Erika sat there, her chest tight and frightened. She was trying to keep an open mind, but she was not prepared for Felix to have a split personality or for him to be possessed by a demon. She was not sure which was better and worse, but either way, this was not great.
Reading the look in her eyes, Felix explained, "No, Erika, I am not possessed, and I don't have multiple personalities." Taking a deep breath, he looked into her eyes, "You are familiar with the Nine Other Worlds of Yggdrasil, yes?" When she nodded her head, he continued, "There is another plane that exists in the ether. A world of Unmaking."
He leaned closer as though he did not wish to be overheard, "A world of malevolent spirits, shades, devourers of goodness, parasitic in nature, cancer. Others have named it Corruption because it corrupts all that is good and beautiful and twists it into something so terrible it becomes unrecognizable. These beings have been trying to cross over into man's realm for as long as it has existed, but old magics build a fence to keep the realms of chaos out. You know this as the veil."
"What of you," she asked a tremor in her voice.
"I will get to that, Darkling, just give me time," he whispered, bringing her hands to his lips. "Anyway. Michael's sacrifice was to share space with one of these corrupted entities, a hunter and a scout sent to pursue certain types of souls. A lineage of souls from ancient and powerful bloodlines." He looked at her, his eyes different somehow.
Erika could not help but shiver to hear his words. She suddenly felt like a rabbit trapped in the grips of a great constrictor. Feeling trapped but too hypnotized to try and escape. "Why are you telling me this?" she whispered, pulling away from him again, having paled corpse white.
He reached up to tuck a strand of her raven black hair behind her ear, "Because there is no time to win you over slowly, Darkling. Your man is coming for you, and my time to win your heart is growing short."
"How can I believe what you are telling me, Felix?" She asked, pulling away from his lingering touch. "You could just be better at glamour than Preach. For all, I know you are making this all up, and I am just some naive child who believes in fairytales that you are telling your nonsense too."
"Erika, you recognize my wolf. You know my other form. You have felt me," he said, reaching out for her hand as he told her gently. "You know me…. You KNOW the real me."
"What about Michael?" she asked, afraid to meet his eyes, fearful of the answer.
"He is here," he tapped his head, "But I am stronger with you around." He shut his eyes as though listening to something… or someone, "Michael is full of hate and his heart black with anger. Trust me, he shouldn't be around."
Erika did not know how to answer that. Looking around the room, she pointed at the wall, "Tell me more about that."
He pointed to Jewel, "The White Queen, Jewel Dubois, was working with the Black Queen. With the help of her henchmen, she was to open a predetermined portal and lead an invasion of Unmaking. Sacrifices were to be made to seal the deal. You and your friends." Seeing the look of anger on her face, he hastily added, "Not recruited by me, mind you. I had no part in that debacle. The Black Queen, Pandora, recruited the White Queen."
Erika snorted, "Queens? That is presumptive, isn't it.”?
"Not Queens like sovereigns," he began, "More like Queens in chess. Powerful, mobile, strategic." Standing up, he walked to his desk and retrieved a drawing, a World Tree chart. "You see each of the Nine Worlds has a Queen, a gatekeeper. It is their job to protect the portals at all cost and to prevent the invasion of their realms. Sitting next to her, he explained, "Now, the Black Queen represents the interests of the Corruption and is locating the portals on this side of the veil. The White Queen, Jewel Dubois was… well… like a lockpick - she could stand in any of the gates and open the portal."
She looked at him then, even more confused, "But Jewel… the White Queen is dead? Right? So, we are safe."
"Not quite. The White Queen could stand-in for any of the other Queens. The plan now is to find the real gatekeepers and Unmake them," he told her, handing her a folder full of photos of people, locations.
"And this is how you came here," Erika muttered as she flipped through the folder.
"Yes, my job is to track down the bloodlines, locate their Queens. And you, Erika Lily, are the key."
"How do you mean?" she balked, "I can't do anything special."
"You are the one who can see the players."
