Natalie Yacobson - The Seventh Angel. Crypt of the Seven Angels

Coming over them, Mario did conclusions, which would make a connoisseur of rareness. The statues are amazingly beautiful. They pull a big amount. Especially if you consider that all of them are many hundreds of years. But they look new, as if just manufactured and studied. They are neither cracks, no scratches. And it is in the crypt where everything is covered with dust and web.

On the pedestals glowing gold plates with some inscriptions. Mario sent a lantern beam on them to read. He expected to see the dates there, the manufacturer’s stigma and some quote from the Holy Scriptures, and saw only… Names? He even thought at first that he was mistaken. Who happened to give all the statues the names, as if they were living beings?

Ramiel, Doriel, Nays, Setius, Meste, Novelin and Amadeo.

So are these names of statues or sculptors that made them? It seems to be the names of the angels should be distinguished by the typical end of «El», that is, here something similar was only twice. Nevertheless, confidence that this is exactly the angelic names grew. All the statues were almost the same face, but for some reason seemed blasphemy not to call each individual name.

Mario almost with greed looked at graceful faces with eyebrows and cheekbones, slightly resembling the outline of the wing. The ears of the statues were very pointed, very long fingers ended openwork nails. Well, just cosmic creatures. Or all the angels can be considered aliens from the space, because, in the end, did they come down from heaven?

At the sight of beautiful marble faces and winged bodies, for some reason a strong sexual desire awoke. Mario did not even feel this in his youth. But this is absurd! In front of him pieces of marble. Even with the corpse you can have sex, and it is impossible with the statue.

In the nearest pedestal, the name was highlighted, Setius. The gold letters resembled spiders that wove a sparkling web.

He is great, whoever he is. His wings, robe, feet in the sandals… Mario raised his eyes a little higher and noticed that he had no head.

Therefore, this same angel, whose head Blaise brought him in the box. With difficulty it believed that she sneaked into this crypt with a cutter or chisel, beat off the sculpture head and stated that it was her main enemy.

The enemy should be alive. Blaise never considers those who have already died enemies. She just forget about them. Maybe even bring flowers on their grave. When people die, they cease to be her enemies. Blaise herself loves to repeat that death erases all the boundaries between love and hatred. This phrase is accurate and not from the Bible, and not from Shakespeare. Most likely, quote from the chronicle of the Rosier family.

The tastes of this family are gloomy, but gorgeous. There are no such luxury statues in any museum. It seems they would have been proof of the centuries considered the main value of the family. He wonder why the main value of the family is deeply under the ground in a cold crypt.

You can either suffocate or frozen to death. And he really is going to spend here all night? Mario could not understand himself.

What does he plan to find here?

His sharply struck the discovery that Blaise was very similar to these sculptures.

The pale figures admired and scared. Amadeo was perhaps the most beautiful. But the beautiful face is so struck by an ominous expression that he wanted to stick out from him and flew without looking back. Why is so scary to watch him? What is the secret here? And what if they really are alive? It is impossible to believe in that. This is absurd! A stupid old legend!

Somewhere sounded a strange singing. As if there were seven voices at once. Or is it some kind of bells somewhere ringing?

He turned around. The statues stood right in front of him. Still a second ago, there was emptiness. And now the wings of marble angels are closed everywhere. Pale swelling lips are torn off in fixed faces.

«What do you want from us?»

«What do you want from Blaise?»

One of the angels looked in his eyes. It seems that it was Amadeo. Although Mario himself did not know how it distinguishes them. They are all almost twins..

«Blaise should not have other patrons. The only patrons are we.»

Amadeo said it? Or immediately seven angelic voices mocked him.

Marble fingers dug into his eyes. The face was wet from the blood. Mario dropped to his knees on the cold floor. Is it possible to create something alive from marble? It turns out that you can. If only they did not create by hell. They whispered with alive voices, they moved, they laughed with a laugh.

«What do you need from Blaise? What do you need from all her family?»

Nobody answered him, but in the dark it seemed that the marble lips of one of the angels stretched out in a shy smile. And then followed the blow, powerful and crushing. Mario did not even understand what happened, and his bones were already crackled under the angel’s foot. Everything happened too quickly. He lay under their feet with broken hands and legs, and empty marble eyes looked at him without any expression.

It seems that the Inquisition was such a method of torture and execution – to throw stones to the convicted person on the chest until he suffocates under their severity. Mario regretted that he did not believe in the words of Blaise immediately, and put them in check. It turns out, the girl is not crazy. But she nevertheless lured him to the right death. Intentionally or not, he could only guess.

He did not even have time to say Blaise, that he would like to see her in his place. Oddly enough, this thought bothered him before his death most.

«Do not worry, we will say her!» Marble voices sounded like one, but leaned over him to finish him precisely the statue without the head.

In the box something jerked. It was stupid to shoot in the box, but for some reason he wanted. The feeling was as if some malicious little animal sit there. And if you do not kill it right now, then it will kill you.

From the crypt where the boss was closed, neither sound came, but the feeling was such that something was happening there. Is he looking for a treasure there? Carlos is accustomed to not burden himself with extreme thoughts. Think is the privilege of bosses. His task is to be a pure performer of instructions. Therefore, he survived the longest and made his way above everyone – he did not do and did not think anything over what he was told. Only today he fell out, because the proximity of a strange drawer drove him crazy.

It seems it began to vibrate suspiciously. Such a feeling that Jaguar will jump out of this box now, as if a rabbit is from a juggler’s hat. When was the last time he watched trickles? For a long time, in some bar. He went there by mistake instead of a strip club.

Carlos nervously turned around. Is it time to check how there is a boss inside the crypt? No you can not. He ordered not to jump there until the morning. Carlos decided to better inspect the drawer, moved the lid and instead of a bomb or a dangerous animal found inside the sculpture in just a fragment. There must be a rarity, stolen from someone’s private collection. And just. Carlos wanted to close the box disappointed, but then the beam of the moon slid along the elegant marble features. Puffy sculpture lips smiled as if they mocked. Carlos leaned to touch them, and felt the hand hit the trap. Something sharp dug into his fingers. Blood went. Carlos realized that he had no strength to scream.

«Somewhere there is the seventh!»

Whisper hung over the asphalt.

«There are only six of them! And there was once seven! The standert-bearers of the devil!»

Sheriff almost slept behind the wheel, and the voices whispered to him some kind of biblical nonsense about the helpmates of devil.