Canticles of the Prophet Zachariah:
The Fall of Irad
Notes by Anthony
“The heart thumped once. The room reverberated like a freight train had barreled past. Jinx frowned theatrically and dropped the stake: “sorry, Xaxie, it’s not like you said it would be. Not like what you said it would be at all.” She ran up the stairs opposite Rose. She would have to pass Gwen, of course, but I would also much rather face the skinny goth with a sword than the one who had massacred a bunch of my cult buddies on Roosevelt Island.
“Gwen, naturally, swung her sword at Jinx’s head. Everything froze for a moment. Long ago, George told me that vampires could heal most wounds, but a few things killed us outright. Sunlight. Fire. Decapitation. The sword glowed red in the dim lights of the Temple. It looked like it was covered in blood. I don’t know if I am glad or not that it missed, listeners. Jinx dodged the blow and disappeared as I blinked. Rose ran after her and into the map room above.
“Xaxil snarled at Jinx: “foolish Malkavian. Now, Damien, now!” Flies swarmed the headless corpse. They seemed to manifest out of nowhere. Asa carried Joan upstairs. The blood in my chest pretending to be my heart relaxed. Asa would protect her. I could focus on Irad.
“Blood flowed inside the glass cylinder. It smelled old and insanely powerful. Elder blood, I think. It coagulated around the heart. Tendrils of blood snaked up the sides of the pillar and to the roof. Panic, confusion, and hunger rose up in my mind. These are all emotions I am intimately familiar with, listeners, but they were not my own. Irad was waking. We had to subdue it.
“The Zombified Domenico thrust the stake at the heart. It barely made a dent. Xaxil swiped at the Griffin spirit. It swirled into mist but drew hundreds of his flies with it. Xaxil muttered to himself: “well, well, Lucifer, you betray me for the last time.” I think I might have been the only one to hear him. Instinctively, I knew he was still talking about Damien. Had both Damien and Jinx betrayed the Demon? I was beginning to feel a bit more charitable to my Malkavian siblings. Still, I couldn’t focus on the victory. I had to calm my mind.
“I closed my eyes. I have relived the memories of those I drink from. I have shared dreams with Asa, Gwen, and Rose. What if I didn’t have to be asleep to do it? I was pretty much out of the fight by that point, listeners. Later, I learned that Griselda’s body, animated by Xaxil, began climbing the Pillar. To escape? Climb inside? Upstairs, Gwen lost Jinx and sent the animated hand, “Lefty” after her. Did you remember she had that, listeners? I should show her Addams Family Values sometime. Also, Rose turned into a furry wolf-vampire-hybrid, but we’ll get to that.
“I let myself fall into the Dreaming. The Temple shifted under my feet. A worm wiggled in utter blackness. It sucked up blood through every pore in its pallid body. Rage and fear and confusion boiled around me. Irad was looking for its body. It could not move or feel or speak. The worm had no way of sensing its environment. It could only feed and feel. Resentment filled me, so bitter it burned my tongue. It remembered being in The City. Enoch. Enoch was younger than the one I had seen in my visions of Marcus stealing the Temple. Smaller. Only Cainites stalked the streets lit by eternal night. They were hungry. Everyone was so hungry.
“My Children pulled at me, dragging me down. Why had they betrayed me? Why were they killing me? I shook as Vitae poured from me, drained by my ungrateful whelps. I stared into my own eyes as I killed me. My Childe. Malkav. I recognized my Childe in the scrap of Flesh that had invaded my mind. I had nothing left. But I would have my revenge.
“The me-that-was-Zachary pulled back. Irad had recognized Malkav inside of me. It was gathering its strength, ready to strike however the worm could. And since all of the Blood powering the Temple flowed through Irad, I had the feeling it could do a lot of damage. But I wasn’t alone. Gwen had joined me in the Dreaming. You know Gwen and I have our disagreements, but I am grateful to have her at my side when the chips are down. She poured Entropy and Death into the Pilar. Something shifted inside the Temple. It felt like we had moved.
