“You can’t control it, no need to worry,” I said. I was just glad she wasn’t hurt. I learned something knew every day with Noemi.
This is how we lived our lives. We stayed together for over eighty-five years. Sabor and her horse died long before that and we had to train our new horses, which we didn’t name. I watched as Noemi aged slowly, I think due to my blood, but aged, nonetheless. There came a time when she could no longer get on her horse. She stayed in the tent most time while I killed the vampires. No matter how old she got though, she never stopped walking around the tent naked. Her body was failing her no matter how much she had taken care of it in her previous years and I felt for her.
One night, I had gotten back from hunting for food for her, we were near the Poppigay River in upper Russia, it was beautiful and even though summer, still a little cold for Noemi. There were mountains behind us and the river in front of us, it was breathtaking to see. She called out to me.
“Roldian, you know I’m dying,” she said her voice crackled with age.
“Nonsense Noemi, you are gong to live forever,” I smiled at her, but this time she didn’t smile back.
“My time is coming; my time should have come a long time ago. I’ve always wanted to see the sunrise from the top of the mountain, even though with my eyes, I wouldn’t see much, I would like to try.”
I didn’t want to face the fact she was dying, if I knew then, what I know now, I would have given more of my blood a long time ago, she’d still be with me, “I will take you,” I said and got up. I scooped her up, her back, curved from age, popped a little when I did.
I carried her outside and used my speed to get up to a mountain quickly. I was careful though, both before and while I climbed the mountain. I can’t say that I climbed it, but I leapt up it, each time I landed Noemi let out a small “oomph!” She was a warrior though and held me tight as I made one last jump to the summit of the mountain.
We waited a few hours, the whole time she shivered from the cold and took deep breaths, her time was truly upon her. I looked off in the distance and could see the sun rising, “Here we go Noemi are you watching?”
I got no response, I looked down and the sun had just kissed her face, she was gone. Tears fell from my eyes and when they hit her face, they crystalized. My Noemi was gone and so was a piece of me.
I brought her body back down the mountain and set her in the tent. I packed up my furs, and surround her with all her stuff. I walked to her horse and patted its head, the quickly snapped its neck. It was her horse and even though, only having it a few years, she deserved to take it with her. I dragged the horse into the tent and put it beside her the best I could. I went out and gathered up all the wood I could find, I came back dumped out her collection of oils, all over her and the horse’s body. I built the fire and threw on pieces of wood after pieces of wood. The fire started to blaze, and I made my exit as the smoke started to roll out the front of the entrance. I grabbed my horse and walked away. I stopped a few yards away and watched as the tent went up in flames.
“I will miss you Noemi,” I said then heard an old familiar voice.
“Trouble seems to follow you!”
I turned around and there stood Lucifer in his human form. He was wearing clothes from that time. He had on beige, baggy pants and just a matching vest.
“Well, I am your son, we haven’t exactly fared well have we?”
“True you haven’t, but now I fear someone else’s son won’t fair well,” he said and stepped around me.
“Why should I care about someone else’s son?” I asked.
“Because it’s Jehovah’s son.”
For some reason that sentence struck me as odd. I remembered the time when Jehovah had loved me as a son, “So, he mated with a mortal did he?” I asked.
“No, not necessarily, he sent Michael, who I hate, to become one with a woman named Mary. Michael was reborn as Jesus, but now Jesus is in trouble.”
“So, Jehovah sent Michael down to become one with this Mary woman, and Michael was reborn as Jesus, who is now in trouble? That makes no sense to me,” I said.
“It’s the truth,” Lucifer said, he had no reason to lie to me, but it wasn’t him I was suspecting of lying.
“Why should I care about this Jesus?”
“He doesn’t deserve what is happening to him, there are people coming up against him. He has followers, people to help him hide but the Romans always seem to find him.”
“The Romans?”
“You’ll find out, they believe him to be the King of Jews, a blasphemer.”
“What is all this you speak of?”
“You’ve missed in a lot in the time you’ve been gone, you will have to go to Judea opposite side of the area that used to be Sodom and Gomorrah,”
“Those wretched places ever came back?”
“No, they have long been destroyed ever since…that night. The lake no longer holds fish, nothing grows, its hot there, always, hardly any wildlife or plant life.”
“Good,” I said, “I’m far away from there, I don’t want to go there anyways, this really isn’t my problem. If you care so much about Jesus, you deal with him.”
“Once again, I can’t, I can only look from a distance never intervene,” he said.
“You’re pointless, aren’t you?” I asked, he was upset, I could tell.
“I saved you, didn’t I?” he said, serving up a painful reminder, “Help me and I won’t ask for your help again.”
“You say that now, but like I said, I’m a long way from there and don’t feel like using my speed or leaving my horse behind.”
“I can get you there in four days of travel, since you don’t want to leave your horse.”
“Have you heard from Mylicious?” I asked suddenly.
“Not for a long time, he’s still beating himself up for not helping you out, he truly was chained up you know?”
“He could have gotten out if he wanted to,” I said, I still had some hurt in my heart towards him.
“No, no he couldn’t have, I know I was stuck between helping him and helping you,” he said.
