Mania and the Executioner

by A. L. Bridges

  She seems to like what I’m doing, but after a few minutes my tongue starts to feel sore; maybe I’m doing something wrong? I decide to switch methods to one involving the ‘beckoning’ finger motion and feel her cross the finish line less than a minute later. As she sits there convulsing slightly, I move up and kiss her.

  “Is that enough now?” I think to her. Cheza looks at me and a ‘Tia’ smile forms on her face while she locks her legs around my pelvis and brings me toward her. I try to pull back, but her legs are like, crazy strong.

  “Never enough…I’m not letting you go until you penetrate me, Cole.” Cheza thinks.

  “Cheza...” I say aloud.

  “Please Cole?” Cheza asks with that pouty look again; Damnit! I move myself up to her opening.

  “Oh, but turn the shower off first; I feel kinda bad about wasting so much water…” Cheza thinks.

  “Nope.” I think.

  I’m tempted to just ram her because I’m a little peeved that she has used my weakness against me twice this morning. However, I don’t because it would hurt her and I don’t want that…not for any gentlemanly reason, but because what if her pain transfers over? That would be way too freaky for me to deal with.

  (Says the man who flays beings to death, rescues fairy princesses, can create things using his blood, and can survive being stabbed in the chest thrice, as well as through his heart)

  “Touché.”

  Anyway, I enter her slowly while focusing a lot of effort to block out any pain so that I don’t need extensive therapy. She winces once as I push the last part of myself inside of her.

  “Move.” Cheza commands. I listen and slowly build up speed.

  “Faster.” Cheza commands and I increase the speed some more.

  (Jackhammer me, Eddie! Jackhammer me!) 12

  I resist the urge to laugh as Cheza wraps her arms around the back of my neck and pulls herself into me as she starts panting in my ear.

  “Harder!” Cheza moans out loud. I slide my hands underneath her ass and pick her up. I push her up against the glass wall that connects to the shower door as I start to get into it. I’m glad that this wall is sturdy otherwise this could have turned into a bad time really quickly. Cheza passes the finish line of her third time around the track, and I realize that I’m almost there as well.

  “Cheza, I’m about to have a problem in a second so I need you to unhook your legs now!” I think urgently to her.

  “No.” She says aloud while panting and digging her finger nails into my back so that my body’s natural response is to move closer to her.

  “What do you mean, no!?” I ask.

  “Seriously Cheza, I need you to unhook your legs, like now!” I start to panic.

  “Just do it inside!” Cheza moans.

  “WHAT!?” I shout as I try to pull back from her, her fingernails cutting my back open.

  “HOW ARE YOUR LEGS THIS FREAKISHLY STRONG!?” I yell. Her muscles tighten and push me over the edge as I release.

  Fuck! As a guy, I’ve been conditioned to avoid this type of situation. This type of situation can lead to a baby and a baby is the worst possible outcome of sex! I back up into the wall and slide down its length as Cheza collapses onto my chest. The scent of frozen Mandarin oranges fills my nostrils as I notice that Cheza might be unconscious. I reach up and put shampoo in my hair, followed by conditioner so that I can finish my shower. I sit there under the stream as my hair gets rinsed before reaching up to turn the water off.

  Okay, now I’m pretty sure Cheza is unconscious, but at least she has a smile on her face.

  (If sex is a weapon then Smash, Boom, POW! How you like me now?)

  “Haha! Them Crooked Vultures; nice one Airi!”

  I am about to get us out of the shower to dry off when I realize something: what am I supposed to do about the stuff inside her? Do I just get a water bottle with a nozzle on it and squirt it up there?

  “Tia, I need a little advice here. I came inside and Cheza is currently unconscious on my chest. What do I do about that stuff? “I whisper.

  “Oh…don’t worry about it, that problem takes care of itself naturally. And don’t fret too much; she’s on birth control so you have a pretty decent chance of her not getting pregnant!” Tia informs me.

  “Alright, thanks Tia.” I whisper as I stand up. If Cheza does get pregnant, I wonder if I can just stop it by starting her period with my blood…okay that is by far the weirdest idea I’ve ever had.

