Post by thefangedrose on Jul 14, 2023 18:31:32 GMT -8
Civil War 2
Chapter 3
“Trust”
Harlem, NYC
June 20th 2023
9:52 AM
When the door opened on the small run-down motel Rivers found Dean seated on the edge of the bed. Though the television was off he was staring at it and still dressed only in a long towel, though his hair and beard had long since dried.
Rivers closed the door leaving the room in that dusk-like light due to the curtains being drawn blocking out most of the light. He set down the three large bags he carried in his good arm turning his full attention to the man sitting on the bed.
“You have any idea how unsettling and creepy that is?”
The man seated on the bed didn't’ so much as twitch. His eyes continued to stare unwaveringly at the blank television and the wall behind it.
“....” Clearing his throat he motioned to the chair where the bags were sitting. “I couldn’t spend too much. I didn’t want your sister or….anyone else….seeing it get flagged but everything you need is there.”
Silence from the figure. It just continued to stare in that unblinking stare.
“Trim and dye the beard and hair….” Rivers continued.
And still, the man sitting on the edge of the bed didn't so much as register he was there.
“Are you listening?!” Rivers snapped.
At that impatient snap the man finally looked over, turning his head eerily slowly. When the two met eyes he spoke in that gravely hissing growl that was now his voice.
“Talk.”
Somehow Michael knew what this was. He had told Dean that he would tell him everything. What he knew about Lucifer and this sudden change in his M/O. Rivers let out a sigh and limped around the bed to the dresser where the TV sat. Reaching down he pulled one of the drawers open and pulled out a thick binder.
Closing the dresser with his thigh, he turned his back to it and leaned. Opening the binder he began to speak without looking up.
“It started around Easter.”
Rivers withdrew a large picture from the binder and tossed it between two fingers to the bed beside the man. Plucking it off the bed he looked down and found a still image of a CCTV camera feed.
It was of a dark alley showing a man who appeared to be running in terror and behind him were three of the largest dogs he had ever seen ... .but they looked wrong. They looked sick. The dogs appeared to be of the Doberman breed but their skin appeared to be cracked and broken in places, all bleeding a thick black pus-like substance all over.
“Reports of the victim were the man had been trying to kidnap her and these dogs just came out of nowhere. They mauled him and dragged him off. The local security cameras lost them six blocks north.”
Rivers pulled out more pictures between two fingers and tossed them one after another. Each one the man picked up and looked. Each one was the same, dark grainy security footage stills each showing someone being chased by these dogs.
“Akron. Louisville. Dallas. San Jose. Clarksville. All the same. All mauled and dragged away.”
“So…call animal control.”
The man said bluntly and brushed all the photos onto the floor before looking back at the man holding the binder. Rivers’s eyes narrowed and he pulled out more and tossed them one after another.
“Taken a month after each of them was dragged away. A month to the day each time.”
Once again the man picked up the photos and found more still images but these were better quality….but only slightly. Each one showed the people from the previous photos only now they wore the long black robes of the demons.
But something was off about them.
In place of a mask, their faces were bare. Their eyes were solid white with the tiniest speck of a pupil. Black lines like veins, sometimes three….sometimes four, rose up from above or descended down from the eye.
The effect on the man was instant. His eyes narrowed and a low warning growl left his throat. Rivers snapped the binder closed and folded his arms over his chest pinning the binder to it.
“I thought you might recognize it.” Rivers said. “I lost so much when he left me that I wasn’t sure…”
“That is forbidden.” The man growled and looked up. For the first time, his eyes were not vacant and lifeless.
They were angry.
“So….” Rivers breathed out a deep exhale. “That is what I think it is? He isn’t just using violence to break them anymore?”
The man sitting on the bed rose up and the towel around his waist dropped. Rivers immediately raised the binder to block his eyes.
“Perhaps some pants?”
“The possession takes a month?”
“Yes.” Rivers answered without lowering the binder. “Pants.”
“When was the last one taken?”
“April 28th that I could find. Pants.”
The hulking figure fell silent, his eyes staring at the floor in thought but Rivers let out an exasperated groan and shouted.
“PANTS!”
Slowly the man's head lowered and he looked down at himself and then back up at Rivers again without so much as blinking.
“Is there a….”
“FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THINGS HOLY PANTS!”
The man finally moved around Rivers to the bag and began to dress, but the look on his face made it clear he wasn’t overly happy about it. Once the jeans had been pulled up and buttoned he fished out an undershirt and pulled it on.
“There.” The gravelly voice hissed. “Why did he stop?”
A puzzled look crossed Rivers's face at the question and the bigger man let out an exasperated sigh and walked around him again to the pictures, snatching one up and holding it out for him.
“April 28th.” The voice hissed. “If the transition takes a month another should have been taken in late May. Why the break?”
Rivers' head suddenly came up and his eyes shot to the picture.
“How the hell did I never consider that?!”
“You should know.” The man hissed. “You were him.”
“Once!” Rivers shouted and knocked the picture back to the bed with the back of his hand. “It doesn’t work like that anymore. When he moved on to Anton I lost….a lot of the knowledge and power he contained. I use most of it to keep myself walking….”
The more prominent man looked down at the cane and then back up at Rivers lifting a brow only for the smaller man’s cheeks to darken a bit.
“Keeping you alive took a great deal of effort…I will recover but it takes time.”
“And the woman?”
For a moment Rivers looked at him as if he didn’t understand and then as if the realization suddenly hit him he glanced to his right side…like someone was standing there.
