Chapter Sixteen

He had the key and he had a body. All he had to do now was find the Garden of Eden. Allen stood in the middle of the street watching the fires burning and felt no remorse for those writhing to their deaths inside their once-safe homes. Jerusalem, up in flames. He smiled to himself. In a matter of a couple of days, it won’t matter anymore.

He knew the entrance was not in this burning city and so he felt he would like to burn every damned city until he found it. He didn’t know why, but he remembered someone telling him (eons ago, it seemed) of an angel guarding entrance into Eden. A prelude to war? What the hell.

Once the fires burned out Allen decided to head North and hope to find the entrance almost the same way he had found the key. He did hope, however, that it did not take another three months because he was beginning to become impatient. And when he becomes impatient, more cities fall and innocent bodies burn to their deaths.

* * *

She watched the bright moon hanging above the large trees for a moment before turning with a look of contempt at Vince. “What exactly do you want to talk about at this hour?” Sister Helen had folded her hands beneath her robes.

Vince cocked his head to the side and looked at her behind a sarcastic grin. “Well, for starters, why are you skulking about at this hour of night?”

“I have a job to do: Keep our mother’s chambers spotless. What about you?”

“My trust in you has faltered, Sister. If I can’t get honest answers from you then I need to find them on my own time.” He sat down at the foot of the bed and thought about what to ask next. Behind the most serious faces he could give her: “Am I Orion’s son?”

He saw the tiniest twitch come from her eye at the mention of Orion. Now we’re getting somewhere.

She crossed the room and sat by the vanity. “I really don’t know where you get your information,”

“Answer the fucking question!”

“Very well. It seemed odd to us. Our enemy – Orion’s father – had raped our mother and out comes the devil’s child which you had only read about. You could not know the evil Orion possessed. His father was evil, yes, but Orion slaughtered his own father. He had him impaled just as he had our mother. To make it poetic, he made sure the two were impaled, rotting next to one another for eternity.

“Your mother came to us already bearing child but our mother wanted her nonetheless. If you trace Tracy Kingston’s ancestry, you would be surprised to find that she has Nanaac’s blood in her. I don’t think your mother even knew it.

“You look doubtful. Doesn’t matter now.” She paused and he shook his head. When she continued, she was looking out the window once again. “She came here with Orion in tow. She was pregnant and had our blood flowing within her veins. It all seemed too circumstantial to believe that you were anything but the child of Orion.

“Orion had no physical contact with another woman, not that we know of anyway, so we knew that you weren’t a physical offspring. But souls can shift. Even now I’m not satisfied to know that you are the guardian of humanity. You could very well be humanities destructor.”

There was no way he was going to believe it. No, he was not the destructor. Someone else would lead the war on humanity – not me! He would not allow himself to believe what the bitch was saying – especially what she had said about him being the offspring of Orion.

“Your precious mother returned through my mother to continue her war. It was not to stop the war. She wanted vengeance.”

Sister Helen stood up as if offended and glared at Vince. “I don’t know where you get your information, young man,”

He cut her off and tossed the letter at her in disgust. She quieted herself and read the letter and grinned when she concluded it. “A voice from the grave.”

“My mother isn’t dead.”

Sister Helen folded the letter back and tapped Vince on his chest with it. “You’ve said that before. Now, let me ask you a question. Your mother fell from the tallest tower of Orion’s keep. Through flames no less. Tell me, young Vincent. How is it that your mother is not dead?”

“When she fell from the tower, she chose a different fate than death.”

“And what fate was that?”

“She is a guardian.”

“A guardian? Of what?”

“The Forbidden Realms. The Garden of Eden.”

At that Sister Helen fell back and hit the vanity. She knocked off several bottles of perfume as her hand went down to support her balance. There was a look in her eye which Vince had never seen before. It was as if she were looking at the devil himself. She brought her other hand to her mouth. “Does anyone know the location of the gate?” she asked.

“What’s this got to do with anything? All I want to know is what you’re all about. Mykella wanted me to bring her here and so I did. She wanted to know more about her prophecy, but it looks like you’re not up to talking, so I think we’ll be leaving first thing in the morning.”

