Embers

by Daniela Elana

  “I’m afraid so,” I said with a deep sigh.

  “Mar, don’t waste your time thinking of him. Are you fine otherwise with the murder confession?” Leslie said.

  “I should’ve said something sooner.”

  “It explains a lot like slitting the man’s throat on the side of the road. But I don’t see you any differently.”

  “I murdered so many people!”

  “But you don’t murder anymore unless it’s for self-defense. I look at who you are now not the past. Don’t listen to Cicely. What happened to her sister is awful, but she’s wrong God has forgiven you. Right now she’s bitter.”

  “Maricel I would’ve never taken you to be the type, but I agree with Leslie your past doesn’t define you,” Caroline said, giving me a hug.

  “Thanks, I love you guys.” We all gave one another a group hug. “I mean girls!” We all laughed as we held each other.

  * * *

  A week passed, and we arrived on the coast of Italy Christmas eve.

  We snuck on board a train traveling to the Vatican. During the train ride, Leo signaled for me to follow him and we journeyed into another car where were all alone. He shut the door behind him.

  “Remember our first train ride?” he said.

  “Hardly, I was sedated.”

  “That’s right, I did place something in your food at the center.”

  “I figured,” I said.

  “When you just lied there, it felt as if I was watching an angel sleep.” He withdrew a bracelet made of sapphire. “Happy belated birthday,” he said, placing it around my wrist. I gazed into his eyes, startled by the gift. My birthday had been three months ago. The bracelet was made of my birthstone.

  “Thank you, Leonardo,” I said. He chuckled.

  “What?”

  “It’s just cute when you say my name. No one else has that effect.”

  “Maybe I should say your name more often.”

  “Marciel, I want to commit to you. I understand if it may be too much for you considering everything that happened with Masial and Claudazel.”

  “Leo...I...” I gasped.

  “I want to marry you. I don’t know how or when but if the last thing I do, it’s worth it.”

  I smiled at him. He had spoken the answer to my prayer. I embraced him, and he held me tightly, I felt so safe in the grip of his arms.

  “You already know my answer,” I said as he held me. “Yes, to everything you said. I want to spend the rest of my life with you as well.”

  The car door slid open as we held each other. To my displeasure, Baran stepped through.

  “You’re an idiot!” Baran hollered.

  “Stay out of this!” Leo said.

  “So that’s how you treat family.”

  “Why are you and father forcing Cicely on me? I’m never going to change my mind!” Leo slammed him into the wall of the train. I jumped back gasping.

  “We’re supposed to marry within Flo, not an outsider!”

  “Why don’t you marry Cicely yourself since two are still seeing each other.”

  “I wouldn’t have to comfort her still if you were doing your job right. Have you forgot that your little girlfriend killed my future wife?”

  “Your interest never lied in Logan; it was always in Cicely. You used to tell me how lucky I was to have her rather than her sister. Logan abandoned the cult heartbroken.”

  “They fried the rest of your brain cells with the electroshock therapy,” he said. Leo huffed, choking his brother, he finally released him.

  Baran wiped the blood from the corner of his nose glaring at him. He grabbed me by the waist, draping me over his shoulder like a sack of grain. He swung open the train door as the tracks raced past us. I squirmed as he slammed me down so that I was dangling out of the car while the train moved.

  “Let her go!”

  “As you wish!” he said, letting me slip from his grasp. I swung upwards, punching him hard in the face giving him a black eye and then raising up as he tried to grab me. I kicked him the stomach, and he fell backward.

  “You bitch!” He shouted as he lay there, writhing. Leo smiled at me.

  “Don’t ever touch me again, you creep!” I said as I left.

  * * *

  We spent the night resting in the forest and awoke early. In a bag were disguises and fake ID’s that Crystal had made. I put on a short wig, a long navy dress, and a head covering, which made me appear several years older.

  Leslie slipped on a long blonde wig and flipped her hair.

