“We’ve got to talk things through, bro.” He says, “You ran away in the first place because you wanted to help humans, right?”
I hesitate. “Not really.”
“Okay…” Shane says, trying not to sound surprised. “Then why did you?” I narrow my eyes at him, not sure what game he’s playing at.
“Come on man,” he says, “let’s bounce around information and see if we can get to some conclusions.”
I sigh heavily. “Because Rafael wanted to kill me. He somehow found out about my powers evolving, and he was afraid I would use it to usurp his authority or something.” Shane looks at me, disbelief written all over his face. I shrug. “He’s a psychotic bastard.”
“If that’s true, then what’s stopping him from killing anyone else who’s evolved?”
“Maybe he has killed those who possibly evolved before him who weren’t as lucky as me to have escaped.” I say. “He has to be the ‘first’ to evolve, at least as far as our tribe is concerned.”
“I know he’s evil,” Shane says. “But he’s supposed to be your leader. Why would he attack and kill his own people?”
“I know this makes no sense.” I say, trying to be patient. “But that’s how his mind works. He has to be the first. That would mean he’s stronger than everybody else, see? Chosen by fate or whatever. Truly fit to rule The Children of the Sun, etc.. It’s messed up, okay?”
I have had time to mull over Rafael’s intentions and character for six months, and have come to the healthy conclusion that he is a megalomaniac power-hungry son of a bitch, and I am a fool for not seeing it earlier. All those little signs… Like the way he subtly manipulates people into liking him, how he always smiles and never says a mean word to anyone, but has the other superiors do his dirty work for him, like throwing people into solitary or binding people up in chains when they complain.
“There’s no one in the world I hate more than him.” I say, looking out the window.
“Okay,” Shane says. “But what about now? You do want to help save humans, don’t you?”
“Yeah, and also stop that bastard from taking over the world.”
“Right.” Shane says. “And to do that, we have to find out if your kind can potentially kill without healing first, because that means they would become an even bigger threat than they are right now.”
“And then what?” I snap. “We find out one way or the other, and then what do we do?”
“We go from there.” Shane says calmly.
I laugh in disbelief.
“I don’t have all the answers, Daniel.” He says. “But this is war. Information is power, and we need information. This is a quick and harmless way to get it.”
I rub my temples, trying to ease the tension out of my head. “I’ve murdered enough people for the guilt to last me a lifetime.”
Shane says nothing for a moment. “I understand.”
“Just drive.” I murmur.
He pushes the gas pedal and drives back onto the highway.
The ride is quiet from then on.
-*-
We stop only once, to load up on junk food and put gas in the truck. We get lost in Montana trying to find the prison, but end up locating it thanks to Shane’s reluctant use of his truck’s GPS.
“I don’t trust technology…” He mutters to himself as I dial the address in the aparatus.
“It works with satelites.” I tell him, but he ignores me. We arrive at the prison at half past one and make our way to the execution center. It’s a big white building with peeling paint on the walls and the look of neglect written all over it.
My heart pounds, and my hands start sweating profusely. We enter the building and Shane flashes some form of ID to the guards. They glance at each other and then let us in without any questions. I wipe my hands on my jeans before walking in. We make our way down the clinical-looking hallway, and I follow Shane as he makes a left, and then a right.
“It’s like you know this place by memory,” I say.
Finally he opens a door and leads us into a small room with a couple rows of chairs and a glass pane window at the end. The room is clean, and nothing at all like I expect it to be. I don’t know what I was expecting, to tell the truth. Maybe a dungeon, like the ones we have back in Agartha.
The guard points us to the chairs in the middle of the room, and we take a seat. There are a few other people sitting, looking at something beyond a glass wall, and I quickly realize that the something is the criminal. He is being led to the bed and strapped down to it, and there are a few people and a priest inside the room.
The man, or should I say the killer, is nothing a short, bald, middle-aged looking man. He doesn’t look like a murderer. But some of them just don’t.
I get a sick feeling inside the pit of my stomach.
“I can’t do this.” I whisper to Shane, who is standing next to me and watching the killer intently.
“Listen, man, I don’t want to force you into anything.”
“Good.” I say, and begin to shove my way out of the room. Shane grabs me by the arm and stops me, his grip unyielding. I grit my teeth. “Let me go.”
“Like I said, I won’t force you into anything.” He whispers, enunciating every word very carefully.
“Then get the hell off of me.” I whisper back fiercely.
“But if I had the chance,” He continues, “I would like to have the honor of getting rid of this pathetic excuse of a human being myself.”
“He’s going to die in a few minutes anyway.”
“You don’t understand. It would be a sin to grant this man even a nanosecond more time than what has already so graciously been given to him.” His grip tightens. “The Immortals don’t believe in this, like I said before, but I don’t think there’s a single brave person in the entire world who wouldn’t wish they had the opportunity to take this man’s life themselves.” I slowly turn my face to the man being tied down to the bed. He looks so… normal. Just an average, ordinary human being.
