Tetromet A.D. Part Two by Ezekiel Kincaid
(READ PART ONE HERE)
Before the smog got bad Mason began to use a compass to chart directions. He knew the fall out would get worse and he was right. Sometimes it was hard to see ten feet in front of you. He had also made landmarks on the way to the Tetromet tree and now he was glad he did. He knew one day he would want to come back.
Mason had studied the stories of the Tetromet but never expected anything like what happened fifteen years ago. He didn’t believe any of the legends and had no idea these things had already been in motion for years.
Mason had read the ancient documents The Book of Saul and The Gospel of Thaddeus. He was familiar with the happenings in the early 1800s with Dr. Charles Whitfield and his daughter Theodosia. Dr. Whitfield was a scholar of ancient documents and religions at the University of North Carolina. He was the one who translated The Book of Saul and was the leading authority on the Tetromet legends. His daughter Theodosia was supposedly seduced and possessed by the Tetromet and went on a cultish killing spree, eating the bodies of those she murdered.
So, who was the Tetromet?
His name was Shamsiel and he was once the cherub who guarded the Tree of Life in the Garden of Eden. He grew fond of the Yahweh’s first created woman, Lilith. Lilith was full of lust and was seduced by Samael, or as some have called him, Lucifer. Their union brought forth demon offspring and Lilith soon realized she was used by Samael just to create this horde.
Yahweh found out about this abomination of a union and cursed Lilith from ever being able to eat from the Tree of Life or find redemption. The news of Yahweh’s decree angered Shamsiel. He loved Lilith and thought she should have forgiveness available like the rest of humanity would. The enraged Shamsiel used his flaming sword to chop down the Tree of Life and destroy all its fruit.
Shamsiel’s rash action brought Yahweh’s judgment. He was cursed and his form changed. He lost his angelic glory and morphed into the beast of nightmares. His head turned into a giant, black goat skull with no eyes. His body was now feline like with black fur and red stripes. He grew a tail and this tail was a giant serpent. Once his transformation was complete, he hunted down Samael and killed him. He then tried to fight Yahweh and the rest of the Sons of God. He was sentenced to be imprisoned to the Ethereal Plane and Lilith was put to death.
But there was one thing Lilith left for him. One thing which would connect them with each other and the earth—a tree. A tree of love and death. A tree which, when enough branches grew, would strengthen Shamsiel and give him the ability to cross over. The only way a branch could grow was for Shamsiel to devour a soul. The only way he could devour a soul was for someone to kill in his name and eat the sacrifice. To those who would serve him he had the power to turn them into his own demons to aid him.
Shamsiel could influence people from the Ethereal Plane and his influence grew over the years until one day he grew powerful enough to travel through the void between The Plane and the reality of space-time. Throughout the years he had become known as the Tetromet. A mixture of a Latin and Hebrew word which when combined means “the dreadful death.”
And such a name couldn’t be more fitting.
Mason arrived at the first landmark; two rotting logs arranged in a V shape with rocks thrown in the middle. From there he knew the path would curve to the right in about twenty yards and then in another ten yards veer to the left. The second marker should be around there.
And it was. He had wrapped an old Christmas sweater around the tree. It was the one Maggie was wearing…
“Shit!” Mason clenched his head with his hands. Another memory surfaced. It was two weeks before Christmas when the world went to shit.
Maggie was wearing the sweater when she died. He hadn’t been out here since he marked the way a month after their deaths. He shouldn’t have been so stupid to use the sweater, but he didn’t know the memories would be this crippling. He couldn’t deal with looking at the sweater at the time, so he brought it out here as a marker to avoid it. Now the pain was screaming at him.
Mason barges into the front door with his daughter’s head in his hand. It sways like a Jack-O-Lantern as he grips it by the hair.
“Maggie,” he yells. “The tree! The fucking tree! The one with the sacs!” He steps into the living room and glances around.
None of the furniture is moved. Everything is just as it should be. The only thing out of place is his daughter’s head he is holding in his hand.
“Mason! Please—” Maggie’s voice is cut short by a watery gurgling sound.
Mason stumbles into the kitchen. One of the demons is standing on the kitchen counter. The creature is bathed in blood. Maggie’s body is cut open and laying on the counter underneath the demons spread legs. From her stomach to her chest she is ripped open and her organs are lying beside her. Blood gushes over and her dead eyes are frozen in panic.
Mason drops Annalise’s head on the ground.
“Maggie! Oh, dear God! What the fuck!” Mason lunges at the demon and grips it around the ankles.
The demon falls onto the body of Maggie, making her blood and organs splash all over the kitchen.
Mason is covered in the blood of his wife. He can smell the stench of the demon and the deep copper scent of Maggie’s blood.
“You fucking evil shit!” Mason drives a forearm into the demon’s lower back.
The demon howls and screams then swipes its knifed fingernails at Mason.
Mason dodges the strike then notices the knife block is in reach. He grabs the butcher knife and removes it from its place. He stabs the demon in the upper back and the demon howls in pain with a voice sounding like gravel being thrown around in a blender. White blood seeps from the wound and Mason draws out the knife. He stabs again and again until the demon falls to its knees. The demon’s body is filled with splotches of gushing, white gashes. Mason grabs the demon by its horns and tilts its head back, exposing its neck. Mason stabs the knife through the demon’s throat. The demon makes deep gurgling noises then falls to the floor dead. Its warm blood intensifies the Sulphur and rotting fish smell of the demon.
Mason places his face in his arm and coughs. He remembers Maggie and fixes his gaze on the counter. His lips quiver and his teeth chatter. Tears of sorrow and rage flow down his face. He feels as if he is floating or he is in a fever dream. The copper smell of Maggie’s blood is now mixing with the stench of the dead demon.
Maggie’s dead body is forever frozen in Mason’s mind. He just stands there and stares. He doesn’t say a word. Never did he think he would see the insides of his wife on the outside of her body. He gazes at her ribs. Her bones are much whiter than he expected. He listens as her blood flows off the counter and drips on the floor.
Mason flinches with ever pitter patter of crimson rain as it hits the floor.
Splat…
Flinch…
Splat…
Flinch…
Splat.
Flinch.
Splat.
Flinch.
Splat. Flinch. Splat. Flinch. SplatFlinchSplatFlinchSplatFlinch.
“Ahhhhhhhhhhh!” Mason opened his eyes and screamed.
The scene was over, and he was back to the present. But they would come again. They always did. Mason placed his hands by his side and drew slow, heavy breaths.
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