The Dark Path

by Luke Romyn

  Vain finally let his relief show, and dropped down to sit beside Gabriel. “Thank Christ that worked. It took almost all the power I could control just holding those damn things on the ground for a few minutes!”

  Gabriel nodded and smiled. “I am amazed that you managed to do it Dark Man. I did not think they would listen even after they said they would. You did well. You did what no being has ever been able to do, reason with a beast from Hell and win. I am impressed. I am also glad that you’re not dead.”

  “Yeah, well, thanks... I guess.”

  “Thanks are not necessary. If you had died, what would have happened to the Avun-Riah?”

  Vain chuckled. “Well, you would have swooped in and killed the bad guys and saved the boy by yourself.”

  Gabriel’s face showed concern and he looked away. “I could not,” he said softly.

  “Sure you could. I mean, they’re evil demons right? It doesn’t matter if you kill them.”

  “It’s not that I would not do it if I could, Dark Man. It is that I cannot. If I were to use my powers in the fight against Sordarrah’s forces, the result would be... let’s say... unpleasant.”

  Vain groaned. “What do you mean?”

  “My powers are based upon the lighter elements of the universe. The enemies’ are based upon the darker. If these powers were to collide, everything would be cast into oblivion. Everything.”

  “So what happens when we go to save the boy? You just stand there while I do all the fighting? That doesn’t seem fair.”

  “I will not be there when that happens,” said Gabriel quietly.

  “So,” spat Vain, “you’re a fucking coward and a sissy. I should have known. Run away now little boy, leave the hard work for the grown ups.”

  “There are two things left that I must do. I must first guide you to your final destination.”

  “And the other?”

  “We shall see when we get there.”

  Vain cursed, standing and walking away.

  Gabriel sighed. How could he tell the assassin what approached? Where lay his courage now that the end drew near? For millennia he had done his Lord’s work without question, but now, with the final choice so close that he could almost see it on the horizon…

  …now his faith began to fail.

  Resignedly, the angel trudged after the assassin, down the road towards their destiny.

  * * * *

  “Who is the Dark Man?” raged Empeth. “What power does he possess that I do not know of? Tell me now boy or I will flay your soul!”

  “No you won’t,” said Sebastian calmly. “You need me to release your master.”

  “I am getting to the point now where I may not care. Tell me what I want to know!”

  Sebastian sat quietly on the floor of his prison. The news that Empeth had unwittingly imparted to him spawned a momentary feeling of triumph. Vain remained alive, and he had done something to make Empeth very angry. And, he sensed, very possibly scared as well.

  “You would probably know more about him than I,” said the boy finally in a soft voice. “I don’t know anything about him having any powers.”

  “Then how is it that the Velearstk are gone. They are either destroyed or have been sent somewhere that my powers cannot find. How has he done this?”

  “I do not know,” Sebastian responded quietly.

  “It doesn’t matter now anyway,” sneered Empeth venomously. “The time is soon coming and you will die. Your blood will flow and our Lord will be released. Nothing can stop that now.”

  “Just like nothing could stop the Velearstk,” mused Sebastian, more to himself than Empeth. He suddenly felt his entire essence shredded at the atomic level and flung to all four corners of the cell before being quickly re-assembled back to where he had originally sat. The entire incident took seconds, but had seemed like an eternity. Sebastian gasped, tears welling in his eyes. The pain had been worse than anything that had come before, and even now that he was whole again he endured a deep sense of violation, not against his body, but against his soul. He felt somehow dirtier.

  “That is just a taste of what’s in store for you for the rest of eternity boy. Once the ceremony is complete I will ask that you become my charge for your eternal damnation. And I promise today will feel like a walk through a meadow of daisies in comparison. You will beg me to end your torment, but it will never end. And you will call me master.”

  “I won’t,” wept Sebastian piteously.

  “It wasn’t a question boy,” chuckled Empeth, before disappearing from the cell.

