Gauss, upon hearing this, bit his bottom lip and plucked at the wood of the overturned storage box he was sitting on. Despite the cold in the room, he and I were both sweating. We weren’t the ones telling the story and yet we were the ones in the worst shape. Mother, on the other hand, spoke with a calm voice as she retold the events.
“There were two bright red eyes, hovering over my bed. As soon as our gazes met I couldn’t look away. No longer did the forceful power need to pull me in its direction, I remember wanting to go. The eyes were far too seductive for even me, a trained and righteous warrior of the Almighty, to disobey.”
Mother paused a moment as she thought about what to say next and at that moment, a spider dropped on a thin long web and plopped itself onto my shoulder. I tried to ignore it but could feel it eerily make its way up my face and onto my horns where it would undoubtedly try to create a nest. Something about the telling of this story had turned this once normal storage cellar into a room of nightmares I hadn’t noticed before.
“When I was directly under the eyes, I felt my armor being unlatched from my body,” continued Mother. “The force even laid the plates of steel on the ground very quietly as if not to disturb anyone else. The coldness in the room turned to warm and then to unbearably hot. I had started to sweat just as the eyes had started to take a physical form. I remember a shadow appearing in the top corner of the ceiling and shooting out towards the eyes where it whirled around forming an upside-down triangular face followed by its thin bony body. The texture was the worst part. Greasy. Lumpy. Thick. It makes me sick that I remember these details, but in the moment…”
“Don’t say it Mother,” I said, hot tears forming in my eyes. “Please…”
“Listen to her, Ira,” said Gauss in a somewhat shaky voice. “You need to hear this.”
“In that moment I wanted it. I needed it. Satan, the king of darkness, had overcome me with his immense power of all things evil. He stripped me of everything that night. My dignity. My self-love. My virtue. And my connection to the Creator. The worst part of all was that during that horrible night, I was in love for the first time. I felt a deep passion for this man. It was only until that next morning did I fully realize what had happened. And then, I turned away from the Almighty. I wanted to give it all up. But then Gauss was there.”
I looked over to Gauss who had turned his head away from my mother. The firelight from the torches reflected the tears that had pulled themselves out of his tightly shut eyes. This made my tears come even more easily now. He was someone strong, someone I looked up to and to see him reduced to crying made everything so much worse.
“Gauss refused to let me leave the Refuge. He gave me encouragement and helped to bring the light of the Almighty back into my heart and into my soul. You see, Ira… the Almighty has a plan for all of us. We may talk about how horrible that night was but there is one thing that will always be true…”
“And… what is that?” I asked, tears and snot now flowing, mixing together at the base of my chin. My mouth was dry and the words came out raspy.
“That I would never have given birth to you without the help of the dark king. It took only seven days before you were born. During that week I stayed in my quarters and was constantly cared for by Gauss who saw to my every need.” Mother chuckled. “He was like half servant, half midwife.”
Gauss choked loudly but tried to play it off like he had just coughed.
“My belly grew very large very fast which was extremely painful. I believed that I would not survive the birthing of you, Ira. But I prayed and prayed and sure enough, the Almighty wanted me to mother you. He gave me that gift. You were born in the middle of winter with a full set of black hair and no horns to show for. You were the perfect baby and I loved you with all my heart.”
“And then what happened?” I asked, wiping my nose with my shirt.
“And then, well, you know the rest, silly! I got leave from the Refuge. I bought our church with the money I had saved up and spent most of my time preaching the word of the Almighty and raising a good little boy named Ira.”
“So,” I said, sniffling as I did so. “When you would leave for mission trips you were actually-“
“Right, I was with my squadron. Training. Preparing for days such as this. You see, being a warrior for the Refuge is never-ending. It’s a life’s vocation, not a job. You can’t just quit.”
I was about to ask another question when the concrete floor beneath our feet rumbled. The rafters above pelted our hair with dust and stacked up boxes of books fell to the side sending literature all over the room.
“What’s going on?” demanded Gauss, as we all stood up.
I rushed over to Deborah and placed my body over hers just in case wood or anything else fell that could harm her further.
The door opened from above and out popped Pom-Pos’ face.
“Pom-Pos! What’s the matter?” asked Mother. “What’s going on up there?”
Pom-Pos didn’t answer, his mouth lulling open in a dumb manner. Suddenly, a black hand reached out of the entrance of the door, its fingers curving through the eyeballs of the severed head of Pom-Pos.
“We have company!” yelled Gauss as he and Mother both unsheathed their swords and prepared for battle.
22
Pom-pos’ head was flicked off the greasy red claws of the demon. I flinched each time it thumped its way down to rest at our feet. Mother and Gauss were already climbing up the stairs, weapons in hand. And what was I doing?
Nothing.
How many months of practice did I suffer through just to stand idle when I was needed most? I couldn’t move. I didn’t want to move. I had no desire to see what was behind that door, what that bloody demon hand belonged to.
“Ira!” cried Mother. “Protect your friend!”
