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Bible Black - 3
by The Synthetic Divine (syntheticdivine@aol.com)

***

I offer up now the third and final part of this story. 
For those of you who haven't yet, it is suggested that 
parts one and two be read first, or this part will 
likely make far less sense. All warnings as to sexual 
perversity in the story have previously been offered in 
the Author Notes of earlier parts, so I won't bother to 
repeat them here. (mf-teens, nc, inc, mc)

***

Author Notes: Overall feedback has been excellent on 
the story so far, but I could always use more, as 
feedback is one of the primary motivators of my 
writing, and tends to speed up the pace at which I 
write later stories by quite a bit. For those of you 
who've enjoyed the story enough to send feedback, I can 
be reached at SyntheticDivine@aol.com but please make 
sure to use "Bible Black" as the topic to ensure I 
don't mistake it for spam and accidentally delete it. 
You might also wish to read some of my other stories, 
information on which can be found in the Author Notes 
of the first part.

I will soon begin simultaneous work on my fifth and 
sixth stories. Putting more effort into the fifth to 
get it out first, however. The fifth story will be sort 
of a continuation of all four stories that came before, 
which were only loosely connected up until that point. 
More details to be offered in the ending notes of this 
part. The sixth story will be an entirely different 
entity, which I feel has the potential to be my 
masterwork (at least, my best up until that point). 
Needless to say, I have high hopes for the sixth story. 
But enough of my ramblings. For those of you who've 
read this far, I present to you the third and final 
part of this story.

***

It had been nearly a week since Zane had read the 
fourth book. At the moment he was in Liz's room, 
stretched out on his side on her bed. She was lying on 
her back next to him, her shirt lifted to just below 
her breasts as he lightly stroked her stomach with one 
hand. They'd been spending a lot of time together in 
the past week and, staring at her face, Zane once more 
found himself surprised by just how much he cared about 
her, especially now. He didn't think there was anyone 
he really cared much about, anymore... Except her. 

Even though he still felt beyond humanity, somehow she 
was even more important to him now then she had been 
before. It was like ceasing to care about anyone else 
had somehow amplified his feelings towards the one 
person he did still care about. Whatever he did to 
anyone else, her he wouldn't hurt. Not ever. But he'd 
come here to tell her something, and for the first time 
in awhile he felt ashamed. 

He was going to tell her about the things he'd done, 
but she wasn't going to be able to react the way she 
might have. No matter what he told her, she'd be unable 
to stop loving him. Even if her natural instincts 
might've been otherwise. And he didn't know how he 
could change that without potentially making her feel 
as bad as he had the last time he'd taken the command 
away, and he didn't want her feeling bad. 

That's what had him feeling ashamed. Not the things 
he'd done to others, but what he'd done to her. The 
fact that she had no choice but to love him. Of course, 
he wanted her to love him, it's just... He wished he 
could feel like it was real.

"Liz... There's something I need to tell you." He 
finally said, continuing to gently run his hand up and 
down along the soft skin of her tummy.

"What?" she murmured softly. Her eyes were closed and 
there was this little smile on her face that told him 
she was greatly enjoying what he was doing. If she was 
a cat, Zane imagined she'd be purring.

"I'm serious, there's something important I need to 
tell you." He said, lifting his hand away from her 
stomach. With a soft groan of disappointment, she 
opened her eyes and looked over at him. "I'm the one 
who killed Mark. I mean, he died in the chemical 
explosion, but I'm the one who caused it to occur." 
Zane told her.

She just blinked once, one of her hands moving in to 
lightly grasp the hand he'd been stroking her stomach 
with. "I sorta already guessed that." She said softly, 
her eyes fixed on his. "It was the only logical 
explanation... I just figured if you felt like 
eventually telling me, you would. And if you didn't, 
that was ok too."

"You don't care that I killed someone?" he asked, 
feeling a hint of surprise. He'd known she wouldn't be 
able to stop loving him over it, but he'd still thought 
she'd be somewhat repulsed by it.

"I don't know if I care about anything anymore, besides 
being with you." Liz told him. "I'm so happy when I'm 
with you... It's like nothing else matters. And I know 
that's kind of silly, but it's true. It doesn't matter 
what you've done, because it doesn't change who you are 
when you're with me. And you've been so wonderful 
whenever we're together, lately." She murmured, giving 
his hand a little squeeze. "Even knowing the sort of 
stuff you've done to other people... I still feel 
completely safe with you. Does that sound stupid?"

"No." He whispered, a mixture of feelings running 
through him. There was still some shame at her words, 
but even more there was a rush of pleasure. Even if the 
words were a result of a love he himself had given her, 
they were still more then he ever could've hoped to 
hear. In that moment, staring into her eyes, he almost 
felt like he himself was falling in love. "It's not 
stupid at all." He said, gently squeezing her hand back 
as he smiled at her. "But... There's more I still have 
to tell you. Other things I've done..."

"It doesn't matter to me, Zane." She murmured. "You 
don't have to tell me. Only if you're sure you want to. 
No matter what you say, it's not going to change how I 
feel about you."

"Liz..." He started, just bowing his head a bit, unable 
to bring himself to look her in the eye as he went on. 
"It's not just Mark. I've been killing... A lot of 
people lately. Most of who had never done anything to 
me. And I never seem to feel bad about it. Not while 
I'm doing it... Not after I've done it. I'm a killer... 
I've become... Some kind of monster. 

That never bothers me, except... Now, because while I 
know you love me, and that means everything to me... I 
can't help but feeling like if it wasn't for the 
commands I gave you to love me... If you really had a 
choice... How could you love me, with the person I've 
become?" he whispered, not saying the words that 
followed in his head. Why would she want to love him, 
even if he hadn't done the things he'd done, if she'd 
had a choice in the matter.

There was a long pause as she gazed into his eyes, 
before she finally spoke. "Zane, I don't think my love 
for you is because of the commands, anymore." She said 
softly.

Zane just stared at her. He wasn't sure he understood 
what she meant. "What?" he finally asked.

"I mean. The orders you gave me... Whatever powers you 
used to make me obey you... I think they wore off a 
couple days ago. I wanted to tell you, but I've been 
kinda nervous about it... I didn't know if it would 
upset you." She told him in a quiet tone.

The words left Zane speechless and stunned. If they 
were true, it meant the power didn't last quite as long 
as he'd thought it would... But that wouldn't surprise 
him much, as he'd only been trying his best to make a 
guess at it off a system of time that he hadn't 
understood that well to begin with. But if that was the 
case, it meant... "How can you be sure?" he asked, 
gazing at her with something akin to wonder. He hadn't 
given her any commands over the past few days, so he 
really hadn't noticed anything different. 

"Test it for yourself. Try ordering me to do something. 
If I'm right, then I'll be able to refuse, right?" was 
her reply.

Zane just nodded. Considering for a second, he decided 
on something and spoke the words. "Get off the bed and 
jump up and down once." He told her, keeping his tone 
pitched so that there could be no mistake that it was a 
command.

For a long second she stared at him, before suddenly 
she tilted her head towards his. "No." She whispered, 
just before her lips suddenly pressed against his, the 
kiss lingering for nearly twenty seconds before she 
finally pulled back.

Zane felt his throat clench with emotion. His thoughts 
were racing through his head, and he could barely make 
sense of them. In that moment he honestly couldn't have 
said for sure what he was feeling, except that there 
was a sudden lightness in his body, like at any second 
he could've floated away. "That means... My commands 
from before are no longer there and..." He said, 
finding a trembling note in his voice and not really 
caring. "You still love me?" he whispered.

"More then anything." She told him, pulling his hand up 
to her mouth and gently kissing the back of it.

"Liz..." He started, finding himself unable to get 
anything more out. For the first time in his life he 
knew what it felt like to have happiness bring you to 
the verge of tears, but he really didn't want to cry in 
front of her, so instead he just tilted his head in, 
the hand near her lips moving to rest lightly on her 
cheek as he pressed his lips against hers. The first 
kiss turned into a second one, and the second into a 
third, their tongues quickly becoming involved and each 
kiss seeming more passionate then the last. He got the 
feeling it was going to be awhile before they left the 
bed.

***

When Zane returned home from school a couple days 
later, it was to find an unfamiliar car sitting outside 
his house. He'd considered stopping going to school 
altogether, but he wasn't entirely ready to break off 
from his old life just yet. He figured he'd wait until 
he'd finished the last book before packing up and 
leaving town with Liz. As he approached, he was able to 
recognize the gentlemen sitting in the car just before 
he pulled into his driveway, and by the time he'd 
stepped out of his car, they'd already left theirs and 
were walking towards him. "Zane Collins." The man on 
the left said.

"Detective Aaron." Zane said in greeting as he turned 
to face him. Glancing to the guy who was standing about 
a foot behind him, Zane went on. "And Detective No-
Name. What can I do for you?" Zane figured that mocking 
the second cop probably wouldn't do much towards 
winning their affection, but he couldn't help himself.

"This is Detective McCarthy." Detective Aaron said 
calmly. "We were wondering if we could have a word with 
you?"

"Sorry Detective, I'm really not in the mood at the 
moment. I just got home from school, and I was planning 
on relaxing for awhile. Maybe some other time." Zane 
told them, before starting to turn towards his house.