“I didn’t know that,” I said.
“I never told you, so will you help me?”
“I guess so, if you keep your promise and never ask me to do something again.”
“I will keep my promise,” he said and gave me a piece of parchment with a path drawn on it. It was a map with the quickest path
It was after that night that I began my journey back to the place where it all began. I didn’t have the tent just my furs, a rolled, lamb’s wool, pad that I would tuck behind my head when I used to lay down with Noemi, and my bow and arrow. I only stopped when my horse needed to rest and when he rested, I would stare up at the sky, whether it would be night or day. Lucifer was off, the trip took seven days instead of four. I ignored all graves as much as I didn’t want to.
The scenery started changing for the worst, the air took on a heaviness, the trees and plants started to disappear and nothing, but sand appeared. I stopped at tip of Dead Sea, I looked to the left, where Gomorrah would have been, it was barren, not even a single hut remained. I looked at where I was heading and could see some decent buildings.
It took me a while to reach the buildings, but I surprised with the advances. They were all stone with some of the roofs made of a whitewashed stucco. There were some that didn’t have the roof at all, but a white sheet instead. The people around were darker than I remembered, and it was a lot hotter than I remembered.
I got the typical stares from people, but nothing to severe, no one yelled at me or even tried to talk to me. I simply just strolled around, listening to chatter, getting their language. It had changed a little since I had been in the area last.
A large crowd formed at the edge of town and more and more people went running there once they noticed the crowd. Curiosity got the better of me and I went to where the people were at. There were thirteen men there, twelve of them seemed to gravita
te towards one. He wore a beige robe, with hood, which instantly got my attention. The hood part of the robe and the cuffs of the sleeve of the robe were outlined with shiny, red fabric. Someone yelled, “Jesus!” and he took his hood off and this may come as a shocker, he wasn’t white. Jesus was born in the middle-east therefore he looked middle-eastern. His hair was long, dark and wavy. He had a beard that was oddly well trimmed, he smiled and had the whitest teeth. He looked right at me and nodded, and I nodded back, it was like he knew who I was.
It was then, I noticed I was being glared at by one of his followers. He had long hair as well, but it was thinning, it looked like it started inches off his forehead, almost in the middle of his head and he had it drawn back in a ponytail. His cheeks were sunk in, as so were his eyes, he looked as if he hadn’t eaten in a long time.
I realized I was the only one in town with a horse, so while the crowd was distracted, I went to a side of the town that was blocked by most of the buildings. I took my bow and arrows, glanced at the furs and shook my head, then smacked the horse’s hindquarter and sent it on its way. I threw my bow and arrows over my shoulder and headed back towards the crowd.
I kept my distance this time though, watching the weird one, as he eyeballed Jesus, he looked at Jesus with lust in his eyes, a look I’ve seen before. I noticed he would step close to Jesus, Jesus would notice and step away. The weird one got flustered and went to the back of the group.
The place was nice to me, people kept to themselves, and didn’t bother me. They were all too interested in the Jesus character to be paying attention to someone like me. So, for the next several days I payed attention to the weird character, after couple more days the group moved to a place called Jerusalem.
Also, in the previous days there was much talk of to a place called Rome of Judea and some guy named Pontius Pilate, who ordered Jesus to be scourged, then crucified on the accounts of Jesus being a blasphemer. I knew for a fact he wasn’t.
Jerusalem was huge and wherever Jesus went his disciples followed. All except one, the weird one would get up and sneak off into the night, or often break away from the group. One night, I started to follow him, and he would met someone, who would, then ride off. I wanted to follow the guy riding off, to see where he was going, but I waited. The weird one spotted me and started to head in my direction. There wasn’t much I could do, I didn’t want to just disappear just to have him see me again because I wasn’t leaving anytime soon, so I thought.
“You lost stranger?” he asked, his Aramaic accent was heavy.
“No, I’m exactly where I need to be. I’m Roldian by the way, so you don’t have to keep calling me stranger.”
“I’m Judas,” he said and nodded, the weirdo finally got named, “I haven’t seen you around her before.”
“I come from afar, I heard of Jesus and his disciples and wanted to see what the people were going mad about. I do have to say, I’m not impressed,”
“One should not speak so badly of our savior,” he said, popping his pointer finger knuckle by bringing his thumb down over the top of it. I was sensing he was getting nervous, but of what? I had made no threats, “Why do you wear covers over your eyes at night? What are you hiding?” he asked and reached for my glasses.
I grabbed his wrist, stopping him from taking my glasses off. He tried to pull away, but I wasn’t releasing him, “Let me go heathen!” he said.
“Can you keep your hands to yourself?” I asked
He tried jerking away again, but I squeezed a little harder and his eyes got wide, “Owe! Yes, I will keep my hands to myself,” he finally said, and I let him go. He shook his arm and gave me a hateful look then took off, back towards Jerusalem.
Naturally, I beat him there, but I was careful about my abilities and used them only at night. It was hard form me to see at night so I had to focus on the lights of the city.
