"I told you to take it easy!"
She emphasized each word with a push or pull in my back. Not on my back. IN my back. In where I'd been stabbed yet again.
I couldn't really respond, just lay there in pain in a puddle of my own blood and drool.
At least, I hope it was drool.
"Roll over," she said, grabbing my shoulder and tossing me onto my back before I could even attempt to comply. Not that I'd have been able to. Just that I would like to have been given the chance.
"And what do you do?" Lilith Cadduceus continued as she stuck her hand in my gut. My mouth opened in an attempt at screaming but really just gaped. "You go running around as if nothing's wrong, having a good ol' time. And you get yourself fucking stabbed again."
There was a strong tug, a jolt of pain tearing through my body.
"You see this?" she asked, holding something over my face. It looked like a stomach. "You see these holes?" she asked, sticking her fingers through two nice cuts and then turning her hand to show them sticking out the other side. "This big one here, that's the new one," she said, wiggling her index finger. "This one," she said, pulling her index finger out and leaving only her middle finger in a hole in a purposeful flipping of the bird, "is from yesterday. And it WAS closed. But no," she slammed that piece of meat back into my gut and started fiddling around, "you had to be Mister Big Shot and jump around like... like.... Fuck, like you weren't stabbed!"
"So," I said, low and harsh, my dry throat resisting my efforts to talk, "is this how all your second dates go?"
My subsequent gasp tore the grin off my face.
"You so fuckin' owe me now," Lilith said through clenched teeth.
"Love ya too," I said through clenched teeth of my own as tears ran across my temples and got stuck in my hair.
I hate when they do that.
"I don't do this for my own health, you know," Lilith said in a less confrontational and more conversational tone.
Twist.
"I know."
Yank.
"I don't appreciate getting my ass pulled all over the place just because one of you fuckers need to be miraculously healed."
Tug.
"You mean I'm not your first?"
She paused and looked at me for a moment, seeming to consider whether or not I was serious. I smiled as best I could through the pain. She narrowed her eyes and went back to work.
"In case you're wondering," she said as she poked about my guts, "you're awake because I'm keeping you awake. I want you to feel this. Do you know why?"
"Because pain is a turn on?"
I gasped instead of screamed as she twisted something.
"Because ideally you'll listen to me this time around and won't want to go through this again."
"You'd do this again?"
"No," she said so quick that I knew it was true.
We were quiet for a bit while she pushed around in me, every now and then making me wince.
"You don't do anything half assed, do you?" she finally asked as she pulled her hands out.
"Hey, if you're gonna do something, might as well throw the whole ass in," I said with whatever kinda shrug I could muster.
"And the whole ass is something you do to the fullest, Jeffery," said a new voice in the conversation, but one that was quite familiar overall.
I rolled my eyes up and tried to lean my head back to see but to no avail, the pain in my body telling me that laying still was a great idea.
"Ignore him, Jeffery," said Lilith as she stared intently at my gut, her hands going back to work, trying her best to follow her own advice.
I heard the clicking of boot soles on the rooftop as the source of the voice started to slowly walk towards us. I eased on up my neck, giving up the attempt to look, knowing I didn't need to.
"What do you want, Erlend," I said more as a command than a question. I was not in the mood for Romanov right now. Not ever, really, but especially not right now.
"Thought I'd stop by," he said, taking his time on his approach, "see how you were holding up. I must admit that I am quite surprised by this, Jeffery. I thought you'd show a bit more mettle than this."
"Yeah, thanks," I said, not bothering to note how well I was talking considering about a minute ago I could barely breathe. That Lilith chick did good work. "But would you mind, ya know, maybe having this conversation later. When I'm not being all sewed up and stuff?"
"Actually, Jeffery," said Romanov, finally reaching me, standing over me, looking down on me, hovering with that damn smirk on his face, "I want to talk to you when you're like this. You're easier to get through to. Especially since we've got the good doctor here to make sure things work as they should."
Lilith didn't look up but I felt her hands pause a second and then get back to work on me. I looked to her and saw her just staring at my stomach which I avoided looking at.
"What are you talking..."
My words were cut off by a sword suddenly being thrust through the right side of my chest.
"Son of a..." started Lilith as she leapt to her feet.
The sword was out of me and at her throat as quick as she was up.
"Fix him," said Romanov as I started to choke on my own blood, darkness beginning its creep into my vision.
