Riddles in the Dark

Been feeling feisty today. 

Your Lady is a harsh mistress.
She is always there, watching you;
She looms over you like a harrying storm.She never stops and She never slows.
She never hurries; She never gives back.
She never changes, though She is ever-changing.
You think about Her more than anything else;
You think only of Her.
There is never enough of Her; yet She is everywhere.
You live with Her as a slave yet you cannot live without Her.
You are never free of Her.
You plan your life around Her;
You cannot outrun Her nor can you deny who She is.
She will catch up to you in the end;
She will continue even after you are gone without looking back.
Your Lady is a harsh mistress.

Time.

Aleksandr Dalton touched the heads of each of the dead bodies as he walked down the line of bloodied mess he had just created. Each one was wrapped in a white sheet with 2 gold coins placed over their long empty eyes, eyes that looked off into a world only he knew and wished they were back in the world in which he knew nothing of.
         Kneeling down at the last body, Aleks touched the center of the corpse’s forehead until he felt that familiar electric ‘zing’ pulse beneath his slender, tapered finger. He closed his light grey eyes as he frowned.
         This was the last of them, for now at least. It was only a matter of time before he was here again, doing the one thing he didn't really want to do: killing. He was a creator, but more so, a destroyer, and that seemed to be bubbling nearer to the surface every day that the Winter Solstice grew closer. As they grew closer to capturing him and taking from him all he possessed.
         Turning around from the stoic and empty faces, Aleks met the eyes of his brother, who stared back at him with a smirk. He had been here three days and already his overwhelmingly arrogant demeanor was wearing him down. He seemed to pop up at the most inopportune times.
         When Aleks had initially come out here, it was to fish and relax. Then, out of nowhere, Crimson’s ‘gang’ decided to join him. The fight had been brutal, but since Crimson was missing, Aleks was able to prevail. As soon as the last man had fallen lifelessly to the earth, there was his brother. Smiling with arms crossed, he stepped from behind the trees and greeted him as if he had never been gone. Even now, he stood, watching him as if he knew exactly who Aleks was. The feeling he got unnerved him. Enough for him to ask, “What?”  Aleks’ frown deepened at the look on his brother’s face.
         “Nothing, Leks, just watching the way you work. So precise. So caring. So unjustified.”
         The mist around them began to thicken with Aleks’ mood. He didn’t like to be chastised over his work. It was a brutal, distasteful task that he despised, but he did the most he could to uphold some sense of decency throughout it all. Hence the proper burial for men who wanted to gut him. Closing his eyes again, he focused on the sound of the bubbling swamp behind them, allowing it to calm him, lest he add his brother to the mix.
         “If I were given the task of picking watermelons and daisies, it might be different, Rafe. But it's far from that now.”
         Raphael raised his hands in surrender and said, “Not trying to cause offense, bro. No need to turn into Dr. Dick so quickly.”
         Aleks shook his head at the childish nickname. He wasn’t sure where he had gotten the PhD, but he’s wasn’t going to challenge his older brother’s nicknaming.
         “C’mon, Rafe,” he said with a sigh. “Let’s go.”
         “Yeah, cause all this killing has got me a-starvin’. What’re you thinking? Mexican? Chinese buffet? Hooters is always great for the family.”
         Aleks had to hold back his chuckle as he slipped his hands into his pants pockets and shrugged. “Whatever, man. This stuff always puts a bad taste in my mouth. Stuff just don’t taste right afterwards.”
         “The pub it is, bro. You need a stiff drink after a night with these stiffs.” Raphael laughed and wagged his eyebrows as he nudged Aleks in the ribs with his elbow. “Get it, Leks? Stiffs?”
         Aleks nodded slowly. “Got it. Now let’s go,” he said as he started to leave the grasslands until his brother called him.
         “You gonna go like that, Leks? With that death all on you?”
         Aleks gave his brother a cruel grin. “I am Death, Rafe. What more do you expect of me?”
         Rafe groaned in exasperation at his younger brother’s sense of humor. “Something that doesn’t make you reek of a backwoods ‘billy, maybe?”
         Aleks sighed and rolled his eyes. As he turned to face his brother, his attire shimmered and shifted from his current wet and muddy clothes to a pair of tailored black leather pants tucked into a scuffed pair of black Steve Madden Ajax boots and a black Capilene V-neck. He ran a hand through his shaggy brown hair.
         “Better?” he asked gruffly.
         Raphael shrugged as he strutted past him. “I guess that’s the best you clean up anyway. C’mon, Eric Draven, let’s grub up.”

