‘Just relax and try not to look so nervous,’ Harker quietly urged as he and Stefani made their way off the twelve-seater shuttle bus and out onto the tarmac of Ciampino airport, just south of Rome. ‘We haven’t done anything wrong.’
‘Of course we haven’t,’ she replied sarcastically but with a bemused expression. ‘Just like we haven’t assaulted Archbishop Federar back at his holy palace, and neither have we left him propped him up in a chair in a state of unconsciousness.’
‘Only after the man went totally crazy,’ Harker offered as they both continued swiftly towards the Cessna Citation X waiting for them with its cabin door already wide open.
‘He wasn’t crazy, Alex. He was possessed, just like my father. And we’re going to burn for this, you know?’
Stefani had seemed unusually shaken by the ruckus back at Vatican City, and she wasn’t the only one. Harker was only too aware of the seriousness of what essentially amounted to inflicting GBH on a high-ranking Vatican official – and just as importantly, an old friend. Also the idea that Archbishop Federar had become possessed was hard enough to digest but that it happened so quickly and with almost no warning was just as disturbing. ‘Look, I don’t know how but we’ll make this right, I promise. And for the moment no one has any idea what really happened.’
‘How on earth can you be sure of that?’ she gasped just as they reached the jet and she paused with one foot resting on the first step.
‘Because, if they did, then we wouldn’t be getting onto this aeroplane, would we? So let’s not hang around here any longer.’
It was a reasonable suggestion and Stefani gave a slow nod, before Harker pushed her up the stairs and into the cabin, where they found one of the pilots waiting patiently for them.
‘Destination sir?’ he inquired, and as Stefani took her seat, Harker was already gesturing the man towards the cockpit.
‘Anywhere but here. Just get us airborne and out of Italian airspace as soon as possible.’
‘Like, is that it?’ The pilot raised his eyebrows. ‘Very well, take a seat and we’ll get going.’
Until that moment it had not occurred to Harker whether the crew were Templar associates or just hired professionals but, given the man’s response, it was clear that they were the former, and he was glad of it. For most people, alarms bells would have gone off the moment they were instructed to get out of the country ASAP.
‘What the hell are we going to do?’ Stefani asked as Harker sat down next to her. ‘This whole business has become a totally confusing nightmare. I myself don’t even know what we’re doing.’
She was right, of course, and he knew it. What had started as simply an enquiry into the death of Stefani’s father had now morphed into a tangled mesh of murder, conspiracy theories, prophecies, and satanic worship. Then add to this mix those glowing artefacts capable of delivering visions, and the whole thing seemed no more than a chaotic mess.
‘What the hell is going on?’ Stefani continued loudly and because Harker was just about to say the same thing, he began to laugh out loud.
‘I’m not sure I’ve an answer for you, as my brain is buzzing with confusion,’ Harker replied, then shook his head in despair because he had been feeling somewhat removed from reality ever since he experienced that vision. It was like his mind was no longer firing on all cylinders and as if he had lost – or gained – something. ‘If there was any such thing as a mind enema, I’d be all for taking a triple dose.’
The idea of such an imagined medication had Stefani looking wide-eyed, and Harker raised his eyebrows wistfully. ‘That’s not a real thing, is it?’
‘Of course not,’ Stefani scolded. ‘But, you’re right, we need to clear our heads now and figure out exactly where we’re at.’
‘OK,’ he replied, also wanting to get things straight in his own mind. ‘This whole series of events – your father’s death, the Blessed Candles and the group seeking them – they all revolve around the three days of Darkness prophecy which,’ he paused and scratched his neck in irritation, ‘if I hadn’t seen that vision I would be hard pressed to believe. But with that still in mind, I’ve come to genuinely believe that something unearthly is going on, so it all has to be taken seriously. And the members of the Order of Tharmis are convinced that this prophecy will come to pass within the coming hours.’
Harker gently pulled out of his pocket the scrap of paper they had stolen from the Vatican’s secret archive and placed it on the table in front of them. ‘They also believe that this here is not only the solution to stopping an apocalyptic tragedy, but contains instructions on how to stop it from beginning at all. But, apart from corroborating that those currently holding religious power will become consumed by Satan’s minions – which as we saw with Archbishop Federar, is definitely true to its word – there’s nothing else written in there which helps us one bit.’
