Date: Wed, 2 Jan 2008 03:50:20 -0800 (PST)
From: Gay Writer <gaywriter72@yahoo.com>
Subject: Lucif - Chapter 3
The following is a complete work of fiction. Any resemblance to
characters and real life persons is completely coincidental. Please do
not copy or distribute this story without the author's permission.
Author reserves all rights to this story.
Disclaimer:
The following story contains violence and erotic homosexual situations
and content. If it is illegal for you to read this, please leave now.
If after reading this disclaimer, you find yourself surprised by the
content, HUKED ON FONIKS didn't work for you!
Chapter 3
Distraction
Marcus was gone when I awoke. Many years had passed, and he didn't
need me any longer. His determination and will had given him the strength
to wean himself from my blood decades ago. We were never as close as Moses
and I once were, but we knew each other almost as intimately. Well, as
much as any two acquaintances can when they are in each other's company for
a couple of centuries.
I suppose it has always been different for me. Long ago, I learned
that life on this rock is little more than one distraction after the next,
interrupted by the odd obsession and occasional sorrow. Marcus hadn't
lived yet, and I wouldn't take that torment from him. Time, and the
endless litany of days, would eventually tear at his soul as much as it has
mine.
Still, that didn't mean I couldn't feel the loss. He was young,
and hadn't yet learned what life on this rock was all about. I envied him
his naivety. There was the infinity of time, and so much more, for him to
discover.
Years passed like forgotten breaths as I lived alone on Islay.
People crossed onto my land with greater frequency, and eventually I grew
tired of the battle to keep my piece of this planet mine. It was time to
move on to my next distraction, and I wanted to see how the people of the
world were progressing.
I walked the land as a human, and traveled the star lit nights,
only taking flight to cross the water between islands. The first hint of
civilization I encountered was the small fishing town of MacDar, on the
sandy beaches of Ayrshire. What I suspected were green covered mountains
had taken on night's blue hue, and more resembled great shadows rising in
the distance. Behind me, waves clawed at the shore like onyx talons and
the ocean seemed to stretch on forever, as I walked toward a clay and rock
structure. The air was cool, as it always is in this part of the world,
and the smell of the sea clung to the thick wool robes wrapped around my
body.
For a fleeting moment, thoughts of Marcus entered my mind, and I
was now grateful he was so enamored by the things he claimed from his
victims. Recently it had also become my practice, though not in as grand a
scale as he managed. Each summer I would insist he remove a generous pile
of his bounty from the cottage and burn it. Even though he washed the
hides and fabrics he pried from his victims' still warm bodies, a stench
remained. It was as if the last trickles of their horror had somehow
permeated the garments and could not be wrung away.
"Hold, stranger!" A mound of animal skins shifted and moved
forward out of the shadows.
The man's voice rattled, deep with congestion, and I wondered if I
had interrupted his sleep. I could sense the power and strength in his
arms and legs, and knew that this lump of a man was not what he appeared.
"I seek shelter for the night," I replied in Gaelic as I continued
to approach. The language had changed some over the centuries, but still
the basic structure remained.
"I said hold, stranger! I will end your life without a second
thought. There are things that roam the night here that even the gods have
forgotten, and you may well be one of them." The lump of a man now stood
like a waking monolith and snatched up the spear that lay beside him.
I couldn't contain my laughter, and stood still while he readied
himself. "Forgotten indeed, truer words have never been spoken," I paused
to search his mind and spoke his name, "Kesan."
His name meant spear, and it made me smile that his parents had
named him so appropriately. The fact that I knew his name, and that he
hadn't given it didn't set well, however.
"Foul creature. By your man's voice I know you not to be Phaerie.
You will not be the first of your kind I've killed during this moon's
turn." He spat out the words like they were venom.
Kesan rushed forward and thrust his spear into the center of my
chest. The sharpened stone blade was fastened to a wooden shaft that
snapped away where it was bound by leather cord. It fell to the ground and
he was left with only a splintered staff to defend himself.
He wielded it deftly as he spun and attempted to strike me, but I
moved much too quickly for him to land any of the blows. Soon, he tired
and backed away to block the entrance to the structure behind him.
The building was more of a mound of rock and clay, with a wooden
frame on the inside, scarcely holding it aloft. It was half dug into the
earth and half above. Had it not been for the orange glow of fire licking
at the sky from two torches, a traveler might think it was just another
hill.
"What, and who... are you, creature? I would know the name of my
opponent." Kesan spoke with labored breaths, but was recovering.
"I am Lucif of Islay." His eyes widened but he held his terror in
check. "Ahhh... I see you know the place."
"Many of my clansmen have gone there and have never returned. It
is cursed, and the womb of all evil. Once, the island was a right of
passage, but the God Galen and the Goddess Dorianna warned us away from
that place. Still, we went as was our custom, until these last few
centuries. My grandfather passed on the stories of that place to us as
children. We thought they were only meant to scare us away, but now I see
the legends may have had some merit." Kesan's eyes glistened with a
combination of sorrow and rage as I rifled through the memories of his
past.
I had killed his three sons. It had only been a few seasons ago. I
could see their faces in his mind and knew their fate. They would not
relent. They would not leave, and I have little patience for ignorance.
