Hell's Revelation (Book 3)

Chapter 31

I looked at the syringe in my hand. A wicked looking, old fashioned thing, widely used once by medical professionals in the past but now well out of favour having been replaced by the much more hygienic, and frankly less terrifying disposable needles. It took several moments but my mind wandered back to the gathering in the Pit. It felt like days ago given how much stress, panic and chaos had followed, but something about what I'd seen there niggled at me.

"You had this in your hand down in the Pits. That's what was meant by no execution, he wasn't ever going to die, you were going to do something to him with this and whatever was inside it. Start talking Malick, what were you going to do?"

"The question, Rayne, should really be 'what have I already done?'"

No sooner were those fatal words out of his mouth when Jesse lunged forwards and tackled Malick to the floor.His hands were around the Cleric's neck before any of us could so much as react, squeezing hard so that his eyes bugged out of his skull.

"What did you do to him? What have you done to my dad?"

Jesse shook him roughly, each spasm of his arm cracking the back of Malick's head against the dusty stone floor. As much as I was enjoying the show we wouldn't get any more answers out of the old Cleric if Jesse splattered his brains all overthe floor, so with some help from Lucas I managed to pull him off.  I could see my influence over Jesse's mind had been waning for a while,but there was still enough pull there to encourage him to back off and quiet down, at least for the moment.

I give Malick the opportunity to get to his feet, however. Dropping to me knees and planting them hard into the centre of his chest I leaned over, getting as close to his face as I dared – Malick's breath was noxious – and held the needle directly in his eye line.

"So what was inside this them?Explain to me your grand theory. How do you plan to claim the souls of the living with this little bottle of gunge?"

"You thought your blood was the key,you were wrong. It was merely the carrier. A vessel to transport the magic. The words were the key and the change that it ignited inside your friend there." He grinned at me, I think there was actually some glee at telling someone these secrets. Then again he always did take delight in proving me wrong.

I spared a quick glance over at Jesse,no longer the human he had once been. Forever changed by our magical dabbling. Something had been transferred into him from me, carried on my blood like a contagion and now it lived inside of him.

"You understand now, don't you? Take a moment to diminish your own feeling of self-importance and realise just how insignificant your role really was."

With a scowl I shoved Malick hard in the chest and pushed away from him, getting back to my feet. He coughed and spluttered, the noise turning into a series of hacking chuckles as he delighted in having rattled me.

"You were never the 'key' Rayne, you were just a means to an end. It's just unfortunate that the Prophecy that was written actually did come to pass, many were hoping that it would not. You should have died to created the contagion, start its spread, and you should have stayed dead! But even someone as powerful as Lucifer can underestimate the power of belief."

He pulled himself to his feet, dusted off his dark brown robe – not that you would have noticed any dirt on it – and regained his oh so annoying composure, standing before us as if nothing had happened.

I was supposed to have stayed dead.That thought created a strange and conflicting rush of emotions to rage inside of me. Anger and disbelief at what I had willingly done,I had let Frank rip out my throat and that should have been it. There wasn't supposed to be any magic to bring me back. I'd been such a fool to dive head long into that crazy theory without even once considering that the whole thing might be a set-up . I was too trusting, too willing to believe.

But the fact was that it had worked. Had believed so vehemently that the prophecy was true, that I would come back from that death as the Revelator, and I had. My belief had been what had saved me, and I couldn't deny there was a spiteful feeling of glee that rushed over me. I'd been a fool, but I'd believed, and I was still here.

I'd started this, and I could still stop it.

"Where if Patrick?"

"Why, he's in his own quarters,sleeping off a dose of his son's blood. The transformation should be almost complete."