Dark Rider

“Just get off me and let me clean the kitchen,” she pulled away and walked over to the counters, glancing over each dish, pan and bowl she grimaced. “This may take me a whole day to do.”

“It only took me thirty minutes dirty everything up, good huh?” cheekily, Rider smiled and leaned over and placed one hand across his abdomen and the other in the air for a bow made for gentlemen only. “Have fun, I’m going to go watch the Yankee’s game.”

“I hate watching baseball, I can play it but—“Kassie threw her hands up and jumped from the sink, inside was water the color of the eggs Rider cooked. Gagging in disgust, the smell was foul enough to turn her stomach. She turned around and stared at the innocently whistling Rider. “What did you do to the sink? You cooked for thirty minutes and destroyed the kitchen in ten!”

“You say it like it’s a difficult task,” he smirked and turned around in one fluent movement that seemed graceful as an ice skater. Kassie watched in amazement as he skipped from the room, leaving her alone in silence and shock, not to mention foul odor.

Hours went by like seconds, finally when Kassie had finished cleaning the kitchen; she swore that no one but her would be allowed in the kitchen without her supervision ever again. The things she had touched, the things that she had seen were unimaginable, completely disgusting but she stuck it out like the good little soldier she is, so that she would be able to cook dinner without throwing up or throwing out the food later on. By five thirty, Kassie had started dinner, when she left the meat to simmer on the burner she decided to check up on A.J. and Rider. Seeing as she hadn’t heard a word from them since around one thirty, or two O’clock. Kassie walked through the living room door and froze seeing Rider and A.J. on the ground, wrestling over what looked like the remote control. “Guys what are you doing? Share the remote!”

“He wants to watch my little pony; I am not watching that crap!” Rider shouted as he put A.J. in a headlock and wiggled the remote from his death vise, A.J. somehow managed to slip away from the lock and kicked Rider in the bottom, sending him tumbling forward on his face towards the stone fireplace, Kassie grimaced at the image of what would soon be the scene, blood and broken bones from the impact. But right before his head smashed into the white stone, the scene changed and the fireplace was gone and instead of Rider smacking him head against the stone he hit soft carpet.

“Rider, are you okay?” Kassie questioned with her hands still in place over her mouth, cupping what could have been a scream. She took a deep breath when he raised his hand to put a thumb up; his face was still facing the ground as if kissing it. “Are you getting up?” and he put his thumb down before Kassie and A.J. decided to step in and help him out, each one of them took a side and grabbed an arm, pulling him straight up.

“I wasn’t hurt,” he murmured as he balanced himself with the held up both A.J. and Kassie, he seemed to go limp in they’re arms as he stared at the wall. “The reason I laid there is because—go pack your things again.”

“You used the matter shaper thingy,” A.J. pointed in an Ah-ha! tone as he pointed at Rider accusingly at his side, he then furrowed his brow and grumbled. “Crap, I’ll go get our stuff.”

“Mine is still packed at the end of my bed, would you mind getting my bag, A.J?” Kassie asked A.J. as he hopped the steps on the stairs; Kassie slipped her arm under Rider’s arms and pulled him after her to the front door. “It’s fine.”

“I shouldn’t have used it, now we have to leave,” he scolded himself as he rubbed his face once with both hands and then placed them to his side, one over Kassie’s shoulders. “We have to go now because of me, I told you I’m stupid.”

“Your not stupid, stop saying you are,” she scolded him as she would A.J. if he were to call himself stupid, she hated that about people, when they messed up and made a flaw out of them they always seemed to kill themselves over it to try and fix it and when they didn’t. They became hated by themselves and she felt that flaws made a person more than perfection, no one is perfect so why try and be something your not. That was her thoughts and she fed them to A.J. as a child and tried to let him decide which was better, superficiality or natural. “You made a mistake. That happens. We’ll just get a plane ticket—“

“The Macys Day Parade is today,” he murmured as he opened the door and looked out at the busy streets, he glanced over at her and raised both eyebrows. “We’ll have to get through the streets, can you hold my hand or will that be too much for you to handle?”

