CHAPTER 27: THE CHAOS

Suzanne closed the door behind them as Tom wheeled their bags into the bedroom. It was a simple but spacious room, with a king-sized bed against the wall and an adjoining bathroom next to it. The room even had a little balcony with a view of the backyard, not that there was much to see at the moment. Outside, the sky was still dark and heavy with snowfall. Tom walked over to the sliding glass door and pulled the curtain to a close, he didn’t want any ghosts peeking in on them.

Suzanne looked at Tom silently as he went about with their toiletries and clothes. He was a good man, and she was endangering his life. What chance would he have if the mist came for them a second time? This was a mistake, she shouldn’t have let him come here.

“Tom….” she began.

Tom looked up from where he stood, Suzanne walked over to him, intending to talk him out of this madness.

But before she could speak further, he silenced her with a kiss. He dropped his shaver onto the bed and cupped her face gingerly, going in for a second kiss, a third, and then a fourth. Slowly, she began to respond to his touch.

In the dark, the undressed each other. Tom lifted her onto the bed and roamed her body with his mouth as Suzanne moaned, clawing at him with great passion. At one point, Tom stopped suddenly in the midst of their lovemaking.

“What’s wrong?” Suzanne asked breathlessly, her body covered in sweat. The pale glow of the moon had streamed through the curtains, casting a pale light on Tom’s face. For some reason, Tom was looking at her strangely.

“Tom?”

“Nothing, I love you, Suzanne,” he began to kiss her again, both giving in to their desires as they intertwined under the covers.

Later, Suzanne sat in the dark.  Tom had gone to sleep but Suzanne’s mind was still wide awake. She looked at him, he had his back towards her and traced her finger along his broad shoulder. She could feel the welts on his back from where she had clawed at him earlier on.

She tied a robe around her body and headed towards the bathroom silently. There, she switched on the bathroom lights and closed the door before heading towards the rectangular mirror which hung above the sink.

Under the lights, Suzanne studied her fingernails, there were dried blood underneath them. It was Tom’s blood. Suzanne frowned, she had never done that before, not even in their wildest moments together. The uncanny thing was, she had wanted even more of it. There was a moment during the heat of passion when she had wanted to rip his skin off and devour him whole. In fact, she had wanted to suck the life force out of Tom and claim it as her own.

Suzanne looked at her reflection, suddenly feeling very scared, I’m turning into one of them.

Outside, the snowfall got heavier and the wind started to howl. In the middle of the white lawn, two hooded figures looked up at the balcony of Suzanne’s room before slipping back into the shadows.

***

At first light, Suzanne and Tom headed downstairs for the library and as they entered through the panelled glass door, they were greeted by the smell of coffee and a nervous-looking Thomas. He was standing behind an antique mahogany desk pouring coffee for everyone. Hans was seated in a leather armchair in front of the desk, buttering his toast. The twins were braiding each other’s hair on a dark green Chester chaise lounge, each with a lollipop in their mouth. They looked so identical, no one could tell them apart.

They were all surrounded by soaring bookshelves that reached up to the first floor of the building. Marcelino was on the first floor of the library reading a book but upon seeing Suzanne, he closed it and gave her a slight nod before ascending the spiral staircase to join them all below.

Hans popped the toast into his mouth, brush off the crumbs from his hands and motioned for everyone to take a seat.

“Hans was just telling us about the weird inscription you sent him,” Thomas said, pushing his glasses back up. “Where’d you get it from?”

“Hendricks.”

“Oh.” A brief silence fell at the mention of Hendricks’ name. He had been a well-known figure within the circle of clairvoyants and was once the best at making talismans, often gifting them his talismans for free. Hans, his protégé however was not as generous. When Hendricks went into semi-retirement, Suzanne and the rest who sucked at making talismans and potions and had to purchase them from Hans for an extremely high price. Hans was their friend, but he was also a businessman and an extremely cunning one at that. He was currently one of the richest men in the whole of Asia.

“It’s a good thing Suzanne sent me a snapshot of the inscription, I don’t think you have it anymore, do you, Suzanne?” Hans asked as he pulled out an enlarged copy from under a book.

Suzanne shook her head, try as she did, she could not stop the decaying of the ancient paper. Having been exposed to the moisture in the air, the piece of paper now sat as mere dust in Suzanne’s luggage bag.

“But how did Hendricks get it in the first place?” Thomas asked, curious. It wasn’t everyday people got to walk into the Vatican library and get their hands on such an ancient artefact.

“A vampire gave it to him,” Tom chipped in, sipping his coffee. Suddenly all eyes, save Suzanne’s were on him. Even the twins who were ignoring everyone else earlier on had stopped braiding each other’s hair. He blinked, “Did I say something wrong?” he asked innocently.

Thomas was the first to laugh it off,” Ghosts I see…but vampires…? You’re joking right?”

Tom shook his head, “No, he even gave us his version of the Genesis.”

Thomas continued to laugh away nervously, everyone else was silent, wanting to know more.

Hans met Suzanne’s gaze and placed the printed paper in the middle of the desk, giving everyone a good view of it.

“What does it say?” Suzanne finally spoke.

Hans took a deep breath, “Well, it mentions a lot of things, but what stood out the most was this.”

Hans then pointed his long lean finger to the last paragraph, “In all honesty, it’s very similar to the claims from the Torah code.” The Torah code was a series of hidden codes that scholars had deciphered from the first five books of the Old Testament.  

“So when’s the big day?” one of the twins asked, leaning forward, a look of worry forming on her face.

“Unless we take a stand, doomsday will come for us on the first day of the year of the black mist,” Hans said. “Armageddon is heading our way on January the first, 2021. That’s 7 days away.”