by Rue Volley
“Still easily agitated to destruction, I see,” Clytie said, as she grinned.
Lizzy kicked the bird across the ground and sighed.
“I get bored easily,” she said.
“So,” Clytie said, as she leaned on her hand and stared her down. “What is it that you need me for...? I would think that one, as powerful as you, would not seek the help of a nymph, such as myself.”
“Don’t patronize me; I find it harder and harder every day to maintain civility,” Lizzy said.
“I am not patronizing you…”
Clytie yelped, as Lizzy flashed to her and grabbed her chin, leaning her back. She took her other hand and placed it on her thigh, slowly bringing it up, as Clytie stared into her eyes. Lizzy grinned and flashed her hand up between her legs, pressing her fingers inside of her. Clytie gasped a little and then moaned. Lizzy pushed her fingers inside of her as far as they would go and then pulled them out quickly and smelled them. She closed her eyes, as she placed her fingers in her mouth, and sighed.
Lizzy opened her eyes up and smiled at her, as she slowly pulled her fingers out of her mouth.
“You still taste of the gods… Oh, if I had been able to inhabit one of those arrogant ingrates… I would not be tooling around in a seventeen-year olds body,” Lizzy whispered.
Clytie slowed her breathing and leaned up, placing her mouth close to Lizzy’s. Lizzy smiled and opened her mouth, then pushed Clytie back. She fell on her back and mumbled something, as she placed her hands on her stomach. Lizzy stood up in a flash and stared at her.
“You will find that your ankle is mended,” Lizzy said.
Clytie sat up and stared at her ankle, as she turned it and grinned.
She looked up at Lizzy and smiled.
“I would thank you, but I would assume that you would be offended,” Clytie said.
“That I would. Now… go back to your master and tell him that I wish to collect,” Lizzy said.
Clytie tilted her head at him.
“Collect on what?”
Lizzy turned and smiled at her.
“He will know what I mean… Tell him my name; you will see that Lord Caine can show emotion. Although, I would stand back when you do; he may have a slightly irritated reaction to the mention of my name,” she said, as she started to walk away.
Clytie looked at her ankle and stood up slowly, as she watched her start to disappear into the trees.
“Aiwass...? Aiwass?” Clytie sighed, and then shuddered when Lizzy leaned up behind her and whispered, “What?”
Clytie turned, and Lizzy stood there, looking as if her color was starting to fade to pale again.
“When will I see you again?” Clytie asked.
Lizzy leaned up to her face and stopped inches away from her mouth.
“I am always present… for I am many,” Lizzy said; then the wind whipped up and Clytie covered her face, as leaves hit her.
The wind died down and she sighed, as she looked around and Lizzy was gone.
“Of course… cryptic as usual,” Clytie muttered to herself.
She brushed the leaves from her hair and stared at the dead bird on the ground.
It was twisted and mangled, and she shook her head.
“I will go to Lord Caine… as soon as I have my prize,” she whispered to herself. She started to walk through the forest heading towards Calvary.
***
Johnathan woke up in his bed. He sucked in his breath and sat straight up, pressing his hand to his heart.
“Oh god!” he said, as he looked around and felt his heartbeat thumping in his chest.
He leaned forward and stared at his feet, and then looked up, scanning the room… realizing that it was indeed his room, his things, his house.
“What?” he whispered, as he started to push himself from the bed and placed his feet on the floor.
He stood up slowly, feeling a little dizzy and completely confused. He walked to his dresser and looked at the photos on it. One of him and Sophie. One of him and his Mother, and one… that lay on its side. He reached for it and turned it over. It was a photo of him, his Mother… Sophie and…
“What the hell?” he asked, as he leaned in and saw a man in the photo.
“You are kidding me,” he said, as he narrowed his eyes.
“No… you are right,” Lizzy said, as she leaned in the doorway.
Johnathan turned to her and shook his head.
He pointed at the picture.
“Why the hell is Caine in this photo with us?” he asked.
Lizzy grinned and started to walk towards him.
She skipped and then stopped right in front of him.
“I find you most intriguing,” she said, as she placed her hands behind her back and rocked from side to side.
Johnathan looked back at the framed photo in his hand, and she snatched it and looked at it.
She dropped it on the floor, and the glass cracked on the front of it.
“Hey,” Johnathan said, as he looked down at it.
Lizzy grinned.
“You get stabbed in the chest, die… I save you, and all you want to know is why some crazy protector is in a photo with you… amazing.”
Johnathan looked at her and rubbed his chest again.
“Oh yea,” he whispered.
Lizzy leaned in.
“Oh yea… you died big time,” she said.
Johnathan took a breath, and then his eyes got wider.
“Oh my god… is Rue…” he started to say.
Lizzy smiled and tilted her head.
“She is still alive, as well as the rest of them. You were the only casualty that evening… other than emotion,” she said to him.
Johnathan sighed and glanced at the photo. Lizzy looked down and sighed again, as she leaned down and shook the broken glass from the frame. She stood up and placed it back on his dresser, turning it so it matched the others already sitting there.
“You are complicated,” Lizzy said.
