Chapter Nineteen
The plane landed as peaceful as Vince could have hoped for. He had not let himself fall asleep during the flight. He wasn’t ready to confront Mykella about what he had witnessed during the revelation and he also didn’t want Samantha to feel alone during the flight. He didn’t talk to her all that much (he told her that they were going home) but he held her hand during most of the trip back to the States.
He drove her back to her house and when she was settled into her surroundings (she seemed more comfortable here, although she still could not remember anything), he looked up and then called a neurologist and set up an appointment for the next day as long as Samantha had a CAT scan and an MRI done first. So he had to set up those appointments and then drive her to those before midnight tonight.
The CAT scan Samantha was able to get at the local hospital rather quickly, but he wasn’t able to get an appointment for the other until nine o’clock that night and by the time they had arrived back at her place, they were too tired to attempt any further communication; Vince had gotten pretty good at her nonverbal skills such as pointing and shrugging.
When they met with Doctor Yan, they feared the worst and by the time Yan had gone over the results of the previous tests, he too had feared the worst. He came back into the little exam room which consisted of nothing except a bed, two chairs, and several posters depicting the brain in various angles.
He sat down on the short rotating stool and looked at them individually in silence for a moment and then he took off his glasses and placed them in his breast pocket. “Samantha has sustained irreversible damage to roughly half her brain.” He stood up and put up one of her x-rays on the light board and then turned it on. With his pen he was making circles about her brain. “There are indents here…and here where the front plate of her skull caved in.”
No matter what Yan had said, there was only one thing on Vince’s mind and he had to ask it now before he lost his sanity. “Will she be okay? Any further recovery?”
Yan stared at Vince for a moment and then sighed. “You love her, yes?”
Such an odd question, especially since he had asked one first. “Yeah.”
“You must learn to communicate with each other in new ways, Mr. Hopman. She will have days when she may remember some things, but those days will be very few. With the damage sustained, I’m very surprised she made it out of the crash alive.”
The image of the two staring at one another with their heads down, holding each other’s hands, during that awful moment when certain death was to meet them and claim them. But it had not; they were the only survivors of the downed flight. And it was not death that had claimed him; it was Allen Corgan.
Vince looked over at the speechless woman sitting next to him and he grabbed her hand like he had before. To hell with the rest of the world. He would find ways to protect both Mykella and her mother.
“I could put her on some medication to help with the pain she’ll have with a constricting brain, but it could do more harm than good. Over-the-counter pain medication would be wiser.”
Vince nodded and stood up. He turned to Samantha and held out his hand and she took the hint and stood next to him. “Thank you, Doctor. It may not have been what I wanted to hear, but at least I have answers.”
“Samantha will need to have the same tests every other month to make sure no leakage occurs.”
“Leakage?”
“Brain fluid could leak from these wounds causing a stroke. She needs to be monitored to make sure that doesn’t happen.”
Damn, can it get any better? “Thanks again.”
When evening came, Vince was beginning to tire of the quiet. He stood up to go into the kitchen for a drink, but as he stood, she grabbed his arm.
She looked up at him with concerned eyes and a knitted brow. “Mykella?”
He didn’t know if he should be excited that she had spoken. Instead he knelt down beside the woman and grabbed her hand. “She’ll be okay,” he said and then nodded as if to confirm this.
She relaxed and smiled as she leaned back into the chair and closed her eyes.
He watched her for a moment before getting back up and walking to the kitchen. He intended to get a soda out of the fridge but instead found himself staring out the window above the sink. Memories flooded his mind and he could not stop them. He saw times when they were only children playing in his backyard. He saw different faces of her boyfriends over the years and felt a fresh jealousy. He saw the many different ways she smiled at him (from sarcastic, to pure pleasure) and that was when he felt the tears coming again. There was no way to avoid them as there was no way to avoid the memories.
He lowered his head and wiped his eyes so many times they had begun to sting. When he lifted his head he saw a glimmer scurry across the window toward the back yard.
All emotions put aside, he sprinted out of the kitchen and to the back door from the dining room. He turned on the porch light and let himself out the door into the darkness, save for the small amount of light the porch light shone. He wasn’t one to call out ‘who’s there,’ so he went looking for whatever made the glimmer without sound.
