James Rollins - Blood Infernal

“That pretty much sounds like right now,” Jordan said.

“And this valley truly exists?” Rhun asked.

“It does,” Erin said. “The valley has long been a sacred Buddhist place. Monks and nuns still live there, and all killing is forbidden on its slopes.”

“Like here,” Jordan added, wondering if Hugh had set up this hermitage as his own personal Tsum Valley.

“The monks who taught me,” Hugh explained. “They lived in a monastery in that valley, built between two great trees, trees as eternal as the monks themselves. Under one bower the monks sat to meditate. That tree was called the Tree of Enlightenment . Under the other, the monks drank their wine. That tree was called the Tree of Eternal Life .”

Erin stepped free of his arm. “In other words, the tree of knowledge and the tree of life . From the biblical story of the Garden of Eden.”

Even Elizabeth looked aghast. “Are you claiming this place — Tsum Valley — is the actual location of the Garden of Eden?”

Sophia scowled. “How could the Garden of Eden be in the Himalayas?”

“There is a school of thought that places it there,” Erin told her. “Some scholars think that the legends of Shambhala are similar enough to the stories of Eden that they might be the same place. Like Eden, Shambhala was said to be a garden where there was no death and only the pure could remain.”

“The Nazis sent an expedition to Tibet in the 1930s,” Jordan added, drawing upon his knowledge of World War II. “To look for the origin of the Aryan race, a race of supermen. Those immortal Buddhist strigoi would definitely fit that bill, too.”

All eyes turned to Hugh for confirmation.

He shrugged one shoulder. “I am merely saying that the valley has two trees. I cannot presume to know where the Garden of Eden was, or if it ever existed.”

“Still,” Jordan said, drawing them back to the more pressing issue, “from Edward Kelly’s mural, that valley is also where all Hell is supposed to break free.”

He pictured that lake and the dark shadows boiling out of it.

Hugh gave him a small nod. “The monks told me that this garden was at an intersection between good and evil. That they were guardians of that gateway.”

“And what about the three stones?” Erin asked.

“According to my teachers, that trio of gems hold the power to open and close that portal between worlds. But as modern man began to encroach farther and farther into their territory, threatening to expose them, the monks feared that they might not be strong enough to guard those stones. So they gave me two of the gems, to disperse them apart in the wider world.”

“In other words,” Jordan said, “don’t keep all your eggs in one basket.”

“Timeless wisdom,” Hugh concurred.

“But why did you hand such a powerful artifact to John Dee?” Elizabeth asked.

“A foolish conceit in hindsight,” Hugh said with a sigh. “As the world of scientific inquiry rose out of the ashes of the Dark Ages — as alchemy became chemistry and physics — I thought I could discover more about the stones myself.”

Jordan knew Cardinal Bernard had fallen into the same trap just recently, dabbling with those drops of Lucifer’s blood. It was no wonder these two characters had once been best buds. They shared a similar nature.

“John Dee was a wise man and a good one,” Hugh continued. “I thought that he was using the stone to contain evil, imprisoning it drop by drop. I could not fathom where that might lead. After he died, I tried to recover the gem, but the greed of Edward Kelly drove the man to sell it. From there, I lost track of the stone.”

“So our goal must be to take your stone and the one in Jordan’s pocket and bring them back to that valley,” Erin said. “Where the monks are still safeguarding the third one. But why?”

“I only know what I have told you,” Hugh said. “Perhaps the monks will know more.”

“And don’t forget,” Jordan reminded everyone, glancing to the windows, happy to see the sunlight still shining through the waterfall, “we’re not the only ones looking for those stones.”

Legion was still out there.

“But why does that demon care?” asked Sophia. “What is his role?”

Rhun looked dour. “With those stones, he could possibly open the portal in that valley and unleash Hell’s forces upon the world, freeing Lucifer in the process.”

Erin nodded. “And apparently it’ll be up to us to use those same stones to find a way to secure that demonic horde in its place, to bottle Hell back up.”

“Sounds easy enough,” Jordan said with exaggerated bravado. “Of course, first we’ll need that gem you hid here, Hugh.”

The man opened his arms wide. “You are free to seek the stone in my church.”

“If Erin passed the test,” Elizabeth asked, her eyes flashing angrily, “why not simply give her the stone?”

“She must find it on her own.”

Jordan stared at Erin. “Sorry, babe, looks like it’s time for part two of your test. So take out a Number Two pencil and begin.” He looked to the shine of the lowering sun, knowing they had about an hour of daylight left.

And you’d better hurry .

Erin scowled at Hugh de Payens.

No wonder he and Bernard were such close friends .

They both were masters of secrets and manipulation.

She faced her challenger. “Let me guess. Aqua , the stone of Water, is still up at that mountain lake. Which means you possess Sanguis , the gem of Blood. It only makes sense the monks would send that particular one with you, a Sanguinist .”

“The gem was never meant for me,” Hugh answered. “You must decipher the riddle so that you may retrieve the stone that belongs to you .”

Belongs to me? What did that mean?

She shoved that thought aside for now and turned to face the church. If Hugh had hidden it somewhere in here, it would be somewhere significant.

“ Sanguis … blood…” she muttered to herself.

Rhun watched her, his worried fingers rising to touch his pectoral cross. The crucifix rested over his silent heart, the silver burning his skin, the pain meant to eternally remind him of his oath to Christ and the Church. She stared a moment at his bandaged stump.

Was that not enough pain for any god?

She returned her attention to the church, recognizing it was laid out as a cross.

Like Rhun’s crucifix .

A thought rose inside her. She paced it off, striding through the straw. She moved to the center of the church’s cross, to where the transept intersected with the nave.

She stared back at Rhun, seeing the burn over his heart.

She stood now in the heart of Hugh’s church.

And wasn’t the purpose of a heart to pump blood ?

The Sanguis stone had to be here.

Erin glanced directly over her head, back to the ceiling. Did Hugh hide it somewhere up there?

No, she decided, that riddle’s been solved .

A previous principle echoed in her head.

As above, so below .

She stared down to her toes, then dropped to her knees. She leaned down and swept the straw from the floor, searching. She scuffled around until she found a stone with a distinct scalloped indentation.

Like a cup.

“It’s under here,” she said hesitatingly, then louder and more certain. “You’ve turned the Sanguis into the heart of your church, Monsieur de Payens! You’ve hidden it here.”

The others rushed over, stirring a flight of dark birds across the bricked vault.

Hugh followed.

Rhun reached her first, lowering beside her. He held his palm over the chunk of stone she had found. “She is right. I can even feel a whisper of holiness rising from here.”