“He never had the opportunity to study humans in depth, to delve deeply into their emotions, their feelings, and their thoughts about the world, like he did with me. He never had the opportunity to trick and play with a human solely in a verbal way while being in the familiar and calm setting, our living room. Also, as I already explained, he liked to seduce us, amaze us, bend us to his will. Until he had met me, he’d never had an opportunity to do this through the mere use of words. He had never had a tête-à-tête. Watching a human’s reaction as he revealed mysterious enigmas was a completely new and exciting experience. Watching as a human sat, with excitement and not fear, to listen to his stories, which he told with spirited eloquence and with such loquacity that, at times, the stories turned into long, boring sermons much like the ones made by a priest.
“Cannat enjoyed telling stories. He would practice changing registers, choosing the most appropriate words or tone of voice to express his story. He would inflect his sublime, penetrating and melodious voice, like the most seasoned actor, at exactly the right time to keep me listening to his story in suspense and with my mouth open.
“Talking to me was a novelty, another way to entertain himself, another way to develop his vast imagination, to develop his story telling skills. I was his audience.
“ ‘Do you know who Zeus is?’ he asked me one day, his eyes wide open with excitement.
“ ‘Of course,’ I responded. ‘He’s the king of gods in Greek mythology.’
“ ‘I didn’t ask that. I know you know what everyone else knows,’ he said slowly and clearly. ‘I’m asking if you know WHO he really is,’ he stressed.
“By then, I already knew Cannat well enough to guess the response he was insinuating. However, I wanted to toy with him.
“ ‘God,’ I answered with the most stupid look on my face.
“ ‘You know perfectly well what I’m telling you. I am Zeus. Or rather, I was Zeus until I lost interest. Do you want to know who I was before that?’
“The tone of his voice had elevated dangerously. He was leaning over me with his hands on the arms of my chair, with his beautiful face close to mine as though he needed my approval before continuing. He looked at Shallem who pretended to be busy brushing a Turkish velvet jacket. But I knew he was paying attention and that in itself made me feel safe and at ease.
“ ‘Yes,’ I responded.
“ ‘I’ll tell you,’ he answered, happy to speak to his heart’s content. He let go of my chair and walked around the room with his hands crossed and his eyes elevated, pensive. When he started his tale, his voice turned mysterious, as though he were a grandfather trying to scare his grandchildren into going to bed by telling them a horror story.
“ ‘A long time ago, when women weren’t as beautiful as they are today and could barely be even called women, all angels walked freely on Earth. They walked among those horrible and hairy beasts who walked with a stoop. The beasts were able to start fires by rubbing two stones together. They would start horrific fires that we angles had to extinguish. They would tear their victims’ bodies apart with stone utensils, which they themselves crafted since they didn’t have, contrary to carnivores, the teeth nor the strength to kill and eat them.
“ ‘The angels performed small miracles to try and control the savage creature’s violence. The savages admired the angels and immediately realized they were divine beings, superior beings beyond all explanation.’
“ ‘Many years later, some of the angels made the terrible mistake of sowing their seed with the females. They thought they could imbue them with their divine essence and thus, make them less cruel. However, by doing this, man’s intelligence grew quickly, prodigiously, and dangerously.’
“ ‘Some of the humans figured out how to take advantage of the gullible and fearful members of their tribes. These humans wanted to turn themselves into demigods so they nurtured and augmented the tribe’s beliefs with superstitious ideas. This is how medicine men and seers came into existence. They pretended to contact their gods by using outlandish dances. The medicine men would give their tribes hallucinogenic potions made from plants that made them have horrible and ghostly visions. And these vision were interpreted by the medicine men as messages from the gods. However, the angels had already abandoned, disgusted and defeated, the land occupied by those indomitable beasts.’
“ ‘In this way, man’s ideas about everything superhuman, supernatural and divine were created.
“ ‘Much later, when only the rebel angels remained on Earth, man began to reproduce in extraordinary numbers and their tribes travelled throughout the globe as if they were deliberately following their gods.’
