Page 61 of Infernal Vices

“You know that Nissa is your friend, yes? We are all your friends and have your best interest at heart,” I gentled.

“What are you talking about?” the young man scowled. I removed my red book from my pocket and leafed through the fine pages as I said,

“The ritual is untested in our times. We don’t know if it even works. The translation from Archaic Greek was made and copied for our book. I don’t know if you are aware, but the Archaic Greek alphabet varied by locale. So, if this scroll was read by a learned scholar from a particular area the translation would differ in meaning. But, for the Island of Agea, where the Staff and scroll were found, the words in the ritual mean, that for the power in the Staff of Asklepios to be awakened, ‘The bull and goat must know love, sacrifice love and life to beget life evermore.’ Do you understand Leo? This is most important,” I said with the sullen seriousness of a priest.

Leopold looked stricken then, wilting a little but said nothing in reply, so I carried on.

“I understand it to mean that to awaken the power of the Staff during the ritual; those using it must be in love—”

”We are, I love Lawrence, I do!” Leo insisted. I held a hand up to silence him, and then continued.

“—And they must know true death to be reborn.” I paused for a beat before revealing the awful truth. “To enact the ritual spelled out in the scroll you will both need to actually die to be reborn, Leo. This is the fate Lawrence has planned for you both.”

“Y…yes… I know,” he said weakly. “I am the sacred vessel. I am the key to immortality. I will pass through the veil with my lover and we will return to tell what is on the other side,“ he continued with false bravado. Then in a trembling voice added, “He said we will be Gods amongst men. We will be famous for returning, resurrected like Christ, and we will be granted life eternal. We will tour the world and preach of what we saw. It will be glorious.” His lips trembled as he spoke.

It was then that Nissa and Fairfax stood up and came into the summerhouse. Nissa lowered to her knees in front of Leo and took his pale trembling hands in hers.

“Sweetheart, I know everything, you need not be afraid,” she said as a tear fell from Leopold’s eye.

“I…I don’t want to die,” the boy whispered. “But I promised Lawrence. I told him I love him. I am the vessel, a gift from the Gods. Lawrence said he has searched for years to find me.”

I rather felt sorry for the boy, for he had been seduced by Blake’s affections and pulled into events he truly did not understand.

“Blake has a gift of telling men what they want to hear,” Fairfax said as he stood by my side.

“But he loves me. He tells me all the time how he loves me,” Leo insisted. “He would never harm me.”

“I’d like to show you something,” Nissa said and then turned to Fairfax, who eased his hand inside his jacket and removed a folded piece of paper. He passed it to Nissa, who unfolded it and showed the page to Leo. I gasped when I realized what it was—the photograph I had taken from the Parisian brothel book.

“Do you remember me telling you about my father and how we were recently acquainted? He did not know I lived, and I did not know he survived the sea journey from Bombay to Southampton. This is a photograph of my father with a man named Nathaniel Everett. It was taken in Paris when father was eighteen.” Nissa showed the photo to Leo.

“But…how can this be? That man with your father is my Lawrence, younger, but…it is. Why was he using another name?”

“Nathaniel Everett is also a false name. He has used many false names over the years.”

Leopold’s complexion was ashen. “What happened to your father?”

“He was Everett’s favourite, until he tired of him. Then he drugged him and set him up to be sold into prostitution and photographed with other men. My father was astute, smarter than his abuser and he realized his drinks were doctored with a drug that made him pliant to his master’s whims. He stopped drinking what he was offered, and finally he escaped,” Nissa explained softly.

“So, now you understand what is at stake here, Leo. Nobody knows if the Staff is actually magical or if stories of its healing properties are the stuff of fables. Blake is not the man you think he is, no matter how much you believe you love him, he is not to be trusted. You are not his first special boy, and you will not be his last,“ Fairfax stated.

“LIES! This cannot be true. This is lies. Why are you lying to me? Lawrence would never put me in danger. He loves me. I am his vessel. You are jealous, that is it. You want to use the Staff for your own means…just like that dolt with the limp prick, Ardmillan.” Leo spat maliciously. He snatched his hands back from Nissa and stood. “We’ll just have to see what Lawrence says about all of this!”

I panicked then and stood too but before Leo could rush out of the summerhouse Charles Ashe and Jack Dancer stood in the doorway…And Charles held the dossier.

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