SEVERAL WEEKS AGO I threw myself at not-Alex’s side. I doubted that it would do any good, but there had to be some hope–although I knew in my heart of hearts that there was none for John. I could see the blood. I could see how still he was. I knew that he was dead. Again, if he had been telling the truth. Not that that mattered any more.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO Running into a thick white fog to help a self-proclaimed dead man fight off his once brother turned demon wasn’t exactly the most intelligent thing that I’d ever done. Truth be told, I had no idea what I was even going to do once I got in there, but I knew that I had to try something.
For Amanda, if nothing else.
PRESENT DAY The instant I saw the all together too average man, I could feel my heartbeat speeding up and mouth mouth drying out. My body was preparing to fight, remembering all to well the last time I’d been in his pretense.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO My cry was in vain. The fire extinguished passed through the air as if it were just that–air. There was a muted flash of light from right in front of me and a sound like popcorn popping. A heartbeat later and both were gone. The flash hadn’t been bright but nevertheless it was more than enough to bring my hands instinctively to my face. When my vision cleared, I saw that the carefully placed gemstones had moved. Several had jumped, leaving tiny black smudges, almost like burn marks. At least three of them appeared to have cracked into several smaller pieces while one of the quartz crystals–the one closest to me–had been reduced to little more than a pile of dust.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO The sound in such an enclose space was deafening. I’d thought that I knew what to expect, but there’s really nothing that can prepare you for something like that.
Within moments, my ears were ringing, seconds after that, the world took on a muted quality.
Just as I’d managed to threaten my fellow priest, there was a sudden grinding sound all around, so loud that for just a moment nothing else seemed to exist. Nothing but that terrible sound.
PRESENT DAY I turned back into the truck. One of the guards–the one in the ordinary uniform–was still unconscious, the other in his black armor was sitting there as if he hadn’t a care in the world, despite the gun held on him by Father Antonio.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO As Alex appeared I heard several gasps from around the room. For all I knew, one of them could have been mine. It was one thing to know that Alex was a ghost and to know that what we were doing was supposed to call him hear to us. It was quite another for him to just appear there like that.
SEVERAL YEARS AGO It was quick and it was brutal. And then it was over.
Just like that, a dozen or more men were dead or dying right in front of me.
SEVERAL WEEKS AGO Chanting in what felt like Latin–although a good portion of the words I’d never heard before–brought me back to the days when I’d been studying at the seminary. There had been many a class where we’d been expected to know the exact text of manuscripts that predated the English language itself by hundreds of years–translations not allowed.