Stigmata

by L M Adams

  The nosferatu have the ability to absorb sin, to carry it through their Akh’s and into the place of waiting… they were the first sin eaters and they once served the people as such. They once provided the people a means to go to golden pastures even without the blessing of the gods. They could eat a person’s sin, making their hearts lighter than a feather or they could resurrect a person and give them a second chance to get it right.

  But what Malia, and the others, are asking for would destroy the afterlife of the nosferatu – they’ve done all of this so their trapped spirits could move on to their silver fields. If Jack does this… no more would peace be found there for the children of Set.

  What they ask of Jack is not fair… but it may be the only way to save what is left of mankind.

  Even if we can defeat whatever new enemy Darius sends our way, what would be the point if in time, all of the peoples, of all of the lands, fall to the fever of the blood curse?

  I step out onto the patio to ask the man I love for a thing no wife should ever ask of a husband… damn all that you love for a people that enslaved yours… be better than the god of Nazareth.

  Jack is standing near the railing looking out into the garden lit with the light of the blood moon – it would beautiful if it wasn’t so deadly.

  “The others are going to try and bring order to the people, gather the soldiers, put the city on alert,” I whisper.

  He leans forward onto the bannister, hanging his head, “Do you think… I’m an evil man?”

  I sigh, “What does it matter? I love you.”

  He turns on me, his eyes glowing with silver – where once there was no majic… he is now filled with it... filled with the power of the nosferatu, filled with the power of the curse. “Do you love me because I am an evil man?”

  I sigh looking away, “It is complicated, Jack – you know that.”

  “Answer the question.”

  I look back at him, “It was our dark hearts that brought us together, but it is the light we see within each other that makes us stay.”

  “And do you still see that light?”

  “Always…” I whisper fiercely, “…always and forever.”

  “I didn’t mean for… this…” He gestures to the destroyed world of the Atums. “But it would be a lie to say I felt no joy when I watched her damn it all in her son’s name,” he adds in a whisper.

  “Vengeance is a dangerous thing,” I say softly, thinking of how easily I let the sweet nectar of my anger feed me. “I know that… yet I am not innocent in all of this either. I turned my back on the world, blaming all for some. Thinking of their destruction made me happy and it didn’t matter if innocents would fall under the same sword as my enemies. The only thing that mattered was me having that vengeance.”

  “They are wrong, Jae!” He moves closer to me, “They enslaved the eternal souls of every child of Set because they could not live without magic, because still they could not accept being man!”

  “I know… but should the sentence for their crimes be the end of mankind? Is this justice?”

  “No! But what they ask of me is not fair either!”

  I shake my head looking at him. “When has anything in our lives ever been fair? Heavy is the head that wears the crown – we must honor Keyon’s sacrifice. We must save Lucien.”

  He looks away, a shimmering pink tear rolls down his cheek, “I tire of being the lamb to slaughter.”

  I walk forward and wrap my arms around his waist… I feel his pain run through him like a river of tears.

  “I would let them drown in the blood of their sin… if not for Lucien,” Jack whispers and closes his arms around me.

  “He is our light,” I murmur gently, pulling back.

  “Ye, and he, and we…”

  “Above all others,” I murmur as he lowers his lips to mine.

  I open my mouth and my soul to his heartache and taste the tears of his entire existence between one breath and the next. My beautifully broken Capaneus… do I love him because of his darkest heart?

  Yes.

  But that does not make my love any less real.

  159

  Jack – Stigmata

  Lucien has passed out; I have four of the men help me carry him outside and down into the gardens. We strip him down and lay him under the largest and eldest of the trees on the dark, bleeding earth of Keb. I place a black cloth over his waist to shield his sensitive parts – although, I’m sure he wouldn’t be ashamed to be naked in front of the entire world – neither would he have a reason to be.

  I send everyone but Jae and Saabir away.

  Saabir hurries to place candles and special stones around Lucien’s large, but almost comatose, body, “I have never seen a cleansing of this magnitude,” he whispers low.

  “Not what I need to hear right now,” I snap as I kneel beside Lucien’s body with the Book of the Dead in hand, which is really called ‘words spoken to come forth by day’ – I can see why Book of the Dead stuck. I can’t believe I’m even holding this, let alone trying to work out the directions on how to do this on the fly! Goddess help me, I don’t know what I’m doing! I’ve never eaten sin.

  Lucien groans low, his skin broken out in a hellish sweat.

  “Shh,” I sooth, “I’m here, I’m going to take care of you.”

  “No!” He cries out, his face covered in pain, “No!” He screams again before passing out again.

  I look up at Jaevia, eyes wide, “I can’t… I want to but…”

  “You can, Jack – I know you can, he doesn’t die here,” She whispers fiercely.

  I nod and look back down at the book, my heart pounding in my chest.

  Saabir kneels on the other side of Lucien, a bowl of golden paint in his hand, I set the book to the side as he hands it to me.

  “Amenta, here,” he points at Lucien’s forehead.

  I dip my thumb in the gold shimmering paint and draw the symbol over Lucien’s third eye.

