Chapter Two:
Slivers of malice flow through this body that, otherwise, would feel nothing. I know that this malice exists because…I can feel it…but…I dare not want more from it…this feeling…I need it enough to know that I have not lost everything, though, hate…malice, as it were…is not an emotion craved…I accept it as something from my quickly fading past…
“When did it begin…” Shaan asked himself as he lay in bed, staring at the ceiling as a fly buzzed about the room. “Summer…then…at the beginning…us six…enjoying the cold water…of a lake…in the middle of no where while our parents worked away their own summer…”
“Shaan?” He heard his mother’s voice creep through the room as she entered it. “Why are you still here?”
“I’m sick.” Shaan murmured, turning into himself. “Siraj told me to stay, Amy.”
“Oh.” The woman furrowed her brows. “You don’t have to call me Amy. You can call me mom.”
“I see…” Shaan wrapped his arms around his face, concealing it from her. “Can I sleep now?”
“Yes.” Amy smiled pathetically as she stared at her son in worry. “God, I need to call a therapist.”
“Siraj says there’s nothing wrong with us.” Shaan complained in a chocked voice. “We’re fine.”
“Siraj hasn’t been himself either.” Amy pointed out, her voice warning him. “I’m going to work. Your father left early this morning.”
“I see…” Shaan closed his eyes. “Mother…as it were…I believe…maybe, you are right…something has happened to us…and I wonder at what…we…aren’t the same anymore. I feel…dead…”
“Shaan?” Amy stepped out of the room. “I have to go. I’ll call a therapist when I get to work.”
The boy did not speak as his mother left the room. When he heard the front door lock, he turned back over to peer at the ceiling and the fly that continued to buzz around the room.
“I feel dead…” He repeated the earlier statement. “I feel dead…because of that night…”
I can still remember the feeling of the water enveloping my body as it caught to life with cold flames as blue as the sky and white with tendrils of purity. I can still feel the icy cold of that fire-water as it took me into itself…I can still see those red eyes…blazing too life inside of me…
“I hate myself.” Shaan whispered. “I hate myself…and everyone else…”
His eyes focused upon the fly and its frail body exploded under the tension.
“I hate this world…and the humans…and them…”
I hate them with a passion that only one with streaks of malice like mine can feel. I do not understand it myself…this hate…it pours through my body in such a way that it hurts…I can think of nothing more…because those eyes placed this hate inside of me…
Shani glanced at Sachar as the three brothers exited their last class of the day and headed towards the front entrance as the school surged with life. He could see now that Sachar had changed…and just as much as Shani himself had. Even Sassacus had changed since that fateful day at the beginning of summer. He could still feel that feeling of burning cold overtaking his body and consuming him.
“We’re lost.” Sachar murmured upon reaching the escape out. “We’re completely lost. Our souls are no longer our own.”
“Don’t say that…” Sassacus hissed, his body trembling in the heat of an afternoon sun. “Don’t talk of them…”
“Them…” Shani took up a slacked position as his head lolled back and stared up at the sky. “Tell me…are they really…truly…”
“No.” Sassacus shook his head frantically as his palms pressed into his eye sockets. “No…let’s not talk of them…not…now…not yet…”
“When night comes…” Sachar whispered as they passed ogling girls. “We won’t have a chance…”
“Death by day…life by night…” Shani agreed, his eyes vibrant for a split second. “Our only chance to speak is when we are dead inside and they can’t stop us…”
“They…” Sassacus muttered, closing his eyes for a brief moment. When he opened them, iridescent sparkles of purple flicked within the black. “They took our souls…our life away…”
“Speak more.” Sachar cooed, his voice deep. “Tell us more…that we can remember as well…the night that they killed us…”
The fire-water consumed our bodies as the moon cast reflections in its purity. They came from the fire and water…they came out and took a hold of us and held us close as their red eyes soaked through our bodies…and fire burned away our souls as they filled our chests with their own souls…they took them…and we could do nothing to prevent our souls from screaming in agony…by day, we are dead, until…at night…they come and fill us again…
“Our fate is sealed.” Sassacus licked his lips as his eyes crossed the sky in a single sweeping glance. “We are to die one night…”
“One night…” Shani pressed himself into his brother. “One night…they will die…”
“Let us seek revenge upon them that fill us…” Sachar whispered, drawing his brothers’ attention. “Let us kill them ourselves…”
“But…how…” Shani asked, his words full of a fear that he could not express. “How do we kill…that which inhabits us…”
“We must…” Sassacus rubbed his throat with a quivering hand. “Kill ourselves…”
“I’ve tried…” Shani shook his head instantly, dismissing the thought. “But…I cannot die…”
“No…” Sassacus licked his lips slowly and uncertainly. “We must permit ourselves to be killed.”
