Son of the Serpent

by Vashti Quiroz-Vega

  The old man waved the girls away. “Where are you from?”

  I continued eating, only in a more sensible way. “I have no home. I move from city to city and settle nowhere.”

  He frowned. “Surely you had a home as a child. Where were you born? Who are your parents?”

  I put down the piece of meat I was about to put in my mouth. “I woke one day in a dark forest—alone. My mother abandoned me as a child. I never knew my father. If a forest can be a home, then my home was the forest.” I lied, but it was necessary to do so.

  “There does not appear to be anything wrong with you,” the man said, scrutinizing me. “You are a strapping young man. Why would your mother forsake you? Is there something wrong with you that I cannot see?”

  “Perhaps there is something wrong with my mother for having left me,” I said, my voice tinged with anger.

  He chuckled. “I do not think there is anything wrong with you at all.”

  The corners of my mouth crept up, and I continued to eat and drink until I was satiated. The man called the girls to clear the table as we continued to converse.

  “You have not told me your name or where you are headed,” he said, studying my face as he waited for my response.

  “I have no name, but you may call me Prometheus. From a mountain I once stood upon, I saw a great city with huge monuments. I will go there.”

  “You speak of Egypt, land of the pharaohs. And what are you looking to find there? Riches? Women?”

  “I search for a woman called Lilith,” I said.

  The old man’s eyes opened wide and he jerked away. He banged on the table with his fist, giving me a start. “She is no woman! She is a demon-witch—pure evil! Why do you search for this creature?”

  “She wronged me, and I am going to slaughter her.” I clenched my jaw, the hate rising from the pit of my stomach making me burn. “I want to hunt her down and cover myself in her blood.”

  He cocked his head back and cackled. “You? You are going to kill Lilith? You are little more than a boy. Yes, you are tall and strong, but you are no match for her.”

  “I am older and more powerful than I look, old man, and I have traveled much. Whole cities have been annihilated because of her. Everywhere she goes she infects the population with her evil.” I lowered my head. “This creature has hurt me deeper than anyone. Scars too deep and monstrous for you or anyone to see. I intend to have my vengeance.”

  The man stood and moved away from the table. “I see. You are seeking revenge. I do not know if revenge could be had from such a diabolical creature. Some say she is a goddess, indestructible. Many worship her. She has powers beyond your imagination. She can bewitch and control you, and she knows what you are thinking before you do.”

  Staring at the surface of the table, I tightened my hands into fists. “If there is a way to destroy her, I will find it or die trying.”

  He released an old man’s sigh. “You seem a good, brave young man who has been through much in his life. Leave this impossible quest behind and settle here in peace. This is a good land, flowing with milk and honey. You can learn a trade and find a good woman.”

  “Tell me, old man, would you feel the same if Lilith came here and turned brother against brother until your entire city became a corrupt cesspit? I will find her and destroy her.”

  A groan accompanied the roll of his eyes. “So be it.” He called the girls, who were never far away, and instructed them to take me to my room. Before I walked away, he took my arm and looked me in the eyes. “Get some rest and be on your way at first light tomorrow. I am tired of young men wasting their lives on foolish quests, and I do not want your negative energy in my home. I wish you well, but as you seek Lilith for revenge I advise you prepare two graves—one for yourself.”

  “I am grateful for your hospitality. You are a good man.”

  He released my arm and walked away, shaking his head and mumbling something under his breath. The girls walked me to the room where I’d be staying for the night.

  As I lay on the bed and pondered my plans, my middle suddenly began to churn, giving me much pain. I rushed to a corner of the room and vomited again and again until my body forced out everything I had eaten. I sagged against the wall and slid to the floor, panting, my head spinning. I realized this was happening to me more and more. It seemed food was no longer a friend. I was weak, fatigued, and hungry once more. I needed blood.

