To be titled: Chapter 2

Asbeel appeared before their original travel companion in the same state they left Jed. Lost in thought and dejected. Why would such a simple question cause such an upheaval of memory? They would have to ponder over this slip and hope that an answer could be found so that it doesn’t happen again.

“How does our new guest fare?”

Asbeel’s companion had finished their transformation into their latest victim, the U.S. Marshall Jed Thompson. If not for the faint glow behind the eyes, he very well could be Jed, and now they have a new way to hunt the worst that humanity had to offer.

“Ca-,” as Asbeel begins to speak the new Jed throws up a belligerent finger to hush them. Anger clear on his face.

“For almost as long as we have been traveling together that name has been lost to me. That man died, nigh on three millenia ago, and you persist in referring to me in this way. Why?” The glow around his eyes grew brighter, showing the anger seething beneath his calm mask of a face.

Asbeel continued staring into the distance for a few more moments, wondering how best to defuse this conversation. How many times is this now? They could know for certain but, what would be the point?

“You didn’t lose your name, you gave it up. You don’t know what it means to lose your name. To have it stolen from you so you can’t even remember what it was.”

The sun had risen and it looked to be mid morning. There were no clouds in the sky and it was a deep blue that seemed to glow with the promise of a warm day. The light shining off of the snow made the forest they found themselves in unnaturally bright. To look at Asbeel however was to look into a serpent shaped void of darkness. All of the light that fell on them simply got absorbed into them. The only thing that could be seen was a glint of their eyes.

The light behind the eyes of the new Jed faltered a bit and he joined Asbeel in gazing into the empty distance. His jaw clenching and relaxing over and over slowly as he tries to relax the tension in his shoulders.

“You may be right Asbeel, and despite being forced to spend the rest of my existence with you, I am sorry that happened to you. While my name wasn’t taken from me, I have chosen to let it die along with the man that I was. He is not me, anymore than you are, and I don’t wish to be him anymore than you would. Do you understand?”

Asbeel turns their gaze on their companion, if not altogether a friend, and takes a minute before responding. The sound of snow melting from the trees sounds like a light rain all around them. It will definitely be a warmer day than they have had in a few weeks, not that it mattered all that much to beings such as them. Still, a nice day is a nice day.

“You wish to forget the past, I understand that feeling. All to well in fact. What you fail to realize my friend, is that the past can’t forget you.”

The light behind not-Jed’s eyes dims to a calm almost nothingness. His face however betrays his mild annoyance.

“Do you say things like this to purposely confound me? Speak plainly or not at all.”

“Alright.” Asbeel pops out of existence with an audible rushing of air, leaving their companion to think for themself.

“Asbeel?” The man who will be taking Jed’s place in his life looks around himself. Shocked by Asbeel’s sudden disappearance, the annoyance he felt at the beginning of their conversation began to reappear on his face.

“Accursed snake,” he grumbles under his breath.

In order to shake off the lingering feelings of aggravation he puts his mind at work planning their next move. With the guise of Jed now at his disposal it will be much easier to track and remove the evil that is plaguing the people of the world. How best to proceed with this task?

As with all things, first things first. Take stock of the current situation. He has all of Jed’s belongings which were on his person, so assuming his position within the US Marshalls should be straightforward enough. His horse was just outside the camp but it most likely passed on during the assimilation. Doesn’t hurt to check though. The biggest issue is their location.

“Where in Montana are we?,” the man who would be Jed grumbles to himself as he goes to see if the horse is still alive. 

“Damn.” The horse lay on its side not breathing. This does complicate things a bit, but there have been more difficult problems in the past.

Just then he notices a shape a few yards away. Grey fur, matted and shaggy. He makes his way over to get a closer look and sees an old, skinny wolf. It looks like it had just lied down and gone to sleep, but he could see that it had also stopped breathing.

“Go in peace,” as he kneels down he strokes the wolf’s fur. It has been longer than he can remember since he has had the opportunity to pet an animal with a passing intelligence. They always seem to know what and who he is, giving him a wide berth. Thankfully beasts of burden don’t seem to mind his presence one bit. It always struck him as strangely convenient.

“May you find happiness in the afterlife, fellow hunter.” With that task done, he stands and takes in his surroundings with a little more scrutiny. A few birds, some squirrels and other small creatures litter the area in a circle about 20 feet in diameter. Thankfully it’s winter and the living creatures are sparse in this part of the forest.

“The work of a killer is never done it seems.” With a more immediate task at hand, he busies himself with cleaning up the grim reminder of the power he wields. This gives him an opportunity to think and work the problem he now faces. Get out of this forest, get back to civilization, and assume Jed Thompson’s position within the US Marshalls.

“Just walking out of here is simple enough,” having spent so much with Asbeel hovering about, thinking aloud has become the default. He makes his way back to camp to look through Jed’s belongings, hoping to find a spade or some other tool to bury his hapless victims. The ground is far too cold to dig with hands alone.

Looking through the Marshall’s kit told him a lot about the man he has replaced. Jed clearly planned to be on the trail for some time and his kit reflected as such. Enough rations to last a few weeks at least, though you will be regretting the time on the road by the end. Two undershirts, two pairs of trousers, lots of socks, an extra pair of boots… The man was thorough, but that should be expected of an intelligent man.

