CHAPTER FOUR
Pearls of Wisdom and the Voices of Self Degradation
"A Goddess!" They both exclaimed in disbelief.
"How is that possible?" Emma asked.
"Well, when a mommy Goddess and a Daddy God love each other very much, they share a special hug." Layla reported sarcastically.
"Layla, as much as I adore your penchant for biting wit, I do not believe that now is the correct time." Aslyn exacted. Layla immediately quieted and resigned to be accommodating. Emma decided to get her answers straight from the horses mouth.
"Aslyn, first of all, what are you doing in my house, secondly why should I allow you in my house and lastly how is it that you are considered a God? I mean, I thought there was only one God. Now there's a Goddess?" Aslyn smiled slightly and looked at Emma.
"I understand your concern. I am a being that can control interdimsional travel. I simply chose to be where I wish, and it presents itself to me. Doors and walls are as meaningless to me as the wind to you. I assure you that my intentions are not at all malicious. I need your help. So does the world, or more accurately, you reality. And you are correct in your belief of the one Almighty God. She is there; I am nothing in comparison. She is the womb from which all life was sprung. I am more of a captain, or an overseer if you will. And there are many of us. We existed before the birth of man, and before the age of demons. Each of us had our own area of authority. This is where most of mythology is based in. Some of us were benevolent, others were very wicked. But then the age of the God Kings passed and demons cursed the Earth. Then man came, and he found a way in which to cleanse the world of the foul ones. They instilled the essence of a demon into a young girl and called upon her to fight their battles. The age of man was born, and soon they found that there was no more need of us. Man forgot and wrote us off as myth. But, this did not mean we left. Oh some of us laid themselves down into the Earth and slept, but some, like myself, remained and kept watch. Until two years ago. That is when the balance of power was tipped."
"You mean when all the potentials were turned into slayers, making them into an army a generation, instead of just a lone warrior a generation." Emma interjected.
'That's correct. While helpful in the battle against the foul ones, it has also allowed for an unbalance in the nature of the universe. Old Evil has been awoken and is taking it's opportunity to seize this world for it's own devices."
"How does that make an opportunity? If there is essentially now more powerful soldiers of good, then how does that make a way for evil to arise?" Jimmy asked anxiously. Layla rolled her eyes and began to explain, when Aslyn gave her a stern eye to make her ease off. Aslyn lifted her left hand with her palm facing the ceiling and looked at it. An old fashioned brass scale appeared.
"Imagine this scale represents the balance in reality between dark and light." She then waved her hand slightly, behind the scale. A piece of rice paper unrolled behind the scale. "Now, imagine that this delicate rice paper attached to the scale, represents the fabric of reality. Like the paper, reality is fragile. Any slight movement of the scale in either direction," As she said this both trays of the scale filled. The left with white pearls the right with black pearls. But, then the white pearls began to fill higher than the black pearls, "And the scale will tear the paper." With that, the left side of the scale tipped down and the paper tore in the middle and there was a flash of blue light then the whole image disappeared. Aslyn turn back to the three and raised any eyebrow.
"Your saying," Emma spoke up, "That there always has to be a balance between good and evil, basically."
"That is exactly what she is saying." Layla wheezed, in her typical sharp manner.
"But that means that, there must ALWAYS be a slayer to fight a battle that can never be won!" Emma challenged.
"I understand how you must feel. But, it is not a fruitless life. You, and all slayers for that matter, are VERY important. It isn't a battle that can never be won. It is one you can win everyday! Everyday that the rest of the world can go on living in relative oblivion to the existence of preternatural forces attacking their existence is proof of a job well done. But, now, the balance has been tipped." She held her hand up and the scale appeared again with the left side of overflowing white pearls tipped down and the brilliant light still streaming from the tear in the rice paper. "This creates a rift in reality, and that rift is a door to another dimension! The more it tears, the more it rips and, a bigger tear, means more open doorways to places you don't want to be!"
"So, what do you want from me? I didn't do this! We didn't even know it had been done! Until yesterday, I thought I was the only on in the world! Sorry, I was left outta the super hero loop." Emma forced.
