Witness

by Lori Darnell

  I smiled at her response. “We have a mission. We need to leave.” I stood and walked to the entrance, never looking back.

  The three of them ran after me as I waited for Duke to sense my need. There was much to do. I could travel faster if I were alone. Where was my guide? He should be here. As I looked around for him, Jill came to my side, taking my hand. I frowned. What did she want? I could feel something distant. But it seemed silly, like a waste of time. James watched us, a look of pure horror washing over his face. I didn’t understand.

  “Marcus, is it you?” A soft whisper in her question. How irritating, I didn’t have time for this.

  “Of course it is. But we must hurry. I will continue my mission. James and Dean will take care of you.” I smiled at Jill as I said this, but an echo of something bigger seemed to be on the edge of my mind. I shook my head, trying to focus. Now was no time for distractions.

  “Marcus, what is wrong?” Determined, Jill stepped in front of me. I tried to ignore her as I scanned the desert. Where was that camel?

  “It will be fine. You will be safe.” Thinking that is what she was worried about I patted her head again. She recoiled, acting like I had slapped her.

  “Isis! You demon! You are no god!” Jill screamed into the barren desert. I looked down surprised by her emotion. There was no one there. Why did she do this? Surely she knew this was a waste of energy. The sands blew around us, angry and wild. A storm was coming? But I heard Isis, calling from the wind.

  “You have to leave her. Leave her now.” I looked down at the girl still clinging to my hand. I shook her off.

  “No! You promised me, you promised.” Her sobs pulled at the corners of my mind. Something more was wrong. “Marcus, don’t do this. You have to fight it.” She held my hand with more force. I tried to shake her off again. She brought her hand to my temple.

  “I heard you - you… demon whore! He is mine!” The wind was futile against this small blond woman. She turned to face me once more. “Marcus, look at me.” I tried to look away, but something familiar was pulling me closer to her, magnetized.

  I felt the crack against my cheek long before I realized that this small blond woman just smacked me. Was she crazy? I caught her hand, because she looked like she was going to do it again. She started to cry. The tears flowed down her face, something tugged at my stomach, but I couldn’t hold onto it. I dropped her hand, thinking that was why she was crying. Maybe I had hurt her.

  As soon as I let her go she grabbed my face again, I looked down at her puzzled. What did she want? “Marcus, look at me.” I was, but I still didn’t understand what she wanted.

  “Stop it, I have to leave.” I chided, glaring down at her shaking frame.

  In the distance James and Dean were running toward us. James was crying. Why were they so emotional? Strange humans. I just didn’t understand.

  “Marcus!” James was breaking his stride as he saw my dispassionate eyes.

  “Will you tell Jill she will be safe with you? I have to go.” Exasperated, I looked at the woman clinging to me. Why was she so scared?

  “Marcus, you promised.” Her sobs shook my body. I looked to James for help but he had already collapsed to the ground. Dean would be no help as he was already trying to comfort James. I just didn’t understand what everyone was so upset about. It was a glorious time. Retribution was at hand. The Church was going to fall.

  I felt a feather light touch caress my arm. Looking down at Jill, I intended to tell her to let go, but I was mesmerized by the sea foam depths of her tear streaked eyes – eyes that caught my own, and I could not look away from. She was quite beautiful.

  Her voice was velvet, sweet like strawberries. The scent of her was so familiar as she whispered, strained, “remember who you are.” My vision flickered. Pain flooded through me. The force of memories, they were spinning my consciousness apart. The images were moving quickly in front of me. Everything was moving so fast. But I had no trouble keeping my balance. Were these my memories? These couldn’t be my memories. My logic told me it didn't matter. The memories were unimportant. But I saw myself, warm embraces, heated loving, desperate need. It felt so powerful, so… right. The emotion behind them cracked my reserve, reaching deep within me.

