Carnage

by Sandra R Neeley

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  Carolena sat in the same place on the settee. The oil lamp had burned out an hour before, and she had no idea where any additional oil was. She’d wrapped herself in the afghan that was folded on the back of the settee and waited. Carolena had peered through the window a time or two and could just make out the shape of Murder as he continued to watch over the house while she was alone. So she’d gone back to her place on the couch, knowing at the very least she was safe. She startled when suddenly Enthrall appeared before her. “Dammit, Enthrall! You scared the bejesus out of me!”

  “Are you well? Why are you sitting in the dark? Why is Murder outside?” Enthrall pelted her with questions.

  Before she could answer, the door flew open, and Carnage stalked inside, perfectly able to see in the dark. He rushed over to her and scooped her up, holding her close to himself, “Kay? Kay?” he asked over and over again.

  “Yes, I’m fine. You can put me down, I’m fine,” she answered.

  “Carolena, what happened?” Enthrall asked as he struck a match in the kitchen to light the now refilled oil lamp.

  Carnage nodded and pointed at Enthrall, as though to say, Yeah, what happened?

  “I woke up alone. Only I wasn’t alone; Destroy was here. He said he was watching over me while you were away.” Then she remembered what Destroy had told her about Carnage and his wandering. She tried to get him to put her down again, “A little while later, Murder showed up. He made Destroy leave and stayed to protect me. He told me his name and that I should not fear; he’d stay until you came back.”

  Carnage spun and walked to the door, Carolena still in his arms. Murder still stood just outside the door, watching the goings on in the living room. Carnage stepped right up to him, clasping the dark male by the neck. His hand curled around Murder’s neck, he pulled him close, pressing his horns to Murder’s. Murder inclined his head once, said, “You are welcome,” and turned to go. But before he did, he turned back to Carnage, “You should not leave your female alone. Destroy is not to be trusted.” Then he bowed to Carolena and walked into the night.

  Carnage grunted at Enthrall, who answered with his own grunt.

  “Will somebody speak?” Carolena asked.

  “I’m sorry we left you alone. I’m sorry I left you alone. I thought you’d be safe in my home. I will have to make sure that Destroy knows there are consequences for entering my home uninvited.”

  “You can’t possibly babysit me 24 hours a day. If you could just show me where the lamp oil is and how to refill the lamp in case it gets dark, I’d appreciate it,” she told him.

  “I’ll show you, but we’ll do better,” Enthrall said.

  Carolena looked down at the hands holding her and realized that they were covered in blood. “Carnage? Where have you been? What have you done?” Then she realized that Enthrall’s right hand was sticky with blood as well. “Where have the both of you been?”

  Enthrall went straight to the kitchen sink, turning on the faucet and rinsing his hand clean, while barking at Carnage, “Put her down! You’re ruining my afghan!”

  Carnage snarled at Enthrall, but put Carolena on her feet, then looked down at himself. He’d been covered in arterial spray when he killed the brothers. And now the afghan that had been covering Carolena was almost as bloody as he was, but thankfully, none of it was on Carolena.

  He pointed at Enthrall forcefully, then the floor just as forcefully.

  Enthralled answered, “Yes, I’ll stay here.”

  Carnage offered Carolena a shaky smile, then rushed out of the door. He was going to bathe in the stream near his sleeping space. He planned to come back when he was clean.

  “Where is he going?” Carolena asked Enthrall.

  “I’m guessing to get cleaned up,” he answered.

  “What did you two do tonight?” she asked.

  “Let us just say that you are safe from Bobby and his brothers. They’ll never threaten you or harm you again,” he told her with a slight growl to his voice.

  Carolena’s mouth dropped open; she was shocked.

  “Close your mouth, Carolena,” he told her softly as he walked past her to retrieve the bloodied afghan from where Carnage had left it on the floor. She just gaped at him, so he reached out and gently placed one finger under her chin, closing her mouth.

