Bleed Away the Sky

by Brian Fatah Steele

  “Once I knew the Crimsonata was real, and knew it was you for sure, I watched you. Checked up on you. Nothing invasive, just drove by your place every now and again. Browsed your social media. I wanted to do more, but I didn’t know what to do. I should’ve been there for you earlier, but I’d already failed you in that.”

  “And do what for me?”

  “Just… been your friend.”

  Audrey would’ve been angrier at the invasion if the old woman didn’t look ready to cry. She didn’t know if she was a research project or a lost kitten to Binici. Either way, it made her uncomfortable. Either way, it was just another person who didn’t really know, but expected her to be a certain way. She was getting tired of that.

  “So what now?” asked Elliot. “What made you track Audrey down now?”

  “A Crimsonata has always flowed, for countless centuries. Sometimes only one, often many. While you are one, you haven’t accessed your powers. A Crimsonata hasn’t flowed since your mother died almost twenty years ago. There are repercussions to that.”

  “Yeah, we’ve heard this story,” mumbled Audrey.

  “Have you heard these stories?” asked Binici, sliding a small tablet out of her purse. She keyed up two news stories and handed it over to Audrey.

  Audrey read the news articles with growing horror. Widespread death and injuries in the towns of Southard and Lutton. Thousands dead in both towns, all of Lutton wiped out. The survivors of Southard all said the same thing about the assailants – disfigured people dressed in white.

  “This is only the beginning,” said Binici as Audrey’s shaking hand passed the tablet to Elliot.

  The waiter came back, and the professor kindly ordered them all more of the same. Audrey couldn’t get the pictures out of her head. A shot of Lutton showed a street lined with body bags, the whole street, a mile long. That many dead in a night. Could she really stop this? Was she being selfish, childish, by still refusing out of principle? Even if she wanted to access her powers, right here in the hotel bar, she had no idea how to.

  “I need to apologize about something else,” said Binici. “The people after you, trying to kidnap you. I never thought it would come to that.”

  “You’re connected to them?”

  “Indirectly, yes. They’re called the Promethean Wall. They’re a global organization with ties to law enforcement, governments, corporations, universities, you name it. They’re charged with protecting humanity from supernatural interference. Right now, you’re considered our best defense against the abominations climbing up from the gutter realms, so they want to utilize you.”

  “Whether I like it or not.”

  “Sadly, yes.”

  “The gutter realms?” asked Elliot.

  “The blood must flow to appease the gods. Without this, the barriers break down. The first barriers are the lowest, those holding back the gutter realms. Something in particular from one of these realms has taken a hold here on earth, one that wants dominion here, in the time before The Outer Gods break through and obliterate this universe.”

  Audrey polished off her second Long Island. “And I, using magical blood, will stop all of this?”

  “Yes.”

  “I call such bullshit, but okay. Even if I wanted to, I have no idea how to. That’s problematic to say the least. Shouldn’t I have figured that out by now if I’m this chosen one?”

  “That occurred to me as well. But listen, the Wall has a safe house here in Ohio. Audrey, please let me take you there. Elliot can come, too. We’ll work on this together, figure it out. Let me help you save the world.”

  Audrey stared at the old woman, letting the words sink in. Maybe it was time to make a choice. Elliot, wide eyed, looked back and forth between her and Binici. She didn’t trust the professor all that much, but that didn’t really matter anymore. People were dying out there. Maybe she could finally do something that mattered.

  “Fuck it,” said Audrey. “Let’s save the world.”

  CHAPTER 32

  It was the absolute appropriation of his entire body, his flesh given over to a higher calling. His mind laid bare and his will surrendered. Faure understood what was happening and he welcomed it, embraced it. This would make him a better servant for his Most Holy.