And then something was in my head. A thought. A voice.
And the darkness was pushed back.
"You are going to stay awake for this, Jeffery," said Romanov, the smirk gone as he stared down at me while Lilith quickly got to work on my chest. "And you will listen."
I didn't really have much choice as I just tried to ignore the pain that wracked my body, my labored breathing, my gagging on my own blood.
Dear Lord, and I thought being stabbed in the gut hurt.
"One, I have a job for you outside of the mask. Starting Monday you will be the public face of the Pacific City Mayor's office. You will be my public relations representative and represent me and my policies when and where I can not be present. Blink once if I am clear."
I didn't blink at all, that son of a...
The tip of his sword at my throat got Lilith to stop and look up quick.
"Anything else you do to him I am not fixing," she stated, then turning back to my chest.
"Then it looks like you've got an easy decision here, Jeffery. Blink once if I am..."
I blinked once.
"Good." He pulled his sword away. "Two, you will cease barging in my office with every problem you have. There are proper ways to get my attention. Understood."
I blinked once.
"Three," he said, pulling a cigarette from his pocket as his sword seemed to collapse in on itself, forming into a scarab, one of the two I knew he had. "Where's Victoria's scarab?"
I gave him a confused look because, honestly, I had no idea.
Then something was in my head again. Someone.
Where is it, Jeffery?
I don't know.
There was a tug in my head, a tug that felt familiar, and I thought about pushing back. Another tug and I thought about shoving back.
And then it was over.
Romanov looked up and lit his cigarette.
"I will see you in my office Monday morning, nine sharp."
And he was gone.
"Fuck," Lilith said softly at first, then again and again and again, louder each time. "I will not be fucked with like this!" she stated after her string of curses.
She pushed into me a bit with her words, her frustration evident through the pain I felt each time.
I mouthed sorry but she wasn't looking at my face so had no idea.
"Fuck it, go to sleep, Jeffery," Lilith said, and with a slight twist in my chest the darkness suddenly came back with a vengeance and I was out like a light.
Ah, blissful oblivion.
Bush43
Issue #19
"Tug"
By Jason S. Kenney
Takes Place After Mysteria #11
There is a scarab in my pocket and I'm not sure how it got there.
I woke up alone on the roof and laid there for a few moments while I took stock of my body. Aside from two new scars, a hell of a lot of pain and dry blood crusting my mouth and throat (and clothes), I was all there.
Thank God.
But there was something else. As I was trying to get to my feet I felt it, something in my pocket jabbing my thigh.
I reached into my pocket and there it was.
And the feeling of pain that ran through my body suddenly had a friend in the chill that ran up my back.
"Shit."
***
"Jesus Christ, Jeff."
"Just in and out," I said to Isiah Rowe as I stepped past him and into his apartment, grabbing my backpack off of where I had left it on his couch and pulling it open to find a fresh shirt.
"Are you alright?"
"I'll have to explain it later, man," I said as I just tore my bloodied and already slashed shirt off on my way to the kitchen. I stuffed the shirt in the trash and pulled the fresh shirt on, then realizing the amount of blood on my pants. "Shit!" I shouted, more out of overall frustration than the fact my pants were a mess.
I quickly got back to the couch while I unbuckled my belt and kicked my shoes off. I pulled a pair of pants out of my bag with one hand while the other fished into my pocket and pulled it out.
The scarab.
I paused for a moment and looked at it, studied it. I had never actually held it before, been this close to it. There were two other like it that I knew of, and both of those were Romanov's. This one was Victoria's. Mysteria's.
So why did I have it?
And how did Romanov know I had it when I didn't?
"Jeffery," said Isiah, "what's going on?"
"I don't know," I said. I set the scarab on the coffee table and finished changing my pants, picking the scarab back up and slipping it into my pocket without looking at it again.
"I've gotta run again," I said as I quickly made my way to the door, stopping with another curse and going back to my backpack, pulling a spare George Dubya mask out. My last one.
I turned back to the door and froze at the sight of an angel casting a white aura, her eyes bright flames of white, a sword in her hand, its tip pointed at my neck.
"How have you come to possess the scarab?" asked the angel, her voice at once powerful yet soothing, her sword being a threat I did not want face.
Swords and I weren't getting along lately.
