The Crimson Z

by Robert Cloud, Lee Rush, Richard Savage

  There was something about the magic within the man that seeped into all his work, not just the very special pieces. He smiled as he thought that he was probably the only jeweler in the world that could boast that he had never sold a wedding set where the marriage had failed. There were a few sets he had sold that the wedding was called off before it took place, but he had known those couples were not right for each other when they had entered his store.

  After the store had been closed for the day and Melanie and he had taken inventory they had sold twenty three pieces of jewelry for over ten thousand dollars.

  Zach put together some sandwiches while Melanie cleaned the store and then they sat down and ate. The entire meal Melanie could not help but smile at Zachariah. He almost felt as if he were on display. Finally he could not take it any longer and he asked, “What is it, why are you smiling so much?"

  "Well, three reasons. The first is the most important really.

  "I spent the whole night here. I knew my mother had said she did not care what I did, but I truly thought she would show up looking for me if I did not return home and yet there has not been a peep from her."

  Zachariah smiled back, “Well that could have a lot to do with the fact that as of midnight tonight you are eighteen, and as you said, seventeen is the age of consent in New York.

  "Besides, we did nothing so there is nothing she could say anyway."

  "True! Yet, with her being a politician I expected she would make some sort of uproar, then again maybe that is why she did not. No bad publicity, not in an election year."

  "Could be you are right there,” Zach laughed, “and the second reason?"

  "I feel like I am worth something. I was able to help you by selling six pieces, and Papa Zach. I sold the most expensive piece of the day!” Zachariah loved seeing her so proud of her accomplishment.

  "Yes, sweetheart, you did. I am proud of my little employee.” She beamed brightly.

  "However the most important reason of all is...” She left it hanging, waiting for him to say something.

  For a moment he ignored her, so she asked, “Well aren't you going to ask me what it is?"

  "Oh? Was I supposed to? I thought you would tell me when you were ready.” He teased.

  "Papa Zach?” Melanie huffed and stomped her foot.

  "Oh okay, what is the most important reason?"

  "You promised me the story of the ring."

  Zachariah did his best to put on a look of confusion, “I did? When did I do that?"

  "Papa Zach!” Melanie whined, “You promised!"

  "I don't remember making any such promise. Maybe it is senility. I am an old man you know. Besides, I am not certain I remember any story about a ring."

  Melanie jumped out of her chair and went over to him. She placed a hand on each of his cheeks and kissed him deeply. For the first time she slipped her tongue between his lips and its velvety texture played teasingly with his. She had never French kissed anyone but suddenly she found she really enjoyed it, and the look within his eyes made her enjoy it even more. “Do you remember the story now?"

  He blinked his eyes and looked at her, “Ummm, uh, ummm, hunh! Story?"

  "Papa Zach!?” Melanie stomped her foot and her hands went to her sides, if he did not tell her that story she was going to act like a two year old and throw a tantrum. Well she would not really, but she would make him think she would.

  Zachariah laughed heartily, his laughter filled her heart with warmth, “Yes sweetheart, I remember the story, but I think there are some other things that need to be done before I tell you this story."

  She smiled, but was confused at what he meant. What things could possibly need to be done? He had never had to do anything special before telling her any other story.

  He stood and put his finger to his lips making the motion for her to be silent. Then he took her hand and led her into the main room in front of the large cabinet.

  She watched as he reached beneath the edge and his fingers found something that she heard make a very delicate click. Perhaps it was a button or a lever. Suddenly the cabinet began to pivot without making any sound at all. She took a deep breath and watched in amazement. This whole week she had been here and the cabinet had seemed too solid to be moved by ten men and now it was gliding along on its own with no noise. When he had shown her the magic somewhere in the back of her mind she had pictured him in a workshop like some wizard with a secret laboratory, but she did not truly believe it.

  He took her hand and led her inside, then turned and touched his lips with his finger again to indicate for her to remain silent. Melanie had no problem with that, she was in awe. She had no idea what to say even if he had not asked for her silence. He guided her so that she was next to a large table covered in a tablecloth and then reaching under the tablecloth to some hidden drawer he pulled out a jar of reddish-white powder. He also pulled out a bag that looked like it was made of some kind of animal hide. He carefully poured some of the powder into the bag and then walked until he was just inside the entrance to the room. He touched the back of the cabinet and it began to swing closed sealing them inside. Once the door was shut they were only in darkness for a single second. Suddenly beginning at one side of the door a candle lit. Melanie thought Zachariah had lit it but she saw from the light of the candle that he was nowhere near it. Then another lit and another, they continued around the room one after another until the all four walls were lined with burning white candles.

  She turned her eyes back to Zachariah and saw that he had begun to pour the powder out onto the floor. He had actually begun the moment the first candle had lit and had completed a quarter of a circle by the time all of the candles were done and her eyes were turned to him. He continued the circle in a counterclockwise direction, until it was complete. Then he laid the bag onto the floor and looked at her, “Now we can talk."

