Stigmata

by L M Adams

  “Azazael,” I all but spit when he stops about ten steps up.

  “I told you, I prefer Darius,” he smiles, “now you understand, what has come before… shall come again… Ishtar.”

  Lucien roars behind me and pushes forward between Jack and I, trying to get to Azazael, he lifts his sword high and aims right for the center of Azazael urged on by nothing but the heat of his rage. His body weak and his mind being torn apart, he doesn’t make it five steps before he falls down to the stairs in front of Azazael, not getting close at all.

  The fallen god looks down at my mighty beast and laughs, kicking Lucien’s sword away to get lost in the river of blood. I open myself to that burning rage within Lucien and call down the purple lightning of the Eventide… but before it strikes him… Azazael is gone – dematerializing into a cloud of black sand.

  154

  Jaevia – The fall of Atum

  The blood keeps coming, pooling around us faster and faster, creating a current.

  “I’ll get him,” Jack surges forward, fighting that current to climb the stairs and get to Lucien, helping him to his feet before he’s drowned by the red sticky liquid.

  I feel around on the ground, searching desperately for Lucien’s sword. We need it, we need it more than ever. There is a god that needs to be killed.

  “Where is Apedemak?!” I scream as I find the sword and drag it from the bloody depths that are now almost waist high. If ever there was a time for the old god-king to pull his shit together, it would be now!

  Jack loops Lucien’s arm over his shoulders to prop him up and helps to navigate him back down the stairs. The curse is tearing him apart from the inside out. We need to get him out of this blood, we need to get Luey out of here.

  The crowd is moving in one direction…. Back towards the palace. Trying to fight against the tide of blood and the people would take more energy than Lucien has right now, and so Jack and I do the only thing we can, we make our way back to the temple of Apedemak… along with everyone else.

  The people, covered in blood and filled with fear call out in one voice, begging for their Raja, praying to their god-king. The energy of their need is a wild and live thing, I can feel it crawl on my skin like fire ants.

  Being a god doesn’t mean absolute power free of charge. People must believe in you, pray to you, give purpose to power… and a god or goddess must prove themselves worthy of that love and devotion.

  What is the point in praying to a god that never answers your call?

  The tower of Apedemak sits looming above us, the moon turning red and casting a horrid shadow upon this bloody earth. The stone of the tower almost vibrates with the power of the voices surrounding us.

  “Raja! Raja!” The people wail, demanding that Apedemak answers them. But if Lucien is any indication, the power of Ra is not here right now.

  Azazael made sure of that.

  The doors to the palace are closed. People covered in blood and full of fear are beating against the thick wood doors – demanding their king come and save them.

  “This isn’t going to work,” I look for a way out of here, we need to get out of the crowd, and the blood.

  “Jae!” Jack shouts, I look to him, he nods to the side of the building, “We may have better luck at another door.”

  I nod, Lucien is barely standing. If I wasn’t supernatural, there’s no way I’d be able to support his weight. Even with Goddess given strength, the height difference makes it awkward, especially with me holding on to his sword.

  We turn and start pushing our way through the people and the blood to try and get to the side of the tower… we make it ten feet before the sun sets and the veil between worlds becomes thinner.

  Lucien called it Amenta, the symbol for the underworld, the edge of the sunset. The time of eventide is a passage between one existence and the next. For once I feel it… but it isn’t natural! This isn’t a real eventide; this was done with horrid blood magic and is not right!

  The sky turns a blood red, I can feel the power and energy gathering. I stop moving to stare up into the sky.

  “Jae!” Jack shouts but I don’t move… terror filling me.

  “No,” I whimper as I watch a cloud of black sand fly across the sky, the head of it like a comet, with a tail glittering with silver.

  “Down!” I scream before I fall to my knees, dragging Lucien down into the blood.

  Jack and I cover his body as best we can as the black sand hits the tower of Apedemak, exploding with an echoing boom. Massive chunks of stone fall from the tower.

