The Dark Messenger

by Milo Spires

  Chapter 27 – The Truth

  Kaine and family were just coming round from their shock at seeing the angel appear in their home. Solomon and Bruce had no such discomfort; it was clear to all they had a strange connection with him.

  The angel had briefly explained that he was there to offer Kaine something, and had just started telling them about Raffious’ origins, when Jenny cut in.

  ‘Sorry for interrupting, but wasn’t Lucifer an angel in Heaven too?’

  The angel smiled at her. ‘He was. By his own doing however, he is now a fallen angel. Prior to his downfall, he had been a magnificent being with a unique ministry. Unfortunately pride overtook his heart, and sin cost him everything.’

  Kaine’s thoughts drifted back to when he was just a simple farmer--a human working hard in the fields, covered daily in sweat trying to provide for his old parents and to keep their farm running.

  He had been late returning one evening and had heard a noise close by in a wooded copse. Curious, he had gone to investigate, at which point he was attacked and bitten.

  The vampire who had attacked him left him for dead. Then afterwards he went into his family’s farm and killed his parents, before fleeing as local villagers came running with pitchforks and the then, local priest.

  It had definitely not been Kaine’s choice to become a vampire. He had spent many years alone, hating what he had become. As a farmer, he used to go out hunting deer on their lands for his parents to eat. Once turned, refusing to be like other vampires, he found that deer’s blood gave him sufficient energy to survive on.

  Two hundred years passed without him really acknowledging them. Then one evening, he disturbed another vampire who was attacking a woman and her young daughter. Kaine killed the vampire, hoping to save both of the humans. Sadly, the daughter died, but he was able to save the woman and cared for her through her turning process. Not long passed before they fell in love, and soon afterwards announced their betrothal.

  ‘It was a sad beginning for you both,’ the angel said, as Regina read her husband’s mind and reflected back on their first days as vampires together. She had a tear in her eye for the memory of her young eight-year-old daughter, whose memory had faded over the years.

  ‘You made a great sacrifice, and I am sorry for your sad past,’ the angel said sympathetically. Kaine and Regina nodded their thanks.

  ‘But now we must speak of that which I came to tell you.’ He then resumed his tale concerning Raffious.

  ‘After leaving Heaven so that he could plan the extinction of your species unimpeded, Installis started to practice dark magic. He spent hundreds of years working hard to improve his knowledge of spells and dark rituals. I was ordered to take him to Heaven to answer for his actions, but because of his dark magic I couldn’t find him. He had taught himself how to shape-shift and to appear as different people. It was only recently that we learnt he was disguised as a holy man in white robes, with a long knee-length white flowing beard, and was calling himself Raffious.’

  The angel then explained about the Trucale Vase and how it had been made, and that after Christ’s death, Heaven had ordered it to be destroyed. He explained that it was broken in two pieces, which were then hidden in the far distant parts of the world.

  ‘As time passed, both Raffious and your kind learnt the story and the location of the two pieces of the vase through Jonivac, another fallen angel who was thrown out of Heaven because he was found to be sinful.’

  He paused to let them take it all in. Then he smiled and said, ‘Regarding the vase, Raffious was busy when he first learnt about it, and for many years didn’t fully understand how the vase could be useful to him. He chose to ignore it, and concentrated on creating more howling beasts. As your kind fought them, many of your friends and family died as your covens were wiped out, as you know.’

  ‘Excuse me, but what are ‘howling beasts?’ Becky asked, thinking they sounded intriguing.

  ‘They are werewolves,’ the angel said to her.

  Becky sat there thinking, Werewolves? But I thought they were only in the movies.

  The angel smiled at her thought as he recognized her naiveté on the subject, then continued explaining about the howling beasts.

  ‘Raffious thought for a time that his plan was working, but your species became stronger and wiser. Vampires fought back harder and harder against the werewolves until one day it was very clear that his beasts were losing.’

  ‘Sorry, did you say he made the werewolves?’ Kaine asked, hardly believing he had correctly heard what the angel had just said.

  ‘Yes, he was their creator,’ the angel replied.

  Kaine and Regina were furious when they heard the truth about how the werewolves were created, and who their creator actually was. Raffious had been a close part of their lives through the war, and had met Kaine’s family and friends. He had even shook Regina’s father’s hand once in the past too.

  The angel raised his hand and their anger vanished. They blinked in surprise.

  ‘Raffious was fuelled with even more rage when he saw that his werewolves were dying in unbelievable numbers. Your kind’s tactics had changed, and thousands of vampires had gathered in larger covens to protect themselves. The werewolves would burst into your havens intent on destruction, but you were ready. Your tunnels had hidden traps, silver spears, and vicious weapons inside, which killed them before they could get through. Furious that you were outsmarting his evil creations, Raffious attempted black magic on your covens--but with terrible results.