  I heard the scream on the wind. But it was a whisper, against the emotions flooding me. I remembered the feel of the soft, warm intoxicating woman in front of me. Her taste, what it felt like to be inside her, to come completely undone with hurricane force and lie with her in absolute stillness. Overwhelmed with the potency of my own being, I felt the tears run down my cheek. Recognition hit me hard, and I heard my own scream escape my lips. My legs felt unsteady.

  “Jill?” I heard my voice crack as I crashed to the ground at her feet, wrapping my arms around her legs. The memories flooded my vision again. The pain of loss, the wonder of her love buried down to the marrow of my existence. It was too much. Sobbing, I rose, wrapping my arms around her waist. What Isis had stolen from me, Jill had restored.

  “She almost took you from me. I am so sorry.” I couldn’t talk anymore as the tears soaked through her shirt.

  “Marcus, I would never let her have you. She can turn you into a god, but she’ll never know your soul.” Jill looked into the sky; the wind began to die. Isis knew she had lost me.

  “You belong to me, Marcus. You are mine. Forever!” she screamed to the sky. She brought my face to hers, drawing my breath into her body. Our mouths remembered this. My body responded to her strong embrace. No matter what else had changed, I would have her, I would love her.

  “No. You cannot have her,” Isis cooed, trying to pull me back, though it was useless now. “She is not one of us. She will never be one of us. She will only distract you from what you must do.” Isis vowed, knowing Jill would hear, too. I called out to the winds, holding my salvation in my arms.

  “If you want me to do this, if you want me to be a part of this, Jill stays with me.” I looked down into her misty sea foam eyes. “I will keep her forever.” The god seemed to shiver; somehow, I was aware of her now, aware of everything and nothing at once. She knew what my statement meant. “Her soul is a part of mine. If she dies, I will go with her. If I go home… she must come with me. I don’t have a home without her; I have nothing to fight for, without her.” I looked up at the sky, wondering if I would see her glaring back at me. “It’s your choice. Think about it.” Jill was staring at me in wonder.

  “You would give up this for me?” She smiled, knowing I would. Her hands running across my chest felt slightly electric, more alive than ever. My body had changed; it had healed, and was stronger than ever - I saw it when I was with Isis.

  “I will give up anything for you,” I declared, stroked her cheek, leaning down to seal this promise with a kiss. She moaned softly in response, circling her arms around my neck, and I bent my head, kissing her neck, inhaling her scent. I couldn’t help but marvel at this woman. Armed with nothing but her love and her own iron will, she had used her abilities to overturn the will of a god. I did not know what was to come, but I knew that whatever it was, it would never keep me from Jill again.

  Chapter 25

  “What have you done?” A stranger’s voice called from the darkness. Jill looked up, startled, hearing the voice of a robed man standing at the front of the entrance to the temple. “Do you have any idea what you have done? You have defiled this sacred temple. I should kill you; the gods will not be pleased.” His questions were irritating. Hadn’t I been through enough today? I wanted to be alone with my family, to continue reconnecting with my emotions, my memories, my reason for living.

  Reluctantly, we stood to face him. There was nothing he could do to me, and he wouldn’t dare touch her. I looked past the stranger and I saw James and Dean crumpled on the floor. The stranger looked back at them and laughed.

  “I had to teach them some manners.” I was furious. How dare this man hurt my, for all intents and purposes, father and his lover? He had no right. As we appr
oached, I looked up at him. His eyes went wide. A blue glow washed across the scene in front of us. Apparently, my eyes would never be the same again.

  “I think, maybe, I need to teach you some manners,” I stated calmly. His expression changed from smug to horrified, and I smiled at his discomfort. I could tell James and Dean were not badly hurt; they both struggled to their feet, and came forward to stand with me. I felt strong, stronger that human. I wasn’t human anymore; the gods had sent one of their own back to Earth. I reached for the stranger, grabbing his robe, holding him still. I noticed belatedly that his robes were not like those of the Church.

  “Who are you?” I demanded. My own voice startled me as it echoed, low and metallic.

