Chapter 32: Parallels and Oppositions

March 1999

Speaking in a low, growling voice, she replied, “What have I to do with your God? He has abandoned me, and my children! I have lived for centuries without Him! Soon the clans will unite and force the mortals of this world to obey the lord of darkness. Malcolm Harris will be among the first to witness the prince of darkness” power and he shall take heads and consume blood with an unquenchable thirst!”

Okay, she was really starting to get scary at this point. However, the voice, which sounded like a roaring lioness was only the demon from Hell that inhabited her body like a diseased host. Her physical features were changing, and she was becoming the vampire that I had met on the first night.

“Oh no!” I thought. “Here we go again.” Things started to get creepy from that point. Fog entered the room; a cold fog, and it was very thick. The unusually pleasant smell now turned to one of human tissue decomposing as if a corpse were in the room. The spirit of death was in the room as the flowers, which Mortis had placed in the vase earlier, that day, began to wilt at an incredible pace. The fire died immediately while candle flames extinguished by themselves. Moreover, the coldness became ever more intense.

To make matters worse, I saw what I thought a rather large snake slither across the floor and wrap itself around my feet. Spiders began to climb across the chairs, hers and mine. I could not see Tayla’s face, for her hands and the fog hid it. She was not beautiful when the demon had taken over completely. Her hands became somewhat larger, and claws were now protruding from her long fingers. Her fingers had the large knuckles of enormously powerful hands. I had already seen her hands in action. I could see a red glow coming from through the gaps between her fingers, meaning that her eyes had changed. They were no longer the deep blue, but the fiery red, which signaled to me she was now the hungry, bloodletting predator that I had met on the first night.

To make matters worse, it seemed as if we were not the only beings in the room. I could see other eyes, ones that glowed in the darkness, moving about in the room. This was getting to the point that I knew I was in true danger. Where were Erlandis, Quintas and the others, Milo and Ariel? Why were they not here to start the fireworks that I expected from an angelic assault upon these demons of the damned?

I had to admit, I was past getting nervous, but I remembered the angels had said this was their fight, not mine. I knew I was not fighting against flesh and blood, but the powers that stemmed from the ruler of darkness. This place was his abode. Nevertheless, I knew I could be safe, as I needed to put on the armor of God. This would help me resist the fear that these beings were homing in on. I knew the truth. Christ had imputed His righteousness towards me, thereby girding about my hips an armored skirt.

My salvation, my perfect possession, was a gift. It formed my helmet! I sat there trying to be calm and realized that my Bible was in my hands. I raised it up to her, determined to be bold in the spirit. I did not realize I had just drawn the sword of the spirit, the Word of God! Her anger had risen like a sudden twister, blowing hard around in the room. Soon papers were flying around, and articles were beginning to slide across the desk. It had become deafening, as if a tornado were in the room. I became acutely aware of Tayla, the woman and sensitive creature that I had come to know, being locked in combat with the demon, which resided inside her.

Soon, the wind subsided, and the noise became as silence. Tayla’s physical features had returned. She just sat there trembling with her face still cupped inside her hands. I realized the trembling was due to her sobbing silently, uncontrollably. Tears made their presence known as I saw them stream down her face under her hands. Soon a drop fell upon her lap and then another. It was then I began to hear her sob. I wanted to console her, but what do you do with a woman who, not thirty seconds ago wanted to kill you? I knew it was not Tayla, but the nasty and vile demon that was her other half. All of this was so hard to comprehend, but then, after everything I had seen, I knew this would not be the last time.

Tayla slowly dropped her wet hands slowly from her tearful face. She looked at me with teary eyes saying, “Oh Malcolm, I am so sorry! Can you forgive me? I would never mean to hurt you. Please tell me you forgive me.” Tears were still forthcoming, and her face still contorted with grief.

“I forgive you my lady and God will forgive you too. You just need to ask for it. My protectors stopped you ... umm; I mean the demon from outright attacking me. I know you can’t take me to the crossing over, but that doesn’t mean you can’t kill me. I was starting to show fear, but I knew I had the word of God in my hands. It is His sword. I see that it made you extremely uncomfortable, and it started to anger the demon. You started to change, causing the wind to blow like a storm. It got very scary in here. So, Tayla, tell me. What stopped the demon?”

She wiped her eyes with a linen handkerchief and became her beautiful self again. “My dear Malcolm, I felt turmoil within me such as I have never known. I felt a pain piercing my heart, though there was no wound. I felt a great presence move about inside me as if struggling. I felt strangers, beings whose presence I have never felt so close to me, surrounding me, nearly smothering me. Then, it seemed as if chains were set upon me. It was not I but this host inside me, struggling to get free but could not. Then ... I felt it subside deep within me.” She paused, pouring herself a cup from the service tray.

