Succubus Tear (Triune promise) (39 page)

The child quirked her head. “Nice lady means Jesus?”

Al’bah nodded. “Yes, Jesus.”

She knelt before a bed that materialized out of nowhere, and placed her elbows on top of a comforter that had “Baby Flower Loves Grandmommy and Jesus” embodied upon it
, and accented with vanilla flowers.

The pain lifted from Al’bah, and the screaming fell silent. Al’bah looked to see the child Stella tuck in a Stella that was bruised and bleeding, and had ragged clothes into the bed with the embroidered comforter.

“Mean lady is hurt. She can have my bed,” the young Stella said and padded off to bring a box of Kleenex to the versions of Stella that still cried upon the ground.

Al’bah could barely control her weeping as she staggered to the Stella in the bed. She opened the one eye that wasn’t swollen shut and looked into Al’bah’s violet-blue. “But, it hurts so much. I was stronger with pride…I was.”

Al’bah wiped her eyes. “You were broken, now you must heal. Pride never heals, only love can do that.”

Stella shook her head. “I can’t…I am so alone.”

The child returned. “Hurt lady isn’t alone. Grammy says Jesus always there. And I will watch you, and bring you water and apple slices.”

Stella wept again, as her younger self took her hand.

Al’bah returned; it was done.

***

There, it was done. Stella stared in Al’bah’s general direction, but her eyes were unfocused, and her face blank. She had no idea Stella held so much hatred and prejudice for—for life! It was as though she needed to get revenge for being born.

Al’bah sighed deeply; it had taken more energy to remove all that negativity from Stella than she would have liked to use. The souls of the faithful were always stronger, and though they could never be swayed, altered, or converted, she was thankful that they could have dark influences removed.

Al’bah found it strange that a soul with such an allegiance could hold that much poison. With a finishing touch, Al’bah also removed Stella’s memory of her efforts. It was astounding to see how strong her mind was, how resilient. Her pride fought tooth and nail against the removal of the emotional trauma. But it could not win, for she decided to leave the memories behind. No, to remove her memories would effectively erase her identity. She would have to live with the harshness the world gave her. But now at least, she
could
live with it.

“Muuyyah?” Stella was coming to her senses.

Al’bah sighed again. The souls of Christians, true Christians, were always so beautiful. Stella would probably enjoy the gentle nature of being a woman—or she might not. Either way, with so much hatred gone, her heart was now open. Not changed, but open. She wondered why she could not bring herself to remove the same poison from Cain’s soul. Perhaps it was her desire to have him trust her, to have him love her? Yes, that must be it.

A noise from the back alley caught Al’bah’s attention.

“Hurrrem hurr buyashi?”

“That was so insightful, perhaps I should reconsider your point of view.” Al’bah stood and grabbed Stella’s arm and ushered her quickly out the door. Something was wrong; she knew it.

Broken Friendship

“Karate is great, if you can use it. If you can’t, it’s just a big waste of energy.”

—Cain Lamentson

Charlie narrowed his eyes,
“I’m not taking Stella just ‘cause she looks like Holly, Cain-sama,”

“Bullshit!” Cain said harshly, feeling betrayed by the only person he ever trusted.

“Cain-sama, it’s enough. Let it go. There is nothing either of us can do to change what happened back then, and what’s happening now.”

“That’s right! Let it go, like everything else in your life! Wasn’t that always the way for both of us? Always compensating for past failures.” Cain bared his teeth. “Only this time you are fooling yourself
, believing you’re gonna do better this time. Wasn’t that the promise you made? Bah!
Yasuukeai-no hayawasure
!”
*

“
Shut up! You fucking asshole!
” Charlie shouted and struck out hard, attacking like a whirlwind.

Cain felt
vicious strikes rain upon his body. He knew his friend well and quickly shoved his shoulder toward Charlie’s main body mass, and was rewarded with a solid blow.

Charlie was knocked off his feet but neatly landed on his knees and got up. “I can’t believe that this is how it’s going to end.”

“Just like it started. I suppose it’s fitting for us both,” Cain said, with his eyes narrowed.

Charlie crouched low into his fighting stance. “
Watashi wa idaina kanashimi de tatakau
, Cain-sama.”
*
With a speed and grace that Cain had expected and that was always so unreal, Charlie closed the distance to Cain and swung his left fist.

Cain had seen Charlie fight countless of times and readied himself for a feint, preparing to counter with his knee, but this time Charlie did not feint. His fist connected solidly to Cain’s cheekbone, sending him reeling back, and his head struck the hard stone wall.

He quickly regained his senses and knew that the only reason he wasn’t being hammered by blows was because Charlie was already about to hit him with a flying kick. He spun with his jacket in his hands and tangled Charlie’s leg effectively.

Cain pulled with all his might, and Charlie lost his balance and fell to the ground. He was already closing the distance, when Charlie maneuvered his legs and used the jacket to tangle and choke Cain’s throat and pull him to the ground.

