Chapter 4

A Chapter by KillaColella

I had completely forgotten that the soul of Yosef Karem had escaped by the time we had arrived in Israel; my thoughts had been too hounded by a seemingly endless cycle of questions by a loud mouthed, sailor tongued red head that was all too eager to annoy me. Usually I would just dispose of any human who irritated my realm of near peace, but considering that she provided an explanation for Observers to not interrupt my pursuit, I’ve decided to spare her life for now.

The girl was currently rambling on about her views on Greek and Roman architecture and how she wanted to study abroad in Italy. It was obvious she came from money. Damn, she was so disposable.

The radio station which had been going in and out of static had finally started working, and a rush of Arabic filled my eyes and began to drown out the girl’s insistent chatter. A news channel, apparently two chemical plants nearby had leaked, leaving hundreds of homes destroyed.

‘You’re listening to 97.8FM, Israel radio…So far intelligence has yet to find any reason for this leakage, leaving many wondering how this could have happened in the first place…In other news…”

Aha. Chemical plants being destroyed the same time that Karem has gotten lose.

“Interesting,” I mumbled, checking the map that had been so graciously given to me on our third pit stop for the girl to go to the bathroom. The loud snap of a bubble stuck my ears. Of course she’d get bubble gum at the last stop, why wouldn’t she try to annoy me more?

“What’s interesting?” Sydney asked, causing her eyes to constantly flicker off the road towards me. I subtlety grabbed the steering wheel.

“Didn’t you hear that?” I asked, “Two chemical plants were destroyed this morning in Beersheba. They have no idea what was the cause of it though.”

The girl rolled her eyes, and I glared. If only I could cut them out. “Probably some rebels trying to make a scene,” she answered, “They often go after those kinds of places, especially if they are considered important to Dionysus.”

I imitated to ponder this. “I think we should go there.”

Her eyebrows touched the ceiling, “Go there? What does that have to do with any of this silly enterprise of yours? It’s a half hour away and�"”

“Listen, I just think we should check it out” I hissed. She quirked an eyebrow but sighed resolutely, punching in some buttons on her GPS and getting off the highway to go South towards the city. We were driving for about ten minutes before she opened her unpleasant mouth once more.

“What sort of mischief are you getting me into anyways?” she asked offhandedly, keeping her eyes on the road. I glanced out the window at the orphan Arab children playing football in the street.

“No mischief,” I answered, “none at all.”

We arrived to find the city in a panic; people sitting on top of their homes, acid burned bodies dead on the street. A group of Observers were guarding the streets where the plant was slowly leaking, wearing crisp white uniforms and handing out masks to the people. We left the car about two miles down from the scene and started walking towards it, awkwardly attaching paper white masks to our faces. Of course, at the sight of death the girl starts tearing up.

“Child,” I muttered, and she wiped the moist tears off her pallid cheeks and glared. I walked up to an Observer who was currently waving a gun in a terrified civilian’s face. He grunted as I questioned him on what had happened.

“And who are you to ask?” the man spat. I grabbed my ID, telling him I was working in the area with a team of excavators who needed to know if the surrounding areas would be okay to dig. He cackled, and under the white mask the distinct smell of Rum aroused my senses. “Freak accident, nobody knows how it started. It seems as if somebody broke in and hacked the system mainframe but there are cameras everywhere and they were already viewed, couldn’t find anything or anyone suspicious.”

“When did this start happening?” I asked, hoping that it was later rather than earlier and Karem wouldn’t be far away from here by now.

“Well the first plant up in the North, in Alef, started leaking about an hour ago or so, this one just happened 20 minutes ago. There is only one other plant in the East, we’ve got most of the surrounding cities’ Observers up there right now waiting just in case something happens to that one too.”

Sydney and I looked at each other quickly and nodded, running back towards the car. This time she managed to keep her silly red head on straight and ignore the crying surrounding us. We reached the Jeep and she revved the engine, driving near 80 towards the Gimmel, the Eastern part of the districts of Beersheba.

“What is it that you know?” she asked suddenly, “Why are you so interested in this, what do you expect to find when we get there?” she wondered, then stared in shock, her eyes widening the size of saucers, “You know who is doing this, don’t you?”

I continued staring out the window, “I have no idea what you are talking about. I just want to make sure this doesn’t happen again.” Karem is messing with a very delicate system; many of these people were not supposed to die. It all happened because he was released from the Underworld when he wasn’t supposed to. And while most of the humans are innocent, it will be a real bother to have to stop my mission to deliver damned souls to Hell when they originally were not supposed to be dead yet.

