Book 2: Chapter 99
Heidi
I felt more and more dread as we got closer to the Church…. But I held John’s hand.
“Heidi, you must make a decision.” Said grandpa. “If you come inside, you must Stay inside with us. If you stay outside, know that I will not sense if you are in danger, nor will your mate…. However, know once you cross those doors, you will feel as if you are being laid upon the Ring.”
“Grandfather I will go with you. I can’t risk being attacked or harassed, restarting the war.” I said more confident than I actually was.
“Churches are a fickle thing since humans have such short lifespans however, … they hold supernatural power that rivals even mine if they are convicted enough… so you too must be. Be in conviction…. do not waver your faith nor your hand should anything happen. Know that as King I have the right to declare war. If that happens, I want you to go for whoever sits to the right of the center seat. Just as my Second sits at my right, so too does his. After that Run. If you cannot attack him, at least blind him so he has a harder chance of catching you when you four get to the car.”
“Alpha I will stay with you.” Said Ron.
“I cannot die. You only risk Your life.” He growled.
“I know that…. I always have, as it was never a secret. Anyone paying attention could see that sir. I wish to fight with you, that you don’t become a hostage. Being unable to die means you won’t starve to death, or bleed to death…..but you will linger.” Said Ron.
“Yet if those things happen to me, better I find a way to escape, and have my most trusted Beta guide Kaiden than Brutus. As Crown Prince, my grandson is Untrained… he will Need you more than I.”
We were all quiet at that realization….
“I will do as you ask then my lord.” Said Ron.
“Alpha Kaiden would never listen to Brutus,… but I know in my heart Brutus would stop at Nothing for more power….” Said John. “I don’t like this. I feel like we’re acting more like coyotes than wolves right now.
Grandma shook her head. “We’re in enemy territory now. Now they have an advantage of being on holy ground, a place where they can choose to summon power directly from their patron. The Building is as much of an energy store as the mass worship other humans generate…”
There was a pause as she pulled into the already opened gate. There were a lot of cars in the parking lot, meaning they were holding service. The moment the car rolled past the iron bars… I burned. Thankfully it wasn’t physical…. but I was Definitely Not Welcome.
But I would not waver because of a little pain.
“I am. There is no more mercy, no more compassion in my heart for humans.” I said thinking of my demon’s blood in the silence.... of the wolves who died. There was an anger that welled in me that I had to swallow down. It was like a lump in my throat…. It felt like if I coughed out this proverbial bloodthirst… that there would be no priest left alive to stop me.
Gulteer wasn’t around to ask about this… but I could guess it was because of my demon’s death, and my love for him. He was more like a close friend than a tool, even though by my own god’s standards… he was supposed to be.
I was to feel as if I’d lost a dollar in a vending machine, stubbed my toe, or even been cut in line by a rude person. Annoyance, anger, but not rage…. Not passionately heartbroken as if I’d lost a brother…. Not completely and utterly crushed that he died for no reason other than human hatred…
“Heidi, I know you hurt, but most humans just want to live their lives in peace.” Said John. “Think of all the humans who feel just as you do.”
“But most times humans are the ones who create the problem, then get upset when it doesn’t go their way. It’s humans who are the ones who came to Our pack and tried burning it to the ground and Killed My Flesh. Humans don’t deserve pity or quarter. If they live, they live, if they die, they die.” I said the last part in Rahrraam’s voice…. And it scared me.
“I do not know of magic… after this summon your master.” Said grandfather kingly.
“I sense no demon, yet you speak with his voice…. I’ve never seen anything like it, but the last I saw of Dark Witches, we burned them on the Ring as the Church does… It was the only thing we universally agreed on.” Said grandma.
I didn’t know what to say, as now the lump in my throat was gone, but replaced with a twinge of worry for this unknown event… I hope he wasn’t trying to possess me, wanting revenge for dying after all….
Demons don’t feel love, compassion or kinship, not as others do. He saw me as his mistress, but that he reached out made me wonder was he still bound to me….?
Grandma parked, and when he got out, he opened the door for grandma, while John did for me. We went inside as a group, and the song they sang gave me goosebumps…. All around were statues of their god and their views of the world…. And the pantheon.
