Strength Of The World

I sat up in bed, stretching, it was that time of night again. I took a quick shower, throwing on a new revealing outfit, along with the casual thick liner and purple eye shadow. I looked over myself carefully in the mirror before leaving, grabbing my cloak as I walked out the door. I looked around the empty streets of the city, closing my eyes, listening closely to the sounds of the night. It wasn’t long before a woman’s cry caught my attention. I followed the noise quickly, finding myself in front of a long alleyway, a body could be seen in the distance, sitting against the wall.

As I made my way to her, I watched my surroundings closely. “Are you okay?” I questioned as I neared her, but she continued to sit there, her knees pulled to her chest, arms wrapped around them, shaking. “It’s okay, I’m not going to hurt you.” I knelled beside her, placing a soft hand on her shoulder “Who did this to you?”

The woman looked past me and I stood, staring at one of the men I’d seen the night before.

“I thought I told your friend to tell you guys to get out of this town?” I sneered, jerking my head back as laughter echoed behind me. The woman who had been sitting on the ground was now replaced with another man from the bar. I turned, taking a step back so I could view them both.

I was now confused as to who the men were and what they wanted. I studied both the men closely as I continued to take small steps away, coming to a stop when my back hit someone else. Two hands wrapped around my wrist and I tensed, trying to pull my arms from their grasp, but they only pulled me tighter against them. I looked back to see the man I’d talked to the night before, wickedly smiling down at me.

“Hello Angel” a new man was now standing before me, the tallest of the group. His eyes trailed over my body as he inched closer, extending his hand and placing it to my cheek.

I turned my head from his touch, continuing to tug my arms from the grasp the man behind me held. “How did you know my name?” I glowered and he chuckled.

“You know, I never did take you for the angry type” he dropped his head slightly, shaking it back and forth, smiling “I know a lot about you” he trailed off, looking back at the man with the buzzed hair like his own, nodding. I watched as the man walked to the street, pulling out a cigarette, watching for anyone who neared.

“I know what you do, where you came from, how you died, how your family died…” he took a step closer once more, using his index finger to push a strand of hair behind my ear “who killed your parents…” his eyes met mine as he spoke again.

It felt as if a sudden rush of anger overcame me and I began to tug roughly to free myself “What are you talking about?!” I growled and the men laughed.

“You have really turned into a feisty one” the man before me grinned “I don’t think we’re getting off to the best start” he turned, walking toward the man in the street “Please, come, lets finish this conversation over drinks.”

One last tug and my arms were free. I turned, wrapping a hand firmly around the mans throat, pushing him against the wall. Trickles of blood flowed from his flesh as I buried the tips of my fingers into his skin. The man took hold of my arm, pushing me away from him, falling to the ground, gasping for breath. I could see the other three men watching me, a look of surprise had taken over their once before calm faces “I’m not going anywhere.”

The man arose from the ground, sprinting toward me, but was stopped by the tallest man who quickly stood between us.

“You know he doesn’t want her harmed.”
I stared at the man who had tried to attack me, the wounds on his neck almost completely healed. He shot a glare at me before turning and walking toward the other two men. The tallest man turned toward me “You’re not going to make this easy on anyone, even yourself if you continue to act that way.”

“Who’s he? Who were you talking about?” My brows furrowed in confusion.

He sighed, taking hold of my wrist, tugging me into the direction of the bar “If you behave like a good little girl, we can go have some drinks and everything you need to know will be explained to you.”

I grimaced, following them to the bar and to the dark booth they’d sat at the night before. It wasn’t doing me any good to fight them at this point, they weren’t going to stop until they talked to me. They also knew things that I wanted to know. They knew about my past and who had killed my parents, an answer I had been searching for, for years.

“Okay, first things first. Lets get our introductions over with, I’m Matt” the tallest man stated before pointing to the man I’d attacked in the alley “That’s Zacky.”

Zackys hateful glare hadn’t subsided since the attack and I smirked, satisfied with his new hate toward me.

“That’s Brian” Matt pointed to the man with the small nose ring and spiky black hair “and last but not least, that’s Johnny” he pointed to the man with the buzzed hair, like himself.

I looked around the table, studying each man closely.

“We already know who you are, as you know, and I’m sure you have plenty of questions, but I will tell you what is only necessary to be known for now” Matt raised his hand, using his finger to call over one of the ladies working.

“Can we get some shots of Jack?”

She nodded, leaving to fill the order.

“Now, I’m sure as you already know, we’re just like you, only older. Five hundred years older to be exact. We’re also all originals, which means we were born this way. We all have the same father, different mothers. He turned our mothers while they were pregnant and naturally, the curse was carried onto us…”

Matt smiled up at the woman when she returned with the drinks, setting them all before us “Enjoy” she winked before walking off again.

I pushed my glass aside as the men downed theirs.

“What’s wrong?” Matt asked, running the tip of his index finger around the rim of the small glass.

“Not thirsty” I looked up at him, a now confused expression as I went over the story he’d just told minutes before “If you were all born this way then how did you age?”

Brian chuckled “That’s the beauty of being an original, you can choose when to stop aging and you can even chose to begin aging again at any time.”

“Now” Matt began “Our father is the head of all the damned, he raised us, and many others. We all do his dirty work, but there was a time he did his own, we just had to cover his tracks when he was finished. That’s not important right now though, he will explain more to you when you meet him.”

“Where is he?” I questioned and the mens still faces were quickly replaced with grins.

“Ever wonder where we go when one of us is killed? He’s in a place we like to call Sheol. It’s a lot like Hell, except only our kind is invited. He runs the place, a lot like Satan would run hell, and I guess you could consider his children demons, like us. Everyone of us that’s killed and goes there will be forced to stay in agony. You will burn continuously as if you had stepped out into the sun. Even if one of his children, one of the originals were killed, we’d suffer like the rest. He uses us, but no one dares to complain. Serving him for the past five hundred years and getting to walk this earth is better than being tortured for the rest of eternity. But just as us, he can come and go as he pleases, it‘s just rare for him to leave” Matt shrugged, picking up my glass, downing the dark liquid.

“Earlier, in the ally, you mentioned that you knew who killed my parents” I watched him closely, our eyes locked.

“That’s not important right now. I promise, all your other questions will be answered when you meet him.”

I quickly became annoyed “and just when, exactly, is this meeting taking place?”

Matt smiled, nodding at the man beside me. Johnny slipped his hand into his leather jacket, pulling out a small vial, which was filled with a black liquid. He set it on the table in front of me, and I stared, examining it. “What is it?”

“Take it home, drink it and then lay down. You will be with him in no time. It will only last a few hours and you will be back, safe and sound in your home. He’s been looking forward to meeting you for awhile now” Matt explained.

I picked up the small glass, slipping it away “if he wants to meet me so bad, why doesn’t he come to me?”

The men laughed loudly “He doesn’t take orders. We’re his delivery, we’re here to bring you to him, unharmed and that’s just what we’re doing. Now, you can either take it, or we can force you to take it. Ultimately, it is up for you to decide.”

Johnny stood, motioning for me to leave. I slid out from behind the booth, not bothering to look back at the men as I exited the bar.

“We’ll be seeing you soon” I could hear Matt say before the door closed.