Trust me... I'm an Angel - 1. Part One : Transformation

He shuffled the cards two by two, much like Noah’s ark, the animals walking up the plank of wood heading towards a new world ready for the taking. However this world wasn’t what they were expecting. This brought a whole new meaning to the inevitable word. He looked at his deck whilst walking down the busy high street. Entertained. Engorged. Enthralled. He was going to kill someone. He had not planned it. It didn’t matter who or what it was. He felt the urge; the urge to do something sadistic, something uncontrollable. He had no one to tell him what to do. No rules. No one to restrict what wanted to do. Imagine what life would be like without rules, without restrictions, a life without loss...

That was when he saw it... A lost mind… a pile up… a train crash… each of them coming quite swiftly… much to his delight. He smiled deliciously, looked up to the sky and dreamt of what had happened before. He’d killed before, of course he had killed before but this time it was different. It was time for this body to die. He brushed back his white silken hair, looking for someone. It had to be a young model.. .look what had happened when he chose this current male. 20 when he started , he had aged horribly and was now 65. This was a rarity. He never aged in a younger model, it was one of these strange little things, when he aged he knew it was a body that he would have to change at some point, he had a sudden boredom with certain models of body that he felt that should just change his mind, change his soul… He looked at himself. Dark brown cotton trousers, white shirt, red necktie , gold rimmed sunglasses and a flat cap. Surely not someone who could kill? Of course not. He was far too innocent to be considered a killer. He extracted a pair of white gloves from his pocket and began to place them upon his nose and noticed a burning sensation in the hand that the cards were held in… they knew it was time. They were begging him to become something more... something more... vile.

He shuffled the cards once more, running his tongue along his top row of glistening teeth. He had chosen a model that looked far too much like a godly figure and that it didn’t help him coming from a religious family, being forced to attend church by his so called wife for 40 years... well the wife of the model he had chosen. Sitting through those lectures about how god will be our saviour and that Beelzebub is the ultimate devil He of course knew this was true but a deeper truth was locked within him. He continued to look around playing with his little toys, his little parts of pleasure until his humanly functions required some action.

He walked towards the bathroom and took in all the sights. Tthe place was rarely empty, always people heading in and out, usually all different, each different pickings for him. He’d had enough of just dealing with elderly women and young children when it was their time. It was his turn to show people that he was back. Back to take more than ever before but he suddenly had a moment of weakness. He saw a woman and child. He saw it... he was going to do it... he looked at his watch and saw the date... he was going to do it in one days time.

He then thought harshly of himself. He cannot have any emotion for the job he has to do. It was the model he was in... it had emotions... it wasn’t tainted when he came to join them. That was the flaw in the equation he had created. His plan. He had to find a creature, a human that had no heart, no soul, no anything. He turned around, his humanly requirement no longer needing to be satisfied for his other side needed attention. He saw it... He saw him. The one he was to become. It was perfect. He turned sharply towards the direction of the place he was heading, he smiled to himself and clicked his fingers. Within a second, the crowd close in on the empty space the man had disappeared at the blink of an eye…

He had miscalculated his landing plan and, landing with a stumble he tripped and fell onto a road grazing his hands and knees. It was winter where he was. His location unknown. All he knew was he was in a snowy field and it was cold... so very cold… Perfect to hide a body. He had enjoyed the body in the time he had it but he is already assumed missing and his face is on the news “Magical Dissapearance in High Street”. He couldn’t go back and he never would. Extracting his cards from his sleeve he began to slide a card from the top of the deck. For the first time, he felt a hunger... a hunger to kill this man... not in the way he usually does about killing others.. .he wanted this man’s soul... for his own. Scared of his own soul, something he had never been before… the human weaknesses finally coming further into the surface of things… he removed his necktie and wrapped each hand around an end. It revealed several bony features on his neck. He was ready… and his opponent was not.

The Perverted Man

Looking down, he noticed the boy was squirming.

“Come on boy... only a bit longer…”

He thrust forcefully into the boy and released himself inside of him…

The Boy screamed in pain…

“Oh you little pussy... You ruined my release... you’ll pay for that...”

He struck him hard across the back of the head and stood up.

He stared at the boy he had laid before him and could see what he had done to him.

His body sprawled over the bed... totally naked… totally exposed...

“Put a shirt on boy… you look disgusting…”. He looked at the boy sharply.

The boy sat up, threw the shirt on and smiled.. “Are you still going to hurt me…?

“Of course I am”. He kicked him in face forcing him to fall backwards...

The Boy’s body… was marked by several lacerations… every scratch… every bruise… every unexplainable injury... each had a meaning… each had an explanation… and it was a shame no one would believe him..

The Boy wept... and out of exhaustion seemingly passed out.

The Boy must have been only 17; quite a tall boy... his eyes, a shade of dark grey; his features… disturbed. He was fit… he was physically fit… but only because he had lived on the streets with his brother most of his life.. until this man had taken them in. They didn’t know what they were letting themselves in for. The boy sometimes wished he’d stayed on the streets…

He was only 17, so young for that to have happened.. The man looked and licked his lips seductively as he pulled his trousers above his waist, buttoned them and reattached his belt to them... and as he buckled it, he laughed. He looked at the boy and spat at him.

