HAGEN: 1. Revelations

by Jadhe HAMILTON

  “Madeleine, it’s time to go.”

  “Yes,” she replied. “Sorry for the delay, my maid has fallen ill. I couldn’t finish styling my hair...”

  “Hairdo or no hairdo, you look lovely, duchess.”

  “You’re just saying that so we can leave right away…”

  “Do you think?”

  With a mischievous smile on the side of his mouth, the marquis lovingly offered her his arm, which she took without delay.

  “Your cousin is very generous to offer us his castle for three days.”

  “Yes, I thanked him warmly,” agreed the marquis.

  They discreetly left Duke De La Fortelle’s castle, hiding behind the darkness of dawn. The day before, Madeleine had warned her husband that she would be leaving to visit friends for several days. Jealous as a louse, he hadn’t replied. Obviously, he hadn’t been fooled.

  Outside the estate, a coachman waited silently for them as he stroked the caramel colored coats of his horses. When Madeleine saw him, a joyful smile stretched across her face.

  She jumped into the carriage laughing, impatient for what was to come: three whole days in the house of her lover’s cousin without servants nor guests. It would only be them, the provisions that Ruben had taken care of collecting, and the giant bed in the main boudoir. Three days of making love to the man she adored more than anything else in the world, without anyone around to interfere. She could cry out in ecstasy, scream her passion, and rave all she wanted, without anyone hearing her, except the man who would be the master of their frolics.

  Although the valet had been paid handsomely to cover them, they still ran the risk of bumping into acquaintances along the way. Even so, they stared at each other for nearly three hours. Madeleine laughed out loud, so delighted was her heart.

  When they finally arrived at their destination, Madeleine felt liberated. Her whole body quivered with desire as she thought about all the love-making that was in store for her. She would finally be able to surrender to her lust for the man that she desired more than anything else. She, who had sworn to give Ruben up in order to devote herself entirely to her angelic mission, had barely been able to part with him for more than a week. And now, her final decision was made: she would continue her love affair with Ruben, no matter what the cost.

  When the horses stopped, she jumped out of the carriage to look at their new home: a castle of several stories that stretched out over hundreds of square feet. On the other side, a perfectly maintained estate of several hectares stretched as far as the eye could see, framed by pine and limestone forests. She was radiant!

  As she looked over to him, Ruben was in the process of freeing the coachman, who was to return three days later. Seeing the marquis bustling about with such determination triggered an intense emotion within her: how handsome he was when he was absorbed in his work. He was doing the best he could to ensure that their stay would be wonderful…just the two of them…

  As soon as the coachman disappeared, she ran to the marquis. Her entire being longed for him:

  “Ruben, let’s go inside, I want to be near you!”

  The marquis smiled mischievously as he walked very slowly towards the entrance of the castle to tease her.

  “Hurry up!” she pleaded.

  Ruben couldn’t hold back a flattered laugh.

  When he finally opened the door, Madeleine rushed inside and began to undress.

  “Don’t you want to go up to the room?” he asked, surprised.

  “I won’t make it to the room,” she explained, undoing her petticoat with a naughty smile.

  Ruben looked at her adoringly. Then he slowly approached her to help her remove her corset, savoring the sensation of the ribbons slipping through the light-colored fabric that gradually uncovered the duchess’ exquisite back.

  Soon after, Madeleine stood in front of him, completely naked, her dreamy eyes telling him that she was more than ready to receive him.

  He raised his arms in the air, taking advantage of her yearning:

  “Your turn, duchess...” he whispered naughtily, as he allowed her to undress him.

  Languorously, Madeleine knelt and did as she was told. After undoing his trousers, she grasped his beautiful manhood and kissed it lovingly. Sensitive to her touch, Ruben couldn’t hold back his moans of pleasure, allowing them to grow louder as she moved her head back and forth with passion.

  Panting, he gradually took off the rest of his clothes, relishing each and every stroke of the duchess’ tongue.

