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By
Christopher A. Kouse
Chapter 5
Grissum
stepped off the elevator and examined the long hallway that stretched the
entire length of the apartment building. He looked down at the piece of paper
he had torn from his notepad and tried to make out his own handwriting. Rachel Saibot, Abraham Plaza, Apt #203.
Grissum
had never been any good at informing families that someone they loved had been
killed. One time he was even booed while giving a eulogy for a fellow officer.
Why his superiors felt it was best to send him on these errands was beyond him,
but usually it came down to rock, paper, scissors; sometimes that was the case,
just not this time; this trip was to find any information that could help
further the investigation. The police had been very careful as to not allow any
members of the press to discover the crime scene three nights ago; but as
always some underpaid detective would drop the story to the highest bidder and
then it was leaked just in time for the 11 o’clock news.
Since that night
Grissum had been working around the clock trying to make sense of things.
Phones had been ringing off the hook with concerned religious leaders and
supremacists all wondering if someone was trying to send a message with the way
Valen’s body had been displayed. The thought of religion made Grissum laugh, he
had all but given up on faith; one too many times had a premonition of the end
of days came and went. People would evacuate their homes for bomb shelters, and
then blow their savings on one last hurrah. Lies, that’s all they ever were;
and then those people would crawl from the hole of their embarrassment and
expect the church to make things right again. Grissum hadn’t even stepped foot
in a church since his wedding day and even then it was to make his wife happy. His
life wasn’t what had been promised to him and so he made do; he did what he
felt was necessary to assure the survival for his family, but even then they
had betrayed him.
One
of the security cameras from a restaurant near where Valen’s body had been
found showed Valen with a young woman the night of his murder. One of the
waiters from the restaurant had seen Valen’s photo in the paper and had called
in the tip. Things had started to look up. Upon further investigation Grissum
learned that the young girl from the video was Rachel Saibot, who was also
Valen’s girlfriend. Although Rachel was a suspect for in Valen’s murder,
Grissum had no substantial evidence that they were together at the time he was
killed; yet alone, if she was even capable of crucifying a 160 pound man by
herself. Her record was clean, minus a few parking tickets and it was noted
that she worked for a respectable employment service agency. Grissum never even
second guessed his decision to speak with her alone.
Looking
up from the piece of paper, checking to make sure the numbers matched, Grissum
knocked on door 203 and prepared his condolence posture; to anyone but him it
was a ridiculous sight to behold. He would stand straight up and would look
down as if he was going around from door to door looking for his lost puppy.
Then he would proceed to put his hat under his left arm and from time to time
he would make a sniffling noise followed by a pause after each sentence; he
felt it made him appear sympathetic. Grissum
listened intently as he could hear the latches begin to unlock from the inside
of the apartment with the exception of the chain which became taught as the
door was cracked open.
“NYPD,
I am here to speak with a Rachel Saibot,” Grissum asked while holding his badge
in plain view.
“One
second,” said the tiny voice from behind the door.
Rachel
undid the chain on the door and swung it open slowly.
“Y-yes?”
She asked.
Grissum didn’t even need to ask if she knew
about Valen. The smeared mascara on her face said it all.
“Excuse
me Miss. I don’t mean to take up your time. You are Rachel Saibot I presume?” Grissum
asked.
“Yes,”
She replied.
“My name is-”
“Sgt.
Grissum, yes; I saw you on the news,” Rachel interrupted. “You’re investigating
Valen’s death?”
“I am afraid do.
I am so sorry for your loss Miss. Saibot, but I was wondering if I could ask
you a few questions about Valen?” Grissum sniffled.
Grissum tried his best as to not upset the
girl any more than she already was.
Rachel
just nodded her head and opened the door farther for Grissum. She walked back
into her apartment and sat down on her sofa. Grissum closed the door behind him
and walked into the living room where she was sitting.
“I’m
sorry, I would offer you something but-”
“No
I am fine thank you,” he responded, wanting to make the interview go as quickly
as possible.