  Saabir helps me with the painting and the translations if incantations must be spoken while the drawing is done. It’s slow going because I don’t speak ancient Egyptian!

  Nassor comes back into the gardens and goes to Jaevia, “Reports of something coming.”

  “Something? What?”

  He shakes his head no, “No one has gotten a good look yet. Henenu has ordered the city to be evacuated, but it is slow going. We must get people across the river… whatever is coming is covering the land on all sides.”

  “Goddess,” Jae whispers and looks back down at me.

  I look up to her, eyes wide, “Time, Jaevia, I need time,” I whisper deeply, fear filling my heart.

  She nods once, “Then you shall have it,” She turns leaving us to go and be what she was meant to be… a warrior Queen.

  “Protect her,” I hiss at Nassor. He bows his head, “Yes… my emir.”

  I look back at Saabir filled with determination. If she can go off to face an army by herself if she must, then I can damn well do this. It’s just a recipe Jack, just follow the directions, just follow the directions.

  Saabir and I get back to work, it’s not until I paint the last symbols over the inside of his wrists, and the tops of his feet do I see what this is… stigmata… marks of the stigmata. Perfectly round wounds open on these spots and begin bleeding freely.

  “Now, brother” Saabir whispers and I close my eyes… holding out my hands to welcome the power of the nosferatu… welcome the power of Set and Nuit into my heart.

  I open my third eye to world and see the truth of the lands, the truth of the world. I look down at Lucien and see his golden aura covered in the smut of sin. So black and dark it will smother out his light, his beautiful light and I know I cannot let it.

  He was not made for such things… but I was.

  I whisper the words from the book… the promise Ishtar demanded of Azazael the night they knew of one another.

  “Forgive them, for they know not what they do.”

  I forg
ive you Lucien, I forgive you my Raja and I forgive you, the people, that did not know what you did. Goddess – I forgive you.

  Tears of heartache fill my eyes as my mouth is filled with the sweetness of their sin. I can see the sin break off of Lucien’s aura… turning into a fine black sand before it lifts in the air and into my mouth.

  His power, his soul, is tied to the curse… to the stigmata! Jaevia made sure of it, she thought it was the only way to save him, to force him to accept the power and the pain as one living thing.

  She bound him to this… goddess be – she did not know what she did.

  Goddess be, I pray.

  I forgive you Ankhsepuntepet… lady of Royal Blood – for she did not know what did.

  There’s so much. It doesn’t seem to end… so much rage and pain and hurt – goddess all of it is hurt – victims turning innocents into victims – this ouroboros of filth and we pass it down generation after generation and say this is life and this is what must be.

  And all of us believe that lie – the greatest lie – that suffering is somehow a sacred thing.

  I swallow as much as I can and betray my people, I betray my people for an eternity, and I connect to it… that place… that beautiful place that was to be for us as a dwelling of peace.

  Through the eyes of sin I see the fields of silver grass blowing in a sweet wind. In the center is a tree, aching and old as time itself, alone in the blue world of the between… the passageway between this life and the next.

  I watch the night blue sky turn to red and silver lightning strike across the sky.

  “Goddess… forgive me,” I weep as the lightening strikes the tree, splitting it in two… the tree groans as it bleeds.

  The lands well with blood, pouring up through the roots of the silver grass… killing it, turning it all to black sand.

  I take this curse from the land of the living and send it to the land of the dead… I create Vayrá to save mankind.

  160

  Jaevia - Reaper

  Most of everyone that was left in the city has been moved or is being moved into the castle. The problem with having buildings that flow from one to the next, with open archways and courtyards and no doors, is that those types of structures are hard to defend.

  I’m moving against the current of people that are running towards the palace. I push through them to get to the great city wall of Atum. I remember when we first arrived I thought such a wall could repel a god; I never thought we’d have to put it to the test.

  My hand flexes around my sword, the one Lucien had gotten me, made from blackened steel and ore from the heart of Bastet – The She of the South. The matching blades are strapped to my thighs and for once it feels odd.

  Have I really let my training slip that far?

  When had I stopped being a daughter of Abaddon? When had I stopped riding with the cold winds of death?

  Will he still remember me if I fall this night? Will I still be welcomed into the Night Lands with a crown of death upon my brow? Will the warriors of old welcome me to their table to sup upon the nectar of the gods as they call me sister?

  I say I shall be, and I will bloody this sword in Abaddon’s name.

  The further I get from the palace the fewer people I see, until there is nothing but the buildings and the Blood Moon above and a quietness that has nothing to do with peace and everything to do with a coming storm.

  Jack will take the curse from the lands. He will take the blood from the earth and swallow it down… but he can’t do anything about Azazael or the night creatures his father-god has created.

  Until we can end Azazael, the Blood Moon will hold.

  A high-pitched screech sounds in the red night; the sound of a bat, high and low clicks overlapping the piercing sound, popping snaps as it sends out sound so that it can see.

  I look up just a thing with a massive wingspan crosses over the red light of the moon. My heart stops in my chest as I see it. Goddess be, what have they called up from the pits?