“ ‘And they found the gods. And what a temptation it was for the angels to satisfy the naive savage’s chimeras! How they loved to approach them, transformed, at times, into beings of fabulous and impossible appearance just to fascinate them! Then the angels watched, horrified, as the humans began making bloody sacrifices as they sang with jubilation and danced controllably. The angels never demanded these sacrifices, that merciless devastation. Humans were barbaric and sadistic animals.
“ ‘What angel didn’t enjoy the subtle vengeance they gained from watching man exterminate each other? What angel didn’t enjoy this slaughter since they had to comply with the divine command given by their father: “You shall never kill on Earth.” They angels never killed, they never hurt their fanatic venerators. Here’s the derision, the trickery with which to make fun of the law, and, therefore, the irony. “Oh Father, we told you that man would kill everything that breathes on Earth, but, and with luck, he’ll kill his own species first. No other animals, except the humans, devour their own brethren’s entrails in an orgiastic feast. We didn’t make him do it. We didn’t ask him to do it. This defect is his own creation, his own aberrant perversion. He is evil. Man is a disturbed animal, unworthy of our kingdom!” ‘
“Cannat stopped speaking. Shallem had been sitting on the other Dante chair for some time, sitting on the frame that was shaped in an exquisitely proportioned X and which looked delicate beneath his robust body. He was listening as attentively to Cannat as I was. He looked calm and happy, with his arms resting loosely on the arms of the chair. He had used a string to tie back his dark, luminous and unruly hair so he could brush off his clothes more comfortably. Some of the tresses had escaped and had fallen onto his heavenly face, softly caressing his beautiful eyebrows, running across his seductive, manly cheekbones, and even daring to enter his voluptuous peach colored lips. His long and dark eyelashes moved flirtatiously over his humid and cheerful blue-green pupils. Cannat opened the curtain in living room and suddenly the sun fell onto Shallem’s eyes, illuminating them, bringing them to life.
“Cannat and Shallem looked at one another with complicity. I wanted to stand, I was tired of sitting in the same position for hours. I grabbed the arms of my chair and pushed but it was absolutely impossible for me to lift my heavy and clumsy body. I tried a different approach. I propelled myself toward the edge of the chair so I could use all of my strength to stand up. But, damn it, I couldn’t. My hypertrophied waist weighed a ton, I couldn’t maneuver my pregnant body. I saw Cannat and Shallem watching my persistent attempts so I immediately stopped. I felt ridiculous, humiliated, even more of a prisoner in my own body than I had ever been but I needed to stay calm and deal with it. After all, it was our baby who grew inside me.
“ ‘You’re not going to finish your story?’ Shallem asked Cannat in a calm voice.
“Cannat didn’t answer. He stared at me absorbed, spellbound, in an obviously strange manner. For a second, he looked at my sweaty forehead and hands that were swollen due to an excess of blood in my body. Then, he approached me with a tremendously surprised expression, as if he had seen something supernatural, something I myself couldn’t see. He stopped right in front of me as stared at me with obvious fascination.
“He raised his right hand slowly. He was staring at his hand, it seemed like he was touching some
thing in the air. Then, he lifted his left hand and without changing the amazed look on his face, he moved it forward and turned it toward him.
“He stared at his hands, at his body, and looked around us, with the stupefied expression of someone who couldn’t believe his own eyes. Whatever it was that he saw, it surrounded both of us.
“ ‘Look Shallem!’ he whispered like an astounded child. ‘I’m inside her! She’s immense! And so beautiful...!’
“I was even more perplexed than he seemed to be. He stared at me intently, his eyes bursting with excitement like those of someone who had just discovered the pleasure of something forbidden. Dazed and paralyzed, I sat in the chair and watched as he extended his arm toward my stomach. The palm of his hand was a meter away from me but I felt it on my stomach. I felt it! My God, I felt his hand on my warm and smooth stomach as if distance nor clothes existed. I became frightened and twisted in the chair as I drowned a scream in my throat. All the while, the sensation remained. It felt like Cannat’s hard, taught, hand was really touching me.
“ ‘Shallem!’ I pleaded.
“ ‘Calm down,’ Cannat immediately muttered.