  People running, screaming, now trying to get away from the tower they were just praying at. I wait for the sound of falling stone to stop before I lift my head. The entire front of the tower is split open, the statue of Apedemak sits in ruin, its head laying on the ground, the blood of the earth pooling around it.

  Bodies of the people that weren’t lucky enough to miss the falling stones, float in the lake of blood… death… surrounded by nothing but death.

  My Dark Goddess – how could we let this happen?

  The blood pours into the tower of Apedemak, and the level in the concourse finally begins to lower, as if it was waiting to get into the tower. Yet it’s still pouring from the temple of Set – as if there is no ending to it.

  Please Goddess, let there be an end to it.

  A sounding of trumpets rings out, no, not trumpets, a horn – one long blaring sound… the hairs on my arm stick up on end and my heart pounds in my chest.

  I watch as the veil between the physical world and the astral world is parted. A slit in the sky that twinkles with starlight.

  “Jaevia, what is that?” Jack asks, his voice low.

  “Madoc… the wild hunt,” I whisper, my bottom lip trembling with fear.

  Gods and Goddesses that would not go to Ra’suá voluntarily, those who found a way to stay on human earth, were hunted down by the Hounds of Hades… the Cerberus Guard took their name. They were the first of the Reapers, the first to pray to the god Abbadon the Destroyer.

  My father says we come from the direct line of the first destroyers. That we are descendants of Madoc ap Uthyr.

  The tower kept Apedemak hidden from the eyes of the destroyers… Azazael destroyed the tower for only one reason.

  But it makes no sense! Azazael wants the gods freed, why set up Apedemak to be taken to Ra’suá?! I don’t understand this!

  My understanding is not necessary. I watch as the hunt rides from the slit within the veil. Horrors being birthed from the vulva of the spirit world. Madoc was a thing of the between, one foot in the material world the other in the spirit world.

  Hunters are riding unicorns, the horns adorned with blades, curved and sharp. As they pass between the veil, almost blue translucent figures fill in, becoming matter, becoming flesh and bone and blood. Three hunters on the backs of the licorne, and on the largest – sits Madoc… the king of the wild hunt, beside him a pitch black three headed dog, a massive beast.

  I watch through the translucent body of Madoc as bone forms, a skeleton – nervous system, muscle, tendons, red veins, a layer of muscle, skin, clothing…. layering on top of one another in the blink of an eye. I watch spirit become real.

  His skin is white, not like human flesh, but white like star dust and the essence of all color. No one has a white aura, no one tunes to that frequency… or so I thought…. He’s drawing power directly from the Sunstone, he is a being made of that power, the power of all but part of none. He is daemon.

  “Fucking Christ,” Jack whispers.

  “Let’s move,” I murmur.

  We stay low and get Lucien behind a large block of his father’s tower. The blood pools up to our chests as we stoop low. I rest my back on the rough stone, Lucien’s sword gripped tightly in my hand but keeping it below the blood, hiding it. People are still running, but no longer screaming – they know like I know… this isn’t the time to draw attention to yourself.

  I look to the side of the palace, t
here’s too much open ground to get Lucien out of here. Too much risk. I can’t be sure how we’ll read. I may read as a Goddess now, Lucien as a God – I can’t really be sure about Jack either. Just because he hasn’t accepted his power doesn’t mean he wouldn’t register as a God.

  Our only hope is that the power of Apedemak will overwhelm whatever energy we’re putting off. I concentrate on making myself small, not my body, but my power. I try to swallow down the wild energy of the eventide… perhaps I can’t hide everything, but maybe if I make myself seem more daemon – I can get us through this.

  Be a daemon, think like a daemon, you are a daemon.

  The wild hunt rides from the parting between worlds in the sky. When they land on the ground, the earth shudders again, I hold my breath as I watch the blood splash up on the strong flanks of the armored unicorns. The blood doesn’t fill them with fear… the curse isn’t for them. They are not of the people… they hunt the gods of the people.

