The Devil’s Peak II, page 26
“That hurt.” She swallowed and grabbed his arm and used it to get to her feet.
Drake came up with her and he turned to watch the magnificent huge tree begin to crumble to cinder dust.
There were just four of them remaining, as other than Drake and Isabella, there was just Leonidas and Francesco. The two Knights came closer, with Leonidas carrying the small branch with the three apples attached. He held them out.
Isabella picked one and held it in her hand, and then closed her eyes. “I can feel it. Feel its power.” She handed it to Francesco. “We need to test it.”
She reached into her backpack, and drew forth the small glass jar that held the severed finger of the beast from the Kurdish village. The disgusting thing was a greenish-grey and curled up like a rotting grub. When she held it up, the thing started to move and inch around the bottom of the jar still seeking a way out.
Isabella had Francesco cut a tiny sliver of the apple. He held it ready and she opened the jar.
The revoting thing inside coiled itself, ready to spring out, but Francesco dropped the apple sliver in and she quickly sealed the jar. The apple piece fell onto the finger and the reaction was immediate. The finger began to swell and then exploded into a grey steaming liquid. In seconds more it dried to nothing.
“Now that’s what I call a positive field test,” Drake said.
“It has all been worth it.” Isabella smiled. “We need to get these home and synthesize whatever compounds are inside.”
She turned to the smoldering remains of the magnificent tree. Everything was gone other than a huge pile of ash. Most of it had burned so hotly that it devoured the tree rapidly and completely.
“Put the rest of that tree out. Till the soil, and when it is cooled, we will ensure the tree lives again.”
She held up the apple she had taken a slice from. “From small things big things grow.”
Francesco placed the other two apples in an airtight cannister, and twisted the lid, and it immediately frosted. He then slotted it into his backpack.
The group did as Isabella asked, spreading the ashes which would provide rich minerals to sweeten the soil. The apple was buried, and covered over, and then they emptied their water cannisters there.
Isabella stood back and smiled down at it. “Thank you.”
She backed away and then turned. “We need to get this back and hopefully there’s still a world out there when we get home.”
The group headed out through the garden forest, and with only four of them remaining, they were on guard against the huge snake. But they left unharmed, and came to the dark pond once again. At the water’s edge the group kitted back up for the swim.
Isabella nudged Drake. “After all you have seen, the Garden of Eden, Hell, and even the Devil, are you a believer yet?”
He chuckled softly. “Let’s just say I have a more open mind now.”
She laughed softly. “Then that will do.” She slowly pulled the wetsuit over her painful burn. “For now.”
They entered the water.
CHAPTER 39
When they emerged from the water, Enzo was waiting for them with sword drawn. His whole body sagged when he saw how few of them there were, and Francesco shook his head.
The Knight went to Enzo and embraced him. But then pulled back and pulled the glass canister out with the two apples.
“We have succeeded, brother.” Francesco gave him a sad smile. “But the price was high.”
“Then the sacrifice was not in vain,” Enzo replied and sheathed his sword.
It was a somber trip back home made worse when they passed through the village of the Elbaşi Kurds.
“Ethan,” was all Drake said.
Isabella nodded as they looked over the grotesque massacre of every man, woman, and child in the village. It had been an orgy of physical desecration. And the ferocity and brutality showed them it was done by something with a visceral hatred of the human physical form.
The boat was still waiting for them, and it seemed oversized now that more than half their ranks were gone.
Even travelling via the high speed links they had set up it took two days to return to Rome. Most of the stops along the way had been surreal as many towns had been either abandoned or ravaged, and they needed to fire upon roving bands of the skinless-looking creatures that in some cases still wore the clothing of their previous human lives.
It was both saddening and revolting when they saw one small creature wearing the clothing of a little girl – it seemed no one and nothing was spared.
A Vatican convoy was waiting for them at the airport that was guarded now around the clock by the Italian military, as, Drake assumed, was most of the critical infrastructure all around the world.
From the intel he had gathered along the way, some countries had gone totally dark. It would take a generation to recover, and that was only if what they brought back could somehow be mass produced and weaponized.
Even though exhausted, Drake and Isabella were ushered directly to the Vatican laboratories beneath the walled city.
Cardinal Tommasini was waiting for them. “Show me,” he said.
