Dawn and Quartered

by Hunter Blain

  [You will do as I say or I will end you. Am I understood?] I said as I grabbed him by the neck and threw him against the wall at the other end of the room. Predators only understand stronger predators.

  [You almost got me killed you fool. What do you think would have happened if I lost my mind and died? You think you’d get control over this body full time? How long do you really think you would last with your blatant lack of self-control, dick head? Yes, you can fight but you can’t think worth shit. At least I can think more than five minutes in front of me. Now, are we on the same fucking page now or do I need to continue?]

  PS shook his head desperately in submission. Sometimes I needed a reminder that he was akin to a wild horse that had been tamed; yes, you can trust it, but you still never walk behind it and slap it on its ass.

  I extended my hand and PS looked at it warily, his head no longer splitting in two now that my body, our body, had stopped advancing towards Lily. PS had earned the right to co-drive this sexy sack of flesh I call John. He had saved our lives numerous times over the centuries and I was indebted to him for putting up with my stupid mistakes.

  My hand never wavered as I gave my Predatory Self all the time he needed to decide. [Come on, brother. I can’t do this without you.] With that said, he nodded once and grasped my hand, allowing me to pull him up. As we stood eye to eye, I kept our grip as I placed my other hand on his shoulder. I turned to face the viewport and put one hand on the wheel. PS mirrored my actions and I was brought back to Lily.

  “John? Is it still you?” Lily asked, taking a step back.

  “Who?” I asked in a creepy voice.

  “Shit,” Lily said as she began moving her hands in a pattern in front of her trailing a path of sparkling energy.

  “Juuuuuust kidding!” I said. “But seriously though, fuck you. I don’t care your reasoning. Next time, trust me.”

  “Trust you?” She exclaimed as the light faded from her hands. I wonder what she was about to do to me. “You have proven yourself untrustworthy, John,” Lily scolded.

  “Name ten times,” I said. Lily began ticking off her fingers without even a seconds pause.

  “Ok, ok! I get it! But Joey and Dawson are in trouble now and I offered Ulric the only thing he wanted to keep them all alive.”

  “John, you can’t,” Lily said breathlessly.

  “I can and I will if it means saving my friends.”

  “You’re a fool. Can’t you see you’d be dooming them to a fate worse than death? Ulric is going to kill you, he told me as much. I couldn’t convince him otherwise.”

  “And why would you even begin to think that he would trust a Fae he just met?” I asked sternly.

  “Because,” Lily started hesitantly, clearly unsure if she should continue her thought, “he hadn’t just met me.” My world spun as the implications of her words whispered doubt and deception in my mind. I had to grab my recliner to steady myself, of which I entrusted too much weight and it unfolded into the full reclining position, allowing me to fall to the ground with grace. As I sat on my ass, I brought my legs up to my chest and wrapped my arms around my knees before compiling my next sentence.

  “You knew Ulric?”

  “I know Ulric,” she corrected.

  When she let the silence linger, not revealing more information than she had to, I pressed on, “In what fucking capacity, Lily?”

  “I knew him when he was a mortal,” she said with an intentional cessation at the end.

  “Lily, stop playing with me.” My rage was starting to blossom in my core like a well-maintained garden of hate. “You need to tell me everything and not hold back. You want me to trust that you have my best interests at heart? Prove it. Right now. Prove to me that I can believe anything you say, ever again.”

  As her eyes shifted to the ground momentarily, Lily nodded once in acceptance of my request. I could tell she was taking a risk and that this very moment would define our relationship for the foreseeable future which, for all intents and purposes, could potentially be an eternity.

  “As you wish, John. I will tell you the truth and hope that you can see past your own emotional fragility and see things from my perspective,” she said before taking in a deep breath and closing her eyes. As she exhaled, opening her eyes, she continued, “I found Ulric as a man in the thirteenth century in Denmark. He was an ally of King Sverker II of Sweden, who was Danish-backed. Ulric, his brothers, and father fought at the Battle of Lena in 1208 and were subsequently crushed by Prince Eric’s army. Ulric lost his entire family in that war, having never known his mother who died giving birth to him.” I felt a pang of familiarity and already knew where this story was going to end with. “I found him, broken and desperate to avenge his brothers and father, whom he adored completely. I influenced a vampire who had grown tired of ruling Africa to convert Ulric and become his companion. I assured him that the war that would follow would be like none he had ever seen.”

