Nightbringer (12 page)

She wasn't certain whether
it was Rebecca or the kids who were more comforted by the other's presence, but the arrangement had worked perfectly so far. Pausing, Gina stood over the monsignor, who had worked through the morning relatively undisturbed by the monks— thanks also to Father Stephen's vigilance. A lot crossed Gina's mind, questions she was determined to ask the priest when the time came.

She studied the radio. It was crisscrossed with wires and was using only a circuit board. A number of vintage fuses were hooked together with a maze of copper line and aluminum foil. It didn't look very promising.

"How's it going?"

With a sigh the monsignor leaned back from the ragged remnants of the radio. "Well enough. I believe I can design what we called a
‘stretch antenna' in World War II. It is, actually, a little more powerful than a conventional radio and has better range. But we are limited to Morse code."

"That shouldn't be a problem. There's a dozen rescue teams that monitor this area for transmissions in Morse code. It's the international language for emergencies."

"True," the monsignor answered, and he apparently did not sense or did not care for Gina's acute attention. But when she did not say anything more, and did not move, he raised his face.

"I believe that I shall have it operational this evening. Then we will be one hour from leaving, and it will be as if this never happened."

Gina almost laughed, but didn’t. She saw Cassius waiting for her beside the stairs. He was heavily laden with weapons but she knew the extra weight wouldn't slow him down. In fact, she wasn't worried about him covering the distance at all.

With a last smile and a kiss and a wave at the kids, Gina walked to the stairs and took a belt he presented. It was loaded with three clips for the MP-5—almost a hundred extra rounds, three antipersonnel grenades, and four flares. It was heavy when she strapped it around her waist, but for the extra fire-power she was willing to bear the weight. She'd carry the MP-5 in her hands for a quick first shot, but she'd let the shoulder strap bear the load.

"Ready?" he asked.

"You bet."

He glanced at the kids.

"They're okay," she added, a sure nod. "They're scared. But they haven't seen it yet, remember? They could be more frightened. "

"True." He nodded. "And they don't need to be."

They walked slowly up the staircase, not expending any more energy than necessary. But at the crest they stood before the longest corridor in the abbey. Far at the other end was another stairway, then another corridor and then Gina's room.

Gina ran over the plan in her mind, taking deeper breaths—down this hall, up a flight, down another hall to the corridor with their rooms and back. At least a quarter mile all together. She felt light-headed from the breaths and knew she was oxygenated. She nodded tightly to Cassius.

"I'm ready when you are."

With a curt nod he led, beginning at a lope that Gina felt immediately she could maintain there and back. It was fast but not so fast that she'd burn out, yet neither would she be able to hold it for more than the short distance.

Her mind was acutely alert to any sounds from the Hall but she heard nothing as they reached the second stairway, and Cassius took the steps four at a time to emerge twenty feet ahead of her on the crest. She knew he'd done it because the crest was a blind spot. There was no way to know what was there until you reached it.

Thirty seconds – maybe.

He motioned and Gina cleared the last step
. Then he was ahead of her again, a single leaping stride putting him in the lead. The second corridor was longer and contained more doors, so Cassius would slow just a hair, ready to react to anything.

In seconds they
were in the corridor they sought, and Gina was through the door of her room instantly. She was glad they had barely unpacked because she knew where everything was. She grabbed the kids' heaviest coats, stuffed socks in the pockets, grabbed two sweaters and their boots.

"Got it!"

They were down the hall together when Gina realized something was wrong. She wasn't certain what it was until she realized it was smoke. But Cassius had already sensed it because at the stairway he leaped the final fifteen feet to hit the floor.

Gina had only begun the descent when she heard flames roaring.

Cassius cursed.

The last corridor was fully aflame and Gina knew it as she hit the floor and threw the clothes and boots to the side, instantly raising the MP-5 for an attack. But there was no attack and then she heard the howls—human howls of horror.

"The children!" she cried as Cassius spun.

Gina began to take a chance and ran toward the flames. If she was fast enough she might be able to—

With a cable-strong arm Cassius caught her across the chest, spinning with her to prevent injury.

Gina hit the floor livid
; "
The children
!"

Cassius kicked a door that exploded off the hinges as though it'd been hit by a truck. He snatched the MP-5 from her hands and raised it at the window. He fired for two seconds, shattering the stained glass. Smoke was already choking Gina as he smashed the remnants of glass from the rectangular opening. Instantly a blast of black air and flashing snow poured through, shocking Gina with cold.

"Isn't there another staircase?" she shouted.

"No!" He threw a leg over the sill. "
He’ll be burning that too! Our only chance is to get outside and follow the wall around to the front!" He stretched out an arm to her. "Hurry up! It's a drop but I can let you down!"

Gina slung the MP-5 and squirmed through the window beside him, and Cassius lowered her into the night. She raised an arm over her face, shielding her eyes from flecks of ice that hit like sandpaper, and
then she saw a slope of snow.

The ten-foot drift reduced the force of her impact, and two seconds later she heard Cassius hit the ground beside her.
He had leaped from the window, completely past the gigantic drift to land hard on his feet. She didn't expect him to be injured and he wasn't.

Trusting nothing in this storm, which reduced visibility to less than four feet, Gina grabbed Cassius' dark blue shirt and he kept tight against the drift as they moved. It was slow work, and tedious, because they post-holed with each step, legs sinking to their thighs.

Then Cassius began to powerfully move against the heavy crust, bulling his way through the drifts, and Gina understood. He was making it easier for her to keep up. He was doing all the work. All she had to do was stagger in his tracks.

