Darken Lightment 3
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Do not read this if you are under the age of 18 or the legal age in the country or state you live in.
The story contains scenes of explicit homosexual acts between two individuals, if this offends you, please leave now.
Author's note: Hey everyone! I finally got chapter 3 done. I want to thank everyone for reading, and emailing me. The responses were awesome. I should have started a vampire story long ago. Lol! Send your comments to mystories92@gmail.com
Darken Lightment
Chapter 3
"What do you think he is?" Cooper said as he watched Marcus' sleeping form.
"It's obvious, isn't it?" said a boy a little older than Cooper. "He's a bloody vampire!"
"Come on bro, surely you don't mean that. You sensed him yourself, Shane, he's not a vampire." Cooper looked at his older brother coolly.
"Enough boys!" Beth McGuiness said from the doorway to Cooper's bedroom. "We don't know what he is. But he's obviously powerful."
"Yeah, powerful enough to take out Victor Chamberlain, and that other one at his house," Cooper added.
"Must be a fluke," Shane interrupted. He was pacing back and forth from one side of the room to the other. He and cooper shared the same skin complexion and eye colour, but Shane's hair was light brown instead.
"You didn't see him out there, Shane. That parasite never stood a chance! I watched him attract the fire and contain it. I watched him incinerate it."
"That's why he has to be one of them!" Shane exclaimed, worry etched on his face. "No other being would be able to do that, not even us. He's dangerous, and I say we do away with him now." Shane drew a knife from the side of his pants and made to move toward Marcus.
"No Shane! We can't just do that. We don't know for sure..." Beth interjected quickly, smoothly managing to place herself between Marcus and Shane.
Shane placed the weapon down on top of the dresser, well within reach.
"He is obviously human," Beth said as she made Marcus more comfortable. "But where does his amazing power come from?"
***
'Open your eyes,' I told myself.
"He's waking up!" I heard. It sounded like Cooper. Great, now I had to deal with explaining myself. Way to go Marcus.
It felt like a trash can lid had been taken to my head a million times over. My head was throbbing, and I had yet to open my eyes. My hand was burning slightly too.
I moaned and tried to open my eyes again. With some effort, they obeyed me, but I had to close them immediately afterwards. The light was too bright. I hissed in pain.
"Quick, dim the lights! Marcus, are you okay? It's me, Coop."
"No Duh," I tried to put as much sarcasm into that as I could.
"Yep, that's Marcus alright," Cooper chuckled wryly.
"Can you open your eyes?" That was most definitely Mrs McGuiness. So that meant Cooper must have brought me back. I'll have to give him a kiss for that.
Wait, why did I just think that? Of course I don't want to kiss Cooper! Right?
"I'll try," I answered Beth.
My eyes fluttered open and the world slowly came into focus again. I must have used way more energy than I ever needed to before, and it took its toll on me.
Well that wasn't going to happen again.
When my vision had cleared I found three people staring at me with three very different expressions. Cooper with worry; Beth with relief, and another young man who looked somewhat like Cooper, except with brown hair. This must be Cooper's older brother. He had a look of distrust on his face. I also immediately noticed the knife he was gripping fiercely.
"Why, I don't think we've met before," I said, pasting a smile on my face. "You must be Cooper's older brother Shane."
Shane expression didn't change as I sat up slowly, though his fist did tighten around the knife handle. I had some explaining to do.
"Marcus, how are you feeling?" Beth asked me, feeling my forehead.
I chuckled, "Like I fell off Mount Everest and landed in a mine field. No I'm okay."
"That's good, honey."
I could feel the tense atmosphere around, and a somewhat violent one coming from Shane. Had all of them been witness to what I could do? No, it was only Cooper. Then why did I feel like I was missing something?
"Marcus," Cooper said as he came closer and sat next to me on the bed, "how did you do that? What are you?"
That was their million dollar question. I could feel Shane brace himself, and I looked directly at him. "Would you relax?"
He started, and then narrowed his eyes. Nope, he wasn't relaxing.
I sighed. "I am human Cooper, what else would I be?"
I looked at everyone in the room. They were all looking at me expectantly. I still didn't answer his first question.
"I did that with my mind, Cooper," I said. Disbelief was clearly written all over their faces.
"Marcus, there is no human in the world that could do what Cooper told me you did," Beth said softly.
Clearly they knew what they were talking about. Just who was this family? Right now I feel like I was being ganged up on.
"I am a perfect human," I said matter-of-factly.
"There is no such thing," Shane sneered.
I ignored the hot headed Shane and turned to Cooper. "Do you remember I told you my mother's name?"
Cooper looked thoughtful for a moment. "Yeah, you said her name was Li...lith..." realization dawned on him. Beth's mouth dropped open and she covered it with her hands in shock. Shane jumped up from where he was seated.