  Lingering memories nagged at the back of his head. Reading in his backyard as a child, under the giant pine tree. Going fishing with his father that last time at the beach before they moved away from the coast. His fumbling with Susanna Rowling in her dorm room his sophomore year. Proposing to his wife outside that Italian restaurant in the rain, so unlike the scene he had planned. Working on his doctoral dissertation late into the night, fueled only by coffee and work ethic. All the things that had made up Timothy Faure, had comprised his life, were still there, but muted. Sealed away in a box, in an unused portion of his skull, ready to be discarded. Deleted.

  A new meat table had been constructed for his procedure, one that pulsed with life. He had stripped down and was placed upon it, docile and compliant. He eagerly anticipated his transformation, his new life. Pain would be pleasure, the pleasure a blessing.

  The Spittle and the Sigh walked around the table, watching as his body was washed down with caustic chemicals that stripped him of all his hair. Faure never let out a sound, reveling in the agony of his scorched skin.

  “While the Crimsonata may indeed be coming, it is not swift enough to please the Ovessa,” said the Spittle. “Other measures should be seen to.”

  The bone face of the Sigh pulled into a smile. “Perhaps it’s time for something more direct.”

  Faure may have heard them speaking, but he was no longer able to fully comprehend their words. Needle-like appendages from creatures resembling giant centipedes had been injected down every limb and across his torso. Five of these insects quivered above him, their juices pumping into his body. It felt like poison, it felt like lava, and Faure clenched his jaw against it. He began to say a mantra in his head over and over, For the Ovessa, For the Ovessa, For the Ovessa. The pain did not cease.

  Bones broke and re-healed. Muscles shifted and grew. Faure was enlarging. His skin tore wide open and was stitched back together when the spiders coated it with a foul-smelling powder. His pinky and ring fingers snapped and fell off to make room for the massive growth of his index and middle finger. His toes all but shriveled up into something resembling the front of a hoof. Between his legs, his cock split and blossomed into some new set of sexual organs, never before seen on earth.

  “Do you think the barrier has thinned enough to send anything more than the Invocated?” asked the Spittle.

  “If we can summon creations to us, we can send them to the Crimsonata,” said the Sigh. “It’s not a matter of power.”

  A single hole appeared above Faure, allowing just a small stream of light to shine down upon him. All of the suffering would now be worth it. Once more he would touch the majesty of the Ovessa. The beam of light began at his mutated genitals and worked its way up his body, searing a line into his still morphing flesh with its divine might. Although he had pledged to stay silent, he couldn’t help but let out a whimper. The ray traveled up to his face and filled him, all of him.

  All that had been Timothy Faure was burnt away in a cold, bright flash.

  The circumference of the beam expanded, engulfing all of Faure’s head. It began to rework the flesh like putty, melting down the bone into liquid. The entire head became something less than material, something almost non-corporeal. It flopped and shuddered and splashed in a confined space, each atom in continuous entropy. The entire head now a ravenous maw of cosmic chaos, always devouring.

  “This new creation isn’t ready yet,” said the Spittle. “Have you something else in mind?”

  “I thought the Bitter Born would wreak havoc nicely.”

  The Spittle gave the idea some thought. “Your experiment with the children acquired from here? At least then they might have a purpose other than shrieking. Unable to be repurposed as Invo
cated, they should have simply been culled.”

  “You lack imagination, my beloved. The Bitter Born, while unruly, will terrify the Crimsonata merely by their existence. And they are so vicious, so wild, they could easily destroy our jailer where the Invocated could not.”

  “As always, I defer to your wisdom,” said The Spittle, giving her a short bow.

  The Sigh looked over at what used to be Faure, his hairless pink body steaming. Its form was easily seven feet tall now, a mass of muscles, not all of them natural to human physiology. Two meaty fingers and a thumb twitched on each hand. The light had branded a single, scored mark up the center of the body, a row of six tiny nipples running up each side of the torso. The new head glitched and cascaded.

  “In what will we adorn our latest kin?” asked the Sigh.

  “What will we call it?” countered the Spittle.

