Fantasma

Chapter 4: Origins

Leonardo sat amongst his candles, eyes shut, his jaw shut tight and clenched. His hands lay resting upon his crossed legs, but they were balled into tight fists. Michelangelo had forced horrible memories back in his mind, and now the turtle had to deal with them.

"What happened, what are you...? And why do you keep hurting those people-?" Like his own victims, the blue cladded turtle didn't remember the first assault that had taken him down- Forced onto the jungles dirt-ridden floor, his face pressed against the shrubbery and mud, something had wrenched his arms behind his shell as if he were a doll to be moved and positioned.

After a horrible run-in with some of the local thugs in the area, Leonardo was weak and he was dying. The Central American woman whom he'd befriended, had told him of a demon that preyed on those in his position- Abigor. The demon had come, but it was not there to make deals as the woman had told him, but to toy with him.

Blood covered the demon's mouth, trailing down her throat and splattering most of her barely-covered chest. The eyes stared at nothing, cold and azure in their sockets. The mouth hung slack, absolutely motionless. Because of the blood, it reminded Leonardo of nothing more than a slab of meat from a grocery store.

The demon smiled at him, wiping the turtle's blood from her mouth and licking her lips. As if tasting a savory wine, she licked every drop of crimson from her lips and let out a soft laugh. Her long black hair weaved in the wind and rested on her bare shoulders, shadowing the upper part of her face.

"I've been watching you for quite some time now, tortuga, and you are certainly interesting...' Her blood-sullied lips suckled on her finger and she laughed again. "I've lived for a long time, but never have I ever seen a creature like you. What are you? A spirit? A monster-?"

"Mu-m-mu-mutant...." Leonardo choked out as blood rose in his mouth and began to trickle done his lips.

The demon moved so fast that the blue cladded turtle thought that he'd passed out briefly. One moment she was standing, the next she had fallen over him, crushing him flat against the jungle floor. The black eyes were so close, the stench of fresh blood so strong, and her mouth opened to rows of teeth- bone white and covered in old gore, stained red.

"You're just- delectable." The demon whispered, her face now clear in the pale, white light of the full moon above. "Like I've said, I've been watching you for a while... Leonardo."

It was the Central American woman. The one who'd watched over him for weeks, nursed him like a mother to her child, was a monster, a demon. Leonardo's sapphire blue eyes widened and his blood ran cold in his veins. He'd failed again- he'd trusted a monster, a monster that was going to kill him.

"W-why sa-save m-m-me, on-only t-to ki-kill me...?" Leo gasped out, the sky above starting to dim as blood-loss began to kick in.

Abigor looked at him, clearly perplexed. "Kill you? Why would I kill such a stunning thing? Perfect in countless ways, the next evolution of man?" She placed a hand on his cheek. "You... fascinate me in a way no mere mortal has been able to in over a thousand years...! You feel, and give so much that I can't even begin to comprehend the way you work. It's like mapping out heaven, and describing it to one who's never gazed upon it..."

Leo opened his mouth, unable to breathe. He convulsively jerked, little more than reflexes as he felt himself going limp. Blood poured from his mouth, flowing from the wounds inside himself. She smiled, lowering against the blood that ran from him in thick rivers.

"Oh, but you will die." She whispered in his ear, her cold, lifeless breath chilling him to the bone, "But then you'll be born again as something more. A gift that only you can receive and I can give."