The Godsend Backfire: The Beginning

by Harold Straugh

  Dawn approached before I knew it, I heard the screeching of the vampire and could smell burning flesh, Noemi awoke, startled and slashing her knife through the air. I just looked at her as she stopped, put the knife down and wiped the sleep from her eyes.

  “Damn that stinks,” she said, flaring her nose.

  “Imagine smelling your own flesh burning away,” I said as I threw dirt on the fire.

  “I couldn’t imagine,” she said and got up, finally she got dressed and I found myself staring at her once more. My eyes weren’t the only organ finding her pleasing.

  “It’s horrible, let me tell you,” I said as the stench of the vampires burnt flesh lingered in my in my nose.

  Noemi got her stuff out as I went and pulled the spikes out of ground, or stakes, I call them spikes. The tent collapsed on itself and I simply just rolled it up tightly and fashioned it to Sabor. Soon we where off, I noticed the temperature was a little cooler, it was getting to be fall time.

  “I think in our next place we help, we should get furs, it’s going to be getting cold soon, we will have to live in that tent in the winter months.”

  She was right, I never prepped for winter just lived through it, walked, traveled right on through it, but I was traveling with a human, so I had to take precautions.

  We continued up the path and a little bit after the morning sun, we came across some graves, we acted quick to unbury them and watched them burn. Noemi was enjoying it as much as I. We took a break from riding, well Noemi did, said her back was hurting. She walked off into the woods and grabbed onto a low hanging branch. She then pulled herself up, repeatedly. After that she dropped to the ground, got in a prone position, palms flat on the ground and pushed herself up. Push-ups and pull-ups have been around a long time, longer than most idiots think.

  “What are you doing?” I asked.

  “Keeping my body looking good,” she said then looked at me, “Don’t you do this to keep your body looking like it is?” she asked as she was doing push-ups.

  “No, I’m from a fallen angel, my body has looked this way as long as I can remember,” I said.

  “I hate you!” she laughed, “I need heavy stones. I didn’t get these stones by lifting light stones,” she flexed her arms.”

  She was well defined, then she took off jogging, her horse followed, and I followed her. She went from a jog to a full-on run and she ran for at least thirty-minutes. Then she stopped, and put her hands on her knees and leaned over, taking in deep breaths.

  “Are you okay?”

  “Yes, I am! That felt amazing,” she huffed, “I need a bath, we need to find water.”

  I didn’t see any water as far as I could see, and with the woods thinning it was easy to see far. She jumped on her horse and we trotted off. We didn’t find water for another two hours. We found a small stream, with a mountain way off in the distance. It was only knee deep, but it didn’t stop Noemi from first, drinking large handfuls of it, second, filling her camel-skinned canteen, then finally stripping down and sitting in the creek. She scrubbed and scrubbed then offered me the bar, I gently refused.

  I walked around a little bit, sniffing out some of the flowers, I found a few that smelled nice and picked them. I had my own plans to smell good, or I thought anyways. I stripped down and sat down the creek from her. I used my florals and scrubbed my arms and chest with them. All I managed to do was color my arms and chest with some reds, blue and yellows from the flowers.

  I looked over and Noemi was on the bank already, gathering sticks. I was angry that my flowers didn’t work on making me smell good, so I got out of the creek and walked right past Noemi, who was leaned over, striking two black rocks together, trying to get the fire going.

  “WHOA! Get that thing out of my face!” she said and laughed.

  “I’m sorry,” I said and sat down, offering to take the fire stones away and get the fire going. I done what I planned to do and with only two strikes, I got the fire going.

  “Thank you!” Noemi said and smiled at me.

  “You don’t have to thank me, you’re going to have to get use to me doing this, once winter sets in you’re going to be staying warm in that tent,” I said.

  “I can take care of myself you know, I’ve been doing it most my life.”

  “I know, but we are on dangerous times and you are valuable to me,” I said admitting to her basically, that I appreciated her.