“Not to mention a man of the law I suppose.” Having found a hatchet early on in his search, he decided to continue rifling through the marshall’s belongings to further understand the man. It would be simple enough to interrogate the real Jed, but forcing a good man to do a killer’s bidding did not sit right in our new Jed’s mind.

“Well, this is a bit of a surprise,” the hunter of men sits back on his haunches to let his back ease up a bit and take his time to go through this new discovery. A grooming kit, and a well appointed one at that.

“Vanity is a sin my friend, as I am sure you are aware.” All of the usual sundries were there with a couple of stand out items that you wouldn’t think to find on a man of the outdoors. An expensive looking bottle of cologne, an ivory handled straight razor, and a mirror.

“Why would you take these on the trail with you?” Cheap versions of any of these items could be found in a corner store if you wanted to take them on the road. Though cheap mirrors barely get the job done if you truly are vain in the biblical sense. This mirror, this cost someone a pretty penny.

At first glance it looked like any frontier mirror you could find at a department store like Woolworth’s. With a little closer scrutiny though it becomes apparent that it was made with care and high quality materials. The overall design is simple enough, a foldaway of two wooden panels, the mirror on the inside of one panel and on the opposing side a space for a picture or painting. Not all that impressive until you realize that the panels are a light brown mahogany, the hinges are a deeply polished silver, and the mirror is one of the more recent style that uses a glass panel to prevent the polished metal from tarnishing.

“You or someone you know is doing very well for themselves, Mr. Thompson.” The picture on the opposite side of the mirror shows a rather lovely young woman with flowing dark hair in a modest dress. A large jewel hangs from a rather expensive looking necklace. Well, there’s the money then. The woman’s eyes catch his attention. They seem to peer out of the picture, piercing into his own. It was discomfiting until he looked into the mirror, and saw those same eyes looking back at him.

“A sister then,” the reflection he saw looking back was clearly different from the last time he had seen it. After all of these long millenia, changing faces was still just as shocking as the first time. The face which has once been Jed’s was now staring back and he admired his new countenance.

The face looking back at him was… average. Average nose, average chin, average jaw… just average all around. Sure this made blending into groups when tracking a target much easier, perfect for someone in law enforcement, but it made being forgotten an everyday occurrence. A sad life for a young man.

“You look to be heading into your thirties and still no wedding band. I am glad to be free of that complication at least.” Further inspection drew him back to the eyes peering back. “Perhaps your eyes scared them off.” Mr. Thompson’s eyes were a bright amber color with flecks of what looked to be dark brown or even red depending on the light.

The most striking thing about his eyes though was the changing of the intensity when the light changed. In the bright daylight they seemed to glow with an inner fire, gold with flecks of red. In the shade they appeared the color of polished bronze with spots of obsidian. The effect was somewhat startling as it gave an effect similar to seeing predators eyes in the dark. An inner glow of light shining out of the darkness.

“For all the ways in which you are average, your sister is not.” 

Looking back at the picture of what he assumed to be Jed’s sister he could see the resemblance in the eyes but that is where the similarities end. High cheekbones, full lips, soft but well defined chin, almond shaped eyes with a slight tilt upwards on the outside corners, and a prominent nose that seemed to add to her feminine charms rather than take away from them. A striking woman for sure who seemed rather annoyed to be sitting for the photograph in which she is captured.

“Is she going to be trouble for me, Jed? Hopefully you will be willing to help me navigate this.” Satisfied with his bit of personal investigation of his new identity, he goes back to the initial task of burying the unfortunate consequences of the assimilation of the marshall.

* * *

The sun was low in the western sky by the time the sadly grim task was completed. All but one of the poor creatures was buried, the horse being far too large to properly put in the ground. As much as he loathed the idea, he dressed and cleaned the corpse for butchering. The scent of blood would bring the hunters of the forest to it before long. The cycle of life would continue and the poor beast would be returned to the earth and its creator.

“I’ll be sure to ask your previous rider what your name was. To send you off properly.” After a short prayer for the lives lost the sun had descended past the horizon and the day was done.

“Seeing as nothing else of great import is going to be done today, let’s make camp.” After gathering up the necessities from their current camp the new Jed takes a short hike away to make the predators of the forest more comfortable approaching the meal he had prepared for them. About a mile away from their previous spot he set up a fresh fire and prepared to settle in for the night.

Most nights are spent in quiet reverie as sleep isn’t necessary for someone like the new Jed. Though he has never met someone like himself, he can’t be the only person whom God has seen fit to “bless” in this way. There has been evidence that there is at least one other like himself, in the way of immortality, if not morality. A dark entity in contrast to his light.

“Why would-”

“CAIN!”

Asbeel’s voice suddenly rings out in his mind, completely obliterating any rational thinking. A sudden terrible rage comes on violently and threatens to overwhelm him. He starts to see red. Then, just as quickly, it’s gone. He just feels tired, and can’t be bothered to start this argument yet again.

“Yes, Asbeel, what is it?” The man once known as Cain rubs his eyes in frustration, hoping for the patience to deal with whatever nonsense the snake has for him.

“I know that it’s time for your nightly trance or whatever but, Jed would like to talk to you. He says he has information for you but he won’t talk to me about what it is. IT’S REALLY ANNOYING!” Asbeel’s whining threatens to pierce the exceedingly thin veil of Cain’s patience.

“Okay, okay… I’ll talk with him. Let him know I will be with him in a few minutes.” He lets out a deep sigh and mentally prepares himself for what’s to come.