"I don't know," I said to her without hesitation, with as much confidence I could muster, proud of myself for not stuttering. My hand instinctively went into my pocket and clutched the scarab. "But I am returning it to its rightful owner."
"And who is its rightful owner?" the angelic figure asked, her fiery eyes narrowing.
"Victoria Burke."
"Burke is weak!" the angel shouted and then slashed at me with her sword.
She came down and across, the blade moving through my chest at an angle, exiting near my hip.
I stumbled back with a gasp, the feeling of something being wrenched through me, out of me sending me staggering.
But I was not cut.
"And I will not be in the possession of a male!" the angel shouted, holding her sword out again, but I was less afraid of it now. She held out her free hand, open, waiting.
"Give me the scarab."
My grip around the scarab in my pocket tightened.
"No."
She came at me sword first with a scream of rage, the blade passing through me followed by her.
I gasped again, my stomach dropping, my breath short, my heart skipping a beat as I was pushed back slightly by her passing, the inside of my body being pulled as she passed.
And then I could breathe again. My body relaxed as I took deep breaths and turned to face the angel again.
"You have no idea what plans are already in motion," she said, standing ready again, as if she could do serious harm to me.
And for all I knew she was doing some kind of harm to me. Cause her passing through me didn't feel particularly good.
I was at a loss for words, combination of breathing being more important and not really knowing how to respond. What do you say to something like that?
"JEFFERY!" shouted Isiah and I quickly looked to him as he shook my shoulder. "What the hell was that?"
I looked back to where the angel was and she was gone.
"Where'd she go?" I asked, spinning to look towards the door. She wasn't there either.
"Where'd who go?" asked Isiah, and it started to dawn on me. "Jeffery, what the hell is going on?"
"You didn't see an angel in here, did you?"
"What?"
I pulled the scarab out of my pocket and stared at it again.
"Shit."
I crammed it back in my pocket.
"I've gotta go," I said, heading for the door again. "If Alfonse calls tell him I'm heading his way."
And I was out the door before Isiah could respond.
***
"I told you to take it easy!"
Lilith's words rang through my ears as I sprinted and leapt across the roof tops, trying to get out of town and towards Burke Manor. My stomach and chest screamed at me louder than the echoed warning but I ignored all of them. Or tried to.
I leapt over a street and hit the opposite roof, keeping up my run, keeping towards the edge of town.
I leapt again, hit the next roof and then stopped before colliding with the figure that now stood in my way.
I took a couple steps back and reached into my pocket, clutching the scarab as Anna Romanova smiled at me, slowly pulling the cigarette from her mouth and blowing a cloud of smoke into the air.
"You have the scarab, Jeffery?" she asked, the glint in her eye telling me she already knew the answer.
I pulled the scarab out of my pocket but did not move to give it to her.
A voice rang out in my head. But this time it wasn't an echo, it wasn't Lilith's.
It wasn't even Romanova's.
Give it to her!
"Perhaps you should give it to me, Jeffery," Anna Romanova said, extending her hand as a smile spread wide across her face. I looked from her to my hand, the metal scarab sitting in my palm.
She is strong!
Victoria's scarab.
NOT BURKE!
I wrapped my fingers around it and pulled my hand back.
"I think I'll keep ahold of it," I said, slipping it back into my pants pocket.
Romanova's smile quickly faced as she clenched her hand and pulled it away.
"You have no idea what it is, Jeffery," she stated, glaring at me, "what it can do. Not only in general but to you specifically."
"I'm a big boy, Anna," I said, my hand still in my pocket, grasping the scarab, it's legs digging into my palm, "I think I can handle it."
"Can you?"
I didn't answer, instead turning and running towards the edge of the roof and leaping, stopping as I hit the opposite roof as Romanova was suddenly before me, sword in hand, coming around to my head. I instinctively reached up.
And caught her blade.
And it didn't cut me.
"I can handle it," I said through clenched teeth, shoving Romanova's blade to the side and stepping past her, her face a blank slate, no smile, no goddamn smirk.
I stopped halfway across the roof.
"It's going back to Victoria," I said as I turned to Romanova. "If you want it, take it up with her."
And I turned, ran, leapt to the next roof, and kept going.
***
I ran and leapt until I suddenly felt the wind knocked out of me, tripping and tumbling across a roof, ending up on my back, staring at the sky, gasping for air.
