Chapter 42
7:00 p.m., May 6
I hadn’t experienced anything like the explosive rage and fear that I had felt just a moment before. This happened in times of combat—I knew that—but this experience was different. I felt paralyzed by the events that erupted around me and I could do nothing to help Kenny. I considered the irony. Being an ex-soldier myself, I should have been able to handle it. But I couldn’t. Soldiers lost buddies in battle, but not me—and I knew I wasn’t ready to face it now.
I wondered suddenly what it would have been like if I had gone to ‘Nam. Napalm flaring and thunderstorms of bullets ringing out everywhere. Would it have felt like this, I thought?
Everything around me seemed completely surreal.
“Kenny,” I called out to him. “If you can hear me, move something. Move a leg. Kenny!”
Don’t die on me, goddamnit! Not like this. I can’t do this without you, Kenny.
He didn’t move, he didn’t respond. There was no sign that he was even still alive. He didn’t so much as twitch, but I could feel a slow pulse when I touched my fingers to his neck.
I could no longer hear the sounds of screaming, fleeing human-vampires and the flames had faded into a small glow. I could tell that Fabiana was recalling them back into her mind. Then my thoughts returned to the idea of war and all the horrors that accompany it. Fabiana was looking at Kenny and then to the chain that held him. In an instant, the heavy links that held the chain together fell apart and bits and pieces of iron clattered to the ground. Kenny was free, but that would do little good if he was going to die in my arms.
It seemed that out of the silence of that night I heard the voice in my head. It startled me, but gave me relief at the same time.
“It would have been far worse, Tim. The war would have been far worse than anything we have ever gone through.”
“Oh, Kenny, thank god!” I was so relieved to hear his voice again.
Fabiana sat on her knees next to us, her eyes closed. I could tell she had been greatly weakened physically by what she had done. I hadn’t really noticed until that moment. A tear was working its way from the confines of her eye and moved down the whiteness of her soft cheek, which had begun to quiver slightly. Then it happened. She fell like a lump at my feet.
“Fabiana, Fabiana!”
I shook her by the shoulder and I was amazed at how delicate and fragile she seemed by just a touch. How could someone so small—someone so breakable—be so powerful at the same time? The fear was returning to me all over again, and this time it was for her.
“Oh, come on, Fabiana! Wake up!”
Then Kenny moved slowly toward her—practically crawled—and found her pulse.
“Tim, calm down. Her heart is steady. She has a good rhythm. Just let her be for a minute. She needs to recover.”
I could feel his eyes on me all of a sudden.
“You, really do love her, don’t you, man?”
I didn’t need to think on that question. Of course I did. I always knew that I loved her.
“I do,” I confessed, feeling slightly giddy.
“Does she love you?”
But before I could answer his question, her voice was in my head. Actually, her voice was in both of our heads.
“I think I’m losing my mind… He’s trying to drive me crazy.”
“Who? What are you talking about, Fabiana?”
“Inferi.”
Then it was Kenny who spoke.
“Who is Inferi?”
“The beginning. The birth of all evil in this world. He brought the seed of the first horror, the first monster the world has ever known. The first vampire.”
“I thought Cognatus the Origin was the first. So who’s this Inferi?”
“Inferi is the demon that all vampires were spawned from.”
Then I finally got it. I recalled the story that Fabiana had put in my mind last year. The history of her kind. The beginning of the first vampire.
“The demon that attacked and raped the woman that gave birth to Cognatus. Is that right?”
“That is correct.”
“What can you tell us about him?” I heard Kenny say.
“Everything. I was in his mind and I gleaned it all. More than I wanted to see. His whole tale played for me and there was not a thing I could do but sit and watch it.”
“Tell us.”
