Chapter 3
I quickly swung around to get a better look at the threat. Directly behind us, but thankfully still at least eighty meters from shore, was a giant worm-like creature - like something from the old movie Dune. I didn't have any idea how much of it was hidden beneath the waves, but the mouth-end was reared up at least fifteen meters above the surface of the blood ocean. And its mouth was filled with row after row of sharp teeth each of which had to be over a meter long. It could easily simultaneously swallow several of us whole.
Then I glanced off to my right, where the second creature was approaching. It was nothing like the worm-creature, but looked like a nightmare combination of a Daddy long-legs spider and a scorpion; its body held well clear of the liquid as it almost daintily lifted its impossible legs in and out of the blood as it strode forward. Its height dwarfed the worm-creature. Fortunately, it was several hundred meters away.
"Do we retreat from the shore?" asked Lilith.
I turned and glanced inland. A row of high dunes about one hundred fifty meters back from the waterline blocked the view of the terrain beyond. Well, in the far distance I could see a row of what looked like giant volcanoes belching forth steam and lava and which probably accounted for the fire-and-brimstone smell permeating this location just like the other three spots I had previously visited. But the land directly behind the dunes was completely hidden. An army of Tarasks, or something even worse, could be just beyond our view.
"Ava," Mary abruptly screamed almost directly into my ear. "Get your vest back on."
I looked down and realized in all the commotion of getting everyone out of the blood ocean, the cloaking vest was still dangling from my left arm. Quickly, I pulled it up and over my shoulders and snapped the buckles. It had been dangling in the blood and I was now covered in blood pretty much from my neck down, but at least it wasn't on my face and in my hair like had happened to Mary and Father Antonio.
Looking back out at the two giant predators in the blood, they were both abruptly moving randomly, as though looking for a lost scent. The vest was going to buy us a little time. After a few seconds they turned towards each other instead of heading towards the beach. Screeching and howling they each attacked the other.
Hopefully, they would keep themselves occupied for at least . . . I glanced down at my timer . . . at least the next five minutes, twelve seconds.
"I think we stay here for now," I said. "Lilith and Camila, keep an eye out inland. Beatrice, watch the beach to the left and I'll watch the beach to the right. Mary, you and Father Antonio watch the . . . ah . . . ocean. And don't get too focused on the two creatures we can see, as there could be others attracted by either the Halo or the battle."
I mostly kept my attention on the section of beach I had assigned myself, but I couldn't help the occasional glance at the two giant creatures. It was like watching insects battling on some nature show only these were at least a thousand times larger. I just hoped they were equally matched so they would stay focused on each other until we could make our escape.
And I kept glancing down at my timer. It ticked down painfully slowly. I thought being trapped in a paralyzed body in a hospital bed for years made time move slow, but it had been nothing like this. The next five minutes felt like several lifetimes. No one was inclined to idle chit-chat, which might have helped make the time pass quicker.
The timer was down to thirty seconds and I thought we were in the clear when Lilith called out at not much more than a whisper. But a whisper was enough when we were all huddled almost back-to-back in a tight circle.
"Ah, guys, I think we have a problem. Another of the creatures is coming over the dunes."
I looked in that direction and realized it was a mate to the Daddy-Long-Legs/Scorpion creature. It didn't seem to have noticed us, but was focused on the fight and heading towards it. Unfortunately, the direct route from where it was to the fight was going to bring it scarily close to us. And it looked so big and powerful; it might not even notice our little ring of claymores if we set them off when it got near.
"Time?" asked Mary, her head also turned to gaze on our new adversary.
"Twenty seconds," I stated after a quick glance down at my timer.
"I think we will be okay if we get out of here as soon as the Halo is ready," Mary said. "Let's grab the nearest claymores in case we need them in the future, but no sudden movements that might attract the creature's attention."
Lilith and Camila quickly slithered forward on their bellies to get the claymores in front of them, while Beatrice and I grabbed the ones toward the sides. By the time I retreated back to the group and handed my pair to Mary, I could feel the Halo was fully recharged.
"Time to go," I said, as I rose to my feet and focused my attention inward to command the Halo to open a portal even as I unbuckled and removed my vest. For a moment, I almost forgot our intended destination and was going to open a doorway back to the Abbey, but then I remembered the mission. If I took us back to the Abbey, we would just have to come straight back to this Hell-dimension again and we might end up somewhere even less hospitable.
The black doorway opened directly in front of me. With only one last glance at the mammoth creature, that couldn't have been more than twenty meters away and now heading in our direction rather than towards the fight, I bolted through the portal.
