EHYEH-ASHER-EHYEH (I AM THAT I AM): An Elena Duran/Corazon Negro
Vi Moreau (vmoreau@directvinternet.com)
Fri, 20 Sep 2002 10:06:59 -0400
Ehyeh-Asher-Ehyeh (I am that I am) 5/34
Julio Cesar divad72@prodigy.net.mx
Vi Moreau vmoreau@directvinternet.com
Watcher's Headquarters
Vienna, Austria
March 26, 2013
His wide-open eyes were used to near and total darkness by now, and Joe
Dawson
kept poring over the continually-arriving e-mail reports. This was wrong.
Very wrong.
First, the leaders of the Watchers had disappeared without a trace two days
ago. By now, he could expected that Anton Blanchard-head of the Watchers in
Eastern Europe; George Kross-the African representative; Harley
Taylor-tribune in command in the U.S.; and Adrian Cohen-tribune of Asia,
were dead.
Sadly, his gaze flew over the computer and read the e-mail he had just
received.
-Original Message-
From: Linda Bennett
To: Joe Dawson
Subject: Taketomi Island
Elena Duran's friends are gone, along with the whole island, which literally
sank into the sea under a gigantic tsunami. I know we always thought no
Immortal could kill Sensei Hosokawa Hiroshi, but apparently we were wrong.
And inside his Shinto Temple-Holy Ground! I just watched on TV the other
strange events around the world. I think is time to revaluate our situation.
Obviously these attacks are following some kind of pattern. But whose? And
please Joe; don't tell me to calm down! Stop and think about this, ok? Call
me. I want to talk to you about this.
Linda Bennett
-End of Message-
========
Caracas, Venezuela
March 26, 2013
In the dark room, the blond man heard the wind calling his name. Unusual,
yes. Unexpected? No. He had been waiting this call for a very long time.
Slowly, he turned glanced at the window. The wind entered his comfortably
room, carrying omens in an ancient language. The man smiled, pleased at the
sound of his name in the night. It was a glorious name. One that humankind
shouldn't have forgotten.
Gaius Caesar Germanicus. Sure, some knew him as the mad Emperor Caligula.
But he was more than that. He was more than a man. He was immortal.
Therefore, he was living God. Just as he had always suspected since his time
as a breathing deity, almost two thousand years ago.
For a moment, he enjoyed the moment, hearing the words calling his name.
Then he closed his eyes and remembered.
========
Rome, outside the Emperor's Palace
41 C.E.
Gaius Caesar Germanicus, Emperor of Rome, spent some time digging himself
out of the grave where he'd been buried. He'd been only half-cremated, then
hastily buried in the Lamian Gardens, but why he had risen from the dead?
There could only be one obvious explanation, he thought,-he was a God,
exactly as he had proclaimed himself a year earlier. He had been right all
along. And Now they would see that the temples and statues he'd built to
honor himself had not been the work of an indulgent child or a madman, but
of a man destined for Godhood. And what better way to prove his power than
by appearing alive in public even after having been cut to pieces, burned
and buried. To come back from the dead to dispense his vengeance on those
who had betrayed and plotted against him. Yes, he would claim back his
throne in all his divine glory and annihilate his enemies.
It was the middle of the night when he awoke, and he immediately set out to
find his murderers, M. Arrecinus Clemens, co-prefect of the Praetorian
Guard, and the military tribune of the Guard, Cassius Chaerea. Gaius, or
Caligula as his detractors knew him, knew there were also Roman senators
implicated in his death. No matter. They would all pay.
Gaius was wheezing, clearly out of breath and thirsty beyond measure. He was
covered in dirt-not at all like the emperor-God that he should be, and he
had taken so long to get out of his shroud he believed he'd died at least
once more. Oh, there was no mistake about that-Gaius knew he 'had' died.
