by AnonYMous
It had become pretty dark outside by now and she was afraid, not so much for herself, but for Dante. He had that hot-headed streak which, she knew, would one day get him into some trouble he couldn’t deal with. She knew how dangerous it was in Santa Mondega, but occasionally she got the impression that Dante had no idea. He was fearless sometimes, without any good reason. Totally fearless. She loved him for it, but it really did give her the shits.
She had been staring through the open slats of the window blind for what seemed like an eternity when she finally saw a car approach. At first all she was able to see were the headlights. They were not the everyday, standard sort of headlights, either. Kacy didn’t know a lot about cars, but at a guess she would have said these were headlights like those you find on a Cadillac. And that would have been an accurate guess, too. She was tempted to pat herself on the back when she realized it actually was a Cadillac. A bright yellow Cadillac, from what she could see. The motel room was on ground level, so she got a good view of the car as it approached. It cruised up slowly to the room she was in, its shiny yellow paintwork gleaming in the night. Then it pulled in right in front of the window. The bright beam of the headlights blinded her, so that she was unable to make out the driver. And now she felt even more afraid. Why would this Cadillac pull up directly outside their room at the motel? There were plenty of other free spaces it could have parked in.
The car’s engine was pretty loud, so in some ways it was a relief when the driver turned it off. It took a few seconds for the vibrations to die down completely. Then the headlights dimmed and went out. Kacy, however, was still dazzled by those lights, her eyes struggling to adjust to the darkness. She heard a car door shut, but she still hadn’t seen anyone get out of the Cadillac. The next thing she heard was the sound of footsteps, hard-soled shoes crunching on the small gravel stones of the parking lot. As if she believed it might do some good, she closed the blinds and jumped back in the hope of not being seen.
The silhouette of a man moved past the window and up to the door. It looked a little like Dante, but she couldn’t be certain. The round brass doorhandle shook as the man tried to turn it from the outside. Kacy had locked it behind her when she’d got back to the room. She wasn’t about to take any chances. The handle continued to rattle, more violently with each passing second. Should she call out to see if it was Dante? Or should she stay quiet in case it wasn’t? Surely if she waited long enough he would shout through the door to ask her to let him in? But what if he didn’t, and then went off to look for her instead? Goddammit. She decided she’d call out.
‘Dante? That you, baby?’
The handle on the door stopped shaking, but no voice answered. Kacy tiptoed to the door.
‘Dante?’ she repeated, a little more quietly. Still no answer. Now she was really scared, but she couldn’t think what else to do but open the door. The man outside didn’t appear to be going away, and the thought of him kicking the door down to get in terrified her so much that she decided it would be best just to open it. At least then she could pretend to be someone else, someone with nothing to hide. She reached out and placed a trembling hand on the key in the door. She was trembling so much that she accidentally turned the key before she was ready to, and the door immediately swung open a few inches. A hand jabbed in through the gap and grabbed hold of the door, pushing it open from the outside. Kacy jumped back a few paces and let out a small squeal of shock. Standing in front of her, smiling and holding up a set of car keys, was Dante.
‘Oh, baby. You scared the shit out of me! Why didn’t you answer me when I asked if it was you?’
The smile disappeared from Dante’s face.
‘Kace,’ he said seriously, ‘if you didn’t know it was me, you shouldn’t have answered the door. You’ve gotta be more careful than that, okay?’
‘Sorry, baby, but I was scared, bein’ on my own an’ everything.’
Dante threw the keys down on the bed and walked over to her. It comforted her greatly when he put his arms around her and kissed her full on the lips. Then he took her hand and led her over to the door, which was still open. Stepping out, he pointed at the car parked outside their room.
‘Take a look at this, honey. Whadda ya think of my new set of wheels?’ he said, admiring the yellow Cadillac outside. Kacy peered around the door and her eyes opened wide.
‘Wow! That’s a sexy car. Where d’ya get it?’
‘I just found it in the street after I left the bar. It was just sittin’ there with the keys already in the ignition. Seemed kinda rude not to take it, you know? I mean, someone coulda stolen it.’