  “What was his name? Ulric’s maker, I mean. He never spoke about him.”

  “Cimeries. I can understand why; he killed him.”

  After taking all of this in, I said, “I’m beginning to notice a twisted pattern with vampires. Are we like the sith of the supernatural world?”

  “There are those who are much worse, John,” Lily the Fae said coldly.

  “What happened after Cimeries made Ulric?” I asked, fascinated.

  “Cimeries spent the next two years teaching Ulric to control his abilities and to hone his instincts into a weapon of revenge. When he was ready, Ulric convinced King Sverker to arm peasants and farmers and attack again. It did require some special manipulation of the vampiric persuasion, but Sverker agreed. Ulric and Cimeries almost single-handedly wiped out over ten thousand shoulders in the battle that followed. To this day, history books suggests it was a mere five thousand peasants who overthrew a trained army that more than doubled their numbers.” She finished with a smile touched with pride.

  I let all of this sink in before saying, “So you helped make Ulric.”

  “I guided Cimeries to him and persuaded the change. It wasn’t the first time,” She said with eyes that locked onto mine with hesitation, “and it wasn’t the last, John.”

  “Huh?” I said, face scrunching in confusion as my brain struggled to piece together what she was implying, “What are…” it hit me in the chest like jumping into a frozen lake. The theater in my mind showed me the first time Ulric and I had met.

  “So, you must be John,” the calm voice of a cultured, British man said with mild entertainment.

  [But he’s British! Didn’t Lily say he was from Denmark?] I said as I looked at PS who responded by slowly pointing to me. I was Irish and currently had an average American accent. Over the years, I had adopted the tongue and cadence of whatever area I resided in order to blend in. My preternatural mind made it a seamless transition, just as Ulric’s did. Hell, even Locke forged a perfect American accent even though he was the Brit, Godwin.

  “You…” I said to Lily, mouth agape and eyes wide in realization. “You lead him to me.”

  “I did,” Lily said, “I felt your pain and knew I could help. Ulric was close by, asleep in the dirt, so I woke him and did for you as I had done for him two hundred years before. He had grown bored of life after getting his revenge and killing his maker and decided to sleep for a few decades until the world became more interesting to him. You provided the perfect excuse.”

  Something tickled the forethought of my mind and I asked, “Do you love him?” My chest tightened at the potential answer.

  “I did,” Lily said sighing, her eyes going unfocused for a moment as if reliving her past in an instant.

  “Do… do you love m…” I was cut off by my phone, which startled both Lily and myself. The Beetlejuice theme song rang loud, demanding my attention. Both of us looked at each other, knowing precisely who was calling.

  The eggplant surrounded Ulric popped up on the screen as I slid my finger to accept the c
all. I pushed the speaker button and held the phone up so Lily could hear.

  “Salutations, John,” Ulric said in his clipped British accent. Every word was enunciated in his own special diction. He reminded me of John Malkovich mixed with Bill Nighly.

  When I didn’t respond, Ulric continued, “He was innocent, the driver I mean, and you killed him. I thought you only killed bad guys, John. He had a baby on the way, which is why he needed the job. His wife will have to raise the child alone now, because of you.”

  I saw red. Lily stepped forward as I took in a deep breath to scream at Ulric, and pressed the mute button.

  “Can’t you see what he’s doing?” She asked frantically. “He’s using your emotions against you so you’ll make mistakes. Fall for it and he will win.”

  I looked her in the eyes and said, “It’s your fault he’s dead just as much as mine. You told Ulric to use Depweg’s phone and trick me.” I was losing the battle of control. Ulric stabbed me right in the sweet spot and I was lashing out in pride. What’s worse, is even though I could recognize what was happening, I couldn’t stop it; which only served to piss me off more. I hated being so fucking weak.

