Sin and Sacrifice (27 page)

“
Good, I'm glad you're
both safe. You need to stay with Christian, Dracht and Dragar. I've
met them all and they've been trying to help us this whole
time.”

“
I dunno about that, Ev, I
mean--”

“
Alex, this isn't the time
to argue. Really. You and I both know that if they were the others,
we'd all be in a lot worse shape right now. They're letting us
talk, and hopefully soon we'll all be together again.” Evelyn
couldn't wait to see them. The loss of Galiana and Genevieve
exacerbated her desire to be within touching distance of her
sisters.

“
I know, I know. It's just
hard to trust them when I know what they are.”

“
It was for me, too. We'll
figure out what to do with their help. We all knew that at some
point or another, we were going to have to do something different
than we are now anyway. It's been harder and harder to keep ahead
of them with the way the world is.”

“
Yeah, that's true enough.
You hear about Gen?” Alex's voice dropped lower.

Evelyn took a steadying
breath. “Yes. Rhett's offered to help with that, too. So that
Galiana and Genevieve can both have a proper burial. You know what
would happen otherwise.”

“
Nah, we can't let them be
cremated. What all did ya tell them, Ev?”

“
I told Rhett the basics.
He knows what we are and where we are from.”

Alex was quiet for a long
minute. “You didn't give directions or anything, did
you?”

“
No.” She knew her sister
wanted to know if she'd made a map to Eden. One of the things the
other Templars had wanted so badly.

“
Did he ask ya
to?”

“
No. He was pretty
surprised when I told him,” Evelyn said.

“
So you think we're safe
tellin' these guys here, whatever their names are--”

“
Dracht, Christian and
Dragar.”

“
...you think we're safe
tellin' them
everything
?”

“
I think we have to,”
Evelyn said. “Maybe when we're all together we can sit down and
talk. It's probably not the best idea to say too much over the
phone, even though I think this is a secure line.”

“
All right then. Hurry up
and get your butt back here. We have two funerals to
arrange.”

“
Love you,” Evelyn said
before Alex could hang up.

“
You too, Ev. See you
soon.”

Closing the line, she
turned the sleek cell phone in her hands and glanced out the window
again. Vegas bustled below, cars and people going to and fro like
busy ants.

“
So what'd they say?”
Rhett asked.

Evelyn turned to find him
stuffing a folded towel up under his shirt. The shoulder was wet
with fresh blood. She frowned. “That we should go back as soon as
possible. We'd like your help to get our sisters buried and really,
you need to see a doctor about that wound.”

“
It's nothing.”

“
Don't tell me it's
nothing,” she muttered. Crossing to where he stood near the heavy
dresser, she brushed his hands away and yanked his shirt
up.

“
Are you always this
pushy?”

“
Oh, be quiet.” Rhett's
mock complaint drew an impossible smile from her when she didn't
think she'd be able to smile for a very long time. “You need new
bandages. I can make a trip to the little store they have
downstairs--”

“
I already called down.
They're bringing up a new shirt and a first aid kit. I don't think
it's wise to leave the room until we have to. We still don't know
how many are left in their group, where they are, or what else they
have planned.”

“
Yes, and if you bleed
out, you won't be much help if they show up and there's more of
them than there are of us,” she pointed out.

“
Such faith in my
ability,” he said with a droll tone. “It'll get me by until we get
on the plane.”

“
Then
everyone
will see--”

“
We're not going back on a
commercial flight. The private jet I took out here is still at
McCarran and as soon as we pack up your things here, we'll be on
our way. Dracht said they've got three Knights in custody that
they're going to question. By the time we get back, we should have
a much better fix on everything.”

“
I'll be so relieved when
this is all over,” she admitted with a small smile. “It's strange
to trust someone who isn't one of my sisters with the secret, but
oddly soothing at the same time.”

“
I apologize in advance
for all the questions I'm going to throw at you on the
plane.”

Evelyn laughed.

Chapter
Eleven

“
You can watch from here
but don't touch the glass. They know this is a viewing room, though
I don't want them to know anyone else is observing the session. If
you get uncomfortable about something, you can leave by that door.”
Dracht spoke to Alexandra—cleaned up after she relented to the
doctor seeing her—and Minna near a two way window. The Templar
stronghold had this one and another interrogation room down in the
basement for less 'clean' question and answer sessions.

The two women, to his
surprise, had both been anxious to hear what the Knight had to say.
After receiving a nod from each, Dracht stepped through a door way
and into the room. Bare of anything but a chair, a single overhead
light, and a monochrome gray color scheme, it centered the focus on
the Knight slouched and scowling on the seat. He had been
restrained around the ankles and wrists.

Saul, in his estimation,
was the weakest of the three they'd captured in the house. He was
the only one not injured as well, which was either a good thing or
a bad thing depending on how stubborn the man would prove to be.
He'd known the Templar all his life, as he had all the others, and
kept his personal feelings out of it while he and Saul exchanged
glances. Brown haired, brown eyed, with a savage scar decorating
his cheek, the man had a rugged appearance overlaid with copious
amounts of perpetual sarcasm that tended to wear on his
nerves.

Brethren or not, Dracht had
never been close to Saul.

“
Let me just say up front,
to spare us both a lot of time and effort, that you're not leaving
this room, or drinking or eating, until you tell me what I want to
know,” Dracht said. He knew his own reputation preceded him here;
he was known for following through on his word
always.
There would be no deviation,
nothing to spare Saul from this moment forward until Dracht had
what he wanted.

He stood several feet in
front of Saul's chair, spreading his feet apart for casual balance,
and crossed his arms over his chest. As if he thought he was in for
a long wait. To his surprise, Saul cocked his chin up and made a
derogatory gesture with his hands, wrists straining the
rope.