  Melanie looked at him. She stood with her hands at her side and her mouth open. Yes, he had shown her magic, but now she was thrust into the middle of something so significant she knew that both their lives were going to change this night. She also knew that one or both of them might die.

  "Papa Zach, I do trust you. I do love you,” Melanie said. “But what have you gotten me into.” Her heart was racing, yet still she could feel the love of this man for her and she still felt safe.

  "Sweetheart, it is going to be difficult for you to understand if I do not tell you the story from the beginning.” Papa Zach told her, “I will tell you a few things. To the best of my knowledge I did not choose you for this. I do not know if you were chosen before you came into my shop or not. I know the moment you handed me the wet wipe with that child's blood upon it the first day we met was when things began."

  He lowered his head and looked at the ground, she could feel his pain, “There have been many times I wish you had not stopped that day, and yet just as many I have been thankful you did. All I can say is I know that Lilith intends to do something and you are the center of her plan. If there is any way I can stop her even if it means I die to protect you I will."

  Melanie threw her arms around him and pleaded, “Please don't say that Papa Zach, I can't loose you."

  He lifted her face to his and kissed her lips and said, “And you are too young to loose your soul. I cannot allow that."

  "This room once held a mirror, and it was in this room that Lilith made her mistake and revealed to me that she could speak and see out of other mirrors than the one in the main showroom.” He pointed to the powder on the floor. “That is a mixture of items from the holy land. Items that can bind and hold Lilith, so she cannot enter here in spirit nor can she hear what we are saying."

  Zachariah went to the table cloth and pulled it off the table. Melanie's eyes grew big as she looked at the stone table. The table had the exact same image as the wooden cabinet did.

  "This table is the true source of much of the magic. It was carved long ago. I think if you look at the underside edge you can tell it is far ol
der than you had imagined. I have protected the topside with cover after cover so it has worn very little since it was made."

  Slowly Melanie looked at the table and ran her fingers along the lower edge, “Papa Zach, the edge of this is worn with time. I am not a geologist, but I know stone wears slowly and this table has to be over a thousand years old. I have seen stones like this in museums."

  She turned to look at him, “I have no idea how the top of this table has remained so untouched by age but the bottom of it shows it is very old."

  Melanie looked at Zachariah face, the lines were etched deep into his brow and the corners of his eyes, but his eyes showed a youth that told her that even if he was the one hundred and ten he claimed to be there was no way he was as old as this table. Her eyes clouded with confusion. No one lives that long. Yet, he had no reason to lie to her about something like this. There had to be some other explanation, maybe the table had been aged by being under a waterfall.

  "Is this table artificially aged?” She knew the answer before she had said it, and saw him shake his head no.

  "Papa Zach, you cannot have possibly made this table. There is no way you can be that old. You would have to be over a thousand years old.” Melanie looked at him hoping for some simple explanation.

  Zachariah looked at her, his gaze locking with hers and he said, “Melanie, because of things I have had to do to protect you and to protect some secrets I have had to tell you a few lies. Each one of them has torn into my heart more deeply than if I had twisted a dagger into it myself, but I swear to you that I am not lying now. I did indeed make this table, and though I was in a trance and barely remember doing it, I carved the image upon that stone when that table was first made."

  She looked to him, her eyes wide, “You are telling me that all the aging of this table has occurred since you made it. Not that you made the table upon an aged stone aren't you?"

  "Yes."

  She then added, “And you are you telling me you are as old as this table?"

  "I am older than the table. Not by much, but I am older. This table was carved over a period of a month just prior to the first anniversary of mine and Lilith's marriage at the direction of a prophetess that Lilith had brought to our house. The prophetess said it was the only way to insure that Lilith and I would have a long and happy marriage and that once it was carved a decision would be made that would lead to happiness or tragedy.” Tears formed in the corner of Zachariah's eyes and slid down his cheeks to disappear into the crevices that were etched there.

  Melanie could feel a deep sadness within him. She suddenly wished that she had not asked for the story of the ring but knew it would not have mattered for even if she had not she suspected that she would still be hearing the tale that was tearing the heart of the man she loved. He looked up at her and she could see in his eyes that he was grasping for her, holding onto the love he had for her as he gathered strength to be able to tell this story.

  "The table itself is not evil. It and I are connected and I believe it is as good as I am as long as it stays within my possession and is not used by someone with an evil intent. Its purpose was to help heal Lilith and to give her a normal life."

  Melanie could not believe this. Her love had to be far older than she had ever thought possible. Papa Zach must have seen the question within her eyes for as he looked at her he said, “Go ahead, precious, ask the question, I believe I know what it is."

  "Papa Zach, how old are you?"

  "I was born about a hundred years before Samson."

  "Samson?” Melanie looked at him quizzically. “Are you saying the Samson of the Bible, Samson of Samson and Delilah?"

  "Yes. That was roughly twelve hundred years after the flood of Noah, or a hundred and fifty years after Moses led his people into the land of Israel."

  Melanie was thankful for the chair that was behind her. She did not even realize it was there as her knees gave way and she sank into the seat.

