Shades of Gray - the End and the Beginning
Prologue
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Defeat RP Scene
The Nightmare RP Scene
Notes - the RP sections were played out on
tenebrae_nostro where I've been RPing Caleb for almost a year now. I decided not to edit them into fic, but let you read the characters RP interaction.
When I woke from my nightmare I knew where my path would lead me. I wasn’t lost anymore. My faith was strong as it ever was, and it burned a righteous fire in my belly. It felt so good. It had been months since I felt right.
As I stood I ran my hands over the seal that I’d placed into the hard earth beneath my church. Soon I’d be able to complete the ritual and a new Hellmouth would be formed. Demons, devils and the undead would flock to Los Angeles to heed the First’s call, and I would be sitting on top of it all charging admission. The power would be mine at last. She’d promised to make me a god, and now I would be one.
She wasn’t in my room when I got there, which was just fine. I needed to prepare. I scrubbed every inch of my body until my skin glowed red in the filtered sunlight coming through the dirty skylight. Using a straight razor I shaved clean and smooth. I put on my best frock, the pants and shirt still wrapped in plastic from the dry cleaners. My underwear was new too as well as my shoes and socks. The white collar was so stiff that it felt sharp as my razor had under my chin.
I didn’t need a mirror to see that I looked good. I knew I did. The only thing with me that wasn’t new with me was my favorite knife. I couldn’t think of using anything else for what had to be done.
“Kate!” I called out as I came down the steps from the projection room to the lobby. I glared at a circle of my followers. Now where was that fucking girl? I couldn’t scrape her off my leg with a shovel and now she’d gone off somewhere doing who knew what. “Bring me Kate. Now!”
My stomach rumbled while I waited. I was hungry, but I needed to keep myself pure. No food or drink. Not even water. The energy of hope and need from the members of the church flowed through me, and I could feel it funneling down to the seal. Whatever had been blocking me from the power had been torn free in my dreams. I was ready now. No more looking back. No more failures.
“Caleb,” she rushed to me and threw her arms around my neck trying to kiss me. Drawing back from her, I set her back down on her feet. She smelled like she was fresh from a shower too and dressed in a pretty little red sundress. She’d be a fitting sacrifice for the Hellmouth. “I was looking for you.”
“I was lookin’ for you too.” I held my hand out to her and drew her along beside me to the trap door down to the underground. She didn’t fight me. She just followed along meekly beside me. The wretched creature probably thought I was bringing her someplace where she could wrap her legs around me. All the intelligence that she’d had as the First was gone. She was just another dirty girl. “Come on then darlin’. Caleb’s got somethin’ to show you.”
The chamber was dark until I spoke a single word of power. Flames burst to life in the sconces along the walls. Beneath each torch was a Bringer waiting unmoving as statues made of dead flesh. Until the First was free they were no use to me, but I was about to rectify that situation.
Pushing Kate to the center of the seal where I’d slept the night away, I took out my knife and made a quick cut to the back of her naked legs. She crumpled at my feet as I severed her hamstrings. “Your time is up.”
“But I’m here for you. I’m yours. It’s what you wanted!” She sobbed like the child I’d taken to Disneyland. I’d actually liked her then when she was small. I hated her now.
“I never wanted this.” My free hand twisted in her long dark hair. It was still damp underneath from the shower and smelled so clean and sweet. “I wanted the First. I wanted glory for you. I wanted to make this world in your image. I did not want this world remaking you into its image. You’re nothing. You’re just one more filthy crawling woman out to destroy man with the temptation of sin. You were more than god. I loved you.”
“But I love you!” Her hands gripped my wrist as she tried to pull herself free. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Then die.” I cut fast. My knife parted the thin skin of her throat like I was cutting through a Jell-O salad. Hot blood splattered over me, more blood than any human body would hold, and I knew just how much blood a body could hold. It ran hot and red over me as she slumped against my legs. Pushing her onto her back, I took the knife and shoved it into her belly with a mean twist. Her blood kept coming, but it wasn’t red anymore it was black and thick as pitch. I’d found the First again. “And be free.”
The blood seeped into the seal, filling the arcane symbols I’d carved there in her glory. As each symbol was completed it began to glow in darkness. When she sputtered out one last breath the final rune, the mark of the First, flared with power. Thunder echoed in my ears as the true seal was formed and the power of the First whipped free. It rose above and around me like a dome, and then it merged with me with more strength than it ever had before.
My legs gave out as it poured into me. My lungs were filled with it until I couldn’t get air to breathe. Black fire burned out my eyes until I was blind and I couldn’t even hear my own screams of pain as the First became part of me. When I could open my eyes, I knew they were as black as space itself. The First still hovered over me. It didn’t both to dress in the skin of any of the dead. Its great claws wrapped around me in a cold embrace that only I could feel.
“I am your true emissary now,” I said my voice deep as the nine levels of Dante’s Hell. “The power you promised me is mine at last.”
“You are a god Caleb.” The First said in its own feather soft voice. “This world is mine.”
“As you wish.” I said standing over the seal of the new Los Angeles Hellmouth. “I will make this world over for you. For I am your humble devoted servant.”
