2
The following day, Beatrice woke up feeling unusual. She couldn’t pinpoint the exact feeling or emotion that had caused this, but she knew that something was off. She sat on the edge of her single-sized bed, thinking, feeling but nothing.
Last night Beatrice had gone to bed a few hours after Camila’s short piano session dedicated to their late sister, Shannon. Even with the years of learning to control her temper and keep her composure, Beatrice grew frustrated after an hour of trying to analyze the fragments of the Holy metal. It wasn’t due to the size of the pieces that she was unable to learn anything from them, it had been due to its shape. Due to the blast’s intensity, the Divinium fragments melted -- almost as though they were candle wax -- and molded onto Sister Shannon’s body.
She could only imagine the pain the Halo Bearer had endured. Sure, they were trained to improve their pain tolerance, to focus their minds on other matters instead of the affliction, and Shannon was the strongest she’s ever met, yet she still didn’t make it. Would I have made it? Beatrice understood the concept of death and letting go, especially the latter; she has had to let go of a multitude of things in the past, myself included. In spite of that, she couldn’t help a sense of loss. Shannon had been a wonderful mentor and an even better friend, not only to her but also to everyone, especially the newer nuns. Perhaps it’s too close to home. Shannon had been one of the few people who had given Beatrice another chance at having a family. Now, she has lost another member.
And I can’t even do anything to give her justice. Lilith has been searching for the missing Halo. Mary is tracking down those involved in the fight at the dock. Camila is honoring her. What have I done? Nothing.
Maybe Beatrice did have some kind of notion about why she was feeling that way.
xxxxx
Morning training was tough, Lilith was her sparring partner who had a distinct temper. They still haven’t found the missing girl, and it was really starting to exasperate them. Lilith has been relentlessly worrying about how the “fate of the world hangs on the Halo”, she heard that phrase more times these two days than she could count.
“It’s no wonder we couldn’t single her out. The chiringuitos were packed with girls just like her last night.” Camila remarked. As sweet as she was, Camila was still trying to master patience and being calm.
Lilith declared that they should keep searching since it was daylight. Father Vincent agreed and further offered to reach out to other parishes. Mary, on the other hand, had differing priorities to theirs. She was intent on looking for those who had killed their sister. Beatrice felt her heart sink as Mary bluntly told them that they were allowing the mercenaries to walk freely by focusing on looking for the dead girl instead.
Ouch, but she was right. I’m letting Shannon down.
Beatrice’s distasteful thoughts were interrupted by Mary inquiring about the Divinium fragments. Another reminder of her incapability. She had to inform Mary that her attempts to piecing them back together were futile.
Beatrice’s mind wandered off for a moment, feeling a little sorry for herself, the next thing she knows, Camila was protesting against the use of a word she hadn’t heard. She could sense the tension in the room and asked to shift their attention back to the crisis at hand, but it seemed like no one cared. Lilith dropped the sword on the altar table and marched over to Mary. They had all been highly strung recently, so Beatrice decided to step in between Lilith and Mary before either of them said another word, just as Father Vincent did.
She didn’t like this. It had made them all uncomfortable, but she also knew that there would be arguments in every family, especially between sisters. It still didn’t make her feel better, though. Unfortunately for Beatrice, she was about to feel a lot worse.
xxxxx
Seeing Sister Shannon’s body that way nearly caused her stomach to empty its contents. It was awful; a vast, deep tear covered her whole back. Beatrice was sure she saw fire inside Mary’s eyes, Camila looked disturbed and fearful. She was too, she just concealed it better. Thank God for having some control over my body’s reactions.
Father Vincent enlightened them on what may have caused the post-mortem laceration. She had an idea of a Tarask was, but just like Camila, she only knew the term from ancient texts. It wasn’t anything she Beatrice was familiar with but was aware of just how grave the whole situation was. Something has to be done. To make herself useful -- mostly for her sake -- Beatrice volunteered to review books and texts for anything that may further help them understand the Tarask.
Camila offered to help Beatrice with the research; the two ladies made their way to the library where they spent the next few hours. They sat at Beatrice’s usual, the same place she had spent a couple of hours the night before. She’s been spending quite a lot of time there lately, and she wasn’t enjoying it. Don’t be mistaken, Beatrice loves books, she could remain in the same spot for the whole day with her nose buried in a good novel. However, researching isn’t as riveting, especially with the pressure.