“You know her name.”
“He cared. I didn’t.”
“Danielle. Her name is Danielle.”
“I didn’t ask her name.” The man stated emotionlessly. “What did she tell you and how?”
“....” Rivers’s arm came up and he gently pinched the bridge of his nose. “The same way I think she’s been talking to you. Whispers, half heard. From what I could understand she had….possessed….Lucifer’s new Harbinger and when he decided to stop honoring the Pact she went to get help.”
“You.”
“Yes. Me. It was about that time I saw what was happening with you and your little trip across the country.”
For the first time since he had shown up in the motel room, there was something that appeared on the bigger man’s face. It wasn’t shame or guilt… but looked like the tiniest hint of remorse.
“It wasn’t supposed to go like that.” He said at last. “He was done….the walls were broken down and it was my chance to break through. To take control. He fought….as they all do and I shifted from one aspect to another. Uncontrolled. The women found Wrath.”
“And now that you have been willingly released? What about the other aspects?”
“The only ones that were cut off were Greed, in one of the children and Lust in the girl. Both were recalled when he let me go.”
“Good…This family has suffered enough. At least now his wife won’t have to suffer the fate of losing a child ... .or his sisters' loved ones losing her. What about his wife?”
“What about her?” There was no gentleness there now. No affection. Only coldness. “You know How this works, Lucifer. He died when he let me go. That was the price he paid to deal with the Pact being broken.”
“And his body? How long will it hold up?”
The larger man lifted a hand up and looked at it. He closed and opened it slowly as if testing it out then looked back at Rivers.
“A year.” It hissed. “Maybe two. I will be limited by it until then but it may be interesting to get to experience it. So….what now? Or do you intend to take on your other half with only me?”
“Of course not.”
Rivers eased himself down onto the edge of the other bed resting his hand on the top of the white oak cane.
“We lay low.” Rivers said at last. “A few months….three or four. You may not feel it but your body needs time to heal. We take the time to figure out how to get Danika’s help. Recruit some of the old Demons that walked away after the fight with Valdemar.”
“Vald….”
“Long story.” Rivers said with a weary wave of his hand. “We plan.”
“All the while he builds an army.”
“...Yes.”
“Fine. We wait.”
**
Location Unknown
June 21st
12:05 PM
The heat rose off the sand in waves clearly visible from the huge walls that separated the grass inside from the intense heat outside. A huge central building that served as the main house for the Children of Nephilim was visible from above.
Across the grass, about a hundred yards was another larger square building that served as the barracks for the demons.
The one thing that was noticeably absent from this Hell was the field of small wooden cabins that had been the stable of every other form. The home of rehabilitation and reprogramming was used by Lucifer to recruit and train Demons.
In its place, however, was a large building made of stone and what appeared to be gold. It was square in build with a pyramid-style top with pillars standing on each side of the opened door. Inside the door was dark, as if the light itself from outside was held at bay.
The first movement came from the doors of the main house opening and a short woman with paint designs over her face stepped from within. Just beyond the door she stopped and frowned, her eyes scanning the area.
“Does it have to be so hot?”
“Does it surprise you?” Came a seductive reply.
The woman looked behind her to find her Lord walking toward her. His hair was now blonde and lying down the back of his head with the sides cut short. Two marks ran down his left eye like scars. He wore a pair of loose-fitting silk pants and a matching white shirt left open at the chest showing the intricate inkwork on his torso.
“You know where we come from.”
“We do.” The woman said submissively and inclined her head to avert her gaze. “We were just musing aloud.”
“I understand of course.” The man said, reaching up to cup her face. “How goes the work?”
“We do not understand it.” The woman answered truthfully. “The Harbinger was the one who had studied the ancient knowledge, My Lord and since she disappeared it has slowed. The Demons cannot seem to take the new training. They do not survive longer than a few weeks.”
“Of course not,” Lucifer said with disgust leaking into his voice. “What you did is one thing. That is calling something that was already here. This is another matter entirely. Progress has been stopped?”
“As you commanded Lord Lucifer.”
“Good.”
“Do…” The woman licked her lips, looked up into his face, and then back down again. “...Do we need to continue the job charade?”
Lucifer seemed to consider this for a moment.
“For now.” He decided at last. “There will be a time soon when it will no longer be needed. Our path forward is clear now….but it is necessary until the process can be perfected.”
“As you command.” The woman said a final time and then continued off further into the compound.
Lucifer watched intently as Asmodeus moved into the barracks and then stepped down the stairs himself. Unlike her, however, he moved around the barracks and further in toward the strange temple-like structure.
Above where the two had been talking the door leading to a balcony opened and a woman walked from inside the manor. She had black hair with a slender body, full lips, and a horned nose ring in.
She crossed the balcony where a second woman had been standing the whole time. She was of Asian descent with flowing brown hair. Nearly as tiny in build as the woman who walked out only shorter. She wore a tight flowing robe and while she was fair complected she seemed immune to the heat. On her left hip was a sheathed katana wrapped in red and black.
The woman with the nose ring came to a stop beside the other woman and looked up at her, an unspoken question in them.
“Did you speak to her?”
The woman nodded ever so gently that same question in her eyes.
“Do you trust me?”
The silent woman slowly nodded and slid her hand over Sariel’s own over the top of her sword.
“Thank you.”
Her eyes then turned to the temple that Lucifer had built in their home, a haunted look coming over them.
“I heard you Harbinger.” She whispered. “Thy will be done.”
