“He is releasing his sickness.” I gestured for her to get away. “Stand back!”
The girl’s mother pulled her back and held her tight. They both stared in awe. A rosy hue bloomed in his cheeks and lips as they plumped with good health. The young man’s hair grew thicker. He opened his eyes and turned on his side to retch and vomit. A foul, greenish-brown substance as thick as molasses oozed from his mouth. The girl screamed and her mother held her closer. When he was done, he lay back and stared ahead with a vacant look in his eyes.
When it became silent, the young woman proceeded to him. “He looks healthy. The color is back in his cheeks.” She tried to get his attention, but he just lay still and stared ahead. “Why does he lie there as if frozen?” she asked me.
“The process is not yet complete. He needs another dose of the tonic, like I explained. You must pay your fee before said dose.”
She stared at me with wide, mournful eyes. Looking back at her mother, she beckoned her to come forth. When mother and daughter stood side by side, I reached beneath the table for a pair of lion paws which had been hollowed out.
I offered the lion paws to the daughter. “Place these over your own hands.”
She gasped, slapped both hands over her mouth, and shook her head.
I had had enough. I changed into my serpent form and hovered over her like a threatening storm.
“Put these clawed paws on and kill your mother! If you refuse me one more time, I shall slaughter every one of you without mercy! Do it! Do it now!”
The girl took the gloves and stared at them. She traced two trembling fingers along the top of the sharp, six-inch, curved claws on a paw. Her entire body shook as she put them on. I tied a leather twine around the wrist to fasten the gloves to her hands.
Her mother stood before her—arms outstretched and tears flowing. The girl’s bosom rose and fell with her rapid breaths. Screaming, she pounced on her mother, knocking her to the ground. She straddled the old woman and, with her eyes wedged shut, lashed at her mother’s face, neck, and chest with the lion’s clawed paws, wailing the entire time. She did not have the strength to make fatal cuts, so she slashed her again and again, ripping and tearing her mother’s flesh as the woman’s lifeblood pooled around her.
I couldn’t help but laugh aloud as I watched the assault. With the right incentive, humans were capable of anything.
It took a long time for the older woman to die; since the girl’s eyes were shut, she kept missing vital areas to cut. When her mother stopped wailing and groaning, the girl ceased her clawing. She remained on top of her mother’s body, slumped and panting, her eyes still shut.
I jabbed her hard on the back of her shoulder. “Open your eyes! Behold what you have done.”
The girl covered her face with both gloved hands, nearly gouging out her own eyes. Her face and body were covered in her mother’s blood.
I pressed my lips into a thin line and slithered to the girl’s side. As I hung over her like a charged, black cloud, the desire to harm her overwhelmed me, but I knew to end her now was to end the pleasure I derived from her suffering. “If you do not open your eyes, I shall not cure your husband, and what you have done shall have been for naught.”
The girl gasped and uncovered her eyes. The instant her gaze fixed on the unrecognizable shredded mass of blood and flesh before her, she crawled backward like a crab, screaming, until she hit a wall and sagged against it. “No! No!” She continued to scream, shaking her head.
“Silence!” I let out a harsh, infuriated breath and changed back to my fetching form. “Now, now. You have done nothing wrong. You did what you had to do—that is all.” I proceeded to her and extended my hand.
The young woman wore the mask of someone broken beyond repair. She stopped wailing and slowly placed her gloved hand in mine. I pulled her to her feet. I did not mind getting her mother’s blood on me. I untied the leather twine, and she let the gloves fall to the ground.
“I gave you no choice, did I?” I shook my head slowly side to side, trying to suppress a satisfying chuckle. “No one would blame you. Your first duty is to your husband, and you saved his life.”
She gazed at her catatonic husband and wiped her tears.
I slid my arm around her shoulder. “The worst is over. Now I shall cure your husband, and the two of you shall make many children and have a long, happy life together.”