Johnathan stared at the photo and then looked at her.
“In what way?” he asked.
Lizzy grinned and walked over to his bed and plopped down on it. Her feet didn’t touch the ground; she swung her feet out and then let them dangle.
“Well… story goes. Caine wanted a son… really bad. He tried for a long time. Finally, he became so frustrated that he did the one thing that you should never do… He reached out to a demon, a powerful one at that… and with the demons help he was able to create a boy, one of immense importance. One who would one day kill the one who created all this mess,” she said.
Johnathan stood there, looking paler by the moment.
“No way,” he said.
Lizzy grinned and looked at him, as she leaned back on her elbows and let her head fall back.
“Yes way,” she said.
“You are so not saying that I am the one that is supposed to kill the creator,” Johnathan said.
Lizzy sat up and nodded.
“Yep… you sure are,” she said.
Johnathan felt dizzy for a moment, and Lizzy stood up quickly and flashed to him, grabbing his arm and steadying him. Johnathan leaned forward and started to cough.
“Oh, please… don’t get sick; it is not going to help,” she said to him.
Johnathan covered his mouth with his free hand and looked at her.
“You have demon blood in you… accept it, and it will get better,” she whispered to him.
“No!” he yelled, as he backed away from her and stared around the room.
“Why do you think that you ended up in purgatory, Johnathan...? You can’t just die; it takes more than a silly nymph and a blade to smite you,” Lizzy said.
“Oh god… I feel like I am going to pass out.”
“Oh, for Christ sake,” Lizzy said, as she turned around and placed her hands on her hips.
“Grow some balls, Johnathan Graph! I thought that you would be happy to know that Caine is your Father and to know what y
ou are.”
Johnathan looked at her and tried to catch his breath.
“Oh! I am supposed to be relieved?” he asked.
Lizzy turned to him, and her eyes rolled to black.
“Yes… actually you are. Now listen to me, much trouble was taken to create you, and you will serve your purpose… I will not tolerate this whining,” she said.
Johnathan stared at her and started to point at her face.
“What the hell is going on with your eyes?” he asked her.
She laughed and closed them. She opened them back up and tilted her head.
The black faded away, and they returned to green.
“I’m sorry… My temper has been uncontrollable lately,” she said.
Johnathan tilted his head and stared her down.
“I remember you,” he whispered.
Lizzy smiled.
“You should; I helped create you. Now listen to me, you don’t have any idea what huge part you play in this theatre, and you have no idea what a pain in the ass it was to get you. All those creatures waited five days, as is customary to them, to send you through the mirror to purgatory. Well… they thought they were sending you to memory, but no… your energy stayed here… So, I had to wait, for them to sink your stinking meat sack into the mirror, and then I was able to breathe life into you again. Of course…” Lizzy said, as she tapped her head. “Your energy is in that arrogant boy… Joshua Barrington and we have to get it back in you. Now that you have been sent to me; you should finally do what you were designed to do, as long as we can get that energy back in you.”
Johnathan stood there and slowly started to back away from her.
She looked at him and shook her head.
“You are becoming a pain in my ass… you know it?” she said to him.
“What the fuck are you?” he asked her.
Lizzy smiled and tapped her foot, as she crossed her arms on her chest.
“For the love of Satan, I mean… you can’t possibly be this stupid,” she said.
Johnathan leaned over and hurled all over the floor.
Lizzy laughed and uncrossed her arms.
“Well, look at that… a demon with a heart,” she said.
Johnathan wiped his forehead and looked up at her.
“I am not a demon… I can’t be.”
Lizzy flashed to him and leaned over, staring in his face.
“Oh, you bet you are… and your birth caused a ripple effect in time. It caused the creator to take form and come to this place, to fight you,” she whispered.
“What?” Johnathan asked, as he looked over at her.
“Yessss,” Lizzy hissed like a snake.
“I am here to mentor you… finally, to show you what power you possess. You were created with protector blood, mixed with human… but at the core of you is a demon, waiting to come out. You are the perfect weapon, because you appear so sweet and endearing… I wasn’t sure until I watched you eat, and then I was certain, when I tasted my own blood in you,” she said.
“No,” Johnathan said, as he fell to the floor and looked at his hands.
“You were created as bait, to draw arrogance out of the creator, to make it possible to finally kill that beast, and then return to world to its proper place.”
Johnathan looked at her and tears were streaming down his face.
Lizzy tilted her head and crinkled her eyebrows at him.
“You cry?”
Johnathan wiped his face and looked back down at his hands.
“Kill me,” he whispered.
Lizzy laughed and stood up straight.
“Oh, please… stop the moping. Trust me… you will enjoy it; I guarantee it,” she said.
“Who...? Who is the creator?” Johnathan asked her.
Lizzy grumbled and started to walk towards the door.
“That… I wish I knew. Seems that the creator went to great measure to blind us all as to what form it took, but that is what you are for. Once you embrace what you are; the creator will come to you. It won’t be able to resist it… You were made just for it,” she said.
“Why do you keep referring to the creator as ‘it’?” Johnathan asked.
Lizzy shrugged her shoulders.
