The Dark Father

[Idrial]

Maria had dropped Sam off at the Ward, walked her to the classroom before leaving Sam to her own demise for a while. She had arrived two hours early because of the emotional roller-coaster that had erupted over the last few days. Sam had found out that her brother Scott was in a dark place right now, she vowed to help him as Sam refused to lose another family member to the void. She wanted to scream, cry and shout but instead she kept her true emotions bottled up. She did not want any one to see that she felt so weak and helpless inside.

She was also disappointed in Jake, he had come home and badly injured from a massive fight. He was just so fucked up when he walked through the door; Sam had wondered had Jake thought about her at all during the fight? Her neck would not stop tingling and she asked Jake over and over to see who he had locked away in the dungeon. When Jake asked her, "Why?" Sam would become tight lipped and fumble her words, it did not help the situation.   

She did not want to open her mouth about her sister Shannon, she had not told Jake about what her dead sister did that night. Denied at every request Sam in a rage left the White Rabbit and over the next few days remained at Maria’s place outside of the city. It was probably safe to say that Jake had been confused by Sams actions and once again Sam did not care in her moment of anger. 

Maria had called Jake so that he would not worry about his child, telling him this is a delicate matter. The two girls talked and with a lot of prompting from Maria it was decided that Sam would tell Jake everything. Sam was still scared of getting closer to Jake even though their relationship had made leaps and bounds it was hard to open up to Jake.   

One reason was the guilt that still plagued her heart when it came to the death of her family. The second reason, she did not want to get attached to Jake just to lose him. She wanted Jake to be around for a long time, she would not survive if Jake died. She shook her head and began to focus on the lesson for today’s class, she would worry about talking to Jake after this was done.

Sam placed her lesson plan on the desk while picking up four white board markers, in red she wrote the word ’Caine’ then she drew three black arrows. One the end of one arrow she wrote in blue ’Enoch’ and at the end of the other two arrows in green she placed two question marks. Giving a nod of satisfaction she sat nimbly at her desk looking over the lesson plan one final time.

Soon her students started to pour in she gave them a friendly nod or wave as they piled into the classroom. Some chatted away while others turned their attention to what Sam had written on the board, it made her smile just a little. She looked up at the clock and in a calm voice addressed the classroom.

“You have ten minutes to finish up whatever you are doing and then we will begin,” turning her eye’s back to her lesson plan she waited until her students were sitting at attention before she would begin her lesson. It would also give time for those last minute stragglers to walk into the classroom, once the ruffling of binders, papers and chairs ceased she would begin.

[WorstEvangelist]

As bodies filed passed they appeared on his page with a flourish. A horrifically gnawed pencil captured their likeness as it flashed across a worn notepad like a jagged splinter of graphite in his clownish hands. The images were flawless in their monochromatic perfection, ethereal memories taken directly from the mind and buried into the paper. Or so it appeared at first glance. What spectral details had caught the eye of the artist had also been captured on the notepad. Fleeting traces of agony lined the portraits, an empty loneliness shaded their still eyes. And when all the students had taken their seats, he sketched that too, the classroom filled, the chairs- still chairs- but somehow headstones, the desks like graves. Ash falling through the hourglass.

Hidden under a large straw sun hat, Reeves stayed at the back, opting to stand rather then destroy a chair. He cheerfully tittered away, scratching at his dirty notepad as the floorboards silently cried in protest from under his feet.

There was just something about disrupting a classroom, he marvelled. The micro political relationship between an authoritative teacher figure and the social student body reminded him briefly of vampiric influence in the City. Structure, control, power, whether shared, enforced or bargained for were phantasmal concepts he reasoned, and who could say what ghosts were really there? Reeves eagerly glanced over his shoulder but of course, he smiled, only the wall was there.

At the sound of the teacher's voice the wraith snickered in spite of himself. He opened the craggy jaws of his mouth to call out but stopped as his mismatched gaze focused on the woman. He had been about to put his hands down his pants and ask if she could 'finish up' for him, but instead Reeves just bit his lip, a sour grin tugging at the corners of his dry lips.

[Idrial]

Something heavy crossed the floor of her classroom that caught her attention. In a flash of looking up she saw a figure that was not present the other day, returning her eye's to notes intrigued. This was going to be interesting, he gave off a scent that was unfamiliar. Promptly she set her notes to the side as the talking started to die down, her head swiveled towards the man that remained standing in the back. His straw hat covering his face as she stood up.

Some students peered to the back of the classroom, some stayed facing the front. She came to the front of the class in confidence. "My name is Sam and I welcome you to my class. May I ask for your name?" She spoke in a polite tone wanting to make him feel welcomed no matter what species of supernatural he may be.       

[WorstEvangelist]

The warped man did not respond, instead continuing to scratch away with his pencil and pad. With the classroom settled down, Sam's question seemed to hang dead in the air, swinging from a noose. Only the scraping of the standing man seemed to fill an uncomfortably extending silence, increasing in volume as more quizzical heads turned to take notice of the stranger. It was as if the whole room unconsciously held it's breath in anticipation for a reply, a voice, a whisper, anything that would chase away the clawing against paper that could be heard from behind their eardrums. Then the unknown visitor looked up, revealing a face like a grinning skull.

