Ancient Awakening (The Ancient), page 17
“You have a fine boy there, Samson; I can see why you would say that. But men like you and me cannot give up the good fight. It’s in our blood.”
“Maybe your blood, Mr. “I Cannot Be Killed”, but I have a child to look after.”
“That is fine. I'm not looking for another monster hunter.”
“You’re not?”
“No, I am looking for a guide. This world is a strange place to me. I need a local guide. Someone to show me the ropes. Now being in my line of business, it is handy to have a guide who is also a fair shot with a rifle.”
“Look, I'm sorry. I still can't.” Mike paused a second, and for once Miller did not break in. “I've tried to help before. Many times. And, well, I don't have the best track record. Look at poor Ann.”
There was another moment of silence between the men.
“Aye, we did lose that one, did we not?” Miller said. Then he slapped his hands to his knees and got up. “But that doesn't mean we get to stop trying. Those beasties are still out there. And they like to stay busy and do exactly what you saw the other day. Many more folk like Ann will come to the same end. That is, unless you help me stop them.” Mike looked down at his drink. Miller tried again.
“We failed Ann, and many people in that hospital, Samson. You and I both. We must redeem our honor. Otherwise those people died in vain.” That struck a chord deep inside of Mike. Redemption? Was that even possible?
Then Mike changed up his mind. “Ok, Miller. You’ve got yourself a guide. With two conditions!”
“Name them.”
“One. Sam always comes first. Always.”
“I have been a father many, many times and would expect no less.”
“Two. We find a way to help these people whenever possible. Most of the people who died in that hospital, at least the ones we killed, were just innocent people infected with some sort of...”
“Curse?” Miller offered.
“Disease or something. A lot has changed in the last hundred years buddy, we don't just go chopping people's heads off. We try to help them. There must be a way.”
Miller rubbed his chin. “That is no easy task.” He stopped and considered. “Alright, if we can find a way to help the cursed then of course we will. The world has changed so much, perhaps I should as well. Although I'll warn you, like the events of last week, sometimes it’s them or us. And, in my mind, it’s always them.”
“Fine... Deal.”
They shook hands. Miller grinned his mad smile and slapped Mike on the back.
“So it begins!” He laughed.
20 - Next Time
Catherine stared at herself hard in the mirror. She was going out dancing tonight. Dancing. Her. It just seemed so unbelievable, but it was happening. She just had felt so good lately, like she was a whole new person. Except the eating. She had been so hungry of late. But that was really nothing to be concerned about. She had been slightly freaked out when she heard what had gone down at that hospital. So many people dead and she had only missed it by twenty four hours. For once, she had been the lucky one.
A little girl’s squeal distracted her. Missy, her sister’s six year old was chasing the poor dog again. What a cute little girl she is. Why I could just eat her all up.
Epilogue
It was warm in the sun. Well, warmer. The morning light crept into Ann's hiding place every day around eight o’clock. By then she had long returned from her nightly errands and was ready to pass the daylight hours sleeping as best she could. However, since her transformation into, well, whatever she was, she never really felt warm. The sun helped a bit and she curled up in the beam like a large white-winged cat and attempted to rest. Now her dreams were filled with images of her pink flesh, her blond hair, her friends, regular food and her waking hours were the ones full of terror. In the darkness of night the bright white scales were easier to pass off as skin, leaving her to lead a nocturnal lifestyle.
Ann Melakh had done a piss poor job of offing herself. To her credit, there are very few times in life where you can literally sprout wings and fly away, but in her case, it had been true. When she had fallen almost ten stories, the wings had revealed themselves, catching the wind and slowing her descent. In the end, she landed in a dumpster. Of course. A fitting end to a sad life. Really, Ann Melakh had died that day, at least the human one. She could not stand to look at this new one. She was covered in scales, white shiny scales. Her fingers were long and narrow and ended in large claws. She had no hair at all anywhere on her body and she was taller now, more than a foot, with ears that came to a sharp point. She had not brought herself to look in a mirror to see her face but she could feel the sharp, pin-like teeth that now lined her jaws. And the eyes, she could not bear to look into those empty black eyes on her own face. Her tongue, at least, seemed normal. She not grown a large tentacled thing that the demons seemed to use to feed. In fact, one thing she had been surprised and pleased to learn was that she still craved normal food. She would have thought she would develop a taste for human blood or babies or puppies or something. Perhaps that came later? Or perhaps she sucked at being a demon as much as she had sucked at being a human. And then there were the wings. Giant bat-like things that jutted out of her shoulder blades. Made of a fleshly membrane, they were incredibly flexible. She found she could wrap them around herself like a cloak or fold them flat against her back.
