Infinitas 1 - Warriors of Faith (25 page)

There were millions of hiding places. Any one of the figures along the hundred pillars supporting the choir could hide something.
Aragón was the first to recognize the hopelessness of this endeavor.

Jôrek and Channing bought tickets for the treasury and the tower, although it was clear to both of them that they wouldn’t find anything helpful there. »I think the only one of us who feels comfortable in here is Aragón.« Channing stopped in one of the niches inside the treasury.» Aragón’s a monk, didn’t you know that?« Jôrek smiled at the surprised expression on Channing’s face.
»Then you probably don’t know that he was also a king,« he whispered quietly, stepping to the side letting two elderly women by, who’d been looking at them as if they were going to walk out with something.
He shook his head dumbfounded as Jôrek quietly told him the story of Aragón’s life. Channing listened, as if spellbound, hardly believing what he was being told.

Eva and Sara listened in on the tour for over an hour without much success.
They came to a stop in front of the high alter and looked around admiring the statues.
A young Japanese girl from the group ran past them and tripped, falling to the floor right in front of Eva.
Eva reached down to help the girl, but noticed too late that she had skinned her knee.
The scent of blood reached her nose and her fangs began to emerge.
»Oh my God!« cried Sara tearing Eva away from the girl after she noticed the hissing sound coming from Eva.
The little Japanese girl was screaming and her parents were there immediately to calm her down.
Sara pulled Eva as quickly as possible towards the west exit as far away from the scent of blood as possible.

Eva gasped for breath in front of the door.
»Oh my God, that was a little girl!
I almost attacked a child!« She couldn’t believe it.
Sara patted her arm to calm her down.
»It’s okay, sweetie. It happens to all of us in the beginning.
You’ll get used to the scent and will be able to keep yourself under control.
Everything’s new now, so just be patient.«

Two young men were standing close by, obviously checking them out.
»Hey, did you inhale too much incense in there?« they yelled grinning.
Sara glanced at them hungrily and flashed her fangs at them.
The two men backed off nervously and then left.
»Chicken shit!« murmured Sara and then turned her attention back to Eva.
»Should I tell Shia?« But Eva waved it off.

»No, I’m fine.
I’m sorry, but the scent was like roses,« she said rubbing her forehead.
»I have everything under control now.
Let’s go back inside.« At the entrance, they ran into the others, who’d been equally unsuccessful in their search for clues.

Sunny followed Maroush at a safe distance through the cathedral, which in the meantime was packed full of tourists.
She could see that the little wound had healed and there was no trace of their fight the previous night.
Maroush stopped in front of the stained glass window in the northern section of the church studying the individual panes.
Although Sunny wasn’t looking at him, she directed her thoughts in his direction.
»Have you found anything that could help us?«

Without paying her any attention, he shook his head.
Turning his back to her, he didn’t even have the decency to look up. Sunny wouldn’t let him just blow her off so she grabbed his arm and turned him around towards her.
»What’s going on? What did I do to you?« she hissed so softly that only he could hear her.
He shook his head indifferently.
»Nothing’s wrong.
I’m treating you just like I said I would.« »You’re ignoring me. That’s different.« Anger flashed in Maroush’s eyes.
»You should know what you really want by now,« he said just as quietly and very clearly, leaving her standing there.
»I know exactly what I want Tariq ibn Ziyad!« she shouted out to him, so much louder than appropriate in church that he turned around mid-step and walked back towards her.
»Okay. Then tell me what you really want.« He stepped up extremely close to her, like a wall protecting her from the rest of the world.
Sunny returned his fervent look, not letting him intimidate her.
To create some distance between them, she ran her hand along his chest up to where his black shirt was buttoned where she could touch a little of his golden brown skin. Maroush wasn’t tall for a warrior, but at six feet, he was still two heads taller than she was, making her feel small and weak.
His hot skin burned like fire to her touch, running up through her arms.
She looked at the curly black hair growing on his broad chest, wanting to touch them one second and the next second scoffing at such an absurd idea.
She looked him in the eyes and was lost.
His dark eyes were glowing intensely like the beacon of a lighthouse inside the church.
Sunny swallowed hard when Maroush reached for her hand and pressed it to his chest.
She felt his powerful heartbeat, as if his heart were beating for her alone.
She felt the blood rushing through his veins as if it were flowing through her own body.
For just one second, they were one.
In a heartbeat, Sunny saw how life would be at his side; dangerous, strong, full of passion and love for each other.
But the feeling only lasted a second.

He gently stroked the hand she’d rested on his chest and led her finger to his cheek.
The rough stubble of his beard prickled pleasantly on the palm of her hand sending chills through her body.

