Dante & The Dark Seed

by C. J. Pizzurro

  Having no other choice, Dante found a flat place to sit and meditate on what the angels had told him.

  What did she say again? Dante quieted himself, closing his eyes. The words spoken by the angel soon began flowing into his mind, Reach out with your mind, see it clearly, manifest it before you. Desiring to see his sister once more, Dante began sensing her anguish as if it were his own. He could see her wispy astral form clenching the bars of the darkened metal cage, and every time she did so, it singed her, making her scream.

  Dante had no idea where she was, but he began seeing her as if she were right in front of him. With his eyes still closed, Dante heard the slightest sounds of her whines.

  “DANTE!”

  Dante opened his eyes. He was standing right in front of his sister, cage and all. He looked around to see if there was a key lying around. Not seeing anything nearby, he checked the rest of the dim chambers. He was unable to find anything of use, so he ran back to Amy.

  “Get me outta here,” she whined.

  “Quiet down,” Dante insisted, not wanting to attract any attention.

  Asmodeus’s cretin Filth heard that the girl’s screams had become more precise. Rousing his suspicion, Filth hobbled his way to see Dante running back toward the room where his master had built the cage.

  “Master!” Filth screamed.

  “Oh, shi—”

  “Dante, get me out of here. There’s a big, scary, grey man!”

  “I know, Amy! I’ll figure something out!”

  • • •

  Surreptitious, Azrael looked to Michael, conveying what she wanted with thought alone. “I’m sure you can handle things from here. I sense Adel is ready. Just don’t stare at me—it will give me away. This is a smart group we’re dealing with.”

  “That they are, but I don’t know exactly what you’re referring to, Azrael.”

  “I still haven’t forgotten what they did to Joan after I saved her from the pyre.”

  “Oh, that wasn’t one of my finer moments.”

  Azrael looked to everyone. “I must be going now, humans. It would be a pleasure to see you again soon. Goodbye, for now.” Azrael’s wings of light emerged from her back, lighting up the sky. Then, looking upward, she waved her hand, opening a wormhole. Everyone left alive watched her ascend into it. But that was all for show, and as soon as she was on the other side of the wormhole, she changed the frequency at which her body vibrated, making her invisible to the human eye.

  Flying back down to Adel, she hovered above him, attracting his attention. Her wings were magnificent, spanning more than twenty feet, leaving Adel in awe.

  George, although entranced by the angel’s departure, couldn’t help but notice the glimmer in Adel’s eyes had begun to return after being so listless in mourning.

  Azrael smiled at Adel as he held his son. “It’s not customary for us to make ourselves known, but this is a promise I bestow upon you, Adel Saleh, so I made my being here hidden to the others. You have lived a good life and led the life of a good man. Selfless and stoic, you put others before yourself. So I ask you on this day, as you lay next to the corpse of your son: Would you trade places with him? Would you take his place?”

  “I’d do anything for my son,” Adel mumbled. George had seen so much in the past hour but chalked it up to his friend heading toward the light with a tinge of grief. So, George knelt beside Adel and grabbed his hand, looking at him as Adel stared into the distance.

  “I can save his life, but you must come with me now, Adel,” Azrael said.

  As George knelt next to his friend, Adel began crying and said, “Okay, I’ll go.”

  George’s eyes widened.

  They were the exact words his wife said before she flatlined. Adel, with tears in his eyes and nothing but love for his son, wanted nothing more than to hug his wife one last time. But his son would be able to once more, and that was enough for him.

  Letting out one last breath, Adel looked to George, and his eyes stopped moving.

  “Goodbye, my friend,” George said, wiping a tear from his eye as he helped Adel close his eyes for the last time.

  Adel’s spirit separated from his body and soon he looked down upon it, but his vision gravitated toward his son.

  “Totally worth it,” Adel said.

  “We must be going now, Adel. He will be fine.”

  Following the angel’s lead, Adel floated closely behind, looking one last time at his son before traversing the portal.