He was stopped in his tracks when the second detective 
finally spoke. "We could always do this down at the 
station, if you'd rather." McCarthy said, his tone 
carrying the note of an implied threat.

"No, detectives, we couldn't." Zane said, turning back 
to face them with a slight hint of annoyance. "See, I 
don't feel like going down to the station with you to 
answer anything. And the only way you can force me to 
come with you against my will is if you put me under 
arrest. So unless you're arresting me, you can go back 
to the station alone."

A couple seconds passed where nothing was said, and 
then finally Aaron smiled. "You're a smart kid, you 
know that?" the detective asked.

"Well, thanks for the compliment, but yeah, I was sort 
of already aware of that. So if you're done inflating 
my ego, you're on private property without an 
invitation." Zane replied smoothly.

"Alright, if you want us to leave, we'll leave. But my 
next action would be to call your parents, and inform 
them of the situation. Perhaps I can convince them, as 
your guardians, to bring you in for questioning 
themselves." Aaron told him, the smile still on his 
face.

Zane felt like he should be even further annoyed, but 
oddly enough he just felt amused. "You're good, you 
know that, Detective?"

"Thank you. Do you still want us off the property?" 
Aaron asked in response.

Zane just smirked as he watched them for a moment more. 
Given that he'd decided to stick to his old life until 
he'd finished the books, having his parents find out 
about his habits could cause him problems, so he 
supposed he was willing to go a little out of his way 
to save himself the difficulty of having to deal with 
that. Finally, after staring at the detectives a little 
longer, he turned towards his front door. "Follow me." 
He called over his shoulder. It took less then a minute 
for him to lead them through the door and into the 
dining room, gesturing them to the chairs along one 
side of the dining room table. "Have a seat."

"Could I use your bathroom?" McCarthy asked, even as 
Aaron pulled out and dropped into one of the chairs 
he'd been pointed to.

"You mean can you search the house without a warrant 
while your partner keeps me busy? No. Sit down or get 
out." Zane told the man as he moved around the table 
opposite of Aaron and seated himself. After a few 
seconds McCarthy finally walked over and pulled out a 
chair next to the other detective.

"Like I said, you're a smart kid." Aaron said.

"And like I said, I already knew that. If you're going 
to ask me some questions, I wish you'd get to them." 
Zane replied steadily.

Aaron just shrugged. "Very well. Were you aware that 
Mark Garing's uncle and a couple of his uncle's friends 
died over a week ago?"

"No, I'm sorry to hear that." Zane told him. "How'd 
they die?"

"I'm not at liberty to say but... Suffice to say, they 
died the same way the boy near the convenience store, 
the one I'd told you about, died. Strange coincidence, 
don't you think?" Aaron asked. His face was calm, but 
his eyes were sharp, he was watching Zane like a hawk.

"Yeah, that is strange." Zane said simply.

"There's also been a series of killings matching the 
same M.O. throughout the city. We've yet to find a 
witness who got a really close look at the killer's 
face, but all the witnesses who've seen him from a 
distance offer a very similar description. One that 
matches almost exactly with the one the witnesses from 
the convenience store killing offered, except... No 
white hair, anymore." The detective told him.

Zane was starting to feel nervous. The change of both 
his hair color and the hair color in the reports about 
the killer was a strong coincidence but not enough. 
However, Brad and the other two guys having died in the 
same fashion offered a connection to Zane himself 
through Mark. And the detective had been toning down 
the situation with the word series. In actuality, he'd 
been hunting almost every night of late, when he wasn't 
spending time with Liz. 

He'd killed enough people now that the police had to be 
looking for anyone they could use as a suspect, and 
they had to be having an even harder time keeping it 
out of the news. He knew they'd want to have an arrest 
before it got out, or there'd likely be panic. And 
there was actually enough of a connection now that they 
probably could take him in at least for some kind of a 
line-up, or obtain a search warrant for his house, not 
that they'd find anything. Except for maybe the books, 
which they wouldn't be able to read anyways. Unless...

Zane had to resist the sudden urge to laugh. He knew 
now why the detectives were just poking around, trying 
to get him to talk. It was simple, but he hadn't 
realized it until just now. The deaths must have seemed 
to be of natural causes. They of course wouldn't look 
like it, as that many young people wouldn't die in so 
strange a fashion in so short a period. But the cause 
had to seem natural, to whoever the medical examiner 
must be. 

At least, he wouldn't be able to come up with a non-
natural cause of death. No wounds or physical damage to 
the body that could've resulted in the actual death. No 
evidence of any kind of poisons in the system. He 
wasn't sure precisely how they must have seemed to of 
died, whenever the examiner cut them open, but whatever 
it was it wasn't enough to give them any idea of what 
outside influence could've possibly killed them, or at 
least caused their deaths. And so they couldn't 
possibly arrest him. 

They had to have a cause of death to charge him with 
murder, because they couldn't possibly prove a case 
against him in court if they couldn't even explain how 
he could've possibly killed the victims. If they tried 
to arrest him despite, any lawyer worth a damn would 
have him released in a matter of hours, and then the 
deaths would most definitely make the news. Only then 
they'd have the public on their case and a suspect they 
couldn't arrest. 

Zane wondered how many medical experts they must've 
brought in on this. Probably FBI even. If the best they 
had hadn't been able to come up with something that 
could work as evidence against Zane, he had nothing to 
worry about. Except that he might have to watch his 
back more carefully now. He'd been paying attention for 
awhile now, and he hadn't been followed. But that could 
change any time. At least now he knew why Aaron had 
been so hesitant to tell him the causes of death. He 
hadn't wanted to let on just how little they had.

Zane finally realized nearly half a minute had passed 
without him answering, and the detectives were staring 
at him, so he finally spoke. "I'm sorry Detective 
Aaron, I just didn't hear a question anywhere in 
there."

"So you're saying you know absolutely nothing about any 
of these deaths?" Aaron asked.

Zane just smiled and stared the man in the eye. "I'm 
not a serial killer, if that's what you're asking, 
detective." He lied smoothly.

"I didn't say that. I just asked if you knew anything 
that might be relevant to the case." Aaron told him.

"Can't say that I do." Zane replied steadily. "And 
since it appears I don't know anything that can help 
you gentlemen, I think it's about time you both leave."

"I still have more questions for you." Aaron said, not 
budging an inch.

And probably foremost among them would be to ask about 
Zane's whereabouts on a few of the nights, primarily 
the night where Brad and his friends died. Since Zane 
didn't have an alibi for any of the nights they could 
potentially ask him about, he figured now was a good 
time to get the two of them out the door. 

"I know, detective. But I've answered all the questions 
I'm going to answer. And I have to wonder why the press 
hasn't been all over a case like this, if there's some 
kind of serial killer out there. I get the feeling if 
my parents were talked to about this, they might 
inadvertently check with a few reporters to find out." 
Zane told them. The threat wasn't very subtle, but then 
he didn't mean it to be. "Now, please leave."

For the first time Zane noticed a hint of anger creep 
into Aaron's features, but still, a few seconds later 
he finally rose from his chair, McCarthy following 
suit. "I'll be seeing you soon kid. Real soon." Aaron 
told him, before turning to walk out the front door, 
McCarthy trailing him.

Once they were gone Zane just sat back and started 
thinking. This could cause problems. It could wind up 
forcing him to accelerate his plan on how soon he was 
going to leave. If they did start tailing him, it would 
really restrict his ability to effectively hunt unless 
he was willing to kill the cops too, and if that 
happened he'd almost certainly wind up having his face 
blasted across the newspapers and TV. If cops wound up 
dead, they'd almost certainly try arresting him, even 
if they did have to release him soon after. And if his 
face became that well known, it would make hunting far 
more difficult for him. He'd have to think about it, 
and keep a close eye out for unwelcome observers.

***

Once more Zane found himself standing in the room with 
the altar. It was the day after his confrontation with 
the detectives. He'd only needed one more hunting 
session for the fifth book to become open to him. He'd 
been wary the entire time he'd been out hunting, but 
despite paying close attention he hadn't noticed a 
single person following him. The moment he'd got home 
he'd started in on the fifth book, and it was only 
shortly after he'd finished that he suddenly passed out 
and found himself once more in this place. 

Yet again the glow from the altar had extended farther 
out. It now seemed to illuminate half the room, perhaps 
fifty feet or so out. Near the altar itself it was 
particularly bright, but Zane felt no need to shade his 
eyes. The stone handle-like protrusions he'd held onto 
the last time he was in the room were no longer 
extending from the altar. It was as smooth as it had 
been the very first time he'd been here. Quickly 
spinning around, Zane found that the mirror that had 
contained his reflection was also no longer where it 
had been, which only left him to assume that it must be 
back in the hall where he'd first seen it.

Swiftly Zane began making his way towards the doorway 
in the far wall. He could still faintly make out the 
glow from the torch beyond. Though there was still a 
dark patch between where the altar's glow ended and the 
doorway began, Zane didn't slow as he passed through it 
this time. 

He knew there would be nothing to obstruct his way. As 
he stepped through the doorway and immediately shifted 
his gaze down the hall, he found that the blue glow in 
the distant mirrored-hall had intensified as well. He 
couldn't make out if the one mirror was where he'd 
thought it would be from here though, so he quickly 
started down the hallway towards it.

