Rapture Falls (41 page)

Gabriel strode through the night in anger,
his mood swings had never been more drastic,
he had left the hotel
in good spirits
upon
receiving the fax with the symbol, but his good mood had since evaporated upon
hearing the news of Azaze
l’s death at the hands of Baine. H
is
surviving
informants had furnished him with sketchy details
of the clash at the farmhouse, Michael was gone along with Samyaza and Azazel, the latter even more distressingly at the hands of Lucifer who had sprung even sprung Baine into the bargain and disappeared into the night. The human followers of all denominations were scattering
into
the night winds as fast as their puny legs could carry them
, the 11
^th
Order and the Grigori were gone whilst Michael’s new vision had barely gotten off the ground,
and to
top everything off Raphael had fled with the only access to all of their financial resources. All of these
outcome
s
were terrifyingly unforeseen, a
ll of his meticulously laid plans were spiralling out of his control, it was with unwavering certainty that he had plotted the world’s path, never contemplating alterations to his original design and yet he now found himself uncertain. Baine had been prophesised, the involvement of De Payens, Lucifer and the Grigori, all of these elements had been drawn together as per his will and now it seemed that he was no longer in control. He had not predicted the death of
his brothers
, Michael and Raphael had betrayed him and most worrying of all was the fact that his power over McCullum had now seemingly disappeared to the point that the shaved apes action were now blind to him. He had taken delight in the mother’s brutal murder and now his link, whilst not severed was simply missing leaving the
detective to wander unchecked. Gabriel
walked blindly from the hotel hoping to clear his muddled thoughts with the nights cold air, the town of Haverfordwest was relatively small and he soon found himself clear of the centres lights and evenings trade. He paralleled a small stretch of dual carriageway, the darkness only interrupted by the soft glow of the streetlamp hum; he turned blindly into a patch of rough grassland and headed through a leafless hedgerow and into a small field. So focused as he was on wrestling some sort of control over himself he did not hear or see the approaching shadows, they were in front of him before he looked up. There were six youths all in their mid to late teens by the look of them, wrapped against the cold in heavy hoodies and trousers hung so low it was a miracle that they stayed up at all, Gabriel looked up and over the confrontational teens. Their eyes sparkled with a feral excitement at their physical superiority over the unfortunate soul to fall across their path, Gabriel smiled and relaxed perhaps a little old fashioned exercise was all he needed to centre himself. The grass was wet and the clearing was dark as Gabriel found himself encircled by the eager thugs, suddenly they leapt forward with shouts and cries of bravado spawned by the overwhelming odds in their favour that created their cowardly confidence, the deserted nights air was soon filled with screams of terror and the wet pants of last dying breaths. After a short quiet break Gabriel exited the rough patch of abandoned wasteland, he was wearing a tracksuit top taken from the largest of the thugs as his own jacket was splattered and ruined with crimson stains. His mind was as crisp and clear as the star sprinkled sky,

             
“Ah, Lucifer you sly fox” he muttered to himself pleasantly, he could see McCullum’s line once again, it was faint and stank of Lucifer’s attempt to cover it, he could not see her motives but could feel her involvement.
O
nly Baine danced tantalisingly just out of reach
, t
ry as he might he could not seem to break through a distorting wall of interference that seemed somehow strangely familiar, there was a brief scent of another’s presence that quickly evaporated leaving him unsure just what it was that he had felt.

             
Superintendent Andrew Irving checked his rear view mirror for the thousandth time and forced his pounding heart to slow as it threatened to burst from his chest and splatter across the windscreen. He was finally doing it; the time was upon him after all of these hard years of pacing the halls and drowning in lakes of ineptitude. He had swallowed bitterness and bile at his pathetic peers for eternity ever since his communion into the 11
^th
Order over thirty years ago, his ascension through the police ranks had been relatively swift by conventional standards but he considered himself anything but conventional. He had thrived under the weight of expectation placed on his slender shoulders by Gabriel himself, his position had been unclear but he was assured it was integral to the future of the Order and so he had slept beneath the surface, making every useful bridge and connection within the police force and beyond, the level of the community that he was able to assimilate into grew with his rank and he now counted almost every influential man and woman that resided in Wales as fully fledged members. He either held friendship or else leverage on every useful soul that he could find, his personal files contained enough information and dirt to fund a small coup if Gabriel deemed necessary, he had fed the Order countless pieces of intelligence over the decades, from names and addresses to criminal and financial records, he had watched as bodies were fished from watery graves whilst obscure members of the community had flourished beyond comprehension. He had stood over the graves of fallen colleagues with appropriate renditions of grief knowing full well that they had fallen foul of the Order, he had played his part willingly, every time praying that it would lead him closer to the finish, as the motorway traffic blazed by he maintained a cautious and constant 66mph because despite his own power and influence the package that he carried in the roomy car boot would have sunk him, it was not the thought of a disgraceful incarceration that troubled him but the very thought of disappointing Gabriel that saddened him beyond words.

