A Reflection On The Greatest Vengeance

 
Thanatos and I were just sitting on the couch of the Akashic Castle, each with an arm around each other, sharing thoughts wordlessly, when Thanatos jerked up. "Donn, we have to stop."

 

“Stefan!”

 

Thanatos smiled. “Let’s dress in his sort of style. You wear a tan 18th-19th century hybrid. 18th century white shirt with ruffled sleeves, tan breeches, vest, tailed coat, high collar and cravat for shirt, and high collar for the coat, and cloak. Black and tan riding boots, with the top band of the boots tan, a dark brown cloak, and an epee at your side. I’ll wear something similar, but in black.

 

I closed my eyes, scanned what Thanatos envisioned, and my black tunic was replaced by a not quite historically accurate, but stylish suit of a pre-Victorian gentleman. Shortly after, Thanatos was also redressed, and what a handsome, and impressive picture he was. The jet-black clothes on his snow-coloured form was something I’d have to paint as soon as possible.

 

When we went to Stefan, he was pacing, and raging in the holographic garden on the lowest basement floor.

 

  *****

 

“Stef!” said Thanatos.

 

Stefan whirled on us, with a scowl on his face. “Wow!”

 

Thanatos crossed his arms. “Gate Keeper dude! Your present state of mind is not becoming of you. Especially since you declared that you were over that thing you call your incubator.”

 

Stefan bared his teeth. He was in his part time fangs, for the moment. “I just walked away from that bitch. Burned the address, and decided that was that. I never told her what I thought of her. It’s grating on me, and I kind of want to take a trip into the past. 2011 sounds nice.”

 

Thanatos chuckled. “Stef, you weren’t even technically alive then. We’d taken you a bit before that.”

 

“She didn’t know that. We lived at opposite ends of the country. She was in Carthage, North Carolina that year. Imagine if I appeared as the buffed Kyle Shannon I was at my height, knocked on the door, dropped off ‘our’ book that she never saw, and told her that I hoped that the Russians had gotten her.”

 

“That’s not a nice thing to tell an old lady who’s a World War II survivor,” I said. “You could also look it up.”

 

“Never have, never will,” said Stefan. “I’m sorry, but I am having a real regressive moment. I am severely bothered right now over the fact that I never really settled this with either her or myself.”

 

Thanatos tilted his head, and smiled. “You also did a rather amusing song about her called, ‘Mama Was A Psycho Bitch From Hell’. Would you like to give her the CD you and Kevin did when you were alive that never sold one copy?”

 

Stefan first covered his mouth as he started to laugh, but then a look of surprise crossed his face. “Dude! Your fangs! They’re gone!”

 

I looked at Thanatos. “Huh?”

 

He raised his upper lip. “Only for now.”

 

“I hope so. I love those things,” said Stefan. “Now does that mean I get to time-trip back now with that book collection, maybe a compiled picture book of a couple hundred of our best paintings, and that CD?”

 

Thanatos shook his head. “You will do no such thing, Stefan! You’ve hurt her enough by disowning her and disappearing from her life when you were 19. She realised the error of her ways and did a much better job raising her last child.”

 

“Her last man-trap to glue her final husband to her. After all, he was an officer and a gentleman. Not only did he make a lot of money, he also helped her clean the house. Yeah, I looked the kid up once. A ranked golfer, whiz at school, BS in psychology and she also had a crotch dropping in her 20s. Talk about throwing your life away.”

 

“That’s not how everyone sees children. She is a bit better adjusted than you are at the moment, dude! She was a good protégé, played the game, and it worked for her. But she didn’t have to deal with a volatile basket case who didn’t know what she was doing, or was even ready for parenthood when she had you and your first two half siblings,” said Thanatos.

 

“I really do think she should have aborted the first three of us,” said Stefan.

 

I crossed my arms. “You all turned out OK, and if she had, you wouldn’t have been able to transduce the first ten volumes I wrote, you wouldn’t have experienced all you experienced with us; including getting the living daylights screwed out of you.”

 

Stefan laughed. “With you two dressed like that, I almost want you to screw the living daylights out of me again. You two are absolutely gorgeous in that quasi-Victorian look. Not quite Dracula-esque enough for my taste, though.”