"A balance must be reestablished. There are things being let into this dimension that will shred this world. Things this world has not faced in eons." Aslyn stopped and looked down.
"What do you mean? Are saying that dinosaurs are coming back, because, that would be awesome!" Jimmy blurted. Everyone looked at him sternly. "What? Don't tell me that you never imagined seeing a real live dinosaur? I mean come on! Never mind." He defended and conceded the floor back to the Goddess.
"No, Jimmy, not dinosaurs. But some far more ferocious. Demon Kings who rule over legions of demon warrior spirits who live for domination, the stench of terror and the thrill of death."
"Demon Kings, wow, do they get a crown?" Jimmy asked.
"This is not a joke boy! This is very real! You had one in your house tonight! Naberius! Demon King and ruler of sixty-six legions! His whole purpose is to cause discord! Trouble! Madness! Dread is an aphrodisiac for him! He wants your world drenched in blood and clouded with ash! He wants to rule this dimension as he rules nine others!"
"Now why couldn't you just give me a little heads up on that one? That would have been helpful! Might have literally saved my delicate neck." Layla announced. Aslyn shot another stern look in her direction and Layla once again slunk down into the couch.
"I had no reason to believe he would attack you let alone know where you are. The rift must be growing for him to be able to punch through like that! Also that means he must see you as a threat!" There was a moment of silence and then Aslyn took a step back.
"He won't attack again for now. Naberius possesses the most dangerous trait there is."
"What's that?" Jimmy asked.
"Patience." Emma responded. She stood there with her arms folded looking off towards Aslyn without blinking, looking very pensive. The other two looked at each other in surprise. Aslyn looked concerned. She tapped her lip with her finger.
"There must be balance." She muttered. "There is no way to reverse the change in the line of slayers. Even I cannot do that. The only hope now is to find a way to close the rift before to many entire and scale tips again! Before too much of the madness takes over."
"You mean it's started already?" Emma posed.
"Well of course! It started two years ago when the army of slayers was created! Haven't you seen the signs?" Jimmy and Emma looked at each questioningly and then back at Aslyn and shook there heads murmuring no. "Well they were there! I don't see how you could have missed them! Increase in war through out the world, the SARS virus, gas prices, Justin Timberlake going solo, THE RED SOX winning the WORLD SERIES!"
"Yeah that was pretty messed up." Jimmy nodded along with Emma. "How were we supposed to know that they were signs that reality was out of wack, I mean other than the Red Sox beating the Cardinals."
"How could you not! Don't you remember about the change in the WB's line up?"
"Oooo, Yeah!" Emma exclaimed "Remember they got rid of that show last year, you know the one with the really hot guy! Damn why can't I remember the name? It was really good! And they had that other hot guy come over from that other show they got rid of! Now that right there I knew something had to be off." Aslyn nodded in relief as Emma acknowledged her reference.
"The Goddess of Balance tells you about signs of an apocalypse, and among she lists a deadly fatal virus, a virtual world war, and a TV show's cancellation makes you say 'Oooo'? What is wrong with you people?" Snarked Layla.
"Hey! When the Cardinals lost the World Series that was a definite sign of coming doom!" Jimmy corrected. Layla rolled her eyes and rested back onto the couch.
"Even so, that spells emanate danger for you and a deadly virus doesn't?"
"Hey, you're not from here! Being a local sports fan is something that is bred here! And besides, no from Missouri ever actually goes anywhere that they could contract a deadly disease."
"Sheryl Crow." Emma said plainly. Jimmy blinked and looked at her.
"Huh?"
"Sheryl Crow, she's from Missouri, Independence actually. And Brad Pitt, he's from Springfield and then there's Kate Capshaw, she's from Ashland."
"Ah, yeah. You forgot about Nelly. He's from University City, right?"
"Yeah, but we don't like to claim him." Jimmy looked agitated.
"Alright! So some have left, but, it's not like they ever come back." Jimmy looked at Emma to make sure he was right and she nodded in approval.
Aslyn had been standing back listening to all of this shaking her head. She placed her finger tips onto her forehead and addressed the group.
