Chapter Two: Murderess Ava Kelly Serafino and History

“Do not put on the robe just yet, miss.”

The Aperio organisms and their body parts shifted away, un-shading Ava’s ivory-blue eyes. She slowly moved to her feet. The clay and water mixture slithered heavily across her skin, downwards.

Why did I do these silly procedures? Nothing has changed and you knew it would not change anything. The weight is still there. The poison has lessened, but I can still feel a core of sin residing in me.

“Please step onto the edge. We are about to close the pool.”

Ava lifted from the pool. One of the Aperio jumped with a bubbly shrill before the pool swiveled to a close. Ava always had a knack for receiving instant affection from these foreign animals.

I hope Esther is doing okay...

A heavy door, on the side of the room, slid open to reveal a first-born lamb; Ava shivered.

They warned us about this...

“The lamb is tamed. Please place your forehead upon the animal’s forehead.”

Ava placed her forehead upon the animal; the lamb’s cotton-like wool felt to her as a baby’s bottom.

Do I really need to do this?

“Order received. Initializing lamb sequence.”

A flexible, glass tube surrounded Ava by ways of the carrying of robotic hands. The lamb gave a couple of bleats as two hands hooked around its shaking body and shifted the lamb over the opening of Ava’s glass tube. Sprayers protruded out of the inside of the glass tube, cleaning the dried clay off of Ava’s skin with high-pressurized water. The lamb continued to bleat.

 

Oh, Lord...this...this can’t be right. Such things have passed. Why must we continue with these rituals? I shouldn’t have come...

A large, flat, sharp knife twinkled in a robotic hand before the lamb’s neck. The lamb began to screech its bleats more loudly, trying to kick, but it had no ground to run on, nor enough strength to fight the durable wiry hands. Ava clutched her elbows, closing her eyes, and her forehead tightly wrinkled.

“Commencing lamb sequence.”

Ava gave a large yell as the lamb’s tendons were deeply incised and ripped away by the wiry hand’s knife. Ava shivered with a small tear crawling from each of her eye sockets. She waited for the innocent life to spill upon her.

Her spine jumped as a large glob of blood and wool crashed onto her body. Then, another glob. Then, some more wool. Then, another glob. Then, some more wool. More globs and more globs...bloody tears kept dripping until no lamb was left. The glass tube became colored and spotted with scarlet. Ava’s eyes flashed with a past memory.

She was on another case, another hunt. A person who became possessed by an evil spirit of vampirism was her target. She found him in an alleyway with purposefully-filed teeth piercing into a young woman’s neck; his filed nails already sliced into the sides of the woman, leaving cuts. He held her with such firmness that the young woman could not move, despite her duct-tape muffled screams.

Ava shot at him with a professional magnum that had silver bullets, but he moved quickly to the side of Ava, grabbing her wrist. His wild eyes stared down at her. Blood dripped from his mouth and he lathered his tongue across his lips.

“Why do you fight, my fellow woman?”

Ava usually was pretty good about offense and defense, but the question startled her. A large heat struck her, making her listen to the homicidal villain. She tried desperately to tear from his serious gaze, but his other hand kept her face aggressively in place. Ava never had succumbed to a host’s powers that were gained and cultivated by their demons within, but he was different.

“Come, taste the blood. You have kept away from your identity too long.”

His lips continued to spill half-truths and persuasive lies. His hand smeared the young victim’s blood across Ava’s chin. He eventually put the same hand before Ava’s mouth. For less than a few minutes, the inner heat seemed to pulse with the drawing to launch her body towards the man, feed off the victim’s blood, and kiss him, of course, out of flaming desire. She was not demon-possessed, but the poison inside her ached with allurement; corruption always had a constant desire to be ‘friends’ with evil.  

The young woman began to cry, screeching even louder despite the duct tape.

No!

The magnum’s bullets shot into the man. The host’s body signaled its physical death as he crippled and crashed to the alleyway’s cement floor. If she had the Aperio organism with her, she would see the thick, black, foggy shape of a demon consume its host’s soul. The soul would forever burn in the demon’s belly, consciously feeling the pain of acid disintegrating his soul over and over again.

No...they talked about these cases...where the silver bullets actually...I killed the man instead of the demon...no...NO! I shouldn’t have used them. NO! His blood...is on my hands...

“Please take your robe and exit the premises. The entire program has been completed. Enjoy the favor. Have a good day.”

Ava broke from the horrific daze, bringing back her controlled and firm stature. The tube lowered into the ground by ways of small openings that matched the tube’s edges on the floor. Ava’s body was washed of all blood and any other grime. A large canister of orange-scented lotion lied on a silver side-table next to her. She grabbed it while throwing on her gray robe and exiting the room by means of a sliding door.