 

Thanatos looked at the ceiling, and sighed. “Seducing you was NOT why I had us dress like this, and if you wanna get screwed; you are NOT staying in the gender you currently are.”

 

Stefan cocked his head, smiled, and switched gender. “OK. The gender thing is fixed, but let’s hold off. I almost would rather go off and do another painting of you, though I want the horses in the background, lightly tacked.”

 

Thanatos smiled, and extended his arms. “Come ‘ere, babe.”

 

Stephanie walked over to him, accepted his embrace, and returned it. 

 

Thanatos looked at me, and winked. I nodded, came behind Stephanie, and held her from there, with my left arm doing my best to include Thanatos in my embrace. He stroked Stef’s hair, my hair, then kissed her on the temple. He scraped the side of her jaw with his now all too human teeth. “Stephanie, I will shortly have a confession to make to you, and I think you’re going to like it. But now, let’s just all hold hands, and walk through this holographic garden.”

 

Stephanie closed her eyes. “OK.”

 

  *****

 

Damn, we didn’t spend nearly enough time down here. It was so quiet, dark, and so serene, where mists from beneath the floor were perpetually vented up, and those mists were very thick up to our knees. The mists were scented differently, depending on what three-dimensional picture image of what flower was before us. If we were by the roses, we’d smell roses, if we were by the carnations, we’d smell carnations, and so on. The room was lit up by the holograms themselves, and additional torches of different flames, like what had been in my garden of Tech Duinn. The only thing I missed was a chance to see the sun set, but that was all right. I could go somewhere else to see that if I really wanted to.

 

Of course we had our benches and lit fountains. No, there were no gazebos in this garden. We left those behind at Tech Duinn. They were there for shade, and protection from the rain, sleet, snow, or hail. Being this was an indoor garden of illusion, there was no practical application whatsoever for having gazebos, so no one manifested any.

 

We were walking hand in hand, and Stephanie was between us. “Stef, you asked for the life you lived to get Donn again, and I was part of the package. There is no justification for you hating the tool you used to get here,” said Thanatos. “This must be the billionth time we’ve had this conversation, and it never does any long term good even to this day.”

 

“Can’t help but dwell on being literally thrown across the kitchen for accidently dropping a bottle of milk, or being kicked in the Achilles tendon for allegedly dragging my feet, or being smashed into a table for biting my nails, and all that. Or being made to weed the four sides of the house without proper sun protection, or only getting attention when I stepped out of line, which wasn’t very often; having been a bit averse to pain.”

 

I said, “You got off a lot easier than Joel’s kids. They got thrashed several times a day. Once your brother was even inspired to jump out of a second storey window to escape her wrath.”

 

Stephanie laughed. “I’m surprised we all survived her. I wouldn’t have, if I’d known about all the nice toxic plants in our backyard when we lived in Warren.”

 

Thanatos stopped us. He embraced Stephanie again. “OK, dude! Time for my confession! I wanted to wait until after this walk, but I might as well get it over with.” Of course, she held him in return.

 

“OK, this I’ve gotta hear, myself,” I said.

 

“Note how none of us never met her. How she never came to us.”

 

I scowled. “Considering all circumstances, that is a bit odd.”

 

Thanatos kissed Stephanie on the forehead. “I wouldn’t allow it, for more reasons than one. I will also admit some of those reasons are not honourable at all.”

 

Stephanie looked up at him. “Oh?”

 

Thanatos smiled, and caressed her hair. “I could have allowed you to meet and truly settle your differences, but the hate you feel is such a strong inspirational force for your art; though it’s hard to tell for those you don’t know you. You feed off that hate to create some absolutely, astoundingly beautiful works, and if it weren’t there; a lot of the passion in your masterpieces just wouldn’t be there. 

 

“Now we want Stef Shannon, not Norman Rockwell, OK?”

  Stef held Thanatos tighter. “How much more can I love you?”

 

“You never told me that,” I said to Thanatos.

 

“That’s not something you or anyone else needed to know, until now. So can we drop it? Sort of? Or just revel quietly in your antipathy, and do what you gotta do?” asked Thanatos of Stephanie.

