Curse of the Asuune

by Jr Steven Sterup

  “Boobs…” Sarah laughed.

  “What?” Mark asked.

  “You could have called them breasts or tits. You sound like a little kid,” Sarah giggled. She was having way too much fun teasing Mark.

  “Fine, whatever, please just tell me what the hell is going on,” Mark pleaded. He needed to quit talking about Sarah’s body.

  Sarah pulled on a, much t0o large, satin shirt. The shirt was maroon and looked like something she would wear to bed. Afterward she proceeded to pull down her soaking wet jeans along with her bright pink, lacy panties.

  “Damnit Sarah, that isn’t much better,” Mark said turning around. “Just let me know when you are done changing so we can get on with this. Seriously, are all your panties pink?” He could not believe what had just come out of his mouth. He needed to act indifferent but he had just admitted to looking at her underwear.

  Sarah smiled because Mark was paying attention.

  “No, mostly, but I have other colors as well,” Sarah said as she slid on a pair of sweat pants that were also slightly too big. “What can I say? I like pink underwear.”

  “Anyway, what is the deal with your name? Are you related to Roger?” Mark tried to change the subject. He didn’t want to think about Sarah that way, not right now, and talking about it made him think about it more and more. He also needed to calm down, he was getting far too aroused. His clothes were also soaking wet and skin tight, Sarah would notice.

  “No, and I suppose that is as good a place as any to start,” Sarah said as she made her way to the king size bed.

  The room was enormous, nearly fifty feet long and nearly as wide. There were no walls separating it into rooms, only furniture placed about the room to give the impression of sections. The king size bed was positioned directly in the middle of the room with one six inch step leading up to it.

  “You can turn around. Please come sit. Why don’t you bring a couple of glasses and some wine? This is gonna be…” Sarah couldn’t quite find the right word to describe what she was about to explain so she settled. “Complicated.”

  “From what I’ve seen so far, complicated doesn’t scratch the surface,” Mark replied as he diligently fetched two glasses and a bottle of wine. He handed one to Sarah, poured her a glass then got his own before setting the bottle at Sarah’s feet. Mark positioned himself at the foot of the bed, far enough away from Sarah to avoid any temptations but near enough to hear her. Mark sighed almost too loudly as he sat down. They were going to talk about his situation now and not about Sarah’s lovely body any more.

  “Well for starters,” Sarah said as she sipped the wine. “Roger’s name isn’t Sandleton, he’s my employee. Well, it wasn’t Sandleton until I had him change it. His name is on everything I own with me as the beneficiary.”

  “What if he decides to take off with your money one day?” Mark was honestly concerned that Sarah was putting her wealth at risk.

  “Roger would never do that. I saved his wife a few years ago. He owes me big time.” Sarah smiled as she said this. She appreciated Mark’s concern, it was sweet. He had no idea what was really going on.

  “Anyway, I own everything that you think Roger owns. I pay him a decent salary to walk around and pretend to be an uptight, money grubbing, billionaire. In reality, he is a really sweet guy. Kinda feel bad for him sometimes but that is what I pay him for. Now on to the big one.”

  “Yes, what the hell am I?” Mark pleaded.

  “Well for this you will need to have a little faith. I know you’re not a devout religious man, but you do believe in God, right?” Sarah asked just to make sure.

  “Yes, I just hate organized religion,” Mark replied, matter-of-factly.

  “Ok, good, that makes this easier,” Sarah sighed.

  “A very long time ago, back when man was first placed on this earth by God. Adam had a wife named Lilith,” Sarah started.

  “Wait what? Don’t you mean Eve?” Mark asked innocently.

  “No, I mean Lilith, Adam’s first wife,” Sarah scolded. “You see many of our modern, holy texts have been modified, mostly by accident but sometimes maliciously. Not a single one of them is one hundred percent correct. Most of them get parts right if not a little skewed toward whatever religious organization translated them. If you had the time you could piece it together by studying all the current religions but I need you to understand this tonight. So, please bear with me and remember, I have never and will never lie to you.” Sarah then looked at Mark with longing in her eyes but Mark looked away quickly. He nodded so she went on.