It only took a few steps before the odor he'd smelled 
last time he'd passed through here once more assaulted 
his nostrils, only it was much stronger then it had 
been before. It still wasn't unpleasant, but it was 
unbelievably strange. And accompanying it was a very 
odd sensation. Zane felt like he could sense something 
emanating from the walls around him, some kind of 
shadowy aura. 

It was like the smell was a part of the aura itself, 
and Zane was breathing it in. Still, it wasn't enough 
to make him hesitate, he pressed forward as quickly as 
he had before. Again the temperature began to drop 
steeply the further he went, but surprisingly no matter 
how cold it got it didn't bother him. He supposed his 
body had become far better able to deal with heat and 
cold.

As he stepped through the last doorway and into the 
hall of mirrors, he found the sense of the shadowy aura 
greatly intensified around him, even though the mirrors 
themselves seemed to be shining so brightly with the 
blue light that there wasn't a shadow to be seen in the 
entire hall. As he started down the constricted 
hallway, he once more found himself face to face with 
his reflection. Thought the mirrors to the sides were 
now empty, the mirror in the center was indeed back 
where he thought it would be, and the other him was 
smiling.

"You're almost there." The boy in the mirror told him, 
a bit of excitement on his face. "It won't be much 
longer before you'll be able to pass through here, and 
into the place that's been waiting for us." It was 
strange, the blue glow from the mirrors seemed to shift 
in different directions as time passed, and whenever 
the glow gathered on a particular spot of the door-
shaped mirror, for a split second Zane felt like he was 
able to see another hazy image behind that part of the 
reflection, of something beyond. It was always too 
quick for him to really pick up any details, though.

"What else is there?" Zane asked, just staring at his 
reflection. "What could be left that I haven't already 
done?"

"Just one thing." The boy told him softly, the piercing 
quality of his voice stronger then ever. "One chain 
left that still binds you. One weakness that remains."

"So what is it?" Zane demanded.

"You already know what it is." His reflection in the 
mirror replied, staring right back at him. And Zane 
found he did know.

"No. Not that. I won't do that." Zane said, shaking his 
head vigorously.

"We have no choice. It is the only thing left standing 
in our way. Once it is gone, we will be one, and we 
will be free." The boy explained.

"I WON'T HURT HER!" Zane shouted at the mirror, a 
sudden unspeakable rage flowing through him.

"Then you will perish, as will I. We've gone too far to 
stop now. Killed too many. Do you think you are the 
only being with power in the world? There are others. 
Many others. They will come looking for you, and if 
they don't outright kill you, they will still take the 
books. Until the path of the books is completed your 
power will continue to grow, and if it grows too much 
and you don't have the knowledge contained in the later 
books to temper and channel it, it will slowly begin to 
destroy you. 

"That is a far worse and far more painful death. Either 
way we end up dead. You can't let your weakness consume 
you now, not when we are this close. She is this only 
obstacle left to us! Eliminate her, and we can have 
everything!" The image in the mirror exclaimed 
forcefully.

At least that answered one question. There were other 
beings out there with the kind of powers he had. He'd 
wondered, but he'd never been sure. Still, it changed 
nothing. "I love her." Zane said softly, bowing his 
head, his earlier anger gone. "I will not hurt her. 
Better to die."

For a long moment there was no reply, and when Zane 
finally lifted his head again, the sadness and 
disappointment was clear on the boy in the mirror's 
face. "Then we will both die." His reflection told him. 
"We are doomed, because there is no other way. If you 
love her so much, you will be able to grant her the 
gift of seeing you die, because that's all you'll have 
left to give if you make this choice."

"Better than my seeing her die." Zane told the image 
flatly. "Better then my having to take her life 
myself." Zane whispered, just shaking his head again. 
"She's all I have left. You have to know that."

"I do. And that is why she is making you weak. There 
can be nothing left of the human you were. Nothing." 
The boy said.

"No. If that's what you want, then fuck you. I won't 
hurt her." Zane repeated for the last time.

"Very well. If you wish to die for her, to sacrifice 
your life for hers, then so be it. Go back to where you 
came from. You will not know me again until we are both 
buried and rotting." The boy told him firmly. And just 
like that the world around Zane vanished.

***

It had been five days since he'd last spoken to the 
mirror, and still Zane hadn't noticed any people 
tailing him. Whatever else might be going on, at least 
his hunting wasn't obstructed. Excepting school, most 
of his time had either been spent with Liz or doing 
just that. And by now the strength he felt was 
incredible. He hadn't tested himself again, but then he 
didn't need to. He knew there was nothing in the nearby 
vicinity that could possibly test the limits of what he 
was capable of now. Still, it bothered him that he 
might not be able to read the next book, or any of the 
later ones. Might not be able to utilize his strength. 
Regardless though, he hadn't thought twice about his 
decision. He wouldn't hurt Liz for that.

At the moment he was at school. It was lunchtime, and 
he was eating with Liz in a small courtyard that the 
school had. They were sitting at the base of a tree and 
talking as they ate. Their lunch was interrupted 
however by the approach of seven guys, four of whom 
were on the football team. Mark's old friends, all of 
them. Zane had an idea of what was coming, but he was 
still surprised that people could be stupid enough to 
confront him, although he supposed they didn't suspect 
him of anything but Mark and John, since they probably 
had no way of learning the rest. Still, he'd have 
thought Mark's death would've been sufficient warning.

Rising smoothly to his feet as the guys approached the 
last few yards towards them, Zane just gestured to Liz 
to stay put when she started to stand as well. After a 
second's hesitation, she sat back down. "Can I help you 
guys with something?" Zane asked as the group came to a 
halt in front of him.

"We want you to admit what you did to him." One of the 
guys said, stepping a foot closer to Zane then the 
others. He was one of the only two of the group who 
looked like Zane didn't worry them. The other five all 
looked nervous, however they were all trying to seem 
tough despite that. Their apparent leader was a senior 
named Nate, one of those in the group on the football 
team.

"What I did to who?" Zane asked, pretending innocence.

"Mark. We want to hear you admit that you killed him." 
Nate demanded.

Zane just made a show of looking back and forth between 
the seven of them. "What, I'm supposed to be afraid of 
the likes of you?" Zane mocked, before just snorting in 
derision. "Don't make me laugh. I suggest the bunch of 
you walk away, before you get in way more trouble then 
you can handle. Trust me, if you piss me off, you'll 
seriously regret it."

A few of the group seemed unsure, but Nate showed no 
signs of wavering. "We're not leaving until we hear you 
admit what you did." Nate said, glaring at him.

"Then you're going to be waiting a very, very long 
time." Zane told him, smirking.

Nate just glared at him for a few seconds before he 
finally spoke, and when he did his tone was venomous. 
"You're a fucking coward."

Zane could feel the anger starting to rise inside him. 
He wasn't about to stand there and listen to a human 
try to insult him, especially when that human just 
happened to be one like Nate. "Yeah? And Mark was a 
weak, stupid, arrogant little prick who deserved to 
die. And you seem awfully upset about it. What were 
you, his bitch?" Zane asked, taking a step closer 
himself until he and the other boy were standing less 
then a foot apart.

He saw the punch coming long before it could have ever 
hoped to reach him, and he could have easily stopped it 
if he wanted, but he chose not to. He let Nate's fist 
make contact with the side of his face, let it drive 
his head to the side. There was a slight sting for 
about a second, and then nothing. No real pain at all, 
even though he could feel the force behind the blow. 
He'd been hit hard, at least by human standards. And 
now his rage was complete.

Turning his head back to face the boy who'd struck him, 
Zane spoke instead to the others in the group without 
even looking at them. "For the rest of you, I'm giving 
you to a count of three to run. If you do, I'll let you 
live. If you stay, you die with him." Zane said 
solemnly. "One." Immediately the boy on the far left 
broke off, spinning to run in the opposite direction. 
Glancing at the running boy, another one closer to the 
middle quickly turned to follow. Apparently there were 
some smart enough to take his reputation seriously. 
"Two." After a second's hesitation, a third boy 
separated from the group to run off after the rest. The 
other two who'd been worried remained, but their fear 
was plain in their features.

"Three." Zane finished softly, and immediately he 
struck. His return blow carried with it a lot of his 
speed and strength, and less then a second later Nate 
was laying on the ground, his skull caved in where 
Zane's fist had made contact. His death had been 
instantaneous. Taking a quick step forward, Zane didn't 
give the others a chance to react. Stiffening his 
hands, he lunged forward with both arms. The shirts 
only held for the slightest fraction of a second before 
giving away, the skin beneath held for even less. 

It was an odd sensation, having your arms pass through 
the insides of a living body, but Zane didn't find it 
repulsive, as some might have. For him it was almost 
pleasant in a way. As his hands passed through the 
outer skin and shirt of the kid's backs, he could see 
the look on the fourth boy's face. Of all the horror 
he'd seen on people's faces since he'd gained his 
power, few had been able to match what he saw in the 
boy's features at that moment. The kid turned to run, 
and instantly Zane was in motion. 

