Masque (24 page)

She grabbed his arm and pulled him toward her.

His smile was indulgent. “You want more of me already.”

She grasped him about the waist. “No, I…” At his wounded
look, she rephrased her answer. “Well, yes, but in private.”

He gazed down at her, his eyes searching hers. He sighed and
pressed her against him. “I think I—”

Bong.

Rena pulled her head back as Synn stiffened.

Bong.

She focused her gaze on the old grandfather clock. The
pendulum was moving!

Bong.

She looked up at Synn. His face was in shock, but slowly
changed.

Bong.

He threw his head back and laughed, his whole body vibrating
against hers.

Bong.

When he looked down at her, tears were in his eyes. They had
done it!

Bong.

He took her face in his hands and kissed her.

Bong.

It was a kiss of joy and love and yearning all rolled into
one.

Bong.

As he lifted his head, she told herself he was just thrilled
they had done it.

Bong.

He pulled her tight against him and watched the clock.

Bong.

She worried the edge of her robe as she glanced at Chantal.

Bong.

The woman was frozen in place, mouth open, hand on her
chest.

Bong.

As the last reverberation of the deep-toned clock faded to
nothingness, there was a hushed silence.

Tick.

Chantal screamed, and cheers erupted throughout the Abbey,
the noise a stark contrast to but a moment ago.

Synn turned her to face him. Two tears made their way down
his cheeks before he whipped off his mask. “Thank you.” His voice was rough and
he swallowed. “We could not have done this without you. I couldn’t have done it
without you.”

“Will they all go now?” She couldn’t help the wistfulness in
her voice. She didn’t want them to leave.

He gently untied her mask, pushing her hair back. “Yes, they
will.”

“When?”

He held both her shoulders. “I don’t know. All I know is
that I will remain here.” He smiled at her with such confidence.

She grinned. “We did it.”

Synn nodded, but she was suddenly spun around by her feisty
French friend who threw her arms around her neck. “
Mon ami. Merci! Merci!
You have gained a place in heaven tonight. You take care of Synn for us.
Oui?
”

Rena nodded, too choked up to do much of anything else. When
Chantal finally released her, tears were streaming down the woman’s face.

Rena reached for her hand. “Chantal, are you not happy?”

“
Mais oui
, of course. My tears are tears of joy. Some
day you too will know such happiness.”

Lightning flashed, turning the room a bright red. Rena
jumped, the sight reminded her of an ambulance light and her heart raced with
adrenaline.

Chantal touched her arm, soothing her. “It is nothing,
chérie
.
The nature, it celebrates with us,
oui
?”

She nodded. She couldn’t even hear the thunder with the
noisy celebration in the next rooms. Still, she hoped any tears of joy she shed
someday would not be brought about by being dead for over a century and then
finally crossing over. “Synn, do you—”

Synn scooped her up in his arms and, naked as usual, carried
her out of the room.

She laid her head against his shoulder, completely content
to be in his arms, a place she planned to be all night if she had her way.

As they stepped into the Violet Toy Room, Gwen stopped them
and insisted on a hug goodbye from Synn. Rena squashed the tinge of jealousy that
threatened. These people were Synn’s friends, of course they would want to say
goodbye. He set her down and acquiesced to the hug.

Rena found herself the recipient of hugs and hearty
handshakes from the others in the room as well. They were all so grateful. Her
own eyes began to mist.

Finally, they were allowed to move to the White Delicious
Sex Room, but were once again stopped. Lightning flashed again and she heard a
rumble of thunder, but it was its normal color and she dismissed it.

After that, they walked through each room hand in hand. In
the Orange Orgy Room it was Beth and Mary who approached first. In the Green
Threesome Room it was Annette and Byron. In the Purple Exhibitionist Room they
came upon Eve and Jonathan, who walked with them as they said their goodbyes.
Luckily, someone had thought to give Synn a pair of pantaloons because when
they reached the Blue Voyeur Room they found Mrs. McMurray. Rena held on to the
older woman and cried. “I will miss you.”

The woman gave her a squeeze. “I know.”

Smiling through her tears, she gazed at Synn. He had watched
over all these souls, made it his quest to discover a way to release them to
their resting place. He was their hero.

As he turned from the last person, their eyes met and Rena
caught her breath. His gaze took her breath away. Her gut tightened. She loved
him. She had to tell him.

Before she could utter a word, he once again lifted her into
his arms and walked into the entryway. People followed them, people she had
grown to love. She winked at them from over his shoulder.

“I’ll take her now.”

