Myosotis - Exorcist's Beginnings

Chapter X: Golden Eyes

Finally, some good news for Macaria. She was dying to talk to her mother and sister. Unfortunately, it was Tuesday, which meant Benedicta was probably not at home, but she could still ask about her to Lady Genevieve. However, something was wrong. The voice that greeted her was a male one, which caught Macaria by surprise.

"Good afternoon, who this may be?" asked the masculine voice, which Macaria did not recognize. She even frowned at how he formulated his greeting.

"Is this not the Delacroix family's number?" she asked, hoping she had dialed the wrong number.

"Yes, it is. How may I help you?"

"Who is this? Where is my mother?" she asked, conflicted.

"Oh, you must be Lady Genevieve's oldest daughter. Macaria, is that it? I will call Lady Genevieve to the phone right now" he said.

"Hello, darling?" said Lady Genevieve after a minute.

"Mom, who the hell came to the phone?" Macaria asked.

"Oh, it's Credence, our butler" Genevieve replied.

"Since when do we have a butler?"

"I hired him last week. I thought it would be a good idea, since I was here alone just with Mr. Mortimer and you frightened me with that Lucero's bit. I'm afraid a cat is not enough to keep me safe, even though he is such a brave little feline" said Genevieve.

"Oh, I guess you did well then. Are you sure he is trustworthy?" Macaria asked, worried.

"I don't know, darling. I've only known him for a week, but I've been observing him and he seems normal. But tell me about you. Do you have any news?"

"Ugh, don't get me started. Dumah was busy with another case and we only got out of it yesterday. But we did discover that the book I brought along is actually a black magic book that was written by Lucero, so he is not trustworthy. Are you listening to me?"

"Well, I figured. That man brought a crystal ball to the house, for Lord's sake. I wouldn't say him being involved with magic are some ground-breaking news", Genevieve argued.

"I know, but what is more shocking is that his surname is Delacroix too" Macaria said.

"Really? Delacroix is not properly a common name. Do you think he was telling the truth then? Is he really your father's brother?" her mother asked.

"Now that I remember, I was not supposed to tell you that, but whatever. We still don't know that. Do not talk to him, if he appears. Dumah says he is very powerful according to that book", Macaria warned.

"Fine. I already told Credence to not open the door to strangers anyway. And where are you now? What are you doing?" Genevieve asked.

"We are in Calandre again. Dumah and this other... person are trying to decode the book to try to get more clues" Macaria replied. "But how are things over there? How are Benedicta and grandma?"

The two of them talked for a couple of hours about nothing and everything and she only hung up, because the hostess Belinda was there and was starting to give her dirty looks. As Macaria had been talking on the phone for too long, she didn't even notice the time passing, until her tummy started grumbling with hunger. It was at that time of the day, when the bar of that "inn" would start to get busy, so Belinda said to Macaria to go to the kitchen and eat something, since she was afraid Macaria would be bothering the clients at the reception.

"Where were you? I thought you had gone to have dinner with Don, since you two are so friendly now" said Dumah, and Macaria rolled her eyes at his comment.

He was eating alone in a corner of the rather dark kitchen and when he spotted her, he quickly hid his face with his black scarf again. Unfortunately, Macaria was not quick enough to catch a glimpse of his face. The kitchen was pretty small for that number of people and it was connected to a larger preparation area, where about ten girls and a couple of feminine-looking boys were getting prepared for their job. They used heavier makeup and dressed rather lewdly for Macaria's taste, but it was expected from people with that kind of occupation. Their corsets were way too tight and their skirts showed off all the length of their legs and one could even take a peek at their lacey underwear.

"Where the hell did you bring me to? I used to live in a convent until a couple of weeks ago" said Macaria, sitting next to Dumah with a bowl of questionable soup.

"Drop it, it's not like you are that innocent, are you?" he replied and she stared at him upset. "By the way..." he cleared his throat, hesitant. ”I don't think it's a good idea for us to stay in the same room anymore."

