Dead Souls Volume One (Parts 1 to 13)

  Part Thirteen

  I

  “Forgive me,” Cavaleri whispered to herself as she stood at Edgar's bedroom door, her hand poised to turn the handle. “What I'm about to do... I know it's a sin, and I know my soul will be judged accordingly, but I'm doing it because it's right. Something has gone terribly wrong here on Thaxos and...”

  She paused as she realized that she was just delaying the inevitable. She had prayed over and over again, each time hoping that perhaps God would offer her some solace, some hint that he believed she was doing the right thing. Now, finally, she realized she had to go on alone. God, if He existed, had clearly stopped caring about Thaxos a long time ago.

  Slowly, she turned the door handle and pushed it open. Peering into the hush of the darkened room, she saw immediately that Edgar Le Compte's bed was empty.

  With the Crucifix of St. Joan in her right hand, Cavaleri stepped forward cautiously. There was no doubt that the large bed was unoccupied, with the covers having been pushed aside. She looked around, half-expecting to find Le Compte lurking somewhere in the shadows, but her eyes adjusted quickly to the darkness and she realized there was no obvious sign of anyone else in the room. Still, she knew better than to relax just yet, so she made her way cautiously to the window, while keeping her back against the wall for safety. Moonlight streamed through from outside, and it was clear that no-one was hiding behind the curtains, but there were still plenty of others places for a man to hide.

  Crouching down, she looked under the bed, but she saw no-one.

  “Where the hell are you?” she whispered.

  After checking every last corner of the room, she was finally satisfied that Edgar wasn't around. She could already feel the panic in her gut, telling her that her carefully-planned attack was unraveling. Part of her felt she should abandon everything and retreat, so as to come up with a new way to get Edgar, but at the same time she also felt that she had to make her move right now, right here. Taking a deep breath, and with the Crucifix of St. Joan still in her right hand, she headed back to the door and left the bedroom.

  She didn't hear the faint growl from above, or the sound of something moving across the ceiling.