Moonlight Crusade: Chapter 3, Part 3
Kyle begins learning the Satanic Feats.
“Are you sure?” Ursula asked. Night had fallen and they had reconvened in front of the altar. They stood facing each other.
Kyle nodded. “Yeah. I could never forget her. She made a serious impression.”
She pondered this for a moment. “If that’s true, it means Kyrios is behind David’s Purge.
“Does that mean he’s also behind E…. Eel…”
“Ealim al’Ahlam. It’s unlikely. For one thing, it’s unnecessary. He only needs to control one side to instigate a war.”
“This is bad,” Kyle said. “All he has to do is keep killing Muslims and taking credit for it. We obviously can’t protect every single Muslim.”
“No. Not the way we are now. That’s why I must train you.”
Huh? “Train me in what?”
“Alraqsa, the ancient art of vampiric combat.”
Kyle sighed. “What’s the point? I can’t attack Kyrios without being willing to cut off my own limb, which I’m definitely not.”
Ursula raised her index finger in an educating motion. “Not yet. But you can attack everyone else. The protection doesn’t extend to them.”
He shook his head. “I’m no fighter. I was raised to believe violence is wrong. Besides, those psychos probably have centuries of experience.”
She replied, “That’s not as big a problem as you think. Sooner or later, everyone reaches the peak of their prowess. Even vampire brains can’t record information endlessly. The more time that goes by, the more you forget. Besides, you have a mental edge.”
“What do you mean?”
She waved a hand at him. “Look at yourself. You’re a far cry from last night. Now, you’re stable and composed. You’re not thinking about suicide.”
“How did you…?”
She smiled. “You’re far from the first to go through this. Anyone in your position would be wishing for release. At any rate, you’re smart enough to figure out what will happen if I don’t train you.”
He turned around and stared at the window depicting Jesus’ crucifixion. “I’ll be a sitting duck. And if anything happens to you, I’ll be screwed.”
“Yes,” she said. “Which is why we must begin immediately. Sit down.”
He did so in front of the altar while she turned off most of the lights, shrouding the room largely in darkness. “What exactly am I going to learn?”
“The Satanic Feats.”
“The what!?”
“Don’t worry; that’s just what the Church calls them. Remember: At the end of the day, they’re merely tools. They can be used for good or evil. However, I must warn you that the first one I’m going to teach you is rather unpleasant. That’s why we’re getting it out of the way now.”
Gulp. That didn’t sound scary at all. “What do I have to do?”
She sat down in front of him with her legs crossed. He mimicked her position. “This first one is called ‘Thief in the Night.’ It will enable you to disappear into the shadows. Close your eyes.” He did so. “Regrettably, this skill requires a great deal of inner pain that most vampires carry due to the trauma of their turning. Think back.”
“To what?”
“Last night. Remember what happened. Call upon as many details as possible.”
Fear shot through him like high voltage. “What? No! I’ve been doing everything I can to avoid that!”
But she replied, “The nightmare won’t end unless you confront it. Make the pain your own weapon to use against your enemies.”
“I don’t want to!”
“I’m sorry, Kyle, but you can’t afford to be spared this. You must learn every Satanic Feat. But I will help you to direct your rage.”
In spite of what she was asking of him, his eyes remained closed. Maybe that meant something. He had to fight against instinct and summon the memory. He was shaking like crazy and having trouble controlling his breathing.
“What do you see?” she asked.
“My friends… Tom… they’re…”
“You have to say it,” Ursula said.
“They’re dead! They killed them! I can see… Their blood is… God, it’s all over the place!” The images were as fresh as they were last night and he had to fight back a sob.
“Who killed them, Kyle?”
“K-Kyrios. And Chloe. And all those other monsters!”
“Good,” she replied. “Now, imagine the darkness this ordeal has plunged you into. Imagine the darkness surrounding Kyrios and his followers. Can you see it?”
“How could I not? They made it so fucking obvious!” He never swore, believing it unchristian. But he felt like he could break any rule now.
“Okay, now take that darkness and wrap it around you like a cloak.” Like the very real cloaks of Kyrios and his bastards? “It’s not your hell anymore; it’s your weapon.”
In his mind, he held a cloak of intangible darkness in front of him. With a flourish, he wrapped himself in it.
“Open your eyes,” Ursula said.
He did so. “Everything looks the same.”
She was smiling. “Ah, but it’s not everything else we’re trying to change. Look at yourself.”
He held up his hands. They were shrouded in the darkest black he had ever seen. Like small black holes, they seem to consume all light. “Cool.” He drank in the satisfaction of knowing he had taken one of their weapons for himself.
She stood up. “That’s one down, Kyle. And, as I said, it’s the hardest to learn. Emotionally, anyway.”
“What do I look like?”
“Midnight, Kyle. You look like the darkest depth of night.”
“Okay…? Umm, how do I go back to normal?” This was getting weird.
“You do that by doing the opposite of what you just did. You remember all the good things in your life. All the things you have to live for.”
Sadness stabbed him again. “But I don’t have anything like that now. They took all of it from me.”
She went over to the light switches on the wall and flipped them, once again illuminating the room. Kyle’s hands became fully visible again. “Fortunately, you can also banish it with literal light.” He continued to sit there. “I’m sorry, Kyle. But you’ll find your raison d’être again. Just give it time. God never closes a door without opening a window.”
“Yeah, except it feels like God dropped the entire house on me.”
She came back over to him. “It felt like that to Job. And to Moses. And to David. And to Christ. And to Mary when he died. God drops a lot of houses.”
Wasn’t that the truth.