The Unforgiven Sin

by R. Twine

  ‘What are you talking about, Miriam?!’ Michael’s jaw dropped.

  ‘This means that after your mission is accomplished you will be lifted to Heaven! Only a few questions remain to be answered. Why do higher forces want to take you to their realm, knowing full well that you’re Satan’s offspring? Whatever is it that prevents you from acknowledging your father whose essence you carry within you? Isn’t it the telling sign that you’ll be used to create a new civilization in case mankind perishes from the face of the Earth? Because no entity can be created without a dark essence, that’s for sure!’

  ‘You’re raving, Miriam!’ Now Michael became really angry. ‘Everybody who’d ever touched these books was immediately surrounded by mystery and fear. You remember the two men who came to visit me, don’t you? Now then, these people have money and power but – believe me – they live a very troublesome life because they are possessed! They came to talk me into being their Master. They are somehow connected with this library – just like you and my father. Naturally, I rejected their offer because you have all gone utterly and completely crazy! Miriam, perhaps I should keep away from you, because all this talk of yours is sheer paranoia. I would have broken up with you long ago were it not for the fact that I’m in love with you! Someone may have been following me but to say that I’m the devil’s son – that is too much! Do you really expect me to believe all this? Could it be that Satan is lurking in you instead, not in me? Come to your senses before it’s too late! Consult a good psychiatrist. Please, Miriam, stop ruining your own life. I’m rich and free; soon I’ll have my problems settled. Give up on your Samuel and marry me! We love each other, don’t we; so let us forget about devils and genes of all sorts. I’m begging you to accept my offer before it’s too late! You’ve been surrounded by mysterious deaths, too! It’s as though you yourself have been guiding people into the yoke of death! Let’s leave this all behind and there will be no deaths in our lives anymore. But if you keep on eating away at Satan, turning everything inside out, then he’ll never leave us alone, that’s for sure!’

  ‘Michael, believe me, this wasn’t the last death. If we just sit doing nothing your children may be killed and then our turn will come. They are not going to leave us alone until they have what they want,’ I said.

  ‘Who are they?’

  ‘Unfortunately, I don’t know.’

  Michael began nervously pacing the room again, then stopped abruptly near me and shouted angrily.

  ‘All right then, what do you want from me?! What do I have to do to acquire my long-awaited peace of mind? I don’t have anything to do with all this, at all, and never have. Are you suggesting that I should give them my consent and preside over their orgies or something like that? I’ll do nothing of the kind! Not for the world! I belong to nobody but myself. I don’t have any father from any of the Kingdoms! Who the hell is Satanail to kill my friends and loved ones?! Where is he to be found? If he’s really my father then why won’t he come to see me and tell me about it outright? Nobody has ever seen him at all, just as nobody’s ever seen God! I don’t deny they exist; so much the better if they do, but what do they have to do with me? Satanail, Satanail… I’m fed up with all this!’ Michael was shouting so loudly that the echo of his voice reverberated in my ears.

  ‘Calm down, Michael,’ I said quietly. ‘Believe me, I’d never have told you this if I weren’t sure that my words were true.’

  ‘Miriam, I’ll believe you if I see Satanail myself, with my own eyes. By the way, a few days ago I hinted to my “friends” I’m ready to sell them all of my books wholesale. I really made up my mind to get rid of them.’

  ‘And…?’ I asked, narrowing my eyes.

  ‘They quickly started denying ever having had the intention to buy them which came as a big surprise to me because they’d been the first among potential buyers. But now they are harping on about the manuscripts belonging to my family, which had always been the keeper of mysteries; they say the books cannot be sold as long as at least one of the “keepers’ is still alive. How can I explain the fact that immediately after the death of my father they had been eager to acquire his collection but now they’ve reneged on their desire to buy them? And now there’s this nonsense about having a son…’

  ‘Which nonsense?’ I asked, intrigued.