 

“Until I feel like bitching about it again, I guess,” said Stephanie.

 

I chuckled. “Sounds realistic. Also sounds like the last thing anyone needs here is to get this resolved.”

 

“Only for a while. It’ll happen eventually. After all, ultimately there is only one soul. We’ve got to reconsolidate with everything in the end,” said Thanatos. “I also have another confession, but that is going to have to wait until after this walk.”

 

“Does it have anything to do with my nose?” asked Stephanie.

 

“Stef, your precious nose is the last thing on my mind right now. Trust me. Let’s go to the far wall, turn right, and then leave by the dark pole entrance nearest to us.”

 

“Sounds good,” I said. “Then what?”

 

“We skate for a while doing solo performances, then we look at the paintings we did. All of our stuff, including everything everyone did from Andre to Warren. Then you and me can bring Stef to the right realisation.”

 

“And when do you get your fangs back?” asked Stephanie.

 

“After we’re done hogging each other for this period of our consciousness.”

 

  *****

 

Thanatos was the first on the ice. He’d changed to just white satin shorts, and he manifested the tiger stripes that he’d worn for Kale Feldt. Of course he wore socks under his skates. There were no illusions involving holographic lights, or time-trip tricks. He skated like a mortal, and due to his superior strength and speed, he left me in the dust; considering he could now not only do everything I could do, but more.

 

He did ice-danced to ‘Ride of the Valkyries’, ‘Für Elise’, and ‘Greensleeves’. He went from sheer athletic prowess to grace that couldn’t be surpassed by anyone or anything. I almost couldn’t wait to hit a new canvass before he was halfway through with his second song. I know how much we resembled each other, but due to his exotic colouration, I thought he looked a bit better than I; and I wasn’t the only one who thought so, based on...oh, never mind.

 

I went next, and changed into my favourite black silk tunic before going on the ice. After Than’s impressive performance, I knew I didn’t stand a chance on outranking him in any way, but I went for three somewhat slow songs, and tried to go for beauty and grace. I played some old favourite, more progressive rock tunes of ours. ‘Kashmir’, ‘Immigrant Song’, and ‘Nobody’s Hero’.

 

When it was Stephanie’s turn, she switched gender. “Man, I could watch you two forever,” he said.

 

“Thanks. Looks like we’re going to all three of us hit the art studio after we’re through with our stints,” I said.

 

“Damn right,” said Stefan. “And it seems we save the worst for last? There’s no way I can measure up to you two.”

 

“You do it all the time, Stef. Come on! You’re just as much of a pleasure to watch as any of us. What you can’t do, you make up for in style,” said Thanatos.

 

He smiled. “Thanks.” He stood up, and said, “I still haven’t figured out which costume I want.”

 

I shrugged. “Can’t help you there.”

 

He sighed, and then shrugged. He ended up donning a loose-sleeved poet shirt, and a kilt. He put a tartan design on his skates, as well.

 

“Cute,” I said. “New one, huh?”

 

“New outfit, but old music. I’m gonna go slow, too.”

 

I nodded, and sat down. “Break a leg, babe.”

 

Stef would pick ‘Scarborough Faire’, as done by Geoff Tate, ‘Jet City Woman’, and ‘Don’t You Forget About Me’. His performance was impeccable. His grace matched mine, though he kept the routines pretty tame. He wasn’t dressed for anything too wild. There would be no aerials, even though by now he could do them as well as I, for instance.

 

As Stefan was finishing up, Thanatos got up, and skated over to him. In a few seconds, Stef would be a woman in a flowing, black, silk and sheer knee length dress. Her skates went black, to match the outfit. Thanatos was still in his shorts and stripes.

  They ice-danced together. They did interpretive numbers to ‘Dancin’ in the Ruins’, and ‘White Flags’. The two of them almost had me in tears; the performance was so captivating. When it was over, Thanatos immediately changed back to his not quite Victorian outfit he had worn earlier, cloak included, and motioned me over to them. He had an arm wrapped around Stephanie. When I was in reach, Thanatos put his free hand on my right shoulder, and we weren’t on the ice anymore.