             
Baine sat low in an impossibly comfortable
chair;
he faced out of the high bedroom window that screened a view stretching out across the green fields
until it hit the waters horizon,
the peacefulness of the setting had struck him hard. The bedroom was large and open, the hardwood floors and oak beams were appealing to even his limited interior design
appreciation
, the walls were pastel and calming, the bedspread floral and understated, all of a sudden Baine felt
a sense of
home in
the
surroundings that he would never have selected. He closed his eyes against the open windows soft breeze and could hear the faint call of the seagull and soft lashings of the blue waves
upon yellow sand. Baine had been in a relaxed state of mind since the moment he had arrived, his thoughts were rapidly clearing allowing him to form a forward plan in order to regain some of his lost momentum, despite having no tangible reason he did feel safe as though his location was suddenly held in a secret trust. He no longer had his father’s book but it seemed to no longer matter other than the nagging feeling of failing to protect his family’s legacy, he also no longer held the ancient parchment that he had retrieved from under the vast Cathedral but the mental image of the symbol was still fresh in his mind. He stood and wandered out of his room and along the landing; he followed the sound of chinking crockery and soon found himself in a large French style country kitchen that high priced designers would kill for.

             
“Ah come son, come in” Marie Leary shooed a
drunken
looking cat from a solid looking dark wood chair for him, “Sit, sit, teas just brewing
, your friends are taking a stroll, I’m Marie O’Leary
”

             
Baine sat, the large kitchen was warm and welcoming, the woman was busying herself around an old cast iron range, alternating between stirring a large pot of delicious smelling stew on the stove and thrusting small pieces of wood to fan the flames firing the
old fashioned
system.
She soon turned and laid a dainty floral china cup before him, she took the matching teapot out from under its cosy cover and poured the steaming brown liquid, she had not asked how he took his tea or for that matter even if he wanted one Baine thought, but upon raising the drink he discovered that it was perfect and he drank with gusto.

“You have a wonderful home Mrs Leary” he surprised himself with the sentiment; it was not a phrase that he could ever remember thinking before let alone saying.

             
“Mrs Leary was my mother dear, call me Marie” her tone struck a maternal note in him that left him suddenly feeling a sharp pang of regret and loss as though he had missed a large part of life somewhere along the line
, he felt the sting of tears that frighteningly welled behind his hard eyes, he was as confused as he was sad.

             
She turned to peer out of the window, Baine noticed, seemingly noticing his discomfort and not wishing to add to it, he silently thanked her.

             
“So tell me son, what brings you down to this neck of the woods at such an unattractive time of the calendar?”

             
Baine opened his mouth to spin a lie out of habit but found that he simply did not want to, “I’m looking for something” he began and then proceeded to spill his strange and violent tale across a large wooden table to a complete stranger, during the story he was unable to look at the kindly woman, choosing to lower his head and stare hard into his cup, by the time he had finished he lifted his heavy head to meet her gaze expecting to see her turn and bolt for the nearest door. She had stood for what seemed like and age whilst he had spoken continuously for the longest time in his life and found himself completely exhausted, he found her still standing with a look of impossible love and sadness radiating from her, she walked around the table and before he knew it she had clasped him in a maternally solid hugging embrace that would not be denied, his mind briefly fought against the intrusion before surrendering into her.

             
Lucifer walked with McCullum along the coast path their bodies wrapped together against the cold winds blowing in off of the ocean, she clung to his large reassuring presence. Ever since she had siphoned off some of her essence to save his life she had felt herself slipping closer and closer to the line of humanity than was advisable. Her life-force would forever be contained within this vessel now, she would no longer be able to switch bodi
es and maintain her immortality, she was now mortal, she could die as easily as the fragile humans but she had paid the price willingly. Above all she still had her most valuable asset intact, her mind was sharp and crystal clear, Gabriel would come for them soon, but she still held the key and he was sitting in a remote guesthouse recovering. McCullum would serve as her strength and together they would obtain their future. Baine would have no choice but to comply with her wishes now that Gabriel was on the warpath, she snuggled closer into her detective’s warm embrace and dreamt of a world built just for the two of them.

             
Irving pulled the Lexus into the hotels underground parking, the area was dark and deserted, the silence was eerie but he felt no fear despite his surroundings, he was on a holy mission and he was protected, safe within Gabriel’s comforting embrace. He had barely exited the vehicle and stretched his aching back when the echo of approaching footsteps caught his senses, as they grew closer their instigator was covered amidst the gloom but Irving felt his undeniable presence.