Myosotis - Exorcist's Beginnings

Chapter XI: Influence

Since her mind was filled with worries and questions, Macaria had trouble falling asleep; however, Dumah must have thought she was sleeping. Half an hour later, he left the room and Macaria decided to follow him, hoping to find out something, maybe even see his face, since he left his scarf in the room. She wondered if he was tailing Ector, the boy with golden eyes, as she would like to see him again. She was glad that Dumah did not climb down the stairs. Macaria really didn't want to pass through that chaotic bar and risk herself being followed by some creep again. Instead, Dumah climbed up the stairs to the third floor, which was just the attic, but instead of finding dust and old unwanted stuff like in most attics, that one was rather unique.

"I thought you wouldn't come" she heard Beatrice say to him.

"I had a... setback" Dumah replied.

Macaria was peeking in and, by the looks of everything, it was not hard to imagine what was about to happen. She really did not want to see it, but her curiosity took the best of her. She was hoping for Dumah to turn around at any moment, so she could see his face. She realized he had been lying to her, since the very beginning, and she was starting to wonder if it was a good idea to keep hiring someone she did not trust. Therefore, she was prepared to make the effort to witness what was about to unravel.

"You don't seem that enthusiastic. Perhaps you would prefer to be with someone else", Beatrice said.

"No, I'm just a bit... tired."

"Lay down then. I'll make all your tiredness go away."

Macaria almost puked at Beatrice's statement, but she had the feeling something worse would be coming. There was a mattress on the floor, where Dumah laid down on. Beatrice put her hands on his crotch over his trousers and started to unzip them and smiled upon seeing his c**k. For some reason, the ring piercing she had on her nose made her look even more perverse and Macaria could see how that would turn on men. She wondered if Dumah ever felt about her even half of what he was feeling towards Beatrice. She did not know why that question came to her mind, but for some reason it angered her.

"Actually..." he suddenly said, gently pushing her head away from him. ”I don't think this is a good idea."

Beatrice feigned a smile. "Are you playing hard to get?"

"No, I told you I'm just tired" he replied.

"You refused me all day."

"I had work to do and now I'm tired. Aren't you?" he asked.

"You were never tired of me. Why did you deny me all day then? You never took work that seriously", she argued.

"I never had someone along with me before. She keeps pressuring me and I have to deliver something, don't you think?"

"Fine, then just relax now and let me do the work" Beatrice said.

"No, maybe some other day" he replied, putting his trousers back on, but she stopped him.

"You are actually denying me. I didn't believe Don, at first, but I see now that what he said was true. I mean how could you have any real interest in that goody two-shoes girl? But I see that she was not that conservative after all. You must be getting something from her."

"So what? What is it to you anyway? Don't you do any guy you want?"

Beatrice laughed almost maniacally. "So you're just trying to make me jealous? How cute. You don't need to act now, I'm giving my time to you" she said, and started unbuttoning his shirt and kissing his neck and chest, which made Macaria feel aroused. As she watched Beatrice on top of him, she realized how much she wished she was in her place.

"I said I'm not in the mood", Dumah insisted and pushed her away, this time more aggressively.

He got up from the mattress and arranged his pants and shirt and it was at that moment Macaria finally caught a proper glimpse of his face. She gasped and immediately covered her mouth; luckily they did not hear her.

"Dumah, look at me" Beatrice ordered and he ignored her, so she pulled by his arm and made him look at her. "I'm beautiful, aren't I?"

"Yes..."

"You want me, remember?"

She kept staring at him with her big green emerald eyes, as if she was trying to hypnotize him.

"I..." he stuttered and put his hands on her waist in a loving manner.

"So what are we looking at?" Don suddenly appeared behind Macaria, which startled her, alerting the couple in the attic.

Both Macaria and Don ran, as they saw one of them coming in their direction and they quickly hid right around the corner of the second floor. Luckily, neither Dumah nor Beatrice chased after them and Macaria sighed with relief.

"Why were you spying on them?" asked Don.

"It was an accident. Please, don't tell them" she said, and rushed over to her room, or better yet, Dumah's room, leaving Don behind conflicted.

She laid down on the bed and pulled the blankets over her. She did not know if she should confront him that night or the next day, or if she should confront him at all. Her mind was in disarray and she couldn't help but laugh at how absurd everything was. Dumah arrived a bit later; apparently, things did not go well with Beatrice. She only hoped that would not compromise the development of her case and the decoding of Lucero's book. Dumah sighed, when he laid down. Macaria understood that he was upset, so she pretended to be asleep and did not bother him that night.

