Aris Returns

by Devin Morgan

  “He took me as his dresser. Soon, I became someone he trusted and called upon for council. I was young but bright with a talent for battle. We became more than servant and master. And then, we became friends.”

  Sarah was mesmerized as the vampire told his ancient story through the voice of the twenty first century man.

  #

  CARLOS HAVARRO, transcript, session 6, March 19

  It was during the Balkan campaign while a battle raged that I was changed.

  Alexander called the battle at first light. There was a raging storm and the black, ominous clouds spouted lightening, the lightening created a thunder that stopped the beating of the heart. We fought near the top of Mount Haemus and located there was a shrine to the god, Dionysus. We battled our way toward the shrine. As the soil turned to mud mixed with blood and rain water, we slid and slipped as we wielded our swords yet we were victorious. Alexander commanded that all survivors were to be killed so we worked our way to the top of the mountain, our swords spreading death to anything that moved.

  As I neared the top of the mountain, I was drawn into a forest of strange, tall trees with their roots above ground, twisted into enormous knots. Trees did not flourish at this great height and I wondered at them. Moving through the unusual setting marveling at the sounds and smells, I came to a clearing. There, in the center was a unique, beautiful temple. I surmised from camp stories that it was the shrine of Dionysus. It glowed in the flashes of lightening looking as if it were appearing and disappearing at will.

  A huge bolt struck and the sky lit as if it were day. In amazement I saw the clearing was surrounded by women who were tall and beautiful with muscles of warriors. They wore wreaths of flowers in their hair. Living snakes wound around their arms. I knew from the campfire talks these women must be the maenads who protected the shrine and who fed those elite worshipers belonging to the cult of the souls.

  The stories told these women of incredible physical power searched out animals and even humans tearing them limb from limb. It was their task to find the blood used as a sacrament by the elite followers of Dionysus who came to them to worship their god.

  As I approached, I was stunned by their great beauty. A soft sound, the murmur of a woman in ecstasy, moaned from each throat. I was drawn forward without thought or fear. I stood at the edge of the clearing just beneath the trees, listening to their beckoning call.

  Suddenly, one with hair like fire licking to her waist in swirling tendrils reached her hands toward me. Mesmerized, I moved toward her. I felt I couldn’t breathe if I did not touch her and feel her flesh. If I could not smell her fragrance, I would die of sorrow. Slowly I moved through the storm as in a dream.

  The moments stood still until, at last, I stood before her. Her long fingers reached to grasp my shoulders then one hand slid behind my head. The other moved to stroke my throat. I remember so clearly, I shuddered in anticipation of a magical embrace.

  At once, she plunged her teeth into my throat. The pain was inhuman, exquisite. It was agony yet filled me with pleasure unlike any I had ever known. I could feel my body growing more and more cold, my strength ebbed with each draw she made on my vein.

  The rain poured down upon us, her arms holding me tight as I began to sink to the ground. A crash so loud it deafened my dying ears came just to one side. One of the trees was struck by lightning and flames somehow leaped to life through the deluge of water. I saw them devour the thick trunk of the tree out of the corner of my eyes as my sight dimmed and the world grew dark.

  By legend, the maenads are terrified by fire, the only thing that could do them harm. The red haired demon dropped me. To my fading eyes she appeared to float just above the ground as she moved quickly to the cover of the shrine. I fell to the wet earth. There was just enough strength left in my body to claw my way from the clearing and through the trees. I found a spot that was well hidden. I dug myself into a shallow grave and there I lay.

  For three days I was overcome with pain and pleasure. Just when I knew I could not take another moment of the one, the other would possess me and somehow create balance so I did not lose my mind. I heard soldiers pass nearby but I could not call out. I thought I saw the beautiful devil come in and out of my consciousness biting and nibbling me over and over again. There was so much sensation in my body, my voice would not respond to my mind. I was on fire. I was ice. I was in agony. I was in passionate ecstasy. I was in a nether world.