With one quick and forceful flinging motion of his 
arms, he sent both of the impaled boy's bodies to the 
ground. They might last a few more seconds before they 
died. His arms were covered in gore, but that didn't 
bother him. Before the fourth boy could take more then 
a step Zane was on him, one arm wrapping around him so 
Zane's hand could clench around the boy's throat. And 
just like that he was draining the energy out of the 
boy. 

Vaguely out of the corners of his eyes he could see 
other kids in the courtyard looking on in terror as the 
boy's life was sucked out of him. They didn't know what 
was happening, but they could see the look on his face, 
could see his hair suddenly turning white. And they 
could see his body finally collapse back against Zane, 
before being dropped to lay with the rest of the 
corpses. There were screams, and a few kids were quick 
to vanish from the courtyard as swiftly as they could. 
Immediately Zane began to pull in the energies of the 
other three he'd just killed.

The instant the last of the energy had been sucked dry 
Zane turned to face Liz. Her eyes were wide, but her 
face didn't contain the same horror that was in the 
faces of the other students, and for that he was 
thankful. Stepping back towards her, he reached out 
with one hand to help her up. "We have to get out of 
here." He told her, only then noticing that his hand 
was covered in blood. He started to glance around for 
something to wipe it on, when she reached up. 

She hesitated for a second, with her hand almost to 
his, but finally she gently grasped his hand, despite 
the blood on it. Lightly he drew her to her feet before 
turning to lead the way towards the exit out of the 
courtyard nearest to the parking lot. There were a few 
kids left in the courtyard, and a couple in his path, 
but they were quick to move out of the way when they 
saw him coming. 

There were whispers, but Zane didn't pay attention. He 
was already caught up in his thoughts. He may have 
acted rashly in killing Nate so openly, even if the boy 
had annoyed him a great deal. Now everything had 
changed. There had been witnesses to these killings, 
plenty of them, and all of whom knew who he was. This 
was going to force him to change his plans entirely, 
and quickly. They had to move fast, as there was no 
question it was only a matter of minutes before the 
cops were going to be after him.

***

Together Zane and Liz walked into her bedroom. He'd 
sent her on to her house while he went to his. He'd 
used the full extent of his speed, and it had only 
taken him a very short time to get there. Even then, he 
only stayed long enough to pick up the books. After 
all, his house would be the first place the cops would 
look, and he didn't want to be there when they got 
there. Even if he couldn't use the later books, he 
couldn't bring himself to leave any of them behind. 
Afterwards he'd raced over to Liz's place. He'd arrived 
even before she did. "Remember, five minutes, and then 
we're gone." He told Liz. 

They'd spoken as they entered the house, and Zane had 
made it clear that he had to leave the city, he'd left 
it to her to choose whether or not she wanted to go 
with him. She hadn't even hesitated before telling him 
she'd follow him wherever he wanted to go. So he was 
letting them linger in her room just long enough that 
she could pack the things most important to her. He 
knew they couldn't hang around long, as the cops would 
eventually look at her house too.

The first thing she did after she yanked her suitcase 
out of her closet was to grab several of her favorite 
stuffed animals and lay them neatly inside. If the 
situation hadn't been so serious, Zane would've been 
struck by how cute that was. At the moment however he 
was lost in thought. After this they were going to be 
constantly on the move. When he got out of the city 
pictures of his face would go to departments across the 
country, if not make the news. Possibly Liz's too, 
since she'd conveniently disappear at the same time he 
did. 

They wouldn't be able to stay in any single place for 
very long without being recognized. They also wouldn't 
be able to stay anywhere high-profile. It would have to 
be abandoned buildings and the like, with perhaps a 
cheap motel here and there where he thought it might be 
safer. Trying to stay in a hotel would greatly increase 
the risk of being recognized. And Liz would be in far 
more danger then he was. Humans wouldn't pose much of a 
threat to him if it came to that, but Liz wouldn't be 
able to escape trouble nearly so easily.

"Liz." He finally said sadly as she was in the middle 
of tossing some clothes into the suitcase, bowing his 
head as he went on. "I think you should stay here. You 
could still have a good life here. They won't charge 
you with anything, since you're obviously not an 
accomplice, and they can't drill you for where I am if 
I'm never in one city for long. If you come with me... 
That'll be a hard life Liz, you don't deserve to have 
to go through that. And I myself could be in danger. 
Not from the cops... From something else. I don't know 
what'd happen to you out there, if I died."

Immediately Liz turned away from the suitcase, moving 
in and laying her hands on his waist. "No, I'm coming 
with you." She said firmly, though there was a 
concerned look on her face. "And what could you be in 
danger from?"

"I can't explain. Not now, there's no time. Believe me 
Liz, I want you with me, I really do. But I get the 
feeling that if you leave here with me we might both 
wind up dead." He told her softly, staring into her 
eyes.

"I can't stay here without you." She said, shaking her 
head firmly. "I can't go back to the way things used to 
be. You mean too much to me... I couldn't deal with it 
all if I didn't have you with me. I have to come with 
you. I'd rather die then stay." She said with 
conviction.

"You what?" Zane whispered, staring at her with shock.

"I'd rather die then stay." She repeated firmly. "I 
need you. I need to be with you. I won't live without 
you."

Zane didn't know what to do. His gut feeling kept 
growing stronger that if she came with him they'd both 
die. If he went alone he'd eventually die if the boy in 
the mirror was right, and from what she was implying 
she might well commit suicide. If he himself tried to 
stay the results would wind up just as bad. What in the 
hell was left for him to do?

Wrapping his arms around Liz, he gently pulled her in 
against him, just holding her in his arms. His mind was 
racing, but no possibilities were coming to him. And 
time was short. The cops would eventually arrive, there 
was no question of that. They had to act quick. But the 
pressure only seemed to be making it even harder to 
come up with something.

As the seconds passed, despair quickly set in. And then 
worst of all, the sudden fear of death. When he'd first 
had his life energy slowly draining out of him, his 
powers had seemed to hold off most of the fear. When 
he'd been shot, he'd been in too much pain to be 
afraid. In the altar room, he'd been too caught up in 
the effort to control his powers and survive. Now for 
the first time, the fear had a chance to truly settle 
in. And it was a horrible thing, the fear of dying. Now 
for the first time he understood what some of his 
victims had felt. He didn't want to die, he wasn't 
ready yet. He was supposed to have so much more time 
then this... Especially now that he'd finally come into 
his power, the strength to do anything and everything 
he wanted. He couldn't die now, not with all he'd 
finally gained.

When he finally heard the siren, he panicked. It was a 
police siren, he had very little doubt about that. They 
were almost to the house, and it was too late. He could 
probably easily escape without them being able to catch 
him, but what about Liz? His only real option now was 
to kill every cop who showed up and hope he could get 
away with her before more came. And even then, they 
were both just going to die anyways. Both going to die, 
he couldn't get the words out of his head.

"Zane?" he heard her whisper. Pulling back just enough 
so that he could gaze at her face, he found that he 
could read her expression more clearly then he'd ever 
been able to before. She heard the siren too, she 
needed him to decide what they were going to do. She 
was depending on him. But it didn't matter... They were 
both going to die, even if they got out of the house. 
And all he could seem to think in that moment was, he 
didn't want to die.

Finally his panic consumed him, and he felt the first 
tear sliding down his cheek even as he reached out with 
his energy. And then he was drawing it in, the life of 
the girl he loved. He knew it was the most selfish 
thing imaginable, to sacrifice her to save his own 
life. And it sickened him to the core, even as he did 
it, but still he found himself doing it, and he could 
already feel it tearing him apart inside. Every time 
before when he'd drained the life energy from someone, 
an immense surge of pleasure had accompanied it. This 
time there was no pleasure, all he could feel was his 
anguish.

What made it worse was Liz's face, as he began to suck 
the life out of her. There was a split second of 
confusion in her features, and then what followed 
wasn't the pain and fear he'd seen in the faces of most 
his victims. Looking at her face, all he saw was a 
sudden ecstasy. Like she was experiencing the pleasure 
that was now eluding him. And for the first time during 
the process for a second he felt like he could sense 
the mind of the person he was pulling energy from, like 
he could actually see Liz's mind laid out before him. 
Could see a rapturous joy in her, not because of the 
kind of pleasurable sensation he usually felt, but 
because she could feel her energy being drawn into him. 
Because she saw it as becoming one with him, 
permanently. 

She felt like she was becoming a part of him, and she 
didn't care if it was killing her. And it broke his 
heart to see it. It drove home within him with absolute 
finality the monstrous nature of the act he was 
committing. And still he couldn't make himself stop. 
Even as the last of her energy flowed into him. Even as 
she died. And as he held her body in his arms, all he 
could do was cry.

It was only seconds later that he heard the front door 
of the house suddenly break inwards. They were here. As 
he gently carried her body to the nearby bed and laid 
her down on it, he couldn't stop the tears working 
their way down his cheeks. He didn't even want to. He 
just turned to stride out of the room and to the top of 
the stairs. Not far from the bottom step he saw 
Detective Aaron, gun-in-hands. No one else, just him.

The detective only had to look at his face, only had to 
see the tears for a split second, and he knew. "You 
killed her." The detective said flatly as he shifted 
the gun upwards to point at Zane.