  “Thank you!” she said and rubbed her hands together.

  After an hour of warming up she got into her pack and got out a change of clothes. Now back then there were no bras or panties, it was simply shirts and pants, or makeshift dresses, nothing like today’s standards. I didn’t have a change of clothes, so I dressed in my somewhat dirty ones. I put on my purple glasses, put the fire out and once again we were on our way.

  The area opened up even more and the trees went away as we came upon lush green fields of grasses. The horses would stop randomly and graze, but ultimately go on their way. After miles of not seeing anyone, we came to small town with more mud-brick style huts, some of them with multiple rooms instead of one big room. The place is now called Dudince in Slovakia.

  I saw one of the townspeople and he looked at me in confusion. He wasn’t as tan as the people I’ve encountered before and was pinkish in color. He was skinny, had a beak-like nose and narrow eyes. He spoke and as usual, I didn’t understand them at first. Noemi looked at me, she didn’t understand what he was saying either, then my brain processed his words.

  “WHAT ARE YOU DOING HERE? WHO ARE YOU?”

  I spoke to him, in his language, “I am Roldian, this my friend Noemi,” as my brain translated once more, it was a trait that Derium and I shared.

  Noemi spoke, “You can understand him and speak his language?”

  “I can understand all,” I said. how the languages don’t get messed up in my head, still amaze me.

  Then the guy stopped once he heard Noemi talk and started talking to her, he spoke in her language this time.

  “What’s wrong with him?” he asked her.

  “Nothing!” I said.

  He then spat at me, “I’m not talking to you, I’m talking to her,” he said with anger in his voice.

  “I’d be careful if I were you, he just might save your life.”

  I didn’t understand why he was so mad at first but then I realized I had forgotten to put my hood and facemask on. I took my glasses off and looked at him, “I’m here to help so curve your tongue rodent,” he shut his mouth, something told me, no one had ever talked to him like that, “Have you any issues with people missing at night or finding people drained of blood?”

  “Upir’s,” which was vampire in Slovakia, “yes, they’ve been a problem longer than you’ve been born,” he said.

  “I doubt that very much,” I laughed. I asked the same questions as before and as before, I got some answers. I instructed him on what to do and like before, we found some graves, that I dug up and watched as the bodies caught fire.

  “I’m sorry I treated you so badly before, I’m not use to new people being helpful,” he said and attempted to give me a hug, I simply patted his back and let it be.

  “More will come tonight, we ask permission to set up outside your town, for when they come, they will come with fierceness,” I said, I could tell from the look on his face my voice was confusing to him. I was also getting stared by the rest of the townspeople, but it was nothing new

  “You have my permission and anything else you need as well, it will be yours.”

  “Two furs, doesn’t matter from what and some lamb’s wool if you have it.”

  “And two bows with arrows, or arcus, whatever you call them, I want them,” Noemi said and smirked a little.

  “Two?” I asked.

  “You can learn to shoot as well, we both can hunt, the more the better if you ask me,” she had a point.

  “It will be done, if what you say, will happen, I will have everything you need in the mo
rning,” the townsperson said.

  Once we again the scene repeated itself, with minor differences, no common hall in this town, but they had a place for visitors to eat, away from the other huts. We were cooked a meal, that neither of us seemed to enjoy but we ate it with gratitude. After we ate, I went and set up our tent just outskirts of town. Noemi went out and done her normal work, she gathered the sticks for the fire and gathered some small birds to eat.

  “I should have asked for spices,” Noemi said, shaking her spice bag.

  “We will get them, before we leave here,” I said.

  “I have them all wrote down, hopefully they have them,” she said, obviously being bothered by the fact she was running low of her spices.

  The night started out like any other night, we slayed some vampires that came to feast on the townspeople, then, just as I was about slay the last one an arrow came hurling at me, I stepped out of way and drove my hand into the chest cavity of the vampire, ripping out it’s heart and tossing it aside, it slumped to the ground and fell in heap. I heard gasps from the townspeople and thought it was from witnessing something so gruesome, but when I turned around, I realized what they were gasping at.

