Myosotis - Exorcist's Beginnings

Chapter III: A New Light

The sun was already high when Macaria woke up and truthfully she was not at all fazed by the light that came through the curtains. The reason she woke up was due to the commotion that took place downstairs. She could hear a sonant male voice, which was extremely uncommon in that house and made her feel rather uneasy. She climbed down stairs still in her white nightgown and peeked around the corner. In the living room, there was Genevieve and she was talking to Lucero, who was sitting too close to Genevieve for Macaria's taste.

"Boo" said Benedicta softly behind her, which startled her older sister.

"Stop scaring me!"

"What are you doing?" asked Benedicta.

"Trying to listen to what they are saying, what do you think?" Macaria replied.

"You have bad habits for someone who lived in a convent for five years" Benedicta pointed out, but she was shushed by her sister and both leaned in to eavesdrop.

"Are you sure that is actually going to work?" asked Genevieve.

"Of course! Either way, we don't lose anything even if we fail to establish a connection" Lucero replied.

"Are you sure? Is it not dangerous? I've heard terrible things about it" said Genevieve apprehensive.

"Oh, amateurs! Luckily, I am a professional, so there is no reason to worry" Lucero gloated.

"What are they talking about?" whispered Benedicta.

"I have no idea, but whatever it is, we have to prevent it" said Macaria resolute and without caring about her attires, she stepped out into the living room.

"Macaria, darling, we have company, why don't you dress up upstairs? I'm sorry, Lucero, for so long we have been living with only women that sometimes we forget ourselves" said Genevieve apologetic and Lucero just nodded, while trying to avoid eye contact with Macaria.

"No, I'm fine. I'm all covered up anyway. I'm just curious to know what you two were talking about" said Macaria.

"Oh! We'll discuss it later. This evening, I shall explain everything to you. I'll prepare what is needed in the meantime. Now, if you excuse me, ladies, I have to go" said Lucero, bowing to them.

"Where is grandma?" asked Macaria, as soon as Lucero got out of the house.

"I've driven her home this morning. We did a lot, while you were sleeping" said Genevieve reprehensive.

"Yes, I've already packed everything to return to medical school this afternoon" agreed Benedicta, carrying one of her heavy bags down the stairs and putting it next to the front door.

"What did Lucero meant by that? Will he really return this evening?" asked Macaria.

"Yes, he has a plan to find your father. I hope you will be dressed properly by then" retorted Genevieve, although her reprehensions did not seem to affect Macaria much.

"Hmm... What plan?"

"Well..." said Genevieve hesitant. "He is a seer, so what do you think?"

"Oh God, no! I will not be part of such idiocy. Moreover, it will be just the two of us. Benedicta and grandma are not even here! What if hypnotizes us and robs the house?!"

"Daughter please, stop being dramatic."

"Yes and have you seen this place? There's nothing to rob" Benedicta argued.

"What about mom's jewels?" insisted Macaria and they looked at Genevieve's silver locket, her pearl necklace and her rings.

"Yeah, it may be better to put all of that in the vault, mother" advised Benedicta.

"Fine. It's better to be safe than to be sorry, I suppose" agreed Genevieve conformed.

Macaria spent the rest of the day looking at the yellow pages, trying to find the name of the man who could help her. She never actually interacted with him, but she used to see him at the convent from time to time. He only came at night, so she never saw his face, she only knew he was pretty tall, had a wide back and a heavy black coat. The nuns made all kinds of rumors about him. Some said he was a demon hunter, others said he was a demon in disguise; either way no one knew anything for certain, only the abbess and she did not talk about him, she didn't even say his name, which only contributed to his mysticism. It did not matter to Macaria, she had a feeling he knew about strange things and thus he could help them.

"Ah, Miss Macaria, you have arrived! It's the right time too, I just finished all the preparations" said Lucero, who was there as soon as the sun set.

"I will not partake in such devilish practice and I also have a way to find father that does not involve nonsense" replied Macaria to Lucero and her mother in that unusual evening.

Both were sitting at the dinner table next to each other. In front of them, there was a cloudy crystal ball and lightened-up candles. Even though, Macaria had no intention of participating in that event, she still wanted to watch to make sure Lucero didn't pull any funny tricks and manipulated her mother, so she just sat on the green velvet couch next to Mr. Mortimer, who seemed quite nervous, judging by his unsettled green eyes.

