Kiss of Osiris

Chapter Twenty

Once they were feeling better they bid their new friends goodbye. They waited until night to make it back to Al's mansion. On the way, they passed by an old abandoned Catholic church. The old church looked gothic and haunted in the moon's pale blue light. Always the creature of curiosity, Al insisted that he could take a peek inside to get a glimpse of the cool old architecture. With a huff Evee acquiesed. Rows of rotten pews and books lay strewn about like autumn fallen leaves. The rustic stain-glass windows cast kaleidoscope colors on the ground, forming phantasm figures.

A primal, intangible presence still seemed to lurk in the place like a specter. A huge mural dozens of feet high sprawled out in the center. Religious figures poised regally in various positions. It had been a while since Al had been in a church like this. He half expected for a bolt of lighting to arc down and immolate him completely. He found a good spot on the far left and kneeled in the pew. How did it go? "Our father, who art in heaven..." who hath forsaken me. He shook off the dark thoughts. He didn't really remember how to pray anymore, and if he did, a little part of him wouldn't be willing to do so.

A deep anger welled up in him, like the first rays of light when dawn comes in the early morning. He clenched the wood of the pew tightly. He thought of his mother, her soothing presence, quick smile, and unconditional love. He missed the smell of the kitchen when she would make bread rolls, and the arc of her raised eyebrow when he did something wrong. His mind flashed to her bloodied body but he cast it out as soon as he could. Why? Why would a kind and loving god let her die? Why would he allow all the tragedies that happened in Al's life to occur?

For all the devil's in the world, he sure hadn't found very many angels. Maybe good didn't exist? Maybe it was just a false thought, a floundering dream. He tried to think of his father. Only glimpses here and there. And how many of those were actually just of Lucifys pretending to be him? Sadness like a storm seeped into his soul. All he wanted was a simple life, one where he still had a mother and father. A man of the cloth, to settle down with a nice girl, maybe pop out a kid or two. He had never asked for ...this. Why did he bother? Why did he fight back at the village? Maybe he should've let them kill him and be done with it once and for all.

No, they were trying to hurt Evee, and he couldn't allow that. He sighed deeply. He was so tired, not only physically, but emotionally as well. A sickness of the soul. Lucifys had told him that he had only begun to scratch the surface of his potential, that he had potential access to other skills and abilities he could only dream of. He had a glimpse of that in the village. He turned black as satin, grew horns and had weird red runes light up all over his body. 

He felt stronger and faster. He even blew fire out of his mouth! And he had almost died. For real this time. If he hadn't had help... And somewhere Lucifys was still at large. He took the Staff. What was he going to do with it? It didn't matter, it was just a trinket to Al. He had found his true Treasure. He hoped Evee wasn't mad at him for tricking her in the pyramid. He just wanted to get the drop on the skinchanger, and so he pretended to temporarily align with him. She was sharp, she probably knew that. He had started to consider what the skinchanger said. At the time he brushed it off, but could it be true? Humans were wicked. But is that all there was to it? There were some good people. The priest, the old man, mom, dad, Evee... Sure there were bad ones, but did that mean they all had to die? 

He didn't think so, but deep down he could sort of see Lucifys' point. Humans did seem to have an adverse effect on the planet and were cruel to each other. He tried to think of animals who were as pointlessly cruel to each other and couldn't think of any off the top of his head. Why did he even care? He wasn't human anymore. He was a vampyrus. But my soul is still human. And my heart. That was true, that was probably why he had fallen in love with Evee. A stupid, stupid thing for him to do, but he had done it anyway.

The floor creaked as Evee walked over to him from the north. She lay a hand on his shoulder as he buried his head in his hands in thought. A moment passed. "Are you alright?" Al grunted in response. After all this was over he just wanted to retreat to some tropical island with her and live a peaceful life. "What are you thinking about?" she asked. "Everything. Nothing. Us. All the things that have happened the past few days." She nodded.

She seemed out of it, she must have been as tired as he was. "It's going to be alright though," she said. He rose as he embraced her and they held each other tightly. Suddenly overcome by emotion tears welled up in his eyes and he began to cry. She continued to hold him sympathetically. 

They stayed there for what seemed like forever. "I...uh... I'm sorry about that. I don't know what came over me," he said. She nodded. She reached over and whispered something in his ear.

 "Al?" 

"Yeah?"

 "...you're so weak." 

Al looked at her in confusion.

 A wild look was in her eye. "Evee? Wh- " he began. 

An explosion of pain erupted in his chest. Al yelled out and looked down in surprise.

A golden dagger stuck into his chest to the hilt, dark blood bubbling out all around it. 

Evee smiled.