“You were never any good for me.”

The man kicked the boy between the legs which made him wake in a stir.. He leapt up and swung for the man’s face only to have his hand caught and crushed by the man in one foul swoop. The boy had realised something…

“Where is he? What have you done with..?”

“That’s for me to know... and for you never to find out.”

He laughed once more and kneed the boy in the face which caused him to fall onto the floor; unconscious once again..

The man walked across to his dresser and picked up the shirt that was hanging from it and slid into it. He placed a scarf over his neck and looked in the mirror.

“Practically Perfect.”.

He turned sharply, thinkingt he heard something moving..

“Boy!.Boy! Is that you?”

The boy was still unconscious.

“Who goes there?”

Still silence...

“I’m not afraid to kill you know.”

The man walked slowly and silently into the corridor of the house and saw a figure standing in the middle of his atrium.

“Who are you? I’m not afraid to kill… I’m not…”

The figure was a female. Tall... purpleish hair... a smile that could dazzle... She just stood still, smiling at him. She could only have been about 19. She stared down at her feet and didn’t respond to him. The man walked down the stairs towards her, his fears approaching faster than he could ever think. That was when he stopped as her eyes opened for the first time.

“Miss... are you okay?”

There was a red liquid in her eye... her eyes swollen red... her pupils extremely dilated. She looked like she had just lost her eyesight..

“Help me. Come closer sir… please… I only see darkness… only darkness…”

He ran towards her as fast as he could and wrapped his arms around her, his fatherly instincts for females kicking in..

“Good monsieur, you care so much for a girl just standing in your hallway, coming in from the cold snowy exterior of your house. You should really be more careful.”

“Sorry... I don’t understand, my dear.”

“It’s a custom, I believe, here to shake hands with a new guest is it not?”

“Of course...”

She held her hand out, her well crafted fingers exposed from under the night cloak she had arrived in.

“Please Monsieur. Help me... the darkness its unbearable..”.

The man was confused by her statements, but decided to ask something…

“Would you like to stay for the night, get yourself rested and all that?”

“You would do that for me…?”

“Oui mon belle ami. Jjust let yourself in … you know here is your home for as long as you need it..”.

He smiled, feeling something.. something he could adopt to his plan. He approached her and stared brashly down upon her. Behind his back he began to extract a knife from his pocket.

“Can I take your cloak?”

He wrapped his arms around her and began to unbutton the top of the coat.

“I prefer to travel with my body covered. Of course you understand..”

He refused to move.

“Sir... what are you doing?”

“I’m helping you... aren’t I?”

“Monsieur, I am dangerous I know you understand...”

“I don’t care. I just want to see you…”

“You already can see me.”

“I want to see behind that coat.”

He moved his hand sharply to her coast and swiped down the knife. Then he was amazed by what he saw. She smiled at him and forcefully kissed him. He had seen her in her true light... he saw her wing, her blackened wings.. .expanded.. .

“I told you I was dangerous.”

His eyes looked blood shot. He was crippling in the girls arms...

Upon this the elderly man flicked his necktie and sent the doors flying as he moved quickly into the hall and screamed “Pharzuph No! I need that soul!” He threw the necktie behind him.

She turned and saw him, beginning to cry as her wings began to close up “I’m sorry master… I couldn’t control myself. What can I do to redeem myself?”

“Get back into the deck...”

“No… not there… anywhere but there... I will do you anything you desire Sire.”

“I desire nothing. Your advances are nothing. Good lord my change is ready… I can see my personality changing, developing... becoming what I should be.”

He looked at her and took a card from his deck which he showed her...

“In you go...”

She looked in horror at the card and screamed loudly. Her skin began to burn as she turned to dust. The wind picked up from outside and caused the dust to go inside the card...

The man stared blankly at them.

“Look... sorry... if this is some sick Halloween joke then its not very funny.”

“This is no joke. I know about you, I know all about you. I know how you treat young boys… how you torture them into submission... how you take their virginity away from them in a bloody heap… fucking them so hard that you cause them to bleed for so long, and it causes them so much pain.”

“Look… this isn’t what I mean to do… its just for some...”

“Be quiet! Believe it or not I like you. And I want to take you...”

“Take me? Llook I don’t do over 20...”

“Not that way. I can see the two boys you have at the moment... best friends… how apt... but yet you refuse to take them at the same time... why is that? Bbring out your truth.”

“They are my cousins.”

“Your cousins you say!”. Well, well, well… hmmm I can see… they are two boys born of the same womb… its terribly delightful… that makes them brothers… oh this is more than I can bear… that shows me something. Each time you say something wrong I begin to like you even more… I still want you.”

“Okay... I’m ready.”

“I don’t want you sexually you fool. I want your body... your mind… your soul.”

The elderly gentlemen’s shadow began to move slowly between his legs, unnoticeable to the human eye... slowly and surely towards the man...

“What are you going on about? I mean, I screw boys on the side but that does...”