         The pub was overcrowded tonight and smelled like the pen of pigs that infested it, but winter was coming swiftly and the horny hogs needed some fire in their veins to warm them to life. Aleksandr took a deep, long sip of the bourbon in his right hand, draining the glass of all its contents, before he slammed it back down on the bar. He tried to distinguish the chagrin in his sneer at the animals mingling throughout the wooden walls, but it was a futile attempt.
         "Another," he ordered to the barmaid before he turned away and leaned back against the wooden bar. He placed a heel upon the bottom rung of the barstool next to him as his dark grey eyes prowled the crowd.
         Since his meeting with Roslyn and Malachi, he had been unable to relieve his head of all the thoughts jumbled about inside and, with the return of his brother, he was almost at his wits end. He didn’t really understand why after all this time they had all chosen now to show up. His brother had been gone for almost ten years and called maybe once a year to check on him. He was a big wig in London with the music industry and spent most of his time bar hopping for latest music trends. He wanted nothing to do with either him or anything relating to Styx. Raphael had put himself as far away from it all as possible since their parents’ death.
         Along with his concern over his latest family additions were also those of Tobias Fitz and Crimson. They seemed related to each other, yet not. He couldn’t seem to figure out their correlation with one another. They didn’t seem to communicate but they seemed to be both after the same thing. He didn’t understand.
         He also didn’t know why they were so completely intent on his arrest and yet, as easily and as close as they came to him, they couldn’t capture him. He knew they were skilled enough. He also knew that he didn’t know his own powers well enough to know that he could overpower them and save himself. He had been lucky tonight and Raphael had proved a good distraction. As reluctant as he was to admit it, he appreciated his brother’s presence, as surprising and strange as it was.
         Clearing his head, Aleks looked over his shoulder and noticed the youthful smile plastered on his brother’s face. Raphael adored the humanly wiles, soaking in the ability to be normal and carefree. Raphael basked in the appreciation of the women’s flirts aimed right at him and the envy of the men. At six foot four, the brothers put most men to shame and called more attention to them than Aleks preferred. Woman seemed to have some strange attraction to gigantism.
         “What else can I get ya guys?” asked the barmaid as she set down Aleks' bourbon and quickly began wiping a glass clean before she began stacking them.
         “Two car-bombs,” said Raphael, holding up two fingers. “And make Dr. Dick's here a double. He’s got some panties in a wad that need unfurling.”
         The barmaid laughed as she walked over to the Jameson.
         “Thanks,” growled Aleks.
         “Loosen up, bro. Fight’s over. Job’s done. Night’s young and we don't have any obligations. Unless you’d like to beat some more skulls? You tired yet?”
         Aleks shook his head as his brother leaned back against the bar and kicked a foot up on a nearby barstool. Ever human. Ever arrogant. “I still don’t understand how you like the humans and don’t get what makes my life suck.”
         Raphael shrugged as he gazed out among the crowd. “Well first off, Leks, you're the only one with ‘the power’. I didn't come from the same father as you. So, having any sense of the duty you carry is lost on me. Second, I see how you look at them, Leks. After all they do to you, attempting to kidnap you for what you have, they should have no mercy on their souls. But you look at them with compassion. You see in them things I don’t care about. You see life, opportunity, purpose. I see ‘Survivor’ and ‘Jersey Shore’. It’s like watching another ridiculous ‘Big Brother’ and every day I wait to see who’s going to get voted off the Island of Life. And then that’s where you step in. Bottoms up.”
         Aleks watched his brother drop his shot glass into the half-full glass of Guinness and toss it back. With a shake of his head, he followed.
         Raphael slammed his glass down on the bar. “How many seconds was that? Four? Did I beat my record?”
         “3.5.”
         Raphael threw a fist into the air. “Yes!” Throwing his other arm in the air, he did a little victory dance as Aleks rolled his eyes and turned away when something hit his abdomen. He stiffened at the touch and smell. His lip curled as he looked down at the platinum blonde human that had ran into his stomach.
         “Whoa! Sorry there, dude,” she said loudly, slurring.
         Aleks narrowed his eyes at the woman as he placed his glass on the bar. Her eyes widened as she looked up at him.
         “Oh wow, dude, sorry. I thought you were one of those wooden pillars. You’re like a tree! My bad. At least I didn’t spill my drink! No party foul here, man!”