  Black metal armor, covering all of them, adorned with skulls and bones. Madoc wears a helmet with a crown of bones on top… I know he sat upon a throne made of bone, born of the dark power of the first Dark Fae Queen – such are the stories my father tells… which I always thought were horseshit – I most assuredly owe him an apology.

  The unicorns huff with aching cold power that chills me to my bones. The air is quiet, so fucking quiet that I’m afraid our breathing is too loud.

  The cerberus hound is more magnificent than I ever thought, covered in pitch black fur but for the silver deadly spiked spines running along its back. Three heads with a shared four-legged body. Each head reminding me of a wolf… reminding me of my own hounds – Accalia, Boris and Edon. Large snouts, massive jaws opening to deathly sharp teeth the size of my forearm.

  Goddess be.

  Madoc pats one of the heads of the large hound. The center hound lifts its large head sniffing the air.

  Be a daemon, think like a daemon, you are a daemon.

  One of the riders lets loose a large linkage of chain, on the end thick metal shackles that glow with dark power, enchanted… they’re here to take Apedemak to the Chamber of Gods – to sleep with his brethren under the weight of time.

  The hunters move to go into the tower just as a line of gold spears appears. The men of Atum, wearing their helmets of Ra, their black shendyts, holding their long gold-tipped spears; rush to the open gaping wound in the front of the tower, lining up side-by-side, three rows deep.

  They are powerful – but they will not have a chance against the hunters. Maybe the therians would stand a chance – but Apedemak disbanded them… they’re not going to be able to fight the wild hunt.

  Perhaps they know that, but honor demands that they stand.

  Life has taught me that, at times; honor is stupid. Honor doesn’t mean shit if you end up being the one rotting in the dirt.

  My heart wishes for them to be smart! I want to stand up and scream – No… don’t be stupid! Don’t be so fucking stupid!

  But I put the importance of my life, of Lucien’s, and Jack’s life above theirs… cold but truth. None of those men are my forevers, I can live without them.

  I look down to Lucien, he’s out of it thank the Goddess. I don’t think I could stop him from doing something stupid along with his brothers. I look over to Jack – he looks back at me reflecting the fear in my own heart.

  “Stay down,” I whisper to him and he nods.

  I turn to watch through the eyes of a child as the stories of my father become real. This is the ugly part of history. On Ra’suá, in the pup’s den, we told stories of the battles of the first Reapers. We wished to be like them, to hunt the supernaturals and either kill them, or drag them to Ra’suá… but we didn’t, even once, think that people, humans, would stand in the way and that we’d have to cut down those good men because orders were orders and the Kindred must prevail.

  I know the sounds of battle ring out as the gold spears roar with their might and rush forward into the danger – but I hear nothing. I watch through tearful eyes as the brave men of Atum run forward into certain death… and meet it.

  My heart pounds in my chest as I watch the hunters swing their wicked blades, cutting the men down two at a time. I watch the unicorns, with their wickedly bladed horns gouge the men, driving that metal into their centers and lifting their bleeding, dying bodies into the air as they scream… tossing them to the side.

  The cerberus hound rushes forward towards a grouping of the gold spears still making a stand. Their form is perfect. Four of the men stay close and jut out their spears low while their brothers behind them throw theirs, driving them into the hide of hound.

  Who am I supposed to be rooting for? Who are the good guys in this?

  Or is all war just evil? Has any man gone to war and thought god was on their enemy’s side?

  The gods agreed to leave terra! Apedemak agreed!

  Another one of the gold spears screams as his midsection is cut open. I watch the shock cover his face as his guts spill out… he tries to catch them…

  This isn’t right. Goddess save me… this isn’t right. I grip Lucien’s sword and I do the stupid thing… I do the stupid thing I always do and lead with my heart and not my head.

  “Jaevia!” Jack screams as I stand, jump over the boulder… bloody dress sticking to my flesh as I land back in the lake of sin, still clutching Lucien’s heavy sword.

