Of Gods and Vampires Ch. 03

The angel Saphora stretched out on the chaise lounge and contemplated the brilliant aquamarine sky. She stretched her three soft pink wings and lifted effortlessly into the sky. The sun was warm on her back and the breeze was gentle as she made her way to the silver palace across the sea. She dipped low down to the water and trailed the ends of her fingers over it's glasslike surface before shooting up toward the veranda twelve stories straight up.

Saphora touched down gracefully on the white marble floor of the veranda. The columned archway leading into the palace was lined with silver and gold filigree. The ceiling was patterned with gentle geometric shapes and flora motifs. As she walked across the cool white marble her bare feet made no sound. The interior of the palace was cool and spacious draped with airy silks and comfortable plush furniture. She climbed the stairs slowly and turned to the right to follow a long hall to another spiraling staircase leading upward further.

She climbed the stairs tirelessly until she reached the grand hall close to the pinnacle of the palace. The walls were made of pearly glass that allowed in the light and sights of the sky around her but reflected like mirrors from the outside. The room was built entered around a dais with a large silk draped throne that dominated the entire end of the room. The throne was placed so that the rising sun came up behind the throne and created a grand spectacle with that stark imagery. At the moment the hall was empty save chaises, throws, and sofas distributed around the room.

"I've been waiting for you." The masculine voice boomed.

"I'm sorry I was delayed." Saphora bowed low. "How may I serve you my Lord?"

"Such love and devotion." God smiled as he stood slowly and walked toward the young angel. "I need you to do something for me."

"Anything my Lord." Saphora smiled.

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Gabriel brooded in his chamber in the silver palace. His silent reflection was troubled by the events that were propelling things forward on a dangerous track. Nothing made sense anymore and the end result was uncertain. Gabriel ran his fingers down the soft downy feathers of his wings and sighed as he remembered the feel of earthly skin so much softer. His brother was not to be trusted and the fragile truce that sustained things right now would not last forever.

Gabriel stood and stretched tiredly before heading to his audience with God. He placed his best face on and climbed the stairs with great trepidation. God had always been a very difficult and often unpredictable in his sudden changes of mood and character. The burden of the six wings weighted heavily on Gabriel as his responsibility and duties settled back onto his shoulders like the wings protruding from them.

"Gabriel." God's voice was smooth and silky.

"Yes my Lord." Gabriel took a knee before Him.

"I have missed you in your long absence but I understand that a demon possession was to blame for your abandonment of your duties." God purred in his silky dangerous voice.

"That is correct my Lord I was most unfortunately unwise enough to fall for one of my former brother's schemes."

"It happens." God nodded. "But your true love of your God won over Lucifer's poison. Now there is much that needs to be done around here there are two other gods in the kingdom who challenge my rule and the love I give to my angels."

"I understand." Gabriel whispered.

"Take Saphora and bring me the head of the so called god Diamius."

"Yes my Lord."

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Eve soared over the landscape of heaven keeping a low profile and hugging the ground as much as possible. As the sun began to sink in the sky Eve saw a gold topped dome in the distance and set down on a hill overlooking it. The palace in the distance was wide and Mughal styled with round domed towers similar to the Taj Mahal.

Eve watched as several winged figures floated down from the sky and into the palace as the night set in. There were no lights in the palace and the soft grey colored stone was the only thing that made the palace discernable in the low light.

She took to the air and made her way down to the palace landing silently in an open courtyard before the main entrance. The arched doorway was open and unguarded which gave her a moment of pause before she walked slowly inside. The doorway became a long hallway that opened up into a broad chamber bathed in rich dark silks and heavy incense and perfumes. Seated directly before her was a wizened old figure.

The man was neither old nor young but possessed an ageless quality that extruded a deep calm and sense of power. He sat and met Eve's level stare with his own and said nothing simply waited as though he had expected her for some time. She looked over the rich clothing he wore and the deep golden hue of his skin and wondered what land called this man God. He smiled as though her thoughts amused him.

"Who are you?" Eve questioned.

"My name is Diamius and you are Eve." He smiled.

"You know me?"

