The Journey

by Jennifer Ensley

  I chuckled. “Pfft… pig.”

  “Tease.”

  I pinched his arm before dropping another sugar cube into his coffee cup and taking a drink.

  “Help yourself, Ladybug.”

  “Oh, do you mind?”

  “What’s mine is yours. It always has been. You know that.”

  “How is it we just picked up right where we left off all those years ago? How is it you are exactly the same as I remember?”

  “My life stopped, Pooh. In this form, I am as I was.”

  “This form? So… you’re not Drella anymore, are you?”

  “I am when I’m with you.”

  “Just… stop… please.”

  “Hey, Pooh. Don’t cry again. Come on now. I want to see you smile.”

  “Drella… I’ve been going along with this like it was a dream, a splendid sort of preposterous fairytale. But it’s not, is it?”

  “…No, it’s not.”

  “So… you’re not real, are you?”

  “I’m not human, no.”

  “We aren’t in this messed-up dream together, are we?”

  “No, Pooh. I am a Seeker—”

  “Yeah, yeah. And I am a Witness, or whatever.”

  “Listen to me, my love. We live in different realms now. Your eyes have been opened, remember? That is how you’re now able to see me. Now, with that being said… I’m glad I was the lucky one to greet you in your new role.”

  After a few quiet moments and a few more sips of coffee, my frayed nerves were back under control.

  “I’m sorry for acting like such a brat. Forgive me, Drell.”

  “There’s nothing to forgive, Ladybug. In truth, I’m amazed you’re taking this as well as you are. Most people, they just completely lose it.”

  I snorted. “Yeah, I bet. And I’d be counted among them… if I hadn’t spent the better part of my life reading all there is to know about the unknown… about the Otherworlds.”

  “Pooh… why did you never form ties? You walk through this life like you’re the happiest soul who ever lived. At least, that’s what you show people. Yet… you are completely detached.”

  “You see me as I truly am, Drella. And… you can also see that I’m fine like this. Okay?”

  “Very well, Pooh. We’ll leave those words for another day.”

  “Anyway… I’ve been looking at my pendant. Call me crazy, but there’s no little red stone.”

  “There is. See? There, above the brown one… next to the bail.”

  “Umm… That’s not red, Drell. It’s clear.”

  “And that’s why you need this.”

  He slid that little wooden box open to reveal a lovely ornate dagger.

  “A knife?”

  “An Extractor. The last Witness who used this, he preferred a blade.”

  “Pfft. Airport security’s just gonna love that. I hope it’s not important. It’ll get confiscated the moment I try to leave jolly old Ireland.”

  “The Extractor is a tool you can never be without, Pooh. It is invaluable. And… the only way to make the keys work.”

  “But how am I—”

  “Just take it. When the Witness accepts the Extractor, the tool will take its proper form.”

  “What do you—”

  “Just… take it, Pooh.”

  I ran my fingertips down the jeweled hilt. It was a truly breathtaking piece of ancient artwork.

  “Pick it up. It’s yours now.”

  When I carefully lifted the antique artifact, it glowed, faded, and then disappeared altogether.

  “Wha… What happened? Did I do something wrong?”

  Drella quickly grabbed my hand, turning it palm up before growling under his breath. “It’s in your nail. Dammit.”

  “My what?”

  “Your right thumbnail. Look.”

  “Seriously? My thumbnail is metal now?”

  “Not metal. Well, not any kind of metal that will set off alarms. It’s called Prisalyn. Just make sure you keep them painted and no one will notice.”

  “Well, that won’t be a problem. I’m never too far away from some rockin’ awesome nail polish. Got a super sparkly one in my bag as we speak.” I chuckled. “Hey… Drell? What’s with the scowl? This is great, no? I was worried about keeping up with it. This way, I’ll only lose it if I lose a finger.”

  “I’m not scowling.”

  “Yeah, you are, Babe. Stop it. Your brow gets all wrinkly when you do that. It scares me. Makes me think you’re about to get into a fight.”

  He ignored me.

