Elijah
It doesn't matter how many times I encounter this man.
Looking upon him is to look upon pure evil, a creature without scruples, without ability to love. With a foreboding appearance—inky hair streaked with silver and a stiff suit that allows little movement—he stands above me, as if willing me to leave my knees.
To be between worlds, a place I've only been once before in the presence of the Lord, it is only natural to be fearful of the destination. The endless void of galaxies and never-ending space only heightens that sense of displacement.
Only knowing that I'm in the presence of a demon eager to see me disjointed do I find the courage to stand, to rise to his height and set my shoulders squarely, piercing him with a look that should easily show the hatred I possess for him. He is undoubtedly taller than I, freakishly so considering I already stand over six feet and yet once I'm up, he seems somehow smaller in comparison.
The god bristles, unable to hide his distain in this proximity.
The ordeal he's torn me abruptly from on earth weighs on me like a boulder. I speak through teeth that physically ache to be extended to their true length, wishing to bring forth death. "You brought me to this place because you fear me on earth?"
As expected, his head cocks with disbelief. "I do not fear you, vampire."
"Then return me to the ground." My wrists ache in the straining. I want very much to hurt him, and hurt him badly. "We will deal with this there."
"That would hardly be a fair fight. I cannot bring harm unto you."
An explosion of noise erupts from my chest, leaving me in the form of a snarl. "You dare speak of fairness while a graveyard now exists because of your pride!"
"Did you really expect I'd allow my brother to aid her and exact no countering attack? You are a war hero, lad. Surely you understand a fair deal about war by now." He shakes his head. "He's moved the chess pieces from the very beginning. I'm tired of losing this war because I don't want to hurt her."
"That's a goddamn farce and you well know it."
"It's not." He overlooks my disheveled appearance. "As much as you wish to deny it, I have restrained myself considerably from countering against her. Do you actually think I desire to torment her so?"
"I do. I think it gives you sick pleasure to exert power over her."
"Cassandra is by no means a submissive woman. Very little did I exert power over her in reality. The woman has a keen way of weakening a man to her will, as you well know."
"Is this why you've summoned me here? To fiddle around with words, persuade me to your cause?"
"I summoned you here to talk sense into you. After what you just saw, I thought perhaps you'd listen."
He's circling me, attempting to remind me of whose domain I stand upon.
Perhaps a smarter man would recognize the displacement, the Dark God's advantage of familiarized ground and keep a closed mouth. However, my skin feels as if it's peeling, tissue by slab of tissue. I can still recall Paris's agonizing wails, how Damien tried to carve out my very eyes. I can remember a man desperately using the people I love against each other, leaving me helpless to watch it unfold.
"I expected the earthquake, the threatening of our lives. I didn't expect you'd be heartless enough to take out your frustrations on the innocent. Somehow, we both thought even that was beneath you."
I clearly strike an open wound. He stops circling me like a vulture craving prey, and drops his face before he can show how Cassandra's disappointment wounds him. I still see it. The slight twitch of his mouth, the darkening of his gaze. It makes me eager to continue.
"Throughout all of this, she's maintained some unnatural level of pity regarding you. It gives me great pleasure to watch how quickly you've made her see the light. Jehovah didn't lead her to the light. You did. The thought of an existence with such a barbaric creature led her to finally make her decision."
"You know nothing of me. She and I have spoken about my nature in great length. She has learned to expect retaliation if I deem it necessary."
"Retaliation? You killed children, families and you did so through vampires who had finally learned to live with the human kind! If your eyes are always upon us, then you would know how attached she became to that girl! You made my own son murder her to wound Cassandra beyond compare! Do not try to deny it!"
"You do not understand—"
"She cannot procreate because of you!" I shout, losing my temper at the reminder of the pains she's already endured. "You made her live through hell on earth and you stole that chance from her! You make the world shun her and then you tear away the first child to show her grace! You are a goddamn monster for that!" I'm face to face with the bastard now, trembling in my restraint. "How much more must you make her suffer?"
"You asked for this when you came here for her," he whispers, threateningly. "You thought you were a match for a god. My brother installed that notion into your brain, and now you are suffering for it. If it brings you solace, that child is not in my care. She was passed on to the light."
"The last thing she experienced on this earth was my progeny devouring her, choking the life of her. She was blue in body. No child should meet their end at the hands of the undead."
"And yet you've slain children. You act noble now, but once, you played with humans for fun. Do not assume we are so different simply because you now desire the life my brother wants to entice you with. You are a monster, no better than any other monster. We have both done irreparable acts that cannot be taken back."
"You dare compare me to you?"
His stare is unwavering. "Yes, I do."
Appalled, I can show him only my disgust of him. "You may as well return me to clean up the mess you made. No good will come from this summoning. I have no mind to humor you."
"And yet I insist." He takes a few steps back, gesturing to walk. "I think it's high time we spoke freely."
"What the hell do you think that would accomplish?"
"I think you'd understand me better."
