Shadows On the Wall

Chapter 76 - Mark of the Beast

by Midnite

 
(David Selby)  "Something cold is in the air over Collinwood, and before
this day is through, its residents will find themselves filled with a mix of
dread and hope."
 
 
Despite the patches of dirty snow that remained, an amazing show of green
would soon appear in the woods around the Old House.  Angelique knew this
because she had seen it, though Collinwood was new then and the big trees
were much younger.  Suddenly she found herself missing the garden view from
her sunny kitchen on Little Windward Island and thinking about the herbs she
should be sowing from seed to transplant next month for no other reason than
that the cook would use them in her dishes.  She smiled because it pleased
her to know that it was the only use she had for herbal plants now that Sky
was in her life.
 
Angelique held onto his arm as they walked because being this close to him
made her feel safe and warm.  And that’s the way it ought to be, she told
herself, when you love somebody as much as she loved Sky.
 
~*~
 
She was eyeing a fishing boat as it traveled toward the harbor, a flock of
seagulls kissing its masts, and Vicki felt a little shiver of envy as the
vessel headed for home as if nothing else was happening.  Humans will
continue to go about their lives, she told herself, as surely as the sea
will endure and the sun will scrupulously rise and set.  But for her, life
was a constant battle to resist the spirit of blackness within her-- it was
a moment to moment struggle to stay afloat.
 
Just last night she had considered ending it on this very spot where Widows
Hill hung over the shore.  The sea called to her then, but she had returned
to announce her new attitude.  The pain would end today, but on her terms. 
She would avail herself of the unconditional love offered by Quentin, but
only after severing the last connection to the Leviathans.  Vicki inched
closer to the edge to view where the face of orange rock met the white spray
below.  You’ll claim your victim today, she informed the waves, but it won’t
be me.
 
The cries of the fleeing gulls startled her, but when she glanced in their
direction she noticed that the boat’s silhouette had blurred.  Vicki blinked
and thought she saw something shiny and black in its place; it must be a
whale, she told herself.  It was covered in seaweed and seemed to be sliding
across the surface of the water like oil moving through water.  And then the
stench of fish innards reached her.  It was a dizzying shock and she felt
herself slip a little, her foot dislodging a spout of gravel that rattled
down the steep and stony face and into the booming surf below.  She stepped
back quickly and felt relieved to be on the moist grass, and when she looked
up again the hideous snake thing was gone and the fishing vessel was once
again the only object on the widely spreading sea.  The boat continued on
its way, just as before, bypassing the swells as easily as Vicki could
levitate a pencil.  She rubbed her eyes.
 
Vicki pulled the fat ring from her pocket and examined it.  I didn’t choose
them, she said to it.  You chose them for me, and now you can be with them
forever.  Then as hard as she could, she hurled the ugly thing that held the
essence of her father in its red stone and then watched until its flight was
halted by the sea.  A fitting grave, she thought.
 
Content that the sea had received the Count, Vicki headed for home.
 
~*~
 
An icy wind funneled through the trees and slapped against the couple, and
then it was gone just as quickly.  Angelique squeezed her husband’s arm.
 
“You felt it too?” Sky asked.
 
“Yes.  It sent a chill right through me.  But what was it?”
 
“It came from that grove of trees,” he said.  “And beyond that is just ocean
”  His handsome features twisted into a frown.  “The time is getting close. 
And after what I witnessed this morning…”
 
She felt like crumpling on the spot.  “This morning?”
 
Sky avoided her gaze.  “I suppose you have a right to know,” he said.  “I
woke up early and couldn’t get back to sleep,” he continued.  “It was still
a few hours before dawn and I didn’t want to wake you, so I went downstairs.
When I looked out the bay window, I saw movement in the night sky-- a lot
of it.  But it’s not the right time for a meteor shower.”
 
“Oh,” she murmured.  He was looking at her now and noticed she was
trembling, so he said, “Let’s get you inside.”
 
~*~
 
Julia paused at the bottom of the staircase to survey what she could see.  A
wall next to her was lined with tables stacked high with books, and the far
wall was covered with bookcases that reached the low-hung ceiling.  The rows
of bookshelves that occupied the rest of the space stretched into the
darkness on her left.  She squinted in the dim light and called out, “Eliot,
are you here?”  It echoed, giving her a start.
 
“Julia!” he shouted back, and it was followed by a cough.  “There’s a light
switch next to the steps.”
 
She groped the wall until her hand found it, and several overhead lights
snapped on.  Now she could see that the university basement was enormous. 
She slapped a hand with her gloves before proceeding down an aisle, a black
bag dangling from her forearm.
 
