Legacy of Judas - Book One

by Aragon, Christian

  “Heeelllooo, Aaazzzeeeeeezzaaaah.” Malus relished that one. He couldn't see me, but like one planet’s gravity affecting another planet’s orbit, he could see the effect I was causing in Victoria; an effect he hadn't yet seen with Vincent. This is an unforced error on our parts, and just gave us away.

  “Now watch this.” Malus snarled in his drawn out way as he hurled his pooling blood with a whipping motion of his arm and hand. It splashed all over the now mostly upright Thorn, Ebony Demon, and Vincent from the pool in his palm. Malus gave a command I'd never heard spoken before, but I knew it from our own pages. Suddenly Vincent, who just had a moment’s relief because of the two demons dismounting him, was screaming in agony we couldn't imagine. The one Ebony Demon still attached to him also began crying out in pain. The Thorn, though they have no lungs nor nostrils to breath, nor a mouth with which to eat or speak, was also emitting a slight noise unlike anything I can readily delineate.

  I am also not sure how to describe what we saw next. Vic was crying out for Vincent, but completely unable to help as all of the flesh on Vincent’s backside, against the Ebony Demon, began reaching out not unlike thousands of tine creeping vines reaching toward the demon still attached to him. Likewise the demon’s flesh was reaching out for those wriggling protrusions from Vincent and to the Thorne from its backside. Their physical forms were all tangling together but not tearing apart. Soon the protruding strings of the Thorn were entangling with those of Vincent’s flesh and soul as well as those of the demon in between. As the Thorn was the largest of the three beings the forms of the Ebony Demon and Vincent were drawn into the form of the Thorn as if it were a chassis of sorts just for their entangled forms. Like root systems entangled. Vin could feel his flesh seemingly shredding, mingling, twisting, and knotting into the strands of two other foreign bodies, and them into him. The more intertwined they became the more Vincent was able to actually see the demon and Thorn he was joining with, at least until he could no longer turn his head to look.

  I removed my hand from Victoria. She didn't need me at this point as she could also see the demon and the Thorn because of Vincent’s flesh and soul intermingling with the other two. Vincent’s screams subsided only in octaves as his internal organs also split into so many little webs and further mingled with the parts of the other two entities. Vincent’s hands, arms, legs, and feet tangled into those of the demon and the Thorn.

  Soon Vincent’s face was the last recognizable piece left. The bringing together of these three had slowed, and nearly stopped. The most painful expression to look upon was that of Vin’s face as the entire mass cinched up into the completed form of something which should not exist. The face of the Ebony Demon had overtaken the blank features of the Thorn’s face as the Ebony Demon assumed control of the entire form. Vincent’s face, twisted with pain, was now part of this beast’s chest. The Thorn’s form, with all its mighty quills and its powerful structure, is the strength and imposition of this new beast.

  The mass went almost motionless for a moment. I took the brevity of the calm to reach into what I hoped to be Vincent’s mind. His face was not the only part of him unchanged as I quickly found that most of his skull, and his entire mind, were still behind that beautiful face. But the tendrils of the demon had invaded the various sulci of Vincent's mortal brain and branched off within. No doubt this was to gain Vin’s knowledge while also keeping him under control. The fleshen lungs of the demon and Vincent’s mortal lungs were now interwoven and breathing if they were a single set of lungs. Then the fleshen heart of the demon was now all threaded together with Vincent’s heart, and with their first beat we were pushed out of the new form. From the outside of the beast we could almost hear the new heart, even through the commotion of the Valkyries still trying to get in. We could see each inhale and exhale, and the rhythmic pounding of the new heart and pulse throughout what would be all the tangled tissue of this monstrosity.

  A mortal. A demon. A beast of Hell. I want this to be a bad bar joke. I can't bring myself to scribe what this means, and the simple fact that Malus did it without the Book of the Damned … can he really be that powerful?! Did he memorize it?! In that short span of time, did he really grasp how to understand the prime language of the angels and the demon writs to complete this like he's done it a thousand times before?

  Malus opened two new tears leading back to Hell. The newly formed demon leapt through its gateway and just like that Vincent was in Hell in more than one way, and completely at the mercy of Malus. Vic reached for Vincent and mumbled his name. She’s at a complete loss. As am I.

  “The love of your life is mine until you're mine. You and your little book too.”

  Malus stepped through his gate.

  The gates closed.

  That was that.

  Journal entry LVI

  Katrina and the Valkyries burst into the room from every point they had been trying to enter from. Vic was in shock, sweating and shaking, and finally collapsing onto the floor in a puddle of anger, sadness, tears, and snot. Neither Vic nor I knew when she rushed into the room Malus had a block which kept out other souls without their own mortal flesh. Evelyn was pushed out of Victoria as she rushed in. Vic had no reinforcement while in that room. No buffers. She was a raw nerve the entire time. Evelyn was quickly back inside Vic doing anything she could to comfort her. She'll find her efforts futile for a time.

  The damage is done.

  Journal entry LVII

  Calmed. Catching our breath. Vic appears to have her faculties back.

  The other three demons loosed from the men downstairs haven't attacked or made a sound for that matter. We figure most likely they're awaiting our departure before retaking their prey. They had their orders apparently.