  At the end of the nightmare vigil, all sensation ceased and I lay there yet somehow still alive.

  By the campfires, the old warriors told the tales of the cult of souls and now I knew them to be true. I had joined them without guile or will. I had become one of the undead.

  Afraid and not knowing what to do, I made my way back to camp. It was night and the sentries were snoring around the campfires. I knew only one man who could help me. I moved silently through the dark to find him.

  Stumbling upon the tent of Alexander through the night mist, I hurried toward the opening. The guard recognized me, greeting me with surprise. He told me they all thought I was killed in battle. He said Alexander and his retinue would be overjoyed to know I lived.

  Murmuring a brief thanks, I moved aside the entrance flap, stepping though the opening into the warm, dry shelter of my commander.

  He sat on the edge of the pallet he used for sleeping, looking up as he heard me enter. His surprise and delight showed on his face as he stood to embrace me. As he wrapped his arms around me, he stiffened. He knew I was changed. He, too, had heard the campfire stories. He stepped back from me as if I were poison. He wrapped his arms around himself as protection from what I had become.

  I waited in the light of the candles. It seemed an eternity before he finally lifted his eyes. They were caring, without fear. He moved toward me once again. He embraced me and led me to his pallet. He said I looked tired, I needed to rest. He laid me down, enveloping me with his own covers. I fell into a swoon almost as soon as my head touched the soft cushions beneath me. I was naive and I trusted him.

  I don’t know what happened in the night. I don’t know what he thought or with whom he consulted. I only felt the result of those hours.

  As dawn was breaking, I heard, as if in a distance, rapid movement around me. Before I was awake and could move, a pain greater than any I felt buried in the leaves of the forest floor exploded in my chest. I screamed in agony as I looked down to see a wooden stake driven into my heart and my commander standing above me with tears in his eyes. That was the last I saw with physical eyes for five hundred years.

  The captains carried my body out of the tent and into a rocky cave. They left it resting on an outcrop of cold rock, covered it with leather hides then piled rocks on top of it. They vacated the cave in silence.

  I wondered at being able to observe what was happening to my body. How could it be that I was dead yet I was able to see and understand what ensued about my lifeless self? Unable to tear myself away from a carcass that had turned to stone, I waited, I knew not for what.

  In the place I dwelled, there was no such thing as time and so it seemed as days but truly was centuries before I realized I was a dismembered being, conscious yet without a physical self. Thinking yet without a mind. In anguish yet without a heart to break. Lost for an eternity.”

  It was silent in her office for what seemed like several minutes.

  “And that, Sarah, is how I came into being.” His voice was soft, peaceful as he spoke.

  #

  Sarah gazed at the face of the man who lay in her recliner as her mind raced with questions. How had this unspeakable experience happened? What had brought this strange being into her life? Why was she the one to take this journey in the subconscious of a vampire? Was there even such a thing as a vampire? And if there was what in the hell was she doing making friends with him instead of running in the opposite direction? “What am I thinking, of course there is no such thing as vampires.”

  The sky began to darken ou
tside her window as Carlos stirred in the recliner. She knew she must bring him back. She wondered how much she should allow him to remember. Her final decision was he had a right to know everything she knew whether it was truth or fantasy.

  “Carlos, in a moment you will come back to real time. One. Two. Three.. …”

  #

  When he opened his eyes, he lay quietly without speaking for a very long time. She moved to the desk, lighting the lamp as twilight took over the late afternoon sky.

  “Sarah.” His voice was soft, tentative.

  She moved back and sat in the chair next to him. “Yes Carlos. I’m here.”

  “What’s happening here?” He looked at her with puzzled eyes. “Have I lost it completely?”

  She smiled and reached to put her hand on his arm. “Carlos, I can only tell you what I think is going on. It’s your subconscious talking to us, telling us a story to help us along our journey. I have researched past life regression until I’m cross eyed and I can’t find anything that relates to your particular experience.” She shook her head from side to side. “I’m as clueless about this as you are.”