Kacy wanted to be really furious with Dante for being so stupid as to steal a car when they really didn’t need to be drawing attention to themselves. But she was so relieved to have him back that she couldn’t bring herself to get too angry with him.
‘Baby, you lost your mind?’ she said, shaking her head. ‘Half this town is looking for us because we got this Eye of the Moon thing, and you’ve stolen a bright yellow Cadillac. It’s not the height of discretion, is it? And where the hell have you been? You’ve been gone nearly an hour!’
Dante walked back into the room and shut the door behind him. His cheeks were rosy, as if he had been out in the cold for an unhealthy length of time, but that wasn’t actually the case. He owed his high colour simply to the fact that he was in a good mood.
‘I got more great news. Those two monks that come in the bar? Well, they walked over and sat with me. I was a bit fuckin’ worried at first, I can tell ya, but it turns out they don’t have a clue about us. They don’t know we’ve got that stone.’
‘Oh God! You didn’t mention it to them, did you?’
‘Of course not. Whadda ya think I am? A moron?’
Kacy raised an eyebrow, but otherwise chose not to respond. She was eager to know exactly what Dante had been discussing with the two monks. And it seemed that he was as eager to tell her, so she let him continue.
‘Well, anyway,’ he went on, ‘I got talkin’ to them, and they were actually really nice guys. Then I said I’d heard through the grapevine they were looking for the Eye of the Moon …’
‘Oh Dante, no …’
‘Yeah, baby, but it’s cool. I said I thought I could get it for them, but only at a price. They’re gonna give us ten grand for it!’
‘But, honey, we don’t need another ten grand!’
‘Yeah, I know. But it wouldn’t hurt, would it? And these guys weren’t violent at all. They were into peace and all that karma crap.’
Kacy moved away from Dante and sat down on the end of the bed with her head in her hands. ‘So what now? Are they comin’ here?’ she asked, fearful of what the answer might be.
‘God, no. I’m not stupid. I said I’d meet them in the same bar tomorrow morning at opening time.’
Kacy was far from convinced of the merits of this plan. Dante had obviously not thought it through, and was only now discussing it with her having already made up his mind about what to do.
‘I don’t think we should still have that stone tomorrow when the eclipse is due. I wanna get rid of it now and get out of here,’ she pleaded.
‘Kacy, calm down and trust me, will ya? Have I ever let you down?’
‘Yeah, you have. Remember that time when we had no food and you spent all our money on those Captain Hook DVDs?’
‘Well, yeah. But come on, someone had told me there was a lot of money to be made sellin’ pirate videos. How was I to know the word pirate had more than one meaning?’
Annoyingly, Dante had a cheeky grin on his face that Kacy knew she couldn’t resist. ‘You’re such a prick,’ she said, but the edge had left her voice.
‘Yeah, I know.’ He grinned down at her. ‘But this time I know what I’m doin’. I swear I’m not gonna let you down.’ He sat down next to her on the end of the bed and put his arm around her shoulder, pulling her to him. ‘I’ve got it all figured out. Tomorrow is the day of the eclipse, the last day of the fes
tival. That’s the day when everyone dresses up in fancy dress. I can go out in some real hot disguise so no one, not even the monks, will recognize me. That way, if there’s anything bad goin’ down, or if anything don’t look quite right, I can just get the hell out of there. You can chuck that stone in a ditch if you want, but for ten grand I reckon it’s worth taking a chance, don’t you?’
Kacy thought hard. Dante was never especially convincing when trying to get her to do stuff she was unsure about. And she was really unsure about this. But she loved him, and she knew that she would go along with his plan. And he knew it, too.
‘I love you, honey,’ was all she said.
Rather than admit that she agreed with him, she could always just say ‘I love you’ and he would know that she was going to do as he wanted.
‘I love you too,’ he smiled. ‘Everything will be all right, babe. Trust me, we’re finally gonna get lucky. Something really great is gonna happen tomorrow, I can feel it. We can start a brand-new life together after I’ve sold that blue stone to the monks, then you an’ me, we can spend the rest of our lives spendin’. We’ve worked hard for a break like this, an’ we deserve it.’