"Quit pretending you are asleep" he said. "I saw Don in the hall and he told me you were wandering around in the corridors."

"That snitchy b***h", Macaria thought to herself.

"What were you doing? Looking for me?" he asked.

"I was looking for... Ector" she replied.

"Ector? Oh, that guy. Another suspicious fella. I wonder what he is doing here."

"He may be suspicious, but I still like him" Macaria stated.

"I wonder why. All girls love pretty boys, after all" he said, and she sniffed mockingly. "What?"

"Nothing. I guess things did not go well with Beatrice, did they?" she asked.

"How do you know I was with her?"

"I... just assumed. So?" she insisted on asking and he didn't say anything for several seconds.

"What do you think of her?" he ended up saying.

"I think she is manipulative" she replied bluntly.

"Manipulative? Why?" he asked, rather surprised at her answer.

"Just a hunch" Macaria replied, since she couldn't tell him that her opinion was based on what she had observed minutes ago.

"She helped me, when I was lost and in great need" he said.

"Sometimes people help others with ulterior motives in mind. And just because a person is your friend, that doesn't mean they are saints. Everyone has their faults, you know? You will learn these things, when you're older, kid" she said.

"Kid?! I'm only a year younger than you!" he exclaimed, upset. "You know what? Never mind, just go to sleep."

Macaria giggled at his outburst. "How cute."

He turned up his nose, conflicted with her sudden vocabulary. "Cute? What is wrong with you today?"

"Sometimes you are adorable, but you were a really bad boy" she said, seemingly without context.

"You're scaring me. I'm the one who is going to sleep now and try to forget that this night existed" he concluded, turning his back on her.

The next morning, Macaria woke up earlier than Dumah. She didn't even bother finding something decent to dress as it was too dark to find anything in that room. She just put her long black coat on and her shoes and rushed downstairs to the reception room. Luckily, she did not find anyone on the way there, not even Belinda. Since there were mostly night workers in that "inn", the mornings were usually pretty peaceful and silent and it was rare to see anyone wandering around, because everyone was still sleeping. She got hold of Belinda's register book, where the name of every guest was written. She was looking for someone named "Ector", but knowing what she did now, she doubted that was his real name. As she suspected, there wasn't anyone with that name registered. She still read all the names, hoping one of them would sound familiar to her.

"Oh! Miss Macaria, you're here..." said a voice behind her, which startled her, since she was so focused on her task.

"Ector! I was just..." she stuttered, still a bit shaken by his sudden appearance.

"You work here?" he asked.

"God, no! I was just... Well, to tell you the truth, I was hoping to find you" she admitted.

"I see. You want to get rid of me, because I know too much", Ector said.

"No! Of course not! I just wanted to ask you a few questions."

"Oh... Since you seem to be... at ease, I take that you already took care of the body" he muttered the last part.

"Oh my God, the body! I completely forgot!" she exclaimed.

"You forgot about the body? Your mind must be truly busy to forget something like that" he said.

"Oh God! I have to take care of that, before people start waking up" she said, jumping up from her seat. "But... I also want to talk with you."

"Well, you have to figure out your priorities" Ector said.

"You're right, let's talk first."

"What?!"

"I just know if I let you go, I may never see you again and I need answers" she explained.

"You certainly won't find me, when you are in prison" he retorted.

"If I'm going in, then you are going to."

He laughed. "You're joking, right?"

Her serious face convinced him into helping her out. Ector was quite skillful and also quite a fashion maniac. His room had at least seven big suitcases for all of his clothes. They emptied four of them and brought them over to Macaria's original room, where the crime occurred.

"Ugh... I can't believe I have to do this..." Macaria said, disgusted.

"And I can't believe I'm going to ruin four perfectly good suitcases" Ector retorted.

Ector's genius plan was to dismember the body and put the parts in bags. Seemed pretty simple, but it wasn't. The stench was almost overwhelming, mainly when they started to cut it apart. Macaria used her silver knife and Ector used a beautiful curved knife embellished with gold angel warriors in a sort of apocalyptic scene. He said he had bought it for decorative purposes and he could never have guessed he was going to use such a splendid piece for such a task. They used the sheets of the bed to cover the floor and themselves, since they did not want to get everything stained with blood. It was already bad enough as things were. They put a cut down leg and an arm in one suitcase and the same in another, but they were having trouble fitting the torso in.

"Oh God, why does he have to be so fat?" said Ector and at that moment, someone knocked on the door and both paralyzed.

"Who is it?" asked Macaria, trying to seem as calm as possible.

