Calabasas Confidential Ch. 01
Keywords: Ch., Calabasas, 01, Confidential,
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But if you do leave, the Sisterhood will denounce you, and all those Sisters who believe that Lenore was wrong in choosing you as her successor will be vindicated. It will also open the door for other, less desirable, candidates to make a bid for the leadership, and Angelique will be the first in line."
"If she wants it that bad, maybe she should have it."
"Never!" she said, suddenly raising her voice. "She must never become its leader. It would mark the end of the Sisterhood as we know it."
I shook my head numbly. "I feel like I'm having that horrible dream all over again."
"What dream?"
I was not sure if I should divulge the contents of my recent nightmare to her, but I needed to speak to someone about it. And her warmth and interest put me sufficiently at ease to make the attempt.
"I haven't told this to anyone, but I feel that I can share it with you. All is ask is that you keep it between us."
"I will. I promise," she said softly.
"I had a dream several nights ago that this woman—she called herself Yvette, and she looked a lot like you—took me on a journey to this dark, underground cavern. She called it the 'Masturbatorium,' but it didn't look anything like the one we know. She said that it was a vision of what it might look like in the future if I neglected my duty to the Sisterhood..."
In the midst of my speech my host unexpectedly looked away from me and gazed worriedly out the window, forcing me to stop in mid-sentence. At first I thought she had noticed something outside that was demanding her attention, but I soon realized that it was my words that were producing the troubled look upon her face. I resumed speaking as she continued to look away, and when I finally concluded my speech she rose from her seat and walked over to the bookcase and withdrew an oversized, leather-bound book. She rifled quickly through the pages and when she finally found what she was looking for she handed the book to me.
"Is that the woman you saw?"
On the page was a black and white line drawing done in ink of a woman who looked very much like the one I had seen in my dream. She was holding a glass orb in her hands and her head was covered with a veil. Underneath the illustration were some words written in Latin, which I could not decipher.
"Audaces fortuna iuvat," Charlotte said. "Fortune favors the brave."
"That's the motto of the Sisterhood," I said.
"That's right," Charlotte replied. "And that is the likeness of Yvette Anjou, the founder of our Order...and my distant ancestor."
I looked at the picture again and then at Charlotte and was amazed at the similarity of their facial features. "You look just like her!"
"The resemblance is uncanny isn't it? You say this is the woman you saw in your dream?"
"Yes."
Charlotte resumed her seat beside me and took a sip of tea. "Prescience runs strong in my family," she began. "And Yvette was the first and the greatest of clairvoyants. During her lifetime she predicted many events that ultimately came to pass: the French Revolution, the rise and fall of Napoleon, and a prediction yet to be fulfilled—the establishment of a new world order governed by a Sisterhood of women dedicated to the abolishment of war."
I told her that this prediction was highly unlikely to come to pass.
"War seems to be the natural impulse of men," I informed her.
"Of men, yes, but not of women. With women in control, the incidence of war would be lessened and eventually terminated altogether. But that can only happen with females in power. As long as men continue to rule the world, war and all its attendant evils will continue."
I shut the book and put it down on the table in front of me. "Look, I'm all for peace and everything, but I don't see how the Sisterhood will ever attain such power. Men are still firmly in control of everything."
She smiled. "Yes, right now they are. But things will be much different a few hundred years from now."
"A few hundred years?" I said, doubtfully. "I don't think so."
Charlotte looked at me with some measure of disappointment, as though she had expected a different response from me.
"I want to ask you something and I hope that you will accept it with equanimity." Her face took on a more contemplative expression as she carefully sought to choose the right words. "Do you believe that there is more to this life than that which you experience via your senses?"
"Our senses are the only means by which we can interpret the world."
"Yes, that is true. But as wonderful as our brains are, they are also limited. Do you accept the proposition that there may be things in this universe that are, as of yet, beyond our knowledge and comprehension?"
"I would say so, yes."
This earned me an even bigger smile. "The dream you had was not so much a dream as it was a vision. And what you experienced was something very unique in this world. It is my belief that Yvette has been in contact with you."
I looked at her askance. "I don't believe..."
"The life energy of the soul can exist beyond the mortal realm, and can sometimes communicate its intent over vast stretches of space and time."
