Meanwhile, in Blue Earth; while the girls walked down the dim and ominous isle of the large stone church they remembered playing in as children; Nadia realized that it had been a good couple of years since she had gone to visit the late priest, possibly fourteen years for Emily. As they rummaged through their uncle's private armory room in the church basement, they couldn't help but notice and cringe when they discovered that not all of Jim's blood had been cleaned from the spot where he died.
Emily strayed from her browsing; standing perfectly still, staring at the dried blood… she was paralyzed by the shock and grief. Pastor Jim… Uncle Jim is gone… dead. Murdered. She had to struggle to keep the burning bile from rising in her throat; it just seemed to be too much all at once. How can you keep your head in this place, sis? How can you be so cold that you can take from a dead man? At least stop and acknowledge the pain… for once goddamnit! As Nadia began to walk behind her sister, carrying a large and decrepit looking book to where she had placed one of her ammo bags when her sister grabbed her arms.
"Em—" she gasped in concern.
"Just stop, stop moving, and stop running around… just stop for a minute!" the younger huntress cried, her emotions kicking in and taking over. "He's gone, he's gone and we're never going to see him again, Dia. At least pretend that you notice it, pretend that you feel the pain for a moment. But stop from your damned 'holy mission' and at least cry a little for Uncle Jim! I mean, for fuck's sake… he died right here!"
"Emily!" her sister had been caught completely off guard by her sibling's breakdown; placing the book down on a nearby pile she gathered Emily's sobbing form close to her. The child had gone hysterical, leaving her sister to feel a faint sting of failure; it was her job to keep Emily safe, keep her from pain, and here she was crying and feeling more than enough pain for the both of them. "Emily, hun, calm down; you have to calm down. You don't think I miss him or that being here doesn't suck as much to me as it does to you? Sis, I miss him just as much and it hurts just as bad; but I know he went down fighting, more than likely protecting us or someone from his circle of hunter buddies. Emily, it's been over two months since he died; I've shed my share of tears and then some…"
"Wait, two months ago when you first walked back into my life… did you know?"
"No I didn't, but the day he died I knew something had gone horribly wrong. The balance on the world seemed uneven; without even knowing what for, I mourned. I didn't actually find out for sure until after I left you in the hospital cafeteria last night. Sweetie, I'm not slowing down because he taught me…us differently! He wouldn't want us to wallow around, ignoring our responsibilities, risking our lives. Reflect on your actions once you're absolutely certain the battle at hand is over, remember? You want to honor the memory of our uncle?" she asked as she drew her sister away from her and clamped her hands to Emily's shoulders, shaking her slightly, "Remember and apply everything he trained us to do, so that when we do see him again he'll smile and be proud of the effort he put into training us."
Nodding her head, Emily began to turn her head back to the spot of blood, but her sister's strong hand twisted her head so that she was face to face with her again.
"And stop looking at it… it'll just make you feel worse." Emily stared into her eyes, and instead of seeing them cold and emotionless, they were bloodshot and…sad? Closing them, Nadia tilted her head down and returned to what she had been doing before Emily's little episode. She had been rash and selfish in her grief, and now she felt awkward. Looking around, the younger of the two searched for something she could grab to help her sister.
"Hey, I think I found his journal." She said as she hefted the book to shoulder level. Behind her, Nadia looked up from stuffing a set of throwing knives into her bag.
"No, I already have his journal in the bag… that must be something else, flip through it." the elder encouraged in returning to her work; nodding her head, Emily opened the book and read through the first page.
"You're right, it's not… it's not his demon journal; it's a journal about us, starting the day we first came here…" flipping to the back she checked the most recent date, "all the way to three months ago. But… we haven't seen him in years… I haven't, anyway."
Finally glancing upward at her sister to get a good look at the journal, Nadia recognized it instantly. That damned huge-ass book he was always toting…that's what it was for? She barely registered the light and quick steps she took to close the gap between them; pulling the book into her own grasp she studied it. Her fingers traced the elegant cursive, memorizing the pen strokes as it were. Tears began to shimmer as she read the first page:
November 3, 1988
It has struck again; last time it was my friend John's family who felt the loss at the hands of that damnable creature. This time, however, It decided to strike much closer to home; my baby sister, Julianna. Took her husband, Nick, too; leaving behind two small and helpless individuals who will struggle with this loss for years to come. Their daughters, Nadia and Emily. Lord knows how they were able to evade the monster for so long, but in its bitter evilness, It left the girls with no-one, no-one but me.