  ‘He became aware that he needed to improve his dark magic further, but also knew that there was no time to do so. He knew that if he left his werewolves unattended, they would suffer in his absence. Therefore he decided to try and even the odds by creating a myth.’

  Jenny had been sitting back in the sofa listening, but now both she and Becky found themselves sliding forwards with keen interest.

  Kaine was dumbfounded at this revelation, while Regina had already abandoned her poisoning him at dinner with a stamp on the head plan for a more primal one: simply rip the fucker’s head off the next time she sees him, plan.

  The angel smiled at her and shook his head. He then cleared her mind of such thoughts.

  ‘Wish you’d stop doing that,’ she messaged. The angel smirked.

  He continued: ‘The myth circulated amongst your species like wildfire. It suggested that a magical Silver Sword existed. It was so powerful that its possessor would easily win the war against the werewolves. The rumor was that its powers were derived of some kind of divine intervention against them, and after it had chopped the head off one beast, then instantly all the werewolves around the world, would vanish too. Call it, the desperate need to rid the planet of them or whatever you will, but many vampires succumbed to the belief that the myth was real. They believed it so much, they even left the safety of their covens to look for it.’

  ‘Raffious would leave messages of the sword’s possible locations for your kind to find, and then have his beasts waiting for them when they arrived. His beasts outnumbered the vampires and tore them to pieces.’

  Kaine was enraged. ‘The sword was not real?’ he screamed.

  ‘No, it was not real. It was just part of the myth that Raffious had created. He only invented it, as I said before, for one purpose: to trick your kind and lure you all into the open. It was his way to help his beasts who were loosing the war against your species.’

  ‘Then after some time of his beasts winning again and thousands of vampires being killed in the most heinous of ways, he leapt forwards in time to see the bigger picture. When he got into the future the results were shocking, his beasts still lost the war. Then as his anger metastasized deeply within his brain, doubt also began to flow through his mind, the doubt he would ever truly have his revenge for Adina’s death. With this harrowing realization, he remember suddenly Jonivac and his mention in the past about the Trucale vase.

  ‘Thinking about how he could use its hea
ling powers against your people, the penny then dropped and it became vividly clear all of a sudden just how he could use it. As he deliberated over his thoughts he also realized if he had the vase, it would be so much more effective than his beasts ever were.’

  ‘Approaching Jonivac to say he wanted the vase, he was furious when he heard that it was now not available and that he was too late. Jonivac had explained to him the pieces of the vase had already been found and he was too late. Raffious demanded with spittle coming from his mouth and a face that was plum red with rage, to know who had the pieces. Jonivac told him that Angus and Rex each had one half.’

  ‘Raffious wanting to scream wildy, had scoffed instead at the news. His reasoning was that he felt complacent in the knowledge that with his time travel skills, he could simply leap back to a period before the vase was found, and then without confrontation, simply take the pieces for himself before Angus and Rex ever knew.

  Jonivac had held his hand up and said, ‘Christ was not stupid. The vase only appears in one time zone. If you leap back to where Rex and Angus found their pieces, the pieces you seek will not be there.’ This of course enraged Raffious when he was told.

  ‘Not long after that, Jonivac double crossed Raffious and approached Lucifer. He told him about Raffious’ plans for the vase, in the hope that the prince of darkness would be furious, that he would find him and kill him.’

  ‘So what happened then? Uh, did Lucifer turn soft or something?’ Regina fired into the conversation.

  ‘Sadly, no. He gave him a stiff warning instead. He based his decision to offer leniency, upon the millions of poor wretched souls that Raffious had sent to him over the years. His unspeakable heinous actions against humanity were more than even his own demons had managed, and the vampire species together.’

  ‘The punishment was deferred, and he was given a vocal warning. He was told that should he use his dark magic against vampires in their covens, the punishment would be a swelteringly hot cell for all of eternity in hell.’

  ‘Raffious was furious when he was told, but he also knew that if he was incarcerated into hell, then all his chances in the future of seeking retribution for Adina’s death would be blown right out the window too.’

  ‘What window?’ Becky asked. Her mind had wandered; she was thinking about going to get some meat from the Kitchen.

  Kaine looked at Regina and the angel looked at them both. They shared a smile as Jenny explained briefly to Becky what window the angel had been referring too.

  ‘But Raffious is still looking for the pieces of the vase though, even after fully realizing what the punishment will be if he gets caught?’ Regina said and Kaine, deeply confused, then slowly nodded but also furrowed his brow too.

