Red Eyes - Chapter 5

Chapter 5 – The Huntsman

Vlad finds himself sitting in a corner booth surrounded by total darkness. The green leather is soft against his skin as he finds a glass of whiskey in front of him on top of the mahogany table. He tries to look around, but the only thing he sees is the entire booth illuminated by a single bulb swinging overhead. From the shadows, a man holding a pint of stout sits down across from him. Vlad notices his brown, curly hair is disheveled, but his green eyes are full of life. He's wearing a simple red polo, and blue jeans. He sets his glass down, and stares at Vlad while sipping his pint in complete silence.

"Can I help you?" ask Vlad.

"More like how can I help you," replies the man.

"Interesting proposal since we're complete strangers having drinks," chuckles Vlad. "I'm not sure who you are, and what you do, but you're seem highly keen in helping me despite not knowing a single about me."

"Oh, come now, Dr. Vladimir Zhernakov. I know everything I need to know," replies the man as he finishes his pint.

"Who are you?" Vlad asks as he tries to figure out how this person even knows his full name since he hasn't divulged that information.

"A man who helps people deal with very peculiar problems," says the man. "You can call me Yeger."

"So, Yeger, what kind of problems do you deal with?"

"The kind that involves a man with red eyes," replies Yeger smiling.

Vlad downs his whiskey, and notices the glass is full the instant it touches the table. He begins to wonder if this is all a dream. He looks out into the darkness, and starts thinking it should be blue. He watches as the entire area around the booth turns navy blue. His theory is correct, but it doesn't explain why he's having a conversation with a man he's never met before in his life. He downs his glass one time, and sighs, "I knew this was all a dream."

"It is. Right now, it's the only way I can have a conversation with you considering your current situation," explains Yeger. "I do have one question before this dream ends."

"What's that?"

"What was the word written in blood on your cell?"

"Vola."

Vlad wakes up finding himself in bed clutching onto the plastic cross. He sits up in bed to find Travis wide awake staring at him as Travis' body starts trembling. He looks at Vlad as Vlad watches his eyes turn a milky white. Vlad gets out of bed, and walks over to his cell wall, and watches as Travis begins to shake as his eyes are nothing more than two white orbs staring at Vlad. When Travis blinks, a shiver runs down Vlad's spine.

"Libera animam meam," Travis starts chanting in Latin as a white circle of light appears over his head. He keeps chanting over and over as it begins to drizzle inside Domes Metus. The entire place begins to be covered in a light mist that starts glowing faintly while Travis keeps repeating to set his soul free. Vlad watches as a feather drifts from the ceiling onto his bed, only to watch it fade into the mist. 

"The huntsman was here, but he couldn't set me free," states Travis as the rain stops, and the mist disappears as well, leaving the entire area dry like the precipitation was all a hallucination.

"He couldn't? Why not?" asks Vlad as he thinks about his dream about Yeger. He also recalls the voices he keeps hearing about setting a soul free from its mortal prison. He looks at Travis and begins to wonder if the soul imprisoned is inside Travis. He realizes if there's an angel trapped inside Travis, it would explain why he was Red Eye's first victim. However, the idea of killing another man mortifies him regardless of how many lives it might save.

Travis eyes goes from white to glowing red. The halo of light over his head vanishes as he cackles, "Because I won't let him."

Vlad tries to step back, but something has him pinned against the cell wall as he smells sulfur while feeling hot air against the back of his neck. He feels a scaly hand grab his neck, and forces him to look forward. Out of the shadows Vlad sees a vision of himself standing outside the cell with glowing red eyes and almost black skin and silver hair. Smoke bellows from the two fiery horns sprouting from its temples, and a set of blood red bat wings sprouting from its back.

"This could be you if you didn't resist me, but due to your defiance, I will remind how weak you humans really are," bellows Red Eyes from Travis' mouth.

Vlad screams as he feels something sharp jabbed him in his left leg. He collapses to the floor only to see his lower leg twisted at a ninety-degree angle at his knee. He watches as the demonic vision of himself phases through the wall, and almost rips off his lower jaw as the vision turns into fog, and forces itself inside his mouth. Vlad feels his entire body begin to warm up as the demon disappears in his mouth. Once the demon vanishes inside his body, Vlad feels blood rushing from his mouth.

"You will obey me, old man," orders Red Eyes as everything fades to black.