He picked up the scrap of paper and began to reading it yet again, and was only a few sentences into it when he noticed something odd being illuminated by one of the cabin’s floor lights alongside him. At the very edge of the note appeared to be shadows or a discolouring and, as Harker scrutinised those closer, he made something out. They were symbols… no letters, tiny letters which lined the edge of the page like a dull grey watermark, and were easy to miss. He raised the note towards the brighter overhead lights and the closer he moved it, the clearer the miniscule lettering became.
‘What is it?’ Stefani asked, peering more closely at the note.
‘Something added in invisible ink.’
‘That’s impossible. They didn’t have invisible ink two hundred years ago.’
Of course they did,’ Harker replied, glancing at her momentarily. ‘They used a mixture of lemon juice and water, but there’s no way it would have gone unnoticed by anyone examining it thoroughly.’
He ran his index finger along the hidden message, with squinting eyes. ‘Ospedale del Santo… Orphanage of the Saint. I’ve not heard of it.’ He turned back to face Stefani, who now looked as if she had just seen a ghost.
She said nothing at first and Harker was about to ask what the problem was, when her lips began to quiver. ‘I have.’
‘What is it?’ He asked, placing the scrap of paper down on the desk in front of them.
‘It’s the orphanage where I grew up. It’s in Venice.’
The coincidence was incredible to Harker. ‘Could your father have written it?’
‘I suppose that’s possible, but you heard the archbishop, there were multiple people working on it at one time, so it would have been hard to get away with.’ Stefani’s eyes began to widen. ‘But if not, then Cardinal Vicci wrote it over two hundred years ago.’
They both sat in stunned silence as the jet’s engines roared and began to gather in speed, until finally they felt the aircraft lift off its wheels and begin its ascent into the sky.
‘Do you believe in fate?’ Stefani asked him in a voice just audible above the engines.
Harker remained silent as the two stared at each other unblinkingly, then just as he was about to reply the phone began to vibrate in his pocket and broke the eerie moment between them. He pulled it out and swiped the answer bar to one side. ‘Hello.’
‘Alex,’ Carter began and he was interrupted immediately by Harker.
‘Hold on, David, I’m putting you on speakerphone,’ he explained, tapping the appropriate icon on his touch screen. ‘OK, go ahead now. I’m here with Stefani; please tell us you have something.’ Harker sounded practically desperate but that was immediately swept away by the excitement in Carter’s voice.
‘Oh, I have something all right and you’re not going to believe it.’
Harker shot Stefani a look of anticipation as Carter began to unload information in haste, as was his usual style when extremely excited.
‘We’ve been looking in the wrong direction all this time. They’re not Satanists, and neither is Avi Legrundy,’ Carter explained eagerly. ‘The bull’s head you found at Father Davies’s apartment, the ceremony you got caught up in in Rome, those weren’t satanic rituals… they were rites of passage.’
If Harker had hoped his friend was about to clear things up, he was now sorely disappointed and was already shaking his head in confusion. ‘What are you talking about?’
That group you’ve been encountering, they’re not devil worshippers… they’re followers of Mithras!’
The very word had Harker’s mouth dropping open in bewilderment. ‘That’s impossible, David.’
‘I know, I know, but just hear me out,’ Carter replied with defiance in his tone, ‘Tom found a reference to Avi Legrundy in the Templar archives and we discovered a storage area full of stuff. Now, I’ve not had time to go through it all, because there’s just so much there, but what I have discovered is bloody fascinating – and your father was at the centre of it.’
The mention of his father had Harker shifting in his seat uncomfortably. Stefani was now leaning closer to the phone as Carter continued with his news.
‘We were led to believe that the Magi were the Templar’s biggest threat and adversary to date, but if your father’s records are anything to go by, then they were just the half of it, Alex. The cult of Mithras posed just as big a threat, if not more.’
