Aris Returns (9 page)

It took him more than a minute to answer. “No, it makes me feel powerful.” He raised
his head, looking straight into her eyes. “It makes me feel strong.” He smiled a long,
slow smile. “When I feel like that, I am invincible.”

“L
ook Colleen, I just can’t see him anymore. I don’t think this is what he needs.”

“What the hell are you talking about Sarah? You told me you thought it was a good
thing. Now you want to dump him just like everyone else. What the hell happened?”

“I can’t discuss it.” She chewed on the end of her pen while she talked. His file
was lying on her desk. She kept opening it and closing it. “It’s client, therapist
stuff. I wish I could talk about it, but I just can’t.

“What the hell? Is he a murderer or something?” Colleen’s voice became anxious.

“I don’t know.” She heard her friend gasp on the other end of the line. “No, no. Not
in this life anyway. I honestly don’t know what he is. Or what he was. I just think
I’m way out of my element here.”

Colleen tried to ease the tension with a sigh and a little laugh. ”Well, if he hasn’t
committed murder in this life, what are you so worried about?”

“Look C, I don’t want to dump him. I just don’t want to damage him anymore. He’s had
just about all he can take and I don’t want to push him.” She closed the file a final
time. She put it in her
drawer. “I just cannot see him anymore.”

“I swear to God Sarah, what the hell is the matter with you?” Her harsh words matched
her tone of voice. “You always said you wanted to do more than work on weight issues
and self-esteem and claustrophobia. I bring you someone you can really help, you start,
then back off. Just what the hell do you expect me to tell him, that he’s just too
scary for your lily white hands?”

Sarah was stunned. She never expected her friend to come down on her with such force.
She had never seen Colleen angry before.

“Well, say something. What should I tell him?”

Sarah felt ashamed of her cowardice. It was a step backward. She was in control of
their sessions and she didn’t need Bonnie to tell her she had the ability to help
Carlos. She gave a long sigh, “You’re right, C. Don’t tell him anything. I’ll see
him as planned on Friday. And calm down. You didn’t have to ream me out.”

“Hon, if you think that was me reaming you out, you haven’t seen anything yet. I’ll
tell him you’re on for Friday.”

#

The afternoon sunlight shined in the window creating long shadows on the floor. Carlos
relaxed as he sat in the recliner, a smile on his face.

Sarah used the peaceful moment to broach the subject of Carlos’ family. “Before we
begin hypnosis today, I’d like to ask you a few more questions about your upbringing.
Would that work for you?”

“You really crack me up.” He laughed. “You think I’m relaxed this afternoon so you
can hit me up about my home life.”

“It’s important that I know everything you feel safe enough to tell me. Unless I do,
I’m working in the dark and all the regression work doesn’t mean a thing. What happened
in the past is dead history without a present anchor. Does that make any sense at
all?”

“Yeah, you always make sense whether I like it or not.” He leaned back into the chair,
closed his eyes and folded his hands on his
chest. “What do you want to know?”

“You said your parents came here from Mexico. Your father was from a wealthy family
and your mother was peasant stock. Do you know anything about their history?”

“Sure. It starts out romantic but turns to crap. They met in a farmer’s market. My
mother was beautiful and my father fell for her. His family was dead against them
being together because she was poor so they eloped.

“After they were married, my grandparents said they forgave him so, being old school,
my father took my mother home to live with his family. My grandmother hated my mother.
She treated her well when the family was together but like a dog when they were alone.

“My mother got pregnant and lost the baby. My grandmother got meaner and meaner. After
a while, she began to poison my father’s mind against my mother.

“My mother told him about my grandmother’s rotten treatment but my father was a macho
business man and didn’t want to get involved in women’s bull crap. He said it was
up to them to get along. Well, it didn’t happen. It just got worse.

“Then my mother got pregnant a second time and lost that baby too. She had just come
out of surgery when my father walked into the hospital room unannounced. My grandmother
was screaming at my mother. He finally saw the truth.

“That’s when they moved to the states. They settled in California. Because my father
had been successful in Mexico, he didn’t see any reason he couldn’t be successful
here. So he was. And still is if you measure success by how much money a guy makes.

“Anyway, his father disowned him but his mother kept in touch. She wrote letters and
called him all the time. Soon after they moved here, my mother got pregnant again.

“About the same time, my grandfather got really sick. My
grandmother kept calling and telling my father that it was his fault his father was
wasting away, that his marriage to my mother was killing the old man.

“As it got closer to the time for my mother’s delivery, my grandfather went downhill
and fast. My father left for Mexico. While he was gone, I was born. Then, my grandfather
died. Man, my grandmother worked my old man over. He came back to us not even sure
I was his son.

“He started drinking, then the fights started. He accused my mother of messing around
on him and using him to get out of the poverty she grew up in. I don’t know what all
came down, just that he was always shouting at her and she was always crying. It just
kept getting worse.”

There was no sound in the room except for the wind whistling around the corner of
the building. Sarah sat quietly. She was grateful for the information Carlos had given
her about his past. It still didn’t make a great deal of sense to her but it was another
step on the journey.

“You know Sarah, I’ve never told that story to anyone. It feels good just to get it
off my chest.”

“That’s what this is all about, Carlos; coming to an understanding of your actions
and motives. Once we know why you respond the way you do we can change the way you
respond. If you want to change it.”