He began to choke violently, every breath becoming harder, his mind falling to the floor leaving his body, becoming yet another shadow on the ground. His eyes began to roll constantly as if he was having a seizure…

“Almost there... come on... give up...”

The man threw himself forward.

“Oh a feisty one… I like it... I love it. Come on... give up the fight.. I’m going to win.. I will win, you know I will… come on... let me in.”

He chanted this as the man’s eyes began to bleed and his mind finally became one with the shadow... there was no going back…

“Ready? In pain? This will hurt a lot more. but it will soon be over. Pain isn’t permanent. Only death is permanent... and who knows, you are becoming him.”

Death removed his sunglasses revealing his eyes. There was skin… there was such beautiful skin around the eyes... yet no eye balls. You could see behind them.. .you could see through to his brain... Where the brain should be there was nothing at all… just a mirror of what you will see in the end... only death... only thoughts of lost chances... only darkness.

Death looked deeply, going in to kiss him lightly, his wrinkled frame aging over and over... his features falling, dying. He was becoming someone else... and he was leaving his host... forever. Death finally, when he was ready, removed his cap which revealed his hair and his darkened halo. The darkness made the man scream.. .making him less of himself... making him weak... making a victim... making him what he dealt to so many others. The darkness of Death’s shadow began to surround him climbing up his legs, making him darker, making him Death. The elderly gentlemen went in for the final kill and kissed the already dead host. The shadow exploded with a force that covered the pair of them in a dark aura…

A body fell and from the darkness emerged a more dangerous figure... his body recloaked in different clothing... and the figure redeveloped... into something more satanic.

Death bent over the crippled, ghost like body of the elderly gentleman and laughed maliciously.

“Thank you ever so much for the many years of your time and I will have my cards thank you...”

He grabbed the cards from the elderly gentleman’s hand. From the moment he grabbed the cards the hand withered away into dust.

That was when Death realised his halo and his darkness were showing.

“I require something to cover these...”

He walked over to the elderly gentleman’s body and took the sunglasses, then he pointed his finger at the trilby on the table and it came towards him and surrounded the halo on top of his head. He walked outside of the door and, noticing the necktie he summoned it up and it tied itself around his neck.

He looked at his deck and laughed dangerously. He shuffled it. Twice.

The Boy’s Brother

A Silence befell the room he was locked in. The wind began to pick up outside, starting a snowstorm.. The Brother stared at the ceiling from where he was laid and all he could see was darkness. A light permeated from a small window in the top of the room .He was stuck there... locked in with no escape. His mind was his only escape. The cell wasn’t very homely. A wooden board with a white cover, a small toilet, a sink and a flap in the door for food. How could anyone live like this? He looked into the corner at a small picture... a picture of his Ilya. How he wondered if he was alright. He stared around waiting for what was to come. It was inevitable. He had gone four days without it. Five days without the other thing. All because he denied his master wishes. His master, whom he was forced to service when his brother was exhausted. Today was the day. Today was the day everything was going to change. He was determined. He was going to get his own back. He was going to save his brother. He was going to save his mind. He was going to defeat the monster he was supposedly owned by. Even if he was going to die trying. “Ilya…”

The Woman and Child

She looked into the crowd and saw something very strange. An elderly man, staring at her, she tried to connect eyesight with him but strangely failed...

. She continued to walk uncomfortably. She glanced around resisting the urge to look back. She smiled at Alesha and said “You okay honey? Where do you want to go? Mummy has finished her chores for the day”. Alesha giggled and whispered back

“Can we go for a pizza?”

“Pizza? My My You have great taste don’t you honey? Right, lets go.” She walked on, trying to find a route that would allow her to avoid the strange elderly gentlemen but then Alesha said

"Mummy where are we going... are you trying to avoid that creepy guy we saw earlier? The pizza place is back before we saw him."

She sighed “Oh... did we?” They turned around and began to walk back up the hill, as she saw something odd... a loose wire on the telephone pole. She thought nothing of it and carried on walking up the high street. Noticing a build up of traffic on the other side of the street, she once again thought nothing of it.

“Mummy, what do you keep staring at?”

“Oh nothing, nothing, just keep walking.” And they did. They reached the top of the hill and saw something quite out of the ordinary.

The elderly gentlemen that they had seen earlier was turning to dust. Nothing special. Nothing important. Just dust. They saw the shadow surround him. They saw the act and they could see that this was no sham.

“Alesha… cover your eyes.. don’t look honey… don’t look.” She stared at the dust... she was captured by it. She was becoming part of it... she could see the dust and it was finding her. She could see where he was going... what he was going to do… it sickened her...

“Mummy?”

“Oh snap out of it.” She thought to herself.

“Sorry darling... I’m here. Mummy just zoned out for a few seconds.” She carried on walking, but during he time she had been zoned out a crowd had gathered.

“What was that?” “The old guy disappeared!” “Anyone watching him?” voices from the crowd were shouting. She had to escape.. she had to find him. She had been given a sort of premonition and she had to follow it... till death did they part...

“Alesha, we have to go visit grandma.”

“No not grandma.. anywhere but grandma’s.”

“Sorry but Mummy has to go away... go far away.”

