This is chapter two of a work in progress.  This is not the finished product, and all rights belong to Ilara Bonaparte ©

 

 

Two: When Words Collide

Ilara Bonaparte

I felt like my head had just been spliced by the guillotine.  I kept my eyes closed and lay still; one knows when to stay quiet, especially when voices are whispering your name.   Hopefully, they’re the voices of friends and not the little voices in your head that whisper, “Kill, kill,” after midnight.

“I’m worried for her.  Every day she slips farther.  I heard she goes out hunting every night, and not just for vampires.  She catches murderers and rapists- and kills them.” I could tell through the haze in my head that the voice was Janessa, the doctor and neurologist. 

“There’s nothing we can do for her.  She’s grown up with a hard life, she’ll die with a hard life.  I can’t think of one thing we can to do keep her from going over the edge- but she’s already over the edge.” Keith, a two-year veteran and ex-Army officer, whispered this. 

There was a pause, and Seth said, “I know a way.  She won’t like it.”       

I heard a multitude of heads turning toward him, and he must have motioned them out of the room because I heard them leave.  Only Janessa stayed, and she walked over to me and put her cold hand on my forehead.  I yelped, opening my eyes.  Her hands were like arctic ice against my forehead.  I looked up at her.  “Get some mittens, Jan.”

Janessa’s brown eyes were wide with alarm and she slapped me lightly on the arm.  “Practically gave me arrhythmia, Ilara.”  She touched my hand lightly.  She tanned three times a week, and I spent my days asleep.  Against my own, her hand looked like a blemish- or vice versa.  “You were awake.” She chided.

I shrugged.  “Can’t help it when you all think I’m nuts.”

She looked horrified.  “You aren’t nuts,” she said sternly.

I flinched at her volume.  “I’m very sensitive to noise right now, Jan.  Please be quiet for my sake.” I reached my left hand to caress my forehead, which was burning with an interior fire.  I felt lethargic, even weak.  “I feel horrible.” I muttered into my arm.

Janessa looked alarmed.  “What is it?”  She scooted close, twisting my left hand.  I flinched as she took the pulse, but it was the arm closest to her.  I could feel her watching my breathing and looking for irregularities; I also knew she wished she had a way to take my blood pressure, but she had left the armband and sphygmomanometer at home. 

“I feel like I’m on fire.” I mused softly.  I giggled deliriously.  I knew that I was going mad, but I didn’t care; for some reason it was all quite amusing.  “I’m on fire, like Troy.  Sacked.  Poor Paris, and stupid Helen.  Both died, you know-“

Janessa’s eyes went wider.  “Aurilius!  Boys!  Get in here!” She yelled.

I went on as they ran into the room. One glance at my giddy face and they all flew into a flurry. “In movies they make it off like Paris and Helen get away.  They both get killed.  Paris by Philoctetes-by the bow of Herakles- and Helen by Menelaus, though some say that one look at her beauty and Menelaus forgave her for her infidelity-“

“She’s gone delusional.  We need to get her to a real hospital-“ Janessa said, hysterical.

“Idiot, have you learned nothing?  It’s vampire poisoning.  She must have tasted their blood.  We need holy water, a blessed cross, and maybe a priest.” Aurilius yelled.  He took my right hand in his, dropping it almost the instant he touched my skin.  “Ice.” He ordered to whoever would take the order.

“Menelaus didn’t forgive her.  Ten years of war, the deaths of Ajax, Achilles, and countless others?  No, no.  He had to have killed her.  My mother was like Helen, all beauty and promises.  She was killed by Menelaus-“

“She’s not making any sense!  Seth, go to the cabinet for the holy water, will you?  We need a good deal of it, enough to spritz on her body like salt.  Keith, the crucifix in the kitchenette-”

I heard running feet, and whimpered, looking up to Aurilius, coming slowly back to reality.  “Too long in vampire poisoning and I’ll turn.  Don’t let me turn, Aurilius.  I’d rather die.”  Tears began to stream down my cheeks and it didn’t matter that these people needed to respect me for me to remain their leader.  The fear was so overwhelming, I felt it in every crevice of my soul.  I’d rather die.  I’d rather die.  I’d rather die!