  “John, please,” Lily pleaded, letting my comment glance off her before pointing back at the phone.

  “Hello? Can you hear me?” Ulric asked. His voice grew distant as if he pulled the phone away from his face, “These bars mean he can hear me, right?”

  “No. They mean you’re a dick head,” I could barely hear Dawson say.

  I unmuted the phone, “I’m here,” I said quickly before Ulric punished my new friend. “Where are we meeting?”

  “At my house. Just you, not that it matters,” Ulric said confidently.

  “I’m on my way. Let’s finish this,” I said as I pressed the red button.

  Lily looked at me intently as I slid the phone into my pocket. “Do you want me to prove that I trust you, John?”

  “Right now, I’m not sure what I want from you. You’ve put me on a rollercoaster ride that I can’t get off of,” I said flatly. “I don’t know if there’s anything you can do to make me trust you again.”

  Lily thought on this for a moment before taking in a deep breath and saying, “You are free from my previous commands. When you face Ulric, you are free to do whatever you wish.”

  “Wow,” I said dumbstruck, “I was not expecting that.” She was trusting me to not cause the apocalypse by killing Ulric. That is to say, get lucky enough to even be able to kill him, again. Pretty sure I had better odds as a lifeguard in the middle of summer than being able to get impossibly lucky for a third time. Either way, Lily was showing me the ultimate trust in a situation that I didn’t even trust myself to do the right thing. Maybe I should see a therapist about my emotions or something.

  “Don’t make me regret this, John,” Lily said. She took a half step forward before returning to her stance as if she was going in for an embrace. Though I longed to feel her arms around me, I was not ready to forgive her; but that was my damn pride talking. I gritted my teeth and stepped forward, beating my pride in this tiny battle and wrapping my arms around Lily who took in a breath of surprise before relaxing and throwing herself into my embrace. It felt good. Not only because of my growing affection for her, but because I had taken a step in controlling one of my faults.

  I breathed in her hair, which smelled of flowers before breaking the embrace and walking to the door.

  “John,” Lily started, unsure of her next words. I turned to look into her beautiful eyes, “Be careful, ok?”

  “No promises,” I said as I turned back to the door and made my way outside. Then I went back inside and past Lily who stared at me in confusion. I opened my door and grabbed my spare pair of boots that I put on after a fresh pair of socks hugged my feet.

  Walking out of my room and to the front door again, I looked at Lily who was smiling and I shrugged. I stopped undead in my tracks and palmed my forehead, hard. Turning, again, I went past Lily who was now shaking her head with a smile and stepped into my room. Opening my closet door, I selected a super nice and thick hoodie. I had used it a few times in the past when Da was fixing my trench coat, and its thickness stood up to how hard I was on clothes. Being faster than Superman comes at a cost. You really have to spend the pretty penny on high-quality clothes.

  Outside, my mind raced, digesting and organizing everything Lily had said. She had helped to make Ulric, and me. She loved Ulric, at least once. I had no choice but to trust that she was now on my side vs the immortal man she had known for a handful of centuries longer than me. That was a big damn pill to swallow.

  As I made my way towards Ulric’s place in the national park, I thought about what I could possibly do to stop him without dying or killing him. My only hope was to reason with him, which I knew in my heart would not go over well. Different dialogues played out in my mind, most of which ended in Ulric attacking. Fuck! Da and Locke were supposed to have another plan for me. A plan that probably wasn’t going to work just like the first one didn’t.

  “Why the fuck am I doing this?” I cried out as I came to stop at the edge of the park.

  “Doing what?” A casual voice came from the trees.

  “Who’s there?” I demanded, willing a sword and stepping into a defensive stance.

  “Whoah, whoah, whoah, man. You don’t need that.” The voice reminded me of Jeff Bridges in The Big Lebowski.

  “I’m not playing. Don’t test me right now!” I called out, searching for the source of the voice.