Shit! What the fuck! I am stronger than this!
Cain thought through the red haze and Charlie’s fists alternately pounding his face, and the pavement when he was able to move just right.

He reached up and grabbed Charlie’s hair and yanked with all his might to allow both of their heads to collide. Cain quickly got up and almost fell over by the vertigo and headache that was trying to split his head. Charlie stumbled and fell into several trash bins, knocking them over.

Cain was nearing the end of his limit. He had to end this! He was
going
to end this! He quickly maneuvered to Charlie and froze upon seeing his own gun pointed at his face.

“Back off,” Charlie said quietly.

“No, shoot,” Cain said just as quietly.

A dry, sterile click came from the gun.

The two stared into each other’s eyes for what seemed an eternity. There it was, where each stood with the other. A click that shattered ten years.
Ten years
of friendship. Ten years of laughter. Ten years of a kinship that could only be found between brothers.

Cain’s eyes open wide, and he set upon Charlie. “You son of a bitch!” he screamed as his fist connected to Charlie’s face.

“You son—” Someone had grabbed his arm. It was Al’bah.

“No!” she whispered. “Do not kill him—yours is a friendship that is more. He is more than your friend. You see him as a brother.”

“He’s
not
my brother!” Cain snarled. “He just tried to kill me!”

Al’bah shook her head. “All humanity shares the same blood, Cain.” She let go of his arm. “Do not kill him! Please, do not let it end this way. You are victorious. Why must you take the life of the defeated?”

Cain glanced at Charlie. He was going to have one hell of a bruise by tomorrow, and Cain by the feel of it would have a black eye. Al’bah let go of Cain and knelt to face Charlie.

“Charlie, your soul screams for someone named Holly. Who is she?”

Charlie opened his eyes and looked to Al’bah. “Holly? Oh God…she…I…” He couldn’t go on and closed his eyes, breathing deeply for several moments.

He gently moved Al’bah away and addressed Cain from the ground. “Cain…God, man…I am so sorry…I convinced myself that if I—if I—”
He held up his other hand and opened his fingers; bullets Vincent bought for Cain’s revolver once they arrived in Virginia Beach...bullets Cain
knew
he loaded before now.

Charlie must have… must have…

Cain felt sick, horrified to think of what he had almost done. To think that he had already decided in his mind! To think that he—

What was I going to do?
Was I going to kill him? Was I? Did Charlie want
me to kill him?
Cain slid down the other wall in the alley, no longer able to stand.

“Why?” he breathed.

Charlie passed a hand over his face. “You didn’t think that you’re the only one who feels this shit, man? Cain, you’re wanted for
murder!
As much as I want things to go back to the way they were, our friendship, our life together, is over.” Charlie scooted to the wall to sit up on the opposite side facing Cain.

“I can’t stay here anymore. You remind me, Cain. You remind me of everything that has happened. But it was okay as long as we were always together.” He sighed and dropped the gun. “But I can’t even have that anymore, and it hit me all at once. You know, I just didn’t want to go on anymore.”

With trembling hands, Cain took back the revolver and put it back in his jacket pocket. He knew what Charlie meant, remembering how close he had come to opting out himself. “You’re right,” he said numbly. “You—Charlie, you were always looking out for me. I don’t know why I didn’t see that. I’m sorry.”

Charlie chuckled, but it was filled with a sad resignation, a despair of sorts. “
Daijyoubu,
Cain-sama.”

Cain stood and started toward Charlie to help him up, but Al’bah extended her arm and stopped him. A movement caught his eye, and it was Stella who helped Charlie up. Cain was entranced by the look Charlie and Stella shared once he was on his feet, and he heard Al’bah whisper.

“Beautiful.”

Once on his feet, Charlie strode to Cain. Both men had tears in their eyes; something had broken between the two of them. It was over, and they both knew it. Just one last leg to go before their paths would continue without each other. But they would continue, giving each other time, hope, and perhaps more.

“C’mon, Cain-sama,” Charlie said. “My car is over there.”

Love Is Beautiful

“What do I think of Al’bah? She reminds me of my sister.”

—Charlie Tsukada

They drove all through the night to Richmond, Virginia, in an old ’87 Accord that, despite its age, drove like it was brand new. It was Charlie’s car. He had a thing for vehicle restoration but never cared for the high demand classics, rather just getting what he liked.

Everyone tried to make small talk, but it was punctuated often with long, uncomfortable silences. Stella seemed to be the most uncomfortable, always venting her frustrations at whomever sat next to her, which strangely enough never happened to be Charlie, only Cain and Al’bah.

As everyone shifted seats again at a rest stop, Stella found herself in the back seat with Charlie at last, thanks to a clever and last-minute switch that Al’bah pulled off by shoving Charlie into the back seat and jumping in the front with Cain.