Silence In Numbers: File One (43 page)

Rufus was the specialist, the survivalist, the one she held most in common with when it came to ideals and practicality, and he looked it. He leaned against a desk after collecting the last of the knives he had thrown, replacing them in their spots around his body. She could see his mind working, calculating where he’d hit the demons and what spots seemed to do the most damage. He would get better at fighting these things with every floor they went through. Katsumi knew Rufus wasn’t eternally loyal, he wasn’t emotional, and he wasn’t the most trustworthy, and that, ironically, was what made her trust him the most. She understood him, she knew what he would do in what situation, and in a situation like the one they were in right now, he was exactly the type of person she wanted with her.

After ten minutes passed Katsumi stood up and holstered her pistol, hoping to stick to her sword and conserve ammunition. “That’s enough, let’s get going. You get another break in five levels.” There were no groans as she headed for the stairs to the 18th floor, no complaints, no hesitation; her team stood and followed immediately. They were professionals and this was their job. It was Katsumi’s job to keep them alive, and she did her best to ignore the self-doubt that whispered in her ear that she couldn’t do it this time.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Joseph walked through the tower with purposeful steps and an emotionless expression. The demons within the tower were not ones that followed orders, and so they rushed him as surely as they did his daughter’s team. As a demon leapt at his face he simply swatted it aside with a hand like an insect. A horde charged him and he stepped through them with invisible cuts of his sabre, leaving a rain of lifeless body parts behind him. Nothing was a challenge, nothing required effort; all of this was simply trash that failed to even slow his steps. He moved through the levels at a steady pace and never slowed until he reached the elevator on the 6th floor and pressed his
hand to it, activating it. He stepped inside and began his ride to the top floor, glancing at a screen that showed him the location of his eldest daughter and her team.

When the doors finally opened he stepped out and took in the room as Sigma greeted him. “You’ve arrived with plenty of time to spare,” the man said as he gestured to his command screens. “They’ve got quite a ways to go, although they’re advancing more quickly than I’d expected.”

“My daughters are not without some talent,” Joseph responded as he looked at the screen. “Is it working?”

“Indeed,” Sigma said with a grin, looking to a large mass of pulsing veins and flesh near Belphegor. “The energy they’re expending fighting, and the blood they shed, is fueling it quite nicely. By the time they make it up here it should be completely ready for the ritual.”

“Then we need only do this once,” Joseph asserted. “That is good. We can dispose of them all once it’s complete.”

“Even your own daughter?” Sigma asked, more out of excitement than actual curiosity. He received only a cold look in return, which made him chuckle. “I didn’t doubt you would do it. Humans are so interesting. What about the other one, will you kill her too?”

“If she gets in the way.”

Sigma grinned and turned back to the screens. “This might become the greatest play I’ve ever directed.”

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

Ayane arrived at the house faster than she had any right to expect, bringing the motorcycle she had stolen from the hospital’s parking lot to a screeching halt. She hadn’t even taken the time to change clothes and was still dressed in a simple white t-shirt and black shorts, meant to be slept in. However, her sword was in hand, sheathed but ready. The first thing she did after stumbling off of the bike was run as best as she could over to Reno, falling to her knees beside him. “Reno! Can you hear me?”

To her surprise he groaned and rolled onto his back. “Loud and clear. Really loud, in fact – can we not yell?”

“You’re okay?” she asked incredulously.

“More or less,” he answered. “I’m glad Aegis doesn’t buy cheap models,” He added, pointing to the two pieces of his gun lying beside him. While it was ruined, it had prevented Joseph’s strike from being a fatal blow, leaving him with only a nasty gash across his chest. “It cost me a good weapon though, plus a nice shirt. Mostly it’s my head that’s killing me.”

“You probably have a concussion,” Ayane said, checking his head for blood and thankfully finding none. “Where is my father?”

“He went inside; he was asking if Katsumi was in there.”

“Okay…” Ayane was silent for a few moments before looking at him. “You should stay out here and head to the hospital.”

“Aren’t
you
supposed to be in a hospital right now? Aren’t you just recovering from some serious injuries?”

“My father is here,” she said in response. “I’m not leaving while he goes after my sister. I’m going in after them.”

“I’m coming with you.”

Ayane paused as Reno held her stare, unwilling to back down; she smiled at his support. “Alright, but you better not die on me in there.”

“You better not, either,” he said as she helped him up. She immediately headed for the door but he caught her wrist, nodding towards their car. “I don’t have a weapon. Let’s stock up first, huh?”

As they stepped inside the house with two cases full of weapons and ammunition, plus more on Reno’s person, an assault rifle in his hands and two pistols on a belt around her waist, Ayane was glad Reno had the foresight to suggest bringing supplies, especially once the door shut unflinchingly behind them and they realized the place they were in. “It looked like a house on the outside…” she said quietly as she took a few tentative steps further in.

“I’m a little torn,” Reno said as he walked beside her. “On the one hand, it’s not a haunted house with ghosts. On the other hand, it’s some kind of fucked-up demonic office building with gore, blood and bodies everywhere.”

“These bodies aren’t decoration,” Ayane said as she knelt beside one. “My father did this; his work is hard to mistake.”

“At least he’s clearing the way for us.”

Their conversation was cut off as a screen on the wall flickered on, and the message that had played for the others played for them – Sigma had it on repeat in order to taunt Katsumi, but it worked now to inform the two of the situation. Ayane glared at the screen as it shut off. “It’s just a game to him – I can’t believe he’s toying with Katsumi. They must be on their way to the top, but they’re going to have him, Belphegor and Father to deal with. I still can’t contact Katsumi in here and she has no idea Father is here now – we have to get to them before they get to the top. They’re going to need our help.”