  Sebastian swallowed his fears along with his pain, and tried again to summon the feeling of triumph knowing that his enemy seemed afraid. It did not help much, but it lifted his spirits enough for him to again return his focus to escaping.

  Everything he had tried so far had failed. But he would not stop, could never stop.

  Chapter Fourteen: Heaven and Hell

  “Hello Squirrel,” said a cold voice. Squirrel spun around to find the Dark Man stretched out upon his bed, his heavy booted feet crossed, and his arms folded behind his head. Standing beside him was a young blonde man with the most beautiful face Squirrel had ever seen.

  “How did you get in here?” asked Squirrel, surprise momentarily overriding his caution.

  Vain merely shrugged and draped his cold gaze over the quivering drunk. Squirrel nodded, the silent point made: Don’t ask.

  “We need information Squirrel,” said the Dark Man evenly. “There is a house, I’ll write the address down for you before we leave. I need to know everything about it.”

  “What do you mean, ‘everything’?” asked the little man tremulously.

  “I mean everything. Schematics. History. Hidden areas. Guards. Camera systems. Entrances and exits. Everything.”

  “W-well that will take some time sir,” stammered Squirrel.

  “How long?” asked the Dark Man.

  “A week at least.”

  Vain looked over at his companion who shook his head softly and raised three fingers. “You have three days,” said Vain, rising smoothly from the bed and writing the address on a piece of paper before passing it to Squirrel. Reaching into his pocket he produced a thick wad of cash and threw it to the stunned informant. “For expenses,” he said.

  Quickly flicking through the stack and finding more than five thousand dollars there, the little man looked back to thank the Dark Man only to find the two men had vanished. Shivers ran down the little drunk’s spine and he quickly crossed himself. Nobody, not even the Dark Man, could disappear like that and it confirmed what he had always feared–

  The Dark Man was not human.

  The young man with him could not have been more different. Whereas Vain always instilled an uncontrollable fear in whomever he met, gazing into his companion’s eyes Squirrel had felt a warmth and comfort he hadn’t known in years. The two were like yin and yang–light and dark. And yet they had displayed the same level of power and strength of purpose. To the uninformed, they might well have been brothers.

  Squirrel looked at the address and swallowed heavily. The house the Dark Man had been talking about had fed many of the rumors Squirrel had been hearing around the city the last couple of weeks. Stories of women–mainly prostitutes–entering the house never to be seen again. Things had gotten so bad that one of the toughest pimps in the city had gathered a small army of thugs and snuck into the place, intent on teaching a lesson to whoever lived there.

  Only the pimp had made it out, from the twenty-three who had gone in, and he escaped little better than a vegetable, chattering and screaming incoherence or dribbling inanely, while clawing his face.

  Just one sentence he said had made any sense, and it had sent a silent fear flowing through the underworld of New York. “Hell hath cometh to the city of evil.”

  And now the two most powerful individuals the most informed street weasel had ever met were entering that Hell.

  Squirrel felt sorry for Hell.

&nb
sp; * * * *

  Vain shook away the numbness that still clung to him after the teleportation. He doubted he would ever get used to such a thing and he cursed the need for it. Unfortunately, it had become a necessary precaution. If the Souls of Sordarrah were to discover the assassin had returned to the city, they might move the boy to another location, and Vain would never find him before it was too late.

  They were back in the Dark Man’s apartment, Gabriel sitting quietly in a chair regarding him silently. The blonde angel had not wanted to return to Vain’s abode, but the assassin had been insistent. Where better to hide than in the most obvious place? They would never think him stupid enough to return to his apartment after what had happened the last time. At least Vain hoped so.

  Three days. The time frame he had given Squirrel; three days until he and Gabriel entered the fortress house on the hill in Brooklyn Heights. Vain had the feeling these would be the longest three days of his life.

  Gabriel had wanted to go to the house immediately, but long experience taught Vain to be cautious. Squirrel would find out everything available about the house, and Vain knew this could prove invaluable for when they laid siege to it. All they could do now was wait until the time came to collect that information.