Isabella handed over the canister. Drake wasn’t surprised to see that the apples hadn’t degraded at all, and perhaps they never would.
The Cardinal crossed himself and then took the canister and closed his eyes as he held it.
“It was all there,” Isabella said. “The garden, the gates, the tree, and the snake.”
Tommasini nodded. “Faith is a burden and a battle every day. Until you see something like this and you know you were right all along.” He turned away. “We must hurry. We need to find out what it is that makes these special.”
The trio headed down to the older lower level, and went from a stone hallway, through a heavily fortified door, and then into a pristine white corridor. It never failed to amaze Drake that the ancient walled city of the Vatican hid a hi-tech world that rivaled the best of anything on the planet.
They entered the laboratory and there was a small team of white coated scientists and doctors waiting. They bowed, took the canister, and then opening it, used forceps to remove one of the apples.
They then sliced away several slivers and each was headed for a different device – an electron microscope, mass spectrometer, chromatography systems, and thermal cyclers. Each of these devices would employ different techniques to analyze the physical and chemical properties of a sample.
It was the X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometers that was used to determine elemental composition of materials that found the first anomaly.
“Something here that shouldn’t be.” The scientist put the findings up on the wall as a projection. The graph showed the spikes of the chemical composition. “There are all the basic chemical components – sugars like fructose, glucose, and sucrose, minerals like potassium and calcium, also polyphenols-containing compounds like quercetin, catechin, phlorizin, and chlorogenic acid. All normal.” He went on to list dozens of other things he was expecting.
He stopped, turned, and pointed at one particular spike. “But then there’s this compound.” He half smiled. “I have no idea what it is. The computer’s global flora encyclopedic database has no idea what it is.” He half smiled. “As far as it’s concerned it’s…” He beamed, “…non-Earthly.”
“Isolate,” Tommasini said. “Then we test it.”
They did, and they tested it on a captured subject. An almost microscopic amount of the substance caused the creature to shudder violently, fall to the ground, and then simply turn to dust.
“Three seconds.” Tommasini nodded. “Good result.”
Isabella stepped forward, and dragged her sleeve up. “Test it on me, the uninfected. We must ensure that it is safe for the population.”
“No,” Drake said, and reached out for her.
She turned. “We don’t have much time and we need to know if it’s safe. Right now.”
The scientist’s eyes went to Cardinal Tommasini. He gave an almost imperceptible nod.
He administered the same amount to Isabella. She waited, and the whole room stood in silence, watching.
Drake felt his stomach flip from nerves. He should have offered himself, he thought. He should have…
“Three seconds,” Tommasini exhaled.
She smiled. “Nothing.”
“How do you feel?” Drake asked.
“Good, fine.” She drew in a breath and let it out. “Better than fine.”
Drake smiled, and pointed to her chest. “Show me. Show me the burn.”
She felt it, and then frowned. She quickly opened her shirt and peeled it open above her breasts.
The burn was gone.
“Better than fine,’ Drake repeated.
Cardinal Tommasini crossed himself, but then his face grew serious and he turned to the scientists. “This wondered element or compound. Can it be reproduced?”
“Doctor,” one of the other scientists pointed, “the sample.”
The lead scientist walked back to where they had the sliver of apple in a beaker of distilled water. The level was higher and it was all milky. He took a sample and placed it under the microscope.
“What is it? Is there a problem?” Tommasini asked.
The scientist began to smile as he changed the magnification. “No, no problem. But we don’t have to worry about synthesizing the substance.” He looked up. “Because it is self-replicating. It is growing. The unknown component is alive.”
“It is the antithesis of the Hell plague micro-parasite.” Cardinal Tommasini closed his eyes. “Thank god.” He opened his eyes, his gaze intense. “How long until we have enough to begin mass delivering it? Like via some sort of crop dusting process. We also need to get it out to every country in the world. So they can produce their own.”
The scientists looked back at the sample. “Only as long as it takes to set up growth tanks. The rate of replication is astounding.”
“How long?” Tommasini repeated more forcefully.
The man smiled. “Days. Maybe hours for the first batch.”
CHAPTER 40
The first thing the Vatican did was spread the news to every government around the world – from China to the USA, to Australia and beyond. A sample was then sent via high speed delivery with instructions for growing and dispensing.