  The house was tranquil, and everyone seemed to be put away in there sleeping chambers, so I snuck out of the room. I stepped out into the street, and it too was quiet and desolate. A cool breeze passed through me, making me shiver. Stars filled the sky, and shadows blended into the dark. I went in search of livestock. After dragging my feet for a while, I came across a flock of goats in a corral. I was hoping for something larger. It would take many goats to appease my appetite this night. I could perhaps impoverish the owner of the goats and his family if I killed them all. No, the goats will not do.

  As I considered my next move, three men approached me. They appeared to have come from nowhere. They came closer, and an unsettling smell crept into my nostrils. I frowned at the malevolent look on their faces. They ogled my body and surrounded me.

  “Look what we have here,” one of them said, leering at me. “Come, sweet boy. We could use your company for the night.” He grabbed me by the arm. I tried to wrest it from his hold, but he was powerful, stronger than any man I had encountered. They looked like gigantic men although their proportions were off. Their eyes and the top of their heads seemed underdeveloped while their jawbones were massive and jutted forward.

  My stomach churned anew, and I grimaced in disgust at the stench exuding from the creatures. Rotting corpses did not reek as bad. “Who are you? What are you?”

  They broke into mirthless laughter. I struggled to get loose, but one of the other men took hold of my other arm.

  “Now, now. No need to struggle. Everyone knows the night belongs to us. If you are out here this late, it is because you want this.” The third man stuffed cloth in my mouth and tied another piece of fabric around my head to hold the gag in place and keep me quiet.

  They dragged me through the empty streets. My heart pounded. I turned my head here and there, but there was no creature in sight. Panic swelled up inside me. I wrestled to free myself from their grasp, but I was weak from hunger and fatigued, and these brutes had the advantage. I yelled, but my muffled cries went unanswered.

  They finally stopped when we reached a tent. They opened the doorway and tossed me in. I hit the ground hard, and my back smashed against a rock, sending lances of stabbing pain up my arms and across my shoulders. These creatures were not men.

  Suddenly, one of them flipped me on my stomach. He bound my wrists together and tied them to a post located in the middle of the tent. I was facedown on the tent floor, struggling to breathe, despair gnawing a giant hole in my gut. I yelled again and again, knowing no one would hear me.

  One of the creatures lifted my garment, exposing my backside. He climbed over me, wriggling and gyrating. His organ grew stiff as it rubbed my body.

  I squeezed my eyes shut and shook my head. “No!” I tried to yell. They laughed and jeered taking pleasure in my torment.

  I continued to struggle and shout. “No, no! Stop! Cease this at once!” I pleaded, but only a jumble of muffled noises was detected. I fought, kicked, and squirmed, but the animal on me did not budge.

  “Do not struggle so. It is futile. We shall have you tonight.” His mouth was flush against my ear as he spoke, and I detected the sweetish, sour stench of alcohol on his hot breath. Fear prickled my scalp, and I howled. I had tried to shift into the red fiend several times since they attacked me, but I was too weak. How could I have allowed myself to become this vulnerable?

  The brute slid off me, and then the other two held my legs apart. I managed to get a leg free and struck one of them with my foot. He punched the back of my thigh so hard that spasms racked my muscles until
it seemed my bone would snap. Then he held my leg down with a firm hand.

  “Get away from me! Let me go! I implore you.” It was no use trying to reason with these creatures, no use begging or struggling. These beasts were orc demons. I was certain of it now. And orc demons took pleasure inflicting fear and pain onto others. It made them stronger. They had no sexual preference—man, woman, child, animal. It was all the same to them. They had no conscience, no morals. They regarded me merely as an object of pleasure.

  The demon over me parted my cheeks. I cringed and my body stiffened. He gathered saliva and spit, and then his fingers, at least two, forced their way inside me. He stretched and expanded me with them. All the while, I howled and writhed in pain. My eyes rolled back into my head, and I gnawed at my lips until they bled.

  “Stop!” a clear, rich, female voice commanded. “Cease this act at once!”

  And just like that, it was over. The demon on top of me withdrew his fingers and quickly leaped to his feet. The other two released my legs.