He fleetingly kissed the tips of her fingers and said, »Happiness doesn’t just happen. You can only find it if you look for it.
If you want me Sunny, you have to come to me.
I’ll be waiting for you!« He let go of her hand, turned around and quickly strode towards the exit, his long hair blowing behind him.

The security guard at the Charles de Gaulle airport in Paris was chewing stale gum and giving the visitor a look of complete boredom.
»Hey, I only want to know if someone already picked up the car.
You can tell me that much, can’t you?« The security guard shifted his weight from one leg to the other.
»That will cost you something. Information like that isn’t free.« The visitor nodded.
»Okay, here’s five hundred Euros. If I give it to you, I want to know who picked the car up and where they went with it.« He waved five large bills in front of the security guard’s nose, but when the guard noticed the expensive watch on the visitor’s wrist, he knew he could get more.

»You want two pieces of information.
That will cost you double.« »Okay, think hard because this is my last offer.
I’ll give you one thousand Euros for the name and address.« The guard nodded sharply and entered some data into the computer.
»A man named Channing McArthur, residing in Ploumanac’h, picked the Audi R8 GT up two nights ago« »Where is that?« »It’s in Brittney.
You have all your information, now where’s my money?« The visitor pulled the bills out of his wallet and stuck the piece of paper with the address in Ploumanac’h inside.

»Nice watch you have there.
Must have been expensive.« The visitor looked down at the watch and laughed.
»Oh yeah, it’s a Breitling Flying B Chronograph and it didn’t cost me a thing.«

The mood at the
Granit Rosé
had reached an all time low.
The warriors hadn’t known what to expect, which clues they would find, but to come back without any results at all was the last thing they had expected.
Channing stood there shaking his head, as he read through the pages again.
»We must have missed something important.
Something so obvious that we just overlooked it.« »What do you remember about the keeper of the
Diarium
, Shia? What did he tell you before he died?« Eva was nervously pacing back and forth in the meeting room.

»He told me he’d been a stonemason before he was transformed.« »Hey, that’s a clue.
A stonemason. That fits somehow.
When did they finish building the cathedral?« Eva got really excited all of a sudden and Phoebe started punching data into her laptop to find out.

»They started building in 1248 and finally finished in 1880,« she read out loud from the cathedral’s homepage.

»1880, and then nine years later Alban Heffyn gave me the parchment pages,« contemplated Shia.
»That’s what’s been going through my head the whole time.
But I can’t figure out exactly what bothers me about this story,« said Channing feverishly. »Alban Heffyn isn’t a real name. It means
summer solstice
.
That just doesn’t fit together.
What does that have to do with the cathedral?«

Everyone was looking at Phoebe, who immediately understood and started searching the Internet.
It took her a minute to read through the results of her search and finally found what they were all looking for.

»You’re not going to believe this,« she mumbled quietly.
»It says here that during the summer and winter solstice, rays of light pass through the eastern choir window inside the cathedral, pointing directly to the alter and the nave.«

»Alban Heffyn,« murmured Channing quietly, considering this. »Phoebe, when is the summer solstice?« »It’s June 21st!«

Summer Solstice

Chapter 19

W
hen the summer solstice occurs on June 21st, the sun reaches its highest position in the sky, marking the day of the year with the longest period of daylight and therefore the shortest night.
Not a good day for the hunters of darkness, thought Channing as he crept across the cathedral square in the dark towards the south entrance.
They had to be in their positions by sunrise. Maroush, Shia, Ruben and Aragón were keeping guard, while Jôrek waited in the helicopter he’d landed right in the middle of the square. The warriors had to act fast so that they wouldn’t be noticed.
The sun was just beginning to rise in the east when they silently entered the church and made their way towards the eastern window.
Single rays of light were already beginning to shine through the Magi Window and were slowly creeping in a line on the floor towards the alter, the window transforming the light into a prism which continued moving slowly forward.

»Come on!« grumbled Shia impatiently.
It was clear to him that they could be caught in the act at any moment.
Channing put his finger to his lips to quiet him down and then everything happened incredibly fast.
One of the rays illuminated a wooden platform in the middle of the church. The beam of light was so dazzling and bright, and so incredibly different from the others that you could practically trip over it.

Ruben was wearing a headset with Phoebe waiting on the other end. »Phoebe, what can you find out about the wooden platform in the middle of the church?« »Give me a second.« Ruben could hear the clicking of the keyboard in the background.