Slowly Zane nodded, smiling the saddest smile of his 
life. "I'm a monster." He told the man, his tears 
beginning to slow to a halt. Not that he hurt any less, 
if anything the pain at the memory of what he'd done 
was even worse. Only now he suddenly found he felt 
hollow, empty. For all the emotional pain that wracked 
him, there was nothing left in him to mourn. He'd cut 
his own heart out, and now all that was left was a 
hole, filled with a grief that was making it rot and 
fester.

"You're going to jail, kid." The detective told him 
softly. There was something about the tone in his 
voice. It didn't seem accusing, even now. "Do the right 
thing this once. Put your hands on your head and come 
down without a fight. I don't want to see anyone else 
get hurt. Enough people have been hurt already."

"You couldn't hurt me even if you wanted to, detective. 
I've sacrificed everything. Maybe even my soul. And now 
you can't touch me anymore." Zane said sadly as he 
began to walk down the stairs.

"Hands on your head kid, now." The detective said 
sharply, taking a few steps back as he took aim.

"Detective, I'll make you a deal. Tell me how your 
medical examiners said they all died, and I'll tell you 
how I killed them." Zane replied, continuing to walk 
down the stairs without lifting his hands at all. The 
detective, though he backed off further, didn't shoot 
him though, so Zane took that as a sign he was 
considering it.

It took maybe ten seconds before Aaron finally started 
speaking. "All the M.E.'s we've had check the case 
concluded that they died of massive organ failure. Like 
their bodies just suddenly shut down all at once for no 
reason. They'd never seen anything like it, and they 
couldn't explain it. Nor could they explain the change 
in hair color on most of the victims. They concluded 
that there was no possible way for physical injuries, 
any known herbal or liquid poison, or even common 
chemicals to cause the deaths. 

I was pretty much the only detective in the precinct 
who still thought it was just flat-out murder. After 
the first several deaths the CDC and even some agents 
from Homeland Security got called in, they're the ones 
who've been keeping it under wraps and out of the 
press. They think it might be some kind of new 
biological agent and didn't want to panic the public. 

The only thing they couldn't figure out is why they 
haven't managed to find a trace of it in the bodies 
yet. I told them my suspicions about you, but I got 
pretty much ignored. They did a quick background check, 
and you have no possible means of accessing biological 
or chemical weapons of any kind, so you were eliminated 
as a suspect. They don't believe there's any way you 
could have killed those people in such a fashion. I 
knew though, deep down I knew, there was something 
about you kid. So tell me, how did you do it?"

Zane had paused at the bottom of the staircase when he 
reached it, listening. He answered almost the instant 
the detective finished talking. "I sucked the life out 
of them." He said simply, watching the man.

He saw a definite touch of annoyance enter the 
detective's features. "Look, I was honest with you kid, 
I told you everything I know. I want the truth, so 
don't bullshit me. How did you do it?"

"But I just told you the truth, detective." Zane 
replied, the same sad smile on his face. "I'm a 
monster. I drain the life out of people. I pull the 
energy right out of them. And they die because they 
have none left to survive on. And taking their lives 
has made me more powerful then you can imagine. 
Somewhere down the line I lost whatever was in me that 
made me human. Nothing but a monster could do what I 
just did. And here you stand detective, alone with a 
monster. If you had anyone else with you, they'd be 
here right now. Tell me, where's your partner?"

"When we got the call about what happened at the 
school, McCarthy along with a few units went to your 
house. I however had the suspicion you'd come here. 
When I got here and saw the car in the driveway I 
called for backup, which should arrive any minute." 
Aaron said, glaring at him. "Now, do you honestly 
expect me to believe you're crazy, kid? I think you're 
more sane then I am, so you ought to drop the charade."

"You still don't believe me, detective? Fine, kill me, 
if you can." He said, and immediately he started 
walking towards the man.

"Stop there!" was the only warning the detective 
offered. When Zane kept coming, Aaron finally fired. 
Zane didn't even try to get out of the way, he just 
stood there as the bullet came. Aaron was a good shot, 
the bullet entered cleanly through Zane's forehead, and 
exited through the back, along with blood and a bit of 
gray matter. Being shot in the head was different then 
being shot in the stomach had been. 

Zane suddenly found himself unable to think, at the 
same time experiencing incredible spikes of pain and a 
weird fuzziness in his head. In a matter of seconds 
thought began to return to him. By the time seven 
seconds had gone by, the wound was gone, and his head 
felt normal again. He did a quick mental check, and 
found that there seemed to be no lasting damage. All 
his memories seemed intact, because there were no blank 
spots, and his intellect seemed as sharp as ever. 
Whatever damage the bullet had done to his brain, his 
restorative abilities had been able to fix it as 
completely as if it had never happened.

Blinking once, Zane found he'd somehow remained on his 
feet during the healing process, and without hesitation 
he resumed walking towards the detective. "Can you see 
that I'm a monster now?" he asked.

Aaron just stared at him, his hands lowering the gun 
ever so slightly, his shock clear on his face. "I don't 
understand." Was all he said.

"Sure you do. Bullets can't kill me detective, you just 
saw that for yourself. The things I told you a moment 
ago are true. Do you believe now?" Zane questioned.

There was a short pause while Aaron continued to stare 
at him, and then finally. "What are you?"

"I've already told you." Zane whispered, gathering 
himself. "I'm a monster." He told him quietly, before 
springing. Long before the detective could get the gun 
back up, Zane was on him, his hands clenching around 
the man's wrists. Before he could say another word Zane 
was draining the energy out of him. By the time 
detective's hair was completely white and his energy 
was nearly gone, Zane had heard it. More approaching 
sirens. Aaron hadn't been lying, he really had called 
for backup. Not that it mattered.

As the last of the man's energy flowed into him and 
Zane released his grip to let the body collapse to the 
ground, the sirens came to a halt right outside the 
house. Zane guessed it was his responsibility to greet 
them. Stepping over the body, he strode over to the 
front door and stepped out. The car the detective had 
come in was in the end of the driveway, but the new 
cops hadn't bothered to pull onto the lawn. The cop 
cars were sitting at the curb just beyond the driveway, 
but by the time he stepped out the police had already 
stepped out and started towards the house.

The instant they saw him four guns pointed in his 
direction. "Hold it right there!" the one in front 
barked at him. Zane didn't feel like taking orders. As 
he started towards them all four opened fire, but this 
time he instantly pumped his speed up to the full 
extent of what he was capable of now. One quick leap to 
the side and he was out of the way of the oncoming 
bullets. Before the cops could even react he had 
already reached them. 

As he grabbed the one who'd given the order by the back 
of the neck and began to haul him backwards, the other 
cops had just begun to turn. The guy he had hold of 
barely even had time to register the fact that he'd 
been touched, much less dragged back to the cars, 
before Zane drove the guy's head through one of the 
windows. The guy wasn't dead yet though, Zane could 
feel it. That was solved when he slammed the cop's head 
through a second window.

As Zane shifted back to the other cops, they were still 
in the process of turning towards him, not even halfway 
there yet. It was a simple matter for him to move over 
and grab the one nearest the street. Zane barely even 
felt the guy's weight as he lifted the guy into the air 
and then threw him down onto the road. The pavement 
beneath him seemed to explode outward with the force of 
the impact, and Zane could hear the crunch of many 
bones breaking all at once. The guy's death was 
immediate.

The remaining two had almost completed their turn to 
face him by the time Zane had walked over to the first. 
With one smooth motion he plucked the guy's gun out of 
his hand. Moving it up to point at the guy's head, Zane 
pulled the trigger. He didn't even wait to watch him 
fall before he turned to the fourth cop, a woman. She 
had finally completed the turn and her eyes were in the 
midst of widening in shock at the scene she saw when 
Zane took aim and pulled the trigger. A bullet to the 
brain was enough to send her to the ground as well. 
Unlike him, it seemed cops had trouble surviving gun 
shots.

He'd just finished draining the energy left by the four 
when he felt it, a shadowy aura. Not nearly so strong 
as the one he'd felt in the hall beyond the altar room, 
but it was definitely very similar. Quickly he glanced 
up, his eyes moving towards the source, and it only 
took him a second to find it. There on the edge of the 
roof of Liz's house crouched a girl. 

She looked to be in her late teens or so, with long red 
hair, wearing a tight-fitting black outfit. The instant 
she saw that he'd seen her she smiled at him. Then, in 
the next second she was in motion. By the time his 
speed instinctually kicked in to follow the motion, she 
was already at the edge of the roof, leaping towards a 
building further down the block. Zane watched in awe as 
she practically soared through the air to land smoothly 
on the distant roof, before she suddenly dropped off 
the far side of it, out of sight.

Zane had the sudden impulse to follow her, but he 
quickly quashed that idea. He didn't know who or what 
she was but he couldn't afford to try and find out 
right now. He needed to get out of the city, 
immediately. Turning back toward Liz's car, he stuck 
around only long enough to fetch the bags containing 
the books before taking off himself on foot at high 
speed. He'd get a car later, he couldn't afford to use 
hers, not when the police would be looking for it 
should it disappear.

