Born of Darkness

by Rita Vetere

  "Don't be too sure,” said Christopher. “Several of the halflings are still quite young. They'll be shocked when they find out they won't be returning to their mortal homes. You may have to employ force to persuade them their place is here. And you'll have to make sure any mortals who may try to track them down will be dealt with."

  He doesn't like that Ahriman's brought us back into the fold. He'd kill us both if he could. If not for the seriousness of the situation, the fact might have amused Thomas. He took a perverse pleasure in knowing that, if all went according to plan, his half-brother, Christopher, would not see the sun rise tomorrow.

  Nathaniel responded to Christopher's comment. “I'm sure we'll manage. And it'll be good to have some direction in our lives,” he said, digging into the food on his plate. “We've been coasting along without purpose for too long."

  Thomas smiled his acquiescence, then shot Christopher a knowing look when Ahriman expressed his approval.

  * * * *

  At just after two in the morning, Thomas, who had been glued to the door of his suite for the past several hours, heard the click of a latch and then a door closing in the hallway. The suite of rooms Ahriman shared with Pandora, the child who neither Thomas nor Nathaniel had yet laid eyes on, was on the same floor as theirs. So were Jasmine's, Christopher's and Stronik's.

  Thomas motioned to Nathaniel, who sat nervously waiting in the chair next to the window, and his brother joined him by the door.

  They heard the sound of approaching footsteps and then their father's voice as he murmured something drowned out by the sound of a wailing infant. A moment later they heard another door open and shut, and a lock click into place. Ahriman had entered Jasmine's room with the child.

  "That's it, then,” said Nathaniel.

  "Meet me outside of Christopher's room the second you're done,” Thomas told him.

  * * * *

  Nathaniel slipped into the deserted hallway, turning right. When he arrived in front of Stronik's door, he saw Thomas exit his room and make his way soundlessly in the opposite direction, toward Christopher's suite.

  Nathaniel gently tried the door in front of him, hoping the good doctor wasn't in the habit of locking his door at night, but his luck wasn't in. He rapped softly several times, until he heard a sleepy voice say, “Yes ... Who is it?"

  Speaking in a low voice, he said, “It's Nathaniel. Ahriman wants me to tell you that Carla's baby is coming. You're to come upstairs with me, right away."

  After a moment he heard Stronik's reply. “Coming ... I'll be right there."

  "I'll wait,” said Nathaniel. He'd planned to dispose of Stronik as he slept, but that wasn't going to be possible. He'd have to get him to the floor above, where he could deal with the man without making a commotion that might awaken Christopher or alert Ahriman.

  Seconds later, Stronik emerged, looking disheveled and carrying a black bag. Nathaniel hurried him upstairs to the third floor, toward Carla's room. Nathaniel walked ahead of Stronik to her door and opened it. Carla, he saw, was sitting up in bed, awake, and he'd startled her. Quickly, he put a finger to his lips to signal her to be quiet. When Stronik stepped inside, Nathaniel closed and locked the door behind him.

  Stronik looked at Carla and then back at Nathaniel. “Where's Ahriman? She's not—"

  His words were stopped by the knife Nathaniel plunged into his back. Stronik fell to the floor. A pool of crimson quickly spread on the carpet beneath him.

  "Sorry,” he said to a wide-eyed Carla who sat staring at Stronik's body with her hand over her mouth, “His door was locked, and I didn't want to take a chance of making noise by killing him downstairs. Are you all right?” he asked, seeing the shocked look on her face.

  "Yes, I ... I just wasn't expecting it to happen here, that's all ... But I'm glad he's dead,” she told him, “after what he did to Jasmine."

  Nathaniel nodded. “I've got to get back downstairs."

  "I'm coming with you."

  There was no time to argue with her. He'd taken too long and now had to make sure Thomas had been able to deal with Christopher. Nathaniel hurried out the door, Carla on his heels.

  * * * *

  Thomas moved like a cat through the sitting area of Christopher's suite. He'd encountered no problem in entering. The door had opened soundlessly when he turned the knob. Thomas stopped to allow his eyes to adjust to the darkness. When the shadows of the room's furniture began to take shape, he cautiously made his way to the double doors leading to Christopher's bedroom. No light emanated from beneath the doors and he breathed a sigh of relief. What he was about to do could be accomplished easily enough if Christopher was asleep, as it appeared he might be.