»There’s a mosaic under it.
It’s called the
mosaic in the crossing.
«

»Thank you, my darling, stay on the line.«

»We have to break open the platform. There’s something hidden underneath.« Shia grabbed the tools they’d brought in with them and pulled up the heavy planks with Maroush’s help.
The beam of light was pointing directly at the center of the mosaic which they could clearly see after they’d removed the platform.
It showed the sun, surrounded by personifications of the times of day, a ring of zodiac signs and portrayals of the phases of the moon.
There were four small, square pictures in the four corners depicting the elements of fire, water, air and earth.

»Where should we start?« asked Ruben quietly.
»No, look.
The ray of light is pointing directly at the face of the sun.
We need to pry open the ring.« »Of course,« nodded Channing, »rays of light which can’t harm warriors of faith.«

When Shia positioned the chisel on the mosaic, the stone moved slightly.

»Wait.
Don’t destroy this precious artifact,« whispered Channing grabbing the chisel.

He pressed the stone down a little on the other side, so that the circular stone rose up a little.

Channing reached underneath and lifted the plate up with Ruben’s help.

»Holy Mary, Mother of God!« Aragón reached into the hole and pulled out an object carefully wrapped in sand-colored linen.

»Hello! Whose there? What are you doing in here? The cathedral is closed!« A man was quickly approaching the warriors from the western entrance. »We have to get out of here!« hissed Shia.

All of a sudden a monk appeared out of nowhere smiling at them. »I see you’ve found the
Diarium,
my brothers.« Aragón quickly approached the man from behind holding a knife to his throat.
The monk held up his hands in defense. »Relax, my friends.
I’m Gabriel, a warrior of faith like you.
I’ve been waiting for you to show up for over one hundred and twenty years.« Aragón carefully removed the knife from the man’s throat. »You’re a monk?« »No, it’s just a disguise so that no one would notice me in here.«
Softly laughing, in one fluid movement he pulled the robe off over his head. »It was Alban Heffyn, who prepared me for your coming.
Every year on the summer solstice I’ve come and guarded the sacred book so that it wouldn’t fall into hands of the non-believers.
We have to hurry, the first mass of the day is about to begin and we have to be gone by then.« With Ruben’s help, he moved the stone back to its original position.
»Now let’s get out of here fast!«

When the monk reached the nave and saw that the platform had been destroyed, he stretched his hands towards the sky.
»These vandals! How can someone destroy the house of the Lord? Merciful God, help us!« he cried out indignantly.
A second monk appeared from the shadows of the choir and walked towards him.
»What happened here, my brother?« »Someone tried to steal the
mosaic in the crossing
.
Luckily, I was able to stop them and only the platform was damaged.
The Holy Father was watching over us!« he exclaimed crossing himself.
The other monk in his dark robe only nodded, »Yes, may the Lord be with us.«
He turned around and disappeared towards the south exit, where the loud propellers of a helicopter droned in his ears.

He discarded his robe in one of the corners and looked at his watch.
It was high time he left to catch his flight to Paris.

All the warriors were standing around the table in the meeting room at the
Granit Rosé
looking at the object wrapped in linen.
»Please, Channing, as a historian you’re used to dealing with things like this,« offered Shia giving him the okay to remove the linen cloth.
Channing carefully pulled back the individual layers of cloth revealing a dark brown binding with two golden latches on the sides and a large rosette in the middle of the cover.
The book was old, but in very good condition and the style seemed to match the parchment pages that the warriors already had.

Channing tried to open the latches on the upper and lower ends of the book, but they wouldn’t move.
»You need the key.« Gabriel’s voice broke the spell of the moment.
»Which key?« Sara looked at him suspiciously.
She hadn’t stopped watching Gabriel since he’d arrived with the warriors from Cologne.
An additional warrior meant more risk and before she knew more about him, he remained a stranger to be wary of.
Just because he knew about the
Diarium
didn’t mean that he could be trusted.
He was tall, like the other warriors, at least six feet two, had shoulder length, light blond, curly hair and angelic, baby blue eyes.

»Alban Heffyn spoke of a key that fits into the rosette.« Everyone looked over at Shia, but he just shook his head.
»Heffyn only gave me the pages.
I don’t know anything about a key.
How did you know Alban Heffyn?«

»He was the master builder, who was working on the Cathedral when it was finished.
He transformed me into a warrior of faith and prepared me for your coming.
Since then I had to make sure that the book was never discovered.«

»We definitely need to find a safe hiding place for the
Diarium
until we find the
key.
We can’t let it fall into the hands of the hunters of darkness, even if they aren’t able to open it.
« That got Gabriel’s attention.
»The hunters know about the
Diarium
?«
Channing nodded.

