[Awakening - Legend] "Crossroads" [5 of 5]
Marky got with Sharon
And Sharon got Cherese
She was sharing Sharon's outlook
On the topic of disease
Darkness
He loved her.
Here, now, this instant; behind the low stone wall the whiz of hot lead flying by them Twilight crouched loading the last of their ammo into his semi-auto. He paused to look at her, his personal shotgun messiah; deadly as fuck and beautiful as the end of days. Her hair had loosened from her ponytail as she nonchalantly loaded her pump action pistol grip 12 gauge. She glanced at him and smirked at him, not even flinching as shattered stone from the hail of incoming fire dusted them both.
"Twilight this is the last time I let you pick where we go on vacation… let's go to South America you said. Let's see the ruins you said… I knew you had something under your sleeve," she chuckled cocking the 12 gauge and testing the grip, his warrior-princess.
He smiled at her and chuckled, "You da one who wanted to get out of bed dis mornin' Baby-girl. If it been up to me cheri, we would be sippin' on boat drinks and fuckin' like it goin' outta style… but noooooo, yah jus' had tah see de sights. And really we coulda jus' bribed dem." He smiled as she spat disgusted in the dirt.
Hoisting the shotgun and bunching her toned muscular body, "Not on my watch babe, tell you what… you focus on that pistol and keeping that whatzit there safe like a good Mystie; you let me handle the Arrow stuff. If you're really good I'll let give you an 'interrogation' when we get back to the hotel." Her smile was wicked and wonderful, and with a nod and a smile from him, she sprung and begun firing over the wall. Legend started forward when it went south. To fast to blink, to quick to scream; a hailstorm of gunfire ripped through the air forcing Gabriel back down under cover.
He stared in shock as he turned to face his beloved, watching as time slowed down she moved swift as an arrow to take cover and as their eyes made contact that last time, a meaty thud and her head exploded into a cloud of blood, bone and brain-matter. Her body fell forward like a tree falling, and as it hit the ground it sent a shock through his system.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
Mikey had a facial scar
And Bobby was a racist
They were all in love with dyin'
They were doing it in Texas
Darkness
He loved her.
Watching her move tasted like ozone before a thunderstorm's eruption, an exultation of will and whim wrapped in leather, lace, and plaid. The music was the raw, unfiltered, and meaty jams of drum and bass cut with enough Ska to kick your ass. And she was in her mix, her element; when god had dreamed of sensuality and sex appeal he'd made her mold... and she was his.
They'd hopped from party to party; dancehalls to undergrounds, raves to metal clubs always chasing the dragon's tail. Riding high on whatever they could pour down their throats or stick in their veins. He'd stomped with her to the sound of metal rending and the wail of a banshee made flesh, they'd fucked in the faded light of a lone streetlamp on a random metal fire escape while the skies unleashed a hot storm of rain upon their heads. And they didn't stop, from the east side to Queens, across the bridge and all throughout the Burroughs they'd hunted for the next high, the next hit, the next bump, the next fix. Chasing, loving, thriving, fucking, dancing, and romancing for days, weeks, years, and eternity without end.
He'd found the score from someone reliable, someone faceless, someone unknown in his state it was hard to tell fact from fantasy reality from fiction. They'd had just enough for one line, he'd been chivalrous and she'd blown him for it. They'd laughed over drinks that'd kill weaker beings; and danced.
It'd happened suddenly, in a heart beat, in a moment; one second she was moving, that wild near ecstatic orgy of motion, vibrancy and will... the next she'd vanished. No fallen, as the crowd opened he saw her lying their, battered by an unwitting mass of the blind. He'd fallen to his knees and taken her in his arms just as her body shivered one last time and was still.
He screamed her name, just as the music went silent and chaos ensued; people fleeing like rats in a sinking ship. He howled his anguish to the gods, the gates of hell, to the silent and the uncaring. He gazed down at her dark hair and hollow cheeks, her soul gone from its prison of flesh, and hot tears trickled down his face.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
Tommy played piano
Like a kid out in the rain
Then he lost his leg in Dallas
He was dancing with a train
Darkness
He loved her.