The Boy

He lay there, blood dripping from his chin.. .squirming in pain... pleading to have something happen... willing to walk with him once more. But he couldn’t give up just yet, he had to be saved... he had to be. He was in so much pain, so much insufferable pain. He had to be saved. He started to scream..

“Dimitri… DIMITRI…” But there was no reply. He pleaded... he pleaded with his scream but yet still no answer. He didn’t even care what answered... just something had to save him. Whether it be an angel, or... whatever, he would welcome with open arms. He dropped to a whisper “Somebody...”

The Woman and The Guardian Fallen Angel

Her mind was racing from corner to corner, trying to make sense of what had just happened, although she could not. It was if she had seen the end. The end of everything. It was as if her soul was stolen from her but returned at the same time. Was anyone else affected in this way? She doubted this... it was her belief that death had chosen her.

Chosen. Such an over used word. She wasn’t going to admit, she wasn’t going to say she was “the chosen one” or anything, just lucky she guessed. She looked up to the boards that said when the next flight was due “Switzerland : Delayed. Approximate Arrival Time : 3.25 pm GMT”.

“Damn” she whispered under her breath. She was hoping to uncode this mystery as soon as she could but it seemed that time was against her. She continued to sit, when she noticed something out of the corner of her eye, something moving. “It’s an airport, everything moves.” But in her thoughts it wasn’t human... it wasn’t what she had been dreaming of either. This creature... this man if that’s what you’d call it...was waiting for her, waiting for her to follow him. Unsure if it was leading her to her death or not,she hoped that it was leading her into another life. A way to escape. Her final escape.

Her life was boring, monotonous... it had no spark, no excitement... just your boring average Joe. Except she knew she wasn’t. She had so much further to go... or when she found the man it was her time to go… she prayed not, but death demands very high fees, even she knew that, no matter what rubbish the church insisted on spreading around the place.

She looked up again. “Damn... still an hour late.” Again she noticed something in the corner of her eye. This time she didn’t ignore it. When she turned around a man was leaning against a pillar smoking a cigarette. Nothing wrong with that; except that smoking isn’t allowed in airports. He must be a rule breaker. But it was what he did that made her think. He moved around a lot. He didn’t stay still. But he had one main focal point. Her. His eyes never left her.

She wanted to try something.

Standing she saw him out of her corner of her eye, saw him sit down shadily with his back against the wall. She giggled. She walked a few paces forward without thinking about it and saw, once again that he had moved across the room leaning against the departure tunnel entrance. She wondered what would happen if… She wandered off by herself into the duty free corridor, turned around, and there he was again. Smoking his cigarette. She didn’t know if he was something to be scared of or something to revel in. She of course, following a natural human reaction, ran. She ran to the other side of the hall and up some stairs and around as many corners as she could find. And there he was...

Standing there smoking his cigarette...

She stared at him, at his impossible abilities and decided to be the hunted no longer. It was time for the hunted to become the hunter. A change in tactics was required. And what a clever plan she had. Not to hunt straight away... but to wait.

She ran suddenly to her left into the food court and then up the escalator, shoving several people out of the way until she reached the top and burst into the womens’ toilet skirting around the cubicles in the centre. People began to stare vacantly at her. A girl went up to talk to her but she had already gone.

She continued to run until she suddenly stopped. Then it happened. His shroud...His shadow... He appeared from behind her... He became part of her shadow. She looked around in front of her wondering where he went when he simply leant forward and kissed her ear and whispered in his airy yet sensual tone... “Hello...” He strangely emphasized the ‘lo’ part of the word which provoked quite a strange reaction with her. She had to catch him. She had to...

She turned slowly trying to catch him, but then he then just descended into shadow once more, she tried to think of running but she refused to allow the temptation anymore. She looked up and read a sign advertising a film. “A Stranger holds the key to your heart”. This was his doing. She knew it was... What is he … where is he from? She stopped and thought “No use in hunting... he cannot be hunted I guess. I was enjoying that.” She headed back to her seat in the other area. She felt her ear and found a black mark rubbed off on her finger... she thought nothing of it.

She found something quite extraordinary when she got there. A Note... a crumpled up piece of paper. She unfolded it and gasped at what was written on the page…

Name is Semyaza. Glad to have met you. I know we will meet again. Take the next flight. He is waiting for you.

She thought. “Semyaza... what a beautiful name.”

She was confused by the rest of the note. He could see her future? She would find out she hoped and soon too.

He sealed it... the crumpled bit of paper... with a kiss... just an ordinary kiss... but with black lipstick

. He must have been real…

She boarded the flight and he appeared, to watch her fly off towards where his master was. “It wasn’t lipstick…” He stared off into the distance and a tear began to roll down his cheek. Gaining control of himself again, becoming the fallen that he truly should be, he turned and once again became shadow.

The Boy

He stared up into the abyss that was his former home... the place where he grew up... a young child with a twin.. living with their mother and father... the place where him and his Dimitri grew up, the place where they learn to cook, to sew, to make do and mend all the things that any human being should do. Then of course, the illness struck. First his mother... then his father... the illness should never have came but they say theres always something to do with the water... then he came along, the heartless swine that was their older cousin, he took everything away from them and made what they owned his for ever... he took it from them... piece by piece... delicately... deviously... until there was no more and they were made to become his secret sex slaves... The Boy hated it with his entire soul and could not wait to get out of there to live his life with his precious Dimitri.