  The arrow I dodged, was lodged securely in the chest of Noemi, she had a look of panic on her face as the blood spewed out of the wound. I picked her up, without thinking and took her to our tent. I ripped her shirt open as her breaths got shallower and quicker and looked at the wound. I put my hand down over her breast and grabbed onto the shaft of the arrow. I looked at Noemi and nodded, and she nodded back. I didn’t know what I was going to do once I got the tip out, but I needed to get it out. I pulled and do to my very own panic, I managed to cut my hand. A drop of my blood managed to land in the open wound and I noticed, instantly, the wound started to heal. Suddenly, Noemi arched up and screamed out, she clawed at her chest, “IIITTT BURRRNS!” she screamed as she thrashed about. I put my hands on her to hold her down and she was burning up. She screamed out some more, then as the wound completely healed up, she passed out. I was angry when I walked out of the tent.

  “WHO WAS IT THAT FIRED THE ARROW?” I screamed. The townspeople didn’t answer but a boy, no more the age of ten stood there with his bow in his hand and tears in his eyes, quivering.

  “WAS IT YOU?” I screamed at him, “WAS IT? YOU PIECE OF RODENT SHIT!”

  “He didn’t mean to, he was only trying help!” a woman, who I assumed to be his mom stepped in between me and him. I quickly snatched the bow from him and snapped it in half.

  “Teach him better!” I hissed, getting in his mother’s face, she turned her and grimaced as chatter arose from the rest of the townspeople.

  I turned around and went back in the tent. I started a fire, even though Noemi was burning up, she was also shivering. I kept a close eye on her that night, I found her silk cover and put it over her and she still shivered, yet felt warm. I paced the floor back and forth, the tent being just tall enough for me to stand up in and I’m tall. Every once and a while she would moan out and clench her teeth, whatever my blood was doing to her, it was hurting her greatly.

  It was late in the night when she started to have a seizure, at the time I just thought she was shivering uncontrollably. I went down beside her, took her in my arms and spoke her name, I then laid her head on my chest and threw her cover over the both of us. She calmed down after a while but was still warm and beads of sweat had formed on her forehead. They dripped down and soaked my shirt. She stayed that way for the rest of the night, curled up in my arms and burning up.

  The morning didn’t want to come that day. I was staring off into the embers when I heard Noemi speak, “Ewwwe!” she said. I hadn’t realized but her arm had fallen between my legs at some point and time and her forearm was touching my crotch, even though clothed, it still bothered her. She moved it and looked up at me.

  “What happened? I remember you getting the arrow out of my chest and that’s it.”

  “I cut myself and some of my blood went into you,” I said.

  “I had a messed-up dream, you were intertwined with a female demon, she had a tail that she wrapped around your midsection.”

  “That was no dream, you saw me and Lilith,” it was interesting to me how she saw that after my blood went into her.

  “You and Lilith actually did it?”

  “I had no choice, I had to kill her with Lucifer’s horn.”

  “His horn?”

  “I was taking Lilith from behind when I used Lucifer’s horn to slit her throat.” I said almost forgetting I still had his horn as a makeshift rib.

  “You lie,” she said jokingly.

  I took my shirt off, “What are you doing?” she asked.

  “I’m going to show you, I have Lucifer’s horn with me,” I said grabbed the very arrow that was in her chest and cut myself open with it.

  “Hey, stop that!” she said and tried to stop me, but I waived her off, as I reached inside me and pulled the horn out.

  “I keep it in case I ever meet another demon like her,” I said and put it back before I healed, “How are you feeling though?”

  “I feel better now, than I ever have,” she said bending her arms, straightening, and bending her back.

  I helped her up, she looked down at her ripped, blood-soaked shirt, she finished ripping it off and tossed it on the embers, which smoldered for a few then caught fire. “I won’t need that bad memory anymore,” she said as she dug through her pack and produced another shirt. She threw it on and looked at me, she had caught staring once again.