  I carry Cheza out of the shower and start to towel her off when she wakes up.

  “Oh, good! This makes things so much easier. Here’s a towel, I’m going to grab another.” I say as I hand her the towel before walking to my dresser to grab another.

  I towel off as Cheza wraps herself in the towel and heads to her room. I get dressed in cargo shorts and a white t-shirt so that I’m ready for anything today. I walk out at the same time Cheza does and we both walk into the kitchen.

  “CONGRATULATIONS!” Tia, Natasha, and Sara shout as they pull party poppers, causing confetti to explode everywhere. There’s a banner hanging in the kitchen that says ‘IT’S ABOUT TIME!’

  Oh gods…there’s even a cake.

  I now know for certain that my family is bizarre, and that my life is really fucked up.

  Chapter 22: When anger and rage pour forth

  “Okay so I have to admit, this cake is pretty damn good! Thanks Sara!” I say.

  “I…MA…SO….PROW…DUFFYU!” Tia blubbers like a mother as her son goes off to college. This has got to be the most emotion I’ve ever seen from her and also confirms that my suspicion for the only situation where she could be prouder was spot on.

  “How did you have time to bake a cake though? Don’t they take approximately forty-five minutes to make?” I ask while ignoring Tia, who is having a mild breakdown.

  “Well Tia told me to start baking one because it was going to happen this time, unlike a few nights ago, so I did.” Sara says.

  “And she told Sara because she overheard me telling Cheza about last night!” Natasha says behind Sara, referring to how my insensibly logical brain almost led me into having sex with her. I respond by glaring at her.

  “Cole, you and Cheza were in there for almost two hours.” Sara says while pointing at the clock that reads 9:08am.

  “Shit! Has Dagda already come by?” I ask as I shovel the rest of my slice of cake into my mouth.

  “Relax! You’re going to choke! He hasn’t come by yet.” Sara says while the doorbell rings. I get up, answer the door, and see that it’s Dagda.

  “Ah Dagda, we were just talking about you! Do you want some cake?” I ask.

  “Not now boyo, we’ve got trouble; grab your things.” Dagda says urgently. I run and grab my old holster, putting a Diamond sword in the slip on the back; I really need to make a sheath for this thing when I find the time.

  “Alright, what kind of trouble are we dealing with?” I ask as Cheza inspects the scene with concern.

  “It’s Lila…” Dagda says and puts a hand on my shoulder.

  We port to the gate/gazebo. Dagda snaps his fingers and we arrive in the foyer of Aine’s palace. Dagda leads me through a series a corridors until we reach a hallway where I see Aine, a man that must be the head butler, and someone who is possibly a security guard.

  “Aine, what’s going on?” I ask, businesslike in my approach. Aine looks like a nervous wreck.

  “Lila has barricaded herself in her room and she isn’t responding to us…” Aine explains, panicking slightly.

  I expand my hearing and listen in to the room. I hear Lila crying quietly and whispering something in the back left corner. The crying is muffled, most likely by clothing or a blanket, so I can’t make out what she is whispering.

  “I’m going to break the door down; is that alright Aine?” I ask as I reach into my pocket. Aine nods the affirmative.

  “Oh, and it’s also going to make a bit of a mess so I need you two to go get a mop, a bucket, and
blacksmithing hammer.” I say to the other two men just to get them out of here because I don’t trust them enough to show them how I make the Mu-cutter. They nod and run off.

  I pull out my switchblade and slice my right wrist open, just below the bracelet. I form the Mu-cutter and slash a giant X through the door. The door falls to pieces and the large dresser that is barricading it practically explodes. I disengage the Mu-cutter and I walk slowly across the room towards Lila. Aine starts to follow me in, but Dagda stops her for some reason.

  Lila is in the corner with a blanket over her, cowering in the same fashion as she was three nights ago. As I approach her, I pick up her quiet whispering.

  “No more…please…just make it stop…” Lila whispers while shaking in the corner.

  “Lila…it’s alright now…you aren’t there anymore…you’re safe.” I say softly to her.

