by Mark Fuson
“Se Venire,” Darwin uttered.
“What is that?” Steve asked.
“I thought you knew everything?” Darwin asked.
“Sometimes the reception to the world is bad, or I’m not able to watch. So, I have no idea what that is,” Steve answered.
“It’s only a story but it seems to have truth to it. Se Venire is Latin for, ‘He’s coming’. We heard the story from an old one who was warned more than a hundred and fifty years ago. While we were doing some digging for information in New Haven, we found a suicide that had carved that very term on her back over and over again. The strange part is the woman had an encounter with my sister before she died.”
“So Se Venire is the child she now carries?” Shawn asked.
“Probably. But what does the child’s arrival mean?” Darwin said.
“Anti-Christ?” Steve said, drawing his own conclusion.
“What happens if the gate opens?” Darwin asked.
“Nothing short of Hell of Earth,” Shawn said. “That’s a guess, but a healthy one.”
“How do we stop them?” Darwin asked, knowing full well the problem was more dynamic than his incestuous bastard child.
Shawn answered, “We don’t stop them. They can’t be stopped. They don’t die, they don’t weaken, they simply exist and grow. The more humans there are in the world, the more sinister they become. They feed on our misdeeds. They can make small advances in to the world, they can infect us with their seeds and they manipulate us into doing their will; but you cannot fight them.”
“But you fight them!” Darwin yelled.
“And I’m losing,” he replied. Shawn pointed to his deformities on his scalp. “I’m becoming one of them. Day by day, year by year, they take more and more of me. I will become a demon.”
Steve pulled off his shirt and turned so Darwin could see his back. The muscular frame was covered in hair and a rough spine that made him look like he was caught part way through a transformation.
“They’re taking me faster. I don’t have the same will that Shawn does. I’ll become one of them very soon, forever, and I’ll be gone.”
“I don’t understand! We were cursed on earth, but we continue to be…what…consumed? Transformed? They made us do things against our will…how much more can they take?” Darwin screamed.
“Everything,” Shawn said bluntly. “I’ve seen it before. When a marked person dies in the real world they come here. Some change fully in a short time. Steve will become a lycan with nothing but primal evil driving his spirit. He will never revert back to his human body. I will become a demon, cursed to kill the innocent, punished for eternity by watching my daughter die over and over again—it will drive my rage.”
“Steve, you came back to the real world once! Maybe we can escape?” Darwin jumped off the altar, grabbing Steve and shaking him.
“He can’t go back,” Shawn stated simply.
“He already did!” Darwin bawled.
“At great cost he returned to Earth for a moment. It took most of our combined strength to send him back for a few seconds. This place has a tether on us, no matter how hard you push to break free, it snaps you back in. And there’s a side effect. Leaving and returning accelerates the transformation. If we try again and Steve gets pulled back in, I don’t think he will be the same man when he comes back,” Shawn calmly informed.
“What about me? Am I fucked too?” Darwin snapped.
Shawn said, “You are still alive, on Earth. The bind they have on you is still weak. We’re pretty sure we can send you back.”
“Then why did you bring me here?” Darwin asked with a shake in his voice.
“I told you, they would have got you and that would have been it for you. This was the only way to save you and tell you what you must know,” Steve said with a firm grip on Darwin’s shoulders.
“So what, they got Tim? He’s gone…that’s it?” Darwin belted out, growing more and more frustrated.
“Probably,” Shawn said. “You’re thinking of this place all wrong, like there’s some kind of instruction manual. We don’t understand it all, I’m sorry.”
“I refuse to accept it. There is a way to save him and you two! This is winnable!”
“If it helps you to believe that—” Shawn suggested.
Steve spoke softly redirecting Darwin to the real problem. “Maybe we can, Dar…but we have to stop them from opening the gate first.”
“So,, what do I do? Make sure no one from New Haven enters the north woods?” he asked.
“It’s too late for that. The town’s proximity, and the exposure your people already have had to the gate has been too extreme. We’re not even confident moving away from the gate would stop the opening,” Shawn said.
“Slade said our kind, the infected I guess; it’s us who allow the gate to open. Our energy acts as the key,” Darwin informed. “So, we need destroy the key.”
Chapter Twenty-Five
Teddy Holmes had said nothing since his first session with Doctor Gagnon. His appetite was growing insatiable by the hour. In the silence of the padded room he had nothing to distract him from the rolling gargle within his gut.
Another part of Teddy wanted to change, to experience the euphoria of the wolf. With the eye in the sky aimed at him, he refused to satisfy the good doctor. He remained locked in place, hardened in his convictions. He would change at full moon—he conceded that, but he would fight the beast inside of him.
What the fuck!
For a moment Teddy drifted back to the moment in time that he destroyed Steve Cardwen. During a chance collision in the Ridgemount boys shower, Steve had spontaneously erupted his pubescent seed all over Teddy’s backside.
You fucking little faggot!
Teddy grabbed Steve by the neck and tossed him into the wolf’s lair. The small boy collided with the rear wall where his life would one day end. He wept openly; embarrassed for what had happened and frightened to know what would come next. Teddy washed the seed from his leg which trickled down the drain like Steve wanted to.