  Something still bothered him, however. The memory of what Gabriel had said kept recurring in his mind.

  “I will not be there when that happens.”

  The more the assassin pondered it, the more it seemed Gabriel had been sad, not afraid, when he had spoken of their impending struggle. Vain wondered what it could be that would make them separate. Gabriel had been so certain, that at first Vain had thought he would simply leave Sebastian’s rescue to the assassin, but now it appeared their parting might be something much more forceful, and the Dark Man found himself saddened by the thought.

  A strange feeling for the assassin–one he was unaccustomed to.

  Over their time together, Vain had grown used to the peaceful presence of the man–the archangel. It bolstered his confidence having the angel near him. This was an odd concept for the assassin, always having been used to solitude, but the thought of once more returning to the loneliness he had previously preferred now left him with a feeling of loss.

  Shaking aside the morbid thoughts, Vain turned to his silent companion, determined to get some answers. “What is waiting for us at that house?” he asked.

  “Victory or death,” answered Gabriel introspectively.

  “What the hell is that supposed to mean?”

  “Exactly what it sounds like. We will either save the Avun-Riah or we will perish.”

  Vain sighed with frustration. This was like trying to get answers from a tire iron. He decided to change the course of his questioning. “You mean I’ll perish, you’ll just go back to being a wispy fairy thing floating around the universe again.”

  “No, Dark Man, I won’t,” said Gabriel sadly.

  “But you can’t die; you’re an angel!” stormed the assassin.

  “I can die; almost everything in this universe can die. Once the will to live is gone, there is nothing left.”

  “Are you sick of being immortal? Does possessing unlimited power have its drawbacks?”

  “Sometimes... but not in the ways you imagine.” Gabriel sighed. “Do you want to know what the meaning of life is?” he asked suddenly.

  Vain looked at him cautiously, unsure of how to proceed. “Sure... I guess,” he managed finally.

  “When you look around, what do you see?”

  “I don’t know.... What do you mean?”

  “Exactly what I said. What is it that you see as you walk through your life?” queried Gabriel.

  “Buildings, people... just everyday life, I guess.”

  “Precisely!” exclaimed Gabriel. “You see life. Everything is going on around you.”

  “I don’t understand,” said Vain slowly.

  “The meaning of life is to live. To suck the very marrow out of every moment that you exist in this dimension or any other. To give everything you have to live the best life that you can. Not through selfishness, but rather through thoughtfulness and generosity. Do you understand?”

  “So you’re saying that the meaning of life is to help each other?” asked Vain skeptically.

  “In part,” said Gabriel. “But the main thing is to help yourself first, and to understand what it is that you have. When you look around you should not see what is wrong with your life, but what is right about it. Whether you believe in God or not is immaterial. All that is important is that you look upon every breath you take, and every vision that greets your eyes with joy, and when you deal with others you should try to impart some small piece of this joy into their lives. Whether it derives from something simple like a smile, or more importantly: life instead of death.”

  “Are you trying to convert me?” asked Vain coldly. “You might as well give up now, because your God gave up on me on the day he took my daughter and wife. Tore away their lives like so much scrap paper, so I think you’d better save your speeches for somebody who wants to be saved. I chose my path on that day and I will follow it to the end, no matter where it leads me.”

  Gabriel sat silently, peering intently at the Dark Man. “Do you realize that you just called them your wife and daughter?” he asked softly. “I thought you had destroyed Martin Roberts when you took over his body. If that were the case why do you care about his family?”

  “I....” began Vain, but then he stopped, contemplating what he had just said. He rose slowly to his feet. “Damn you! You’re just trying to confuse me like that black bastard, Priest. Just remember one thing, angel-boy, remember how he ended up.”

  “I know,” said Gabriel with a deep look of sorrow upon his face. “He lost his soul trying to protect you and the Avun-Riah. Do you think he knew the meaning of life?”

