She fell in Fauna part 1

I was in purgatory, in the fires of hell but not long after was I back in limbo. To many I was a fecund being who lacked an inborn ability of any sort and my immortality was a punishment. “Kill the infidel!” they protested. The Gods were not happy and once again I was accused of desecration and that’s how I ended up in the fauna period. I’ve always lived a secular life and so did Jake, my half satanic half werewolf friend. “Private property, you fuckers!” Profanity was his specialty. Nonetheless those ‘fuckers’ deserved every bit of it, always on a quest for immortality, as they would secretly suck your soul when you’re daydreaming. These ‘fuckers’ however were once former abbots until there lives took a turn for the worse when they were massacred during the end of an era. Living in fauna was my last chance to redeem myself but how does a vampire redeem himself after years of self-destruction.

I awake to Jakes squeaking footsteps. He stops and I see him peaking through the kitchen window. “It’s the Romas,” he whispers, “Get up, we got company.”
We took turns guarding the triangle as our backs were faced towards each other. The triangle held our spirits and we depended our lives on it. The Romas are ghostly creatures, a hybrid of the devil and only Jake can see them, I cant. We stood guarding the triangle until sunset but nothing happened. I took the first initiation to retreat and went back to bed.

“I guess they were just scaring us.”
“No they were not, that was our last warning.” Jakes facial expression was that of a mad man. I could never really pin point his breakout moments but this was it. Our stay in fauna was coming to an end we had to act fast.

I became alert the whole night and my sleep was long gone, ‘We need the third spirit and we need it fast,’ I sounded desperate.
Jake was still holding the triangle, starring at it as it glowed and then musing.
He recalls a time when his dreams were drenched in darkness but now he sees everything, the dreams are brighter and clearer. He tells me, “A vampire does not dream nor does he die, you’ve got nothing to loose my friend.”
“I’d like to query that. You on the other hand could always go back, what’s keeping you here?”
Silence emerges and for the hundredths time he does not respond to my question. The one person I’m acquainted to and yet I know nothing about. Not long after was the silence broken with a loud thunderstorm, it never rains in fauna but it pours. The loudness of the thunderstorm left us both shaking a little bit; it was never a good sign.

Jake pulls up a stool and sits beside me. “Another bloody story does not begin without ending a previous one,” he remarks and then proceeds to light up a cigarette.
“So what happened to her, Sebastian?” he continued, puffing cigarette smokes in all directions.
Reluctantly as I was to respond to that name, it had taken me years of deliberation and Jake needed to know.

“…the room became cold; so cold that it was almost unbearable. ‘Poor child…’ said Father reaching out for his crucifix and placing it on the bed beside Margaret.
I knew then that if I turned to my left I’d see Katherine bursting into tears and on my right Darby trying to comfort me. He would say, ‘Do not torture yourself over this…it was time for Maggie.’
The feeling of entrapment rushed through my veins like the monsoon winds. An hour earlier had she not felt an overwhelming force push her to the floor and as her whole body ached as it dropped with a bang. A part of me with no shame at all should have not used her as an elixir to my youth. I was bound to feel this way about Margaret, she was my other double and that duel was a mistake.”

The curiosity on Jakes face was remarkable, he became engaged as he was almost about to fall off the stool but it was as far as I could go. “The end. I’m going hunting, I’ll see you at dawn.”

Everyone in Fauna lives in what I’d like to call ‘hermitages’. It’s an awake to many days of shadowy realm. Don’t get me wrong; it's a rather mildly entertaining conceptual place, just not terribly realistic. I roam around for hours, yet nothing. Frustrated by the abbots who for many years now have managed to chase away all vulnerable preys and so I begin to head back. It was a long walk back and I couldn’t help thinking that it was finally over and by tomorrow I would probably be on the run again. Jake didn’t have to come with me, he never had to and that’s what I’ve always contemplated about. I was deep into my thoughts when much to my surprise I found myself being thrown back almost five feet with such enormous force, banging my head on a willow tree as I fell hard on my back. I was back on my feet in no time and much more attentive this time, I looked in both directions breathing heavily as I was caught off guard.

It was the Phoenix appearing into sight hidden behind the willow tree. The darkness of the night was overpowering but never upon the Phoenix.
“The road up and the road down are one and the same,” the Phoenix whispered, “There is no greater delight than to be conscious of sincerity on self-examination.” Jake had many times warned me of the Phoenix but what a beautiful creature it was, the words she spoke to me were purifying.

“What an entrance!” I remarked with pretence of normality ignoring the fall. “Who sent you and what do you want?”
“Is that how you speak to an angel sent from above?” her voice became clear and tuned in.
“An angel? Are angels even allowed in Fauna without their saviour?” I asked in puzzlement, it was an unexpected scenario. I stared at her with suspicious intent.
“Typical of a Phoenix to disguise itself on ones else identity rather that of a purifier, don’t you think?” I smiled and she vanished in thin air.

It was almost dawn by then, I flew back to the hermit to find Jake readily standing on the doorsteps with a rucksack on one hand and the triangle on the other. As soon as I grabbed the rucksack from him he reached out for a cannabis puffing smoke on my face as he usually did, “I believe you know where we’re heading?”
“Yes but handover the triangle, you are not coming with me.” I had made up my mind. Jake was better off in Fauna and besides the Romas were already on the look out, he was in too much trouble already because of me.

TO BE CONTINUED...