‘Who are the Mithras?’ Stefani asked, noticeably twitchy over her unfamiliarity of the subject, but Harker raised a hand in a bid to placate her.
‘David, you’re not making any sense. Sebastian has never mentioned any of this before.’
‘And why would he? This stuff was all put to bed twenty-five years ago,’ Carter replied and a deep frown appeared on Harker’s forehead. ‘From what I’ve read, this Mithras group were at war with the Templars for years and it was your father – as Templar Jarl – who was largely instrumental in shutting them down altogether. A lot of lives were lost, so it says in his journals, and Avi Legrundy was a major player. Until they were all wiped out… apparently.’
Harker remained silent, not knowing what to make of any of it, as Carter continued.
‘This storeroom I mentioned is full of Mithraic artefacts that must go back to the days of ancient Rome. And, Alex, if I’m being honest, they seem to consist less of antiquities being stored and more likely trophies of some kind.’
‘Trophies!’ Harker looked troubled. ‘How?’
‘Well, I even found a sealed package containing some kind of ceremonial garb covered in bloodstains, which to anyone knowing their history is very similar to those described in Mithraic texts. Couple that with the fact that there is no mention of the Mithras cult in the Templars’ vault database and, if it wasn’t for the name you gave us, I doubt we’d have found it at all. Not any time soon, anyway.’
Carter’s breathing was now sounding nervously intermittent and his tone hesitant. ‘If I didn’t know better, I would say that someone wanted their very existence hidden away, and as for all the stuff we found… well, it wasn’t exactly hidden but it wasn’t really out in plain sight either, if you know what I mean.’
Harker remained silent as he considered what all this meant. But, if he wanted a few moments to think it through, Stefani was not about to allow that.
‘If someone doesn’t tell me who the cult of Mithras are right now, then, my friends… there’s going to be trouble!’
Harker looked over and noticed that apart, from gritted teeth and glaring expression, she also had one of her hands clenched in a fist, and he had no doubt she meant what she had just said. ‘The followers of Mithras, or Mithraism, are one of the oldest cults on the planet. They are also one of the most mysterious, and even today we know very little about them. That particular cult was said to have originated in Persia, maybe a few thousand years BC and long before Christianity had been born. When Rome expanded its rule across the globe their legionaries brought it back with them, and it grew and spread throughout the empire, mainly amongst the less reputable classes, not among the elite, and of course it became embedded within the army and legions.’
‘Nero was hardly middle-class.’ Carter protested, keen to set the record straight.
‘That’s true,’ Harker replied, keeping his attention on Stefani who still looked unimpressed. ‘Emperor Nero was himself inducted into the cult of Mithraism and soon afterwards he set about imprisoning and murdering as many Christians as he could get his hands on, but most of the cult’s followers were middle-of-the-road in social standing.’
Stefani’s expression softened and her shoulders began to loosen up. ‘Why?’
‘Because the early Christian faith was in direct competition with that of Mithraism at the time and amidst much scholarly debate on the subject, there’s an argument that many of the Mithras practices were literally absorbed by the early Church itself.’
‘What!’
Harker was surprised at Stefani’s lack of knowledge on this subject but, given what Carter had suggested earlier, perhaps it was not a topic that the Templars were encouraged to learn about. Perhaps it was even taboo. ‘There were certain similarities still debated today but the devotees of that cult worshipped Mithras, the sun god, who was born from his mother, the rock of Earth, without the need of a father. Some say it’s another take on the virgin birth. There are other similarities with their god being able to create water out of soil and an ability to walk upon it. Furthermore the date of his birth was 25th of December by our calendar, which perhaps is enough said.’
‘And don’t forget the banquets where they would eat food symbolising the body of Mithras himself, just like is done with wafers during communion.’ Carter interjected so loudly that his voice crackled in the receiver.
‘That’s merely a matter of conjecture, David,’ Harker replied before turning to whisper to Stefani, ‘He loves a good conspiracy theory.’
‘I heard that.’ Carter’s objected in a deep tone.
