"To Never Be" - Immoral Birth

       Nicene froze still, not speaking or moving a muscle in her already over stressed body. She was the last of us to see the message which had taken shape on the cobblestone before us. I placed the knife back into my pocket and reached forward wanting to feel the ground beneath the words, trying to see if they were carved into the ground by some foolish child before.

       “No!” Shouted Stephanie, who was still clutching her bleeding hand. “Don’t touch it Tobias.”

       I looked at her, studying the expression on her face and moved back to my position of holding Nicene, without touching the pools of blood. I watched Stephanie move towards the crimson words only to stomp on them and disfigure them with her feet. She only stopped kicking at the words, when there form could no longer be made out.

       “What are you?!” I asked again, holding Nicene tightly in my arms.

       Stephanie looked into my eyes, and in the calmest of voice she said, “Don’t be afraid Tobias.”

       “Kristi said no human,” I shouted, “so, what the hell are you?”

       “Tobias I’m not what you...”

       I cut her off yelling, “Don’t lie to me!”

       “Okay, you deserve that much for what you’ve do tonight Tobias.” Pausing she watched a single car speeding down the street, only to make a right turn and disappear out of site. Looking back down, she looked at Nicene and I, who hadn’t taken our eyes of her the whole time.

       “I’m not exactly sure what I am Tobias. Shortly before I was born, my mother went completely insane. So I’ve never been able to get a straight answer from her, but I know that she was human.”

       “What about your father?” I asked, still tightly holding Nicene in my arms.

       “I’ve never met my father, and whenever I used to bring up the topic with my mother, she would fall into fits of hysteria and start telling these elaborate stories.

       “What kind of stories?” Whispered Nicene, finally starting to relax a little after reading the message on the ground.

       Stephanie started again, “Stories about the most beautiful man she had ever seen. And how every night for 29 days he would come and visit her. His skin was hot to the touch, like a fire that didn’t hurt, and his embrace made her body tingle. When I was younger I thought it was just a story; however, as I got older, and started noticing that I was different, I started forming theories.”

       Stephanie paused for a moment, and the three of us hung there in silence. Stephanie was looking down at the ground now, hanging her head in that way people do when they are sad. The bright lights glared behind her, casting shadows across her face, but for just a moment, it looked as if she were crying.

       “A few years ago,” Stephanie broke the silence continuing her story, “I started looking for some truth in her stories. The answers I found only fueled my theories more, but never gave me a definite answer.”

       “What kind of theories, Stephanie?” Asked Nicene, who seemed to be getting caught up in the story.

       “My initial thought was of incubi, creatures who exist purely lust. The more I started reading, I found stories of supposed angels and gods who would come down to earth and take the daughters of men. In most tales the poor woman and child would die during labor, and some would be killed for being pregnant with no one to father the child, but sometimes the baby would come to term and would almost assuredly be considered a demon. A child with all the powers of an angel, but the free will and emotions of a human. I have since learned that these are just titles given to things humans can not understand, but the point of the stories still remain, sometimes very powerful children are born with out any apparent father.”

       The silence returned, but then Nicene blurted out, “So you expect us to believe you are some sort of demon?”

       “Nicene.” I mumbled, poking her in the rib cage gently.

       “No.” Said Stephanie, in a slightly shocked tone. “I just consider words like that to be titles. I believe it’s what you do with the knowledge and power that makes you what you are. I’ve seen how someone could be consumed with power, and I believe that is what has happened to some of the people we saw in the bar. But I try to live a good life and do what I think is right at the time.”

       “Is that why you didn’t want me to touch your blood just now?” I asked.

       “Yes Tobias. I have unfortunately learned the different ways to share my lineage with people; through passion, through love, and through blood.”

       “The kiss?” Asked Nicene.

       “Yes, that is a temporary way to open people’s mind to what’s around them. I scared quite a few boys before I figured that one out.” Said Stephanie, giving out sort of a nervous chuckle.

       “So if a kiss is temporary, does that mean that blood would be permanent?” I asked.

       “Yes, blood would be a permanent change with much more effect than a kiss. And being in love with someone at the time of transference makes it all the more powerful, and even the person more powerful than original.”

       “What do you mean?” asked Nicene.

       “I was in love once, a few years ago. I gave myself to him completely, I was selfish.”

       Still not letting go of the topic, Nicene asked, “In love once? What about your ex-boyfriend?”

       “Nicene!” I snapped, in a long, nagging tone.

       “It’s okay; I wasn’t in love with him. We never really did anything that would do more to him than letting him see things and give him a slight headache.”

       “Is that what this is?” I asked, desperately trying to change the uncomfortable subject while rubbing my temples.

       “Yeah, you’re probably going to have migraines for the next few days, sorry.” Answered Stephanie.

       “It’s okay, not really that bad.”