Al’bah extended her spiritual powers and held Vincent under her control. “Let your infatuations and lusts be sealed, look upon the world. See its worth, and despair at the way you have sacrificed the ideal of love, for wantonness.”
“I…I, uh…”
“By your eyes, I would agree. Tell me, Vincent, could you truly take a wife that did not love you? Could you take a wife that would never love you?”
Vincent lowered his head and stared into the indigo-blue ocean. “No, I suppose not.”
Al’bah turned her head back to Cain and sighed deeply. “I do not hunger for food nor thirst for water, my gracious, honorable captain. Please, leave me to my longing.”
Al’bah breathed deeply of the sea air. The more the ship moved beyond the boundaries of the city, the more pure the air smelled. For the moment her yearning heart was soothed by the cold morning air, drenched in the golden blue light of the early sun. A few strange scents punctuated the crisp wind. The servants of Vincent were drinking the disgusting fluid Cain had identified as “coffee” and partaking of the foul burning of “cigarettes” and what smelled like vehicle exhaust. And yet, with each motion, each new gust carried the salty brine scent of the blood of the earth. How magnificent, and yet, I would forsake it all for Cain’s kiss. Oh! How I need him!
She glanced at Cain; he still stared out into the fading city, his back turned.
Al’bah wiped her eyes and allowed her tear to fall into the ocean, where she could see a school of fish swim about. The sounds of footsteps brought her out of her musings; she knew those footfalls. It was Stella. She was going to speak; Al’bah knew it.
“So, you’re Cain’s girlfriend, Al’bah?” she said quietly.
Al’bah turned around and felt rage burn. She dared to call her Cain’s “girlfriend”? The same title that Par-Tek Cynthia had? She might as well have called her Cain’s feces! Her rage was fueled by a powerful shame; this human had seen her wings! Her eyes dared to presume to look to where they would be, if she had them out! Her fury doubled, tripled! She felt her skin crawl and her hate burn.
“I am Cain’s Al-bah!” she snarled and stepped closer to Stella.
Al’bah could see a terrified look cross Stella’s features, and realized too late that her form changed in response to her rage again. She just started to reign in her fury when a flash of motion caught her off guard, and Stella’s fist caught her chest.
Pain! Oh no! Do not give in! I am in control! Do not give in to my fury!
Al’bah looked up and saw that Stella was coming closer.
What do I do? I cannot move! I must attempt to keep in control! What is she going to do? Is she going to hurt me?
Al’bah’s terror fueled her rage, and her vision went red. She stood and swung her arm that had grown another twelve inches, and sprouted wicked five-inch claws. Stella backed up, giving Al’bah an opening, allowing her to kick Stella’s abdomen. Stella stumbled backward and would have fallen off the boat if Cain had not been there to grab her shirt and toss her back on board.
“Enough of this! Both of you!” Cain shouted, glancing around; thankfully the crew was nowhere to be seen.
“Goddammit, Cain! Who or what is this thing!” Stella said, trying to catch her breath and pointing at Al’bah. “Wings! Fangs! Claws! Horns! Three tails! Snakes for hair! Glowing red eyes! And a jealous streak a mile wide!”
Cain ignored her and went to Al’bah, who was just starting to get to her feet.
Ah! Cain! My Bond! He is looking at me! He is going to speak to me!
“Al’bah,” Cain began. But suddenly he looked like he just lost all desire to say anything, and he walked back to his place to the side of the yacht.
Al’bah closed her eyes and wept. Why will he not speak to me? What did I do to him? I did not hurt him; I did not force him on this boat. I did not even attack this Stella until she hurt me! Why is he so close to rejecting me again? I do not understand!
Al’bah looked up to see Stella holding out a cloth hankie. Her heart was full of selfless concern, and Al’bah, for the life of her, could not understand why.
She knew that Stella held no strong feelings for Cain and he for Stella, but what she couldn’t understand was why Stella was with him in the first place.