Not only were books and manuscripts spilling from the shelves everywhere she
looked, but they were also piled high in random spots on the floor.  "Watch
your step,” she heard him say and responded with a faint grunt.
 
She found him seated at an old desk that was crowded with papers and lit by
one dusty lamp, and she set her bag on a corner.  "I had no idea this was
here,” she said.  She was looking into his eyes, which were bloodshot and
surrounded by dark circles, and his skin was sallow.  He looked exhausted,
but he displayed a proud smile.  “Rockport is renowned for its vast
collection of rarities," he replied.
 
“And certainly not for its heating system,” she snapped while tugging at her
suit jacket, but he pretended to not hear.  She was eyeing the large safe
behind him, its door ajar, when she added, “Your message said you weren’t
feeling well so I came right away.  You shouldn’t be down here without a
coat,” she scolded.  "And this dust is bad for your asthma.”
 
He gestured toward a metal chair behind her, but when she realized what he
was pointing at she waved it off.  He told her, “The message was only half
true.  I’m fine, but I needed to get you here without arousing any
suspicions.”
 
She slumped into the chair after all.  “Well you don’t know how... I thought
..”
 
“You’ll understand once you’ve heard about the discovery I’ve made,” he said
She fought the urge to smack him with one of the gloves.  His thick
fingers shuffled papers to reveal a document that was yellowed and stiff. 
“This scroll dates back to the 3rd century B.C.”
 
Julia touched it experimentally.  “Hardly.”
 
“Yes, it IS difficult to believe that an ancient papyrus could be in such a
fine condition.  It was found enshrouded with a body that had been mummified
2,000 years ago.  Until yesterday it was part of the private collection of a
renowned Egyptologist.”
 
She sniffed a little.  “Then how did you come to have it?”  She intended for
it to sound like a challenge.
 
“I am not without connections,” he boasted, and a twinkle in his eye
reminded her that the spark was still in her old friend.  “I've made a full
study of it,” he continued.  “The text is Aegean and it makes numerous
references to a primordial race that sought to devour the world.  The
Leviathans, Julia.”
 
“It mentions them by name?”
 
“Only that they were an ancient race with origins in the sea.  According to
what’s written here, their hopes were pinned entirely on their leader.  He
took the name Jebez, and he was part human and part sea creature.  He was
sought out and destroyed, and mankind, therefore, was allowed to flourish.”
 
“How was he destroyed?”
 
The Professor shook his head.  “That isn’t revealed.  However, he was known
to carry an identifying mark-- the Mark of the Beast is what they called it
”  He continued, his tone becoming grave.  “The scroll also contains a
prophecy.  The Leviathans will rise again and attempt to regain the power
they once lost.  And once the way is prepared for them, they’ll resume their
plan to destroy all humans.”
 
“Did the prediction say when this would happen?”
 
“No, but there will be signs.  The sun will grow dark and the moon will turn
blood red, and the stars will fall from the skies.  What we may be facing is
an apocalypse.”
 
Julia sank lower in the chair.  “Is that all?”
 
~*~
 
It was a square room, the austere furnishings arranged in two conversational
clusters.  Quentin preferred the grouping near the fireplace because it was
a good place to get warm and it provided a convenient spot for his glass,
but he chose it mostly because it faced the big window that looked out onto
the rear grounds.
 
Amy had already dragged a stiff chair over to the large table in a corner
and was now laying out her playing cards.  She was dressed in a short, blue
dress trimmed in pale pink with stockings to match, and Quentin thought she
looked like a neat, pastel package.
 
As if she knew the exact moment he was watching her, Amy smiled and looked
over at him.  “She’ll be back soon,” she announced cheerfully.
 
“What?”  It came out sounding more irritated than he would have liked.
 
“Vicki,” she said matter-of-factly.  “Isn’t that why you keep looking out
the window?”
 
He turned partly away from her in the way adults do when they don’t want to
be bothered.  “Of course not.  Vicki is a big girl.”  He raised his glass to
his lips and hoped that was the end of it.
 
Sometime after that, the music began.  He didn’t know she had relocated to
the piano until she was playing it.  He could hear the words to the tune in
his head-- “She loves you, yeah yeah yeah…”  She played it carefully and
unhurriedly, and when the chorus was done she repeated it again, and then
again.  Quentin could see where this was going.
 
“Amy.  Would you like to play cards with me?”
 
