9 Red Twilight Demon of the Flowers chapter 9

Chapter 9 Shadows over Life part 3

Joe looks up from writing to address Claude, "so when you said death you meant Death with a capital 'D'? as if a person called Death."

Claude rubs one hand down his face as if to wipe sweat from his brow then tucks his hands behind his back again "I would not be so kind as to say 'person'. What the boy was I have trouble articulating. The boy had powers that set him aside form man or beast. Death is not our advisory as you may believe, Death is kind, and should be welcomed into our homes as a friend. If I had not been so arrogant I might have known this then. Have you ever thought about death, Mr. Dove? How will you great Death when you come for you?"

Joe lowers his head masking a grin, he rubs his eyes with one hand "I haven't put much thought into Death, but I have shaken hands with two Gods. I ended up have disagreements with both." Claude turns to face Joe momentarily awaiting more information; Joe fails to deliver. Claude faces the window again.

***

The sky goes gray; color bleeds out of the world leaving Claude and the haunting boy the lone specials of color in a frozen gray world. All sound falls into silence, Claude's breathing becomes the only thing audible. "I know not who you are, , but it should be wise of you to keep a distance."

The boy chuckles, "go right ahead, step into the water, you will find it is harder than stone."

Still in the fever of rage Claude throws himself onto the water, he collapses atop it with a grown, the water can no longer be moved in any way shape or form. Only now does Claude look around and see the whole of the world is frozen, birds froze in the sky, ships in the water, nothing in space seems to be within the grasp of time, objects in motion remain frozen in motion.

Claude pushes himself into a sitting position to take in the oddities all around him "this cannot be…" he whispers to himself.

The strange boy speaks up "so narrow your eyes are. You assume all time is relative? Is space finite? There is more on earth thin in heaven or hell. You make all haste to see for yourself what the next world holds for you. Publius Vergilius Maro was more right then he could have known when he claimed that 'life after life to be a cruelty of god.' "

"who are you? What are you?" Claude commands of the macabre boy.

"I am that which grieving men fear." The boy offers a hand "Come with me, and you will never need to drink of the bitterness of St. Peter's challis."

***

"What the boy promised was nothing shy of immortality. How I wish I had turned my back on his unholy offer." Claude places a hand on the glass before him as if to test the idea that the glass is indeed before him.

Joe ask for clarification, "so then he did not interduce himself as the Grimm Reaper?"

"I have trouble fathoming whatever else he could have been. The boy had wealth like you would not believe, every earthly thing that one could wish for the boy provided for me. He pulls me from the water and with time stopped he walks me for miles weaving in and out of object locked within the continuum of the unmovable. Hand in hand we travel to the young city of New Orleans. There the boy has set himself up as a duke of sorts. He is a plantation owner, dozens if not hundreds of min service him day and night. I am fed well and cured of my fever. I tell my story of sorrow time and time again to deaf ears it would seem, the panacea prescribed to me by my new master and his slaves is debauchery. Drink and ocean of wine and wash it down with the flesh of young girls."

Joe finds this comical, to spite the evident discomfort Claude is experiencing talking about it. "I will tell you when I was your age I thought that was just what I wanted."

"Deces Rugal is what he called himself, and what he offered I found magical for a time."

Joe cuts in "that is not even clever wordplay."

***

The Rugal house is a vast prairie style plantation, miles of fields it seems manned by hundreds of hands. The main house is set up to entertain company nightly. Well lit, gold, and silver adorning every corner of the ballroom at the center of the estate. Every few days some noble family arrives to view the artwork in Rugal's care and enjoy live music and dancing.

Without fail when they leave in the morning, Deces has drained them of years of their life as well as pints of their blood. Deces is a sophisticated monster with a taste of royal blood. His charm and magic draws in just what he wants day after day.

Quickly Claude comes to understand what it is that Deces wants from him. Deces has walked alone for lifetimes without number, and now he is sculpting himself a 'partner' someone to offer him genuinely romantic love, someone to share in his hunger to feed his loneliness. Claude was never Deces guest; he has always been his prisoner.

It is Deces intention to transform Claude into an addict of sorts. Someone who cannot live without continues physical stimulation, someone that must feed on the blood and admiration of others, addicted to sex and money, chained to the material by greed and lust. Only by sharing his sickness with others can Deces find any form of sallies in the world. It doesn't matter if Deces pray is young or old, male or female, any flesh will do.

It is nothing by the ghost of Celia that gives Claude the need even to attempt to struggle against Deces. But it would take years for Claude to find the strength to try to fight his master. After his soul is stained by a decade or more of cardinal sin, and Deces has begun casting the spells that would ultimately turn Claude into whatever form of demon Deces is.

The two monsters sit together at their dining room table dressed in the most exquisite fashion of the year. They sit with empty plates and empty cups before them pretending to drink, it is hours until sunset and until then nights festivities. Deces enjoys the imaginary food set before him, served by their very real slave girl who has been conditioned to believe that the food is really even if she cannot see it and to clean the dishes after the meal even though they have not been used.

Neither Claude no Deces need to eat human food anymore, Deces dark magic has seen to that. The lot of them sit in the dark, Claude at a sensitive point in his metamorphisms wherein he is aversive to light.

Deces looks up from his invisible food "Are you not eating tonight?" he offers a sincere gaze.

Claude leans off to one side of his chair his legs folded tightly two fingers, and his thumb rested to the side of his face in a glare of board aggravation "eat what? We dine from empty plates and drink invisible wine from bottles drained ages ago. When was the last time we eight? Has it been a week? A month? I honestly cannot tell anymore."

Deces places down his untenses "would you rather we go to town to dine? Surely, we can find someone to prepare us a fine meal. But I fear you will no longer find mortal food to be to your liking."

In a grotesque display, Claude throws a napkin from the table to the ground, raising his voice ever so slightly Claude softly shouts "since meeting you there has been a great many things I have found not to my taste."

"It will pass. The first few decades are the hardest." Deces wipes his face then folds up his napkin placing it back on the table gently. "why don't you wait here? I can handle setting up for tonight's dance."

"If you are going by way of the town ask the stable master if he has a stallion up for adoption. Our mares seem not to be taking to our current one."

Deces dismisses himself from the table "our mares seem to like you riding them more than the stallion we got for them, don't they?" with a childish giggle Deces walks off. Claude turns his nose up in disgust.

Claude walks to the windows to watch Deces take a mare form the stable and ride off into town. One of Deces slaves, an elderly woman of conquistadores lineage addresses Claude "you should learn not to aggravate him like that."

Claude pulls away from the from the window. "you should run. Go to the worker's hut, grab your kids and start running, go west. Don't stop till you reach Zuni Dakota."

The Spanish women tries to stop Claude "what are you planning on doing?"

"I plan to clean this unhallowed place with fire." Claude waist no more time. He walks out to the fields with a bag filled with lamp oil and a burning torch in hand. He gives the slaves a few moments to begin running, Then lets the baptism begins.