"Maybe before Jewel stole my raven, but he is locked in a jar now, and I have nothing," she sulked. "Wait, is that why Preach wants me?"
"No, Preach wants to fuck you and feed off your power," Felix told her crassly. "You are a very powerful little girl."
"Is that why you want me?" she asked, her eyes narrowing as she shifted her full attention to him.
Felix stared at her long and hard. “Darkling, I have hunted you for so many lifetimes that I have lost count.” He stood up and began to pace the tinfoil covered floors. Giving her a soft smile, he continued, “In the beginning, it was the love of the hunt. You were my white whale. No matter how hard I tried I could not beat you.”
She studied him as he spoke, taking in his words but watching his body language and energy. “In time, my admiration grew to respect and from respect – as close to love as I am capable. So no, I don’t want to fuck you or feed on your power,” he said softly. He went to stare at the map on the wall, “Did you know some wolves mate for life?” Lowering his voice, he admitted, “That is how I have longed for you for an eternity, Erika. Like a wolf does its mate.”
Erika was speechless as he walked to her and pulled her to stand in front of him. Gently he traced her face, “I love you for all the things I have seen you do, for all the times I tried to cripple you with pain and suffering, and I love that each time your soul chose forgiveness rather than hate. Most of all, Darkling, I love that you have softened my heart to love and brought grace back into my soul. You are my Shadow, forever bound to me even when I don’t know who you are.”
His eyes met hers, now shining with unshed tears, and she knew he spoke the truth, and her heart softened towards him. Shaking, Erika reached up to touch his face, and he bent down into her hand. The two stood their bodies close but not touching. Their auras mingled as in their way they seemed to melt into one another. Felix raised his hand and lightly traced her cheek with the half-moon and brought his four fingers down her face. Bringing his forehead to hers, the man stared deeply into her eyes. “This… Erika. This is enough. I will not push you. But this gives me hope. Thank you for that.”
Erika turned away from him then, shaking her head, “I don’t want to give you false hope. I love Ransom, and I am not going to leave him just because you said some pretty words.” She did not want to admit to herself or him that she felt a deep stirring for him. A connection that ran so deeply she could not ignore it. “Ransom will be back in a few days. If you are unwilling to take me to meet him, I can find my own way.”
“I will help you, Erika. I will never force you. You must come to me on your own free will, or it is meaningless. I want you to choose me. To love me,” he told her sadly.
“And what if I cannot give you what you want?”
“I will protect you and serve your interests for as long as you want,” he told her, “But you are the only one I will ever love. If you make me leave, I will choose to fade and let Michael Austin have control.”
“But he is a murderer, Felix,” she stated, turning to look at him in disbelief.
Felix shrugged, “Erika, you are my conscience. Without you, in my life, I really don’t care.”
Chapter 26
July 8, 2020
The sound of hammering and a drill woke Erika from her dreamless sleep. She laid there for a moment, working things out in her head. She was not sure what to think about the things Felix had shared last night, but she could not deny that it had a ring of truth to it. Things were strange, and in the last few weeks, she had come to believe things she would have thoug
ht impossible a year ago. Sitting up, she hoped she would be able to get more answers today now that her head was clear.
Seeing her sit up, Felix stopped what he was doing and flashed her a smile, "Morning sunshine." Then he flicked on the switch that operated the window unit to cool off the small apartment. It was summer in Mississippi and that meant it was already hot and humid despite the early hour.
Not being much of a morning person, Erika grumbled back "Morning," before stumbling to the bathroom. Felix had laid out clean towels and washcloths as well as a Guns-N-Roses t-shirt for her. Though the t' shirt had seen better days, it was a perfect top for the '90s assemble he had left her to wear that included a pair of Homer Simpson boxer shorts, a wide black leather belt, and some cut off jean shorts that were ragged and had holes. The boxers were the only thing that made the shorts semi-decent. It was still better than wearing anything that had belonged to Preach, she thought with a shrug. Only half-awake, she stumbled around, preparing her shower. She could not help but notice the window unit's pull on the power was making the overhead lights flicker. Hopeful the fuse would not blow while she was in the shower, she rushed to get finished only to discover the lights were not the only issue. She heard Felix call out, "Hot water doesn't work," a second too late as the icy blast washed her soul's sleepiness down the drain.
