Rapture Falls (34 page)

             
“Morning” he offered cheerily, the woman pulled into full view and stole the breath from his lungs with one small smile,

             
“Morning” she replied, her voice was soft and husky

McCullum was startled into an uncharacteristic silence, whilst his dating record was not exactly threatening to break any records it was not through lack of offers, he had always found women easier to talk to and his lack of desperation around the fairer sex had always attracted more than it had dissuaded. The woman was tall and statuesque, her legs were long and athletic, his figure was slim but taut and healthy encased in an expensive looking suit tailored to perfection, it suddenly dawned on him that he had been staring in silence for what seemed like hours, a quick glance to her face told him that if she was offended she hid it well behind a warm smile,

             
“My names Brendon” he barely managed

             
“Pleased to meet you Brendon” she smiled “I’m Lucy”.

             
A hand brushed gently across his forehead with a feather light touch, as his mind slowly emerged from the darkness, he felt the smooth fragrant skin as it stroked his rough check in an intimate motion.

             
“Your dreams smell bad Baine” a
man’s
soft voice penetrated his haze, “Why must you swim against the tide, it would be just so much easier for all of us if you were to
assimilate
into our cause, I could give you anything that your heart desires, money, power, women, fear, love, respect, anything that lies under the sun Baine, anything”

He opened his eyes into the gloomy surroundings,
Azaze
l
’s
face hung over his as he knelt beside him, his
expression was one of gentle concern, but he did not trust it, they all seemed capable of impersonating human emotions flawlessly but their eyes remained dark
, always
hiding their true intentions, he knew this because he had looked upon his own face many times aping appropriate interactions as he had moved throughout this world.
He spat a look at him that made him withdraw his
hand, a momentary
flash of anger passed across his eyes, his
expr
ession remained the same but his
eyes had given the game away.

“Is there nothing that I can
offer you Baine, the whole world lays at our feet for the taking
?”
Azazel
spoke as though explain simple arithmetic to a child

Baine was immediately sharp; he cleared his thoughts quickly of his dancer, instinctively knowing that she
would be in danger if revealed, he felt his senses return
reluctantly
, his limbs strengthened and he began to take in his surroundings. It appeared to be a large pit of some kind, the floor was hardened earth as were the walls, there seemed to be no electricity and the only light came from the dancing flicker of candlelight, he pushed himself up into a sitting position, a quick touch to his head and face told him that his wounds were already beginning to heal.
Azazel
paced around the pit slowly and with total confidence,

“We have your book Baine, we have your secrets and those of your kin, you have nothing left to you other than compliance”

Azazel
sounded arrogant and confident, a sudden flash of intuition raced through Baine’s mind, he had no reason to believe it but he did,

“You can’t read it can you?”, he
laughed, the hard kick from his
new looking sturdy hiking boots told him that he was right, even the stream of fresh blood that ran from his broken nose could not dampen his savage joy, for the very first time since this all began he was not completely under their control.
Azaze
l
’s furious face told him that this was unexpected,
his
features were now contorted with anger and just the smallest hint of fear, Baine drank this look in using h
is
emotions to sustain him.

“
It
means nothing Baine” he reached down and sank his
nails into his cheeks painfully wrenching his head up off of
the floor, spittle flew from his mouth as his
fury ran away unchecked.

“On the contrary” Baine managed despite her excruciating grip, “It means everything”

H
e
threw him
back onto the ground wiping his hands against his
jeans as though disgusted by the very touch of him,

“As you wish”
he spoke softly regaining some of her self control, “You will tell me everything Baine, I can assure you of that, you will tell me what you found at the Cathedral an
d everything that you know” as he spoke
he mo
ved toward the side of the pit and ascended the crudely dug stairs
he
climbed out leaving him alone,
he paused at the top and looked back at him, “Before this night is over you will beg before me on your knees, you will beg for my mercy, you will scream my name and choke on your own blood”

Baine lashed out in the only way he could from his prone position,

“You know
Azazel
, you just made my list, it’s not a long one, but you won’t like being on it”

The walls echoed with raging screams punctuated with the sounds of stomping boots on flesh and bone.