Chapter 43
The Story of Inferi
This is a story of a world far from this one. It was formed in an alternate reality from our own. The world of Damnatio existed in a dimension far from the reaches of our universe. An old breed of creatures inhabited the land. Creatures that, many years after the beginning of this tale, would be referred to as demonic or demons, servants of evil. Evil created for the bidding of a misguided angel of heaven. But that angel of heaven was not the one to create this world. God created this world. God created the creatures that inhabited this strange land of sulfur and ash.
Stars were coming out behind a silhouette of the monstrous form of Inferi. The pale sky was marred with black when the scaly creature crept through the magma mountain top of Thorin. Sulfur and flame exploded behind his hideous shoulders as sparks of heat and light rained over him in quick, painful drops. His long black fingers brushed the droplets of burning heat off his flesh with just a swipe of his hand, and Inferi announced himself with a mighty roar that sounded of thunder and lightning.
A heavy link of a chain pulled tight suddenly and Inferi’s massive movements came to an abrupt halt. This was no longer his land to torment. This was no longer his land to dominate or control. Even in a land ruled by monstrous demons and giants with dragons as dogs, the evil reign of Inferi was bound to come to an end. Inferi, one of the first and worst killers ever to crawl free from the mouth of Thorin, was now a prisoner and condemned to banishment from this world, never to return. From the mouth of Thorin Mountain, the very place that birthed him, a power came that would ensure that this would be the last of his home he would ever see.
It seemed as though darkness flowed out like a vapor from the hole in the mountaintop, and a shadow in which nothing could be seen lay before the group of demons that now gathered before Inferi. There was a wide and yawning mouth leading in and down to another world below. It was the gateway. The door that, once entered, would never allow one to return. Inferi knew this was the end of his days in his homeland, for he knew he would never set foot here again.
A creature of blue skin with flowing black hair and long fangs appeared at the left of Inferi and all fell silent. He was obviously someone of great importance for every creature gave him respect. All, that is, but Inferi. The being stood by a grey stone shaped like a flat tabletop, and giants and demons and dwarfs with thick beards watched somewhat impatiently. They were becoming unruly as they waited for the strange being to speak. The two suns sank lower and lower, and the sky was dark except for the orange bloom of magma as the creature produced a crystal key that hung on a long chain from his neck.
There was a loud crack on the top of the grey stone table. A split in the rock shone from top to bottom as a hole appeared suddenly before this frightening new being. Quickly and with a sure grip, the grey, leathery hand rushed to the rock and pushed the key into the hole. His actions were almost finished with satisfaction and rage.
“Open! Open!”
Several voices rose up over the bubbling of the lava, above the hissing of magma. As he turned the key there was a rumbling and a snap, like a lock clicking free. The last gleam of light went out. The suns had sunk beyond the horizon and the moon was nowhere to be found, and darkness sprang up around them. A hush fell over the gathering demons as a figure appeared at the base of the narrow path that lead to the mouth of Thorin Mountain. A creature that was twelve feet tall with long scaly limbs and a great matted beard of blue and grey hair stepped forward. His eyes glowed red as blood and his lips pushed back over yellow fangs as he spoke in a loud, booming voice.
“For th
e crimes and atrocities committed during the Thousand Year War, Inferi, first of his name, founder of the Nero Peak and father to Balix, I hereby cast you out of the fires from which you were born, never to return. You will spend the rest of your days on the dark rock, this I swear to you. Do you have anything to say?”
With that, a hush fell over the whole land. Inferi lifted his heavy head, looked to the elder demon with cold black eyes, a string of blood red hair swaying over his face, and he spoke.
“Yes… Elder, third of his name, born of Thorin, I do. I will kill you. That I swear to you.”
And with those words still hanging in the air, snide laughter broke out on the mountaintop and echoed in each of its deep caverns.