Their death was quick. The fish had fed upon their dead bodies, and their
bones were washed away by swift ocean currents long ago.
"Many people came to my Isle of Islay. Those that did not return are
dead." I answered him as best I could, and watched as the words struck him
as surely as any hammer might.
Kesan staggered backwards into the recessed entrance of the inn,
fell to his knees, and sobbed.
"For a stay at your inn, I will save your unborn child," I said
evenly, and waited for his response.
"What do you know of my unborn child?" Kesan glanced up and into
my eyes with broken defiance, and gazed at me as though trying to
comprehend his next tragedy.
"I know that a vampire lays eyes upon your precious wife, R¢s, as
she sits tending a pot of stew in the burrow. She seems a delicacy, with
your child in her womb, and he means to take their life's blood. Grant me
safe passage, and I will save them." No sooner had I spoken the words, than
did Kesan leap to his feet and burst through the door behind him.
He charged into the center of the room, and I followed. I stood to
one side, looking on. The vampire spun quickly, and moved from his empty
table to the ledge of the fireplace beside R¢s. His hands wound around her
head in a blur, and he held her neck exposed. She rested against him now,
almost intimately, as a whimper escaped her throat.
"Do we have a deal?" I asked barely above a whisper.
The vampire glanced in my direction, and I knew that this was the
first moment he had felt fear since his change into what he was. He hadn't
sensed me, and it frightened him.
"Yes." Kesan hissed the words as though they were something he
couldn't stomach and left him with too much bile.
The next few moments were a blur. As soon as Kesan answered, I
held the vampire in place as he sat poised to kill the fair R¢s. I burned
him to ash and, at the same time, Kesan turned on me, blade in hand.
I felt the bite of metal against bone as he plunged a small dagger
into my chest. It was made of iron and the sudden impact stunned me.
Nothing but iron could have pierced my flesh. Our eyes met, and I saw his
terror. I still stood, though I can't say I wasn't shocked.
A second passed between us before I moved in front of R¢s. I held
Kesan in place with my mind, as I knelt beside her, so he could witness
what he had done.
"Pull it out," I said as I gazed up at her.
R¢s glanced at Kesan, and then back to me, as she raised a
trembling hand toward the hilt that stuck out from my chest.
"NOW!" I yelled, as the hiss of my blood churned against the
foreign metal.
Her hand finally wound its way around the leather-bound hilt and
pulled it slowly from my chest. Once the blade was all the way out, she
shuddered, and it fell from her hand to the floor.
I moved from kneeling in front of her to the pile of ash I had made
of the vampire behind her. Still, Kesan looked on, unable to move,
watching. As he stared at me, I slowly raised my hands to caress her cheek
and forehead like one might an ailing child. Then... with a twist of my
wrists, I snapped her neck and let her pregnant body slump to the floor
below.
Screams filled the room, and there was a rush of people toward the
door leading outside. It was closed, and I would see that it stayed that
way until I was finished.
"We had a deal," I whispered as I watched the light in his eyes
twist and die.
I don't think I will ever forget that look. It was as if age
suddenly possessed him, and knowledge filled every fiber of his being. The
depth of sorrow I saw in his brown eyes reminded me of a forgotten
reflection. The last time I had seen eyes like those was when the ocean's
waves crawled up the shore, and a full moon lit the sky. They were my
eyes, after the death of my precious Moses.
I am not completely without mercy. Kesan's suffering ended soon
after I finished with the rest of them. I killed them all that night.
Every man, woman, and child in the room, that possessed a heartbeat when I
entered, was nothing but a heap of dead flesh when I was done. I left
Kesan for last so that he could watch what his betrayal earned him and
those he loved. Releasing my hold on his body, he slumped to the floor and
sobbed.
"You should not have betrayed me, Kesan," I whispered. "This did
not have to be."
His head hung like a weight pulling at his convulsing shoulders.
Kesan lifted his head as I approached. Anguish filled his eyes and, as I
drew near, his gaze began to change into something more malevolent. He
lunged forward as I stood directly in front of him. My hands gripped his
head, and a sickening crunch followed as I twisted his skull in a direction
it was never meant to go. As I said... I am not without mercy.
It wouldn't be long now until the sun rose, and I decided it would
be best to get some rest until sunset. Other than the odd spray of blood,
and occasional bit of carnage here and there, the place was actually quite
cozy.
The burrow was circular in shape and housed several wooden tables
and chairs. Each was worn to a silky sheen that only age and constant use
can bring. The walls were sturdy, and seemed to absorb the light as
shadows writhed and flickered. A fire still burned in the fireplace that
sat in the center of the room, and the smoke flowed upward through the
roof.
Along the walls were small openings that led to smaller pockets of
space that were used for sleeping and other nightly activities. From the
myriad of odors that filled the room, it seemed that sleeping must have
usually been an afterthought. I hadn't noticed, until now, how pungent the
place truly was. Wood and earth mingled with whatever dead animal cooked
in the pot that hung over the fire, and still there was more. Human waste
tainted the air, as well as the stench of too many unwashed bodies.
