Jason Teufel

Chapter VII: Grelock

“If you think I’m just going to let you die, you angelic trash, you are wrong. Tell me who the boy is or I will show you first hand, what it feels like to become one of us!”

(Verina Fatale, speaking with Archangel Michael Vain)

Jason and Moragan had been running down the endless tunnels. This way, that way, their breathing ragged as they made their way down and through, with no end in sight. When at last they approached a semi-lit outcropping, and Jason paused to catch his breath.

The shock of what happened next nearly caused Jason to choke on the very air he was gulping down, in an instant Moragan turned on him, seizing him by the throat and pinning him to the wall.

“What the—“

“Shut up!” the vampire said, cutting him off with a hard stony look in her constricting mechanical eyes. “I’ll be asking the questions here, Jason. What happened back there? I swear, if you don’t have some damn good answers, I’ll kill you!”

Try as he might to free himself, Jason was pinned. Exhausted from running, Moragan had caught him completely off guard. He didn’t have the strength left to fight her, and she was in a perfect position to do just what she had threatened if he tried anything drastic. “OK...,” he whispered. “What do you want to know?”

“That demon back there, Verina. How does she know you?”

“How should I know?”

“Don’t test me, Jason! That demon recognized you and I know you recognized her, so you must have met her at some point before. Tell me when and tell me where!”

Jason willed himself to come up with an answer that Moragan would accept but nothing other than the pounding of his own heart beat echoed in his mind. How was he supposed to know? He was more confused than anyone. True, something about the demon had been very familiar—perhaps he’d seen her in a dream. It was as good a guess as any but he knew Moragan would not accept a guess, and she would know if he tried to lie. He would simply have to hope that the truth would be enough. “I… I don’t… I don’t know, Moragan. I swear I’ve never met her before in my life… I may have seen her in my dreams but I can’t say for sure.”

“Demons aren’t known for their mercy, Jason. They went through a lot of trouble to find us and then, when they finally had us cornered, they let us go. Why?”

“I… don’t… know!” The anger in Jason was building and the more it did the bolder he got. “Who are you to accuse me of anything, you soulless bitch? Maybe you should tell me about that tattoo on your neck?! Maybe you’re the one that’s the traitor here. You certainly seemed quite content to let the angel die back there. In fact, you seemed to insist on it! Seems to me that you’re the one with something to hide!”

“What did you say?” Moragan’s voice was threatening and her grip on Jason’s neck was tightening.

Even though it went against his better judgment, Jason wasn’t about to back down. “The angel told me about you and what that symbol on you means. You severed them once before, didn’t you!”

“You dare listen to that forsaken sky dweller! What the hell do you know about my life, you worthless human? You have no idea the torment your kind has put me through!”

A strange, numbing calmness settled over Jason as he thought back to the image of the girl on the bed. “No…, I do know, Moragan,” he said in a manner so soothing he could have been a hypnotist. “They raped you, beat you, did all kinds of terrible things to you that drove you to the edge and led you down a path not all that different to mine.” Jason rolled back his sleeve to reveal the scars on his arms so that they were clearly visible. “You think you’re the only one that’s been pushed to the breaking point?”