I hardly qualify as guardian, or parent for that matter; as I look up at their puffy, red, tearstained faces as they pile out of the police car to come live with their last living relative…such sweet young ladies, for as much as their parents were able to do on the matter of training them, the older one doesn't look like she can even hold a small handgun steadily. I've got my work cut for me, but I won't let them down. Nadia is already showing startling signs of an unbreakable love for her sister, she's quite protective of the child.
It's not fair really, to see two perfectly healthy children so sad; their eyes empty except for the silent rage that boils over. Especially the eight year old; her demeanor is neutral, but her eyes… so cold, 8 year olds should never look like this! Sadly, she's not the first of that age to look that way; John's first born was like that since he was four, but considering who his father is…it's in their DNA to seem formidable. But my nieces? I would have them running, giggling, and playing on the church grounds; not shooting guns, learning to pick locks, bow-hunting, or easing their ways into becoming trained, professional liars and con artists.
Nadia smiled mournfully, wiping away a tear that had dared escape from behind her eyes. Before she had allowed herself to read over anything in the book she gave her sister a list of items she needed, she needed a break anyhow; after the strange vision earlier and her sister's outburst, she was tired and felt the pull of needing to sit down for a few minutes. Controlling herself a little bit, she read on.
November 10th, 1988
It seems I've greatly underestimated both girls. Emily shows infinite potential of being an excellent researcher, reading book after book…whatever she can get her hands on and take pages of notes from each. She's fast, too; running through the woods much faster than I've ever been able to… even when I was in my prime. Her exorcism reciting is exquisite, and her practices with first aid seem to be so natural, like she was a doctor in a past life and has yet to lose the touch of said past life.
Oh, but Nadia is quite a force to be reckoned with. At the shooting range I gave her a small berretta, she pushed the gun away, went to the table and picked up one of John's signature sawed-off shotgun's, whirled around and with one hand emptied the contraption with deadly accuracy. Her other skills match or exceed those of her sisters, but there's something else…something I can't quite put my finger on. It's as if she knows exactly what to do and has a fool proof plan at the ready the moment a situation pops up.
Yes, these girls will be quite dangerous when they're older. I'm proud to say that the warriors of good will have these two femme fatales on their side, they're sure to tip the scale; it's almost a shame, evil will be seriously outweighed by the sheer will and talent of Nadia and Emily. There's an eerie glow of enjoyment in Nadia's eyes when she's practicing. I see so much of my late sister in both of them already, I can only imagine how many hearts they'll deceive and break in the coming years. Solely being deadly is one thing, but to be deadly beautiful…perhaps, unlike everyone else in their family, they'll be lucky enough to see old age. I'm confident that they will.
"Done… you ready, Dia?" the sudden interruption caused her to jump a bit, her sister stood before her with softness in her tone, as well as in her deep green eyes.
For the next couple of hours Nadia sped towards Kansas, they were quiet until Emily pulled the book out from the backseat. "Mind if I read some out loud?"
A tiny smirk flickered as the driver nodded; without taking her sights off the road she reached out and lowered the volume of the Bob Seger cd that had been blaring, making it barely a whisper.
"Okay… September 18th, 1991… a month before you're 12th birthday, huh!" She exclaimed as the memories came rushing back to her, she remembered that day; Uncle Jim had gone down to the room they had picked to be theirs nearly three years earlier; the East basement, it had multiple secret entrances aside from the main one. The West basement didn't, and the rectory rooms weren't as mysterious as the East basement, so they chose not to live in the rectory. But that day, Jim came down there early that morning to tell them that an old friend was coming to visit with his two sons, but he had received orders from someone that the girls were to be introduced as locals, children of some church patrons from the neighborhood across the street… the family would learn of the girls true identities at a later time, and they wouldn't learn there's either. The sisters didn't fully understand, but they would listen to their uncle nonetheless.
"John and his boys arrived today, the girls were out playing in the cemetery when they pulled in. John was leaving the brothers with me while he went on a hunt outside of town for a couple of days. For the better part of this afternoon John and I sat on the front porch catching up while the boys wandered into the cemetery as they usually did. From what Nadia told me, they snuck up on her and Emily, or as she described it, she let them sneak up on her and her sister. The four played amongst the headstones and mausoleums until dark; they all played as if they were normal kids. God, if only they had been normal children.