  He turned to gaze at the patterns of lamp light cast on the ceiling. “What do we do now?”

  “You have the same two choices you always have. Stop right here and don’t do another regression or go forward and see what happens.” She stood and crossed to the window. She looked out at the night sky for a few moments then turned to face him. “It’s up to you. Whatever you want to do, I’m with you.”

  “Can we really learn anything doing this?” He asked her a question for which she had no honest answer.

  “I don’t know for sure, Carlos. I can tell you we’re accessing some deeper truths about you, information I hope will give you more tools to manage your present life.”

  He stood up stretching his long arms over his head. He smiled as he crossed the room to stand in front of her. “Well, as long as we’re in it together, it can’t be all bad. So, I’ll see you next week for my session.” He captured her eyes with the intensity of his, “And don’t be afraid. No matter what, I would never hurt you.”

  He turned and walked to the door of her office. By the time she turned around, he was gone.

  CHAPTER 10

  She left the city early on Saturday morning. It was an easy drive to her mother’s home if she started before the traffic. She looked forward to visiting her mother and grandmother in spite of their constant comments about her single life, about her being alone. She told them repeatedly that she was fine but she was beginning to question herself. “Am I just fooling myself? Am I really simply lonely and that’s why I work so much?” She pushed the thought to the back of her mind and concentrated on driving and the soft music coming from her CD player.

  The house the two women lived in was so cozy and comfortable. It had been difficult for her mother when Sarah’s father died. She stayed in their large home for almost two years but it was a burden for her to care alone and most of the rooms were closed, unused anyway. Then when Sarah’s grandfather passed away, the two matriarchs of the family joined forces to buy a small home in one of the many quaint towns on the Fox River.

  There was an unseasonal light blanket of snow on the ground when she pulled into the driveway. Sarah phoned as she left the toll way so her mother was watching for her from the front window. As she opened the trunk to remove her weekend travel bag, her mother opened the front door, calling to her.

  “Hi honey. You’re just in time for breakfast. Gran is making pancakes.” She wrapped her pink cardigan more closely around her then stepped onto the porch to welcome her only child. “You’re too thin. Don’t you ever eat?” Taking the light bag from her hand, Sarah’s mother bundled her into the warm front hall. “Take off your coat and go into the kitchen. Everything’s waiting for you.”

  Sarah appreciated all of the familiar furniture her mother had managed to fit into the small house. It made her feel safe and at home to see some of the pieces she had known as a child. She made her way to the kitchen.

  “Gran.” She wrapped her arms around her petite grandmother then gave her a big kiss on the cheek. “It sure smells great in here. I’m starving. I didn’t eat before I left and breakfast is my best meal.”

  “Sit down honey. Here come the pancakes.” The griddle on the stove was already heated. She poured the batter into perfect little silver dollar circles. Her mother took the syrup out of the microwave. She placed it on the table. A pot of coffee sat on the warmer and there was a bowl of ripe, red strawberries just waiting to be eaten.

  “I remember when we could only get strawberries in the summer. This is great!” She accepted the pancakes being offered her, poured syrup then covered them with berries.

  “I love to see you eat like this, honey. You need to put on a little weight.”

  Sarah smiled to herself. What a change from her early years. Her life had been a constant battle for food when the two older women pushed her to be a professional ballerina. Now, being too thin was all they talked about. Life was certainly strange. And so was past life.

  “So, I have this new client. Remember Colleen Stevens?” They both nodded yes. Colleen had spent one Christmas with the Hagan’s and once someone met her, it was unlikely they would ever forget her. “Well, she set me up to work with one of her parolees.”

  Her mother stopped still. “You’re working with a gangster, Sarah?” Her look of concern made Sarah chuckle.

  “No, he’s not a gangster, just a troubled young man. His name is Carlos and he’s the most interesting past lifer I’ve ever treated.”