  "Melanie, I was born three hundred and fifty years before David who became the king of Israel. So now you know that the magic of this table has kept me alive for longer than you could have imagined. I am not a one hundred and ten year old man. I am over three thousand years old and I think it is time I tell you the story of Lilith, myself, and of that ring, because soon it will affect us all."

  The Awakening

  A Long Novella by Robert Cloud

  Part One

  Lilith

  Chapter One

  "Melanie, as far whether there are Lost or Secreted Books to the Bible, many of them I have seen when they were not considered lost or secreted, and some were considered canon and law. Others were considered false from the moment they began to circulate.” Zachariah shook his head sorrowfully, “Even as to whether the Bible is complete or not has always been in controversy, even with the Torah.

  "It seems as if it was almost the very nature of man that from the very time that Moses began to write down the words of God others began to write false stories about God. Some contradicted Moses, others told fantastical tales that no one could believe and yet people did.

  "From the very day that there was a true prophet of God, there was also a false prophet and it has been that way throughout time.

  "But I have drifted from the story. Now where was I...? Yes, the days of creation!"

  * * * *

  During the period that God spent on His creation some of the angels came to Him and tried to alter His plans. They felt that God would be better served if He did this or that, yet God remained firm in His resolve to His course and His creation continued according to His plan and not their persuasions.

  At the end of the last of the six eras God created what Moses called the “Sons of Man” in the book of Genesis. Scientists would refer to these “Sons of Man” as Neanderthal and Homo-Erectus. Then God rested. Yet, the seventh era was a short era, not as long as the first six for the angels were busy, and some were already making plans for these “Sons of Man” that God had created. God overheard these plans and was not pleased.

  It was then that He decided on His true masterpiece, in the very center of the earth, in a lush area far from the realms that had cropped up God set up His Garden and named it Eden. From the dust in the center of the Garden He formed a man and breathed life into the man and named him Adam.

  Adam was different than the others, he was perfection. He was like unto God in that he had a soul. So God called Adam a “Son of God” and for many years God and Adam walked about the Garden and spoke.

  Within the Garden God had placed two of every animal He had created upon the earth. Where the Garden touched the waters He had placed the Behemoth and the Leviathan and many more of the creatures that scientists would call dinosaurs.

  One day God set a task for Adam to name all the creatures of the Garden. Adam was thrilled with this task and went about it with a passion. Yet only a few hours later as God was walking through the Garden He found Adam sitting beneath a tree staring up into the sky, Adam looked as if he was lost in deep thought.

  God looked to Adam and asked him what was troubling him.

  Adam looked up and answered, “My Lord, as I went about to do Thy command I saw that each beast I would stop to name had a partner. I would look about and realize I was alone."

  * * * *

  Zachariah paused and looked at Melanie and said, “Up to this point these are my beliefs based off what I have read in the Torah and some of those lost books as well as what I have seen of science. However from here on things do not follow what I knew as I was growing up. The rest of this is what Lilith told me when she told me of her life. How much of it is true I cannot say. It may all be a lie, or it could all be true. If it is true it would explain some of the reasons she is the way she is, if it is a lie it just further aids in understanding her betrayal.

  * * * *

  Adam stood and then knelt before God, “My Lord, please do not get my words wrong, Thou hath been a marvelous friend to me, and Thou art my Lord,
but I cannot help but wonder what it would be like to have a partner."

  God nodded, and kneeling down to the earth He gathered a mound of dust and from the mound of dust He created Lilith.

  Lilith looked about and saw Adam and God and she knew she had just been created. She knew she was the second to be created and as she looked at herself and then Adam she noticed the differences though she did not understand them. She decided that they were because Adam had been God's first attempt and that she was His perfect creation. She then knelt down and kissed God's feet and thanked Him for creating her. It would be the last time she ever knelt to a male of any kind.

  After God introduced Lilith to Adam and then Adam to Lilith He told Adam, “Adam here is the partner you wished for, I hope that she is the companion you sought and that she is the friend you need."

  Adam thanked God and watched as the Lord ascended into the Heavens. During this Lilith said nothing. She had heard what God had said but she had not truly paid attention. She was lost in her thought that she was perfection and Adam was inferior. As the Lord disappeared she walked about looking at the Garden and the beasts of the Garden, marveling that everything in the Garden had been made for her.

  Then she noticed two beasts, one was over the back of the other and the smaller one which she thought was the female was making a low growling and rumbling sound. As she watched she realized that the male was doing something that pleasured the female. Then suddenly the male was gone and about his business. Lilith looked over to Adam and wondered if that was why God had made him. She wondered if Adam was supposed to do something to pleasure her.

  Lilith looked down at her body and noticed it was very different from Adam's. She had swelling upon her chest where Adam had none but as she touched the swellings, a sensation shivered through her body and a low moan escaped her lips. Upon each swelling a hard nub grew. Her fingers caressed the nub and again those sensations spread through her. She took each nub between her fingers and squeezed them, then tried different things, savoring each new sensation. When she rolled the nubs between her thumb and finger, twisting them she let out a soft scream and she felt a quivering between her thighs she had not felt before.