Across Europe the spraying had already begun and every plane that could be modified was utilized to deploy the substance.
Another thing they found was that although the substance could be destroyed by heat, high impact had no effect so dispersal bombing could also be utilized by creating inoculation bombs for highly over-run areas.
Over the next few weeks, it became a time of joy from every country with feedback of the hordes being decimated so substantially and so quickly. Updates on eradication changed from years, to months, to weeks, almost daily.
Though there would be pockets of the creatures hiding in basements, barns, and old mine shafts, they too would eventually be hunted down.
There was one last area of infection to deal with – the ground zero, and that would be next.
CHAPTER 41
The high altitude bomber was nearing the drop zone in the South Pacific. The pilot had his undercarriage cameras rolling and he relayed what he was seeing to home base. In addition, the feed was provided to most countries.
“Coming up on target.”
The commander in chief and his war room all watched in silence. Coming up on screen they all saw it and the room filled with gasps of disbelief and horror.
“Oh my god,” the President whispered.
What was once the Devil’s Peak was now a mountain of colossal, mottled tentacles hundreds of feet across and thicker than redwood trees. The water that was once a magnificent steel blue was the color of blood and they could see dead sharks, whales, and other sea life floating lifeless on the poisoned surface.
But there were other things living in it – all the abominations that had been released from the pit of Hell, the leviathans, the Kraken, and other gargantuan monstrosities, were in attendance to their Master.
There were other huge malformations clinging to the bottom of the peak, that were neither fish nor animals, but a revolting mix of things that looked as if borne from a madman’s nightmare.
“Coming up on target in, five, four, three…”
The world watched and waited.
“…two, one… away.”
The thirty thousand pound, pilot-guided device was released from the undercarriage, and immediately small wings were deployed. The copilot took control and via a nose camera steered it all the way to the center of the hellish bloom.
It entered the heart of the great beast and detonated. There was no fiery blast, but the impact and the following bloom of greenish mist spread to cover the entire Hellborne horror and the sea surrounding it for hundreds of yards.
What followed was an absolute explosion of activity as the Garden of Eden compound met with the monstrous Father of Flies.
The bomber had already banked away and was several miles clear when the secondary detonation occurred.
This one was a volcanic eruption, and a geyser of magma shot skyward. Surrounding the remnants of the Devil’s Peak, the leviathans had all vanished and the sea churned as if in a violent storm.
Tidal waves roared away from the peak, and in another half hour, the magma stopped flowing, the sea calmed, and the clouds cleared.
The bomber pilot returned and scouted the area.
Other than a ghastly slick on the ocean’s surface, nothing remained of the peak at all.
“Target destroyed,” the pilot intoned. “Coming home.”
He banked away, just as the sun was coming out again.
***
All around the world fist-sized blowflies fell from the sky and immediately began to rot. Areas where swirling purple clouds had formed to drop miserable rain suddenly vanished.
Some people came from their cellars, from train tunnels, and from wherever they had been hiding. And other beasts, the skinless ones, the abominations did the opposite, skulking back into the sewers, mine shafts, and deep holes in the ground.
Thousands of miles away, in a corner of Turkey, in a valley that it is forbidden to enter, and through a pond, below ground, and then into a hidden garden, a tree sprouted on the only hill.
It would be years before it could bear fruit.
But it would fruit.
CHAPTER 42
USA, Texas, the Stoker Ranch – six months later
Drake and Isabella rode out to a hillside and looked back out over a valley that was green, and dotted with grazing cattle. They sat there as the sun neared the horizon.
He turned to her. “You know you can stay here. With me,” he said, not looking at her.
She laughed softly. “And what would I do? Not much call for a Vatican warrior in Texas. I couldn’t even ride a horse until a few months ago.”
“There’ll be a lot of work now. Going to take years to rebuild everything that was destroyed. There’ll be big calls for construction work. We’ll be travelling around. Going to be busy.”
She continued to look out over the landscape before finally turning. Her brows were raised. “So, a business partner?”
“Well, no, you know I lo…” he sighed.
“Go on.” She smiled. “Sa-aaay it.”
He grinned and shook his head. “This is harder than I thought.”