  It took a while for Vic to compose herself even just enough to get up off the floor. We headed downstairs to find Ambassador Healy standing before us in the foyer looking upon his still-unconscious butler. Healy was a bit dazed and confused, and his short term memory was impaired.

  “Who the fuck are you and what the fuck are you doing here?!”

  Vic didn't even take a pause in her stride from the staircase as she walked right up to Healy and kicked him in the groin so hard his expression looked as if he was going to puke up his own testicles. But this wasn't going to be his night as Vic shoved him before he could collapse on his own causing him to land flat on his back. Without hesitation she was stomping and kicking his groin repeatedly with every ounce of her being behind every swing of her leg. It didn't matter how he tried to protect himself as she broke both his hands in the melee. Soon she saw blood saturating his trousers and finally hesitated, and then stopped altogether. The Ambassador was on his side curled into the fetal position screaming and crying. Vic sat down on him and brought her face in close to his.

  “Tomorrow you resign and turn yourself in to the police. Full confession. Lead them to every last body. Give up every single accomplice. Any questions?!” She was focused and stern. Her tone let him know how much more painful this could get and turning himself in would hurt less.

  “Can I go to the hospital first?”

  “I’d prefer you didn't, but do what you have to do. I need to be reading headlines about you by tomorrow afternoon. Understood?”

  His yes was so pitiful mixed in with all the pain, emotion, blubbering, tears, drool, and profuse amounts of mucus. What a fuckin’ mess!

  Vic snatched her London Fog from the nearby closet and walked out the front door to find the chauffeur still waiting with the Bentley running. The chauffeur could see the butler and the Ambassador on the floor.

  “For what it's worth, Miss, I was the one who insisted on dropping off those girls on the hospital’s doorstep. I never had any hand in what they did to those girls. They drove the car and let me stay in the guest house those nights. They said if I ever told anyone then my wife and kids would be sleeping with those girls in the back, as would I.”

  “The Ambassador said the girls who left here aliv
e were dropped a block or two from the hospital …?” Most likely this was Vic’s last attempt at curiosity for this evening.

  “Yeah, I couldn't leave’em like that. Some of’em couldn't walk let alone stand when those animals were done with’em. I made sure every one of’em was in a wheelchair and noticed by hospital staff before I left. Every single one, Miss.”

  I believe Vic wanted to scold him for not seeking out help, but she just climbed into the car looking defeated and confused. Evelyn was obviously doing her job, and then some, just to keep Vic this level.

  The car ride back to the airport was quiet. Vic could have tried opening a tear to Hell to follow them, but with what plan of action? What could she honestly have done even with all her Valkyries and the Virtues? Was a plan forming in her head right now? Was there anything happening inside her right now? So quiet…

  I suspect the flight home will be far less eventful than the flight here.

  Chapter Nine

  ~

  Escalation

  Journal entry LVIII

  Vic was intercepted by the authorities as she stepped off the plane upon arriving back in America. They identified themselves according to their procedures, and then asked her to accompany them to a private room within the airport.

  “… Something has happened to your parents, Miss Nyles. We don’t have all the details, but the authorities in California have arranged for you to board another flight,” and then they droned on for a short time about the room and transportation arrangements already waiting for her in California.

  Vic sat there quietly just as she did on the flight back from the U.K. An occasional tear would break free and trek down each of Vic’s cheek where it eventually leapt to its demise after it had no more cheek to tread. The wait for the flight out was only about thirty minutes. Vic asked the officers if she could have a few minutes to herself before the flight was ready for boarding. They were very much so gentlemen about it and exited the room. There are no windows, mirrors, or cameras in this room save the one narrow window in the door. Vic then called her Valkyries to her attention. Instantly the room was crowded with souls, including atop the table in the middle of the room. Vic looked at them for a few moments as she seemed about to give a request, a command, something, but then she excused them.

  “I don’t want to know, Azeeza. I could send them to investigate and report back, but I don’t want to know, not after Vincent. I can almost feel Evelyn doing everything she possibly can to keep me level, but I know I want to explode right now. How do I fix this, Azeeza? I just want him back. I just want my parents to be okay. I want Lusa back…” and with that Evelyn could do no more for Vic as she completely lost all composure and started sobbing intensely.

  One of the detectives burst in but quickly recognized Vic’s emotional state. He quietly closed the door, walked around the table to her, gently placed his hand on her shoulder, and said it was time to board the plane. Vic pulled a handkerchief from the inside pocket of her trench coat and did her best to start looking presentable and pull herself together. Just as I thought to myself Vic had been using that handkerchief since we left the U.K., and I think it was time for a new one, we both heard a familiarly accented voice from the officer as he offered Vic a new handkerchief. The words were spoken with distinct Mexican inflections and somewhat gravely. We both looked to the officer but saw nothing had changed other than he was now offering her a fresh, nicely folded white handkerchief. Vic accepted, and then went with the officer to board the plane.