Pinned to my place, I stare at him, knowing he cannot lay a finger on me, nor me him as it would avail to nothing but causing more chaos for me on earth. Still, I do not wish to give him the satisfaction of compliance.
His eyes are alight, taunting me. "You want to kill me."
"I'm glad it's apparent," I snap.
"Since we both know you cannot accomplish that, why don't we speak, level-mindedly? I am not usually inclined to be a brute. I'm sure by now Cassandra has told you that we shared a friendship. She wasn't always in distress."
I chuckle, beyond fury. "You call that friendship?"
He rolls his charcoal-colored eyes, gesturing with a gloved hand towards the void. "If you would be so kind, proceed ahead. The sooner you comply, the sooner I will release you."
Stiffly, I take a step forward, and then another, loathing each moment of direction away from where this started. What is he planning? What is his motive here? What does he hope to accomplish by talking? For years now, we have surpassed talking.
I'm even more disturbed when the endless space begins to take shape into something else. A palace—his palace. I've been here only once, and that felt like one too many times.
"What do you think bringing me here will accomplish, Beelzebub?"
"Well, first, I'll tell you I hate that term."
"And yet I take immense pleasure in addressing you so."
He chuckles, now strolling beside me. Energized in my chest, the suffering my progeny's are facing festers, a whole world away from me. And completely unlike the pull to them, I feel Cassandra, a force within me on her own. Instead of heartbreak, I locate mainly concern.
What this must be like for her. I pray she can find it in her to console them.
"I do not like people taking things that are mine," Samael states, matter-of-factly. "I like even less when I let my guard down to then be trampled over."
"I assume you refer to your brother's trick."
"Yes. I didn't ask for much. I asked for one simple thing—a mate—and I gave him a millennium of light in exchange for it. I trusted him, expecting he'd pity a lonely creature trapped in Hell and give me a woman equal to our divinity. In my mind, there were no deceptions. From long before you were even born, Cassandra was promised to me. I knew of no other motive, so I fell for her from afar because I believed when the time came, she'd be pulled to me. Not another."
My boots carry blood into his immaculate corridor, a serene marble structure. "I've heard all this before."
"Then it should come to no surprise how intensely I'm willing to fight for her. You've fought just as hard."
"The lengths you go to definitely leave something to be desired."
"I have that power within my grasp. You're telling me if you possessed the elements you wouldn't use them to get what you want? You wouldn't kill for her?"
I whirl on him, wide-eyed. "They were innocent! They weren't part of this!"
"I seem to recall a man, trapped in politics—a tribunal—who had to make difficult choices." He strikes me where it'll do damage, making it impossible to fight back. I take a step back, because every part of me wishes to tear into him where he stands. "A chancellor who had to choose whether to turn in the woman he loved or lead the council astray by means of murder."
"Fuck you."
He smiles. "They begged for mercy, those women. You came at them, removed their heads from their very necks and paraded them around to drown the scent of the woman in your own bed. Tell me you are any better than me. Tell me the lengths you would go to cannot compare to mine."
"I'm trying to survive in a war made by other men. I am not the mastermind here. I did not ask to be her protector, nor did she ask to be created as a reward for power-hungry men. I will not pretend I have not sinned greatly for her. I know I don't deserve the light, nor will it probably receive me. But I will say I was given choices beyond my control and I made those choices trying to spare the one I loved. I wasn't always a good man, but from the moment I met Cassandra, I've tried my hardest to be worthy of her."
"No one would put that past you, young man. Her devotion is proof of that enough. You took a woman who had never known a kind touch and you offered all to her. It's touching, commendable, heroic even. And yet, you had no idea how hard my brother was about to make your life."
"He gave me the chance to win her heart. It's proved worth the struggle."
"Even now? As you see your blood, your kin who have lived centuries at your side devoted to you, suffering for this love? You are unmoved?" He seeks an answer I cannot bring myself to utter. I remain steel-faced, despite his probing. "You'd forsake their lives for her?"
Uncontrolled fury seizes my senses. I react accordingly, leaping forward, fisting his clothing to shake him. "If you lay a finger on either of them—"
"I ask a mere question," he says coolly.
I pull him closer, till we're nose to nose, both of us rumbling savagely. "If you harm any of them, I will personally make you rue the day you even imagined you could find happiness!"
I throw him back, discarding him with disgust, turning on my heel back the way I came, following the bloody footsteps. He keeps a close distance.
"You? A vampire? You hold high stock in your abilities, that's for sure!"
"You couldn't possibly understand, Beelzebub. You lack the patience for love. You pretend to understand it. It's laughable you believe you shared anything close with Cassandra."
"You're pushing your luck."
"Am I?" I stop, turning to him. "All you've done is interfered since she returned. It's no wonder your brother had to play your game. You were tormenting her to the point of madness! If you think I'm going to ever side with you, especially after today, you are far more delusional than I thought."
Our surroundings shift, transforming into another room entirely. I glance around with suspicion, seeing an unsuspecting room. A bedroom recently used. The bed is rumpled, covers turned about.