Chapter One
Chapter Two
Chapter Three
Chapter Four
Defeat RP Scene
The Nightmare RP Scene
Notes - the RP sections were played out on
tenebrae_nostro where I've been RPing Caleb for almost a year now. I decided not to edit them into fic, but let you read the characters RP interaction. When I woke from my nightmare I knew where my path would lead me. I wasn’t lost anymore. My faith was strong as it ever was, and it burned a righteous fire in my belly. It felt so good. It had been months since I felt right.
As I stood I ran my hands over the seal that I’d placed into the hard earth beneath my church. Soon I’d be able to complete the ritual and a new Hellmouth would be formed. Demons, devils and the undead would flock to Los Angeles to heed the First’s call, and I would be sitting on top of it all charging admission. The power would be mine at last. She’d promised to make me a god, and now I would be one.
She wasn’t in my room when I got there, which was just fine. I needed to prepare. I scrubbed every inch of my body until my skin glowed red in the filtered sunlight coming through the dirty skylight. Using a straight razor I shaved clean and smooth. I put on my best frock, the pants and shirt still wrapped in plastic from the dry cleaners. My underwear was new too as well as my shoes and socks. The white collar was so stiff that it felt sharp as my razor had under my chin.
I didn’t need a mirror to see that I looked good. I knew I did. The only thing with me that wasn’t new with me was my favorite knife. I couldn’t think of using anything else for what had to be done.
“Kate!” I called out as I came down the steps from the projection room to the lobby. I glared at a circle of my followers. Now where was that fucking girl? I couldn’t scrape her off my leg with a shovel and now she’d gone off somewhere doing who knew what. “Bring me Kate. Now!”
My stomach rumbled while I waited. I was hungry, but I needed to keep myself pure. No food or drink. Not even water. The energy of hope and need from the members of the church flowed through me, and I could feel it funneling down to the seal. Whatever had been blocking me from the power had been torn free in my dreams. I was ready now. No more looking back. No more failures.
“Caleb,” she rushed to me and threw her arms around my neck trying to kiss me. Drawing back from her, I set her back down on her feet. She smelled like she was fresh from a shower too and dressed in a pretty little red sundress. She’d be a fitting sacrifice for the Hellmouth. “I was looking for you.”
“I was lookin’ for you too.” I held my hand out to her and drew her along beside me to the trap door down to the underground. She didn’t fight me. She just followed along meekly beside me. The wretched creature probably thought I was bringing her someplace where she could wrap her legs around me. All the intelligence that she’d had as the First was gone. She was just another dirty girl. “Come on then darlin’. Caleb’s got somethin’ to show you.”
The chamber was dark until I spoke a single word of power. Flames burst to life in the sconces along the walls. Beneath each torch was a Bringer waiting unmoving as statues made of dead flesh. Until the First was free they were no use to me, but I was about to rectify that situation.
Pushing Kate to the center of the seal where I’d slept the night away, I took out my knife and made a quick cut to the back of her naked legs. She crumpled at my feet as I severed her hamstrings. “Your time is up.”
“But I’m here for you. I’m yours. It’s what you wanted!” She sobbed like the child I’d taken to Disneyland. I’d actually liked her then when she was small. I hated her now.
“I never wanted this.” My free hand twisted in her long dark hair. It was still damp underneath from the shower and smelled so clean and sweet. “I wanted the First. I wanted glory for you. I wanted to make this world in your image. I did not want this world remaking you into its image. You’re nothing. You’re just one more filthy crawling woman out to destroy man with the temptation of sin. You were more than god. I loved you.”
“But I love you!” Her hands gripped my wrist as she tried to pull herself free. “I’ll do whatever you want.”
“Then die.” I cut fast. My knife parted the thin skin of her throat like I was cutting through a Jell-O salad. Hot blood splattered over me, more blood than any human body would hold, and I knew just how much blood a body could hold. It ran hot and red over me as she slumped against my legs. Pushing her onto her back, I took the knife and shoved it into her belly with a mean twist. Her blood kept coming, but it wasn’t red anymore it was black and thick as pitch. I’d found the First again. “And be free.”
The blood seeped into the seal, filling the arcane symbols I’d carved there in her glory. As each symbol was completed it began to glow in darkness. When she sputtered out one last breath the final rune, the mark of the First, flared with power. Thunder echoed in my ears as the true seal was formed and the power of the First whipped free. It rose above and around me like a dome, and then it merged with me with more strength than it ever had before.
My legs gave out as it poured into me. My lungs were filled with it until I couldn’t get air to breathe. Black fire burned out my eyes until I was blind and I couldn’t even hear my own screams of pain as the First became part of me. When I could open my eyes, I knew they were as black as space itself. The First still hovered over me. It didn’t both to dress in the skin of any of the dead. Its great claws wrapped around me in a cold embrace that only I could feel.
“I am your true emissary now,” I said my voice deep as the nine levels of Dante’s Hell. “The power you promised me is mine at last.”
“You are a god Caleb.” The First said in its own feather soft voice. “This world is mine.”
“As you wish.” I said standing over the seal of the new Los Angeles Hellmouth. “I will make this world over for you. For I am your humble devoted servant.”