Read Online Church of Sin (The Ether Book 1) by James Costall - Free Book Online
Authors: James Costall
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church. A galaxy of tiny stars orbiting an invisible sun.
Jacob’s hand trembled as he examined the knife in his hand. A tiny fragment of his mind fought to prevent the darkness overpowering him completely. But it was a futile effort and he could already feel the energy crackle down his arm and to the tip of the blade.
He glanced nervously at the man in the black robe, unsure of how to proceed. In front of him, facing away, head bowed low, was a man he once knew but could no longer remember; knelt as if in prayer.
“One quick cut across the throat, Jacob, deep and long, and it is done. If you feel the knife stick, pull your arm around and over the shoulder hard.”
Unsure, Jacob took the hair of the man in his hand and pulled it back. He felt the blood course through the veins around the neck. Felt the life in his hands. Took the knife and delicately lined it up.
Felt the hand on his shoulder holding him back.
“The words, Jacob. Remember the words.”
He couldn’t remember who this man was he was about to destroy. But he remembered the words the man in the black robe had taught him.
“In the name of Cronos, I sacrifice this b ody to make this Portal.”
One quick cut across the throat, deep and long, and it was done.
Chapter 1 5
“Professor Eugene Anwick was a physicist working on projects funded by Cambridge University, of which he was a don. His particular field was what you and I may call quantum physics. By all accounts, he was a leader of his field. Shy, determined, intellectually brilliant. His colleagues nicknamed him Little Newton. As far as everyone was concerned he led a quiet, simple life with his wife, Sasha Anwick, in a large country house five miles outside of Cambridge.”
Arms folded, Alix eyed Harker suspiciously. She could swear that the temperature dropped a few degrees every time she spoke; she pulled her coat tightly around her neck, cursing her knee length skirt decision. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Ash steal another glance at her legs before fishing a pen out to make notes with.
“Anwick’s distressing demise occurred two years ago,” Harker continued with the air of a bored teacher reading to a class of imbeciles. “It would seem that whilst Anwick was a fairly normal and uninteresting individual, save for his extraordinary intellect, his wife, Sasha, was an unstable tyrant. She controlled Anwick’s every movements. She was insanely jealous of Anwick’s relationship with his work and illogically paranoid about her husband. She was convinced he was having an affair with one of the cleaners. So one day she went downstairs, took a meat cleaver from the kitchen, went back upstairs and tried to hack off the cleaner’s breasts. She didn’t do a very good job. There was a lot of blood, as one might imagine, and the cleaner went into arrest. She died shortly after from the trauma. Eugene watched the whole thing from the bathroom. When Sasha came after him there was a struggle. It’s not clear what happened but somehow Anwick and his wife found themselves on the landing and at some point Sasha ended up falling down the stairs backwards, breaking her neck as she fell.
“Having not turned up for an important lecture, Anwick was found by a colleague later that day. He found Anwick sat in his car, parked inside a garage. The carbon monoxide readings in his blood were off the chart. But nonetheless and, miraculously it would seem, he was alive.”
“This all happened when exactly?” asked Ash.
“Four weeks ago.”
“Was Anwick arrested?”
Harker scoffed, as if somehow that was a silly question although to Ash it seemed perfectly logical. Man gets caught having an affair, wife attacks man’s lover, man pushes wife downstairs and tries to kill himself. More than worthy of investigation.
“It would seem,” said Baron, who was choosing his words carefully, “that that is the point at which Professor Anwick is placed in the Innsmouth Institute.”
“So he
Jacob’s hand trembled as he examined the knife in his hand. A tiny fragment of his mind fought to prevent the darkness overpowering him completely. But it was a futile effort and he could already feel the energy crackle down his arm and to the tip of the blade.
He glanced nervously at the man in the black robe, unsure of how to proceed. In front of him, facing away, head bowed low, was a man he once knew but could no longer remember; knelt as if in prayer.
“One quick cut across the throat, Jacob, deep and long, and it is done. If you feel the knife stick, pull your arm around and over the shoulder hard.”
Unsure, Jacob took the hair of the man in his hand and pulled it back. He felt the blood course through the veins around the neck. Felt the life in his hands. Took the knife and delicately lined it up.
Felt the hand on his shoulder holding him back.
“The words, Jacob. Remember the words.”
He couldn’t remember who this man was he was about to destroy. But he remembered the words the man in the black robe had taught him.
“In the name of Cronos, I sacrifice this b ody to make this Portal.”
One quick cut across the throat, deep and long, and it was done.
Chapter 1 5
“Professor Eugene Anwick was a physicist working on projects funded by Cambridge University, of which he was a don. His particular field was what you and I may call quantum physics. By all accounts, he was a leader of his field. Shy, determined, intellectually brilliant. His colleagues nicknamed him Little Newton. As far as everyone was concerned he led a quiet, simple life with his wife, Sasha Anwick, in a large country house five miles outside of Cambridge.”
Arms folded, Alix eyed Harker suspiciously. She could swear that the temperature dropped a few degrees every time she spoke; she pulled her coat tightly around her neck, cursing her knee length skirt decision. Out of the corner of her eye, she noticed Ash steal another glance at her legs before fishing a pen out to make notes with.
“Anwick’s distressing demise occurred two years ago,” Harker continued with the air of a bored teacher reading to a class of imbeciles. “It would seem that whilst Anwick was a fairly normal and uninteresting individual, save for his extraordinary intellect, his wife, Sasha, was an unstable tyrant. She controlled Anwick’s every movements. She was insanely jealous of Anwick’s relationship with his work and illogically paranoid about her husband. She was convinced he was having an affair with one of the cleaners. So one day she went downstairs, took a meat cleaver from the kitchen, went back upstairs and tried to hack off the cleaner’s breasts. She didn’t do a very good job. There was a lot of blood, as one might imagine, and the cleaner went into arrest. She died shortly after from the trauma. Eugene watched the whole thing from the bathroom. When Sasha came after him there was a struggle. It’s not clear what happened but somehow Anwick and his wife found themselves on the landing and at some point Sasha ended up falling down the stairs backwards, breaking her neck as she fell.
“Having not turned up for an important lecture, Anwick was found by a colleague later that day. He found Anwick sat in his car, parked inside a garage. The carbon monoxide readings in his blood were off the chart. But nonetheless and, miraculously it would seem, he was alive.”
“This all happened when exactly?” asked Ash.
“Four weeks ago.”
“Was Anwick arrested?”
Harker scoffed, as if somehow that was a silly question although to Ash it seemed perfectly logical. Man gets caught having an affair, wife attacks man’s lover, man pushes wife downstairs and tries to kill himself. More than worthy of investigation.
“It would seem,” said Baron, who was choosing his words carefully, “that that is the point at which Professor Anwick is placed in the Innsmouth Institute.”
“So he
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