  He took hold of the handle and gently pushed down on it, opening the bedroom door just a crack before slipping inside the room. Moonlight poured in from the window, affording him a clear view of the large bed directly ahead. He moved silently toward it.

  "Well, well,” came a voice from behind.

  He turned, moving as if under water, fear sitting heavily in the pit of his stomach, to see Christopher pointing a gun directly at his head.

  [Back to Table of Contents]

  Chapter 37

  When Jasmine heard the lock turn in the door to her room, she stared straight forward, doing her best to duplicate the look of catatonia which, up until two days ago, had been her normal condition.

  She knew she had to be extremely careful. Don't look at him. She heard the rasping, guttural sounds made by the dark souls that accompanied him and Pandora's wails. Ahriman lit the small lamp next to her bed. She did not turn to face him.

  Jasmine remained perfectly still, terrified that the pulse at her throat would betray her racing heart, or that her nervousness would cause her to twitch, or that she would otherwise give away the fact she was mentally alert. Pandora's cries distracted her again. Don't look. Everything hinged on her performance.

  Calm yourself. The sweet sound of Sephora's voice came to her. Around her neck, she wore the pendant.

  From the periphery of her vision, she could see the dark spirits crowding around Ahriman's form as he moved to her side. Ahriman shook her roughly, and she feigned being startled, taking care to keep her eyes lowered.

  "Wake up,” he demanded. “Pandora needs to be fed."

  Her eyes remained downcast, and she allowed her body to go limp when Ahriman pulled her up in bed so she could take the child to feed her. She focused all her effort on keeping her breathing controlled, even as the anger within her began to smolder.

  Ahriman placed Pandora in her lap, and her daughter ceased crying, nuzzling at Jasmine's breast until she latched on. Pandora began to suckle.

  Jasmine bit back her rising fury, swallowed it, although it took every fiber of her being to control it.

  Remember, said Sephora. It is Ahriman's soul that must be destroyed, for it is the dark energy of his soul that sustains him. Without it, his body will also cease to exist. Use your force to expel his soul from his body. The others will take care of the rest.

  Jasmine knew that she had passed through the land of the dead to arrive in the world of the living on the day of her birth. This she had learned from Ahriman himself on the day Pandora was born. For that reason, Sephora had told her, Jasmine, like Ahriman, had the power to summon souls.

  And the souls of the women wronged by Ahriman were many.

  It was to those tormented spirits that the task of destroying Ahriman's black soul would fall. Sephora had taught Jasmine the ancient words of the incantation to summon souls. Sephora had remembered them, for she had heard Ahriman speak them on the day he killed Askim.

  Jasmine felt the raw energy of her anger reach boiling point, and fought the impulse to unleash it. Not yet. First, she had to summon the souls. They would destroy Ahriman's faithful and weaken Ahriman. Only then might she succeed in expelling his soul.

  An eerie calm fell over her as she began to recite the incantation under her breath. The archaic-sounding words see
med to roll off her tongue of their own accord. She felt herself grow strong, speaking faster and faster, the words flying from her mouth. She heard Ahriman's gasp of surprise as it dawned on him what she was doing.

  Jasmine clutched Pandora tightly, using her arms to shield the child from what was about to happen. Jasmine finished speaking the incantation just as Ahriman uttered an angry outcry. She did her best to prepare herself for the souls’ arrival, but what happened next still astounded her.

  Blinding light filled the room as the first line of furies arrived in the form of brilliant, fluid streaks. As they flew at the dark souls that surrounded Ahriman, another wave materialized to attack Ahriman. The dark souls of the faithful shrieked, first in surprise, then in anger, as they came under attack by the brilliant entities. Line after line of the scintillating white souls arrived like an avenging army. Some collided with Ahriman's faithful, destroying them upon impact, while others attacked Ahriman with savage ferocity.