From Cain she sensed a great deal of pity and remorse for Stella. For what, though? Al’bah guessed it was because of some kind of misfortune. But why was Stella involved in Cain’s—no, in their—affairs, in the first place? Stella did not have the stench that Taint’s thralls always had, so at least in that respect they were safe enough.
“Thank you, Stella,” she said quietly and wiped her face. She thought for a moment and decided that answers to her confusion, even from this Stella, would be better than nothing. “Yes, I am.”
“What?” Stella said, her face surprised, uncomprehending.
“Yes, I am Al’bah. Let us talk, you and I.”
Chapter 38
Stella and Al’bah
“Don’t ask me again! My reasons are my own! And my family is none of your damn business!”
—Stella Fullson
Stella eyed Al’bah as she calmed down after a small bout of weeping. She turned and eyed Cain for a moment. She had half a mind to break his skull. What the hell did this asshole do to her? She turned back to Al’bah; she was still sniffling and hiccupping occasionally, and appeared so vulnerable. It was a ruse, though. A deception. Al’bah was not what she appeared to be. The moment in the garage and now were things that only happened in movies.
A Demon of some kind, Stella thought; she didn’t want to accept the notion, or the possibility. But…damn, if it walks, swims, and quacks like a duck.
Suddenly she wondered if Cain was lying when... wait, what was she thinking? Cain did lie to her about how he met Al’bah. But before her mind could go any further, Al’bah glanced up and twisted her mouth into a strange grimace.
“I want to know why you are with Cain. I want to know what happened since I was taken from him. But, honor compels me to answer for my actions. If you will allow me, I will explain. But you must tell me what I want to know, in return.”
Stella nodded, barely able to keep up with her strange speech. “Okay. But, I want to be able to ask you to elaborate on things, okay?”
“It is acceptable,” Al’bah said, still sitting on the deck, and held out her hand.
Stella broke out in a cold sweat. The thought of touching Al’bah terrified her. Who knows? If she really was a Demon, could she be trusted?
“You will take my offer, and I will hold you to your end of the bargain. And you will remember that I did not strike you first!”
Stella swallowed and stepped forward and grasped Al’bah’s warm, soft hand.
“It is done,” Al’bah said and released her hand. “I am Succubus, Cain is my Bond, and he named me as his Al’bah.”
“So, Al’bah isn’t your true name then?”
Al’bah’s face grew dark, and her eyes flashed red. It quickly subsided, and Al’bah closed her eyes and took a few deep breaths.
“I am Cain’s Al’bah. This means that I am Cain’s everything! It is the deepest and most sacred Bond that two creations can have, aside from the Bond with the Creator.” She sighed deeply and nodded. “But, you are correct; my name is Succubus. But I am Cain’s Al’bah.”
“Look, Al’bah, you constantly getting pissed off at me for things I couldn’t have possibly known is getting on my nerves.”
With an effortless movement, Al’bah tore the hankie Stella had given her.
“Jealous.”
“What?”
“Cain is mine! You cannot have him!” Al’bah snarled. “Why are you with him? What became of him when he was apart from me?” She stood; her eyes were pitch-black again, with a burning red snake pupil within them. “Your place on the cosmic order, and Cain’s protection of you, are all that hold my fury back! Cain is mine! You cannot have him!”
Stella felt a sadistic fury within Al’b
ah that set off her internal warnings. Though Al’bah looked human and frail, Stella could tell that she wasn’t making idle threats.
Almost behaving like a threatened animal—wait, maybe that’s it! Maybe she feels threatened.
“Are you kidding me?” Stella said, keeping a cool disposition. “I don’t care about Cain in the slightest.” She was about to go on about the qualities Cain had that made him so unattractive to her but quickly caught herself, thinking it would be a bad idea. “He is—you both—are the reason I am in this shitty situation! And you will remember that you have yet to fully explain yourself!”
Stella felt a deep relief as Al’bah seemed to be ashamed of herself. She blinked and lowered her eyes that were back to their strange violet-blue.
“Good, glad we got that out of the way. Now, Cain and you are Bound together. How did that happen?”
