The Dark Messenger

by Milo Spires

  Chapter 31 - Think but think wisely!

  The angel’s last words were going around and around inside Regina’s mind. She didn’t know exactly why, but to her it felt like the words meant something so much more. It was as if they had missed something, and that the angel was trying to help them in some bizarre way.

  Kaine turned and read her mind as again she let the words bounce around inside her brain,

  ‘DOES NOT MEAN’ and ‘THINK, BUT THINK WISELY.’

  ‘What’s troubling you about those words? Do you think there’s another way, other than taking his job offer?’ he messaged.

  ‘Yes I do, but quite what I don’t know yet. It’s just…well…an angel comes here and tells us everything before giving you a job offer, which he must have known we wouldn’t take. Then the last words he ends on saying are those words. I think he was helping us’.

  She paced, thinking.

  ‘Yes! That has to be it! I think it was like a riddle, maybe he was giving us a clue? I think he definitely wants us to refuse his offer and to THINK, because if we do, AND THINK WISELY, there is another way to escape. He wants to save Jenny because she’s the priest’s daughter.’

  ‘I see the logic, but he did say we wouldn't live if I didn't join him. He felt sure it was only a matter of time before Raffious had the vase complete again,’ Kaine messaged back.

  ‘No, not exactly. What he said was this: if we escape, Raffious was heading for the chamber where Rex kept the vase, but we don't care because that’s in the future. If he gets the vase complete, it’s useless unless he goes back in time, back to when Lucifer created vampires.”

  Her eyes lit up. “Well, we can go back in time, can’t we? Together we could go back and stop him.’

  Kaine smiled, hoping she was right. It did make a lot of sense when he thought about it. The angel’s offer wasn’t very attractive, to say the least.

  ‘Do you understand?’ she messaged.

  Kaine agreed he liked her idea a lot. He then started to recite the words in his head, saying them over and over again, double-checking her idea and making sure he fully understood the riddle himself:

  ‘Does not mean Heaven is leaving you here to a certain death. Think, but think wisely.’

  Regina turned and started walking towards the kitchen. ‘I need a proper drink. What about you, darling? And Becky, do you need some blood?

  They both nodded.

  Becky raced into the kitchen to help Regina, and left Kaine and Jenny crashed out in the lounge.

  Regina messaged Kaine, saying to tell the girls what her thoughts were about the angel’s last words whilst she washed up some glasses. She hoped they would agree.

  Launching himself up from the sofa to stand in the kitchen doorway so both Jenny in the lounge and Becky standing beside his wife washing glasses could clearly hear him, he explained it thoroughly.

  ‘I agree it really does sound like the angel was trying to help us. I think you are right, Kaine,’ Jenny said from her place on the sofa. Or, rather, she fairly trumpeted it so that Regina and Becky could hear her.

  Kaine, Regina, and Becky winced at the sound, trying hard not to let Jenny see their reaction.

  ‘Someone needs to tell her about our sense of hearing,’ Regina whispered. Becky snorted softly.

  Jenny, unaware that vampires’ hearing was ten times better than that of humans, had merely been trying to be polite. Truth be said, she could have whispered softly from the sofa that she was lying on and they still would have heard her quite well.

  ‘The angel did say he knew your father, and that he was a very special man, Jenny. I'm sure they wont let any harm come to you; they want to re-unite you with him,’ Kaine told her.

  ‘That may be true, but it doesn’t help you three though, does it?’ Jenny said.

  ‘Well it does, because we are in here with you. If they break in we could all die. Maybe Heaven won’t let them break in, or they will make the sun come up earlier so that we can all escape. Like I said, when it’s daylight, those vampires can’t stay outside because of the burning sun. Also, the humans will be about, and they know that. Even if they have skin wraps, they can’t risk being seen, else the police and army would arrive soon after,’ Kaine said, hoping that he had helped to calm her nerves a little, after having seen her biting her fingernails for the past hour.

  ‘That makes me feel a lot better, thank you.’ She smiled at him gratefully, then the frown returned to her face.

  ‘I’m also worried about you trying to catch Raffious, and that if you go back in time he might hurt you. The angel did make it very clear that he could kill you easily if you tried fighting him. He is too powerful, and I don't want you to get hurt,’ she said in a worried tone.

  ‘My darling, the angel only said that to warn me that I must change the way I attack him. I can guarantee you something; if I'm up against him, I will rip his dirty little head clean off, that’s for sure!’ he said but Regina had her own doubts about that and for the moment kept them to herself.

