Isabella's Heiress (22 page)

“Emma, you're safe, that's good.”

Father Eamon looked over Emma's shoulder as Sister Ignacia came through the door closely followed by Taryn and the man and woman who had grabbed them on the bridge.

“Ignacia, was anybody hurt?” Sister Ignacia shook her head.

Father Eamon turned to Emma, “Emma, how are you?”

“I'm okay. What's going on?”

Emma saw Sister Ignacia exchange a look with Father Eamon. Father Eamon looked over to the man and woman who were now standing a little way off and nodded a thank you to them at which point they turned and headed through the far door before disappearing from view.

“I have heard what happened at your home today. Do you understand what took place?”

Emma just looked blankly at him. She couldn't process anything right then, let alone an explanation as to what had taken place hours earlier but she attempted a response.

“Dad saw me.” Her voice was weak and trailed off before the last words were spoken.

“No, he didn't, he sensed you. That is completely different.”

Emma looked at him, the difference seemed obscure at best.

“Your father is dying, Emma, that makes him more receptive to outside influences such as people from this plane standing close and giving off a transferral of their energy. He can sense you but he cannot see you. That is why he thought you were death. Do not be upset by what happened, it is unfortunate but it won't affect him.”

“What do you mean it won't affect him? What about affecting me?” Emma knew it wasn't his fault and that the anger was aimed inward but she had no way of working it through except to vent it on those around her. It had been the same when she was alive and she thought that she should be doing better at school or university. She would snap at family and friends until she learned to control it as she got older, but it had not been easy.

Now she felt the familiar tide of resentment and anger rising in her chest and knew she should walk away before it overflowed but she was too tired to do anything except sit on the bench and run her hands through the soft materials of her trousers.

“Why didn't you warn me that might happen? Why is it that every time something happens, I find myself having to start all over again?”

Father Eamon leant forward taking Emma's hands in his, “I cannot prepare you for everything that will happen to you in this plane, Emma. I would love to but I cannot. That is all part of the challenge of your trial. All I can do is train you in the skills that you will need to complete your time here and guide you as best I can. There is a difference between what I can do and what I would like to do.”

Emma wanted to respond but her eyes were shutting down and she could barely stay awake.

“Emma, go to bed, we can talk about this in the morning, you have had a long day.”

She didn't argue, choosing instead to head towards the stairs. She became aware of someone by her side as she walked and realised that Taryn had joined her. Emma climbed the stairs to her room with her head full of the pictures of her father. She didn't see the looks of concern that followed her as she left the hall.

Father Eamon stood in the marble chamber waiting on the Council members. The message had been urgent, requiring him to make his way to the Council chambers immediately. As muffled conversations bounced mutely off the columns around him, he waited quietly for the Council to address him whilst trying not to show his concern and keeping his mind as closed down as possible.

“Father Eamon, you are right to be concerned.” Gabriel's voice broke the silence. The playfulness was no longer there, replaced instead by a tension Father Eamon had not heard before. “It seems that we underestimated our friends at Newgate. They have been aware of Emma for longer than we thought.”

Father Eamon's heart sunk as he turned to face the direction of Gabriel's voice. “How much longer?”

“Long enough for them to arrange for her to be pushed in front of a lorry and then to try to snatch her before we arrived.”

Father Eamon groaned, he had suspected this for a while but had hoped he was wrong. “How do we know this?”

“The Cad Angelus are not the only ones with spies. It is they who have been working to confirm this.”

“If this is the case, then this should make life simpler for
us should it not? They have killed a woman and brought her to the plane illegally. This is expressly forbidden and they will have to forfeit her.”

“These rules were put in place to punish individual transgressors, Eamon. This appears to emanate from high up. We cannot be sure how high but it would be fair to say that we would not get very far quoting treaty provisions on this one.

“They have been planning this for some time and have managed to keep it quiet from us. It is only blind luck that the mystics saw what was happening at the last minute and we sent you; otherwise she would have been lost to us…and there is something else.”

Father Eamon sensed the atmosphere change in the chamber. The temperature dropped and his forearms started to tingle, “Go on.”

“They have sent an assassin, a Soul Gorger.”

Father Eamon's nape hairs prickled as he heard the news “Where from?”

“We do not know. We do know that it will be here within days.”

“What are the council doing about this?”

“We are trying to find out where it is coming from and we will send guards to intercept and destroy it.”

