Chapter Eight
When he woke he found that his sister was already dressed and eating breakfast in the kitchen. She smiled at him when he entered. It was not a very convincing smile – it looked tired. Vince detected it but said nothing except a simple “good-morning.”
“There’s cereal in the cupboard – I’m not a very good cook,” she said and gestured to the cupboard.
“I don’t eat breakfast.” He walked over to the small table and took a seat opposite Xan. “What’s wrong?”
I thought I was a good actress, she thought but smiled anyway. “Nothing.”
“I may not have known you all that long, but I can see it when there’s something going on in your mind.”
“Last night I thought you were having some messed-up dreams. You kinda woke me up and when I went to your room, I saw you standing and moving around like you were talking to someone in the room.” She turned red and wished she had never revealed this to her brother.
Vince chose his words carefully and when he looked at her he gave her his full attention. “Yeah, I have strange dreams sometimes. I guess I was sleepwalking or something – no one’s ever told me I do, though.”
“What were you dreaming about?”
“The end of the human race.”
She grinned. “Well, I guess that was a pretty strange dream.” She stood and emptied her bowl into the sink and turned back to Vince. “There’s coffee brewing. I think I need some to get the day started – what about you?”
Vince nodded and smiled. I’m going to have to be more careful what I do in my dreams now.
They spent the afternoon talking about his birth father and how Jack had been a poet whose success was mediocre. He was able to send his daughter to college; and that was pretty much his entire writing success. Vince asked when everything changed between Tracy and Jack and all she could remember was Egg-Man and that it was cleaning day. She had gone to school and when it was over, Mom was running a little late.
* * *
She was walking again. This time she found her way through the village quicker than the last time – she had to get to the city. She didn’t know why but she felt it was of the utmost importance that she visits the city. When she finally approached the city wall, she was greeted by no one. She took that to be an open invitation and so she let herself through the large wooden doors with large cast-iron locks.
There wasn’t anything all that interesting when she entered the city. There were little hovels which people called their homes lining the sides. In the middle of the large open road contained close to fifty tiny markets selling anything that one could want.
As she walked further she saw that a barrier wall separated the little hovels from the larger stone houses. But the markets continued even in the middle class section of wherever she was.
And yet another wall separated the middle class from the large homes; some of which had marble flooring and large columns in front of the doors. She couldn’t understand the division of classes. She didn’t understand why anyone had to say that so-and-so makes more than you so therefore they will live separately from you in a large house in a nicer neighborhood.
She looked up from her thoughts and found herself standing at the steps of a large temple. It wasn’t the city that was calling Mykella exactly; it was this temple and what it was to become.
She looked around and wondered why she was the only one in the city. There were tiny markets full of goods to be sold and houses of all sizes which needed to be taken care of. Where was everyone? Is this a place to be?
As if in answer she heard the screams of women. And then the loud protests poured out. The voices were too many spoken at once for her to distinguish what they were saying. These sounds were coming from the far end of the city wall – just outside the city.
Curiosity got the better of her and she headed in the direction of the angry mob. When she got to the wall she slipped her way out as easily as she had entered. Here she found the entire city, or so it seemed. Everyone was in a procession, slowly heading up a hillside.
Quite a few of the spectators were angered and pleased at the same time. She couldn’t see how someone could be both, but she didn’t ponder it. She looked around and saw a lot of the people weeping with their heads down. She noticed, too, that those who were weeping were praying as well.
The crowd stopped walking and those who prayed fell to their knees. Those who were angered stood and watched with satisfaction what Mykella could not see. And then she saw it. She stared up at the top of the mound as the large cross was erected.
From her distance she could not see clearly but she could make out an outline of a body hanging from the cross of wood. Then she noticed two others on either side. But it was the one in the middle everyone watched in anticipation.
Who this person was and why all these people came out to see him crucified, she did not know, although she felt it in her soul that not many people have witnessed this moment. She would have to ask Vince if he knew anything about this and as she watched (she didn’t understand why she was watching some person hang on a cross – probably bleeding or suffocating themselves to death) she reached down and began rubbing her necklace. She looked down and there it was!
She looked down at the cross she held in her hand and then looked up at the crucifixion taking place. The man she was holding in her right hand was the man dangling from his cross right in front of her.