“I pushed my thoughts to Gwen “It needs to go back to sleep. Shh…It’s ok.” Then another presence joined us. Asa’s brilliant light pushed the darkness from our souls. I hadn’t realized how close I was to losing myself in Irad’s rage. Broken as he was, this was a god more powerful than even the one in my head. Distantly, I heard Xaxil scream. It didn’t seem to like the light, either.
“Inside Irad’s mind, I felt Rose and Gwen push the stake into Irad’s heart. Gwen’s Entropy snaked into Irad, numbing it. I tried to calm it: “I’m so sorry. There is nothing for you here. Sleep. Be at peace.” I could sense the proud man Irad had been. He was tired. I could feel Asa tugging at my soul and hand. I followed his light out of the darkness and stared at the Heart. It shuddered and stopped beating. It was alive, but as if it were in suspended animation.
“Rose and Gwen headed upstairs. Later, I learned Rose had caught Xaxil’s head escaping and punched it to paste. It tried to curse Rose, but Gwen used her entropy to dissipate it. I was just turning to follow when Asa grabbed my shoulder and threw me to the ground. I lay on my back and didn’t try to move, more out of surprise than actual pain. Then Asa was on top of me. His hands pressed down on either side of my shoulders, caging me in. His lower body was heavy against mine. His eyes brimmed with tears. “Don’t you ever do that again, you crazy Malkavian shithead! You disappeared on me! How am I supposed to protect you if I can’t find you?” Asa collapsed against my chest and hugged me. “Diane would kill me if you died.” Asa shuddered as he cried into my shoulder. I couldn’t tell if it was blood or tears soaking my shirt.
“All at once, my actions caught up with me. Only two nights ago, Asa had been furious when I ran away to save Joan without giving him a chance to help. Then, an hour ago in the Crossroads Tavern, I fled to the shadows when George got close. And just now, I had Obfuscated myself to rescue Joan. It made sense. Staying hidden from Xaxil and Jinx gave me an advantage. But it also prevented Asa from protecting me. And Asa really, really wanted to protect me. I don’t think it’s just because Diane told him to. I think it’s because he cares about me.
“Wetness filled my eyes as well. The words came out in a babbling mess: “I’m sorry. I don’t know what I’m doing. I never know what I’m doing. I’m just trying to keep us alive. Thank you for pulling me out.” Asa squeezed me tight and stood up. He pulled me to my feet. We climbed the staircase to the map room and into the control room. Joan was staring at the bowl in the center of the room. A bit of her upper lip was grey, now. I ran and knelt to hug her. She hugged back.
“You know when you hug someone for the first time and it’s kind of awkward because you both are figuring out how to fit your limbs together and you’re not sure how hard or gentle to be? This hug was nothing like that. She fit in my arms and clung on tightly like she’d done so a million times before. And it felt like the most natural thing in the world to squeeze her back. After a moment, she pulled back to look into my eyes. Concern furrowed her brow. She said: “thank you, Zachariah. You’ve saved me again. But it feels wrong.”
“I was trying to think of any words that could possibly comfort her when laughter broke out from the entrance. It was one of the ghouls, Elio. All his muscles seemed drawn tight as he spasmed on each choking guffaw. Asa said he was in “extreme physical distress.” I tried to put a bright face on things. “It’ll be okay! We’ll figure out how to help them. We’re safe now. Cedric, Comet, and Ben are just outside.” Joan gave me a look that was impossible to read. We headed for the front door. I was surprised Ben hadn’t run in already.
“Outside, the world was foggy and grey. The sky was a sickly, pale green. It reminded me of the nightmare where the Storm obliterated the bone wall I was trapped in with thousands of other souls. The farmhouse and cornfield looked abandoned. Desiccated. Gwen announced: “we have shifted to the Shadowlands.” Well, listeners, we certainly weren’t in Kansas, anymore.”