He looked around the room, heartbroken, and saw what had happened. He had lost himself to that monster... he had lost himself for the last time. He stared once again… and began to scream for help.

He saw a figure approached and assumed it was the man, coming to finish him off. But the figure seemed more gentle, more caring. She stood and gazed down onto him, her eyes filled with the hurt of his years and she was hurt by what she saw. He saw her looking at his bruises, the several lacerations to his skin and she found him broken, changed. He was... in a word... ruthless. She could see he was ready to kill. He was ready to take another’s life.. but only one.

He saw her bend down towards him and she whispered into his ear “Its alright… don’t worry I’m here… he isn’t going to hurt you anymore.”

“But you know nothing about me.”

“I know I don’t, but I’m sure I was sent here to look after you, for some reason.”

“Wait... You were sent here... How?”

“I guess... I just saw it in the shadows of the dying...”

“Lady. I think you’re nuts.”

“And you’re bleeding heavily from your neck. Do you want me to help you or not?”

“Yes… sorry…”

“That is better. Now, let’s see... we need to get a bandage on these wounds.”

He was staring at her and wondered why she was treating him with such kindness. Ripping the hem of her dress she took a layer of cloth and wrapped it around his neck, applying pressure to the wound as she had learned in her first aid classes.

He saw him enter, silently but assured. He strode slowly towards them and the boy began to scream... “It’s him” Oh god no! Not him. God no.. help me.. help me please”

“Who? Whats wrong?” She began to panic wondering how to maintain a calm face whilst dealing with someone who was on the brink of hysteria. She turned around and she could see nothing. The perverted man had hidden himself inside of the shadows waiting to pounce. She stared back at the boy and behind her the shadowed figure approached again, unseen by The Woman, a silence befell the room... a card slipped from out of the bottom of the deck of cards he was holding…

“Tell me what’s wrong.”

“He is back.. he’s back for me..” He began to violently writhe about striking the woman on the arm. She winced in pain.

The Woman

The Perverted man stepped behind her and just hid himself in the shadows once again. A brash wind floated by as a card floated away from the perverted man, a glint in the boys eyes showed his fear.

“He is here... he’s here. I can see him. Help…” the boy screamed at her.. He began to crawl away as fast as he could but he was too late.

She looked at him, confused and suddenly turned around but she saw nothing… Just darkness…

She saw the darkness. She saw... she saw what she had seen in the ashes. Pure nothing… Then she saw it... she saw her life ending... she saw someone new... she saw the man who was going to kill her. She couldn’t tell who he was... all she noticed was a gash across his cheek... recently healed. What has she done to herself?

She decided to strike first and smashed towards him in the self defence technique she had learnt watching her daughter’s karate classes, get them to the floor and kick them. She was sure that was what they said to do. She struck at him, but fell forward as there was nothing there. She turned around and there was the inevitable darkness.

“Why do you even try? When you know you are going to lose?” He gripped the back of her neck and she winced in pain.

“Please... please don’t hurt me.”

“Hurt you? HURT YOU!?!? I’M GOING TO FUCKING KILL YOU!” He laughed with a high pitched sadism, which had been adopted in the crossover. “Oh… an evil laugh.. I’m going to enjoy this body...” He laughed once more and gripped her harder.

“Oh God... Oh god no...”.She screamed... but she felt the grip loosen.. She didn’t have second thoughts. She didn’t even look back.. .she just ran into the corridors of the lost mansion. When she took a sneaky look behind her, just to see what happened, she saw him. She let out a piercing scream...and just continued to run away..

The Boy

When she had struck The Perverted Man maliciously, The Boy had pushed himself up onto his elbows and used them to drag himself along the floor, his knees projecting him forward as fast as he could, each movement causing him more pain. He knew there was something wrong with him. He had been hurt. Blood was coming from his neck and his ankle was injured. It looked like he was trying to learn to walk once again. Once he had crawled as far as he could, he reached his arm out, stretching for something and finally he touched something... his arm reached the card.. He thought “If Death can use these cards... I wonder if I can as well.” He used his finger to move it towards him, dragging it along the ground, the pain was beginning to take him over. He was close to giving up when he finally got the card onto its front.

Drawn onto the card was the image of a tall man; blond hair, prominent features. The card had no name. Like a playing card, it had a large skull as the suit and a large S as the character. The boy fell off his elbows and rolled onto his back in exhaustion.

He watched, waiting, for at least something to happen... but nothing did. He tried with all his energy to turn over once again to reach the card. He rolled onto his side and tried to reach but he couldn’t so he thrust his knee forward to give him some propulsion and tried again, for the final time, to kick himself forward. He pushed, and threw his arm forward placing the palm of his hand on the card. He concentrated and that was when he appeared…

“God it’s dirty in there.”. Semyaza smiled maliciously.. “Oh... this is interesting. Hello how do you do? I’m Semyaza.” He bent down and shook the boy’s hand.