“And if you don't find it in time, then what?”

“Then you will have to deal with it when it arrives.”

“They kill Emma; try to kidnap her on her arrival in the twilight plane and now they send a Soul Gorger for her, yet you insist on abiding by protocol and treaties. Gabriel there comes a time when they must be set aside.”

Now it was Gabriel's turn to hesitate. Father Eamon could sense his indecision hanging in the air.

“Then what would separate us from them, Eamon? Tell me that?” The voice was that of the woman who had
interrupted Gabriel on Eamon's last visit. “Where should we stop? Should we just descend to their level? Torture and terrorise people until they break and submit to our will? When is it enough? We watch this all the time in those that still draw breath, Eamon, and we must stay above that if we are to prevail, otherwise we may just as well join with the enemy and rule over a world of perpetual misery and subservience. Is that what you would have us do?

“They have broken treaty agreements before and we have prevailed. This time is more serious but we will have to overcome again as we have before.”

Father Eamon wanted to argue, he wanted to say it was exactly that moral high ground that the enemy relied upon, he wanted to argue for a more forthright campaign to force their hand, even if it meant a full-blown war but he knew that this was the way that things must be, for now at any rate.

“Eamon, there is something else that concerns you, yet you do not say what it is.” The woman's voice softened and warmth returned to the chamber.

Father Eamon picked his words carefully, “Emma spent the night out in London on her own; she met someone who shielded her from a Gentle Man. He also told her about the Robillard's and Calabria's and about the final part of the prophesy. He claimed his name was Rodolfo.”

It was as if Father Eamon had just walked in to a wall full of knives. He knew that he had touched a nerve and waited to see what the response would be.

It was not long in coming. A low, old voice spoke from behind him and as it did so the air seemed to thicken. “Did she describe him?”

“Yes she did, her description was remarkably similar to that of the Rodolfo who served as Isabella Calabria's tutor.”

The air in the chamber was on the verge of exploding and it seemed like the walls would burst outwards at any second.

“Did she have any way of knowing about this man before she met him?”

“No, neither I nor Sister Ignacia have ever spoken of him to her and she has had no contact with anybody that could have told her of him. Of that I'm sure.”

“We had wondered what had happened to him. We had suspected for some time that he might have hidden himself in the twilight plane but we had no way of knowing for sure. If this man is who he says he is then it would certainly change things.” There was a pause and Father Eamon could hear pacing from where the voice had been, “Leave this to us, we shall look into this.

“This will be the last time you shall come to us. We shall send you a messenger when we know more of the assassin but take no chances with Emma; make sure she is protected at all times.”

The chamber doors opened and Father Eamon knew his time was up. Odysseia was waiting for him outside and escorted him to the cliff top. When they reached the steps leading down to the city, Father Eamon felt a hand lightly touch his shoulder. He turned to see her deep, soulful eyes probing him as the sun put her face into shadow.

“The Council meets on an almost daily basis, people come to and fro that have not been here in many, many years. Now I hear that for the first time in centuries someone has employed the services of a Soul Gorger. Tell me, Father Eamon, are we close to war? Should I start to prepare my angels?”

Father Eamon shook his head, “I have no doubt that war will come, Odysseia but this is just an opening gambit on the part of the enemy. They will try to take Emma's
soul, destroy it before she realises the full potential of what she has.”

Odysseia's eyes narrowed, “You think she is the one, then?”

“I think that it is more likely than not.”

“How many people know that you think this?”

“At the moment just you and me. I think I kept it from the Council but it was exhausting and I will have to rest for a while before I head back to London. I would ask a favour of you, Odysseia.”

The angel paused for a second before answering, “What would that favour be?”

“You know more than most what goes on here and what gets decided. I would ask that you keep me informed of anything that you think may affect my decisions down there.”

Odysseia seemed doubtful and hesitated. “What you ask…”

“…Is necessary in the current circumstances.” Father Eamon finished for her.

“Hmmm…I will send Ambrosia should I hear anything but it will not be easy for her. An angel in that world will not go unnoticed.”

Father Eamon nodded. “I understand and I would not ask for this were it not of the utmost importance. The Council mean well and would do the right thing but they will take time in getting a messenger to me and that is time I cannot afford to lose.”

He turned and headed down the steps, his mind listlessly thinking about the problems ahead. This was turning out to be far more dangerous than he had anticipated. Now they had shown their hand in sending for a Soul Gorger, he knew he would have to fight for Emma's soul.