He headed for the door, but when he reached out for the handle, Sister Helen grabbed his arm. “Do you realize what would happen if someone with evil intentions forces their way into the Forbidden Realms? Think, Vincent. Armies could be created within hours. This must have been what our mother was frightened about. I pray that your mother does not fail in her new position.”

He looked into her worried eyes. “Who do you pray to?”

“Once you complete your journey through the Holy Land, come back here. Your circle will be complete and I shall be lifted of this burden forever.”

He knew what she meant but he was too afraid to say a word about it. Everything ends here. She knows it. But why didn’t he care too much? He may know what she believed, but is it really true? Will his prophecy end when he comes back here (if he comes back here, that is)?

Still, he didn’t know what to believe. Was she telling him the full truth? Would she have the willpower to lie again when she knew she had been caught? He doubted it, but there was still that small voice in the back of his head telling him to be cautious of this woman.

“I don’t think I’ll be coming back here,” he said and turned back to the door and opened it. “It’s a little too creepy here.”

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Sister Helen watched Vince walk down the corridor and disappear down the flight of stairs. She balled her hand into a fist again and hit the wall with it repeatedly until she saw blood running down her wrist and into her sleeve. “You’ll come back,” she whispered and wiped the tears from her eyes. “And death will be following close behind.”

* * *

“At least we could have stayed for breakfast; I’m starving. Do you have any idea what it must feel like having to feed two?”

Vince drove out of the gas station where they had parked their car and headed back toward the airport. “I’m sorry but there’s no way in hell I’m staying in that castle any longer.” He glanced into the rearview mirror and watched as the towering structure shrunk itself and finally disappeared from view altogether.

“Okay, but can we at least get something to eat before hopping on another plane?”

He turned to her and smiled. “Yeah, Hon. We can stop anywhere you want.”

Samantha cocked her head and grinned. “’Hon?’ You’ve never called me any term of endearment before.”

He returned his gaze to the road ahead. “Well, I figure I’m staying with you for a long while – you may never be able to get rid of me.” The idea of staying with her forever made him think of Mykella and he realized that he had not spoken with her last night. He wondered what she may have been up to while he was lost in dreams he could not recall.

“Okay,” she began with a smirk. “Now you’re beginning to sound like a stalker. The question is: Do I want you to stay around for a long time?”

Vince knew she was only playing but there was that feeling in the back of his mind that said she may not really want to be with him at all. He looked over at her and noticed her mischievous grin and he smiled and grabbed her hand.

“Yes. I want you around for a long time and I’m sure Mykella would want that too.”

A pause fell between them and when he turned he spotted a diner up the road and pulled into the parking lot.

After sitting down and placing their orders, “So, why do you think Mykella wants us to go to Jerusalem anyway?” asked Samantha as she stacked her Half-and-Half creamers on top of one another, creating a pyramid of creamers.

“My guess is that we’ll find the gate of Eden there.”

As she suddenly looked up she knocked her pyramid over. “You gotta be shitting me.” She placed the creamers back in their bowl. “The Eden? The Garden of Eden?”

Vince nodded. “I’ve never heard of any other.”

The waitress brought their food (he had one plate whereas she had four full plates) and when she left them alone, “I need you to drive the rest of the way. I need to talk to Mykella before we get there.”

She had already shoved her two eggs into her mouth before nodding and he had to put his fork down as he watched the young woman piling everything into her mouth mercilessly. When she saw that he wasn’t eating, “You gonna eat that?”

Vince grunted and shook his head. “You can have it; I’ve lost my appetite,” he said and slid his plate over to her.

An hour later Vince was asleep in the passenger seat as Samantha drove to the airport. Every now and then she would glance over at him wondering if he were talking to her daughter. She envied him to no end. Mykella had the power to enter her dreams yet she did not.

When she pulled the car back in the same location she had recently gotten it, she nudged Vince and he jerked awake, hitting his head against the window in the process. Once she had gotten his attention, “Well, what did you find out?” she asked and he shrugged.

“She didn’t seem too interested in seeing me I suppose,” he replied and rubbed his eyes. He looked around and saw that they were at the airport. “Do we need a bullet-proof vest before entering the Holy City?”

