by Andrea Wölk
When the monk reached the nave and saw that the platform had been destroyed, he stretched his hands towards the sky. »These vandals! How can someone destroy the house of the Lord? Merciful God, help us!« he cried out indignantly. A second monk appeared from the shadows of the choir and walked towards him. »What happened here, my brother?« »Someone tried to steal the mosaic in the crossing. Luckily, I was able to stop them and only the platform was damaged. The Holy Father was watching over us!« he exclaimed crossing himself. The other monk in his dark robe only nodded, »Yes, may the Lord be with us.« He turned around and disappeared towards the south exit, where the loud propellers of a helicopter droned in his ears.
He discarded his robe in one of the corners and looked at his watch. It was high time he left to catch his flight to Paris.
All the warriors were standing around the table in the meeting room at the Granit Rosé looking at the object wrapped in linen. »Please, Channing, as a historian you’re used to dealing with things like this,« offered Shia giving him the okay to remove the linen cloth. Channing carefully pulled back the individual layers of cloth revealing a dark brown binding with two golden latches on the sides and a large rosette in the middle of the cover. The book was old, but in very good condition and the style seemed to match the parchment pages that the warriors already had.
Channing tried to open the latches on the upper and lower ends of the book, but they wouldn’t move. »You need the key.« Gabriel’s voice broke the spell of the moment. »Which key?« Sara looked at him suspiciously. She hadn’t stopped watching Gabriel since he’d arrived with the warriors from Cologne. An additional warrior meant more risk and before she knew more about him, he remained a stranger to be wary of. Just because he knew about the Diarium didn’t mean that he could be trusted. He was tall, like the other warriors, at least six feet two, had shoulder length, light blond, curly hair and angelic, baby blue eyes.
»Alban Heffyn spoke of a key that fits into the rosette.« Everyone looked over at Shia, but he just shook his head. »Heffyn only gave me the pages. I don’t know anything about a key. How did you know Alban Heffyn?«
»He was the master builder, who was working on the Cathedral when it was finished. He transformed me into a warrior of faith and prepared me for your coming. Since then I had to make sure that the book was never discovered.«
»We definitely need to find a safe hiding place for the Diarium until we find the key. We can’t let it fall into the hands of the hunters of darkness, even if they aren’t able to open it. « That got Gabriel’s attention. »The hunters know about the Diarium?« Channing nodded.
»Yes, and they’re on our heels. We’ve been able to fight them off, but we don’t know where they are at the moment and what they’re planning next.« Gabriel understood. »If you want, I’ll help you find the key.«
Philippe Orlandie was pacing restlessly back and forth inside his tiny apartment near the Arc de Triomphe in the center of Paris. Castaway was eying him grumpily and the continuous pacing was getting on his nerves.
»This is the seediest apartment I’ve ever seen. How can you live here?« Kilian twisted his mouth in disgust. Philippe shrugged and started pacing back and forth between the window and the front door, which wasn’t even five yards, looking impatiently at the clock. »He must have landed ages ago. Where the hell is he?« The fact that he couldn’t go outside made him extremely aggressive. In spite of his immortality, he missed the warmth of the sun, daylight and his freedom to move around at will. When there was finally a knock on the door, he literally jumped up to answer it. »Finally!« He opened the door with a sigh of relief.
»Can we turn a light on in here? I can’t see anything!« Cruz Esposito stepped into the room and tried to open the blinds, but Philippe stopped him.
»No, don’t open them. Do you want to kill us, you idiot? I’ll turn on the light.« Castaway got up from the couch practically filling the entire room with his presence.
»So, what do you have for us?« Esposito sat down on the only chair in the room smiling musingly. »Your friend at the aviation authority did a good job. He was right. The warriors were in Germany and landed a helicopter in Cologne,« he said turning towards Philippe. »I want to know if they’ve found the book.« »Yes, they found it inside the church underneath the mosaic. How they knew it was there is beyond me. I only know that a man disguised as a monk helped them. They left in the helicopter with the book and the monk. I think they flew back to Brittany, but you’ll have to ask your friend from Air Traffic Control if he can find that out.« »We should leave for Brittany tonight,« shouted Philippe excited.