“He moved his hand through the air and I felt it glide against my skin as if I were nude. Desperate, I tried everything to stand. Then he slowly raised his hand and I felt an unbearable pressure on my chest that kept me pushed down. I couldn’t move; I couldn’t speak; I couldn’t breathe. Only the terror in my eyes proved I wasn’t dead.
“ ‘Enough Cannat!’ Using long strides, Shallem approached Cannat. ‘Let go of her right now! Do you hear me!’ he yelled, furious.
“Cannat didn’t hear him. He seemed completely distracted, like he and I were the only two people on Earth. I was on the verge of suffocating when Shallem struck him as hard as he could and ended the superhuman energy that had me bound.
“Shallem pulled me up from the chair and held me against his chest. Then I saw Cannat hit his head against the marble shelf above the fireplace. It was a deathblow. Blood gushed from his head like water in a fountain.
“I was so out breath and terrified that I couldn’t scream. With my eyes wide, I clumsily gestured for Shallem to turn and look at Cannat.
“Shallem turned and looked at him. The pool of blood around Cannat was huge and he lay there like a cadaver.
“ ‘Enough with the acting!’ Shallem yelled at him. I had never seen him so angry before.
“Cannat gave no signs of life. A human would have died instantaneously, but he wasn’t human.
“Suddenly something began moving beneath his skin. His rigid stomach bulged as if something was pressing on the walls in search of a way out. His throat began moving, as if his trachea had come to life and wanted to break out of his body. A bulge was edging its way toward his mouth. A small green head emerged from his pale, bruised lips. I saw its scaled, cylindrical body and heard hissing from its oscillating forked tongue. Its oval and beady eyes were scanning the room as it rose out of Cannat’s mouth. I screamed. I screamed with my entire soul.
“The serpent slithered out of Cannat’s body and starting zigzagging toward us. I clung to Shallem desperately and above my own delirious screams and morbid thoughts, I heard Shallem yell. ‘End this now Cannat! What the hell are you doing, you damned fool!’
“The serpent stood still and erect as it watched us with its keen, penetrating eyes as it continued to hiss with its strange, small tongue.
“ ‘Enough!’ Shallem screamed again.
“Suddenly, the serpent disappeared and Cannat instantaneously reappeared, glowing and full of life. He stood there laughing and then began walking toward us, his bloody clothes leaving a trail of blood with every step he took. My rug was soaked with that indelible red color. He couldn’t stop laughing.
“ ‘Come on Shallem!’ he said between bursts of laughter. ‘It was just a joke! You taught me that trick yourself! You weren’t so considerate ten thousand years ago, when we flew after those wretched humans with our enormous, black wings fully extended, with our serpent tongues and sharp, poisonous fangs ready to strike! It was your idea, remember?’ He stared at me and flapped his arms like wings.
“Shallem seemed uncomfortable. I was stupefied and still trembling as I stared at Cannat’s bloodstained, blond hair, and at his mouth. In my mind, I replayed the unfathomable words I had just heard. I refused to believe what I had just seen, what I had just heard.
“ ‘The viper’s tongue...,’ Shallem said. He said those words spontaneously, without thinking about their true significance. Cannat thought this was extremely funny and kept laughing as he foolishly stumbled over furniture.
“All the while, the indifferent sun shined on the puddle of blood, reminding me of the scene that had just taken place, confirming that it had taken place and wasn’t just an exaggerated figment of my imagination or some sort of delusional memory that I would struggle to believe a short while later.
“Shallem, my guardian angel, my angel whose venomous teeth tore into a thousand mortal necks, held me against him, protecting me from any harm. He was furious and frowning at Cannat. Perhaps it was the protective way Shallem held me or his expression that made Cannat’s demented and disturbing laughter increase. Exhausted he fell into a chair, doubled over and tried, in vain, to contain his howls of laughter.
“ ‘I’m warning you Cannat! Enough already!’ Shallem screamed at him.
