Shared Redemption

by Michel Prince

  My Dearest Damarion,

  You have been sent from me, but I shall not let you fall. I knew you would find this knife I sent to you for protection. It will follow you, if you are forced to move. It will be hidden from you, only to be found when you need it most. The knife may only be yielded by a Deumos, but you will soon learn you control them fully. I am sure they shall fall for your charms in the same way I have.

  Do not fret. I know I am your love and the Deumos know my wrath. When threatened from within, pass it unto one you trust and they shall use it for its purpose. The knife does not leave ash, only a corpse just as a weak human would.

  You shall complete your service and I shall reward you upon your return. I have already started to discover ways of living outside my chains. We shall complete your transformation, making you worthy of me, in the eyes of my brother. For you know that in my eyes you were worthy from our first encounter.

  Te adoro mi amor y mantenga cerca de mí cada día.

  The Royal holder of your heart

  Her Royal Holiness

  Princess LaDressa Daughter of Lucifer IV

  She was always so formal in her letters. Even the ones she sent to me, she always signed the same way. It was her training, her programming more like it, never a hair out of place. Stepping this way and that, but always with an agenda, never moving without direction.

  I rose from my seat and held the knife firmly in my hand. Its pearl handle was blazing hot against my skin. A powerful electric shot through it almost instantly, making me drop it. The handle was adorned with the talons of a raptor, which gripped the blade. The shining, silver blade looked sharp enough to cut the hair on a fly’s ass. With its ability to prevent a demon from reverting to ash, it was a terrifying weapon. Pivane, no, any demon slain by this knife would never rise again.

  But to whom do I trust the knife? Zuma or Nemesio?

  * * * *

  Nye

  I could hear a shower running. Looking to the left, I saw the red digital numbers on Kiri’s alarm clock. 7:09. I needed sleep, but a shower would do me a service even without clean clothes here. My fingers traced the crack along the wall. Kiri’s home wasn’t a firetrap, but I’d never want her to stay in such a decrepit place. It wasn’t good enough for her. She was like the flower that blooms through a crack in the sidewalk.

  I felt mist on my body from her shower as I entered the small bathroom and once again I smelled magnolias. I could only imagine her washing herself, the soap foaming on her body, slowly sliding down between her legs and pooling at her feet.

  “Nye, please close the door. You’re letting in the cold. Or is that you making me cold?”

  I closed the door and walked toward the shower curtain. She stuck her head out; her wet hair was slicked back.

  “Are ya gettin’ in or not?”

  “You want me in there? With you?”

  “Is there some part of you I haven’t seen? If so, I’d like a look.”

  “Really?”

  She just licked her lips and smiled wider.

  “Get your ass in here.”

  Pulling off my shirt, I caught a glimpse of my back in her mirror. I turned to face my reflection. The blackness of my skin stood out against Kiri’s white shower curtain. I turned again and saw my back, each scar a sign of my failure. Failure to comply. Failure to escape. I was a failure in every way.

  “Nye…” Kiri said, poking her head out again. “You don’t want to miss the hot water, do ya? What’s the matter?”

  “Nothing. I’m coming.”

  I dropped my pants and heard a purr from behind me. I turned around and Kiri’s eyebrows were raised.

  “I didn’t see that last night. I’m sorry I missed it.”

  “My scars?”

  “No, silly, you know I’ve seen those.”

  I stepped into the shower and Kiri squeezed my ass.

  “This. I felt it, but seein’ is believing. It’s amazing.”

  I relaxed, but just for a second.

  “But since you brought it up…”

  Her fingers crawled lightly up my back and my skin tingled. She kissed my chest.

  “Why did they give them to you?”

  “Why do you want to know?”

  “Someone hurt you.”

  Her lips were softly caressing around my nipple and I was entranced by her again. The words flowed freely from my lips, but I don’t remember what I said.

  I awoke from the trance by the smell of magnolias again.

  “Thank you.”

  In her hand was a bottle of shampoo, the cap already undone, and in the center of my palm was a white liquid.

  “You did it again,” I said, coming out of the daze.

  “What?”

  “What did I say?”

  “You said you’d wash my hair,” she said, with a smile of satisfaction.

  “I told you something, didn’t I?”

  “Maybe.”

  “I love this smell. Did I tell you why?”

  “No. Please tell me.”

  “Mississippi. The magnolias in bloom always brought me peace.”

  “Then I better buy out the store,” she said, her hands holding my face, “because I want to bring you peace. More than anything.”

  “What did I say?”

  She smiled, her eyes twinkled, and then she sighed.

  “You only told me about how you wouldn’t do what he said and he whipped you, but you still refused. I don’t mean to entrance you. I don’t even know how I can. When we’re done in here, maybe you could tell me what ‘it’ was. I wasn’t too entrancing. You held back still. What did he want you to do?”

  I pulled her hair to the top of her head and worked it into a good lather. I swallowed remembering each lash.

  “Why did you make me keep on my gloves?”

  “Avoiding the question.”

  “No. I’m just wondering.”

  “You took them off eventually.”