  “Go!” she said. I listened as the men scrambled to leave the tent. I craned my neck to get a glimpse of her, but the powerful creature remained out of sight. She pulled down my garment to cover my backside. My face burned, radiating more heat than the sun. The sweltering hotness burst through my pores.

  She untied the rag covering my mouth and removed the cloth they’d stuffed inside. All the while she remained behind me, out of sight. I drew in a long breath and tried to speak but words did not come. How could I have allowed myself to become so weak? The memory of this utter humiliation will be seared into my mind forever.

  “Drink.” Her arm appeared before me, and on her wrist was a wound—a deep gash from which her blood flowed. I ogled the blood, salivating. “Drink!” She pushed my head so my mouth collided with her bloody wrist, and I drank.

  Her blood was unlike anything I had ever tasted. It was fragrant, gratifying, life-giving nectar. My body trembled with delight. I got a sense of being moved from my body. Finally, she grabbed my hair and pulled me off her wrist.

  “You will be fine now. No one will hurt you this night. Sleep.” As she spoke, her voice became more and more distant. As she pronounced her last word, I fell into a deep sleep.

  A rooster’s crow woke me the next morning. I was no longer lying on my stomach, facing the ground. I lay on my back with pillows tucked beneath me. I was restored, powerful, filled with vigor. I sat upright and looked around the tent. I was alone. There was no sign of the fiends or of the… angel who saved me.

  I wanted to find her, this angel, and thank her. I owed her everything, but although I did not even know what she looked like, I would never forget her voice. Her blood was special. I was more powerful than ever. I got to my feet and left the tent. The sun outside was fierce, and I squinted against its blinding rays. I thought it time I left this city and was on my way to Egypt.

  I vowed to feed regularly from that moment forward, to never allow myself to become weak. Never would I allow myself to be vulnerable again. I hoped someday to come across the angel who saved me, for I owed her much.

  Chronicles of Lilith – 7

  I lingered in the shadows long enough to allow the demons to commence their revolting acts of lust and for the stranger to get a taste of agony. After all, how was he to truly enjoy the pleasures I shall bestow upon him without first enduring pain? I watched with care, and when the stranger had endured enough torture, I stepped in to intervene.

  I remained mysterious as I freed him from the clutches of the orc demons. After much thought, I gave the stranger some of my blood, and he accepted it eagerly. It was a risky thing to do on my part, since the stranger will become much more powerful than he has ever been after receiving my lifeblood—and he had already been strong and resilient by nature, for I sensed this as he drank. I had made a powerful being almost my equal by giving him my essence, but this did not concern me, for I was certain he was the one the Seers prophesized.

  He told the young man he was passing through on his way to Egypt—my Egypt. I hurried back to wait for the stranger there. Besides, I did not like leaving my city in the hands of the pharaohs for too long, lest my influence withered. Of course, I allowed them to believe they were in command. In my angel form I was irresistible to any man. It was easy to seduce them and bend them to my will. And once in a while, I came to light in my serpent form and demanded they do everything my angel form advised. It was a brilliant plan, and I maintained control over them and my city.

  Several months ago, I had a vision. A male child was born to an Israeli woman. This beautiful child grew into a powerful man—more powerful than any of the pharaohs I had appointed to the throne of Egypt. This child grew in God’s favor, and through him He inflicted ten plagues upon Egypt. Many Egyptians died and my army was destroyed. I awoke in a cold sweat, panting.

  My fists drew up like angry stones. “Once again it falls on me to bring God’s grand design to naught.”

  I visited Ahmose, the last pharaoh I had appointed to the throne of Egypt, and told him of my vision. As usual, he begged for my advice, and so I gave it to him. “This Israeli child must not live to carry out God’s plan.” The pharaoh listened in silence and nodded. “He is already born and in our city. He is yet a babe, but he must not be allowed to live any longer. Thus, all the sons of Israel not yet able to walk must die.”