My honeyed voice seemed to have a calming effect on her. She took a deep breath and continued to gaze at her husband with a lackluster smile.
I administered the final dose of tonic to the young man, as promised. He woke as if from a dream. He sat upright, stretched, and then rose to his feet. When he saw his wife, he grinned and ran toward her, pulling up short when he realized she was covered in blood. I watched and waited.
His face twisted in disgust. “Why are you covered in blood? Is that your blood? Are you hurt?” He peered at her. “Tell me, what has come to pass?”
She could not look him in the eye. “I am not hurt. It is not my blood.”
Then he spotted the corpse lying on the ground. He stepped back.
“Who is… who is that?” He took another step back, covering his head with his hands.
“Look away, my husband.” The girl pulled him by the arm. “We must leave this place at once.”
He pulled away from her, his face contorted with shock and grief. “What has happened here?”
I picked up the bloody lion paws and handed them to the distraught man. “Your wife killed her with these.”
He took them, looking stunned. When he realized what they were, he gasped and let them fall to the ground. He stared at his hands, which were covered in blood. He rubbed them vigorously on his clothes.
“Your mother-in-law suffered. Oh how she screamed as your wife slashed at her again and again.” I looked at the girl. “That must have been exhausting for you.” I turned my sights to him again. “Your wife tore into the woman who gave birth to her, until the poor old woman bled out.”
The girl rushed to me, staring at me with wild eyes. “I had no choice! You said as much. I had to do it!”
The man finally woke from his stupor and stared at his wife, his eyes narrowed to crinkled slits. “This is monstrous!” He pointed at the corpse. “How could you do this? Only a monster could do this!” he said, his voice low-pitched and hoarse, like he had to squeeze out the words through a narrow tube.
“I did it for you!” she cried, grabbing at his arm. He freed himself from her, showing her his bloody palms as he backed away.
“I had to choose between you and her. The shadow of death was upon you. I chose to save you. I could not let you die. She would have died in a few years. You and I are young. I had to choose you.”
His body shook with sobs, and he wrapped his arms around her in a sluggish, desultory embrace.
I watched them together, and I knew their relationship would never be the same. He would almost certainly leave her sometime soon for one less tainted.
“Very well, you both have taken enough of my time. Leave me. I have others to attend to.” I dismissed them with a wave.
The young woman grabbed her husband and rushed him toward the door.
“One moment!” I said in a thunderous voice. “Do you plan to leave your mother’s corpse on my floor? Take her body and clean my floors before you leave. I shall not have others suffer your mess.”
I watched the look of shock on the man’s face transform into an enraged grimace, and he ran toward me. I shifted to my snake form and knocked him to the ground with my tail. The girl screamed and ran to his side.
“I cured you and this is how you repay me?” I panted baring my sharp fangs.
“You made my wife slay her own mother!” He was crimson with fury, his fists drawn up like angry stones.
“I gave her a choice. She alone decided her actions.” I moved toward him and he recoiled. “Take the old woman’s body and clean up this mess now, before you both join her in
death!” It would have been so easy to kill them both, but the thought of their strained, unhappy relationship, the nightmares intruding into their bedchamber at night, and their inexorable guilt gave me much pleasure.
He got to his feet and trudged over to the corpse. He grabbed the dead woman’s ankles and pulled her toward the door, leaving fragments of her face and scalp behind in a wide streak of blood. I threw a few rags at the girl and pointed to a bucket. She began the laborious and nauseating task of picking up the shreds of skin and tissue as she wiped the blood off the floor. She vomited several times and had to clean that up as well. When it was all done, I was greatly satisfied.
I enjoyed curing the ill and thinking up ways to make their loved ones pay. Their suffering satisfied me more than any sexual tryst or delectable meal, and I grew stronger from it.
