Ch 40 - Hidded

Tak, Tak, Tak. My shoes echo down the sterile ash-grey hallway, the jingle of my keys echoing with each step I take. Each step I take leads me past another door meant to deceive the unprepared. Each a prison cell containing lost Cainites, rogues, and betrayers, each one locked away for their safety and ours, as each of them was a threat not just to the Awakened but more so to the normal people trying to live their lives. So, here they stay until we can help them. 

Tak, Tak, Tak. I continue till I reach my destination. Turning left and coming face to face with a door lingering with the faint scent of lamb's blood. No different from the rest, for those who were unaware or disoriented by the liminal design, but besides me, who knew my steps for when I would reach the subtle lack of key hole under the doorknob was a sign to look for. Raising my free hand to the door, I began to chant an invocation.

""Ecce! sto ad ostium et pulso. Si vocem meam audis et ostium aperueris, ingrediar, et cum amicis cenam simul erimus."" Uttering my chant, a small key hole made itself known, shimmering back into view from underneath the doorknob. Pulling the large set of keys from my belt loop, I take the 7th key, located in the centre of the keychain, and open the door with a soft clack. The lock opens, and the smell of blood dissipates while the door opens with a creak.

"Huh." A teenage girl with an oversized red hoodie, the only color in the otherwise grey room, sits on the bed, reaching for a bottle of pills on their bedside table. Turned to me in surprise.

"NO, wait." She said, flustered as I entered, but it was too late. I panic in that instant and cross the gap before their words could reach me, and grasp the hand and the bottle alike with enough force to crack the bottle through the hand.

"Auhhhhh, please." She cried out as, in my haste, I had gone too far. I slowly release my grip over the small hand and see the blood stain on the table and realise what I have done.

"Apologies, I thought you were about to ... never mind." I stopped trying to justify myself and moved to help her. Taking a knee next to her, I move. One hand underneath hers and with the other aligning my fingers, I hover my palm over her hand. She reflexively pulled away.

"Don't worry, I just wish to fix my mistake." I reassure both of us. Slowly, they extend their hand again, and I start reciting.

""Gloriosissime Archangele Sancte Raphael, magne princeps aulae caelestis, tu illustris es donis sapientiae et gratiae. Dux es eorum qui terra, mari, aere iter faciunt, consolator afflictorum, et refugium peccatorum. Te oro, adiuva me in omnibus necessitatibus meis et in omnibus huius vitae doloribus, sicut olim iuveni Tobiae in itineribus suis auxilium dedisti. Quia tu es "medicina Dei", humiliter te precor ut multas infirmitates animae meae et mala quae corpus meum affligunt sanes. Praesertim a te favorem (hic mentionem intentionis tuae specialis facias) et magnam puritatis gratiam peto ut me praeparare possis ad templum Spiritus Sancti. Amen."" I chant my voice echoing in power and my body glowing in grace. Then, with a small burst of gold white light, her palm is restored to how it was before I had crushed the pill bottle, the glass that had pierced her skin now lying harmlessly on her palm.

While they marvel at their now fixed palm, I move to sit next to her, causing her to pull away reflexively. The silence fills the room deeper than before, held there by my shame and her fear, but her fear gave out first.

"Why are you here today? Yellow usually, green comes to ask me about my dreams." She asks softly, but it is clear to my ears even before I learned aura. I pull a face in disdain as she speaks, but my mask keeps her from realising.

"Her name is Kara, and she is sadly handling a specialised problem, so I was asked to come and request your dream." I try to explain, but she just looks at the wall ahead of us.

"Humph, ok." She accepts, but unhappily. Leaning back and facing the roof of her cell, she starts to speak.

"Three blazes burn against each other: two red, one large and one small, one green. First dies the green, then dies the larger red till only the small is left dwindling in the midst of a field of ash." She starts, recounting her dream.

"As depressing as last time, huh?" The small girl chuckles.

Reaching for the cracked bottle, "That's why these are so handy," she says as she pops two into her mouth and swallows. 

"They've gotten any easier, I imagine." I try to bring a bit of levity, but as she looks at me, she gestures off to the shattered bottle of pills on the floor.

"Nope, only more vivid. Every time more vivid." She flops back onto her bed, eyes looking heavily at the ceiling.

"No power without a price." I chuckle as I lightly stroke my mask. She looks at me, but I deny her the look behind it, so she quickly turns her head back to the ceiling. I sit there in silence for a few minutes in contemplation, then swiftly stand.

"I won't keep you any longer," I say, and begin to make my way to the door.

"Yes, you will, you just want to bother me for a while!" she states with a harsh glare. I stop and resist my urge to tell her off, but I continue on my way. I open the door and make my way away.

"Goodbye, mister Liam." I turn and see her waving and reaching for the pills on the floor. I should send someone to clean up soon.

"Goodbye, Sarah." I say, slowly closing the door with a slow and heavy hand. 

Clack!