But why? Why was she summoned here to see this when she was supposed to be training to defend humanity?
* * *
Even if he jumped the line back to the time of Christ, Allen knew he would never be able to sneak inside the streets of Jerusalem without being noticed. Besides, he didn’t really want to go that far back in time. If he could, he would sit here for all time and find the missing pieces to the location of the key to the Forbidden Realms. He now knew that Jesus had given it to Judas. All he had to do was find out where Judas had taken it.
He never liked puzzles. During his childhood, he remembered, he would always get frustrated when doing one and end up throwing all the pieces across the room just because he didn’t have the patience. But this is one puzzle he couldn’t afford not to solve. It would take a lot of patience – probably more than he had. If for nothing else, he had to find that key just to prove to the memory of Orion that he had what it took – and that he could be a badass when he wanted to be.
Stolen story; please report.
* * *
Later that evening Xan invited Vince to stay for dinner and he accepted only with the understanding that he was leaving shortly after. When she protested, he lifted his arms. “I gotta get back for Dad’s funeral.”
She nodded and went into the kitchen. He followed and when he found her she was thumbing through a stack of menus from various restaurants. “What are you in the mood for? Chinese or Italian?” she asked without looking up at him.
“Chinese.” He sat down at the table and could read her hurt expression. “I’d like you to come back with me and meet someone,” he said and she placed the menu down on the counter.
“Who?” she asked and grabbed the phone and began dialing.
“She’s very special to me. Her name’s Samantha.”
At that she hung up the phone and took a seat next to her younger brother. “Now we’re getting somewhere,” she said with a smile and propped her chin in her hands. “Are you guys in love? How long have you been seeing each other?”
Again he lifted up his hands. “One at a time. I’m not really sure if we’re seeing each other.”
Xan tossed him a confused expression and he smiled. “We’ve been best friends since we were kids. I’ve watched her date other guys all our lives and I’ve always been excited when they’ve split up – I was the shoulder to cry on. And since her recent boyfriend has dumped her, I guess I let my feelings out.”
“Did you tell her you love her?”
“It’s not that easy, Sis.”
Xan shook her head with a grin. “Sure it is. Lots of guys have expressed their undying love for me.”
“Then why aren’t you married?”
She leaned back in her chair and shrugged her shoulders. “Don’t know. No one’s ever popped the question. Last guy I saw said he had to go back to California to aid his sick mother.” She remembered Leo just as he had been the night before he said his good-bye. She thought they were the most compatible pair since butter on bread. Reflecting on the six-year relationship, she came to the conclusion that it was she who was smothering him.
“She’s pregnant.”
The words brought her back to the present in an instant and her eyes widened. “That does pose a problem. What’re you gonna do?”
Vince thought about it for a moment. This was a thought that he had never reflected upon. What was he going to do? If he asked her out and they hit it off, then he must support both her and Mykella. Was he ready to make that kind of a commitment? Mykella. How much does her mother need to know? And when must he tell her?
Vince looked up at Xan. “I love her. I’m going to protect Mykella for as long as I can.”
Her head snapped up. “Mykella? I thought you said her name was Samantha.”
“Mykella is – will be, I should say – her daughter.”
“Okay – now you’re starting to scare me a little,” she said and leaned forward. “Why do you think you need to protect the child? Does Samantha smoke or drink?”
Vince shook his head. “How much can I tell you without making you think I’m a complete schizoid?” He paused and glanced around the room. When his eyes stopped on the phone, “You should call for dinner – the story may take a while.”
She stood up against her will and went over to the phone. “What do you like?”
There was no hesitation. “I’m partial to moo goo gai pan, myself,” he said and then she dialed the number.
After she placed her order she hung up the phone and went back to the table with a sigh and sat down. “Okay, now let’s have your incredible story.”
“It’s not my story – not really. It actually began with our mother a long time ago.” He thought for a moment about how to say what he needed to say. “You might want to read my dad’s book someday – it’ll help clarify everything. I used to think the book was complete bullshit, but then I met Mom in a dream.”
“You mean your adopted mother?”
He shook his head. “It was our mother – Tracy Andrews. Dad remembers her as Kingston, though. She tells me this strange story about a girl and her prophecy, if you believe in things like that.”
There was something sincere in his talk which made Xan believe in the tale so far. Besides, he had nothing to lose after all.
