Succubus Tear (Triune promise) (49 page)

Still facing away from Cain, Al’bah nodded. “Yes, I have. So before I attempt to answer your question in a way that would satisfy ignorance, answer one of mine.”

Cain had been ready for this. “Where were you when God made the world?” he said with a slight impertinent tone to his voice.

“No! That is God’s question to Job, and valid as it is, it is quite commonly mocked by humans. Let me state the question that was put to me, by an Angel.”

Al’bah’s wings opened, presenting a strange backdrop and adding an even stranger acoustic quality to her voice. “What would creation’s response be to the same question, if asked by the Creator?”

“Now I’m confused by your words.”

Al’bah looked flabbergasted and outraged. “You asked why God created me, if I was going to fail. What would you say if God asked you, ‘Why should you be created, if you choose to fail?’”

Cain scoffed. “Circular logic.”

Al’bah’s wings drooped to the ground. Her body trembled from a turmoil of incredible emotions, giving a chaotic quality to her words. “
Cain- being created- existence- how can you not? Do you even realize the miracle?”

Cain mouth opened about to speak.

“Cain!” Al’bah cried, grabbing his shirt, looking into his eyes. “You
are
alive!
You
exist!
You have a
mind
and a
will
of your very
own!
How can that not be a miracle? How can you even think of the alternative, let alone desire it? The very idea of nonexistence? Oblivion?”

Her hands were digging painfully into his chest, and Cain’s vision began to swim before him. It was like she was grabbing his mind and forcing him to a concept beyond comprehension, let alone understanding.

“Do you dare demand
God
to explain Himself to
you
? Are you not humbled by the power of everything that exists? And to think that if God chose to pass you over like an unwanted thought, you would never be. So many refuse to believe in God because they were not pleased by answers they received to questions that burn their souls with such presumption! If you dare to presume to have the right to question God, what makes you think such a right would not apply in reverse? What if God questioned
you?
What if God decided to oblivion your consciousness if
your
answers did not please God?”

Al’bah kept her eyes locked to Cain, who tried to take in what she said. Al’bah’s tears flowed freely down her face. She let go of his shirt and crossed her arms as if cold. “All of existence owes eternal praise to God! But instead, those who exist claim to be like unto…they claim to be greater, or that God doesn’t exist at all! Some even give their allegiance to that which does not exist! Some give their allegiance to the worst of Demons masquerading as one of the many counterfeits, claiming to be their God.”

Al’bah wiped her eyes and caressed Cain’s face with her wet hand like she had done before. “And perhaps the saddest of all are those who believe He exists, but refuse Him anyway.”

Her wings raised up from the ground to an aggressive pose as she continued. “Some ask, ‘Why does God
let
people go to hell
if
He is all merciful and loving?’” Al’bah gave a bitter laugh. “And that’s just it, Cain. Free will is meaningless if we do not have to live with the choices we make. For good or otherwise. God will let His creations sin, if they choose to do so. And He will let His creations reject Him, if they choose to do so—and they will be separated from Him. Not because God damns them to hell, but because they damn themselves. They are damned by
demanding
and ultimately getting what they wanted: to be apart from the God they had rejected. To follow their own will versus the will of the one who created them! Perhaps a more fitting term would be self-sovereignty.”

Al’bah b
ared her teeth and hissed; a small amount of spittle hung from her lips as she continued. “And you! You ask why. You question that which is beyond the comprehension of anything, of everyone! All the while never considering what would happen if God ever did the same! You ask why, and the best answer is certainly the most unsatisfying one!
Because He is God
! We have no right to question the will or the reasons of our Creator!”

Cain stared at and through Al’bah upon hearing this, and so much more. Of all the Christians that witnessed to him, none ever touched on the subjects Al’bah had or had given explanations that were like hers.

Explanations that not only had actual answers for his own arguments but all the arguments for and against God’s sovereignty he had personally ever heard. Did he or any atheist have the right to question without being questioned in return?

He remembered the oft-used phrase, extraordinary claims require extraordinary evidence, and how it clashed with Al’bah’s.
To explain the creation of all…from nothing?

Didn’t that too require extraordinary evidence? He looked up to Al’bah.
But before you stands a Succubus, created not birthed. I know my Creator…

Is this what faith feels like?
Cain thought to himself.
Trusting the unknown…does it feel like this?

“But…what does that mean? For me? For you? For us?” Cain said, feeling despair, confusion, anger, frustration, and
hope
crash within his senses like waves in a chaotic sea that he was adrift upon. Paralleling the tears that crashed around in his eyes, struggling to be wept.

Al’bah slowly shook her head and led Cain to the bed, settling into his strong arms, speaking like the voice that speaks to the dreamer. “So much has happened this past week. You know all I can tell you about me, and about our Bond. More than that, you know more about the other side of existence than you ever have before. So, to what do you refer to, Cain?”

“I don’t know,” Cain said as a strange sensation of
home
swept over him. No matter his flaws or his scruples, Cain never cheated on anyone, though he never imagined to be locked down to one woman. To think, now he almost had no choice! He was with only one woman now…
and forever?

