Skybound Satanists

by Spark, Luc

  “Fine then looks like we are coming up close to the right spot to lay this scum, just over yonder through that long grass,” Ivan said quickly.

  “I’ll be totally frank Dretore I still don’t know why we care so much about anyone finding out if anything we have probably done the Romanian people a great service,” said Ivan.

  “Yeah you’re no doubt correct Ivan but regardless of that let’s press on, let’s not leave anything to chance,” said Dretore.

  One-foot forward they continued onwards until they hit the designated spot, a leafy hollow spot with the scent of jasmine and lavender floating around their supreme nostrils, the spot was perfect for the body dump. Vlad’s face had turned into a mashed up pulpy mess, his eyes were just about to fall out and his toes had curled up. Still, the sick dictator had died with a smile on his face. They dropped him to the ground and wandered around for some sticks and general foliage to cover up his certain grave.

  “You go and find some dirt and the like to cover the grave Ivan, I’ll get on with the digging of the hole,” said Dretore.

  “Okay should not take too long we are surrounded by stuff to cover the hole with,” said Ivan.

  After fifteen minutes of Dretore digging a hole with his bare claws, he had produced a six feet trench more than deep enough to cover up the corpse of Vlad. Off in the distance, Ivan had been gathering a stockpile of foliage. The job was done within the next ten minutes so they could head on back to the castle to see how the new vampire Viorel was doing, and they could put their plan into action, to take over castle Dracula and keep a powerful hold over the public. The plan was almost flawless, they had practically engineered this sub consciously-everyone was a winner with the vampires having power perhaps alongside Radu and more blood slaves than they could shake a very large stick at-and Viorel would get all the training he needed to survive and become powerful himself. So they were not really using Viorel as offering a favor for a favor. Ivan brought over the much-needed covering for the hole and then they did the job quicker and easier than first thought. Once done they gave each other a wink and mutually agreed to head on back to the castle, there was no need to stay in the forest for more than they had to…

  Back in the castle of Dracula, the great hall still had Viorel and the female vamps in it engaged in heavy conversation. During this time Viorel had become more and more susceptible to the banter of the vamps. A certain feeling of oneness and kinship was starting to envelop the newly made vampire. A warmness that could not be replicated with mere humans, most of which were too busy trying to survive these harsh and brutal times.

  “I’m starting to feel quite at ease now with all of this vampire business, but can I ask you a deep favor?” Viorel asked.

  “Sure go ahead our young initiate, long as you don’t want to turn your parents into vampires, then anything else is fine,” said Violet.

  “What if I was to turn my best friend Alexander into one of us? We have known each other for so many years I believe he would be a worthy addition to our race, he is stout and quite big in stature, although not the brightest spark, what he lacked in brains he makes up for with gallantry” Viorel said proudly.

  “Is he of the same age as you Viorel?” questioned Alexis.

  “Indeed he is my lady, we went to the same school and partake in the same classes, he never lets me down, all we argue over is the occasional affections of females,” said Viorel.

  With this Violet raised a huge smile and let out a little chuckle, Alexis also found the desire to giggle and produce a bright smile.

  “That’s fine Viorel but we have to try and not turn everyone otherwise there would be nobody left to have as blood hosts, I’m sure you understand this matter, so turn this best friend of yours if you so wish, but just don’t make a habit of turning everyone you encounter” confirmed Alexis.

  “Thank you, Alexis and Violet I’ll be on alert at all times to not let a silly desire to turn people bring about our downfall, one thing concerns me though… where has Kristen got too?” said Viorel “Since he turned me and Vlad got ripped apart he has vanished, is he running scared of someone?”

  The question caused a slight moment of bewilderment between both female vampires, proving that neither knew the answer to it.

  “Now that’s a good question Viorel, we have no answer to that-Kristen is not a well-loved vampire nor is he a hated one… he used to keep himself to Vlad like a bitch, perhaps the death of Vlad has shaken him up a bit” said Violet.