Grissum
looked the girl over in the light that illuminated her from the window. Besides
the runny makeup, Rachel was absolutely beautiful. Grissum made out her
features; long strawberry blond hair, perfectly tan skin, gorgeous green eyes.
For a moment He was reminded of his own two beautiful daughters.
“Miss.
Saibot I don’t want this to be any harder for you than what it is, but I was
hoping to gain some information that might help in finding the people that did
this to Valen.”
“Yes;
absolutely.” The girl recomposed herself wiping the tear from her eye.
“Could
you tell me about your relationship with Valen? Our reports mentioned that he
was blind; is that correct?” Grissum asked.
“We
had been dating now for little over two years but I think he was getting ready
to propose to me; the other night we went out of for dinner and he was acting a
bit happier than usual. He was making jokes about moving in together and having
children; but that’s what I loved about him, he always knew how to make me
laugh.” A smile came over her face. “Three years ago I was volunteering at the employment
service office in Manhattan. At that time I was working as a receptionist when
Valen came in one day to apply for a job. I was struggling to send a fax and I
couldn’t figure out the machine and that’s when he offered to help me. He ran
his hands over the fax machine and I watched as he felt the raised keys. He
explained to me that each key had its own designated texture for the blind. He
cupped my hand in his and ran them over the keys so I could feel the textures
he was talking about too. After he helped me at work I offered to buy him a cup
of coffee as a thank you. I also thought he was pretty cute for a blind guy.”
Rachel blushed.
“We ended up
discussing all sorts of sounds that day, like the way you can tell birds apart
from their chirp and how to tell if a car needed an oil change by the way the
exhaust pipe rattled. Then he told me how he knew a girl was beautiful just by
her laugh.” Rachel let out a laugh and took a tissue from the box on her table
to dab her dampening eyes.
Grissum
could see how lost in a trance Rachel was while talking about Valen; even he
sported a smile while remember how he felt about his ex-wife the first time
they had met. Grissum thought that maybe he wasn’t as heartless as he had come
to think; and he could tell Rachel was truly in love with Valen just by the way
she described him. Her story gave him all the more reason to find his killer.
He knew he couldn’t ease her suffering, but if the least he could do was stop
her tears, it would be worth it.
“Rachel,
can you think of anyone who would want to hurt Valen? Someone who may have been
jealous of your relationship? Perhaps, someone who may have been dealing with
the occult?” Grissum asked, hoping to spark a memory.
Rachel
just shook her head. “No, I’m sorry, I can’t think of anyone who would do such
a thing.”
“Would
you mind telling me what went on after you two left the diner, that night?”
Grissum asked.
Rachel
looked toward the floor motionless. Grissum could see she was struggling to
find the memory.
“That’s
just it; I can’t remember anything that happened that night after we left,” she
said.
“What
do you mean you can’t remember, you mean like amnesia?” Grissum asked.
“My
mind is just… blank; like a record skipping. I'm not even sure how I made it
home that night, and the first I heard of Valen’s murder was on the news. I
would have called the police sooner but every time I picked up the phone,
something stopped me. I don’t expect you to understand what I am saying; I
don’t even know what I am saying; but it’s like something is trying to erase
Valen from my mind.” Rachel looked up at Grissum. “Sargent, do you believe in
God?”
Grissum
straightened his posture and took a deep breath. Deep down he didn’t want to
start this conversation; he wasn’t going to have this conversation.
“Well
I won’t take up any more of your time Miss. Saibot,” he said trying to avoid
the question. “I know things are painful now but if you need anyone to talk to,
the NYPD has a counseling hotline.” He handed her the card from his jacket
pocket. “On the back is my number if you can think of anything at all.”
“Thank
you. I’ll keep that in mind.” Rachel saw that the Seargent felt uneasy about
her question and decided it best that she
give up her pursuit.
Grissum
started to see his way out when one more question struck him. He turned to look
back at Rachel who had gotten up from the couch to follow him to the door.