  ‘I want to have a son, just as many men do. I told nobody about it but once Arnaud told me a drastic change would occur if I had a son. The meaning of his words escaped me. What change, and why should it occur? To put the matter in a nutshell, this is all very strange: a son, secrets…’

  ‘Which secrets are you talking about?’ I asked.

  ‘I don’t know, that is all I’d managed to get out of them. They left saying, instead of goodbye, that I still had time to think twice. By the way, Miriam, my father turned out to be much wealthier than I’d thought. He had an account in a Swiss bank plus some valuables being kept there: family documents and jewelry. It was only yesterday that they informed me of this. I don’t know exactly what this is all about. Some day soon I’ll visit a public notary and then go to Lugano.’

  ‘This looks strange to me, Michael. I’d like to go with you, if you don’t mind.’

  ‘Of course, I don’t mind, Miriam. I’ll only be happy if you go with me because, frankly, I don’t feel like going there alone,’ Michael said, brightening up.

  ‘Is that why you told me about this?’ I asked, smiling.

  ‘Incidentally, how are you getting along with Samuel? I heard he had a baby.’

  ‘Samuel arrives tomorrow,’ I answered briefly.

  ‘Miriam, he’s not worthy of you, believe me. The only man who truly loves you is me!’ Michael declared.

  ‘I knew neither about this child nor about his mother,’ I said. ‘Samuel thoroughly kept me in the dark concerning all this. In fact, he kept everybody in the dark. The child had been conceived before we began living together. And now I’m waiting to hear his explanations.’

  ‘Indeed, we men can sometimes be real scoundrels,’ said Michael shaking his head. ‘I feel for you. You only wasted your time with this buffoon.’

  ‘Women are no better, Michael. Take myself for example…’ I said with a sigh. ‘I don’t know why he didn’t tell me anything about it; maybe, he had his reasons? At least, I’ll try to understand this unpleasant situation. You didn’t inform your wife of having betrayed her with me, did you?’

  ‘I’m fully aware of the wrong I did to my wife by betraying her with you but I’d been honest with her. Before we got married, I’d told her I wasn’t likely to fall seriously in love with any woman. I always had women on the side, and my wife turned a blind eye to my affairs. We wouldn’t even touch the subject of infidelity. In fact, she gave me a kind of an unspoken carte-blanche. Sometimes I would feel an urge ‘to go astray’; I knew it wasn’t good, but couldn’t help it. Women always ran after me offering their bodies; you cannot even imagine how hard it is to refuse such an offer!’

  ‘And I’m one of them,’ I said with a smile. ‘I willingly jumped into your bed, too. But there’s really something mysterious about you. I remember quite well that the first time it happened I felt like I was suddenly drugged. I wanted you so much that if I didn’t get what I wanted I’d burn alive in my own lust. You know, there are very few men who have such kind of influence on women,’ I admitted.

  ‘Miriam, when all this is over, I want us to be together. I really dream of having a son,’ Michael said looking straight into my eyes.

  He came to me, pulled me abruptly towards himself by my elbows and sucked on my lips so forcefully that I felt the taste of blood in my mouth. Then Michael began convulsively clutching at my body whispering in my ear not only words of love but outright obscenities, too.

  ‘My love for you is so strong! You belong to me and me only. I want you!’ His whisper grew ever louder, his hands became increasingly demanding. “Your scent drives me crazy! You body makes me feel flesh-hungry like a beast! Give me your love, M
iriam, and we’ll stay together forever!’ Michael yelled, losing his self-control.

  He went totally wild; he threw me forcefully on the bed and began tearing off my clothes, trying to bare my body.

  ‘Please, Michael, you’re hurting me! Let go of me!’ I screamed trying to break free from his arms.