  Then, when he was completely naked, Madeleine stopped what she was doing and lured him towards the sofa. The marquis, who had allowed himself to be guided by her, sat down expecting Madeleine to resume where she had left off. Instead, she knelt over him and sat down, allowing him to penetrate her deeply. Finally, the moment she had been waiting for for hours had arrived, making her cry out in ecstasy.

  Immediately, and while kissing the marquis’ strong neck, she moved her pelvis back and forth, faster and faster, relieving the overwhelming desire that had taken hold of her at dawn, without ever subsiding. Now, moaning with pleasure, she was so carried away by her longing that she was barely aware of Ruben’s passionate gaze on her. He was lost in fantasy at the sight of the duchess’ sublime body, as her breasts danced to the rhythm of her hips and her half open eyes gazed at him. Beyond the exquisite sensation of his manhood inside of her, the sight of Madeleine’s fulfilled expression made the marquis fall madly in love with her.

  However, he soon regained control of the situation, gently moving her up and off him. As soon as Madeleine sat down beside him, wondering what she could do next to please him, he caressed her face softly while drawing her head down towards his manhood again:

  “You didn’t finish earlier,” he explained with a grin.

  Tremors ran through Madeleine’s entire body at the thought of having to wait before he penetrated her again. Nevertheless, his wish was her command: kneeling beside him, head down, she caressed him with her mouth while the rest of her body ached with desire. As for Ruben, he let her yearn for him a little while longer. But before long, he began to stroke her intimate parts with his fingers as she continued to stimulate him with her mouth. Madeleine moaned and panted as his soft, skillful touch made her body tremble in anticipation.

  At long last, and to her great delight, two of his fingers slipped gently inside her, entering without resistance. Finally, she was getting what she had been longing for since dawn. She felt so liberated that her enthusiasm increased tenfold.

  Aware of the duchess’ desire, the marquis quickly accelerated his pace. The effect was immediate. Her mouth full, Madeleine moaned as she too intensified her rhythm. Then, taking him in her hand, she moved up and down, harder and harder, faster and faster, as the tension between them rose. Intoxicated by their love-making, she knew that if he titillated her like this much longer, she wouldn’t be able to hold herself back.

  Suddenly, she felt her orgasm rising. Ravenous, she once again took him into her mouth, fueling his desire. Finally, her orgasm arrived. Enraptured, she moaned louder than ever as the marquis cried out in ecstasy, climaxing in sync with her.

  Overwhelmed by the intensity of their encounter, a deep desire to rest in Ruben’s arms took hold of her. With her head resting on his thigh, she basked in the beauty of their embrace, while Ruben covered them with a large blanket so they wouldn’t get cold. Slowly coming back down to Earth, he caressed the duchess’ face as she began to dose off.

  “Madeleine?”

  “Yes,” she replied in a soft, dreamy voice.

  “I... I love you terribly...”

  Alarmed by the sadness in his voice, Madeleine sat up and looked him straight in the eyes, still buried under the blanket:

  “Why does this make you so unhappy?”

  “Because, for the first time in my entire life,” he said, looking straight ahead, “my soul is vulnerable... Thece loves Diane desperately. This has never happened to him before.”


  “I know,” replied Madeleine peacefully. “The same goes for Diane.”

  “Madeleine... If you ever disappeared, I can’t begin to imagine what would become of me... I belong to you, body and soul.”

  “I know,” joked the duchess, referring to the fact that Thece, Ruben’s angel, was now her missionary and thus, belonged to her, body and soul.

  “You don’t seem to understand,” concluded Ruben, whose grief was genuine.

  Worried that he had misinterpreted her words, Madeleine tried to explain:

  “Ruben, please don’t misunderstand me... I want you to know that I too, cannot imagine my life without you. Neither on Earth, nor in Heaven... When Hermée offered to give you to me, I didn’t hesitate a single second. I gave up twenty missionaries to have you in my army... without even asking for the Decision-Makers’ permission.”

  Ruben looked down, visibly sad. Finally, he said in a fearful voice:

  “I love you too much. And as a result, we’ve gone over the limit. What we’ve done is irreparable...”