‘Nevertheless, what has become regarded as the mystery of Mithraism arose because in the first century while Christianity was becoming ever more popular, all the cult’s devotees disappeared into history. Some say they were overwhelmed by the Christians and forced to convert, while others say they were slaughtered by their highly pious rivals. But one thing is fact: they pretty much disappeared without trace except for their temples being discovered in almost every country in Europe that had once belonged to the Roman Empire. They were constructed underground with the one distinct similarity of decorative symbols – the god Mithras slaughtering a bull with his knife while a snake, a dog and a raven attack it and, even worse, a large scorpion attacking the victim’s testicles.’
Harker winced at the thought but Stefani remained expressionless as he elaborated on the subject further. ‘There are many that think the bull represented Jesus and the sacrifice as Mithras’s wish to destroy his competitor. But that’s only conjecture because no one knows for sure, and we likely never will.’
‘Maybe so,’ Carter still sounded stern, ‘but if what we’ve found is anything to go by, the Mithraic cult never disappeared – it did so from public view only.’
The notion had Harker shaking his head, even though it might explain much of what he had witnessed over the past few days. ‘David, I honestly doubt that such a once potent force could have survived in absolute secrecy for over two thousand years, and anyway, what has it got to do with an apocalyptic prophecy – and a Catholic prophecy at that?’
There was a short silence before Carter began speaking again in that same deeply serious tone. He was clearly getting excited by the mystery he had uncovered. ‘I don’t know, Alex, but if your father’s journals are anything to go by, the Mithraic cult managed it and, given they were apparently suppressed by the Templars in recent years, they appear to have a habit of making a comeback again and again.’
‘This all sounds crazy,’ Stefani exploded, and completely unconvinced. ‘I have been a Templar all my life and I’ve never heard anything about that or any kind of rivalry except with the Magi. They were always our only adversaries and, believe me, if these Mithras people had been such a threat, and as destructive as you claim, then there is no way it could have been kept such a secret. More importantly, the Templar high guard would never have kept such an important secret from their members.’
‘Maybe you’re right, Stefani,’ Carter conceded while privately becoming even more convinced of the possibility, ‘but everything I’m telling you derives directly from the words of Alex’s father. Remember, he was the Jarl and this is exactly the type of thing he himself would have dealt with.’
This time there was no response from her and she gave Harker an uncertain look. Whatever the truth, they were unlikely to find a consensus amongst themselves, and Harker knew it, but that aside, his position of Jarl now began to take on a more potent significance to him. If the Mithras were truly behind all this, and as powerful as Carter believed them to be, then he was now not only at the front of the charge but would soon become the tip of the spearhead in opposing them.
The realisation had him gulping nervously and Harker immediately pushed the idea to the back of his mind, not quite ready to confront the realities that his accepted role might soon entail. ‘Let’s all just focus on where we’re going next. David, there’s an orphanage in Venice, Ospedale del Santo, that could tie into all this.’ He glanced over at Stefani and found her already nodding in agreement. ‘We’re going to take a look and see if it’s connected in any way.’
‘An orphanage? How?’ Carter now sounded extremely interested.
‘Not sure yet but I let you know when I do. In the meantime, could you contact Sebastian and see if he can shed some light on all this stuff please; if anyone knows anything it will be him.’
‘Will do,’ Carter agreed. ‘Oh, and Tom is on his way back to the UK right now and he promised to speak with Chloe, so all good there.’
‘Thanks, David. Be sure to let me know the moment you hear from Sebastian.’
The call ended abruptly and Harker placed his iPhone on the table and settled back in his seat with a look of puzzlement. ‘If these people do belong to the Mithras cult and, apart from it being amazing that it’s survived for this long without being detected, we still know absolutely nothing about them.
‘What concerns me more is that if the Templars had dealings with them, then why doesn’t anyone know about it?’
It was a concern that was not lost on Harker either, and frankly it was what worried him most. If Carter was correct about all this and his father had indeed been instrumental in it all, then why the hell had Sebastian never mentioned this? Was it because his father – and the Templars – had done something terrible? Something so dreadful that they had kept it from the younger initiates rising up in its ranks? It was a troubling thought and he was just about to raise it with Stefani, when his phone rang again.