  “Another excellent question. But both will have to wait. Let me attend to the Bitter Born, rally them for the excursion.”

  The Spittle nodded and went to see to the preparations as the Sigh headed to the basement. All the while, the aberration that used to be Timothy Faure lay there, its mind blank and malleable. It recalled nothing of a wife, of academia, of a home. Nothing of the life it once had.

  All it knew was hunger.

  CHAPTER 33

  Binici had offered to pay for their room, but Elliot declined. He had money, he could take care of them. He wanted to take care of them, but Audrey didn’t seem to want to listen. Instead, she was striding down the hall on her short little legs, pointedly ignoring him.

  “Will you just stop for a second?” exclaimed Elliot, grabbing at her arm.

  She pulled away from his grip, angry. “What, Why?”

  “Can we please talk about this?”

  She folded her arms tightly and stared down the corridor, refusing to make eye contact. Elliot sighed. He just needed to catch his balance, get some dialogue going. Everything was happening so fast and he was being swept along. Usually he would be okay with that, but this time it was a bit more serious. This time, Audrey’s life was at stake.

  “How can you trust her after everything she told you?” Elliot asked. “You know this could be a trap.”

  “It very well could be, but I’d rather walk into it eyes open than be snatched out of my bed again.”

  “So that’s it. You’re giving up, you’re giving in?”

  “It’s my life, my choice!” said Audrey. “I’m choosing to put an end to this nightmare. I’m making an informed decision. About as informed as I’m going to get.”

  Elliot didn’t know what to say to that. She was right, of course. That didn’t mean he liked it. He wanted to run, let the world burn. What did that say about him? Did that make him a good brother or a coward? He didn’t really want to examine those thoughts too deeply.

  Some random businessman strolled past them and nodded in Elliot’s general direction as a greeting. The poor bastard’s biggest concern was probably making it on time to his morning meeting. Meanwhile, the universe was being invaded by monsters. The absurdity of it made Elliot laugh. Audrey shot him a look.

  “No, I’m not…”

  His sentence was cut off by a disturbance at the end of the hall. The light flickered and bent, collapsing to a single point in the center of the corridor. A stench like chemicals and exotic incense filled the narrow passageway. Elliot began to back up, pulling Audrey with him. The anomaly split open like a wound in reality, and small creatures spilled out, flying through the air.

  At first, he could only gawk at them. They were babies, human babies once. But now, they had wings grown from their backs, appendages that were similar in structure to those of a bat’s. Skin so thin, you could see the blue veins running and pumping visibly beneath. The flesh of their bodies was just as delicate, almost transparent. The one nearest to them began to screech, its jaw unhinged from its skull like a snake’s. As if it were clarion call, the others took to the sky and threw themselves at Elliot and Audrey.

  They fled, around the corner and back down the stairs. They weren’t far from the bar, from the exits. Feet pounded against the carpeted floor as the creatures beat pink wings behind them, gaining speed. The confined space was the only thing keeping them from catching up, the winged beast babies tumbling over each over in their flight. Down a short series of steps, they rounded the corner into a junction that could take them either to the bar or back down a hallway to the lobby. Elliot pulled one way, Audrey the other.

  “What are you doing?” screamed Audrey.

  “There are exits through the bar!”

  Not wanting to let her argue any longer, Elliot pointed at the approaching flock and hauled Audrey into the bar. It had grown more populated in just the five minutes since they had left, people milling around. Binici stood by the bar with some other people and Elliot headed toward her.

  It wasn’t until he was almost upon her that he realized that the people she was talking to were the two who had broken into their motel room the other night.

  Elliot ran right up to the man, looked him in the eyes, and said, “I hope you have your guns.”

  “What?” asked the man, taking a step back.

  That was when the flying creatures burst into the bar. There were six of them, flapping about in the high-ceilinged room, swooping in to attack when they saw an opening. Biting and gorging with those impossibly tiny mouths. The patrons ran screaming, some tried to hide under tables. A creature landed in a woman’s hair and rode her to the ground, chewing off her face.