“What the hell do you think you’re doing, look over there?”

“Oh... right... Ah...” He saw the situation before him. Death himself, manhandling the woman he had found for him. “I never agreed to this.” His eyes flared a dark black. “You have crossed the line.” He felt something take him over, a whole world of darkness. He saw himself walk calmly behind Death, using the darkness he had gained. He couldn’t explain it, he felt a connection to this woman.. and this connection was dangerous, but satisfying at the same time. He gripped Death by the neck and connected his hand to the perverted man’s hand focussing.. .which was when he heard it. He had not noticed her run away... he just concentrated... he concentrated too much. He heard her realise... he saw her see what he truly was, his wings expanded, his darkness showing. The madness had taken him… the madness had controlled him.. he wasn’t in control.. and he was going to pay for it. He stepped slowly backwards towards where she had gone when the perverted man came out of his trance.

“Semyaza… get back in the card now.”

“No… I wont let you hurt her.”

“She’s a human. How can you possibly care for her?”

“You were human once... remember… as was I Do you really think I’m not going to care?”

“It’s called being heartless and soulless... but I always forget you are the Fallen Angel of Human Kindness. You never understood... and I guess I’m going to have to make you pay...”

He flicked his wrist and the front doors slammed shut, bringing the place into total darkness..

“You know... they say I should fight you fairly, but that wouldn’t be nice. I know... I’ll give you some Illumination.” Death extracted a card from the deck and released the Pheonix. “Light us my dear…” The Phoenix looked down at him and looked once at Semyaza. It cried its loud mournful cry and it burst into flames setting the curtains on fire... setting the stairs on fire. The place was about to burn... and there was no escape. For anyone.

“I would say that’s pretty fair?”

“Who said I was ever going to fight you?” He began to mentally panic. He thought... he had to do this quickly, he had to save her… even if it only gained them time.

“I can already tell. I can see it in your eyes.”

“You saw what…”

“The Disadvantage of being part of the deck. I can always see when you are about to attack. Your eyes darken.”

“Oh...”

“So are you going to kill me or what?”

Semyaza didn’t need another request. He ran quickly towards him and used his focus again to create a second him. The original prepared to fight Death himself, while the alternative him ran down the corridor to follow the woman who ran away.

to find her..

to help her..

to protect her..

The Boy’s Brother

The sounds began to get louder. His mind wondered what was happenning. He recognized one of the three voices that were projecting themselves... His Ilya... His loving Ilya... in pain. He was in pain and there was nothing he could do about it. He tried so hard… A Scream, a woman’s scream. He was confused by this but he tried... He tried so hard to escape. He lifted himself from the floor onto the bed, cringing deeply in pain, as he tried to scream… but he found he could not. He was in far too much pain. He had been there for hours; it could have been days, screaming… and trying to stand. It was a personal success to have reached this particular point in the room. He felt his senses leaving him… his vision fading and his physical presence falling onto the bed. He needed rest. He tried so hard… but he couldn’t do anything except sleep…

**

He awoke not much different from when he fell asleep, until he sat up and saw a strange man leaning against the door of his prison.. The door was covered within darkness. Only the bed in his room was illuminated by light from the windows. The prison's walls were covered in his own blood.. they say in your last moments you truly see your own light... He had come so close to his final moment too many times. He stared at the man and twitched his head… the strange figure twitched his head too… Dimitri tried to stand, thrusting his torso forward but he fell into a kneeling position. The Man lifted his wrist and flicked it upwards which caused Dimitri to stand...

“What are you?”

“Just a friend…”

“I’ll ask again… What are you?”

“Just a passing creature… looking to give a hand to those who need it.”

“Look... I don’t know what you’re trying to say.”

“Oh come on... you are far more intelligent than that. I can assure you… I can smell it in your breath.”

“In my breath?”

“I must sound awfully sinister; I apologize. It feels good... so good... to disobey one’s master... one’s leader… to escape that god forbidden world. It feels … like I am my own creature.”

Then the shadow from the door stepped forward and revealed his face.

“Hello… now we can see each other” the shadow said.

“What are you talking about? Unless you’ve not noticed... I can barely move and you can move me.” He began to shout..” I’LL ONLY ASK ONCE… WHAT ARE YOU!”

“I have black wings… deathly lips... and I have special abilities... What do you think I am, Jesus?”

“DON’T FUCK WITH ME!”

“Oh alrigh,t alright.. calm down. Don’t get your knickers in a twist..”

“This is hardly a time for levity.”

“Aha! Using posh words. I like you. Anyway... I should do what I came to do.”

The creature touched him and Dimitri suddenly felt a surge of energy, an energy he had never felt before. He had been reborn, but at a price. His saviour had lost himself, he had fallen. He was quivering on the floor. He was in as much pain as Dimitri had been in, if not more.

A few seconds…

“What are you waiting for... GO!” The crippled body screamed. “There’s another me, waiting, one of my many abilities. Just RUN!”…

“You never told me your name…”

“Its Semyaza. Good Luck.”

With this Dimitri began to run and never looked back, he was too afraid to see what would happen.

All things turn to dust...