  Once aboard the plane I asked Vic to let Evelyn help her sleep. More so than even information about her parents, Vic needed sleep. She was awake for the entire trip to the Ambassador, and she was awake the entire trip back, and now she’s on yet another long flight, this time across the states. She acquiesced and let herself succumb to the exhaustion. At least she’ll have some of her faculties to work with when she arrives.

  Journal entry LIX

  Admittedly I got a bit bored again on this third long-distance flight, but even we were too mentally and emotionally burdened with all that’s happened, and has possibly happened, to go bother with looking for ways to fend off the dullness of such a long flight. Not for lack of considerations, but we just couldn’t bring ourselves to do anything with or to the passengers on the plane to get some relief from all this melancholy, especially since it would've most likely upset Vic. Even reminiscing about our mortal lives before descending into Hell seemed trivial and more like watching old reruns of television shows. The only souls connected to the book that we don’t know everything about are Judas and Leila, and those two have kept themselves blocked from us since the book’s genesis. I’m sure they have some experiences which could break the boredom.

  Sitting out on the leading edge of a wing with dawn shining on our back and the city lights of California were still on up ahead of us. It's an amazing sight when not trapped within that fuselage. The sun’s first golden light crashing into the Sierra Nevadas creating long, jagged shadows clawing their way back from the California coastlines and across the inlands of the state. These are the kind of views seen from the heavens no doubt, and probably so often they don't actually see it anymore. It's just something that happens and gives the linear way of things triggers to set off the day’s activities. But on this trip, from my front-seat view, this is what God wanted people to see.

  It felt that we had started our descent, which meant it was about time we roused Vic from her slumber. We stepped back into the passenger cabin and found her curled up in her seat, under her blanket and drooling profusely on her pillow. As Evelyn is the only Valkyrie who knows of me I’m sure she felt me starting to wake Vic and assisted by upping her heartbeat with just a bit of adrenaline from her medulla. Evelyn was getting very good at this and was able to wake Vic slowly rather than shocking her into consciousness with too much too fast. Soon Vic was stretching in her seat, yawning off the residual effects of her sleep. She looked rested; as much as she could be all curled up in a ball on an airplane for so many hours, but certainly better than when we boarded. She needs her edge back, hopefully this rest helped.

  Journal entry LX

  Vic had a confident stride when she walked off the plane and greeted the detectives sent to take her to her parents’ home. They were as vague as the law enforcement back east. Vic was sharp, alert, and bracing for the worst. We arrived in the neighborhood she called home during her high school years. The closer we got to the house the more faces we saw staring out the windows at the car Vic was riding in and at the home we were headed to. We approached and saw little Tina Marie beautiful and all grown up, standing in the full-length windows of the front of their remodeled house with her mother and father. Their faces projected only looks of genuine concern for Vic as we pulled up and into the driveway of Vic’s old home.

  Getting out of the car was almost immediately distressful as it appeared as if a small war had been waged on just this property. There were fractures all over the exterior walls and fissures in the rooftop; the shattered shingles lay about the yard like shrapnel in a war zone. All of the windows were either cracked or shattered entirely, and the interior drapery appeared to be missing. The front door and most of the frame around it was out on the front lawn; the deadbolt was still in the locked position. In the lawn were holes several inches across and a foot or two deep. They were the chaotic but familiar footsteps of Thorn having walked here. The holes were obviously puzzling the detectives working on this, but this was information they didn’t need as they couldn’t comprehend it anyway. The lead detective stopped Vic before letting her go in, which obviously riled her a bit, but the officer felt he had to preface what they found, as well as who they didn’t find.

  “Miss Nyles, we’re a bit confused by some of what we found inside. We instructed the officers back east to tell you both of your parents are missing, that part is true, we don’t know their whereabouts yet, but we’re hoping there’s something in all of this which makes sense to you.” Vic bec
ame impatient and tried to walk around the detective, but he caught her by the arm and warned her that it was gruesome inside despite the crime lab having cleaned up a bit. She jerked her arm from the detective’s hand to make her way into the house. What it looked like outside was multiplied dramatically inside. Quills scarred some walls while other walls were reduced to crumbles on the tile floors, which had yet more holes from the Thorn walking across them. We’re entirely too used to the gore which comes along with our existence, which is why we noticed considerable amounts of it was missing. He wasn’t kidding about them cleaning up a bit. We were going to need more details. There was blood splashed everywhere adding to our confusion as the detective stepped inside.

  “The neighbors say they never heard a single thing. All this violence and destruction and not so much as any banging or screaming, no gunshots, nothing. The first calls we got were early risers out for a jog or walking their dogs and seeing the outside of the house. Someone finally got brave enough to come up to the house, looked in, and then saw all the carnage. That’s when the police were called. We’ve already been through every room of the house so you can move about freely.” His tone was that of someone who had been doing this job for a long time, but hadn’t seen anything quite like this before. If he’s lucky he never will again. This just isn't something he wants to be wrapped up in.

  “If my parents are missing who’s all the blood from?”

  “It seems that while the neighborhood was asleep one person was out for a midnight stroll and must’ve actually seen something that caught his attention causing him to approach the house, and then he was discovered. Whoever did all of this must’ve made an example of him,” he kept speaking as I poked my hand into his head to see the details of this from his perspective.