Chapter 4 Cathedral
I felt Leeann shift to become more comfortable and I was instantly awake. I felt comfortable and relaxed and that somewhat scared me. I breathed in her scent and felt her warmth and wondered what the hell was I doing. I had been alone for a long time and I knew that if we continued along this path that I would not be alone anymore. At least I thought so.
Making no noise I slipped out of bed and went to stoke the fireplace. It was cold and the little camp stove had burnt down to a few coals. I had worked hard at hiding the three-inch stove pipe amongst the trees outside and with the nearly constant wind that blew, I was sure that no one would smell the smoke. I was not too surprised when Leeann spoke, "How did you get those scars on your back, my god, you look like you were whipped. Why did they not heal? Everything heals perfectly since the change. Why didn’t you heal?”
“These scars were done by the Vampires in Moose Jaw, they licked the knives before they cut and it stopped the wounds from closing right away and it left scars, it seems their saliva stops wounds from closing right away, this allows them to eat otherwise the punctures would self-seal.” I thought back to my meeting with the Elder, Mrs. Lee, she had wanted me to suffer and feel pain, but had not realized that the saliva also had a numbing effect on non-vampires. I had hung there for two days while being cut across my back every 15 minutes. After the first hour, I had felt very little pain. After two days of this, I had been cross-contaminated with the Vampire virus from their saliva.
According to their law once I began to change they had to cut me down and wait to see if I would survive. Mrs. Lee had other plans, she had me brought south to the abandoned air force base CFB Moose Jaw. There they had put me in a tub with water and opened up my veins then left me to bleed out. Things were pretty hazy but I recall a man carrying me to the infirmary and then hooking up an IV between myself and him, I basically survived because of his blood and the fact that he chanted healing spells non-stop for at least 12 hours. When I finally came to I was tremendously hungry and he was gone.
I did not undergo the full change into a Vampire, but enough of my DNA had changed so that a Vampire would pick up the smell of another Vampire from me. The whole Vamps are undead is all bull, they are living creatures, who cannot produce blood in their own bodies, so they had to top up once a month or so. If enough Vamp saliva enters the human through the neck puncture wounds the human will get the bad flu and then wake up as a Vamp. I was either lucky or cursed depending on how you look at it. Vampires are stronger and have better senses than humans, but they are not liked and if alone might be attacked.
Humans don’t like to think that they are not the top predator in the food chain even though in this new world we are not even close. Leeann was quiet and then asked, “Hope I didn’t put you on the spot, we all have our own scars some visible some not. Sorry.”
“Not a problem,” I replied, “It is old history, this crazy lady thought I was making eyes at her daughter, and thinking back I probably was. I thought I was bulletproof back then. Man, I am lucky to be here. Let’s get some food into us and then we have to hit the road, we will be cutting over to Cameron Street and then heading south till we hit College Ave. That is where it will get interesting, we will be heading in to see someone at the Cocoon, the Royal Saskatchewan museums storage facility.
It was an original SaskTel building that was converted. The man I want to see has lived there for years, he used to work there as a museum tech -2. When the change happened, he was in the cocoon proper handling some old first nations artifacts. They became magical and somehow, they have formed a symbiosis with Eric. He can’t leave the area but has been granted all sorts of powers. He is kind of like a Shaman but has no class. Anyway, I bring him some fresh game and news once in a while and he gives me advice. I think he is lonely and misses people, but very few make it there to see him. Poor bugger.”
“Wait what, I mean how does he survive, what does he eat and drink, how does he heat in the winter?” Leeann sounded both excited and puzzled, it would be fun playing a museum guide for her at the cocoon.
“I will show you how he survives when we get there, it will be pretty frikken amazing. But getting there will be the challenge of the day. We will be traveling through Cathedral area, named after the Big Roman Catholic cathedral on 13 ave. We will be walking right across the street from it if you want to have a look at it, it is pretty amazing. However, like all the old churches and buildings that had meaning for people, they have also changed and are now different.
The Cathedral affects different people in different ways.” As I finished talking Leeann once again had questions, “What do you mean they changed, and how do they affect people. Will I be affected? What will happen”?
I tried not to stare but as we were talking the blanket had slipped off her shoulders exposing her well-formed breasts, her perky nipples, and her taut stomach. It was enough to distract me and as I was still naked the effect was pretty obvious. Leeann leaned forward with a wicked glint in her eyes and said, “I can see that you are indeed up and ready to go.” Then with a smile, she covered herself up and then said, “I won’t look if you want to get dressed but just so you know I am not telling the truth.”
“Wench,” I said. “You are what Dad would have called a tease, and what I call a real distraction.”
“Is that so,” Leeann said as she slowly rolled half onto her side and slid a long-tanned leg out from beneath the covers. “Well, to be honest, you are a bit of a distraction for me as well. You are full of amazing information, and you know Regina, and you know how to take care of yourself. Plus, you have a nice scarred body, are good looking and you are treating me right.” I had sat down on the edge of the bed after pulling on my pants, and suddenly I found myself holding
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Leeann as she leaned into me and whispered, “Now would be a good time to kiss me.”
That seemed like a heck of an idea and so that is what I did, and before I knew it my pants were back down on the floor and we were intertwined together, with the blowing wind sounding a counterpart to Leeann’s soft moans of pleasure as we explored each other’s bodies. It all came to a climax all to soon and I found myself once again spooning with Leeann.