Still, it seemed like forever
– though Gina knew it had been less than three minutes since they hit the ground – until they reached the front steps of the abbey. Cassius dragged her past the ice-sheathed stones with uncanny balance and pushed open the gigantic twin doors and Gina rushed into the Hall, raising the MP-5.

At least half of the monks who had been in the Hall lay across the lapis lazuli floor, torn and bloody and dead.

Gina scanned the dais—Josh and Rachel, as well as Rebecca, weren't there. She swept the MP-5 across the hall but she didn't see the creature.

Instantly Gina knew who else wasn't there—the professor, Mr. Trevanian, Miguel, M
elanchthon, Barnabas, the monsignor, Father Stephen, Jaqual, the two other monks—Samuel and Zachary …

"Rebecca!" she screamed but didn't expect a response.

Smoke from the burning section of the abbey had not invaded the Hall. But she could smell the scent of burning timber. She whirled as Cassius bent over the radio.

"What about the radio!"

Cassius took another moment. "The monsignor took the circuit board with him!" He nodded. "Good. If we still have the radio, we still have a chance."

"We need to find them, Cassius." Gina's voice was calm in the calm of someone who sees a snake too close already and knows he can't move without risk. He stood and nodded.

"We will."

***

As they exited a mildewed staircase, Gina moved close beside Cassius. Without breaking her vigilance at connecting corridors, doorways, or the irregular, elevated ceiling where the beast could pounce on them from the darkness, she spoke. "Rebecca wouldn't run farther than she had to. She'd find some place safe and hide."

Cassius didn't answer.

"Cassius?"

Slowly, he turned his head toward a corridor. A good professional would have followed the gaze, but Gina was better than that. She looked in the opposite direction so they couldn't be blindsided. Still, she caught his minute hand movement and stepped silently into an alcove. Then Gina heard frantic voices at the far end of the corridor and she moved past him fast.

It was Samuel and Zachary.

Doubtless, Gina saw them before they saw her, for at her first stride they turned as one and began to run.

"Wait!" she shouted. "It's us!"

They seemed to hover between escaping and approaching, and then Samuel took a single hesitant step. "Ms.
Crosswell?" His voice was thin with fear. "Is it you?"

Gina waved sharply.
"Come up here!"

She met them halfway and gripped Samuel's shoulders so tightly he fell to his knees. "Where are the children!"

"I don't know!"

He was shaking violently—in shock—and Gina understood. She ignored guilt and made a conscious effort to loosen her hold. She calmed her tone. "Samuel, I'm sorry. Listen to me very carefully. I want you to think. Where
... are ... the children?"

He lifted trembling hands.
"I don't know!"

"What happened in the Hall?" Cassius asked sternly.

Samuel gasped, "W-We were waiting for your return! And then ... then
It
came out of the north corridor! It just stood there! Staring at us! I didn't know what to do! Then it just walked into the room killing everyone it could kill! Forgive me! I didn't know what to do! I grabbed Jaqual and we ran! It was a demon!"

Frowning, Cassius held the monk's gaze. "Was it wounded?"

Samuel gaped. "Wounded?"

"Was it
injured
?"

"No, it was
n’t hurt! But it looked like it wore the robe of Dominic!"

"Dominic!" Gina hissed. "I'll kill him for this! Samuel! What happened next
?"

He pointed as if the corridor were beside them. "Rebecca ran into the corridor beside the kitchen! She had the children!" He nodded and recovered—somewhat. "They were
n’t hurt!"

Gina closed her eyes tightly to shut off tears because they wouldn't understand that it was just stress. They would misunderstand it as a sign of fear, and they didn't need any more inspiration for fear.

Straightening, Cassius lifted his torch at a hallway. "Down this hall was a sanctuary. Is it still there?"

It took Samuel a moment to understand either the question or the strangeness of it. "I believe so, yes," he answered, then added curiously, "It is very
ancient. No one is allowed there."

When Cassius turned toward Gina, the glistening ice of his eyes was almost startling. She had never seen him like this, not even after his struggle with
the Nephilim. Then, he had certainly been enraged. But what emanated from him was greater than rage—colder, more calculating and more merciless. He was in a pure killing mode.

Even the hardest soldiers caught in life-and-death situations had a glimmer of fear in their eyes. But Cassius' eyes were pure to the center of whatever ice reflected the light.

At his mention of the sanctuary, his entire aspect altered, or, rather, it was as if a cloak had been lifted and his true essence was revealed. His brow was inspiring, his bearing, noble.

"We'll have to double back," he stated, as if there would be no debate. "There's no good way to get there from here without going past the sanctuary."

Gina met his gaze. "What's at the sanctuary?"

"It's not safe."

It was all he said and—Gina knew—all he would say. But she would come back to it, guaranteed. "Fine," she said and looked at the two monks. "You guys coming?"

As if she needed to ask.

***

The professor
with Melanchthon beside him entered Dominic's room to find it empty as the rest.

Breathless from the chaotic run from the Hall, finally finding themselves together as surrounding corridors boomed with the roar of the beast and howls of those it continued to
kill, they gathered their wits and gained enough distance to recover and plan.

Melanchthon immediately spoke of Dominic and Basil and Professor Haider had agreed that they should search both their rooms for any clue of a purpose or plan.

Haider stood guard with the MP-5, which Melanchthon had shown him how to use, as the monk roughly rifled the shelves, lifted the mattress, and opened books only to hurl them aside.

By accident, it seemed, the monk brushed against a loose stone in the wall beside the shelves, and it fell with a dull thud to the floor. Both of them stared. A hole, previously hidden by the stone, contained a bundle wrapped in canvas, tied with a string. Melanchthon glanced cautiously at the professor.