Howard Kane sat before his massive cherry wood desk in the office of the Soldiers of the Divine Trinity Church and heard a distinct ringing sound coming from one of its drawers. Surprised, he immediately reached for the drawer’s knob and pulled it toward him. The ringing was coming from a cellphone, and not just any cellphone, but a phone he had purchased and reserved exclusively for emergencies. What he and his congregants categorized as emergencies generally dealt with their dogged pursuit of evil in every form, and more specifically, witches. He watched for a split-second as the small black phone vibrated and moved itself less than an inch in one direction then stopped. He scooped it up and depressed the “send” button and answered.
“Hello?” Howard spoke into the receiver.
“Sir, it is John. I’m here at the Andrews house, and was told to alert you of any unusual activity,” the voice on the other end said.
Howard waited patiently for John to continue but was met with silence.
“Go on,” Howard urged. “You’re calling me on an emergency line, so clearly there is an emergency.”
“Yes sir. Sorry,” John began. “I can’t be sure, sir, but I think the Sola is here.”
The phone nearly slipped from Howard’s grip, shock weakening it. John Cartwright had been stationed at the Andrews house for the last two weeks, but just as a precaution. On the off chance that a vile cohort of Lily’s visited, he had wanted the area secured and with someone in place capable of handling such a being. Never in his wildest dreams had he imagined that the Sola herself would arrive. Yet, according to John, she had.
Howard inhaled a trembling breath, anticipation squeezing his lungs. “What makes you think that the Sola is at the Andrews house?”
“Well, we were here, and the doorbell started ringing. It rang several times and we assumed it was family or friends stopping by.”
“Go on,” Howard encouraged.
“This person, a girl, she was able to enter the house. She opened the front door and walked in as easy as you please and began calling out to Lily and her parents. She announced herself as though she knew them. She said her name’s Arianna Rose.”
The name jarred Howard, a jolt of inexplicable recognition registering in his brain. His pulse rate sped, racing dangerously, excitedly.
“Then what happened?” Howard asked John careful to conceal his eagerness and keep his voice level.
“We had been hiding in a hall closet upstairs and came out when she and her friend went outside. She stood at the center of the patch of grass, where we burned the witch, Lily. She stood there for a long time then collapsed. While she was on her knees, she screamed out, the sound of a demon if you ask me. When her friend grabbed her, she told him she had seen her friend burn. She said she knew what had happened.”
“It’s her,” Howard hissed, awareness tingling through his veins like lifeblood. His leathered skin tightened near the spot where his scalp used to be and he felt the few fine hairs of his body that had remained raise and quiver. The Sola was in his crosshairs. He would finally have her and the world would be rid of her depraved presence. “Who is she with?” he asked.
“A boy, a teenage boy,” John replied.
“Did they arrive together?”
“Yes, she arrived in his truck with him.”
“Excellent. Please get me the license plate number of that truck, John. I want to find out as much as I can about her friend.”
“Kyle is getting that for you as we speak,” John said. There was a pause in their conversation and the sound of paper rustling crackled over the line. When John’s voice returned, he shared the information his partner had obtained. “Okay, the plates are from New York and the numbers are K4E695. Did you get all that?”
“Yes, yes. I got it,” Howard replied as he scribbled the numbers down on a sheet of paper.
“What would you like us to do, wait for you and the others to arrive?” John asked.
“No, they will be gone by then. Kill them, kill them now.”
Silence befell the other end of Howard’s conversation and was interrupted only by the sound of John’s ragged breathing.
“Are you there, John? Did you hear what I said?” Howard asked.
“Yes sir,” John replied and Howard heard the faintest tremble in his voice.
Howard ended their call knowing that John and his partner, Kyle would likely fail. The Sola would not be taken easily. But they would have to try. They were bound by oath to do so. It was what God wanted them to do. And their sacrifice would not be in vain should they fall to her malevolent powers. They had identified the Sola, unearthed her human name: Arianna Rose.
Arianna Rose. The words blew through him like an icy wind and left him breathless.
He clutched his arms across his body, bracing himself against the chill of her soulless existence. But his arms provided little comfort. The only comfort he would feel would be when she had been burned at the stake like her ancestors before her. He would formulate a plan. Should his soldiers fail, as he felt certain they would, he, with the Lord’s guidance, would bring down the Sola.