Emma was sitting on the edge of her bed running her hands through her hair whilst struggling against the knots that had appeared overnight. Stifling a yawn, she walked into the bathroom and looked in the mirror to see a tired and worn reflection looking back. She turned to the shower and started it before a knock on the door caused her to look up from the sink as she brushed her teeth. Looking longingly at the steam now rising from the shower unit, Emma walked sleepily back into her bedroom, wanting nothing more than to close her eyes and give herself over to the gentle cajoling of the shower.

She opened the door to find Taryn waiting on the other side.

“Come in.”

Taryn followed Emma back into the room and waited for her to close the door before she took the chair from under the desk.

“You'll forgive me if I shower whilst we talk.” It wasn't a request so much as a statement of fact and Taryn just nodded.

“How are you feeling this morning?” Taryn half shouted to make herself heard over the constant patter of the shower.

“Better, thank you.” Responded the voice from the bathroom. There was a pause for a second before it continued, this time with a little hesitancy, “Thanks for getting me back yesterday. I lost it there for a while, I'm sorry.”

“For what? We all do in this place. If you knew how many times I've gone to pieces. You'd be inhuman if you didn't.”

“I guess but well, thanks all the same.” The shower
stopped and there was a rustle of feet and towels as Emma walked back into the room.

Taryn hesitated for a second before looking at Emma uncertainly, “Em, what happened yesterday? I've never seen you like that, I mean ever.”

Emma was picking out a blouse and paused. She grabbed another set of jeans from the wardrobe and for a second wondered how it always seemed to be full of clean clothes before turning to face Taryn. “I..err…I saw my dad and I think he saw me.”

Taryn nearly fell off her seat, “That's not possible!”

“Oh it is and Father Eamon's said as much. He said that dad could sense me because he's dying.” A knot built up in Emma's stomach and she gulped down air to stop herself from crying. “He said that I gave off some kind of energy and that because I was close to him, he could sense it.”

“Oh my god! Emma, I'm so sorry, I had no idea. What happened? I mean, what did he say?”

“He thought I was death come to take him away.” It was all too much for Emma and she broke down in tears.

Taryn wrapped her arms round her. She couldn't offer any words of comfort instead all she could do was hold onto Emma as she cried herself out.

A second knock came on the door about ten minutes later and Taryn went to answer only to find the door firmly locked in place.

“I have to do it.” Emma got up and opened the door. Father Eamon and Sister Ignacia were standing outside.

“May we come in?”

Emma was a little thrown, “Of course.”

Father Eamon was looking even more serious than normal and Sister Ignacia had lost her smile for the first
time since she had met her. Emma scrunched a towel up and rubbed it over her face, removing the last vestiges of her tears and watched as Father Eamon drew in a deep breath.

“Emma, things have taken an unexpected turn. Events have conspired against us and we have a problem which you should know about.”

Emma didn't answer; she just dropped onto the bed as her heart sunk.
What now? What else could they do to make this any harder than it already is?
She looked up and for the first time, she saw that Father Eamon was struggling to find the words to continue. Sister Ignacia looked on, unwilling or unable to help him.

“Will somebody tell me what's going on?”

Father Eamon looked Emma in the eye and breathed out. “I said to you before that there were rules that governed the way that the twilight plane worked and that these were inviolable. Well that has changed, an assassin has been sent to ensure that you do not complete your trial.”

Emma looked at Father Eamon, confusion setting in. “I don't understand. I'm already dead, what good is an assassin?”

“This is not any assassin, Emma. They have sent a Soul Gorger.”

Emma thought she saw Sister Ignacia flinch at the mention of this name.

“What's a Soul Gorger?”

Sister Ignacia chose now to break her silence; “It's a creature that feeds on human misery.”

“Nice, I had to ask. But I'm already dead. What else can it do to me?”

Father Eamon massaged the bridge of his nose, “It can tear your soul from you and feed on its energy.”

Emma went to answer but couldn't find the words.

“Emma, you need to take this seriously, no one has dared use a Soul Gorger in over three hundred years.”

“So what do we do now?”

“From now on, you'll always be escorted wherever you go. Either Sister Ignacia or I will come with you.”

“What about Taryn, is she affected?”

“No, it has only been sent for you.”

Emma looked at Taryn, “Lucky you.”

Taryn just looked at the floor.