“No, Inferi. You will not. Cast him into the pit!” the gruesome demon commanded. Inferi didn’t hesitate. He rocketed at the Elder, grabbed hold of him, wrapping the long, heavy links of the chain around the thick neck of the demon, and jumped off the mountain into the fiery pit below. Inferi and the helpless Elder fell down and down to the depths of the mountain. Just before the blazing heat overtook Inferi, a wave of blinding light consumed the two falling figures. For an instant, Inferi thought he had actually died. But suddenly his large, massive form came to a crashing halt against rock and stone. Pain had conquered his body for a long moment before he had the strength to lift his head. He tasted blood in his mouth and his limbs ached as he struggled to move.
A sun blazed overhead in a dark red sky. Ash and soot floated everywhere and covered everything. Lakes of lava and water were cutting paths around him as he climbed to his feet. It seemed as if this world was not all that different from his own. It wasn’t until that moment that Inferi found him. Only feet from where he had fallen, the Elder laid dead, his neck shattered by the chain. Inferi plastered an evil looking grin across his face and looked down at the Elder in triumph. The gratification that he felt was immense and he laughed out loud.
“I told you I was going to kill you.”
Chapter 44
65 million years ago
For a long time Inferi stood in the dark before the yawning expanse of the new world. It was a land ripe for his hunt, waiting for him to begin. In a section of dense jungle, the ground underfoot crunched and cracked. Pushing aside the long leaves of plants, he found a carcass of bone so massive he thought it to be that of a giant. Ribs as tall as trees rose up from out of the earth and pointed to a single rising sun overhead. The skull of the creature was mighty and thick. Rows of razor sharp teeth seemed to glow in the morning light as Inferi came closer.
The ground was covered in small bones and Inferi lifted his feet from the sharp bleached fragments. He sighed and laughed. What is this world? he thought. What massive creatures are these that inhabit this land?
His eyes were moving around the ground. He saw blanched skeletal remains from several other species, although he could not immediately identify any of them, being new to this place. The first thing he noticed was the impressively large piles of bones. This is the killing ground, he thought. Just as he thought the words, as if his demon mind knew what was about to happen, a roar erupted behind him.
He turned to a rustling in the bushes beyond a stream and an enormous Tyrannosaurus Rex reared up in chest-high foliage. Inferi was startled, but as soon as he saw the beast the instinctual call of the hunt took over him. The dinosaur stared at him from across the water. There seemed to be no anger in his gaze but Inferi charged anyway. His teeth were out and black clawed fingers reached forward as his muscular legs carried him across the stream in a fraction of a second. The massive beast had no earthly idea of the immense power that was charging at him and reared back for an instant as the demon’s teeth ripped and tore at scaly flesh. A deafening roar escaped from the animal before giving in to the pain altogether. Then blood was in the water and the powerful Tyrannosaurus was dead. The ground shook as the animal fell lifeless at the feet of Inferi. He was a ferocious hunter and no beast around could match his skill or voracity.
Things went on this way for Inferi for some time. He killed anything and everything that came across his path. He lived out his days and months in this place and he did what he did best—he conquered all around him. There was no better killer in the entire land. Then months turned into years and years into decades, and before he knew it, there was nothing left to kill. The centuries passed and he was left alone and unable to die. What was it about this world that changed him so? What was it that made him immortal?
Aspects of him seemed enhanced here. He had no answers for his queries. The centuries evolved like the coming tides of the ocean, patterned and yet random. He found himself in a thick sleep as the world changed and came to life anew, all while he slumbered deep in the darkness of his mind. As the years grew long he hoped he would sleep eternally. But now and then the thirst for blood awakened him, and using the great power of his mind, he roused himself and went in search of flesh and, most of all, blood. For it was blood it seemed that was the most important to his thirst, and not even the great ancient demon had an answer for why. But it was the smell of blood that woke him.
He fed on them—creatures of the earth and sea and sky—fiercely and savagely until nothing remained of the animals but piles of bones. Then one day, millions of years after his arrival, the demon woke to a smell he had never sensed before. In his sleep, he dreamed. He could not help it. The power of his mind let him suddenly hear voices on the wind. They called to him, waking every aspect in his body.