  Pharaoh Ahmose blanched and placed a hand over his heart when he heard my decree. Despite the cruelness of my orders, he knew they had to be completed, for my visions were never wrong. Hence, he summoned the general of the Egyptian army.

  “Instruct your forces to collect all the Israeli infants less than one year old and put them to death.” His voice was low and thick with angst.

  Stepping forward, hands on hips and standing tall, I added, “We do not need piles of decaying little corpses fouling our streets and contaminating our air. Toss the dead infants into the Nile. Let the crocodiles clean up our mess.” I looked at the head of the Egyptian army—she was one of mine, a ruthless demon. I watched her lips curve in malicious glee. She marched away to carry out the orders.

  *

  I have yet to sense the young man’s presence in Egypt. Had he changed his mind about coming? I should have stayed with him and followed him back. I was too impatient to return, and now I may have lost him again. Or was I being impatient now? Perhaps I am incapable of sensing his presence? I closed my eyes for a moment, opened them, and decided to go to my house, where ideas came easy. I left many demons with the charge of looking out for this man. They were to inform me as soon as they suspected to have seen him.

  I flew to my great house, designed by Gremory and built into the high cliffs along the southern border of the Nile River. For those who cannot fly, it is a grueling task to reach this house. Many died during its construction. Some I even mourned for their brilliance. Such waste. Human minds with great intellect and unique creativity are hard to find.

  I made myself comfortable in my home and waited for word of the young man’s sighting. Before long, I received word the young man had been in Egypt, but only briefly, and before they had a chance to inform me of his presence, the stranger continued on to Persia. My sources also told me he does not travel alone. I wasted no time. I got myself ready and flew to the east to find my predestined mate.

  Chapter 13

  THE BIRTH OF MOSES

  After many days of walking under the desert sun and numerous nights flying across starry skies, I arrived in Egypt. The country of Egypt developed along the banks of the river Nile, which provided the Egyptians with an abundance of rich natural resources.

  I walked up to the banks of the river and looked at the slow-flowing water cramped with merchant vessels. I looked to the north and south, gaping at the busy waterway and the amazing civilization which had grown at its borders. I approached a man; he did not look rich but seemed to own several boats. He loaded heavy sacks onto one of the broader boats.

  “Greetings. I am a
stranger in your land.” As I spoke, the man measured me with a sidelong stare. “Are these your boats?”

  “Yes,” he said. “Why do you ask?”

  “I would enjoy exploring your country aboard one of your boats.”

  The man continued to cast a wary eye at me. “Oh, really? And why would I take you for a ride on my boat?”

  “I told you. I would like to see your magnificent land.”

  The man extended one of his hands, palm up. “Do you have any gold or copper to barter with?”

  “I have only what you see.” I held out my arms.

  “So you have nothing, but yet you expect me to sail up and down the Nile with you aboard my ship?” he said, pressing his lips together, shaking his head. By now, other men had approached, no doubt curious to know what the stranger wanted.

  “There is no need to sail up and down the river. You can allow me in your boat as you do what you do every day. I can help you with your work, if you like.” The man scrutinized me, and the others looked at me like I had two heads.

  Snickering, the man addressed the others around him. “Listen to this peacock! He offers himself to me like a whore.” He shot me a venomous look. “I prefer women, boy. Be gone!”

  I felt my cheeks burning and my forehead grew warm. A stinging sensation in my chest made me rub it. Emotions surged inside me like hot lava: hatred, shame, indignation. It was too soon after my experience with the orc demons in the tent. He poured salt in a wound not yet healed.

  Growling and baring my teeth, I rushed him. The man stepped back, his eyes bulging with fright. Next thing I knew, the other men were pointing their trembling fingers at me, some shrieking as they fled in fear.

  “Youssef, Youssef!” one of the men said as he shook me. “What is the matter?”

  I had possessed Youssef, the man who owned the boats. I had to think quickly.

  “I am fine,” I said, not recognizing my voice. I put my hand on the man’s shoulder to reassure him.