  • • •

  Asmodeus walked around the corner to see his little peon hobbling his way toward him while wiping his lips. “What is it, Filth?”

  “Master, there is an intruder! I think they’ve come for the girl!”

  All the while Dante didn’t see anything he could beat the cage open with, so he had to improvise on the fly.

  “Stand back, Amy!”

  Remember your light, Dante thought, taking a step back and, with a strong go at it, he punched through with his foot. An explosion of light lit up the room, cracking the bars. Surprised but not shocked, Dante kept kicking. But what he did not know was that he began to shine brighter, illuminating the chambers.

  Seeing the flashes from Dante’s luminous strikes, Asmodeus hurried to stop whoever it was trying to steal the prize he toiled after.

  Dante stepped back one last time as Asmodeus bounded toward him. Feeling the ground shake, Dante looked to see what was making it so, and at last, they met face to face.

  “OH, IT’S YOU, THE LIGHT BRINGER! WE MEET AT LAST!” Asmodeus yelled.

  Dante took one look at the large and grey-horned being, then, with all the strength he had left, smashed through, breaking off a massive chunk of the cage. Another explosion lit up the room, blinding Asmodeus for a second. Jumping into the cage, Dante grabbed hold of Amy. Without anywhere to go, Dante held his sister, thinking only of protecting her as Asmodeus leapt toward them, grabbing Amy by the leg.

  “She’s mine, you insolent mortal!” Asmodeus bellowed.

  “Get your hands off of her!” Dante belted louder than he ever had, and in that moment, he needn’t remember his light. He was the light. His luminosity perforated the air, singeing the Dark Lord, creating a separation. Dante remembered the item that Michael had given him, pulling it from his pocket. Having no idea what to do with it and seeing that Asmodeus was recovering, Dante threw it.

  “Get us out of here!” Dante yelled.

  The luminous coin unfolded and grew as soon as it hit the ground.

  “Where did you acquire one of those?!” Asmodeus yelled.

  Whatever it was, a ray of light shot six feet into the air, causing everything in its path to sizzle and fade away, including the entirety of the cage. The ray split down the middle and opened, revealing the forest at the Devil’s Tramping Ground. Without giving it much thought, and with Amy’s soul in his arms, Dante ran through it, never looking back.

  “SHE WILL BE MINE!” Asmodeus roared.

  Once more they were back in the woods, and the triangle-shaped doorway closed behind them.

  “That was a lot quicker than I expected,” Michael said. Still glowing and bathed in light, Dante didn’t look at anyone while making his way to Amy’s body. He did what he felt to be right, laying her soul above her body. And as the light enveloping Dante’s body left, Anora came to him while everyone stood and waited for Amy’s soul to reincorporate.

  They needn’t wait long, and even Dawayne looked relieved, seeing her open her eyes and stretch as if she had just woken from a nap. George came over and scooped her up, holding her tighter than he ever had.

  “Our work here is done, for now,” Michael said, looking to them. “Until our paths cross again, young ones...”

  Off in the distance, the sounds of sirens blared.

  “Sometimes, even I am surprised at how good my timing is. Until then.” Michael hunched and shot up into the sky, leaving a trail of light in his wake.

  The authorities had made it, and Dante could
now mourn the loss of his friend Adel Jr. and his father. Able to see the light of the ambulances through the trees, everyone watched and waited as the EMTs make their way through the woods with the stretcher.

  Dante, for a few moments, lost his sense of hearing while the paramedics came to check on Adel and his son. They ripped open Adel Jr.’s shirt after checking his pulse, to check the extent of the bleeding. Confused, the EMT rubbed Adel Jr.’s chest. Still in a state of shock, Dante’s hearing began coming back as he saw the medic check to see if Adel Jr. was breathing.

  Frantic, the EMT yelled, “He’s alive!”

  Chapter Thirty-Two

  Requiem

  “He’s alive!” the medic yelled, while Dante and Anora stood flabbergasted that they found a pulse. Adel Jr. had been shot center mass, just a tad off to the left side.

