Apocalypsis 1.09 Wearily Electors (5 page)

»Sure. I can’t sleep anyway. Would you like something to drink?«

Maria shook her head and sat down on the bed.

»You’ve been crying.«

»But I’m okay now.«

Peter looked at the amulet that she was holding in her hand, almost tenderly and timidly.

»There is something I need to tell you,« Maria said. »The amulet… I now know what it is.«

»And?«

»It is…« She was searching for the right word. »… a sort of storage.«

»I don’t get it.«

»When you were on the island, I had a vision,« she continued. »I saw Jesus. I saw the Virgin Mary. No, don’t laugh. I am serious.«

»I am not laughing, Maria. I’ve learned a thing or two about visions, too.«

She nodded seriously. »I held the amulet in my hands while I was praying, and centuries passed before my eyes. I was part of everything. Peter, this amulet is a memory. I know it sounds crazy but there are physicists and biologists who describe similar phenomena. They assume that all matters that exist in this world have some kind of molecular field around them, which they use to interact with other homogenous matters. Some scientists believe that these morphogenetic fields transfer form-information. Across both time and space.«

»Come on, Maria, this sounds like hocus-pocus,« Peter interrupted her. »Why do you suddenly turn to the natural sciences? Why don’t you stick with God and say that the amulet is some kind of communicator between people and God?«

»Heck, because that’s not what it is,« she hissed at him. »I don’t need an amulet to communicate with God. Take me seriously, damn it! This amulet is
doing
something. It is some sort of…
gadget
. I have no idea how it works but one can
use
it.
I
can use it. Two days ago, I tried it again, with the same result. It is a memory. It is wonderful and at the same time horrible. And it contains a terrible secret.«

»Which is?«

Maria shook her head. »It was all so confusing. But above all I saw one thing…«

She hesitated again, as if it were causing her physical pain to say what she had to say.

»What?« Peter asked her again.

»Evil,« Maria whispered. She seemed aghast. Peter sat down next to her and brushed a strand of hair out of her face.

»Tell me what you saw.«

Maria shook her head violently. »No. But I will tell you what I did
not
see. I did not see God.« She burst into tears. Her entire body was shaking and she was so desperate that she almost screamed it out at him. »God was not there! He was
never
there.«

Peter wrapped Maria in his arms and held her tight. Really tight.

»Shhh,« he said, »try to relax. You are wrong. It may sound strange coming from my mouth but I believe that God was there, somewhere, the whole time. You just didn’t recognize him.«

Maria looked at him. »It doesn’t sound strange, not at all.«

He was holding her in his arms, close to his body. He could feel through the fabric of her pajamas how soft she was. How warm and close, so close. He could smell her. He brushed a strand of hair out of her face and behind her ear. She let it happen, and she had stopped crying and she did not move away from him. Peter kissed her ear, her beautiful and soft little ear. He kissed it as gently as he could. A shiver ran through Maria’s body but still she did not move away from him. On the contrary. She turned her face towards him, and now she responded to his kiss. Without reserve, they were drinking from each other, urgently and passionately like two people who were dying from thirst. She made a little sound and curled her fingers through his hair, not letting go of his mouth. Without exchanging a single word, they hastily undressed each other. Maria wound her arms and legs around him, pressing his body close to hers, and she did not stop kissing him. Not ever.

He could feel her, and he could smell and taste her, and he could hear the little sounds she made, which were his proof that she was still there, all there, and he did not stop caressing her skin as he discovered the soft spots on her body, the deep dimple at the base of her neck, the backs of her knees and the insides of her arms. She held her breath as he slowly penetrated her. They moved without haste until they found a mutual rhythm. She was whispering something. His name.

»What?«

»Don’t move.«

»Why?«

»Just because.«

And so they lay there. For an eternity. Motionless. Their heartbeats became one. And then they started moving again. And did not stop until she suddenly closed her eyes and bent backwards, and her panting turned into a loud sigh, a deep and throaty sigh, which was filled with the life and lust of all humanity. They did not stop until he was carried away, far, far away and out of the universe where he began to feel full and empty at the same time, and where he suddenly knew the answer, for a second, during the brief moment when they were both moaning in unison and the world was holding its breath.

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

May 16, 2011 12:03:11 GMT+01:00

Re.: Meeting

Dear Chaim Kaplan,

I am in Jerusalem. Unfortunately I cannot reach you. Please call me; I need your help. It is urgent!!!

Franz Laurenz

From: [email protected]

To: [email protected]

May 17, 2011 13:22:20 GMT+02:00

Re.: RE: Meeting

Dear Franz Laurenz,

Not over the phone. Come to the synagogue.

Shalom,

Yours, C.K.

Chaim Kaplan

Chief Rabbi of Jerusalem ABD

Hekhal Shelomo

85 King George St. POB 2479

Jerusalem 91087

Israel

When he woke up again, she was gone. From outside came blinding sunshine. For a moment, Peter held his breath. Then he looked at his wristwatch.

Noon? 12.00 PM?

He had slept for more than eleven hours, deeply and without dreaming. Peter felt more refreshed and alert than he had felt in a long time.

While he was getting dressed, the little SIM card fell into his hands. Peter looked at it for a moment and then he inserted it into the smartphone that Haruki had given him and started an app that gave him access to the content of the chip card.

Four files were stored on the card. The first file was a list of 21 names but he knew only two of them. The first name was Cardinal Fernando Torres. He was the Bishop of Santiago de Compostela; Peter had interviewed him once. The second familiar name was: Peter Adam.

This did not surprise Peter, even though he had no idea what the connection was between these 21 names. He thought it must be some kind of black list. The second and the third file consisted of images in JPG format that showed illustrations of various alchemical treatises. The fourth file showed a square that was divided into 25 fields, each of which contained an alchemical symbol.

Peter copied the files to the folder of the phone and just as he was about to remove the SIM card again, the smartphone started to vibrate. Peter was perplexed and stared at the vibrating device in his hand. The caller-ID was blocked.

»Yes?«

»I knew that Nikolas would fail this time.«

Seth!

Peter’s first impulse was just to hang up.

»Don’t do it, Peter,« came Seth’s sharp voice over the receiver. »I tracked your location the moment you inserted the card. Let’s talk.«

»About what?« Peter asked.

»You have something that belongs to me. I want it back. And I also want the amulet. And I want you. We need to talk.«

»About what? About the murder of my parents?«

»If that’s what you want.«

»No, thank you. I am not interested,« Peter said in a harsh voice.

»Oh, I am convinced you are. Provided you want to survive the next 24 hours.«

Peter did not respond to that.

»If you haven’t done it already,« Seth continued calmly, »I would suggest you take a good look at your legs. That’s where you can always see it first.«

»
What
?« Peter gasped.

»The virus that’s inside you. It is almost as old as life itself and yet it is completely unknown to modern medicine. It is not contagious but it is almost completely incurable. Only I can cure you.«

The itching on his leg increased again. Peter noticed that his mouth was getting dry.

»You are a liar!«

»Let’s stop this verbal to and fro, Peter. Twenty-four hours from now, you will be dead. Come to the Domhotel in Cologne. Doctor Creutzfeldt will be expecting you there. Suite 306.«