  Ahriman, enraged, screamed like a wild beast, swatting at his attackers as they continued to bear down on him. Still Jasmine waited, containing her deadly wrath. She clamped down hard, restraining it, for it was the last weapon that remained to her. The effort it took to hold back was monumental. Her blood vessels bulged, her head felt on fire, her entire being trembled. But she had to be sure Ahriman was weak enough that her blast of fury would expel his soul. The furies continued to attack him, working together like a pack of hungry wolves. The dark souls screeched in desperation as they fell all around him, and Ahriman's hellish howl filled the air as he battled the souls of the women who had waited centuries for their moment of reckoning.

  Jasmine shook from the effort of suppressing the tide of raw anger that threatened to erupt. As if from far away, she heard Pandora wailing.

  It was now or never, Jasmine knew. She could no longer control the raging inferno inside her.

  * * * *

  "I knew you were up to something,” Christopher said. “I told Ahriman not to trust you. What were you planning to do, Thomas?"

  "Kill you,” Thomas said levelly. “And then destroy our father."

  Christopher burst out laughing. “Destroy Ahriman? You're insane. He can't be destroyed."

  "Our Cambion sister says otherwise."

  The look of surprise on Christopher's face was almost enough for Thomas. He closed his eyes and waited for death to arrive. There were worse ways to die, he supposed, and his life had already spanned over two centuries. He prayed he would not awaken from death to find himself in the dark realm of his father's afterlife. And he prayed Jasmine would be able to do what she said she could.

  Instead of a gun blast, Thomas heard a thud, and opened his eyes. Nathaniel and Carla stood in front of him looking down at Christopher's body. The black handle of a hunting knife protruded from Christopher's back. Christopher twitched, and Nathaniel retrieved the knife and turned him over, plunging the blade deep into Christopher's heart to finish the job.

  Before any of them could speak, the sound of savage howling reached them, causing all three of them to jump.

  "Shit, let's go!” said Nathaniel as he dropped the bloody knife and raced for the door.

  Thomas followed Nathaniel into the hallway, but not before prying the gun from Christopher's dead hand. Carla followed right behind him.

  The animalistic sounds emanating from Jasmine's bedroom brought all three of them to a screeching halt outside the door.

  "Oh, God ... Jasmine! Break the door down. Hurry,” yelled Carla.

  Thomas pointed the revolver at the lock and fired. He and Nathaniel kicked at the door until it gave way, bursting open onto a scene from hell.

  "Oh my God,” uttered Carla.

  The three of them stood transfixed by the scene confronting them. The room was filled with sinuous streaks of blinding white light. Ahriman jerked back and forth at the foot of the bed, attempting to defend himself against them. The dark souls of his faithful dropped like stones all around him as the luminous entities attacked them. The black ectoplasm of their remains covered the floor. Before their eyes, the gel-like goo seeped into the floorboards and walls, disappearing almost on contact. Ahriman howled in anger and surprise, his arms flailing as he attempted to deflect the brilliant entities from him, to no avail.

  On the bed, Jasmine clutched a wailing Pandora in her arms. Jasmine's head was tilted back, and her face bore a look as terrifying as it was beautiful. They watched in amazement as, a second later, what appeared to be an electrical current flew out of her, striking Ahriman like a bolt of lightning. Ahriman fell.

  In the next instant, he got to his feet, still intact.

  Chaos descended.

  "You dare to try to destroy me!” he raged at her. He lashed out at the bright forms that continued to pound at him, wave after wave of them, circling and returning to attack him over and over.

  Jasmine watched in horror and disbelief as Ahriman rose to his feet and fought his way toward her. She had failed to separate him from his soul. Her strength drained from having unleashed her fury, the knowledge of defeat weighing heavily on her, she looked down at the crying infant in her arms. “I'm sorry,” she whispered to her uncomprehending child. “I'm so sorry.” In that moment, looking at her tiny daughter's tear-streaked face, something happened. Fresh anger, such as she'd never experienced, rose up in her. Without wasting time, Jasmine reached deep into the well of her soul, dredged up the last reserve of her power and summoned her anger once more.

  Thomas fired the gun at Ahriman in an attempt to slow him down. Nathaniel and Carla rushed in but were stopped in their tracks by a white-hot streak of light that went flying in front of them.