  I managed to free one of my hands, took a swing and slapped him hard across the face. Taken aback, Michael momentarily weakened his grip. I pushed him off with my leg and threw him onto the floor. Michael looked up, and the look in his eyes stunned me: these were the eyes of a beast! They were burning with fury. With a crooked smile on his lips, Michael jumped to his feet and went for me again. I raised my hands to protect myself, the Threads of Light shot out of them and bit into Michael’s body. He yelled horribly and fell crashing down on the floor. A hairy beast jumped out of his body and ran away.

  The fight is just beginning, I thought, there was Satanail hiding in him. I scrutinized my hands – and saw nothing special about them. I really knew almost nothing about the capabilities of the Threads of Light…

  ‘Michael,’ I called leaning over his body. ‘Michael?’

  ‘What’s wrong? Miriam?’ he asked, opening his eyes.

  ‘Do you remember trying to take me by force?’

  ‘No, I don’t,’ he replied, bewildered. ‘I remember something heavy pouring into me and then I blacked out… I would never hurt you, Miriam! You know me very well, don’t you?’

  I nodded at the bruises on my hands.

  ‘How did you get them?’ he asked. ‘Where did these marks come from?’

  ‘Michael, listen to me, please. This is the last time, I'm begging you. If you want to survive and if you want your children to stay alive you have to hear me out attentively and take what I’m going to tell you very seriously,’ I said quietly.

  ‘Can there possibly be anything I haven’t heard yet? Perhaps, this time you want to tell me that my mother was a devil woman, too?’ he asked me sarcastically.

  ‘Phil wasn’t your father. Your father was Sean, your granddad. It is through him that Satanail possessed your mother and put his seed into her. I don’t know why this act had been carried out through the agency of Sean, not through Phil. There were little horns on your head at the time of your birth which disappeared almost immediately. After you came to this world all those who had been present at your birth died. The only survivor was Phil, who later became the Master of a satanic society and the agent of Dark Forces,’ I blurted out in one breath.

  Michael slumped into a chair and covered his face with his hands. A heavy silence hung in the air.

  ‘Miriam,’ he said after some time, ‘I don’t know what to tell you. I don’t know what depends on me. Whatever must I do next?’ he asked.

  ‘For starters, you need to learn how to control yourself and your body. You mustn’t allow anybody to manipulate it any longer.'

  ‘I cannot even remember how it all happened,’ Michael said apologetically. ‘I didn’t have the sensation of somebody hijacking my body. But I’ll do as you tell me only because I love you and don’t want to lose you,’ he said. ‘But how did you know Phil wasn’t my father? And about my having being born with little horns on my head?’

  I took the notebook from my handbag and handed it to Michael.

  ‘This is Phil’s diary.’

  ‘How did you get it?’ Michael asked in astonishment.

  ‘I found it in your father’s library and took it away without your permission,’ I explained matter-of-factly. ‘I did it for your own sake, Michael. After reading a few pages I decided you shouldn’t know about it. It was only later that I realized that I’d made a mistake: you’ll only be able to protect yourself and your children if you come to know everything about yourself. Michael, if you are Satanail’s son, you are to possess his most potent qualities: great inner force and astuteness. Your potential is under protection; you’ll only have to use it in a correct way.’

  Michael stared at the thick notebook, stroking its rough fabric.

  ‘You know, I loved Phil but I never had any filial affection for him. Can it be that I’m really not his son? Miriam, I’ve never thought about the possibility of the devil having his sons in human disguise…’ he said absent-mindedly.

  ‘Such possibility is there, Michael. His sons are born by ordinary women; besides, the Black Angel himself can acquire a human appearance and live like an ordinary man among ordinary people. Unfortunately, I don’t have information on all of his children. It’s highly unlikely that someone should have such kind of information at all. There must be hosts of his children scattered all around the globe! Satanail attained perfection in acquiring a human appearance, he’s capable of looking like any of us, he’s allowed into any house in any form. Nothing is easier for him than winning over the naïve souls of most people who unsuspectingly fall prey to all of his provocations. Satanail’s spirit, that hides in a man, is capable of transforming this man beyond recognition and manipulating him in such a way that nobody would ever suspect it.’

