When Heaven meets Hell

Chapter Twenty One

Warning: The following chapter contains disturbing elements.

The sun hadn't completely set, yet already it seemed that night had crept up on the graveyard. The gloomy atmosphere was further enhanced by the fact that there was no one around. Even the crunch of Joan's boots against the fallen leaves did nothing to dispel the haunting silence that hovered above the cracked rows of graves.

The wind picked up, shaking the bare tree branches and making the hem of her skirt whip around her ankles. Avander walked beside her, his long dark hair trailing behind him like a shadow. Weaving through the grave stones, Joan followed a familiar path, one she had often trekked upon. Her feet led her through a group of trees huddling close together, their branches swaying like gnarled hands. Finally she came upon a less populated field of graves set apart from the others. This was where most of the Hales were buried.

She walked past cracked and weathered grave stones. They all might have been white and grand at the time of their erection, but now they looked in dire need of maintenance. The color was darkened, the writing and carvings faded until they was no longer visible. After the deceased had been buried, it seemed none of the family members had ever bothered visiting.

However, one pair of graves stood out among the forlorn bunch. They were set to the left and still retained their white color and looked fairly new. They were, because they had only been there for a year.

Joan moved closer to her parent's graves, coming to a stop before them. Their names were engraved upon the marble along with their dates of birth and death. A bunch of dead roses lay at the foot of the grave stones, placed there by Joan ages ago. Normally, she would have visited her parent's graves weekly, but of late, she had been avoiding going to the grave yard. Even now, she wished she could turn around, but she has a task to do. It was time she got the answers she yearned for.

Nevertheless, for a few minutes, she stood in silence, taking the moment to think over what she was going to do. The wind whistled in her ears as she gazed down, as though trying to see past the layers of earth that separated her from the only people she had ever truly cared about. Very soon however, she would be closer to them than she had been in years.

Taking a step back, she looked over at Avander, who was studying her with a strange expression on his face, somewhere between amusement and curiosity.

"So this is how you mortals deal with your dead." He said, looking at the graves. "But why waste so much time and effort on the dead? Seems rather trivial to me."

"It's not something you demons would ever understand." Joan said coldly, still staring at the graves. "Now, let's not waste any more time. Dig it up."

Avander moved forward, standing before her father's gravestone. With a flick of his hand, the earth around the grave began to shift and quake. Soil leapt into the air and settled onto one side of the grave until a neat, rectangular gap formed in the ground, revealing a vault below. At Avander's command, the coffin was removed from the vault and deposited at Joan's feet.

Hesitation flashed in Joan's eyes, but she nodded at Avander nevertheless. The coffin lid lifted and fell back, showing what remained of Eric Hale.

She had been expecting nothing more than bones, but was surprised to find that they body still had skin attached to it. The decomposition process was not complete yet. The skin was sunken and darkened and there was evidence that insects were still at work. The clothes her father had been laid in were barely more than tatters. Joan stared at what had once been her father's face, all sorts of emotions welling up inside her. She did not allow herself to speak for fear that her voice would come out shaky. Something inside her ached as she surveyed what had once been her father's face,imaging his smiles she hadn't seen in ages. Nevertheless, despite her inner turmoil she kept her face blank, covering her nose as the horrid smell invaded her nostrils. She tore her eyes away from the corpse's face, scanning the inside of the coffin to see if something stood out. After a few seconds of searching, something caught her eye.

On one of the corpse's shriveled finger she spotted a silver ring. Set into the silver was a dark blue stone and, seeing it, Joan recognized it at once. She had given it to her father on his birthday.

This immediately made her frown. She cast another look around, her gaze focused mainly on the dead body's hands. Her frown deepened as she returned her gaze to the ring on the middle finger.

This isn't right. She thought to herself. Why is he not wearing the Hale family ring?

The Hale family ring was a priceless heirloom that had been handed down in the family for generations, passing through the hands of only the oldest child in the family and was considered one of the greatest honors that could be bestowed upon a family member. Her father, being the oldest of his siblings, retained it's ownership and had worn it with pride. Never, in all her life had Joan seen her father without the family heirloom on his finger. She could not believe she had not noticed this tiny fact at the funeral.

But if he was not wearing the ring, where was it? And why was he wearing that flimsy piece of jewelry she had given him all those years ago. As far as she knew, it had been a bad idea giving it to her father in the first place. He hadn't really ever liked it. She remembered presenting it to him proudly on this birthday, failing to notice the forced smile on his face. He had only put it on to spare her feelings. Even when she had thrown a small tantrum and demanded he remove the family ring and wear her gift only, he hadn't relented. Then why, she asked herself, was he wearing it when he died?Could it possibly be another clue?

"Get that ring." She commanded, pointing it out to the demon without thinking. "And don't you dare let the body come to any harm."

With another flick of Avander's wrist, the ring slid between the shriveled fingers and rose into the air. Joan held out a handkerchief and it landed snugly in the cloth. Wrapping it up carefully, Joan put it away.

"Now put everything back in place."

Barely two minutes later, was the coffin once against buried underground. Avander had left no trace of it ever being unearthed. Stepping forward, Joan lay down fresh flowers on the two graves,, ignoring the quizzical look the demon gave her. Once done, she left the grave yard, knowing that she had found the key that would open the door.

Later that evening, she stood in the dark library with Avander skulking in the shadows. Holding the cleaned ring between her fingers, she took a deep breath before stepping forward, pulling back the tapestry to reveal the small door.

Reaching out, she laid the part of the ring with the gem against the wall, holding her breath and waiting. Seconds ticked by and nothing happened. Then, glowing blue lines carved themselves into the door and the wall, twisting and turning and branching out. Joan felt the ring shudder as the magic flowed from it to the door and, incredibly, she heard her father's voice whisper in her ear.

"It is time."

The glowing lines faded, leaving the walls the same as they were before. However, there was no door this time, but a deep rectangular alcove in the wall. Joan spared a glance in Avander's direction, who had a irked look on his face. Turning back to the alcove, she could make out something in it. Reaching out she pulled out two things. The first was a ring, specifically the Hale family ring, a large black stone set into it. On the inside of the band was written the Hale family motto ; When one dies, the other shall succeed him. The dark gem glistened eerily in the candlelight.

The second item was a journal. Joan felt her heart race as she opened up the first page, seeing her father's name scrawled on it in slanting handwriting similar to her own. Leaning against the wall, she flipped through it. It would have been better for her to read the journal back in her study, but Joan had no patience left in her. In the dim, flickering candle light she stood reading the journal, her eyes racing across the pages and her hands fumbling as she turned to the next page.

By the time she had reached the last pages, her world had fallen apart. Everything had changed.