The materials available to them were limited and were not too helpful with the situation. It didn’t fill them in on where a Tarask may go, how it senses the Halo, what exactly it is capable of. The list of questions regarding the demon was lengthy, but the answers they had were only a handful. Beatrice had to remind herself more than once, internally, that she needed to persevere, she had to read until there was something useful.
I can’t leave empty-handed again.
That’s unacceptable.
That isn’t useful.
The past few days had been tough on Beatrice, it has been on all of them. Still, the sudden change in the Order’s flow, the unforeseen disruption, made Beatrice realize how little control she possessed. Once again, Beatrice is reminded of how quickly things could turn out for the worse.
But not everything is about me.
xxxxx
Finally, after some persuasion from Camila, Beatrice makes her way to Father Vincent’s office to share their findings with him. She sat on the chair across him, going through each of the books she has brought from the library.
“Father? If the Tarask gets the Halo, and takes it to Hell, what will happen?” Beatrice was quite anxious of what the answer might be but she wanted to know but before Father Vincent could utter a word, someone from behind her spoke.
“Hell will rise up and Heaven will fall.” Cardinal Duretti stood by the door, as if waiting for some kind of response. When Beatrice stood up, he started walking towards the table. Beatrice greeted him but left the room almost immediately.
She went back to the library, where she found Lilith and Camila with a laptop in front of them.
“What’s going on?” Beatrice asked softly.
“We’re trying Camila’s way, she’s uploading the girl’s photo on some database.” Lilith answered without even glancing at her.
“Yeah, Father Vincent said we need more eyes, but there’s only so many of us. I just thought that since there are cameras everywhere, if she’s roaming around, one of them is definitely bound to spot her.” Camila’s smile was contagious, it was apparent that she liked what she was doing.
Beatrice smiled too and sat with them.
It took a few hours, but there was finally an alert. Lilith got up swiftly from the floor where she had sat down a while ago to read one the books that Camila had already gone through, just to ensure that they didn’t miss anything. Camila moved her fingers across the touchpad of the laptop and yelped out a location.
Lilith jogged out of the library, letting them know that she was going to prepare for the mission. Camila and Beatrice made their way to inform Father Vincent that they have finally found the Halo. Camila’s pride was evident in how she skipped her way to the main church, her smile as bright as usual. Father Vincent was by the prayer candles when the two women arrived. He had instructed Camila to fetch Lilith once she had narrowed down the location.
“Have you given any thought to what we do when we find her?” Beatrice asked immediately once SIster Camila was out of sight.
She saw the look on the priest’s face, and she knew he wasn’t going to give Lilith the Halo. It was shocking, to say the least. This was an angel’s Halo, it wasn’t supposed to be on just anyone. The fate of the OCS depends on it. However, despite her skepticism, Beatrice knew that Father Vincent had always been a kind and generous man. He had always been there for all the Sister Warriors, as a mentor, as well as a friend. Beatrice trusted that he would make the right decision.
“How do you propose to handle her when we bring her back here?” Beatrice questioned, knowing that different people had differing intentions with ‘this Ava girl’.
After their conversation, Beatrice met up with her sisters at the armory to gather some weapons. They were aware that they were simply going to retrieve the girl, but they never underestimated any situation. Father Vincent had proposed to let the girl decide what she wanted to do. Still, Beatrice had a feeling that it was going to be much more complicated than they anticipated.
Beatrice, Camila, Lilith, along with Father Vincent drove the van to ArqTech -- where they unexpectedly ran into Mary. Before they could question her, they collectively paused momentarily when they heard the screeching of the Tarask. Mary was the first to run in danger’s direction, followed by the rest of the group. It was right there. Huge and monstrous. Before they could even fathom what that creature was before them, they started shooting at it as it stood by a door, probably where it sensed the Halo’s energy.
The Tarask had broken through the metal door (and a good portion of the wall). They tried to shift the monster’s attention away from the girl, shooting bullets and firing arrows at it rapidly but to no avail. And with a blinding light, it was gone; vanished before their eyes.
There she was, Ava Silva. She was shorter than Beatrice had expected, but there was also something captivating about her. It’s just the Halo glowing behind her, don’t be stupid, Beatrice. She was lost in her thoughts for just a second, but the next thing she knows, Ava was walking towards her, muttering something about the door. Beatrice grabbed the sedative from her pocket, grabbed Ava’s arm, and stuck in her neck. She held the girl just long enough so that Father Vincent could hold her up.