  “I’ve always wondered how I would look with platinum blonde hair,” she said. We both burst out laughing. Caroline slipped on a brown wig, pulled back into a bun and reading glasses.

  “I look like a teacher,” she said.

  We snickered. Cicely rolled her eyes at us as she adjusted her mid-length black wig.

  “We are going to split up, I figure the best way to do so is by gender, you girls will sneak in and obtain, this list. I’ll guide the way before the split,” Leo said. His long wig, brought out his intense eyes as he spoke. I tried not to get lost in them. He handed me a sheet. Cicely snatched it from my hand. “Please try to get along we don’t have much time, we need to move quickly.”

  We joined the crowd gathered for the Christmas Eve mass honoring Lovell. As they prayed, we moved through excusing ourselves and tiptoed around the building ducking and dodging every slight bit of sound caused us to jump.

  Men stood guard on the roof. Crystal had hacked into one of the mics. A loud boom sounded from the opposite direction of where we were infiltrating. The guards turned to see where the noise came from, and the crowd went crazy.

  We made it into the building. Leo handed me a key.

  “Use this it should be able to open anything.”

  “Are you sure?”

  “Now’s not the time for skepticism,” he said. I took it and hurried. As he moved with me, a group of men stood guard and Leo threw a canister of gas. They coughed, tripping over their own feet, passing out. Not before hitting the alarm alerting the vicinity of our intrusion.

  I hurried in and did my best to remain calm. My eyes were alight at the rows and shelves of books. I scanned the columns. There were books on advanced medical procedures, scientific breakthroughs, advanced mathematic equations, historical books on information never heard of coming out of unsuspecting civilizations, books on fallen angels and their classes.

  “This is amazing, they were performing advanced surgeries before the dark ages,” I said as I handed it to Crystal.

  “They had a plan drafted for centuries of what’s happening today,” Caroline said, handing Crystal another book.

  “Check this out, here’s a book on antediluvian weapons of mass destruction. Some of this stuff is beyond us,” Leslie said. Although I felt as if I were getting a headache, from trying to regain focus, picking up the books I could remember from the list. There was one last book on the false prophet. I scooped it up, preparing to hand it to Crystal, so she could place it in her bag. Cicely snatched it.

  “Hand it over, I need to give it to Crystal,” I said.

  “This book contains information on the false prophet’s whore,” she said. Dust hit her in the face, and she coughed. “Let’s see the false prophet, which is also Abaddon, Apollyon, also the infamous Azazel will be unleashed, after a ritual is performed in a desert, summoning him. The thirteen crystal skulls will be united. He will rise like a phoenix to find his wife.” She glanced at me.

  “We don’t have time for this. Do you not hear the alarms?”

  “Some say she will be from a powerful occult bloodline, other’s say she will be a common girl none would ever expect. Chaos follows her...”

  The clanking of the hefty guards’ boots, as they bolted down the stairwell charging toward us like a cavalry, was our cue to run for cover.

  Before Cicely could shut the book, a guard gripped her by the co
llar.

  “What are you doing down here,” he said.

  I hid behind a shelf, peeking out as I could see their pant legs as they interrogated her.

  “I was lost,” she said with a pout. The guard slapped her, she fell face forward.

  “Who’s with you?” Her light eyes grew big with horror.

  “Our leader is Maricel, she made us raid the Vatican!”

  They started searching behind every shelf. Crystal motioned to run, but they captured her. Security turned to where I was and dragged me out from behind the shelf and clubbed me. I cowered in a ball to protect my face.

  “If it isn’t Maricel. The girl who Azazel never stops mentioning. Tomorrow you will stand before the false trinity to speak in Washington DC. We’re deporting your cult back to the United States.”

  * * *

  I sat on the cold floor of a prison cell alone, clutching my knees rocking. Leslie and Caroline slept in the cell across from me. The only good thing about being considered a cult leader was that Cicely was not locked up together.

  Casting my eyes to what would be the sky, imagining the thousands of constellations that were overhead, my mind wandered. All my life, I had grown up, with one viewpoint of the bible never attaching myself to anyone in it.

