Immortality Carcinoma
.004
“Forgive me, Father, for I have sinned.”
Charlie’s cold voice echoed off the vast cathedral walls emptily, its frescos moaning against the obvious blasphemy. Something like Charlie was never supposed to be. Divine faces looked lowly in the creeping night, faces seemingly contorted in accusation, fingers pointing down at the kneeling immortal. Twilight had passed and the behemoth edifice that was St. Stephen’s cathedral in Vienna bathed in dying light, wrapping and tangling its colossal body in red, worn rags of shimmer. Jaded statues and decadent gargoyles kept watch over the Hauptplatz beneath, frowning at the daring pedestrians gravely.
The young priest on the other side of the heavy mahogany sighed and smiled at the familiar voice. His wise eyes stared into the solemn darkness of the confession-room intently, ears pricking up to soak in every softly-whispered word.
“You again.” He whispered as Charlie knelt on the board on the other side, the wood never creaking beneath her immortal weight, clasping her hands tightly together with her forehead pressed against the fine, wooden lace which kept her face unfamiliar and shaded. Her lips pursed and eyes closed, as she enjoyed the soothing cool of the time-eaten holiness around her.
“How can you be so sure, Father?”
Her canine features showed more and more as she smiled into the moist wood. She heard the holy mortal stifle a laugh on the other side. The two glowing halos implanted deep into her eyes as a reflection of her very soul glared through the darkness and fell upon the priest’s handsome face as his lips curved into a knowing smile. She would come to visit him once every month and many months had passed since the first time she stepped inside these walls, telling him tales of life and death and of things that were but never should have been.
“You come here every month, child, always professing the same sins, always when I’m alone. Do you honestly feel remorse?”
“No.”
“Then why—“
“I feel like I’m alone here. I feel safe.”
Charlie was left bewildered by the vulnerable echo of her voice. The lips belonging to the handsome mortal moved lightly as he prayed. Her eyes glazed over their smooth surface and she closed her eyes, webbing her fingers through the small holes in the antique wooden lace. Serenity silenced the voices in her mind and drowned out the gleaming moonlight that waited for her outside the hallowed edifice. The soothing touch of time-eaten wood against her sizzling skin brought momentary comfort and put a halt to her racing thoughts as Latin-spoken words filled her ears, whispered from somewhere just above her cheek as warm breath washed upon her, reminding her of the sweet ignorance she once had the fortune to possess.
“After everything I’ve told you, how can you still believe?”
“Faith isn’t a matter of mind and logics, it’s the matter of heart and feelings, and I let them guide me.”
“The heart is a tricky guide.”
“Yet it keeps you alive.”
“Mine stopped centuries ago.”
“I find that very hard to believe.”
When skin touched skin as the young clergy man’s fingers found their way to her cheek through the mahogany lace, the struggling immortal rose from her knees, along with all her inner demons, and left without a sound, doubting and vulnerable, but with all the comfort she sought. The silver face outside sneered ominously and Charlie huffed angrily as her blood began to boil in her veins and muscles flex and twist at the sound of wails and moans awaiting her on the other side of the midnight.
Peace of mind was never hers to lose in the first place.
Luc lifted his gaze from his shiny combat boots and fastened his belt around his waist. His eyes gleamed and a teasing smirk spread over his sly features, light green eyes taking on a darker hue.
“Does the mighty Dorian truly need help in hunting down a mere wolf?”
The outranking male scoffed and rolled his eyes, a pair of pearly incisors gleaming from underneath his pallid upper lip. The youngling was testing his nerves a lot lately. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he just executed him right there? A shot to the head and a whole-night’s feast on his account?
“Hold your tongue. Meet me in the garage in ten.”
Luc bit the inside of his cheek, eager to feel his metallic taste. The bitter tinge of his hunger rebelled inside his stomach and he reached after the small blood-package next to his handgun. Shrieks of laughter pierced the icy silence of his mind and those same images appeared, that same unscratched itch gnawed at his insides again, forcing him to spew the blood on the ebony-covered floor. His reflection stared back up at him from the gore washing against his feet. Something happened that he hadn’t experienced in years. And tears pricked the soldier’s eyes like they hadn’t in centuries.
The gleaming, polished metal door of the neon-lit elevator opened with a quiet buzz and Luc stepped out, bootsteps ringing off the car-laden space. Black state-of-the-art automobiles occupied every spare slot in the spacious underground hall. Lights buzzed and prickled above the heads of the two vampires as they met up by the black Volkswagen surveillance van and exchanged a few resentful looks. The only thing Luc hoped to happen tonight was the death of the man in the driver’s seat, turning the vehicle around and speeding out into the open night.
The radio channels buzzed with cryptic conversation between his brethren as they did the very same thing. Dorian did seem a bit overeager to capture and kill this wolf, Luc mused and stared out the windshield, taking note of the moon and the moody weather tonight. The tiny wrinkles around his eyes and the corners of his lips stood as stoic proof he once did have a reason to smile. Luc closed his mind by the end of that thought and let it slip away from him. Why bother with things one could never bring back?
He did, however word his musings to his commander, eager to hear the response. The driver’s rigid features stiffened even more as he clung harder onto the steering wheel, the leather of his black gloves shrieking from the friction.
“No one outruns me.”
“Every dog has her day I guess,” Luc smiled while the other chose to ignore his snide remark.
The handsome vampire thought he definitely didn’t want to walk in her shoes. But on the other side, he was rather intrigued by the fact someone had managed to wound his commander’s sky-high ego. His thoughts raced back and forth on that subject until the van came to a sudden halt.
“This is where I spotted her first. The lair must me somewhere near.”
The door slammed shut behind the both of them. Their coats flapped behind them as they descended down the sewers towards the gushing water. The hunt had begun.