Al’bah glanced up and back down. “Cain rescued me from a Fallen Angel, whose righteous name I know not. I only know the Fallen Angel identifies itself as Taint.” She held out her hands in a perfect pantomime of being shackled. “Long was I a captive and tormented prisoner of corruption. So much sorrow, so much pain.” She raised her hands, and Stella could swear she heard the clinking of chains.
“And after uncounted ages, I was approached by a construct of Law. I was told a human selected me as his spiritual companion.”
As Al’bah spoke, Stella could hear indecipherable whispers, punctuated by the sound of metal shattering.
“By an ancient ritual of spiritual Binding, Cain freed me. He Bound his flesh to my form, and gave me a name. Now, I am his. I will always be his until existence is commanded to cease to be.” Her hands separated, and Al’bah glanced over to Cain. She reached her hands out to him and took a deep breath that turned into a sigh, and ended up as a moan of pain. “Will he ever love me, Stella? Do I dare to hope he might lead me to the path that leads to salvation? Will our souls be Bound when he dies?”
Stella looked up; the boat had stopped, and Cain was now talking to Vincent. She closed her eyes, feeling the soft rocking of the boat and listening to Al’bah’s breath with the swells of the waves, and her own sighs, matching the wind.
“Okay, and what about now? Why were you taken from Cain?”
Al’bah growled, but her fury seemed at last directed at something other than her. “Taint, like most Fallen Angels, believe man is not worthy of the favor the Creator gives them. Taint wishes to have me returned to corruption. This happens when my Bonds to Cain are severed. Taint wishes this: Taint wishes to kill Cain.”
“But, that doesn’t explain why you were at that law firm.”
Al’bah shrugged. “Taint, like all spiritual creatures, cannot interfere directly in this physical realm. So, Taint uses slaves to carry out the will of corruption. This is why I was taken by—” Al’bah gulped and appeared to be terrified. “By man. You have already seen this one. Cain knows him as Walter Stratton.”
Stella immediately caught on to her devious doublespeak. “Hmm, you’re not telling me something about this Walter Stratton. First off, you seem terrified by him, and second, you said Cain knows him as Walter…but you don’t? You’re leaving things out—tell me.”
Al’bah shook her head. “No! This is all you need to know. Now uphold your end of the bargain. Why were you with Cain? Why does he not speak to me? What is your place in all this chaos?” Al’bah said.
Stella regarded Al’bah with a heavy sigh. “I won’t tell you unless you stop talking to me like I am a fucking thief!”
Al’bah hissed and bared her teeth. “You are a thief! Those clothes in the bag you carry are mine!” She pointed to Stella and glared malevolently.
“I am not a thief, damn you! Cain gave these clothes to me, thanks to all the crap that happened! Thanks to you and your damned former master!”
“Oh.” Al’bah’s demeanor changed immediately; she seemed ashamed of herself again and turned her face away. “I apologize that all this has caused you grief.”
Grief? Stella forced herself to bite back a scathing remark. Forced herself to not slap Al’bah silly. This is her fault! Her fault and Cain’s! she seethed, barely able to control her rage, no longer caring about anything but pounding the both of them. To make both of them pay for ruining her life.
“Please understand, Stella,” Al’bah said, looking over to Cain with a longing that made her feel a horrible lump in her throat. “He is all that keeps me from returning to tortures unimaginable.” Al’bah turned back to Stella, with tears in her eyes. “But I never wished to cause others harm. I cannot imagine what you are going through. But please. Please, do not blame Cain.”
“So, what then? I blame you? How on Earth could this be your fault?”
Al’bah shook her head. “By virtue of actions alone, this is not my fault either. I am caught up in this struggle, as is Cain. I grieve that your path crossed ours, but it is by chance alone that you became involved.”
Stella scoffed, remembering a snippet a veteran once told her: “Don’t you go trying to make sense of a senseless crime. Sometimes injustice is blind, too.”
She looked up and sighed deeply. “Okay. I’m still pissed off. But, okay.” Stella sighed and stared at Al’bah for several moments.
“Please,” Al’bah said quietly.
“Please what? Oh, right,” Stella said, remembering that Al’bah was waiting to hear her side of the story.
