Portals to hell. Yes, they exist, and some are in relatively well-known locations. Sentinels have done what they can through the centuries to deter people from visiting them. Live in a region long enough and you can turn tales of a place into something it isn’t. Changing stories about a location takes time and patience. We have a lot of time, but patience sometimes is a bit short.
It’s easier to use magic to deter people from visiting locations, or at least the specific location where the portal is buried. Enough proper runes and spells and few would be brave enough to bother or get too scared to keep going once they see it’s unsafe to do so.
Unless you’re part of a TV show doing a special on Halloween when the veil is already thin enough for spirits to phase through and touch mortal idiots on such nights near these locations.
Have I mentioned how much I -hate- reality TV shows? Especially ghost hunter type ones? A bunch of bloody idiots who don’t know what they’re doing, faking it and one day likely to wander into trouble they won’t know how to handle. They’ll end up injured, or maybe better off, dead. Harsh, yes, but some mortals can’t handle the truth, and it drives them insane. Dead is better than sitting in a mental institution drugged to kingdom come, rocking back and forth for the rest of your days.
Save me. I’m about to go save a reality show cast and crew from eternity as hell’s bitches.
-Sentinel Chronicles Blog Entry
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There were some days Rosea understood exactly why Kristoph and Ansgar grew tired of Callum. He would get on these binge sessions about topics she just couldn’t stand, but never in a room she wasn’t in. No. He had to be in the room she was in while he was watching something so he could spew things about the show in an almost non-stop litany.
There were only a few movies and shows which kept him quiet, and she got to hear about it after. Specifically, a certain late 90s movie where she got to hear about how there was “enough room on that door for two people, Ro. TWO PEOPLE!”
Luckily, most of the time, she was able to just tune him out, like the annoying buzzing sound of a gnat. When she couldn’t, there were noise-canceling headphones and music blaring so she could focus on what she was working on – like today. Right until Callum walked up to her, unheard, and pulled her headphones off, music blaring around them until she tapped the button on the screen to pause it.
“You’re going to go deaf listening to music that loud,” Callum chided her. “Did you hear a word I said?”
“Believe me, I’ve tried.” Whether she meant tried going deaf or tried not hearing a word he said was debatable. She rolled her eyes as she turned, yanking the headphones from his hand. “What have I told you about getting my attention and not just grabbing things from me and…” she lifted the headphones to dangle in his face before tossing them on her desk, “No. I didn’t hear you. Thus, the whole purpose of noise canceling earphones and blaring music.”
“Something about it being a good way to lose my hand, but we both know you like my hands too much to permanently get rid of them. ‘Sides, you’re weaponless…” he paused as she reached down and pulled a knife from her boot. “Mostly weaponless. Anyway, we should go on a trip.”
“We as in you, me, and Kristoph?” She doubted that was what he meant, but figured she’d toss it out there.
He snorted and handed her phone to her which showed Ansgar’s name on the screen. Of course, he answered the phone for her because she didn’t hear it.
“Kaden still alive?”
“Mostly. Need a favor, succubus,” the sound of gunfire and shouting in a strange language could be heard through the connection. The trip must have been going well. “Callum said there was trouble brewing around Houska Castle. We’re a little tied up right now.”
As he talked, it took her a few moments to realize the language in the background was Amharic. What the fuck are they up to? she wondered. When she didn’t respond, he continued.
“Portal to hell. Sensitives near it on Halloween. Understand?”
“Fuck,” she sighed. So much for a quiet week. “Yes.”
“Good,” a few more gunshots followed before he told her where to get a tome that had all of his information on the portal as well as wards, protection spells, seals and more he had placed on it over the centuries after she stopped maintaining it. Basically everything she needed to know. “You and Callum can handle this.”
There was another round of gunfire before the phone abruptly cut off.
Rosea sighed, putting the phone down and leveling a look at Callum. She had strong suspicions Callum called or texted Ansgar about whatever was going on, resulting in Ansgar calling her.
“Book our flights – just you and me. Sounds like we’re going on a business trip,” she turned back to her computer, saved the blog post she was working on, and logged out so he could get into his account. She had no delusions he didn’t know her passwords to pretty much everything, but she still made him log in. “First-class if you can.”
“Like we’d get anything less than the best. I need my beauty sleep.”
She could only hope.
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Business class seats were a necessity when flying overseas. Rosea enjoyed luxury when they could get it and they could easily afford it. At least, she could admit, it was faster flying than it was to travel across the ocean on a boat of any kind and then ride on horseback or in a carriage to wherever they were going. Here, they’d just rent a car and get a hotel in Doksy, the city outside of Houska Castle.
Rosea was lost in thought as Callum drove from Prague to Doksy. She passed on instructions on where they needed to go before the hotel so she could retrieve the tome.
It had been some time since she had had anything to do with a Hellmouth, especially one as volatile and dangerous as this one. She normally didn’t have to. Ansgar or someone else handled them. Ansgar had done a great job keeping this one secured and she understood why he was asking them to go when he couldn’t.
Last thing they needed were demons and a variety of supernatural creatures coming up from the depths into Europe. They would be overwhelmed and hard to contain if not stopped before it opened.
It was not something they needed now – or ever.
Accessing the cemetery was easy enough. Callum stayed in the car while she opened and entered the crypt Ansgar described. Once inside, it took time to power down the spells protecting it, but eventually, she took the cloth-wrapped book back to the car. Once they were at the hotel, she’d have plenty of opportunity to crack it open and see what was inside.
Read the entire story at Ream Stories. Coming to Amazon and Story Origin soon.