"I know of you dear Eve and I know what has brought you here although you do not yet know it yourself." Diamius gestured to a rug near his feet. "Sit we have much to discuss."

Eve felt the wings on her back bristle and twitch fluttering with her inner turmoil as she walked over to be seated near Diamius.

"Your wings look healthy my dear, but torn. One set black, one set white as you wage with the duality of your soul. And two pair hardly what I'd expect of someone of your power."

"I suppose I should strive for six like Gabriel?" Eve smirked.

"Oh heavens no!" Diamius laughed richly. "Six wings is a sign of a warrior slave one committed to another to serve for a lifetime. Four wings is the sign of an unclaimed power with no allegiances open to be influenced. Three wings is the majority rule in the heavens those angels devoted to one god or another who serve with mindless abandon and devote their lives to another's cause. So while four wings is not so bad it is not what I would expect from you."

"Should I have none at all as you do?" Eve eyed his naked back.

Diamius laughed merrily. "Do I have none Eve? So easily fooled are you!"

Diamius stretched and with an ease of many years practice his wings pushed out from his shoulders through the slits in the back of his robes and stretched wide. They were glorious a single pair of huge white wings that spanned perhaps five feet more than her own and were filled out to an impressive size with downy white fluff and elegant perfect flight feathers.

"They're beautiful." Eve whispered.

"A god's wings." Diamius flexed them powerfully. "When you learn to master your wings they will retreat when you ask and come forth when you wish it. Your wings hold more power than flight alone Eve you would be wise to search yourself for your power before you come up against someone who has control of theirs."

"I haven't come here for a lesson in the use of my wings." Eve muttered.

"No, you have come for Time. It calls to you now as surely as your own soul will call you to your rightful place. Time is a fickle thing Eve and to posses it you must face your own heaven and your own hell and know the difference between the two. A true mastery of yourself is needed to posses Time many have tried for it and failed and there have been those who possessed it and were driven mad by it.

"Our time is not long Eve and I cannot give you half the guidance I wish I could impart upon you. As we speak Gabriel comes for my head at the order of the lord God." Diamius smiled. "This end for me is inevitable and I have no will to fight it. You must decide if you wish to seek Time or not for only I can send you on the path, it dies with me."

"I can kill Gabriel and there will be no need to cut our conversation short."

Diamius laughed. "So eager to kill Gabriel? A harder task than you might believe and like you he has to fulfill his own part in this drama; Lucifer has seen to that. Gabriel does not yet see his truth and without it he is lost. Unlike his brother Lucifer, Gabriel is at odds with himself and who he is, he refuses to question what he has been told and live up to his potential. In many ways living on Earth and being free of the influences here in heaven was the best thing for him.

"Lucifer is a stronger being than Gabriel is now. In time Gabriel may grow to understand his place but Lucifer will always be the stronger, wiser and truer of the two brothers."

"Truer?" Eve spat. "From the Prince of Lies himself? I hardly think Lucifer will ever be the truer anything."

"So much still to learn Eve." Diamius stood slowly. "Do you wish to seek Time Eve yes or no?"

"Yes."

Diamius nodded and pulled her to her feet. "Close your eyes Eve."

Eve closed her eyes and felt his hands cup her cheeks. His hands ran down her neck and shoulders all the way down her silk clad sides and she felt warm from head to toe.

"Know yourself Eve only when you do will you succeed. Accept your light and your dark and make your choices wisely. This is all the help I can give you now."

"DIAMIUS!" Gabriel's voice boomed as he stepped into the hall his wings stretched wide and a short sword in his hand. "What are you doing with Eve."

"Be brave my dear." Diamius pulled Eve close and with a sudden violent cleaving motion tore a whole into the fabric of reality and shoved Eve into it. He sealed the hole the second she vanished.

Gabriel was at Diamius' throat within a second slamming him back into the marble column. "What did you do to Eve!"

"She is gone Gabriel and nothing you can do will bring her back she will not return until she is ready, perhaps never at all."

"You speak in riddles old man. Where did you send her and why? Answer me!" Gabriel dug his nails into Diamius' throat.

"You will never know."

