torsdag 19 april 2007

Talulah Jezebel: I don't know Jack


It started with rain that evening, and it did not stop completly until the sour stench of diluted sewage took over when the cover blocked out all the lights of the city.

She would see him again that night, as she had carefully taken to herself to remember. October the 20th, in the park. She didn?t know what the ?vattentorn? was, but she?d get there. She just had to.
There was some rustling, and there was carefull stepping and straightforward walking and some were missing but eventually the hill was climbed and they were there. And he was there. In the multitude of shadows on the brown gravel their souls shone with faded colors, and his was the brightest of them all. As topics were brought to the surface, their intensity faded and spiked, to fade yet again. Flickers of animalistic traits and cigarette after cigarette was lit one after another. They didn?t exactly disagree, but they didn?t exactly agree either. Old souls, or at least tattered, and even the bravest of them thread carefully at times.

Then Elysium, where higher clans roam and all those thing she does not understand happens. All the rules she cannot help but break. Reassuringly, two familiar faces stand out from the crowds of new arrivals. They were not exactly friends in New York, but they were not enemies nor rivals either and it is good to speak of good times with someone who does not miss half of what one is saying. Toreadors.

But it is odd. There is movement amongst the Gangrels and He is missing. When He comes back, he is not alone. With Him comes Jack. And to Talulah. Jack is a whole other chapter by himself.

First comes the Archon with his dark brown hair, golden eyes and olive skin. Then comes near-shaven hair on a skull tightly draped with withening skin. The marks of the hungry. Red eyes, a flash of a toothy grin and then there's a Gangrel in the way, so Talulah can't see. It's like it's not ment for her to see him. The man...chuckles. Did she hear him right? Her ears hardly ever fails her.
Neither does her eyes, there is hardly a man or woman who does not have some kind of strong reaction to the entrance made of these two people.
Taylor, who IS he?
That's Jack. Taylor light is gleaming, spinning, faster, faster. She looks away. The man is by the stage, in front of the prince. He's on his knees and the prince looks at him. Someone is standing behind the curtain, with his foot on the homecomers hand. She doesn't think anyone else notices. But she notices. They all go to the hidden room. The prince, the Archon, everyone important, Jack. Some get thrown out. They weren't important enough.
She wait's.

The angel comes to her.
Have Jack contacted you? No. Have you heard rumours of Jack? No. Have you seen Jack before tonight? No.

I don't know Jack.

The Angels light shone upon her for a little while longer, and he was displeased with her, but did not raise his hand or sword against her and let her be.

There was a rush as life returned to the elysium. The black curtains separating the bar from the hidden room moved from a silent wind and they came back. He rushed past her, not even giving her a glance and then there was this man, this Jack. He staggered forth across the room, red with stripes of white moving across the aura in an electric pattern. When he reached the billiard table he almost collapsed in front of her from the pain and it was then she knew... she had to know him, and what had happened.

The balcony in the rain, Basha and Magnusson giving him blood they've gotten from the bar. It mixes and mingles with the downpour, weakening it. Everyone is excited, whispering amongst themself in swedish gibberish.

Who IS Jack?

They look up, they're amused. He's amused. She doesn't know who Jack is, and for some reason, that strikes them as funny. They leave, one after another, to let him tell her himself. Basha leaves. Magnusson tells her to watch Jack until Basha takes over. She nod, finally somethings she understands. And so, Talulah Jezebel gets to hear parts...pieces about what has happened in Gothenburg.

But still, Jezebel doesn't know Jack.

People want's to speak with Jack and Talulah watches him, as she has promised. He is strange, but in this strange city he fits in, like a slightly different pice of the puzzle. A whole clan demands his precense and she waits outside the door to the strange room. When the meeting is finished they walk toghether down the corridor, as they turn the corner something shimmers in the air and becomes visible as it moves. It's one of the better dressed vampires, and his movement is a hand that reaches for Jacks shoulder, Jacks surprised look and reaction makes her senses focus on this man. She snaps her teeth at him, get's in his way, and on the knot of his tie rests a tiny cross. He says something in swedish to Jack, unitelligble to her, but his soul isn't.

It's not for a christian man to gloat...

It comes out clear, for the first time in over a year, but then she's ripped back to reality by a rough hand on her shoulder. She almost thinks Jack is going to be mad at her so she snaps her teeth again, ready for the slap which does not come.

He's an Elder Jezebel! That's Van Dike, that is!
No way to treat you. Ungodly.
He's an Elder!

And that is that.

The clan is in the park by the canal and the rain still pours. Tempers run high as they argue with each other about the best plan of action. No one has the time to explain or translate what they say, but she picks up bits and pieces, really trying to understand what they mean.
Some of them, she can se right through, some are partially closed to her. And then He speaks in anger. Israel tries to get a word in and Jack nearly mauls him. But they say things, signal things that confuses her. She does not understand the undertows, the currents even though she can almost se them clearly. And then Jack speaks again and it's almost like everything clicks into place inside herself. She goes cold, her heart sinks. If He doesn't want to take care of them, is she then one of them? Or is she an individual in herself?
Choices, He demands choices.
Choices and obedience to the system. She can do both.

I?
they can?t hear her. Louder then.
I fight for GOD?.I?m leavink..!

She walk's away as fast as she can without breaking into running. She has to do this. She has to reach this elder before he leaves. She has to talk to him, ask him before he disapeares.
If she shows courage, and obedience in this, maybe he can see her and in time even care for her.

Elder Afif! Do you fight for God, or do you fight for yourself?

And that is why she pulled the sewage cover over her head and put out the lights of the city, and decended to darkness and pain once more. Because it had to be done. Pay through pain, as she later told Jack. Pay through pain.  And they gave her a lot of pain to pay with. But there was also music by Sinatra, and the rats and last but not least, the readings of the scripture.
And she reverted to herself and looked just they way she saw herself. And some of the nosferatu understood, but none of the gangrels except for maybe Jack.

Inga kommentarer:

Skicka en kommentar