Breathing a deep sigh, she looked at me again with those deep blue eyes and said, “Your angels! That was who the strangers were. They are here with you now, even as I speak. Do you bring them with you because you fear what I will do to you, when you start to speak of this God of yours? This, this ... Oh, why can I not even bring myself to say his name? I struggle so much within myself, Malcolm, and I am so tired. This demon tires me so and yet, I am no closer to being able to accept your ways than you are to being able to accept mine. I am so frustrated! Ahhhhh!” she screamed. The scream sounded like a wildcat.

Mortis came running into the library, with a look that showed he was aghast at what he had just heard.

“Your Majesty, what is the matter? I heard a scream, a woman’s scream, and feared you might be in danger, or worse, attacked.” Mortis was falling all over himself in his efforts to assure himself of Tayla’s safety.

“Mortis, I am quite alright! I am just frustrated beyond the point of comprehension! Really, I’m fine, you may retire for the evening,” she assured him. Mortis stood up straight as an arrow. “As you wish, your majesty,” he said, and turned and left the room.

“I am sorry again for my rude outburst, and unmanageable behavior. I wish I could promise you that it would not happen again, but I cannot. The demon knows who you are, and whose messenger you are. He is afraid of the message, and he does not want me to hear of it. He is prepared to fight you and your angels at every turn.”

She took a long sip from her cup. “I wish I could give you a more optimistic attitude about your chances of being successful in your mission. I cannot always fight the demon. This time, I believe very strongly your angels had everything to do with my not hurting you. I am quite tired of this struggle. With the coming conflict between the clans, and this demon, which I must try to subdue when I am around you, I am not excited about my chances of success at accomplishing my goals. However, I must tell something to you. When I am gone, and I do believe I will die if you are successful,” she said.

Before she could finish, I interrupted her. “Wait; don’t doubt the power of my God. We Christians do not call Him the Almighty for nothing. He is the Almighty God, the everlasting Father, the one and only living God. I have placed my trust in Him ... not only for what He has given me, but for also what He can do for you. Have no doubts that my Lord can remove this curse from you. You say there is no life in you. Yet, you sit here and talk to me, you drink with me, and you respond because you still have your soul. Dead people do not do that. You are alive only through this demon, reanimated but spiritually you are dead. I know many people who are alive, walking and breathing, but they are as spiritually dead as you are. Why would a demon inhabit a corpse if not to control it and have dominion over its soul? Even though you died at one time, you arose on a third day, just as Christ did!

I wanted to discuss with you the subject of parallels and oppositions. The parallels are like issues such as being dead for three days, not being able to enter a house without the invitation, the issue of silver, the wooden stake in the heart and such. The oppositions are of such things such as the lust for blood of the living, the native earth, the issue of moving water ... There are others. I have been researching these things since you have been gone. I couldn’t wait till you got back to discuss them with you.”

“Malcolm, I thank you for your exhaustive effort to find answers for me. I appreciate your efforts. I hope you may have come across answers to questions I have had for centuries. I could not even get close to a bi, a bib ... Ahhhhh! I still cannot say even that word. That book! I cannot touch it, not to mention say it by the given name. Why is that Malcolm?”

“This book has many bits of information that I think may answer your questions. Questions about why you do what you do. So, let us start here and now, together, to answer some of them.

First issue, why can’t you say my Lord’s name? It says here,” I said, as I held up the Bible in front of her, “That devils also believe and tremble, (James 2:19) and that there is power in His name. Lucifer rebelled against God and so do the fallen angels that inhabit all vampires. It also says, “That at the name of Jesus, every knee should bow, of things in heaven, and things in earth, and things under the earth,” so do you think this is why when I mention the name of Jesus, you start going ballistic?”

“I could say that I don’t know, but I do. The answer is yes, and I know it because the demon says so. It is hiding right now, cowering in the shadows.” She spoke so somber, almost depressed. Her voice was still the smoky whisper with a slight echo to it. At this moment, I had the ball in my court. I believed it to be so, because Erlandis or one of the others had bound up the demon for the moment.

“The cross ... the crucifix ... it is the symbol of Christ’s crucifixion. Do you react to them in the way most people have come to know? If so, then I would say that is an opposition.” She was shivering, trembling, and quaking inside, giving me no answer to the question I presented. It was as if I were watching a junkie in the throes of withdrawals from a powerful, addictive drug. She was not sweating, just shaking as if in great fear. Fear this time was wearing a different shoe on a different foot. I took her reaction to be a “Yes.”

“Next issue, I think you had to wait three days after your initial death because Christ was in the grave and arose on the third day. This is a parallel. I am not sure what the significance is, but there is a parallel. Do you remember anything about your death experience?”

“My siblings talked together several times about what happened during the crossing over. Rascha and the others have similar memories. They said they experienced a dark journey that led through a terrible place, very frightening, and painful. Their journey was identical to mine except for one detail. They said they met many terrible creatures along the way as I did, but none harmed us. As we approached the end of our journey, we traveled up a long path of steps and then entered a world of only a moon and stars. There was never to be a sun in our lives again.”