Kacy loved Dante when he was like this. His enthusiasm and complete confidence that everything would be all right was a huge turn-on for her. She also knew that he could read her like a book, so he could see she was hot for him. She didn’t need even to speak again and give her approval, for Dante just grabbed her and pushed her down on to the bed. They spent the next forty-five minutes fucking like a couple who had not seen each other in months.
Afterwards, as they lay together underneath the bedclothes, Dante repeatedly kissed the back of Kacy’s neck, telling her how much he loved her. She fell asleep with his arms draped around her, praying that it wouldn’t be the last time she felt the warmth of his body against hers. Her greatest fear was that he might have got them in over their heads this time. Sometimes, his fearlessness bordered on recklessness. And this time lives were at stake.
Forty-Three
Kyle and Peto had waved goodbye to Dante as he left the bar. He had just nodded back at them and walked out. This left them with the opportunity to discuss what they thought of him, and it also left them with a table to themselves. Neither of them had noticed that the Nightjar had become a lot busier during the time they had spent talking to the pleasant young man who called himself Dante.
‘Do you think he was telling the truth?’ Peto asked Kyle, hoping for an affirmative answer.
‘You know what, Peto?’ Kyle replied. ‘I actually think he was. I know we’re probably a bit too trusting, but I genuinely believe he was an honest and helpful man.’
‘I agree. Shall we have an alcoholic drink to celebrate?’
Kyle thought about the suggestion. Peto was clearly itching to try out an alcoholic drink, and if he was honest with himself, he was curious to taste one, too. So what the heck, right?
‘Very well, then. Just one though, and no one but us two will ever know, okay? It’ll be our secret.’
‘Great. What shall we have? Beer or whisky … or bourbon?’
‘We are not having bourbon. Lord knows what that might do to us. If we’ve learnt anything these last few days, it’s that bourbon is the drink of the Devil. Let’s have a beer. That’s what Rodeo Rex was drinking, and he’s a nice fellow.’
‘I think it’s what our new friend Dante was drinking, too.’
‘Beer it is then. I’ll go and get them, Peto. You sit here and watch my seat.’
‘Okay.’
Peto was excited. He had now seen plenty of other people drinking and generally being jolly, and he was keen to experience it for himself. What he didn’t realize, however, was that in just a few minutes time he was actually going to need a stiff drink. He could not have known it, but Peto was in for the greatest five-minute eye opener of his (so far) sheltered life.
The Nightjar was full of quiet corners and alcoves where shady characters could hide away and watch other people as they drank. Apart from strangers, who were pretty much universally detested, new arrivals in town like Kyle and Peto tended to draw attention to themselves unwittingly. Rodeo Rex had warned them of this, but they had not realized just how serious his warning had been.
Once Kyle had made his way to the bar, a number of sleazy characters began to eye up the naive-looking young man sitting alone at the table, waiting for his companion to return with their drinks. Two of these lurking watchers, a step ahead of the rest, soon appeared from the shadows. Wordlessly, they pulled up chairs at Peto’s table and sat down on either side of him. Both of them were wearing long black coats with the collars turned up. Both also wore unusual necklaces on which were strung teeth that looked as though they had formerly belonged to some seriously carnivorous wild beasts. The first of the two men, a greasy, unshaven lowlife with long, straggly dark hair, leaned over the table to speak to Peto. He had piercing green eyes that looked deep into the young monk’s not-so-piercing brown ones.
‘Well, well, well,’ he said. ‘Look what we’ve got here, Milo. It’s young Peto, if I’m not mistaken.’
His companion leaned forward a little, as if taking a closer look at Peto’s face.
‘Is that so, Hezekiah?’ he said in a mocking tone.