As icy and demanding as she always was, he loved every once of her. Their connection was one of constant tug of war, the living legend and the ice princess; there was nothing he loved more than melting that exterior of hers. And when she melted, young vibrant and lovely he'd watched her flirt and tease as the ultimate temptation, the boss' jailbait of a daughter. Fucking her on her eighteenth birthday had been one of the best bad ideas he'd ever had. Continuing to fuck her well after saner men would have gone to ground or ended it had not been an option.
They'd been sleeping together, sneaking off together and reveling in each other for almost a year now, and the bond between them showed no signs of weakening. It was dangerous they both knew it, if her father found out she'd be hauled off to some prison like estate for god only knows how long, and him... he'd be deader than Hoffa, and probably easier to find. But it didn't matter, or rather it did until they were within sight of one another, and then it was off to the races and a scramble to find an excuse to be somewhere quiet.
Only a few people knew, her best friend, his kid sister, her Jew lapdog, his right hand guy, maybe 5 people total, and five was five to much. It had all come to a head after a one in a million chance accident, and three magic words.
"Gabriel... I'm pregnant."
Panic warred with joy, surprise with foreboding, trepidation with exultation; but it didn't matter because his beloved was going to have his baby. Everything would work itself out, they'd been able to keep something secret, and she’d been able to take a summer in Europe. It was hell to be separated from her, but her safety and the safety of their child was more important. It was late summer that she called him, there was some issue and she wanted to see him, he'd flown over as soon as he could but by then the beginning of the end had come.
After only a few days together after only seven months she'd begun feel spasms, pains that had been damn near crippling. Legend had rushed her to the hospital and had sat for hours outside the operating room, when the doctor had come out with that solemn expression he'd already felt the consumption of his soul.
"Mr. Legend... I'm sorry to say that your wife... she's gone sir. The child with her, I'm so very sorry there was nothing we could do."
He'd waited until the doctor had finished speaking to scream, a sound like thunder through the halls of the building.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
They were all in love with dyin'
They were drinking from a fountain
That was pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Darkness
He loved her.
Even though he always mocked her for falling asleep after they left the bar, and even though she threatened to hit him with her wrench for it; it was a natural part of their pattern, his Solèy had always been a daytime kind of girl. As he drove occasionally, he'd glance over at her curled up with her head on the window pane. The light from the city streets highlighted her soft face and the beauty of the joy and innocence with which she saw the world. How he loved that wonder and beauty, vibrancy and a brightness of outlook that was supposedly so rare in a Moros, let alone one of his.
He smiled as he recalled how they'd met, the old man had sent him to find her after he'd mastered enough of his own training. He remembered striding up bold as brass as she'd been waste deep in an engine, he'd laughingly enjoyed the curvy view for quite a while until she noticed him. Her deep red blush had made his heart quicken, and oddly enough they ended up not in the backseat of a convenient cab but walking in the park having ice cream. She'd always made him enjoy the oddest and simplest of things; some said she'd made him a better man, but then he'd respond that love was supposed to work wonders.
They'd changed each other a lot over the last year, and yet the one thing that hadn't changed was the bond they shared with each other. A constant in a life filled with transition, a certainty in world of unknowns. His Solèy, brightening the shadows around his heart, and allowing him to grow; he was lucky to have her. Twilight smiled as he watched her glancing at the road just in time to notice the light of the truck that hit them as it ran the light.
A shattering of glass, the squeal of rubber, the scream of metal; the world rendered in monochrome as pain, shock and surprise rippled through his fleeting consciousness. Trying to stay above the pain, his first words through broken ribs and flecked with blood was for her safety. Turning his head was like a knife stabbing into his neck, but he forced himself to see her, to find her. She was smiling still, so peaceful, jostled out of position it was amazing to him that she'd been able to remain asleep. But then he noticed with a sick twist of his gut the huge piece of metal through her chest, and his world shattered.
As unconscious claimed his soul, his mind wailed at the loss of her.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
I don't mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows
I can taste you on my lips, and smell you in my clothes
Cinnamon and sugary and softly spoken lies
You never know just how you look through other people's eyes
Darkness
He loved her.
