The Initiation

Words: ~1600

The Initiation

Mick's eyes were not accustomed to see under starlight alone, but in his rush he had forgotten to bring any kind of flashlight. Sweat dripped into his eyes in spite of the cold dry air. It was the time of the meet. He knew he shouldn't have come, but it was too late to turn back now. They were coming.

The sounds of a motor penetrated the stillness of the Arizona night, headlights piercing the darkness. Mick squinted his eyes, his heart starting to beat rapidly. He had prepared himself for this. He rubbed his fingers against his sweaty palms, thoughts flashing through his head. The pickup truck finally stopped in front of Mick, the motor dying down. There was a moment of silence, with only the "tic tic tic" of the cooling engine. Then the doors open, and the driver and his passenger stepped down. Both wore cowboy hats, and their pale faces reflected the light of the headlights in an almost unnatural way.

The passenger walked up to him, looking back and forth. His face was as neutral as ever, not showing a single emotion. His voice, when he spoke, however, betrayed a hint of irritation. "Where's the Offering, Mick?"

"Well, I came to talk about that," said Mick. He sighed, closed his eyes, and then the words came out. Even as he said them, he felt as if the world had become a very different place for him. "I'm out."

The driver snickered at this point. "I told you, man. He's not ready for the Order."

The passenger looked over at the driver, silencing him with a short glare, before returning his eyes to Mick. "Is there a particular reason for your change of heart?"

"Yeah, man. I don't bring kids. I don't care if it's for the White Lady or whatever."

"You have not lacked an Offering before. Why now, when you are only one from becoming immortal?"

Mick shook his head, sweat staining his clothing. His right hand started to shake, and it showed in his voice. "Fuck man. I know. But the guys I bring, see, they kinda deserved it. But not a kid, naw. None of them deserve it, Kabak. Not for you, not for her."

Kabak nodded. "I see," he said simply. He stood there, staring at Mick in an uncomfortable way as he thought it over for a moment. "I did have the feeling that you weren't ready to join us. You knew the membership requirements would be very demanding. And you knew from the beginning that, once you began to walk your road, there was no stepping off."

"Yeah, I know," said Mick, taking a step back. He didn't know what would happen, but he did feel that it wasn't going to be good. "So what's it going to be? You kill me and leave my corpse out here?"

Kabak thought for a moment, looking Mick up from his sneakers up to his unkempt short hair. "No, I don't think so," he said. "You may not be deserving, but I will give you your Initiation."

"Really?" asked Mick, blinking in surprise. "Why?"

"My reasons are my own. The Ceremony can take place." Reaching down into his jacket, Kabak brought out a small leather-bound notebook, which he handed to Mick. On it was inscribed the symbol of their Order; it was bookmarked to a certain page, which Mick opened to. It was written in red ink of some sort, on brown-white pages. "Read that page," commanded Kabak. "It is the Oath."

Mick read it loudly, every word, as well as he could; it was latin throughout, and he didn't understand much of what was said. When he reached the end of the page, Kabak nodded quietly.

"You have now renounced God and declare yourself one of our Order. Do you wish to continue?"

"Yes," said Mick, sighing and closing his eyes. There was no stepping back now. "Yes, I'm ready."

"Good," said Kabak, before looking to his partner. "Do it."

The driver grinned wide. He rushed forward, pushing Mick to the ground. Mick struggled, but the vampire was simply too strong. His hands choked the life from him, and Mick's last sights were the grinning pale face, and the countless stars above...

***

Light.

He saw it. It enveloped him. Light. Light upon light upon light, of a pure whiteness that has no equal on Earth. It brought a euphoric sensation, just to look at it. Then, it slowly started to dim.

No.

The light continued to fade away. The euphoria was going, replaced by a darker, deeper sense of fear. Then the light grew dark, and developed a red tint, as if a larger version of a candle's flame.

Oh no.

Then, he was enveloped in the red light. A voice sounded in his head; it was a woman’s voice. He knew that it was of the White Lady. “Welcome,” she said, with awful sadistic glee. “Welcome to eternity.”

***

He woke. The pain swarmed his body; an unimaginable knife of agony seemed to come from his chest as he tried to breathe. Then he realized he had no need to. His eyes looked up, to see Kabak and the driver looking at him, with the driver grinning. The pain started to fade.

“Welcome to the Order, Mick,” said Kabak, his face neutral as always. “How do you feel?”

“Like hell,” croaked Mick, his voice foreign to his own ears, while struggling to his feet. He found himself stumbling to the ground, as his entire body, including his legs, felt numb, as if they had fallen asleep. The driver walked forward and behind Mick, grabbing him under the armpits and dragging him to his feet. He didn’t let go.

“Now, Mick,” said Kabak. “As you know, any vampire needs a place to sleep. I already have the perfect location in mind.”

Mick tried to struggle against the arms of the driver, but found that even when he was one of them, he was too weak to easily slip out of his grip. “Well, uh, I guess that’s a good thing?”

“Of course,” said Kabak, his eyes downcast, and Mick followed the gaze. They were looking down at a hole in the ground. It was a bit larger than 6 feet long, about a foot wide, and perhaps 10 feet deep. Beside it was a coffin, for Mick’s size, the sides incredibly thick.

“But uh…” said Mick, thinking. “You don’t sleep in a coffin.” Tingles crawled up his spine once more.

“No. I have my uses to the Order; you, however, have demonstrated you do not, yet."

“When will I be useful?” Mick started to feel something was wrong. He couldn’t sweat anymore, and his heart couldn’t pound, but it would be at this point.

“In a long time from now,” Kabak noted, almost sadly. “I was planning on putting you to work right away, but with no Offering, I’m afraid I cannot trust you yet.”

“Wait…” stuttered Mick, before he felt himself being pushed; a few steps forward, and then he tumbled into the coffin. He looked up, only able to see the stars and the pale faces of the two that would bury them. He started to scream, plead, beg, but there was no stopping them; they threw on the lid of the coffin and nailed it shut. Mick beat on the coffin, but even his renewed strength could not break the thick, reinforced wood. It was designed to keep him in.

The coffin was raised into the air, and then it fell. The tremendous thud as it hit bottom would have knocked the air out of his lungs, if there was any. There was a moment of silence, and then a shovelful of dirt hit the top of the coffin with a thud. Then another shovelful. Mick heard the driver’s voice shouting down. “Isn’t Immortality a bitch?”

***

The driver sat on the pickup truck’s hood, deep in thought. The well-packed earth that Mick was lying under prevented his cries from being heard. The driver looked over at Kabak, who was standing on top of where Mick was buried. “Boss, I don’t get something.”

“Yes?” replied Kabak, neutral as ever, without looking over at the driver.

“Why did we do that? Bury them, I mean… why can’t we just kill them?”

Kabak looked up, before walking over to sit next to Kabak on the truck’s hood. “Are you familiar with Ishtar, the Assyrian goddess?”

“Er, sort’ve, I guess… warlike, right?”

“Goddess of love, or perhaps lust, and war. Considered to be the ‘courtesan of the gods’, but she was a deadly one, and determined to always get her way. She says, while in the descent to the underworld…

If thou openest not the gate to let me enter,
I will break the door, I will wrench the lock,
I will smash the door-posts, I will force the doors.
I will bring up the dead to eat the living.
And the dead will outnumber the living.”

The driver quirked his eyebrow in response. “Wow. That’s pretty intense.”

“Yes it is,” said Kabak. “We have buried one more dead. We don’t need them yet.”

“And when we do…?”

“Well… I’m not allowed to tell you yet. But I’m sure you have a good idea.” Kabak’s face was neutral as ever. The driver shuddered.