This time there was solid ground in front of me and I charged forward a good four meters, carefully stopping before I got too far from the portal. Everyone was right behind me and I think we set a new record for how quickly six people could get through a portal.
"Clear, close it," shouted someone, I think it was Lilith. I had to trust she had been the last one through, as I told the Halo to close the portal before something followed us. I didn't think the giant creature could fit through the three meter portal, but I didn't want to find out the hard way.
"Is everyone okay?" I asked, as I gasped for breath. I had run less than five steps, but it felt like I had run five kilometers, flat out, while wearing armor that weighed more than me. Adrenalin can do funny things.
As I got a chorus of yes's, I was already getting my vest back on. I wasn't going to make the same mistake after my second passage through a portal in barely over seven minutes. The last thing we needed was the Halo attracting a Tarask or something else before we accomplished our mission.
Once we knew everyone was safe, we all started gazing around. The interior of the chapel was mostly dark. It had hanging electric candelabras at regular intervals, but most of them were turned off and the few that were on were turned way down. More light was pouring through the vast stained glass windows from the surrounding great city than was coming from the feeble candelabras.
For a chapel, it was huge, bigger than some full-sized churches I had seen. It had to be at least thirty meters long and over ten meters wide and the ceiling seemed to stretch almost to the sky. And the interior appeared to be completely empty, as best as I could tell in the near total darkness – no pews or chairs or anything.
"We're in the wrong place," whispered Father Antonio. I'm not sure if the whispering was due to the holiness of the place or just a remnant of our time in the demon realm. I was just glad he wasn't in some catatonic state after what we had just experienced. The rest of us had battled demons multiple times before, so we were better prepared, not that we had ever encountered anything even a fraction as large as those monsters.
"What do you mean we're in the wrong place?" I asked. "This has to be Sainte-Chapelle." I couldn't imagine how the Halo could have landed us in the wrong place but still within a clearly gothic-style church.
By now, after attaching their claymores to their belts, Beatrice and Camila had both dug flashlights out of their backpacks. They were sweeping them around, but being careful to keep them pointed towards the floor and not letting them shine against any of the windows, which might reveal our presence to anyone outside who might be looking towards the chapel.
"Yes . . . yes . . . this is Sainte-Chapelle, but this is the upper chapel. The secret vault has to be accessed from the lower chapel."
"There are two chapels?" I asked incredulously.
"Yes. They are built one on top of the other. The upper chapel was reserved for the King, his family, and his special guests. It was where the Royal Relics were kept - like the crown of thorns, the piece of the true cross, one of the nails used to crucify Jesus, and other relics Louis IX acquired from the Byzantine emperor Baldwin II and from other places.
"The lower chapel was used as the parish for everyone else who lived and worked in the palace." He paused from wiping at his blood covered glasses to look around. "Sister Beatrice, can you point your light in that direction?" He gestured towards the end of the chamber with the giant rose window that looked similar to the famous rose windows in Notre Dame.
Beatrice swung her flashlight in the indicated direction, but still keeping the beam of light low.
"More to the right, towards the corner," Father Antonio directed.
What looked like a small doorway was revealed. Above it, I could just make out a small sign that read Sortie/Exit.
"That's the stairway leading down to the lower chapel," the Father explained.
"You seem awfully familiar with this place, if you haven't been in Paris in over twenty years," remarked Mary, having now fished her own light from her backpack.
"Ah . . . okay, that was a little fib. I just didn't want to go on this adventure. And after what we just experienced, I don't think my fear was misplaced."
Uncommanded, we had all started to move in the direction of the doorway Father Antonio had identified.
Mary let the Father's comment slide. She was bringing up the rear and now a trace of her sarcastic humor returned. "Whoever is the first one here in the morning is going to think a massacre took place."
I glanced back. Mary's light was illuminating the spot where we had emerged from the portal. The floor was covered in blood. And all of us were leaving bloody footprints as we moved towards the exit. I wondered what the forensic experts would make of the scene. It did look like a group of people had entered the chapel, moved to that location, repeatedly stabbed several people until the floor was drenched in their blood, and then carried the bodies away leaving a bloody trail.
But I decided not to worry about it. Cardinal Somalo had gotten us into this mess; he could deal with any fallout. The Church had thousands of years of history covering things up. Or maybe it would be called a miracle. A bloody miracle. Ha!
Reaching the doorway, we found it led to a tight spiral staircase heading down.
"Turn off your lights while we are going down," directed Beatrice, who had ended up in the lead. "The stairwell is lined with windows and enough light is coming in to see and we don't want anyone on the outside to see our lights."
