Chapter 6 - The Broken Sanctuary
The stone shed in the pine forest was half-buried in snowdrifts when I burst through the wooden floor trapdoor.
"Clara!" I called out, wiping blood from my cheek.
"I'm here!" her voice came from behind a stack of rusted firewood.
She ran out, throwing her small arms around my waist. Bear trotted behind her, his tail giving a weak wiggle despite his exhaustion.
"You came," she sobbed into my blood-stained jacket. "You promised, and you came."
"I told you I would," I murmured, lifting her gently into my arms. I looked back at the main house; dark plumes of smoke were rising into the blizzard sky as fire consumed the upper stories of Vance Manor. The past was burning, but the future was sitting in my arms.
"We have one more stop to make," I said, looking down at her. "We're going to get your father."
Her eyes widened in disbelief. "Daddy? But... the bad men said..."
"Your father is a tough man to kill, Clara," I said, setting her down in the passenger seat of the Sedan I had hidden deeper in the woods. "Just like his brother."
We drove back toward the lower city through the blinding snowstorm. The roads were deserted, the city buried under a thick white blanket that muted the usual roar of traffic and sirens.
My mind was focused on one destination: St. Jude’s Church on 4th Street.
It was an old, abandoned Gothic church in the center of the poorest district—a sanctuary my family had funded thirty years ago before the diocese abandoned it. If Gabriel’s men were keeping Marcus anywhere, it was there, away from public eyes and rival factions.
I parked two blocks away from the church, leaving the car idling with the heater running to keep Clara warm.
"Stay in the car with Bear," I instructed, checking my Kimber and pulling a tactical rifle from the trunk of the Sedan. "I will be back in ten minutes with your dad."
"Take Bear with you," Clara said, looking at the dog, who was already sitting at the car door, whining to get out. "He wants to help."
I looked at the battered stray. His shoulder was bandaged with a strip of cloth from my shirt, but his eyes were sharp and determined. He knew his duty.
"Alright," I said, opening the door. "Come on, boy."
We crept through the alleyways toward the back entrance of St. Jude’s. The heavy stained-glass windows were dark, but faint orange light flickered from the basement windows beneath the main altar.
I reached the side door, finding it unlocked. I slipped inside, Bear following like a black phantom beside my boots.
The interior of the church was cold and smelled of old incense and damp wood. I moved quietly down the side aisle toward the basement stairs, my rifle raised.
Down in the crypt below the altar, two guards were sitting around a portable kerosene heater, playing cards and drinking from a flask. In the corner of the stone room, chained to an iron pillar, sat a man.
His clothes were torn, his face covered in dark bruises and dried blood, but the silhouette was unmistakable.
Marcus.
He was alive.
"You should've killed him when Gabriel told you to," one of the guards muttered, shuffling the deck. "Now we're stuck sitting in a basement during a blizzard."
"Gabriel wanted him alive until he found the kid," the other guard replied. "Once the kid's dead, Marcus goes into the river."
I didn't wait for them to finish their game.
I stepped out from behind the archway and fired twice. Both men dropped before their cards hit the floor.
Marcus lifted his head slowly, his swollen eyes squinting through the dim light of the kerosene heater.
"Julian...?" he whispered, his voice barely a rattle. "Am I... am I dreaming?"
I walked over to him, picking up the key ring from the guards' table and unlocking his iron shackles.
"You look terrible, little brother," I said, helping him stand up as his chains clattered to the floor.
Marcus grabbed my forearms, his grip surprisingly strong despite his injuries. "Julian... Clara... did she reach you? Did you find her?"
"She found me, Marcus," I said, my voice softening. "She brought me the locket. And she brought me back to life."
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Tears cut clean lines through the dirt on Marcus’s face as he collapsed against my shoulder, sobbing uncontrollably. "I tried to keep her safe, Julian... I tried so hard..."
"You did," I told him, holding his shoulders. "You brought her home. Now let's get out of here."
