Chapter 29A Hidden Key

I wondered what he would have done if she was a vampire. But now the brothers murmured and acted their surprise. The brother seemed thoughtful as she stood in front of him, not knowing what to do. The thought that no one would be looking for her entered my head and wouldn't let go. I was worried for her.

The man turned around and raised his hands. The silence slowly returned as he spoke. "She is not a drinker of blood but she is a damned one. We cannot offer her blood before we know what she is." He looked at her with disdain. "We will lock her in one of the scribing rooms, keep her fed, watered and clean until we decide upon her fate."

It was strange.

The thing that shocked me most wasn't their cold hearts. Or their actions. Or their faith as an excuses to shush their conscience. It was that the girl never seemed to care about her predicament. Why was she so calm. Like the eye of a storm it felt as if she wasn't calm because she had no mind or such. But that she was in fact paying attention to every possible detail.

She seemed very strong besides her physical strength. There was truly something scary and wondrous about her that fascinated and repulsed me. I looked to Valerie and thought I noticed the same look in her eyes. The same thoughts. It all boiled down to a simple question. I leaned over to whisper in her ear.

"Save her?"

Valerie didn't seem as if she'd heard me, keeping her eyes focussed on the girl. I was about to ask again when she nodded. But she placed her hand on my shoulder, as if she was holding me back. 'Wait for it' it seemed to say.

It was then I noticed she was looking at us. She looked straight at us, even though we were well in the shadow. None had seen us and we didn't expect anyone would. But she saw us and it seemed almost as if she smiled.

The brother raised his arms. "There is one last thing we need to discuss. There has been someone online looking for us and the Silver Abbey, but as of yet there is no clear trace to the origin of these searches."

Some brother spoke up. "Is it someone who seeks to contact us?"

The brother shook his head. "No, the searches are almost deliberately random. No clear cause can be discovered from it. But there are too many to just ignore it."

Kai. I wondered if he had seen or heard of the Silver Abbey before. He probably had.

The meeting had ended. Most of the 'brothers' simply left after lighting their candles. Most of them taking another glance of the young girl. I noticed, now that I could see their faces. That most of them were male... No wait... All of them were male. Varying in age between thirty and sixty or so. None real young. All servants.

Most of them left but a few, four or so, stayed with the main brother and the girl. I almost wondered why they stayed. But they stood around her as they walked towards the first room on the right in the corridor. They locked it and the main brother took the key with him. Their footsteps going to the distance, taking their light with them. It was one of the first time I noticed that vampires still need -some- light to see. Though in this darkness I could still make out most shapes. But that was about it.

The sounds died away as well. The upper door was locked as well, not good. It's clicking a taunting echo to us both. Valerie dropped silently from the beams and I followed. I think were both still pondering what to do when we heard another clicking.

We walked to the door and heard a scraping on the inside of the lock. A click. And it opened without a sound. The girl stood there, looking at us as if she could see us. She smiled a thin smile before walking along the corridor and to the stairs. We followed her silently.

On top of the stairs she stood still. We listened.

There was still a brother or two in the Church, talking.

"We can't keep her here for long. If anyone says anything we're in trouble, no matter how good our contacts with the police are."

"Alright, then just for tonight. Tomorrow we'll move her. But where?"

"I think I know a place for her where she will be no trouble and treated... fairly well."

Their footsteps slowly dissipated into the distance. A door closed and silence settled once more. The girl immediately started working on the lock. Again surprising me she could do that in the dark. Even I couldn't see more then basic shapes. It only took a few seconds until a click echoed through the church. The door opened, again without so much as a creak. Valerie and I walked through it silently and stood aside as she closed it again.

She even opened the big doors leading outside. I noticed the locks were those ancient ones, requiring large keys. They must be simpler to pick. It took her a little longer but soon we stood outside. Our footsteps making even less noise then hers as the pebbles of the path crunched beneath our feet.

She went through the trouble of locking this one. Did she have respect for the church? Or some other strange reason to lock it again?

She finally turned around, her face still looking as calm and cool as ever. Now, in the light of the moon we could truly see how strange her appearance was. Her soft and healthy skin, bright gleaming hair and frail body suggested youth. But her eyes... They pierced the soul as if they were ancient. She looked so deep, a cliff you could fall off if you were not careful.

"You are Amy and Valerie." She suddenly spoke, her voice that of a little girl. "I am Isabel"