I began to scream this in earnest, over and over.  It became the song to which my heart continued to beat and the drumming of my pulse.  I felt my body shudder under vampire poison.  I felt the disease creeping into my body, settling itself there.  There would be pain, utter pain, and if I lasted through the pain I would become a vampire.   I knew I would last; my body had endured tortures before and was accustomed to living through it.

“I’d rather die, I’d rather die-“

“The holy water!” Seth tossed the bottle of water to Aurilius.  He uncapped the top and aimed it at me.

“I’d rather die, I’d rather die-“

“Ilara.  This is going to hurt.” He turned back to Seth.  “The Bible, in the nightstand, now.”  He squeezed the water bottle and I watched the holy water hit my skin.

For a moment, blissful water quenched the heat of my body, and I began to scream.  The coolness of the water turned into burning acid, eating through my body.  My back arced and I felt pain I had never felt before.  I felt it soak into clothes, skin.  I thrashed madly and felt strong arms holding me down.  I even felt the water being forced to my lips.  I shut my mouth against the feel of it, but screamed as it hit my face.   The water then found its way down my throat and I swallowed unintentionally.  The fire spread to the inside of my body.  I felt the cool heat rush down my esophagus, into my stomach.  The pain in my throat became bearable just as my abdomen exploded in flames.  This was what they had to do- I needed to hold on, tell them I was proud of them, of all of them-

 

 

I woke to Keith reciting Latin and holding a crucifix over my body.  Aurilius was still squeezing the holy water bottle at me, but it didn’t ache anymore.  It hurt, but my body was beyond pain, in that hazy place before sleep where everything is all right, even immense pain. 

Every inch of my body was soaked and cold.  Keith stood at the foot of my bed, muttering something in Latin and holding the crucifix in front of him.  I couldn’t make out what he was saying but it wasn’t witchcraft, that’s for sure.  Probably just an old-fashioned prayer to help me.  How sweet.

I took a look at Keith for a moment.  He was still built, even though he’d left the Navy more than ten years ago.  His brown hair was short and spiked with gel.  Sometimes he would put so much gel in his hair I wondered if he lost the spikiness even when he slept.  He had gone to a seminary after he left the Navy but couldn’t cut it.  I think the celibacy bit bothered him, so he left to work in construction.  He held the crucifix delicately and I vaguely wondered if seminaries still taught priests how to exorcise demons- and if that was what Keith was doing.

I felt much better, honestly.  Why was I still laying down?  I looked up at Aurilius and he finally noticed I was awake.  Janessa stood in the kitchenette having a heated debate with someone I couldn’t see.  She looked over to me with an indiscernible glance but it was gone when she saw me awake. 

Not ten minutes could have passed since I had fainted for the second time that day.  I sat up and smirked at Keith, his eyes still closed.  “Non Serviam.” I said with lavish.

His eyes opened wide and he jumped back.  I laughed heartily and he held the crucifix to his chest like a teddy bear.  “Ilara, that is what Satan’s banner read in-“

“In Paradise Lost.  Yes.  I know.”

He gave me a dirty look but proceeded to the kitchinette to replace the crucifix on the wall.  Janessa moved out of his way, followed closely by the person Janessa had been arguing with.  She kept back from him as if afraid to go near him, and Seth followed her out in silence.  He glanced at her momentarily with an annoyed smile.  I wondered vaguely what he had done to make Janessa angry.  Keith replaced the crucifix and came back to sit at the foot of my bed, still regarding me without amusement.  I shook my head and kicked him.  “Don’t take it so personally.  It was a joke.”

“Ilara…” Aurilius sighed and sat next to me.  I looked up at him with a smirk still on my face. 

“Yes?”

“That Latin he was inciting…he learned it in Mexico five years ago.”

I sighed.  “Do you have a point?”  I suppose Keith hadn’t learned it at the seminary.  I looked up at Aurilius with slowly dawning shock.  “Mexico.  He was banishing demons in Mexico.”  I looked over to an apprehensive Keith.  “I remember, from when I interviewed you for Stake.”

Aurilius sighed, tossing the empty water bottle into the trash by the nightstand.  “We thought it was blood poisoning from a taste of vampire blood.  Even that wouldn’t have made holy water nearly kill you.  It seared your skin and when Keith returned with the crucifix after you passed out…” He trailed off and shuddered visibly. 

I sat up, alarmed.  “And?”