“
Then get on with asking
what you want to know,” Saul said.

Dracht had expected him to
at least put up a fight for a day or two.

“
Let's start from the
beginning. How many of you are there involved in the pursuit of
these women?”

“
Twelve.”

“
Why?
What drove you to break rank and torture, then murder two of
them?” Dracht moved little, watching Saul's face for signs of
deceit.

Saul laughed, a rumbling
sound not unlike an engine sputtering to life. “Because we have
carried a secret for thousands of years that the rest of you know
nothing about,
Dracht.
A secret so sacred that it could not be trusted with the
entire Templar group.”

“
The one that has to do
with the marks on their wrists?” Dracht asked drolly, catching Saul
off guard. The Knight frowned.

“
How did you know...oh,
the women broke and told you, didn't they? I suppose they spouted
some frivolous lie that you and your brothers all bought like the
saps that you are. Always falling for a pretty face, eh, Dracht?”
Saul snorted a caustic laugh.

“
I would quit worrying
about the women, Saul, and worry more about saving your own ass.
It's not expendable.” Dracht laid his threats down without boast or
arrogance.

Saul leaned forward with a
snarl. “They are the ultimate evil, set loose upon the world at the
beginning of time. Do you even know about the mark of the serpent,
hm? Have you never heard the tales? Check their wrists, Dracht, and
you will find a snakebite on each and every sinner's
skin.”

“
And what do they
represent to you? How is it, Saul, that your group thinks they know
that kind of secret?”
The snakebites are
reminders,
Rhett had said. He kept that in
the back of his mind as the interrogation went forward.

“
Because the truth was
passed down through the centuries, generation to generation. A sect
within a sect, Dracht, our own secret kept from the rest of you all
this time. We have been rooting them out and killing them longer
than you might believe. Doing the citizens of the world a service
while they sleep. Even the Church does not realize their true
intent, the maliciousness that walks the earth.” Saul spat on the
ground.

“
What I know is that none
of your actions were condoned or ordered by anyone, which means
you've acted against the wishes you promised to uphold and honor.
What if you're wrong? What if the women are innocent?” Dracht
dropped his arms and paced before the chair.

“
When the Church learns
that we've been eradicating the vermin, bringing an end to the
disease and evil, they will immediately understand that we have
been following God's will.” Saul's eyes glinted with feverish
fanaticism.

“
Spoken like a true
zealot, Saul. So it's God's will, is it, to slaughter women?”
Dracht snorted his disbelief and disgust. “Did he tell your great
ancestors that himself? Just how is it that they came into such
knowledge?”

Saul sat forward until the
chair creaked, elbows on his knees, hands clasped so tight his
knuckles were white. He spoke with righteous fervor.

“
Before the crusades, a
wealthy land baron's guard captured a man in a raid. They suspected
him of thieving and pillaging a nearby village that had been under
attack at the time. More than fifty men were rounded up. This
particular man though, when it came about that he would be put to
death for his crimes, spouted an incredible story. He talked about
the Garden of Eden, about his brethren that had fled there with
him, and how they had all eaten from the Tree of Knowledge and
Life. He spoke convincingly of immortality, how they were destined
to live forever. He whispered about a mark on the wrist of the
women. The mark of the serpent. A mark he did not
carry.”

Dracht paced and listened,
hiding his incredulity over the topic. “Go on.”

“
The prisoner promised
that he could prove the truth of his words. He challenged them to
let him live, and to inflict injury upon him, because they would
see the miraculous speed with which he healed. Then they would have
cause to believe him. And that he had many sisters who had escaped
Eden with him. But the women, as their mother, had been cursed
instead of blessed and that they had been bitten by the serpent,
knowingly spreading his evil across the world. It was their task,
chosen because of their fair looks and ability to breed. What more
perfect vessel to assure the continuation of wickedness.” Saul
licked his lips, forehead beaded with sweat.

Dracht grunted and arched a
brow, encouraging Saul to continue.

“
This man wanted his
freedom for the location of a few of the sisters. He didn't know
where they had
all
scattered to, but with the capture of one, the guards could
likely coax out the whereabouts of the others. He told them to look
for the mark, and what their names were. He had an address of one,
they could start from there. What the man didn't count on, was that
the guards and the wealthy land owner, religious in their own
right, saw an opportunity to prove his words another way. They
wanted the location of Eden so they could seize fruit from the Tree
of Life and therefore live forever themselves. Become immortal,
like the man and his sisters. With that power, the baron thought he
could rule absolutely. They kept the man a prisoner while they went
in search of the sisters, whom they found, and whom all bore the
mark of the serpent. They were slaughtered, the evil wiped from the
earth, although none gave up the locations of any other siblings.
They died with the secrets locked on their tongues.”

“
What happened to the
man?” Dracht asked.

“
They kept him a prisoner
for years. Afraid he would confess his secret to another, they
locked him in a cell in the baron's dungeon. He did not age and
quickly healed from any superficial injuries he sustained. The
baron had solid
proof
that the man was a son of Adam and Eve, which meant the women
were his sisters, and moreover, that the women were indeed as evil
as he claimed. The baron passed down the legacy of the man to his
children, and their children, and still the prisoner never aged.
Never died. He lived through three generations and could not ever
produce a map leading them to Eden. He suffered dementia after a
time and became nothing more than a shell of a babbling man. But
the secret was in the hands of powerful men who made the right
connections. The Templars were begun for this mission, Dracht. This
is why the order was initially started. It expanded outward during
the crusades and the Church used their power and prowess to advance
their agenda. My forefathers never forgot what they saw, what they
heard, nor that the man lived for more than a hundred years in
captivity. Their belief's were well founded and only grew stronger
over time.”