The tenor-pitched voice froze Synn in his tracks. He looked
up to find Eric, or rather what looked like Eric, blocking the stairs. Holy
Mother of God, the thing on the stairs didn’t even remain a stable image. Eric
was twice as tall as Father Richard had been the one time Synn had seen the man
angry, and he’d learned how powerful the priest was. Eric’s features, however,
appeared to have lost all flesh and his face was mere skin upon a skull and no
more. The rest of his body followed suit except it morphed between a blue-green
iridescent color and an almost invisible silver. As lightning struck nearby and
flashed through the windows, the ghost went transparent. It was as if he was
caught between solidness and invisibility, or perhaps between earth and hell.

Synn felt a shiver run through Rena’s body when she looked
at Eric, her stifled gasp heard by no one but himself. There was no bloody
chance he would let Eric have her. Slowly, he let her legs down and tugged her
close to his side. He had to subdue the thing on the stairs.

Eric’s elongated mouth opened. “Give her to me, Synn. I have
need of her.” His voice vibrated against the walls of the entryway, almost as
loud as the thunder rolling over the Abbey.

“No. She is staying with me.”

Eric descended a couple stairs. “But that’s what a Pleasure
Palace is all about, Synn. To share and enjoy each other.”

Synn wanted to rush Eric, but Rena was too close. He
couldn’t risk it. He moved Rena behind him. “No. You know that a Pleasure
Palace is about what people want for pleasure, not about being forced. I’m sure
that Rena has no interest in what you offer.”

“No, I don’t.” Rena’s voice was scratchy with fear.

Eric moved down two more steps. Four more and he’d be at the
base of the stairs.

Bloody hell!

“The chapel.” The quiet whisper in his ear surprised him,
but he didn’t turn to see who said it. However, he did glance out the corner of
his eye to see many of his friends had joined them.

Eric raised his voice. “Give her to me!”

He had to get Rena to the chapel and hope Father Richard was
within hearing distance. Seeing Trent step up on his right, it had to be now.
Without warning, he turned, grabbed Rena, threw her over his shoulder and ran
for the dining room door. Behind him he heard his friends yelling and Eric
screaming at them to get away.

Once through the kitchen, he put Rena down, her face as pale
as any ghost. “Can you run?”

She nodded and they sped for the chapel. Inside, Synn
slammed the door as much to alert the good father as to throw the bar across
it, though it wouldn’t stop a ghost. His heart pounded as he turned.

“Synn, look.” Rena pointed up the aisle even as her own
chest rose and fell rapidly.

He tore his gaze from her and looked at the altar. It almost
glowed. “It’s the lightning reflecting off the white marble.”

She shook her head and started toward it. “No, it isn’t.”

He followed close behind her. He needed help. Anything to
save her. God, the thought of what Eric might do to her had his body turning
cold. “Father Richard! Father Richard, we need your help. Eric plans to use
Rena to stop from crossing over!”

A boom of thunder clapped overhead as Rena approached the
altar. She placed her hand on it. “Please, Father Richard, we need you.”

Synn stopped and stared. She was right. The altar glowed, or
rather pulsed subtly. “Is it your electricity that makes it do that?”

She looked at him, then pointed behind the altar against the
back wall. “No, that’s the electricity. Jamie left his work lamp and tools over
there. To turn it on, a button needs to be pushed or turned and there would
have to be a cord from there to here, but there isn’t.”

He glanced at the white round object surrounded by a metal
cage, a “drop light”, Jamie called it, was lying on the floor, but no cord
traveled from it to the altar. He pressed his hand to the glowing marble. It
vibrated with some kind of power and he doubted it was of this Earth. Earth.
Wait! That was it.

He grabbed her hand. “Come. You have to leave.”

“What?” She pulled away. “I can’t leave. Eric might hurt
you.”

He grabbed both her arms and made her face him. “Listen. He
wants you to block his crossover. He’s figured out how and it has to be you
because you are alive, but you can leave.”

Her eyes widened. “But what about you?”

Yelling could be heard in the servants’ corridor and a loud
roar like a lion vibrated the earth beneath their feet.

He held out his hand. “Don’t you understand? If you are not
safe, I have no reason to continue to exist. Please, come.”

She hesitated as she glanced at the door of the chapel.

“Rena, please.”

She turned back toward him and grasped his hand. They ran to
the side door. Just as Synn placed his hand on the door, something hit it from
outside. Lifting the latch, he tried to push it open, but though he was able to
move it, it wasn’t enough. Frustrated, he stepped back and rammed the door. It
opened enough for a body to squeeze through. Rubbing his shoulder, he pulled
her forward. “No matter what you hear, stay outside. Promise me.”

