"But it is you I want, you that makes my life complete. How could I not give you back to Peter this one day a year? When that person Zachariah contacted us and said it was possible, how could I deny you this chance to see him again?
Tears welled up in Evelyn's eyes again, as she clung to James. His warmth revived her. She loved him, she truly did. She could not and would not think of her life without him. She gripped him tighter. He had given her so much, and she loved him even more for giving her back to her Master Peter, if only once a year.
Blood Ritual of
The Crimson Z
The One
An Interlude by Robert Cloud
The One
Zachariah paused and looked into Melanie's eyes. His heart was growing closer to her every moment they spent together and he knew was doomed. Even though he maintained peace with Lilith by telling her he loved her, his heart had long stopped having any feelings for her. He could not care for someone that had betrayed him with so many lies even if she were not the monster he knew she was.
As he looked at Melanie he knew that he could not be with her at his age. He was too old for someone her age and after he was young again she would not even recognize him.
Even if Melanie stuck around and fell in love once he was young again it would be far too dangerous for him to ever allow her to be alone. Lilith was still very much with him and was a very active spirit. Worse still he suspected that that Lilith was able to return to her bodily form even beyond the times that the magic of the commissioning allowed.
If that were true then Melanie's life could be in danger every single moment. A relationship with her could mean her death. That was the primary reason he had remained alone all these centuries. He could not risk anyone being hurt by the rage and jealousy of Lilith. Still he yearned to hold a woman close to him again and in his heart he knew that Melanie was right for him.
There was still more to the story so he continued, “For many years Peter and Evelyn continued to meet and the anniversary of the tragedy was one of great reward for both of them.
"About a month before I closed the doors of my last shop I had a very weary and special visitor.” Zach sighed and wiped a single tear from his eye, “He asked if we might sit and talk for a while, and I agreed.
"I offered him a drink, and he asked if I had any cognac.
"It is rare that I partake of alcohol, but I had a feeling that this meeting was one that I should share a drink with him so I brought out a bottle of Napoleon Cognac and two snifters and filled them half full.
"He talked through the next several hours and told me of Peter and Evelyn's last anniversary.
"Evelyn had been diagnosed with cancer about six months before the night of the anniversary and the doctors had told her that it was inoperable. They gave her only a few weeks to live. Yet she was determined to make it to the anniversary. However, just in case it was not fate's design she prepared a package and wrote and rewrote a letter for Peter.
"Every night she would sit down and go over that letter again, rewriting it, perfecting it. If it was going to be her last words to him she wanted it to be absolutely perfect and every night she would go to sleep curled in James's arms crying because she knew that no matter how hard she willed it she would not live to see Peter again and that her words would not be the perfection he deserved. James would hold her until her tears carried her off to sleep.
"Two weeks before the anniversary as she sat trying to plan something special for Peter she called James into her and asked him to hold her. Then she told James that he was very special to have understood her need for Peter, and to not have condemned her for it. She wanted him to know that her heart was big enough for two loves and that she loved him as deeply as she loved Peter. That night she asked James to make love to her. He was reluctant because of her pain, but she told him that he could be gentle she still wanted to have him inside her again, that it had been too long and she loved him.
"Gently and with tender passion they made love and then fell asleep with her spooned tight against him. In the morning she did not awaken.
"James was not the only one at the graveside when she was laid to rest but he felt like he was alone in the world. The mourners had not known the depth of love he and she had had, nor would they have understood the love she'd had for a love that had long gone.
"On the night of the anniversary James carried the package and the letter to the room where Evelyn and Peter always met. When the eyes of the two men met Peter knew without a single word having been exchanged what had happened. ‘Did she suffer?’ Peter asked.
"James answered ‘The cancer caused her a great deal of pain, but in the end she went in peace and in her sleep.'
"Peter's voice broke as he responded, ‘I am sorry you had to deal with it alone.’ His voice was solemn and filled with pain. James could tell that Peter would have done anything he could to have been able to give his respect to the woman they both had loved.
"James added, ‘I loved her, Peter; if you were there you would have done no less.'
"The two men nodded. James handed the package and the letter to Peter. As Peter read the letter James could see the tears well up so he turned away to let him have a moment of privacy. Then Peter opened the package. Within it were the pendants that Evelyn had worn, the ones that had kept Peter and her bound even beyond death. James watched as his face grew even more mournful. He could see from the look upon Peter's face that he was remembering moments that Evelyn and he had shared. Peter's eyes glistened and a thin smile crossed his lips as he said, “Thank you."
"Then he lifted his hands to the pendant about his own neck and removed it, laying it along side the ones within the box. With one last mourn filled look he covered the pendants with the tissue paper and replaced the lid.
"Peter lifted the box and handed it to James. ‘I know you have done a great deal for me and Evelyn. I have one more favor to ask of you. Would you carry this package to a shop called The Crimson Z? These items are what held Evelyn and my love together all these years. It is time they are returned to the man that made them for no other can truly know the value they hold.'