As the copy of Semyaza would do… all of the power used to make the copy travelled back straight to the other Semyaza...

There’s nothing like an original…

The Original Semyaza

The fight was strenuous... a fight of great magnitude.. it was a fight he knew that he could not win. It was a fight he could only wish to postpone the inevitable. Fighting with Death is like fighting that which cannot be stopped. He defended himself with as much vigour as he could but he knew he would have to run. And he did, he escaped with the thought in mind that she would escape, to live another day.

The Perverted Man

The man looked up at the flames burning around him and smiled at the carnage that he was causing. He stared down at the boy as he walked patiently towards the exit the woman had taken but sharply turned and knelt down at the boy’s side. The boy appeared motionless.

“Hmm... you were quite good looking at some point… too bad I beat it out of you.” He shuddered “Good god! The things my host has done to you… and you don’t even know what I could do to you. I could make the pain so many times worse. I may even do that…” He laughed maliciously and lightly brushed the boy’s dark hair behind his ears… “The Dead should be treated with respect. I cause it, so why would I not protect it...” He rose from his kneeling position and turned towards the corridor.

The boy suddenly gained action. Rising he kicked Death in the hand. His deck had been kicked out of his hand. The boy smiled in delight and the man just simply laughed and shouted “GOHOLOR”. Most of the cards rose back to their owner... except for four of them. He was too late… they had been dropped… and forever… released…

The creatures rose from their small cells of darkness and they all turned towards their master. He began to speak in the same language that he had spoken previously... “NOQUOL PA-AOX ZAMRAN”

One of the larger creatures, its eyes swollen and its features distorted stepped forward “AMMA BAEOUIB” and with that the 4 creatures… you could call them spirits, even angels, fled down the corridor… following the true, honest human scent…

The man reacted calmly, as he usually did, and gathered his composure sliding the top card off his captured deck and held it out “PHARZUPH!”. The innocent looking girl appeared in front of him and stared vacantly at him. “What...are you waiting for?”

“Orders… sir…”

“Get them you fool!”

And on this she pounced, tigerlike into the darkness, to prowl the corridors within this mansion. The man looked at the carnage of the fire that was consuming the place “This didn’t quite go to plan...” With a flick of his wrist, the fire was gone, but the danger of the situation was, to a point, heightened.

“Why do I give Pharzuph and Semyaza the gift of human speech? One is remarkably stupid and the other is a traitor.. Oh well… You know what they say…”

He laughed darkly.

“I can always make more of them”….

The Boy’s Brother

He ran along with every reserve of strength that he had left, not sure how much further he could go on. Staring into the distance he felt himself dropping from his consciousness but still he had to go on. He had to save his brother, he had to help, he just had to… he couldn’t help it; it was instinct. He turned a corner in the corridors of the godforsaken place and came across a hallway of paintings. In his imagination, although he wasn’t sure if it was ,his imagination at all probably the madness of not eating... he could swear he saw the pictures coming alive. One particular picture. He looked at the comment below it “Asmodeus. Archdeamon of the Fallen Angels. Approach With Care.” His features looked as if they were plastered on, skin dripping off, no hair just veins and more veins and no clothing. Naked as the day he was born... only a small waist cloak to cover his intimate areas but all he could see was perfection. The boy was losing his mind surely…

He saw himself through his moment of madness, curled up into the foetal position. A position into which the human naturally moves if they are looking for protection. It was strange, he could feel something on his back. Not big. Not small. Just something there. Something different. It was if it was speaking to him... but in some sort of hidden ancient language, and yet he could understand ever word, “My name is Proc’el. Don’t move. Move and you die. It’s the way I do things.” He began to turn to look over his shoulder, “No! Do not look around. It would kill you. I must stay out of sight and out of touch. I am just simply here to help. My master... He dropped me... He let me go... He released me… you understand of course. You do, you are my lovely Dimitri, of course you understand...”

A figure appeared from the darkness in the distance, “Proc’el. Release.”. The figure approached, a lost mind and lost soul. A dark cloak, a veil covering his or her face,

“You must be Dimitiri?”

“How the fuck does everyone already know my name?”

“Oh… we listen... the cards... we can hear everything. We hear thoughts and actions... we know what our master says and we have been abandoned so we revert to the next powerful figure, and that is you sire.” He took a bow…

“Look I’m not some sort of royalty, I’m just an ordinary guy.”

“With an extraordinary childhood. That’s why you have been chosen.”

Dimitri felt a tear rolling down his cheek. Memories best forgotten. “Can’t you just leave us alone… just leave us?”

“We cannot. Ornias… Come...”

A creature, half formed approached. It hurt to see it approach.

“Who are you? What are you?”

“Creatures. Abandoned Creatures.” The half form spoke. It had a gasping tone, it couldn’t get his words to come from thought to lips. “You must think we are so rude. My name is Berna’el. Pleased to meet you. I already know all about you so there is no need to introduce yourself. And this is Ornias. Ornias show him what you can do.”

Ornias creeped forward and in a flash of light he turned into an identical copy of Berna’el. “You see... I am not what I seem to be.” The Ornias-Berna’el spoke, in the same voice as Berna’el.

