Another night begins. I continue my search for the phoenix. It has eluded me for far too long, but soon I shall find it. And its secrets and powers shall become my own. Through these gifts shall I ascend, to go beyond this pitiful trapping of flesh and spirit, to gain true enlightenment. But still questions plague me. How do I find the keeper of these secrets? The phoenix is difficult to find, and even more difficult to capture. Is it predestined to be in some, and not with others? Or does it respond to some need, some desire, or perhaps even some form of emotion calls out to it psychically. And will its secrets allow me to ascend to the level that I desire? Or will it allow me to transcend to something even greater than I can imagine? The answers to these questions is what fuels the desire that burns deep within my breast, that forces my cold lifeless heart to pump forth its precious life fluid through my undead body. Almost as if my thinking of it brought it forth, I feel the Beast claw at my soul, raging to be let free to feed its ravenous hunger. So now I go to sate the demon...
The Beast sits quietly in my heart, its fury quenched for the time being. I laugh out loud at the thought, "quenched". Quenched implies that it will never come back, but I know it will. The Beast always returns. Always the most faithful of servants. The ever-present companion within me has been satisfied for the moment. I remember the meal. I can still taste their fear upon my lips, hear their cries of anguish and despair in my head, and feel their souls within me, intermingling with mine. The park was quiet and mostly deserted, which worked for me. I did not need another run in with those so-called hunters; their pathetic attempts to destroy me waste precious time. Time in which my goal draws ever further from my grasp. So sure of themselves and their abilities they are. It is so amusing how easy it is to weave their minds in my hands like clay. To shred their alleged sanity like a tiger's claws shred the belly of its prey. To open their unprepared minds to the True Sight. It is rather comical to watch them then scream in agony and terror as their minds crumble down and collapse. They are ultimately useless; for all their vaunted claims to divine gifts and destiny, the phoenix does not come to them. And so they are pointless, to be nothing more than distractions, and I do not need distractions. I have important things to do.
But again my mind wanders and I can feel the Beast feeding off of my anger. This I cannot allow, not right now. I must focus to find what I seek. I force the recently acquired blood through my body to strengthen me and move on, thinking again about the source of that blood. The children were rather easy to lure, but it was the parents that proved more challenging. As I moved near, their protective natures flared and they moved between their offspring and me. I chuckled to myself, thinking of how easily it would be to shatter their illusion of security from me, but I do not have the time for such frivolous games. More pressing matters occupy this night's time. I cloak myself to their minds and move ahead of them, clouding their brains once more to a more non-threatening visage. All to easy it is to draw them to me. Even easier to distract the children while I deal with the parents. A brief moment filled with the sweet sound of bone meeting bone, skulls cracking. Before the children can even turn around to notice the falling bodies of their parents, I have slit the throat of the nearest of the three, the small blonde boy. As the crimson spray engulfs his sister, I make another quick movement and deftly snap the neck of his brother, which echoes through the park with a resounding crack. I jerk my head around as the girl begins to scream, her voice pierces into my brain like a spike of pain. I grab her by the throat and choking off the air from her lungs and slam her down onto the ground, hearing the satisfying sound of bones crushing beneath my strength. I gaze into her eyes, peering into her soul, and command her into silence, and she instantly obeys, her will disintegrating beneath my own. I take my knife and lick the sweet blood from the blade. I think I smile as I thrust the blade deep into her abdomen and jerk it upward, slicing through her young, unblemished flesh up to her ribcage.
I bury my face into the wound as the dark blood bubbles forth and oozes onto the ground. I stare upward into her face, memorizing her contortions of agony as I lap up her life's fluid. All too soon, I feel blood flow begin to ebb and move on to the next child, letting the remaining blood from his throat flow and dribble into my mouth. Finally to the last, I thrust the knife into his mesenteric artery, then tearing the wound wider so that I can more easily drink. Once I am sated I hold the bodies over the parents, letting the blood of their children fall onto them. I then stare at the blood on the ground, seeing the movement within the dark crimson pools. I stare at the patterns, listening to them, learning from them. The patterns show me where I need to go, and then they fade away into nothingness. I stand and look down at the remains of my meal, and then I place my knife in the father's hand and make my way off. When they come too, perhaps what lay before them will open the door to the True Sight a bit, preparing their minds for further enlightenment. Perhaps not. I care not which, they are just cattle after all, and as I said before, I have much more important matters to attend to this evening.