"James nodded and as he took them he was surprised to see the wrinkles upon the back of Peter's hand. He was sure they had not been there when he had shaken hands with Peter upon entering. As he raised his eyes to bid him farewell he noticed the wisp of grey hair at Peter's temples. It was so distinguished a characteristic, surely it was not something he would have missed. He was positive that when he had met Peter at the door that Peter's hair had been solid chestnut brown and that of a young man.
"Peter stood, and he did not stand as tall and straight as he had before. As he walked James to the door he thanked him, and James turned one more time to see a man that was easily in his seventies, his hair fully white, his face creviced, and his spine bent. As the door shut James knew that Peter had gone to join Evelyn.
"My visitor finished his sifter of cognac and offered me the box of pendants.
"I offered to pay him for them but he lifted his hand and replied, ‘I had been friends with Evelyn at work. We used to share lunch together, but then darkness entered her life and she became distant. No longer did I see her smile or laugh and she separated herself from everyone. I tried everything I could to breathe life into her; to reach out and touch her heart, but nothing I did seemed to work.’ James paused a moment and looked at me and said, ‘Then I received your phone call. After I told Evelyn what you said it was like a miracle, like something had suddenly grasped her and pulled her back from the edge of despair. I had hoped that a huge part of what pulled her back from the edge was me and for years I allowed myself to live with that delusion.'
"James wiped a tear from his eye as he looked at the box before he continued and said, ‘However, when I saw Peter and those pendants I knew it was more than just me. It was the magic within those pieces in that box. I now believe what pulled her back was that the pieces reunited them and she saw hope.'
"He looked at me and added, ‘But, I know that she needed more than their one night a year for peace. It was in me that she found that solace. Yes, the pendants gave her hope but when she came back from those nights with Peter she would come back to my arms and I would pick up the pieces. She needed me as much as she needed him. Those pendants gave her the chance to see that she needed us both.'
"James lowered his head and I could see a tear in the corner of his eyes as he continued, ‘If it had not been for them I would not have had a chance to get to know her and win her heart. They gave me a chance to find a place in her life as well. Now they have come full circle and are being returned to the one that made all that possible. There is nothing you could give me that is more valuable than what you have already given me. You gave me a lifetime with the woman I loved for without those pendants I have no doubt that Evelyn would have gone to join Peter long before I ever had the chance to know her love.'
"He stood and offered me his hand and I accepted it. As we shook he added, ‘Thank you, you gave Peter, Evelyn and I all something worth more than all the gold in the world.’ Then he turned and walked out of the store.
"There is one little epithet to this story that James is unaware of. The magic of the jewelry sometimes tells me more than what occurred during the time it was held. Sometimes it tells me what will be the fate of the last to have held it. James will live for many years longer and he will live with his memory of Evelyn in his mind. He will not remarry, though he will have a lover enter his life. When he passes he will go to join Peter and Evelyn. They are both waiting for him. The pendants created more than a union between Peter and Evelyn it created a bond with James as well and he is the last link in their circle."
Zachariah coughed as he held back his tears. Many of the stories of his jewelry told tales of love so deep that it touched him. At those times he would often remember the love he had felt for his own Lilith the first time he had actually seen her smile and knew God had answered his prayers and she would live. He looked at Melanie and smiled but as he did so Melanie faded from his sight and he drifted to memories of the past, his mind caught upon those first moments when he was truly happy. In silence he flitted from one happy memory to the next.
He saw his mother trying to hand Lilith a bowl of broth and Lilith looking at it like it was poison. She had even said that if she ate that she would be sick. His mother had laughed and told her that she had already eaten two bowls, that while she had been unconscious she had been spoon fed two large bowls of it. Lilith's eyes had grown huge. Zachariah could not remember ever seeing anyone's eyes so large, nor so dark and beautiful. Had he not already fallen for the woman he would have then. As it was his heart melted more as he drowned within their depths. He watched as Lilith tentatively took a spoonful of the soup and tried it. She waited, then after a moment she threw away the spoon and drank it from the edge of the bowl like someone who had never tasted anything so good in her entire life. Lilith's reaction was precious and it endeared her more to him and his family.
It was only moments later that she suddenly pulled the blanket up and screamed, backing into the corner and asking if it was daytime. His mother had said yes. Lilith responded that she was allergic to the sun. Rachel, his mother said she had never heard of such a thing. Then his father had asked Lilith how her allergy affected her. Lilith said it caused her extreme pain. He asked her if she was in any pain right them. She said no. He asked her if she would look at her foot. When Lilith did she saw that a slither of light had penetrated through a hole in the thatch of the roof and was shining upon her foot. She wiggled her toes. Then she waved her hand in front of the light. Slowly she climbed out from under the cover and walked outside the door. She looked up at the sun and stared at it like it was the first time she had ever seen it. She pulled Zachariah out into the sun and began dancing, then Rachel and Zakarias, so that all the family was dancing in a circle. Lilith laughed like a child, free and happy. Dancing about and swirling the new white shift that Rachel had given her to wear, Zachariah's heart was dancing along with her every step.
