Jonah handed Ash his new jacket. Even though spring was around the corner, the evening looked as if it was going bring on freezing rain. He wished they would have left a few hours earlier as the sun had already dipped behind the trees, leaving a cold haze in its wake. They had just stepped off the platform and were making their way to the parking lot. There wasn’t much said between the two of them. Jonah was still racking his brain on how he knew Sterling and Ash was worried they were walking into a trap. They looked out into the night, attempting to find the black Lexus. With the trees clustered in so close and the minimal light of the train station, they had little to work with. As they moved further into the parking lot the open space felt as if more light should be visible. This was true but it also made every black vehicle blend together like cattle in a field.

As they made their way through the lot, a pair of blinding headlights lit the darkness, slowly creeping towards them. Jonah walked to the front of the door as the window slowly cascaded down; there was a man placed in the seat staring forward in the dark. His face and hair seemed to be almost identical to the man Jonah had met on the train, even the length of his brow seemed to match. Jonah approached the man. His vacant eyes didn’t move as Jonah approached him.

“Sir?” Jonah inquired.

The man said nothing just continued to stare outward at the parking lot. Ash shrugged.

“Sterling sent us?” She said.

The man, without looking, removed himself from the vehicle. Taking off his hat, he opened the back door for them. He stood next to it, upright like a soldier. The two of them entered the vehicle. The man shut the door and returned to his seat without a word. As soon as he shut his door, the car began to move, turning off the main road, down a narrow stretch of highway that was barely big enough for one vehicle. Ash cracked the window partially to let the cold night air blow on her neck. Jonah tapped her on the knee, pointing to the jacket pocket.

“Which one?” she asked, fatigued.

“Both. I want to cross reference to see if he ever mentioned Sterling or not.”

“I thought you went to grad school with him.”

“He is claiming his name is Coriolanus and I did go to grad school with a Coriolanus, but I never called him Sterling. In fact, I never heard anyone else call him Sterling,” Jonah said with concern in his voice.

“You think he knows Samson?”

“Considering he has a giant circle over his church I feel it is safe to assume so. Did you ever see someone like Sterling talking to Samson the entire time you knew him?”

“No,” she said, dabbing the sweat on her collar bone.

Jonah removed his glasses and awkwardly cleaned them.

“Ashlyn, I cannot help but notice you are seeming a little flushed,” he said softly.

She turned from him, grinding her teeth and exhaling slowly from her nostrils.

“If I am to continue down this road, I want to know that you are well at least well enough that I don’t have to worry,” he pressed.

Ashlyn rubbed her eyes, trying to keep tears out of them.

“I have been at death’s doorstep twice in less then a day and both times I walked away without a scratch. What is that? What is any of this? Why didn’t I believe Samson wandered into the desert and died? Why did I fly on a plane to find his brother? Why did I think we could fight the powers of hell? I just…I just wish I was stronger to understand why I am not dead, and he is…,”

she said, her voice trailing off.

Jonah readjusted his glasses on his face and sighed.

“If you asked me that yesterday I would have given you a speech about the human spirit or something about our need to survive. Yet honestly, now I can’t figure why we are alive unless Samson himself is in heaven protecting us and if that is the case it would not be the worst thing.”

Ashlyn smiled, the first she had since the lights had gone out in the library.

The Lexus turned and rumbled down a dirt road. Jonah looked out, trying to see where they were, but the trees were so thick and dark that he could barely make out the night sky. He looked over at the driver. Even with the turn, he continued to fixate his eyes forward without even a slight flicker of movement.

The car stopped. The man came and opened the door for them, letting them out to a giant courtyard. The hedges, trimmed and green, stretched out through several acres. To the left of the mansion one could spot a lake shimmering in light of the courtyard. The vastness of lake was so large that it disappeared on the horizon. To the right was a large wooden stable. Each beam was carved out of a whole birch tree. The sounds of the horses neighing and clopping echoed throughout the courtyard. The mansion itself was four stories. Cold red brick nearly washed out to a mud gray had been painted with a couple coats of burgundy to retain it elegant façade. The trees were trimmed perfectly to layer the overcast of the canopy in an arch that hung neatly over the courtyard. The windows were glazed and dark, with a slight glow of silver that twinkled off of each frame. Save the for light of the mansion itself, the woods surrounding the area were pitch black, leaving only a faint outline before the break in the trees seemed to create long narrow caverns.

