Chapter Twenty-Nine

Orion paced the antechamber outside the Time Chamber and pondered all that he had just gone through. He angered the Oracles, so what? He had shown them that he had been granted powers beyond their knowledge. Who, exactly, had given him these powers, he wasn’t sure. If it was God, then perhaps he was being given a second chance at redemption.

He highly doubted God would do that for him.

He suddenly felt a twitch in the blackness of his soul. Everything was coming to a close. He must get back to Vincent at once. The Forbidden Realms was at hand and there was no way he was going to pass up the opportunity of gaining access.

* * *

Vince woke the next morning with dread in his soul. He knew that the time had come to lead Orion to the gate, but he was sickened at the thought of allowing an entity as evil as Orion to set foot in Eden. There was a moment when his mind told him to just keep running the other way. No, he countered, the prophecy must be fulfilled.

All he could do was pray that Mykella gets some kind of life before the battle begins. Deep in his gut, Vince knew that the war would be fought before she entered the picture as a warrior.

War.

He didn’t like to think of that word any more than he liked thinking of Orion entering Eden. But he knew the truth as well as Mykella and he accepted that harsh truth. Besides, there isn’t anything that he can do about it anyway.

He could lie to himself – and there have already been times of doing so – and say that everything will be alright, that humanity will go on killing itself like it has been doing for centuries. But why bother?

Vince sat up and rubbed his head and looked to the curtain-drawn window. There was no need to inform Krieger, Karl, or Chris. Once he found Eden, everything he knew as reality may cease to exist for him and all of humanity.

It was as if he were no longer making the decisions anymore. It felt like there were pieces of his mother and Mykella inside his soul along with his, and they were making his decisions for him.

He had what belongings he brought with him packed into his bag and he had tossed it in the back seat of his car. He closed the door and headed to the manager’s office where he found the same man who had checked him in. He nodded to the man and pulled out his wallet.

“Checking out already?” Vince nodded and the man smiled. “Well, I hope you had a comfortable stay here.”

“It was fine, thanks.” He slid the key across the counter and as he turned to leave, “Keep praying, Man. Pray for ignorance.”

He went back out to his car and entered it with confused thoughts running in circles around his head. Which route to take to Ireland and exactly how was he to help Mykella? He had promised not to leave her alone when the end of the world comes knocking on their door.

And then his thoughts went back to the brief encounter he and Samantha had had with the nuns of St. Vincent. Sister Helen was getting on his nerves and he wasn’t about to let the old woman win him over to some sinister cult. Sure, his mother may have trusted them, but that didn’t mean he had to.

She seemed to have known all along that he was bound to come back sooner or later. Okay, so she was right. So what? I’ll just make sure that it’s on my own time – not hers. That way, I’ll feel like I have some control over my fate.

Vince laughed to himself as he stared through the windshield at the thought that he had even the slightest control over his own destiny. It was as if God had a predestined course for him since conception.

He pulled the car out of the parking lot and headed east and didn’t want to stop until he found Ogunquit, Maine. There he found happiness as he, Samantha, Donnie, and Karl and Chris took a couple of weeks off five summers’ ago and vacationed on the cooler beaches. Vince didn’t quite like the warm beaches; he didn’t like all the attention they received. Sure, he liked looking at practically-naked women, but those beaches were almost always overcrowded.

He sighed under his breath. Although he found the highway rather quickly, he soon realized that he had several days of driving time ahead of himself. He even began wondering if he should stop in and check on Samantha when he got closer to Chicago. He would have plenty of time to ponder this issue before he even got close to Illinois.

He had been driving for three hours before needing a drink and he found a fuel station at the next exit. And it was then, when he decided to fill his gas tank that he realized that he wasn’t being followed. Orion was nowhere to be seen.

Vince couldn’t think of anything else that would be occupying the Master Dreamkillers mind except the Forbidden Realms. Why would Orion leave his post? Krieger had informed Vince of the newborn Dreamkillers. Had they anything to do with Orion’s absence?

He replaced the nozzle, went inside the shop, paid for the gas and a soda, and went back to his car. Vince sat there for a while pondering the absence of Orion. A frightening possibility came into his mind which dealt with Orion going straight to Samantha and using her as bait.

If that’s the way it’s to be, then it worked. He had decided on heading to Chicago as fast as his vehicle would permit, but just as he headed out of the station, his phone rang and he jumped at the sudden sound.

He found his phone in his jacket pocket and he was confused to hear Krieger on the other end.

“What’s wrong?” Vince asked in a worried voice.

“Nothing yet,” Krieger assured. “But I don’t know for how long.”

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Vince turned his car in the direction of the highway. “Why? What’s going on?”

“I had visitors in my dream last night.”

“Dreamkillers?”

“How’d you guess?” Krieger chuckled. “But, funny thing about them, they don’t want to hurt us.”

Vince was finding it hard to concentrate on driving and having a tense conversation. “That’s a new one. Can you trust them?”

“I don’t know,” Krieger replied and sighed. “Beth seemed too damned sincere and Eric, well, Eric seems to be very naïve. They tell me that they are not taking orders from their father. The Oracles are the ones telling them the truths that they seek.”

“Come again?”

“All I know is that Beth will do everything in her power to protect us. Orion has chosen to become their enemy.”

Vince hesitated. This was something entirely alien from what he was led to believe about Dreamkillers. They were supposed to be lethal blood killers. Monstrous creatures who kill for one purpose: To please their Master.