"Enough! I am weary from this dimension and of your quibbling. I must go and rest now. Layla, if you have enough energy try to put up an alarm system so you can be ready if he attempts to return." As uttered the last word she faded into nothingness, but the scale remained. The three looked back and forth at each other in confusion. Emma walked over to it and tried to touch, she got close but lost her nerve. Jimmy stalked over to her and huffed.
"Are you telling me that you can touch a two day old dead body, but, you can't touch a floating imaginary scale? It's not real it's just a projection!" He said as he looked at her grinning and started to walk through the image. At the same time Emma looked down at the floor puzzled. As he encountered the left tray of the scale, it "encountered" his face and yelped and fell to the ground. At this time Emma had been just standing up from squatting down to retrieve something. As Jimmy stood up rubbing his face, She smiled and raised her right hand and in between her thumb and index finger was a white pearl. She simply smiled as he furrowed her brow.
"Eh, Lady! I think you forgot something!" Layla bellowed. Nothing happened. The scale remained.
"How is that really there?" Jimmy asked some was perturbed. "And why does it feel like I just got hit by a ton of bricks?" Layla stood up and stepped casually over to the two.
"She's a Goddess Jimmy. For the most part she can do whatever she wants. That includes leaving her crap lying around!" As soon as she finished the sentence, a flash of light came from the scale and then it was gone.
"Thank You!" Layla huffed as she looked towards the ceiling. Emma grinned and nodded her head as she held up the pearl that remained in her hand. But, then, like the scale, it flashed into nothing. Emma grimaced and then pouted.
"Well, I think after that I could use some sleep. Good night all." Layla turned to walk down the hall. Jimmy tilted his head and watched her rear as she sashayed towards her door. Emma slapped his chest and straitened up. He looked over at in shock when he realized she was in her underwear too! He threw his hands over his eyes in shame and whipped away.
"Oh GOD! You too?" He yelled. Emma just brushed it off and looked down the hall.
"Hey Layla! Why didn't you tell us about this when you got here?" Layla turned around and faced her.
"Would you have believed me? You barely believed what I did tell you."
"That's true. I don't think I could sleep if I wanted to. Too much has happened in the last twenty-four hours. I think I am going to patrol some more." Jimmy chased after her as she went to change for patrolling. He wanted to go with her. He didn't want either of them to be alone.
"No Jimmy," She answered before he could ask. "I want to be alone. I have some things that need absorb."
She sat on the edge of her bed and pulled a pair of jeans on. She didn't feel like putting a skirt or culottes tonight, she figured that she wouldn't need her gadgets. All she wanted was the clarity the night air can give a confused mind. She grabbed a black tee shirt of off the chair at her desk and pulled it on over her shamrock tank top. She stopped for a moment and thought about how many other girls around the world were doing this now. How many were being trained by those who created this "Slayer Army". And, how was it that she got missed? The bitterness began to rise, she tried to force it away. She sat down to put on her boots. As she struggled to manipulate one onto her right prosthetic foot, the bitterness and angry began to grow. She hated this. She hated that fate had dealt her such an unfair card. Why her? All she wanted was to be normal, and all this plastic thing made her feel was like a cyborg. She ripped the boot away from her foot and threw it into the wall where it stuck. She rubbed her hands vigorously and bit down hard. She growled in her throat and tears began to glisten in her eyes. She didn't like this feeling; she believed that it made her weak. She was supposed to be so strong. "Oh you are so brave!" People have said. "I wouldn't have even noticed! You walk so well!" They have "complimented". Emma always felt that it was condescending. She didn't need their goddamn pity. That's all that was. There attempt to make their selves feel like good individuals for being nice to the crippled girl. Of course she walked normal! It's not like you lose your foot and you become an invalid! She thought sometimes that maybe she should just chuck it all and ride around in fucking wheel chair. Maybe then their pity would make sense or even validated. When they would make those comments to her she wanted to respond with something other than "Oh thank you!" She wanted to say "Oh you poor thing! How do you go on day by day with giant honker of a nose on your face!" Because of this stupid thing, people now define her by it. "Do you know Emma Hogan? You know, the girl with the fake leg?" Why not the really pretty girl, or the girl with the twin brother even. It's not fair that this happened to her! Losing her family was enough! Why couldn't have this slayer thing happened earlier, maybe she could have saved her family and her foot! She wiped her face with a discarded shirt from the floor. She shoved on her boots forcefully and threw her hair up into a ponytail. The hallway was dark as she kicked the broken bits of wood that littered the floor as she headed for the front door. Emma grabbed her jacket off of the coat tree darted out of the door.