***********

 “Good afternoon, class.”

Peering eyes of youthful faces blinked at Ava. They were here for hip-hop lessons. Being a huntress was Ava’s private job, but being a dance teacher was her public job, along with a couple of now-and-then dance gigs.

“Let us begin our warm-up.”

Ava pressed her hand against the studio’s glass to reveal a hologram stereo. On one of the stereo’s panels was a list of the dance teachers’ various playlist-accounts. She opened up hers and pressed a favorite. Trap, mixed with violin and synth, begin to pump the walls like an earthquake.

“Eminem? He’s so old. Like decades old. Why not put on some Trickster Zane?”

“Say it, girl! It’s not even the real Eminem, but just some robot with his voice.”

Ava picked up the gossip words that were exchanged ‘carefully’ between the two black girls; however, Ava simply ignored them. She was not in the mood for conflict today so she let it slide. Plus, the subject was something not worth an argument for.

“And down and up. Down and up.”

Ava moved her neck and the students mimicked. As she began to go through the normal warm-up routine, her mind began to wander. Ava was the type of rare woman who could do what she needed to do, while still thinking deep thoughts, and not lose efficiency, or the purpose, of what other parts of her whole self were doing. In other words, a ‘miraculous’ multi-tasker, but like any human, sometimes she had her limitations and would lose her awareness of the world outside of her mind.

The class session went well. Ava could see great potential in some of the students, but she kept herself in check to make sure she did not favor them above everyone else publicly, in order to treat the other students fairly. Ava had the mind-set that everyone had the chance to cultivate and use potential, but she recognized that some skills came more naturally to others and those natural tendencies are definitely blessings to appreciate.

Ava breathed in the cool air of the night. Despite the air-polluted stank that the city of Sieg gave off, she enjoyed city-life, both day and night. She remembered briefly in her history class that in the year of 2018, during one of the equinoxes, an extreme solar flare hit the eastern coast of the United States causing havoc across the New World and nearby countries. The same year, taking advantage of this surprising vulnerability, the governments of Russia, North Korea, and China combined to make an alliance. World War III proceeded with the eventual defeat of the new alliance’s enemies, including the U.S., South Korea, and Japan, by various newly advanced bioweapons and nuclear technology; the alliance completely demolished Europe with a highly advanced nerve gas. The city of New York was renamed by the Russians as Nобе́да, which generally means ‘victory’. Germany and all of Africa were allowed to progress with the same governments, but they were forced to sign a contract of international neutrality and to recognize the final authority of the conquerors.   

Two decades ago, the Germans were able to get permission to take in refugees from the conquered countries; soon, certain African powers followed suit. This revitalizing event helped the conquered countries to slowly recoup. Some of the conquered countries began to boycott and steal products, especially South Korea and India; some of these riots ended in massive murder, pushing most boycotters to hit more militarily low areas.

Around this time, a certain Japanese boy and his grandfather were fishing off the coast of Japan. A great white shark attacked, but the two were able to kill the danger and within its stomach, a new discovery was found: a half-digested Aperio. Notice was eventually received by the dictating rulers and the Japanese scientist, named Akio Fukui, who had received the Aperio organism from his cousin (who was the young boy), was given the rulers’ permission to continue research on the organism. Because the Americans had the expertise for good underwater technology (not to mention naval technology), a team of these experts were allowed to work with Fukui in order to continue to explore the oceans and to locate the new organisms’ native ‘homelands’ on the earth. With their re-developed spy network, the Americans were able to protect the discovery of these Aperio homelands and began to collect a large quantity of them. However, Fukui demanded that the Japanese people should have a portion because he contributed largely to Aperio research, but because they needed the American spy network to keep secrecy, the Japanese received a smaller amount.

            The first private trade of the Aperio organisms the Americans conducted was with certain parts of Africa. In exchange for these organisms, because Africa was still a third-world country, the Americans persuaded Africa to let them conduct research in man-made underground tunnels and to give them any espionage-skilled (or potentially could be espionage) persons to expand their spy network. A few days later, the Americans conducted another private trade with Germany in exchange for resources (which would be given strategically to avoid arousing suspicion), some scientists, and more espionage-potential persons. Soon, with the incentive of the Aperio organisms, the Americans were able to recruit scientists, engineers, espionage-potential, and other distinguished persons from all of the conquered countries. This last large influx of people was the point in which the conquerors found out, hence, the ‘spark’ of the Scientist War (which many illogically call World War IV).  However, because many determined workers (especially ones of American-origin) worked day in and out aggressively, their navy was able to progress at a good enough rate; their armed forces, not so much, but they had a decent amount. There was much blood and death on both of the conflicting sides during the Scientist War.

