Asatru

by Ariana Kenny

  ***

  I automatically jerked as I came to and realised that I was suspended in mid air by my feet. I could feel my arms tied behind my back, secured to my feet but tried to jerk them forward. As I breathed in deep, my ribs felt like they were going to explode, which stopped my moving immediately. I swung like a pendulum instead as I tried to focus. There she was. Rachael sat cross legged on the floor of a barn over by the door watching me.

  “Good you’re awake.” She uttered coldly. Her face was grim and barren of that sweetness I had seen up until now. I roared in confusion and then tried to yell for help which caused me more pain. I swung hopelessly in the air. The weak looking beams above me were doing a stellar job staying intact.

  “I was hoping you would wake by yourself. No offense, but you don’t wake well without a cup of coffee. I’d offer you one, but well, it might be a little hard to drink from that angle.” There was no humor, no taunt in her words, which panicked me more. Reason, I thought. Reason with her.

  “We found out the parents were planning to kill him, knew what he was, and could be.” She continued on. I wasn’t sure I wanted to hear any long explanations. That usually meant you weren’t going to live to repeat the information. Last confessionals were hardly what I hoped for. I tried to twist my hands free, get some movement in the knots tying my feet together.

  Rachael rose to her feet and I tried to subdue my movements, watching her come closer like a prey fearing the next move of a predator. Her arms remained casually linked at her back, she could have been strolling through a park except for the black leather and sinful red shirt. “I intervened when they organized Uther to take Jonah. That’s why the parents didn’t come forward. They thought the police might have found out what they planned….. you know how mixed up these ultra religious goody -goody two shoes can get.”

  “Rachael. Let me go.” I kept my pitch and tone even and calm.

  Ignoring me, Rachael continued with her explanation. “I took him, and would have been away with him except for whenever I use my energy, my skills, they can track me. It’s a real pain in my ass. Every time I re-appear on their radar, they come for me, one at a time, several at time. Sometimes they’re stronger than others, but at least I have that on my side. I had years to take control of this body. They only have a few minutes a couple of hours if they are lucky, then as soon as I behave myself again….I disappear for them.”

  “Where’s Jonah now?” Maybe asking questions would give me time to think, to act.

  “Its all good now. You should have seen him though,” Was that pride I heard colour her voice as she lowered herself to the ground near me, one arm coming down to the ground to support her. “He saw me pull up through the window of his classroom, and just like that he took action. Brought the matches out from his bag, lit the kids bags in the classroom and ran from the group to meet me while the smoke alarms were blazing. I didn’t even have to do anything. By the time they noticed he left the group, we were so far away only one teacher came after us. It was too late anyway by then. We were in the car and gone. No one saw me coming, and after the parents were out of the way, well, lets just say I lost a little less sleep that night.”

  “Who are you?”

  “It’s not so much of a who…more of a what.”

  “Fine then. What the fuck are you?”

  “I’m a wraith Sam. Just like Sabian picked up on, only he got his sides mixed up. Sabian thought I was a keeper, a guardian – and I am of sorts I suppose.”

  “What’s so special about Jonah that they sent you?”

  “Evil is bred, most of the time. Socialised into people, experiences pain them so that they protect themselves through pain and power, but true, honest to goodness evil, is only sometimes born into a vessel. It’s rarer than we like, so it’s our job to protect it, let it grown and nurture it so they can be all that they can be.” She sounded like Rachael then, positive, encouraged, eager, nurturing...but she sure as hell wasn’t.

  “You’re a demon.” I remarked, checking myself, calling a spade a spade. Her face dropped back to grim again and she rose off the ground sounding bitter as she spoke.

  “I resent the term, but I guess for all intents and purposes, I probably do fall into that category.”

  “Why did you pretend all that time? Why bother?”

  “Oh no, I wasn’t myself. I would never leech off others, play with affections or seem so weak. I let my guard down back when I tried to rescue Jonah the first time, and they caught me – us. Uther lost his head though, tried to wipe my head clean of who I am. 200 years old and he still didn’t know how to dance. Poor Uther. That’ll teach them to leave a relative novice in charge, and one who knew me. That was it you know, his undoing. He still remembered Rachael from before I took her. He met her through a friend in 1964.”