  “Why did you want them on? You want me to talk about my scars, I will. But I need something from you.”

  If Kiri hadn’t pulled the gloves off with her teeth and sucked each of my fingers, I would have thought the worst, that she didn’t want me to touch her any more than I had to.

  “It’s stupid, okay.”

  “Tell me.”

  “You’re so gentle with me. The visual of those gloves makes you seem rougher.”

  “And that’s what you want?”

  “Sometimes. I told you I’m stupid, okay? Plus, they are soft, supple and I know…never mind.”

  “Kiri…”

  “You had them on when you went inside me. So I know from now on when you bring your hands to your face…”

  “I’ll smell you.”

  “Gross. I’m sorry. I’m disgusting, I know.”

  “I never thought about that. It’ll be like you’re with me when I’m fighting.”

  She cocked her downturned head a little to see me. Her lips curled and I knew then I’d have to tell her.

  “Your turn. You said that dwelling in the past is what causes the Frozen to be killed. Working through whatever happened to you will help you get over it and make you safe.”

  I hadn’t even noticed Kiri was washing my body.

  “Nye, I never want anything to hurt you. Not even me. If I’m pushing too much…”

  “I wouldn’t bed some girls,” I said as I massaged her scalp even though the last of the shampoo was circling the drain. “He took Louise and sold her. He told me I had to breed with these other girls. ’Cuz I was so big and dumb. He needed some good mules on his farm. ‘Dumb, stupid animals he could control.’ See, I’s considered dumb ’cuz I didn’t take to breedin’ when I was younger. I didn’t wanna ’cuz I loved Louise. For a spell, they thought I was impotent, but then when Louise and I got hitched, well, they found out and…they sent her away, so I could be their big stud.”

  “Why are you talking like that?”

  “Like what?”

 
“All country bumpkin.”

  “You know how people get comfortable and they start talkin’ slang?”

  “I made you comfortable?”

  “I guess. I…I never liked being considered dumb. So I’ve worked to improve my speech. I knew a little ‘bout readin’ when I became Frozen. Ya know, the Bible and a few books some of the chillren had around the house we’d snatch. I didn’t want to be some big, dumb nigga. I was better and I knew it. So that’s where most of the lashes came from. My pride.”

  Kiri’s lips were closed tight as she tried to hold back a smile.

  “Sorry. I feel bad being proud of you. I had nothing to do with it and I’m sure it brought you a lot of pain. I just…”

  Her fingers tickled as they went up my back.

  “I knew you were book smart. I could tell.”

  “I’ll have to show you our library. I’ve read thousands of books on every topic and I can even read a few languages. Bein’ stationed around the world, it comes in handy. Right now I’m studying Mandarin.”

  “Is that you or the water?”

  “I’m sorry, it’s me.”

  “Come here then.”

  She brought my lips to hers and curled herself into my chest. I must have heated up, because she pulled herself tighter.

  “I love you Nye, nothing that’s happened in your past will upset me. Nothing. If I’m to be your other, I want you to share with me your life. Not just the future, but what made you who you are today. Because it made you into the man I love. Every bump, scrape, encounter, learning moment made you wonderful. It is nothing to be ashamed of because if it hadn’t been for all those experiences, I couldn’t have this one right now.”

  I kissed her hard, letting my tongue touch hers as the water washed over us. The warm water was like a baptism into a new life, a life with someone who didn’t care what had happened before her. She loved me.

  She released me and drifted down my body. Resting on her knees my tip started to tingle. I couldn’t believe I was behaving so badly. It was as if my body had a mind of its own.

  “Kiri…”

  I began to protest, but the tips of her fingers covered my lips just long enough to silence me, while her mouth surrounded my hardness. Her right hand held hard to the shaft. I ran my fingers through her hair as she took me deeper into her mouth. Her tongue licked and teased me until I drifted into euphoria.

  This was something I had only known of in theory. With my other hand, I braced myself against the wall. My legs were becoming weak. Her head and hand were floating up and down. Her tongue massaged the tip of me. I sucked on her fingers, which had been stopping me from fighting the most wonderful feeling I had ever had. Her hand trailed down my body and l moaned. Her hand was sliding down my chest, to my abs, then around my hips and she clutched my ass.

  I felt ready to explode, so I tugged on her hair, but she sucked harder. My balls tightened and I couldn’t hold back. I came with such a force my entire body trembled as the world lost focus. She didn’t stop. She was swallowing me, drinking me into herself. I remembered how sweet she tasted and hoped I was the same for her. Finally, she released me. She smiled at me, then turned around and rinsed her mouth in the shower spray. She reached for a towel on the shower rod and stepped out.

  “Don’t take too long.” Is all she said as she slipped out of the shower.

  Maybe I had died. That was it. I had been allowed to go to heaven. I thanked God for bringing her into my life. She was my forgiveness. She was my salvation. She was my other.

  Chapter 12

  Damarion

  I drove my ’93 Civic through town thinking I’d never get out. The engine was loud, but it wasn’t like I could afford anything better. All the money Pivane and I earned had to be spent on the bantlings and the Deumos. Keeping up the façade was always hard. Being posted in such a small town I had to reinvent myself in different jobs locally, while avoiding previous co-workers. The jobs that we got we had to have certain hours without arousing suspicion. A town this small made it almost impossible to not run into someone you knew from a previous lifetime.