  “Come now, you can’t be shocked. We are not human. We have our own brand of justice, and if someone we value is harmed, we react in a fashion only wild beasts could comprehend. Perhaps it’s because we are at times more beast than person.” His eyes wandered to the door that Carnage had recently left through, “Some of us more than others.”

  “You value me?” she quietly asked.

  He stared her in the eye, but didn’t answer — just went back to the kitchen, afghan in hand, to try to rinse away the blood.

  Chapter 8

  Carnage went straight to the stream that ran by his sleeping space. He shed his clothes and splashed into the cool, clean water. He swept handfuls of sand from the bottom of the stream and rubbed it together between his hands to scrub away the last of the blood clinging to his skin. He smoothed it over his chest, his face, even his horns. He wanted no trace of blood on him to remind his woman of the abuse she’d suffered at the hands of the men he’d removed from this earth tonight. When satisfied that he was thoroughly clean, he left the stream and returned to his shanty. He pulled back the tarp and went inside. Carnage could see in the dark, so didn’t bother with the oil lamp on the table. He looked around at his meager possessions. He was not a creature that required much in life. A place to sleep, food to eat, and that was about it — he’d never needed more, nor wanted more. Until now. Now he had a female to care for, to provide for. She deserved all the lovely things he could find to give her. And he would give them to her. He heard movement behind himself and turned to scowl at whoever dared to invite themselves into his space. But no one entered his private space. Still he knew someone was there. He silently moved to the tarps that formed the front opening of his space and snatched back one edge. Standing there, silently waiting for permission, was Murder.

  Carnage and Murder regarded one another for a moment before Carnage inclined his head in greeting and stood back offering Murder entry. Murder stepped through, looking around himself. He took notice of the few personal things that Carnage stored here. Then he said, “Your female cannot live here.”

  Carnage looked around again; then, he met Murder’s eyes, shaking his head, no.

  “You must build her a shelter, much like Enthrall’s,” Murder explained.

  Carnage nodded his agreement.

  “Enthrall cares for your female,” Murder continued.

  Carnage snapped his eyes to Murder’s, narrowing them as they peered intently at him. Carnage lifted a hand, waved it at Murder as though to say, go on…

  “I have seen him watch her, but she watches you. He is like us, lonely. If you do not claim her, he may,” Murder explained.

  Carnage snarled, pounding his own chest, and forcing out the word, “Mine!”

  “Enthrall has said she has the right to choose. It is not like years past when a male could declare a female his, and it was done. You must win her heart, Carnage. She is not here by her own choosing, yet will not be allowed to leave us. Enthrall says she has a right to a choice. Give her something worth choosing. Not this space,” Murder indicated the tarp-enclosed space.

  Carnage walked over to the edge of the tarp, taking it in his hand and rubbing it between his fingers, thinking over Murder’s words.

  Murder watched him; he wanted to help his brother. He and Carnage were the most bestial of all the Goyles, partially because of their violent streaks, and partially because they shunned most all other creatures, including their own kind. They always instilled fear in most everything they came across; it was simply their nature, and it was very tiring. So they preferred their solitude, at least no one recoiled in horror at their appearance. Though self-imposed, it was a ve
ry lonely existence. But now, for whatever reason, fate had decided to give Carnage a chance at his own woman. She did not fear him, and after a brief startle, did not appear to fear Murder much either. On the contrary, once he’d made himself known to her, she’d checked to make sure he was still guarding her when Carnage was away. He liked the feeling of being wanted near. He’d decided then that if he could help Carnage win her over, he would.

  “Come. I have something for you,” Murder told Carnage, walking past him to exit his space.

  Carnage, curious about what Murder may possibly have to offer him, followed.