He held her hand and recalled that first meeting, brazen and bold the two had sparred with words and wit at the behest of the old man. Some dive bar in the ATL, from their first glance there had been something special. He kissed her fingertips as he smiled tenderly at the memory.
She'd accepted him, before he'd even known he was being judged... trust that crazy old fucker to put the right combination together. She'd always joked that he'd probably just thrown darts at pictures on the wall to make the decision. He was lucky like that, we all were; and she'd shown him the way of it. He owed her so much, and he'd given her his everything; not only the keys to the crafting of his soul, but possession of his heart as well. They'd both been damaged it'd taken a miracle to make it worth, it had been a one in a million shot. He remembered the first time they'd heard someone say that about them, they had both turned and laughed and at the same time said the same thing, "Just as good as a sure thing with us."
He gazed around the room they'd shared for years, as wealthy as he was she insisted that they be cozy. She'd never been one for a lot of fuss, save when it came to hardware; and as with all things he'd followed her lead happily. He sighed as he turned to her once more and stroked her hair, she looked so peaceful it was fitting that she'd be able to rest here. She'd always hated hospitals.
Twilight's mind turned to the last few months, they'd tried everything to rid her of the parasite, no magic seemed to work and the creeping blackness which had begun as a patch slowly took over her whole form, there was only a little bit of her left and they'd already come to grips that once it's work was done...
With a grind of teeth he'd shut his eyes and listened to her shallow breathing, she'd been unconscious for a week now. The medics and mystics had left him to his grief and her passing. He'd thought he'd prepared but the pain that shot through him was new each time he realized again that his life with her was nearing...
He forced himself to watch, this woman who had forged his soul and his heart lying still, lying peaceful. As it consumed her, he held her hand and when her breathing stopped his tears did not.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
Some will die in hot pursuit
In fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Darkness
He loved her.
It would get her through this, he knew it would he had faith. As she screamed in pain at the voices that tortured her from within; her pale skin beaded with feverish cold sweat, she ground her teeth and her eyes snapped open showing orbs of solid black. He wiped her brow calling her name over and over again, trying to reach her; the restraints that bound her to the bed straining for release.
Twilight had found her years ago, his Piti-Fou, wandering the streets of Vegas shining like a magical beacon for the world to see. He'd taken her end, cleaned her up and they'd grown close... close enough to eventually share a bed. Her mind had lashed out at his, but had not been able to break it. Something within him had steadied his head and he'd been able to withstand her passions enough to survive the blast, he then spent many years tending to her bring her back from the edge of the abyss; an Abyss that apparently had not given up on her either.
She screamed in a language that was not meant for human mouths to utter or in human ears to hear, They had been at this all day, trying every combination of exorcism rights both powdered by the Supernal and the Fallen worlds to no avail. The scars from her bout with the entity that was trying to control her covered her arms, her legs, all over her naked form. She writhed and thrashed and fought for control, to break free, nothing was certain; nothing save for the fact that she was in for the fight of her life, a fight FOR her life.
The two of them had come to love each other by accident, his devotion to helping her birthed an ironclad dedication in her for him. As the feelings grew stronger they changed and evolved, their ties had shocked many, even themselves. Yet it worked, they complemented each other the Mastigos and the Moros; he smiled even in the storm of her fight knowing that he was blessed to have her and that with such a tie as theirs they were destined to succeed.
It was at that moment the acamoth burst from her flesh, shedding her meat from its horrific otherworldly form without care or consideration for what it was. The energies the bubbled from the raw opening that was her body tainted everything and everyone, screams filled the air and the air was soon alight with supernal fire and abyssal corruption.
Yet Twilight stood silent and still, he gazed at his lover now torn asunder, his face blank and flecked with gore and blood. As the acamoth turned its sites for easy meet he met it still and uncaring, his will broken, and his fire gone.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Darkness... broken by an eruption of light, blinding after what felt like an age lost in the void beyond Life's embrace. Gabriel's sense were weaken, ever jostle of the pine box he'd been buried him, the feel of the air upon his skin, the piercing rays of the setting sun; all combined to shock him into consciousness, the here and now.