  “You could be right Violet, however surely Kristen knew that Vlad was destined to die once he was exposed as a traitor to us, I’m still in shock myself that he was always willing to try and get rid of us if we did not do his bidding, and who is this Mage that he was mentioning?” asked Alexis.

  The main door to the castle slowly prised open, and the two vampires Dretore and Ivan paced through it, they had a slight weariness about them. Heads at a slouch and eyes turning slightly purple around the lids. Dretore still managed a grin as he entered the great hall. Ivan looked a tad concerned about the task that they had just carried out. The giant candles that littered the walls of the great hall began to flicker with every step the two vamps made, they walked up to Viorel and the two female vampires Alexis and Violet. Everyone stopped for a moment as if caught in some time lapse; a deep sigh came from Ivan.

  “It’s been done, the task has been completed,” he said.

  “Did you manage to cover up the corpse fully as you know carrion can unearth carcasses if they are not at a sufficient depth?” Violet asked with a tone of haste.

  “Like I bloody said Violet, the jobs been done okay and I’m not too contented that we had to do it!” Ivan snapped.

  “Hey don’t get all frigging uptight Ivan, we would have done it ourselves but you two offered to do it instead, the imbecile deserved to end this way, don’t feel remorseful now” Violet replied.

  Ivan turned a flush of crimson red, his ghostly white skin illuminating the embarrassment he was beginning to feel.

  “My apologies Violet, Ivan knows that we did what had to be done, now we have other matters at hand, Viorel we need to get talking, there is a great deal you must know and we must know about you,” said Dretore.

  “We have been speaking to Viorel quite in depth already, and he has preached to us his plans to turn his best friend Alexander into one of our kind,” said Alexis.

  When these words came out of Alexis’s mouth, it made Viorel have a sudden memory burn, the pain was almost about to come back, the pain of what had happened in the past twenty-four hours, it was about to hit him hard as concrete again when he almost instantly got a hold of his senses and said…

  “Do I have everybody’s blessing to go and turn Alexander into a vampire?, I kind of still need his friendship and I know his routine like clockwork, I can strike when he is picking vegetables in his parents back garden, it’s so vast that as long as I’m clinical, nobody will notice it’s happened until he is back here, I can make this happen and it will be clean and precise” questioned Viorel

  “Fine Viorel do as you wish, but if the others have not already said it, don’t start making a habit of this, we must remain selective of who we choose to turn, most people must stay as the livestock that they are, blood slaves and nothing more,” said Dretore.

  “We did previously tell young Viorel this, he is fully aware of how we expect him to conduct his new life as a vampire, let’s face it Dretore the rules are easy don’t turn everything that breathes oxygen into a vampire, because otherwise there would be nothing left to feed on” said Violet.

  “I assure you Dretore I only desire to turn my best friend, we have known each other for so long we are like brothers, he is the only other person of my age that I trust in this world, there is not another soul that I would want to bestow vampire life to” Viorel said bravely.

  Dretore took a good long and probing look into Viorel’s newly made dark vampire eyes, the warm feeling of satisfaction overcame him, he felt th
e time was just to begin to teach Viorel the tricks of the vampire trade, and so it began the beginning of Viorel’s training in mortal combat, skills that he was going to use later on, Dretore decided that Viorel should become so much more than just another vampire, he was going to train this youngster to become a very powerful force, not an individual to be messed around with…

  Berlin, Germany 1975

  ‘That Marcello is such an egotistical prick, to believe that he is so clever just because he has his posse around him, does he not realise that they would turn on him the second he could not buy them off with free drink and smokes-who needs a crew anyway, especially one that only hangs with you to drain your bank balance dry…I would be very much surprised if Marcello has a penny to his name by the time he finishes his studies’ Jürgen pondered to himself.

