Forfeit Souls (The Ennead Book 1) (14 page)

The thing that was foremost in my mind was Ellie. I was noticing that it usually was anymore. I thought of this girl as Ellie, how she must have felt the night that she was taken. Knowing what I now knew of the Asakku, I was sad to admit to myself that I knew she had died in fear.

It was too similar. Maybe I would become like Ryan. Maybe I wouldn’t be able to get past the demons of my past. I don’t know that I would be upset with being worthless, if it meant that I didn’t have to do this.

No. I had to do this. I still had to avenge Ellie, and I would never know to whom that vengeance should be given, if I didn’t play my part now. I would do my best to make sure this girl didn’t suffer, but sadly, she would have to die.

I stepped out of the alleyway and found myself behind her in a moment; grabbing her shoulder and head I poised my teeth over her neck about to take her. But I couldn’t.

I couldn’t make myself take the life of someone who, as far as I knew, was blameless. In that moment of pause she wrenched herself from my grip, there was no scream, she was too frightened by what she saw.

At first, I didn’t think she would even run from me, but I was mistaken, she took less than a second to find her legs and she ran quickly down the street, screaming at the top of her lungs. She turned into an alley after a moment. I shook my head at my mistake and quickly burst into flame, traveling the distance between where I had been and the alley’s entrance in less than a second.

What I saw there took me completely aback. The girl was far off, still running, but between us, was a woman who seemed to be made of air, that was bathed in light. If there had ever been a time when I believed in angels, I would have sworn that the being in front of me was one.

-Joellen-

“Was this your home?” I asked in almost a whisper. He just nodded. “It’s very impressive.”

“My family lived here until sixteen-ten. They had been in this house for twelve generations, and then they were completely wiped out.”

I couldn’t think of anything appropriate to say, so I looked at him apologetically, hoping that it would infer my remorse. He took my hand and led me into a hallway. It was dusty, but there were tarnished sconces all along the length of the wall. With a wave of his hand, all of the candles lit simultaneously, lending their flickering glow to the dark atmosphere of the hall. I didn’t need them to see in the dark but it made the old house much more welcoming than it had originally been.

“No one has lived here since then,” he pointed to a portrait that hung on the wall, I looked at the likeness of him and smiled. “Though I have maintained everything the best I could.”

“You had blue eyes,” I said with a smile.

He nodded before moving on to the photo next to his. “This is my older brother Ryan.” The man in the photo looked very similar to Demetrius, but his nose was bigger, his mouth thinner and his eyes were a dark brown. I turned back to him, waiting for his next revelation. “You may see him again. When Father prevented Hephaestus from completely transforming me, the Asakku went after my family.”

I stopped a moment, realizing what he was saying, and my eyes immediately went to the portrait of the blond girl that looked no more than twelve. She seemed so happy in the portrait.

“The first thing they did was change my brother Ryan. Father was not in time to save him, though he tried. After a month or so, Gallu sent Ryan out to prove his loyalty. He massacred our parents and little Georgiana without a thought.” His voice was grave and he didn’t look toward the painting of Georgiana.

I looked to the woman who looked so much like Metri, and then to the man in the portrait with her. He was so different from the others in the hall. He was a large man, his red hair was starkly contrasted to the woman with him and their three children.

Metri took my hand and drew my attention away from his parents, “Hephaestus stalked me in a very similar way to your stalking.” He said as he led me into a room that seemed to be laid out as a parlor. “I had what anyone of that time could have called a happy childhood. My parents were rich, and so I was never forced to help in the fields. I received the best education that money could buy, and my mother saw to it that my siblings and I never wanted for anything.”

“I was in London on a break from the school where I was studying law when he found me.” He pulled the dusty cloth off of a red velvet sofa and bade me to sit down. “I saw him for three days before he attacked. Each time I thought he was a phantom, come to haunt me for some unknown reason. And then, on the night of the third day, he followed me to my death.”

“But Father saved you.” I interjected.

“Yes, Father had seen that I was being stalked and attempted to keep me from this fate, but he was just barely too late, as he had been with you.” He sighed heavily, “and so, here I am.”