Once Erika got used to the cold, she found a bottle of shampoo and began to lather her tangled hair. Erika’s fingers combed the knots from her hair, but when she started washing her body, she could not get the image of Preach removing her clothing and dressing her out of her mind. She scrubbed her skin meticulously, trying to wash away the feelings of humiliation, vulnerability, and shame until her skin was red and raw.
As she dried off, she looked in the mirror, trying to decide what to do with her hair. It had just enough curl to frizz in the humidity, and she knew left to its own device, she would end up looking like an alpaca. She looked around the bathroom before finding a rubber band and quickly braided her hair into one thick braid. As she got dressed Erika was pleased to find that the waist of the shorts sat on her hip bones. With the belt, it kind of worked. She remembered seeing photos of her mom taken back in the day and realized that she had a cool 90s grunge scene vibe. All she needed was to trade the Mary janes in for some combat boots and grab a flannel shirt.
Joining Felix, she found that while she was getting ready, he had been busy loading his truck. He took her by the hand and directed her to have a seat on the futon. "Take a seat, there are still some things I need you to know that I didn't quite finish last night."
Unsure what to expect Erika reluctantly followed. She was still not completely comfortable with him, or maybe it was she was too comfortable.
He gave her a shy look before adding, "Ummm. You can keep the t-shirt. It looks way better on you than it ever did on us."
Erika gave him a half-smile, "Thanks," looking down at the t-shirt, "I love these old vintage t-shirts."
He laughed when he heard her say vintage and rolled his eyes before turning serious, "I want to try something," he said, coming to stand next to her. "I am going to try and show you myself." Felix straightened himself, "My real self." Shaking out his arms and neck as though to loosen up his muscles. He took a deep breath. Erika felt a shift in the room, and suddenly the shadows seemed to move to him. Felix seemed to lengthen and to grow larger than his 6-foot 1 frame. The room's air was suddenly charged with electricity and Erika felt the hairs on her arm stand on end. Aghast, she watched as his shadow came out from underneath him. If she had blinked, she would have missed it as the shadow then separated itself from the human body. It stood tall - the figure slender and graceful. In the blink of the eye, it pulled the light towards it, and it shifted into the large black shadow wolf from her dreams. The wolf's amber eyes glowed as though aflame, staring into her. Lifting its muzzle, it began to howl. The human body was nothing but a husk. With Felix’s energy gone from within it, it started to sway and jerk as though going into convulsions. It was about to fall to the floor when the wolf leaped into it in one graceful leap. The moment the wolf touched the human, it was absorbed by the body and dispersed like a mist. A deep breath erupted from the human form as Felix looked up at her in a crouch at her feet. His eyes were no longer human; the pupils too dilated, and the iris the color of burning orange embers. Then he blinked, and human eyes gazed upon her once again.
Erika gasped in surprise, shock, and disbelief. With a trembling hand, she reached out to touch his face. "Am I dreaming," she whispered.
"Nope, you are awake," he said, playfully pinching her.
Laughing in surprise, she squealed, "OUCH!"
His face lit up with genuine happiness at the sound of her laughter. "Do you believe me now?"
"How can I not?" she asked, amazed at what she had just witnessed. "What are you?"
Gently he brought his large hand up to touch her face, "I will tell you everything, Darkling. But there are certain things you must know to prepare you for the rest. But first… coffee..."
He stood up abruptly and went to brew them a pot of black coffee. The smell of the coffee roused her to come to stand at his side while he got two mugs down. "No milk or sugar," he apologized.
Erika looked at him, confused by the ordinariness of having morning coffee together. She took her cup and went to sit on the futon and look through the files from last night.