My days in Shuruppak were filled with healing the sick and demanding the most gruesome payments. Each payment was more malicious and horrifying than the next, but still they came, imploring me to help them. The payer of the debt was never the same and always seemed to expect idealistic and unfeasible amounts of gratitude for their deed. Some eventually came to hate the one for whom they sacrificed so much, and others developed a taste for hurting their fellow human beings. I planted a seed of evil in anyone who crossed my path and took pleasure watching the seeds grow and blossom into vile things.
My nights, when King Ubara-Tutu did not visit, were lonely. I filled them with thoughts of the Seers’ prophecy. Someday, I shall meet a being who would be my equal. I shall love him above all else. Imagine that… and I thought I was no longer capable of an emotion such as love. However, the Seers prophesized I would fall in love with this being and with him would I birth many children. Something inside myself told me to believe, and so I chose to do so. Until I meet this being—and they said I would know him when I did—I shall continue to wreak havoc on mankind, because it is what satisfies me wholly.
Several years passed in the blink of an eye, and soon I looked around the city of Shuruppak and saw nothing but evil in every corner. Murderers, thieves, and rapists emerged from my healing house, until the entire city was overrun by evil. The few who were not evil became victims to those who were. I reveled in the chaos. In time, however, I grew restless.
Chapter 8
DELUGE
I dragged my feet for many miles. Alone again. What would life be like without Coralia? A friendship extinguished before it even had time to flourish. Life without her is a life filled with hatred and vengeance. I dropped to my knees, debilitated by grief. I sat holding my head with both hands, numb to my surroundings. Minutes turned to hours as I rocked back and forth, wishing to rip my heart out of my chest to cease the painful burning.
“What torments you so?”
I was startled by the pleasant voice. I lifted my head with quickening curiosity and wiped the tears from my eyes to find an exquisite creature with untamed, golden curls and huge, white wings adorned with a black band. She stood before me, her shimmering dark eyes fixed on me, and I knew her. “Gadreel? Is that you?” I was uncertain my vision, although blurred, did not deceive me.
She gasped and stepped back. After considering me for a moment, she spoke. “How do you come to know my name, stranger?”
“I am no stranger to you, for I am son to Satan and Lilith.”
Her big, hooded eyes opened wide, and she scanned the area around us. “Dracúl?”
“Yes, I am he, the wretched Dracúl.” I frowned.
“Is your mother near?” She clenched her jaw and crossed her arms over her chest.
“Do not fear. My mother abandoned me around the same time you did, and I have not seen her since.”
“How can this be so?” she asked, creasing her forehead. “You were but a child when I last saw you.”
“I was but a child when my mother left.” I crossed my arms. “I have seen many dawns and dusks since my mother abandoned me,” I said as what appeared to be sympathy filled her eyes. “I am no longer a child.” I scowled at her and she looked away for a moment, silent.
“Sometimes, something inside you gets broken,” she said, rocking back and forth on the balls of her feet as if the movement helped her words flow. “And no matter what you do, it cannot be mended—the feeling stays with you. How you cope with this feeling determines who you are.”
I climbed to my feet and walked to her. “My apology. I did not mean to be unkind. I am not myself.”
Her voice came as delicate as a zephyr. “There is no need to express regret, but may I ask you a question?”
“Yes.”
“You are covered in blood. Is it your own?” She looked concerned.
“I shed tears of blood. I have shed many tears.” I lowered my head.
“What torments you so? You appear distraught.” She moved closer to me and touched my hair.
I bit my lower lip, unsure of what I should tell her. How would she react if I revealed that I had met her daughter? How can I tell Gadreel that her daughter is the reason for my pain? What good can come of it? Dagon did not seem ready to allow an encounter between her and their daughters. Gadreel would only suffer. I will keep this knowledge from her—for now.
“Dracúl?” she said, pulling me from my thoughts. “Is there something wrong? You seemed lost in another world after my question.”