  She flinches away in response and tries to move further into the corner. I notice that she appears to be naked under the blanket.

  “No…” Lila says slightly louder.

  I kneel down beside her and she tries to back up further, but finds she’s unable and starts to hyperventilate. This probably isn’t the right thing to do, but I grab her, pull her into my chest, and proceed to hold her tenderly.

  “No! Don’t touch me!” Lila screams as she uses her fingernails to tear my chest apart through my t-shirt. About two minutes later, my chest is ripped into red confetti and Lila’s frantic scratching slows down as she starts crying harder.

  “Lila…it’s me, Cole. Everything is going to be okay.” I say calmly. I’m glad that I don’t really bleed, otherwise there would blood all over my shirt, and Lila doesn’t need that extra trauma.

  “Cole?” Lila asks as though she is waking up. I lift the blanket slowly off of her face while pushing her away slightly so she can see.

  “COLE!” Lila cries out when she sees my face.

  She throws her arms around me as she cries into my newly scratch-free chest. I just hold her gently for the five minutes it takes for her to calm down.

  “I thought you were that man again…like before…like in my nightmare…” Lila says and starts crying again.

  “Shhhh, everything is going to be okay Lila…” I wait for a few minutes for her to calm down again. This probably isn’t a good thing to ask, but I need the information.

  “Lila, what did this man look like?” I ask softly.

  “He was taller than you, had long silver hair, and these menacing steel-blue eyes that looked maniacally happy when he laughed as he…as he…” Lila says as tears start to fall down her face.

  “Shhhh. Lila, that’s enough; you don’t have to think about that ever again.” I say, trying to snap her out of the memory.

  “Do you want to go back to my house? There’s cake!” What do you say to a thirteen year old girl who was just stuck in a memory from when she was getting raped?

  She thinks for a moment before nodding and turning her face back into my shirt. I lift her up and use my left forearm to support her blanketed bottom as she holds onto my front, like a baby orangutan clinging onto its mother. I look at Aine for permission and she nods in response.

  “Here, let’s get you dressed first…oh…” I say while setting her down as I look at the explosion of cut-up garments everywhere.

  I grab the nearest pair of hole-less panties that I can find and I hold them open for her to step inside them. I slide them up her legs and underneath the blanket that Lila is holding around her at hand level so that it creates a large V from her shoulders to her pelvis. After I reach the top of her legs, I notice something that causes rage to start bubbling inside me.

  There are two hand shaped bruises on her hips.

  I grab a dress and throw it on her and then I pick her up again. I feel her shaking…no wait, that’s me.

  “Cole? Cole what’s wrong?” Cheza says, smashing her way into my mind.

  “I’ll tell you later.” I say sternly as I close the connection.

  I look over and nod at Dagda; he simply snaps us to the gate, puts a hand on my shoulder, and ports us to the house.

  I walk through the front door and set Lila down on the couch.

  “Wait here,” I say softly to Lila and head to Natasha’s room. I knock on her door as I open it; thankfully Natasha is clothed in jeans and a light green graphic t-shirt.

  “Natasha, can you come and hang out with Lila for a little while?” I ask her sternly. My face must have told her that what we had talked about last night has turned out to be true, because she follows me to the living room without question. Natasha sits next to Lila on the couch and turns on the TV while I cut a slice of cake for Lila.

  “Hey Lila, can you stay here and hang out with Natasha for a little while until I get back?” I ask. Lila looks a little worried about me leaving, but she nods and takes a bite of cake. I walk out the front door to where Dagda is waiting.

  “I need some information. I assume you were listening in; does anyone fit that description?” I ask.

  “Well, given the circumstances, I’d say it was Fenrir, son of Loki and master of werewolves…” Dagda says.

  “Fenrir…port us back to Tir na nOg please.” I say while clenched and shaking with my eyes shut.

  Dagda ports us to the gate and then to an open field.

  “Dagda…can you make homunculi since we are in your realm? I need to kill something or I’m going to snap.” I ask, eyes still shut as I shake slightly.

  “I can create an illusion of them. They will react like people would but they’ll be fake, without consciousness.” Dagda says.