“I‘m
sorry; I have one last question if you don’t mind. Do the words, separated by design, unified by revenge,
three to harmonize, one to remand, make any sense to you?”
Grissum
watched as the girl’s face stared back at him in horror. He knew without an
answer that he had struck a chord. With no warning, Grissum watched as Rachel
passed out and fell to the floor.
***
Valen
felt the wind knocked from his body as he was slammed into the ground. Every
attempt he had made at trying to attack the beast floating overhead had issued
the same results. He would jump thirty feet into the air only to be sent
plummeting thirty feet from the sky just to scrape himself off the floor again.
“You have a strong will; but you lack
imagination,” The angel mocked Valen telepathically.
Valen
knew he had to come up with a better plan to take down the beast. If he hadn’t
been so rash he would never have freed him from the hammer that kept him
grounded.
“Don’t you see that I’m wearing him down?” Valen
tried to defend his losing strategy.
The
reality was that Valen was beginning to feel a light headed from replacing his
armor so much. The creature had in fact been wearing him down. Every time the creature knocked off a piece of the requiem he would have to use more of his
own blood to replace it. Sooner or later Valen was going to run out of blood;
he knew he had to come up with a better plan.
Valen
looked around the room trying to see if he had missed anything that might be of
some use to him, but of course the room was empty and in ruin. The sword that
he had drawn from his right arm earlier was still intact, but he couldn’t find
a way to get close enough to use it.
The
creature overhead, still looking down upon Valen, began to emit a dark glow
from its mouth. Valen wasn’t sure what to make of the monster’s change in
strategy; up to this point he had only knocked back his advances, but this was
something entirely new.
The
dark energy began to omit more light from its devilish grin, and with the smile
separating for the first time a massive ball of dark energy went flying towards
Valen. He jumped away as the blast came crashing through the chamber’s
interior; punching a hole through the wall. The air began sucking at the
contents of the room as if someone had opened the door of an airplane
mid-flight. Valen felt his hair blowing rapidly against the current that
tempted to send him plummeting into the pit of lava that rested so far below.
A
light bulb clicked in Valen mind; if he couldn’t get to the beast, he would
make the beast come to him.
“I think your starting to use your head,”
Karninfaux said, knowing fully well what Valen had in mind.
Valen
rose to his feet with a new determination. He watched the beast, still hovering
above with the same grin and beady eyes. Without looking away from the monster
Valen stumbled to where the wall had been broken open and two pieces of jagged
metal were protruding forward. Valen knew he was running out of time and blood.
If he wanted to stop this monster it had to be now. Valen plunged himself onto
the jagged metal protruding from the wall and let out a scream that echoed
throughout the room.
The metal cut deep, but only for
a moment.
Valen slid off
of the spikes impaling his back and fell to his knees, trying to focus beyond
the pain. Within seconds a perfectly matched set of wings had formed and molded
themselves to the requiem. The blood
hardened and Valen shook his head trying to dislodge the faint feeling of
dizziness.
“Clever boy,” The angel said, clearly
impressed.
Valen
was impressed with himself as well. He would have patted himself on the back,
but it hurt too much. A faint smile come across his face with the intent of
intimidate the beast into following him. Valen then proceeded to leap through
the hole in the wall.
As
he took flight, Valen felt as the hot wind gave him the lift he needed for his
wings to work properly. Minus the fact he was being chased by a giant monster
that would stop at nothing to see him dead, Valen enjoyed his new wings. He
took a quick look behind his shoulder to see the creature plummet from the
spire, breaking the hole even wider to fit its massive frame.