  “Shall we go and see if they have what was promised?” I asked and stepped outside, but before I could even step beyond the tent, our supplies were there, two large furs and two bows with arrows. I wasn’t happy though.

  Noemi loaded the furs up on her horse, as I took the tent down and loaded it up on Sabor. I turned my attention back to Dudince. It didn’t take long before I found the guy from the day before, he was weaving a basket

  “We gave you what you wanted, we would like it if you left,” he said and stopped weaving.

  “I need a few more things actually since my friend almost died.”

  “I noticed she’s alive and well, in less than one night,” he said with some sort of accusation in his tone.

  “What about it?”

  “It sounds like the work of Lucifer, the Devil himself.”

  I got as close as I needed to be and then grabbed onto the guys shirt and easily lifted him off the ground, “There are for worse things out there than Lucifer and if you don’t get what I want, you will find out!” I said as I dropped him.

  “List!” I snapped my fingers at Noemi, who gave me a hateful look, but gave me her herb list anyways. “We also need mydlo (soap) a couple bars of it.”

  “We don’t have bars here,” he said, getting up off the ground, “we don’t let it get hard, it’s easier to handle.”

  With that he disappeared for a few minutes. When he came back he handed me two, small skin-canteens and a couple bags of spices, “You open the top and squeeze,” he said talking about the canteens.

  I opened mine and squeezed it little and a thick, green substance came out that smelled floral with a pine ascent to it. I handed one to Noemi who smiled when she smelled hers.

  “Now go, please!” he said, and we did.

  That’s how we spent our time together, we circled out from there, hitting whatever town or village we happened upon. We practiced everyday with our bows and arrows. Noemi was an excellent shot, as was I, I had to ween myself on pulling back so hard, I almost snapped my bow plenty of times. We gathered supplies with every place we visited. I gathered up more white clothes with hoods and Noemi took what was there, she wasn’t picky about what she wore.

  Soon winter rolled upon us and had set up camp in a wooded lot. I spent a majority of the time chopping down small trees. Noemi would hunt until she got too cold, she would usually shoot small game, which we piled up on one side of the tent.

&n
bsp; The tempatures fluctuated, then one night, they dropped severely. I had the fire as high as I could get it, without burning the tent down, we managed to get numerous furs, but Noemi was still shivering, I could hear her teeth chattering.

  “Hey!” I called to her.

  “What?” she said someone angrily.

  “I’m going to lay next to you to help keep you warm.”

  “I’ve been waiting for it,” she said, so she lifted the covers and I crawled next to her. She threw her leg up over me and pulled me close. After about an hour to two, she stopped shivering.

  At the break of dawn, the fire started to go out, so I got up, slowly and started walking outside when I noticed there was blood on my pant leg. I panicked, assuming, somehow, Noemi had been stabbed. I raced over quickly and threw the furs off her.

  “Hey! What are you doing? It’s freezing,” she said and tried to pull the furs back up, but I yanked them back down.

  “You’re bleeding, you must be hurt, see!” I pointed to blood stain on my pant leg.

  She looked under the furs and her face grew red and she began to chuckle, the burst out laughing.

  “What’s so funny? Are you hurt or not?” I asked, concerned.

  “I’m fine Roldian, I’m just bleeding from between my legs.”

  “Why? What’s wrong with you, do you have something in there trying to get out?” I said, confused.

  She laughed even harder, “Stop laughing, what is going on?” I asked.

  “My mom told me a long time ago, that this is part of being a woman. It happens all every thirty days or so.”

  “You bleed out from between your legs every thirty days? How long does it last, will you be okay?”

  She laughed some more at me, I was genuinely concerned I had never witnessed such a thing, “Yes I will be fine, it’ll stop when it stops, I just have to clean up more often than not. There’s really nothing to be worried about,” she said and tried not laughing again, “I’m sorry I got it on your pants.”