"See, I told you! He's a parasite. Lilith was the queen of them all!"
I saw red then. Who did this weakling think he was? Did he not realize just what I could do to him?
In the blink of an eye I was in front of him and in his face. No one had seen me move.
"Just what do you know?" I yelled at him. He was so surprised, that he stumbled back and fell on his butt. I wanted to make an example of him, and for good measure I wanted to beat him with an ugly stick.
I turned and glared at Beth and Cooper. "What is it exactly that you know? Obviously you've been hiding something from me too, Cooper."
He turned his head away guiltily.
"I am Marcus, son of Lilith, daughter of God himself! You know nothing!" My voice reverberated through the room. All of them flinched.
"What you know about Lilith is absolutely nothing." I sighed and sat back down on the bed. My head was still spinning, and there was no need for me to get so worked up.
"What you know about Lilith is not true. It was twisted by the Vampire Lord," I said, trying to calm down further.
"Who is the Vampire Lord?" Cooper asked.
"The first murderer, Cain," I answered, looking at each of the in turn. "My mother would not submit to Adam. She would not become a subservient, weak woman. So she left him, and the Garden of Eden. She was not thrown out, like history says.
"She disappeared and watched everything happen on the sidelines. She watched the first sin. She watched the seducer Eve, bewitch her husband into ruining humanity. She watched their exile, and the birth of the first vampire." I stopped, giving them a moment to digest that bit of revelation.
Their eyes were wide from shock. Everything they ever knew about the vampire realm was a lie, intelligently concocted by Cain.
"Because my mother did not sin, she remained perfect and immortal. She elected to remove herself from the eyes of the world, and live in secrecy.
"Eventually the vampires forgot everything about her, which suited her fine, because she would not live her immense life battling vampires. Whenever she encountered a vampire, she would eradicate it immediately. She is a very powerful woman, no; she is the most powerful woman in the world..."
'But she's been keeping something from me,' I thought to myself.
"My mother yearned for only one thing throughout her entire life... a child. Fifteen years ago, she had me. I am a perfect human being, like my mother, Lilith."
I looked at Beth, "What do you think you'll do to me now?"
She widened her eyes, noting the phrasing of my question. There was nothing she could do to stop me.
"Nothing. We would like you to stay here though, until we can find out what happened to your mother," she said quietly. I could hear the sincerity in here voice. She wanted me here.
I stood up and walked to the window and looked out. It was a dark and clear night, the stars sparkling. The full moon was out, but it was stained red, an ominous sign...
I sighed and turned around and looked at Cooper. "Time for explanations. Who are you?"
His face looked pained briefly, before it became neutral. He looked at his mother and brother. They took the hint and left the room quietly.
At the door, Beth turned. "If you're hungry, Marcus, you can come down and I'll make something for you."
I nodded, and she closed the door behind her. I looked back at Cooper, who gave me a faint smile, barely noticeable. I remained silent, waiting for him to begin.
"My family... We're a clan of vampire hunters. The McGuiness family has always been that, since ancient times," he said, looking out through the window from his spot on the bed.
I remained standing, watching him, distrusting him now. I'd opened myself to him.
"At a young age we begin our training. To sense vampires, and to destroy them."
"Why did we meet, Cooper?" I suddenly asked. I felt myself needing to know his answer. I wanted him to say it. I didn't want to take it.
He looked away, probably trying to find an answer that hurt the least.
"When I heard that someone had stood up to Victor Chamberlain, I knew no ordinary person could have done that. Even new kids at school know to back off when Victor says or does something.
"So during lunch I found out that it was you. I made the decision to investigate you. But I could sense nothing from you. You were as ordinary as next person," Cooper said. He fidgeted with his hands, and didn't know where to look. I found it irritating.
"So you were just pretending the whole time? All the laughs, and stories we shared about it other was just a ruse for you to find out what I was!" My voice rose until I was shouting.
To my surprise, tears sprung to my eyes. Why was this affecting me so much? I don't cry.
Cooper stood up quickly and moved closer to me, but I stepped back.
"You must believe me," he said, "None of the things I said were lies. I admit, in the beginning I was trying to uncover your secrets, but then I got to like you." Cooper's hands were in front of him in pleading gesture.
I turned away.
"Please Marcus, you have to believe me. Our friendship wasn't a lie!" I could hear that he was crying now, desperate. He was sincere and truthful.
I turned back to him. I managed not to let my tears fall, but the still blurred my vision. I sniffed, "I believe you," I said softly.
In an instant, Cooper was crushing me in his arms holding me tight. It was a new experience to me. Getting hugged by someone else. I lifted my arms and put it around him awkwardly. His head was resting in the crook of my neck, and I couldn't help but smell him. His scent was clean, and sweet, like freshly cut grass, earthy, with a hint of soap. My mind wondered what it would be like, to hold him like this forever.