»Not before you’ve paid me,« Esposito said raising his eyebrows. Castaway handed him a stack of dollar bills. »Good work. I assume dollars are okay. If you want to earn a little more, you’re welcome to come with us. We could use a mortal we can trust to do some work for us during the day. Philippe, tell our men in Seattle to join us here.« Esposito nodded. »I trust this!« he said waving the money. »As long as you guys keep paying me, I’m at your service.«
The Diarium was hidden away safely in the hotel safe. It wasn’t the most creative hiding place, but at least the book would be protected from water and fire. In the weeks to come, they’d be fortifying the building, and creating a more secure environment. Phoebe had ordered a fence to be built and had security cameras installed everywhere so that she could keep an eye on everything from her control room. They were frantically trying to find a more secure place for the Diarium, but for the time being the most secure place was with the warriors of faith. They hadn’t heard a thing from the hunters, but it would be a mistake to feel safe. Channing and the others were expecting some sort of retaliation, so they were all on guard.
She’d felt his presence for a while now, but didn’t want to admit it to herself. Late one evening a few weeks after they’d made the find in the Cathedral in Cologne, Sunny had felt the presence of a hunter of darkness. It was Philippe. She hadn’t exchanged words with Maroush since their encounter in the church, but she constantly felt his eyes on her, seemingly boring into her. Her pulse raced when she just thought about him. His heavy scent of musk and adventure was constantly present, as if he’d left his scent all over her body just to drive her insane.
She found Maroush in the back yard practicing fight moves in the moonlight to keep in shape.
Dressed only in dark sweat pants, he swung his Sinai over his head and let it circle silently through the air. Sunny watched him stealthily from behind a tree. She didn’t want to break his concentration, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the fascinating display of his back muscles in action.
»You can come closer if you want,« said Maroush into the stillness. There was no way he could have seen her, yet he still knew that she was standing behind him starring at him.
»I don’t want to distract you. I’ll come back another time.« Sunny hesitantly stepped out from behind the tree.
»You aren’t distracting me,« said Maroush soothingly even though it didn’t really reflect the reality of the situation.
Whenever he saw her or smelled her scent of cinnamon, everything inside of him went crazy, a feeling he hadn’t thought was even possible. No woman had ever thrown him into such emotional chaos like Sunny had.
Maroush sat down on the grass and she followed suit at a comfortable distance. The night was clear and you could hear the sound of the waves crashing against the huge granite boulders. »It really is beautiful here,« Sunny said looking up at the sky, »although I actually wanted to go back to Germany. But now that Castaway is in Europe...« She left the rest of the sentence hanging.
»Do you think he’s here?« »Yes, I told you that he’d used me to transform his hunters. Philippe was the last one I transformed for him and I can feel him the most. He’s not too close yet, but I can feel his presence. I think they are out there looking for us.« Maroush nodded and sensed Sunny’s concern. He stood up, walked over to her and squatted down in front of her. »The problem is,« s
he said quietly, »when I feel him, he can feel me. So it’s only a matter of time before the hunters of darkness find us. I’m a risk for all of you, so I have to disappear as soon as possible.«
She looked over at him, not as the stubborn and rebellious Sunny, but as a pretty young woman who was afraid. A tear rolled down her cheek and she tried to wipe it away, but Maroush beat her to it, catching it with his thumb.
»Why are you crying, Sunny?« She shrugged her shoulders. »I don’t really know exactly myself. I’ve been alone my whole life and now that I’ve finally found a home here with all of you, I have to go ... « Maroush thought about her words for a moment and then shook his head slowly.
»You don’t have to go, Sunny. You’re one of us. You’re a warrior and you belong here with me.« »But it’s too dangerous, Maroush!« It was the first time she’d actually said his name out loud and her voice had a special ring to it as she said it. »No, the hunters will find us sooner or later anyway. It doesn’t matter how. Don’t worry, I’ll protect you.« He pulled her to him and Sunny, overwhelmed by his compassion, wept in his arms. She buried her face in his naked chest inhaling his irresistible scent. The stubble on his chin tickled her scalp as he rocked her back and forth in his arms like a child.
»You’re absolutely right. It is beautiful here. Everything is wonderful as long as you’re here with me.« Sunny lifted her head and looked into his dark eyes. She didn’t know if he’d actually said it or if she’d only imagined it, but he smiled at her and she couldn’t help but raise her lips up towards him and kiss him. It was only a small gesture of tenderness, but it was enough to make Maroush’s emotions run amok. Ever since the day he’d met Sunny, he’d yearned for her. But he was an old warrior and he had to keep himself and his emotions under control. He’d learned to wait. Wait and allow time to do its work. Now it seemed that Sunny was also ready to confront her feelings. At this very moment there was nothing to stop him from showing this woman how much he loved her.
He gently pushed her down onto the grass without taking his lips from hers. He could feel her fangs and her pulsing heartbeat. She ran her trembling fingers through his chest hair, turning slightly towards him as his hands touched her body. He undid the button of her pants and pulled them off her effortlessly, reclining a bit to look at her tattoo glowing in the moonlight. Her skin, pale like milk, was an unusual contrast to the dark night, he observed as he ran the tips of his fingers along the words of her maxim. »That maxim isn’t the reason you belong to me,« he said pulling her hand to his heart like he’d done in the cathedral. »This is proof that I know you’re mine.« Sunny pulled his head towards hers and kissed him tenderly, yet passionately.
