Chapter 12

Chloe’s vision of this mysterious Nikolai failed in comparison to the real being. He was a tall thin man with perfectly muscular body parts and every limb seemed to be stretched to a sense of abnormal elegance. When he bowed and took Chloe’s hand in his own, she studied the long slender fingers that held her short plump ones.

     As he lowered his head to gently kiss the top of her hands his long white hair flowed down his face and she was startled at the degree of pointedness his ears had to them. On the left side of his head a rather strange crop of hair was colored a bright orange. When his lips touched her hands she felt a strange bolt of energy pierce into her hand. It traveled up her arm and into her head. And she jumped back when he spoke in a rather loud boom insider her head.

     “It is my most humble apologies if I startled you my dear. You see I don’t get many visitors and this is the only method of communication I use these days.” He lifted his head up to face Chloe and she was captivated by the icy blue eyes that she found peering back at her. They were framed by deep furrowed brows that showed a deep concern for her and the paleness of his skin intensified the blue of his eyes.

     “It’s ok. I am a little shocked but it’s not the first time I have experienced this, this, sensation. I guess. I mean Phillip did it a few times to me. I mean with me. I mean.” She trailed off not sure if her words were making sense and she thought she was not going to be able to communicate with this rather elegant man in front of her.

     “Don’t worry child. While I don’t speak out loud I can still read your thoughts and already know what will come out of those gorgeous lips of yours.” The man was chuckling at her and she was transfixed on the deep sound emanating from his throat. She didn’t even catch the fact that he had just read her mind.

     “So my dear Phillip what brings you and this… wait? Now you know I don’t want to bring others into your pack. It’s enough that you have the numbers you do with my permission. Why would you want this innocent child to be thrown to the wolves? So to speak.” As he was speaking to Phillip Nikolai turned his head towards Phillip but his eyes peered at the floor. He only lifted them back to Chloe as he said the last sentence and this made her even more confused than anything. She couldn’t hear the conversation that he and Phillip were having and it was frustrating her more.

     “Wait! I came here for answers. I am not giving either of you the choice to converse on rather I deserve them or not. I have been chased by things that go bump in the night and by things that terrify me even though I can’t remember them. I have seen Phillip turn all icy blue and beastly on me, even trying to devour me in some way. Well according to Phillip. Phillip has ordered me to run inside my head. That is still freaky by the way. I have met his family and even his sister tried to talk me out of it. Some red haired guy followed me in the woods and I am still here. I want these so called answers. I need these so called answers. So just lay it on the table. It is my decision and I won’t hold it against either one of you. Please?”

     Both men shared a startled glance and Phillip let out a chuckle as he shrugged his head.

“See I told you she was stubborn.” Speaking out loud for Chloe’s benefit, she was sure of it.

Nikolai took Chloe’s other hand in his own and forced her to look into his beautiful blue eyes.

“Ok my dear. This is your decision, but remember that it was your decision alone, when this wonderful innocence has been taken and the curtain that covers all you humans to the dark world you live in has been forever removed. I am going to tell you about all those horrible things that go bump in the night and once I do you will see them, all of them, and you can never go back to being ignorant and peaceful again. Do you understand?” He had his piercing eyes fixed on hers and he wanted her to understand every word that came out of his mouth.

He didn’t continue until she took a deep breath nodded back. She wondered what she had just agreed to and was not totally convinced she was ready.

He began a strange tale of dark and scary things. He explained that long ago there were two beings that came down from another realm to help this world evolve and grow. They had their own ideas about what they wanted for this world and neither was able to agree to come to a middle ground. This is always the case with the gods as they are the supreme ones and never want to share with each other.

This inability to work together created a struggle here in our world. Nikolai explained how this dark being named Tariq was in a constant struggle with this light being named Roshan. Tariq wanted the world to be given over to the dark beings and Roshan wanted the world to be given over to the humans and animals.

They both were bound by these set of laws of nature, seeing as they were both god like creatures, and that their own influences could not tip the scale in one manner or another.  Tariq, being of the ill-mannered darkness went against nature’s law one day and blanketed the world in darkness giving his dark beings free reign over the world. That brief time of darkness was terrible for humans. They were hunted down by the dark beings and eaten, killed or enslaved. Nature, being as it always finds a way to balance things out, broke through Tariq’s dark blanket and Roshan angry at Tariq for his disregard for the laws of nature gave up his immortality to banish Tariq and his dark beings to the shadows of this world so that his beloved humans can live in peace. Tariq has been trapped in the shadows and lie dormant for the day that the scale is tipped back to his side.

Nikolai explained that the dark beings have always been here and salivate over the day that they can rule again. They break through sometimes, because that is how nature works always trying to create that balance. When they do break through they are always trying to find ways to stay.

Some will devour the souls of humans and reside in the formers body. And some really twisted ones have managed to steal a young man or woman and drag them back to the shadows. Those are the ones that have managed to create another set of creatures that came from both light and dark. They had mated with the poor man or woman to create poor lost creatures.

Chloe was introduced at this point to the world of Phillip.

“Phillip’s people are a damned people. They are so many things. Before Phillip was born a dark being found a break in the barrier just a stone’s throw from Phillip’s family home. This foul creature stole Phillip’s great-great grandmother Hazzle and raped her. The baby that Hazzle birth was normal looking and she could not find it in her heart to destroy him. Hazzle’s husband was easily convinced that the child was his own and life moved on. The poison the dark beings seed left in Hazzle’s body insured that this was the couple’s only child and oh how they loved the child.

     One week before the child’s eighteenth birthday he grew very ill. For seven days and nights his mother and father watched over him as he grew worst. His lips turned blue and they thought he was freezing even though it was the middle of the summer. His eyes lost their usual brown color and turned an icy blue. The pupils grew so large that the light of even the fire hurt him.