He'd seen too many men die, -many by his own command, some by his own hand-,
not to know what Death was like. But he had come back to life-resurrected! A
new God for the pantheon: Gaius Caesar Germanicus. Swollen with that vision,
he stumbled, full of righteous fire, toward his palace. But he hadn't gotten
very far when another kind of vision invaded his head. Pain; it was a deep
ache, a throbbing sensation, as if there were a vise clamped around his
temples, combined with a definite sense of deadly peril. He put his head in
his hands, trying to protect himself. I am a God! I should not feel pain! he
thought, trying to keep from crying out.
As soon as he got to the portico and was able to hide under the columns, a
tall figure appeared in his path.
Could it be the Praetors again? he thought, gasping at the notion.
But the man did not try to attack him. Instead he merely said in a soft
respectful tone, "Emperor," and Gaius thought, As it should be!
"Well, we know who I am," Gaius, forcing himself to come out from behind the
pillars and speak normally but still clutching his head with one hand. The
pain had started to slowly subside. "Who are you?" he asked suspiciously,
and then regaining his confidence added, "And how do you dare block my way?"
"I am your servant, Emperor, and a friend. I am here escorting my lady," he
added, then stepped
aside to reveal a much smaller, bent-over figure.
Even in the dim light given by the waning moon, Gaius could tell by her rich
robes she was a patrician woman. There was something familiar about the way
she stood. But this was certainly not the time for him to be concerned with
a woman. Before he could say anything, however, she spoke.
"I'm glad we got here in time, child, before you get yourself killed.
Again."
The voice, the attitude, the look, the tone of dry amusement was
unmistakable, and Gaius' blood froze in his veins. He clutched at his heart,
certain that it had stopped beating. She was the only person who had ever
managed to frighten him with only a look: his great grandmother, Livia
Drusilla, wife to one Roman Emperor and mother to another. Gaius had lived
with her for two years as a child, but he'd seen her many times before and
after that at the court. But it wasn't possible. She was dead, dead and
buried over ten years ago.
"Yes, I am dead, and you have died also," she said, moving conspiratorially
closer, "and if we don't get you hidden-"
"Hidden!? I will not hide!" he declared, almost succeeding in keeping the
trembling out of his voice.
"Then you will die, and possibly permanently this time," she said softly.
"I cannot die, woman!" Gaius exclaimed. "I am a God!"
He could see the amusement etched in her old face. Gods, she was old.
"Yes, I thought so too. That I was a Goddess. I wanted so much to be a
Goddess, you see. But then matters were . explained to me. Neither of us are
Gods. We're Immortals."
"You're insane!" he spat out, trying to move past her, but prevented by her
servant, who seized his arms and covered his mouth. The man was strong-Gaius
couldn't get away, no matter how he struggled. When he did get loose, he'd
make sure this man died horribly-and the old woman, too. Livia! How could
she be alive?!
"Funny you should call me insane," she quipped, "as so many have called
'you' that. But no matter. Your life begins anew now, my dear. Come with me
and I will help you."
Gaius continued to struggle, and she asked, "Is there something you wish to
say?"
He nodded as well as he could.
"Do you promise not to cry out and give us away?" she asked, looking
furtively around them.
He might as well cooperate with the old hag until he could get away from her
and prove his Godhood. Then her would kill her for good while he was at it.
For now, Gaius nodded and felt his mouth, although not his arms, released.
"Why would you help me?" he asked her.
"Because you can help me," she simply replied.
If she'd said, 'Because I'm your beloved great grandmother', he would have
spat in her face. But self-interest he understood. Still . "I have to go
kill someone," he stated.
She nodded. "The Praetorian Guard who cut you down. They also killed your
wife Caesonia and your little girl, did you know that? I know you want your
revenge; and you shall get it, I promise you. But first you and I must talk
and plan. There's a place and time for bold action, and this is not it."
"What do you know about it, you old hag?" he asked.
Her face took on the stern look that had scared him as child. It still
scared him.
"I know a lot more than you might think, boy. And if you still have a brain
in your head, which I doubt, you'll come with me."
"And if I refuse to play your game?" he asked her, full of false bravado.