Silence fell between them as they escaped the campus, a group of girls following them as soon as they had set foot on the cement walk leading away. They could hear the girls’ nervous conversation behind them and could hear their steps growing closer and closer.
Finally, the three boys stopped and turned in unison to stare upon the girls, whom all stepped back in shock. A moment passed in uncertainty before the girl standing in the middle of the other four stepped forward and offered a tentative smile.
“Hi.” She hid her quaking hands behind her back as her feet shifted in anxiety. “Which one of you is Sassacus?”
Shani smiled as he stepped forward. “I am.”
“No, for real.” She insisted, not falling for the trick. “I know you’re either Shani or Shaan, but I can’t tell which one of you is Sassacus.”
“I am.” Sassacus confessed as he placed a hand on his brother and moved him back a tiny ways. “What is it?”
“I’ve been wanting to talk to you about this.” The girl continued, brushing her hair away from her face and behind her ears. “I…can we…well, will you go out with me?”
Sassacus flinched with her words and both Shani and Sachar perked before looking at each other then the two had abandoned their brother to the mercy of the girls.
The girl began to tremble as his gaze perused her features in a stolid way that sent chills through her body. It was apparent that he was putting thought into his decision, but she could not understand why he could not smile nor why he would not. It was a simple action…the action of smiling, but he would not do so for her or anyone else.
I want to say yes…I want to take her hand and accept her offer, but…I fear…I cannot…because…I will hurt her and I must die first…I have to die…I cannot live…for to live…I will hurt more people…I have to say…no…
“I apologize, but I don’t feel like dating right now.” Sassacus licked his arid lips. “Normally, I would have said yes. You’re a wonderful person, Alice, but…I can’t…I’m sure you’ll understand…and I hope you do…but…I’m not the same person you met last year…in fact, you can’t even tell me apart from my brothers anymore…”
“What happened over summer?” Alice suddenly begged, her features pale and sad. “You used to be so nice! All of you used to be so nice! Now, though, you’re so cold! No one can stand to be around you! It’s horrible! You were so nice before, but…I…you met someone else, didn’t you? You have a secret girlfriend that you can’t tell anyone about because she’s older! You have an older girlfriend, don’t you?”
“I had a dream…” Sassacus looked away from her, his eyes resting upon the fluttering branches of summer trees soon to lose their leaves to a bloodthirsty autumn. “I had a dream when summer began…and then…abruptly, it ended…right there where it began…and I lost myself to them…”
Let’s promise to love each other! Let’s promise to never leave each other! Let’s promise to be best friends forever and never lie to each other and never just leave each other when we are in need. Let’s go to each other if there is a problem. Let’s trust each other…forever…such vain promises…so quickly lost in that fading dream…that I once had…
“You’re not making any sense!” Alice hollered, tears running down her cheeks. “Stop being an idiot! You like me, don’t you? So…date me!”
“I can’t.” Sassacus turned and started towards his brothers. “I don’t want to hurt you…”
“What?” Alice yelped. “Wait! Come back! Don’t go! You idiot! I don’t care! Date me! Please!”
“I don’t want to.” Sassacus yelled back, the wind carrying his voice to her. “I don’t love you. I love myself.”
No…I don’t…but I rather her think that…I love myself more than anyone else…so that she can blame pride for this…instead…of herself…instead of me…for all that is to come about…
“Jerk!” Alice screamed after him. “Jerk! I can’t believe you became a jerk over summer!”