As she walked, the thoughts in her head began to multiply. One thought lead to another and another until she didn't know how one was connected to other. She tried to retrace her mental steps but then gave up.
"WHAT AM I SUPPOSED TO DO!" She yelled to the stars. A dog started barking from one of the yards behind a planked privacy fence. She continued down the alleyway. It was very narrow and very crammed with garages and houses. They were all so close they seemed to be connected. Emma kicked at the loose broken pieces of pavement as she shuffled. She thought to herself about how much this all sucked royally. Onward she went. Passing crumbling sheds and derelict bicycles, she began to see the end of the alley. Emma heard the sound of something heavy hitting one of the dumpster. She perked her ears and followed the bangs and bumps to its source. Silently she stalked towards a rusted green dumpster. As she moved closer she noticed a broken crate and picked up one of the sharpened pieces that was well suited as a stake. She hunched down a bit and slinked to the side of it. There she squatted with her back against the filthy dumpster gripping her stake tight.
"Maybe it's just a stray dog?" Emma whispered to herself. She could feel the movement from inside. It rocked the metal box violently. As it rocked, Emma felt a kick from inside the dumpster in the middle of her back, and along with it was a muffled whimper. "Nope, not a dog." She muttered.
She clenched her stake tight, closed her eyes and took a deep breathe. She jumped up quickly, stood on her tippy toes and looked down into the cavernous dumpster. It was hard to make out at first, her pupils had trouble adjusting to the darkness inside it. But, there it was, a filthy long haired male vamp chowing down on a young woman. She had been bitten on the neck; Emma could tell by the way the blood glistened in the small amount of light that was able to penetrate the area. Her eyes were wide open and no longer blinking really. The woman's whole body twitched every once in a while, it just prompted him to hold her down tighter and bite down harder. She would just stiffen her neck and try to blink. But, it wasn't her neck he was feeding on right then. He had her thighs around his neck with his hands on top of them. He was feeding vigorously on her inner left thigh close to her groin. Her clothes were no where in sight and her underwear was shred and hanging off her right thigh.
Emma held her breathe so as not to gasp, but, unconsciously, she had shot her right hand to her mouth. Thus dropping the stake she has help so tightly. She froze and rolled her eyes shaming herself for her stupidity and ruining her advantage on the greasy beast. He jerked his head up and growled at her. His yellow eyes gleamed brightly in the darkness. The woman gasped for air, and it seemed that the vamp slapped her face and busted her lip. Emma could see blood dripping down from her mouth and off of her chin. He leapt upward and grabbed Emma by her throat. He reeked of garbage and coagulated blood. She tried not to vomit. He jumped down off of the edge of the dumpster and lead her backwards into the middle of the alley.
He lifted her up off of her toes and squeezed tighter.
"I know you." He said accusingly in a gravelly voice. "You're that chick who claims to be the slayer. Well, I got news for you sister, there's only one and you ain't her!" He pulled her close and licked her right cheek. The sweaty filth from his nose rubbed off onto her face. She shuddered and the sensation.
"You face tastes pretty." He looked her up and down. "I wonder what the rest of you tastes like?" He looped his finger around one of her belt loops and pulled her hips closer to him and tried to look down into them. The thing leaned over to her ear and whispered gleefully. "I can smell it from here." She reeled and the comment. Her spine felt as if it had slivered down and back up. She thought about the stake in the toe of her boots and went to click her heels. But she stopped herself. She was wearing her new Nine West boots and wasn't about to ruin them.
"Damn!" She cursed in her mind. And then it dawned on her that she didn't need anything pointy to make him at least drop her! She pierced her lips and looked at him violently. She tried to mutter but he was clenching her neck too tight.
"What did you say? Speak up I like to her you plead!" With that her eyes widened with angry and she reared her right leg back and followed through possibly shoving his testicles into his throat! He dropped her promptly and fell to the ground cradling his wounded manhood.