  “Don’t say that...”

  “They can destroy us for what we’ve done...”

  “Shht! They’ll never find out!”

  “What if They already know...”

  “That’s enough!” ordered Madeleine, becoming distressed.

  She wrapped herself in the blanket and got up:

  “We didn’t come here to spend three days torturing ourselves over this.”

  Trembling, she stepped out of the castle in the hopes of putting their discussion out of her mind.

  Once outside, however, she glanced back through the large paneled glass doors and saw Ruben, who still hadn’t moved. He remained sprawled out on the sofa, his two arms hanging on either side of the armrests, lost in his thoughts.

  Worried, she walked straight to the gardens, her delicate feet grazing the ice cold, moldy stones of the castle’s terrace, then on the sharp, grey gravel, and finally on the cool, soft grass.

  At that moment, her body became one with nature, drawing her energy straight from the earth. She could feel the cool morning wind caressing her face as the sun’s rays nourished her velvety white skin. She regained her serenity.

  “Madeleine…”

  Her blood froze on the spot. Somebody had just called her name, but it wasn’t Ruben. A visceral fear took hold over her as she frantically looked around her.

  Still wrapped in her blanket, the duchess turned around in a panic. She couldn’t see anyone, yet she sensed that a presence was trying to connect with her. A presence that wasn’t human.

  As she desperately searched for a clue, a bright red ladybug landed on her hand. On her guard, she observed it without moving. At first, the insect was motionless, but soon enough, it began moving, drawing out a perfect circle on her hand. As the ladybug’s pace accelerated, Madeleine’s anxiety grew.

  “What do you want?” whispered Madeleine, petrified.

  In response, the insect stopped dead in its tracks, remaining immobile for several seconds. Madeleine felt as though they were suspended in time.

  It was then that the insect flew away, towards the pine forest a few dozen yards from the castle.

  Fearing that she would lose sight of the tiny creature, she followed it without hesitation.

  Without even realizing it, she followed it deep into the forest, climbing rocks and going through bushes without taking her eyes off it. She barely felt the pine needles that were digging into her bare feet.

  Then, without warning, the ladybug landed on a leaf and resumed its normal behavior.

  All of a sudden, Madeleine, who had been entranced up until then, understood the enormity of the mistake she had just made. She was alone and vulnerable in the forest, and having given up Hagen only a few days earlier, she could no longer defend herself.

  Panting like an animal lost in enemy territory, she anxiously looked around her, eager to find out who had lured her here. Then, a low-pitched groan rose from deep within a bush.

  Her heart stopped in an instant. Trembling, she gradually approached the bush, only to discover, curled up behind the branches, a being, black as tar, devouring her with its electric blue gaze.

  As soon as their eyes met, the Duchess understood the extent of her recklessness. Horrified, the creature stood up with a shrill cry and began to move towards her.

  Finally out of her trance, Madeleine’s survival instinct kicked in, causing her to turn around and run towards the castle, as fast as her legs could carry her. No longer having her spheric weapon in her possession, only Ruben could defend them against the demon.

  “Madeleine! Don’t go back there...”

  The demon called out to her, but she redoubled her efforts to make it back to the castle. Then, when she finally arrived at the edge of the forest, the creature appeared in front of her, blocking the way. Madeleine nearly fell backwards.

  Tilting its oversized skull, the creature, with its black, slimy skin and extremely thin form, stared at her with threatening eyes:

  “Don’t go inside...” he hissed, sending an icy chill down her spine.

  His mouth was a bottomless pit with long, razor sharp teeth.

  “You have no right to attack me!” she cried. “We have an agreement with your leader!”

  “Don’t worry, I’m not here to kill you.”

  Madeleine looked at him with dread. She didn’t trust him, she had never trusted demons.

  “On the other hand, a seraph without her weapon is so rare,” the demon said, licking his inexistent lips. “I could have already killed you twenty times over... I was created to destroy angels of your kind… You can’t imagine how difficult it is for me to resist.”

