Knight Casefiles Book 1: Revelations

Revelations [Chapter 24]

Chapter 24

Catharsis is the Greek word for “purging.” In Freudian psychoanalysis, however, it means venting. As in, whenever you hold back too much emotion, this is what Freud advertises you do – vent. Now, I didn’t buy too much into the guy’s theories. I mean, he’s the one who gave us stuff like the Oedipus complex, where you’re thought to have a boner for your mom when you’re a kid, and the stages of psychosexual development which, unless you work in a licensed clinic, isn’t really office safe.

But right now, it seemed like something I needed a lot of. All this personal crap I was “shoving to the back of my mind” like some poorly thought-out caricature was bound to catch up to me at some point, but I was hoping it would be later rather than sooner. So, with much vehemence, I shoved the unsettling idea that David had seen me playing with my sword, and not in a kinky way, to the recesses of my memory as I went looking for my Guardian, who still had a lot to answer for.

It being a little past lunch time, I went to the most probable place a woman could be – the kitchen, and I don’t mean that in a sexist way – it’s just that Sigrun was very, ah, big-boned and wasn’t someone you wanted to sit next to in a buffet once she heals after being disemboweled. True story.

In any case, it was a dead end. Sigrun wasn’t at the kitchen so, to save time, I asked for a sandwich to tide me until dinner and a thermos of hot chocolate because we were in the Rockies and I’ll be damned if I don’t at least pretend to be on vacation. The maids were kind enough to slip in some vodka in my drink after seeing how jittery I was. Something that made me both thankful to them and regretful. They were trying their hardest to help their employer and if we got a repeat of last night once Robert fired up his machines, then they were out of jobs. I nodded my thanks and slipped a hefty sum in the tip jar. Okay, it was a cookie jar but they got the message.

The next room I checked was our own. It was still as clean as I left it, devoid of broken glass or any sign of a scuffle. Warily, I checked the room for bugs, David’s words still bouncing around in my head. Sometimes, I hate the acoustics in there. When my paranoia was satisfied, I went to my duffel bag and sifted through the weapons. Gram lay there – shining, shimmering, splendid – awaiting to drain its Knight to half-death again. I left it untouched as I reloaded my Desert Eagle and Glock, shoving them into shoulder holsters. After a moment’s thought, I went to the bathroom and got a damp cloth, and used it to clean my leather jacket that still smelled of sewer and godly crap. It didn’t help the odor much, but that’s what perfume is for, which Sigrun surprisingly had. She was still a woman, after all.

Mindless chores done, I put the jacket back on, along with the holsters and started looking for Sigrun again. This time, I decided not to give a go at anything physical and just winged it, shutting my eyes and trying to sense her. I assumed that since I knew her fairly well, I’d be able to pick up on her sooner than entities back in the forest.

Steadying my breathing, I extended my senses and turned in a circle, hands out, keeping Sigrun’s memory in mind – whatever feeling I associated with her. It wasn’t hard figuring what that was – cold, the frosty bite of her presence as a Valkyrie, and warm, the humanity that transcended such status. And it wasn’t long, around my fifth rotation, that I felt a gentle tug in one direction. I latched on to that like an idiot lost at sea, desperately gripping a life line. When I was certain of the direction, I let my eyes open in a slit and found myself facing the window that overlooked the front of the Lodge, just as two black dots flew in my field of vision, away from something on the ground.

I took that as a cue to run, racing out the door, down the stairs, into the lobby and out the front door, in time to find Sigrun walking through the front yard. There was an unmistakable spring to her step, as if she’d just woken from a long night’s rest.