‘It’s probably David again.’ Then he noticed there was no name on the call tag. ‘It’s a video call,’ he announced before he swiped the accept bar to one side, which illuminated the screen to display the face of a white-haired man with a fraught expression.
‘Alex… can you see me?’ Henri Berger offered a lacklustre smile.
‘I can see you, Henri,’ Harker replied, not certain if this man knew about the death of Dr Marceau. ‘Are you OK?’
‘Yes.’ The caller offered a light nod. ‘How did you get on?’
No, clearly he didn’t know and Harker elected to keep it that way for the time being. ‘Long story short, we managed to get hold of it and we’re in the air at the moment.’
‘Good. That’s good,’ Henri replied and with a genuine hint of relief. ‘Have you managed to read it?’
‘Yes… but it wasn’t very helpful. Not in the way you may have hoped. But there’s good news, too, because we just discov—’
‘We’ve heard about Gérald Marceau. It’s horrible,’ the man interrupted, and Harker could tell from the look in his eyes that he was extremely upset about it. ‘Were you present?’
‘Sadly yes, and am sorry to say it wasn’t pretty. It was the doing of the Red Death, and her real name is Avi Legrundy. She’s as vicious as anyone I’ve ever met.’
The caller gave another slow nod of his head before he gazed back at Harker with a tear forming in his eye, due to him not blinking once since this call had begun. ‘Yes… I know.’
A thin blade, held in a black hand, crept around Henri’s throat like a steel serpent which slithered into place beneath the man’s left ear. Then another hand pulled his head back, allowing a better view of the knife’s owner.
Avi Legrundy flashed those white teeth of hers and grinned towards the camera, whilst revealing that the entire left side of her face was covered by a white bandage patch peppered with red stains.
‘Hello, Alex,’ Legrundy said and, as she pulled Henri back further, Harker could see the limp bodies of both Pierre and Monique lying on the floor, face down. ‘I’ve been getting to know your friends.’
With the blade still held tightly at Henri’s throat, Legrundy slowly peeled back the bandage to reveal a deep burn mark extending from her jaw up to one side of her forehead. Her burnt dreadlocks had been roughly hacked off and, after displaying the nasty wound, she pressed the bandage back in place. ‘You owe me a debt, Alex, and I intend to collect.’
‘Oh, my God,’ Stefani gasped as she moved closer to the small screen and was immediately noticed by Legrundy.
‘Stefani Mitchell. I’m glad you’re there… Hold on.’ With dull eyes Legrundy sliced the knife across Henri’s neck and dropped him to the floor in a convulsing heap, before stepping over his twitching body and moving so close to the camera that her face filled the screen. ‘It’s a pleasure to see you again.’
‘Jesus, you’re sick,’ Harker growled and, although feeling absolutely helpless, he wanted nothing more than to reach through the display and choke the life out of her.
‘Sickness got nothing to do with it,’ Legrundy answered with a smile that revealed how much she was enjoying his disgust, ‘but getting this has everything to do with it.’
Legrundy reached somewhere out of sight and her hand reappeared holding the familiar red ‘blessed candle’ the Order had been protecting for centuries – until now. ‘You’re snivelling fat friend Marceau gave up his hiding place long before I cut his tongue out.’
‘You’ve got nothing, Legrundy,’ Stefani yelled. ‘You may now have one of them but you’ll never get the other.’
Legrundy shook her head and chuckled before again ducking out of view only to reappear, this time with the other ‘blessed candle’ they had retrieved back in Athens. ‘You mean this one?’
Stefani’s mouth dropped open and her look of complete surprise elicited a victorious grunt from the killer.
‘You thought you were so clever in getting away from me at the Acropolis Museum dat it never occurred to you I might be following you?’
Stefani remained silent, frankly ashamed that she had made such an obvious mistake in not better covering their tracks.
‘I trailed you to the airport, and then on to the nice man you gave this to for safekeeping.’ She began juggling them both in her hands before drawing them close to her chest. ‘I want you to know that he died pissing himself as he begged for his life.’