“And we’re going to give it,” Reno said as he moved over to an elevator and tried the button. “Yeah, I didn’t think it would work; I guess everyone’s taking the stairs.” He stepped back and looked at the numbers above the elevator. “Apparently there are sixty-six floors. Of
course
there are. I’m just surprised there aren’t six-hundred-sixty-six floors.”

“It’s not supposed to be a kind of ‘number of the beast’ thing,” Ayane explained as she walked the room, glancing at the stairs. “Besides, there’s some debate as to whether that’s six-six-six or six-one-six.”

“So if the sixty-six floors isn’t a number-of-the-beast-thing, what is it?”

“Gematria.”

“I’m sorry, what?”

“It’s a Hebrew system of assigning numerical value to a word or phrase. It’s kind of like Arithmancy, if you’ve ever heard of that.”

“So what does that have to do with this place having sixty-six floors?”

“Well… The numerical value of sixty is related to samekh,” Ayane said as she looked up at the numbers above the elevator. “The letter ‘s’. But, more importantly, ‘samekh’ and ‘mem’ form the abbreviation for the Angel of Death, or Samael.”

“So the six is ‘Mem’?”

“No…” Ayane shook her head, frowning. “Numerical value of six is attributed to vav… or w.”

“’Sw’? That doesn’t mean anything.”

“The only thing I can think of is that when vav is used at the beginning of Hebrew years, it means six thousand. But there are no years indicated by the floors of this building, unless it’s just implied, in which case…” She trailed off, staring at the numbers.

“In which case what?” Reno asked curiously, peeking around at her face. “Ayane?”

“…In which case, this tower has stood for six thousand years, and was built either by or for Samael, the Angel of Death,” she finished as she looked at him. “Belphegor may be here, but this is
not
Belphegor’s tower.”

“Is that good or bad? I mean, Samael didn’t follow Lucifer, right? He’s one of the good ones isn’t he?”

“He wasn’t – or isn’t – either good or bad. Samael is the closest to the personification of death that exists; he’s basically the grim reaper. That’s not the point, though – this is not Belphegor’s tower, so why is he here? He’s using it for something specific... What is the Prince of Sloth, Lord of Opening, doing in Samael’s tower?”

Reno shook his head. “All of this is over my head; I just know he’s a big monster. A big, bearded monster with really sharp claws and horns and a lot of power.”

“Yes, but it’s his plan I’m worried about.” Ayane looked towards the stairs. “Whatever the case… We can’t do anything until we meet up with Katsumi. That’s our first priority. We have to get to her and warn her that Father is here.”

“Then let’s get started.” Reno matched her stride as they headed for and up the stairs, wary of what was ahead but determined to catch up to their friends.

~ ~ ~ ~ ~

“This is just a waste of our time.”

Katsumi continued to ignore the voice, along with the face it was coming from.

“Katsumi, please!”

She wished it would shut up. She couldn’t remember how she ended up in this room alone, or where her team was, or why she suddenly found it so difficult to move; all she knew was that she wanted it to shut up.

“Just think about it,” the thing that looked just like Ayane said as it slid up beside her. “I may not have a lot of time left; you might not have a lot of time left. Why are we wasting our time apart like this? You should join Belphegor; he can actually help!” Katsumi looked away but the thing just moved closer. “If you turn on the others, all of this can end and we can spend the rest of time together. He can make us immortal! You care about me more than them, don’t you?”

“I do…”

“Then why are you choosing them over me?” Ayane suddenly looked very sad as Katsumi looked back at her. “We could finally be happy. We could have the power to kill Father and then do whatever we want. No more running, no more hiding, no more fighting – for the first time in our lives we could have a normal life! Why are you throwing that away to fight for some company that doesn’t care if you live or die?”

“I…” Katsumi looked down, unsure how to argue. Her mind felt foggy and sluggish; thoughts came slowly and slipped away like sand. She couldn’t find a reason for what she was doing, or a reason that Ayane was wrong, and on top of that she felt so
tired
of everything. She often felt tired, and now it was worse than ever before. Didn’t Ayane have a point? Wasn’t
she
what she wanted? “I’m not throwing it away,” she said weakly.

“I’m not blaming you,” Ayane said, looking concerned for a moment. “It’s not your fault. You’ve been fighting to protect me. But I don’t need that anymore. What I need is to be with you. All you’re doing now is hurting me.”

“I didn’t mean to,” Katsumi said sadly as she looked at her. “I want to be better.”

“Then do this for me,” her sister said. “We have no loyalty to Aegis. They haven’t done anything for us. They can’t even help us – they
won’t
help us. Belphegor will help us. Sigma helped you before, didn’t he? He saved your life with his information. They can help us get rid of Father and be free of everything.”

“But the others…”

“They don’t mean as much as I do,” Ayane said before looking hurt again. “Do they?”

“No,” Katsumi answered with a shake of her head. “Just let me… It’s so hard to think… What do I do?”

“Fight them,” Ayane responded. “I know you don’t want to, but we do what we have to in order to survive. If you don’t, Father will win – he almost killed me last time. Next time, he will. Please, make this choice – I don’t want to die…”

Katsumi stood slowly, unsteady on her feet as she turned towards the door behind her. “I won’t let you die.”

Forty-three floors above her Sigma clapped his hands, letting out a laugh as he watched the screen. “That was perfect!”

Beside him, Joseph had no reaction. Using his advice and the demon’s power, Sigma had managed to direct and manipulate his daughter well. Joseph was somewhat impressed with his skill, but whether or not this would be useful to them had yet to be seen. He watched as Sigma switched the scene over to their new visitors – his younger daughter and the man from outside, who he was surprised to see alive. Sigma was planning something for them as well. It was unfortunate, Joseph thought, that Ayane had chosen to come, but if she was as foolish as her sister, she would share the same fate.