  The pondering continued, seeing as he had nothing else to do, apart from drink his tea-if I had one puss filled blackhead on my face for every time one of his great so called friends called him up to ask to borrow money for this or that or soak their throats with alcohol, I would have a face full of blackheads that would make a medieval street urchin look like a New York fashion model-But for some reason he continues to hold himself in their presence, to hell with him anyway, It’s not like I have not had friends over the years, just that they all leave me in the end-probably cause I’m too sophisticated for their primitiveness, once this year is over I can head to Russia to join the secret bio weapon research institute that has been tapping me up at University, then who cares about Marcello and his love of being sociable , he can take his theologian poppycock and cram it sideways where the sun certainly does not shine’

  Jürgen in his ever-increasing sickness decided to wisp out his favorite copy of “How to smoke electrical flex for kicks” by D R Topokoski. The Mug containing his proud spot of black forest tea was starting to cool down to Jürgen’s preferred drinking heat level. The guy longed for some nice biscuits to dip into his mug of caffeine but the cupboards of this rather lousy bachelor pad were empty of said item. Topokoski was an astounding author and could use words like nobody else, every sentence was a catalyst to keep the reader motoring on to the next page, the only problem was that his chosen subjects to write about were for a niche market, for example, the emotionally under nourished and sexually twisted. Jürgen idolized the writings of this author and had tried to get Topokoski to personally sign a copy of the book at a public book signing in the Auf Der Vern book store in Munich, but he arrived too late to have his dream come true.

  ‘Topokoski has it spot on where he says that in order to achieve a oneness with nature one must lose all sense of logic and educated ideas-I wonder if he knew anything about Bio Mechanics, I’m going to need all the literature I can muster on that subject-it’s so hard to find such stuff at the libraries around here’ Jürgen Thought

  He side stepped over to his beloved custom built rocking chair and began to put his brain into reading mode; he could happily engulf two hundred pages a day of literature when he had nothing else on his schedule which was pretty frequently. Jürgen felt a warm pride with his minds ability to pick out and hold onto key points and phrases in books, he did not need a highlighter pen to make things stay imprinted into his brain, the intelligence and memory span of Jürgen was somewhat bizarre, perhaps the label of genius was sufficed.

  Our budding bio weapon scientist had considered joining some recognized club of intellects but believed that would just be common and derogatory to his needs. He did not want to bring any undue attention to himself and did not like the idea of being all hand shaky with some stuffy pompous individuals who put themselves on a platter to be above everybody else. Simply put he preferred to keep his known skill and power to himself, the moment was not right to go public with his power just yet-best to wait until he went to Russia, then cash in on his gray matter power. A very important figure in the world was going to call on his services, he just knew that was the way things were mapping out for him-some strong and powerful man or woman was going to need him, perhaps for ill use but that did not bother Jürgen, money was his only love and lots of it, there were rulers and dictators in the east or Europe who would stop at nothing to gain an advantage over their neighbours and someone of Jürgen’s intellect was always being scouted and approached with rewards of vast figures of cash to pass on knowledge. He chose the area of bio weaponry because it was becoming the next big thing, not many countries had caught onto the deadly potential of it yet, and Jürgen also knew that western powers would spend millions in research and would want someone like him to head operations.

  ‘Life may not be too interesting now, however, I’ll keep it tight and carry on fuelling my brain with literature and before I know it Russia will welcome me with open arms, they will fall over themselves to buy me off with billions of roubles for my knowledge, I love who I am so Marcello can keep his thoughts of me regardless of however negative, it won’t stop me becoming the man I want to be’ Jürgen thought to himself smugly.

  The shelves in the library were almost about to fall over, intense passion had been released in the establishment of quiet reading. Marcello had enough staying power to appease his female companion. They were now sat on two office chairs in the back room, Marcello whipped out a rather large Cuban cigar from his breast pocket, he took puffs on it till his lungs felt like they had been blackened with carbon-he was being downright rebellious at this moment in time but when he cocked his head to his left side he saw the reason for his temporary madness. She was eagerly waiting for her turn on the Cuban.