“Because nobody knows if it female or male; I would guess a little of both,” she said.
Johnathan sat there on his knees and tried to calm himself down.
All he could think about was running, and yet he knew that was not possible.
“No, it is not,” Lizzy said, as he looked up at her.
Johnathan sighed and started to laugh. At first it was low and quiet, and then he started to laugh so loud it echoed in his room. Lizzy stood her ground and waited him out, knowing that he was on the brink of cracking. His laughter slowed down, and he wiped his eyes and pushed himself up.
“Are we better now?” she asked.
Johnathan grinned at her.
“You know everything I am thinking… you tell me.”
Lizzy stared at him and then shook her head.
“I find it rude of you to wish that you had a knife, but I am impressed at the awful things you would do with it on me,” she said.
Johnathan let his teeth show, and Lizzy grinned too.
“I find you very interesting,” Lizzy said.
Johnathan let his grin fade and stared her down.
“I find you disgusting,” Johnathan said.
Lizzy flashed to him and knocked him on his back. She grabbed his wrists and placed them up over his head. She leaned in and tried to kiss him as he turned his head and huffed.
“Get off of me,” Johnathan said, as he gritted his teeth.
Lizzy stared at his face and licked his cheek.
Johnathan squeezed his eyes shut.
“Gross,” he whispered.
Lizzy laughed.
“I find it a shame that you taunt me; I would love to be in your bed,” she whispered in his ear.
“You are like my Mom… gross again,” Johnathan said, as he kept his head turned.
Lizzy smiled.
“No… far from it. I simply gave a little of myself, to help a human female carry you,” Lizzy said.
Johnathan looked at her and narrowed his eyes.
“Are you telling me that you are a dude?” he asked.
Lizzy laughed.
“Oh… and he finally gets one right.”
“Oh crap…” Johnathan said, as he squirmed with no success to get her off of him.
Lizzy stayed on top of him and sighed. She tightened her grip on his wrists, and her nails dug into his skin and blood started to well up. Lizzy looked at the blood and grinned.
“It is pride that I covet… I wish to have you; because you are me… in a way,” she said.
“Get off,” Johnathan said, as he gritted his teeth.
“I would love to… and if you keep moving that way I will be able to,” she said, as she pressed against him.
Johnathan suddenly head-butted her, and her head rocked back. Johnathan winced, as a sharp pain welled up in his forehead. Lizzy slowly looked at him. A small crack ran up her forehead, and a little black blood started to ooze out of it. Johnathan stared at her and bit his lip.
“You shouldn’t have done that… I am fond of you, but I will not accept your brutality against this sweet form I took. Elizabeth Crowley was hard to inhabit, and still to this day tries to push me out of her.”
Johnathan looked at her face and realized that this demon had possessed this poor girl… Somewhere deep inside, the girl had to still be present.
“Elizabeth?” Johnathan asked.
Lizzy tilted her head and then grinned. Her face started to turn pale white, and small black cracks started to form on her skin. She started to laugh.
“Really...? I don’t blame you for being arrogant, as I am… What did you think? You call out her name, and she comes to your beck and call...? Please.”
Johnathan shrugged his shoulders.
“It wa
s worth a try,” he said, as he kicked her as hard as he could in the ‘you know’.
Lizzy cried out and rolled off of him.
Johnathan scrambled to his feet, and Lizzy looked up and hissed at him… her teeth suddenly yellow.
“Oh god… yuck,” Johnathan said, as he kicked her in the mouth, and she rolled away from him.
He flashed out of the room and then hit the stairs running as fast as he could. He skidded to a stop at the bottom of the steps when he looked up and Lizzy stood there. She placed her hands on the sides of her head and with a sudden jerk, cracked her neck and then rolled her shoulders. He gripped the railing and looked past her towards the door. Lizzy glanced at the door and back at him.
“You won’t make it,” she said, only now her voice sounded like a boy’s.
Johnathan raised his eyebrows at her.
“That is just wrong,” he said.
Lizzy smiled.
“What...? I can’t talk to you in my true voice?” she asked him.
“Yea… no, you know what...? No you can’t. You are like a disgusting parasite, living off of that poor girl, and you should speak in her voice,” Johnathan said, as he stepped down and straightened his shoulders.
Lizzy stood up straight and grinned at him.
“Did your balls just drop?” she asked him.
“You don’t even have any.”
Lizzy looked down and shook her head.
“I do… just not in her,” she said.
“You know what I think?” Johnathan said.
Lizzy looked up and gritted her teeth.
“I think that you are weak, weaker than anything I’ve ever seen. I mean come on! How hard was it to slither into a young girl? Why didn’t you try something harder, maybe another boy?” Johnathan asked.
He crossed his arms on his chest and started to come up with a plan… He didn’t think about it though, so Lizzy could not read his thoughts. Lizzy smiled at him and leaned, placing her hand on her hip.
“What is this...? Your pathetic attempt to upset me?” she asked.
“I would find it hard to believe that you would care what I think; I mean, you created me and shit,” Johnathan said.
Lizzy stood there and relaxed her arm.