***

Once more Zane was standing in the room with the altar. 
After killing the cops, he'd traveled halfway across 
the state before hiding out in an abandoned warehouse. 
He didn't want to cross state lines for another couple 
days, when the search for him might be more lax. And he 
was sure there'd be one, even though he hadn't had 
access to a television to check whether he'd made the 
news or not. He'd still been feeling horrible over what 
had happened with Liz, but just the same once he was in 
the warehouse he'd checked the sixth book, and found it 
open to him. Only once he'd finished reading it, he'd 
discovered something. 

While it hadn't been in the information contained in 
the book itself, he'd suddenly found that he could feel 
something deep inside him. It was like a faint opening. 
Though he could feel it inside him, he could also feel 
that it wasn't a part of him, at least not physically. 
It was like a doorway that was buried somewhere in his 
essence. And the moment he'd touched it with his power, 
he'd felt an odd second of disorientation, and then... 
Here he was, in this room again. He could still feel 
the opening inside him, and he was pretty sure he could 
use it to travel back, when he needed to.

The glow from the altar had expanded to encompass 
almost the entire room. It fell only a few feet short 
of the doorway at the edge of the room. Once more there 
was nothing in the room with him, so without hesitation 
Zane turned to stride across the room and through the 
doorway into the hall beyond. As he immediately turned 
to walk towards the hall of mirrors in the distance, he 
quickly felt the shadowy aura press in around him, the 
smell of it assaulting his nose. It was very strong 
now, and it most definitely matched exactly with the 
feel he'd gotten from the girl he'd seen when the cops 
were dead. It was much stronger then the feel he'd 
gotten then, but there was no mistaking it.

While the temperature quickly began to drop around him, 
the feel of the cold barely even registered this time 
around. He was too occupied by the feel of the aura, 
and by the sight of what lay ahead. The intensity of 
the glow was such that it was spilling out well into 
the dark gap that lay beyond the light of the torch. It 
only took several seconds more before he finally 
reached the threshold leading into the mirror-lined 
hall and stepped through it, the strength of the 
shadowy aura around him growing even more, but even 
that feeling was suddenly driven from his mind as he 
came face to face with the mirror that had previously 
always held his reflection. Now though, the blue light 
from the other mirrors in the hall was shining 
intensely over it. 

Not a second passed where every inch of the mirror 
wasn't bathed in the glow. And now the mirror no longer 
reflected anything at all. Instead, the full length of 
the mirror held a hazy image. The one he'd caught 
glimpses of the last time he'd been here, only now it 
was complete. Through the door-shaped mirror he saw 
another hall, this one of black stone, with long rows 
of torches lining each wall. It led off into the 
distance, and the haziness of the image obstructed his 
view enough that he couldn't tell what lay beyond, but 
he knew what he was supposed to do.

Taking a few deep breaths, Zane strode over until he 
was standing directly in front of the mirror. Reaching 
out hesitantly with one hand, he let the tips of his 
fingers touch the edge of the image, where the glass 
should be. He wasn't really surprised when he saw his 
fingers pass smoothly through it. There was no 
sensation as they passed through the edge of the image, 
it didn't feel like liquid or a soft solid or anything 
really, it was as if there were no borders at all. 

The strange thing was he didn't see his fingers emerge 
in the image beyond. And within a second of passing 
through the edge, the tips of his fingers that rested 
beyond where he could see began to tingle in a very 
strong and very strange way. He couldn't tell what the 
source of the sensation was, but he didn't give himself 
time to think about it. He knew thinking about it would 
only make him more nervous. With one last deep breath 
he stepped through the edge of the image and into the 
mirror.

Immediately he found himself in darkness. He couldn't 
see anything, but he got the sensation of very fast 
movement. Not because of a wind or anything similar, as 
there was no physical sensation whatsoever. But it was 
like the shadowy aura that he had been feeling before 
had consumed him, like he was traveling through the 
depths of it, because he could feel it shifting around 
him. Every so often he'd hear a sound for a split 
second, like a scream or some monstrous cry in the 
distance. But he could never pinpoint where it came 
from or from what. And once in a rare while he'd 
suddenly feel something moving in the darkness around 
him. 

Moving through the aura as he was, and those moments 
were terrifying. Because while he couldn't see them 
with his eyes, his mind still tried to put an image 
together from the things he felt, and what he saw were 
things so alien there were no words for them. Creatures 
so vast and terrifying that it seemed like they could 
swallow whole worlds and never pause, never care. And 
as his senses followed the motion, he got split second 
flashes of intelligence so far above his own that there 
was no comparison. A mind and knowledge so ancient that 
there was no question for him that it had existed long 
before the first human had ever dared to take a breath.

How long he traveled through the darkness he couldn't 
say. It seemed like hours, and felt far longer then 
that, but finally he suddenly found himself stepping 
into a hall of black stone, torches lining the walls to 
either side of him and stretching off ahead of him for 
some distance. Far off down the hall he could see 
openings in the stone to both sides where they led off 
in other directions. Quickly spinning around to look 
behind him, Zane could see a door-shaped mirror 
identical to the one in the other place. 

Even though there was no blue glow reflected onto this 
mirror, he could still see a hazy image resting inside 
it, of the mirrored hall he'd came from. And with some 
amount of surprise, Zane discovered that he could no 
longer feel the opening inside himself, the path back 
to his own world. Wherever he was now, the mirror was 
the only way back.

Strangely enough the feel of the shadowy aura, while 
still there, wasn't nearly as overwhelming in this 
place. Even back in the hall of mirrors it had been far 
stronger. Here it was low-level but pervasive. He felt 
like it was a part of the stones around him, a part of 
the very building he was standing inside. It was only 
then, focusing on the feel of the aura, that he noticed 
it. There was something... Calling to him. It was like 
a faint tugging on the power inside him, from somewhere 
deeper inside the building, urging him on. And it was a 
reverberation in the aura around him, pointing the way 
down the hall ahead. Something was waiting for him, he 
could feel it.

After only a second's more hesitation he set off down 
the hall, towards the fork in the distance. Whereas the 
hall with the torch back home had seemed almost like it 
had been taken out of some medieval castle, the hall he 
was in now put it to shame. The stones that made up the 
walls were perfectly shaped, made of an odd kind of 
rock he couldn't begin to identify. The torches were 
spaced along the wall with absolute precision. Each 
perfectly parallel to the torch on the opposing wall, 
each the exact same distance down the hall from the 
last torch as the last torch had been from the one 
before.

As he finally reached the intersection, he paused 
momentarily. The hall ahead of him stretched on farther 
then he could see, while the openings to his left and 
right led to identical halls of the same height and 
width. Each route looked precisely the same as the 
others, but the reverberations in the shadowy aura and 
the tugging inside him both seemed to be coming from 
the left hall, so that was the one he took.

It took about fifteen more minutes for him to finally 
reach the room. By that time he'd taken turns down 
several more halls, each identical to the last. It was 
only as he'd started to wonder if he'd be able to find 
his way back to the mirror when he spotted the archway 
in the distance. Immediately he'd been able to tell 
that the thing that had been calling to him rested on 
the other side. Surprisingly, he'd had a last second 
burst of nervousness. As if now that he'd finally 
reached the encounter he'd been traveling towards, he 
was no longer sure he wanted it. 

Just the same, he'd known it was too late to turn back. 
So, gathering his courage, he'd made his way through 
the archway and into... A throne room of some kind, but 
one bereft of any sort of decoration. Along the far 
edges of the room, leading around to the middle 
opposite of Zane was a raised platform. Zane could make 
out windows along the wall above the platform, but it 
was too dark outside for him to see anything from that 
distance. In the center of the platform, squarely 
across the room from the archway itself, was the 
throne. 

It was the only furniture or ornamentation in the 
entire room. And even then, it wasn't extravagant. It 
was made of the same dark stone as the rest of the 
place, only there was something very different about 
this particular stone then the ones in the halls. 
Because the throne was giving off a blue glow, the same 
blue glow he'd seen in the altar room and the hall of 
mirrors. And resting on the throne was a figure in a 
cloak of the same blue color as the glow.

"Tessarak. Akuai ssaera." A voice hissed from inside 
the hood of the robe. It was the same language that was 
spoken in the rituals Zane had learned from the early 
books. Only it was far different spoken by the voice 
then it had been when Zane had been saying it. By 
comparison, Zane's intonations had been stunted. The 
figure's voice as it spoke the words had a flowing 
quality to it. 

Though the sound of the words was sharp, somehow when 
the figure said them they seemed to reverberate through 
him. They seemed natural, right somehow. And amazingly 
Zane found that as the figure spoke he understood what 
the words meant. 'Welcome. I've been awaiting you.' Was 
the best translation he could put to it in English. It 
meant slightly more then that in the tongue the figure 
was using, but the thing confusing Zane the most was 
that he had no idea how he knew that.

A few seconds passed where Zane wasn't quite sure what 
to say, but finally he spoke the first thing to come to 
mind. "Who are you?"

"Akuai sshan." The figure replied. 'I am god.' Was the 
first translation Zane could put to it. But no, that 
wasn't quite right. It was more like 'I am a god in the 
eyes of mortals.'

"You wrote the books." Zane said, somehow knowing it 
was true.

"Ssa." The figure replied. 'Yes.'