“I know you’re prepping me for the kill, you sick bastard,” I tell Shane, allowing the morbid curiosity to get the best of me at last. “But what did he do?”
Shane lets go of me and closes his eyes. His face scrunches up as if in pain. And then he tells me.
I wish I could let the natural order of things flow, let the law do its job instead of rising above it. But no one of my kind would even hesitate to take every last drop of Life-Force from this bastard completely, entirely, without a moment’s thought. This man is evil, and we feed from the evil to make ourselves strong to heal the pure. My blood boils, and I forget my restraint.
I turn around to look at the people sitting around me, making sure their eyes are glued to the glass wall. Once I realize no one is looking at me, I let the anger, the hate, the utter disgust toward this man completely overpower me. And I grow hungry, ever so hungry. I just need eye contact… one tiny bit of eye contact, less than a second, less than one-eighth of a second, and I know I can do it. I know I can take his life, even if I haven’t healed beforehand.
His head and body are tied down, and they are just about to inject the cocktail of death into his veins when, as if attracted by some lurking, invisible predator, his eyes wander through the crowd on our side of the glass and land on mine. He doesn’t even have time to gasp. His eyes open wide, his pupils dilating. A sort of fog comes over them as they roll up, revealing the whites. A moment later, he is dead.
And I am ecstatic.
I killed the man just in time. They inject the drug into his system a second later, not realizing he is already dead. The executioner checks his pulse, but there is no need for that.
Indescribable amounts of pleasure run through my veins. I forgot the sweetness, the power, the rush of taking a life, the addictive element to it. Nothing can touch me. I am indestructible. I start laughing, and people turn around to stare. I don’t look at them, but I can feel their disgust directed at me and what I know to be my indecent reacti
on. Nonetheless, I’m unable to restrain myself.
Shane grabs me by the arm again and yanks me out of the room. Outside, he quickly rips off a hem from his baggy black pants and blindfolds me with it.
“It’s time to go.”
“I don’t think so…” I’m still hungry, and this is only the beginning. I want more. There’s a second where I realize that this isn’t normal, that one single killing should sate my hunger, but that second comes and goes. I yank the blindfold off and see my reflection in Shane’s bright blue eyes. My own eyes are glowing with a fierceness and power I have never seen in them before. I am a god above all mortals, powerful beyond description, and I am dangerous.
“Daniel, you don’t want to do this. At this moment, you’re a threat to anyone who’s not an Immortal,” Shane says evenly. His eyes, though, betray his nervousness. “Let’s get out of here.” He whips his head around, checking for humans.
Suddenly, the memories come flooding back. Images of the people I have killed… the sadistic priest, the mob leader, the arms trafficker, the drug dealer. All the evil people who deserved it, and then the one innocent man who had not deserved to die. At this last memory, the power drains out of me completely, the indestructible force gone just as quickly as it had come.
“Get me out of here, Shane.” I say desperately, shutting my eyes tight and bringing my hands to my face. He grabs my arm again and starts running. I follow him blindly, holding my eyelids together so tight that it hurts. I hear him push the main door aside and feel the hot, warm summer air as we run toward the car. He opens the door, and I jump inside.
We are on the highway when I finally open my eyes. I look at my reflection in the car mirror and see that there are still faint traces of the killer glow remaining. When I see this, I crumble completely. I am no better than the man I have just killed. I am a murderer. A life taker. And that’s never going to change.
-*-
I don’t speak for the rest of the trip home, and neither does Shane. Perhaps he regrets ever taking me there, or perhaps he wants to give me space. I don’t know, and I don’t care; I’m just grateful for the silence. It’s nighttime when we finally get back to Rickshaw.
“I hope you’ve got the information you wanted,” I say when we reach my apartment, a tinge of acid in my voice. “And that your people will know what to do with it.”
“Daniel, I—”
I get out of the car and slam the door shut before he finishes. I walk into my place, not even bothering to lock my door, and fall down into my mattress, closing my eyes and begging for sleep to take me soon.
Thankfully, it does.
It is a dreamless night.
The Spell
I wake up at dusk the next day, feeling parched. My stomach grumbles. I look down at my watch: seven thirty of the evening.
I slept the entire damn day.
I lift myself up from the mattress, my body aching and my head throbbing violently. I take a shower before deciding to go out for a bite to eat and something to drink. I look down before opening the door and notice there’s a note on the floor. Someone must have slipped it under the door. I pick it up and read it.
I’ll be at your house tomorrow morning to start the draft. Take it easy today.
- Shane.
I crumple up the piece of paper and throw it in the wastebasket.
Fuck him.
I go to the deli and order a cuban sandwich, remembering how good it tasted the other day. It might even become my favorite meal. I eat with relish, savoring every piece, as if focusing on the food I’m putting in my mouth will take all of my troubles away.
I sit at the table alone when I finish, completely lost in my thoughts, unable to get the picture of that average-looking balding serial killer out of my head.
Maybe I’m turning soft, I think to myself, and then laugh. If that’s the truth, I turned soft a long time ago.