“Well there isn’t much to say, really,” she said quietly. “Cain was framed for holding cocaine. He was questioned and released, and I was assigned to watch him in case he was actually guilty, or protect him if he was innocent. Early this morning as Cain was asleep, I happened to see on TV that we were framed for the murder of three people.”
Stella shrugged. “We ran, and the first place we went was where you were being held.”
Al’bah brightened up and smiled for the first time. “Cain missed me? He sought me out?”
Stella chuckled slightly. “Are you kidding? You better believe it. Hey, how did you two meet anyway?”
“In the place humanity identifies as dreams.”
“Huh, considering everything else, I suppose that makes sense. There is one thing I don’t understand. Why would Walter Stratton offer freedom for me and Cain? What does he want with you?”
Al’bah shrugged. “He is a mystery to me. He is not allied with corruption, and so I suspect his goals are his own.”
“Huh, and what about now? Do you think we are safe?”
Al’bah nodded. “I feel no deception in the one that calls himself Vincent. His allegiance is to the Creator.”
“The Creator? Don’t you mean God?”
“Yes, God,” Al’bah said, nodding. “Vincent has no reason to betray us, his thirst for monetary gain is satisfied.”
“And what about Walter? Any reason why Cain would want to kill him?”
Al’bah growled again. “Though I dislike the idea of taking a life, much good might have resulted from his death.”
A shadow suddenly fell upon Stella and she looked up; it was Cain.
“What I am wondering is why I didn’t agree to Walter’s offer in the first place,” he said, startling both of them.
Al’bah flinched at his words and looked terrified.
“You’re an asshole, do you know that?” Stella said as she stood up. “I have half a mind to—”
“What?” Cain said, standing to his full six foot four. “If I had agreed, you would also have your life back.”
“She loves you, Cain. Doesn’t that mean anything?”
“Stella,” Cain said, his voice trembling, “go. Vincent has dropped anchor, dinner is ready, and the boat won’t be underway for another five hours.” Stella glared at Cain and touched Al’bah’s shoulder as she left.
Chapter 39
The Will of One Who Loves Another
“Fuck ‘em—kill ‘em all. The dead can’t argue with the living!
—Shane Harper
Al’b
ah watched Stella leave. She stood and turned to Cain, but was unable to look at him directly. The emotions boiling within his soul made her feel uneasy; she did not know how he was going to receive this moment.
“Look at me, Al’bah,” Cain said quietly.
After several long moments of uncomfortable agony, Al’bah was at last able to look at Cain, and she worked up the courage to speak. “My…eyes…see,” she began, her fear growing.
“I don’t care what you think you see,” Cain said, interrupting her. “I am ruined, do you know that? People are dead back there! Dead because of you and I! It was one thing for the city police to think I was a drug dealer, but now they think I murdered people! I can’t go back! I don’t know what I can do! I lost everything!”
Al’bah felt as though she would cry. No! I must not! He will become more angry. “Those deaths were not our fault, and besides, you still have me. We still have each other. Do we not?” she said, her voice losing strength with each word, ending up as a whisper by the end. Cain’s anger intensified with each word, and Al’bah felt despair and fear grow within her.
“I take it you’re referring to love, right?”
Al’bah could no longer bear to look at Cain. She nodded. “Yes…love, Cain. Love.”
She sensed no love from him.
“Love?” Cain turned his head to the side of the boat and spat into the water. “Just what is love, anyway? Last I ever knew, people who loved each other didn’t bring ruin to everyone that they cared for! They didn’t make them sacrifice everything they had for—for—”
Cain cupped Al’bah’s chin and gently turned her head toward him. His voice was controlled and calm, but Al’bah would rather have him scream. Rather have him strike her. Anything to not feel his anger burn her senses so fiercely.
“Goddammit, Al’bah! Why do you love me, anyway? What the fuck do I have that is so great to offer you? If it were not for your punishments, would I mean anything to you? What if I was to surrender you to Taint? Do you think that you would want to still be my ‘Bond’?”
Succubus Tear (Triune promise) Page 23