  “So Lilith was not content with a human husband. She preferred the company of the angel sent to look over them, Samael. God was furious. He cursed Lilith to die and bound Samael to earth for the rest of existence. Hence the first fallen angel. Samael was angry with his father so he took some of his blood and gave it to Lilith. She drank the angel blood but not only was she cured of God’s curse, she gained immortality. Meanwhile God gave Adam a second wife, one from his own body, so that she would always be faithful to Adam and they were happy. Most religious texts start there, they skip the part about Lilith.”

  “Samael, in an effort to prove to his father that humans were inferior, made a deal with The Beast and tempted Eve to eat the forbidden fruit. I’m sure you know the rest of this story so I’ll skip that part.” Sarah was very passionate about this story and Mark couldn’t help but hang on every word she said.

  “Wait, Lucifer is Satan, he tempted Eve,” Mark stated.

  “That is one of the biggest mistranslations there is. Satan is the word for betrayer, adversary in the ancient languages. It’s not a title or a name. There have been many called Satan, Samael, my father, was the first.” Sarah looked at Mark caringly, he was like a child learning about the world. What she wouldn’t give to be so innocent again.

  “Then who is the devil?” Mark asked.

  “The devil as you know him is referred to in the bible as ‘The Beast’. It doesn’t have a name, just ‘The Beast’. But I suppose this is who you would call the devil,” Sarah explained.

  “What is this beast?” Mark asked.

  “The Beast, well nobody really knows except for God and God doesn’t speak to humans anymore. Some believe it was part of God at one time, his evil emotions that he cast off and they somehow grew sentience. Some believe it was God’s brother. Others believe that The Beast has existed as long as God has and constantly struggles for control. Me, I believe the last one. And this world is God’s chance to beat The Beast once and for all.” Sarah took a drink and gave Mark another chance to ask any questions, but this time he had none so Sarah continued.

  “Now back to Lilith, my mother. She started to see her children grow old while she stayed the same, some of her first born even died of old age before she pleaded with Samael to give them the gift she had been given. He, of course, refused. He believed that his own children were abominations that would destroy the angels. Lilith did not give up. She took her blood, just as Samael had done for her, and gave it to her children. The ones that survived were called Asuune, in English it would mean Ascended.”

  “As the years went on, Lilith realized that Samael had been partially right. Her children were not at all like her. They had power beyond imagination. Some of her less righteous children started killing the humans and drinking their blood. These became known as vampires. Lilith tried to stop them but human blood, to an Asuune, is like crack mixed with meth mixed with heroine. The addiction is something you can’t imagine unless you’ve experienced it.” Sarah took another drink, giving Mark another chance for questions.

  “Has anyone ever overcome this addiction? Returned from being a vampire I mean.” Mark was paying attention and learning a lot.

  “I know of only two and you’re looking at one of them,” Sarah replied.

  “You were once a vampire?” Mark asked.

  “Yep, a very bad one. I’ve killed thousands. Not something I tell everyone, but I hope that you will believe
me when I tell you I’ve changed, a lot.” Sarah stared at the wine in her glass, pondering the life she had led. This was something she told very few people, she trusted Mark.

  Mark could see the sadness and self-loathing on her face so he moved closer to ease her mind. He put his hand on her shoulder.

  “Don’t worry, I know who you are, that other person, when you were a vampire, that’s not the Sarah I see,” Mark said kindly.

  “Thank you, but I have a long way to go before I make up for what I’ve done. Enough of that, you need to know so much more before morning.” Sarah bent down to pour herself another glass.

  “Why before morning?” Mark asked with urgency.

  “My brother will find us soon, we need to leave in the morning and head out for somewhere safer. I would leave now but you have so much more to learn before we can risk an encounter with my brother.” Sarah took another large sip of her wine.

  “Getting back to my name, it isn’t really Sarah Sandleton. I mean legally, yes, that’s my name but I was born Ceralin, Daughter of Samael. Not the kind of name you can go writing on your driver’s license, now is it?” Sarah paused for Mark’s reply.