“Big tough Drake Stoker afraid of a little sentence.” She waited, smiling.
His face grew hot and he turned away. “I love you.”
“What? I didn’t hear that.” Her grin widened.
“Aggh.” He tilted his head back on his neck and then turned to her, his cheeks fully red now. “I love you, Isabella.”
“A-aaand?” She leaned forward in the saddle.
“And I want you to stay with me,” he said in a rush.
“Anything else?” she huffed. “I’ll think about.”
He shook his head, exhaling.
She half turned, looking at him from the corner of her eye.
“Okay, okay, will you marry me?” he said at last.
She lifted her chin, beaming. “That’s more like it.” She nudged her horse closer to his. “Yes, Drake, I would love to marry you.”
He reached out one big arm, grabbed her, pulled her onto the saddle in front of him, and hugged her, leaning over her shoulder as she faced him so he could kiss her.
They broke apart and she reached up to pinch his chin. “I have to anyway. Who else is going to save you from Hell next time you get into trouble?”
She still held the reins of her horse, and he began to walk his steed back down the hill to the ranch.
“I haven’t got a ring for you yet,” he said.
She turned to look at him. “I haven’t picked one out yet. But I got you something.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small box. She handed it to him.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Well, open it and find out.” She smiled.
He did, and inside was a small silver antique cross on a chain. He laughed softly. “Okay, it’s beautiful.”
She turned in the saddle to face him, took the cross and put it around his neck.
“There, perfect,” she said.
“You think I need it?” He raised his eyebrows.
She shrugged. “It can’t hurt. But I think it is already in here now.” She pressed his chest with her hand.
She turned around to the front again and leaned back against him. After a moment of thinking about what she said, he had to ask, even though he wanted to try and bury the memories forever.
“Do you think we beat him, the Devil?” Drake asked.
She thought about it for a while and then shook her head. “No, he is eternal and eternally patient.”
Drake frowned. “Does it matter? We closed the opening to Hell.”
She scoffed. “No, we closed an opening to Hell. In a hundred or a thousand years he’ll try again. We need to be vigilant, and we need to remember.”
“That’s where the Vatican comes in,” he said
“Yes,” she said softly.
Drake came up with her and he turned to watch the magnificent huge tree begin to crumble to cinder dust.
There were just four of them remaining, as other than Drake and Isabella, there was just Leonidas and Francesco. The two Knights came closer, with Leonidas carrying the small branch with the three apples attached. He held them out.
Isabella picked one and held it in her hand, and then closed her eyes. “I can feel it. Feel its power.” She handed it to Francesco. “We need to test it.”
She reached into her backpack, and drew forth the small glass jar that held the severed finger of the beast from the Kurdish village. The disgusting thing was a greenish-grey and curled up like a rotting grub. When she held it up, the thing started to move and inch around the bottom of the jar still seeking a way out.
Isabella had Francesco cut a tiny sliver of the apple. He held it ready and she opened the jar.
The revoting thing inside coiled itself, ready to spring out, but Francesco dropped the apple sliver in and she quickly sealed the jar. The apple piece fell onto the finger and the reaction was immediate. The finger began to swell and then exploded into a grey steaming liquid. In seconds more it dried to nothing.
“Now that’s what I call a positive field test,” Drake said.
“It has all been worth it.” Isabella smiled. “We need to get these home and synthesize whatever compounds are inside.”
She turned to the smoldering remains of the magnificent tree. Everything was gone other than a huge pile of ash. Most of it had burned so hotly that it devoured the tree rapidly and completely.
“Put the rest of that tree out. Till the soil, and when it is cooled, we will ensure the tree lives again.”
She held up the apple she had taken a slice from. “From small things big things grow.”
Francesco placed the other two apples in an airtight cannister, and twisted the lid, and it immediately frosted. He then slotted it into his backpack.
The group did as Isabella asked, spreading the ashes which would provide rich minerals to sweeten the soil. The apple was buried, and covered over, and then they emptied their water cannisters there.
Isabella stood back and smiled down at it. “Thank you.”
She backed away and then turned. “We need to get this back and hopefully there’s still a world out there when we get home.”
The group headed out through the garden forest, and with only four of them remaining, they were on guard against the huge snake. But they left unharmed, and came to the dark pond once again. At the water’s edge the group kitted back up for the swim.