  ‘What about your father? Don’t you want to see him?’ Kaine asked, hoping to change the subject. He laid back down on the sofa again in his dirty clothes, ignoring Regina’s silent protests from the kitchen. He could feel her roll her eyes, defeated. He grinned to himself.

  ‘I haven’t thought about him anymore, to be honest,’ Jenny replied.

  Becky was standing next to Regina in the kitchen passing glasses, and her newly improved vampire hearing allowed her to clearly understand what Jenny had just said about Raffious hurting Kaine. As she heard it, she felt the rage inside again. It was trying to flood through every part of her body, and the fangs were beginning to grow. This time she managed to stop herself as she thought of the consequences if her mate saw.

  Regina looked at her, realized what had just happened, and laughed. ‘You two are so funny!’ she giggled before walking back into the lounge from the kitchen, holding two pint glasses full of deer’s blood.

  ‘Here,’ she said as she passed one down to her husband, noticing again just how filthy he really was. ‘Take your drink and go and have a shower, will you? Oh, and you better put on your battle gear too,’ she said, not knowing if he might need it but not wanting him to take any chances.

  Kaine looked up and furrowed his brow because he had only just that second sat back down and was quite comfortable, now he had to move again.

  Becky walked back into the lounge and smiled as her bare feet left the cold hard-tiled kitchen floor and again landed on the warm, deep-piled soft carpet in their living room. But as she did so, a thought raced through her mind that deeply concerned her.

  Looking across, Regina noticed her face change to a frown and her eyes become distant, as if she were in deep thought. At first glance she thought that maybe her recent transformation into a vampire was still troubling her or something.

  ‘What’s up? Why the long face?’ she said.

  ‘Nothing. It was a stupid thought,’ Becky replied, hoping to change the subject. But Regina was all ears and interested to know what it was.

  ‘Go on, tell. I'm curious and you can’t keep me in suspense. What is it, darling?’ she coaxed.

  ‘Oh, okay. Well, I thought how Raffious had tricked everyone so much, and if he really was that devious and cunning, how do we know the angel wasn’t really Raffious? He has impersonated a priest supposedly, so why not an angel?’ she reasoned.

  Regina couldn’t answer, as she suddenly found herself in a new place of confusion in her head. She had only just settled on the decision not to accept the angel’s offer, and now this, which might change everything once again. She had to agree that it was a possibility they had to consider, what with everything that had happened so far and all.

  ‘I will ask Kaine and see what he thinks. You have got a good point though,’ she said, smiling back at her.

  Her thoughts turned to her husband.

  ‘Darling can you come here? Becky has just brought something up that I think you shou
ld hear,’ she messaged, hoping that she had caught him in time before he had got into his birthday suit and started washing himself in the shower.

  ‘What’s up?’ he messaged. “I am half naked.’

  Regina hadn’t had her morning lovemaking, and hearing that her lover was about to be naked in the shower somewhat teased her. All she could think about doing was ripping her clothes off and running in there to join him. She didn’t know when they might ever get another chance to be intimate together.

  Maybe they wouldn’t, if he decided to accept the angel’s stupid offer, she thought.

  ‘I am turning it down, baby,’ he messaged as he read her mind.

  ‘I’m glad,’ she replied.

  Regina didn’t normally take kindly at all to someone deciding something for her without asking her first. Obviously this time, though, Kaine had done exactly that. She was okay with it this time; she actually felt a huge weight rise off her shoulders, and she was immensely grateful they didn’t have to decide together on this one. Normally, though, her husband would never do that. It was one of the things that made him so very special—he confided in her about everything.

  ‘What did you want to ask me anyway?’ he messaged.

  ‘Becky just brought up the possibility that the angel might have really been Raffious trying to trick us,’ she messaged.

  There was a pause as Kaine considered this.

  ‘That’s such a good point! Tell her I will think about it and see if there’s a way we can prove it. I would have trouble with that though, simply because he knew our thoughts and he was so gentle. There was so much love radiating off him as he touched my forehead. I doubt anyone could fake that,’ he replied.

  As she finished the messaging she turned around, and Becky could tell that she had finished telepathically talking to Kaine by her facial expression. In the few days she had been there, she had learned how to realise when they were sending messages and when they weren’t. She was hoping that very soon she might learn how to use the free messaging service too.

  ‘So what did he say?’ Becky asked, wondering if he hadn’t just laughed, and said that she was being silly and needed to pull herself together.

  Regina told her, and then said, ‘Anyway, we have both decided we aren’t accepting his offer, so I wouldn’t worry.’

  As she finished the sentence though, suddenly from beneath them, the noise started again.

