I, Death

Sin Eater: Chapter 10

It was always after the painkiller was injected that Peter’s angel-like mystery benefactor would appear.

The young doctor or nurse — Peter wasn’t sure the man’s actual role, nor even his name — didn’t speak to him about anything other than his health, how he felt, or offering an update on how he seemed to be doing. The only conversation or even human contact Peter had was with the tall dark figure.

Peter wasn’t sure how much time had passed; whether it had been a few days or even a week. But when he finally was able to speak through the pain and drug-induced haze, his first words were to the mystery man.

“Thank you,”

The man simply smiled down at Peter, the light from the window behind him casting him in the same angelic haze Peter remembered from the alley.

“Rest, my son,” he said gently, and Peter dripped back off into the darkness.

The next time Peter saw him and was starting to heal, his words were inquisitive rather than appreciative.

“Who are you?”

“I am your destiny, Peter,” the man said.

Again, Peter slipped back into the darkness.

The next time he awoke, the man was still standing above him, looking down on him with an affectionate grin.

Peter again asked the question.

“My name is Bryan,” the man said. “And you need not do this alone any longer.”

Again, the darkness consumed Peter, despite his struggle against it.

§         §         §

Bryan explained to Peter that he too had been living on the street, confused, hurt and alone; unsure of where his next meal was coming from or where he could find shelter and remain safe from the elements and those who sought to harm others.

Over the course of an entire afternoon, broken by brief passages of Peter’s loss of consciousness, Bryan shared his tale of the stranger who took him under his wing and taught him basic martial art skills in order to survive.

“This man, whose name I never learned, somehow found me every day, no matter where I wandered,” Bryan said. “He brought me food, clean clothing. He taught me simple moves of self-defense.

“I never understood why he was helping me; but I knew, I just knew he was there to protect me. I could sense it in him. Whenever I asked why he was so kind to me, why he was being so generous, he would shake his head and say that the fates had guided him my way. He said when the time was right, the fates would speak to me too, and reveal my destined path.

“Months passed; I still never learned his name. But he continued to find me, and explained the need for people to clean up the ills of society.

“He said that people like us were destined to live among the down-trodden, that we became stronger from helping others; our goal was to protect the weak, defend the innocent and use our powers for good.”

“P-powers?” Peter asked.

Bryan nodded his head, closing his eyes, seeming to struggle with what he was about to reveal.

“I seem to have been born with a bizarre affliction.”

His ribs protesting in pain, Peter tried to sit up, get closer to this man.

“You were?”

“Yes. Since I was a youth I have been able to know things that I shouldn’t know. About someone. About their intensions, their desires; what turned them on, what frightened them.

“It was something which was difficult to explain. Nobody believed me when I told them. Sure, some of my friends offered sympathy, some professed to empathize. But nobody really understood what it meant.

“When I meet people, I can see right through them. I can understand their nature, see the brightness and blemishes of their very soul. I can detect the evil in some men; and it reeks terribly in some.”

Stunned, Peter stared at Brecht with his mouth hung open.

“My mentor told me he understood what my destiny was; and his goal was to help me. So he trained me in martial arts, explained the necessity for me to use my powers for good — to acquire enough wealth that I could help others.

“But he also explained the difficult nature of my true destiny to help detect and wipe out the evil that runs through society, that I should continue to fight and overcome evil whenever I could.

“He explained that nobody would ever truly understand what I was; the power I possess, the good I was meant to play. I should, thus, keep my powers secret, until I met the person I was destined to take under my own wing.

“When I came upon you and the men who were attacking you in the alleyway, Peter, I immediately knew.

“Your name came to me, your special ability and your goodness shone through. They were beating you, crowding around you and there was an incredible stench of hatred, anger and fear surrounding them.

“But within that, your light, your goodness, your purity shone through.

“I saved you because, looking at you, even through the murk of their dirty souls, I could see it. And I knew.

“You were the one.

“The voice within my own soul told me the power you possessed, the one causing you so much conflict and pain, was the complementary element I had been seeking.

“It told me that I have been called to guide you on your Path.”

Fighting against the haze and pain, Peter smiled and a tear leaked from his eye. For the first time since this madness began it felt as if someone else finally understood him. Without questioning, without suspicion. This man, Bryan — Peter’s savior, understood him.

Peter finally spoke again. “My Path?”

“Yes, the Path you had already begun to take. Likely because there was a part of you that already knew.”

“Knew?”

“Yes. Your destiny, Peter. You were put here to help me clean up the ills of society. I can detect them, I can sense in my very nature, those who are so evil that there is no redemption; where the only answer, the best answer is death.”

“You detect them with your power?” Peter asked, an overwhelming sensation of relief flooding through him. “And I kill them with mine?”

Bryan smiled, placed a hand on Peter’s shoulder.

“Assassination of the truly evil. It is the highest form of public service.”

[The rest of this novel will continue to be rolled out on a regular basis here on Wattpad, but if you can't wait to read it, the print and eBook versions are available through all major online retailers. Publisher Atomic Fez's page (with links) is here:  http://www.atomicfez.com/book-catalogue/9781927609033.html]