"SHE IS NOT STRONG ENOUGH!" I heard shouted.
I clenched my teeth and pushed myself to my feet, coming face to face with that damn angel. Yehovah Vehayah.
"Bullshit," I said as I pulled my mask off. "You're just pissed because she can control you!"
"I will not be lectured by a male!" she shouted, lunging at me yet passing through me once again. I gasped, stumbled back and felt my legs weaken as I dropped my mask., but I remained upright, turning to face the angel again.
"You're going back to Victoria," I said.
"The Burke of this world is not nearly as strong as Akathriel Yan Yehod Sebaoth."
"She is strong enough."
"She will fall to the Magistrate," said Yehovah Vehayah, "as will you all."
"The Magistrate?"
And she was gone.
"WAIT!"
I reached into my pocket and pulled out the scarab.
"WHAT ABOUT THE MAGISTRATE?" I shouted at it, as if the scarab could respond, as if it was a intercom to Yehovah Vehayah.
I resisted the urge to crush the damn thing, to ball it up and toss it into the distance, dispose of it, as if that would show her.
I crammed it back into my pocket. I bent over and picked up my mask, pulling it over my head as my jaw began to hurt from the clenching of my teeth.
And I started towards Burke Manor once more.
***
I tugged my mask off as I barged into Burke Manor.
"ALFONSE!" I shouted as I looked around for him.
He was suddenly at the top of the stairs, the look on his face a mix of emotions, concern and grief weighed down by a lack of sleep.
"Where's Victoria?" I asked, starting up the stairs.
"She is in her room, Jeffery," he said as I reached the top of the stairs and approached him. "Jeffery, are you okay?"
"I have to get something to her."
I started past Alfonse but was stopped as he laid a hand on my shoulder.
"Jeffery, I am afraid she is not exactly in the best shape."
That took the wind out of me.
"Aristotle and Crowley are with her right now; it is probably best that they not be interrupted."
"I..." I reached into my pocket, my hand wrapping around the scarab. "Is she..."
I closed my eyes and hung my head, taking a deep breath.
"I have her scarab," I said. "I need to get it to her." I opened my eyes and looked to Alfonse, my vision blurred from tears I held back. "I just need to get it to her."
Alfonse nodded and took his hand off my shoulder and I started down the hall.
"Are you okay, Jeffery?"
I paused, considering the question even though I already knew the answer.
"No, Alfonse," I said without looking to him. "I'm not."
***
I slowly opened the door, trying my best to be quiet. Victoria lay in her bed, eyes closed, sweat gleaming on her face. Crowley sat next to her, eyes closed, leaning back almost as if sleeping. A third person, whom I assumed to be Aristotle, fiddled with Victoria's arm.
I carefully made my way to the bed. Aristotle looked up briefly to notice me and then got back to work or whatever it was he was doing. I pulled the scarab out of my pocket, looked at it for a second, felt my body beginning to tense with anger and frustration and hatred.
SHE WILL FAIL.
I looked to Victoria, her face tight, pained, and I wished I could do something for her. But this was all I could think of.
I looked down and noticed what Aristotle was working on, held my composure as I noticed Victoria's missing right hand, and tucked the scarab into Victoria's left hand, closing her fingers around it.
I shook slightly as both Victoria and Crowley gasped, Crowley's eyes shooting open as soon as I held Victoria's hand closed.
He quickly brought his head upright, glaring at me.
"Get the fuck out of here, kid," he said, closing his eyes again and leaning his head back.
I looked to Aristotle who just kept working on Victoria's hand.
I looked to Victoria's face, not as tight now, her mouth slightly open, sweat beading on her forehead. I reached out to her, gently brought my fingers across her brow, and tucked some loose hairs behind her ear and held my hand there for a bit.
Swallowing hard, I pulled my hand away, turned, and quietly left the room.
I quickly walked past Alfonse, not bothering to meet his eyes.
"I'll be at Isiah's," I said as I went down the stairs, stopping at the bottom and looking up to Alfonse. "Call me if anything happens?"
Alfonse nodded, and I stood there for a bit, staring up at him, feeling like there was something else I should say.
I opened my mouth, let it hang for a moment, and then closed it. I closed my eyes and looked away and hung my head again.
"I'm sorry, Alfonse," I said, and I turned away, leaving Burke Manor and going off into the night.