  “No, I guess not. Ceralin, I like it. But I see why you shortened it so Sarah.” Mark looked at his wine, he had barely touched it. He was too engrossed in Sarah’s tale to notice his wine. Then a thought occurred to him. “How did I get ascended or whatever? I didn’t drink anyone’s blood.”

  “I was getting to that,” Sarah smiled as she took another drink of wine. “The newly created Asuune had other unique features. We have fangs that can inject another person with our venom, pretty much the same thing as drinking our blood but more efficient. Before you ask, only Nephilim can become Asuune. One of the many road blocks God has put up to keep us from taking over the world. Injecting a human with our venom would kill them. Also, we cannot have children with humans.”

  In her best preacher’s voice Sarah made a wide gesture toward the sky, almost spilling her wine. “Let the land produce living creatures according to their kinds: the livestock, the creatures that move along the ground, and the wild animals, each according to its kind.” Her voice returned to normal and she looked at Mark. “Meaning each species can only reproduce with its own kind and here’s the kicker. After we ascend, we can no longer have children at all.”

  Mark looked at Sarah with pity. “So you never got to have children?”

  “No,” Sarah looked down at her glass again and Mark moved closer. He wanted to give her a hug but it was too soon and he was still too attracted to her. He cared for Sarah but he couldn’t control himself around her. Giving her a hug, in his current state of mind, would end up leading somewhere he wasn’t ready to go yet.

  “Anyway,” Sarah said, changing the subject. “There are two ways to kill an Asuune that you need to watch out for. Removing their head or draining their blood, completely. This also goes for vampires, who are really just addicted Asuune. But then again we are on God’s side in this war so… The sixth commandment, Thou shalt not kill. We are not allowed to kill them.”

  “Wait, if we’re on God’s side does that mean we have to obey all the Ten Commandments?” Mark asked.

  Sarah laughed.

  “Have to? No. I, for one, want to go to heaven when I die, and with what I’ve done, I’m not taking any chances. So if you want to stick with me, I suggest you try to obey them.” Sarah pondered for a moment. “At least I’ve never heard you break the third commandment. That one should be easy for you.”

  “Umm, which is the third?” Mark asked. It had been ages since he read a bible or even paid attention to the Ten Commandments.

  “Thou shalt not take the name of the Lord in vain,” Sarah replied in her preacher’s voice again.

  “Ok, yeah, that one is easy. Using God’s name like that has always driven me crazy. It makes me cringe, just to hear it,” Mark said smiling at Sarah. Truthfully, it had been Jen’s rule but as with many things in marriage it quickly became his as well.

  “The rest of them, well, some are easy, some are not,” Sarah said then lifted her glass. Sarah peered from the side of the glass and gave Mark a look like he should know what she meant. But Mark had no idea.

  “Anything else I should know? Do vampires hate the sunlight? Do they burn at the sight of a cross? What about silver?” Mark was asking questions so quickly that Sarah didn’t have time to answer before he was on to the next but at least he’d been paying attention.

  “None of that is true. All just made up for books and movies. They are the same as Asuune, only more dangerous, because they have no fear of dying. The blood makes them fearless and evil, but also careless. It’s much easier to outsmart a vampire than a pure Asuune.” Sarah took her last sip of wine then put the glass down by the bottle. “With that we should get some sleep. We need to head out as soon as we get our things together. I think we should have time to swing by your place to grab anything you don’t want to leave behind.”

  Mark looked around, there was only one bed.

  “Don’t worry, I’ll wear clothes to bed. And I won’t bite,” Sarah said ejecting her fangs.

  This took Mark by surprise. He didn’t expect her fangs to be so…large. Reluctantly Mark drank the rest of his wine then went to his side of the bed. He slid into bed and faced away from Sarah. The tension was like a thick fog in the room. After a few moments he sat up.

  “Sorry, can’t sleep with a shirt on, drives me nuts,” Mark said as he quickly pulled off his shirt and threw it on to a nearby chair. His shirt was soaked and it made a disgusting sound as it hit the leather chair. Although his pants were also soaking wet, he didn’t think it would be appropriate to take them off. He also wanted as much clothing as possible between him and Sarah.