I picked a sleeping space that seemed to be the least offensive,
and lay down on a pile of animal skins that covered the floor. It was
surprisingly warm for such a large burrow with only a single fire to heat
it, but I knew that the earth leant its own warmth. These weren't the most
civilized people on the planet, but they were advancing and, for once, the
future seemed to offer something that might dull the monotony and passage
of time.
My mind wandered as I rested. I never truly sleep as a human
might, but my mind did quiet itself as I lay wrapped in the mound of skins.
For the first time in centuries I offered up a message to my father.
"I will make a mockery of your playthings, father. I will split
their minds and souls in such a way that it will haunt you for centuries to
come."
Thunder echoed in the distance, and I knew that my message was
received. I had a purpose for once, in such a very long time, and that
purpose was revenge. Legend and myth were going to be my legacy, and I
would start tomorrow. In reality, I had started earlier, with my
interference with Moses, but now... I would finish his work. He spoke with
a conviction, my Moses, that I hadn't seen before, and now... I would make
his beliefs come to fruition. I would make his savior, and word would
sweep across the lands like a plague.
The hours passed and I suppose I lost myself in my revelry. The
sun had barely set when I heard the roar of wind, and jeers coming from
outside. The burrow had been set aflame. Apparently some of the town's
people, from more remote areas, had come across the carnage I created the
previous night, and found it not to their liking.
My eyes opened, and I found smoke and flame all around me. I
crawled out through the waist high opening and stood in the middle of a
torrent of burning debris. I burst through the ceiling, and listened to
their gasps and cries as I exploded into the night sky. It would take more
than fire to cleanse this place, and I laughed in the darkness.
I was tempted to kill them all, but decided against it. There was
much to do, and these fools weren't worth the effort. This, too, would
become a story of legend, and Dorrianna and Galen had already done my work
for me. They had created a religion in their own fashion, and who was I to
distract these people from future torment.
I moved east through the night sky, relishing the cold wind as it
pushed around my form. They were below me. The vampires that Marcus made
had come and gone and what were left were remnants. Weaker, though still
very powerful, vampires were raging in the night as I traveled over what is
now known as France, England, and Romania.
Once over Romania, something drew me southeast. It was a feeling
of despair and torment of such proportion that I instantly knew that this
would be the beginning of my father's torment. Such an unhappy mass of
people could be easily manipulated, and so I decided. Jerusalem would be
the beginning of my revenge.
It was December 19th 4 BC, though of course it wasn't called that
at the time. It was the day my biggest joke on humanity began to take
form, and a day I will never forget. I would create a new religion, and it
would overshadow, if not devour, all the others. I would have so many
people screaming in my father's ears that he would surely go insane. His
torment would be as eternal as my own.
I drifted down to the earth, just outside of Jerusalem, and
watched. The people were simple, and filled with greed. Little has
changed since then. I moved out into the countryside, and found a Hebrew
family that would easily succumb to my notions. Mary and Joseph were the
proud parents of James, Joses, Judas, Simon, Hannah, and Grace. Virginal
is hardly what I would call their nightly activities. The twist on that
reality by the Catholic Church still baffles me to this day.
While you may scoff at what I tell you, you need only look in the
current Bible to know that Jesus did indeed have brothers and sisters. Of
course, at that time, a woman wasn't worth knowing or remembering, so the
sisters' names were lost to all but me. I remember them though, as it it
were yesterday. Mary would be remembered, of course. She was carrying a
divine being inside her, or at least I would make them think so.
I appeared to them that evening, in a glow of power, and floated just
outside the door of their cottage.
"Behold, I am an angel, and bring you a message from your God. Come
and listen," I called to them, and heard them scramble to the window.
The little epiphany, to twist the name of my kind, struck me so
instantly I had to stifle a laugh as I spoke.
They finally opened the door to their cottage, and knelt on the cold
ground in front of me. Only the children were brave enough to steal
glances at me as I glowed in the night.
"283 days from this night you will travel to Jerusalem and give birth
to the Son of God," I announced in my most authoritative voice.
Joseph glanced up and then cowered even closer to the ground. "She
is barren, Angel. The birth of Simon took her ability to bear more
children."
"I see." I moved toward Mary, knelt in front of her, and placed my
hand on her head.
She shivered more from fright than from the cold and, again, I had to
hide my amusement. I restored her body completely, so she was without
flaw. She would conceive and bear a child.
"She is barren no longer. Bed your wife, Joseph, and through you
will come the Son of God." I spoke as you might whisper to a lover.
I rose in the air and looked down on my newest creation. In a matter
of months, I would have a new religion birthed, quite literally, into the
world.
I moved across the land, and lost my glow as I disappeared from their
sight. A second plan had entered my mind, and so I moved to the colder
reaches of what is now called Russia. A second creature would be born and,
to this one I would be father. The birth of the Lycan, and later, the Fey,
would come to be. I only wish I had known then what I do now.
---
I will have more out soon for the series. Any and all comments /
criticisms are more than appreciated. It's what keeps us writers
motivated, so give me a yell. You can contact me at
gaywriter72@yahoo.com I hope that everyone has a great holiday and a
fantastic new year.