  “Perfect…can you make them have blood?” I ask.

  “That I can.” Dagda answers.

  “Do it…please.” I request, barely containing the rage inside me that tells me to render the flesh from bones and destroy everything.

  The illusion pops up: twenty armed soldiers around me in an arena of rubble while the sky glows red. My helmet wraps around my head as I draw my sword, and take off. I slice and hack all of them to pieces at a speed that doesn’t even allow for their blood to get on me. I hack up the final group of five men at the same time. I stand there, allowing their blood to rain down on me as I revel in the chorus of screams.

  My rage dissipates but doesn’t disappear; good, that is just the way I wanted it. I want to give Fenrir a taste of this rage when I find him. The illusion dissolves and I find myself standing back in the field with Dagda who is looking rather shocked.

  “DAMN BOYO! That was impressive! You were movin’ at about three quarters o’ the speed I can reach! That was a huge improvement to your speed from yesterday!” Dagda exclaims.

  “I guess rage is a good fuel source for my speed.” I state, emotionless.

  “Hey Dagda, can I get that brand that will allow me to port to Tir na nOg? I feel responsible for Lila in some strange way and being able to port to Tir na nOg would allow me to spend more time with her; hopefully to give her some sense of relief. It would also make training easier because I could just port here in the mornings instead of having you ‘give me a ride,’ so to speak.” I ask.

  “That’s not a bad idea…would it even work though? Wouldn’t your blood just heal it?” Dagda asks.

  “Don’t worry about that, I’ve got an idea.” I tell him.

  “Well alright lad, let’s go see Manannan mac Lir.” Dagda says and snaps his fingers.

  I find myself in a large, open, forge. I see Manannan mac Lir fiddling with something at a workbench while wearing a leather blacksmithing apron.

  “I need you to brand Cole.” Dagda says. Manannan mac Lir just gives a gruff nod and grabs a triskele (or tri-swirl) branding iron off of the wall and sticks it in the embers of his forge.

  “Alright lad, we need to pick a place that won’t be easily cut. This is goin’ to hurt regardless so pick a place where you want to have it.” Dagda informs me.

  “My left shoulder blade.” I tell them.

  I slide my holster o
ff, pull off my shirt, and stick the strap of the holster in my mouth. Manannan mac Lir looks to me for confirmation before he pulls the iron out of the forge.

  “Airi, stop all healing. When the brand is finished, I want you to fill in the space with blood and turn it into silicon carbide before you restart healing to get rid of the burnt skin around it.”

  (Once it is in the form of silicon carbide, you will never be able to remove it)

  “That’s fine. Oh, and try to block Cheza from this if you can.”

  I nod to Manannan mac Lir and he sticks the branding iron on my left shoulder blade. He holds it there for the longest fifteen seconds on my life. I’m really glad I stuck the strap of my holster in my mouth; otherwise I probably would have cracked a tooth.

  “How do I use it?” I ask, slightly out of breath. Dagda snaps his fingers and we appear at the gate.

  “Well you have to think of where you need to go and then you just touch the symbol. This one is already set to port between your house and the gate.” Dagda explains.

  “Alright, I’ll give it a shot. I’ll probably be back in about an hour or so; there’s no way I was able to keep that much pain from Cheza so she is probably going to freak out at me for a while and not allow me to leave the house.” I inform him.

  “Don’t worry about it lad, we can resume trainin’ tomorrow; just look after Lila.” Dagda says.

  I nod in response. While holding onto my shirt and holster with my left hand, I think of home.

  “There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home. There’s no place like home.” I say while clicking my heels together three times before touching the triskele brand.

  The last thing I hear is Dagda’s laughter.

  Chapter 23: There is no standard protocol

  The first thing I hear is the sound of wind rushing past my ears. I fall thirty feet to the ground as if I were dropped from a tornado…Goddamn flying monkeys! Note to self: keep clear images when porting. I land in the yard as I feel the shock of the impact travel up my bones. I also feel slightly drained; I guess it’s a side effect from the porting. I walk up to the front door and inside the house.