“I can’t.” Her words were barely discernible above the din
of the thunder and the pounding of Eric’s approach.

He grabbed her by the shoulders just as the chapel door
burst inward and slid halfway up the aisle.

“Go!”

His panic eased as Rena squeezed herself through the small opening,
but was quickly replaced by pain from the high-pitched scream directly behind
him.

Spinning, he found Eric towering over him, his vacillating
skull just beneath the ceiling. “What have you done? Bring her back! Now!” The
loud raspy voice filled the small chapel.

Synn looked for a way to take Eric down, but the man’s legs
were nothing but floating particles. Eric’s skeletal hand picked him up and the
piercing chill that went through him was far worse than the bone-shattering hit
he took as Eric threw him into the pews. He lay still for a moment, the pain in
his left arm assuring him he’d broken it in at least one place. It would right
itself in a moment, but that didn’t relieve the pain now. He sucked in a deep
breath as he looked around for something to fight with. He glared at the
ceiling, the Archangel Raphael’s perpetual disapproval irritating him. “You
aren’t helping.”

Eric floated over, his face a mask of fury. “I needed her.
Only by inhabiting a live host can I avoid the cross. I can’t cross!” Eric’s
hand came at him.

Synn rolled into the aisle, but the cold came through him
again and he found himself hurled through the air. He slammed into the altar
and a shooting pain pierced his head. He grasped the altar to keep from
blacking out and the pain evaporated. What the devil was going on?

Eric advanced on him again. What did he expect to
accomplish? It wasn’t as if he could die. Could he? “Father Richard, now would
be a good time to make an appearance.”

“I would agree.”

Synn looked up to find Father Richard standing next to him.
“About bl—uh, time.”

“Nice to see you too. Now if you will excuse me, I have the
devil’s spawn to take care of.” Father Richard grew and glowed a bright white.
Synn shaded his eyes as the father flew toward Eric.

The chapel shook as they met. Eric’s cold fury and Father
Richard’s strange happiness sent purple sparks flying across the small space,
cutting into the pews. As one dug a hole into the marble near his shoulder,
Synn scrambled up and stepped behind the altar, a place he’d never thought to
venture, but seemed the safest place at the moment. And it was, until Father
Richard barreled into him and laid him out flat. Lightning lit the priest’s
face and it was clear the man was furious.

As soon as Father Richard rose to rejoin the fight, Synn
stood himself. He backed farther away from them, not sure how the purple shards
would feel if they struck him. He glanced toward the door where Rena had left
and prayed she stayed outside until Eric crossed over, even though he could hear
the rain pouring on the roof. She’d be soaked soon in that robe.

The chapel shook again, bringing Synn back to the issue at
hand. Eric had grown larger and Father Richard was on the floor, back to his
normal size. This was not good. Lightning filled the chapel with red-and-white
light, making Eric look like an inhabitant of hell itself. He bent over the
priest. Blast it. Could he harm the father? Synn didn’t plan to find out.
“Eric!”

The thing that used to be Eric turned at the sound of his
voice.

“I think the devil is calling. Shouldn’t you do his
bidding?”

“You!” Eric floated up the aisle. “This is your fault! I
need a living soul. You will have to do.”

Synn backed up, aware that Father Richard had risen and was
gaining strength. Eric made a wide berth around the altar.
Interesting.

Synn grabbed Jamie’s work light and felt for the button that
would make it glow. He just hoped that the electricity worked or he may very
well cease to exist. He darted a glance toward the door. Bloody hell! Rena was
peeking in.

Eric was almost upon him and he glanced behind the
apparition at Father Richard, who nodded.

Bringing the light in front of him, Synn turned on the glow.

Eric covered his face and fell back, hitting the altar just
as Father Richard grabbed him from behind him and held him down. The
high-pitched scream that rent the air had Synn dropping the light to cover his
ears before a burst of white light filled the church and Synn closed his eyes.

A hand on his shoulder made him pull away, but it was only
Father Richard at normal size.

“It’s over, my son.”

Synn looked to where Eric had been, but there was nothing.
“He crossed over?”

Father Richard nodded. “I don’t blame him for not wanting
to. It’s not a pleasant place he goes to.”

Synn remembered the coldness of Eric’s touch. “Is that where
I will go if I ever die?”

Father Richard laughed. “You still think you are to blame?”