"You know, it's been a month that you've had her on earth... For me, it's been mere days."
With my first inhale, a cautionary measure I take in any of my surroundings, I freeze altogether.
Unmistakably, I smell... her.
"I bet your senses are on fire right now."
"This is low," I seethe, "even for you."
I feel him creep up behind me and plant a firm hand on my shoulder. He ignites my brain, filling me with memories that aren't my own. Played before my unwilling eyes, as if it were happening, I see her on top of him, her abundant black hair rippling down her naked back as she moves over him.
"I know the sounds she makes when she cannot control herself," he whispers. "When she unravels. It's all there. The way her flesh seared my hands, how her lips held enchantments that make one powerless. I can still taste her sleekness, how sweet it is."
I close my eyes to block out the sight.
"Does it pain you? To know how wild she could get in my bed? Our bed?"
"I'm... relieved you showed me this," I whisper, opening my eyes. His silence speaks volumes. I've shocked him.
"Relieved?"
"Yes. You see, I had no real idea of it, how she forced herself to get into bed with a monster such as you. This has enlightened me."
"Are you mad?—"
I cut him off. "I can smell your arousal, as well as hers, you're right. My senses are keen. They've never failed me."
He thinks he's showing me something that will rouse jealousy.
Ever blind to his faults, he doesn't see the way she's shaking, a sight I'm unused to because she's never had to be drugged in my bed. Her head rolls as she grinds into him, sinking her nails into his flesh, leaving bloody scars in their wake. The sight is erotic and disturbing, something I wish I could have lived without seeing and yet, here I am.
"Do you really think there is anything enticing about seeing a woman too drugged to see—to feel?"
I don't feel jealousy. I feel fury.
I spin on him and his eyes slant. For the first time today, I truly think I've blindsided him.
"Do you think my love is so easy turned? That you'll show me a fuck and I'd turn my back on her? Resent her? Discard her?"
Samael's features turn to stone. I'd be a fool to not see the danger in it.
His fingers curl threateningly around my throat. "You have two more months, and I cannot be ignored."
"You disgust me. You tried to corrupt an angel and it backfired."
"I am your superior, you foolish man. You will bow to me. I will make it so."
I grab him, exchanging all tension in my arms into his body. I see momentary stars. Just white noise, complete weightlessness. He is firm beneath my hands as I come to, regaining my sight. The static blindness dissipates and I'm left staring into the gaze of a god who is... afraid.
We are on earth.
I've brought him to earth. To China. To our tunnels.
How in the hell?
We both look at each other, wide-eyed, sharing a brief moment of mutual confusion.
Cassandra's voice can be heard, distantly. His hungry eyes shift toward the sound and my grip on him tightens, prepared to attack. He frees himself from my grasp, shooting for the door, but I slam into the wood, holding it closed.
Panic overwhelms me as he disappears, forcing me to throw open the door and chase him. "Goddamn you!"
It doesn't even matter that he cannot touch her. I don't even want him to look at her.
Just entering the room with the massacre of bodies, I throw myself forward as the commotion catches the attention of all the vampires, huddled in the middle of the room. Cassandra's face goes ghostly pale. Damien and Paris, who have never seen the sight of the devil before, are momentarily stunned as I drag the man back with a snarl, becoming primal, almost animalistic.
The predator is coming out.
He cannot fight back, but I won't let him go. I'm murderous, needing to see blood.
The power within my hands feels different, maybe even granted by Jehovah in order to protect the inhabitants around me. He blocks me effortlessly, a worthy opponent in combat.
But he doesn't possess the rage I do.
I grind his face into the bloody guts, a hand pushing down on the back of his skull. His fist feels like a train colliding into my ribs. I know they've cracked instantly.
"You. Fucking. Beast!" I snarl, unable to recognize my own voice. We're on our knees now, having rolled in the blood of his victims. I can hardly see, blinded by actual hatred, a loathing so powerful I cannot anticipate my movements anymore.
Out of the corner of my eye, Damien and Paris are doing what I would want them to. They are forcing Cassandra out of the room, out of his sight. The vampires don't dare move toward their own god, for fear of what he could do to them afterward.
Cassandra's fighting against them.
The devil is rushing to his feet, eyes only on her.
I will not warrant it. I surge up to grab him.
And there's a long moment of complete stillness... stillness before there isn't.
Before I'm falling to my knees.
Before energy implodes around me like an atom bomb.
Samael is nowhere to be seen. I'd imagine I'd only dreamt him if it weren't for the stunned faces of the onlookers. Cassandra pushes at Damien, scrambling her way across the room, pretty damn fast for a human. "ELIJAH!" she shrieks.
"I'm okay," I choke out, not entirely sure if I'm telling the truth. "I'm—"
She slams into me, throwing me back, frantic. Bringing my hands hesitantly to her back, I stare over her head, observing the clueless vampires—suddenly questioning everything around me.