She hummed, “You don’t really seem like the heroic type.”

I glanced over, “I’m not.”

What seemed like hundreds of cars and trucks were struck in traffic the opposite from us, honking and people screaming out their windows for us not to head there, and yelling towards the front to hurry up. We ignored them and made our way towards the Eastern district, the sound of sirens growing louder as we approached it.

The district was fairly large, with towering white buildings and apartments throughout the area. Observers lined the narrow streets, families running towards their cars away from the commotion surrounding the one giant chemical plant in town. Stray cats lined the streets and meowed at the men to bring them to shelter, victims of having their previous owners leave them behind in an attempt to flee the supposedly doomed district. The chemical plant jutted out into the sky, and network of silver and bronze tubes.

And there he was, Karem’s apparition drilling a hole into one of the many tubes with his newly acquired claws. The years have not been good for him; being dead for ten years has made his skin a greyish green color, his irises lost their pigment and his hair had grown down to his knees and become silver. He was still a fairly young demon, so he had more human qualities than many of the older demons had. But now its outside appearance finally matches the devil within.

Humans were ignorant of the apparition; they couldn’t see him, all they knew was that something they couldn’t explain was going on. I had left Sydney with the group of Observers and made my way towards Karem, ignoring the humans around me that were yelling and screaming in confusion. It was a mile before I found his apparition cackling madly, causing nearby buildings to deteriorate with a touch of his hand, collapsing in a mess of chemical sludge.

It noticed me and stopped, sending a low, throaty growl in my direction. Its body collapsed into a heap of a black chemical substance and slowly made its way towards me, running over cars and street lights in the process and diminishing them to bits to dust.

I pulled out my knife, feeling it transform in my fingers into a long staff. I thrust it out in front of me, prepared to bring the demon back to the Hell where it belongs.

Then came that annoying voice. That terribly, horribly, painstakingly annoying cry. I turned around and the girl was staring in horror at the moving mass of chemicals that was Karem.

No. I can’t believe it.
Her?

“You can see him?” I yelled incredulously, and she nodded, awe struck. I can’t believe it, out of all the humans in the world, this had the ability to see dead spirits? She fell back from where she knelt behind a mailbox with a hard thump on the ground.

“What is that thing?” she gasped, horrified. She hugged the shotgun she brought with her closer to her body, as if that could really protect her. How could such a stupid girl be able to see Karem? Honestly, the mockery of it all.

I have never witnessed a human that could actually see and interact with the dead. She shouldn’t be able to do this…

Thankfully Sydney had screamed again just in time for me to notice the tidal wave of chemicals headed my way, and I slashed the figure with the staff. A screech assaulted our ears and we winced as it transformed into his original figure, his body split in half due to the slash of my staff. I stood before him, Sydney creeping up behind me curiously, and stared into his glowering red eyes.

“You really thought you could escape?” I asked dully. It hissed and I shoved the staff in its face and it screamed, as a large black hole swallowed it up and it vanished. I raised the staff and it too disappeared, I turned around to stare at the wondered and terrified eyes of the red head.

“What�"”

I slammed her tiny frame into a nearby building and she gasped in terror, squirming around under my tight grasp. I covered her mouth when she attempted to yell for help, and I glared. The girl continued to bravely struggle. Go figure.

“How is it you can see any of this?” I growled.

“I don’t kn�"”

“You shouldn’t’ be able to. No human can, what are you woman? Did Gabriel send you? Are you a spy? What�"”

“I have no idea what you’re talking about or what’s going on!” she yelled, managing to unlatch herself from my grip. I knocked the shotgun holster from her shoulder and she jumped back, raising her hands innocently. “What are you? How did that even happen?” she asked, and I was amazed again how level headed she remained. Although she could be infuriating, she was either too confident in her pathetic skills or too trusting for her own good.

She appeared human enough. No divine quality about her. Angels and blessed spirits tended to have an unearthly glow about them, which she didn’t have, as well as the virtue of patience and humility, which she certainly did not have. But it doesn’t add up.

She rubbed her shoulder were I grabbed her awkwardly, “Are you a wizard or something?” she questioned, confused. I stared dully.

“All of that and you got wizard?” Stupid girl. Definitely not a spy.