Siraj sat down on the park bench and waited for his brothers and sister to arrive. He was unsure of what he would do in the meantime. Anxiety was welling up inside of himself. He could feel it growing stronger as the night approached.
Dark, cold, weary wind blows across my skin…or so…it shall…as stars fill the blue so dark that only the ocean of the night can understand its impact…and the moon rises only long enough to send silver across my face…before the clouds hide it from the blood to be spilled. We…us…that will soon lose to them…again…
“I don’t want them to take control again.” Siraj whispered, his eyes closing partially as the sun hurt his eyes. “Don’t permit them too…not again…not again…”
“To die.” Ara’s voice perked his ears and he looked at her. “I want to die…”
“No…” Siraj placed a hand upon her cheek and stroked it tenderly. “Don’t wish that…not yet…don’t wish for such a thing…not yet…don’t…say something…like that…”
Ara closed her eyes as she held her brother’s hand to her cheek. “I want to…live long enough for winter to come…”
“It’s still summer…” Siraj cooed, his lashes fluttering. “Will still must face autumn.”
“I wonder…” Shaan stepped into the conversation and sat down beside his brother. “Shall we be vampires for Halloween?”
“Sounds tasteful…” Sassacus commented as the three of them arrived as well, their eyes blazing with a growing fear. “Shall we?”
“Let’s.” Siraj stood, his hand never leaving his sister’s cheek. “Tonight…let us…”
“Shall we die this time?” Sassacus asked, his eyes flashing into Siraj’s.
“Die?” Siraj’s mouth buzzed with the formation of that word. “Die? No…not yet…not yet…”
Only the sound of the city encompassed them as they awaited for their time. Crossing the street, the entered the busier section of the massive city, entertaining the thoughts of death inside their weary minds as the world passed them by, unaware of their desires and growing tension. The sun boiled in the sky as it started towards its resting place. It exploded, finally, upon the horizon before it sank too low to offer true light.
A fierce wind crashed through the city from the direction of the setting sun. The sky twisted with morbid lusts as stars twinkled into existence and the moon rose from behind the skyscrapers. The clouds rolled in in dark tendrils and billowing darkness. Lightning flashed a moment and was followed by the roars of the lions that killed the saints.
By the time the wind had faded, the six stood alone in an alleyway, their eyes glowing red like ebony blood caught aflame. Claws had ripped from their nails, splitting the thin plates and spilling blood from their fingertips.
“Hellion Requiem, Curse of the Tormented.” The one whom was Sassacus asked as he turned to the eldest. “Did you hear them? They want to kill their bodies and make it so that we cannot live…so selfish…don’t they see that we’ve given them a great privilege to have us inhabit their bodies…these vessels of ours have poor sportsmanship, I would say.”
“Silence, Damian Macbeth, Erebus of the Tormented.” The eldest cooed, his eyes milky and distant. “We feed now and speak later. Let us take blood.”
“Wait…” The young girl stepped closer to the eldest, pressing her hand to his stomach. “This Ara also desires to die. I cannot permit this…I cannot permit…because I fear to die again…and to face that cold again…that cold sleep…”
“Fear not, Dawn Gallowsraven, my Empress of the Night.” Hellion let his hand rest upon her head. “I will not permit them to die…I have already ensured that they will forever be our vessels and that they shall not die…Quincy Dirge, Sorcerer of the Far North…”
“Yes?” The one whom was also Shaan perked at the speaking of his title.
“Watch our pets closely.” The eldest stated, his voice airy. “You know how Viktor Ladislav and Goethe Crow can become. We must not permit them to act of such.”
“They are also the Sorcerer of the Great Oceans and the Sorcerer of the Night.” Quincy smiled coyly. “I fear that I might not have the power to fight them or cause them to halt if they do so desire to continue on in their animalistic ways.”
“A pity that such a fate was brought upon them…” Damian sighed, eying the other two as they crawled about on their hands and feet, their noses to the ground as they sniffed for food, but dared not chase whatever blood they smelled. Like loyal dogs, they stayed close to their master’s side. “Hellion?”