Livia was as calm as he'd always known her to be. "Then I will have Quintus
here take out his sword and decapitate you on the spot. You will 'not'
revive from that, I assure you."
Gaius thought it over. Livia was perfectly capable of carrying out her
threat, and he knew it. Plus, he had the idea that she was telling him the
truth. He had nothing to lose by going along with her, for now.
"All right. Lead the way. I want to see the faces of the Praetors when they
see me again-just before they die."
"I'm sure that you do. We'll arrange it somehow. But first-"
"We talk, yes, yes. I have a lot of questions, great grandmother," he said
calmly as he looked forward to the prospect of what he would be able to do.
She'd said, 'Immortals. Wasn't that the same as being gods? Or just as good?
"And I have a lot of answers," she said, confidently.
========
Caracas, Venezuela
March 26, 2013
Gaius, now known as the Blond, could still remember the look on Arrecinus'
and Cassius' and Senator Marcus Vinicius' faces, just before they were cut
down, he regarded those as some of the most wonderful moments in a long life
filled with wonderful moments. Even remembering it now made him smile.
Although they'd had to leave Rome, he and Livia had cut quite a swath
through Europe, Africa, and the Orient since the first century C.E., and
although he could have beheaded the old hag many times over, Gaius was
clever enough to realize that he was not smart enough to stay alive on his
own-as Livia was not physically strong enough to stay alive on her own
either. Together, however, they were unstoppable.
Not that they were always together. At one point, in the beginning, they had
separated for quite a while, at his insistence. He'd felt burdened by the
old hag, always telling him what to do, always doing his planning for him.
He was young and strong and intelligent, and even if he was not truly a god,
he might as well be, considering. Though he'd trained diligently to learn to
decapitate his enemies, it had taken only two close calls with true
swordsmen for him to realize that he himself would never be a true
swordsman, and that his best bet sometimes lay in 'avoiding' challenges
rather than issuing or even accepting them. This was easier said than done,
and almost one hundred fifty years to the day after his death in 41 C.E.,
Gaius had gone in search of someone who was smart enough to keep him alive,
and who wanted to. His great grandmother, the old hag, Livia.
========
The island of Corsica, off the Italian coast
191 C.E.
"Ave, Livia Drusilla. I have decided to join you for a while," Gaius said.
He looked down at the tiny, frail woman reclining on a couch, having her
noonday meal. Behind her, as always, were two skilled bodyguards. These were
the latest, and like all her other bodyguards before them, were ready to
kill and die for her. Livia, at almost ninety, was unable to fight Immortals
herself, but her hired help was very well trained and loyal, and Gaius was
sure they could and would decapitate him at a word from her.
He took a long breath. "It would not do to leave such an old, helpless woman
at the mercy of stray Immortals. I can protect you from them." He wanted to
reinstate their relationship with him as the leader. But that hope was
dashed immediately when she cackled. Gods, she sounds just like a witch.
"Well, my little emperor, I'm certainly glad to have you back at my beck and
call," she said, very amused. "So, just like before," she added, laughing
again, "while another Immortal attacks you, I can get away!"
He hated it when she called him 'my little emperor'. But to her credit,
Livia had never abandoned him to fight an Immortal she didn't think he could
handle-and she had always been a good judge of that. Much better than him.
Still, the main reason Gaius wanted to be with her was to take advantage of
her wiles in avoiding challenges, not fighting them.
She laughed long and hard, her mostly toothless mouth open, tempting Gaius,
one more time, to take her head. But he couldn't-he's the one who'd come to
her, after all.
"I suppose you've gotten past that stage where my 'old' body would amuse
you," she ventured, her eyes sparkling.
"Yes." Gaius had been his own great grandmother's lover when he was in his
teens and Livia was sixty, when she'd thought he'd be emperor someday and
wanted to please him. But now she was more than 'ninety'! Even if he'd
wanted her, he had no leverage with her. Or did he? Why else hadn't she had
one of her bodyguards decapitate him, as she'd threatened when he'd first
become
an Immortal? He was young then, but now . would she accept him as her
partner? "I assume you still don't want my head," he ventured.