Keith took a breath.  “I started saying an incantation I learned in Mexico, just to soothe you.  It has a melodic effect and in the past I’ve used it to ease the dying.  But you-“ He rubbed my leg through the wet cloth of my pajama pants.  I hadn’t even noticed I had been wearing them earlier, and now they were soaked.  “You convulsed like you were having a seizure.  You started muttering in a snakelike language.  Aurilius put his hand over your mouth to quiet you, just in case you were muttering a spell in your sleep.”

Aurilius shifted slightly and put his right hand in front of me, just inches above my lap.  There was a single set of bite marks and I recognized them immediately.  A spider web-like bruise stretched around his entire arm in dark black and navy.  “Demonic.” I whispered.  I laid back, my eyes wide.  “You’re kidding.”

Keith shook his head.  “I put the demon to rest inside you, but it wants something.  I couldn’t banish it.  Normally demons are banished without resistance because they hate Earth, they hate being trapped in mortal bodies.  This one refused to leave.”

I shook my head, confused.  “But how would a demon cause the delusion and pain?”

Aurilus turned away, heading toward his bag and proceeding to wrap his hand in a bandage.  “You did have vampire poisoning, but the holy water was killing the demon inside you.  We had to keep going because otherwise you would have turned, but the demon didn’t like it.”

“So I have a pet demon in me now.” I said dryly.

Keith nodded and pointed to Aurilius.  “His hand won’t cause him any more trouble, but the bite should give you cause for concern.  The demon began to take control of your body, but receded.  I don’t know what it wants, and I can’t banish it without help from a couple of powerful expert exorcists.”

“Okay then.  Let’s get them here, now.  I do not want someone sharing this.” I pointed to my chest, giving them all a stern look.  “I want it out.  Now.”

Janessa shifted from one foot to the other.  “Maybe if we talk to it-“

Keith regarded her, alarmed.  Aurilius paused in wrapping his hand and looked at her suspiciously.  He continued encasing his hand with gauze but said loudly, “Drawing it out could kill Ilara, and none of us are prepared to do that.”

I narrowed my eyes at him.  “Oh yeah?  Well, guess what, Doc?” I closed my eyes, focusing inward.  I felt for the demon, for whatever part of it lingered in my soul.  With my voice filled with power from many nights killing vampires, I commanded, “Tua potentia oro enuntiare, O deus.” 

I felt it shudder to the surface, and my friends rushed to my side.  Aurilius in particular swore vehemently.  The room filled with a pulsating dark power. “Damn her!” He said in anger.  “She could have warned us!”

“No,” Hissed a voice not my own.  “I am the damned one.”  There was amusement in that tone- I had a demon with a sense of humor.

A silence fell over my friends.  It was strange; I had called the demon forth without magic, merely using flattery- I had called it a god.  It and I both knew it was a bluff, but taking flattery without question has always been a trait of the demonic.  I had little control, for the demon now fully possessed me. 

Oops, seemed to be my only reasonable thought.

Janessa was the only calm one.  Keith was clutching the cross around his neck as if it was his last tie to sanity- and maybe it was.  Janessa said sweetly,  “What do you seek from Ilara Fox?”

“The vampire slaughterer.  She is formidable but without allies.”

Janessa blinked but withheld the shock I knew she felt.  “You wish to be an ally?”

“Until this ends, yes.”

“Until what ends, exactly?”

It laughed with my voice, a sweet tinkling laugh I never used.  I stuck more to the laughs without mirth, the laughter that sang of darkness without a sliver of light.  A demon was using a true girlish laugh to convey its amusement.  I found it unreal.  “I am not permitted to say.  I will stay until I am recalled.”

“When will that be?”

“Only He knows.  I am in His service until I repay Him.” The demon smiled broadly with a grin that lit up my face.  I was unsure what the grin was meant to reveal- excitement or fear of the coming years.  “It will be many millennia until I am freed.”

“He?  Do you mean Satan?”  Poor Janessa was confused, but Keith began to look at me-and the demon- in awe.

“Not he.  He.  Do not say His name.  He is that who dwells above.”

Keith stepped forward.  “You- serve Him?”

The demon gave Keith a glare which I shared with it.  “Are you an idiot?  That is what I said.”