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  Enthrall finished rinsing the blood from his afghan and squeezed it out as best he could, wringing the water from it. He left it sitting in the sink and went to get cleaned up himself. Carolena took it from the sink and out onto the porch. She shook it out and draped it over the porch railing. She stood there for several minutes, looking around the surrounding yard and the trees in the distance, searching for any sign of Carnage coming back to her. With no sign of him at all, she went back inside. Enthrall was just coming into the living room, “Are you hungry?” he asked her.

  “No, thank you. I’m fine,” she answered.

  “Think I’ll have a bite to eat,” he told her. Going into the kitchen he made himself a sandwich and then came back into the living room to sit with her while he ate.

  She kept glancing out the window, watching for Carnage, and Enthrall noticed.

  “He will be back,” Enthrall said.

  “Who?” Carolena asked, pretending she didn’t know.

  “Carnage. You keep watching for him,” he said.

  She thought about it and decided to stop pretending, “Do you think he’s with one of his women?”

  Enthrall choked on his sandwich, “What?!”

  “His women, Destroy told me that Carnage wanders a lot, from one place to another, one woman to another. Do you think that is what is keeping him?” Carolena turned her attention toward the window again.

  Enthrall, though he entertained thoughts of keeping her for himself, could not ignore the fact that there seemed to be some type of bond between Carnage and Carolena. She missed him when he was away, and it was no secret to anyone who spent more than two minutes with Carnage that he considered her his. All the “Mine” snarled at anyone who happened to look in her direction was impossible to mistake for anything other than his claim on her.

  He could have used Destroy’s lie to create more distance between Carnage and Carolena, but he was not that kind of male. He was honorable. He huffed out a laugh at himself — an honorable monster.

  “What are you huffing at?” Carolena asked him.

  He looked up at Carolena, “Nothing. Just a self-observation,” then he plunged ahead before he had time to change his mind, “Destroy lied to you.”

  Carolena watched him, waiting for more, but said nothing.

  “Carnage may wander, but not to women. He doesn’t sleep much, he keeps to himself, and he wanders from place-to-place, seemingly never satisfied. But he does not have women.”

  Carolena looked at him, as though weighing the truth of his statement.

  He pushed his plate aside and leaned forward, looking her in the eye, “Carolena, look at him. He’s not the type of male to attract a bevy of females. He’s brutish, he’s volatile, he’s reactive and not pleasantly so, and he’s terrifying. And in case you haven’t noticed, he’s not the most gifted conversationalist. I’m not telling you he’s never been with a female; what I’m saying is that he is far from the type of male that ladies are drawn to.”

  She thought about his words and did not like them. She felt the need to defend him. “He is perfectly capable of communicating!” she snapped.

  Enthrall, intrigued that she meant to defend Carnage, played along, “If you are paying attention, yes.”

  “He is unique. He is strong and protective,” she declared.

  “That is certainly true — where you are concerned anyway,” he agreed.

  “It’s true regardless; it comes so naturally to him that I can’t believe that he’s not protective by nature,” she stated flatly.

  “You are more correct than you know, little one,” he conceded.

  Carolena looked away from Enthrall to the windows once more, then, she said softly, “He’s beautiful. He’s got the most expressive eyes and lips that look as though he is always pouting. And he has magnificent horns. They are shiny, and twisty, and dark and, and…beautiful.”

  Enthrall said nothing, just watched her, thinking of Carnage and struggling to see him the way she described him.

  She turned back to Enthrall, “He’s special.”

  Enthrall nodded his agreement, “He is. He is a good male.” He watched her for a moment longer before deciding to tell her.

  “Did you know that his people are free because of him?”

  She looked up at Enthrall, “No, I did not.”