Valen
looked forward just in time to avoid contact with the lava that poured from
Karninfaux’s body. Maybe if I could get
the creature under the lava flow it might slow him down, he thought to
himself while looking over his shoulder again to see if the monster was still
followed. To his shock, the creature was nowhere in sight. Valen turned his
head forward again, revealing the monster waiting for him; its claws wide open
waiting to embrace its prey. Valen let out a yell as he collided with the
monster. The impact had done little to the creature, but Valen had the wind
knocked out of him once again. The requiem
began to crack upon the impact. The monster breathed heavily down upon the
boy with its evil grin which appeared to slowly open again; Valen knew it was
going to shoot another energy blast. With few options, Valen noticed that the
bag of nails the monster had used to fix the walls was still wrapped around the
monster’s waist. He ripped his left arm free from the monster’s hold and
reached into the abyss of a bag, grabbing one of the massive nails that lay
inside. Valen’s strength was wavering due to his loss of blood, but he knew he
had to give it his all to break free from the creature. Valen lifted the nail
and shoved it into the monsters mouth blocking the dark energy’s escape.
The
monster released Valen’s other arm in a last ditch effort to attempt freeing the
nail from its massive teeth but Valen took the opportunity of the beast’s
vulnerability and plunged his sword into the demon’s chest. The creature’s
mouth filled with the dark energy, but it was being trapped behind the nail. Valen
kicked at the beast’s chest, freeing himself from the proximity of the monster
and at the same time pushing it under the lava pouring from the tower. The lava
splashed upon the creature’s hands, burning them away from its mouth. The
Second Beast, feeling fear, frantically scrambled to remove the nail from its
mouth but it was too late; the dark energy exploded and blew the monster back
against the wall; as it fell toward the pit it smashed into the rocks on its
descent towards the massive pool of lava. Valen listened as he heard the sound of
a million condemned angels’ cry out in anger, and then they grew silent.
Valen
made his way back to the throne room of Purgatory. His strength completely left
him as he landed before Karninfaux. His legs gave in and he collapsed before
the feet of the skeletal figure.
“Well
done Valen Saint. You are truly worthy to wear the requiem. Go now with my blessing. Find the tree that I once created
and rejoin with your love; Rachel awaits your return,” Karninfaux said.
Upon
hearing her name, Valen found a renewed vigor for life. He had defeated his first
demon and retrieved the key. Although he was unsure of what trials awaited him,
he knew that he could overcome any obstacle set before his path.
Valen
walked over to the hammer that lay on the floor, and with the remainder of his
strength he lifted the key over his shoulder. Across from where Karninfaux sat
rested a door that depicted two Angels in a garden with a tree separating them.
That was his destination; the tree of knowledge would be destroyed by his hands.
Valen lifted the key from his shoulder and held it with the same ease that the
Second Beast had once shown. With a mighty swing and a yell that commanded the requiem’s power, Valen slammed the key
into the door. The door bowed at his might and opened before him. Valen let the
hammer fall to the ground and took one last look at the angel sitting high on
his throne, his flesh pierced by the thorns, the socket-less eyes devoid of
sight. No words needed to be said between the two, but Valen insisted.
“What I do now,
I do for her; I want you to know that,” he said turning towards the door again
and walking into the light.
***
“Well that was
entertaining,” A feminine voice arose in the chamber as the figure of a tall beautiful
woman appeared from behind Karninfaux’s throne.
“Are
you sure you know what you’re doing with this one?” Riesen said, slipping from
the shadows.
“Do
you take me for a fool?” Karninfaux said as a massive arm covered in lava
reached through the hole in the broken wall. The arm flexed and pulled its
weight into the room revealing itself to belong to the Second Beast, still
alive. The creature had visible scars on its stomach where Valen had impaled it
with his sword. The monster clutched the area with its right arm and its evil
grin now subsided back within its dark veil that covered its face. Its battle
was over for now.
“But
now, it is time for you to hold up your end of the bargain… brother.”
Riesen hopped
towards the doorway of Purgatory, his ears bouncing behind him. The tiny demon
looked back one last time towards Karninfaux, causing the light coming through
the archway to turn his eyes blood red for a fraction of a second. Riesen gave
a twisted smile knowing how much fun he was going to have.
“Indeed,
brother… indeed.”
To Be Continued…
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