“Seeing as I let you give me a back rub last night, I think holding my hand is just fine,” Kassie admitted as she held her hand out for his hand to grasp, when his hand grasped hers it was warm as could be and she had no idea why, but she didn’t ask seeing as he could be warm blooded. She glanced away from the busy streets to look up the stairs where A.J. was slowly making his descend, he was the smartest of the three, seeing as he only packed a light duffle bag with underwear, two pairs of pants, two long sleeve shirts, two tank tops and two shorts it was easy to carry. Where Kassie had two large duffle bags, she sneered as A.J. dropped it at her feet and took a deep breath. “Rider, where is your bag?”

“Don’t need one,” he pulled Kassie out the door and grabbed hold of both her bags, slinging them over his shoulder he skipped down the steps with A.J. and Kassie following close, Kassie held her hand out and grabbed A.J.’s as they entered the crowd. “D’s got me covered.”

“I would hope so,” Kassie began to speed up to keep up with Rider’s tall, long legged strides, A.J. stumbled behind but kept his pace rather steady while the crowd became thicker. They raced through the people a good ten minutes before a large sound was heard from above them, all looking up at once; they spotted the reason for the noise. The water tower above one of the apartment buildings was tilting to the side, slowly beginning to lose its hold. “Rider.”

“It may seem coincidental but you’ll learn nothing in life is on accident. Everything has a purpose, he’s here and he’s looking for us,” Rider pulled Kassie closer and A.J. followed as they went the opposite way, avoiding getting soaked and squished by the large metal and wooden structure.

“He sure is fast,” Kassie chided as she jumped the curb and nearly tripped over a bike rack, though she cleared it with difficulty, A.J. did not and he fell and lost his grip on her hand. Kassie noticed in time to pull away from Rider to run back to A.J. who was trying to stand up, she gripped his shirt and pulled him up and close to her as she and A.J. looked around frantically in search for Rider.

“Why didn’t you stay with him?” A.J. complained as he pulled Kassie forward to the direction they had been heading, Kassie quickly looked at A.J. and glared at the boy.

“Because you fell and I come back to help you before you were stomped to death, I didn’t expect a thank you but a complaint is a bit to much,” she defended as she felt a hand grab her arm, she turned to find that it wasn’t Rider but a large muscle built man with a Mohawk at least three inches high. Her breath caught in her throat as he pulled her hard to follow him, she had no choice seeing as she couldn’t get away and he was dragging her down the road, A.J. refused to let go and pulled at Kassie’s other arm. Feeling like a wishbone at that point in time, Kassie screamed and pulled her arm back from Mohawk man; he turned and glared at her before throwing her into an alleyway. “Let us go.”

“It’s been awhile, Alexander, Kassandra,” the man said in an all too familiar voice. The voice belonging to her father, though the body was different she knew the fear she knew with him once upon a time. “You have grown up so beautifully, both of you. To bad you won’t grow up anymore.”

“Daddy,” Kassie’s voice was hoarse as she stared at her father’s new body. “How—how are you-”

“Possession is the technical term, darling. But I call it body borrowing. Don’t you just love who I picked, a large biker who’s hands could break your tiny skull with just an ounce of pressure,” he smiled something close to a evil smile and held his hands out as if to mock them both with the large hands. “Anything you’d like to discuss before I kill you both?”

“Why do you want to kill us?” A.J. asked bravely as he pushed Kassie back like a grown man would, Kassie felt pride for his bravery but it soon faded far away when her motherly instinct kicked in and she pushed him back and covered him herself.

“Two words children: The Abyss, do you know how much like hell that is? An endless dark place where all you can hear is screams. It’s something you would never want to see, and guess what children? When I kill you, you’re going back with me and we’ll spend eternity in hell together like the happy family we are,” as he said those words, the gasps came alive and eyes widened with fear from A.J. and Kassie.

“Ego orator ops expello thee—“ the deep and beautiful voice known as Rider flew in like a dark cloud over the alleyway, one minute Kassie’s father was there and the next the biker whose body he held captive fell to the ground unconscious. “Close enough…”

“Rider,” Kassie gasped as she pulled A.J. along with her as she ran towards him and into his open arms, he stood at the entrance of the alleyway with a change of clothes on, all black like the day they first met, from when she could remember. Though he wore a trench coat now, his shades were over his eyes so she couldn’t tell where he was looking but the stone look on his face stuck like a statue as she buried her face into the cloth of his coat where the nape of his neck was and cried silently.