Isabella nudged Drake. “After all you have seen, the Garden of Eden, Hell, and even the Devil, are you a believer yet?”
He chuckled softly. “Let’s just say I have a more open mind now.”
She laughed softly. “Then that will do.” She slowly pulled the wetsuit over her painful burn. “For now.”
They entered the water.
CHAPTER 39
When they emerged from the water, Enzo was waiting for them with sword drawn. His whole body sagged when he saw how few of them there were, and Francesco shook his head.
The Knight went to Enzo and embraced him. But then pulled back and pulled the glass canister out with the two apples.
“We have succeeded, brother.” Francesco gave him a sad smile. “But the price was high.”
“Then the sacrifice was not in vain,” Enzo replied and sheathed his sword.
It was a somber trip back home made worse when they passed through the village of the Elbaşi Kurds.
“Ethan,” was all Drake said.
Isabella nodded as they looked over the grotesque massacre of every man, woman, and child in the village. It had been an orgy of physical desecration. And the ferocity and brutality showed them it was done by something with a visceral hatred of the human physical form.
The boat was still waiting for them, and it seemed oversized now that more than half their ranks were gone.
Even travelling via the high speed links they had set up it took two days to return to Rome. Most of the stops along the way had been surreal as many towns had been either abandoned or ravaged, and they needed to fire upon roving bands of the skinless-looking creatures that in some cases still wore the clothing of their previous human lives.
It was both saddening and revolting when they saw one small creature wearing the clothing of a little girl – it seemed no one and nothing was spared.
A Vatican convoy was waiting for them at the airport that was guarded now around the clock by the Italian military, as, Drake assumed, was most of the critical infrastructure all around the world.
From the intel he had gathered along the way, some countries had gone totally dark. It would take a generation to recover, and that was only if what they brought back could somehow be mass produced and weaponized.
Even though exhausted, Drake and Isabella were ushered directly to the Vatican laboratories beneath the walled city.
Cardinal Tommasini was waiting for them. “Show me,” he said.
Isabella handed over the canister. Drake wasn’t surprised to see that the apples hadn’t degraded at all, and perhaps they never would.
The Cardinal crossed himself and then took the canister and closed his eyes as he held it.
“It was all there,” Isabella said. “The garden, the gates, the tree, and the snake.”
Tommasini nodded. “Faith is a burden and a battle every day. Until you see something like this and you know you were right all along.” He turned away. “We must hurry. We need to find out what it is that makes these special.”
The trio headed down to the older lower level, and went from a stone hallway, through a heavily fortified door, and then into a pristine white corridor. It never failed to amaze Drake that the ancient walled city of the Vatican hid a hi-tech world that rivaled the best of anything on the planet.
They entered the laboratory and there was a small team of white coated scientists and doctors waiting. They bowed, took the canister, and then opening it, used forceps to remove one of the apples.
They then sliced away several slivers and each was headed for a different device – an electron microscope, mass spectrometer, chromatography systems, and thermal cyclers. Each of these devices would employ different techniques to analyze the physical and chemical properties of a sample.
It was the X-ray Fluorescence Spectrometers that was used to determine elemental composition of materials that found the first anomaly.
“Something here that shouldn’t be.” The scientist put the findings up on the wall as a projection. The graph showed the spikes of the chemical composition. “There are all the basic chemical components – sugars like fructose, glucose, and sucrose, minerals like potassium and calcium, also polyphenols-containing compounds like quercetin, catechin, phlorizin, and chlorogenic acid. All normal.” He went on to list dozens of other things he was expecting.
He stopped, turned, and pointed at one particular spike. “But then there’s this compound.” He half smiled. “I have no idea what it is. The computer’s global flora encyclopedic database has no idea what it is.” He half smiled. “As far as it’s concerned it’s…” He beamed, “…non-Earthly.”
“Isolate,” Tommasini said. “Then we test it.”
They did, and they tested it on a captured subject. An almost microscopic amount of the substance caused the creature to shudder violently, fall to the ground, and then simply turn to dust.
“Three seconds.” Tommasini nodded. “Good result.”
Isabella stepped forward, and dragged her sleeve up. “Test it on me, the uninfected. We must ensure that it is safe for the population.”