  At sunrise, they brought us before the false trinity. Although our crime was committed overseas because an international government had replaced previous nation-states, our crime was considered an international offense.

  In single file linked by shackled together, we walked through a wide hall. The white marble flooring added to the vastness of the room. Carved in high relief along the coffered domed ceiling was the imagery of winged beings lined with plated gold ornamentation. Straight ahead past the sandstone ionic pillows under three windows sat Lovell, Azazel, and Tess on thrones. The round window opening in the center of the ceiling, shined upon them, giving them a glow that seemed almost ethereal. Tess was in the center donning a jasper encrusted diadem and trinkets. Her face was painted so precise. It almost seemed artificial.

  The orange jumpsuits we wore were unflattering. My hand remained shackled in front of me.

  “Master,” a voice inquired, stepping forward. I stared in disbelief as Thane the same guy who had tried assault me back in LA came forward. “I bring before you the thirteen fugitives that left their region without consent of the government and having currency, shot down a government drone, constructed a marine submarine illegally, broke into the Vatican in attempts to rob books that contain classified information with the belief they could overthrow the Lemurian order.” Thane turned to me and sneered.

  “Bring them forward, let me have a look at the fugitives,” Lovell said, his eyes gleaming. He glanced down at me and exchanged looks with Azazel. “I think it’s best if we let Tess deal with them,” Lovell said with a twisted smile looking us all over. We stepped closer.

  “I see the thirteen of you felt you were above the false trinity. Especially you, forming your own cult! Bow before us and recant your beliefs!” she said, pointing at me.

  “There is only one God. His name is above all names. I along with my brothers and sisters, will continually worship and serve Him. You’re the one that needs to recant your false beliefs and repent for your blasphemy!” I said.

  “Don’t speak unless asked to.”

  “I thought I beheaded you,” I said.

  “Not so innocent as you pretend,” Lovell said. Leo was right now that Lovell was in front of me, the flesh in his eye really did bulge.

  “I never said I was innocent,” I said.

  “Let me refresh your memory,” Tess said, waving her hand. I fell, gripping my head.

  * * *

  Her pupils constricted with terror as I tore the blade across her neck, and the blood flowed to the handle and onto my hands. She gurgled. Her head rolled toward my feet, and I scooped it up, dangling it like a trophy.

  My mind rewound to the critical point. This time, a girl no more than fifteen years of age. Most likely, a captive from a ritual appeared to be her as I was so caught up in my hatred. Tess stood behind me laughing as I killed her, her head rolling to the ground.

  * * *

  “Remember now,” Tess said.

  “You…!” I sprung forward. Thane pushed me back.

  “Have more respect for your queen,” Thane said.

  “I have a treat, rather than execution, I have something different in mind,” said Tess.

  A tall cross-eyed man hobbled out from the chambers using a cane to support his balance. His long gray beard and wavy peppered hair were a familiar sore sight, Slate—the high priest who had initiated me into the Lemurian Order.

  He turned his hand sideways, muttering a phrase I was unable to make out. When Leo saw him, his eyes glazed over. Leo tilted his head, cocking it side to side, rolling his neck. When he turned around, his expression had changed.

  His friends behaved the same way as if they had choreographed a reaction. Like robots, they turned to us. Their eyes were devoid of sentience. Lifeless like zombies they motioned to pounce.

  Leo wrapped his chain around my neck. With both hands, I gripped the chain, fighting the stress of it tightening and kneed him in the stomach—freeing myself from the suffocation. He snatched my leg, twirled me around in a circle throwing me backward, landing at Azazel’s feet. I glanced up at Azazel. His eyes were an indigo tint.

  “You came crawling back,” he said. I frowned. “You still think he has your back?”

  I stood up, dusting off the dirt. From my left side, Cicely charged at me. Sliding to my right, she missed me and bumped into Leo who ran at me from behind.

  Crystal picked up Leslie and tossed her on top of Caroline.