"Well, how bold and brave of you to reveal your feelings. Still, it's important to try... less orthodox methods, since all the ones you have tried did not work" argued Lucero, obviously offended and quite annoyed at Macaria's statement.

"If so, why did you not try your methods by yourself? Didn't you want to find your brother?" asked Macaria.

"All these questions are troubling the spirits who live in the realm of innocence and can only express themselves to open-minded people" said Lucero and Macaria rolled her eyes.

"Open-minded or crazy?" Macaria retorted and Lucero glared at her.

"Lady Genevieve, you have quite an audacious daughter" he feigned a laugh.

"I really do. Macaria, it won't hurt anyone to try this. Maybe it can help a little bit" said Genevieve.

"Exactly."

However, as they were about to start, someone knocked on the door and Macaria opened it. By the looks of that dark figure, it was the help Macaria was hoping for.

"Who is it?" Lady Genevieve came to the door as well, as neither Macaria nor the new visitor said a word and just stared at each other for several seconds, but then his gaze was quickly turned to Genevieve, who he seemed flustered to see. It was hard to read his face, as he used a black scarf to hide part of it.

"Mom, this is Mr. Dumah, the one I called to help us, isn't that right?" said Macaria and the man nodded politely.

"Oh well, the more help, the better. Please, come in, Mr. Dumah" said Genevieve and he came in and his attention was immediately caught by the crystal ball that was on the dining table.

"Is that yours?" asked Mr. Dumah in a concerning tone.

"No, that belongs to... Mr. Lucero, who was here just a second ago. Maybe he went to the toilet" Genevieve replied looking around perplexed, trying to see where Lucero went.

"Mr. Lucero? I would like to meet him as well" said Mr. Dumah.

"Of course, but please sit and tell us about yourself. My daughter did not say much really" said Genevieve.

"First, I must ask how you know of my existence?" asked Mr. Dumah.

"I used to be a nun and I used to see you at the convent" Macaria replied, trying to catch a glimpse of his whole face.

"I see."

He had a striking image, even though he was almost completely covered. He wore a black hood on his head, which he put down when he entered the house out of politeness. His hair was black and had dense curls; his eyes were also dark and were the only thing visible on his face. Macaria found his eyes to be more beautiful and deep than she had previously thought; she also thought he would be much older, but with the mask on she couldn't really tell what his age was. He was quite tall, even taking in account his thick boots, yet Macaria thought he would be much taller. She had always thought that man was so imposing. That was what distance did to her imagination, but upon seeing him up close her view changed. The only thing that did not change was the mystery around him.

"I heard you deal with... inexplicable events, is that true?" asked Macaria.

"You mean supernatural. Yes, it is true. May I ask why you called me here" Dumah said.

Macaria explained briefly the disappearance of her father and while doing so, her mother was more preoccupied with Mr. Lucero delay and Mr. Dumah noticed it.

"Do you have a back door, Lady Genevieve?" he asked suddenly.

"Yes, why?"

"He may have escaped through there. I will see if I can find him" he said getting up from the green velvet couch. "In the future, you should be more careful with his kind."

"He said he was my husband's brother and that he also wanted to find him" Genevieve explained.

"I'm sure he did. I'll be back in the next few days."

"Wait! Before you go, do you have any clue of what is going on or how to find my father?" Macaria asked.

"I'm not going to lie. It is a difficult case, however not unique. You really don't have any picture of what your father looks like?" he asked in an obvious hurry.

"I already said that I didn't" replied Macaria annoyed at the fact that he was not giving proper attention to the case.

"Even his image in my locket got burnt, see?" Genevieve showed him the inside of her silver locket, which had a picture of herself, her daughters and of a man with his face blanked.

Her locket was placed just above her generous cleavage, which seemed to have flustered Dumah further. "It will depend on whether he wants to be found or not. Unfortunately, I have to go now. Have the rest of a good evening."

Macaria was taken aback by his lack of interest and haste; after all he was only there for about five minutes and half of the time he didn't even seem to be listening to what she had to say and then just left without giving the slightest bit of resolution. She was getting too tired from all of these men, who came to help, but always ended up doing nothing. His last phrase resonated in her head, what did he mean by that? "He is implying my father disappeared on his own will, isn't he? Ugh, he's just like all those policemen and investigators. I don't know why I thought he would be different", she thought to herself, while watching him leave through the window.