“Okay… return Ornias… we need not hide our natural selves with this boy.” Yet again a flash of light and Ornias returned to his natural self. That was when he saw Berna’el. Nothing… A shroud of darkness... a shroud of darkness with only the slight hint of red within his eyes... a true figure of darkness and evil. “As you can see, I prefer to hide my figure from within my cloak. Of course I can see, within your mind, that you understand.”

“How do you do that?”

“I understand everything that is dark and evil... forever and always..”

Proc’el’s voice speaking the unfamiliar language came from Dimitri’s back once again “Yes… I can see it now… you will have darkness: true; full; darkness. You will not realise... but you will have the complete shroud of darkness… and yet… you will keep your light. One day you will be the light again. You are going to trick him… you are going to trick the master…” Proc’el began to climb over Dimitri’s shoulder.

Berna’el saw this. “Proc’el! No!”

Berna’el launched himself towards Dimitri and began to maul at an invisible space, although he could see nothing, Dimitri could feel the creature on his back being defeated once more…

Berna’el straightened up and stared at Dimitri. “My Apologies. Proc’el gets excited. He can see the darkness and the future of all, but he cannot see light. That is his curs. He has spent an eternity in darkness, much like the rest of us. Some it drives insane but some, such as the likes of Semyaza and his Majesty Asmodeus, use the power to their own gain. Pharzuph doesn’t. She uses it to corrupt the gentle and the innocent. She is a force to be reckoned with…”

“But… I don’t understand. Was it telling me I can defeat Death itself.”

“It is entirely possible.” The deformed creature piped up.

“What?” both Berna’el and Dimitri said at the same time…

“If you could gather the cards and cause them to gather around Death himself, then maybe… just maybe you could defeat him… it is a big maybe though.”

“It’s the best we have. Good luck my friend you will need it.”

Then his vision was impaired by a falsh of red light, he then felt a sudden sharp pain in his face. Dimitri turned around to notice Pharzuph standing behind him holding him and scratching his face sharply.

She stood smiling enjoying it as if it was an orgasmic bliss. It was as if time had frozen or was going in slow motion. Proc’el saw this happening and turned from his back launching himself into the face of Pharzuph. She was silent… Proc’el was taking her soul away… clamped to her face… clamped as tightly as possible, until Berna’el asked Proc’el to release her. He held her as she fell and kissed her lightly on the lips, his blackened lips removing the last of her. The loss of the soul and the lost of the heart. From the distance came a scream of pain. Her card had turned to dust. As they say... everything turns to dust within the end of it all…

“Dimitri… we must disappear… for the safety of all of us. Farewell...".

They disappeared into the darkness from whence they came. From there Dimitri felt he knew what he had to do. He ran on through the darkness… On his way to find his brother…

A Creature of Dark Seduction

A wind blew from the entrance hall, through the darkened hall, through the windows and up and around until it reached the corridor where she was last existent, in the corridor, next to the painting of Asmodeus.

The pieces of card… forming slowly... from dust back into a world of pure darkness, a world of pure seduction, a selection of freedom… a sort of maturity. A card has been formed. From the darkness within, a figure begins to rise:, more powerful, with a greater maturity; no longer a girlish figure but a strong independent woman. Her power is greater than ever before. Her power has returned, her individuality restored. Now she truly appears as what she is… A Fallen Angel of Dark Seduction. Her name is Pharzuph. Fear Her.

Parzuph bent down, slowly and majestically, and picked up the one thing that kept her within her miserable prison. Her card. A piercing scream. No creature has ever help their own card. They say it’s a pain worse than any pain anyone could ever go through, like a million hells in the same instant. Most have died, but she carried on, she felt an even greater manifestation of darkness within herself.

“I am ready… I can do what I like… OH the realm of possibility.”

With this she ran sharply into the darkness of the night…

The Boy

A slice of pain, a gash of injury and a scream of suffering. The boy looked up at his defeater, losing breath with every pull of the creature’s strings. The creature above like a master puppeteer, made every part of his body dance,, creating extreme pain and secretly implanting more pain with every bit of submission.

The Perverted Man sat and watched the creature beat the boy as he whispered slowly in the hidden language “Good Sorath… Calm Sorath.. Take your time… kill him slowly…”

He laughed, again, maliciously.

The boy cried in self pity, “Please… why are you doing this… Why?” A sudden gasp for breath cut his words short.

“Because life is just a toy… And I enjoy breaking it…”

From the background a sound of deep shrieks and disquieting noises could be heard and from deep within the boy he felt a true defeat of the figure standing above him, he felt his heartbeat begin to race.

Someone was coming to save him however he wasn't quite sure who it was…

He saw his brother... his wonderful Saviour Dimitri emerging from the darkness, he smiled gladly that he was here, he observed him gathering something, he assumed them to be the cards. He watched him avoid every movement of death, every swipe, every dodge was exacted perfectly. He saw this happen... and he was grateful of the woman who tried to save him and of his brother who was trying to save him at the moment... but he knew it was almost over.

… He saw the shadows, the creatures of Death’s card realm until… the boy could breathe no more….

END OF PART 1