The man led them up the narrow slate stone staircase at the front of the mansion, dragging his feet with every step as if he was wading through water, not bothering to look at his feet or even move his arms as he walked. They stopped at the door, a solid ebony piece with a crisscross steel frame. The door reached just shy of seven feet tall, yet with weight of the wood and metal frame bolted to its body, appeared that even a battering ram would not move it. With a slow swing of his hand, the man struck the metal, creating an empty echo of the blunt knock throughout the property that even managed to scare a few ducks on the water. Almost as if someone was standing on the other end of the door, it creaked open within seconds of the man’s knock. Another man nearly dressed the same as the first opened the door. The two men did not say anything to each other, merely one man turned back into the mansion while the other made his way down the staircase. Neither man addressed either Jonah or Ashlyn.

“Do we just go in?” Ash asked awkwardly.

The men kept on their way, slumping across the ground like logs being pushed through the mud. Jonah followed the second man, taking everything in slowly. The landing was a long hallway with three doors on the right, two doors on the left, and one at the end of the hall. The interior was more modern than the exterior. Freshly laid, new red wood floors. Three sapphire chandeliers that lit the hallway in a silver light that vanished as soon as it hit the floor. The walls were laid with a black stone that gave the whole hallway a cave-like appearance. Jonah and Ashlyn wandered up through the end of the hall. As they did, both of them noticed that the walls seem to have a outlines where large picture used to be but had been removed and left nothing but the black stones. The man stood at the far end of the hallway, holding the handle of another heavy looking ebony door.

As they approached him, he opened the door to a half moon dining room annex with white marble tiles. Just past the annex was a patio bay overlooking a short waterfall that crashed slowly into the lake that disappeared into the black denseness of the trees. The dining room table was solid ebony like the door, matching the large ebony chairs that surrounded it. On the table was a fresh plate of venison rib chops, aligot potatoes, steamed carrots, and other vegetables, three bottles of wine, as well two bottles of whisky. The man extended his hand to the table. They both shrugged and took a seat, sitting awkwardly in the silver blue light. The man, like the first two said nothing turning from the room he left leaving them alone. Jonah could feel his stomach growl as he stared at the chops that were wafting the fresh smell of cherry and smoked hickory into the air. He lifted his fork ready to stab into the chops. Before his fork struck the bone, the balcony door opened, and Sterling stepped in the room. He was dressed in a black dinner jacket with an arctic blue ascot tucked in the color of his white shirt. He finished tapping a small bit of tobacco out of a long-stemmed pipe. His head was down, and he didn’t even seem to be aware of their presence. Turning swiftly, he nearly dropped his pipe in fright.

“Oh Mr. Abelien… Miss Bird I am so sorry my mind escapes me. Have you started?”

“No, we were waiting for you,” Ash responded passive-aggressively.

Sterling quickly placed the pipe on the ledge of an ebony bookcase near the patio door.

“My apologies. I should have been more attentive. Please eat,” he said with a layer of charm and sincerity.

Ash bit her lip, slowly lifting the fine cutlery to cut into the chop. The knife slid through the meat with ease leaving the medium-well cooked meat exposed. Ash bit her lip harder.

“Mr. Halliwell how did you know I like my meat medium-well?” She asked, trying not to sound abrasive.

Sterling poured himself a glass of wine. The white liquid danced around the glass with a glint of gold.

“My chef must have gotten lucky and overcooked one of the chops,” he said with a smile.

Ash sighed, turning her focus to the venison. Sterling leaned the bottle to Jonah.

“Would you care for some mead? My own blend?”

Jonah nodded offering his glass. Sterling extended the bottle to Ash, but she shook her head.

“Not a big wine drinker.”

“I have a large selection if there is something else that you might be interested in?”

“Water is fine, thank you, Mr. Halliwell,” she said with a hint of a growl.

Sterling set his glass down and stared at Ash.

“Miss Bird, I understand that my invite to you and Mr. Abelien here must seem odd, but I assure you, it is strictly professional.”

“Here I thought it was because you recognized the family name,” Ash said 

“Family name?” Sterling asked, perplexed.

Ash lifted the ledger onto the table, paging through it until she landed on the page tiled. “YUMA.”