“Let us feast before our pets rush away.” Hellion stated sternly, whipping around. “These vessels of ours are young…they desire more food than we give them…also…Quincy…your vessel sought control over you last night…and, in so doing, has harmed a girl. We must not permit ourselves to lose to such…if he were to kill her…than we would face a great trouble.”
“I will not lose to him again.” Quincy reassured the other with a bow of his body. “I merely believed he needed a moment…perhaps, to view his more disturbing side.”
“How harsh.” Hellion’s lips twitched a smile. “Depart from me.”
“As you so wish.” The three whom retained a sane mind bowed their bodies to their leader and then slipped into the night, their “dogs” in scampering four-legged tow.
Hellion breathed a heavy sigh, his breath misty in the air. “I possess you…now…dear Siraj…do not fight me…”
This is my body…mine…not yours…and you take advantage of this body and use it for your evil deeds. You burned my soul away and replaced it with your own fiery one. Why? To torment me? To make my life a living hell so that you can feast upon the blood of them…they…the humans…
“I seek revenge…upon…him.” Hellion whispered, licking his lips with his long thin tongue. “Blood is only a momentary satisfaction…until…I feast on him…your purpose…is so great…Siraj…”
I wish to fade from this existence…and the purpose you speak of…I desire not to feel it within me…as you feel whatever it is you desire…and the hate that streaks through this pure white…like weeds of black…and poison tainting water…red rose petals fall about us…in the snowy white…of a dying dream…you…who tore away my dream…you…who…are you, Hellion?
“I love you…” Hellion murmured, his voice raspy and dreadful. “I love the hatred you feel towards me. I want to accept it more with each moment you express it. You want to kill me, but, you have to kill yourself in order to kill me…you are my vessel…for now…”
Hellion smiled.
“And for now, I will enjoy the blood I cause your body to feed upon. I will suck life from the humans you once loved. Shall I? Shall I feed off of your mother? Shall I…kill her?”
The wind blew strong for a moment and Hellion’s smile faded.
“You have nothing to say? No words to halt me? No speech to stop my actions? I see…you become more like me with every passing moment…I can feel it…we will soon be one and the same and your hatred shall fade and I shall no longer love you for it would be pointless to love myself…”
You already do love yourself, dear Hellion, Curse of the Tormented. You are a soul in torment and tumult…a hell of your own making…and you bring me into your hell in order to not be alone…in order not to burn inside of yourself…I hate you, yes…and I do not want your love…
“A pity.” Hellion’s grin was broad now, revealing the long saber-like fangs. “When Hellion gives love a soul should take it…for he will never give such love again…hate me…and desire not my love…I wish not to give it to you…merely to love you whether or not we can feel it together…”
Again, his smile faded.
“Once more, you do not respond. A pity. It’s not worth it if you will not speak. Come now, Siraj…let us feed…”
Feed alone…
Quincy paused atop the edge of a skyscraper, Viktor panting by his side. He could smell the sky’s breath as it heaved in and out, the clouds billowing higher and higher, covering the face of the moon and the eyes of the stars. Viktor let out a whine and then pressed his face into Quincy’s leg, rubbing his nose into the limb and begging with his consistent whimpers.
Smiling, Quincy glanced down at his replica and then rubbed the animal-like being with his hand.
“I pity you, Shani, whom this beast indwells. Viktor was once a great Sorcerer, but…all Sorcerers meet an unexpected end…as I will as well…”
Perhaps a frightful end with death awaiting your arrival…and cold lips pressed against your own, once more…to kiss away the evil that possesses your soul and darkness will lift you away to a poisoning light so bright you are blinded…and finally, you sleep eternally, never to awake again as flames consume you in the shadows of hell and worms wiggle through your flesh.
“Once more, Shaan…” Quincy snickered. “Your words are unfair and indecent. You should learn for yourself better manners. I am not the kind to be hateful…as you so greatly believe…I seek only to satisfy my desires for vengeance. I will get what I want…but…by then…you will only be the faintest of memories…a black and white photograph as it were…fading…in the farthest recesses of my mind.”