Gabriel roared as he brought the sword down on Diamius' neck severing his head. He took the head of Diamius by the hair and stalked back toward where Saphora stood.

"That was the infamous Eve?" Saphora smirked. "She looked like nothing better than a common tart."

"Mind your tongue Saphora." Gabriel walked out of the building without another word.

The two angels lifted into the sky and set off back toward the silver palace with their prize. The flight was a long slow affair in which Gabriel brooded over the sudden appearance of Eve in heaven and what it could mean. Had Lucifer sent her here for some reason or was there something else going on? And where had Diamius sent her now the whole thing made no sense.

The accent to the veranda of the silver palace felt like it was burdened by the weight of several hundreds of pounds on his chest and throat. The accent ended mercifully as they touched down on the veranda and began the walk up to the audience chamber. Gabriel set the head down on the pedestal on the center of the room and took a knee.

"Well done Gabriel." God purred softly. "No problems I trust?"

"We ran into Eve." Saphora quickly piped up.

"WHAT!" God jumped to his feet and strode over to Gabriel and yanked him up by his hair. "Tell me you killed her!"

"I could not Diamius sent her through a tear and we don't know where." Gabriel winced as a handful of hair was pulled from his head.

"She should not be here, not even for a moment!" God roared. "Diamius could have only sent her one place and for all our sakes I hope she dies there."

"Where?" Gabriel whispered.

"Her own personal hell if legend is true." God chuckled. "Leave me."

Gabriel left the room and headed back down the staircase to his room. He stared out the long windows into the night and wondered if Eve was okay and if she would ever forgive him for the things he had been forced to do.

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Lucifer smiled as he felt the ripple effect from Eve being forced into the void. He walked over to the small ancient looking desk and poured himself a small measure of liquor. Things were lining up and shaping up nicely although it would take a great deal more on Eve's part to achieve the end result. The liquor burned all the way down and for a moment Lucifer closed his eyes and relaxed. How long had it been since there had been hope? He had almost lost track.

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Eve choked and gasped. She lay in the fetal position on a dirty floor shaking from cold and exhaustion. The dirty straw covering the floor was alive with bugs and rats scurrying around seeking food. Eve threw up and didn't care as she laid in it. She was covered in filth and half crazed with pain. Days, weeks, months time had ceased to exist in the place she had been sent to. She had no idea where she was or why she was here all her attempts to escape had been unsuccessful as well as her searches for Time.

Morning came slowly here and the light began to leak in from the single high window on the east side of the cell. Eve heard the door bolt slide back slowly and then the sudden wrenching pain as she was lifted by her long hair and dragged from her cell. The man strung her up by her wrists until her toes just touched the floor.

"You are too defiant for your own good woman. Too weak to fight anymore and yet you still hold onto your arrogance."

"Gotta have something to amuse myself with." Eve spat a mouthful of foul spit in his face.

"This could be so much easier on you if you'd only accept you are nothing more than a slave here." He turned and picked up a razor sharp scalpel.

He walked around behind her and pulled up one of her wings making an incision just below it. He sunk the scalpel in as deep as it would go and ran it across her back from just under the one set of wings to just under the other set. After making the incision he pulled the skid up and examined the muscles connecting the base of her wings into her shoulder blades.

Eve dry heaved as the pain assaulted her. He stabbed her in the side with an injection of a mild pain killer he didn't like it if she passed out before he'd finished. He made a vertical incision along her spine and examined her spine with slow leisure poking it with needles from time to time. He dropped the first incision and allowed it to begin to close and heal while he poked at her spine.

"An extraordinary creature you are woman." The man stood and set the bloody scalpel down on the table. "It's hard to fathom how something so unique could be so generously tossed into my lap to study. After all it's no every day that I get such a wonderful specimen delivered to me. A wonderful twist of fate you landing here in my lap so to speak."

"Yeah lucky me." Eve muttered.

The man brought the flesh biting whip down across her stomach. Eve screamed despite herself. The man enjoyed his perversions after his science and each day was a new dose of pain and torment. The metal ends tore chunks of flesh out of her flat stomach and threw splatters of blood across the wall. Eve groaned as she went slack in her restraints slipping into unconsciousness.

