Cronin's Key III (19 page)

“
The circle of hell?” Alec asked. “Oh good, because that
doesn’t sound ominous.” He knew if the name was in Latin, then the
place was
old
. And that didn’t
bode well.

The priest nodded seriously, missing Alec’s sarcasm all
together. “
Novem tibi
orbibus
.”

“
Nine circles,” Alec whispered. He certainly wasn’t joking
now.

“
Like the nine circles of hell as depicted by Dante,”
Kennard added.

“
It has been called many
things,” the priest replied.

Alec shook his head.
“More like the Göbekli Tepe pits that the Zoan came
through.”

The priest
paled at the mention of their name. “Exactly. Except these nine
pits are buried deep underground here, founded by Romulus and
Remus.”

“
The founders of Rome. Twin brothers raised by a
wolf
,” Jacques murmured, shaking his head in disbelief. Alec
could see the pieces of the lycan/circular portal puzzle connecting
in his mind.

“
A wolf?” Alec asked. “Or a
lycan?”

The priest
hissed. “Three thousand years ago they built the foundations of
Rome to welcome the cursed creatures. Those creatures, be they
called Zoan or a Biblic seraphim, rose through the pits directly
from hell and were set free to roam the earth.

“
It is said that Remus tried to stop Romulus from opening
the portal, and Romulus killed him in return. Rome was fought over
and conquered many times,” the priest continued. “All for control
of these pits.”

“
The church finally
assumed control in the fourth century,” Benito said with a smile.
He nodded to the priest. “And they have been the keepers of them
ever since.”

“
There’s been not a murmur from these depths since
that time,” the priest said. “Though
we knew the time of the key would come again.”

“
The Catholic church knows about the
key?” Alec asked incredulously.

“
Not just the Catholic,” the priest amended. “But all
dominions of faith. They each have their teachings of the
key.”

Cronin
shook his
head, disbelievingly. “The Vatican, St Peter’s Basilica was built
atop the pits of evil?”

The priest
nodded. “Matthew 18:16. And I tell you, you are Peter, and on this
rock I will build my church, and the gates of hell shall not
prevail against it.”

“
Oh wait,” Alec said, biting back a sarcastic laugh. “I’ve
seen this movie. With the Priory of Sion and Tom Hanks. It was
pretty good.”

The priest gave him a scathing glare but schooled his
features when he remembered just what Alec was.
The key. The one who will defeat the Zoan
forever. His true purpose….

“
What is my true purpose?” Alec asked. “You just thought
those words
.
‘His true purpose.’ What does that
mean?”

The priest
bowed his head in apology. “To close the last portal. To rid the
world of the Zoan forever.”

Alec looked at the other vampires. “Wasn’t my purpose to
kill Queen Keket in Egypt, or
Rilind in China?” He turned back to the priest. “Wasn’t
it?”

The priest glanced nervously at everyone. “Our prophet says
the
key will be born to end
the unholy terror. The seraphim which flew and breathed fire shall
be abolished for an eternity by he who holds the key.”

“
I’m pretty sure that’s
not in the Bible,” Alec countered.

The priest smiled. “As I am certain your kind is not
either, yet here you stand. There is phrasing
in scriptures if one knows what to look for,
Ailig. But what we’ve learned of this day is only granted to the
initiated by telling only. It is not common knowledge, even to many
in the Vatican.”

“
So, there is a higher
order of priests who have been handed down information for
thousands of years,” Alec clarified, “in relation to these
creatures?”

The priest nodded. “Yes.”

Alec couldn’t believe what he was
hearing. “Hmm, I’m thinking Dan Brown was onto
something.”

Just then, the priest’s lantern flickered and snuffed out.
His heart
rate took off and
he sucked back a gasp. Being the only human in an underground
tunnel full of vampires probably wasn’t good for his
heart.

Alec snapped his fingers and produced a small flame on the
palm of his hand, lighting the
narrow room.

Despite his fear and shock, t
he priest was in awe. “There is an altar to St. Erasmus in
the north transept of the Basilica,” he breathed. “Above our very
heads.”

Alec put his
hand to the lantern and let the flame creep inside. “Not sure if
it’s St. Elmo’s fire or not, but I can do a whole range of party
tricks.”

The priest
blinked a
few times, not sure of Alec’s joke before he reached quickly into
his rucksack. He pulled out a wooden cross and handed it to Alec.
“For your protection.”

Eiji snorted. “I don’t think fire breathing
lycan will care much for
crosses.”

“
It’s to stab them with,” Alec said. “I saw it in Gautier’s
mind. That’s how he killed a lot of the Zoan in Paris. There was a
mason who turned the rest to stone, but if you hold the cross like
a sword and pierce their chests, it will kill them.”

Eiji grinned. “I like the sound of
that.”

The priest
handed out crosses, though Alec handed his to Eiji. He slung his
two new weapons into his thigh holsters, John Wayne style. He
looked at the priest and grinned. “Are you coming with
us?”

“
I will wait here,” the priest said. He walked to a narrow
slit in the far wall and extended his hand to it. “The way down is
through here. I will pray for your safe return.”

Benito took the priest’s hand
and kissed his knuckles, then Viviana did the same.
Jacques went through next, followed by Kennard, and when it was
Cronin’s turn, he stopped. He bowed his head to the priest, which
surprised Alec.

The priest paused for a moment, then put his hand on
Cronin’s head and drew the sign of
the cross with his thumb. “May the Lord be your strength and your
shield.”

Cronin replied with a soft, “
Tapadh leibh
.”

Thank you.

