are we fated, faithful, or fatal? (part CXXXIX)

(Roleplay entry. Continued from part CXXXVIII.)

Hiro parked up the street from the Doctor's house. He watched from a distance. The doctor had intended to have him arrive at 9:30. He was watching by 9.

Cars arrived; several well dressed people went inside. He sipped the coffee in the paper cup. It was harsh, bitter coffee. This timeline has lousy coffee. From a can. Hiro hated coffee from a can.

There was no moon tonight. The sky was black. Even the street lamps seemed to not project enough light to illuminate beyond their own shadows.

Hiro slipped quietly with feline agility over the garden wall. He silently slipped in the back, kitchen door of the house. Gun drawn.

He could hear murmured voices up stairs. He moved quietly. Up the staircase. There was one figure, hooded at the end of a long hallway. Holding a candle.

The Leopard Duke in Human form slipped in the darkness into an adjacent room. Not seen. The figure had its back turned and was watching the ceremony.

He could hear a woman’s voice speaking the leader.

"What do you get when the moonlight is murdered?"

A large chorus of voices replied, "A darkness, blacker than night."

The woman asked confidently, "And yet the Moon still exists?"

The chanting chorus replied: "Aye, but it is hidden in darkness."

"A Black Moon."

All the Cult in Unison: "A black moon, dead but dreaming. Hidden from all sources of light, showing its fragility and its weakness."

Priestess: "The black moon is the symbol of of aspirations.. Hiro recognized the priestess. Elizabeth Short. Her black hair and bright red lipstick. Her eyes had a different quality he had not noticed in the photos.

Cult: "No false light to expose our frailty."

Priest: "In darkness we have the comfort and safety of our unity."

Cult: "In the absence of light no one can outshine the other. We are all bonded in our darkness."

"Drink, brothers and sisters, to the holy darkness that protects us from the evils of an unpredictable future, and stifles the hurt of failure. Drink to the murdering of the light!"

Then Elizabeth sliced the candle top with her knife, extinguishing the light. All the congregants also blew out the candles. The house was in total darkness. Hiro felt an odd sensation like the dropping of pressure suddenly. He felt some vibration in his head. Something was happening. In the darkness, it seemed like things were moving. He couldn't be sure. His mind was playing tricks on him.

He didn't remember when the screaming started, or if he actually could smell the blood--or if that was a memory invented later.

What he was sure of, is he took a knife and sliced his hand, beginning to start a banishing spell with his blood dripping down his wrist.

He did not remember the invocation. But he must have said it.

The entities sometimes referred to as archangels hit the entity that was connected to Elizabeth Short hard.

Later, Hiro wondered if what he saw was a trauma-induced fever dream or a real image. Elizabeth Short with multiple arms, holding knives and killing and feasting on flesh being sliced at the torso by the blade of an archangel.

At some point, Hiro felt like he was falling. He could smell roses and sulfur at the same time. [F*ck] he hated Los Angeles.

Some time later...

The entire trigeminal nerve in his head excreted pain. The pain oozed into the optical and maxillofacial nerves. Light, sound, pressure--all normal external stimuli that would exacerbate a typical headache--were not factors into this sensation. The pain was internal. It radiated out of him into the world flowing over his awareness. Existence was comorbidity. Pain was reality, his base reality.

"Mr. Stonecypher?"

Hiro ignored the uniformed police officer standing over what he assumed was a hospital bed.

"Mr. Stonecypher, I am Officer Desantis of the LAPD."

Hiro's hand was bandaged. He was fatigued, he had bled out.

"Mr. Stonecypher, you have had an accident. Head trauma."

"Something like that." Hiro thought of the demonic talons ripping into his flesh.

"Can you tell me what you remember?"

Hiro was aware of others in the room. A nurse, a doctor and...a man in a suit.

"Nothing."

"You have no memory of anything?"

"Driving up Los Feliz...and that's it."

"You don't remember entering the house?"

"No."

The man in the suit nodded. The officer stopped asking questions. He motioned for the others to exit the room. Everyone walked out--except for the man in the suit.

He had a pale complexion. Gray short hair. Once they were alone, he said "Stella mane lux hominum." He made a gesture with his hand over his face. The sign of salutation.

Hiro replied weakly "E tenebris ad lucem movemus." He crossed his fingers in a specific pattern and raised his hand.

"We recovered the Codex, your Grace."

"Thank you," Hiro said weakly. "The adversary?"

"We have moved the remains to Leinert Park. LAPD is cleaning the house. The victims are being hidden for now."

Hiro nodded. "The thuamturgic nullification devices are in the superstructure of our ship out in the high desert."

"Our client believes it's important that we have them in this timeline."

"The Tartarian Complication. I know."

"Shōmetsu no dōhō-dan will use it, when they get it. We have a carrier group near Alaska; they will hit the site."

"The Tartarian Empire used eldritch forces and power amplification. If the Cult obtains the artifact..." Hiro's explanation was interrupted by wheezing and coughing.

The man handed an oxygen mask to the Duke. Deep breaths into the mask calmed him after half a minute.

"Thank you, Mr. Enzo."

"Of course, your Grace. I'll ready the delivery for Mr. Parsons."

(Continued in part CXL.)