"I SAID," She Yelled. "YOU HAVEN'T BOUGHT ME DINNER! Was that loud enough, I wanted to be clear!" She stepped forward and kicked him in his face making him flip and roll in the air before landing on his stomach three feet away.
"And by the way, grease ball, and I mean that literally, I am a Slayer and there are now hundreds of us in the world!" He looked up at her horrified. He definitely knew that he had made an awful mistake. "Oh yeah! You are so gonna be a pile of dust!" She walked confidently over to him.
"Cocky Bitch!" He growled as he reached up and grabbed her right ankle. He pulled upward and she fell back knocking her head against the ground. Emma rubbed her head and mumbled "Ow." She looked down and saw that her right foot was twisted around backwards.
"Ah Dammit! Now look at what you did!" She complained as she reached down to twisted back.
"Holy crap what is that?" He asked confused.
"It's foot what do you think it looks like." Emma responded.
"Well, I mean is it fake? Or a cast? I mean that's not normal for a foot to spin around like that."
"Yes it's fake! I have a prosthetic leg!" She huffed as she stood up and put her hands on her hips.
"Wow! I mean kudos! Good for you! I wouldn't have known if you hadn't told me! You walk normal and your not retarded at all!" The vamp professed. Emma was furious! Now even the filthy creatures of the night were patronizing her with their undeserved pity! And just because she was technically considered by the government to be handicapped, that means she's retarded?
"What type of moron thinks that shit?" She said aloud. "Well obviously a RETARDED MORON!" She thought to herself.
"What am I supposed to do? Roll around in a wheel chair and yell 'EMMA!' Like Timmy on South Park? You know it would be nice to be objectified for other parts of my body other than my plastic leg ya know! I happen to have very nice breasts!" The Vampire raised his eyebrows and looked down at her chest.
"OH GOD!" She groaned as she flung her head back and threw her arms up. The vamp furrowed his eyebrows and blinked rapidly.
"You have issues man, maybe I should just go. Sorry, about all that, uh.. ok …bye!" He stuttered as he started to back away and try to run.
"Oh! I don't think so mister!" She yelled as she went after him.
They ran almost the length of the alley when he turned around to spit insults at her.
"You'll never catch up to me with that plastic leg, fuckin' cripple!" Emma yelled a ferocious yell and ran faster and faster until she leaped into the air and landed on him standing up right.
"FUCK YOU!" She yelled. She stepped down on his neck with her right prosthetic leg and held tight to his arms with both hands. She placed her left foot on the ground and pulled back on his arms. At the same time she pushed down and away on his neck with her foot. She did this for a few seconds, her face turned red, he face scrunched, her teeth gnashed, and grunted as she put all of her effort into the task. At she had pulled his body away from his head and he exploded into dust.
"Now who's the fuckin' cripple!" She yelled down at the pile of dust. She stood there for a moment breathing deeply and rapidly. Her angry was still burning hot to where her ears felt like the blood inside them was burning. Why did she care about what some dusted vampire thought? Still, all he did was voice things that she felt inside herself. This was just one more violent out burst of her self loathing. Tears threatened to spill from her eyes. Emma decided to give in for once and plopped to the ground. There she sat right where the vamp had been; arms resting on her knees and her bottom lip turned under and quivering. The longer she sat the louder the voices got in her head. Telling her she was worthless, ugly, CRIPPLED. Who would ever want someone like her! She would be stuck living with her brother until the day they die! And anyone did want to love her and be with her, maybe they would be some kind of creepy guy who had fetish for amputees. That is if they could get past her freakish strength. What guy would want a woman who could beat him up!
She let her face drop into her hands and she sobbed heavy and hard. The tears drenched her face and dripped down to the broken, craggy pavement. The thoughts continued.