Rough hands lifted him out of the box like a bag of potatoes, indelicate and largely uncaring as to his condition. The hard wood of the floor was disconcerting as well as painful to his revived form. He tried to sit up and only succeeded in puking his guts out over the floor. The curse that erupted in his mother tongue felt strange and alien to his ears, however after being dead for a week one learns that everything is a bit more difficult to grasp.
I don't mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows
I can taste you on my lips, and smell you in my clothes
Cinnamon and sugary and softly spoken lies
You never know just how you look through other people's eyes
It took him several hours and several tries to shrug off enough of his prior state of (non) eternal rest to understand and remember his condition, the nature of his presence in the domicile of his host, and the reasons that placed him with each.
He'd been offered stale bread and cheap rum as a token to his passage back through Legba's gates, but had waved off both. The less to owe this withered and wiry Shaman, the more likely Twilight would live to see another sunset. The bokor watched him warily saying little and looking both curious and annoyed at the presence of the tall, handsome voodoo priest. But patience is the province of the old and after enough time had passed Gabriel found himself washed (from the rain barrel outside), clothed, and staring at the beady eyes of the Priest that had aided him in his rite of passage.
Another Mikey took a knife
While arguing in traffic
Flipper died a natural death
He caught a nasty virus
The old fucker lit a cheroot and after blowing a billowing cloud of smoke in Twilight's face he spoke, his Kreyol not able to making his coarse and bitter voice any sweeter, "Three days and three nights you been gone boy. Three passes of the sun and moon since you entered Ghede's Palace. You look like something my dog wouldn't stop to piss on let alone fuck, and you got that half-dead look in your eyes."
Twilight was reminded, as the bokor chuckled hoarse at his own joke, that the old shaman's laugh was even less pleasant than his face. Yet in response he only nodded thoughtfully and continued to stare with those self same dead eyes at the ugly face. Twilight had gone through a lot; the realization that the visions, lives, or dreams that he'd experienced had left him in a place and time where perhaps none of them were true, or perhaps all of them were true, left him cold and rigid both in body and soul.
Then there was the ever-present
Football player rapist
They were all in love with dyin'
They were doing it in Texas
"So did you find the answers you went seeking for boy? When you was sitting at the Baron's table, did you get to hear his words?" While his gaze was mocking and filled with undisguised contempt, the old bokor's eyes held a hungry interest. Even in his state of composure the twitch of mouth betrayed Gabriel's pleasure in making the black magician squirm.
After a long pause, a voice broke his silence, his voice. As raspy as a stone against stone, he whispered one thing about his findings, the answers he'd sought and the secret he'd been given.
"Darkness"
Polly caught a bullet
But it only hit his leg
Well it should have been a better shot
And got him in the head
The ride back to the hotel, and then the airport, was quiet and uneventful. Leaving behind the Bokor while in his death-weakened state had led to further concessions and tokens being levied, but escape he did. Dexter kept him wrapped in a blanket, as explaining his malnourished pallor and corpselike state would have made dealing with customs and security fairly tricky.
With a blank face and a blank gaze Twilight watched the starlight in the sky and the dark seas below through the window of his jetliner. Silent as a tomb from liftoff to landing, through the Seattle city streets and all the way home, he was bathed and put to bed where he stared out of the window of his bedroom looking at the bright sunshine and beautiful weather.
They were all in love with dyin'
They were drinking from a fountain
That was pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
As he lay staring, tears began to fall unbidden from his eyes and his body shook weakly from the sobs. He muttered that word again, the word that had proven to be the answer or key to what he sought within him, what he learned of lay before him.
"Darkness..," he whispered, the Priest of Death's sobs turned to quiet bitter laughter, an echo on the wind shaking his form over and over again. Tears of pain, anguish and sorrow mixed with the bitter understanding as one for whom the bell tolls.
I don't mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows
I can taste you on my lips, and smell you in my clothes
Cinnamon and sugary and softly spoken lies
You never know just how you look through other people's eyes
[I'd like to thank everyone who actually bulled through and read all five parts. For those of you keeping track these events take place roughly 4 days after EClipse and end 4 days after that. As always comments are welcome, and hey if you can guess who the women are please try.]
And Sharon got Cherese
She was sharing Sharon's outlook
On the topic of disease
Darkness
He loved her.