  “And I can’t stand sleeping with pants on, so…” Sarah replied as she stood up, loosened the string around her waist and her sweat pants fell to the floor. “Don’t worry I’ll keep the shirt.” Sarah grinned evilly but Mark was too afraid to look. “And I’ll stay on my side.”

  Mark was nervous as he laid there, Sarah was so close and barely wearing anything. He laid there for at least an hour, going over everything Sarah had said, occasionally hearing Sarah give a cute little snore. She certainly didn’t have a problem sleeping. After forcing himself to stop thinking about it all, and Sarah, he was able to picture Jen and Katie on the day they brought Katie home from the hospital. It was one of the happiest days he could remember and this eventually let him drift off to sleep.

  Chapter 8

  When social constructs of what was appropriate were no longer in his way, Mark dreamt of Sarah. In his dream Sarah ended up with her head on his chest making soft moaning noises as if that act alone gave her pleasure. She woke him by gently moving his hand down to her shirt to undo the buttons. Mark gently kissed her neckline and her rhythmic sighs of pleasure urged him to go lower. She smelled wonderful, it wasn’t her shampoo or perfume, it was her. The smell of her body was intoxicating, he had never smelled anything so provocative. Sarah ran her hands through his hair and sighed louder as Mark reached her stomach. The muscles of her abdomen twitched as he kissed them. Sarah pushed Mark’s head lower and when he had almost reached her center he woke up.

  It was early morning and the sun glared through the windows of the large open hotel room. At first he couldn’t figure out where he was. The dream had been so real, what he really wanted. Then it all came rushing back to him. He felt a warm, soft arm across his bare chest. It was Sarah. She really was lying with her head on his chest and her arm stretched across him. It was like she was making sure he wasn’t going anywhere. She smelled so wonderful, that part of the dream was very real. How could anyone smell this good? The scent of Sarah’s body in the dream wasn’t even close to how she smelled in reality. With his free arm he pushed the hair from Sarah’s face to check if she was awake. She looked so peaceful and absolutely beautiful. With the other hand he caressed the gentle curve in the small of her back. Slowly he
moved his hand lower. Sarah’s shirt had inched its way up to her shoulder blades and when Mark’s hand reached her waist he realized she wasn’t wearing any underwear. Sarah let out a sigh of pleasure and nuzzled her head into his chest. She clung tighter to him and Mark realized that this felt right. It felt so good that it was very wrong. His wife had died only three days ago and this was Sarah. He was not going to have grief sex with Sarah. If something went wrong, if he lost Sarah, he would be devastated. Sarah meant way too much to him for a one night stand.

  Mark gently twisted and turned to free himself from Sarah’s grasp. He was trying to get out of bed without waking her but Sarah wasn’t a heavy sleeper.

  “Where are you going?” Sarah asked, still half asleep. “Oh shit! Oh shit! I’m so sorry! I’m a snuggler! I’m so sorry!” Sarah grabbed the sheet and pulled it up to her waist. “Shit, Mark, I’m so sorry.”

  “It’s ok, Sarah. It’s no big deal,” Mark bent over to find his shoes but he couldn’t remember where he’d left them. He needed to move so Sarah couldn’t see how aroused he was. She would think he was some kind of freak for being attracted to her so soon after his wife’s death.

  Sarah got out of bed and pulled her shirt down as she got up. Mark turned and watched her, not seeing the disappointed face she made. Sarah walked over to her dresser while he struggled with his uncontrollable urges for his best friend.

  “So, when do we go get Katie?” Mark asked. He had assumed that Katie was going with them. He needed to quit thinking about how good it felt to have Sarah lying on top of him.

  “Shit, I knew there was something else we were supposed to talk about. I had too much wine, things kinda slipped my mind,” Sarah said as she searched through the drawers, looking for something practical to wear.

  Mark glanced over to her again and immediately felt guilty as he watched her slip off the satin shirt and pull on some sheer, black panties.