            Because of the imperialist threat and the persuasive speeches of Boipelo Obasanjo, the African countries put their disputes aside and began to work together to help fight and protect the various foreign peoples in their lands as well as themselves. An agreement was made between Germany, Africa (as a whole), some Middle Eastern powers, the Americans, and other defeated countries to become war partners, along with finalized promises of resource exchanges and land limitations for each of the main powers. America lost all private rights to the Aperio organisms as the agreement entailed for equal distribution of Aperio organisms to every country and the allowance for all countries to further research; if any new information or progress with these organisms occurred, the findings had to be reported to all the enlisted countries. The new allies of the agreement became known as “United Der Kamerad” (‘Der Kamerad’ generally means ‘buddy’ or ‘friend’ in German) with the insignia of two swords clashing and an iris entwined around the swords by a yellow silk ribbon.

Five years ago, on the eve of September 15^th, Chinese and Russian powers were officially ‘moved out’ of North America by the United Der Kamerad. As promised, Japan was given the western shores of the previous United States. Germany formed a ‘New Germany’ section in the U.S.; the ‘New Germany’ section was mainly on the eastern shores, including New York and Florida. New York, or Russian ‘Nобе́да’, was renamed Sieg, which generally means ‘victory’ in German; the U.S. was given Quebec, despite the Canadians’ protest.  The rest of the left-over land was put into its proper place (concerning government rule) before the time of World War III (before the lands were conquered by the imperialists).

Just recently, a couple of months ago, Central and South America were taken back from the Koreans. Japan was given Guatemala, the Germans were given the eastern half of Mexico, and the rest of the Central America land went back to its proper place before the war.  All of South America was given to Africa, though the land division of the continent between the main African powers is still being greatly disputed amongst their whole nation. The United Der Kamerad is now positioned in Germany and northern parts of Africa; many of Sieg citizens speculated that they would try to hit Europe next.

Ava looked at her wrist bracelet. The bracelet was clear and circled with flat holographic images of her cousin, Eli. He had died three weeks ago in a naval battle at the border of Germany, near Belgium. Apparently, at sunrise, his ship blew up from a disguised, UV-initiated bomb; a Russian agent must have been among the ship’s ranks, but no one really knows who since the soldiers’ guts now pollute the Pacific Ocean and all written evidence on the blown-up ship is gone, including reports, according to the news-media.

Ava did not know Eli very well, but she was the only family he had left, according to genetic records. Her heart tugged as she thought of Eli. She never knew her own blood, as she was adopted and it was a ‘closed adoption.’ Sometimes, she still thinks about what it would be like to know her real parents. Her adoptive parents and any family associated with them are now long gone, killed in action or by disease. She was alone, very alone.

But do I really want to find out who my parents were?

Ava swung the entrance door of her condo open; the condo was luxurious, updated, but still had some vintage elements here and there like her 1990s toaster oven. Her colors ranged across the artist’s wheel as each room had its own theme and style. She loved culture and usually consistently tried to achieve on lessening the unknown.

“Hey, Esther. How’s my little girl today?”

A baby Aperio peeked its golden eyes out of the aquarium’s small, sponge castle. It quickly swam to the top, jumping in and out of the water, with gentle and young trills. Ava smiled.

“Happy, I see, that Mommy is home. You, hungry?”

Ava began to shift from public stature to relaxed, private mode. She giggled as Esther tickled the side of Ava’s face with her small tentacles. Ava pulled out a set of veggies from her fridge, quickly diced them, and crushed them above the aquarium’s water. The Aperio could eat anything, even stones and dirt! But, they did not eat flesh and blood, which is why many favor them as pets, despite their weird appendages.

The Aperio are expensive, but they are worth it!

When Esther finished eating, Ava took her out of the aquarium and into a glass bowl of water. Heading to the bathroom, Ava continued to smile at Esther’s cute trills. Esther touched her fuzzy tail against Ava’s chin, which is surprisingly warm for being wet fur.

Alone? I have Esther as company...that’s good enough...

“Time to do your work, sweetie.”

Standing in front of the bathroom mirror, Ava watched as Esther wrapped her small tentacles around her chest. The starry blue glow of the tentacles lured the fuzzy shape of Ava’s soul into visible sight. She could see that her soul was clean, as the chest area was the focal point of the soul. However, a ‘circle’ of what looked like black swirling fog lied in the center of the focal point. Ava looked closer to find the ‘circle’ to be a large, thorn-like shape that was expelling an aura of the black ‘fog’.

Why won’t this damn thing disappear? The Purging did not help, just as I thought...preachers say that all iniquity should be gone when purified by both belief and the Purging...this is clear evidence for the opposite...

As mentioned before, many people could not see the condition of the soul, but Ava was one of those rare people who could. 

Author's Note

Sorry about spacing! It happens when pasting from a Word document!