Here, now, this instant; behind the low stone wall the whiz of hot lead flying by them Twilight crouched loading the last of their ammo into his semi-auto. He paused to look at her, his personal shotgun messiah; deadly as fuck and beautiful as the end of days. Her hair had loosened from her ponytail as she nonchalantly loaded her pump action pistol grip 12 gauge. She glanced at him and smirked at him, not even flinching as shattered stone from the hail of incoming fire dusted them both.
"Twilight this is the last time I let you pick where we go on vacation… let's go to South America you said. Let's see the ruins you said… I knew you had something under your sleeve," she chuckled cocking the 12 gauge and testing the grip, his warrior-princess.
He smiled at her and chuckled, "You da one who wanted to get out of bed dis mornin' Baby-girl. If it been up to me cheri, we would be sippin' on boat drinks and fuckin' like it goin' outta style… but noooooo, yah jus' had tah see de sights. And really we coulda jus' bribed dem." He smiled as she spat disgusted in the dirt.
Hoisting the shotgun and bunching her toned muscular body, "Not on my watch babe, tell you what… you focus on that pistol and keeping that whatzit there safe like a good Mystie; you let me handle the Arrow stuff. If you're really good I'll let give you an 'interrogation' when we get back to the hotel." Her smile was wicked and wonderful, and with a nod and a smile from him, she sprung and begun firing over the wall. Legend started forward when it went south. To fast to blink, to quick to scream; a hailstorm of gunfire ripped through the air forcing Gabriel back down under cover.
He stared in shock as he turned to face his beloved, watching as time slowed down she moved swift as an arrow to take cover and as their eyes made contact that last time, a meaty thud and her head exploded into a cloud of blood, bone and brain-matter. Her body fell forward like a tree falling, and as it hit the ground it sent a shock through his system.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
Mikey had a facial scar
And Bobby was a racist
They were all in love with dyin'
They were doing it in Texas
Darkness
He loved her.
Watching her move tasted like ozone before a thunderstorm's eruption, an exultation of will and whim wrapped in leather, lace, and plaid. The music was the raw, unfiltered, and meaty jams of drum and bass cut with enough Ska to kick your ass. And she was in her mix, her element; when god had dreamed of sensuality and sex appeal he'd made her mold... and she was his.
They'd hopped from party to party; dancehalls to undergrounds, raves to metal clubs always chasing the dragon's tail. Riding high on whatever they could pour down their throats or stick in their veins. He'd stomped with her to the sound of metal rending and the wail of a banshee made flesh, they'd fucked in the faded light of a lone streetlamp on a random metal fire escape while the skies unleashed a hot storm of rain upon their heads. And they didn't stop, from the east side to Queens, across the bridge and all throughout the Burroughs they'd hunted for the next high, the next hit, the next bump, the next fix. Chasing, loving, thriving, fucking, dancing, and romancing for days, weeks, years, and eternity without end.
He'd found the score from someone reliable, someone faceless, someone unknown in his state it was hard to tell fact from fantasy reality from fiction. They'd had just enough for one line, he'd been chivalrous and she'd blown him for it. They'd laughed over drinks that'd kill weaker beings; and danced.
It'd happened suddenly, in a heart beat, in a moment; one second she was moving, that wild near ecstatic orgy of motion, vibrancy and will... the next she'd vanished. No fallen, as the crowd opened he saw her lying their, battered by an unwitting mass of the blind. He'd fallen to his knees and taken her in his arms just as her body shivered one last time and was still.
He screamed her name, just as the music went silent and chaos ensued; people fleeing like rats in a sinking ship. He howled his anguish to the gods, the gates of hell, to the silent and the uncaring. He gazed down at her dark hair and hollow cheeks, her soul gone from its prison of flesh, and hot tears trickled down his face.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
Tommy played piano
Like a kid out in the rain
Then he lost his leg in Dallas
He was dancing with a train
Darkness
He loved her.