Viktor whined, nipping at Quincy’s paint leg as his stomach growled.
“Of course, Viktor.” Quincy cooed, his voice as airy as the passing breeze. “We will eat…and feast…as it were…Shaan…you have nothing more to say? Shall we visit Ciera as we did last night?”
Curse the heavens and the fires of hell for permitting this beast to walk upon this earth…
“As far as I’ve seen,” Quincy smiled wickedly. “If there is a god of heaven, he has no pity for this earth so I doubt his existence. As for the fires of hell…oh, yes…hell is very real…this world…this earth that you seemed to once love so much…it is hell itself…and everyday…this hell’s fires grow. Enjoy your hell while it lasts…for when you finally fade from existence, I cannot ensure anything as far as what lies beyond death.”
Leave Ciera alone…she did nothing…she was helpless…innocent…
“Her blood did not taste innocent, did it?” Quincy murmured, his eyes gleaming with light of their own. “Enough talk. I grow hungry and as does Viktor.”
Another night slips by and I lose myself to him again…I can never win, no matter how much I desire…they will always defeat me…as the humans scorn me…they…them…they haunt my body and my soul, now no more, floats free somewhere. Oh, Quincy! Have you no mercy? Have you no pity? I am dying inside of this body! This vessel that you use…its soul is fading and all that your mind lusts for is blood…and vengeance for one whom I do not know…
“Him.” Quincy growled darkly and Viktor flinched as he looked up at the other, his eyes filled with understanding even though he could not be pulled from his feral state. “Him…he…how I hate him…”
Damian dashed past the buildings, his motions quick and fluid as his following beast, Goethe, galloped on all fours behind him. The wind stripped his hair back as he moved, his body almost like rubber slinging through the air. He shot up a wall, his feet hitting the brick with silent steps as Goethe clawed his own way up. He landed upon the building’s rooftop and stood there in a statue-like form as his companion slithered up beside him.
“Goethe, love…” Damian whispered, his voice choked for a moment. “I pity you…and the pain it must be for you to be in such a state…one day…I will free you…I am an Erebus…I fear not the fate of a Sorcerer…not for myself…though…I fear for yours…which has already been wrought…oh, Goethe, love…one day…we will love again as we did before…”
My brother you speak to…my body, your vessel…his body, his vessel…that body is my brother and you would use my body, which you call your vessel, to defile him…I shall not permit it…I shall not let these hands…touch…nor these lips…to kiss…nor this body to move ever so close as you so desire…besides…aren’t you both male?
“Males…” Damian smiled as he knelt down before Goethe-within-Sachar’s body. “We can love each other too, dear naïve vessel of mine…Goethe and I…we loved…like no others ever loved…”
Tenderly, Damian placed a hand on Goethe’s cheek, provoking the feral creature to nuzzle his hand and nip at it fondly. Smiling sadly, Damian began to stroke the cheek of his once-lover. Slowly, his body moved closer to the other as his lips pressed against the feral one’s.
“Stop me, vessel, if you can.” Damian coaxed, his words dripping with ill-intent. “Halt my actions, weak one…stop me…from taking him…”
Goethe’s hands reached out to Damian, his fingers brushing across the throat of the other.
My brother and I have no say! I have no words to speak to stop you! My body belongs to you now! I have no power! I am weak! I am incapable! I am yours!
Damian stopped, his eyes wide with coming thoughts. He could not move as he stared down at Goethe, but his eyes did not see the other. His tongue slid across his lips in a lethargic fashion as his world was striped of all that he had once viewed as ideal.
“You are…mine…all mine…vessel…Sassacus…” Damian’s lips twitched with a growing smile. “You will become mine for sure, Sassacus…and I will truly possess you.”
Falling faster…my dreams fade more with every passing moment that you control me…I will lose to you…as autumn loses to winter and you will become my winter…my storm…my snow that falls through my eternal night…drift closer to me…and let me poison you…with what is left of my hatred…oh, beloved Damian…