  ‘Damn!’ she shouted, suddenly remembering what the angel had said: ‘If you do decide that you aren’t going to accept our offer, Heaven will know, and time will start again immediately, and before the full day is out.’

  Chapter 32 – Pain is coming

  (In the cells again, under the Tower of London)

  If anyone had been around to look in through the bars of their cell, it would have seemed that the two of them, Raffious and Longinus, were merely statues….

  Raffious was still in the position he had been in when Longinus had originally picked him up from the floor. He was sitting on the far left, with his bum on the bench and his feet on the ground, facing forwards. His hands were on his lap and his long, now almost grey-looking beard, was curled up like a cat on his knees. The old boy’s facial expression held a solemn, almost lifeless look as he gazed forwards. If someone had walked up to him and slowly waved a hand in front of his glistening tiny eyes, saying something like, ‘Earth calling Jupiter, is anyone home?’ It was a fifty-fifty shot that he would reply. Most of the time he was in deep thought.

  The only times he did truly stir was either when he was going to start begging Longinus to remove the arrow again, or to promise to save the vampire from being trapped in his, all in the mind, deeply murky and very misty swamp. Apart from those times, he never stirred, even when he was relieving himself. The only sign that he was doing this was the sight and smell of the urine dribbling down his legs.

  It was Longinus’ role, whenever Raffious indicated that he was thirsty, to scoop up the filthy water off the floor by cupping his hands and then holding it up to the old man’s lips. In the offering, there often bits of hair, blood, grit from the rock floor beneath, and dried spit. Longinus would remain motionless in front of him, allowing the nasties to sink to the bottom whilst, with his lips puckered, Raffious would suck the top surface in.

  Longinus had realised their system had its flaws. It was hardly a rock-solid water purification method, but what could he do? It was all they had, given their grim circumstances. This was the reason why, as lumps of nasties were sucked into Raffious’ mouth, he never grinned to alert him of the fact. Instead, he just kept an expressionless face and sniggered within.

  When not assisting Raffious, Longinus sat in his usual position, with his back wedged in the right hand corner of the cell and his legs outstretched as far as he could. The tips of his toes stopped millimeters from touching the old fool in front of him. When he tired of that position, just for the sheer excitement of it, he would bring his knees up and gaze for hours at the bench between the gaps in his legs. Throughout all of this, he waited for the misty swamp to reappear, as he unfortunately knew it would, and without warning.

  About every hour or so, he might get the slightest build-up in saliva, if that, then suddenly he was there again, standing waist-deep in dead bodies, with thick dark mist all around him.

  Then as the mist cleared but slightly, dark silhouettes of things, beings, shapes came into view, approaching surreptitiously from all sides. At the same moment that he realised they were from hell, then suddenly all the bodies beneath him came alive and started moving. They reached up for him, grabbing at his clothes as they tried to hold onto him.

  With his mind full of sudden fear, Longinus stepped back forcefully, his eyes darting everywhere. Beads of sweat pouring down his face, he struggled to break out from the hundreds of hands that were now clamping on to him.

  Then in the distance, coming from all sides, he could hear the muffled words of someone he knew but strangely didn’t recognise.

  Spinning around and around, he realised he was surrounded, and as the demons got closer and closer, so close in fact that he could see their stretched-out sinister faces with hollowed eye sockets containing only darkness, he started to panic.

  At the last second, before they got him, then with a jolt there he was again back in the cell. He was on all fours, with lines of non-clear drool making rainbows to the floor. The bloodied substance was dangling, not slipping, just bouncing backwards and forwards gently as the ends slithered in the dirt beneath him.

  Only then did he truly recognise whose voice he had heard calling to him: it was Raffious’.

  Whilst being in the dream, or vision, he was never aware of having been there before, and had to re-experience the whole macabre nightmare over and over again. Only when he came round did he add it to the list of previous ones.

  Every time, they were exactly the same. It was his body reacting to the lack of blood of recent, and if the stories in his world were anything to go by, it was his body changing into something all vampires feared more than death itself: a hapless ghoul. No mind, no logical thoughts, licking the floors for anything to fill its belly. A hideously vile beast that would somehow find itself in a graveyard crypt, eating flesh from human bones for all eternity.

  Longinus determined that that wasn’t his future. He suddenly leapt up and charged towards the bars. He had a plan—a plan of escape!

  ------------------------

  Suddenly coming from the end of the passageway, at the same time his feverish hands gripped the bars, was the sound of beings exiting the stairwell and approaching. Longinus counted the footsteps and estimated that it sounded like three.