As icy and demanding as she always was, he loved every once of her. Their connection was one of constant tug of war, the living legend and the ice princess; there was nothing he loved more than melting that exterior of hers. And when she melted, young vibrant and lovely he'd watched her flirt and tease as the ultimate temptation, the boss' jailbait of a daughter. Fucking her on her eighteenth birthday had been one of the best bad ideas he'd ever had. Continuing to fuck her well after saner men would have gone to ground or ended it had not been an option.
They'd been sleeping together, sneaking off together and reveling in each other for almost a year now, and the bond between them showed no signs of weakening. It was dangerous they both knew it, if her father found out she'd be hauled off to some prison like estate for god only knows how long, and him... he'd be deader than Hoffa, and probably easier to find. But it didn't matter, or rather it did until they were within sight of one another, and then it was off to the races and a scramble to find an excuse to be somewhere quiet.
Only a few people knew, her best friend, his kid sister, her Jew lapdog, his right hand guy, maybe 5 people total, and five was five to much. It had all come to a head after a one in a million chance accident, and three magic words.
"Gabriel... I'm pregnant."
Panic warred with joy, surprise with foreboding, trepidation with exultation; but it didn't matter because his beloved was going to have his baby. Everything would work itself out, they'd been able to keep something secret, and she’d been able to take a summer in Europe. It was hell to be separated from her, but her safety and the safety of their child was more important. It was late summer that she called him, there was some issue and she wanted to see him, he'd flown over as soon as he could but by then the beginning of the end had come.
After only a few days together after only seven months she'd begun feel spasms, pains that had been damn near crippling. Legend had rushed her to the hospital and had sat for hours outside the operating room, when the doctor had come out with that solemn expression he'd already felt the consumption of his soul.
"Mr. Legend... I'm sorry to say that your wife... she's gone sir. The child with her, I'm so very sorry there was nothing we could do."
He'd waited until the doctor had finished speaking to scream, a sound like thunder through the halls of the building.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
They were all in love with dyin'
They were drinking from a fountain
That was pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Darkness
He loved her.
Even though he always mocked her for falling asleep after they left the bar, and even though she threatened to hit him with her wrench for it; it was a natural part of their pattern, his Solèy had always been a daytime kind of girl. As he drove occasionally, he'd glance over at her curled up with her head on the window pane. The light from the city streets highlighted her soft face and the beauty of the joy and innocence with which she saw the world. How he loved that wonder and beauty, vibrancy and a brightness of outlook that was supposedly so rare in a Moros, let alone one of his.
He smiled as he recalled how they'd met, the old man had sent him to find her after he'd mastered enough of his own training. He remembered striding up bold as brass as she'd been waste deep in an engine, he'd laughingly enjoyed the curvy view for quite a while until she noticed him. Her deep red blush had made his heart quicken, and oddly enough they ended up not in the backseat of a convenient cab but walking in the park having ice cream. She'd always made him enjoy the oddest and simplest of things; some said she'd made him a better man, but then he'd respond that love was supposed to work wonders.
They'd changed each other a lot over the last year, and yet the one thing that hadn't changed was the bond they shared with each other. A constant in a life filled with transition, a certainty in world of unknowns. His Solèy, brightening the shadows around his heart, and allowing him to grow; he was lucky to have her. Twilight smiled as he watched her glancing at the road just in time to notice the light of the truck that hit them as it ran the light.
A shattering of glass, the squeal of rubber, the scream of metal; the world rendered in monochrome as pain, shock and surprise rippled through his fleeting consciousness. Trying to stay above the pain, his first words through broken ribs and flecked with blood was for her safety. Turning his head was like a knife stabbing into his neck, but he forced himself to see her, to find her. She was smiling still, so peaceful, jostled out of position it was amazing to him that she'd been able to remain asleep. But then he noticed with a sick twist of his gut the huge piece of metal through her chest, and his world shattered.
As unconscious claimed his soul, his mind wailed at the loss of her.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
I don't mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows
I can taste you on my lips, and smell you in my clothes
Cinnamon and sugary and softly spoken lies
You never know just how you look through other people's eyes
Darkness
He loved her.
He held her hand and recalled that first meeting, brazen and bold the two had sparred with words and wit at the behest of the old man. Some dive bar in the ATL, from their first glance there had been something special. He kissed her fingertips as he smiled tenderly at the memory.