  Sure, we had our drug trade, but that had the same issues. Of course, people would O.D. and we’d always have new customers. I was always amazed at the cockroaches, the ones that could ingest every form of toxin and keep going. How could I explain I’d been their dealer for twenty years and still looked the same?

  Pivane and I’d always have to switch roles as the experienced dealer breaking in a new man, then we’d have to find a real job in the meantime. Meth had destroyed our bottom line. Yes, meth was easy to make and had a great mark up, but the high lasted too damn long. Crack, you got ten minutes at best, then they’d be back clawing to chase the initial high.

  It had to be easier in the bigger cities. But extra challenges are part of my punishment, I suppose. I drove over the railroad tracks, past S-T Hall and turned left twice, then right to Cranes Pond Park. It was quiet, so early.

  I sat on a picnic bench under a weeping willow. The box with the knife sat next to me. Opening it, the last of the day’s sunlight glinted off the blade and I reached for it. My elbow instantly buckled up and shut the box tight.

  The top of the box reminded me of when I first saw LaDressa with the swirling details around her window. Having already lived for an undetermined amount of time in Hell, I was doing what I had done since I took my life, digging with no purpose I could see. I’d heard we were digging the foundation for a new castle or temple. I’d never seen the finished product from all the “foundations” I had dug.

  This was near the Lake of Fire, where I had heard the royal family was summering, although I didn’t know how they told the difference between the seasons here. The guards had gotten distracted by a group of female demons wearing only thongs. Two of them actually had tails, something I had been told made them true demons. To say there was a caste system in Hell would be an understatement. I was in the lowest. I was a former human who only committed a sin against God and myself but no one else.

  I was seen as a waste, not worthy of training to be reborn into the world. My thick, dark shoulder-length hair that made me attractive on Earth just denoted more that I was a lesser being. My hair was now stringy and smelled foul because I wasn’t allowed to wash like the worthy were.

  Looking up from digging, I caught a flash of white and gold, then the figure of a woman. A perfect hourglass mesmerized me instantly. She was standing in a window and staring blankly across the lake, oblivious to what was happening below her. She must have felt my gaze for her head turned ever so slightly that I barely caught the softness of her face. Her black eyes appeared to have noticed me, so I turned away, but quickly turned back and she had not moved. She watched as I shoveled, moving dirt around, then packing it down the side to prevent a collapse, with the end of my blade.

  A woman arrived who I had not seen before. She pulled a matching robe out from the sleeve and passed it to me as she walked by, then turned and nodded and continued her walk down the beach.

  She dipped a heavy metal bucket into the lake and filled the bucket with magma. Quickly, I threw the robe over my body and lowered my head when the guard turned his head. The woman walked back to me and placed the bucket on the ground at my feet. I reached for the handle and we walked away from my work detail toward Lafego Castle.

  “My mistress wishes to speak to you,” the woman said softly. “You shall enter and keep your head bowed unless she wishes to see your face.”

  “Who is she?”

  “Her Royal Holiness Princess LaDressa, daughter of Lucifer the IV.”

  That was a mouthful—not that the titles of human royals weren’t just as bad.

  “There have been four Lucifers?” I asked.

  “Did you think he could live forever? A demon even of the purist blood could not live longer than five thousand years. Immortality was stripped when the first fell from grace.”

  “Why does she wish to speak—”

  The woman’s ha
nd rose to silence me. I dropped my head and my hair fell covering my face.

  “You must know you’re the first unrelated male to enter her room. This is a great risk we’re all taking. Telling anyone could bring you a very painful death.”

  “Aren’t I already dead?”

  “There are many levels to death. Just as there are many levels of pain.”

  I got the warning. Her stern tone was not necessary.

  “Keep your hands inside the robe. She must not see your flesh. I believe I shouldn’t have to warn you about what would happen if your skin touches hers.”

  “No.”

  “Good.”

  The woman drew a set of keys from her robe. They should have been clanging but they hadn’t made a sound. The woman unlocked the door. Two large metal bars moved and the door opened just enough for us to enter the room.

  “Your Highness, I have brought what you requested.”

  “Thank you. You may leave now.”

  The voice was soft but authoritative.

  “Your Highness…”

  “Leave.”

  “Yes, Your Highness.”

  The door closed behind me and I heard the lock go back in place. I stayed close to the wall and tried to be still.

  The golden dress in front of me flowed down to the floor, so I could not see her feet. I feared looking up to see how it hung on her body.

  “What are you called?”

  “Damarion.”

  “You were born on Earth?”

  “Yes.”

  “What was it like there?”

  “There was an ocean that was blue with beaches. Not like the lake here.”

  “Besides the color, how is it different?”

  “It laps. Like when you drop a pebble in a bowl of water. They are called waves, some larger than a man.”

  The secret encounters continued for almost a month.

  “Am I beautiful?” she asked one day.