  “Man, this guy has got to have someone watching over him,” the EMT insisted as he checked his eyes. And just then, Adel Jr. began to stir after having his eyelids lifted. Coming to, a rush of memories filled his mind. He remembered being strapped to a chair while the device looking like an illuminated metronome, paced to and fro. He could now remember everything that Rip said after he turned on the device.

  You won’t remember anything of me, my wife, my house. You will forget everything from your stay here. When you attempt to recollect what has transpired here, you will only see a shroud of darkness concealing what has happened here for as long as you may live.

  What he long thought to be repressed and forever gone, Adel Jr. remembered the entirety of his stay at the Tropfin’s. He could have laid there ruminating over what happened to him, but the last thing he remembered was Rip firing the gun. Beginning to hyperventilate, he sat up.

  “I’m alive! Dad! I’m alive!”

  While the EMTs took a step back, Adel Jr. saw the eyes of his friends, and how surprised they looked. Something was amiss, and as soon as Adel Jr. looked to the right of him, he saw his father lying there, still.

  “DAD!”

  Everyone who saw things unfold thought that Adel would have been the one to avoid meeting his maker, but today his son was the lucky one. Adel Jr. attempted to get up, looking at his father, drenched in blood. But the male EMT put his hand on Adel Jr.’s shoulder. “Sir, we need you to stay still until we check you out.”

  Adel Jr. shoved the guy like a rag doll, knocking him back a few feet. He knelt beside his father and slapped him around, knowing he wasn’t going to get up, misplacing his anger on the one person who gave his all for him.

  “DAD! Dad, I love you,” Adel Jr. sobbed, hugging his father.

  George sensed the EMTs wanted to do their jobs but kept themselves at bay to let the kid mourn.

  Adel Jr. laid there weeping, draping his muscular body over his father's, but he need only another minute until the stream of tears dried. Wiping what was left on his face, Adel Jr. stood up. His dad wouldn’t have wanted him to waste his time crying for him. He would want justice, and that’s just what Adel Jr. would give him one way or another, no matter how long it took, no matter who got in his way.

  Dante walked over to stand next to his friend while everyone watched the EMT roll Adel’s body onto the stretcher intended for his son. It was tough for all of them, even Dawayne, who gauged his response based on how the others acted, but no one shed a tear, following the lead of Adel Jr.

  As Adel Jr. walked beside the gurney toward the ambulance, one of the EMTs came up beside him. “Hey kid, normally we wouldn’t do this sort of thing….”

  Adel Jr was all ears, watching as his father’s fingers bounced with each rock the gurney rolled over.

  “…But because we know who your dad was, we won’t make your family go through the whole process of going to the medical examiner. We’ll call the time of death in the ambulance.”

  Adel Jr. nodded.

  “We’ll put in the report that he fought ’til the end.”

  “Well, that’s not a lie.” Adel Jr. said, looking back at his friends one last time.

  The police soon arrived, and while Adel Jr. hopped up into the ambulance, everyone else gave their testimony, minus the whole bit about the demon and the angels. Dante didn’t want to go through another forced stint of being incarcerated in a mental hospital. Anora, Dawayne, George, and even Amy told the cops only of the group of men they fought off, not wanting to experience what Dante had gone through.

  “The man that attacked us today was Rip Tropfin. He blindsided us in the woods and shot Adel and Adel Jr.”

  A brown-haired officer pretended to write down what Dante said. “So everyone else would corroborate your accusation of this…” The officer looked to his fake notes. “…Rip Tropfin?”

  “Yes, sir,” George said, butting in.

  The cop looked to Anora.

  “And what about you? You think it’s this guy Rip?”

  “If my boyfriend says that’s who it is, then that’s who it is.”

  The other officers seemed pretty pleased, but the brown-haired cop wasn’t. “Well, where is he now?”

  “He got away!” Dante yelled, unable to contain himself after each dismissive question.

