Shadows of Redemption: Supernatural Suspense with Monsters (Book of Death Series 1) by David Longhorn & Scare Street

Author:David Longhorn & Scare Street [Longhorn, David & Street, Scare]
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Scare Street
Published: 2023-09-18T16:00:00+00:00

***

Several hours were taken up going through necessary procedures. An ambulance turned up first, the paramedics established the facts, and Quarles’ body was taken away. Then a statement was required by a bored-looking police constable. By this time, only Mortlake and Lynn were still at the scene. The story was simply that the old man had fallen and struck his head during a service. The officer didn’t seem disposed to investigate.

When they were finally alone in the church, Mortlake decided to revisit the crypt. Lynn helped him down the stairs, and they started to scrutinize the outer chamber. There was no hint of anything unusual. They moved on to check the arched doorway leading to the secret chamber. Here, Lynn’s expertise came in handy. She made a point of carefully sifting the rubble first. Mortlake squatted down while she cast an expert eye over the fragments.

“Could be late Roman,” she said, turning over a fist-sized lump of stone. “That would fit the timeline of the arch, which predates Gothic. But look—this is a symbol I’ve never seen.”

She passed the piece of stone to Mortlake, who examined it. The symbol was like an eye set inside what looked to be a solar disk, judging by the lines radiating from it.

“Might be Celtic,” he mused. “Romano-Celtic, anyway. The eye of heaven? An all-seeing eye? Or a warning… you are being watched?”

Lynn ferreted out some more fragments with similar carvings. It seemed that there were at least seven eyes. And, as they had not been visible from the crypt, they must have been on the inside of the blocked chamber. Having found nothing else of interest, they moved into the chamber itself. It was disappointing. In the glow of Quarles’ flashlight, they saw a roughly carved space with no decorations or inscriptions. It was roughly circular, about eight feet high and perhaps six across.

“I guess this might support the argument that the Lost One was imprisoned here,” Lynn said. “It has the feel of a jail cell more than a place of worship.”

Mortlake had to agree. He had expected an altar, at the very least. Perhaps even hints of blood sacrifice. But, despite examining every corner of the chamber, there was nothing. It did indeed feel like a place of imprisonment. He picked up a piece of rock, one of those with the shining eye inscription.

“What I still don’t get,” he said, “is why someone as intelligent as Sebastian would suddenly decide to smash his way in here. He served as vicar here for nearly ten years. Then, in the last few weeks, it seems, he became obsessed with this chamber. Convinced something in it would transform the world. Did you find anything in his study?”

Lynn, who’d been sifting the rubble again, stood up and stretched before pocketing one of the stones with engraving.

“A lot of stuff, but no clue as to why he became obsessed,” she admitted. “There was one weird thing, though.”

She described the eighteenth-century text that mentioned fallen angels. Mortlake

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