             
McCullum rolled over exhausted and fully sated, his surroundings were cheap and tawdry much like the two hours he had just spent with Lucy, the woman was an enigma, in the space of literally minutes she had him in the passenger seat of her car driving towards the nearest hotel. Never before had he been so completely opened up and laid bare by anyone, let alone so swiftly, he had told her every aspect of his life from the time as a child he stole a mars bar from Woolworths to his encounter with his father and the mission that he was currently on. Even as the words and truth poured unabated from his drying lips his brain refused to halt its revelations, they had talked, he had shared and then they had rutted like feral animals, her appetite was insatiable and she had driven him to the point of collapse and when finally he had crumbled into complete fatigue, he had laid his head across her sweating chest and slept like a baby and for the first time in days his dreams were peaceful and clean. He awoke when the day was old and growing into evening shades, he looked around and realised just how poor their surroundings were, the wallpaper was faded and peeling, a smell of damp rot clouded the air, whether it came from the walls or the floor he could not fully tell. He sat up in the frankly unhygienic sheets and spotted Lucy’s silhouette framed by the window, a thin trail of smoke from her lit cigarette floated upwards from her still naked body, McCullum felt an unwanted tug of desire coarse through his still aching groin.

             
“Lucy?” his voice sounded hollow and echoed across the space between them as though he was unsure if she was even real

             
“I’m still here Brendon” her voice drifted back from the shadows laced with sadness

             
McCullum raised himself from the bed unconcerned by his own nakedness, “Are you alright?” he offered, she maintained her view out of the window and pushed out a hand towards him without looking back, he took the hand, it was warm and welcoming

             
“Just wait for now Brendon, this is all rather new to me”

Her voice sounded strained and close to tears so he took her hand and held it tightly hoping to convey his strength through their grip, they stood as one silhouette until the dying day passed through evening and into night.

             
The pit was lit by the
wall mounted burning torches
casting long concealing shadows, Baine had walked his encasing circumference several times
upon recovering his consciousness
,
pacing to slow the building anger that threatened to cloud his thoughts and confus
e his mind. I
n the past
few
days he had come to know of his own limitations and quickly realised that strategic planning was perhaps not his forte in this life. He had lost the book and the parchment that he had retrieved from under the Cathedral, without his
father’s
book he felt disconnected from his families experience and help and the persistent and unwelcome emotion of failure stank from his every pore.
It had been a dizzying journey of self-discovery, he had begun this new period of existence in a contented haze of purpose and perfection,
and his
movements had meaning and significance. He had targets to hunt and killings to plan, he was a shark, a single minded single purposed machine and now it had all gone to hell. Somehow this time around he had developed a sense of self that he had never experienced
before;
he had been awakened from his slumber by Gabriel’s will and a
dancer’s
swirl. Suddenly he wanted, and needed her, he could feel the bitter pangs of loss and regret that tainted his emotions and affected his plans, never before had he felt doubt, but he felt it now and it was sour in his mouth and acidic in his stomach.

The pit was around twelve feet deep and it appeared to be roughly square stretching more than twenty feet on all sides from him as he stood in the centre, above was
blackness;
he had been alone since
Raphael had left angrily, his
footsteps
dissipating
beyond his sight and eventually his hearing. In the last few minutes however there had been sounds of movement growing, feet were shuffling closer to the pit’s edge and despite his limited viewing ability he could clearly sense himself being eagerly observed, a dim light began to grow closer
, a figure dressed in long robes became clear at the far end, the figure held a lit torch illuminating himself. The figure began moving around the pit edge lighting torches as he passed, eventually the flames on all sides shed passable light into Baines surroundings, he could now see about twenty people of varying shapes and sizes all cloaked in the same long robes, their faces obscured by heavy hoods. The first figure wore a white robe in stark contrast to the black ones worn by his companions, he held his arms aloft and out stretched, the others immediately paid full and respectful attention,

             
“BAINE” he commanded in a strong authoritative voice, “
Turn and face your true destiny, you are not here upon this earth to fulfil the lofty ideals of fantasy and fiction,
you are not here to save mankind from the apocalypse of fallen angels, my name is
Michael
and I am here to watch you die in pieces”