They all enjoyed each other very much, that was quite clear to me as they meandered back to the rectory for dinner; the boys had invited Nadia and her sister to dinner, the girls had a good laugh about that. Afterwards little Dean, who's almost 12 now, Lord save us, and Nadia were found playing cards on the front porch. And after a great deal of time searching, they finally found their younger siblings in my library, asleep and curled up next to each other on the couch with a large book open and covering their little legs. Little Sammy may be 7 and three years Emily's junior, but the two were both equally brilliant and curious; they had hit it off instantaneously.
Do you remember those boys? Because I don't, I remember playing in the cemetery that day but I don't remember them." Emily confessed, scratching her head. There was momentary pause while her sister thought on the question.
"No, can't say that I do." She lied; of course she remembered that day, she'd hustled Dean, out of 5 bucks. She had been damn proud of her hustling skills since that day. And she definitely remembered finding her and little Sammy sprawled out on the sofa in Jim's library. She also knew that they were the three men she'd found in the wreck a few months prior. Changing the subject a bit, she took note of the mile marker half a mile in front of them. "Looks like we'll be making record time, we'll be pulling into Missouri's by 3, maybe 3:30… is that all Jim wrote for that day?"
"Oh, uh, no… sorry…
I could see all too clearly that the girls greatly enjoyed being in the company of other kids, being able to run and play and at least pretend to be normal; sans talk of demons or evil entities. I find myself wondering if maybe, one day, Nadia and Emily will get the chance to run into the brothers again…it doesn't seem likely, but still, hope eases all pain, does it not?
The kids are all in bed and possibly asleep. It's getting late and there is much to do in the next few days."
Silence slithered into the car and made both huntresses slightly uncomfortable, bits of their lives that had been muted or generalized had been re-forged, remembered by the book. The younger, because she was still unsure if she even wanted to remember her upbringing; and the elder because hearing Jim's actual thoughts made her sad, made her want to sit down and talk with the deceased priest over a cup of coffee again.
"Is there an entry for September 24th of that year?" Nadia inquired quietly.
Emily flipped a few pages in a heated search for the desired entry date, suddenly she stopped, "Yea, right here."
"Read it to me?" pouted the older sister, Emily hated how her sister knew how much of a push over she was for 'the pout'. Sighing agitatedly, she began.
"September 24th, 1991
Today is a grave day indeed, I've been blessed with these two young angels for near three years now…but now, they're leaving in the morning. I have to accept this, it's in their best interests, this isn't my area of expertise… what could I possibly do? If I tried, it would get so bad for her, the visions just might kill her. Then where would I be? Where would Emily be? A human shell; completely alone in the world… save for an old priest/uncle. But how could an old, aging priest replace the loving older sister who has always looked out for her? I can't.
Nadia had her first vision today, she has abilities. It had been after her the night it took their parents, It had tried to baptize little Nadia in her parents blood that night, and Emily saved her from it. They were in the cemetery this afternoon, I had just left the church when Em came blazing towards me, tears soaking her little face. Her voice was hoarse from having screamed something over and over again since leaving her sister's side, 'Help, Uncle Jim, help… Nadia needs help!' even after I picked her up and asked her what was wrong, all she could say was the same thing she had been crying over and over. It took us a while to finally locate Nadia, but when we did…God help her, the poor thing was on the ground, little body stretched and tense as if she were being exorcized, all with her hands pressing harshly on either side of her head, screaming through gritted teeth in anguish. I'd never felt so helpless, and I'm sure, neither had the girls." She'd become so enveloped by the entry that she hadn't even noticed Nadia had pulled the car over onto the shoulder of the lonely road, cheeks drenched by tears; she remembered that first vision all too clearly, she remembered the pain, the fear, not knowing if she could possibly survive the attack her mind had dealt. Flashes returned to her, flashes of the sky… it had never seemed so blue, so beautiful; she remembered thinking how beautiful things must be right before you die. There had been multiple voices torturing her mind; the frightened voice of her sister screaming for her, the scared yet ever calm voice of her uncle, and… the voices of people that weren't even there. Her mind wandered back to what had occurred during that first vision:
'We're damned, sweetheart, we were never meant to love… no-one can love us without getting hurt; and anyone who is burdened with mine… they DIE, darling.' The woman's voice had said, she saw a flash of a face very similar to her own, she was very young, possibly her present age, but there was an indescribable pain in her deep distraught eyes; a lifetime of pain and loneliness shone hand in hand with the legacy of doom she knew too well had marked her family for nearly two hundred years.