  “I… I have no name. I am the guardian of this temple. I was told you were coming alone.” The words choked out of him. He looked around me, at my family. He stopped as he saw how I possessively protected Jill from him. He seemed mildly disgusted by what he saw.

  “I don’t understand. They aren’t gods. They are meaningless…” His last words trailed off as he saw the fierce glare sharpen in my vacant glowing eyes.

  “I know what was planned for me. Hear this now: what remains to be done is going to be done my way. Jill, Dean, and James are my family. My real family is right here. The gods will have to adjust.” I spoke both to the stranger and Isis, as I was sure she was listening.

  “I don’t wish to question you, but,” he hesitated, “she… is tainted. She is not a god.” My rage overtook me. I reached out and grabbed the man by the throat, holding him high above me; I reveled in the idea that I could kill this man. It scared me.

  “Stop!” A shriek came from the temple entrance, followed by a young woman running to the man’s rescue. I dropped the man. I recognized the girl’s face, as did my entire travel party.

  “Jenna?” Jill was the first to speak through the stunned silence. Realization dawned on the rest of them.

  “This is your father,” I voiced, looking down at the man as I spoke. Not a question but an affirmation.

  “Yes - please,” She stopped, looking at me in an interesting mixture of anger, fear, and reverence. “Please, don’t hurt him. Our prophesies didn’t tell us about your family. They only told us of you and your mission.” She leaned down to help her father stand. I watched as she tended to him, checking him over to assure herself that he was not seriously injured.

  “As I am sure you understand, my family is more important than my mission.”

  “I do understand. Please, don’t hurt him,” she pleaded again, seeing the rage still in my eyes.

  I looked down dispassionately at the man who called himself the temple guardian. “I won’t hurt him as long as he understands my family is sacred. If they hurt, he hurts.” The threat was not subtle. I didn’t want it to be.

  “Of course my lord, I would never hurt them.” The man stated, nodding cautiously as he looked at Jill with amazement. “But how?” He glanced back at me, full of curiosity. “How did you keep her? We were told your memories would be faded. A god cannot have human emotions and memories. It could drive them mad.”

  “Who told you this?” I wondered how many of the other gods I saw during my transformation had to go through this, since it was clear this was a transition to their state.

  “I was told that you would be above this kind of attachment. It isn’t natural for this kind of attachment to survive.” I eyed him with suspicion. He was told?

  "And who imparted this knowledge? Was it Isis, did she come to you?" The man looked up at me in reverence.

  "Yes, she told me to watch for the signs. That you would be alone and ready for the fight. But here you are - you are not alone, and you are not ready." His heavy disappointment flooded through his eyes.

  I couldn’t help myself. I started laughing, loudly. “The gods themselves tried to tell me that. I told them I wouldn’t let go. But the truth was…she wouldn’t let go.” I brushed my thumb across her soft lips that were smiling up at me.

  “I’m sorry, but no mere human could do that.” He shook his head facing the ground. These doubts were irritating me. Why is it no one understood the depth of Jill's influence, her gifts? She was the world to me, couldn't everyone understand that?

  James finally found his voice. “I think I can answer that. The girl, Jill, is special. She is one of the most powerful psychics the Church has ever seen, next to our Marcus,” James explained. That stopped the man short; he leaned against the temple wall, pondering what this meant.

  “But Marcus doesn’t count. You can’t count demigods as human.” Dean proudly stated. He walked forward to stand with Jill and I, uniting against the temple guardian no doubt.

  “What did you call him?” Jill poked Dean in the shoulder, getting his attention.

  “Well I think that is the right term.” He looked at the ground, trying to remember with more certainty.

  “Marcus, you scared us there for a while.” James looked up at me. “You know that I think of you as my son. And you just gave your father a good twenty years worth of gray hair!” he stepped back, wiping tears from his face.

  “Yeah, I bet I could count them too.” Dean couldn’t resist the quick jibe.