  Michael flipped through the pages of his father’s diary. Sometimes he paused to quickly run through the text.

  ‘The end of the book contains his final notes and comments on his PhD thesis I told you about previously,’ I explained. ‘Phil was a very clever man and a serious scholar; he’d come to know how the two invisible worlds function, intertwining with human beings in the process. Initially, humans can be influenced from ‘outside’ but when this outside influence ceases a man acts with the consent of his own ‘self’. In this very moment nobody guides him no matter what he does, he’s totally on his own and free to choose. This concerns both good and evil acts – a man is given freedom of action, and it is absolutely up to him to decide how he will use this freedom.’

  Michael began reading aloud the passages from Phil’s diary, taken at random.

  “All the servants of the Prince of Darkness – without a single exception – have a very bold and bellicose disposition… Previously, the fallen angels had been courageous warriors who served their Heavenly Father; even after they became expellees they didn’t lose their fearlessness that had been imbedded in them since the day of their creation”.

  ‘‘Millions of beings created by The Heavenly Father live in the Universe, each group residing on its respective planet. They fight for their territories, just like humans do. Wars break out all the time, and the Creator, watching these endless clashes, had made up his mind not to intervene in the course of events, because weaker civilizations die while the strongest ones survive. There’s only one law in force in the Universe: he who is stronger and cleverer survives, but if a civilization becomes a threat to all it shall be destroyed…”

  “The first-ever people were of a fragile nature and therefore were unable to survive on Earth without the Creator’s protection. While in Eden, they’d been shielded from the “upheavals” taking place all across the Universe. But once he’d violated the ban, man was stripped of the Creator’s immediate protection and later in time he was also stripped of the Threads of Light that had made his body immortal. After his expulsion from Eden, man went to Earth where he became vulnerable to all sorts of trials on the part of Satanail, God’s other creations later on… In time, man also became vulnerable to the encroachments of his likes…”

  “Satanail fathomed the nature of human beings and began setting them on each other. If man proves capable of conquering his essence of Satanail, the Prince of Darkness will be conquered within man. But will any civilization be able to exist once it becomes perfect? It will not, because Good and Evil have to exist for evolution to take place…”

  “Perhaps, someday I’ll have my chance to help man attain his divine purpose.”

  Michael closed the diary and said.

  ‘Good and Evil – yet again! Phil’s doctrines – yet again…Do you have a plan, Miriam?’

  ‘Yes, I do,’ I replied, and suddenly saw Natalie. She was standing some distance away, staring at u
s with her solemn black eyes.

  ‘Natalie?’

  ‘You shouldn’t rush things and make hasty decisions and actions. You shouldn’t forget that you’re human and your bodies are mortal.’

  ‘I simply cannot believe my eyes,’ Michael said, interrupting her while looking at a glistening, transparent Natalie, wide-eyed. ‘I’ve never seen anything of the kind before… And it talks! This cannot be happening! I must be dreaming,’ he said, pinching himself on his arm.

  ‘Michael,’ said Natalie turning to him. ‘Satanail will come to collect you, and if you reject him once again he – I’m sure – will take your loved ones away and then you personally. You’re the first one in centuries to reject his father and to refuse to acknowledge him. All the boys in your family have been his children. They controlled people and guided them while their souls belonged to Satanail. He controlled masses through their agency. Miriam’s already told you about it. The Books of Shadows belong to the three most powerful people; you’re the great-great grandson of Cain who’d been Satanail’s firstborn.’

  ‘Three Books of Shadows belong to three of Satanail’s most powerful chosen ones,’ I said. ‘The Book in Phil’s house is the third, while two others belong to people like you, Michael. The Books of Shadows have to be destroyed!’

  ‘They are very hard to destroy,’ Natalie cut me short. ‘They simply disappear as soon as they anticipate the danger.’