“What did you say?” A.J. was shaking as he pulled from Rider’s side hug and looked around at the biker’s body. He shuttered from freight and turned back around to stare at Kassie, whose body wracked with sobs.

“The starting chant of the abyss bound spell,” Rider murmured as he pulled his arms around Kassie’s back and rubbed his hands down her spine in a comforting pace. “I probably said it wrong anyway; I’m pretty rusty with my Latin chants and charms.”

“He—he’s going to take A.J. away from me,” Kassie whispered through a cry as she gripped his leather trench into her fist and held them tightly. Rider gritted his teeth and nodded to A.J. to walk closer.

“We’re going to Purgatory,” Rider explained as he grabbed hold of A.J.’s wrist, suddenly around them all the scenery changed from the dirty street and grimy brick building into a forest like place where millions of people walked around, seeming to be almost lost. “G—D, oh that sounded horrible, my apologies. Diablo and my Lord may I please,” Rider motioned to step closer, when Diablo nodded his head from atop the mountaintop where he stood with another man who wore white, like the time Kassie had seen Diablo in the bedroom of Rider’s illusion. “This is Alexander James and Kassandra Katherine Mackerel.”

“Kassandra,” the booming voice that deep down, Kassie knew belonged to the almighty being that had spoken, turning her head away from Rider’s jacket she stared at the tall clean shaven man standing beside Diablo. “Would you mind stepping closer, my dear?”

Speaking no words, Kassie waited until Rider let her down from the bridal style hold that he embraced her in, when she stepped down she felt as if she were floating though her feet were touching the ground. She slowly walked up to both Diablo and God with a blank look on her face, staring at both of them in sadness. “Hello again, my darling Kassandra, I’m very sorry all of this had to happen to you.”

Kassie nodded her head towards Diablo in a thanking matter; he crossed his arms and looked at the other male, who was completely his opposite in sight and theory. God, who Kassie figured would look middle aged with long chestnut colored hair and a beard to match like in pictures she had seen, wasn’t anything close to what he really looked like, with short blond hair and bright green eyes and freckles, God smiled and nodded his head to Kassie. “I’ve heard much about your experiences, Kassandra. And I must say you are doing wonderful with what you have been given. I am very proud of your strong will, my dear.”

“Thanks?” Kassie murmured as she looked over at Rider, who nodded for her to walk up closer, so she did and once she stood in front of them both she felt calmed from their moods and vibes they sent out. Glancing at Diablo, dressed to the nines in a black suit, he looked stunning to her. Both the men did, as if they were going to some fancy dance and they were the princes. “Is there no way you can get him away from me?”

“I’m sorry,” God started off with a smile, like he couldn’t frown, it would be a sin if he did, and she felt like. He reached his hand out comfortingly and stared straight at Kassie. She glanced at his face, to his hand, to Diablo and Rider and then took it finally, yet hesitantly. “You would think that since I am the creator that I could control my creations. But I can’t, I gave freedom and willingness to my subjects. Though your father is a very sinful spirit, I cannot control him. Lucifer can punish him by placing him into the abyss again but finding him is the key to making it all stop.”

“Why can’t you just find him, you have tabs on everything don’t you?” Kassie questioned God as he looked down at her, she felt small like a child at that instance. She no longer felt that she was a grown person who could solve the worlds problems, she felt like she needed her father to help her through these troubled times by placing her on his knee and telling her everything would be okay, that daddy was there, but the fact was, daddy couldn’t help her run away when he was the one she was running from. “Can’t you just find him and throw him away forever?”

“As easy as it sounds, dear. It’s not simple; your father possesses bodies to host him for a few hours, long enough to not be spotted by our radar. Let me put it this way,” God paused as he went to sit down, but nothing was under him to hold him up, when Kassie went to warn him of his soon to be accident, a chair appeared underneath him. “Sit,” he motioned for her to sit down, she trusted him and sat back, prepared for a fall that never came. “Each person puts off an energy that is like sonar, the waves tell me who is who. Your father is embodying these people for a perfect amount of time that would allow him to get around without being caught by me and Lucifer and those we have set out to capture him, the bounty hunters like Rider. He takes his time but he plans it out, every four hours he switches, taking up the hosts’ energy to keep him going strong. He’s keeping himself moving, if he slipped once we would be able to find him. We’re waiting but so far no luck, he’s smart but even smart people mess up.”