She'd accepted him, before he'd even known he was being judged... trust that crazy old fucker to put the right combination together. She'd always joked that he'd probably just thrown darts at pictures on the wall to make the decision. He was lucky like that, we all were; and she'd shown him the way of it. He owed her so much, and he'd given her his everything; not only the keys to the crafting of his soul, but possession of his heart as well. They'd both been damaged it'd taken a miracle to make it worth, it had been a one in a million shot. He remembered the first time they'd heard someone say that about them, they had both turned and laughed and at the same time said the same thing, "Just as good as a sure thing with us."
He gazed around the room they'd shared for years, as wealthy as he was she insisted that they be cozy. She'd never been one for a lot of fuss, save when it came to hardware; and as with all things he'd followed her lead happily. He sighed as he turned to her once more and stroked her hair, she looked so peaceful it was fitting that she'd be able to rest here. She'd always hated hospitals.
Twilight's mind turned to the last few months, they'd tried everything to rid her of the parasite, no magic seemed to work and the creeping blackness which had begun as a patch slowly took over her whole form, there was only a little bit of her left and they'd already come to grips that once it's work was done...
With a grind of teeth he'd shut his eyes and listened to her shallow breathing, she'd been unconscious for a week now. The medics and mystics had left him to his grief and her passing. He'd thought he'd prepared but the pain that shot through him was new each time he realized again that his life with her was nearing...
He forced himself to watch, this woman who had forged his soul and his heart lying still, lying peaceful. As it consumed her, he held her hand and when her breathing stopped his tears did not.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
Some will die in hot pursuit
In fiery auto crashes
Some will die in hot pursuit
While sifting through my ashes
Darkness
He loved her.
It would get her through this, he knew it would he had faith. As she screamed in pain at the voices that tortured her from within; her pale skin beaded with feverish cold sweat, she ground her teeth and her eyes snapped open showing orbs of solid black. He wiped her brow calling her name over and over again, trying to reach her; the restraints that bound her to the bed straining for release.
Twilight had found her years ago, his Piti-Fou, wandering the streets of Vegas shining like a magical beacon for the world to see. He'd taken her end, cleaned her up and they'd grown close... close enough to eventually share a bed. Her mind had lashed out at his, but had not been able to break it. Something within him had steadied his head and he'd been able to withstand her passions enough to survive the blast, he then spent many years tending to her bring her back from the edge of the abyss; an Abyss that apparently had not given up on her either.
She screamed in a language that was not meant for human mouths to utter or in human ears to hear, They had been at this all day, trying every combination of exorcism rights both powdered by the Supernal and the Fallen worlds to no avail. The scars from her bout with the entity that was trying to control her covered her arms, her legs, all over her naked form. She writhed and thrashed and fought for control, to break free, nothing was certain; nothing save for the fact that she was in for the fight of her life, a fight FOR her life.
The two of them had come to love each other by accident, his devotion to helping her birthed an ironclad dedication in her for him. As the feelings grew stronger they changed and evolved, their ties had shocked many, even themselves. Yet it worked, they complemented each other the Mastigos and the Moros; he smiled even in the storm of her fight knowing that he was blessed to have her and that with such a tie as theirs they were destined to succeed.
It was at that moment the acamoth burst from her flesh, shedding her meat from its horrific otherworldly form without care or consideration for what it was. The energies the bubbled from the raw opening that was her body tainted everything and everyone, screams filled the air and the air was soon alight with supernal fire and abyssal corruption.
Yet Twilight stood silent and still, he gazed at his lover now torn asunder, his face blank and flecked with gore and blood. As the acamoth turned its sites for easy meet he met it still and uncaring, his will broken, and his fire gone.
He loved her, and she was dead.
Darkness
Some will fall in love with life
And drink it from a fountain
That is pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
Darkness... broken by an eruption of light, blinding after what felt like an age lost in the void beyond Life's embrace. Gabriel's sense were weaken, ever jostle of the pine box he'd been buried him, the feel of the air upon his skin, the piercing rays of the setting sun; all combined to shock him into consciousness, the here and now.