"Mom, I have to go somewhere" she said.

"What? Where are you going at this hour?" Genevieve asked.

"I'm going to see what this guy is all about. Don't wait for me" she replied walking out the door, putting her long black coat on.

She followed Mr. Dumah around town, always about thirty steps behind him. He was clearly looking for something, at least that was what she thought at first, but after a hour she was not sure anymore and began suspecting that he was trying to divert someone.

"Are you not tired yet?" Mr. Dumah suddenly said, which made her heart skip a beat. "Reveal yourself. I know you're there."

Macaria came out from behind a dark corner shyly and he just shook his head.

"What do you think you're doing?" he asked.

"Making sure you're doing your job" she replied bluntly.

"I do not need a supervisor."

"You don't? Maybe if you had shown more interest in my case, I wouldn't doubt that" she said.

"Who said I did not take interest in your case? I'm working on it right now. That Mr. Lucero could be the responsible for this whole mess."

"Why would he do such a thing?" Macaria asked.

"I don't know. Maybe he had some interest in your mother" Dumah replied.

"Like you do?"

"I'm sorry?" he said shocked at her remark.

"I saw the way you looked at her. If not, you must know her from somewhere."

"You're mistaken. I... don't have any interest in your mother, nor do I know her at all" he replied.

"You're not as mysterious as you think you are. Your eyes tell a lot."

Dumah sighed. "If you want me to find your father, finding this man may be important. So if he ever visits you again, call me. Meanwhile, I will keep searching for him."

"Will you? Pardon me, but I find terribly hard to believe in any of you. I will be searching with you."

"Nonsense. I work alone" Dumah stated.

"I don't care. We will work together, after all I know what Mr. Lucero looks like and you don't" she argued.

"Miss, my job is quite dangerous. And I don't need to have seen him, nor do I need descriptions. They all have something in common" he said.

"Well, THAT is nonsense. It's been ten years! I'm sick and tired of all of this detective talk. I want to know once and for all what happened to my father and you cannot change my mind."

"So your plan is to follow me around, until your father is found?"

"Exactly" she stated resolute and he sighed.

Part of her was suspicious about the whole deal and thought he accepted it too easily for someone who was known to be a sort of lone wolf. Before telling her mother, Macaria called her sister the next day to express her worries and listen to her opinion. She expected Benedicta to be more concerned and suspect of Mr. Dumah too, but instead Macaria was hit with "Maybe he is fine with it, because he is actually lonely and would like some company". In that moment, Macaria asked herself why she even bothered talking to her sister, as she was clever, but still naive and still believed in the best in people. Then, she talked to her mother about it, who Macaria also thought she would be against it, since it could be quite dangerous to be out there with a strange man, but instead she heard "Mr. Dumah seems like a reliable man and you need to get out there in the world. You were closed in that convent for far too long". Macaria suspected Lucero at first, but now she was starting to think the one manipulating, or perhaps even hypnotizing, her family was actually Mr. Dumah. Since everyone seemed fine with her putting herself in danger, she decided to go, which she felt uneasy about, even though she was the one who suggested it.

"Are you really fine with this?" Mr. Dumah asked. He had been waiting outside the house and refused to enter, even after Lady Genevieve invited him in. In Macaria's point of view, it seemed he was trying to avoid her mother.

"As a matter of fact, I'm not entirely fine with it, but I guess now it's a bit too late for that, since I'm already committed to it and everyone else seems... to agree..." Macaria rambled. "Anyway, what is your plan? Where are we going from here?"

"I don't know" he replied bluntly.

"What do you mean you don't know? Surely you have a structure to abide by."

"I don't. I just go with the flow really. That is one of the reasons I like to work alone. I hope you didn't bring much weight in that bag, who knows for how long we have to travel" he said.

"I did as you advised, I only packed the necessary. You really have no idea on what to do?" Macaria asked with a nervous tone.

"First, we need to find that Lucero guy, as I told you. Just come with me, we need to catch the train."

"Train, really? You don't have a car?"

"No, it got destroyed in my last case" Dumah replied with no emotion in his voice.

"Oh..."