He went around the glass table and down the three steps to the grass. He wanted to make his rounds of the open yard first and then, only if he had to, venture toward the trees where the tall shed sat.
He was having no luck although his adrenaline was still pumping hard and his entire body was sweating despite the coolness of the air.
But after twenty minutes of searching and failing to find its source, Vince turned back and headed to the house; there was a hint of disappointment in his heart at not finding something out here. When he entered the dining room he locked the door behind him and pulled the blinds.
And when he went back to the living room where he left Samantha, he almost jumped back out of himself. If the plane disaster wasn’t bad enough, there were no words to describe the sheer horror he felt now.
“So, why am I following you?”
Vince saw the terrified gleam in Samantha’s eyes as she was sitting on the couch with Allen Corgan straddling her from behind with his arms dangling over her shoulders.
You will conquer the snake, but you must first let it follow.
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Vince stood next to the television-less entertainment center watching Allen while no words were coming to his mind. He knew he must not fight the bastard, yet he was beginning to feel that grip weakening. He knew the wheel of fate said they would meet again.
But, damnit, he was using the mother of our future savior as either a shield or a hostage. He must do something.
“Why am I wasting my precious time with you, Hopman? Can you tell me what you’re worth?” Allen was grinning as he spoke.
Vince looked into the snake’s eyes and then sighed. He advanced slowly and then sat down in a chair opposite his enemy with a grin of his own. “Why don’t you inform me. I mean, who made you come all the way here from the Holy City? No one. You’re following me because it’s what you want.”
Allen sneered at the young man and then looked down at Samantha. He leaned in and sniffed her hair and brought his tongue to her cheek. She tasted so sweet, almost like a cream-filled doughnut. “There’s something you know and I want to know it.”
Vince tried not to be distracted by Allen’s vulgarities as he did his best to ignore the creature’s behavior. “If I have some information that you’d want so badly, then I don’t know what it is.”
That was it. Absent of any thought, he pushed with his mind and they watched Samantha rise into the air only to come crashing down on the rocking chair which almost broke under her abundant new weight. “Don’t be such a prick, Vincent. You know the location and I want it.”
Again, Vince tried not to get up and strangle the creature. “What location?”
He thought he might tear the house down. “The Forbidden Realms, damn you. Eden. Where is it?”
So this is how he gets into the sacred garden. Well, then, he’ll just have to keep following. Funny thing is, he made a vow never to return there. He wasn’t sure if he should bluff a location; Allen was, after all, supposed to follow him. “I will never give you that – you already know that. I can’t stop you – I already know that.”
Allen was staring at Vince with a new look of interest. He was getting at something.
“I don’t want her harmed. I allow you to follow me ‘til my dying day. But I should warn you: I made a vow never to go there.” How long will he have to run? Where will he run to? He looked over at Samantha and knew that Mykella wasn’t going to last much longer in her womb. Dear God; it’s almost over.
Allen stood erect and glared at Vince. “I can’t kill you – you’ll die with the information. And I can’t kill her either ‘cause you’ll wind up killing yourself to save mankind. Oh, think of the martyrdom, Vince. You’d go down to a new religion.” Allen smiled and almost laughed. “But I accept your game. I shall be looking through your windows when you sleep.”
A chill went down Vince’s spine at the thought of Allen peering into his bedroom while he slept. He had to sleep; otherwise he would not be able to train with mankind’s daughter.
Vince nodded and went over to help Samantha onto the couch. “I hope,” he said as he glanced back at Allen. “That you’re ready for a long life in that ugly body because I’m never going to the Forbidden Realms.”
Allen grinned and bowed his head to his host and before Vince could see it, Allen had moved to the door with inhuman speed.
When he was out of the house, Vince fell to his knees and lowered his head. He had been trembling. He didn’t know if he had the strength to take on such a journey. He would have to leave Chicago almost at once – he had too many friends here and he didn’t want anyone harmed – but he didn’t know what to do with Samantha.
Maybe he would stay a week and in that time, he could find someone to stay with her. Perhaps he could ask Krieger or (if all else fails) Donnie, who is, after all, Mykella’s father.