“Mom wants me to help this girl.”
During his pause she sat up. “What did she want you to do?”
“I’m supposed to help this girl live.” He thought even harder about what to say next. “Mom says that this girl will become mankind’s savior.”
“I know we’re in the crapper, but it’s always been that way,” she said behind a smile that resembled their mother’s. In fact, thought Vince, she looked almost like a twin of their mother.
“To be honest, I’m not sure who she’s supposed to protect us from, but I know that they’re not human.” And now he saw it – the look of disdain. I should have stopped or played dumb. “And you know the weirdest part?” He tried to draw her attention away from nonhuman creatures killing off the human race.
“Now this ought to be good,” she replied with a grin. “What’s that?”
“Mykella is the girl I’m protecting and she’s also Samantha’s unborn child.”
Eight ball, corner pocket. Game. Set. Match.
Xan was shaking her head. Maybe she wasn’t ready to hear about the end of the world as we know it. If only she had witnessed the battle as he had, she may have a different view. But as it was, he had no way to convince his sister of the awful truth. And why bother? What is this prophecy to her anyway? She, like all of humanity, will sleep forever while everything around them dies.
“If there is a way to convince you, will you go back with me?” he asked. He wasn’t sure why he was so urgent to have her as a companion. He never knew this woman and now that they’ve come together, a tiny hole in his soul has been covered.
She studied his face for a short while and read no lunacy in it and sighed. “All right – I’ll give you two days. I’ll go with you to Chicago.”
Vince nodded and two words crept into his mind: Dream Crusader. He didn’t know why he thought of it just now, but he felt that the term might shed a little light on this topic if only he knew what the hell a Dream Crusader was. He damned himself for never reading his father’s book. “Do you have a bookstore that sells older books – fifteen years old or so?”
“Loden’s should have whatever you’re looking for,” she said and agreed to take him to the store and when he walked in he saw shelves upon shelves of books – old and new alike. Hardback and paperbacks were stocked in volumes in alphabetical order by author.
He made his way over to the cashier, who looked up at him behind a tired smile and a “can I help you?” He returned the smile and glanced around the store. “Yeah, I was wondering if you sell audio books.”
She pointed to the far corner of the store with a nod. “Over in that area,” she said and then he saw the large sign over the section with AUDIO written on it in large letters.
Rather embarrassed, Vince made his way over to the section and ran his eyes across the H’s. Like finding a needle in the haystack, he found his father’s book – on an audio cassette no less.
He snatched up his copy of The Army of Dreamkillers and found his sister. When he found her she glanced down and grabbed the cassette. “The Army of Dreamkillers?” She looked back up at Vince with one raised eyebrow.
With a nod, “If there’s going to be anything to convince you of my story, we should listen to our mother’s own testimony.” He walked back to the counter, paid for the cassette and headed back to her car.
Still standing inside the store, she sighed and shook her head. After a minute she followed after him and met him in her car as he was unwrapping the tape. She watched her brother with a pitiful expression on her face. She was saddened at his loss of sanity. Did he believe all this shit is real?
Once open he placed Cassette One of Two inside her cassette console and turned on the stereo.
“The Army of Dreamkillers – Richard Hopman. Author’s Note: This book is for my son Vincent. I pray that you never have to go through what we went through so many years ago. This book is also dedicated in the loving memory of Tracy Kingston. Dreamer’s live forever, Trace.” There was a pause as the narrator could be heard turning the page. “I met young Tracy when we were both fifteen years old and I can honestly say that I shall always love our friendship – no matter what created it and under what circumstances. In the end we were two more victims of an evil as old as time itself.”
They listened to the voice drone on and on about how Rick had met Tracy and fell into the Great War of the Dreamkillers. They listened to Rick’s description of not only Orion – the Cloaked One, but other Dreamkillers such as Alexius. The narrative got a bit choppy when the last third of the book was written. Rick seemed to have lost his memory during a lot of the final battle; he claimed that his mind was not his and his body was no longer under his own possession.
Before he could change to Cassette Two, Xan stopped him by turning to look at him; she had pulled the car into her driveway but they continued listening to the tape. “Let me pack some clothes and we’ll be on our way.” She opened the door and did not see his smile as she got out of her seat.