  “…Drell?”

  “Let me see the pendant,” he grumbled, snatching it.

  “Hang on. Don’t get the chain caught in my hair. Jeez, Drell. Calm down.”

  He continued to ignore me as he laid the green stone we had taken from St. Anthony’s, just below the brown one I had found whilst studying in Jordan. I watched as his lips moved, but he didn’t make a sound. After a few seconds, he held the long chain up. The pendant dangled from it, now whole.

  “Wow. It’s almost pretty now.”

  He gently slipped it over my head. Still, he did not speak.

  “So… now when I mediate and find myself in the Nether, I can just walk right back out.”

  “I only wish that were the case,” he mumbled.

  “But I thought you said—”

  “Pooh, the red stone… or the clear one, or whatever. It holds the needed fuel. It’s empty.”

  “Fuel? What kind of fuel? You mean… petrol?”

  “No.” He sighed and carded his fingers back through his sandy blond hair. “Not petrol. The gas you seek is a much more difficult one to come by.”

  “Oh yeah? Well, where do I find it?”

  “Flowing through the dark veins of a demented, fallen creature.”

  “Umm… Huh?”

  “That’s what the dagger was for. The previous Witness used the Extractor to cut the beast.”

  I looked down at my newly accessorized nail. “So… how am I to—”

  “Apparently, you are to simply stroll up to him and jab him with your thumbnail.”

  “And he will let me do that?”

  “Oh, he will love it. Ugh!”

  Drella jumped up, kicking the coffee table in front of us, sending our cups and saucers skidding across the floor.

  “Hey, Babe.” I stood, reaching out to lightly touch his trembling back. “What’s wrong?”

  “He’ll be like this,” Drella said through gritted teeth as he spun back to face me. “He will be this close, looking into your eyes. You will nearly have to stand within his embrace to extract his blood.”

  “Wha— Will he kill me? Will I have to fight him?”

  “Have to fight him off, perhaps.”

  “What are you—”

  “Pooh, you will have to stick your thumbnail into him…” He wrapped my fingers around his wrist as he spoke, placing my shiny new tool over his blue pulsing vein there. “…extract a drop of blood, then touch it to the now-clear stone on your pendant.”

  “But… will this creature fight me? Or will he freely give me his blood?”

  “Nothing is free. Not with him. He will demand something of you in return.”

  “You don’t mean…” I reflexively covered my breasts. “I don’t have to…”

  Drella furrowed his brow. “What? No. Oh god… Hell no! No. He can’t demand sex of you. You’re still living. If such a thing were possible, don’t you think I would have already—” His face flushed red. “I mean… don’t you— Don’t you think we would have— Ugh… Pooh, if it were possible for me to make love to you, we still wouldn’t be finished.” He pulled me into a gentle embrace. “No. You won’t have to worry about him demanding that, but he will definitely require something very personal in exchange.”

  “Whatever it is, I’ll only have to go through it the once, right? If he cannot bed me or steal my soul.” I quickly looked up into Drella’s lovely eyes. “He can’t steal my soul,
can he?”

  He smiled. “No, Pooh. He can’t steal your soul.”

  “Then I’ll make our strange meeting as quick as possible and be on my way.”

  “You don’t understand. It won’t just be the one time. When the fuel runs out, you’ll have to get it refilled.”

  “…What?”

  “Comparing it to petrol was a good way of explaining it. Just like in a car, after you go so far, you run out of gas.”

  “How far can I go?”

  “Who knows. It will be like trial-and-error to start with. You can step into the Nether and then back out anywhere on this globe, yeah. But the distance from where you started to where you’re going, that determines how much fuel you will use. Say for instance you went from here to London—not a big deal. But from here back to Bhutan—who knows.”

  “I see. So… I’ll have to become rather familiar with this petrol creature I’ve yet to meet.”

  “Yes. I’m afraid so.”

  “Are you going to take me to him?”

  “The first time, yes.”

  “When?”

  “Give me a bit more time, Pooh. I want to hold you for a few more days.”