Taking a deep breath, Felix moved to sit next to her. He drank some of the coffee and began to explain, "You need to understand that the night by the river, you witnessed the White Queen putting things in motion that left unchecked will burn this world down." He paused, watching her face. "Have you noticed how chaos and dissent have plagued Chimneyville since that night? That is their poison, and for it, there is no cure, only death or madness. A chain of events has started, and we need to get the hell out of Chimneyville before the next fire is lit." He grasped Erika's hand as though he needed reassurance, she would not leave him as he told her the rest. "The Unmakers…," he closed his eyes, searching for the right words, "The portal the White Queen opened allowed them to cross into the world. Not the Army that was promised, but enough are here to bring the rest over if they can open a portal."
Overwhelmed, Erika asked cautiously, "What do you mean? I have not heard any reports of an alien invasion. Just this virus… Do you mean this virus is like some sort of bioweapon?"
"No, it is not that simple. Corruption is here. And no, it is not Covid-19 or some shadow government. It was invited to man's realm because the only thing that can save you, magic, has been lost to humankind. Your world has chosen to forget its roots. The power of its ancestors. Its connection with the flows of the universe." He turned from her looking disgusted, "There are pockets here and there in the indigenous tribes, but the truth of the cosmos is, for the most part, considered to be irrelevant superstition or ignorance."
"Civilization and technology have created a world full of sheep ready to be led to slaughter. People rely on the news media, governments, and social media influencers to tell them what to think, what to buy, what narrative to believe. Now your world is on the edge of the abyss with no defense against what is coming. And no one will heed the warnings."
Erika was speechless. Her eyes wide and full of fear, she hung on to his every word. "But Felix, we have armies. We have nuclear weapons. How…"
He cut her off, pacing back and forth, "You don't get it, Erika, the Corruption is not an Army you can fight. It is not like anything your world has ever seen. The only way I can think to describe it is like a sickness… a parasite… it eats up all of the light and goodness in someone and rots them from within." He picked up a stack of newspapers, internet articles, and charts and tossed them to her.
She caught them and began to sort through. She saw yellow highlighted passages citing morbidity rates, virus death tolls skyrocketing, riots, mass murders, rapes, and other crime statistics all growing daily since the night of the ritual. Their locations coincided wi
th red flags on the maps on the wall - the impact getting more significant as they moved away from ground zero.
Looking at the map that hung on the way, she suddenly felt ill. Ground Zero was the stone circle at Professor Stewardsen's farm. "No," she voiced weakly, getting up to take a closer look. "It can't be."
She turned to Felix; shock painted on her face. Hesitantly she looked at him, "But you are not like that? You are not like that at all."
He looked at her, grievously, "My people were a race of warriors. Instead of being unmade, they peeled the layers of our soul off until they became malleable and we could be of service to their cause. I was one of the lucky ones. I was found to have a certain aptitude for scent tracking certain desirable lineages. Many of my kin were not so blessed. The lucky ones were unmade, and their soul absorbed by others, but most were driven to become the savage haunts like the ones ravaging the countryside here now."
Taking a deep breath, Erika buried her head in her hands, "How do they capture souls?"
Looking suddenly bored with her question, he yawned, "I have known them to come in different manners, some will be nightmares, others shadow men. Stronger souls will think they see ghosts or are being possessed." Looking away from her to the map, he added, “I don't know what things will look like in a day or so. The Black Queen is planning to shut down the power grid, and when the lights go out for good, bad things will hunt in the city. It is why we need to get out of here."
He stood up and started picking up the stacked equipment. Looking over his shoulder, he shared, "I don't know what the Black Queen's plan is, but I know it will start before dawn four days hence."
Felix put down what he was carrying, "Erika, I am not telling you this for you to save the world. I tell you this because I love you, and I cannot think of a world without your light. But you are the key - once the Black Queen realizes I wanted you for more than to take away Brother Timothy's toy, she will come for you. Please take what I say to heart, you have to be prepared." He turned and went to load the motorcycle and supplies into the back of his truck.
Tapestry of Worlds : Part One - The White Raven Awakens Page 18