  Baran wrapped his meaty arm around Zev’s neck, bashing his head in the ground.

  Kevin and Warren took strikes at Rain, teaming up to wrap their piece of the chain around Rain, leading to his collapse.

  Cicely grabbed me by the neck. I struck her face; we both fell. She leaped up, wiping away blood from her busted lip, stalking toward me. My breath was growing shorter.

  When she lunged form me, I butted heads with her so hard she stumbled back. I raised my fist to strike before she could stand. Her mouth parted and eyes widened with confusion as if she had finally returned to her normal state of mind. Tess clapped.

  “Bravo! That was beautiful!” Tess laughed, taking a bite of chocolate. “Time for round two,” she said, opening a book— The Lesser Key of Solomon Grimoire.

  She read an invocation.

  Ghastly, formless figures materialized through the walls, ceiling, and air. Some were mere shadows while others had thorns, deformities with bodies or heads of various animals and insects. The room wreaked of sulfur and rotten meat.

  The two demons at the front of the horde were Asmodeus and the Seirim. The Seirim small horns shimmered under the natural light pouring in from the windows above whereas the sun magnified the rotting flesh of Asmodeus’s countenance.

  “It’s been a long time!” His grin showcased his large fangs.

  Caroline and Leslie prayed under their breath. Their mouth’s sealed shut as if an invisible zipper had taken over their lips.

  Azazel rubbed his neck watching with a grin, signaling for me to use the seal. My hand grazed over my shirt, feeling the cold metal on my clammy skin. I stroked it once, twice, a third time, stopping—No. I can’t. Once could save us all.

  Before I could make up my mind, Asmodeus’s nails jetted out to scratch me. He missed me by an inch.

  A wave of electricity shot through my hands, traveling up my arms, and down to my legs. I knew no spells or enchantments. Just my faith was enough to transfer the energy needed for the seal to work.

  As the demons surged toward us, a mighty wind, spinning drew closer. My hair blew around my head, and I levitated off the floor. Asmodeus went through me like my body was a hologram.

  A horde of voices filled my min
d with chaos now dwelling in me. Their voices were now inside me.

  “Break the shackles from our hands and go after Tess instead,” I said, telepathically.

  The Demons turned their attention to Tess. Tess muttered a spell, and they stopped short of her.

  “I knew she had it in here.” Azazel clapped. I ran my fingers through my hair as my heart sank.

  Oddly enough, the false trinity remained situated on their throne, not bothering to apprehend or pursue us. Their passivity was our cue to run.

  My body ached while I tore down the never-ending corridor fighting the voices booming in my head. Behind me, all seventy-two spirits followed.

  Falling to my knees, I clutched my head to rid their complaints about being under the control of me.

  “Stay where you are and don’t follow me!” I said to them, noticing all my friends were no longer in sight. I jogged out into the bright sunlit street.

  Around the corner was a parked empty cattle truck. Warren was in the driver’s seat. I noticed Zev shoving Leo.

  “We need to wait for her!” Zev said.

  “I will but not before we talk,” Leo said. Zev narrowed his eyes as he saw me sprinting to him. Although the spirits were no longer following me, they wouldn’t stop clamoring in my head.

  “Zev, I’m so sorry. I thought everyone had left me behind,” I said, wrapping my arms around him. Zev held me. A single tear hit the top of my head. The pain in my chest worsened by the sting of hurting him with my actions.

  “Maricel, what happened?” he said, his pitch wavering.

  “I don’t know,” I said.

  “I thought I’d lost you,” Zev said. Leo watched as Zev helped me into the cattle truck. We sat beside each other. I laid my head on his shoulder, clutching his arm. Leo got in last, closing the doors and chose a seat by me, yet said nothing. His anger radiated from him. When I did chance a glance, he was scowling.

  My head was throbbing as if a thousand needles pricked my brain.

  “Are you okay?” Leslie asked.

  “I still hear...” I muttered.

  “Hear?” Caroline asked.

  “Them.”

  “Who?” Zev asked.