  “Will you get in trouble—neglecting your duties this long?”

  “Yes, but it’s not the first time.” He held me tighter, burying his nose into my hair. “And it won’t be the last.”

  I inhaled deeply and smiled, relished the feel of his warmth, his touch, his scent. I cuddled into him, relaxing wholly against his firm chest.

  “Tell me a little bit about this petrol creature,” I barely whispered.

  “He is a dragon, a devil—one once tasked with watching over mankind. He failed miserably in that duty.”

  “Watching over mankind? A watcher?” I pulled back slightly. “Drella, do you mean to tell me I have to draw blood from a… Grigori? Seriously?”

  “Yes, and not just any Grigori, no. Azazel himself is your needed supplier.”

  “Azazel? No…”

  “You know of him?”

  “Of him? Yes. I have read the ancient scrolls, but… I don’t think I ever actually believed he was real.”

  “Oh, he’s real alright. Those things you have only been reading about up until now, they’re all real.”

  “…Real? …All?”

  “Oh, Pooh, you turned them into fairytales, didn’t you?”

  I looked up at him then, still reeling from his unimaginable news. “Fairytales? Of… Of course I turned them into fairytales, Drella. How can a normal person just go about their life truly believing these terrifying creatures yet live? They are from the past, are they not? Same as Nero and Nebuchadnezzar and Ramses the Great—ancient history, the lot of them. It’s all well and good—reading about the past while sitting in the comforting here and now. It’s a whole other thing altogether to have to walk through it as reality. I’ll be bloody lucky if I don’t go mad in the process. Angels and demons and creatures of the abyss—jeez, Drell. I couldn’t be more disturbed if you had told me Vlad the Impaler was just elected President of the United States.”

  “Pffts…” He bit his lip, then hurriedly covered his mouth. “Pffts…” But his laugh burst forth through his fingers. “Hah! That’s the funniest thing I think I’ve ever heard.”

  “Why are you laughing? I’m serious!”

  “Oh, I know you are. That just makes it even funnier.” He inhaled noisily, trying to regain his composure. “Whew… I feel better now.”

  “Better? How’s that?”

  “I feared you had turned these beings into magical fairytale creatures—all filled with good and love, flying about through the clouds with a song on their lips.”

  “What? How could I ever think something like that?”

  “Because, people mostly equate Angels as being gloriously benevolent creatures.”

  “Not me. I mean, I don’t think I do. Well… not for the most part, anyway. How can I? I’ve yet to find a book or scroll or manuscript that doesn’t scare the life right outta me. Every single story associated with celestial beings of any kind, good or bad, all have something along the lines of… And when Daniel—or whomever—saw the Angel, he passed-out or collapsed or fell to his knees trembling, no longer able to stand on his own. I mean, think about it. Grown men throughout all time, even the ones who had God actually speaking to them, they all lost complete physical control by merely glancing at an Angel. How terrifying are these things? Whether a creature means me good or ill, if the mere sight of them causes me to pass-out…”

  I visibly shuddered.

  “That’s all true, yes, but there are many different kinds of Angels. Most of which, you will never see in their true form. Take comfort in that.”

  “So says the man who has walked among them for the last twenty something years.” I balled his shirt up in my fists, pleading with him. “Drella, please… stay with me. I can’t do this on my own.”

  He placed his hands over mine. “Sure you can, Pooh. If it weren’t so, you wouldn’t have been chosen.”

  “But—”

  “There are thousands of Witnesses upon the Earth. As we speak. Right here and now. Only you were chosen for this task. If you were incapable of handling such a thing, one of the others would have been picked.”

  I was at a loss. I couldn’t argue with his reasoning, but I didn’t necessarily agree with it, either.

  “Don’t worry. I may not be able to always stay at your side, but our paths will cross more often than you yet realize.”

  That made me smile.

  “Jeez, Ladybug. I love you too much. I hope the hardest thing I ever have to do is take you to Azazel. If anything more than that is asked of me, I’m not entirely certain I can comply.”