We sat in silence for a long time. I only noticed that time had passed when dim light began to filter through the boards on the windows. We did not say anything until the sun’s light came through the crevices of the window’s shutters. Dust motes danced through the rays of light that shone into the room and cast lines of their light onto the dark wood floor and the moth-eaten blue rug that covered its center.

“We’re a pair, aren’t we?” I laughed

“A pair of what?” Demetrius said, opening his eyes for the first time all day.

“A pair of pessimists, for one.” I said, trying to cheer myself up as well as him. “We spend too much time dwelling in the past. What’s done is done. As you’ve said, it can’t be undone, so why are we wasting our time thinking about it?”

He looked at me as though I might be crazy. “It’s not like we don’t have time.”

“But just because we have all of the time in the world doesn’t mean that we should waste it. We’ve been sitting here all day.” I looked toward the windows, where the light from the day was now only barely visible at the spaces between the boards. “If we’re forced to live out eternity in this semblance of an existence, we should make the best of it.”

“What do you suggest we do?” He asked sullenly, but I could tell that he was less dejected than he was putting off.

“I might start by getting off of this sofa.” I smiled fiendishly, “and perhaps we should begin by changing our clothes.”

That made him smile. “Alright,” he said almost as a sigh, and as he exhaled he drifted away from me.

I stood in the room for a moment admiring the architecture of the old manor. It did not deserve the cobwebs and dust that now filled it. I would see to it that it would once again become a happy place for Demetrius.

When I got back to the bedroom he had already changed and was sitting at his piano, playing the 14
th
sonata again.

“I love that song,” I sighed as I went into the closet. It was different; there were more clothes on the rack and I quickly inspected them. There were still no jeans or any pants for that matter, which made me sigh. But there were several less-formal-looking dresses I could choose from. It was a blessing.

I went to sit beside him at the piano, as the sonata was ending. “I wish your favorite piece was longer.”

“How did you know it was my favorite?” I asked, slightly taken aback by his knowledge.

“You told Mrs. Peppery when you checked into the bed and breakfast.” He said with a sheepish smile.

“That wasn’t in the memory,” I accused, more curious than mad. How had he known that I had told her that?

“Lilith didn’t tell you about Mamitu?” he looked at me like he knew that she had, but I just needed a little prodding to remember. 

“The spirit of the future?” I was kind of guessing at this point. She had said the three names at once; I hoped that their realms had been respective.

“Yes. Well she doesn’t like Gallu’s plans any more than Lilith does, and she saw what you could do if you were to become an Asakku.”

“And she saw that it was bad?” I guessed again.

Demetrius nodded. “She saw your potential and sought to avert that possible future.” He narrowed one eye, making a grimace. “So she told Lilith and we were watching you when you arrived in London.”

“I see,” I said quietly. “You were stalking me just like he was.”

“But our purpose was to save you. We had no idea that you would have to be changed regardless.”

I just nodded, staring off into space. The pessimist side of me wondered if all that I was being told was true, but I was in no position to find out. That aching feeling at the back of my mind made me wonder if maybe it wasn’t a complete accident that I hadn’t been saved in time. I drove the thought from my mind. There was no reason for me to think that – other than the ample amount of time that Father would have had when Hephaestus was following me down the street that night.

“I’m sorry,” Demetrius said with his head bowed slightly. “I would have told you sooner if I could have. I wanted to tell you from the onset, when you were still human.”

“Thank you,” I said quietly back to him.

“I’m sorry,” he repeated, more quietly this time. When I didn’t say anything further, he looked up to me again. “How are we going to better the world with our existence today?”

I grimaced slightly as I looked at him sideways, “I’m hoping you’ll allow me one day to be selfish.” He was confused by my request. “I was hoping that I could go see my parents. Not so that they could see me, just to go make sure that they’re okay.”

He nodded his head slowly and I went before he had a chance to change his mind. I smiled at him as I left, and just before my surroundings completely dissolved. I saw his expression become slightly pained. When my surroundings settled, I found myself standing in a graveyard.

It was pouring down rain, which wasn’t surprising given the nature of my home state’s costal climate. I looked up and the rain stopped hitting me. I put up a small bubble that deflected the rain like and invisible umbrella. I looked down at my surroundings. Directly in front of me was my marker. I knew this most certainly as I saw my own name engraved into the polished black stone.