"It's me. Open the door" said Dumah, who had been looking for her. Both Macaria and Ector sighed in relief to know it was just Dumah. "You two are still so... bizarre" Dumah said, as he saw a pretty gruesome image of Macaria and Ector all dirty with blood, while cutting body parts and putting them in bags.

"Stop complaining and help us fit the torso in this bag. We have to hurry, before people start wandering around" said Macaria, and Dumah turned up his nose.

Dumah was really glad that he was wearing his mask, because cutting the torso into smaller pieces made the others wish they were also wearing one. To try to camouflage the smell, they filled up the bags with the stained sheets and Ector emptied all five of his perfume bottles on them. They cleaned themselves up and called a taxi and the three put all the four bags in the trunk of the car.

"We had a perfume accident" said Ector to the driver, after he complained about the strange overwhelming smell.

Fortunately, they knew an ideal place to hide whatever was left of that man. They drove off to the outskirts of the town, where the swamp of Lady Marabel was. Once again, Macaria complained about the mud on her shoes, but this time she was not alone. Ector was just as concerned about his pair of red leather shoes.

"You know, we are supposed to be discreet" Dumah said, criticizing Ector's choice of outfit.

"I'm already wearing a grey suit. And wearing all black is not as discreet as you may think", Ector retorted.

"It's still way more than that feathery purple thing you're wearing" Dumah replied, referring to Ector's short purple mantle, and Ector glared at him. "This looks like a good place."

They were already deep enough in the swamp and so they decided to throw the bags in the still waters and they sunk into the sludge, making greenish bubbles as a result. They also seemed to have awakened all the bugs in the area, as a cloud of insects overpowered them, due to the disturbance in those untouched waters.

"My poor suitcases..." Ector pouted, still shooing mosquitoes away.

"We will pay you for them" said Macaria.

"What do you mean 'we'? I'm not paying for anything. This is all on you", Dumah contested and Macaria glared at him.

"Let it be. It's fine, I guess" said Ector.

"Really? Is it because you're rich?" said Macaria, after seeing all of his expensive clothing in his room.

"Listen, I do not own a house, so I have to spend my money somewhere" Ector replied.

"You don't have a house?!"

"No, for what? I'm always... traveling, so I would never be in it", Ector explained.

"Still, you must have a place, where you can return to" said Dumah, and Ector just shook his head.

"Well, at least, your base is not a w***e house" commented Macaria, and Dumah turned up his nose at her.

They talked a little, until they reached town, but unfortunately it was not what Macaria wanted to talk about. She wanted to have a private conversation with Ector, but that was not possible with Dumah present.

"Shall we call another taxi to the inn?" asked Dumah.

"Not for me. Since I'm already here, I'm going shopping for a couple of suitcases, as mine are now gone" replied Ector with bitterness.

"I'm going with you" said Macaria right away, which made both Ector and Dumah uncomfortable.

"Macaria, it's not time for shopping. We have things to do" said Dumah.

"Even yesterday, you said you did not want to be disturbed by me. You are better off working only with Beatrice" she replied.

"Actually... I..." Ector stuttered.

"See? He doesn't want you to bother him anymore", Dumah said.

Macaria looked at Ector with a serious, yet sad expression. "Fine..."

She didn't insist anymore and both parted ways again. Something was wrong and she didn't even know what it was. She forgot her own father and that young man who lied about his own name. Then, there was Dumah who she did not forget, but judging by his actions, he probably wished she had forgotten about him. Ector didn't even want to make the slightest effort to be remembered by her, even though he recognized her. In fact, he seemed to want to run away from her. She wondered if her father was the same. Perhaps she had already crossed paths with her father and he ran from her. Were they really running away from her or running away because she was a vehicle to other people? Was it about her or perhaps about her mother, her sister or even her grandmother? Those three were the only people she was associated with, at least from what she could recall. It was too confusing and quite depressing and all of this overthinking was starting to take a toll on her.

"You're awfully quiet. Are you that upset about not being with...Ector?" Dumah asked, while they were on their way to the Bawdy Shirina in the taxi. They were both in the backseat, while the taxi driver listened to the radio.

Macaria understood why Dumah did not want her to be with Ector. After all, Ector did seem to recognize Dumah with ease, even though he was hiding his face as usual and, honestly, Macaria felt stupid for not recognizing him before. Dumah was afraid that Ector might tell her about his real identity. Barely did he know that she already knew who he really was. Finding out who he was did bring Macaria comfort, even though Dumah was not the best of her memories.

"Why is everyone running away from me or from my family?" she asked.

"What do you mean?"

"My father, Ector, you in a way too" she replied.