She grinned and shook her head. “Really Vince. There are more violent places than Jerusalem I’m sure.”

They went through all the proper security precautions and when they were on the plane Vince told her that he wanted to try once again to talk to Mykella before they touched the ground of the Holy City.

When he was well inside his dreamland, he stood and walked up and down the aisle of the empty plane. “Mykella,” he called as he looked in all the seats. There was no sign of the young woman. He walked up and opened the cockpit door and peered inside. Again he saw no one inside.

A disappointed sigh escaped him and he turned back and began walking up the aisle again. He stopped and fell into an aisle seat and put his head in his hands as he bent forward. With his head still in his hands, he turned and saw a shadow beneath a seat across the aisle.

He stood and crossed over to the chair and bent down. What he saw shocked and worried him. He saw Mykella crouched there in a fetal position (arms tightly wrapped around her legs) with her back against the wall of the plane. If she were sitting, she would have been rocking back and forth, but instead, she looked as if she were writhing rhythmically on the floor.

“Dear God,” he cried out and reached out to her. “What happened?”

She wouldn’t accept his help and it appeared as if she were not registering his appearance at all. “Can’t,” she mumbled just under her breath. “Won’t.”

“Mykella, what happened to you?”

Mykella stopped and her eyes darted up and looked at Vince. “Your sister is lost. She wanted to kill me.”

He saw that she was trembling and he bent down again and pulled her out by taking hold of her legs.

This brought her to hysterics and she covered her face with her hands and screamed: “No, please don’t!”

As if he were hit, Vince let her go and watched her. “I’m not going to do anything to you. It’s me damnit. What happened?” he repeated, using more authority than he thought was right for him.

It seemed to help as she stopped and looked up at him again. “She’s a bad, bad person Vince. She wants so dearly to kill me.”

Vince nodded. He understood now that she had suffered a similar fate he had when he tried to reach his sister. “That was a Dreamkiller. It wasn’t my sister; she’d never hurt a thing.”

“Whatever it was, it doesn’t like me one bit. I hope I won’t have to see that creature again.”

Vince recalled his duty as protector and guardian of humanity. She was being attacked, perhaps not physically, and it was his job to put an end to it so she would live. He wrapped his arms around her shoulder. “Don’t worry. I doubt you’ll be seeing her again.”

Could he destroy a Dreamkiller who is his sister in an unconscious state? If he killed the Dreamkiller, would it also kill Alexandria? Could he even destroy a Dreamkiller to begin with?

“I need you to be strong for me. Don’t do it for everyone, do it for me,” he said when he brushed the hair from her eyes and looked into them with soft eyes of his own. After she nodded he smiled. “Now, I need to know why we’re heading to Jerusalem. What’s so important there?”

Mykella shrugged. “If we get there soon enough I think all our questions might be answered,” she said and felt a jump from beneath her feet. “You might want to wake up; I think there’s a bit of turbulence.”

“In a minute. What questions do you think will be answered?”

Vince never got the answer to the question as the noise of the plane woke him before Samantha was able to.

The entire plane seemed to be screaming in terror. And then a cacophony of noises almost caused Vince to lose his hearing entirely. He dared turn his head for fear of what he might see. He saw the right wing and half of the rear of the plane burst into flames.

Although the plane leaned violently to the right, Vince took hold of Samantha’s head and thrust it down to her knees seconds before flames the size of the passenger's hold screamed from the rear of the plane and ceased just inches shy of the flight attendant station.

They may have been extremely hot, they were not harmed when the flames came through; and as he looked, he saw that at least ten people were screaming as their heads and back sides had caught fire. Never in his life had he seen such an atrocity. Never in his life was he in a situation as dire as this. Surely they were about to die, there was no chance for them.

There was nothing he could do – he was no savior of people on a plane set for a crash course. He leaned over and kissed Samantha with trembling lips. It had just occurred to him that he was afraid to die. He had never thought about it, thought that death would not be for him for decades to come. And now as he sits here in this burning casket he suddenly felt the need to fear death.

He took her hand, squeezed it, and just held it as they put their heads down, staring into the others’ eyes for as long as life would permit.