  ‘Yes he is, but he feels it is the only way to be sure of getting his revenge. He believes if he doesn’t get caught, then he won’t experience Satan’s wrath for doing so. He also has doubt in his mind as to whether his knowledge of dark magic as he learns it, will not in fact become even more powerful than Lucifer’s. He thinks that by the time he has both pieces of the vase in his posession, that his powers will dwarf that of Lucifers. He believes the threat will never become actioned as Lucifer will end up becoming scared of experiencing his own wrath.’

  ‘Sounds like our friend Raffious has got a few screws loose in his brain.’ Kaine said as he laughed at the notion of the old boy being able to kill Lucifer.

  The angel smiled.

  ‘So what’s the plan for the vase then?’ Regina asked, feeling that the suspense of waiting to find out was getting to be too much.

  ‘He plans to travel back in time with it, to when vampires were first created. When he arrives, he will infect the waters of the first coven, and your kind will be cured of the curse of vampirism.’

  ‘Well…that’s a good thing, no?’ Jenny enquired.

  ‘Yes and no my darling; If he does this, then vampires will cease to exist through out all times, and that will apply to Kaine and Regina here too. They will vanish, and will never have existed either.’

  The angel then said, ‘Obviously he hasn’t done it yet though, because you still exist. There is still time for my new Truth Messenger to stop him. The future is still happening, even though we are in its past. If nothing is done, then it will happen; but it can be stopped.’

  ‘You say that your new Truth Messenger can stop him. Who is your new Truth Messenger?’ Becky enquired, as her stomach was starting to speak back to her from the lack of meat it was getting.

  ‘He has not accepted the role yet, but we will come to that.’ The angel said as he smiled at her and then her hunger vanished too.

  ‘How did you do that.’ she said.

  The angel smirked!

  Chapter 28 – A Righteous Punishment

  Inside the coven, Longinus and Raffious were dragged down the stairs to a floor deep within the bowels of the earth. It was down so deep in fact, that most of the coven members had never dared to venture there themselves.

  On the way down, Longinus began to fret, thinking he was being led to his execution. If so, it wasn’t going to be before a hideous torture that lasted days, or maybe even years if they could drag it out that long.

  The pain that the vampires had lined up for them both was going to be utterly odious, but until they could be sure that the punishment was evil enough, and completely befitting their terrible crimes, the prisoners would be left rotting in the foulest cells available. In their minds, Longinus and Raffious had committed the worst crimes that their coven had ever experienced, and they had to be punished accordingly. So until such time as the heinous punishments were decided, they would be kept deep underground with the werewolves.

  Longinus tried to escape by thrusting his arms and legs in all directions, intent on throwing off his captors. He found it impossible to do anything against the might and power of his four jailers, who apart from wearing strange masks, each had a limb of his in one of their massive hands. As they had passed something like the fiftieth floor, one of them leant down and whispered to him, ‘Shut the fuck up,’ before he smashed him in the face with the underside of his overly-large, clenched fist.

  The impact left his nose flattened like a tomato sauce sachet that had just been trodden on, and with the same colorful and slimy effects. Blood was everywhere, and as he swallowed and blinked to try to clear his vision, his throat kept filling with the stuff too.

  Taking his jailer’s response as meaning he shouldn’t wriggle anymore, he didn’t, and just let these beastly vampires carry his limp body, deep into the depths of hell or wherever they were taking him.

  On the way with muffled voices, they had said a few times that when Raffious regains his speech, if he didn’t tell them immediately where Rex was, they would probably start cutting off both their limbs.

  The murky green masks that his jailers wore were the reason he had started to panic. They were so sinister and scary in appearance, and Longinus couldn’t work out the reason why they wore them. All four of his jailers had on the same evil faces. His first thoughts were that Hoidrious, being their new leader, made executioners wear them now that he was in charge. If so, it had meant in his head, that he was being led to his death.

  The masks themselves were curved in around the sides of their head about an inch, with 6mm holes of equal size that ran parallel straight up through the center to the top. They didn’t have any eyeholes either, which only increased his deeply-paranoid feelings about them.

  A few floors further down, he craned his neck back and to the side to see how his partner in crime was doing. The old bastard was in a similar agonizing posture, with his own massive jailers surrounding him. Raffious’ face said it all—his skin was deathly pale, and his heavily-bloodshot eyes were darting in all directions. It was clear that, apart from being paralysed, he was experiencing inside, his own astronomical levels of terror too.

  Finally when they reached the floor they were going to be calling home for the foreseeable future, which
was one hundred and fifty three floors beneath the surface, their jailers dragged them out of the stairwell.