Chapter Ninety

Izabella backed away from the terrifying grin of Eudom. The shadowy thing that Pastor Tom had promised she would be safe from. The only thing that was preventing her from panicking right now was that her father had known this creature. Was this who he had been telling her to find. Did he know what the key her father had mentioned with his last breath was? Right now, she was playing a game with him, one that he never explained the rules to, but assumed she understood.

His face was too close, even though his body still leaned against her dresser. The clicking of his fingers was driving her mad. And she didn’t like the way those red eyes of his pinned her to her seat. Making her afraid to move. Or that chill that surrounded her when he got too close. “Now, deary. That is *the* question.” She grabbed a pillow from her bed holding it to her chest as she slinked back against the wall. “How do mortals kill beings like a vampire?” His eyes lit up. “You have to find a way to make a relic strong enough to do so, but how does a mortal capture such a creature? Your father was tasked with these questions. The church has been hunting vampires and has a decent plan for those of…” his head twisted right and left as if he were dancing to an old tune. His fingers clicked more quickly on the wood behind him. Izabella wondered if this was exciting for him? “Normal blood. But what happens when one is so powerful, ancients used to believe it was a god that transcends mortal understanding? You would need something precious indeed.” His hand was suddenly at the side of her face. She could feel the cold coming off him, but he did not touch her. Only hovered there as if wanting to. “A secret weapon. A key. The one thing that could work. You are the secret. Your father figured it out. A unicorn. Something so loyal, and loving, and pure, that nothing can shake it. After a lifetime of death and destruction, that was the only thing that could still the heart of the most dangerous beings.”

Eudom gave a high-pitched giggle, backing away from her. A finger raised as if wanting her to wait a moment. “But… what happens when the heart you were supposed to learn to destroy, and made a perfect weapon for, isn’t what you’ve been told. If, my dear Izzy, you were asked to hunt evil, and found out your target may make a better ally? What if you fell in love with the weapon yourself?”

Izabella squeezed her pillow closer. “I’m sorry. I know this is your question, I’m only asking this for clarification. You’re telling me dad kept me to make a weapon for the stronger vampires, and learned that what the church wanted him to hunt wasn’t as evil as they made him believe. And now you’re asking me what I would do in this situation?”

Eudom’s smile faltered. He clearly didn’t like it when she didn’t follow his unspoken rules. A moment later though, the smile came back, and he nodded excitedly. “Yes. Close enough.”

Izabella chewed her lip. “First off, I would never even contemplate making a weapon out of a person, let alone a child. My father should have known he wouldn’t have the constitution to do such a thing.” She huffed. Did he actually entertain this idea? Her father had always been so loving and kind. She could barely believe that he would use her against someone like Bram. “Secondly, evil is objective. A fox is always evil through the eyes of the rabbit. Yet, we know that he is necessary to the circle of life. Just because the rabbit can’t understand this doesn’t mean the fox is anything more than another creature trying to live its life to the best of its ability. Like all of us.”

Eudom giggled more, clapping lightly. “Perfectly stated my little Iz.”

Izabella’s eyes narrowed at the shadowy figure across from her. He was using her name in specific ways to notate who they were actually referencing, so that comment should have her focusing on Bram right now. She could only assume, that in their game, that meant that Bram, and others like him, are the foxes of their story. Was she the rabbit? At the very least, her father was. But it sounded like he might have figured it out before he passed.

As her mind mulled over all of this, she forgot that it was her turn to ask a question. At least until Eudom cleared his throat in the silence. “Sorry, I was contemplating. Um… what promise did you make to my father?”

Eudom’s eye sparkled at her, and he waived at her as he moved toward the door. “Would you come with me? It would be best to show you things before I answer that question.”

Izabella looked at the door, then back at Eudom. “That door is locked. And there are men out there, who if they see you, will try to hunt you down.”

Eudom’s chilly gaze met hers as the handle turned easily. As he opened it, the lights in the hall blinked out. “Do not fear for me, deary. I’m the third scariest thing in this church right now. And none of them are one or two.” He twittered, moving down the hall at a slow, yet steady pace. He didn’t seem concerned with the others seeing them either. He walked right past a sentry standing at her father’s door, opened it, and shuffled through. Izabella’s heart slammed her chest as she passed them by, but they didn’t seem to notice her at all. What kind of powers did Eudom have where he could make sure no one saw them?

Pastor Tom was standing behind his desk, the phone to his ear. His knuckles white as the clung to the receiver. “Sir, I’m telling you, the alarm has been sounded. I can’t find hide-nor-hair of what has set it off though. It’s been going crazy since Izabella and those kids showed up. I have a feeling there’s something off about the boy that came in with her, but he can’t be a vampire. He would have burned up the moment he stepped on our grounds. And I know that Father Corvino never finished his work with her. He outright refused. Said he wouldn’t put her in danger and therefore couldn’t use her.” Though the lights went out in the office all around them, no one in the room seemed to notice that it had gotten darker, or that she and her guide had entered.

Eudom stood beside Pastor Tom, then smiled pointing at him. “He’s talking about me. Though, he doesn’t have a clue about our little master.” He twittered again, floating on the shadows until he reached the office corner where an old stack of Bibles and Hymnals sat, boxed up and never taken care of. More and more questions came to Izabella as she listened, but she was afraid to ask and offend him again by breaking his unset rules.

“I understand your hunters don’t suspect anything else here and that they think it’s the girl.” Tom paused. “I already explained why he did that. I was the one shadowing him.” Another pause and this time, Tom’s face went white. “That’s not fair. Even the Cardinal you sent was unable to find the hidden office. It’s not my fault he never shared its whereabouts with me. We’ve been searching ever since—” He stopped abruptly and Eudom watched with mild amusement.

He turned to her, holding up a finger. “That’s the first part of the promise. That I would make sure the hidden room could not be found.” He held up a second finger. “The next part is to show you where the office is and how to enter. The third, shall be revealed once we have entered.” When he moved the boxes out from in front of the bookshelf, Izabella couldn’t fathom how in the world he could be moving things around in the room after shutting off the lights and not a single person even noticed them. It had to be some form of magic he was using. Nothing else made sense. “It’s here. On the bottom shelf. It’s not a normal door, as you know it. It’s a shadow room.” He reached into his cloak and pulled out a black candle. “You will need this once you enter. Remove these two books here.” He pointed at them first, then pulled them out of their little space. “Then, place your hand in the shadows. The room must be as dark as you see it now, or darker. Place your hand in the space here and tap your fingers like this.” Click. Click. Clicket-y, clicket-y, click… click. He had been giving her the password to the shadow room the whole time they’d been in her room. Eudom was suddenly not in the room anymore. Izabella leaned down, looking into the tiny space where he’d put his hand to click out the password.

As she reached for the space, she hesitated as Tom shouted, “You can’t do that!” His hands slammed the desk. “I promised Father Corvino we wouldn’t… you promised him…” he started shaking and his knees gave way as he landed heavily in his seat. “I understand. Yes. Yes. I will. I’m sorry. Yes, your grace. I’ll fix it at once and wait for further instruction.” He set the receiver down on the phone base slowly. Covering his eyes with his palms, looking like a defeated man.

***

I'm sorry for the wait on the most recent chapters, hopefully I'll catch myself up with everything soon. Happy Reading!