  With a frustrated curse, Vain withdrew from the apartment and out into the night.

  * * * *

  Vain stormed down the street, his mind lost in a torrent of senseless rage. He paid no heed to his direction; his thoughts were consumed with what Gabriel had tried to tell him. The worst part of it all was that Vain could see the sense in what the supposed angel had been saying. He grasped the meaning in the philosophy, but it only served to emphasize the wrongs that Vain had committed in his own life.

  He had never cared for life, his own or anyone else's. Death encapsulated all the Dark Man knew, and he knew it intimately. The memories were not his, he should not have cared about Angelique and Catherine, but walking down the dim street he found that he did care. Their lives had been torn away from the man he had once been. Their deaths had created the Dark Man, and in doing so condemned so many others to their own demise at the hands of the merciless assassin he had become.

  “I have every right to be angry,” he muttered to himself.

  “Of course you do,” said a voice from in front of him.

  Vain looked up. A large youth with several other young men standing behind him had appeared–a street gang–intent on mugging him. Cursing inwardly at his lapse in judgment, Vain glared mercilessly at the leader of the gang. “Boy, you’ve picked the wrong guy to try this on,” he warned.

  The large youth paused, momentarily shaken by the look in the Dark Man’s eyes, and took a step back, right into the boy standing behind him. Unwilling to show fear in front of his followers, he adopted a mocking grin and sneered theatrically, “Ooh, scary.”

  “I can smell your fear, boy,” whispered Vain.

  * * * *

  The gang waited, unsure of how to proceed. They knew the rules of this game; they had played it out many times before. The victim either ran away or fought back, they never simply stood still. This was a new development, and they were unwilling to attack without something to initiate their emotions, be it fear or anger. The man before them appeared so calm, so confident, that they began to inch back from where he stood so casually.

  Tony, their leader, saw this and anger flar
ed within him. If he didn’t muster something quickly, he’d lose everyone’s respect, and none would ever follow him again.

  Scared of one old guy in his own street, he’d be too embarrassed to show his face.

  Tony reached into his jacket for the revolver he’d tucked into his waistband and froze. It seemed like every muscle in his arm had suddenly cramped so tightly that his tendons were about to shred. An involuntary hiss of pain escaped his lips, and he cried out as the pressure increased. His gang members stood by, staring in horror while their leader convulsed in anguish.

  “You had your chance boy,” sneered the man. “Time to pay the price.”

  Tony felt tendrils of ice clawing around his heart and his chest started to tighten.

  “Please!” yelled Mikey, Tony’s little brother, joining them for the first time tonight. The younger boy took a few tentative steps towards the man watching the rest of the gang flee. “Please don’t kill him mister, he wasn’t gonna hurt ya, the gun isn’t even loaded. We just need the money for momma, she’s dying. She’s got cancer.”

  Tony managed to glance quickly at the man and saw his expression soften slightly. The tightening in his chest and arm abruptly stopped, and he fell limply to the ground. When he awoke, he found the man squatting in front of him, examining his chest with a concerned expression. Seeing Tony now awake he grunted, “You’ll live.”

  “What did you do to me?” wheezed Tony. “It felt like you were crushing my heart.”

  “I was,” said the man coldly. “Now go home. And take my advice, leave your friends, they bring out the worst in you.”

  Tony tried to rise once more, but fell back to the footpath. “My legs won’t work,” he gasped.

  With a curse, the man lifted him easily to his feet, whilst Mikey moved along his other side, trying valiantly to help his brother home.

  * * * *

  Vain didn’t know why he hadn’t killed the boy; Christ knew he deserved it. But when the little kid had run forward and everybody else fled, Vain had felt a tiny stab of pity for the two brothers. Gabriel’s speech still echoed within his mind, and he saw in that moment the truth behind the angel’s words. These boys were out in the streets trying to stay alive. They weren’t doing it for fun or thrills like some of the other boys undoubtedly were; rather they were trying to get enough money to help their sick mother.