"Do you really believe that?"
"Of course," she assured me. "You must open your mind to the possibility at the very least, Holly. Can you do that?"
"I suppose so," I replied doubtfully.
" From what you told me, it seems that she has shown you a glimpse of one possible future reality, and not a good one."
"It wasn't good at all," I said, recalling the vision of the myriads of men tortured mercilessly by their female captors. "There was lots of pain and suffering...it was a horrible vision."
"But that reality need never exist. Yvette told you that."
I nodded. "She said that if I did not shirk my responsibility to the Sisterhood then that vision of the future would never occur."
"And do you think she was telling you the truth?"
"I don't know. It all seems so fantastic. How can my decision to remain in the Sisterhood or leave it affect the outcome of future events?"
"Each of us makes our imprint upon the future by what we do in the present. Some people's imprints are more pivotal than others, making them the conduit through which great changes are effected. I don't know why this is, but I believe you are one of those people."
"So what are you saying? The fate of the entire Sisterhood rests in my hands?"
"As with all things concerning the supernatural, one cannot say with any certainty what results will occur from any particular action in the here and now. There are simply too many variables. I think Yvette was simply issuing you a warning. She was trying to help point the way. It is up to you figure out the rest."
I didn't mean to laugh, but I couldn't help myself. "Oh, that's very convenient! And how am I supposed to do that?"
"I don't know," she said. "But my instincts tell me that the answer will reveal itself to you in a very short time."
"Well I hope it's soon because I don't know how much longer I can stand to live in that crazy household."
"Your aunt loves you, even if Angelique doesn't. If only for her sake, don't leave her alone in that chateau with your cousin."
"Why do you say that?"
At first Charlotte seemed hesitant to offer an explanation.
"Charlotte? What is it?"
"I don't want to alarm you, Holly," she said gently, "but when I talked to Angelique during that session with Mr. Villon, I felt a cold and menacing presence in the room with us. Now I'm not saying your cousin is possessed, or anything like that. But for a split second I saw her spiritual aura emanating from outside her body. It was only for an instant, and what I saw terrified me."
Charlotte reached for her glass and drank the remainder of the contents in one gulp. She seemed visibly shaken by her recollection.
"You see, sometimes being a clairvoyant is not such a wonderful thing."
"But what was it you saw?" I asked, curious to know the truth.
She reached out her hand, grasped the leather book, and placed it gently in her lap. It seemed to me that she found some sort of comfort in it.
"I don't know how to explain it," she said. "I saw an image of... something dark and indistinct moving within a radiant golden light...it was blinding...and I felt as if it wanted to... devour me..."
As she described what she had seen, I let out a stifled cry.
"That can't be possible," I said, trying to avert the sensation of terror coming over me.
"You've seen this too?" Charlotte said, pressing me for information.
A sudden, awful realization was reflected in my face, a look that made my host reach out a trembling hand to me.
"You saw what I saw!" she exclaimed.
For a moment all I could feel was my own terror and her cold, shaking hand upon mine.
"Holly, tell me what it was you saw."
"It was when we reached the bottom level of the Masturabatorium," I said, envisioning the ghastly image once more in my mind. "That's when I saw it. It was hungry... and it wanted to devour me, too, but she reached out her hand...and willed it away. 'The Beast,' that's what Yvette called it."
"The Beast ..." Charlotte uttered, her face turning pale.
For a long while we regarded each other in silence. The coincidence (or was it?) of a shared vision was too astounding for either of us to easily accept. With tears welling in her eyes, she finally excused herself and went into the bathroom. She didn't come out until a few minutes later, and she seemed quite distraught.
"Holly," she said, sitting down next to me. "I don't know what all this means, but the fact that you and I saw the same thing means that your vision—my vision—must be taken seriously. I do know that Angelique is somehow involved in it, but to what degree I can't tell. My advice to you is to stay out of her way and don't do anything to provoke her."
"Training for the contest begins in a few days. I have no choice but to compete against her."
"Compete yes. But don't confront her. I'll run interference for you if you like."
"You'll be there?" I asked, suddenly hopeful.
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Keywords: Ch., Calabasas, 01, Confidential,