“I want to meet them,” he finally said.

“I’ll see what I can do.”

“No,” Vince cut in and shook his head. “You must see to it that I meet them. Otherwise, they are my enemy as well and I will find a way to kill them.”

“All right. If they come into my dream tonight, I’ll tell them you wish to meet them.”

“All right.” Vince didn’t seem to be registering his surroundings. He kept thinking about “nice” Dreamkillers. “And, Professor, thank you for calling me. How’s Samantha doing?”

“She has good days, but mostly bad. There are times when she can’t remember her name. But, then there are those moments when she can remember every name of every pet she had growing up. Go figure.”

Vince smiled, although it pained his heart to hear this news. She couldn’t remember her own name, but she was filled with a ton of useless information. “Does she ever mention Mykella?” He hoped.

Krieger paused and then sighed. “You’ve only been gone about a week. She needs more time for everything to come into memory, especially being pregnant.” He paused again and then continued. “I’m sure she knows that something’s going on in her body, but she can’t quite put her finger on it. It’s like, she’s got to know she’s having a baby, but there’s something even further back in her brain that’s making her forget the second she knows it.”

Vince shook his head. If she doesn’t even know she’s pregnant, then there’s no way in hell he can ask her to recall anything that Mykella had told her in her dreams. He wasn’t going to ask Samantha to help fight in the war; that she must do when Mykella is alive.

“Professor,” he lowered his voice almost to a whisper. “Can you tell her that I’m coming to get her and that I love her?”

“What are you talking about, Vincent?”

“I can’t leave her there anymore.”

“Here, she’s in the safest place possible. Orion doesn’t know she’s here.”

Vince smiled and chuckled. “Yeah, but for how long? If Beth and Eric found you, how long do you think it’ll be before Orion sniffs you out?”

“I agree, but Karl and Chris have been by her side every night in their dreams. And now we have Beth and Eric to watch over all of us. What more can the Mother need?”

“Her memory,” said Vince and it pained him to say it. Krieger was right; Samantha had more people watching out for her than he had looking out for himself. “Fine, but I’m still stopping there on my way to Ireland.”

“Ireland?” repeated Krieger after a gasp. “What the hell’s in Ireland?”

“I think you know,” Vince said behind a sadistic grin. “The end of the world,” he replied and then hung up the phone.

Orion found himself walking the sidewalk in a daze. He wasn’t even sure where he was going and what he was going to do next. He had to get into the Forbidden Realms, that much was certain. But, exactly where to go from here, he didn’t know.

He finally looked up and spied a shop down the street with a sign above its door which read “You want it, we gothic.” He smiled when he approached it and saw that it was a gothic clothing store. Feeling amiss without his cloak, Orion entered the dimly lit store and began looking around.

There were all sorts of symbols lining the walls and glass counters displaying chains with skulls, pentagrams, and the like. In the back, large black and purple strobe lights flickered and danced to music by some Goth band.

“Can I help you?”

Orion turned and saw a tall man with black spiked hair, black clothes, piercings in many places about his face – and most probably in places he didn’t want to see – and tattoos up and down his arms displaying graphic mutilations of people. All in all, in a different time and place, Orion felt as if he would much like to have this man in his army.

“My cloak was burnt in a sacrifice and I need to replace it,” lied Orion as he looked around the shop.

The man smiled and laid his hand on Orion’s forearm. “This way, please. We have a large selection, probably the largest in the area,” he said and led the way near the back of the shop.

“Mind you, I had my cloak as a child. I want my next one to become as special to me, if you understand,” explained Orion as he walked behind the man.

“Here,” the man stopped and gestured to a long rack. “And the next two are nothing but cloaks. Take your time and get me if you have any questions.” The man nodded and walked away to greet another customer who had just entered.

Orion turned and studied the many black and brown cloaks. He even noticed a handful of white and purple ones as well.

After what felt like an hour, he finally saw one that came close to what was given him by his father. He slipped it over his head and let it fall over his body and then put the hood up over his head and then he walked over to the full length mirror and studied his reflection with devilish approval.

He turned and glided back to the front of the store. The clerk looked up from the cash register and smiled. “I see you’ve found what you were looking for? Will that be cash or charge?”

Orion walked past the man without so much as glancing in his direction; he continued toward the door and didn’t stop until he reached it.

“Hey, Man, you gonna pay for that or what?” the clerk asked as he placed his hand beneath the counter where he found his gun.

Orion turned his head and looked at the man and grinned. “I had no intention on it, no. And don’t even waste that bullet, Son,” he said and then opened the door and took one step outside.

The clerk pulled out the gun and pulled the trigger once he pointed it at Orion, who merely turned with speed the clerk had never seen before, and lifted his hand and caught the bullet just before it hit him in the chest. Orion smiled and squeezed the bullet until it was nothing but powder and then wiped that powder off onto his new cloak.

“Here comes the part I love the most,” Orion said and then lifted his arms into the air and then brought them down, and when he did so, the entire ceiling caved in. Orion stepped back and, with his mind, continued leveling the building until there was nothing left for anyone to call it a building. Every wall had collapsed. Even the structure itself didn’t stop collapsing when it hit the floor; it continued falling until it was beyond the basement by at least five feet.

Orion stood and watched his miracle and laughed out loud. It wasn’t until he heard the sirens that he decided on fleeing the scene.