  They turned to Jasmine again, for it was from her the eerie white light flowed as she unleashed the last of her righteous anger on Ahriman.

  The brilliant force caught Ahriman squarely in the chest. He dropped to his knees once more, his cry deafening. At the same time, a viscous black force roared out of him as his soul was driven from his body. His corporeal form fell face-forward onto the floor with a loud thud.

  The instant his dark soul emerged, the white souls surrounded it. Jasmine clenched her fist around the pendant. Sephora had warned her Ahriman's soul might try to seek refuge by plunging through it back into the dark realm. What she saw next put an end to her fears.

  The brilliant white light of the furies intensified, nearly blinding her, as they converged on Ahriman's soul. A feeding frenzy ensued as they ripped into his black spirit like wild predators tearing into prey. The souls of the women continued to feed, absorbing his black spirit into their brilliant light, bit by bit. Jasmine, exhausted by her effort, shielded her eyes as the souls of the wronged women exacted their revenge. Within moments, Ahriman's malignant soul was completely consumed by the ravenous avengers.

  The fluid streaks of light slowed, winding down in the aftermath of frenzy. Jasmine, who up until now had been riveted to the sight of the powerful spirit's demise, looked down at Pandora again. The baby's crying had abated. Her daughter locked eyes with her, and Jasmine caught another glimpse into Pandora's mind. Once again, she received an image of luminosity. This time, however, she had the strangest sensation that Pandora was responding, probing back with her own tiny unformed thought. Tears of relief sprang to her eyes. Her child, who moments ago had been doomed to a life of darkness with Ahriman, was now safe.

  Suddenly, Carla arrived at her side, throwing her arms around her and the baby, crying unabashedly. As they embraced, Jasmine glanced over her friend's shoulder and took her first look at her brothers, Thomas and Nathaniel. They stood just inside the doorway, their stunned gazes travelling back and forth between her and the bright souls that still filled the room.

  It was not until Jasmine turned back to the brilliant entities that her own tears began to fall. “Look!” she cried, pointing to them.

  The others turned to watch, enthralled, as one by one, the bright souls of Ahriman's victims departed, travelling upward then vanishing
from sight. Jasmine watched solemnly, knowing that, after centuries of suffering, the tormented souls had found redemption, and could rest in peace.

  As the bright lights retreated, two of them shot out of formation, streaking toward Jasmine. She gasped in surprise as first one, and then the other, passed straight through her, causing a rush of air to ruffle her curls. The instant the luminous beings entered her, Jasmine knew. The souls of her mother and aunt had touched her. Through fresh tears, she watched as the two glowing souls rejoined the others. A moment later, they, too, disappeared from sight.

  The exodus continued for several moments. Jasmine looked on in silence, humbled by the sheer number of souls who had arrived to intervene on her behalf.

  At last, the final soul drifted upward and disappeared. Only then did Jasmine notice the tingling sensation on the skin of her breast. The pendant hanging from her neck heated. She looked down in alarm to see smoky tendrils of vapor emerging from it. “No,” she cried out in surprise, fearing that somehow Ahriman had managed to escape.

  Her fear was put to rest immediately. Seconds later, it was not Ahriman who stood before her, but Sephora.

  She appeared not as the other bright souls, but as she must have looked in life, a regal-looking woman with luxurious waves of black hair, liquid ebony eyes and ruby lips. She hovered off the ground, above Jasmine, the light flowing through her without touching her. Her dark eyes lit up, her lips bore the hint of a smile. A tiny orb of light flitted around her like fairy dust, and Jasmine understood she was looking at the soul of Sephora's unborn child. Sephora looked down at Ahriman's body, which had already begun to shrivel, and then directly at Jasmine. Her voice, when she spoke, had the same peaceful quality Jasmine remembered from their unspoken conversations.

  "As his spirit fell, so mine rose. The souls you have freed this day are many, and are forever in your debt, child who bears the name of the flower.” The spirit bowed her head in a gesture of thanks.

  Jasmine, too awed by the vision of Sephora to speak, hoped the gentle soul who had guided her to safety understood the gratitude filling her heart.