I lost him when I got back, so I occupied my time by shooting my bow and arrows. I set up a torch by my target, which was piece of rotted wood I just happened to find. I pulled back and focused the best I could, even though I’ve done the shot a hundred times before, I concentrated like it was my first. I hit just above the center of the wood; my second shot was spot on. I enjoyed shooting but I would grow tired of it quickly because I wasn’t challenging anymore. I always remembered how Noemi and I learned to shoot together.
The day came to quickly and off in the distance I noticed someone riding towards Jerusalem, it appeared to be the same person that Judas sent off the night before. I walked around, blending in the best I could, keeping my face covered at all times. I watched as the rider tied off his horse on a post, next to a building on the furthest point north in Jerusalem. He then walked around to a building three spots down from his horse and appeared to be looking for something. I kept my distance and watched, everyone else in the town was too busy paying attention to the disciples and Jesus.
The rider was almost as tall as I, myself standing at almost six-foot-six-inches and wore beige clothing and didn’t seem to care about covering up his face. His face was long with a thin beard that traced his jawline. His long, black hair was pulled back high on his head. He wore an over garment that was loose around the arms and hung down just below the waist. He was scouring along the wall; I could see his head looking back and forth.
There were four clay pots, one red, one dark green, one grey and one brown, along the stone wall of the building the rider was examining. He stopped at each pot looking for something, then when he reached the grey pot, he pulled out a rolled-up piece of paper. The rider folded up the piece of paper and stuffed it in his garments. He started to look around, so I backed up, away from the corner of the building in which I was watching him from. I waited a few seconds to look back and he was gone. I used my speed to get to where he was, but there wasn’t a trace, for a mortal he was quick.
I needed a different disguise because Judas knew what I looked like, so I went looking, while everyone was too busy with Jesus, I was looking for clothes I could borrow. I fully planned on returning them. I found some red pants, black boots and a white, long sleeve shirt, with a black scarf that I used to wrap my face and hair in. I wrapped it loosely over my glasses, I didn’t like it, so I looked a little more and happened upon a large, woven, cloak. I then wondered about with my clothes and weapons, before hiding them under the sand, near a bush on the southern side of Jerusalem. I then went around looking for Judas.
Judas, I found hanging out right next to Jesus, who once again stared in my direction and nodded, even with new garment, he knew. People gathered around asking Jesus to perform miracles, he definitely had the power to heal people, I witnessed it with my own eyes.
One girl, maybe the age of eight, was being carried by her father. He claimed she couldn’t walk, that she was hurt years ago, Jesus motioned for him to bring her close and he did. Jesus put his hands upon the small of her back and shut his eyes. He started praying, praying to Jehovah, whom I hated and when Jehovah answered, I hated him even more.
Jesus quit praying and then stood the little girl up, she was hesitant at first, then stood when Jesus let her go then she stumbled a few times, being caught by her dad, but then ultimately got her balance. The crowd cheered and I turned away, Jehovah would answer him but wouldn’t answer me.
I walked for a little bit, getting back to my roots, I started looking for graves and found none, I circled out miles and didn’t see a single one. I was growing bored with the place, there was nothing to do except watch Judas and Jesus. I walked back to the inner street of Jerusalem, business had picked up there and people were out and about. Many were covered, many were not, so once again I didn’t have a hard time blending in.
There was a lot of cooking going on, I smelled plenty of food being prepared and people were in a hurry about it. There was chatter about a supper for Jesus on Mount Zion and the people were ecstatic about it. Even those who had nothing, were throwing something together.
I could tell from the people�
��s actions it was getting hot there. People were sweating, constantly drinking water, some fell over from the heat. I just stood there watching, trying to keep an eye on Judas, but the group was nowhere to be found. So, I started walking around again, trying to figure out where they were at.
I made my way to rather large stone building, that at group of people were standing around, staring through the window openings, saying, “He’s in there!”. I walked up to the crowd and looked in myself. There stood Jesus, it was the closest I had ever gotten to him. He stood in the middle of a room and looked like he was being fitted for clothes He was dressed in a white robe, this time lined with blue instead of red. I spotted Judas, watching intently from the back of the group. We made eye contact, but with the change of clothes and my eyes shielded with the fabric he didn’t recognize me.
I thought he was staring at me for a while, then he nodded, I froze at first, but I looked at his eyes and was looking behind me. I didn’t turn and look at first, I waited a few seconds, then I slightly turned and looked with my peripheral vision to see a figure move to the right of me. I waited a few more minutes and the figure became clear. It was the rider from earlier. He was moving around to the side of the building and when I looked back, Judas had disappeared.
I slowly moved towards the side of the building and as I looked around the corner, the rider disappeared around the back. I made my way towards the back and stopped when I heard whispering. I heard Judas speak first.
“How were your travels?”
“I got to where I needed to go, the Romans were notified, they are a day away. Are you sure you want to do this?”
“Jesus will love me and if he doesn’t then he will love no one,” Judas said with same hate in his voice. My mind wondered for a second before the rider spoke up.
“Am I not enough for you? Do I not…” he started to say but stopped, it was then I heard what sounded like eating, I then looked around the corner and Judas and the rider were kissing. Judas pushed him against the wall and grabbed his crotch.
The Godsend Backfire: The Beginning Page 13