“What are you thinking?” Leeann asked.
“I am thinking about us, and what we are doing, “I replied. “I don’t want to hurt you and I sure don’t want you to think this is just me using you, I guess I don’t have a better answer than that. I feel like there is something here between us, and it means something to me. I just don’t know what.”
We were both silent after that for several minutes then Leeann said, “I feel it too and I know that I don’t think this is just casual, I have been around enough to know that I would not sleep with anyone, not even a man who had saved me. There is something here between us, and I think we should just let it be and see what happens.”
I nodded, “That sounds like a good idea, now enough of this serious stuff.” I began to kiss the back of her neck and soon we were occupied again.
When we finally left the cabin it was around ten in the morning, we both had shared something and we both wanted to see what would happen. I had to remind myself twice to pay attention to the city, my thought kept drifting to Leeann, remembering her hard hands grasping my shoulders pulling me down to her, seeing the fire in her eyes and hearing her ragged breathing as we ground ourselves together. Damn it I was doing it again. I held up my hand and we stopped near the corner of Cameron Street and Victoria Ave. I breathed in deeply and slowly exhaled as I slowly expanded my awareness of the surrounding area.
Breath in, breath out. I could not see it but I could feel it, something was out there, waiting, watching, knowing I was coming. As I centered myself I turned to look at Leeann and whispered, “Do you feel it?” Seeing her shake her head I pointed with my chin westward on Victoria Ave and then sweeping south down Cameron Stree. “Something is there, it knows we're here and is waiting for us.” The abandoned homes set a tense atmosphere and the unnatural stillness of the air increased the feeling that something was wrong.
“Once we make it to the cocoon we will be safe, I just feel damn uncomfortable right now, it is like an itch between my shoulder blades, I can’t explain it but man I can sure feel it.” It felt lame trying to explain it to Leeann but I owed her the explanation. I watched as she nodded, her eyes fixed on me, knowing that she was putting her trust in me. I hoped it was justified. Turning we continued on down Cameron street until we hit 13 ave. Standing on the corner I whispered,
“Have you ever had any old world candy?”
Seeing her shake her head I smiled, the feeling of being observed was still upon me but I wanted to do something special for Leeann. “Follow me,” I said. “This place used to be called Dessart sweets Ice Cream, and it had an amazing amount of Candy from all over the world in it. People looted it before the fled the city, but I found out that basement was not looted and is still full of lots of stuff.”
We made our way past the debris and I moved aside a few things to make our entrance easier. Once inside the gloomy main room was a mess of broken shelves and garbage thrown on the floor. Going back behind the counter we went down the stairs into the basement, there was very little light so I snapped a glow stick, I still had pretty good vision, but I knew that Leeann would be walking blind. Using the pale green light of the glowstick we came upon quite a few boxes. Rummaging through them I told Leeann “If it is hard candy you can still eat it if it is Licorice it is good but very salty. Help yourself.”
As I waited I quickly grabbed a couple of bags of Danish licorice for my buddy at the cocoon and then once Leeann had grabbed a few things we made our war back topside. Leaving the store we quickly crossed the street and continued down Cameron street a few feet stopping to let Leeann look at the Cathedral.
“That is amazing,” she said. “Is it possible to enter the building, I mean I would love to have a look inside. What do you say Omachiw, is it safe?”
I looked at Leeann, she was once again focused on the cathedral, heck it was probably the largest building she had ever seen since the change. The tallest towers downtown had changed also and were now also towers of about 5 stories. Magic had altered everything. Glancing at the overgrown parking lot next to the building I sighed. “Alright we will go have a peak but if you feel strange or see something kinda different than we have to leave. Everyone who comes experiences something different, sometimes the changes or the things they see last.”
“What did you see?” Leeann asked. I thought for a moment, we had shared a lot but there were somethings I did not want to remember or share. Still, I could answer her without reliving the past. “I saw the spirit of my little sister, she died before the change. Everyone now and then I see her still, usually when I am about to go somewhere or deal with something dangerous.”
Leeann looked at me with amazement, “That is so cool, it is like having your own personal guardian angel.” I nodded, maybe it was. We crossed the street and slowly made our way to the front of the Cathedral. “Did you notice that on the other side there was another church?” I asked.
Leeann slowly shook her head looking puzzled, “No I missed that, that is so odd, how could I not see it?”
“Everyone seems to miss it, they just don’t notice it, they are so focussed on the cathedral that nothing else catches their eye.” As I explained I could tell that she was barely paying attention to me, the lure of seeing or receiving something from the cathedral was too great. It was probably a good thing that few people could make it this deep into Regina or the cathedral would become a pilgrimage.
“Follow my lead and stay close, the front doors are open so we will head there, we will have to climb a bunch of steps to get in and that is when we will be the most exposed. You ready?” I asked. Seeing her nod we made our way to the sidewalk and crept along it the bushes and trees next to the cathedral providing us with a modicum of cover.
Reaching the steps we quickly climbed and then taking a moment to listen we entered the vestibule of the church.
Leeann was almost in a trance as she walked towards the sanctuary, ignoring me she entered the inner sanctum. I followed her intending to grab her arm but as soon as I entered my vision blacked out and I found myself unconscious.