  Enthrall smiled at her, “They are. His people had a King, a Sovereign they called him. He became greedy, no amount of money, jewels, females, was ever enough. He sold the services of his most dangerous soldiers, his males, to the highest bidder. They were made to carry out all form of illicit activity and to protect others doing so as well. One of the chieftains Carnage was leased to became incensed that his people did not give him more of their harvest, more of their meager earnings, and ordered the Goyles under his command to massacre them. Carnage refused to murder innocents. He rose up against the chieftain, killing him instead. And when his Sovereign came to find out why the chieftain was not making his regular payments, he attempted to punish Carnage for supposed crimes, demanding that Carnage bow in submission before him. Carnage refused. He attacked Carnage, brutally tearing his wings from his body. Even with the intense agony, Carnage refused to bow before him, firm in his belief that he had done the right thing in protecting the innocents he’d been ordered to slaughter. His Sovereign ordered his personal guard to end Carnage. As one they attacked him, and still he refused to stand down. Finally, having been summoned by another of their kind to intervene, Murder arrived. He saw what was happening and immediately joined the fight, fighting side-by-side with Carnage. Together they battled against all the others, and the Sovereign was killed. Some were outraged that their Sovereign was dead. But others of his brethren stood with him, Murder especially, wholeheartedly agreeing that their skills had been misused, and they, themselves, taken advantage of. Their people scattered; they wandered for years, not fitting in anywhere. Finally, Carnage wandered into Whispers. He requested sanctuary and has been here ever since. Murder followed him shortly after. Over the years, more of his kind have found us as well. But always, Carnage and Murder have remained distant, setting themselves apart from the rest.”

  Carolena listened quietly, learning all she could about Carnage. Finally when she realized that he was finished talking, she said, “See? I told you he was good. I just didn’t know how good.”

  “Carolena, you must understand. He is good, but he is very dangerous. He is unpredictable. I told you earlier we were bestial. We all are. But he is more than most. He feels something, he reacts. He doesn’t feel anything, it means nothing to him. He is ruled by his passions. There is no rhyme or reason. And that is why he is volatile. No matter how good he is, you are dealing with, basically, the equivalent of a wild beast. Do not forget that.”

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  Murder was aware that Carnage was following him. So he intentionally went slowly, so that Carnage could keep up. He could not move as quickly as he once did. His lack of wings hindered him. Deeper into the swamps they went until there was almost no dry land left. Carnage had had to take to the treetops in order to follow Murder who flew just ahead of him, right above the trees.

  Finally, up ahead, Carnage spied a structure made of wood, standing high above the water. Carnage made a couple of strategic leaps from the trees surrounding the structure, and a short time later landed on the deck of the b
uilding, where Murder stood waiting for him. His wings folded neatly against his back.

  When Carnage finally came to a stop in front of him, Murder said, “You can have it.”

  Carnage looked at the structure. He pointed at the building they were standing on the deck of, eyebrows raised.

  “Yes. This structure. You may have it. It is made of cypress wood. It will last a very, very long time. There are items inside that your female may like as well. You are welcome to it all.”

  Carnage forced open the door and went into the structure. He walked around, looking at all the items still inside.

  “It was Lore’s long ago. He deserted it when he failed to secure his female.”

  Carnage whipped his head around to pin Murder with an unbelieving stare.

  Murder offered a sad smile, “It is true. Even Ancients have but one they are destined to love forever. He’s followed her for centuries — lifetime after lifetime, and yet she always remains just out of his reach. He suffers in silence, watching from afar, never quite able to reach her. Just as he thinks he’s got a chance, she disappears from this realm yet again.”

  Carnage watched his friend speak of the Ancient that most creatures feared, as though he were a heartsick male, not an evil entity.

  Murder knew what Carnage thought of Lore; he knew what they all thought of Lore. He alone held the male’s confidence and would not break it any more than he already had, not even for Carnage. So on a shrug he whispered, “An eternity of unrequited love can drive even the strongest of creatures insane.”

  Murder looked around the raised house, “I’ve maintained it. I come here to escape everyone and everything. But it would serve better as a home for your female. You may take the wood, the posts that support it above the water, all of it. Take it and move it further inland, where she’ll be safer. Where she can take herself about as she chooses, and not be trapped here until you come for her.”