Milo had long, greasy blond hair and was of similar build to Hezekiah, but his eyes were a very disconcerting red. As he leaned over and grinned at Peto, the young monk got a good look at his horrible large yellow teeth, and smelled a good waft of his foul breath. Peto was distinctly unimpressed by the unclean look of both their faces, which was well complemented by their scruffy clothing. These two men could quite easily be living rough on the street, he thought. They were unutterably filthy, as were there clothes, and they stank horribly. Peto, of course, was not one to judge people he didn’t know, and besides, they seemed to know him, so there was no reason not to be friendly … was there?
‘How do you know who I am?’ he asked the one with the green eyes who had referred to him by name.
‘You don’t remember us, do you?’ Hezekiah replied with a smirk.
‘No. I’m sorry. I don’t.’
‘Don’t you worry, son. Your friend Kyle, he’ll know us.’
‘Oh good. Friends of his, are you?’
‘Yes. That’s right, isn’t it, Milo? We’re friends of Kyle’s, aren’t we?’
‘Yes, Hezekiah. We’re friends of Kyle. Good friends.’
It was then that it suddenly dawned on Peto that he recognized the names.
‘Wait a second,’ he blurted out, ‘you’re Milo and Hezekiah?’ He looked at them in bewilderment.
When, a moment later, Kyle came back with two bottles of beer and took his place at the table, he had no idea who Peto’s new companions were. It didn’t take him long to find out, however. Recognition dawned as soon as he heard Hezekiah’s voice. The two had been great friends before Hezekiah had left Hubal. Only now, the creature Kyle saw before him was very different from the fresh-faced young monk who had set out from Hubal five long years ago.
‘My God! Hezekiah!’ Kyle blurted out. ‘You’re alive! And is this Milo? I can’t believe it! And you’ve got hair! Wow, it’s so long. You look so different. What have you been doing?’
Hezekiah picked up the bottle of beer Kyle had put on the table for himself and took a mouthful from it before carefully setting it back down. His reply was one long sneer.
‘Drinking, fornicating, stealing, killing … Basically, everything Father Taos taught us not to do.’
There was something sinister about his tone, and Kyle was not sure what to make of it. This wasn’t the same Hezekiah he had grown up with. As young monks learning about life they had been good friends. Hezekiah was a year older than Kyle, and had always been a step ahead of him in everything. This had made Kyle a little envious of him at times, but it was also one of the main reasons why he had nothing but respect for his old friend. In his younger days he had always viewed Hezekiah as a yardstick by wh
ich to judge his own progress as a monk. Now, seeing his former colleague before him, he felt he should be overjoyed, but this shabby, sneering parody of a monk seemed just like every other man in Santa Mondega. Kyle’s every instinct was warning him that Hezekiah was untrustworthy and unpredictable, two traits that he especially hated. But he was still an old friend, and Kyle was not given to judging a man unfairly, especially one he had known before he’d been able to walk.
‘So why haven’t you come back to Hubal?’ he asked. ‘Everyone thinks you’re dead.’
The corners of Hezekiah’s mouth curled up to show off his unpleasant toothy smile.
‘To all intents and purposes I am dead, and so is Milo. Father Taos cut us loose … or didn’t he tell you?’
‘Erm, no. No, he didn’t mention it.’
‘What a surprise,’ Milo muttered under his breath, although just loud enough for everyone at the table to hear. Immediately, both Kyle and Peto were reminded of what Rodeo Rex had told them earlier. It was beginning to look as though he really might be right. Maybe Father Taos had withheld some of the truth. In fact, there was no ‘maybe’ about it. He had told them that the two monks he had sent from Hubal five years ago were dead. Hezekiah, meanwhile, had no intention of waiting for Kyle and Peto to piece it all together on their own.
‘Look,’ he said, gently tapping a long, filthy fingernail into the fleshy part of Kyle’s right shoulder. ‘You’re not welcome in this town. Get out, and get out now. We know why you’re here, but forget it. The Eye is beyond your reach, and even if it weren’t, your lives would be over if you ever succeeded in retrieving it.’
This was one of those occasions when Peto was extremely grateful that Kyle was the senior party, and as such had responsibility for asking the questions. The novice was able to sit back and try to take everything in while his brother did all the thinking.