“No,” Drake said, and reached out for her.
She turned. “We don’t have much time and we need to know if it’s safe. Right now.”
The scientist’s eyes went to Cardinal Tommasini. He gave an almost imperceptible nod.
He administered the same amount to Isabella. She waited, and the whole room stood in silence, watching.
Drake felt his stomach flip from nerves. He should have offered himself, he thought. He should have…
“Three seconds,” Tommasini exhaled.
She smiled. “Nothing.”
“How do you feel?” Drake asked.
“Good, fine.” She drew in a breath and let it out. “Better than fine.”
Drake smiled, and pointed to her chest. “Show me. Show me the burn.”
She felt it, and then frowned. She quickly opened her shirt and peeled it open above her breasts.
The burn was gone.
“Better than fine,’ Drake repeated.
Cardinal Tommasini crossed himself, but then his face grew serious and he turned to the scientists. “This wondered element or compound. Can it be reproduced?”
“Doctor,” one of the other scientists pointed, “the sample.”
The lead scientist walked back to where they had the sliver of apple in a beaker of distilled water. The level was higher and it was all milky. He took a sample and placed it under the microscope.
“What is it? Is there a problem?” Tommasini asked.
The scientist began to smile as he changed the magnification. “No, no problem. But we don’t have to worry about synthesizing the substance.” He looked up. “Because it is self-replicating. It is growing. The unknown component is alive.”
“It is the antithesis of the Hell plague micro-parasite.” Cardinal Tommasini closed his eyes. “Thank god.” He opened his eyes, his gaze intense. “How long until we have enough to begin mass delivering it? Like via some sort of crop dusting process. We also need to get it out to every country in the world. So they can produce their own.”
The scientists looked back at the sample. “Only as long as it takes to set up growth tanks. The rate of replication is astounding.”
“How long?” Tommasini repeated more forcefully.
The man smiled. “Days. Maybe hours for the first batch.”
CHAPTER 40
The first thing the Vatican did was spread the news to every government around the world – from China to the USA, to Australia and beyond. A sample was then sent via high speed delivery with instructions for growing and dispensing.
Across Europe the spraying had already begun and every plane that could be modified was utilized to deploy the substance.
Another thing they found was that although the substance could be destroyed by heat, high impact had no effect so dispersal bombing could also be utilized by creating inoculation bombs for highly over-run areas.
Over the next few weeks, it became a time of joy from every country with feedback of the hordes being decimated so substantially and so quickly. Updates on eradication changed from years, to months, to weeks, almost daily.
Though there would be pockets of the creatures hiding in basements, barns, and old mine shafts, they too would eventually be hunted down.
There was one last area of infection to deal with – the ground zero, and that would be next.
CHAPTER 41
The high altitude bomber was nearing the drop zone in the South Pacific. The pilot had his undercarriage cameras rolling and he relayed what he was seeing to home base. In addition, the feed was provided to most countries.
“Coming up on target.”
The commander in chief and his war room all watched in silence. Coming up on screen they all saw it and the room filled with gasps of disbelief and horror.
“Oh my god,” the President whispered.
What was once the Devil’s Peak was now a mountain of colossal, mottled tentacles hundreds of feet across and thicker than redwood trees. The water that was once a magnificent steel blue was the color of blood and they could see dead sharks, whales, and other sea life floating lifeless on the poisoned surface.
But there were other things living in it – all the abominations that had been released from the pit of Hell, the leviathans, the Kraken, and other gargantuan monstrosities, were in attendance to their Master.
There were other huge malformations clinging to the bottom of the peak, that were neither fish nor animals, but a revolting mix of things that looked as if borne from a madman’s nightmare.
“Coming up on target in, five, four, three…”
The world watched and waited.
“…two, one… away.”
The thirty thousand pound, pilot-guided device was released from the undercarriage, and immediately small wings were deployed. The copilot took control and via a nose camera steered it all the way to the center of the hellish bloom.
It entered the heart of the great beast and detonated. There was no fiery blast, but the impact and the following bloom of greenish mist spread to cover the entire Hellborne horror and the sea surrounding it for hundreds of yards.
What followed was an absolute explosion of activity as the Garden of Eden compound met with the monstrous Father of Flies.