Her first few days had been a haze of pain as she adapted to the new body. She remembered very little of it. In her first true recent memory she had already found this place, an abandoned factory off Broad Street. The other homeless folk that lived there gave her plenty of space, which suited her just fine. She found an old coat which covered her wings, and an old scarf to wrap around as much of her face as possible. At night she almost passed for human.
The night before this particular morning, she had walked into a 7-11 and stolen some beans. When the shop keeper tried to stop her, she simply pulled the scarf down and smiled at the man. He gave her no more trouble, and later she had feasted on generic brand pork and beans. Now, in the morning sun, she was content like a snake on a stone. She had wrapped her wings around her and then had pulled the coat over as a makeshift blanket.
Comfy.
Then something poked her.
“Rise and shine, little sister,” came a deep, dry, cracking voice. It sounded familiar. Ann jumped from her resting place and spun to meet the intruder. Her wings spread wide and she bared her teeth.
It was the blind homeless man from the street. The tall black man in the old suit wearing the ragged top hat. The one she had passed every day on her way to work in what seemed to be another lifetime. Now though, the man seemed blurry, as if surrounded by a fine black mist.
“Wooow, peace little sister. I’m not here for a fight.” This did not make Ann relax one bit. She sensed something from this man, she wasn’t sure how, but she did not think he was human.
“Who… what are you?” She stammered.
The man smiled. “Funny, I was going to ask you the very same thing. You can call me Abraham and I think you know what I am.” A long black tongue slithered out of his mouth and pushed up the top hat, then slipped back.
“Demon,” Ann hissed.
“Of a sort, yes, but I am not one of the seven. Oh no, not me, Madam. I am just one of their long forgotten children. Cursed by them, if you will, but no longer bound by them. I am a free agent.”
“A free agent? You mean they don’t control you anymore?”
“No more voices in this head. Well,” the old man shrugged, “less.” He leaned on his cane and laughed hard at that. “I bet you see their mark on me now though, don’t you?” He raised his glasses, revealing empty sockets. Ann was repulsed. ”I took out this mark but you can’t hide from those with the sight.”
“The mist that’s all around you, that’s what you’re talking about?”
“Yes, the sight.” Ann looked down at her own hands. She did not see anything odd. Well, besides the white scales and claws.
“You see, I hunt the seven. It’s a little side job I do, you know, till my singing career takes off. It’s payback for what they did to me all those years ago.”
A demon demon hunter? This guy watch too much “Angel” or what? “Wait, you hunt demons? Like Miller?”
“Miller? ... Miller? Oh, you mean the Ancient one. He still using that name? He isn’t here, is he?” Abraham glanced around.
How does he see? “No, I don’t think so. I haven’t been in much of a hurry to find him either. I don’t think we’ll get along as well this time.”
“That’s wise. The Ancient one has no love for us Cursed. I try and stay out of his way.
But you, I think he is going to want to meet you. I think everyone is going to want to meet you.”
“What do you want?” Ann asked.
“Want? Me? Just want to welcome you into the family. You see, I’ve been watching you for a while now. Truth be told, I was asked to kill you.”
“What?” Ann backed away.
“Well, not you exactly. Any of the seven that came out of that school. And you were the only one I ever found there.”
“Me? I’m not one of the seven. My boyfriend, my ex, he did something to me. Infected me with this…” Ann motion to her wings on her back.
“Oh no, little sister,” Abraham cut back in. “You WERE one. Lilith, the queen of them all. Or the mother of them all, if you like.”
“No...” Ann started. “That’s crazy.”
“Oh it’s crazy, I’ll give you that. But it’s also true. I saw her light flickering inside of you as you walked to and fro. Flicker and die. The most amazing thing.” The old man stepped closer and spread out his arms to the sky above. “Somehow, you killed it. Somehow you stayed you. That, little sister, is a first. No one has ever come back from being taken by a demon. A miracle! God be praised!”
Ann didn’t know what to say to that at first. “So I’m not a demon?”
“I don’t know. That’s the fun part.” Abraham smiled and tipped his hat to her. “You are something new. There isn’t any demon mark on you anymore. You are clean. Pure. Which is why it’s taken me so long to find you. To show you…”
Out of the hat Abraham pulled out a small, dirty mirror and raised it to Ann’s face. Her own blue eyes stared back at her.
“To welcome you to the family, little sister, and welcome you to the war.”
End book 1
Joseph Miller will return in Ancient Enemies
To read more go to:
www.ancientawakening.com
Matthew Bryan Laube, Ancient Awakening (The Ancient)
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