  “I’m glad it’s you and not me.”

  “What are you talking about, Pooh?”

  “All I’m saying is… if I had to hand you over to another woman, I don’t care what the reason… I’d refuse.”

  He tightened his embrace. I could hear his smile in his words.

  “Thank you, Ladybug. You have no idea how good that felt.”

  “And every word was true. I love you too much, too, Drell… always.”

  Chapter

  3

  The air was stale. That eerie, quiet, stagnant kind of stale. Air like that makes my breath catch, makes me crave a cold glass of pure water.

  “This is as far as I can go, Pooh.”

  “Wait. What?”

  “Yeah. There are rules about places like this.”

  “Rules?” I looked toward the descending corridor at the thick, waiting darkness. “What’s down there?”

  He chuckled. “What do you mean, what’s down there? Azazel. That’s why we’re here, remember?”

  “Wait… just Azazel? I mean, there aren’t any guards or anything like that?”

  “Azazel is bound. No guards are necessary.”

  “But… why do the torches stop here?”

  “This is the line. If I tried to go further down, my body simply wouldn’t.”

  “But mine will?”

  “You’re wearing the keys and you have the knife. Well, thumbnail. Only you will be allowed to enter.”

  “Without a torch? Are you mad? I’m not traipsing down there in all that darkness. Not by myself. I bet there’s spiders and snakes and…” I shuddered. “…those skinky little blue lizard things. Ugh! Not happening, Babe. I’m out.” I held my hands up. “Call me a chicken or a baby or whatever you want. I’m not feeling my way through the dark to find anything, much less some celestial freak from the past. And the first time I walk through a big old spider web—don’t even play like there ain’t a gazillion of them down there—I’ll have a heart attack and die.”

  “Calm down, Pooh. Trust me. It’s better this way.”

  “Better? Do you even remember who it is you’re talking to, Drell? You gotta make a more convincing case than that. Better—as in… Better than having your legs blown off by an IED? Better than zombies
eating your guts out while you’re still alive? Better than being chained-up and dropped into a box of giant hissing cockroaches? Better than—”

  “Stop, Pooh. Jeez. Better than going down there with a light. Oh, and zombies eat brains, not guts.”

  I just gave him one of my looks. “Are you freaking kidding me right now, Drell?”

  “Listen, sometimes it’s best not to actually see some things.”

  “In what flippin’ universe? Huh? Come on. You know how my mind works. My imagination is all twisted up anyway. I promise you now… whatever’s down there, can’t even hold a candle to what’s running around up here.” I pointed to the side of my head. “If Angel dude had ten heads with snakes crawling out of each eye socket, it will be better than what’ll be playing out in my mind as soon as I enter that darkness down there.”

  “Pffts… Pffts…”

  “Don’t you dare, Drella.”

  “Pffts… Bah ha ha.”

  I slapped his shoulder when he started laughing.

  “You think you could handle snakes coming out of his eye sockets? Bwah ha ha! You’d piss yourself.”

  “I would not!”

  “Yeah. So says the girl who literally gags just looking at mayonnaise—still in the jar, no less.”

  I gagged a little then. “Drella, don’t.” I gagged again. “Don’t even talk about… it.”

  “It? What it? Mayo?”

  I cupped my mouth and gagged, again.

  He busted out laughing then, bending over double. “You can’t even say the word, and you expect me to believe you could watch snakes crawl out of some dude’s eyes?”

  “Shhh… Stop it. What if he can hear you? Don’t wake him up.”

  “Wake him up?” He kept laughing through his words. “He’s an Angel, Pooh. I promise, he’s not sleeping.”

  “That’s it.” I started rummaging through my trusty backpack. “Ah hah!” I jerked out a wad of keys with a tiny flashlight hanging from the keychain.

  Drella quit laughing then. “Hey, where’d you get that?”

  “I pulled it out of my butt. Where’d you think? You just watched me get it out of my bag.”

  He tried to look down inside my old leather companion. “What else you got in there, besides Pooh Bear and the butterfly shawl?”