"How do you know your father ran away? Did your memory come back?"

"No, but if Ector is, maybe my father is the same" Macaria pouted.

"Maybe they are not running away, maybe they are trying to protect you and your family from something", Dumah argued.

"From what?"

"Lucero. From what I've read of his book, he is a very dangerous fella. He knows how to make ritualistic sacrifices to summon things and put those things inside people and even how to use those things for his own use. And I'm telling you: manipulating dem... I mean, manipulating those things is not easy", Dumah said. "If he really is related to your father, then your father must have taken off to keep Lucero away from your family. At least, that's my theory."

"Those procedures that you mentioned, are they explained in that book?" she asked.

"Yes and in great detail" he replied.

"Then, are you sure it is wise to show them to Beatrice? She seems a bit unstable" Macaria said.

"I know you don't like her, but she taught me everything I know about kill... i mean, nullifying things. She won't fall for their ways."

"The trust you put in her worries me" she said.

When they arrived, they were set on going upstairs to change and clean their muddy shoes, however they were caught by Beatrice, who was already up and cleaning up the bar from the night before. She was not wearing her usual dark makeup, or her tight corsets. In fact, she looked quite plain and sad.

"Oh good morning" Beatrice greeted them with a mild, almost cheerful voice, instead of her low sensual tone. "Did you go hiking or something?" she asked after noticing their muddy shoes and clothes.

"Kind of, she said she was bored, so I took her for a walk" said Dumah.

"For a walk? Am I a dog now?" retorted Macaria, quite offended.

Beatrice giggled. "Of course not. Don't be offended, he doesn't mean it. Dumah, when can we start our work again?"

Dumah was visibly surprised at Beatrice's politeness, as he had expected her to be upset after what took place the night before. "I can start now" he said, not wanting to say anything that might shift her good mood.

"Great."

"Ok, good luck you two. I'm going to my room. I'm quite tired from that 'walk'."

"Can we begin then?" asked Dumah, as Beatrice seemed to be set on looking at Macaria climbing up the stairs to the upper floor.

"Yes, of course" she replied with a feigned smile. "Can you start by yourself? I have to do something upstairs for five minutes."

Dumah did not care and did as she suggested, while Beatrice ran upstairs. After that, someone knocked on Macaria's door. She was hoping it would be Ector, but no, it was Beatrice.

"I went to your room, but you were not there. I guess you sleep with Dumah. Was that request for separate rooms just for show?"

Suddenly, Beatrice did not seem as bubbly as before. She was back to her usual self, but not as she showed herself to clients, more like when Macaria saw her with Dumah the night before. Her big green eyes seemed even bigger and her tone was assertive.

"What do you want?" Macaria asked.

Beatrice pushed her into the room and closed the door behind her. She grabbed Macaria's face and kissed her lips forcefully and Macaria slapped her to the ground, which surprised the bartender.

"What do you think you're doing?!" Macaria exclaimed, shocked.

"I just wanted to see what you have that I don't" Beatrice replied, fixing her attire and hair after picking herself up.

"What?"

"Clearly you're better than me at something. Otherwise, why would he prefer you over me? Or is it just because of these?" Beatrice said, while grabbing Macaria's chest and once again Macaria pushed her away.

"Stay away from me!"

"I will, but you will have to stay away from him, do you understand?" Beatrice said, looking right at Macaria's eyes. She recognized that look, it was the same as the one Beatrice gave Dumah the night before and she hated how hypnotizing it was.

"Pull yourself together, will you? Aren't you too venturous to be acting jealous?" Macaria hinted.

Beatrice sniffed. "Just because I have other affairs, does that mean I can't love someone in particular?"

"You don't love him. You only want to control him. He may be too blind to see that, but I'm not. You are lucky that I do not care; I'm only here for business, not for pitiful catfights over a man. If you want me out of your life and Dumah's life, then do your job right as quickly as possible and stop losing time with nonsense" Macaria stated, which left Beatrice without knowing how to respond. Then, Macaria opened the door for her. "Please leave and do as I've advised."

Macaria went off to wash her face in the bathroom to calm herself from what had just taken place and unbuttoned her collar to breathe better. Underneath her clothes, were still her rosary and her mother's locket hanging from her neck. She had a feeling that gold rosary with red roses freed her today from a life as a puppet to a green-eyed puppeteer. Her gaze certainly did not work as Macaria had seen it work before. She was glad she did not fall into her trap, but was certainly more aware of Beatrice's influence. Exactly what was she? She either lied to Dumah or both lied to Macaria, because Macaria was now sure Beatrice was not a simple dream wanderer.