Joellen E. Ellerbe

April 9
th
, 1987 – June 13
th
, 2009

Beloved Daughter and Friend

“It’s very tasteful,” Demetrius said from behind me. “A bit contemporary for me, but then again, I am over four-hundred years old.” He laughed and as I turned to him, he stepped around me and picked up a bundle of red roses wrapped in paper at the base of the stone, it was very elegant in its simplicity, and he put them in the hole next to the marker. It seemed to be there for just such a purpose.

“I hate cut flowers,” I said quietly. “I just don’t see a point in killing something so beautiful for the temporary decoration of someone or something else.”

“It’s a symbol,” he smiled pensively.

“I know that….” I had to stop. I had been here just months before I had left for England, to tend my father’s grave, but there were more additions to the family plot than just my own.

I looked at the names on the tombstones three times before I felt the sorrow and rage begin to build within me and I felt the tear that rolled down my face as I allowed myself to be blown away by the violent twisting of the gale around me.

The burnt husk of the building that rose around me was sickening. I felt my stomach twisting and I wondered if I could still vomit.  I looked at the walls that had once held the dark blue wallpaper that my mother loved so much. The floor was pocked with holes that showed the desecrated carcass of the first floor of what had once been my home. Acrid tears fell freely from my eyes as I kneeled down to pick up the white teddy bear that lay dejectedly on the floor. One of its ears and its tail were seared, and there was a hole ringed by the black mark of an open flame on its back.

The entire room was a blackened, charred mess. I clutched the bear as I walked into the hallway, it wasn’t in much better condition. Black marks flowed up the walls where the flames had climbed up them.  Picture frames held glass that looked like an oil slick and the railings on the landing had been rendered to toothpicks.

I went to my room, it wasn’t as bad as the other parts of the house and I dug into my closet.  I found a bag and put the teddy bear in it. Then I grabbed what I could that wasn’t burnt.

There was movement at the doorway and I quickly sent a burst of air toward it. Demetrius just waved it away with his hand. I looked to the hallway behind him, blackened wood, wallpaper that curled up from where it was burnt. I couldn’t stay here anymore. Grabbing the bag I quickly closed my eyes. I didn’t want to see this anymore.

I opened my eyes to the vast expanse of snow in front of me. My feet dangled off of the rocky ledge I sat on and I leaned back into the snowdrift that I was nearly encased in. It was such a stark contrast from the burnt out husk of my childhood home.

I felt the slight shift in the wind and knew that Demetrius had found me again.

“Did you know?” I asked. My tone was as cold as the snow we sat in.

“I didn’t,” he said with no hint of a lie. “I was worried about what we might find, but I didn’t think that the Asakku would have known where to find your family. The worst I had expected was that your mother would be upset and that her being distraught would upset you.” I opened my eyes to look at him with a knit brow. “I swear,” he swore.

“I believe you.” I meant it, but it came out sounding less sure than I was.

He looked over his knees to where the forest picked up again thirty feet below, the trees that spread out before us were covered in a blanket of white powder. “Where are we, by the way?” He asked glancing at me sideways.

“We,” I smiled, as I remembered where we were, “are at my favorite place in the United States.”

He gave me an odd look. “This wins when pitted against Hawaii?”

“Yep.” I just stared out into the air in front of us, trying to cry.

“Ok, so where exactly is your favorite place in the US?” he prodded when he realized I would say no more.

“You, my dear Metri, are sitting on the Mogollon Rim.” I smiled at its name. I missed this place.

“And the Mogollon Rim is where?”

“We’re about a half an hour north east of Payson, Arizona.” I said matter-of-factly. “I’ve never been here when there was this much snow before, they don’t plow the forest roads out this way, so it’s impossible to get to unless you go on foot… well, for a mortal.”

“I didn’t think you liked the snow.” He began making indents in the bank with his fingers.

“I didn’t. But when you’re dead, and the cold doesn’t bother you anymore. Things change.” I scooped up a large pile of snow and threw it in the air, suspending it there and making the individual flakes spin before allowing them to fall.

“I am sorry about your family,” Demetrius said quietly from beside me.

I shook my head, “I’m just happy to know that they’re able to find some peace in their death. I envy them that.”