You trying to give me AIDS, you piece of shit!
The tall wrestler, being egged on by his classmates, approached the small boy and again picked him up by his throat. Eye to eye, Teddy sneered into the frightened youth. His anger boiled over and with the audience demanding retribution, Teddy delivered his punishment. With a quick snap of his neck Teddy head-butted Steve, blackening his eye. He dropped Steve to the slick white tiles and walked away.
Can you guys believe that little puke? This isn’t over!
Steve watched as the nude wrestler walked away, casting in stone forever what would be his new life. Steve could see Darwin hidden in the toweling off area, looking at his helpless friend.
I’m so sorry!
Teddy thought after the replay of the shower, it was over. When he took himself back to that moment, he no longer felt angry at Steve. He no longer felt justified in his actions. He felt angry at himself. At the time he had felt righteous—his own secret was more important to keep.
A tear rolled down his cheek, a first in a very long time.
This all started because of me…
I created them…
He closed his eyes and waited for his punishment to begin. Not the punishment that the doctor would inflict upon him. Teddy would wait for the dream world to begin where he would play out his existence as Steve. The roles would be reversed and Steve would be the strong athlete and Teddy the helpless victim. He’s had the dream so many times he couldn’t be sure how often it had really happened. Every time the dream came, the pain and punishment felt worse than the previous time. It was his penance.
The shower room was cold and blue, void of any bodies except Steve who was showering alone. Teddy removed his towel and hung it on the hook before moving in to stand next to the tall athlete that would beat him. The dream was always the same, until now. Teddy stood reluctantly next to Steve waiting for his explosion to occur, but it never did.
; The two young men showered next to each other not saying anything. Teddy began to relax as he rubbed himself down with a thick lather, washing away the dirt.
“I forgive you,” Steve said.
Teddy chilled and goose bumps raced across his skin. “Please. I don’t deserve it.”
“Yes, you do,” Steve said softly. “How can we grow as individuals if we can’t learn to forgive? Compassion and understanding. Darwin was right; you’re not the same person anymore.”
“I’m a piece of shit!” Teddy bawled. “He’s killed thousands because of what I did!”
“This is where you have a chance to put right what you set in motion.” Steve smiled.
“How?”
Steve replied, “I want you to cooperate with Doctor Gagnon. You’re no good to anyone locked in here. Once you’re out, we’ll tell you what you must do.”
“Is this real or a dream?”
“A dream that is real. I can speak to you because you are emotionally bound to me. You welcomed me in by your guilt-laden soul. Darwin and I are on the other side, but the battle must be fought in the real world.”
“How will I know what to do?”
“You’ll know. Be cooperative—that is the first thing you must do.”
In an instant, Teddy found himself back in the padded room. Everything was as it had been and doubt began to fill him. Was his mind playing a trick? It could be his subconscious suggesting a way to give in to his growing desires. The werewolf was new to him, and he knew it made people do things. His lingering doubts controlled him.
One point was nagging him and it did make some sense. He really couldn’t do much trapped inside a padded room. He was a cripple. Even if he got out, what could he do?
It sure felt real…
The lights from above snapped on like an interrogation room. Doctor Gagnon came into view in the control room. She derided her specimen below before activating the PA system.
“What mood are we in today, Teddy?” she asked, not looking at the freak below.
A growl and grunt later and Doctor Gagnon watched her study object transform into the beast without prompting.
Like a good boy, he followed her every command without question.
Chapter Twenty-Six
Deep inside the cavern, Darwin found himself lost in a world that made no sense…he was struggling to keep up.
Steve had managed to get a message through to Teddy and it was believed that the communication was understood.
After a long discussion with Steve and Shawn, it was decided that Darwin would remain in the underworld only long enough for him to experience what he never had on Earth. The decision wasn’t made lightly. He would must return to New Haven to destroy the key and there was very little time to spare.
Darwin lay next to the person he thought he would never see again; never have a chance with. Now he ran his fingers through the ridges of muscles on his back, pushing his way through the coating of fur that was spreading up and down his spine and across his upper back.
He stopped and closed his eyes, feeling himself drift into a restless slumber.
“Why did you stop?” Steve asked with his face still turned away.
“I didn’t want to keep you up.”
“I’m up, trust me.”
The cavern was dead for a moment as both chose their words. The bed was large, covered in thick fur hides that made wanting to get up very challenging. Darwin found himself again tracing the ridges and dancing his digits in the wolf hair that was killing him.
“Steve, maybe I should stay.”
Steve quickly spun around, ending his mild back massage but he had to look Darwin in the eyes. “You can’t. I won’t let you throw away your life.”
“We’ve denied ourselves for years! Finally, we are who we are! I can’t go back now,” he confessed, placing his hand on Steve’s heart and began a new trace.
“Dar…the world needs you. It’s not your time!” Steve said.
“It wasn’t yours, either.”
It was true, how could Steve deny it. He hadn’t killed himself; he was murdered and made to look like a suicide. Not knowing what to say, he kicked a leg out from the heavy furs in a tantrum.