»Yes, and they’re on our heels.
We’ve been able to fight them off, but we don’t know where they are at the moment and what they’re planning next.« Gabriel understood. »If you want, I’ll help you find the key.«

Philippe Orlandie was pacing restlessly back and forth inside his tiny apartment near the
Arc de Triomphe
in the center of Paris.
Castaway was eying him grumpily and the continuous pacing was getting on his nerves.

»This is the seediest apartment I’ve ever seen.
How can you live here?« Kilian twisted his mouth in disgust.
Philippe shrugged and started pacing back and forth between the window and the front door, which wasn’t even five yards, looking impatiently at the clock.
»He must have landed ages ago. Where the hell is he?« The fact that he couldn’t go outside made him extremely aggressive. In spite of his immortality, he missed the warmth of the sun, daylight and his freedom to move around at will.
When there was finally a knock on the door, he literally jumped up to answer it.
»Finally!«
He opened the door with a sigh of relief.

»Can we turn a light on in here? I can’t see anything!« Cruz Esposito stepped into the room and tried to open the blinds, but Philippe stopped him.

»No, don’t open them.
Do you want to kill us, you idiot? I’ll turn on the light.« Castaway got up from the couch practically filling the entire room with his presence.

»So, what do you have for us?« Esposito sat down on the only chair in the room smiling musingly.
»Your friend at the aviation authority did a good job.
He was right.
The warriors were in Germany and landed a helicopter in Cologne,« he said turning towards Philippe.
»I want to know if they’ve found the book.« »Yes, they found it inside the church underneath the mosaic.
How they knew it was there is beyond me.
I only know that a man disguised as a monk helped them. They left in the helicopter with the book and the monk.
I think they flew back to Brittany, but you’ll have to ask your friend from Air Traffic Control if he can find that out.« »We should leave for Brittany tonight,« shouted Philippe excited.

»Not before you’ve paid me,« Esposito said raising his eyebrows.
Castaway handed him a stack of dollar bills.
»Good work.
I assume dollars are okay.
If you want to earn a little more, you’re welcome to come with us.
We could use a mortal we can trust to do some work for us during the day.
Philippe, tell our men in Seattle to join us here.« Esposito nodded.
»I trust this!« he said waving the money.
»As long as you guys keep paying me, I’m at your service.«

The
Diarium
was hidden away safely in the hotel safe.
It wasn’t the most creative hiding place, but at least the book would be protected from water and fire.
In the weeks to come, they’d be fortifying the building, and creating a more secure environment.
Phoebe had ordered a fence to be built and had security cameras installed everywhere so that she could keep an eye on everything from her control room.
They were frantically trying to find a more secure place for the
Diarium,
but for the time being the most secure place was with the warriors of faith.
They hadn’t heard a thing from the hunters, but it would be a mistake to feel safe.
Channing and the others were expecting some sort of retaliation, so they were all on guard.

She’d felt his presence for a while now, but didn’t want to admit it to herself.
Late one evening a few weeks after they’d made the find in the Cathedral in Cologne, Sunny had felt the presence of a hunter of darkness. It was Philippe. She hadn’t exchanged words with Maroush since their encounter in the church, but she constantly felt his eyes on her, seemingly boring into her.
Her pulse raced when she just thought about him.
His heavy scent of musk and adventure was constantly present, as if he’d left his scent all over her body just to drive her insane.

She found Maroush in the back yard practicing fight moves in the moonlight to keep in shape.

Dressed only in dark sweat pants, he swung his
Sinai
over his head and let it circle silently through the air.
Sunny watched him stealthily from behind a tree.
She didn’t want to break his concentration, but she couldn’t take her eyes off the fascinating display of his back muscles in action.

»You can come closer if you want,« said Maroush into the stillness.
There was no way he could have seen her, yet he still knew that she was standing behind him starring at him.

»I don’t want to distract you.
I’ll come back another time.« Sunny hesitantly stepped out from behind the tree.

»You aren’t distracting me,« said Maroush soothingly even though it didn’t really reflect the reality of the situation.

Whenever he saw her or smelled her scent of cinnamon, everything inside of him went crazy, a feeling he hadn’t thought was even possible.
No woman had ever thrown him into such emotional chaos like Sunny had.

Maroush sat down on the grass and she followed suit at a comfortable distance.
The night was clear and you could hear the sound of the waves crashing against the huge granite boulders. »It really is beautiful here,« Sunny said looking up at the sky, »although I actually wanted to go back to Germany.
But now that Castaway is in Europe...« She left the rest of the sentence hanging.