Unwillingly he saw through weak eyes and beheld a world much changed. The mountains and volcanoes of the past that had shaped this earth seemed to have calmed and the rivers of molten rock were nowhere to be found. Now only a land of lush greenery and skyscraping trees remained. The large beasts that had fed him, the massive monsters that had once roared throughout the world, had been dead for millions of years, and now a new breed of creatures moved about the lushness in his mind. They looked closer in appearance to Inferi, but they were not like him. No one could be Inferi, the fearless killer, the god of this new world.
They were unlike him, not his kind. They were dark skinned and had rounded eyes, and seemed to speak in a strange tongue. But he had known creatures like them before. His mind had woken before but they were more animal then, not like this. Inferi’s heart was racing now. He wanted to feel them, to feel their flesh under his bite, and he longed to hear a blood curdling scream once again.
As he walked from the confines of the cool shade of his cave, a scent drifted up to him. The smell awoke a desire in him that he had not felt since his exile from his homeland. Urges erupted inside of him. Not the urge to kill, no… Something sexual was coming to life in him and he let out an ear shattering roar. Suddenly the sky came to life with winged creatures that took to the heavens. The screeching cries of fleeing, winged animals erupted overhead and then were gone.
Inferi closed his eyes and his mind raced outward through swaying trees and billowing vegetation. Then he found her. A woman was kneeling by a riverbed and the demon took off after her. She had dark skin and a mat of stringy, dirty black hair which covered her large forehead. Her jaw was thick and she was nothing like the animals the demon had seen before. He wanted this one. He ran faster and faster through foliage and hulking trees that blurred as he passed them. His steps seemed loud in the dense undergrowth of the jungle as he moved in what felt like clumsy, aggressive gestures. Then Inferi was on her.
She was kneeling peacefully by the stream. She barely had the chance to lift her head in time to see him. He was on top of her in the blink of an eye, ripping at her nakedness. At first Inferi had wanted to kill her. It was what he did best, after all. Then the urge consumed him and he was pushing inside her. He had never known anything like it before. He had mated many times with the demons of his world, but this was different. This was powerful and pleasant, gentle and violent, all at the same time. The woman was screaming and bleeding as the beast pushed himself deeper into her. Inferi was finished in only a mo
ment and then was gone just as quickly, but his seed had been planted.
Inferi left her lying by the water and disappeared back into the darkness of his cave. The scent of the woman was still on him, tormenting him. He desperately wanted that feeling again. The demon went out every night, sniffing the air for another whiff of the humanity which had originally triggered his urges. But it was many moons until he caught a female aroma again. He rushed onto her just as quickly as he had captured the last human. But this time his power got away from him and the fragile creature died before the deed could be done.
Yes, Inferi had taken others just like the woman that gave birth to the first vampire. Who knows how many other vampire lines are out there?
After some time of pursuing these conquests, an awareness had come over him that he wasn’t going to die. Loneliness in its harshest form could not destroy his will to live. Neglect was insufficient. And so Inferi slept and slept. He supposed that was his punishment, to never stop living. To never end—that must have been the worst punishment all.
Then a strange thing happened. A catastrophe befell the demon line and the world of blood drinkers. An old vampire, but not as old as some, had risen to power. Her name was Fabiana. In her, power was harnessed like in no other before. Inferi had never thought it at all possible. Then his child, the first born of his seed, rose from slumber. He had been an evil and wonderful creation of human and demon melded into one. He had in Cognatus the sacred core of all vampires, and the female vampire knew it for she was his child. But his death brought so much more than the end of the curse. It brought humanity, which was a curse in itself. The ‘demon curse’—as this powerful female called it—was destroyed. And now she lived as a human. Fabiana was finally weak and vulnerable and her thoughts were open to his suggestion.
The Blood Born Tales (Book 2): Blood Dream Page 21