Those with lights did as she suggested. And she was right; the numerous stained glass windows lining the stairwell provided plenty of light. Perhaps a security light was mounted outside the chapel near this stairwell.
The stairs were steep. I kept one hand on the inner wall to help maintain my balance as I descended. The wall was wet and sticky. Someone ahead of me in line was also using the wall for support and was leaving a bloody trail. In the morning, whoever arrived at the chapel first would have no problem tracking where we had been.
We followed the stairway down for about twelve meters. The stairs continued down, but everyone in front of me exited the stairwell through the door at this level, so Mary and I, who were bringing up the rear, followed suit.
Stepping through the doorway, we were in what had to be the lower chapel, as the chamber was of the same length and width as the upper chapel above. The walls were definitely of heavier construction with much, much smaller windows and the spaces between the windows were filled with heavy arches stretching to the center of the relatively low ceiling to support the weight of the upper chamber.
This level was not utterly devoid of furnishings like the upper chapel, but it was no more equipped for church services than the other space. As the ones with flashlights carefully swung them around, I could see what had to be a ticket booth, an information desk, and along one wall a souvenir/gift shop.
"The entrance to the secret vault is at the other end of the chamber," stated Father Antonio, still whispering.
We made our way to the far end. This had to be where the pulpit for this chapel had originally been located, but now the roped off area just held a solitary statue on a pedestal and several rows of columns that had to be supporting the pulpit area of the chapel above.
"Give me your light, sister," said Father Antonio to Sister Mary. After receiving the light, he stretched his leg up and over the black chain that was roping off this semi-circular end of the chapel. He hadn't taken more than two steps when Mary simply disconnected the chain from one of the support stanchions, which were located at about five meter intervals, and let the chain drop to the floor.
"Keep your light down, Father," chastised Mary, as his light carelessly flashed up the outer wall, almost reaching one of the small circular windows.
"Sorry," said Father Antonio. He paced forward several more steps until he was only three meters from the wall. Then he swept his light back and forth across one area of the floor multiple times.
"What is it? What's wrong?" asked Mary. She was standing closest to the man and must have been able to read the expression on his face even given the low lighting.
"The entrance to the vault should be right here," said Father Antonio.
"You've never seen it?"
Father Antonio shook his head. "It's a secret vault, remember? But I thought there would be some clue as to the exact location."
Mary pulled one of her daggers and knelt down. She used the hilt of the dagger to tap the floor in a semi-circle in front of her. Then she did it again a second time.
"It sounds hollow from here to here," she said while indicating an area about one and a half meters wide. "Ava?"
I knew what she meant. I stepped forward and pulled the vest back off. We had been here for more than seven minutes and the Halo was fully recharged. I reached forward and down with my right arm, the arm which wasn't encumbered with the shield. My arm disappeared into the floor.
I flatten myself against the floor and swept my arm around as far as I could reach. Then I sat back up and pulled my arm free.
"The floor is about twenty-five centimeters thick and then I can't feel anything but a void. I have no idea how deep the void goes. Father, do you have any idea of the dimensions of the vault?"
Father Antonio was just staring down at me. He had seen me open a portal to other dimensions, but I guess he had never seen me phase through solid stone.
"Father Antonio?" I said again to get his attention.
His eyes shifted from my arm to my face with an unreadable expression on his own. After a couple of seconds, he gave his head a shake and appeared to refocus on our current situation.
"From what records I found, the vault is a fairly large chamber pretty deep beneath the floor. This spot should be the start of a staircase leading down to it."
I nodded, thinking. "Okay, Father, give me your light. Mary, I'm going to lie on the floor and lean my head and upper body through the floor and take a look around. When I tap with my left hand, pull me back up."
Mary nodded and the Father handed me his light. But before I could move any further, Camila interrupted.
"Just a second, Ava. I have a set of comms which should make things easier than tapping out messages." She unslung her backpack. While holding her flashlight with her teeth, she dug around in it for a moment. Then she pulled out a small, clear plastic bag. From it, she extracted a small box and started handing out earpieces to everyone. Then she reached back into her backpack and extracted a white piece of cloth. She handed it to Father Antonio who was still struggling to get his glasses clean enough to see through. He gave her a grateful nod.
Turning back to the rest of us and seeing we all had our earbuds inserted, Camila said, "Comm check."
As she pointed to each of us, we all said our names to verify all of them were working.
Then I laid back down on the floor and gestured for Mary to grab my legs.
With the flashlight in my right hand, I forced my upper body to phase and then leaned down through the floor, not knowing what I would find.