"No," she stated, all trace of humor gone. "I don't consider you a threat.
And you haven't come back for mine, have you?" she asked dangerously.
"No. Of course not. No."
"It will be nice to have someone around me from Rome as it was," she said,
her dark eyes looking off into the past. Then she shook herself and came
back to the present. "I will then assume we can be. partners. Like before."
Before he'd felt stifled, controlled by her. Well, if he couldn't rule her,
at least-"Equal partners,"
Gaius insisted.
Livia smiled. "Not quite equal, my boy. I have something to show you first."
Turning to rise to her feet-which she did very slowly and laboriously-she
murmured, "You're very tired from your trip." Her already grave somber voice
lowered in pitch. "In fact, you absolutely must sit down right now."
Her voice was hypnotic, mesmerizing. Gaius found himself going to the
nearest bench and sitting, even though he hadn't felt the slightest need to.
A moment before he'd been energetic, full of life. But now that she'd
mentioned it, he was indeed, tired. Exhausted, in fact.
"Why don't you lie down?" she suggested quietly.
Her voice echoing in his head, Gaius lay down on the marble floor of the
Italian villa as if it was what he wanted-no, what he 'needed' to do.
She stood and came to him, standing over him. "Good. You may get back up
now."
Gaius blinked in disbelief. He was standing again, and couldn't remember
what had happened except that he'd wanted to do 'exactly' what Livia had
asked him. In fact, he couldn't have done anything differently, even if it
had been harmful to himself. He was frightened, more frightened of her now
that he'd ever been before-but he had to ask, had to know. "What in the name
of all the Gods was that?
Livia shook her head. "You were never the smartest man, Gaius, but I never
found you lacking in boldness. Most men would have run from the room
screaming-but you're still here, asking questions. Bravo."
Gaius nodded, accepting her well-deserved compliment. But he hadn't
forgotten what she'd just done to him, how she had completely overcome his
will. Before he could ask again, she explained, "That was the Voice, my
dear. And tonight I will introduce you to my mistress, the one who taught
the Voice to me."
"Your mistress?" he asked, even more frightened, if possible, than before.
His legs felt so weak he thought he might have to lie down again. Livia had
never called anyone master or mistress-not even her lord and her husband,
Caesar Augustus. "Who-"
"Her name is Lilitu, and she is older than time. Older even than the Greek
gods, the Olympians, or the Titans before them. In fact, she is truly . a
goddess." Livia's voice was filled with awe.
"She's . an Immortal?" Gaius ventured.
Livia laughed. "Of course. But she's much more than that. She's ." The old
Roman woman paused, then added, ". the most powerful being I've ever known.
It is an honor to serve her."
Gaius was thinking furiously. "Then I will have to . serve her also."
"If you intend to stay with me, and stay alive, you damn better well serve
her. But you'll see when you meet her-you'll be honored to be her slave.
Honored." Livia smiled. "Perhaps, if you're very, very lucky, Lilitu might
even permit you to touch her 'old' body." And with that, she cackled again,
throwing her carefully coiffed head back in wild merriment.
That night, when the goddess Lilitu arrived, she graciously permitted Gaius
to touch her, but even if she hadn't, the young Roman was totally and
completely ensorcelled, and became her willing slave at once and forever.
========
Caracas, Venezuela
March 26, 2013
Over the centuries, Gaius had discovered that Livia was usually always
right. His great grandmother had certainly been right about Lilitu,
enchantress, Goddess, the beginning and the end of everything, a power like
none other. Mistress of the world. He soon called her all that too, and had
been serving her well for two millennia. Now Lilitu had called on them again
for one last battle against mankind. And as always, Gaius Caesar Germanicus
Caligula, the young Roman emperor, and Livia Drusilla, the aged Roman
empress, Immortals both, obeyed Lilitu's call.
========