  “Is the Cuban as divine as me?” librarian asked in a loving tone.

  “It’s fair to say that these cigars live up to their name and are simply tremendous tools for relaxing, but despite that they cannot compare to your magnificence, I should not really be doing this if anyone of my future superiors copped a view of us two I would surely be thrown out of church faster than lighting strikes-but I don’t regret this for a second” Marcello replied.

  “I understand what you’re heading for Marcello, you want to have a deeper purpose to your life and it is a most respectful profession, you will wake up in the morning knowing you are giving people hope and knowledge, just don’t forget our little adventure will you?” said the librarian.

  Marcello turned to her and gave her a big embrace, the fumes from the Cuban were filling the rest of the library, it’s a good job the place was shut otherwise they both could have been up for a ticking off by the local police authorities. The 1970s or not Cigars of the Cuban nature have always been frowned upon. The smoke was thick in the air of the library; the librarian did not need to take a proper drag she was getting high enough passively.

  “How could I ever forget this grand moment, for months I lusted for you and now we have sealed our attraction, I won’t ever forget this but soon I must be off back to my flat I share with Jürgen,” said Marcello.

  “Your flatmate is he the guy who never goes out to socialize?” the librarian asked.

  “That is correct and the trouble is Jürgen is a very intelligent guy, much more able than people give him credit for, he just suffers from a lack of confidence and it makes him want to keep to himself, I have seen him perform calculations that make my brain seize up, he just snaps at me when I ask him to come out with me and my friends” said Marcello.

  “Maybe you need to give him a better incentive to join you with your friends,” said library woman.

  “Such as what, he only likes reading books on chemistry and nuclear physics, he does not have any major hobbies other than doing this and drinking black forest tea,” said Marcello.

  “Well Marcello perhaps you should try and probe into his mind a little deeper, the next time he goes out to the shops wander into his room and see if you can find a diary or something similar,” said the librarian.

  “I could do something like that but it’s very hard to know when he is off down to the shops, he does not keep to the same routine and I think he does that delibe
rately so I don’t keep tabs on him, I just want him to enjoy his early years before it’s too late” Marcello confirmed.

  “It is probably best that you leave him to his devices, you can’t force someone to do something they don’t want to do, let him stay in his own little world,” said librarian.

  “That I think is the best thing to do, he would not appreciate me interfering anymore like I said he is clever and will always try and prove that he doesn’t need my friends to help him get through life,” said Marcello.

  A big light down the middle row of the library began to flicker; the flickering was almost like it was a classical conductor trying to get his band to keep time in some great symphony. Then Marcello sat up from the office chair and gave his library companion a kiss on the forehead-she gave him a big warm smile that confirmed that she had enjoyed herself. He offered the rest of the Cuban cigar to her but she refused to breathe in anymore especially directly, he walked out of the backroom and out into the main area. She got up and followed him picking up the ashtray that she had used to stub out the rest of the Cuban.

  ‘Oh how I wish I could stay here with this woman, but I’m going to be a vicar and achieve my goals and at whatever the cost to my own personal enjoyment-this has been very fun indeed and I will give her one final gift as a parting gesture’ Marcello thought to himself. He continued ‘Now what do I have about my person that will sweep her off her feet enough to prove that I am grateful for what has transpired?’

  He fumbled around into his pocket and came up with nothing that had any sentimental value whatsoever, a few folded Deutsch marks and a half eaten mint was all that his pocket inventory consisted of. Then it hit him like a sudden jolt of electricity, his most treasured possession that lay around his neck-it was a fine gift that anyone could appreciate. A family heirloom passed down through three generations, encrusted with diamonds and ruby, a true marvel of jewelry manufacture. Made by the great Van Der Rapture brothers, his father had passed it onto him just a year before he died in the great mining accident. Marcello loved this piece but knew that as a vicar he should not be driven by material possessions, it was a huge sacrifice but one that he wanted to do to prove his gratitude for this woman.