Charlie’s cold voice echoed off the vast cathedral walls emptily, its frescos moaning against the obvious blasphemy. Something like Charlie was never supposed to be. Divine faces looked lowly in the creeping night, faces seemingly contorted in accusation, fingers pointing down at the kneeling immortal. Twilight had passed and the behemoth edifice that was St. Stephen’s cathedral in Vienna bathed in dying light, wrapping and tangling its colossal body in red, worn rags of shimmer. Jaded statues and decadent gargoyles kept watch over the Hauptplatz beneath, frowning at the daring pedestrians gravely.
The young priest on the other side of the heavy mahogany sighed and smiled at the familiar voice. His wise eyes stared into the solemn darkness of the confession-room intently, ears pricking up to soak in every softly-whispered word.
“You again.” He whispered as Charlie knelt on the board on the other side, the wood never creaking beneath her immortal weight, clasping her hands tightly together with her forehead pressed against the fine, wooden lace which kept her face unfamiliar and shaded. Her lips pursed and eyes closed, as she enjoyed the soothing cool of the time-eaten holiness around her.
“How can you be so sure, Father?”
Her canine features showed more and more as she smiled into the moist wood. She heard the holy mortal stifle a laugh on the other side. The two glowing halos implanted deep into her eyes as a reflection of her very soul glared through the darkness and fell upon the priest’s handsome face as his lips curved into a knowing smile. She would come to visit him once every month and many months had passed since the first time she stepped inside these walls, telling him tales of life and death and of things that were but never should have been.
“You come here every month, child, always professing the same sins, always when I’m alone. Do you honestly feel remorse?”
“No.”
“Then why—“
“I feel like I’m alone here. I feel safe.”
Charlie was left bewildered by the vulnerable echo of her voice. The lips belonging to the handsome mortal moved lightly as he prayed. Her eyes glazed over their smooth surface and she closed her eyes, webbing her fingers through the small holes in the antique wooden lace. Serenity silenced the voices in her mind and drowned out the gleaming moonlight that waited for her outside the hallowed edifice. The soothing touch of time-eaten wood against her sizzling skin brought momentary comfort and put a halt to her racing thoughts as Latin-spoken words filled her ears, whispered from somewhere just above her cheek as warm breath washed upon her, reminding her of the sweet ignorance she once had the fortune to possess.
“After everything I’ve told you, how can you still believe?”
“Faith isn’t a matter of mind and logics, it’s the matter of heart and feelings, and I let them guide me.”
“The heart is a tricky guide.”
“Yet it keeps you alive.”
“Mine stopped centuries ago.”
“I find that very hard to believe.”
When skin touched skin as the young clergy man’s fingers found their way to her cheek through the mahogany lace, the struggling immortal rose from her knees, along with all her inner demons, and left without a sound, doubting and vulnerable, but with all the comfort she sought. The silver face outside sneered ominously and Charlie huffed angrily as her blood began to boil in her veins and muscles flex and twist at the sound of wails and moans awaiting her on the other side of the midnight.
Peace of mind was never hers to lose in the first place.
Luc lifted his gaze from his shiny combat boots and fastened his belt around his waist. His eyes gleamed and a teasing smirk spread over his sly features, light green eyes taking on a darker hue.
“Does the mighty Dorian truly need help in hunting down a mere wolf?”
The outranking male scoffed and rolled his eyes, a pair of pearly incisors gleaming from underneath his pallid upper lip. The youngling was testing his nerves a lot lately. Wouldn’t it be wonderful if he just executed him right there? A shot to the head and a whole-night’s feast on his account?
“Hold your tongue. Meet me in the garage in ten.”
Luc bit the inside of his cheek, eager to feel his metallic taste. The bitter tinge of his hunger rebelled inside his stomach and he reached after the small blood-package next to his handgun. Shrieks of laughter pierced the icy silence of his mind and those same images appeared, that same unscratched itch gnawed at his insides again, forcing him to spew the blood on the ebony-covered floor. His reflection stared back up at him from the gore washing against his feet. Something happened that he hadn’t experienced in years. And tears pricked the soldier’s eyes like they hadn’t in centuries.
The gleaming, polished metal door of the neon-lit elevator opened with a quiet buzz and Luc stepped out, bootsteps ringing off the car-laden space. Black state-of-the-art automobiles occupied every spare slot in the spacious underground hall. Lights buzzed and prickled above the heads of the two vampires as they met up by the black Volkswagen surveillance van and exchanged a few resentful looks. The only thing Luc hoped to happen tonight was the death of the man in the driver’s seat, turning the vehicle around and speeding out into the open night.
The radio channels buzzed with cryptic conversation between his brethren as they did the very same thing. Dorian did seem a bit overeager to capture and kill this wolf, Luc mused and stared out the windshield, taking note of the moon and the moody weather tonight. The tiny wrinkles around his eyes and the corners of his lips stood as stoic proof he once did have a reason to smile. Luc closed his mind by the end of that thought and let it slip away from him. Why bother with things one could never bring back?
He did, however word his musings to his commander, eager to hear the response. The driver’s rigid features stiffened even more as he clung harder onto the steering wheel, the leather of his black gloves shrieking from the friction.
“No one outruns me.”
“Every dog has her day I guess,” Luc smiled while the other chose to ignore his snide remark.
The handsome vampire thought he definitely didn’t want to walk in her shoes. But on the other side, he was rather intrigued by the fact someone had managed to wound his commander’s sky-high ego. His thoughts raced back and forth on that subject until the van came to a sudden halt.
“This is where I spotted her first. The lair must me somewhere near.”
The door slammed shut behind the both of them. Their coats flapped behind them as they descended down the sewers towards the gushing water. The hunt had begun.