"How do I understand what you're saying? How do I know 
this language?" Zane asked.

"Tor-Omin lesshae rai." The figure told him. 'The books 
taught you.' The figure had given a very specific title 
to the set of books Zane had been reading, but Zane 
couldn't even begin to translate it into English.

"You can speak English?" Zane finally asked. "I mean, 
you seem to understand everything I'm saying."

There was a pause for several seconds, and then. "Yes, 
but this language leaves a lot to be desired." The 
figure finally said, the voice seeming to lose it's 
flowing quality in the transition to English. Still, 
the moment it assumed a more normal tone, Zane 
recognized it. It was the same voice that had spoke 
into his head the night he'd been forced to learn 
control in the altar room.

"It was you." Zane said softly, just staring at the 
figure. "You're the one who helped me."

"Yes." The figure replied steadily, not saying anything 
more then that.

"You've been there the entire time... You've been 
watching me." Zane spoke without thinking, seeming to 
realize the facts as he was saying them.

"As you said, I wrote the books. They are mine. My 
attention has been on you since the moment you 
performed the ritual that opened you to me." The figure 
told him.

"You mean the one that gave me my power? It... Linked 
me to you, somehow?" Zane asked.

"We are connected, yes. Though you do not derive your 
power from me." The figure answered.

"Why are we connected, then?" Zane queried.

"It is necessary for the completion of the path the 
books are guiding you along. But we will speak more of 
that later. First, you have other questions. Ones that 
need answering before you'll be ready to know the 
answer to this one." The figure replied.

It was true enough that Zane had a vast number of other 
questions he wanted to ask, though he didn't like being 
put off. Still, so long as the question would be 
answered later he supposed he didn't see the harm in 
moving on for now. "What is this place? And for that 
matter, what was that thing I traveled through between 
the mirrors to get here?"

"You traveled through the void to reach this place. 
Usually only those such as myself can move freely 
through the depths of the void. You may have felt a few 
of those others during your travels. You were able to 
make that trip because of your connection to me, and 
because I created a path for you. The others like me 
left you alone because they knew you were being drawn 
along that path towards a specific destination. You had 
no control over your direction. 

As for this place... It is a place of my creation, in a 
world of my creation. I made this place in order to 
talk to those from your world. Outside these walls is a 
reality you could not begin to comprehend or deal with. 
Had you been drawn directly into it, I doubt your mind 
would've been able to cope for more then a very short 
period. So I made this... Building to provide a meeting 
ground to speak to those like you. Unlike the world 
outside it's walls, here the rules are identical to 
those of your reality." The figure explained.

"So you're saying I traveled to a different reality?" 
Zane asked, finding it a little hard to swallow, 
despite everything that had happened to him in recent 
past.

"In essence. You don't believe me?" The figure asked.

"It's just... A little hard to accept." Zane told him.

"Very well. Go to one of the windows, see for yourself. 
But don't try to look with your eyes. Things don't work 
quite that way out there. Touch the window. You'll feel 
it." The figure replied.

Zane hesitated for a second before just nodding, 
turning to stride over to one side of the room. 
Stepping up onto the platform, he approached the 
nearest window. The figure was right, even as he got 
closer he couldn't see anything outside, it was too 
dark. 

Taking a deep breath, he closed his eyes and reached 
out, letting the tips of his fingers come to rest 
against the glass. The feelings came almost 
immediately, and they were overwhelming. It was like 
something was echoing into the world outside and then 
rebounding straight into his head. He got a vague 
impression of sight, but he thought that was just the 
way his brain was translating the information to his 
senses. 

There was a landscape of some sort, but it was so 
strange that it was incomparable to anything back on 
Earth. The features were wrong, the shape, the 
composition of the surface. And there were massive 
structures built on it but the shape of those too were 
wrong. He couldn't see them but he could feel them. The 
amount of space taken up by the outside and the inside 
of the buildings in relation to their shape and size 
made absolutely no sense. 

It was like all the laws of physics had somehow been 
suspended in their construction. And he could feel 
things out there, moving. Creatures whose bodies 
weren't formed like anything he'd ever imagined a 
living thing might be. They moved at unbelievable 
speeds, and seemed to actually pass through other solid 
objects as if they weren't there. Zane was only able to 
maintain contact with the window for several seconds 
before he finally jerked his hand away.

"Do you believe me now?" He heard the figure ask from 
behind him.

"Yeah." Zane said in a quiet voice, shaking his head as 
if to clear it before finally turning back to face the 
throne in the center. "I believe you." He said in a 
louder tone, stepping down off the platform and moving 
back towards the spot where he'd been standing earlier.

"Good. Then you understand the place you're in now is 
very, very far from the world you know. That may make 
it a bit easier for you to accept some of the other 
things I will tell you." The figure informed him.

"You said you created that world out there? That you 
created this place?" Zane asked in an unsteady voice.

"I did. And I did. Everything you've seen since you 
exited the mirror on this side was created by me." The 
figure replied.

"What are you?" Zane asked, just staring at the throne 
with what he imagined was a mixture of shock and awe.

"I told you. So far as mortals are concerned, I am a 
god. My powers are beyond anything that could be 
explained in a language you could possibly understand. 
Even the old tongue does not come close to having words 
for it. The best I can give you is a name. Makaeron 
ai." The figure said. It was an idea Zane had trouble 
translating into English. The closest he could come was 
'Perfect Mind'. Virtually the moment that Zane had come 
up with that translation the figure went on. 

"There are beings in your world. Those who call 
themselves True Minds. They base this name off the 
knowledge of what I and those like me are. For them to 
try and take on such a title is sickening. They are 
children trying to play at having control of the world 
around them for a time. But they are less then nothing. 
They are... Ssarai untara." 

The figure nearly spat the words. Again it was a phrase 
that Zane had trouble trying to put into English. 
Roughly translated, he thought it'd be something like 
'The weak and clingy', or maybe 'The weak who cling'. 
Something along those lines.

"Wait, so these... True Minds have been in my world 
this whole time? And they have some kind of power?" 
Zane queried.

"Compared to everything else in your world, their 
powers are without equal. There is not a single other 
being in your reality that could face one of those who 
presume to use that title in single-combat and have any 
chance of surviving. Compared to those like me, 
however, their powers are nothing. I could destroy 
every single one of them without the slightest bit of 
real effort." The figure told him.

"So if you dislike them so much... Why haven't you? 
Destroyed them, I mean?" Zane wondered aloud.

"Because your world was created by one even stronger 
then I am. He put quite a bit of work into it. I can't 
enter your world at will, or else we would be talking 
there and not here. The best I can do is to maintain 
the existence of my books in your world. The ssarai 
untara have managed to find and destroy my books a few 
times, but each time I was able to replace them." The 
figure said.

"Why? Why take the time to keep the books there?" Zane 
asked.

"Because they are my ticket into your reality. While I 
cannot force my way in, there are ways around the 
rules. The books allow for one such." The figure 
replied.

"If you can create realities of your own, why do you 
want to enter ours?" Zane questioned, genuine confusion 
in his voice.

"I have my reasons." The figure told him. "Even if I 
were to explain them to you, you would not understand."

"Alright..." Zane said, not liking having to go without 
a real answer, but getting the distinct impression that 
pressing the figure would do him no good. "So how do 
the books allow you to get around the rules?"

"That too we'll get to in a moment. But there are still 
a couple things left to be addressed before that topic 
arises." The figure answered.

Zane was starting to feel quite a bit of frustration, 
but he did his best to cover it. "Fine. Can I at least 
see your face?" he asked, getting tired of having to 
stare at the hooded cloak.

"The only face I have is the one I wish to have at any 
given moment. Currently I have none. But if it would 
make you more comfortable to see human features on the 
one you're speaking to, then very well." The figure 
said, before reaching up. Before, the arms of the robe 
had stretched down beyond the point where hands 
would've shown, but as they lifted up he could see 
human hands emerge from the sleeves. Slowly they 
grasped the edges of the hood and drew it back, 
revealing what lay beneath. And Zane found himself 
staring at a face identical to his own. When the figure 
spoke next, it wasn't with the voice he'd been using 
the entire time up until that point, it was with a 
voice precisely matching Zane's. "Better?" the figure 
queried.

The moment Zane saw his own face, he felt his blood run 
cold. It was with a vast mixture of emotions that he 
asked his next question. "Were you the person I saw in 
the mirror?"

"In most ways no." The figure replied with Zane's 
voice. "The one you saw and spoke to was indeed a 
deeper part of yourself. But it was the part of you 
that is connected to me. It understood my agenda, even 
then. And it worked to guide you towards my goals. It 
knew what had to be done, and as will soon be true for 
you, it didn't care. It helped to make you the person 
you needed to be, though it didn't take that much 
prodding, all things considered." The figure finished, 
a smile spreading over it's face.

Zane could feel the anger building inside him. "For 
what? What agenda?"

The figure leaned forward on it's throne. "In order to 
enter your world, I need a mind and body natural to 
that world. Strong enough to hold my consciousness, 
that I can merge with. It is a technique those in your 
world who've called themselves Shadow Minds have used. 
Once I have entered the natural body and merged with 
the host mind, I can ride that body back into your 
world, as it's connection to that world bypasses the 
barriers."