From Sta. Perpetua, they went straight to another town called Calandre, which was about a hundred kilometers away, but it was still bathed by the river Lethe. The trip would have been terribly awkward, if Dumah had not pretended to sleep. However, Macaria was not that interested in him at the moment, but rather in what was going on outside of the train's window. It had been so many years since she had left Sta. Perpetua, so she was pretty excited about going to a new place. Most of the railway was near the river, so the landscape was pretty green. Once they arrived, she looked around and was quick to tell that town was not as beautiful as Sta. Perpetua, nor were the people there as solemn.

"So you are from here?" she asked, as soon as they set foot in the new town.

"No and also we still did not arrive at our destination", Dumah replied.

"And where do we want to go?"

"It's just outside of town."

Calandre was not very big, but Macaria felt she had been walking for hours and her feet were starting to hurt. She was wearing laced-up boots which had a little bit of heel. She did not think they would hurt as much as they did, since they were her usual boots. She was also wearing one of her favorite dresses, which had a black corset with beautiful loose sleeves and bows and an ample turquoise skirt that went down a little under the knees, which revealed her boots. Her only accessories were a silver ring with symbols engraved on it, a choker and her black leather bag, which was starting to get too heavy for her. She expected Dumah to be a gentleman and tried to hand it over for him to carry, but he did not help her and instead only glared at her. Then things got even worse for her, when they finally got to the outskirts of town, where there was a swamp a bit further ahead.

"Where are you taking me?! Are you kidnapping me?" she said in an outburst, as her boots got stuck in the mud, which made it even harder for her to walk.

"If you are so suspicious of me, just walk away. I'm not holding you back, am I?" he said, offended. "Also, I think it's time to warn you about where we are going. I do not mean to frighten you even more, but we are about to see a witch."

"What?! Why? If it was for this nonsense, I could have stuck with Lucero, he was about the same as a witch" she argued, riled up.

"That is exactly why we are going to see her. She probably knows him."

"Oh! Maybe she knows how to decipher this book too" Macaria said, while taking out a black scale book from her bag, which shocked him.

"That is a grimoire!" he exclaimed.

"I know. This is the reason why I decided to contact you in the first place. I needed help to decipher it, since it is written in code."

"How do you even have that?" Dumah asked.

"I stole it from the convent. I thought it may have some answers. After all, all logical reasoning failed, so I thought maybe I should try other options."

He rolled his eyes. "Listen, you can't show that book to that woman. Don't even mention it. Witches are greedy and they have a thirst for more 'knowledge'. Are we understood?" he asked seriously and she just nodded, putting the book back in her bag reluctantly.

In the heavy mist, they finally saw a wooden hut which had some chickens running around in the front. Suddenly, blood was splattered everywhere, as one of the chickens was squashed by a huge mouth filled with pointy teeth that emerged from the turbid water. Startled, Macaria jumped and screamed in fear and Dumah just shushed her, completely indifferent to the shadow beast.

"Oh God, what was that?! Was that a crocodile?!"

"No, it's the witch's pet alligator. I don't think I have to warn you to not go near it", Dumah said.

"Why does she have a pet alligator?" Macaria asked.

"I don't know. Why does your mom have a naked cat as a pet?" Dumah argued. "Do not worry, the alligator has a leash. We will be fine, as long as we don't get within its reach."

"Thank you for your soothing words" said Macaria sarcastically.

"Who is out there?! Answer or I'll unleash my beast!" an old woman yelled from the inside the house.

"It's me, Mr. Dumah" he replied.

"How does she know there are people outside?" whispered Macaria to Dumah.

"Were you the one who screamed like a little girl just a minute ago?" the old woman asked Dumah, indirectly answering Macaria's question.

"No, I bring company. She is with me."

Finally, the woman opened the door and shooed her pet alligator away from the muddy path, so Mr. Dumah and Macaria could walk safely to her hut. Dumah said her name was Marabel and she had quite a modern style for her age. She had deep wrinkles and saggy eyes, but her hair had different colors and was braided. She was wearing an olive green skirt, a beige bustier and a colorful robe. Her shoes were of red silk with a silver buckle on the front and were obviously of good quality, even though they had mud all over them.

"I see that you finally got a girlfriend and look how pretty she is" Lady Marabel said as soon as she closed the door behind them. Marabel looked at Macaria up and down and even sniffed her, which made her uncomfortable. "What a nice figure too, and such big breasts. I can't compete with her. Where did you find her?"