Cain wondered about that as a shocking sense of relief, and condemnation fell upon him. Which was it? Was he relieved that he felt he was finally home? that his arms encircled his entire world? Did he feel like he was doomed to know nothing more than Al’bah? He remembered what Cynthia once told him.

“The two natures of man: the sinner and the saint.”

“Well,” Al’bah said, propping herself on her arms, holding her face above Cain’s; her cold hair spilled over her shoulders and onto his chest. “Let me hold this cup for you to drink. Let me say with simplicity, with sincerity, and with my kiss.
 

“You are a human named Cain. You have been given a place above Demons and Angels. And as blessed as you are, you flee from that which is your spiritual inheritance that would be given to you if you would just accept it as yours.”

She rested her head on Cain’s chest. “I am a Succubus named Al’bah. I have been for almost all of my existence a spiritual creature in punishment. I strive to be with God, and am willing to do whatever it takes to be restored, that I may see the face of He that created me.”

She sighed, playing with Cain’s hair, her breath caressing the skin on his chest. Her wings came forth and covered the bed like a pink canopy.

“And together…we just might be more…than what we were apart…”

What Do You Have Left, When All Is Taken?

“Y’all are fools to think Detective Fullson had anything to do with this.”

—Shane Harper

“You return. Speak your intentions,” Law stated.

Taint stared for several moments and handed over a scroll. “I wish to grant it and its Al’bah this boon.”

Law overlooked the contents. “You have the right to take that which is not Cain’s everything, but he must accept this boon.”

“Then let it decide.”

“Very well.” Law closed the book he was writing in and opened another. “I summon the Demono Succubus, who is named Al’bah by her Bond, Cain Lamentson. I summon Cain Lamentson by the powers that are afforded to me by the edicts of the Bond he is under.”

A brilliant light flared, and Cain and Al’bah appeared.

Al’bah shrieked and hid herself behind Cain upon seeing Taint.

Cain, however, looked annoyed and looked from Law to Taint. “The hell is this about?”

“Know this,” Law stated. “You will not retain any memory of what transpires here.”

“Cain,” Al’bah moaned weakly behind his back. “Our being here is not a good thing! Whatever you do, be very careful of what you say.”

Taint glanced at both Cain and Al’bah and stated to Law, “I demand silence upon the Succubus.”

“So noted. Cain’s Al’bah, you are to remain silent.”

“Human,” Taint stated, “my infrequent dealings with mortals can at times make me forget my patience. There is no reason for it and I to be at odds anymore. After all, when it leaves this mortal realm, the Succubus will return to me regardless.” Taint drew out a scroll and held it out. “Therefore, why not enjoy the life it might have with my thrall? Accept this boon, and it will be cleared of all wrongdoing, and the city will give you a rather
generous
apology. Its friend will be able to return to its side, along with the one its friend has taken as a bride.”

***

Cain narrowed his eyes. “What kind of bullshit is this?”

“I can acknowledge when I am defeated. The Succubus is mighty indeed, and was able to best legions of corruption,” Taint hissed. A vision filtered into Cain’s sight; he saw Al’bah. But no, she was different. She was monstrous and Demonic, slaying strange shadows in vicious swaths.

Cain turned to Al’bah; her face was full of panic and hurt. She shook her head slightly.

“The Succubus did not tell it of her victory? How odd, I thought after its illness she would have been more apt to be truthful to it.”

A surge of chaos filled Cain’s heart. He wanted to burn Taint, but there was something to Taint’s logic. “Al’bah, is this true?”

Al’bah’s jaw dropped; she held up her hands, seeming to attempt to explain something. Her eyes darted between Taint and him.

“No! You can still nod and shake your head, right? You tell me right now! Did this happen?”

Al’bah sobbed silently and wiped her eyes, and nodded.

“
Fuck!
Again you keep shit from me!” Cain seethed. He turned to Taint. “And fuck you, too! Seems like I can’t trust anyone!”

“Your skepticism is to be expected, but know this: Taint cannot undo any promise that is made here.”

Cain spared a glance to Al’bah, still weeping, and read the scroll. A heavy weight seemed to lift from his shoulders and his chest as he read the scroll. “Eighty million dollars? A full pardon and apology?” He turned to Al’bah, his face full of joy. “Al’bah, do you know what—” He stopped upon seeing the look of horror on her face.

Al’bah shook her head vigorously; her eyes were almost bulging out and pouring tears. She alternated between pulling at her hair and at Cain’s hand.

“Al’bah, I…don’t you understand? What would the alternative be? Running for the rest of our lives? Always being in danger?”

Al’bah stared, mute and disbelieving. She looked at her hands, opening and closing them into fists. She looked up, and Cain could see the hurt, the betrayal in her eyes. With a blurred motion, she swung her hand and slapped Cain across the face.

“What the hell!” Cain roared. “What is wrong with—”

Another slap cut off his words, and Cain would have suffered a third had he not retaliated by pushing her down with a muffled
thud
.

“Screw this!” Cain said and looked up to Taint. “I accept!”

Law held up his gavel and banged it upon the desk. “Understood. This boon shall—”

“
Stop
!” Purity cried, appearing with the light. “This boon cannot be granted to them.”