Chapter 36 – Renaud
The silence was troubling, to say the least. It was the feeling of being alone in the world. I looked around the hallway, but nobody was there except for the little blonde, Maria. She was a sweet kid with a darkness inside her. She still had a childlike, dreamy aura about her. She tried to hide it, but I could still sense it. Her time with the King and now us would probably drown it out. Evil always killed the light, despite what the gospels might tell you. Where the hell did Mike and Harrow go? I could understand Harrow running off. I expected it, since he wasn’t the most trustworthy ally. If his maker hadn’t been left lying on the floor I would have thought he’d be halfway home, but if she was still here he had to be close by. Mike was a different story. I didn’t expect him to leave. He wasn’t a hero or a coward, but he left Maria behind. Did his love for Jenny mean more than his responsibilities to the world around him?
I sat up and looked around, trying to decide what I was going to do. The world gets complicated when you need think of those around you. My life was getting really complicated. I came here with one purpose. To clean up all the things that I had left unfinished, and now the distractions had overpowered that. The choice wasn’t as simple as I thought it was going to be. To do what I was expected to do or what seemed like the right thing. I had always done the right thing. The good friend, faithful lover and good brother. For all the good it did me. Jenny left me, my brother set me up to die, and my best friend was secretly in love with the love of my life.
Maria was starting to stir. She wasn't much older than I was when I had died. Looking at an injured, helpless figure like that made me wonder what would happen if I could wipe away all the horrors and sadness she carried with her. It made me wonder what would my life be like if somebody stole away the sadness and betrayal I carried with me back then. Would I still have traded my future and life trying to save Harrow so easily? If I didn't remember the dreams I built with Jenny, would I still have lost myself. There's always a lot of ifs in life. What if I did this instead of that? Would my life be different if somebody took away all the bad and wiped it away? I had the power to give this little girl a clean second chance at life. All I had to do was take her burdens away. To add her burdens with mine and carry them.
I touched her forehead and muttered the words, "Da mihi saevum et cor rumpit. Et lacrimis , verecundia , culpam , et confractus corde . Vita vivet , et tristitiam oblitus tui . Invenies felici successu in vita amoris . Da mihi omnia onera vestra." Like water through a funnel, all the horrors of her life started flowing from her mind. She'd forget the King and anything that he might have done. The father that abandoned her and the mother that died and left her defenseless. I even took the bad dreams away to try and give her peace. It was a bittersweet moment. Mixed amongst all those horrors were sweet moments, such as the first kiss from some boy named Damian, or the day the one she called Handsome Johnny defended her against his brother. Even after the beating that followed, he told her that her smile was worth it. It was the first time that she ever believed that she was beautiful. Next, it was time to remove the scars from her body. Taking away the memories wouldn't help if she could still see the scars. I whispered, "Sana,Removeomnia cicatrices et imperfectionibus," watching the scars vanish one by one.
"Live your life child forget this place and life."
She responded, "Yes, I will. I will see my aunt in Toronto." She was up on her feet, slowly walking away.
I reached into my pocket, pulling out what little money I had and placed it in her hand, "Take this. It's all the money I have, but it will let you take the train and give you enough to eat."
"Thank you," was all she said as she took it and walked away. I gave her the only gift I could. A fresh start in life free of all burdens, even if deep down I was fighting the sensation that I wanted to cry. All those sad moments had been added to my own and my heart was breaking.
I walked towards the dim light at the end of the corridor. It felt like I was walking deeper into a tunnel and that had to ending. There were echoing booms and clangs followed by loud curses. Harrow had obviously found a metal door that he couldn't force open, and being a less than patient creature he would see that as a reason to pound harder. I turned the corner and found two bodies sprawled on the floor. They looked mutilated and deformed, which I should have expected. The pools of blood were so large that I couldn’t step around them, so I just stomped through them.
“Let me in, little piggy,” Harrow said as he pounded on the door. “I can wait you out, Your Majesty.” He continued to slam his fists against the metal.
Mike was leaning against the wall with his arms crossed.
“The door is two inches thick, Harrow. I don’t think you can just smash through it. It’s a safe room, after all.” Most people might think that Mike was calm and collected, but his right eye twitched and his knees were shaking.
“I need to get in there,” Harrow said, frustrated as he started slamming his fists against the door once again. His hands were bloody and yet he refused to stop. It just wasn’t in him to stop once he put his mind to something. He was like a bloodhound chasing a scent. Absolutely relentless. Each measured punch sent sparks sizzling along the door. It was built to stop his attack.
“You can’t smash your way through it, Harrow,” I said as I walked closer. I ran my fingers along the center of the door, noting that it felt warm to the touch, “This giant cross is just like a spine. It adds strength and power.” Pointing to the corners I added, “Each corner is fortified with a smaller cross.” My hand was burning now so I pulled it away as I said, “It was designed to stop both of us. It seems like in the midst of everything, Nathanial took the time to make this consecrated ground.”
Mike raised an eyebrow, “Don’t look at me, I had nothing to do with it.” Pointing to the door, he seemed confused as he stepped closer to the cross and ran his fingers along it. “This looks like the cross from the graveyard at St. Michael’s Church. It was stolen about five years ago.”
Harrow commented, “That little bastard Nathanial really hated me, didn’t he?”