This goading insult proved too much for Stefani and she grabbed the phone from Harker’s hands and began to rant at its screen. ‘Wherever you go, I’ll find you, Legrundy. I swear it.’
The Red Death looked unmoved by this outburst and once more moved closer to the screen. ‘Swear it on what… your oath as a Templar?’
It was the first time, since crossing paths, that any knowledge of their both belonging to the Templars had been voiced, and it not only shocked Stefani but Harker as well.
He calmly took the phone back from her. ‘You seem to know more about us than you’ve let on,’ he said, now taking the opportunity to test out Carter’s theory for himself. ‘I thought we’d destroyed the pathetic cult of Mithras years ago.’
Legrundy’s eyes widened in surprise but that chilling smile persisted. ‘So now we both know who we are,’ she replied, tilting her head forward. ‘That’s crucial if friendships are to flourish.’
This reply was bizarre and Harker now glared back at her with a steely look. ‘There was no friendship to flourish in the first place, Legrundy, but I’m getting to know better what you are, and we’ll be paying you a visit soon.’
This was of course just angry bravado on his part but, given he had just watched a new acquaintance callously murdered before his eyes, he wanted the killer to realise this wasn’t the end, but just the beginning of any lengths the Templars would go to in order to get her.
‘Oh, I know far more about you, Alex – which isn’t saying much. You don’t know who I am, you don’t know what dat stupid note you managed to get is, and especially…’ She raised the two blessed candles in to view momentarily… ‘you don’t have a clue what these are for, do you?’
Harker gulped in frustration because everything she said was absolutely true, and he couldn’t help but now feel that she had been playing them both all along. ‘It’s not over yet,’ he growled sternly but this only brought forth a deep laugh from her.
‘Not over! You don’t even know what it was to begin with.’ Legrundy placed both the blessed candles down on the floor and pressed her face up towards the screen. ‘In mere hours it ain’t going to matter anyway because all that exists of your world will wither away and disappear, and then you will realise a truth that you never even understood in the first place.’
The assassin scowled at them, then reached towards the side of the screen and she repeated the ominous line that Father Davies had written in his own blood and which appeared in the Prophecy. ‘“You are I and I am you. When he is myth and we are reality. This grand deception will be repaid in blood.” and I will always be one step ahead of you,’ she hissed, clearly taunting him with knowing exactly what he had already managed to discover, before the screen went black.
‘That bitch is dead,’ Stefani now raged and she slammed her fist down on the table hard, as Harker slipped the phone slowly back in his pocket. At any other moment he would have tried to calm her, but in truth he was just as livid. The deaths this woman had on her hands amounted to nothing short of a bloodbath, but she was right in saying that she was always one step ahead even when it seemed they had left her scowling in the rear-view mirror.
‘You couldn’t have known,’ he reassured Stefani, as her clenched fists continued thumping lightly on the table top.
‘It’s my job to know, Alex, and, as a result of my failure, someone else has died needlessly. And your contact, Henri… disgusting.’
‘I myself am to blame for them, if anyone,’ Harker said despondently. ‘I led her straight to them. Marceau said so himself.’
‘Maybe, but this Legrundy woman is a tracker, and a damn good one.’
‘Same then goes for you,’ he replied, still trying to soothe her anger.
But Stefani was already shaking her head. ‘I’ve trained for this type of work all my life only to fail those poor people, the Templars – and myself.’
There was little Harker could say to that, but there was an unanswered question still niggling him, and possibly the reason for her increased anger. ‘Who exactly was it you left the blessed candle with?’ he asked, sensing that this lay at the true core of her feeling of guilt.’
‘He was a Templar associate – and not only a close friend of mine but of Sebastian’s as well… It appears that David Carter was correct. The Templars know of them and they know us, but why the hell weren’t we informed?’
This was probably the most important question to resolve at this point. ‘I don’t know,’ he said before picking the note up off the table and waving it in front of her, ‘but I’m willing to bet your father did… and mine too.’
This observation saw Stefani beginning to calm, and now she focused her gaze on the piece of paper being brandished in her direction.
‘Perhaps destiny really is about to play its part.’