She smiled sheepishly and shrugged. I sighed. Well this was new. I never had to explain myself to a human before because humans are not supposed to be able to interact with and see the dead or my supernatural powers. I can’t just kill her…there are rules, even if she is one of mine there are certain dates that need to be met. The only time in which we can end the life of a human before their time is in dire situations involving mass destruction and the perverse of human life. Who do you think was responsible for the end of the Second World War and death of Hitler? Trust me, if it was up to Josiah it would have lasted a century. But the Council steps in at moments like those.

I grabbed her chin, puzzling at the girl, “I do not know what to do with you”

Chestnut eyes widened, “Let me go?” she begged quietly. I shook my head gravely.

“That won’t do,” I said, thinking more to myself than speaking to her. It just won’t. I don’t know what she’ll do. Tell people what happened. Alert the public, post my picture everywhere all over the media. Most likely what would happen is she would be hanged for treason, but that wasn’t an option either.

Well there was nothing to do until I return to the Underworld and talk to someone who would know more about this than myself, Yasmine or Afton-Lex perhaps. Even Josiah would know what to do more than I would…though I can safely assume his answer would be of the severed head and broken body sort. Hardly diplomatic.

The girl was currently trying to inch her way towards civilization, hoping that I wouldn’t notice we were moving slowly towards the Observers.

“Sydney,” she looked confused that I actually addressed her by her name and not some insult, “I still need your assistance in finding the dagger.”

She started coughing violently, flustered, “I don’t know who or what you are, but can’t you just find it with your magic stick wand?”

“You think if I had that capacity I would have you at my service?” I answered dimly. She raised her eyebrows but nodded. “Get your keys, we’re leaving.” I commanded, making my way towards the outer limits of the city. Suddenly, the girl grew a backbone.

“Excuse me?” she answered wondrously, “Who says I’m going anywhere with you? First, you threatened my life. Second, you’re a vampire witch or some form of supernatural creature. And three, you’re an arrogant a*****e, who assumes that I’ll do whatever you say just because you can destroy moving paranormal goo!”

“That’s pretty brave of you,” I noticed, and my staff materialized in my hands once more. She looked at it warily, “You don’t think I’ll kill you?”

“You�"you would have already if you wanted to,” she defended. I should have known this wouldn’t be easy. I toyed with my staff for a few seconds before striking it over the back of her head, making sure not to kill her. I watched with satisfaction as she hit the ground, falling silent. I smiled slightly, and grabbed her legs, dragging her silently to the car.

I had wanted something off the grid, something cheap and far away from civilization, but this motel really takes the cake. Hades cawed angrily on a nearby street light, announcing its distaste of the establishment. It was perfect.

Next to the old streetlight was a small, rickety motel, seemingly abandoned if not for the two cars parked outside of the premises. It was isolated for miles, surrounded by nothing but a vast, empty highway, an old gas station five miles back and the hot and sandy desert.

The windows were questionable, as the large silver moon shone brightly on them, revealing the dirt and mold residue that had incrusted upon the old glass. Looking closely, one could see the old handprints imprinted on the glass, and one could only imagine how they got there. I smiled, the raven and I knew.

I walked in and was greeted by a fat, balding middle-aged Arab who was more than happy to greet the first customer for days. Even with Sydney’s knocked out body in my hands, he questioned nothing and gave us the key to the nicest room in the inn. Not that it was saying much.

The bedroom was larger than the rest of the rooms but barely enough for two grown adults. It had a number of circular patch-ups on the walls where I could only assume a fistful of drunken and abusive brawls have taken place. The bed was a king at least, with off-white colored sheets and the pillows whose sheets have been stained yellow over years of use. Across the bed was a small black television box, no cable.
I inelegantly dropped her on the bed and strode towards the bathroom, turning on the shower and letting the scalding hot water run down my face. I was barely any closer to finding the dagger, and now I have this problem on my hands. A human who can see demons.

It’s not that it’s never been heard of; many children have reported to have seen some of the ancient demons, tall thin creatures without faces that, when they escape the clutch of Hell, stalk and kill humans without cause. At least the newer demons, like Karem, usually killed for revenge; these creatures had become so inhuman through the millennia of torture that they have no reason, no rationality.

But adults, they cannot see the demons. They may know something is up, they may be aware of prevailing danger, but they cannot see them directly. Their ignorance shows just how powerless and dependent they really are in this universe. This girl, this Sydney, she could see everything with her own two eyes.

