Tim Marquitz - Echoes of the Past

“Did they have a child?” The question burst out of my mouth before I could stop it.

“No, though there were rumors of such,” he answered, shaking his head with confidence. “Lucifer dared not produce an heir. Longinus sat with the mantle of the Anti-Christ, and your uncle knew no child of his would survive to inherit the throne.”

“But the letter-“

“The letter you read was likely some small source of the rumors, as was your mother herself. Charlotte believed she was pregnant, at one point, but it was not so. For all their attachment, Lucifer was still betrothed to Lilith and he knew she would be the first to murder Charlotte were such a breeding to occur.”

My head reeled, white dots sparkling before my eyes. I dropped into the chair. A cold sweat broke out across my skin.

Baalth went on, undeterred. “As for your father, despite his bloodline, he was poorly suited to offer a true threat to Lucifer’s rule. He spent the next decade learning this cruel truth.”

“But he found my mother.”

“He did, at last, yes. Once more he could thank Azrael. As Lucifer became more and more distracted by Arol’s attempts at overthrowing Hell, Azrael saw the opportunity for revenge and to salvage his pride. He snuck away and made plans with Arol. As your father’s army massed and struck at Lucifer, Azrael led Arol to your mother.”

I leaned forward in the chair. Though I knew the aftermath of what had happened, I knew nothing of the details. “And?”

“Are you sure you want to hear this? You know well enough the cruelty of your bloodline…is it necessary to relive it?”

“Just tell me,” I blurted before I could talk myself out of it.

Baalth sighed and went on. “Arol found your mother in the barn. Azrael as a witness, your father raped her violently, viciously, showing her no mercy in flesh or spirit. You were out in the fields and Arol knew he had time. He took advantage of it. He spent the day violating Charlotte, butchering her before he was done.” His dark eyes met mine. “You know the rest.”

I covered my mouth as bile burned at the back of my throat. Memories flooded my mind and I relived the moment. I’d found my mother hacked apart in the barn. The hay scattered across the floor was stained red with her blood, the walls, the ceiling. Only her head was still recognizable, but just barely. The agony carved into her gentle face still fuels my nightmares.

Sickened by the images screaming across my mind’s eyes, I jumped up and stumbled through the labyrinth of collectibles and out past the counter. I barely noticed Poe as I did, and then I was outside the store. Sweating and weak, I staggered down the street. At a nearby alley, I turned and went down it, emptying my stomach behind a rusted trash dumpster, out of sight.

I stayed there a while, until I started feeling stupid for reacting so foolishly. This was the second time I’d spewed my guts, and there wasn’t anything in me but a couple sips of beer. I dropped against the dumpster and took a moment to catch my breath.

The stories Azrael and Baalth told didn’t match exactly, but there was enough similarity between them as to make it impossible to tell who was lying. Normally I’d trust Baalth to be more honest, but like Lucifer, Baalth had kept the story a secret. He’d never told me any of it until I stumbled across a piece of evidence he couldn’t deny. Where did that leave me? Was Baalth lying, or was Azrael? Or both? That could easily be the case, which only left me fucked and even more out in the cold when it came to the truth.

No idea who to believe, I’d only confused myself by trying to find the answers to who I was and where I belonged. I missed the old days when Lucifer and God were still here. It was their job to keep the world straight. I sure as shit didn’t want it.

The more I thought about it, the more I realized I probably didn’t want to know the truth. Life is easier when you’re in the dark. Ignorance equals bliss, or so they say. If that was true, then I wanted a big, heaping slab o’ ignorance to go, please. Top that off with a case of Jack Daniels and I’d be all right.

I got up and left the alley, leaving my spew behind. I didn’t want anything else to do with the past, right then. All I wanted was to spend some time in the present with Karra. We could make our own history and forget the garbage we’d crawled through to get here.

I’d eaten enough shit in my life. It was time to try another flavor.

So used to using the DRAC portals for transportation, I was blocks away before I remembered I’d left the Impala at the strip mall. It wouldn’t be a good idea to leave it there, my spare gun and some of the DA slayers stashed under the seat. While Baalth might be a deterrent to supernatural tomfoolery, he wasn’t the neighborhood watch. If someone broke into my car, he wouldn’t even notice, let alone give a damn. At least not until one of his folks got shot with a magical bullet. Then he’d be all over my ass.

Feeling a little better, my stomach settling, I started back to the mall. Caught up in my head, I hadn’t been paying attention. Now that the sickness had passed, I suddenly noticed I had company.

Behind me, bold as day, strolling down the sidewalk, was one of the DSI goons. While I couldn’t be sure who he was, since they all dressed alike, I kind of figured him to be the one who’d waved at me while I was talking to Poe. While there weren’t any features to pick out, the arrogance of his stride struck me as similar. Without bothering to hide or pretend he wasn’t following me, he walked about a half block behind me. He was even whistling.

I glanced up and spied shadows atop the lower lying buildings. They were following me, too. There was no telling what they wanted, besides pushing Shaw’s agenda, but it probably didn’t matter. Here I was, packing an unregistered pistol and carrying what could be considered as, with a very liberal definition, weapons of mass destruction. They’d let me slide on the gun earlier because it wasn’t what they were after, but it was certainly enough of a crime to give them just cause to take me back to the interrogation room and hold me for a while. Given what happened at the bar, Shaw and her crew were most likely looking to pin the blame on me. Telling them that an alien did it probably wouldn’t help my cause. I thought it best to lose the tails first, and then give Poe a call to collect the stuff in my car.

I walked casually for another block, gauging where the agents were, and then darted down an alley. Without looking back, I ran through it and out the other side, changing directions to move away from the strip mall. The DSI set up there to monitor Baalth, it didn’t make any sense to head toward the mass of them, even if running the other way was the obvious choice for anyone following me. I only had to make it about ten blocks before I came across one of DRAC’s hidden portals. While its default transport arrangements would be to one of the DRAC headquarters, the settings could be overridden to take me elsewhere. They probably hadn’t locked me out…yet.

Down the street, I turned into another alley and did my best to stay in the shadows. It was easier with the dark clouds lurking in the sky, but it was still daylight. The smaller buildings forming the alley didn’t do much to block the morning sun, which peeked muted over their roofs.

I heard the slap of feet behind me as I turned out of the alley. It was just my luck I had the only government official with good cardio on my ass. I kept going, covering a few more blocks with the goon gaining on me. Not looking to jog all the way to the portal, I slowed to check the rooftops. At least they looked empty. With no way for the human DSI agents to leap across the roofs quickly enough to keep up, it was a good bet I’d left them behind and only had Speedy on my ass.