It was just like Harrow to take everything personally.
"He wasn't just keeping you out, Harrow. He designed the sanctuary to stop both of us. To keep the darkness out of his life." Harrow still seemed to be sulking. "He cast a powerful blood spell to trap us here. Me and Mihaela. He made a prison just for us. Did you see her back there? Frozen and trapped inside her own mind. Her mind works, yet her body betrays her."
"If Nathanial truly wanted to kill you he would have hunted you down with Murlin's help. No, I think he wanted to create a sanctuary to protect himself from us. The monsters in his bloodline."
"Ok so Harrow is a vampire, I know that, but what the hell are you? Some kind of wizard?" There was more than confusion in Mike’s face. His eyes were hazed over with fear and a little disgust.
"I’m just plain old Renaud, nothing more." Mike wouldn't understand theintricacies that pushed my family through life. I am not even sure I did.
“Come on, Renaud. Tell me the truth. I have already witnessed you heal, kill, and create fire. I might not be a genius, but I’m not a complete idiot.” Pointing at Harrow he said, “Compared to finding out that he sucks the blood from old whores to survive and thinks it’s noble, there’s not very much left that can really shock me.”
He really thought that the scariest thing in the world was a pair of vampires feeding on the undesirables. That there wasn’t anything scarier than them lurking in the shadows.
“I am just a man who has unfinished business here to settle up.”
A smirk filled his face, "Somehow I always knew that you and Jenny were done when you left. I always thought that one day you would show up and try and win her love again. It just never occurred to me that you'd return from the grave to do it."
It seems strange that he was so casual about it. I would have thought he'd have been halfway across town kneeling in front of a bible
praying his ass off. I grew up in this world and there were times that I wanted to do that.
"Doesn't any of this bother you?"
"Damn straight it does. I just figure it’s better to stand next to a monster I know then worry about the ones I don't, plus Nathanial kind of prepared me for the unknown."
Harrow was still examining the door as he said, “So how do we open a door that was designed to keep us locked out? One that seems blessed? One that seems beyond us?”
“I can do it,” I said, realizing that this wasn’t going to be a happy memory for me.
“Maybe while you carried the soul stone yes, but I think you’re screwed if you try now,” Harrow said.
“I can do it. I need to finish this now while I have time. I think that saving Jenny and killing the King is why I am here. To avenge Nathanial’s murder and let Jenny know that I forgive her so she can get on with her life.” It made sense to me. I was yanked from Hell’s grip on the day my baby brother was mutilated. Tie up all the loose ends from my former life in one clean swoop.
Laughing, Harrow muttered, “And here I thought that you came back from the grave because you missed me.”
I opened my hands flat, preparing to touch the surface of the door. They were trembling as I tried to build up enough courage to actually do it. It was like yanking off a bandage as a child. You know that it must be done, but the idea of how it's going to hurt if the scab gets ripped off with it is still there. That was exactly how I felt. Like a frightened eight-year-old wishing that my mommy was close by. Talking a deep breath, I pushed my body forward and heard the whooshing sound as blue flame burst up from my hands. My eyes squinted and watered as the pain ran down my fingers, making them feel stiff and unmovable. Through the pain I said, "Hodie in sanguinem, et aperire signacula eius." Nothing happened. Gasping for air, I tried to fight the tendency to pull away and cried out, "Patefacio." The seal broke, but the door didn't open any more than an inch. The flames were traveling up my arm and the flash of burnt flesh was overwhelming.
Mike grabbed my shoulder, "There has to be another way." He was trying to pull me back, but I fought against it. "You can't keep this up, it will burn you to a crisp. Look at your arms."
“I must do this. I can handle the pain.” I shouted, “Ego præcipio tibi, ut aperies,” and the door popped open a little more. My head was starting to feel hazy. The crack around the door was open just a mere four inches and I wasn’t sure how much longer I could endure the pain. The joints in my arms were popping as the heat burned through the bone, but I was determined that I wouldn’t quit.
Harrow stepped closer and looked at me with a smile on his face.
“I guess the children of moon will either win the war together or go up in flames.” I don’t know why he was trying to find amusement in this. The agony of our task wasn’t funny and if we failed, Jenny’s new life certainly wouldn’t be a joke. He grabbed hold of the door and placed his foot against it.
“Open you holy bitch,” he swore as he pushed with all his might. Flames exploded from his hands, going straight to the bone given the mangled shape they were in from his previous battle.
Harrow’s hands were trembling and quaking madly as he tried to use his supernatural strength to force the door open. His screams were animalistic at best, but slowly the door gave way and opened. Closing my eyes, I placed a vision of the door opening into my mind and said, “Hodie hoc ostium sanguinem servorum, qui sub signaculo. Ego praecipio tibi!”
The hinges screamed as the metal door finally opened, breaking the magic that made the seal. Harrow went flying backwards, striking the wall with enough force to send his body through the wood. Falling backwards, I saw Jenny's body lying on the floor in a pool of blood. The King’s giant frame lay beside her. He was gasping for each breath as his body tried to fight the change that was attacking him and his soul. Time wasn't on our side and I was too weak to save her. His chest stopped moving as his heart finally stopped. The true question now wasn't if he was dead, but if he was going to come back to life once again.