         Aleks made a sound of disgust as the blonde walked off cackling and waving down her group of ‘woo girls’.  Raphael chuckled at his side as he reached behind him to grab his replacement beer.
         “I’m not like a tree, you moronic knit-wit,” Aleks growled through gritted teeth.
         “Yea, I know, bro. Disgusting. But man, are they easy when you need ‘em.” Aleks eyes grew wide at his brother’s chauvinistic comment. “Whoa, whoa, whoa, Leks, look at that.”
         Aleks turned his gaze in the direction his brother was motioning as Raphael tapped his shoulder repeatedly with the back of his hand. Raphael whistled low. “Look. At. That,” he said again, enunciating each word.
Aleks sucked in an irritated breath. He didn’t move as he watched her walk in past the swinging door behind the man and woman she was following. He heard nothing but her charming laughter as she stepped beneath the dim light of the bar. The warmth of her smile, a smile that seemed to hold dark secrets behind it, sent a shock wave dead center in his gut. Her auburn hair fell around her face like a halo and midway to her back in loose waves and her eyes were the greenest he had ever seen. They reminded him of the lush rolling hills and emerald valleys where he lived and they struck a place inside almost like the thought of home would.
It was her.
His hand trembled ever so slightly with the second shot in it and he downed the Irish whiskey quickly just to let the burn take his mind off the way her smile made his knees weak.
Raphael whistled low before he turned back to the bar and shot gunned the rest of his beer. Slamming it down on the counter, he wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and grinned over at his brother, nudging him with his elbow.
“Hey, bro. Enough with the creeper stare. You’re gonna frighten her. Women are like gazelle; you make too many sudden movements they’ll leap out of your life forever. Turn your face, dude.”
Aleks clamped his jaw shut and regretfully turned away. “Who is she?” he asked.
Raphael shrugged. “Hell if I know. I haven’t been to town in what? Ten years? Besides, I haven’t been here long enough for me to know who they are and what they like. Though when I think about it, brother, I doubt it’s your steam punk look.”
Aleks’ lip curled in a sneer. “My middle finger would like to salute you, Rafe.”
He laughed. “Bring it on!” His gaze turned away quickly. “But it’ll have to wait till after I have a taste of her. Delicious!”
Aleks watched as his brother grabbed his glass from the bar, saluted him with it, and then traipsed off after a bouncy blonde. Well, that would be the end of him tonight. Now, he was the lone ranger and, if he could just find the girl, then he’d be fit for the night.
As Aleks turned to the bar to grab his latest glass of Guinness, a dark shadow fell over him.
“Yes?” he asked stonily as he took a sip of the dark liquid. The pub had suddenly gone quiet. Something was up.
“Fancy seeing you here tonight, Dalton. Out in the open. Usually you’re stuck cowering in a hole, waiting for me to come back and beat your ass. I’m surprised you’ve got the balls to show your face in public.”
Aleksandr turned around in one calculated motion at the insult. His eyes narrowed into slits; his body tensed like a predator and it took a large amount of his effort to not gut the man right in front of the entire crowd. But he was better than that.
Grinding his teeth, Aleks scanned the length of the bulk before him. Tobias Fitz. One of the men that deserved to be in that swamp grave tonight. Instead, he was here and challenging him in the open where he knew Aleks couldn’t hurt him. Well, hurt him, yes. But kill him, no. He was a sneaky snake and Aleks didn’t like him. Since the Winter Solstice was soon coming, he had seen more of Fitz’s presence of late. They wanted him, but they wouldn’t get him.
Fitz’s light blonde hair fell wildly around his face and his crooked grin crawled on his face like acid. Aleks was utterly disgusted.
“I beg your pardon, Fitz?” he questioned softly.
The people in the pub began to tense. By Aleks’ tone, he meant business and they weren’t in the situation to get caught in his crossfire. Either side they chose the other would be out for revenge.
“You heard me, Dalton. You’re a coward. I don’t like cowards. You should just give me what I want and then go back to the cheap hovel where you belong, rodent.”
Aleks laughed mirthlessly at the irony of Fitz’s comment. Then, with little to no effort, he jumped up from his seat with the strength and grace of a cat and grabbed Fit by the throat, slamming him against the brick wall.
By now Aleks was sure everyone in the pub was watching and that was the way he wanted it, the way it needed to be. If any of Fitz’s other groupies were around then they’d get the message. They needed to know that Aleksandr Dalton wasn’t a pushover. They needed to know where they stood.
