James Rollins - Blood Infernal

Tereza continued more boldly, apparently glad not to have the irritable nun at her throat any longer. “The energy from these forces was channeled through the chandelier in the center of the room. Those energies were used for all manner of occult and alchemical purposes. If you’ll come over to this case, I can show you …”

Erin stepped away, slipping toward Elizabeth who had turned away from the fireplace.

“What were you doing?” Erin asked softly.

Elizabeth kept her voice low. “Dee had a secret compartment in that marble mantel. The green diamond was once hidden there, when the stone was intact. I just checked it.”

“Did you find anything?”

Elizabeth opened her hand to reveal a scrap of paper in her palm. “Just this.”

Erin noted a row of unusual symbols on it.

“It’s a name written in Enochian,” Elizabeth explained.

Erin stared at the strange letters. She knew that John Dee had created his own language, but she’d never learned it. “What name?”

“Belmagel.”

Erin frowned at Elizabeth, not recognizing the name.

“Belmagel was an angel to whom Edward Kelly supposedly spoke with during his scrying sessions with John Dee. Dee eventually had his doubts, and the two men had a falling-out, but Emperor Rudolf was a fierce and unfaltering admirer of Kelly.”

“So who do you think left that scrap of paper?”

“Only Rudolf, Dee, and I knew of the existence of that compartment. Rudolf was very secretive about it. He even had the original designer killed to ensure that he never revealed its presence. If Dee had left something there, Rudolf would have taken it after the man died, so I assume that this note must have been left by Rudolf himself.”

“What else do you know about this Belmagel?” Erin asked, nodding to the paper.

“Kelly supposedly communed with two angels. Sudsamma was a good angel, a being of light. Belmagel was a dark angel, born of evil.”

Maybe this was a clue. Her group was searching for the most evil angel of all — Lucifer.

“If Rudolf left this, it may have been a message to me,” Elizabeth explained. “Something only I would understand.”

“What was he trying to tell you?” Erin asked.

Elizabeth gave a small, frustrated shake of her head. “It must have something to do with that charlatan, Kelly. Perhaps this was hidden to direct me toward the man, to his house.”

“Where did he live?”

“He had many houses. Who knows if any of them are still standing today?”

Erin stared toward one person who might know. She lifted her arm. “Tereza, a question, if I might?”

The guide turned toward her. “What would you like to know?”

“Edward Kelly was an associate of John Dee. Do you know where Kelly lived and if that place still exists?”

Her eyes widened, clearly delighted to have an answer. “Certainly. It’s quite an infamous place. It’s named the Faustus Dum , or the Faust House, and it can be found in Charles Square, though it’s not open to the public for tours.”

Erin glanced to Elizabeth. The countess gave a small nod of acknowledgment, plainly knowing the place. From the darkening of her expression, she wasn’t pleased about this location.

As Tereza returned to her lecture with the others, Erin spoke quietly with Elizabeth. “What do you know about the Faust House?”

“It was a place of much infamy. Before Kelly moved in, Emperor Rudolf’s astrologer, Jakub Krucinek, resided there with his two sons. Later, the younger one killed the older one because of a supposed treasure hidden in that house. Kelly himself rigged the place with all sorts of trickery. Doors that would open by themselves, staircases that would fly around, handles that would shock you if you touched them.”

She made a sharp scoffing sound, then continued. “The man was a fraud and a swindler. But the house … it’s authentically malevolent. It’s why the house was associated with the Faust legend.”

“The scholar who made a pact with the devil?”

“Some say Faust himself lived there, that it was in that very house that he was sucked away to Hell, drawn straight through the ceiling.”

Erin eyed the countess doubtfully.

She shrugged. “Legend or not, strange occurrences have been associated with that place. Mysterious disappearances, loud blasts during the night, strange lights.”

Erin pointed to the paper with the Enochian writing. “Could Rudolf have left that secret message to you, directing you to the Faust House? The green diamond had a connection to a dark angel and so does that place.”

“Perhaps …”

Tereza spoke louder, stepping to a bookcase. “And now for the next stop on our tour.”

The guide shoved the bookcase to one side, revealing a set of steps leading down.

Jordan exclaimed loudly, sounding boyishly excited, “Cool! A secret passageway.”

Tereza stood at the threshold of the secret stairs. “This passage leads down to an alchemist’s private laboratory. If you’ll look down near the floor, you’ll see a large metal ring just inside. It is said that the Rabbi Loew chained his infamous golem there when it misbehaved.”

Erin smiled at the idea, but the Sanguinists looked down at the ring skeptically. Apparently, they believed in strigoi and angels but not in giant clay men brought to life by alchemists. She guessed they had to draw the line somewhere.

Tereza led them down the stairs.

Erin trailed with Elizabeth, who nudged the ring with her toe as she passed it. “Such nonsense,” the countess whispered. “Dee chained a wolf to that ring, a beast that answered to no one but Dee himself. On the day Dee died, Rudolf had to kill the animal to get into this room.”

Erin followed last down the stone steps. The stairs were narrow so that everyone had to go single file. At the base of the stairs, a tunnel ran ahead, and Tereza directed them onward. But Erin paused to examine a metal door on the left. It had a square opening at eye level, like the door to a prison cell. Through the opening, she could see another tunnel.

“Behind that door,” the guide called back, noting Erin’s attention, “is a tunnel that leads to the old town square. We discovered that tunnel and others a few years back following a great flood. It took some time to clean out the mud.”

Jordan glanced back at Erin, clearly remembering her recounting of that flood.

Tereza continued. “In the furnace room up ahead, we discovered a tunnel that leads under the river and runs all the way to Prague Castle.”

Elizabeth nodded. “Rudolf used that tunnel — and others — to come and go under the city, so that no one knew where he was.”

Erin could not help but be fascinated by these stories, trying to imagine that time when science, religion, and politics blurred together, wrapped in mysteries and legends.

They continued down the tunnel. Jordan had to keep his head ducked from the low ceiling. The passageway finally ended at a small room with a round metal stove in the center. The stove held metal flasks with long spouts, while a limp set of bellows rested in front of the stove’s opening. Soot covered everything: roof, walls, and even the stone tiles on the floor were black.

This must be the furnace room that Tereza had mentioned. At the back, another doorway led off to a neighboring dark room. Their guide pointed toward it. “In the next room is where the alchemists worked on transmutation — changing base metals to gold.”

Elizabeth muttered. “Such foolishness. Who could believe you could change simple metals to gold?”