At first, I didn’t even comprehend the words but my body sure did. I was up and moving to Deborah as fast as I could, knocking over some of the book boxes as I did so. No wonder Mother was a commander for the Refuge! Her voice… something about it was inspiring! It was nothing like I’d ever heard growing up with her. No, this voice was different. It was glorious!
Deborah’s forehead was visibly wet under the dim lighting of the cellar. I put my hand on her skin and felt it was ice cold. Liquid reflected off the black tasset attached to her hip. I wiped it with a finger and brought it to my nose.
Urine.
What was wrong with her? This wasn’t good. Was she dying? Probably. But what could I do about it without Mother? Without Gauss? I could hear their heavy boot steps as they charged to the top floor. I had to get Deborah out of here and find help before the Almighty decided it was her time. But how was I supposed to get out?
“Bitch,” came a hiss from the darkest corner of the room.
“Who said that?!” I said, whipping around to face nothingness.
“You waste your time with these foolish humans. You waste your energy. Your potential. Your POWER...”
“Show yourself!”
I reached out and grabbed the nearest torch, keeping watch to make sure nothing approached Deborah. Now that I had more light, I could see that the poor girl’s eyes were half open. Did she die?
“How dare you. How FUCKING dare you declare yourself a man of the Almigh-“ There was a hiss and the smell of burning rotten flesh as whatever was talking was punished for almost speaking the Almighty’s name. “We gave you opportunities. We revealed ourselves to you in your dreams. You had a job to do, Ira. A job… Father is disappointed in you.”
“What dreams?” I asked, taking a half step towards the sinister voice. It was supposed to be a full step, but I just couldn’t muster the nerve.
“I will not be toyed with. In your dreams, prince Ira, we showed you what was to be done. What you were to become. Now, I am unsure whether or not your father desires you any longer and you know what that means, don’t you?”
“I’ve had no such dreams!” I shouted, taking another step. “Now, com
e on out of the darkness! Show yourself so that I might shove my spear into you!”
“What spear?”
My right hand held the torch and my left hand held… well, it held nothing. In my attempt to get over to Deborah I had forgotten my spear leaning on the wall behind my stool. Panic arose in me, shivers riveted down my back, sweat trickled into my eyes. I felt like I was going to shit myself.
I took a step back just as a form began to take shape in the shadows. The flame of my torch bent forward as the evil being sucked from it the black smoke.
Two thick black feet, much like the shape of a bird’s, appeared first. The claws clicked aimlessly on the ground in a rhythm that matched the pulsing vein in my forehead.
Next came the bulbous body that was almost comical in a sick way. It was round at the body and was covered in scabs and boils that looked like they could burst at any moment.
The head… oh the head… was attached to this fat body of the demon. No neck. No shoulders. No chin. Just a wide mouth with two yellow teeth. A single eye and the workings of an eye socket without an eye to swivel inside.
And just like a cherry added to the top of an ice cream, a few wisps of blond hair stood straight up on top of its scalp.
Much like Jonni’s hair used to do.
“You motherfucker,” I whispered.
The demon Jonni laughed so hard that globs of green spittle flew onto my cheeks and splattered over Deborah’s armor. I would have gagged if I hadn’t been feeling the rage that was building up inside of me.
“I can feel it! You radiate the dark king’s power in almost the same way! Ah! And now I know how to awaken it from within you… Anger. Despair. Hate.”
“Prepare yourself, demon,” I said, running backward to grab my spear but the obese slobbering devilish thing was quicker than it looked. With a blink of an eye, it was at Deborah’s side with one long claw tapping her soft throat just beneath her chin.
“Make one fucking move and I slit this slut’s throat!”
“Don’t talk about her that way!” I screamed, replacing the torch into my left hand and gripping my spear with my dark hand. I could feel the wood underneath creak slightly beneath my grasp.
“Oooh, looks like I found your weakness, fool boy. Do you like being called fool? You know, that’s what they called the Almighty’s son. In my opinion, it is the best form of insult.”
I took a step closer.
“Uh uh uhh!” The demon Jonni popped a tiny speck into Deborah’s skin and a thin line of blood trickled out. “Not another step, fool boy. Now, here’s what I want you to do-“
I took a quick jab of a step and the demon poked another hole. My heart was beating in my throat and I had no fucking idea as to what I was supposed to do! My training… Yes! My training… That would solve this! What would Gauss and my other teachers do…
“They would sacrifice her for the greater good,” answered the demon, its smile widening so much that its skin ripped and out came streams of green blood. “That’s what they would do, Ira. You and I both know it. Warriors of the Refuge all join knowing what they are getting themselves into. So why not let me kill this whore and you drive that spear into my belly?”
I used my shoulder to wipe the sweat out of my eyes, but still they stung badly.
“I grow tired of this,” groaned the demon Jonni. “On the count of three, I’m going to off this bitch. Unless, of course, you drop the spear and come with me.”
“Don’t you dare.”
“One.”
“Don’t.”
“Two.”
“I said, stop! In the name of the Almighty!”
“Three.”
The demon Jonni, with a blur of motion, slashed his dirty claw through the throat of the girl I dreamed about.