"And you had the ego to think that you were special because you were THE slayer! HA! You should have known that wasn't true! You should have known that all along you were still nothing! And now, reality as you know it is going to fall to pieces like a dried up dirt clod and what are you doing? You sitting here feeling sorry for yourself cause life is unfair! Well at least your alive for now! What about that poor girl in the dumpster? Do you think your worse off than her?" The last thought made her snap out of her loathing and she perked her head up and realized that the woman in the dumpster was still alive, if not barely! She jumped up and ran back down the alley to the same dumpster and jumped inside. The woman no longer blinked and Emma couldn't find her pulse. She hung her head ashamed of herself. More thoughts of coulda shoulda woulda raced through her mind. She slapped her forehead with her left palm and tightly shut her eyes.
"NO!" She grunted. It was an awful place to die. And probably no one would find her until trash day. "Poor girl." Emma whispered. "I'm so sorry!" Emma reached forward and slid her eyelids shut. She crossed her self and reached up and lifted herself out of the dumpster.
Emma continued down the alley in the direction she was headed before the vamp fight. She touched the back of her head where she fell and felt the sizable lump. It felt hard and wet. When she brought her hand back she could see that there was blood and she knew Jimmy would have a fit and insist she see a doctor. Even though he well knew that by the time they got there anyway it will have healed up completely. She sniffled and wiped nose with the back of her hand. She looked at her watch and saw that it was four a.m. She figured that she better start heading home, soon it would be dawn.
Emma walked on and turned right at the end if the alley and out of sight. Once she had disappeared, two tall figures stepped out of the darkness and into the stuttering light of a street lamp. The first one was tall and broad and had short, brown curly hair. He had a firm, square jaw. His eyes were fierce and intense. And his lips were thin and his mouth wide and slightly frowning in disgust. The second one stepped forward and was slightly shorter than the first he had long blonde hair and a narrow jaw. His eyes were wide and filled with a psychotic gleam. He grinned menacingly and lay his right hand on the first one's left shoulder.
"What didn't we grab her Leo?" He asked.
"Don't you smell that?" Leo asked the blonde one in an Italian accent. The blonde one sniffed the air and then breathed in deeply through his nose.
"Yes, desperation, mmmm, anger, and fear!"
"Ci Jerome. She's marinating in it. Give it time and she will be drenched in it! Then we will take her."
"They say the blood of a Slayer is like a shot of heroine! Makes you feel like you can conquer anything!"
"Why do you think they are always so self centered and isolated? They are swallowed whole by this feeling. They push all others away because of it. But this one is special. She has battered herself beyond the matters of slayers. This one will be a delicacy to savor!" Leo smiled as he lifted his hands to his face and lit a cigarette. Jerome tilted his head as he watched.
"Leo, how is it that we can smoke it we ain't got no breath?"
"Idiota." He huffed as he rolled his eyes. "We can choose to or not to take in and expel air. Your moronic questions in your broken English wear on my patience. Get the girl, we have work to do." Jerome stepped over to the dumpster that Emma had been in with the "dead" woman. He leapt in and back out with her slung over his right shoulder. When his feet were firmly on the ground, he pulled off of his shoulder and held her in a cradle position. Leo stood over her and lifted her eyelids and breathed in deep.
"She is not dead yet as the Slayer thought." He announced. "But she will be if we don't act." Jerome looked up at him thoughtfully.
"Are you saying we should start now?"
"Just enough, il mio amico. Just enough for her to last until we get there." As he ended his answer, he rolled up his right sleeve and sliced it on a protruding nail on the electrical pole. Leo did not flinch. Pain was a gift to him. He welcomed it. The blood from his wound rolled around his wrist and dripped to the ground. His eyes narrowed and gleamed at the sight of the rich ruby red substance glistening in the moon light. He lifted it to his lips and licked gently at the droplets. His eyes rolled back and he breathed in deep from his nose. Then he motioned for Jerome to open her mouth and he placed his wrist over her mouth and let the blood drip down into it. Her eyelids fluttered but remained closed, her tongue moved shortly and her lips instinctively puckered as a newborn searching for a breast. After just a few drops, it was evident that she was breathing normally again, but she was still unconscious. Leo brought his wrist back to his mouth and lapped the remaining blood up before the wound resealed itself. He rolled his sleeve back down and took a long drag from his cigarette.
"Let's go." He instructed. "We have only another hour before sunrise. They will be waiting for us." Jerome adjusted the girl in his arms and they walked off into the darkness of the alley.