Janessa hid a smile and Keith looked annoyed but awestruck.  Seth piped in with, “You are demon that works for G-I mean, for, uh…that…Dude.”  Seth looked amused with his response.

That Dude.  Seth was referreing to God as “that Dude”.  Great.

“Dude.” The demon gave that tinkling laugh again, and I continued to be freaked out.  “Yes.  Since you have amused me, I will tell you a morsel of why I am here.  I am amused you would call Him Dude.”  The demon paused and looked at Janessa.  “This woman has been protected by Him since her birth.  Her fate has been written, and many horrors await her, along with thousands of years of death.  She will kill and redeem, kill and redeem.  She is not meant to meet this fate for many years.  I was placed within her when she was captured by Inan, to protect her from vampirism.  He-Dude- thought that I had redeemed myself enough through the last several centuries that blessed water would not burn.”  The demon flinched with my face remembering the pain.  “That would not seem so.  Nevertheless, I am to protect her until she meets her destiny.”

When will that be, I wondered.  Thousands of years?  I’m human, I can’t live thousands of years.  I felt a well of despair filter into my stomach.  Whoa.  I thought.  No.  It can’t be…

Janessa regarded me/it with shock.  “Thousands of years.  How would she-“

It was then I began to fight.  I thought vehemently, “Tua Sapelio!  Tua Sepelio!” The demon receded to the depths of my soul where I barely noticed it, but it laughed on its way there.  It knew what I feared.  It knew everything.

I huddled with my feet to my chin and arms wrapped around them.  “I don’t want to know, Janessa.”

Janessa touched my head lightly.  “It’s okay, Ilara.  You’re lucky it answered your command when you told it to bury itself back inside you.”  She looked at the men around us.  “I’m sure it didn’t mean that you become a vampire- maybe the demon will stay in you forever, and you get immortality from that.” 

It was just like Janessa to know what I feared the most.  She knew what was going through my head, that I was terrified the demon had meant I would be turned into the undead.  “Yeah.” I said without enthusiasm. 

“It seemed like an okay demon.  I wonder why it’s trying to redeem itself?”  She looked to Keith for an answer, still patting my head with her hand.

Keith shrugged.  “There’s no way to be sure.”

Seth came to sit next to me.  I was surrounded by men- Aurilius on one side and Seth on the other.  Joy.  “I heard rumors about an uprising in Hell around 450 BC.  Something to do with the myth of Orpheus and Eurydice- some people thought Hades should have given the girl back after Orpheus looked back.” At our blank looks he elaborated.  “Don’t you read?  Eurydice was Orpheus’ wife.  She died and he traveled to Hell- the underworld- to get her back.   He used music to get past the boatman and the three-headed dog, and finally his music reached Hades himself.  Hades allowed Orpheus to have Eurydice back only if he did not look back at her on the way to the surface.  He would have to trust that she would be behind him.  So he returned to the surface and he thought he heard her fall into step with him- but he couldn’t be sure.  He resisted the urge to look back, but as soon as he was in the sunlight he turned.  There she was, beautiful as ever.  He reached for her, but she was still in shadow.  She had not yet left the cavern.  She yelled his name but she was sucked back into the Underworld.  He then returned, but Hades wouldn’t allow him a second chance.”

“However, many thought that this had been unfair.  Orpheus could not have known Eurydice was not in the sunlight; and the deal had not enunciated that Eurydice had to have exited the cave for Orpheus to have her back.  I heard a rumor several years ago that a gray angel-an angel that had fallen from God but did not serve the Devil- retrieved Eurydice for Orpheus.  For this he was cast out from the Underworld, and wandered the Earth for many years until Heaven decided he had paid the debt.  So he was taken into service for his good deed, but God doesn’t forgive betrayal easily.”

I blinked.  “I feel like a kid at storytime.” I smirked derisively, giving him my profile.  “Got any more romantic myths?”

Seth sighed with exasperation.  “It’s not my fault none of you idiots pick up a book.”

I shook my head.  “We don’t know what it is, but that could be a possibility.  If it was a fallen angel, holy water would hurt it.  It would also explain why it followed every order I gave it.  The one to show itself and the one to return to…wherever it is…inside me.” I sighed, rubbing my head with my hand.  “I can’t feel it, and hopefully it will stay hidden.”