23
From the lack of light in the room, the life pouring from Deborah’s throat looked more like tar than blood. My heart was beating so violently that I feared I might fall to my knees and stop breathing. My throat went dry and the hair prickled on the back of my neck. I didn’t realize that I had opened my palm, my spear toppling over and clanging loudly on the cellar ground.
I took a step towards the beast, my foot slapping on the fresh blood. Jonni’s demon dropped its smile but did not back up. Instead, it flicked its finger splashing Deborah’s warmness on my face.
I began to slowly lose sense of my surroundings. I was no longer in a cellar. Deborah was no longer present. The demon looked to reduce in size by half its normal height. It was speaking to me but I refused to register the words. This thing was below me.
I extended my hand towards him, and in a tongue that seemed to be spoken backward, I said, “You dare defy the prince of darkness?”
My eyes dropped to my arm and I could feel it engorge itself with massive amounts of blood. The width of my arm doubled and there was an amazing presence of strength there. Jonni’s demon was speaking to me but I paid it no attention. It attempted escape back into the corner of darkness now that it could most likely sense its future.
Again, in the backward talk, I said, “You’ve served your purpose.”
While the gelatinous demon was still in range, I cocked back my hand and slammed the back of my fist right into its dagger filled mouth. The teeth should have shredded the skin of my black arm, yet I couldn’t even feel a single scrape. The speed of my blow was so incredibly fast that instead of sending the entire demon on its way, I splattered half its head on the opposite wall.
The demon sputtered, its tongue flailing wildly in the air. I kicked it over and mounted it. Bending low, I shoved my fist through its fat neck and deep within its body. It was there that I found its coarse beating heart and I crushed it within my grasp. The body shuddered under my thighs and its final vile breath filled my nostrils as the demon sagged lower into the ground.
I stood and kicked the damned thing as hard as I could before turning my attention to the girl I could no longer remember. My eyelids felt heavy and they begged to be fully dropped. Lazily, I plopped my human hand onto the girl’s throat and felt the remainder of her blood which was now only a trickle. Something screamed within me. It gave me direction in a foreign language that I could somehow understand. What had I become? Why did it feel like I was two beings in one shell of meat?
I dropped my heavy demon hand on the foot of the lifeless creature from hell and grabbed onto it. Then, lifting my head, an unnatural roar escaped my mouth.
I felt energy, dark energy, course through my arm, into my chest, and out through my pale arm. The voice inside me cheered as the cold river flowed from the demon and into the girl. The lake of dirty blood on the ground reacted instantly, climbing back up to where it had come and pushing itself through the gaps of my fingers into the throat.
This went on for some time, all the while I felt like I was growing more and more weak, the inner voice growing stronger as it slowly replaced my current mindset. Becoming the medium for this demonic energy brought feelings of depression, despair, and anger. I wanted nothing more than to hurt the closest living thing. But… that inner voice kept me still. Kept me where I was. Kept me performing this necromantic sorcery to save a soul against my will.
But why? This is not what I was meant to do. I was conceived to destroy! To conquer! To wreak merciless havoc on all of those who stood in my way! My job was to pave the way for a new beginning! To allow Father to rise and take over this world.
But, here I was… a bitch to the voice that kept me calm as a babe.
As time passed, my arm reduced to its normal thin size. I felt the skin of the girl’s neck reattach itself and then, the inner voice disappeared.
At this moment, anger rushed through me! My original drive, my original goal, the reason for my unholy birthing was renewed!
But where to start? How was I to perform my very first evil in the name of the Dark Father?
And there was the answer right in front of me. The defenseless girl I had just saved from death. How terrible would it b
e if she had to die a second time? And oh look, she was even awake. All the better. She could watch me devour her-
A horrific burning sensation splashed over my back, forcing me to arch and scream like a terrified woman. I turned to see a familiar female face with long golden hair. Behind her was a tall black man, his face full of disappointment. In the hands of both of these holy goers was the source of my pain.
Bottles of wine that they were blessing under their breath. I needed to stop them before-
“Ahhh!” Tears flooded my eyes as the holy liquid dripped down my smoking body. The pain was so unbearable that I could barely think. I couldn’t see! My vision was blurry. I tried to back away but… but…
A sharp pain exploded from the center of my chest. I could no longer breathe no matter how hard I tried.
As the seconds passed, my vision came back enough for me to see the gold gleaming sword protruding from my torso. The bearer of this weapon was none other than the blond woman, her eyes filled with tears.
“You son of a-,“ but before I could finish my sentence, the black man splashed more of the fucking wine in my face.
24
Both of my arms were attached behind me and to the wall when I finally got my senses back. I was panting. Sweat was dripping from my forehead. I hadn’t been unconscious. No, that wasn’t it. When I came back to normal, it was as though someone had pulled a veil from over my eyes.
I was just… me again.
“I remember everything,” I said, my voice dry.
“Drink this and I will know it is you,” said Gauss, standing up from his seat on the dead demon and walking over with the burning wine.
He put the tip of the bottle to my lips and I drank from it without fear. I gulped much of it down before he took it from me. Without having anything in my stomach, I could feel the tendrils of warm liquid running down the inner linings of my belly. I licked my lips.
Defiant Guardians Anthology Page 41