On the seventh night his entire body went still. The color drained from his limbs and his heart stopped. His parents were so grief stricken that they prayed to their gods to bring him back. That was when the foul dark creature returned to Hazzle’s side. It whispered foul words into her ear and told her it could give her son back.

Hazzle, so grief stricken begged the dark being to bring her son back. She begged the creature finally saying she would do anything. This evil creature that had planted its seed so many years ago into Hazzle told her he would explain how she could get her son back. All she had to do was agree to give him a child and he would tell her husband how to bring their son back. Hazzle was so grief stricken and painfully agreed. The being took her hand and told her what to tell her husband. All she had to do was have her husband place his lips on the boy’s and kiss him. That was all, a simple kiss.

 So full of hope Hazzle told her husband to kiss the boy and she promised he would come back. Trying to ease the pain his poor wife had the man did as she said and walked over to their son and kissed him.

The boy’s eyes flew open and locked on the man’s eyes and Hazzle watched as the boy drained her husband’s life from him. The man’s soul was sucked from him and ever so slowly, but you see, he couldn’t fight the boy. It was like he was in some kind of trance.

Hazzle could see the pain and fear in her husband’s eyes but she couldn’t do anything about it. The dark being held her so tight and only laughed when she pleaded with him. He reminded her that she had told her husband what to do and she was the one that killed him. Did she really think giving her son his life back wouldn’t cost anything?

The dark being left its second seed with Hazzle and then returned to the darkness. The second child was carried for only two months and when Hazzle gave birth to the second child she was killed immediately after the labor. The second child was a monstrosity. It had the fur of an animal and when it came out it was ravenously hungry. You see Chloe; it ate its own mother. This creature was not meant for this world and quickly ran off into the shadows of the forest.

So Phillip’s people are the soul suckers and the other creatures are the wild men that came from the second child. They eventually shed their fur and look like humans but after several years of running wild. They lose their taste for human blood with their fur but the young are so destructive they never find their humanity when they do. Their mothers always eaten at birth that they never really learn to care for humans as Phillip’s people do.

In both cases it is always the boys that inherit the curse passed down from Hazzle. Phillip’s people have long ago accepted their differences and have found a way to cope with it. While they don’t need to kill their victims they do need to feed once every year. You see in a sense these boys are dead and the only way to keep living is by taking parts of people’s souls.

“Taking parts of people’s souls? Like that is a small thing? That is the most sacred thing you can take from someone. That’s not something you accept.” The harshness of Chloe’s words shocked even herself, but she couldn’t help it. This was all crazy and she wouldn’t have believed it if she hadn’t remembered Phillip’s eyes and the beast he was always trying to hide.

“Is that what you were doing to me Phillip? Feeding off my soul?” The words stung as she spoke them. She felt so betrayed.

“No Chloe, I would never do that. You know that. You know how I pushed you away. How I tried to protect you.” Phillip’s protest only angered Chloe more.

“No, I don’t know anything about you. That’s the whole point of us being here remembered? You begged me to come with you. Why? So you could have this man brain wash me into believing what you say?”

The second after she spit out the last word the inside of her skull was assaulted with a loud screech. Pulling her hands up to her ears she tried to block the noise that was inside her head. Falling to the ground she curled up into a ball and tried to ride the wave of agony as the screech continued. When it finally stopped she dared to look around only to find Phillip in the same fetal position as herself.

“Hear me children. I am not and being here to serve anyone’s needs. I am a speaker of truths and that is it. How dare you come to my land and accuse me of these things. That is the worst insult you can give.” Nikolai’s voiced boomed inside their skulls. “I am a creature of nature and only ensure the truth is spoken and the damned are not spreading. I do not brain wash anyone or anything and you will always understand this.”

“She meant no harm Nikolai. You know how others have reacted so this should be no surprise. After all, you have not told her everything. I mean that with the most respect old honest one.” Phillip was on his knees in a ritual like position bowing before Nikolai.

Chloe watched Nikolai, still in her fetal position as he pondered Phillip’s comment. She could see the smile in his eyes before she could hear the chuckle in her head.

“No, I guess you’re right. I did forget something; however, she did interrupt my explanation with her hysterical accusations.”

Phillip gave a pleading look at Chloe from the corner of his eyes and begged Nikolai to continue.

“Alright, well you see Chloe, like I had stated earlier nature always has a way of balancing out things. So while the dark beings bring their seedlings into the light nature has created a way out for the damned. Not so much as a cure but a balance. For every soul sucker,such as Phillip, that is born a warm being, wild man, is born and they are in a battle from day one. They each share a lumina, a girl that will create a balance inside of them. Only one of them can have her though and sometimes it takes hundreds of years to find her.”

“Hundreds of years, I don’t understand?” Chloe studies Phillip’s face and gasps as he nods a yes to her unspoken question.

“I am three hundred and seventeen years old Chloe. I am stuck in this age of eighteen forever unless I find my lumina.” Phillip’s eyes had a deep sorrowful look and he seemed to be pleading with her silently.

“Well, you see Chloe, Phillip believes you to be his lumina and this is why you are here. Never has a lumina survived the battle between the two creatures. This red haired man you have seen in the forest. He is Phillips brother, Shaithis. You are also his lumina. You must now chose one of them willingly or perish in their battle over you. Child, you will have nothing but hardship from now on and the worst is yet to come. I am deeply sorry for the cards fate has dealt you my child.”

Reviews

[Kat Loch]

OHHHHHH. I literally did that I finished the chapter. Okay, so that was brilliant. xD I really like this. And I need moreee. :)