'No, no… the normal people that love us may be damned, but each other? We're immune to our own curses, can't you see that? Stay with me, avenge your sister by my side, as I avenge my mother and… together, together we're invincible!' She'd seen the man's face before… somewhere; she was confident she knew it, but couldn't quite place where.
Another flash, the man lay on the ground dead, and the woman, she could hear her cry bitterly. 'I told you,' she sobbed wickedly, 'I told you we were damned, and now look at what's happened to you, because of me. You were all I had left, damnit! The last of my line, and I'm alone, I've lost you… I have no heir to pass the burden to. I refuse to make another child suffer the way I—we have.' Before Nadia could cry out for the woman to stop, there was a bang and all went white; and like before, the vision died with the woman.
"Nadia!" her sister's voice cried, much like she had all those years ago. She couldn't help but cringe at the mention of her name, it was loud and the volume hurt her ears. She felt herself scream in agony, but no sound came to her ears. What's happening to me! "Nadia… Dia! Talk to me, sis! Say something… anything!"
Then, as if it had never happened to begin with, the pain was gone.
"Something… anything…" She said as calmly as she'd ever said anything in her life. She looked at her sister, she looked mortified but it quickly melted into relief. "What happened? Was that the end of the entry?"
"WHAT! You freak the fuck out, cry something in some language I've never heard of, and then go back to being your usual cold-ass self and you want me to finish reading what could have very well CAUSED whatever the fuck just happened?" Emily screeched incredulously, her heart hammering in her throat, nausea threatening to make an ugly scene, chest constricting painfully. Emily was utterly baffled and flustered. Nadia simply tilted her head and smiled sadly in reaction.
"Sweet baby sister; you shouldn't worry about me like this, life's too fleeting for constant worry. I'm alright, that's the important thing… right?" Emily shook her head disbelievingly, blinking away some of her shock and yanked the car keys from the ignition. Even as the words left Nadia's mouth, she felt a bit confused. What the f... that doesn't sound like me.
"Get out!" She cried, "I'm driving; we're about an hour from the Kansas border, Missouri'll forgive us if we're not ridiculously early." The driver clamored clumsily from the car at her sister's tone.
"Alright, alright… geez, if it'll get you to quit yelling, fine! Jesus tap-dancing Christ… you're no help to people with headaches, are you?" grumbled the disoriented huntress as she stalked around the car.
"There's the sister I know and love… what the hell happened, anyway?" Emily demanded as she twisted to face her sister, fiddling with the car keys in her hands. Nadia simply sat in the passenger seat, eyes forward, face blank, but both knew she was struggling for words to describe what had happened.
"It's not a common thing to have a vision come back to you years after the last time it strikes; damn near impossible, actually. From what I gather… that's exactly what just happened, my very first vision—complete with pain and foreign cries—just came back to bite me in the ass. I wonder," she murmured as she began to flip through the book Emily had dropped carelessly to the floor minutes ago, "if Jim ever did translate what I screamed, like he said he would…" Emily forced herself to turn back to the road, restart the car and begin driving off.
"Well, you look, and if you don't find anything… we are going to Moseley's, I'm sure she'll be able to help. But, personally, I think you should try to sleep for a bit." She stated concern clear in her voice. Nadia wasn't deterred in the slightest, though; by appearances… she hadn't even listened to a word her sister had said. "Dia…"
"Yea, uh-huh, right… sleep, gotcha." She said with her head bent over the journal. A few minutes later, she found exactly what she was looking for, and the words left her speechless; for the very first time in all of Nadia's 26 years… she didn't know what to say. So she didn't, instead she put the book down and bade herself to fall into the merciful depths of sleep… with the translation blaring in her mind.
It was a warning, Nadia, 15 years before hand. It goes as followed: when the time comes, of the two heiresses, one will die and the last will take her place as the love and living armory to the rightful owner of her family's gun. Together, they are the light's last hope.
Man, this just keeps getting better and better. She thought cynically as the 'Lawrence 3 miles' sign zoomed by, seconds later, her eyes were shut while she dreamed.
So that was chapter four. Thanks, IHeartJensen, for the review. Since I've had a lot of time to do nothing but write... I think I'll go ahead and post the chapters I've got finished along with this one... see the little purple button below this? That thing is awesome, it sends me encouragement. Haha, alright, more coming...