Bathed Silver in Mercury

XIV. Elerie

They hailed a cab and both climbed into the back seat.

"Waverley Abbey please," Elerie told the driver.

"Isn't that where that big plane crash just happened?" he questioned.

"Uh, we work there, part of the clean-up crew," she quickly answered.

He shrugged and started driving.

The drive began in silence, both Elerie and Nick staring out their respective windows. He broke the silence. "So, you seeing anyone?"

A pause. "Maybe."

"Oh." He nodded. "So you are?"

"Maybe."

"So you're not?"

"Maybe. Why, does it matter either way?"

"No... I'm just curious. I just asked."

Another pause. "No, I'm not. There, happy? You have someone you're seeing?"

"Maybe." She rolled her eyes. "No, actually, I don't. Haven't for the past three years."

"Implying?"

He didn't answer, and they spent the rest of the drive in silence.

"Oh God." Elerie finally said. Looking out the window, they could see the crash site up ahead. What a mess.

The driver dropped them off in front of the Abbey and pulled away, leaving them there.

"You know I really don't think we're supposed to be here," she said. Tape surrounded the perimeter of the church and there were searchlights up ahead. A distant radio could be heard.

She hesitated when Nick climbed under the tape before reluctantly following. He headed in the direction of the church.

"Nick, it's this way," she hissed, nodding to the crash site. "Nick-"

"We're in the right place," was all he said.

"Nick - Nick!" But he didn't listen and instead headed into the church. Of course he didn't listen to her - he never did. Why did she even try?

Stupid Nick. She trudged through the wreckage alone, hugging her arms tightly around herself - it was pretty eerie out here.

Suddenly, she jumped when she heard a cut-of- cry, that sounded like Nick. It was coming from inside the Abbey. She cautiously made her way inside.

Six heads turned to look at her. She stood still as a statue. You would too if you walked into a room to see your ex-husband being held down by zombie-like creatures, his shirt pushed up, and being straddled by a young woman who was a mix of both decaying and alive with grey skin and black markings all over her face, dressed in torn cloth.

Well, it had certainly been a day of walking in on the unexpected. First it had been walking into the dig site to find her ex-husband already there, then it had been the morgue only to find her dead ex-husband very much alive and completely naked. Now this. She wasn't sure which was stranger.

"Ellie!" cried Nick. "Run! Run!"

Finally she snapped from her trace, just as the young woman - Princess Ahmanet - came charging towards her. She grabbed Elerie by the neck in an iron grip, slamming her against the wall before leaning her face close to hers, aiming to - kiss her?

The princess gave an un-human wail when Elerie took her pocket knife and stabbed her. She had barely realized she had pulled it out of her pocket and flicked it open and was almost just as surprised as Ahmanet.

Now enraged, Ahmanet struck Elerie across the face, sending her crashing into the pews just as Nick came at her from behind, stabbing her in the back with a dagger of some sort. He helped Elerie scramble to her feet.

"I think she was going to kiss me," she cried.

"More like kiss-kill you. Come on!"

(Haha I love that scene when she (Jenny in the movie) walks in on him, too good! Thanks so much for reading, hope you enjoyed! And thank you so much for the 1000+ reads - that's amazing!)