Shocked, I shook the thought away. I loosened my hold and held me back, at arm’s length. "Cooper, this all new to me, having a friend, that is. I made a conscious decision that first day, to become your friend. I have not lied to you. You understand that I had to keep the truth about myself a secret, right? It's an ancient secret, one that only your family now knows..." I looked into his eyes, and almost fell in them.
He nodded, "I understand, Marcus."
"It might take a while," I said softly, "to trust you again Cooper."
He looked a little hurt, but he understood how I felt, and I understood how he felt. It was his job to hunt down and destroy vampires.
Cooper put his hands on my shoulders. They were warm, and trembling. "I promise you... I will make you trust me again," he said softly, yet firmly. His eyes were now blazing green, resolute. I felt my heart beat faster, blood rushing through my body, warming me up considerably. He didn't look away, and I realized, in the back of my mind, that we were drifting closer.
Dear God. Were we going to kiss?
Bang! Bang! "Hey, are you two done in there?"
We both started, and stepped back quickly at the sound of Shane's voice.
I sighed in relief, or was it disappointment? I don't know what is happening to me.
"Yeah, Shane, you can come in," Cooper said nonchalantly. How did he do that? I was ready to come apart.
The door opened and Shane stepped into the room. He looked at me nervously. "Ahm, Marcus?"
"Yes, Shane?"
"I uh, I wanted to apologize, for my behavior earlier. I shouldn't have said those things." Shane looked down and rubbed the back of his neck.
"It's okay, Shane, you didn't know." I waited a beat, and then said, "Did your mother put you up to this?"
His eyes widened and he turned beet red. I was grinning from ear to ear, trying to stifle my laugh. He looked at me and smiled back, and then punched me on my arm before he left.
My stomach growled, and I looked down at it, rubbing it in circles. I turned to Cooper, "I'm going down to eat."
He nodded and I turned to leave.
"Marcus."
I turned back and looked at him. "Yes?"
He looked at me for a second, and then down. "Nothing."
I turned and went downstairs. Love was a confusing thing.
Did I just think love?
***
Gabriel hovered before Lilith in the sewer tunnels, ethereal and bright. His wings were tucked in slightly, to keep them from brushing against the walls.
Stunned, Lilith stopped dead. Her mouth dropped open and she struggled to get the words out of her mouth.
"Daughter Lilith," Gabriel said. His voice was firm and strong.
"Gabriel..." Lilith managed to say breathlessly. She was overwhelmed by his presence. Never in almost a thousand years, had Gabriel ever shown himself to her. And here he was the Messenger of God, blocking her way.
"What are you doing here?" she said to him. Her voice slowly got steadier.
"I am here to place you on the correct path, with a message from our Father," Gabriel said.
"Why would he deign to speak to me now, when I've run away from him?" Lilith took deep breaths, thinking about what Gabriel’s presence could mean. Her eyes widened. "Is my son safe? Is Marcus safe!" she would bring hell down on anyone that hurt him.
"Be at peace, Lilith. Your son is safe. He had a run with the devil's spawn at your home, expended too much energy and collapsed. Luckily his friend was with him."
Lilith gasped. "Cooper? This is bad."
"No, it is what your father foresaw, and allowed. He is safe with his friend's family." Gabriel smiled benevolently.
"Why would you say that?" Lilith asked.
"Cooper's family has secrets of their own. Did you really think you were the only two people in the whole world that knew about vampires?"
Of course Lilith didn't think so. And that meant she had a lot of explaining to do. She hoped Marcus would forgive her.
"What is your message, Gabriel?" Lilith intoned.
"Why sister, are you in a hurry to get rid of me?" Gabriel waved a dismissing hand. "No matter. The message is this: It is time for you to return to your father's fold. No more time for hiding. Remember, He can take away anything He wants, but He chooses not to, in the hopes that you will do the right thing."
Lilith nodded begrudgingly. "What would he have me do?"
"The Son of Adam is awakening, and with him he brings forth the four horse lords of the apocalypse. What mankind brought into this world, it will take them out. It is not God that will bring an end to this world. It is not his will. You must fight, Lilith..."
There was a bright flash. Lilith covered her eyes, and when she was able to look again, Gabriel was gone.
'Well,' she thought, 'I guess it's time for me to break out my old gear.'
Of course it wouldn't be God's will to end this world. Lilith thought of the countless idiot priests that spouted nonsense about it being "God's will" to do this, or to take that person away, or for this one and that one to burn in hell.
"What a load of rubbish!" she muttered to herself.
If everything were God's will, then why did he give humans freewill in the first place? Might as well make them robots.
Lilith walked on down the dark sewers. She thought of her son fondly. Marcus would have to fight the upcoming battles without her. They would see each other again. They would survive.
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