"Why not?" she asked.

"Because... things almost happened between us and I want to keep a strictly professional relationship between us" he said.

"I thought that what happened was due to a demon. We will be fine, if there isn't a demon here, which I doubt by the looks of these people, to be honest", she argued.

"Still. We will be more comfortable in separate rooms", he insisted.

Macaria thought Dumah was a sort of cheapskate, who avoided paying for unnecessary things and wouldn't mind being uncomfortable if that meant he would pay less. So his statement made Macaria realize that his recent encounter with Beatrice made him take his relationship with her more seriously.

"Fine. Have you made any progress? You spent all day with that book, so I hope you did some actual work" she said.

Dumah sniffed at the hidden meaning of her words. "Me and Beatrice were actually working on your book, believe it or not. Just because I said we had a s****l relationship, it doesn't mean we do it all the time."

"I don't care what you two do" she replied coldly and not even sparing a look at him. " Have you made any progress or not?"

"Yes, but we haven't finished it yet. It will take a couple more days."

"Should I go home in the meantime?" she asked.

"What?! Why?"

"I'm not doing anything here" Macaria replied.

"What if your father or Lucero show up here?" Dumah asked.

"How dare you? My father wouldn't come to a w***e house!" she exclaimed, and the professionals behind them stared at them. "What do you want me to do? You want me to stay all night at the bar looking at men, wondering if they are my father or my uncle?"

"It's best not to. These men only come here for one or maybe two reasons" he replied.

"See? I'm not doing anything here. I feel even more useless here, than I did in the other village" she complained.

"You're only feeling homesick, because you just talked to your mother" Dumah stated.

"I thought you would be happy with me leaving, since you always remind me of how much of a burden I am to you" she said, with an obvious upset tone this time.

Dumah sighed. "Is this about my sleeping in different rooms suggestion?"

"No" she replied bluntly and got up from her seat and went to her room upstairs.

Before getting to her room, she had to go through the mess that was in the bar at that hour. Men were only starting to get drunk, but they sure had the rest of the night ahead of them. Macaria forgot how incredibly noisy they were and how much she did not sleep the last time she was in that place. It was only another reason to add to the list for going back home. However, unlike last time, she went upstairs completely alone and not accompanied by Dumah, which was not a good idea. A middle-aged man spotted her alone and followed her upstairs. He went after her across the long wooden corridor that she had to walk to reach her room. Macaria did not think much of it, as she expected him not to bother her, as soon as she closed the door of her room, but he was more persistent than that. When she was about to close the door and breathe a sigh of relief, he stopped it with his foot and forced his way into her room. She tried to close the door on him with all the strength that she had, but that did not happen and she fell on the floor in panic.

"I don't know why you are being so difficult, girl, but I won't say no to a chase and grab little game" he said, and she stared at him without knowing what to say. "I did not see your pretty face among the other girls. Do you think you are too good for us or something?"

"I'm sorry, but I do not work here. I'm only staying here as a customer" she replied, as he got closer.

The patron laughed. "No good woman stays here as a simple customer. Don't lie, girl. You are here with a client. How much are you? I'll pay more than him."

"Again, I do not work... in that area. Please, get out of the room. You're making me uncomfortable."

"Oh, am I? Stop playing, girl, and start undressing, before I rip it off of you" he threatened.

"I'm not playing any games. I'm just here with a friend. He's downstairs. I just came here to rest for a bit. Please, go away" she begged, but to no effect.

He laughed again and this time she could smell his alcoholic breath, which nauseated her. "With t**s and ass like that, I don't even care if you are a nun."

The man started to rip off her clothes and she held on to them as much as she could. "Please, don't!" she screamed.

He managed to rip her upper part and her breasts jumped off and she immediately hid them with her hands. She started to cry and cried even more, when the man took out his fat veiny c**k. "Come on girl, open up your mouth."

