Jared returned my expression, and Kim laughed once. “Welcome to my world. He’s one big riddle book, isn’t he? He just does it to make himself feel important. He wants you to drag it out of him.”
Claire walked in, and stopped in her tracks. “What is the witch doing here?” she said with venom in her voice.
Kim smiled slightly, but her eyes were devoid of emotion. “Blessed Be. Heard about what happened. Good job, G.I. Barbie.”
“Move aside, Nina,” Claire said in a frightening, low tone. I was too afraid to move, seeing that she was poised to pounce.
Tension in the room had soared to a new level. The waiting room we occupied was in a wing separate from the main hall, so it would be very easy for Claire to let some of her pent up aggression go in Kim’s general direction. Kim didn’t seem phased in the slightest.
Jared stood. “Enough.”
Claire glanced at her brother. “Does she
The longer they spoke as if I knew what was going on, the angrier I became. “What in the hell is going on?” I yelled.
“Sssh!” Claire hissed.
“Are you human?” I asked Kim.
Kim paused in thought. “Some days it doesn’t feel like it, but yes.”
Jared sat, pulling me to the sofa with him. Claire sat in the seat next to us, fidgeting with her hijab. Kim looked at her watch, and then settled into her chair. Suddenly the air felt very easy, the opposite of just a few moments before, but it was forced, unnatural.
“You know those that are aware of demons attract them.” Kim said this matter-of-factly, making my reality feel twisted. Jared told me a few specifics about the Others during the talk we had on our first date — the moment we affectionately dubbed, ‘The Conversation That Changed Everything’. Kim was the other side; someone I couldn’t tell. I hadn’t shared our secrets from that night with anyone, and Kim repeating part of it verbatim disconcerted me.
“Stay calm, Nina,” Jared said, quiet and smooth. He placed his hand on mine. “They feed on aggression and fear.”
Kim’s body language was casual, but deliberately so. “What we’re talking about is going to bring them here, Nigh. The more upset you are, the more access they will have to this situation, so just take it all in. Don’t try to analyze it, just listen and accept.”
“Listen and accept,” I said, taking a deep breath. I looked to Jared, who offered a small, comforting grin. I returned my attention to Kim. “Okay. Let’s hear it.”
Kim’s mouth turned up infinitesimally. “When I was sixteen I was possessed by a demon.”
It was hard to concentrate. Months of perfecting the art of keeping my emotions under control was the only advantage I had, and I was determined to keep my cool. “You’re kidding.”
Kim continued, “I’m going to make this short if you don’t mind.”
I nodded and Kim rolled her eyes. “The story bores me, so to get to the point, the Pollocks, my family, descend from Crusade Knights. Those Crusade Knights used the Holy Sepulchre as an end point of their pilgrimages…you okay?” Kim asked, pausing.
“Yeah,” I said casually. “Because I don’t know what the hell you’re talking about!” I yelled.
Jared held my hands in my lap, and lowered his chin, looking directly into my eyes. “You need to stay calm. It’s important.”
I looked back to Kim. “Sorry.”
Kim dismissed my apology. “Whatever. You remember learning about the Crusades, Nigh. English knights… Robin Hood…King Richard?” I nodded. “It has nothing to do with that.”
I sighed, and Jared jerked his head to the side in frustration. “You’re not helping.”
Kim laughed once and looked down. “I'm sorry. I just can't describe to you how much I hate telling this story.”
“Try,” Jared seethed.
Kim looked to me. “Templar Knights took their crusades to a very holy place in Jerusalem. It’s called the Church of the Holy Sepulchre. It was once the temple of Aphrodite. Christians refer to it as Golgotha…the place where Christ was crucified.
“The First Crusade was envisioned as an armed pilgrimage, and no crusader could consider his journey complete unless he had prayed as a pilgrim at the Holy Sepulchre. This is where it gets a little hairy. During my great-great times infinity grandfather’s pilgrimage, he came upon something under the basilica of the Holy Sepulchre. It was a book. A Bible.”
“So you’re Bible savers?” I looked at Jared in disbelief. “Cool? I guess?”
“We’re not talking about the Holy Bible, here, Nigh,” Kim said. “You’ve seen it.”
“Shax’s bible?” I asked.
Kim nodded. “It was kept safely hidden away in the cistern under the basilica, which is where it was rumored that the mother of Hadrian found the true cross and the tomb of Christ.”
“Isn’t that pretty much sacrilegious? The Bible of Hell being kept under what was thought to be the tomb of Jesus Christ?” I said.
Kim rubbed her temples. I had clearly asked a question she’d answered a thousand times. “The Holy presence there kept Shax and his legions from finding it. My grandfather didn’t know that. He removed the book, and after learning of its importance, he vowed to keep it safe. That vow, and the book, has cursed our family for generations.”
“Curses seem to be the popular thing around here,” I grumbled.
Kim glanced at Jared.
“I’m sorry,” I said, laughing without humor, “this is all a little far-fetched. Even for me, and I’ve seen Shax.”
The room grew cold, and Jared and Claire immediately extended their necks, looking to the ceiling. Jared pulled me closer to him, and Claire sat on the other side of me, lightly touching my knee.
The lights flickered, and even with Jared’s and Claire’s warm bodies on each side of me, I shook from the cold. The dim fluorescent lights created an eerie glow to the air we exhaled, now warmer than the air in the room.
“What’s happening?” I whispered.
“For the fiftieth time, Nina, stay calm,” Claire said, her voice even. “Nothing will happen to you while we’re here. This is just what happens when there’s a higher concentration of them than normal.”
“Higher concentration?” I asked.
Kim looked above her. “Oh there’s probably an army or two around…or one really strong one.”
I shivered. “Which is worse?”
“One,” Claire whispered, her eyes unfocused. She was relying on her senses, creating a thoughtful, confused expression on her face.
Kim returned her attention to me. Her demeanor was baffling. She had always been relaxed, and at times aloof, but it was hard to believe she could remain that way with so many Others around. Every part of me wanted to run screaming down the hall.
“Anyone who’s made the trip to return the book to the Sulpulchre never came back. We thought Jack and Gabe stealing the book from my uncle was the best thing that could have happened to our family, until Shax held us personally responsible. That’s when I got sick…or that’s what we thought it was.”
Even with the drop in temperature and the knowledge that a million demons might have been hovering over us, I sat hunched over, with my chin resting on my fist, suddenly unimpressed. “You were possessed. Like priests and green pea soup possessed? C’mon, Kim.”
“I don’t remember most of it. I just know that my father spared no expense to bring in the best of the best, and when Father Gary and Father Carmine were finished…I was different.”
Jared squeezed my hand. “When humans are overtaken in that way, they are often left weak for the rest of their lives. Kim kept something with her when Father Carmine finally extracted the demons. And they wouldn’t have left behind power voluntarily. She took it from them, and because of that, they fear her.”