Rough hands lifted him out of the box like a bag of potatoes, indelicate and largely uncaring as to his condition. The hard wood of the floor was disconcerting as well as painful to his revived form. He tried to sit up and only succeeded in puking his guts out over the floor. The curse that erupted in his mother tongue felt strange and alien to his ears, however after being dead for a week one learns that everything is a bit more difficult to grasp.
I don't mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows
I can taste you on my lips, and smell you in my clothes
Cinnamon and sugary and softly spoken lies
You never know just how you look through other people's eyes
It took him several hours and several tries to shrug off enough of his prior state of (non) eternal rest to understand and remember his condition, the nature of his presence in the domicile of his host, and the reasons that placed him with each.
He'd been offered stale bread and cheap rum as a token to his passage back through Legba's gates, but had waved off both. The less to owe this withered and wiry Shaman, the more likely Twilight would live to see another sunset. The bokor watched him warily saying little and looking both curious and annoyed at the presence of the tall, handsome voodoo priest. But patience is the province of the old and after enough time had passed Gabriel found himself washed (from the rain barrel outside), clothed, and staring at the beady eyes of the Priest that had aided him in his rite of passage.
Another Mikey took a knife
While arguing in traffic
Flipper died a natural death
He caught a nasty virus
The old fucker lit a cheroot and after blowing a billowing cloud of smoke in Twilight's face he spoke, his Kreyol not able to making his coarse and bitter voice any sweeter, "Three days and three nights you been gone boy. Three passes of the sun and moon since you entered Ghede's Palace. You look like something my dog wouldn't stop to piss on let alone fuck, and you got that half-dead look in your eyes."
Twilight was reminded, as the bokor chuckled hoarse at his own joke, that the old shaman's laugh was even less pleasant than his face. Yet in response he only nodded thoughtfully and continued to stare with those self same dead eyes at the ugly face. Twilight had gone through a lot; the realization that the visions, lives, or dreams that he'd experienced had left him in a place and time where perhaps none of them were true, or perhaps all of them were true, left him cold and rigid both in body and soul.
Then there was the ever-present
Football player rapist
They were all in love with dyin'
They were doing it in Texas
"So did you find the answers you went seeking for boy? When you was sitting at the Baron's table, did you get to hear his words?" While his gaze was mocking and filled with undisguised contempt, the old bokor's eyes held a hungry interest. Even in his state of composure the twitch of mouth betrayed Gabriel's pleasure in making the black magician squirm.
After a long pause, a voice broke his silence, his voice. As raspy as a stone against stone, he whispered one thing about his findings, the answers he'd sought and the secret he'd been given.
"Darkness"
Polly caught a bullet
But it only hit his leg
Well it should have been a better shot
And got him in the head
The ride back to the hotel, and then the airport, was quiet and uneventful. Leaving behind the Bokor while in his death-weakened state had led to further concessions and tokens being levied, but escape he did. Dexter kept him wrapped in a blanket, as explaining his malnourished pallor and corpselike state would have made dealing with customs and security fairly tricky.
With a blank face and a blank gaze Twilight watched the starlight in the sky and the dark seas below through the window of his jetliner. Silent as a tomb from liftoff to landing, through the Seattle city streets and all the way home, he was bathed and put to bed where he stared out of the window of his bedroom looking at the bright sunshine and beautiful weather.
They were all in love with dyin'
They were drinking from a fountain
That was pouring like an avalanche
Coming down the mountain
As he lay staring, tears began to fall unbidden from his eyes and his body shook weakly from the sobs. He muttered that word again, the word that had proven to be the answer or key to what he sought within him, what he learned of lay before him.
"Darkness..," he whispered, the Priest of Death's sobs turned to quiet bitter laughter, an echo on the wind shaking his form over and over again. Tears of pain, anguish and sorrow mixed with the bitter understanding as one for whom the bell tolls.
I don't mind the sun sometimes, the images it shows
I can taste you on my lips, and smell you in my clothes
Cinnamon and sugary and softly spoken lies
You never know just how you look through other people's eyes
[I'd like to thank everyone who actually bulled through and read all five parts. For those of you keeping track these events take place roughly 4 days after EClipse and end 4 days after that. As always comments are welcome, and hey if you can guess who the women are please try.]