As she screamed and struggled to get away from his grasp and from that terrible vision and smell right in front of her face, someone came in. She expected to see Dumah or even Don, but it wasn't either of them. Somehow, it was a face even more familiar, but unfamiliar at the same time.

"Macaria?!" the boy exclaimed, conflicted.

She gazed into his golden eyes and a wave of nostalgia overpowered her and made her cry even more. "You..."

"Oh, so this is your friend" said the patron. "Get out, boy. You can have her, after me."

"Please, Sir, leave" said the boy with golden eyes.

Macaria almost forgot about that terrible man and was only looking at that boy and wondering where she knew him from. He knew her name, so she was not imagining things. However, she could not remember him at all, which was strange, because he had a pretty unique and unforgettable look. The yellowish tone of his eyes reminded her of Lucero, but his eyes were a lot warmer and not flashy like Lucero's. Aside from his golden amber eyes, he was a very handsome young man. He was smaller than Dumah in height and weight and by his youthful face, he was a bit younger than Dumah too. He was about the age of Macaria's sister, Benedicta. She did think of her younger sister, upon analyzing him, and she was not sure why. Whoever he was, he was hard to decipher for sure. She could see his face clearly and yet she found him even more mysterious than Dumah, but at the same time she also felt great empathy for him. Even the way he was dressed was quite something. He had piercings on his earlobes and was wearing a snake-skin coat, loose clothes and crocodile-skin boots and all of his long fingers had rings on them. One of them was made of gold and it had a very familiar pattern that Macaria couldn't quite figure out from that distance.

"Lose it, kid" the man retorted.

The boy with golden eyes stared at him with a blank expression and at that moment he reached for something in his pocket. Afraid it might have been a weapon, the man attacked the boy and seeing him being attacked woke up Macaria's courage and before they knew it, she stabbed the man in the back with a knife with all of her strength. The sharp knife was the one Dumah had given to her and it reached the heart of the man, who squealed before falling. A shrieking scream was heard coming from downstairs. She knew who it was. It was Belinda, the banshee; she had sensed what had taken place. His blood dripped to the floor and Macaria gasped, appalled at herself. Her tears started pouring again and she fell on her knees.

"It's fine. He deserved it anyway", the boy said, trying to calm her. "No one has to know. We just have to figure out a way to get the body out of here without anyone seeing."

As she wept, he sat next to her. "Who are you?"

"It... doesn't matter. Are you alright?" he asked. "And also what are you doing in a place like this?"

With her watery eyes, she stared at him, when he asked that question. He was quite impertinent and he sounded exactly like someone that she used to know and did not remember. "Hum?"

"Never mind. Pull yourself together and let's see what we can do about this guy over here" he said.

"Why are you helping me?" Macaria asked.

"Because..."

She stared at him and he ended up staring back, after trying to avoid it. His eyes were also watery, she did not know if it was sadness or something else, but she could feel that he missed her as much as she missed him.

"Macaria, is everything alri... What the hell is going on here?!"

Dumah suddenly appeared and didn't even bother to knock. He heard the banshee scream and knowing what it meant, he came to check upstairs. Thus, he was confronted with a gruesome scenario of a dead man on the floor spilling blood and tainting the wooden floor with it, while Macaria was in a complete mess while looking at a guy.

"Don't you know how to knock?!" she exclaimed, while holding her clothes tighter. For some reason, Dumah's presence made her very aware that her chest was a bit bare, but the same did not happen with that stranger.

"Oh! Do I know you?" the boy asked Dumah, which was a question that surprised the others.

Dumah looked at him shocked and immediately turned his face away, even though he had his mask on. "I don't know the people that you know! That doesn't matter right now, does it? Why is there a dead man with his disgusting c**k out? And why are your clothes torn?" Dumah said, diverting the attention from him.