She was off the bench in one bounce and picked up her cards, now in a tidy
pile.  It was almost as if… he laughed out loud, and she frowned as she came
over to him.  “What’s so funny?” she asked as she sat next to him.
 
“I’m laughing because I’ve been had.”  He was smiling broadly, but she
showed she had excused him by dealing five cards into a pile in front of him

 
“What are we playing?” he asked.
 
“It's a game I made up,” she explained while dealing another five for
herself.  “We each pick up our top card and look at it at the same time. 
Are you ready?”
 
“Okay, but what am I…”
 
“On the count of three,” she told him.  “One, two, three!”
 
Quentin picked up the card on top and found himself staring at a terrible
sight.  The thing depicted was various shades of green, and it had two heads
that glared at him with four red eyes.
 
“Isn’t it beautiful, Quentin?” she asked.  “The eyes are the best part.  If
you stare at them long enough, they start to look back at you.”
 
The image had so mesmerized him that he didn't see her take the amulet that
bore the same likeness from her pocket, or notice its chain being slipped
over his head.  After tucking it under his sweater, she reached up to his
ear and whispered "forget" before kissing his cheek.  "I win!" she cried out
before collecting all the cards.
 
~*~ 
 
Roger was pacing when the doors opened wide and Amy stepped out.  “Well?” he
asked her.  He waited for her answer, his mouth a straight line, but her
huge brown eyes regarded him passively.  They both knew that Roger had been
ordered to join her in the drawing room to help with the preparation, but he
had retreated instead to his bedroom with a bottle of brandy when he lost
his nerve.  But he had to find out if the task was completed, he thought
foggily, so he could head back upstairs and peacefully pass out on his bed. 
“Well,” he repeated, “did you do it or not?”
 
“No thanks to you,” she answered, shooting him a dark look.
 
Roger opened his mouth again but closed it.  It made no sense to antagonize
her because the truth of it was that he was terribly afraid of her--
frightened of this thin girl who was half his size.
 
A smile began to form on Amy’s lips as if some private thought had slowly
occurred to her.  She was looking at a point just past him as if there was a
black spot there when she announced coldly, "The world will know the beast,
and the beast will know the world."
 
~*~
 
Quentin was lighting the last of the candles when he heard the soft knocking
He was at the door in two steps and found Vicki on the other side, her
arms wrapped around herself.  She smiled apologetically but he looked back
at her seriously.  “Come in,” he said, and she stepped inside.
 
After having been to his room many times, she thought she knew all its
possibilities-- how it could feel warm and welcoming when she barged in to
cry on Quentin’s shoulder, how it loomed large when she awoke alone because
he was elsewhere in the house, and how it could deteriorate into an
unpleasant mess that badly needed Mrs. Johnson’s attention.  But this was
the first time she had seen it lit by candlepower, and she thought it made
the space seem romantic.
 
“Where were you?” he asked from a spot in the middle of the room.
 
She sat down on the foot of his bed and watched the tiny flames make his
shadow wither and then blow it huge again.  “I was walking in the woods,”
she lied.  “I had a lot of thinking to do.”
 
He said nothing.  “I want to make this work,” Vicki added and then held her
breath.
 
Quentin flashed a reassuring smile.  “So do I.”
 
“I won’t pretend it was an easy decision.”
 
“I’d never think that.”  He was seated next to her now.  “Watching this
thing take hold of you,” he said, “it’s like watching an avalanche coming
toward you. If it gets large enough, it can bury you.  And I can’t stand
around doing nothing while you get smothered by it.
 
“Every time you do magic,” he continued, “its hold on you grows.  That’s why
I think you shouldn’t ever use your powers again.”
 
“Excuse me?”
 
“You have to quit.  Cold turkey.  No matter how tempted you are to use your
powers, you have to resist.”
 
“Quentin, that’s…”  Insane was the word she nearly used, but thought better
of it.
 
“I know it won’t be easy.  Especially in this house.”
 
“So many things have happened,” she said.  “Horrible things.”
 
“Exactly.  But my family will have to learn to make do without your help. 
Dammit,” he said angrily, “if I have to remove you from Collinwood to keep
them away from you, I will!”  Then he sounded sweet again when he told her,
“You’re not alone in this, okay?”
 
She nodded, and as he moved closer she knew she wanted nothing more than to
touch him.  He tasted her and then his wet, insistent tongue explored her
mouth.  Her arms encircled his neck and they fell onto the bed together, and
Vicki could feel the terrible darkness inside her begin to abate.
 
He began to unbutton her sweater, and every part of her was saying yes,
including her toes.
 
 
TO BE CONTINUED