The bomber had already banked away and was several miles clear when the secondary detonation occurred.
This one was a volcanic eruption, and a geyser of magma shot skyward. Surrounding the remnants of the Devil’s Peak, the leviathans had all vanished and the sea churned as if in a violent storm.
Tidal waves roared away from the peak, and in another half hour, the magma stopped flowing, the sea calmed, and the clouds cleared.
The bomber pilot returned and scouted the area.
Other than a ghastly slick on the ocean’s surface, nothing remained of the peak at all.
“Target destroyed,” the pilot intoned. “Coming home.”
He banked away, just as the sun was coming out again.
***
All around the world fist-sized blowflies fell from the sky and immediately began to rot. Areas where swirling purple clouds had formed to drop miserable rain suddenly vanished.
Some people came from their cellars, from train tunnels, and from wherever they had been hiding. And other beasts, the skinless ones, the abominations did the opposite, skulking back into the sewers, mine shafts, and deep holes in the ground.
Thousands of miles away, in a corner of Turkey, in a valley that it is forbidden to enter, and through a pond, below ground, and then into a hidden garden, a tree sprouted on the only hill.
It would be years before it could bear fruit.
But it would fruit.
CHAPTER 42
USA, Texas, the Stoker Ranch – six months later
Drake and Isabella rode out to a hillside and looked back out over a valley that was green, and dotted with grazing cattle. They sat there as the sun neared the horizon.
He turned to her. “You know you can stay here. With me,” he said, not looking at her.
She laughed softly. “And what would I do? Not much call for a Vatican warrior in Texas. I couldn’t even ride a horse until a few months ago.”
“There’ll be a lot of work now. Going to take years to rebuild everything that was destroyed. There’ll be big calls for construction work. We’ll be travelling around. Going to be busy.”
She continued to look out over the landscape before finally turning. Her brows were raised. “So, a business partner?”
“Well, no, you know I lo…” he sighed.
“Go on.” She smiled. “Sa-aaay it.”
He grinned and shook his head. “This is harder than I thought.”
“Big tough Drake Stoker afraid of a little sentence.” She waited, smiling.
His face grew hot and he turned away. “I love you.”
“What? I didn’t hear that.” Her grin widened.
“Aggh.” He tilted his head back on his neck and then turned to her, his cheeks fully red now. “I love you, Isabella.”
“A-aaand?” She leaned forward in the saddle.
“And I want you to stay with me,” he said in a rush.
“Anything else?” she huffed. “I’ll think about.”
He shook his head, exhaling.
She half turned, looking at him from the corner of her eye.
“Okay, okay, will you marry me?” he said at last.
She lifted her chin, beaming. “That’s more like it.” She nudged her horse closer to his. “Yes, Drake, I would love to marry you.”
He reached out one big arm, grabbed her, pulled her onto the saddle in front of him, and hugged her, leaning over her shoulder as she faced him so he could kiss her.
They broke apart and she reached up to pinch his chin. “I have to anyway. Who else is going to save you from Hell next time you get into trouble?”
She still held the reins of her horse, and he began to walk his steed back down the hill to the ranch.
“I haven’t got a ring for you yet,” he said.
She turned to look at him. “I haven’t picked one out yet. But I got you something.” She reached into her pocket and pulled out a small box. She handed it to him.
“What is it?” he asked.
“Well, open it and find out.” She smiled.
He did, and inside was a small silver antique cross on a chain. He laughed softly. “Okay, it’s beautiful.”
She turned in the saddle to face him, took the cross and put it around his neck.
“There, perfect,” she said.
“You think I need it?” He raised his eyebrows.
She shrugged. “It can’t hurt. But I think it is already in here now.” She pressed his chest with her hand.
She turned around to the front again and leaned back against him. After a moment of thinking about what she said, he had to ask, even though he wanted to try and bury the memories forever.
“Do you think we beat him, the Devil?” Drake asked.
She thought about it for a while and then shook her head. “No, he is eternal and eternally patient.”
Drake frowned. “Does it matter? We closed the opening to Hell.”
She scoffed. “No, we closed an opening to Hell. In a hundred or a thousand years he’ll try again. We need to be vigilant, and we need to remember.”
“That’s where the Vatican comes in,” he said
“Yes,” she said softly.