 

So much for looking at the paintings like we’d planned.

 

  *****

 

Both Stephanie and I reeled from the unexpected change of scenery. The three of us ended up in one of the halls of Tech Duinn. We were by the exit to the garden, just around the corner from the spa. Thanatos kissed Stephanie on the cheek, and then manoeuvred his lips to where her right shoulder met her neck. He scraped his teeth over that part of her, and caressed her in such a way to set her on fire. Hell, he set me on fire.

 

Thanatos clenched his teeth, and locked his lips on Stef’s neck. They couldn’t have held each other any closer. Stephanie lifted her left foot, which no longer had skating blades on the ends of her boots. None of us did. She wrapped her left leg around Than’s right. I got behind her, pressed myself against her, wrapped my left arm around her, and did my best to get Thanatos with my right. Thanatos, with his lips still on Stephanie’s neck, managed to caress my hair and give back that one armed embrace a little more efficiently, being he was a bit taller than I, and had noticeably longer arms.

 

“Mmmmmmmmmmmm. If I wasn’t part of this sandwich, I’d sink to the floor,” whispered Stephanie.

 

I lipped her ear. “And it is cold out here. Is it the winter, love?” I asked Thanatos.

 

‘Yes,’ I got a telepathic response. ‘And if you think I’m going to divest the way mortals do, you’ve got another thing coming.’

 

I chuckled. “I have a lot less to get out of, and I have no intention of doing that myself.”

 

Thanatos’ lips left Stephanie’s neck. No, there was not a mark on her. Not the slightest trace of a ‘hickey’. He looked at me, smiled, and we were suddenly on the other side of the door of the spa, totally un-attired.

  I went into the water first. “Musk oil?”

 

“Please,” said Stephanie.

 

I flipped the tan switch to release the oil into the turbulent water. Thanatos went in next, and he left a space between us for Stephanie, not that it was needed. When she was about to sit down, Thanatos pushed her toward me. She pointed at me, looked at Thanatos, and he smiled, and nodded. She looked at me, verified I was ready, and straddled me. We embraced each other, as she rested her head on my right shoulder, and kept me delicately titillated via occasional, sporadic contractions.

 

Thanatos stood up, and pressed himself behind her. “Time for the rest of my confession.”

 

“Go,” said Stephanie.

 

He kissed her on top of the head. “I know because of what your mother did to you, you are comfortably here with us as you should be. I know it was all planned in advance, though you did end up regretting those plans since it is harder to actually live through what you had in store for yourself as opposed to just theoretically thinking about it. We also know I am no fan of child abuse, or abuse of any kind, for that matter.

 

“My thing is, I also take your feelings personally due to how close we are. I’m not on par with your hatred, but I know it’s there. I love it when you use it for your creativity, but sometimes it just eats you up inside. When you start feeling like that, I want you to think of what’s happening to you right at this moment. The beautiful lad whose lap you’re in, and all you’ve done for each other. And me standing behind you…looking so much like the one you’re connected to, who helped bring you to the degree of power you have, in ways so few experience. Just remember right now, frozen in time, out of time. You can have this again and again, and the woman you used to bring you to us will never remotely have a clue that such a moment could exist, or that The Akashic Castle could exist, or our lovely Tech Duinn, or our part of The White City, or any of our adventures existed. She will know none of it, for I won’t let her. 

 

“From the day that you sent your last letter as Kyle Shannon to be, you disappeared from her existence. When you are destined to meet again, the creature that was your mother will have blended with others, and will have lost that individual part of her identity, as you will have lost the individuality you have, now. Christl will never know any of this, and she will never see a trace of Donn’s book series, or any of our art, or the places we’ve been.” He scraped his teeth on the side of her neck. He had his fangs back, and he left a slight scratch, though he drew no blood. “And she’ll never know thisssssssssssssssssssss!” He gently entered her in what way was available, and after he was in place, he exploded us Tantrically in an unimaginable culmination. 

 

We went from the spa straight to Nirvana to become one soul, for a while.

 

Stef...whatever gender it was or wasn’t, would have no further issues on the matter.

 

  *****

 

After we came back to The Akashic Castle, another fifteen paintings would go up shortly.