  “Tell us all about it.” They all settled in for a cozy breakfast as Sarah recounted what little she was able to share of the Carlos story, everything that is except that he had been a vampire in a previous life.

  #

  She was sound asleep in the guest bedroom when her cell phone rang. She glanced at the clock by the bed. It was two thirty in the morning.

  “Sarah, I need you. It’s Carlos. Weird crap is happening in my head.” His voice sounded strange, frightened. “I don’t get it. I’m not hypnotized and I still hear that vamp character in my mind.”

  “Carlos. Just a minute. Let me wake up.” She turned on the light and took a sip of water from the glass on the bedside table. “What are you talking about?”

  “See, I’m hanging with my brother. Suddenly I’m talking all this weird crap like I’m in session and back in England. He thought I was high again. Sarah, I haven’t touched anything since rehab. I don’t know what the hell is going on.”

  “Where are you Carlos?”

  “I’m sitting in an all-night diner. I don’t want to go home. And I sure as hell don’t want to go to sleep. I feel pretty strange.”

  She sat up, throwing the covers off her legs. “I can be back in the city in about an hour. Stay put and I’ll call you when I get close. Where are you? I’ll come and pick you up.”

  When he gave her the cross streets, she was surprised he was only a few blocks from her apartment. Her office was downtown and several miles away. She wondered if she would be safe taking him to her home. She decided she would be.

  Sarah threw her things into her bag and started to dress. “Don’t worry. I’m on my way. It’s all going to be fine. It’s just a residual thing that has happened. I’ll fix it as soon as I get there. Exactly what were you doing when this feeling came over you?”

  “Playing some stupid video game about knights and the round table. I don’t know if that’s what did it or not. I just sounded like somebody else and it freaked me out.”

  “Just hang in there. I’m on my way. I’ll call you soon and if you feel too strange before I get in touch with you, call me back. I’ll have my cell close all the time. See you before too long.”

  She closed her phone then tiptoed into her mother’s room. She touched her parent on the shoulder. Her mother opened her eyes, sitting up immediately. “What’s wrong honey?”

  “Mom, I’m sorr
y but one of my clients is having an emergency. I have to get back to the city tonight. I’ll call you in the morning.” Her mother rose from her bed, slipping into her warm robe against the chill of the house. “Honey, call me when you get home. I’m concerned with you driving alone this late at night.” She walked Sarah to the door. Wrapping her robe more closely around her, she waved to her daughter as she went down the steps to get into her car. “Call me,” she mouthed without sound so as not to wake her neighbors.

  “I will.” She mouthed back.“Love you.” Sarah shut the car door, turned the key in the ignition then backed down the driveway.

  #

  She opened the door of her apartment. Carlos followed her as they walked into the living room. She turned on a light then turned up the heat. She always turned it down when she was away from home.

  “Can I get you something from the kitchen?”

  “No. I drank enough coffee at the diner to float a boat. Look, I’m sorry I called you. It really is okay. It just freaked me out for a minute.”

  “Don’t worry about it. It’s fine.” She motioned him to sit down in the big brown chair by the fireplace. “I’ll light a fire and we can talk.” She picked up the remote, clicked the switch and the gas fireplace sprang to life. ”Modern miracles.”

  “Yeah. Sure is better than a cave.” He smiled, trying to make light of his earlier fear.

  “I think what’s happened is your state was so deep on Friday and you were under for a long time. Then the video game set you off. It’s nothing to worry about. Before you leave, we’ll do a little session to make sure you feel comfortable.” She moved to place the remote on the table next to him.

  “You don’t have to do that. I feel like an idiot calling you in the middle of the night. I just didn’t know what was going on.”

  “Don’t worry about waking me up. It’s my job to make sure you feel safe all the time.” Without thinking, she reached to touch his hand. He wrapped his other arm around her, forcing her to sit on the arm of the chair. “Sarah.” His voice was hoarse and his eyes locked onto hers.