“Is it wrong to be in mourning for someone who yet lives?” I said. “I have been alone most of my existence. At last, I found someone to love, a companion, but it was not meant to be, so I chose to leave her. She must be as if dead to me. My heart has not yet recovered from the loss.”
She gazed at me for some time. Is she trying to read my thoughts? “Your father too shed tears of blood. You resemble him so. I have lost many loved ones as well and have also been alone for too long,” she said, her voice soft, devoid of hope or contentment.
“Does the pain ever go away?”
“I am afraid the heartache of losing a loved one never ceases, but you do learn to live with that sort of pain.” She thrust back her shoulders. “You must be strong, Dracúl, or this world shall reduce you to a mere carcass.”
She spoke the truth. I wiped my eyes and face.
“I am happy we have come across one another, for I have pressing news,” she said, suddenly changing her demeanor.
“Of what do you speak?” I asked, curious but confused. What urgent matter would she have to relate to me?
“God has seen how great wickedness has become in the hearts and minds of mankind, and He has decided to wipe the human race from the face of the earth and wash this planet of all sin!” Her lips quivered as she spoke.
“That cannot be so.” I shook my head. “Human beings are God’s prized creations. He would never… surely there must be one virtuous person among all the people on this planet.”
“There is such a man,” she said with a smile that looked strained. “His name is Noah. He lives in a town set out across huge dunes called Shuruppak.”
I slapped my head in disbelief. “Shuruppak? That is the place I was headed, for I was told I would find my mother there!”
Gadreel said nothing, but she pressed one hand to her mouth.
“I was also told the town sits on the banks of a large river called Euphrates.” I waited, giving her a chance to respond, but she appeared shaken and remained pensive and silent for a moment before speaking again.
“Yes, the land is an arid region despite being so close to the Euphrates River, for that section of the waterway is haunted by the maleficent creature, Beelzebub, who lies in chains on the riverbed. Nothing grows there.” She frowned. “And it is no coincidence that your mother dwells there.”
“You fear my mother,” I said.
“I fear and despise her,” she said, her face a dark mask. “She would not hesitate to kill me if she found me. I fear for my life, but that is not what I fear most. I am afraid of what she would do to my family, my daughters. She would use them to torment me. That is why I have s
topped looking for them, and it is why I loathe your mother. However, Lilith shall not stop me from going to Shuruppak.”
“Thus, we are headed in the same direction. We can be travel companions.” It had been so long since I smiled that my grin felt lopsided, like the two sides of my face could not agree on any one particular expression.
She did not return the smile. “Yes, it seems we were meant to travel together.”
“How have you come to know about this?” I asked.
“I have resided near the city of Shuruppak for some time,” she said. “I know the man Noah and his family, for they travel to my town quite often to buy food and water. Once, I followed him, for he intrigued me, and I listened in as God spoke to him. It had been awhile since I perceived God’s voice—it was magnificent.” Her words drifted off and she seemed in a trance for a long moment. “God’s speech quickened hiraeth whispers, giving me an intense longing for a home to which I can never return.”
My heart pounded. “What words were spoken?”
She shook from her trance. “God instructed Noah to build an ark for him and his family.”
“An ark? What is an ark?” I sensed heat rise in my cheeks for my ignorance.
“An ark is a great watercraft, a floating house.” She moved her hand across the air in an undulating motion.
“God instructed this man to build a dwelling to float on water? How can a man build such a thing—and for what purpose? Where would this floating house go?” It seemed the world expanded to encompass my inexhaustible questions.
“Noah shall not build this ark alone, for the holy angels shall help him. The ark must be built in preparation for a catastrophic flood that shall swallow every living thing on Earth,” Gadreel said.
I pressed my palms to my forehead and inhaled a sharp breath.
She continued. “God also instructed Noah to bring into the ark two of every living creature, both male and female, along with every kind of food to be stored for the animals.”
I looked at the sky. “This means God plans to make a fresh start. He has not renounced the human race or the other species on Earth.”
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