I turned the water off and grabbed a towel, drying my hair quickly and throwing it on the floor. I just managed to pull on my trousers and shirt when I heard a scream, and rushed to the room to find a terrified Sydney pointing and screaming at the window. I rushed over and found Hades crowing and hitting the window with its claws, attempting to get into the room. I carefully lifted the latch to let the bird in, which swooped in and caused the girl to scream louder. My head began to drum painfully at the shrill sound. The bird perched itself on the bed post, looking at the girl curiously and back at me.

“I know,” I responded to the confused fowl, “But I don’t know what to do with her.”

The raven crowed in response and I sighed, pinching my brow, “No, I can’t kill her.”

Sydney peered up from the sheets, “Get that thing out of here!” she shrieked, before hiding under the sheets once more.

“This thing is mine,” I replied shortly.

“That thing tried to kill me!” she cried.

I snorted, “I seriously doubt�"”

“And now it’s come back to finish the job!” she yelled, and peered around the room, “Hey, what happened to my gun?” she demanded angrily. I shrugged.

“I left it. A woman has no use of one.” She huffed angrily and attempted to assail me with the item closest to her, a pillow.

I looked at Hades who was perched on the television set and staring intently at the girl hidden beneath the pillows. I whistled, calling it over and it flew over, balancing itself on my arm. I stroked its black feathers silently, wondering about the bird. The girl carefully untangled herself from the sheets to stare at the bird hesitantly, reaching out her hand to stroke his feathers. Hades cawed and snapped at the fingers. I could’ve smiled…such a good bird.

“I was attacked two weeks ago…by a flock of ravens,” Sydney whispered, “I was just getting out of the shower when they flew through my window and started pecking at me.” She pulled her sleeves up; there was about a dozen red bumps and scratches trailing up and down her arms. I raised my fingers over them gently.

“How ugly,” I commented coldly. She glared, pulling her sleeves up and pushing herself off the bed and looking around the room. Her eyes finally fell upon the key card and she grabbed it, stuffing it in her pocket.

“I’m need fresh air,” she muttered. I glared menacingly and she rolled her eyes, “Don’t worry, I’ll be back. I’m not going anywhere.” The raven cawed.

SYDNEY POV

It was all starting to make sense. The wild dreams, crazy premonitions. Waking up in sweat and terror and willing yourself not to go back to sleep. I, Sydney Chorster, was used to such nightmares.

There was something wrong with me. During funerals, I felt a connection to the corpses that I never experienced in my life with the living. While those around me wept into their handkerchiefs and covered their tears with black veils, I felt more attached to the person than ever before. It didn’t feel like they were gone at all. They were still there, somewhere.

Which is why I went into archeology; I wanted to further understand my connection with the dead. I was hoping that once I see the remains of ancient people that I would somehow find a reason, that perhaps everything would make sense to me. The reason why I have frequent nightmares about the end of the world as I know it.

Then this man comes to my dig, out of nowhere, and turns everything upside down. What is he? Who is he? This Klaus character…and what was that thing that I saw him destroy? And why was he so confused that I saw it?

When I was little I used to try to explain these visions to my parents, who hushed and scolded my childish nonsense with the harsh sting of the paddle. That was nothing, they claimed. Lord Dionysus would have my head if I talked about such silly antics like the world ending and divine providence other than him. My parents were high on the social ladder; my father, a senator of a North East American district, regularly on business calls with the tyrant. My mother was a wealthy socialite, never having worked a day in her life under the rich and comfortable claws of the government.

And every vision was the same. I was always paralyzed, unable to move my arms or legs but desperately trying to. Even in the darkness I knew that something was wrong, and relished in the fact for a moment that I couldn’t see whatever horrors must lie around me. All I could hear was whispers, all around and indecipherable. I shivered and coughed under the tight restriction holding me from freedom.

It was always followed by a blight flash, blinding. My eyes burned from the heat, but I could suddenly move and see again. Though the scene I am greeted with makes me wish desperately that I was blind once more, and it is always the same scene. And it never goes away, not even in wake.

The sky was inflamed; the clear blue sky you know so well became red and hazy. The earth underneath became barren and black; the only creatures left around are the rats that scurried in and out of holes in the ground. And then were the crows, they were everywhere, shrieking above me and would occasionally swoop down to pick at the cold carcasses embodied on the surface. Crows. They never go away. They follow me everywhere.

And then I would look to see one lone figure kneeling in the distance, head dropped low and bent over a figure. I gasped, staring at the gray body beneath me. It was me.

