Chapter Nine

Chapter Nine

"Hope is not all lost," he said as she turned to see him.

"You," she seethed. "What are you?"

It laughed. "I am a little of this, a little of that. Call me Helm for now.  It is one of many names attached to my being."

"Where are Chris and Jill?"

Helm shrugged. "That depends."

Sheva shifted her weight to one hip and folded her arms. "On what does it depend on?"

"Where they want to be," he answered. "It all worked out."

Sheva narrowed her view of him and stomped toward him. "Lies! I know who you are, what you are and what you are going to do."

His red orange eyes widened. "Oh, really then why do you ask me who or what I am? What exactly is it you think I am up to?"

"You’re a monster."

He drew back a few inches. "I have been called that a lot lately, but no matter. I am not the one you should be worried about."

Sheva glared at him and stopped in her advance. "What are you talking about?"

Helm sighed. "I did not spawn that horror. Krosnos did. Krosnos wants nothing more than to see you all dead and gone so that Ancients can rule Earth, but Krosnos does not understand Earth is a broken planet no one can repair. And we owe it all to you humans."

Sheva glowered at him. "Tell me about the Trine virus!" Is that a human conception?"

Helm rolled his eyes. "I am sure you heard stories about that. Krosnos developed the junk from a sample of supposed blood. It is funny actually." He started to laugh until he saw her angry expression.

"People are dying. I do not think that is funny. Millions of others have already died. How heartless are you?"

He aligned his fingertips and tapped gently. "I am quite heartless as a matter of fact. I don’t have internal organs like you."

"I want to be reunited with my friends!"

Now it was he who folded his arms and shifted his weight to one hip. He mocked her expression and tone of voice as he answered, "I don't think that will happen any time soon. Besides I am not about to do something a mortal demands."

Sheva realized her backpack and shotgun were missing. She doubted she would be any match against the likes of him. He already proved powers far beyond the stretches of her imagination. Of course she rather die trying than doing nothing at all. She wanted to hear the sound of Jill's sweet voice again and as much as she hated to admit, gaze upon Chris's face and see that stupid grin of his. There had to be a way.

"What if I make you a deal?"

"You have nothing I want."

He turned his back on her.

"Then why did you come here? Did you have a case of the chatters?"

He glanced at her over his shoulder. "I am not the bad guy in all this."

Sheva took a few steps toward him and folded her hands together. "Then help me."

Helm lifted his eyes to Sheva.

His red orange eyes glistened with the soft cast of fire light. It silhouetted her perfectly. He pressed his lips firmly together. He ran a hand through his long orange hair. Its roots where yellow while the very tips were a deep fire blue.

"I cannot help," he answered. "Maybe your friends are happier where they are. Maybe they rather are ignorant of The Asylum and the happenings that went on there. I believe Jill especially would be thankful."

Sheva's cheeks flushed pink. "What do you mean?"

Sheva raised a hand. She resisted the urge to strike him even as her face tightened and blood boiled.  Even if she carried through on her useless slap it would only prove how weak she was. Still he took a step back out of her range and tilted his head back to laugh softly.

"What is it worth to you to see my friends and the whole world suffers?"

Helm stared off into an empty space and thought. "Well, I have nothing against the world, just the things in it. They bicker and whine over petty things. They judge one another based on nationality, greed and…just about everything really."

Sheva scoffed and spun on her heels. "Humans are far from perfect but at least we don't pretend to be some high and mighty second rate god!"

"High and mighty are words I would not choose. Well I can think of a few leaders in your history who thought they were just that."

She touched the hard plaster of the wall, turned with her back pressed flat against it and slid down onto her butt. She brought her knees up under her chin.

"If only you knew," he said, "how powerful Krosnos was and who worked beneath Krosnos…"

"Why do you always refer to him by name?"

"Krosnos has no sexual characterizes. Therefore no one refers to Krosnos as he or she. Many of my siblings do not choose a sex to manifest in. Others shift between the two. One day they are female and the next they are male. It all depends on their moods I suppose."

Sheva examined the contours of his face. They were nearly alien in their exotic beauty and flawlessness. Even the depths of his unnaturally colored eyes summoned her curiosity. Though a part of her tensed under his stare, another part of her flushed and became excited. It made no sense why or how. She knew him for the monster he was and yet somehow it was as though she felt something melancholy in those eyes and in his sweet voice. Or maybe it was a trick of his to get her to forget Jill, Chris and everything…. His lips turned up into a weak smile. It shouldn't have affected her the way it did but as Goosebumps blossomed across her skin her heart skipped a beat.

"I need to be with my friends," she pressed. "We need to stop whatever this Krosnos has planned before it is too late."

"Haven't you seen what dwells out there? It is already too late. Krosnos will achieve victory and there isn't anything anyone can do about it." He stopped. "Well, that isn't exactly true I suppose, but…." He tangled his hands in his hair and grunted. "I refuse to bend to the will of a mortal."

Sheva shifted to her knees. "Is there anything I can offer you?"

Helm sighed and rolled his eyes. "Nothing you can say or do will convince me to help you."