  He fell silent, staring at her with his bulging eyes and drooling from the mouth while panting heavily. Madeleine understood that he was struggling not to give in to his killer instincts. Unable to defend herself, her life depended entirely on the demon’s loyalty to his master.

  Finally, after endless moments of unbearable tension, and without her understanding why, the demon’s expression changed: he seemed relieved and suddenly smiled. A terrifying smile, one that seemed to tear his face in half:

  “Fortunately, you’re the only one who needs to be spared.”

  Madeleine was thunderstruck. The thought of Ruben sitting alone in the castle suddenly obsessed her. She didn’t want to believe it. Yet the demon’s smile was triumphant. He had won. He had lured her away from Ruben. She had abandoned her soul mate, thus leading him to his doom.

  Self-satisfied, the demon stepped aside and invited her, with a gesture of the hand, to join the marquis in the castle, or at least, what was left of him. Madeleine, who was on the brink of collapse, didn’t even have the strength to scream.

  In a daze, she sprinted towards the castle, reeling, almost stumbling over her own feeble legs. She no longer felt the grass, the gravel or the moss under her feet. Only one thing obsessed her: Thece. He had been ambushed by the demons, she knew it. He was surely dead by now. She would never see him again.

  Trembling, she tore open the castle door and stumbled into the living room. What she discovered was so horrendous that it surpassed all her fears: Ruben was motionless, both arms still hanging from the armrests of the sofa. His head was lying on the floor, facing Madeleine. His neck had been savagely shredded to bits and severed by several sharp blows. His blood had poured out abundantly, covering his entire body, creating a puddle on the sofa between his thighs. Being killed by demons meant that Ruben and his soul, Thece, were dead for all eternity.

  Madeleine’s heart and soul were shattered, she was utterly devastated. Then, as she cried out in desperation, she felt a violent pain at the back of her neck. Suddenly, she felt her own head being removed from her body.

  Diane awoke with a start and abruptly pulled herself out of the water. As she wailed with grief in front of the assembly of Decision-Makers, the marble angel calmly returned to his place while Lawskey rushed to her rescue.

  Howe
ver, as she continued to mourn, Diane could neither see Lawskey nor the Sages. The only image that remained in her mind was that of Ruben, whose headless neck had remained as straight as an arrow. She screamed with all her might, throwing herself to the ground in violent convulsions. Feeling helpless, Lawskey tried desperately to bring her out of her shock, but to no avail.

  Unable to face the intolerable any longer, Diane took Hagen from her back and pointed the sword at her abdomen. All she wanted now was to vanish, to melt away into nothingness. Without thinking, she thrust the sword violently against her chest. Instantly, Lawskey intervened, stopping her momentarily from sacrificing herself to her sorrow. As the two seraphs continued to struggle in front of the assembly of astonished Decision-Makers, Lawskey fought with all his might to move the sword away from Diane’s body. Faced with her determination to die, he was left with no choice but to kick her violently in the belly, in the hopes that she would let go of her sword. Winded by the powerful blow, Diane’s grip finally lessened, and her weapon fell to the floor.

  Instantly, Lawskey kicked the weapon, propelling it far behind him, his heart torn to pieces by what he had just done to the woman he loved.

  Sprawled out on the floor, Diane could no longer scream, she was barely able to catch her breath. Devoured by guilt, Lawskey threw himself on his knees and took her into his arms.

  Even so, the seraph seemed so very far away. At long last, she understood why her soul had chosen to reincarnate into bodies without any spiritual capacities. It was to forget the horror of Ruben’s death, the angel whom she had loved more than anything else in the world. Each time one of her human bodies died, she became fully conscious of everything that had happened, and was again overcome by the same devastating and insurmountable pain. Only reincarnating into a new body allowed her to forget Thece’s death.

  But now, her agony was asphyxiating her. Her heart no longer wanted to live, she no longer wanted to suffer. Her pain had poisoned her for centuries, without ever losing its intensity. She would never forget, never move on. To lose Thece was to lose herself. What was the point in continuing to pretend? It was better to accept that she would never recover, and therefore, put an end to the reincarnation cycle.