“Say nothing. Link no one. They already know we are here.” Commanded Grandfather as the King he was.
“Prepare yourselves, as this will likely be the holiest aura you will feel in your immortal life short of being laid upon the Ring… I know you know the presence of the Left and Right Hands… but know we are entering a house of worship… This place, the land below it, and the humans within are blessed. They are protected by his power, and nothing short of a sinner’s presence will allow you to cast magic.” Warned Grandmother. She was not gram-gram at this moment… she was Queen Gwyneth.
John held my hand, and I squeezed it… he said nothing as he too was a little overwhelmed, but at least he was unaffected by the aura here. I used him as my support… and I was glad he was my mate, though seeing what they’d done to my goddess made me disgusted…. There were recessed statues in the walls all around. As beautiful as they were, as intricate as the statues were carved, I knew that whoever did them was an avid Light worshiper. However… the lies they implied…. It showed how low they thought of her….
The Pale Lady was made out to be a harlot who was depicted in stone in bed with demons, and in others, in a cage, or whipped for her crimes. Her crime was not adhering to the Lord of Light’s command. He’d made her as a ‘gift’, an arranged marriage for his brother…. Humans today say The Lord of Light killed her and locked her up because of the act of disobedience, but the truth was that he desired her to marry who He Wanted, not her own choice.
But that detail did not age well with time.
Though as one created by the enemy of Arviel, the Lord of Light… Zuviel, the Lord of Night tells me only his side through his eyes. In his eyes, he is a victim of trickery, and here on these walls, the Light’s side was that she was stolen and tarnished. The Horned One was a drunkard who ate the damned. She became impure by the darkness; she became the Night Harlot…. Other gods were also depicted, but underneath the Light.
Anything that wasn’t his image was lower in status, lower than him both physically on the walls, and smaller, showing that all others were of no major significance. His wife, the Earth Goddess Lia, was depicted on his right side wearing a crown, but smaller and lower, with his children on the other. The God of War, the God of Bounty, and the God of Labor were all holding their weapons, looking proud.
All the while the humans did not turn around, nor stop their service… they were all in unison, and they all stood at their pews while a priest sternly led them in this Latin hymn. I looked more at the walls, seeing more of the artwork. We shared no words or links, but I knew that in a place like this… there had to be a meeting room away from normal prying eyes.
The God of Mercy, his brother, was also depicted nicely. He held a forlorn look of sorrow at the Moon Goddess… but she was in the arms of the Adversary. In that panel he looked more like he was kidnapping her than in love… but I couldn’t concentrate with the aethereal Latin singing… it hurt my ears, and made my skin crawl. It was as if I were being pelted with stones with every note… and every praise was a curse at me….
Inside, were also 5 monks in hooded, golden robes with silver embordered scripture along the edges of the button closed cloak flap down to the bottom, and hood... They held long candlesticks with no holder as they approached us, singing the praise of their master. I could see a glow around them… we were motioned to follow the one in front, and in a V formation to the side of the cathedral, through a door, then through a magic wall.
The other side was a long narrow stairwell that spiraled into dim candlelight. They did not stop their singing, and it added to the instinctual fear this place gave me…. Even more so when I saw the Ring…
It was simple… It was a 8 foot wide hoop of pure silver with real gold accents by the look of it… It would have to be to withstand temperatures of the burning coals and ashes at the bottom of it… I don’t know When they’d killed that vampire, but his soul lingered in the room below.
A room was filled with candles of white, atop skulls of supernatural likeness… as many had fangs…. The grand table that held them mirrored the High Council, though their table was white marble, and their leaders were old. They all looked almost decrepit except for Father Rodrick… In his white robe with gold trim, he looked almost like he was in his 40’s, or even late 30’s if not for the white hair and wrinkled eyes…
“King Ashital.” Said Father Rodrick.
“…. I did not expect to see the original Left Hand… what Trickery is this?” He said calmly. He stood tall and proud.
“There is no trickery. I was returned to this world. Not to use His Hands as weapons, but to lay them upon the weak.”
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