Rapture Falls (22 page)

             
“Perhaps you should take a little time off Mac, take a little time for yourself, get away, maybe go and sit on a warm beach whilst the old women at the station find someone else to gossip about”

             
It did not sound to McCullum like the Superintendent was asking,

“Sounds good to me Sir, I’m sure that a little distance while this is all cleared up would be a good idea” he complied. He felt no guilt or embarrassment at taking the easy way out, whatever was going on here it was way over his head and he
already felt like
an idiot for getting in this deep.
Irving
nodded to himself seemingly pleased with the outcome and headed back out into the hospital corridor leaving McCullum alone trying to firmly close the door on his nagging conscience. 

             
The position of the Cardiff Castle in the centre of the city meant that a busy road ran past the entrance
,
only spitting distance from the heavily populated
surrounding
area, it was now around a quarter to ten and the people had thinned
,
either disappearing home or into the bars and clubs. The castle security was little and lax however the main entrance was an
impenetrable
door of massive proportions
that closed when the castle did. T
he w
alls were high and encased
the entire structure, the North Gate at the rear did however offer a more unobtrusive way in. Baine had moved through Bute Park
and the grassland in
between
,
to arrive at the rear walls unobserved
for he wanted no prying eyes human or otherwise following him this evening. He now carried the Book of Enoch in a small backpack strapped over his shoulders
obtained from a local hiking store
, after his conversation, or rather the diatribe that Gabriel had submitted him to, he knew that the Archangel would be coming for him and the book
. H
e would have preferred to delay his
inevitable
betrayal a while longer as Gabriel could yet prove to hold valuable knowledge
,
but he could not risk losing the book. He could not return home nor to any of his usual haunts he had to remove himself from detection, due to the vol
atile nature of his business he
had always left a bag in a Cardiff railway station locker, the bag contained an alternative set of ID papers including a photo drivers
license
under a false name and about £100,000 in cash stashed for a quick and easy disappearing act.

Once he was completely sure that he was truly alone Baine broke from his bushy green cover, a large oak tree stood at the corner of the back wall, its branches handily overhung the castles perimeter, Baine quickly scaled the trunk and paused at the top. Carefully he edged his way along a thick and supportive branch, the night was dark and moonless leaving him hidden within the black shadows, he braced himself and leapt from the sturdy branch, the distance and the drop were around six feet, Baine landed squarely on top of the square turret that formed the corner of the great protective wall.
Once he was assured that he had not been detected he headed down the ancient stone steps to ground level, he was unsure of the level of security and was not prepared to be stumbled across by some night security guard wandering the grounds, any trail of bodies that he left would be easily spotted by those who now sought him. The castle grounds consisted of a large expanse of neatly kept lawns and gravel pathways, stood proudly in the centre sat a perfectly preserved smallish Norman keep atop an artificial motte and surrounded by a small water filled trench. Baine crossed the grounds hugging close to the exterior wall in order to stay within the sh
adows, at the far end of the gro
unds stood the impressive later additions to the castle, the apartment building which based on his research
,
was erected in the 15
^th
century the gothic building and towers were imposing and striking
, they were surrounded by the Bute, Octagon and Guest towers all added on different timelines but were bl
ended together sympathetically by obviously talented architects. It was the largest of the towers that Baine was interested
in;
the Clock Tower was apparently built between 1869 and 1873
and stood at an remarkable 132ft in height and contained 7 stories with unsurprisingly
,
a large clock on top which was flanked by statues representing the principle planets with their respective zodiac on the pedestals, the bell itself was a half scale model of the one in the Victoria Tower in Westminster.
According to the archaeological studies the tower was built on the Roman land on which his
recently discovered
brother Marcus
had walked
upon
centuries ago, it was here that he would gather his directions and be handed his future. Baine moved cautiously toward the Clock Tower, the grass
here
was heavy and
wet
;
he could do little about leaving footprints
stretching across the lawned expanse
. T
here were two rooms below the parapet walk that he remembered were originally designed as the gardener’s accommodation
, he saw that although the door was locked it was not heavily secured and he could see no electronic contact points around the windows to indicate an alarm of any kind. Presumably the biggest security issue the castle had was to keep out young vandals hell bent on wrecking anything creative that made them feel as useless as they were, Baine carefully picked the lock and eased open the door slipping inside without a sound.

