Automatons ✔

Chapter XV

                                                          The birds were warbling a new melody as Éloa ran towards the cathedral like a pilgrim and Yoel followed her. She stood in the middle of the nave, and like a bewitching siren she represented a peril to the beauty of everything that surrounded her. She was his sweetbrier, the demise of his self-control. He heeded her calls to get closer and so he approached her. Her chest was like a hearth on which he laid his head for warmth. He swore by the hot coals between her bosom to never leave her and dined on her delicious lips until he was full. But when he broke the kiss and looked up to gaze upon her eyes, there was blood coming out of them and that scared him so.

"Your absence has killed me."  Her words made his heart scarred and split into two. Every scar has a tale to tell, his was her sadness.

He woke up from the nightmare screaming. His scream frightened Pascale, who had to put the helicopter on self-flying mode to check up on him.

 "Are you alright?" Her strong French accent made him think of his mother which made him sadder.

"Of course he is, our Yoel is a strong lion." Cloyd smiled, handing him a black stainless steel water bottle.

"Yes, I am fine." He took the bottle and pushed the button at the bottom to open the lid before drinking. The screen on the bottle indicated that he drank 300 ml. "It was just a stupid nightmare." He smacked his lips together, savoring the taste of the crispy filtered water. He was making a valiant effort not to show Cloyd his worry.

Pascale nodded and returned to her pilot seat. 

"While you were asleep, our team member who works for the President sent me this video from the hotel's security cameras where President Sanguinaria was staying." Cloyd played the video on the holographic display of his translucent phone.  The video showed two Automatons killing five soldiers who were protecting the President while one was holding what seemed to be another Automaton who was recently shot. 

The video got more interesting once a familiar fair angel entered the hallway, her dazzling halo covering the brutal scene and making the corpses look like red hawthorn flowers on the floor. The very angel whom he failed to show his prowess as a loyal lover. But something has changed in her... For her dolorous love for him has been placed on an old library shelf by fate, next to the other uncontinued lost love stories of past, collecting dust, begging for any potential reader to grab it. There was a moment when she noticed the camera in the hallway and stared back at it and he smiled. One thing has not changed, though, is that every time he looks at her, her eyes take him on an exhilarating adventure.

"That's Éloa," he said with a sad voice. He almost did not recognize her when she cut the head of the soldier that the two male and female Automatons were holding. When they have managed to kill all of the umpteen soldiers that were accompanying the President, they violently grabbed Mr Sanguinaria who surprisingly did not struggle while they handcuffed and lead him downstairs. The footage switched to the street camera facing the hotel where you could clearly see Éloa and her friends reunite with Mega who opened the backseat door for Éloa to push him inside. She quickly got in the car and drove away fast out of the hotel's parking lot.

"That's the Automaton you told me about?" Cloyd raised his eyebrow.

"Yes, and the other Automaton who was in the car is Mega, my- or was my Robutler." Yoel confessed.

"Jesus, so you know two of the original conscious Automatons!" 

"Cloyd, you need to promise me something. I agreed to help you find Éloa because she might lead you to the other original conscious Automatons, and you are free to do to them whatever your heart desires except for Éloa. She's mine." His voice sounded excited, like a crow who just found a fresh carrion.