"That bastard tried to... take advantage of me and this wonderful boy saved me" Macaria replied.

"Wonderful boy?" both Dumah and the boy frowned at her words. "Did he kill him?"

"No, I did" replied Macaria, and Dumah chuckled. "I really did!"

"Really?You? Fine, I don't even care who did it. Let's take him out of here" stated Dumah.

"Yes, but how?" asked the boy.

"Is... this boy your friend?" Dumah asked without looking at him, as the boy tried to analyze his hidden face.

"No, I told you he just came in to help me" Macaria replied, and her answer seemed to have baffled Dumah.

"Are you saying you don't know this guy?" he glanced at the boy for a second and Macaria just nodded. "What is your name?"

"Does it matter?" he retorted.

"Yes, it matters. If it didn't matter, I wouldn't ask", Dumah argued.

"Fine, my name is... Ector" he replied.

"Is that seriously your real name?" Dumah frowned.

"Is it yours?" he said, and Dumah just stared at him. "I don't see why I have to answer any questions to a guy who wears a mask."

"Your little conversation is just weird. And Dumah stop torturing the boy, he saved me" said Macaria, and Dumah just sighed out of frustration. "Mr. Ector, thank you for everything. You already did enough, so don't worry about the body. We'll figure out something."

"Really? Are you sure? Your friend doesn't seem that helpful", Ector said, and his words were not appreciated by Dumah.

"He has his days, you know? We will be fine" assured Macaria.

"If that is what you want, very well" Ector said, getting up and getting ready to go away.

"But... maybe we can meet tomorrow" said Macaria.

Ector hesitated for a minute and looked at her with melancholic eyes. "It's best not to."

"Oh..."

"Bye Miss Macaria" he said, getting out of the door, leaving both Macaria and Dumah gazing at him, equally conflicted.

Dumah laughed. "You just got rejected" he said, and she glared at him.

"Oh, that reminds me!" Macaria exclaimed and opened the room's door, looking for Ector. She looked at both sides of the corridor, but did not see him.

"What is it?" Dumah asked.

"I wanted to know how he knew my name" she replied.

"You seriously don't know him?"

Macaria closed the door behind her. "You also recognized him, didn't you? Tell me. I think the one who erased my father's memories, may have also erased other people."

"That does not work like that" he replied.

"Then how does it work? Who is he?" she insisted.

"Let's deal with that later. We have to do something about the body. It's going to start smelling soon enough and please change your clothes" Dumah said.

Since there was no way they were going to drag the body out of the inn without being seen, they decided to keep the body in that room and deal with it the next day, when the inn would be empty. Even though they had agreed on staying in different rooms, they now had to compromise and sleep in the same room again, since Macaria was not keen about sleeping in the same room as a dead man who tried to abuse her. Dumah's bed was not very big, but it was ample enough for both to sleep pretty separate from each other.

"I can't believe I was taken for a w***e" said Macaria, on her side of the bed in complete darkness, like Dumah wanted.

"That's what you're upset about? You were almost r***d by a drunkard" he replied.

"I know, but still..."

"It would have been terrible" Dumah added.

"Hum?"

"No, I mean to have the first time taken like that, it would have hurt you a lot" Dumah said and Macaria just made an agreeing noise. "It would have been your first time, right?"

"That is awfully personal" she said, offended.

"That guy earlier, you seemed to have a strong connection with him. Perhaps he was your boyfriend?"

"Sometimes you say things that only people who have known each other for a while say. When you first came to my house, you seemed to recognize me and my mother and today you also recognized that boy, who I clearly know from somewhere and forgot. Not to mention you don't wear a mask with others, do you? It's just with me. I saw you today at dinner. You were not hiding your face from all the other people; you only put it on, when you spotted me. Why are you hiding yourself from me? Who are you?" she asked, but there was no response. "Hum? Dumah? Ugh, fine, pretend to sleep. Sooner or later, all lies will disappear."