  “You took her body.” I exclaimed out loud as though that was the most appalling item on the agenda. It was dark outside I noticed. Maybe someone would see the torches she lit. Maybe someone could hear us.

  “Have to live somewhere. I need a body to stay here, and so I can do things easily on this side. It’s actually quite hard to exert your influence without a physical form. I can do it, but it’s kind of like a muscle you need to exercise…. First you move a curtain, then a cup, then a chair, then you can start to touch them.”

  “Them?”

  “Humans. What? You never thought you felt a touch on your shoulder, a breath on your neck. A shadow that disappears just out of sight when you turn to catch it.”

  “Rachael was my personal favourite. I had just been re-assigned to the corporeal world, and when I first came here, I couldn’t do anything, I was still so weak. When I saw her, her family, I thought she was perfect. I practiced very hard and eventually, I could touch her. It was a thing of beauty really, she suffered from sleep paralysis – the mind wakes, but the body stays locked in sleep. I waited next to her bed while she slept and when she woke I licked right down her arm, and showed myself to her – so she would know I was coming for her. She cried, as they all do in the end, but I think it’s good business practice don’t you – to be transparent in your intention. Scared the shit out of her. She tried not to sleep for nights after – but she had to eventually.…” Rachael sighed and stared off nostalgically. “Seems like so long ago over a half a century!. Can’t say I don’t do wonders for her complexion.” Rachael joked before wandering a few feet away.

  “And is part of your transparency – telling me you’re going to take my body?”

  Rachael looked back over her shoulder at me. “Don’t flatter yourself – you’re fun and all, but I like my bodies a little more feminine. And I am quite attached to this one. But then so are you – aren’t you?” She turned to face me fully, but kept her hands behind her. She was holding something I realized now.

  “Is she still in there?”

  “No. Maybe her neural pathways…. Her habits….. but she’s been gone since I came along, so don’t fool yourself sweetheart. It was all me, all the time. Well, maybe not all of me. But you have the whole package now….” She ventured forward again and I jerked back.

  “Get away from me.”

  “‘Fraid I cant do that. As much as it’s been a blast, what Uther did to me, took a lot of my strength away. I need you to give it back to me.”

  “How am I supposed to do that?” A question I very much wished I hadn’t asked. Rachael finally brought her hand out from behind her. A sharp blade glinted and I automatically struggled, though I knew it was useless. She approached closer as I thrashed, but eventually, breathing deep and losing hope, I stopped desperately searching with my eyes for something, anything, that could help me. She knelt next to me so her head was level with mine. “I know I could have done this before you woke, but like I said – I believe in being up front about what’s going to happen. So here’s the low down. I’m going to cut you, slow and shallow. When you bleed I’m going to take what I need.”

  “Do you think actua
lly think you’re going to get away with this. Everyone knows I was with you.” I was panicking now, not even bothered with trying to control the fear pitching in my voice.

  “Doesn’t matter…. I know how to disappear. And really, I can find another body if I need to. Then, maybe another country, another life.” She stood and grazed the knife against my back, and I felt blood trickle and mingle with my sweat. I jolted again in protest, in spite of the pain. Rachael picked up a small glass out of the pocket of the red coat she had worn. It was small, but then I guessed she would make the most of it. She brought it to me and I felt her press it against my skin.

  “Sam. I want you to know, You are the closest I ever came to loving someone. That is huge where I come from. We don't just swing around statements like that." I felt her tongue glide across my back to catch a few drops of blood as they snaked their way down my skin.

  I panicked further and started rambling to save my skin. "Don’t do this then. Let me go. I don’t know what you think you are. You're deluded. Sabian messed with your mind. You... Have to stop. Stop now Rachael. Please. We can get you help. It's not too late.”

  "This, what I am doing now…. you should feel honoured.” With that she dug the knife in to my side, enough to tear skin, but not enough to kill me yet.

  The cup pressed against my skin, and I felt woozy, nauseous. I saw through the bleariness something impossible. Rachael stood above the circle drawn in blood, and the markings I had seen earlier. Removing her skirt and shirt, she held the cup to her. I saw her drink my blood, smear it across her face, chest and belly, then feet, before she dropped to her knees and placed her palms to the ground. As she hunched over, the ground trembled. Light emitted from her hands, the earth cracked and she looked up at me, eyes glowing. I knew then I was dying.