  I run forward; the three hunters have their backs turned toward me and I see my chance. My body, fighting against the blood, doesn’t move as smooth as I would like, but I am a warrior – a warrior goddess. I am a Reaper and I gave my heart to Abbadon and I have reaped for him! And this isn’t right!

  I rush forward and raise Lucien’s sword above my head, needing two hands. There is no true thought as I run between the deadly unicorns, aiming for Madoc.

  Goddess I swing, Madoc turns and meets my strike with his own. The two swords spark in air before I’m knocked back by a ball of blue energy thrown from one of the other riders… probably the master of magic.

  The energy knocks me back and up into the air… I fall back down into the blood, barely holding on to Lucien’s sword.

  “Jaevia!” Jack yells rushing towards me.

  He reaches me a hairsbreadth before Madoc runs us down. I scream again standing and lifting Lucien’s sword to meet the downswing of Madoc’s.

  “Stop!” I roar and I let that power I’ve been trying to hide unfurl. I call on the aching power of the moon and of the sun and of the earth… I call on the Eventide and let it be damned… but this… this has to stop.

  Madoc’s face, seeming so much like my father’s, is covered with surprise.

  “Stop,” I whisper.

  He looks at me intently…. “What, are, you?”

  I smile, “Your distant daughter.”

  155

  Jaevia - Madoc

  Madoc, the gold spears, and I call a sort of temporary ceasefire. Jack goes to help get Lucien back to his feet, the large man is awake, but he’s weak; more than his body… his heart is breaking apart as the bodies of his people float in the blood curse that surrounds us.

  Madoc gets off his licrone, “You do not belong here,” he looks between the three of us.

  “I know… we know…”

  The two other hunters still sit atop their unicorns, the cerberus hound close by, licking his wounds. This temporary peace is tentative on what I do, on what happens next… I am no fool.

  Madoc takes off his black helmet with the crown made of bones. His long black hair floats in a magic wind, reminding me that he is not of this world.

  “You are a daughter of Abbadon?”

  I nod, “A reaper, strategist – for the Kindred.”

  He looks to Lucien next, “You are a son of…” he turns his head to the side, “Apede…”

  “Abbadon,” I cut in, “he is a reaper as well – my enforcer.”

  Be a daemon, think like a daemon, you are a daemon.


  Madoc smells the air in front of Lucien, unsure, but my words are true.

  He moves down to Jack, “You are…”

  “Complicated,” Jack says simply.

  Madoc growls low and moves back towards me, his hand on his sheathed sword at his hip. Hmmm, I wonder when the reapers switched to the shortened katanas.

  “You do not belong here!” He yells again.

  “I know, but we’re here…”

  “You are outside of the order of things…”

  “We will go back to our time,” I cut in before he ‘suggests’ we go to Ra’suá.

  “You are an eventide three.”

  “Yes,” I nod.

  “You do not…”

  “I know!”

  One of the Hunters, the one holding the chains, gets off of his licrone, a big fucker, the enforcer, “They should be taken back to the council.”

  “This I know!” Madoc yells and then looks back at me, “But my distant daughter is my daughter still. She will have one moon to return to where she belongs…” he holds up one finger.

  I nod…

  “Our orders are to hunt the threes,” the enforcer pushes again.

  “They are not a three of now, we have no orders to hunt them through time.”

  Splitting hairs with a battle axe, but I’ll take it.

  Madoc gets back on his licrone, “We are here for the god-king and I see no god-king in those three. Where is Apedemak?!” Madoc yells out, his voice echoing with power.

  Lucien shudders beside me, his head hanging, his locs hiding his face, “Don’t.” He croaks out low.

  I grab Lucien’s hand, “He has to go, Lucien, he agreed – they all agreed.”

  He looks at me, his golden eyes filled with tears, “Please.”

  My heart bottoms out, “Hasn’t enough evil come from not keeping the promises made?”

  We stand in a blood curse, bodies and death permeating the air. There has to be a stop to it, an end to it… somewhere.