He closed his eyes and laid his head down on Samantha’s stomach and he listened for any signs from Mykella. He might not have been able to hear a heartbeat (his hearing wasn’t Doppler after all) but he did feel another kick. Relieved, he smiled and lifted his head and looked up into Samantha’s eyes. She was terrified, but she could sense that the current trauma was at an end.
Maybe he could take her back to the convent. It was where he was born. No. This is what Allen is hoping for. I will not take him there.
After she had stifled a yawn, Vince helped her to her feet and escorted her to her bedroom. Once she was safe in her bed and the covers up around her shoulders, Vince went to the window, made sure it was locked, and then drew the blinds.
Before leaving her room, he kissed her on her forehead and told her that everything will be alright. He will make sure that no harm will come to her or her baby. That he swore to her.
* * *
He paced the back yard with violent steps that caused deep footprints in the ground. He was sweating and breathing hard. His chest was heaving as evil images entered his wicked mind. Uncomfortable with what he was wearing, he tore off his shirt and let it fall where he stood. He looked up at the large pine tree and smiled.
In the next instant, he was staring down at the house with an obscene smile on his lips. With a cat’s grace, he had balanced his body on the top of the tree and had extended his arms and let the cold Chicago breeze chill his sweating body. He leaned his head back and laughed as he looked up at the cloudless sky.
* * *
“Yeah, I suppose Heather won’t mind if we took her in for a little while.”
Vince sighed in relief. Finally, some good news. “Thanks.” Then he thought of what they had discussed earlier. “Did you have a chance to look into Allen’s past?”
“That’s a little gory story. Bring Samantha here later and I’ll tell you what I’ve learned.”
Later that afternoon, Heather Krieger had offered everyone a drink and then left them to tend to her chores. She loved her husband dearly, however there were times such as these that she would love nothing better than to shove the toilet brush handle up his ass. He sat there on the couch looking as if he ruled everything in this house – including his wife.
But this was not entirely true, either; he ruled over the two cars out in the driveway, too.
He did love his wife and he would die for her, but he too thought that at times she could be such a nagging bitch.
“Allen Corgan slaughtered his entire family. He was fifteen when he killed his mother, father, and little sister in their sleep. The odd thing is that Allen was asleep, too,” Krieger began and Vince looked around the room for a moment in contemplation.
“Sleepwalking?”
Krieger shrugged his shoulders. “That’s what the report said and it was this report that sent him to Lungland Psychiatric Hospital where he met up with your mother and Richard. It is that report that Richard based what he knew about Allen into his book; he didn’t do deep digging.
“Orion was in control of Allen’s mind for a while before the murders. What the report fails to mention is that Allen’s aunt, uncle, and eight cousins had all died suspicious deaths. Poisons, exploding cars, hangings. Such a tragic family.
“The obituaries were dated several years apart and five years before he went to the asylum. He was killing when he was a little kid. A loving family, eh?” He smiled at Vince who had grimaced.
“But, what would make a child kill?” Vince didn’t even like to say such words. He had visions of seeing hand guns in his high school way back when. He knew that these guns were just accessories to young punks.
“It has been in Allen’s blood since birth. Orion was reenacting what he wished would have happened during the Great War.” Here Krieger paused and brought out a notebook, slipped on his reading glasses, and turned to a page which had a Post-It on the top. “Orion had Queen Nanaac’s blood in him and he was the rightful heir to her throne. He would take it, kill the Grendel family, and control the world.
“Allen was killing his entire family just as Orion wanted to do to his own. Huge coincidence, don’t you think?” He looked at Vince and cocked an eyebrow.
Vince looked into his professor’s eyes for a moment and then sat back with a concerned look in his own eyes. “You’re not suggesting that Allen is Orion?”
Krieger nodded with a smile. “It would make perfect sense.”
“But that’s impossible. I mean, Satan himself took Orion’s soul down to hell with him – my father watched the whole damned thing.”
Krieger paused for only a moment and then sighed. “Are you one-hundred percent positive that it was Orion’s soul and not Allen’s that was taken to hell?”