In those days normally courtships from the time of the marriage proposal to the wedding were required to last at the very least a year. Because Zachariah was well past the normal marrying age, and due to other special conditions the village elders allowed a much shorter than normal courtship. They were married only six months after she had entered into his life.
It was also very important for the people of that time that men and women remained virgins until they were married, and the wedding sheets were displayed as proof of a woman's virginity. A woman that was not a virgin would be scorned, run out of the town, and possibly even killed in the village of new her husband. Yet when he had seen her on the road he had suspected that she might have been raped by some brigands and when there was no virgin's blood he took a knife and cut across his foot to cover the sheet and protect the woman he loved.
He was surprised and somehow pleased when Lilith had carefully, even passionately licked the wound upon his foot and sworn her love to him.
* * * *
"Papa Zach, are you alright?” Melanie's voice broke the trance that the past had brought upon him. He shook his head and looked at her.
"Yes, sweet child. It is just these stories; they remind me so much of my own loss."
Melanie nodded and placed a hand upon his shoulder, “You miss your wife don't you, Papa Zach?"
"Yes, Melanie, there are times I miss her more than I thought possible. There are others that I barely remember her at all.” He knew as those last words left his lips that they were a mistake. He could already hear the rattle of the mirror and knew Lilith was not happy with him. She would blame his lack of memory upon his daydreaming of Melanie. Yet in some ways it was not entirely false. Melanie reminded him so much of the sweet side of Lilith that he had fallen so deeply in love with.
Melanie leaned down and kissed his cheek, “Papa Zach, I have got to be going, it is getting late and tomorrow is a school day.
"I will be here about an hour after I get out of school. I have to go home first and do a couple of quick chores and then will race right over."
Zachariah looked up at her and smiled, “But you have already done all the unpacking."
"Yes, but there is still the cleaning, and if the Grand Opening is Halloween night then we need to decorate.” She smiled so innocently his heart ached to hold her close to him like he used to hold Lilith.
"Then I will see you around four in the afternoon."
Melanie leaned down and kissed his lips again. He knew it was like a granddaughter kissing her grandfather yet she seemed to hold the kiss a little longer than a granddaughter would. As she stood up and turned to run out the door he laughed at himself for being foolish. It was just his old heart wishing that there could be more between him and her. He was nearly a hundred, and yes soon he would be young again, but she would not know him then and he would have to act entirely different towards her or Lilith would come out seeking Melanie's blood.
No sooner than the door had closed behind Melanie than the mirror began rattling violently. Zachariah stood and walked to it quickly, “Lilith, settle down. You do not want to break the mirror now, do you?"
You lecherous old man, if that girl had not commissioned a piece I would make you swear to bar her from this building. I know your heart and I can tell you want her.
"Come now, Lilith, be serious. You know I can do nothing. She thinks I am over 100, and after the change she will think I died. The younger me will have to treat her differently. I will not be able to get close to her or she will see that I am the same person and know our secret."
Then you had better remember that, old man, or on the night when I walk, I will visit her.
"Lilith, leave her be. You know I love you."
Do you? If you do, then why have I had to feed the last few times I have risen?
"Perhaps it is the magic has grown old? Or the children have not been as pure? That one child th
at was nearly a devil could have had something to do with it."
Maybe? But I wonder if your love for me is as strong as it used to be Zachariah.
"Lilith, if it was not, I would not still be here. When I became young I would have left you and sought another. I would have risked that the magic would have worked with another love as well. But no, Lilith, it is you that I love,” he said as he tenderly stroked the mirror.
And I love you, my Zachary. I am sorry to have doubted you. Now it is time to begin to make the piece, or it will not be ready in time for the commission.
"Yes, I know. All is ready."
Zachariah walked by the counter and gathered all the tools he had used to measure Melanie's crown for the tiara. Especially the tool that still held the hair and flesh from her scalp and the cloth that had been soaked with her blood but now lay dried. Then with a spry step that did not match the age of his body he went to the chest of treasures and pushed the hidden latch. Soon he was within his little workshop and the table was ready once again for his new offering of blood.
Zachariah stood looking at the table, the table that had been so much a part of his life since the day he had knelt upon it and prayed to God to save the life of Lilith.
It was almost eighteen months later that the carving that it now had upon it had been completed and by his own hand but even now he could not remember doing the work. He had been in some kind of trance. The prophetess had said it was a trance invoked by God. That he did believe. The fact that the he and the stone were connected there was no doubt in his mind. He also believed that the magic he used came directly from God, however he was told by the prophetess that the stone could be used to summon dark magic too so he should never let anyone else use it.
Centuries had passed and he had noticed changes in Lilith. He had begun to suspect that she had lied to him about some of the things she had claimed to be facts that she had told him before her death. There were also suspicions about things she had told him upon the first night she had risen about what the magic of the commission would allow her to do.
The Crimson Z Page 19