             
McCullum drifted through the night aimlessly, he knew that it was futile to attempt to outrun his conscience but it did not stop him from trying, it was late and getting later, the streets were almost deserted save for a few last stragglers, he passed through the brightly lit city centre and began to lose the artificial lighting descending into dangerous darkness. At last he picked up on the following footsteps that attempted to remain at a subtle distance behind him, McCullum was fishing for a confrontation, he longed to pound his frustrated fists against a face of flesh and bone one grounded in reality and not myths and fables.
By now he walked briskly towards the redeveloped Bay area seeking an undisturbed arena in which to allow his follower to make his move, the new Odeon Multiplex sat within a large isolated car
park;
its low neon glow shimmered across the wet ground, McCullum moved through the shallow puddles to
claim
the centre
ground. Behind him the footsteps suddenly broke into a run, he braced himself for the turn, the footsteps accelerated closing the gap quickly, the angry pounding echoes rang out from the tarmac, the man was very close now, McCullum span to meet his onrushing attacker, the man was largely built and moving fast, suddenly a flash of movement to his left caused him to turn that way, in the split second it took to look left and then back again the attacker was gone. McCullum stood alone in a large deserted space stretchi
ng
hundred
s of
feet on all sides, there was nowhere for his
attacker
to have gone
, he looked around on all sides, he was completely alone
and completely bewildered.
He started to retrace his steps wondering if all of the stress of the past week was piling up around his ears, perhaps the man following him had never existed at all, he shook off the feelings and started to walk towards the main road to hopefully find a taxi willing to stop this late. He was three quarters of the way back across the car park when a furious force smashed into his back, the blow felt sharp and powerful he heard the fabric of his heavy coat rip apart, he staggered forward onto his knees and looked up to face the mugger only it wasn’t him. He was looking into to the face of something not human, it was around six feet high and seemed mammal in stature, it stood upright on two legs but with long simian arms that hung long past its knees, the lighting was dim but the neon glow of the cinema’s exterior sparkled off of sharp talons that topped its thick and bony hands. Its skin was rippled with scales and ripcord
thick
with muscle, it was the darkest green in
colour
with mottled patches, it wore no clothing but possessed no discernable sex organs, it swayed hypnotically from side to side, what looked like fresh blood dripped from a nightmarish face with deep black eyes and a snout full of razor teeth. McCullum rolled back to his feet and stood face to face with the creature, he was taller and broader than his attacker but he felt
strangely
weaker,
the thing suddenly lashed out, its arms swung with incredible speed. McCullum ducked as fast as he could, he had boxed as a teenager and considered himself to have fantastic reflexes, it was these that probably saved his life, as quickly as he ducked he could not avoid the blow entirely, he felt the skin above across his forehead split open blurring his vision with a red haze as his skin split open. He desperately tried to clear his sight wiping away across his eyes, suddenly he was lifted up into the air by powerful arms before being flung seven feet into a concrete parking divider, he crashed down hard, he rolled to his
right
ignoring the burning pain in his side
and regained his feet instinctively knowing that if he remained motionless then he was dead.
The creature appeared to be taunting him, enjoying its dominance, it moved slowly now
,
stalking him, McCullum scanned the car park desperately looking for anything that he could use as a weapon,
the creature leapt forward suddenly, it landed on him full bore, he fell backwards with the thing on his chest, its snout lunged at him teeth bared and biting, McCullum managed to get one hand under its throat and had to use all of his strength to keep its face from biting his off. It snarled and squirmed on top of him, he managed to use his other hand to ward off its heavy blows that were pounding about him, it continued to thrust its head forward snapping and drooling, McCullum knew that he could not last much longer, his grip was beginning to weaken as his arms grew tired against the tireless creature. He put everything that he had left into forcing all of his strength
through his rapidly tiring arms, he twisted his body violently underneath his aggressive assailant and threw the creature back his head whilst rolling over to his left, he managed to breathlessly gain his feet, hands on his knees he turned to face his potential doom unable to summon enough energy to defend himself.
When he turned to face the monster what he saw caused his total
immobilisation
, a tall man had appeared from nowhere and held the thing by its neck, the mans arm was outstretched and he was holding the creature three feet from the ground, his fingers were wrapped
firmly
around its throat, by the creatures desperately flapping legs it was struggling to breathe, the man somehow managed to hold the heavy
thing
one handed
above the floor
with seemingly little effort.
The tall man pulled the monster to him and whispered something into its ear, the creature stopped struggling and relaxed, like the worlds greatest illusionist the tall man snapped his arm in a whip cracking motion and the creature was gone. McCullum could only stare on, as his week of increasing impossibilities
somehow managed to top
itself once again, the tall man
radiant
smile
lit the ground around him in a golden glow and
he
seemed to glide across the car park towards him, Gabriel reached
down warmly
to McCullum,