“I’m still a werewolf Steve, no matter what happens with the fucking gate. One way or another, I’ll die at some point and be right back here, so why fight it?”
“I know, but you must put things right in the real world. Our fate was cast long ago, my end is near. You won’t like what I’m becoming. I can feel it moving through me like a parasite. If you thought the wolf was evil, this is something else. Even now I can feel it inside of me…growing, robbing me of who I was.”
“Who you are! You’re still that person!” Darwin insisted.
“I want to kill you,” Steve quietly announced. “You have no idea how hard it is to fight the thought, it’s not the wolf—it’s me now.”
“Then do it!” Darwin glared into his lover’s watering eyes, “Kill me. If you truly hate me, then kill me!”
“I don’t hate you!” Steve broke down.
“Then what is it?”
“It makes me want to hurt you, and soon I will.” He sobbed. “No one will be safe from me.”
“Doesn’t love conquer all?” Darwin asked bluntly. “Well, I love you Steve Cardwen!”
Steve wept with a torrent of tears leaking from his eyes, “I love…”
In one unifying seizure, Steve’s abs contracted and he sat up with his skin glistening in sweat. He gasped and ached, unable to talk or breathe before his back cracked and flailed into the bed and back up again. Steve screamed in pain briefly before returning to silence. Frantically, he rolled from the furs and crashed into a wooden chest on the floor. He looked to Darwin with his eyes phasing from human to wolf, his chest spasmed, growing thick with fur and helping to mask his waning humanity.
Shawn ran through the wall towards Steve, knowing he was frightened he was about to disappear forever. He grabbed him by the shoulders and pushed him to his knees.
“Stay with me man!” Shawn begged as he moved his hands to Steve’s head, which was now growing a set of pointed ears.
“Shawn, what is it?” Darwin asked in a panic.
“Stay back! This might not work.” Shawn looked into Steve’s fading eyes and began to speak.
“Cum luna plena est
“ego sum cordis puri
“quem ego diligo cum
“i innocens sum
“Malum finem pugnabo”
A moment later, Steve’s episode began to subside and his body began to revert to a more human appearance. Steve still howled in pain as his joints snapped and reformed. His transformation was not like the rest. He was being punished. What had happened was a sign of what was to come.
“You did good man; bring it back. Remember how I taught you.” Shawn still held on to Steve’s face as the frightened young man continued his slide back into humanity.
“It fucking hurts!” Steve chattered through his fangs.
“I know, just focus on your rock, what does that rock say about you. It says you are strong and unmovable. Like the rock you cannot be changed.” Shawn continued helping Steve, guiding him away from his cliff.
“What did you say to him?” Darwin asked.
“An old chant, a friend taught it to me. Wards off the pain for a while,” Shawn said.
Again silence returned to the cavern. The bones and cartilage in Steve’s body settled. Soon a worn out, muscular body drenched in sweat was on his knees with his head hung low. When he finally looked up, Steve opened his mouth which now had a set of dripping canines. A thick patch of hair ran between his pecs and he was all round, bigger in size.
“I was gone that time,” he spat through his fangs.
“This was your worst episode yet. We’re going to have to reinforce you if we want to hold off the change,” Shawn replied, getting up off the ground. “I’ll prepare for the hunt.”
“Why does it happen?” Darwin aske
d as he cautiously got off the bed and approached Steve.
“You should stay away from him,” Shawn said, stopping at the portal in the wall. “My trigger is my daughter, I can’t think about her too much or they’ll get me faster. Whatever Steve was thinking, it was the one thing that he can’t think about. It’s his pain, it will be his trigger. It almost was.”
Shawn left the room leaving Darwin and Steve alone. Darwin sat on the edge of the bed looking at Steve who was still sitting in the corner like a rabid dog. The two said nothing for awhile, only Steve’s panting could be heard.
“You better leave,” he growled.
“Steve—”
“Go!” he demanded.
Darwin, heeding the warning, grabbed a robe and passed through the wall into the next chamber. He knew Steve wasn’t lying. He was going to kill him and a small part of him wanted to die by Steve’s hands. It was what Shawn had said that he found most troubling.
“So, that’s it? We’re done?” Darwin asked Shawn, who was gathering chain link nets and jars filled with black snake like objects.
Shawn said as a matter of fact, “For now. If you two dabble anymore than you already have we’ll lose him. Our only chance now is to catch an imp and drain it; that might restore Steve for awhile.”
“You’re saying I’m responsible for his change?”
Shawn dropped the chain netting hard and looked at the naïve visitor. “Steve never elaborated what pained him most. I know he had it bad. I figured in time he would tell me, but it doesn’t take an expert to see that it’s you. He’s resentful for life on Earth without you, the pain and torture he experienced because of you. I warned him before he took you in to his bedroom-I thought it might be dangerous.”
“I said I loved him. He tried to say he loved me. So, I can never be with him ever again?” Darwin began to tremble.
Shawn looked down upon the small person knowing the pain he was feeling. “That’s how they torture you; that one thing that you can never have. We all have it, somewhere deep inside us. If you love him you have to let him go.”