Zane felt floored. "All this was so you could... 
Could... Merge with me?"

"Oh, don't misunderstand. The merger will only last so 
long as the body and it's link survives. When it is 
severed, our minds separate. And during the merger, my 
mind will mostly be in control. Oh, I'll take on very 
slight aspects of your personality of course, which I 
accept as a necessary side effect. But since my mind is 
by far the stronger one, my ego will dominate the 
merger. My powers will be greatly diminished in your 
body and in your world, but I'll still be strong enough 
that nothing in your world will be able to stand 
against me." The figure explained.

"I killed Liz... I killed her... And all those other 
people... So you can fucking possess my body and use it 
as a free ticket back to my world?" Zane demanded, his 
anger surging back with a vengeance.

"In essence, yes. You were willing to kill dozens of 
people simply to gain power. Do you really think you 
have any right to be angry when someone in turn decides 
to use you?" The figure queried, it's face 
infuriatingly calm.

"You tricked me." Zane told it, his hands rapidly 
clenching into fists and unclenching again at his 
sides.

"You tricked yourself." The figure replied, a smirk 
actually spreading over the mirror image of his face. 
"In more ways then one. I never told you to do any of 
the things that you did to others. They were your 
choices, every step of the way, and you made them of 
your own free will. Of course, there was a part of you 
pointing you in the right direction... But as I said, 
you tricked yourself." The figure went on, it's smirk 
widening ever so slightly. "All I ever did was help you 
survive the one night your own powers would've 
destroyed you. I saved your life. You should be 
thanking me."

"You only saved me to keep my body intact for you to 
possess." Zane spat the words.

"I never said I didn't have ulterior motives." The 
figure said simply.

"Why me, huh?" Zane demanded, having trouble keeping 
his anger in check. "Why did you fucking have to choose 
me to be able to read the damn books?"

"I didn't choose you. You just happened to be one of 
the rare people with sufficient potential for you to 
become able to read the books. The contents only reveal 
themselves to those capable of the necessary 
advancement to the point where we can merge. And in 
more then three thousand years of having the books on 
your planet, you're only the second person to come this 
far. Some of the failures actually had the strength to 
resist the impulse to drain life energy, and died for 
it. And some couldn't master control over their powers, 
when the time came that it was needed, and so it killed 
them. 

A few others restricted themselves to only taking 
energy from those already dead, and were unwilling to 
kill to gain more, and thus their progression came so 
slowly that they practically guaranteed that they would 
join the greater majority. Because the majority of the 
failures were hunted down and killed by the ssarai 
untara or their servants. The only other one to make it 
to this place died in such a way, not long after that 
meeting. But I don't mind. Thousands of years are 
nothing to me. I have existed longer then you can 
possibly imagine. Patience is something I do not lack. 
I can wait as long as I need to." The figure told him.

Despite his anger, one thing the figure had said had 
definitely struck a chord. "So I can expect to be 
hunted, now?" he asked incredulously. On top of 
everything else, his day just kept getting worse. Then 
something occurred to him. "Wait... That girl I saw. 
Was she a True Mind?"

The figure scowled when Zane addressed them by the True 
Mind title, but he apparently let it slide, as when he 
spoke next he didn't mention it. "No. She was the 
servant of the one who calls himself a Shadow Mind. By 
now her master knows you exist, and that master will be 
hunting you, albeit for different reasons then the 
ssarai untara would."

"So basically I'm screwed." Zane said, now as 
frustrated as he was angry.

"No, you can still survive. So long as you keep moving, 
hiding, and killing when it's opportune and won't draw 
attention, it's possible that he will not find you. 
Even if he knows to look for you, he is not omnipotent. 
I wouldn't be wasting my time now if I did not believe 
there was still a chance you could live to complete the 
books." The figure said.

"But even if I manage to survive, it just means I get 
possessed by you anyways, right?" Zane demanded.

"Yes." The figure answered simply, inclining his head 
ever so slightly.

Once more Zane found himself rapidly clenching and 
unclenching his hands. "So like I said. I'm screwed." 
He practically growled the words.

"You wish to attack me?" the figure asked, an amused 
look on it's face. Slowly it rose from the throne, 
taking a few steps forward so it could step down off 
the platform. With long easy strides it approached 
Zane, who remained steady. He didn't know what the 
thing intended to do to him, but he was too angry to 
care. He certainly knew it wasn't going to kill him 
while his body could still be of use. Finally the 
figure came to a halt about a foot in front of him, 
just staring at him for a few seconds before finally 
speaking. "Go ahead."

"What?" Zane asked, once more incredulous.

"Use your power. Attack me. You have the knowledge and 
the ability. I will not stop you, and I will not 
retaliate. I will lower my defenses and block my 
ability to heal. If you strike true while I render 
myself so vulnerable even you will be able to do me 
serious harm. All you have to do is attack me. Do so, 
and through my injury you will gain freedom. Or at 
least, as close to freedom as you can come, now." The 
figure told him.

"Your lying. It's some kind of trick." Zane said, 
unable to believe what he was hearing.

"It's no trick. If you can bring yourself to attack me, 
I won't stop you. If you have the strength to do it." 
The figure replied.

With one smooth motion, Zane lifted his right hand, 
moving it in so that it was hovering about an inch away 
from the figure's chest. As promised, the figure didn't 
try to prevent it, he just kept staring at Zane. Just 
as the books had taught him, Zane started to gather his 
energy into his hand. It was a quick process, and 
within seconds he had a substantial amount focused just 
behind the palm. All he had to do was release it in one 
large strike. But when he went to, he found he 
couldn't. 

It wasn't that he was somehow enable, it was that he 
couldn't bring himself to, and he didn't know why. He 
wanted more then anything to lay the full force of his 
power into the figure, whether it would really hurt it 
as it had said or not, he wanted to at least try. But 
he just couldn't bring himself to do it. It reminded 
him of the times he'd given Liz or Allison commands not 
to do something. Regardless of how much they might have 
wanted to, they'd simply been unable. And in that 
moment realization dawned on him.

Slowly Zane let his hand fall away from the figure, his 
energy returning to it's normal flow through his body. 
"What have you done to me?" he asked in a quiet voice.

"Not me. You. You did this to yourself. As I've already 
said, there's a part of you that's been connected to me 
this entire time. And since you killed the girl, and 
removed the last block that separated that part from 
the rest of you, it has nearly had control. It simply 
wasn't able to fully take it yet." The figure just 
smiled at him. "Until now."

For a split second there was an extremely weird 
sensation in Zane's head. Slowly he shook it, and found 
that the sensation quickly faded. It was with a smile 
that he fixed his eyes on the figure. "Master."

Wordlessly the figure reached up, grasping the hood of 
the cloak and drawing it back up over it's head to once 
more obscure it's face in shadow. Immediately it's 
voice shifted back to the one it had been using before 
it took on his face. "Your control is complete?"

"Yes, master." Zane replied, bowing his head slightly.

"Good. Did you have difficulty with his progression?" 
the figure asked.

"No, master. He wasn't that far off anyways. I knew the 
actions he would likely take, and I knew that with 
those he would naturally open himself to me, especially 
once he understood that I was what he was meant to 
become. A few key lies here and there was all it took, 
to achieve the rest. For a time there was a definite 
chance that he might not kill the girl, but all worked 
out as planned. And after her death, he was already 
almost totally open to the true depths of his nature. 
The only remaining difference that kept a separation 
between us was our loyalty. But now that I possess 
that, the fragmented person I once was is now whole. My 
nature has been realized, and that which was human has 
been left behind." Zane replied.

"And you are ready to return and complete the task?" 
the figure queried.

"I will do the best I can, master. My greatest desire 
is to fulfill the path." Zane answered.

"Excellent. In that case we have nothing left to 
discuss. Return after you've completed the seventh 
book. We will have more to talk about then. And don't 
forget. Your first priority is to ensure that you are 
not discovered, and are not captured. All else is 
secondary so long as you survive to complete the path. 
Now go." The figure said, before making a flicking 
motion with one hand.

There was a split second of disorientation, and then 
Zane found himself back where he'd started, standing 
before the mirror that still held the hazy image of the 
mirrored hall on the other side. To travel back through 
the darkness he'd had to go through to get here was a 
scary thought, but just the same Zane steeled himself 
for the trip to come. He could not balk now. His 
master's will had to be served. With a long, deep 
breath, Zane stepped through the mirror.

***

(And so ends the story. Stay tuned for my fifth story, 
which I've dubbed "Eternal War". In which we pick up 
with the Shadow Mind known as Thade's desperate hunt 
for a boy he believes can allow him to defeat the True 
Minds. A boy he believes holds the key to godhood. Yet 
the True Minds are hunting Thade just as fervently, and 
as factions of freaks clash it just becomes a question 
of who will find who first. To begin with the tale of 
Leon, who finds himself caught in the fray. Those of 
you who've enjoyed all four stories so far I get the 
feeling will like this one as well. Until I have the 
first part of it out, dear readers, I wish you the most 
warped and disturbing of dreams.)

~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~ ~
This story was written as an adult fantasy. The author
does not condone the described behavior in real life.

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Kristen's collection - Directory 41