“Listen to me, Fitz, and listen closely. If you ever come around here again and try to belittle me, I will personally rip out your intestines, tie them around your throat and let you hang until that little twitching that happens in your foot when your nerves are still trying to shut down- you know that one? Until that stops,” he spat dangerously.
Fitz’s breath hitched in his throat. Aleks’ normally neutral exterior was twisted with rage and his irises looked like thunderheads as he said,
“You thought you could just march up to me and make yourself look tough, did you? It’s filth like you that makes filth like me look bad. Perhaps, if you could keep that girly arm of yours from shaking when you’re shooting, you might actually be able to shoot something worthwhile. Hopefully yourself. Never again, Fitz. Don’t try this. Ever. Again.”
Sweat was beading on Fitz’s forehead as a result of his efforts to stay conscious from the grip around his bulging throat. He thought about trying to escape, but soon realized that he didn’t stand a chance.
“Do we understand one another?”
“Ye-yeah, Dalton. We understand,” he whimpered painfully.
Aleks’ eyes glinted with high amusement. “Very well,” he replied as he dropped him carelessly to the floor. Turning around, Aleks fixed everyone in the room with a dead stare. “Does anyone else have anything they wish to say to me? Any problems they’d like to work out?”
Everyone looked at their glasses.
“No? Then you all enjoy your drinks,” he said as he turned and stalked out of the pub. Before the door slammed behind him, he could hear the roar of discussion he had left in his wake. He was quite pleased with himself.
         Aleks turned and loped down the road, his head pounding. He stopped at the parking lot when a loud buzzing hummed in his coat pocket. He patted himself down until his left hand hit the small metal box Roslyn had given him. It was vibrating.
         All that noise was coming from this little box. He turned it over in his hand and lifted it to his face. He pressed the little button on its side.
         Suddenly a voice began to sound from it and Aleks’ head jerked back. It was scratchy and the static grew worse as he tried to make it out. He cocked his head to the side and the reception came in clear. Figures, he thought.
         “Aleksandr,” it spoke.
         The voice of Malachi, harsh and short, emanated from the box and Aleksandr listened closely at the instructions.
         “You’ve got to get out of there. We’ve detected a threat heading your way. You need to leave now.”
         “But-”
         The box crackled and a piercing hum came out of it and then stopped. “Aleksandr, go! We gave you this for a reason. Now get out of there!”
         Aleksandr nodded at the little box and shoved it back into his pocket. He started to walk on in a shallow bafflement when he ran into something hard.
         “Gee, seems we’re always running into each other, old friend,” snarled a familiar voice.
         Aleks’ heart dropped at the sound of it. He nodded, looking down at his boots then up to Crimson Black. Damn.
         “It is a small world, isn’t it?”
         Crimson smirked. “No not really, Dalton, old friend. Only I have business to take care of and, fortunately, you always seem to be around when I need to get it done.”
         “Huh, that’s a shame. But meanwhile, I just ran into your little friend back there. You might want to go comfort him. I think I might’ve scared him a bit. Oh man! If I had known that you’d be coming to play, then I would’ve invited him to join us in the sandbox. I am so rude. My mother just never did teach me those things called manners.”
         “Ah, Dalton, kids we are not. That boy means nothing to me. He works for my father. I’m not here for him. I’m here for you, for Styx’s key. And once I get it, I can end your miserable, worthless life.”
         Crimson ticked off the last three words as if he was reciting a grocery list. Aleks switched his stance and glared into the devilish eyes of Crimson.
         “I’d like to see you try,” he whispered.
         Crimson leaned forward, inches from Aleksandr’ s face. “It’d be my pleasure,” he murmured in his scratchy, deep tone.
         Then, from out of nowhere Crimson struck Aleks hard across the temple. Dizziness crawled throughout his head as he tried to shake it off, but not before Crimson grabbed his shirt and lifted him from the ground. The shirt pulled tightly around his neck and his face grew red as he gasped for breath.
         “It was wrong to challenge me, Dalton,” Crimson said while throwing Aleks on the ground.
         Aleksandr scooted back on his hands, peering up at the unforgiving man above him. Stepping slowly over him, Crimson stomped one of his large combat boots on Aleks ankle with a sickening ‘crunch’. Aleks cried in anguish as his ankle was pinned to the ground. His entire leg cramped up, filling his head with pain instead of the motivation to fight back. His heart began to skip beats and his head felt as if it would explode as Crimson slammed his other boot down Aleksandr’ s other ankle.
         He dug his nails into Crimson’s leg. He felt paralyzed and useless. He couldn’t move.

-NIMBUS