Starless Child

11. Sanctuary

*Peeps out of a hole*

I know...I know it's been a hundred years since my last update. Just one more month left of exams and then I'll update more frequently. I promise.

We made it to 6.5k reads and #75 on paranormal in a month. I want to hug the life out of each and every one of you who made this possible.

*Computer hug!!!!*

Dedicated to Bria Lenning for making the awesome cover. You're amazing girl!

I really don't know who I'm talking to. But to those of you wonderful people who are still reading please don't forget to vote and comment.

I'm done.

Have a nice day!

This is it.

This is really it.

It finally happened.

I've finally gone down the loony bin.

There are two kinds of situations in life where you can say these to yourself.

One is when you do something incredibly dumb, for example accidently letting the words 'will you marry me' slip out of your mouth within two minutes of your first conversation with your crush, right after he asks you if you like coffee. To be honest that question is kind of dumb on it's own right. Do you like coffee? Really? What kind of a question is that? Who doesn't like coffee? If you're going to ask someone out just get on with it instead of asking 'shoot me in the head' questions.

Two is when you come face to face with an event in your life that compels you to really question your sanity. When you look around and start feeling the need to ask yourself what's real and what's not real. It's one of the most terrifying thoughts in the world, the idea that you might actually be...crazy.

Right now when Hera was asking herself this question it was situation number two. But in all seriousness, she was hoping that she in fact, has completely lost it. Because life in a mental asylum sounded like the best case scenario to her right now than accepting the past couple of hours actually did happen.

The first thing that caught her eye after Rigel closed the bolts of the gigantic metal doors was the large charcoal colored crucifix hanging from the walls above the alter. Granny had always been very religious. And so, Hera had to come to church with her every Sunday for the past ten years. She herself, had always been skeptic about the existence of god. She didn't believe but at the same time its not that a tiny part of her never asked the question 'what if it's true?' But she never objected when granny asked her to come. Despite her doubts, Hera didn't have the heart to hurt her faith.

They walked through the rows of benches underneath the large wooden archways. Most of the candles on the chandeliers hanging from the celling were unlit. A few lit candles chased away the darkness giving the seemingly empty church a ghostly lighting. Rows of pillars from both sides the room supported the tall roof. The once coffee colored wooded roof now wore the color of soot because of the gloomy darkness.

The entire atmosphere reminded her of the nightmares. Years of living with someone who believes the church to be a sanctuary somehow affected her, inspite of her own disbelieves. But whatever safety and comfort she felt after being within the church walls disappeared by it's uncanny resemblance to the tunnel in her dreams.

"This is insane", she halted in her tracks at the clear anger in Lola's voice and turned around to see an extremely pissed off Lola and a very irritated Bellatrix on the verge rolling her eyes. Alice's body over Bellatrix's shoulders swang with her movements as she turned around to face Lola.

"We need to take her to a hospital right now. Why on earth are we at the church? What are you planning to do? Spray her with some holy water?", she said trying to keep her cool exterior. But Hera could see underneath that facade. She was itching to strangle Bellatrix.

"Your doctors have the knowledge of a chimpanzee, honey. No human doctor can help her now", Bellatrix said. To be honest taking her to a doctor might actually not be the best idea. Normal people don't exactly react well to the story of how a bunch of teenagers got attacked by a jawless monster and one of them nearly got her insides pulled out. Doing that will give them a one way ticket to the psychiatric ward. And besides hospitals don't usually have cure lying around for cases like theirs. Hera couldn't believe she was actually siding with these nutjobs instead of the mentally stable people in the room. Maybe she really has lost it.

"Human? And who are you taking her to exactly? a witch?", Ares said. He too, was clearly not happy about the whole thing. It was a miracle how they let Blondie and Shovelface take them this far.

"Well, not exactly. But you can call him that if you want. Sounds like a more fitting name for the old imbecile" she grimaced. Blondie here obviously wasn't too fond of the person supposed to help Alice. But a witch is the least offensive name you could call someone you don't like.

"I know that all of you are extremely confused right now and aren't aware of exactly what's going on here. But even if the church seems like the last place where you should be, I assure you this is the only place where you can find help for your friend", Rigel said.

It better be. Cause if something happens to Alice I'm going to bury both of you alive on the church grounds, right after I pull all of your teeth out.

Bellatrix suddenly changed her direction after she reached the alter. "Blondie, I think you're going the wrong way", Hera said as she unmistakably recognized where she was going "that's where they keep caskets before funeral."

"I know that", she sighed. There was a large casket in the middle of the room. Rigel moved it to the side revealing a set of stairs down the floor. The stairs stopped being visible after a few steps, and then were swallowed by the darkness.

He brought out a small, rather strange looking lighter from his pocket. With a slight shake he lit it and stepped down the stairs.

Going underground in a church with two strangers, who can snap their necks in half with a flick of their wrists, in the middle of the night, was probably one of the most reckless things Hera had ever thought of doing. They could kill them all and dump their bodies down the drain. Nobody would ever find out.

But just as she managed calm herself and stepped on the stairs Rigel decided to say the perfect thing to soothe everyone. "Umm look", he hesitated for a moment before he spoke "the man who lives down there, he's very good at what he does. But he's not very..cooperative."

"What he means to say is that he's a deranged bastard", Bellatrix said.

"So I suggest you all be at your best behavior", he glanced at Blondie from the corner of his eyes,"I'm talking to you Trix."

"Don't worry about me, I'm a sweetheart. People love me", she said with a smirk plastered onto her face. Hera blinked at her, hoping to look for any sign of sarcasm. Nope, she was actually serious. Great. She's not only psychotic but also completely delusional.

"No matter how bad he is, it's worth it if he can save her",Hera said. She could keep her mouth shut for a couple of hours if that's what she needed to do. Because god knows they won't get anything from that man if she spews out the streams of honey that seems to automatically come out of her mouth every time she opens it.

"Save her are not the words I would use. Since the demon couldn't kill her then, there's no chance of her dying now", Rigel said.

Hera looked at him in confusion. "So if she's going to be okay then why are we here?"

Rigel and Bellatrix both eyed each other. He tore his gaze away from Hera's and looked at the floor as he chewed on his bottom lip.

Bellatrix answered after a couple of moments in a quiet voice, "We're not here to save her. We're here to save us from her."

Her words left Hera more confused than before. She opened her mouth to ask what the heck did she mean. Her her questions never got to escape her lips as she watched the crucifix hanging from the wall behind Bellatrix move. Slowly, like the hands of a clock, the crucifix turned upside down.

Picture of Bellatrix above. Go on! Press the tiny star button on the top.