That was a few hours ago, and so far my search has been in vain. I still hear the cries of the children in my head, pleading with me to let them go, asking why I killed them. They are a distraction, so I force them out of my head, pushing them to the back of my mind. I see not a single sign of the passing of the phoenix. Not for the first time I curse this wretched shell of flesh which hinders me so. Perhaps things would have gone better had I not needed to waste time with the cattle earlier. I look around and grimace, not a single one of these fucking mortals carries the sign of the phoenix. I begin to wonder if this night has been wasted, when the world vanishes from around me. Emerging from the blackness comes a fire, burning with forceful intensity, yet casting no light. And as I watch, the flames change from bright orange to deep crimson and then to blue. And then he steps forward to taunt me again. The false prophet. He reaches out to me, the false promises of knowledge and the phoenix upon his lips. Although I know he only offers lies, I still reach out for his hand, and then fly backwards as he grins and flings me away. As he grows smaller he fades from my sight, and then without warning, I am back on the street and staring up at the many faces surrounding me. Some of them jerk back as my eyes open and I feel the Beast claw forward again, wanting nothing more than to tear them all to shreds and to peel their stupid fucking faces from their skulls. I could let it free to teach them to mind their own business, but I have more important things to do. But I keep a rein on it this time, instead screaming out at them to get away, while at the same time lashing out with my True Sight, forcing a small bit of it into each of their minds. The crowd scatters quickly as the Sight floods through their brains, making them scream out in horror. Then I stand and look around; I am not far now.
I go through the alleys, the feeling of my nearing my goal increases with each step. I see a vision of the phoenix manifest before me, leading me on, urging me to continue on. Finally I reach my destination. I see them on the ground before me, writhing around. I instantly see the mark of the phoenix upon the woman, burning bright inside her. She struggles to scream as he forces himself upon her, tearing her clothes from her body. His hand is over her mouth, preventing her screams from reaching the ears of those who might help her. I cloud their minds so they do not see me and watch as he rapes her. I pay attention to every detail as he thrusts himself into her and slams his fist into her face, dazing her. But all too soon it is over, as he groans and spills his seed into her. I cannot allow this to end here, there is too much more that needs to be done, more he needs to do to bring the phoenix to claim her. I quickly move up and grab his head and slam it into the nearby wall, hard enough break off bits of the brick. The satisfying crunch that follows and his lack of movement tell me that he is no longer conscious. But I cannot allow him to die yet, and I check to make sure that he is still alive. He is, so I turn to the girl, laying back and sobbing, mumbling thanks to me for saving her. I sneer in disgust at her words, filled with sickening emotion, and fight back the advances of the Beast once again. I tell her to not worry, that it will be over soon, and reach out as if to comfort her. Instead I lash out and strike her, sending her into unconsciousness with her assaulter. I conceal them from the sight of others and pick them up and quickly take them back to my haven. Time is short and there are important things to do.
When the man regains his senses I am sitting there watching him. His anger flares and he asks where he is and who I am. I hit him again and throw him against the wall. I point to the woman who is now tied to the table and command him to continue what he left unfinished. Bound by my powers, he cannot disobey and so he proceeds to rape her again. I stalk around and watch, telling him what he needs to do, alert for the coming of the phoenix. Nothing seems to be coming, so I order him to beat her, to cause her pain. He of course obeys, and her screams soon fill the room. Yet still nothing comes, nothing happens. I curse silently and lash out, knocking him unconscious again. I turn to the woman, screaming and crying hysterically. I see the phoenix mark upon her has faded to nothingness. The phoenix is forsaking her. I must bring it back. Her cries annoy me. I grab another knife and force her mouth open, and after a quick slash, pop her tongue out. The screams and cries fall much quieter, and I set out to work. I slowly cut off all her clothes, then slice her open from neck to crotch and peel the sides back, exposing her internal organs. She bucks violently and heaves, then her body quivers as it dies. The phoenix still does not come.
I carefully use the knife to dig through the layers of flesh on her body, exposing and then removing the tendons and fibrous muscle tissue. I lay the strands on the table next to me and then move on to the next stage of my operations. When the man next awakens, he tries to speak again, but finds he can't as I have sewn his mouth shut with the muscle tendons from the woman. He reaches for them to break them, so I hit him and hear his nose break. I tell him the folly of his actions and command him to not do it again. The fear in his eyes is apparent as he gazes upon me. I have removed all of my own clothes, wearing now only the organs I have eviscerated from the woman. Her intestines hang from my neck in a death parody of jewelry. Her stomach I have emptied out and hangs from my waist, tied with the marrow from her bones. I have filled it with various other pieces of her, her eyes, her eardrums, and her kidneys. Her muscles and face I have peeled off of her body and sewn onto my own flesh, hoping that this will draw the phoenix out. I command him to once again rape her, and he unwillingly climbs aboard her corpse and enters her. As he fucks her motionless body, still slick from her warm blood, I watch them both for some sign of change signaling the oncoming of the phoenix. Still nothing. I watch for over an hour, forcing the man to continue. Still nothing. Finally I curse, and let the Beast run free this time, to sate its hunger and thirst for violence on the useless fool before me. As I dispose of the bodies, I feel the pressing weight of the sun starting to fall upon me, signaling the coming of the dawn. With a heavy sigh, I return to my shelter and prepare myself to sleep through another day.
Another night begins. I continue my search for the phoenix...
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