  “Over here, dude,” the voice said with complete ease. I saw movement by a large tree and slowly stepped towards it, letting my eyes shift to have a better view.

  What I came upon made me stop in disbelief. A tree waved at me as my eyes followed the split trunk up to a face that had moss and herbs growing as a long goatee. It looked down on me and smiled warmly.

  “What’s up, man?” He said.

  “Oh shit. A talking tree,” I said, rubbing my eyes as if to clear them of this ridiculous sight. He was easily twenty feet tall.

  “Treant, man. I’m a treant. I protect these trees and all the life inside,” he said as he pulled some herbs that were growing from his face that looked oddly familiar, and put them between his wooden thumb and forefinger. He grounded the herb together until it was almost a powder and dropped them into a rolled-up piece of bark he pulled from his forearm.

  “Do ya mind?” He said, holding the organic joint out to me.

  “Uh, huh?” I asked, confused.

  “Lite it, bro.”

  “Ah.” I focused and excited the molecules at the end of the joint and it began glowing orange.

  “Thanks, man,” the treant said as he brought the weed up to his mouth and took several long drags. He inhaled deeply as he spoke, trying to not let any smoke out just yet, “Vampire, huh? I knew it.” He bent and offered the joint to me as he exhaled.

  “Um, no thanks. I try not to take supernatural drugs from strangers.”

  “Preternatural, man. I am of this plane,” he said as he coughed out a laugh, still holding his offering out to me.

  “I really can’t. I’m about to go fight someone who is older and stronger and I kinda need to be able to focus and shit. Know what I mean?”

  “This will help you focus, my friend. I sense great fear in you. And as you know, fear leads to anger. Anger leads…”

  “Are you quoting Star Wars at me right now tree?” I ask incredulously.

  “Does it matter if it is? Shit is still on point. You have a lot of fear in you and this will help you calm down and clear your mind. Help you see things that you couldn’t see before,” he said, still holding the joint with the smoldering end pointed towards him. “I may be a creature of faerie, but I was born on this plane, alright? This shit right here,” He said, shaking the joint at me, “is not your mortal weed. It’s magic.”

  “I don’t really believe in magic.”

  “Said the fucking vampire talking to a fucking
tree,” he said ironically. “Names Richard by the way.”

  “Richard the tree?”

  “Treant, man. I’m a fucking treant. And yeah, I like Richard, so that’s my name.” I looked at him doubtingly before he said, “Look, you can call me Susan if you like. What’s in a name? When you grow as old as me, you…”

  “Break up the monotony of existence,” I finished, recalling an earlier conversation with Valenta.

  “Yeah, man. You get it. Now are you going to take a hit off this and calm yourself before you go storming the castle?”

  I grabbed the joint, which looked comical in my hand, as if it were made by a twenty-foot-tall Snoop Dog. “How did you know what I was here for?”

  “I know a lot more than most creatures would give me credit for, man. That is, until they get to know me.” There was a gleam in his eye that hinted that he was far wiser than what he was letting on.

  Shrugging in placation, I took a small hit off the Fae joint, held it in, and then let it out in a long exhale.

  “There ya go, man. Soon you’ll be feeling right as rain.”

  “May I partake?” Said a familiar voice. Startled I turned while coughing up a lung to see Gabriel standing behind me at human height and in his nice charcoal suit.

  I held up the joint in question with a raised eyebrow to which the angel nodded. “You are allowed to do the marijuana?” I asked playfully.

  “Who created the plant? Hmm? Oh right, it was Father.” I handed the joint over to him and watched in awe as he took a large hit. As he sucked in and held his breath, he said without letting any smoke out “Dad created the human body and put intricate receptors that are made specifically to receive this.” He exhaled the smoke and held up the Fae weed, appreciatingly. “This was supposed to be a practical cure-all for mortals, and what did they do? They created harmful pharmaceuticals that weren’t needed to mask symptoms instead of fixing the problem. On top of this, I know Richard has the best stuff. How are you doing, my old friend?”