It was always me. And then I would wake up in fear, covering in sweat and shaking from head to toe. Now I was shaking just as bad, clutching the hotel card and wondering what on earth I had gotten myself into. Stupid Sydney, I thought to myself, why the hell did I have to follow this stranger to god knows where. My feet managed to lead me to the lobby, where I tiredly gazed up at the hotel café barista, who was staring at me worried that I was going to go into shock…which I just might at this point.

“Iced coffee with caramel,” I managed to stutter out, “One cream, no sugar.”

I stared mesmerized by the brown syrup being swirled into the iced coffee, letting it calm me down. She handed it to me hesitantly and I grabbed it like a life line, gulping it down and relishing in the calming effect caffeine has on me. Sweet, calming espresso.

“Thanks,” I muttered, and took my change and headed outside the building, to face the cool, fresh air. I could be free, I entertained for a moment, and leave without him noticing. I had the keys, stole them when he wasn’t looking, and could drive away from this bizarre mess.

He’d never let me leave.

But do I even want to? I’m curious and I know it. After what I saw, how can I ever leave without getting answers?

Somehow managing to build up courage, I made way back to the hotel room to find him asleep on the bed. Closing the door, he startled and woke up.

“I didn’t think you could sleep…” I commented, and he smirked, stretching out on the bed. He peered up at me with those horrible gray eyes.

“I can do a lot of things,” he answered, sitting up at staring at me. “I have decided that you’ll live…at least for now.”

“For now?” I droned.

“Everybody dies eventually,” he said dryly, “The plan continues as it were. You will help me find a dagger and use your government ID to get me into unauthorized zones.”

Feeling brave, I sat next to him on the bed and fiddled with the straw in my drink. “I don’t understand though…if you could do all of that, why can’t you make a fake ID or something? Teleport? What are you?”

“No,” he answered shortly, “I have a friend that has contacts in the government that made me a fake ID, but as protocol goes I cannot be granted full access in unauthorized areas that somehow you managed to scrape up. Now, as for what I am, if you truly believe that I would reveal to you than you are thicker than you appear.” So insulting. I’m not sure what I ever did to him to offend him other than drive him around at his very will and doing what he tells me to. I guess breathing is enough to offend him.

He left me then, saying he needed to find a bank and I wondered around the room aimlessly. I looked down at my arms; they were still red and itchy from the raven’s attack. Those scars will probably remain there forever.

How ugly, he said. How dare him.

I glanced at the briefcase he left on the floor…why would he leave that with me? Does he want me to see it? I crouched down and opened it slowly, finding an indigo, leather bound journal with Latin inscriptions over the cover.

“Inseq…Ins…Insquequo omnis exulatus fuissent?” I managed to stutter, trying to wrap my mind around the language. I periodically skipped Latin class in the University, but it wasn’t so different from French that I could somewhat understand it. The pages were yellow and the journal had an old book smell that reminded me of home.

Worried what may lay in the unguarded journal, I opened it hesitantly, fingers shaking as they flipped the cover over to the first page. I frowned; it was blank. And the next page, also blank. “What the�"” I carelessly skimmed through the journal, until I finally landed on one page with writing on it, right in the middle of the journal.

Ichabod Moden, December 28, 3012. Marseille, France.

But…that was tonight. I frowned, he can teleport, can’t he? Or at least has some way to go from Israel to France in a matter of minutes. But why does he have this man’s name and today’s date in this journal. Is he a hit man?

He kills people. Just like how he killed that…well, whatever it was. And he was going to kill this man. Right at this moment.

Why so surprised? He’s already threatened to maim me anyways, so why should I be so surprised that he’s left in the middle of the night to chop some guys head off. I closed the journal…I couldn’t look at it anymore.

God knows how many hours passed by before I heard the click of the door opening, and I turned to find that man staring at me with his journal in my hands. He walked over and grabbed it out of my hands.

“Had your mother never told you to not touch what isn’t yours?” he asked coldly, “Or was she too busy sitting on her heavy a*s drinking her pointless life away?”

“She actually used opioids for dulling her sorrow,” I fired back, “But that’s beside the point. What did you do to that man?”

“What man?” he asked silkily. I wanted to throw the coffee at his smug face.

“Ichabod Moden…his name was in that journal,” I pointed accusingly to the indigo journal, “Along with today’s date. Every other page is blank.”

He gave me a blank look before giving me back the journal, “Show me.”

I opened it slowly and scanned the book until I reached the middle where I knew the page to be. But it was gone. The page was blank.

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