"She is not my girlfriend. She is a customer of mine and we are here to ask you a few questions if you don't mind" said Dumah.

"Impolite as ever, did you at least bring me a gift?" she asked, sitting on a wooden chair next to the fireplace and inviting them to do the same with a hand gesture and so they did, after they dusted off the chairs with their hands. Macaria was more than happy to sit down, even though that place was a bit too dirty for her.

"Yes, I brought payment, of course."

"I did not mean money, I meant a cake, a bottle of wine, maybe a necklace or bracelet, you know something nice" Marabel replied.

"You can buy all of those things with money", Dumah argued.

"Yes, but a gift would have been more thoughtful" Marabel said, and Macaria giggled at her remark.

"Anyway, we are looking for a man and we are hoping you may know something about him. Macaria, describe him", Dumah said.

"Well, his name is Lucero and he is a middle-aged man, who has very smooth skin, but long gray hair. He is neither tall nor short, neither thin nor fat. Actually, I would say he is more on the thinner side, maybe..."

"Alright, we got that part, continue" interrupted Mr. Dumah.

"He also has bright yellow eyes and he wears quite extravagant clothing, like bright colored suits of silk and velvet and he also wears crocodile or snake-skin shoes and round glasses, which have a frame made out of gold."

"Hmm..." said Marabel pensive.

"Not that names and descriptions matter. They are easily changeable for these people" said Dumah.

"What?!" exclaimed Macaria, shocked at that statement.

"Pardon my friend, she is still quite naive when it comes to... everything really" said Dumah.

"No, I'm not! You just say that, because I was a nu..." Dumah widened his eyes at her to tell her to stop talking, since it was known that people like Marabel did not get along with the religious folk.

"I definitely know someone like that" Marabel said.

"You do?!" exclaimed Macaria, hopeful.

"Are you sure?"

"Yes, even if he goes by different names, wears different clothes or faces like you suggested, there is something he cannot change and that is the color of his eyes and I know a man who has yellow eyes", Marabel explained.

"Well, what do you know about him? Where can we find him?" Dumah asked.

"I don't know. How much are you going to pay me?" Marabel said and Dumah rolled his eyes and took out a wad of bills, which she immediately grabbed like a wild animal and put it in her cleavage. "I guess this is enough. What can I say about that man? I know that he also goes by the name of Flamel, which you may recognize."

"Flamel..." that name resonated in Dumah's head.

"You know him?" asked Macaria.

"Mr. Flamel is a very famous sorcerer and alchemist in our community. How did you come across him, miss?" Marabel asked.

"He just came into my hou..."

"That's enough. We are here to ask questions, not answer them. Where do you think we can find him?" said Dumah in a visible worse temper.

"From what I heard, he moves a lot, but tends to return to Bawdy Shirina from time to time. You are familiar with that place, right? I'm surprised you never ran into him. Maybe you did and you were far too distracted to notice him" implied Marabel, which made Dumah uncomfortable and Macaria confused.

As they were exiting Marabel's hut, her alligator launched itself at Macaria, which almost gave her a heart attack. Luckily for her, its iron leash was strong enough to hold it down.

"What a bad boy you are, Mr. Roger!" she reprehended her alligator and let her visitors pass, while waving at them. "Come back soon!"

"I expected her to be worse, but she was friendly enough" said Macaria on their way back to town.

"She is alright, could do without the part of keeping her husband's corpse in the closet, though" said Dumah.

"What?"

"Well, not now, but she used to. She said it was because of love and that she couldn't be away from him. She rode him every night. The corpse was in a pretty dreadful shape, when it was found", Dumah said bluntly, while Macaria widened her eyes.

"She did seem quite rowdy. Speaking of rowdy, you go to whorehouses?" Macaria asked.

"Whorehouses?" he said, perplexed.

"Yes, it is quite unexpected. You don't seem the type" she pointed out.

"Oh, that. It's not a whorehouse."

"You're telling me a place called 'Bawdy Shirina' is not a whorehouse? If it's not, then it's just a missed opportunity for a name."

"I meant it's not ONLY a whorehouse. It's more than that. It's a great place to collect information, since... people tend to be looser over there" he explained. "You don't have to come if you're not comfortable. We can spend the night somewhere else."

"No, I always wanted to go to a whorehouse."