  The creature flaps its wings and turns heading towards the north… it doesn’t move to attack the palace… what is it doing?

  Where the fuck is it going?

  I turn as I feel someone moving up behind me… it’s Nassor. “Jae.” He smiles.

  “Hush,” I whisper viciously and look up to the sky as I unsheathe my sword.

  My heart pounds as I wait, searching for the sound of wings upon the night air. My heart drops as I hear it… coming back towards us.

  “Run,” I whisper and take off, heading west and away from the people.

  Nassor, spear in hand, takes off with me as we push our bodies into a full run. I turn to look up as the sound of leathery wings beating in the air grows.

  The night creature has the full body of a man, flesh so dark it absorbs the light from the red moon. It opens its mouth to let out another echoing screech, the noise overlapped with a quick succession of clicks and pops – using the echo location of a bat to find us.

  “Fuck,” I hiss… I spot an opening up ahead in one of the homes. I pray Nassor is quick on his feet, I dodge into the blackened doorway.

  Nassor follows me as I slam my back up against the wall and hold my breath. Nassor does the same on the other side of the doorway. I peek out into the red night. The creature is circling… sending out clicks to try and find us again.

  “A scout?” Nassor asks.

  I nod, catching my breath, “I think so.”

  “Have you ever seen anything like this?”

  I shake my head no, “And I’ve seen a lot of weird shit. They remind me of something crossed between a bat and a snake.”

  “They are the nosferatu?”

  “I think so. Azazael… he did something to them.”

  I look at the spear in his hand, “Any good with that thing?”

  He grins in the red shadows.

  “Come on,” I pull from the wall and head further into the home and to the stairs.

  This building has three floors, we creep quietly up to the third floor, the west wall completely open but for the columns that hold up the roof, wrapped now in dead vines and flowers as the curse chokes the life from the lands and all that lives here. Large potted plants sit between each column, a barrier to the sixty foot drop off back to the street level.

  I spot a brazier and wave Nassor over to it, “Can you make a fire?”

  He nods quickly.

  After the fire is lit, we cover the flame with the lid, turning the slots so it’s open, but only towards the room.

  Nassor and I creep quietly over to the edge of the building and hide behind the columns.

  The night creature still flies above the area, trying to find us, sending out that horrid sound again and again.

  “Wait until we’re midway into the room,” I look to Nassor.

  He nods.

  I wait until the night creature is out of view and then push the large planter closest to me out of the building to fall into the street. The crashing sound echoes, bouncing off the walls.

  The night creature flies towards us, folding in its wings as it dives down to the street, straight to the fallen planter. I peek over the edge of the building to study how the creature moves. It has silver spikes down its back, a long slick tail to help it balance. It seems to prefer scurrying about on its hands and feet as if it has trouble standing on two legs.

  The creature sends out that clicking noise, searching. I scrape my sword against the edge of the column softly. It looks up sharply…. Enhanced sense of hearing.

  I tap the tip on the floor again and that’s it. It leaps onto the side of the building. I hold up a finger to my lips as I look at Nassor in the red shadows of the blood moon, the proud warrior nods once.

  My heart pounds viciously in my chest, but from the outside I know I seem cool… collected. No matter how far I’ve gone from the life of a Reaper – I still remember who I was… who I always dreamed of being.

  Yea, though I walk through the valley of the sh
adow of death, I will fear no evil: for I’m a better killer than you. Or something like that.

  The claws of the bat-like human scrape along the stone side of the building as it tries to find us. I know it has our scent, as I have his.

  Ten feet… four… “Here!” I scream and step out from around the pillar and into the full radiance of the blood moon, holding out my arms, sword in one hand as I sacrifice myself to this monster made of dreams and nightmares.

  The creature leaps up and lands, balancing on the ledge of the open concourse, wings spread wide. The large mouth of the bat-like man opens, letting out a horrid screech. Seven feet tall, the better part of three hundred pounds and muscular, very well made – as killing machines go. Unlike real bats, he doesn’t have fur, instead his skin is dark and patterned in a way that reminds me of the scales on a snake. He’s naked but there are no sexual organs, like a sexless monster doll you give to children for Krampus.

  His body beneath the black leathery skin flexes with well-honed muscle and tendon. His head is bald, his eyes completely black, both the sclera and pupil. A handsome nose right above a mouth open wide and showing me deadly fangs four times the length of normal vampire fangs… the inside of him just as pitch black as the outside.

  “Ah, the dark queen herself,” he whispers with a slurred, raspy voice. This form wasn’t made for speaking.

  I smile, “In the flesh.”

  He folds in his wings to get through the pillars, he wasn’t made for enclosed ground battle either. His feet are more like bird talons, made for gripping branches and gouging out entrails, not walking on stone.

  I step back quickly, my feet barely touching the floor…

  It turns its head at an odd angle, “The master will wish you.”

  “Am I to assume you mean Azazael?”

  “He is no more Azazael than you are Ishtar… your master’s name is Dā…ray…auš.”

  “Sorry, I recognize no master or king but the ones I took to my bosom and to my bed… but give your dark master my regrets, bat-face.”