“If I didn’t want to make it all different, I wouldn’t be here right now. I’d be out
with my old home boys. I really do want a better life. Knowing Colleen and now you
has proved that there really are good people in the world, people who care what happens
to guys like me. I’ve never felt like that before.” He caught her eyes and smiled.
“Why do I always feel better when I’m here? I guess it really doesn’t matter why.
It’s just that I do.” He took a deep breath, relaxing into the comfortable chair.
“Okay, take me down.”

She used the usual induction to take him into state, then called on Aris.

The voice and accent that answered her were of his older, wiser vampire self.

“I am here.”

Carlos lay peacefully in the recliner, his eyes closed and his breath even and smooth.

“I find a certain solace here that I have not known for centuries, a peace that is
without description.”

“Aris, will you tell me how you came to being, how you were born?”

“Yes, I will tell you.”
His voice became so soft she was forced to lean into him to understand his words.
“I am from the time of Alexander, the Great.”

Sarah gasped. “But Alexander was B.C.”

“Why does that shock you more than there is such a thing as I am?”
He was silent a moment, then continued his story.

“I was a young soldier in his army. I was brave and bold and did exceptional things
to bring myself to the attention of my commander. Alexander was pleased by my heroics
and my strange beauty.”

Carlos turned his head toward her but his eyes stayed closed, his breath keeping the
even cadence of hypnosis.

“He took me as his dresser. Soon, I became someone he trusted and called upon for
council. I was young but bright with a talent for battle. We became more than servant
and master. And then, we became friends.”

Sarah was mesmerized as the vampire told his ancient story through the voice of the
twenty first century man.

#

CARLOS HAVARRO, transcript, session 6, March 19

It was during the Balkan campaign while a battle raged that I was changed.

Alexander called the battle at first light. There was a raging storm and the black,
ominous clouds spouted lightening, the lightening created a thunder that stopped the
beating of the heart. We fought near the top of Mount Haemus and located there was
a shrine to the god, Dionysus. We battled our way toward the shrine. As the soil turned
to mud mixed with blood and rain water, we slid and slipped as we wielded our swords
yet we were victorious. Alexander commanded that all survivors were to be killed so
we worked our way to the top of the mountain, our swords spreading death to anything
that moved.

As I neared the top of the mountain, I was drawn into a forest of strange, tall trees
with their roots above ground, twisted into enormous knots. Trees did not flourish
at this great height and I wondered at them. Moving through the unusual setting marveling
at the sounds and smells, I came to a clearing. There, in the center was a unique,
beautiful temple. I surmised from camp stories that it was the shrine of Dionysus.
It glowed in the flashes of lightening looking as if it were appearing and disappearing
at will.

A huge bolt struck and the sky lit as if it were day. In amazement I saw the clearing
was surrounded by women who were tall and beautiful with muscles of warriors. They
wore wreaths of flowers in their hair. Living snakes wound around their arms. I knew
from the campfire talks these women must be the maenads who protected the shrine and
who fed those elite worshipers belonging to the cult of the souls.

The stories told these women of incredible physical power searched out animals and
even humans tearing them limb from limb. It was their task to find the blood used
as a sacrament by the elite followers of Dionysus who came to them to worship their
god.

As I approached, I was stunned by their great beauty. A soft sound, the murmur of
a woman in ecstasy, moaned from each throat. I was drawn forward without thought or
fear. I stood at the edge of the clearing just beneath the trees, listening to their
beckoning call.

Suddenly, one with hair like fire licking to her waist in swirling tendrils
reached her hands toward me. Mesmerized, I moved toward her. I felt I couldn’t breathe
if I did not touch her and feel her flesh. If I could not smell her fragrance, I would
die of sorrow. Slowly I moved through the storm as in a dream.

The moments stood still until, at last, I stood before her. Her long fingers reached
to grasp my shoulders then one hand slid behind my head. The other moved to stroke
my throat. I remember so clearly, I shuddered in anticipation of a magical embrace.

At once, she plunged her teeth into my throat. The pain was inhuman, exquisite. It
was agony yet filled me with pleasure unlike any I had ever known. I could feel my
body growing more and more cold, my strength ebbed with each draw she made on my vein.

The rain poured down upon us, her arms holding me tight as I began to sink to the
ground. A crash so loud it deafened my dying ears came just to one side. One of the
trees was struck by lightning and flames somehow leaped to life through the deluge
of water. I saw them devour the thick trunk of the tree out of the corner of my eyes
as my sight dimmed and the world grew dark.

By legend, the maenads are terrified by fire, the only thing that could do them harm.
The red haired demon dropped me. To my fading eyes she appeared to float just above
the ground as she moved quickly to the cover of the shrine. I fell to the wet earth.
There was just enough strength left in my body to claw my way from the clearing and
through the trees. I found a spot that was well hidden. I dug myself into a shallow
grave and there I lay.

For three days I was overcome with pain and pleasure. Just when I knew I could not
take another moment of the one, the other would possess me and somehow create balance
so I did not lose my mind. I heard soldiers pass nearby but I could not call out.
I thought I saw the beautiful devil come in and out of my consciousness biting and
nibbling me over and over again. There was so much sensation in my body, my voice
would not respond to my mind. I was on fire. I was ice. I was in
agony. I was in passionate ecstasy. I was in a nether world.

At the end of the nightmare vigil, all sensation ceased and I lay there yet somehow
still alive.

By the campfires, the old warriors told the tales of the cult of souls and now I knew
them to be true. I had joined them without guile or will. I had become one of the
undead.

Afraid and not knowing what to do, I made my way back to camp. It was night and the
sentries were snoring around the campfires. I knew only one man who could help me.
I moved silently through the dark to find him.