  George and Anora reigned in Dante.

  “Thank you, folks. I think we got everything that we need.”

  “You better get him this time,” George growled.

  The cops let them go after their questions were answered, but the brown-haired officer kept a watchful eye on them as they walked back down the trail. The days’ last bit of light had a reddish hue, lighting their path as they made their way to where the cars were parked.

  Upon seeing Adel’s car, George started tearing up again, remembering how proud he was to be Adel’s friend just a couple of hours ago. He loved and would remember forever how he sped, knowing he could talk his way out of it, all to do what he loved doing, protecting people. Neither of them hadn’t the slightest idea that it would have been their last outing together before he agreed to follow after the kids, but George was glad he did.

  George looked at Amy and smiled as she walked beside him, knowing that if it weren’t for Adel, Amy would have been taken. Opening the passenger door, and before he began messing with Dawayne’s radio, George looked back at his children.

  • • •

  The same brown-haired officer that inundated the Luciano’s with questions went rooting around throughout the leaves to find the black necklace and, before his fellow officers saw what he found, he pocketed it. He pulled his cell phone out of his pocket and dialed. “They kept saying it was Rip, sir, and I found a large, black necklace.”

  “Good, I spent a lot of money getting that made. And that’s fine, they can think and say it’s him all they want. Just make sure someone keeps an eye on them. Thank you, Dollarhide.”

  • • •

  “Give me your arm, will ya?” the paramedic asked Adel Jr.

  In a daze, Adel Jr. held out one arm while feeling his chest with the other.

  In a continued state of shock, the EMT was baffled more and more with each test Adel Jr. passed. His blood pressure was fine, his breathing was fine, and he wasn’t bleeding.

  Although Adel Jr. was drenched in enough of his blood to have perished, he felt normal other than the expected heartache. He knew no matter how much he wished, his dad would never again move of his own free will.

  The paramedics kept quiet for most of the ride. They knew that Adel’s wounds were not bad enough, nor was the pool of blood large enough to indicate that he had bled to death.

  Something was off, and they knew it. They just couldn’t put a finger on it. And being the consummate professionals that they were, they didn’t want to bombard Adel Jr. with questions they knew he couldn’t answer. But the man checking Adel Jr.’s vitals couldn’t help himself for long. “Sir?”

  Adel Jr. lifted his head to see the paramedic staring at him.

  “I don’t normally do this, but what happened back there?”

  After remembering everything that had happ
ened in Rip’s house, his mind raced with everything that Rip had done to him. Rip’s face was the last thing he saw before everything went black, and as they drove to the hospital, it was his face that kept rearing its head in Adel Jr.’s mind. However, he had his eyes to the future, thinking not what he wanted to do, which was eviscerate, but instead he wanted to feel and commiserate.

  Knowing he wasn’t the only one that lost his dad, Adel Jr. dreaded telling his mom, but she would find out soon enough. Looking at the nametag of the EMT.

  “Well, Esteban….” Adel Jr. said.

  Esteban looked at his name tag, surprised that even after losing his father, Adel still cared.

  “We just were hanging out, doing nothing out of the ordinary, just learning a new meditation technique until my dad showed up. He said he came to protect me…. Seemed stupid at the time….”

  Adel Jr. got caught in a wave of emotions remembering his last conversation with his father. “Then why didn’t you say something before we left? You let us drive out here just to track us down?”

  “I already lost you once, son. I wanted to make sure you were safe.”

  Never had Adel Jr. realized how true the saying was: hindsight is twenty-twenty. He wasn’t right, and his dad somehow made sure he was safe.

  “I have no idea how well you knew my father, but he always seemed to have a knack for putting his nose in other people’s business just to do what he thought was right. But this time, well….”

  “So you saw who shot him?”

  “Yeah, it was the same guy that shot me. We’ve known him for years.”

  “So you do remember being shot?”

  “I looked him right in the eyes as he did it, too. I just felt a hot, searing pain for a moment, then everything went black.”