“Would you like anything else?” The chirpy, blonde waitress asks me.
“That’ll be all for now.”
“I’ll bring you the check, then.” She walks away, her ponytail bouncing from side to side with every step she takes.
I sigh to myself. I know I’m not going back to my place tonight. I’m in no way ready to spend a night alone after what I did. That’s why, after I exit the deli, I run as fast as I can towards the woods, seeking out the only thing that can make me forget all my troubles.
-*-
She’s expecting me, like I knew she would be. Isabella is standing on the border of the northern entrance of the forest, beautiful as always, her skin shining pale as marble under the waning moon.
“Daniel, are you all right?” She asks, her clear voice slightly trembling. I must look like shit.
“I don’t want to talk about it.” I say, harsher than I intended. All I want to do is forget. She stiffens at my words. “I just want to be with you tonight, okay?” I say, softening my tone. She relaxes and gives me a small smile.
“My magic can make you feel better.”
“How?” I want to escape in her flesh, that’s all I want to do. Not feel better, not think about it… just escape.
Her smile grows bigger. “Why don’t I show you,, instead of telling you?” She puts her hands on the sides of my head and closes her eyes.
Suddenly, she begins to chant what seems to me like an ancient, forgotten song. Her low voice echoes throughout the woods.
Heal this wound
And cleanse the blood
With the powers from below
With the powers from above
Release his thoughts
Let them run wild
Bring back to us
No thought that’s dire
Calm our minds
And soothe our hearts
Softly brush our restlessness
Apart
Pour unto us
The darkness’s love
With the powers from below
With the powers from above
She chants the strange words over and over again until I feel my mind opening and thoughts dispersing everywhere, and only pleasant ones coming back, like the floral aroma of Isabella’s skin, or the sharp taste of the cuban sandwich. I open my eyes, and we are not in the northern border anymore, but in the thick center of the woods.
“How did we get here? Did you enchant me?” She smiles teasingly. I could feel offended, but the truth is I feel as light as air, as if all the burdens of my life have been lifted off my shoulders. I don’t have a care in the world. My thoughts ground, however, when I notice Isabella wearing a green, completely sheer dress with a hemline hanging just below her hip. I groan and pull her closer to me.
“See? You’re better now.” She says.
I can’t really remember what I was agonizing over, but I don’t really try to, either. I am soothed, dreamy, dozing off to a wonderful place. “I want you.” I wrap my arms around her and rub them up and down her back. She moans, and I might die.
“It’s not enough, Daniel. Tell me you love me.” She whispers into my ear. I’m burning with desire to have her and I’ll give her anything, anything she wants.
“I love you.” I whisper, bringing her closer to me. Her body is soft, but not delicate. She is strong and ardent. In the back of my mind, a small but nervous voice reminds me I just told her I loved her, and how that’s a huge mistake. But I silence the annoying little voice quickly, unwilling to let it interrupt the moment.
Maybe I don’t love her in the way a soul mate yearns for its other half, not like I love Kismet, but I love her beauty, I love her passion, I love this night, and I want her now.
She distances herself from me and looks tenderly into my eyes. “I love you, Daniel Maze.” And then she kisses me with a force and a desire all her own.
Before long we are both consumed in our passion on the forest floor. I’m adoring every part of her, and she’s giving herself to me openly and without restraint. Both of us are drowning in delight. The sky is dark, the
stars are bright, and the air of the night is tender and cool.
-*-
I wake at dawn with Isabella still in my embrace, already awake. There’s a hint of pain in her eyes.
“It’s sunrise.” I say, getting up and handing her the green dress so that she can cover herself up. Not that it would be of much help. Her skin looks chalky white under the first rays of dawn, and her hair lost some of the shine it had during the night. Her lips, too, don’t look quite so full and red.
But she’s still the most beautiful woman in the world. Her eyes sweep over my back, studying my scar. “Is that magical?” She asks me, her eyes squinting in suspicion. I would think this would be obvious for a witch. It’s not like a random accident can just leave a sun-shaped scar on your back.
“Yes.” I say simply.
“What is it for?”
I kiss her forehead and smile. “Don’t worry about it. You should go back to your sisters. The sun is strong this morning.”
Isabella purses her lips, but says nothing more. I embrace her one last time, and she kisses me before pulling away. I realize I still thirst for more, much more, even after such a filling night.
“I’ll see you soon.” She says.
“How soon?” I ask.
She caresses my cheek tenderly. “When the time is right, we’ll meet again.”
“It won’t be long, I hope?” I say teasingly.
“Time for a witch is very relative.” Her voice falls back into its natural seductive cadence. “A day, for example, would feel like an eternity if spent waiting for you.” She smiles at me, her eyes looking lovingly into mine. A gust of wind envelops us. I blink once, and she is gone.
I look up at the sun and then close my eyes. The rays of dawn feel good. Everything feels good right now. I let them fill me with energy as I stand naked in the middle of the forest, breathing in the air of the woods before I put my clothes back on.
The Sun Child (The Sun Child Saga Book 1) Page 14