“Cannat made a tremendous and sincere effort to quiet down. Little by little, his laughter turned into weak hiccups. He held his stomach as if it hurt. Bent over, exhausted, he finally calmed down. Instantly, he went from laughter to extreme severity. He looked at Shallem with his eyes bulging and scowled showing his white teeth like a beast ready to attack. He jumped out of the chair and marched toward us. I felt Shallem’s arms tighten around me. I felt weak and wanted to bury my head into his chest but my swollen stomach wouldn’t allow it.
“ ‘You’re warning me about WHAT!’ Cannat bellowed. ‘What will you do if I don’t behave myself? Hit me? Kill me?’ I could feel the vibrations of his deep voice reverberating in my head. He began gesticulating furiously.
“ ‘I’m fed up with your ridiculous and useless human! I’m ashamed of you, Shallem! Ashamed! You’ve turned into a pathetic guardian angel...’ He pointed at me disdainfully. ‘How far do you think you’ll go? Look at yourself! Hugging a mortal...,’ he sneered. ‘Chained to a mortal who you filled with your own soul.’
“ ‘She was going to die!’ Shallem exclaimed in what I recognized to be a true scream of justification.
“ ‘So what if she was going to die!’ Cannat screamed waving his fists close to my face. ‘She should have died! That’s what happens to mortals. It’s their damned destiny! And she’s a mortal, remember!’
“He stopped ranting and looked at me inquisitively. ‘Or she was a mortal,’ he whispered. ‘What’s going to happen to her now Shallem? Answer me! What’s going to happen! Can she die? How? When? Answer me, Shallem. Do you know?’
“ ‘Yes!’ She’ll be able to die as soon as I take back what I gave her!’ Shallem exploded.
“A part of my tortured mind was absent. With courtesy and regard, it had gone to sleep, it had escaped, vanished. And I went with it. It really felt like I wasn’t there. It felt like I was having a meandering, terrifying dream; a crazy nightmare that was making me lose my mind, but from which, sooner or later, I would wake.
“ ‘How can you be sure, Shallem? No one has ever done this before.’ I heard a surreal voice say.
“ ‘What is she now?’ The voice was trying to force its way into my world. ‘The product of you experiment, of your ego? What’s going to happen to her if she can’t die? What if her body keeps aging for hundreds of years until it falls to pieces? Will you stay with her then? Will you be able to stand the sight of what you created? Will you even be there to see it? You must be there when she dies, Shallem. You have to take back what belongs to you!’
“ ‘If you say one more word, I’ll ta
ke her and we’ll disappear forever! You hear me! Right at this moment!’ Shallem screamed desperately. He couldn’t stand to hear those questions spoken aloud, questions that he himself had asked before.’
“And I, entranced, listened to them as if nothing they said had anything to do with me.
“ ‘She’s yours,’ Cannat condescended calmly. ‘And you, Shallem, not only share hell with humans, you’ve created your own!’
“Cannat took his taffeta cap off the table, gave Shallem a harsh look and without saying a word, walked out. He left the house prudently and anguished like a spited young man.
“I’m not sure how long we stood there fused to each other. Shallem refused to let go, to look into my eyes, to explain what happened...
“ ‘Shallem,’ I murmured in anguish, trying to break free. ‘What did he say? He was joking, right? I can’t die? Why can’t I die?’
“What was I saying? Why had I asked such senseless questions? What crazed part of my mind made me murmur such nonsense?
“ ‘Calm down Juliette, he just wanted to scare you,’ Shallem whispered, tightening his arms around me as if by doing so he would quiet my questions. ‘I had to do it. In Orleans after we left Dolmance’s crypt. Remember? You were about to die. I was going to lose you.’
“Shallem could tell I was overwhelmed, that what I was hearing was driving me mad.
“ ‘Don’t pay attention to what he said, my love. Cannat loves making up stories. He loves to lie, that’s all. I warned you. You must not believe what he says.’
“ ‘Are you telling the truth? I didn’t hear you argue anything he said,’ I muttered, an empty expression on my face, my eyes muted, my lips closed.’
“ ‘What he said was nonsense. Stories he spontaneously created.’
“ ‘Why didn’t you tell me any of this?’ I asked.
“ ‘I didn’t want to scare you. I was afraid you wouldn’t understand...’
The Devil's Concubine Page 20