Alec gave the priest a nod as he passed through the small
entrance, but was quick to take Cronin’s hand. The
earthen corridor was very
narrow—like a wormhole—and there was a darkness so black that if he
were still human, he wouldn’t have been able to see his hand in
front of his face. Eiji followed them through, and they’d gone no
more than a few feet with the priest called out behind
them.

“
Wait!” The priest
squeezed through the crack in the wall and ran to them. His
swinging lantern cast waves of light through the corridor. “Wait! I
will come with you.”

Alec could
feel the fear rolling off the priest. But the idea of willingly
walking into the pits of demons with a band of vampires was
abhorrently terrifying for him, yet staying behind seemed so much
worse.

“
Are you okay?” Eiji asked
him.

The priest nodded,
sweat beaded at his brow, and he held the lantern in front
of him like it would protect him. He was paler still, his eyes were
wide, and his heartbeat was staccato. Alec saw the man’s faith and
courage were mutually inclusive of the other and that was fine with
him. Alec respected people who found resolve, despite their fear.
It didn’t matter where it came from. He looked at Eiji, who was
grinning at him, and the priest balked. Alec clapped his hand on
the priest’s shoulder and chuckled. “Stay behind me. Eiji here
might have a creepy smile, but he has our backs. You’re safe with
us.”

Eiji laughed and t
he
priest exhaled noisily. His breathing and shuffling feet were
incredibly loud compared to the almost silent vampires. “The
corridor is long,” he whispered. “A few hundred feet
down.”

“
Let’s keep moving,”
Viviana urged them.

The descent was steep in some areas, flatter in others. The
corridor curved around and narrowed in parts. Cronin walked in
front with Alec close behind, and it made for awkward going,
considering Alec never dropped Cronin’s hand. After they’d gone a
while, Alec gave Cronin’s hand a squeeze.
You okay, Cronin?
He asked in his mind. He replayed the memory of him bowing
his head for a blessing from the priest.

Cronin gave an embarrassed glance back at
him
.
It’s been many a year since I have been in the company
of a religious man.

I can feel the peace it gives you
, Alec told him.
Don’t be embarrassed to admit these things to
me.

Is it not ridiculous? After all these years to rekindle
some kind
of belief?
Cronin shook his head as they
walked.

Not at all
, Alec told
him. The truth was, Alec had never paid much mind to organized
religion. He wasn’t brought up that way, but he had a great deal of
respect for those who sought and found comfort in their faith. It
was seeing the afterlife through Jorge that restored Cronin’s
long-lost religious beliefs. Coming from the eighth century
Scotland, his faith was more Christian than Pagan, but he had
disregarded his religious human life when he became vampire. Alec
hadn’t realized how much it had meant to him
. I’m sorry I didn’t take more time to talk with
you about this when you mentioned the afterlife
before
, he told
him.

Cronin
looked back
over his shoulder at Alec and gave him a smile.
Don’t you see? Not only do we get this life
together, but the one after it as well. I get you forever, no
matter which life.

Alec squeezed his hand again.
Two lots of eternity still won’t be enough time with
you.

It is the same for me,
m’cridhe.

“
Alec,” Benito whispered.
“There is an opening ahead.”

Alec threw out a protective shield around them
all
, though he knew it was
pointless. It wouldn’t stop the Zoan, but he did it
anyway.

There was nothing here.

As they
walked into the cavernous room, Alec cast light out to all corners.
Small balls of lumen floated near the walls of earth, illuminating
what was a series of interconnecting circular pits carved into the
dirt and stone. Nine circular pits to be exact. But nothing moved,
nothing stirred or scurried. Nothing.

Each pit had
nine pillars of stone at the circumference. Each monolith had a
carving of a wolf or a winged dragon-like creature. They were
definitely in the right place, but it would seem, at the wrong
time.

Alec easily jum
ped a
dozen or so feet into the largest pit. “There’s nothing here,” Alec
said. He raked his hand into the dry soil at his feet and let the
grains fall through his fingers. “Not even bugs or worms will
inhabit this place.”

“
This place is long
abandoned,” Kennard said, tracing his fingers along one of the
carved stone pillars.

Eiji sheathed his cross into his thigh
holster, disappointed. He turned to the priest. “How long ago was
this abandoned?”

“
Before the church assumed ownership of these lands,” the
priest said, scanning the large cavernous space. “According to our
teachings, Romulus used these pits to summon demons from the deep,
that he even gave offerings of thirty women from a neighboring town
to these creatures. Though it wasn’t enough to please them, and it
was here they killed him. A storm of lightning and whirlwinds came
through and carried him away,” the priest looked up at the ceiling
of dirt. “Though I don’t know how that is possible.”

“
Believe me,” Alec said.
“Nothing is impossible.”

The priest nodded solemnly. “It was said the storm closed
the portal and took Romulus with it
. Though we knew it would reopen one day when the key was
born.”

“
If my true purpose is to close the last portal and this one
has been closed,” Alec wondered out loud
, “then where is the portal I’m supposed to
close?”

The priest shook his head slowly. “I
do not know. There are many churches built over pits like this
one….”

“
There are what?” Alec snapped. His tone was sharp and a
surge of anger rolled like thunder from him.

The priest stumbled backward
. His fear was quickly quelled by his willingness to be
with his God.

Alec put his hands out,
sending out a bloom of calm. “I won’t hurt you, but we have
wasted time. Tell us what you know!”

The priest shook his head. “I’ve told you all I know! I
don’t know what the nine circles mea
n. There are nine circles in all facets of religions,
mathematics, science. It is uncanny how many times nine circles
appear….” The priest had images flash through his mind of drawings,
old drawings.