  The bartender grabbed a fire extinguisher and was trying to spray one to little effect. He dropped the canister and ran behind the bar. Elliot picked up the spent device and wielded it like a club. The man from the Wall fired off two shots, missing, but hit one with a third. It went down, and he fired two more rounds into it to make sure. The woman dove under a table, dragging Audrey and Binici with her. When a creature followed, she shot it point blank in the face. A second shot to prove her point. She rolled back out from beneath the table and moved back toward her partner. Another creature came hurtling toward Elliot, and gripping the end of the fire extinguisher, he batted it against the wall. When it bounced to the floor, he ran over and bashed its skull into pulp with the spent fire extinguisher.

  “Only two more,” said the man from the Wall.

  Right on cue, six more of the flying babies came shrieking their way into the bar.

  “You had to,” grumbled Elliot.

  Everyone readied their respective weapons when the air waivered and folded next to Elliot. He jumped back as Mr. Inanis stepped through in his black suit and red rose on the lapel.

  “Alright, enough of this,” he said, making a hard gesture with his right hand.

  Every single one of the creatures, dead or alive, burst into flame.

  CHAPTER 34

  For a moment, everyone was silent, everyone was still. That didn’t last long. Sobs began to echo around the bar from the regular people caught up in the madness, the innocent by-standers. Audrey had seen at least two people killed by those things and knew there had to be more. Things that had been most likely been sent after her.

  “Are you okay?’ asked Binici, her eyes wide.

  Audrey patted her hand and began to crawl out from beneath the table. She was halfway out when she was hauled to her feet by the man who had called her a freak at the motel. He held her at gunpoint again.

  “What the hell, man?” said Elliot. “We came to you!”

  “Hayden, let her go,” said the woman.

  Hayden didn’t respond, nor did her let her go. His eyes burned into Audrey, full of hate. She could clearly see that, clearly see that he wanted to kill her as much as he had wanted to kill those flying abominations. To him, she and they were the same.

  Inanis stepped over. “You just watched me telepathically burn eight creatures on a whim. Do you really want to do this?”

  Hayden turned to him. “Witch,” he said, the word spat out.


  “A concerned citizen,” replied Inanis.

  “This isn’t Audrey’s fault. These denizens are after her because she’s the only one who can stop them,” said Binici, crawling out from under the table. “She must flow to save the world, quite probably the universe!”

  “In return for a lifetime of servitude,” yelled Elliot.

  Hayden let go of her, but his eyes still drilled into her. “If it is your duty, then you will endure.”

  “All of you can seriously go fuck yourselves!” screamed Audrey. “It’s my life, and I’ll do whatever I want for whatever reasons. I’m sick of people dying, my heart can’t take that. I’m choosing to be the Crimsonata because it will save lives.”

  Everyone stood there, listening to people rush out of the bar, the sobs of the people still in shock, and the sound of the oncoming authorities. No one really paid attention to the six people standing in a circle near the bar, deep in discussion. No one cared.

  “What if there was a third option?” asked Inanis.

  “What?” asked Audrey.

  “What if you could free yourself from being the Crimsonata and still keep the barrier up at the same time?”

  “Foul witch riddles,” growled Hayden.

  “You really are one-dimensional, you know that, right?” Inanis threw back at him.

  “What are you saying?” asked Binici. “Some cosmic loophole?”

  “That’s exactly it. Go to the town as your former associate instructed. It’s not exactly a safe zone though, I should warn you.”

  Binici squinted at him. “You know Timothy Faure?”

  “I know everyone, Emily.”

  Binici backed up and ran into the bar, the color draining from her face.

  “All five of you need to go, incidentally. Consider this the climax of a very long, very weird story. You don’t have to, of course, but I’d recommend it.”

  “Why?” asked the woman from the Wall.