“You circled Samson Abelien’s church as a potential dig site.”

Sterling took the book and skimmed over it.

“Yes, but I haven’t been out there. The site was deemed a hoax. I considered it a possibility after receiving a book by a free mason, a Ruben something.”

Jonah lowered his head as Sterling took another long sip of wine, swirling the liquid around in his glass, letting it almost touch the rim.

“You’ve heard of Mason Ruben?” Jonah asked awkwardly.

“Yes, I am sure you heard the stories about the masons during the revolution.”

“Perhaps, there were always the witchcraft stories. British soldiers and politicians spreading rumors that the masons were sorcerers and wizards,” Jonah said with interest.

“Exactly, Ruben’s book seems to suggest he believed in this fiction or a least was delusional to their ideas.”

“In that time, there were a lot of people who said they saw demons. Maybe he was product of his time,” Ash quipped.

“Perhaps Miss Bird. But this faction of masons was known as the veiled masons. Their ideology in the face of facts was staggering. For example, one of their core beliefs was in magic. Not in the rhymes and devilish incantations you see from the British. No, they believed in a vessel form of magic.”

Grabbing his glass of wine, he stood up from the table, and made his way to the desk by the patio door. He opened a drawer and pulled out a volume entitled “The Grand Lodge of Brighton New Hampshire.” Bringing it back to the table he flipped to the main page. On the page was a renaissance-esque drawing of the earth bound in chains of fire, metal, light, wood, and bone. An eagle with outstretched wings held the light chain. An ox with lowered horns gripped the wooden chain. A bear was biting down on the fire chain. A man with hood and crook wrapped with the metal chain. A black goat whose horns were bound with the bone chain. Lastly, a dove with a white cord interwoven through all the creatures.

“Here we are. The masons believed that with the proper teachings and understanding of the creatures beyond the veil one could harness magic from the very spirits themselves. They had a five-prong structure.”

He pointed to the drawing of the eagle.

“The eagle, the symbol of righteousness. Those who learned the teachings of the eagle were able to talk to the heavens, the angels, maybe even God himself directly.”

He ran his finger to the ox.

“The ox, the symbol of strength. Those who learn the teachings of the ox were able to communicate with giants, the golems, and all the creatures of the earth.”

Pointing next to the bear, he continued.

“The bear, the symbol of power. Those who learned its teachings were able to talk to the phoenix, the griffin, and the creatures of immense power.”

He moved on to the picture of the man.

“The man, symbol of life. Those who learn its teaching could communicate with the spirits, the ghouls, and the specters.”

He scrolled to the drawing of the black goat.

“The goat symbol of cunning. Those who learn its teaching could communicate with devils, demons, and imps.”

Lastly, he pointed to the dove.

“The last one was the dove. Those who learned its teachings could communicate with any of the creatures beyond the veil but could not join in their wars or their conflicts. If they did, they were torn from the veil completely”

The table fell silent as Sterling snapped the book shut, causing Jonah and Ash to jump in their chairs.

“See, derangement of highest degree, a separated culture attempting to ascribe its own religion. My interest was not in their teachings but in their wealth. King George reported several pounds of tax money went missing from the bank in Boston and Philadelphia. These masons, after the war, scattered throughout the continent. They had to fund themselves somehow, what better way than to steal the gold and claim they were being pursued by devils.”

Silence fell around the table as the Jonah took another swig of wine.

“Anyways, there was nothing in Yuma to suggest the masons were even there. Perhaps you would like to take a look at what I have.”

“Well,” Jonah began, when a loud clap of thunder let out, dimming the lights slightly. Sterling sighed.

“It looks like that storm has followed us from Boston. I can’t in good conscience let you travel tonight; the woods are bleak enough without a storm. Can I offer you both shelter for the evening?”

Ash shook her head.

“I think we can find our way into Hanover.”

“Please. there was a bolt of lighting that destroyed a library in Boston. A Harvard one too, I might add. Several people died. I would be up all night, worried.”

Ash sighed and looked at Jonah.

“Your hospitality is welcome,” Jonah said softly

“Wonderful, “Please follow my butler, he’ll happily show you to your room.” Sterling said with a smile.

The dining room door opened, and the man stood there with his hand on the door. The man slowly motioned to them to follow.