“Oh!” Reeves searched around startled “Me?” he asked, clumsily stuffing his notepad and pencil into his trousers while hastily brushing himself off. It had only been an innocent lull in conversation, a scarce moment of silence brimming with the sounds of shuffling feet and the reassuring tick-tock of a wall clock. Certainly not the empty eternity that had seemed to crawl into the classroom only a moment ago. The wraith laughed nervously folding his hands behind his back. “I'm... err... Georges?” he offered cheerfully.

Although the human...ish creature seemed pleasant enough, there was something insincere behind his irregular eyes. 

[Idrial]

Intrigued more by what the humanoid creature was drawing rather than concentrating on the lull of silence that filled the air at the moment. Although when George finally looked up, stashing away his pencil and paper in a flash. His sunken in eyes locked onto Sam`s own gaze; she knew this was a creature she definitely did not encounter at any point in her lifetime. While little gasps here and there filled the room her reaction was not the same as her own students.

His nervous behavior seemed normal as all eyes were on him at the moment, she did not see anything wrong with his admission to the classroom. “It`s very nice to have you here George. Since you are new I will do a quick recap of what happened last class.“ Still smiling with glee towards George.

It took about ten minutes of her time but she was glad to do it, now that he was caught up she continued her lecture where they had left off the previous time. Wanting to have more a classroom discussion than last class of just Sam speaking and them listening. She wanted their input and thoughts on the subject, so she decided to try a different approach this time around.

“After Caine left the Land of Nod, abandoning Lilith and walking away with his new found powers. What do you think Caine thought when he left the Land of Nod, before he came to discover the City of Enoch.“ Some of the heads turned at the name Enoch as it was a new bit of information. At first silence filled the room before she made a tsk tsk sound.

“Come on people I want to hear your opinion,“ as she walked up and down the length of the classroom at the front. Not wanting to be that teacher to call on the new kid to answer, then again maybe he would be the one to give a surprise answer. She waited patiently as she playfully crossed her arms, nice and loose across her chest.   

[WorstEvangelist]

Reeves fiddled restlessly with a piece of straw from his hat, his face sinking once again into the shadows of it's broad brim. The information was interesting and probably useful, but still ethereal fingers spilled unbidden from his emaciated form to cascade through the room. It was all the wraith could do not to throw everyone's papers up into the air and shatter the fluorescent bulbs lining the ceiling. The mere thought was enough to carve a wider smile onto his face, causing a few empty chairs to rattle mirthfully from behind their desks.

He peeked out from under his headgear with one pale, unseeing eye. The walking corpse was going on about some vampiric genesis or something, but Reeves was having trouble understanding her over the disembodied whispers only he could hear.

She'd be alright, the revenant admitted to the whisperer, if only she could stop moving around so much. Corpses shouldn't move. It probably had something to do with all that stolen blood he could feel jumping around inside her veins. A classic cosmetic disaster. Blood belonged on the outside.

He half glanced at the other students, who were busy taking down notes. Reeves sighed, content. A choking, gargling sound not unlike a death rattle. What had called him to this not-dead corpse of a lecturer didn't matter really, so he'd ignore it. It was natural, like how a storm summoned clouds. Eventually the sky would open up and drown them all. Well, at least it would if Reeves had anything to say about it.

“Ooh! Oh! Oh! Pick me! I know what he was thinking,” the wraith cried out, excitedly waving his hand in the air, hat flopping this way and that. “Cain was probably all like...” Reeves hunched his shoulders and turned down the corners of his mouth “Waah! We're all just motes of dust adrift in an uncaring void,” he reapplied his cheerful smile, knife like teeth showing behind thin, cracked lips “But the future is an adventure, might as well go see what all the fuss is about.”

[Idrial]

Samantha stopped on a dime as George raised his waving hand high up into the air, shouting out cries that made some of the students turn their attention to the newest student. It was the first time she had seen his pale eye, he could be blind was her conclusion. It did not bother Sam, nor did his sharp like teeth that filled his mouth.

Some of her students seemed a little nervous with the new arrival. Nothing that would create the students to "freak out" so to speak. She kept calm and answered back taking a few steps forward towards George to ease their illogical thoughts. 

"That is one theory," she had a smirk on her face. Returning front of the room she spoke, "It is said that for many ages Caine wandered in loneliness after he had broke away from Lilith. Others say that Caine did not walk in loneliness but rather the sin of killing his own brother is why he steered clear of anyone; for he was the first murder. He could potentially do it again." Waiting for the last stragglers to finish writing their notes.

"Whatever the reason Caine could not resist the temptation to create someone like him. So he sought out a city to settle down in, the people knew of his curse and feared his power. Ruled by King Enoch," she paused and pointed to the name on the board written in blue. A sign to pay attention and scribble down notes if needed. 

"Not long after Caine arrived Enoch relinquished his throne so that Caine could rule instead. Why?" Looking at her students again waiting for a hand or even an answer from the group.