»You told me to come to you when I want you. So here I am,« she whispered to him biting him playfully with her teeth. »I want you to drink from me, Mr. Tariq ibn- I’m so irresistible- Ziyad. I want us to be in each other’s heads. I want to be yours, like you are mine.« »Then take my blood, Sunny.« »Yes, I’ve wanted to for so long now,« she explained honorably. He took her remaining clothes and seeing her naked body practically pushed him over the edge. Her small breasts were glowing in the night as if they were directing him, like a beacon, towards paradise. As he lay down on top of her, Sunny adeptly removed his clothes as well. Feeling his hot, strong body on top of her made Sunny sigh with pleasure. She could feel how she excited him and it seemed as if their two bodies fit together perfectly, as if God had created them for each other.
Small cries of pleasure emerged from her mouth as Maroush lifted her hips to enter her, all the while running his fangs along her neck in search of his life blood until he suddenly felt a slight resistance. He lifted his head and looked into her eyes, wet with tears. Only two words echoed through his head at that moment, pure and untouched! She felt his hesitation and looked up at him pleadingly. »Please, do it. You are the only man, who is and ever will be, in my life.«
She felt him attentively exploring her body, cautiously but no less passionately. When he sunk his teeth deeply into her, she felt not pain, only pure happiness, something she never thought she’d ever feel. She sensed his thirst, which kindled the same need inside of her. Sunny lifted her head pushing Maroush’s long hair aside to get to his neck. When she bit into his vein, she felt his body stiffen and fill with desire, every muscle tensing up like a bow. Sunny drank quickly with deep swallows as if it were the first time in her life she’d ever eaten. Maroush was on fire. The scent of cinnamon that was constantly filling his nose was the same taste of her blood, spreading through her body like hot lava. Oh God, it was the most delicious thing he’d ever tasted in his life and now, she would be his forever. He felt his orgasm coming, trembling in his groin threatening to explode, but he wanted to wait for Sunny. It wasn’t long before she wrapped her legs around him pushing him deeper inside of her. With a loud cry, which filled the night, they surrendered together to that moment of ultimate happiness.
»Oh Maroush, I can’t believe it. It’s so ... you’re so wonderful,« sighed Sunny looking into his eyes after she had quenched her thirst. »Oh no, you are the one who fills my body with desire and my heart with love.« He pulled her on top of him so that she wouldn’t have to lie on the cold ground and to share his warmth. She twirled her fingers through his black curly hair, much too happy to let words destroy this magic moment. She listened to his heartbeat, which beat for her only and then kissed him there on his chest.
»Sunny, what’s your real name?« asked Maroush quietly looking up at the moon. »Sonya, my name is Sonya Mayr and I was transformed in 1849. When did it happen to you?« »I’m ancient compared to you ... 720 A.D.« She considered that for a moment and then a smile appeared on her lips. »I’ll love you forever, Tariq ibn Ziyad, the man who’s already lived one thousand two hundred years!« »And I’ll love you, Sonya Mayr, the tiniest vampire to have ever crossed my path!«
Maroush was sitting together with Channing and Shia on one of the huge boulders near the Meen Ruz lighthouse. He’d informed them about Sunny’s intuition concerning the hunters of darkness. They all agreed that they had to increase security and that it was good to have a warrior like Sunny amongst them. No one even considered that she was a risk and Maroush nodded his head gratefully. »Thank you, my friends. She is my wife now. We took a vow of faith just as destiny has willed it to be,« explained Maroush.
The two other men laughed and slapped him on the back. »You devil! You finally got her! It’s about time!«
»If the full moon loves you, why worry about the stars,« replied Maroush laughing with them.
»So much has changed.« Shia looked up at the glowing moon. »After all these years, we’ve finally found what we’ve been looking for so long and I’m absolutely sure about one thing: we’ll find the key to it as well.« The other warriors nodded in agreement.
»So far, all our prophecies have come true. I’m curious to find out why fate has brought us Gabriel and what adventures the future will bring.« Channing nodded, observing the red rays of light of the rising sun in the distance marking the beginning of a new day. »Yes, the light of every new day contains a new adventure for us. Like a candle in the wind, but with a new spark of life.« The warriors nodded approvingly and Shia gently patted Channing on the back.
»Those are words spoken by a true leader, my brother!«
… to be continued
Infinitas 2
Light of Darkness