Eve stirred slowly awake in her dank cell starting to regain consciousness as her head started to spin and her body began to ache. Her nostrils flared and she caught the scent of demon's blood. Eve's eyes snapped open and she stared across the cell at a small doe eyed child shivering half naked on the floor.

The child was only half demon but it was enough demon blood to peak Eve's hunger. Deep inside she knew that the child's blood contained enough demon blood to help her body heal and her fangs ached in hunger. Eve pulled back away from the child and inched back until she was up against the wall.

"Are you an angel?" The little half demon child asked in awe.

Eve hissed a feral foul sound exposing her sharp fangs as he wings shivered in pent up anger and starvation. The child shrunk back in fear and revulsion and Eve closed her mouth keeping her distance from the child and the temptation of her. The smell of her blood was clear and the faint hue of her demon aura was visible to Eve no matter how far away she inched.

Eve could feel her insides shaking and her wings twitching she could feel her steely grip on her control beginning to waver and she cursed the foul man who was making her life such a hell. She opened her eyes and focused on the solid brick wall of the cell. With determination she stood and hurled herself head first into the wall.

Her skull connected to the wall and she fell back startled but conscious. She threw herself more violently against the wall and felt peace as she blacked out and slipped into unconsciousness again.

The metal floor was freezing cold and Eve knew her skin had frozen to it's surface when she regained consciousness. She braced herself and yanked upwards tearing skin off her body as she removed herself from the floor. She crouched above the floor crying and rocking herself as she shifted from foot to foot to keep them from refreezing to the floor. She reached back into her wings and tore handfuls of feathers from them that she used to place under her feet to keep them insulated against the cold metal floor.

She slowly looked around the room for the exit. The walls were smooth polished metal identical to the floor and ceiling without windows or any signs or a door. There was little hope of escaping without even knowing where the way to escape was. Eve laid her forehead down on her knees and ran her hands up and down her arms in a feeble attempt to generate some kind of warmth.

Eve closed her eyes and wrapped her wings around herself pulling them tight against her body. She shivered uncontrollably and began to hyperventilate. I need to get out of this Eve shivered again hard. So cold so much pain I need to get out of here, I need to get free get out of here. I'm stronger than this I will not let some maniac destroy my life. I'm stronger than any of this and nothing can hold me...

"IN HERE!" Eve screamed. Her wings thrust open and a shockwave was thrust forward blowing the walls of her icy prison apart from the seams.

Eve gasped and stood slowly looking at the destruction lying around her. The walls of the steel room had been blown outward on two sides opening into the night. She stumbled and ran out into the night gasping with greedy lungfuls of the clean air. Her wings opened and slowly and with great difficulty lifted her into the sky as she began to rise into the air. She felt drained, weaker than she could ever recall being but free and glad of it.

She made it about a half a mile from her icy prison before she collapsed from the sky straight down into the sand below. She laid there and slowly faded into unconsciousness again.

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Her skin was cool and being bathed with water. Her lids fluttered and opened as a sluice of cool water bathed her forehead and rand down over her eyelids. She groaned and shifted her sore aching muscles and numerous open wounds. The cool sponge passed over her face again and down her throat and she felt her body temperature evening out. Her eyes focused on the figure holding her and she screamed.

Eve backpedaled out of Lucifer's lap like her skin was on fire struggling to cover her nudity. She stopped with a hard oomph when she hit the wall behind her. Her wings wrapped around her torso to cover herself as she stared at Lucifer.

He calmly placed the bloody sponge into the basin of water and stood turning away from her. He put the basin on the table then picked up a long dark silk robe which he brought to her. Eve snatched the robe and pulled it over herself covering her nudity.

Lucifer didn't say a word before he turned and left the room. She pulled on the soft silk robe and winced and whimpered as she shifted her sore torn up body. She went to the basin of water and began to wipe the remaining dried blood from her skin. Rivulets of red water ran down her legs and puddle on the floor at her feet. Eve stumbled to the sleigh bed and crawled under the sheets.