type objects with blades at the end.
/
The memories were coming back. Goliathus knew they would. All he could see where the robed men, hiding their faces behind cowls who probed and cut at him like a scientific experiment. Despite all the pain he had kept trying to crane his neck to see where his mother was, what they were doing to her.
All he could hear were her screams, and then he would scream too, because there was nothing he could do about it.
You came to me in a dream, mother, and called me a monster. But are not these tormentors the monster? Why do you defend these pathetic humans? These lumps of tasty flesh? They are nothing. We are superior. Have you forgotten that?
And Goliathus was rather surprised, to hear the answer.
If you hate them so, then why do you now love a human woman, who has borne your child?
He snarled, having no answer he could give her. Because that answer was one he kept fighting back in his mind. He was supposed to hate them. He was supposed to kill them.
He wasn't supposed to feel anything.
/
There had definitely been a sound, and the air had gone still. Eerily and impossibly still. Jezelle tried to calm her pounding heartbeat with deep, deep breaths. About the third time she let out a lungful of air, she heard the most frightening, gargled voice her ears would ever register.
"Food..."
Jezelle turned and tried not to scream. The figure that had approached had obviously just landed...the leathery, cracked wings were outstretched. But it was skinny as a rail, and reeked with an odor of something akin to old horseflesh. Her midnight black skin was stretched tightly over every bone in her body. She only had wisps of hair over a mostly bald head, and looked feeble enough to blow away in the wind. However those claws...those teeth...they were still wicked as ever. Jezelle could see the resemblance to the Creeper, it was there. Oh he was by far taller...and much bulkier, then this slender and lithe little thing that wasn't much taller than herself. But oh god the sight of her...and the smell...
"Food..." Came the gargled voice again, and Jezelle suddenly leapt into action. She wasn't going to become food if she had any say in it. The neighbors next door had horses, and the Taggarts farther down the road had some of their own animals.
I can't send her to the Taggarts, no way. Gonna have to be those poor riding horses, I guess.
"There...there's horses, across the street there." She motioned with a wrinkled hand behind Alonus. " We're so far into the boon docks ya see...back here...no one cares about what animals anyone's got...and a good chance no one's gonna see ya neither. So you just go back there and take what you must."
The heradus didn't move. She just stared at her through newly formed eyes but it didn't seem she was really focusing.
"Good lord, child. Have you really just flown all the way here from Rome? That can't even be possible in that span of time..."
I did not. I folded into the wind. It has weakened me. I was better before. But the bulla is lost.
"Good lord..." Jezelle stepped back. "Good lord." She hardly knew what to say to all of that, and surely didn't understand what the heck she was talking about.
You are Woman of the Seeing Eyes.
And you're Alonus.
Yes. You say there are horses? They are larger than cows. Two will do.
Yeah...horses. Really not for eating, people ride them. But I guess you gotta do what you gotta do.
Alonus turned, looking towards the neighbor's farm. She sniffed the air but the sound was like wind passing through a straw.
My senses are not fully restored. I had great difficulty in eating the cows in Rome to get here, I struggled and fought with them. This body is so old, and so ruined. It will take much effort for me. Using spells has only made me weaker, I need your help to kill those horses.
Jezelle shook her head fiercely. "Your man told me I would have no physical labor involved in this! You want to talk about old and ruined? You just look at this human standing before you right now! I'm almost 90, you understand? I am in no condition to help you kill anything."
If only I had not lost the bulla... Alonus frowned, and sank down slowly into a sitting position.
What is this bulla? Jezelle asked, returning to mind speech.
Barabas wore it. It has his strong energy, although it is the boy Darius who helped him, as he told me. I do not know much about this boy, but he too is a wandering spirit who is trying to stop his sister from...from...
She has your son. After all these years, she caught the Creeper. That's what humans have called him although from what I learned he had many, many titles. Goliathus is his real name, right?
Yes. There were tears now in Alonus' eyes, although from what exactly the old psychic couldn't be sure. Pain? Exhaustion? Memories?
Well. Jezelle sighed deeply. I do have a shotgun. I guess I could use that. Be an easy way.
She stepped forward and grabbed Alonus carefully by the arm.
You have to tell me something.
Ask.
How many "Creepers" have existed in your kind?
Alonus shrank back, her expression stiffening. That is a story I will tell you if you insist. But for now, I need those horses. I must hurry. I have such anger towards my son, but at the same time my beloved Barabas is right. If this torture my son is enduring is allowed to continue, then you will simply have no way to be rid of him. The Creeper will reign, his mind will be completely lost to insanity.
Trisha can't kill him, can she?
No. She can harm him, ruin him, but not kill him.
But you? You were killed, in a way. I mean you came back, but after thousands-
Old woman. There is no time for these answers now. Please.
Jezelle stood still for several long minutes then nodded just barely. "All right. I'm gonna get that shotgun."
She went into the house, Alonus following her. Jezelle went straight for the living room and lifted the shotgun off its mount on the wall. She found an old box of bullets in a nearby lamp stand drawer and loaded it.
"Lord knows I haven't used this thing in more years than I can count. Went huntin' with my daddy when he was alive a few times, and then this here gun just sat there on the wall for years and years...reminding me of those painful memories..." she shook her head, squinting back against the tears forming in her bloodshot eyes. "Well, like you said, no time for stories. All right Alonus you follow me across the way, but keep yourself at a distance, hide close by in the bushes and trees. If that ol' codger neighbor of mine happens to be home I'd rather he see some crazy old woman with a shotgun than a half skeletal heradus, you understand now?"
Alonus responded by quickly heading for cover and her dark form disappearing perfectly into the night.
"Good. Lord have mercy I can't believe I'm doing this." Jezelle didn't bother to mention that her ailing vision wouldn't make her a great aim, either.
/
End Chapter 13.
I do apologize for the delay in this chapter. I worked on it slowly but surely. I'm not so sure about it but best I can do. Please review, more coming soon!