Page 44

“Who are we without our memories? Our mind?” He glances toward the spot on the wall I’d been staring at moments ago. “What if you never have the chance to regain them?”

“That doesn’t prevent me from having a weapon, you know?” What I really want is access to the rifle.

“I’ll work on it. For now a knife will do.” He stands from his chair and pulls out a small knife from his pocket. He flicks it open then places it down in front of me, its handle is thick wood with intricate serrations in the metal attached to it. “Don’t worry about the memories Marisa. They will come in due time as we work through the kinks. Like Arik says, we can make new memories and those can merge into the old ones. There’s no harm in taking your time. That’s all we have here.”

We finish dinner in silence as the snowstorm batters the already snow drowned property. Kieran has migrated to the chair next to me, the flames warming the deep chill in our bones.

“I’ll have Winston—the groundskeeper if you haven’t met him—take you and Tania into town tomorrow. Buy whatever you need, clothes, books, food…all of it.” Kieran says, reaching for my hand and delicately pulling it toward him. The gesture startles me, yet I don’t show I’m phased by his touch.

“So, I get to explore?” I ask, gently pulling my hand back to rest on the swell of my breasts. His eyes track the movement, trailing across my collarbone until they snap to my awaiting gaze.

“Yes, if that is what you want. I hope you know, you are not a prisoner here.”

“Okay.” The word is a mere whisper between my lips.

“Okay.” He tilts back in his chair.

TWENTY-ONE

The Moon

The mighty pawn, Christian, stepped into the dark clearing just as the last grain of salt danced away with the wind. His gaze snapped to the misfit individuals he’d met over the years. The group was united in its interest of hidden things. Whatever they could have laid their hands on, prized possessions, rare jewels or occult objects they all converged like vultures after carrion. Nothing was off limits.

For Christian, it was startling to see them all converged in the clearing. He asked himself, what could they have possibly done that needed his clean up services? Had they found the one cure to his own worries and had come to tell him? No, he seethed, they wouldn’t make him trek to the point above the cave.

The group’s latest find was the Limina talisman. Buried deep in the South American jungles, Kieran had extracted the talisman from its resting place only to bring it back to their crumbling seaside town.

If only they knew the effort was futile. How many men came to conquer my lands? To seek the everlasting knowledge? The secrets of the universe? I would keep my watchful eye on every single traveler, sink deep into their minds.

People of Devil’s Bay came to Kieran for a lot of things, one of them being saving their loved ones from certain death. The thing was, he couldn’t really bring back the dead, he could only prolong their lives.

Driven by his father’s research, Kieran had found the only way in and out of a land where minerals not found in Devil’s Bay would make a difference. The bridge between science and occult alchemy.

The group turned toward Christian, the image of a man being led to the altar of sacrifice.

Kieran was well aware Christian had been cursed with the same disease that ran in his family’s veins, a weak heart that could give out at any moment. So he contemplated telling Christian the funny detail he’d found out.

The talisman glowed faintly in Kieran’s hands. His fingers prickled at the raw power emanating from the object.

The forest stilled; soil softly vibrated beneath their feet.

My world was waking, responding to their emotions.

Christian’s face hardened. “Why are you doing this? Have I ever lied to any of you? Has my work not benefitted you all?”

“You know well enough you haven’t been producing enough bodies. Do you know about Killian’s condition?” Kieran pointed toward Killian who coolly stood with his back against a tree. “We will run out of serum. The only way I’ve been able to go back and forth is the blood of the demons. And you damn well know how difficult it is to harvest.”

“I alone, make any of your experiments happen, Lazarus.” Christian stabbed a finger toward Kieran.

Two mirror images reflecting the same hatred.

“Don’t. She’s already reaping the consequences of your actions.” Kieran winked at Christian.

Behind the fools, Irene took liberty and had tipped the bowls of thick viscous blood into the ground. Neither Christian nor Kieran could stop what I had coming for them.

“Blood and salt

by Death is what forth