Janessa nodded, looking at Aurilius- most specifically his wound.  “The demonic bite may have just been an effect of a fallen angel- I’ve never met one before, and normally demonic bites cause poisoning, not just strange bruising.” 

Aurilius nodded.  “I’m not poisoned; if I was, holy water would hurt me.  But I sprinkled a bit on myself before I tossed the bottle away- no effect.  Even in the early stages, we would know.”  He shrugged.  “Doesn’t hurt too bad, aside from looking weird as hell.  Never seen bruising like that in my life.”  Suddenly his face lit up.  “Maybe I could get off work with this thing.”

“Okay.” I sighed, suddenly energetic.  “Well, now that we know I have an ex-angel in me and I’m not going to become a vampire, I think I’ll take a nap.”  I looked at all of them in turn.  “Goodnight.” I said falsely, pretending to yawn.  I wouldn’t sleep when they left; no way.

It was so offhand, so casual.  We really were accustomed to these emergencies, so I wasn’t as surprised when everyone began to leave.  I mean, when you face death every day something like an ex-angel can’t be all that surprising.  Sure, it’s weird, but there is a point when you just pass a point of strangeness and move on as if life isn’t affected.

Keith nodded- he was the one who lived at the apartment almost full time.  He was the one who would have coffee ready for me promptly at eight.  “No problem, see you tomorrow.” He moved toward the kitchenette, and everyone followed him out.  Only Seth remained, regarding me quizzically.

“You know Seth, I’m not in the mood.  I’m flattered, but when I say sleep, I actually mean unconsciousness.”  I smirked darkly, baiting him.

He bristled immediately, giving me an annoyed look.  “I’d like to think your recent loss of sanity was because of the demon-angel-whatever the hell it is- thing inside you.  Considering that he just entered you last night, I doubt that.  I also know that as soon as we leave this room, you will be out the window and down the wall with the rope you keep hidden under the bed.  Well, the rope is gone, along with your bag of stakes, crosses, and a very ornate English broadsword.  Which, by the way, disappeared from the Irish museum of History two years ago.”

I sat up with annoyance.  “You are a jerk.”  He read me like a smut novel, Seth did.  He knew exactly what I was going to do.  I wondered if he had just recently removed my bag of fun or if he had taken it since the last time I had stayed in the apartment.  The broadsword comment I ignored.  The museum was just letting the sword rust, and I couldn’t help myself.  A little thievery is good for the soul.

He smiled, standing.  “No.  I care about you.” I felt my heart beat faster at this, but ignored it- he meant only as a friend, he cared.  “You need to get your act together, and lay low.  We have good people on the streets tonight, and I’m heading down to Division to scout the clubs.  Inan has a trail, and I’m going to find it.”

I frowned.  “You’re checking the Division street clubs?  Just ask the hookers on the corners about Inan.  You’ll save time.” Then it dawned on me- Seth wasn’t going to the clubs for information, and I blushed slightly.

Seth blinked, then laughed.  “Okay, maybe I won’t scout for a bedmate in the clubs, I’ll actually do my job.  I can’t help it if I want to do both.” He headed for the door, then stopped, turning.  “I have a feeling Inan is going to want you really badly, Ilara.  Even if there is another rope or something hidden in here, I want you to stay here.  I need you to promise me.”

I remained silent.  Damn him.  Seth was way too smart for his own good.  I did have a second rope, but no weapons.  Even if I scaled down the wall of the building, I would have no protection from the naughty undead aside from my well-manicured hands.

“Ilara?” Seth said warningly.

“Oh, dammit.  Fine.  I promise.” I lay back against the pillows, folding my arms over my chest.  “You’re a bastard.  When you die, no one else gets to be my best friend.  They’re only trouble.”

“I knew you wouldn’t agree so easily to sleeping unless you had another rope.  But you never break a promise.” Seth closed the door, and I sat up, changing into another pair of pajamas.  These were my sexy pajamas and I wore them when I wanted to impress someone.  I hadn’t worn them in years, if that says something about my sex life.

I settled back against the pillows, pulling the sheets up to my chin.  The comforter on the bed had been almost soaked with holy water but the sheets underneath were almost completely dry.

“No,” I said to myself, turning on my side and closing my eyes.  “I’ve broken promises.  Just not yours, Seth.”

He was my closest friend, he was very openly gay; but I loved him just the same.