  Jill, frustrated at not getting her complete answer, poked Dean again, hard. He jumped, startled, and began rubbing his arm, opening his mouth to protest. Jill cut him off. “Dean, what is a demigod? I don’t care about the term, I want the meaning.” She sounded quite concerned.

  Dean waved his arms up and down in front of me in his best imitation of someone showcasing a product. “You’re looking at it. It is someone who has, well, been chosen. Normally that person must die, giving up their human life. They come back, you know, different. But they are not gods, yet.” He acted like this was common knowledge despite the fact that he was speaking to a couple of kids that grew up in the strict environment of the dictating Church. Until the last year, we didn’t even know about any other gods, let alone a human having the potential of becoming one.

  “Ok, so you should have special powers like a superhero or something?” Jill looked up at me like I had the answer to her question. I just shrugged. I enjoyed the sensation, feeling more relaxed as I found more pieces of myself return. I smiled down at her confused expression.

  “I don’t know, but right now, I am very tired.” This seemed to surprise everyone, as though they had assumed in my new state, I would no longer require human essentials, like sleep. No one else realized that the sun was fading behind the dunes. I looked up at the guardian expectantly. He didn’t get the hint.

  Rolling my eyes, I asked, “is there somewhere we can sleep tonight? I don’t really want to sleep in the sand again.” I sounded whiny, but I didn’t care. I wanted some normalcy.

  Jenna was the first to catch on. “Of course my lord, you have a bed in the temple. There are other rooms with cots for all of your friends.” I think she meant to include Jill in that group. I shook my head at that thought.

  “She stays with me. Accept it, she is not only my soul mate, but she is my wife as well. We were married before I came here. This woman was strong enough to pull me back from the gods – do you really think you can keep her from my room?” I bent, lightly kissing Jill’s forehead, and whispered in her ear, “Besides, I don’t intend to make any changes, even though I did technically fall under the escape clause of ‘till death do us part’.” She punched me, hard, in the side. It almost stung. But I think it was my memory of the pain I should have felt. Not that it actually existed anymore.

  “You know I was kidding,” I said, looking down at her to make sure she knew that. I couldn’t trust my intuitions at the moment. I felt like I was on the edge of what it felt like to lose her, to let her go.

  “Jenna, can you show us our rooms? I would very much appreciate it.” The woman walked back to the temple leaving her father standing, still in shock from what had transpired today.

  Walking back into the temple, Jenna led us down one of the small corrido
rs. She pointed to a room with four cots in it. “James, you and Dean can have this room.” Without looking back she kept going. James sighed as he entered the small room. I laughed a little as Jill and I continued on our way. We stopped at the end of the hall.

  “Please excuse the dust; we didn’t know you were coming.” She opened the door and my mouth dropped open. This couldn’t be for me. The room was larger than the front Temple. It had large openings in the ceiling; I could see the moon shining in. Jenna lit the wick at the entrance of the room; the flames circled the high ceiling, lighting the room like a giant chandelier.

  The room exploded in color. Rich gold and purples draped across the bed. It was big enough all six of us could share it. The walls were a tapestry of paintings mimicking the ones in the temple. They were more elaborate, brightly colored. It was beautiful. I could hear the rush of running water from the back corner of the room. I looked at Jenna.

  “What is that sound I hear, water?” I asked, hoping it was true.

  “Yes, this temple is built over a large underground river. It cools the temple and provides us fresh water. The room in the back,” she pointed toward the sound, “that is a bathroom. The river was diverted to bring the water closer to the surface. There is fresh water, and a deep area for bathing.” She looked at Jill enviously. It appeared that not everyone was allowed the luxury.

  “Thank you, the room is perfect.” I smiled and took her hand. “I am grateful for your help.” She blushed in response. Jill shot her a glare that could kill.

  Jenna backed out of the room, closing the door behind her. “What was that about?” I asked Jill, amused.

  “I was going to ask you the same thing.” She raised an eyebrow at me. “I don’t like beautiful women responding to you. You might get funny ideas in your head now that you are some kind of super human.” I smiled, despite myself.