Ink

“Is this it?” Jake lifted the book from off Cam’s pillow as he sat down on the bed.

Cam nodded, he was standing across the room, not wanting to get anywhere near the book. Ironic how just a few hours ago he couldn’t wait to get up to his room, and draw the insignia on his arm. Now all he wanted was the damned thing to come off. He lightly traced the scars with his fingers. They didn’t hurt. In fact they looked days old.

Jake traced the insignia with the tip of his finger. He wasn’t looking up. “This is what’s on your arm right?”

“Yeah.” Cam’s throat hurt. He hadn’t been able to scream through the blinding pain that racked his body after the tattoo, but he’d strained his throat muscles just as if he’d had.

“Looks pretty cool.”

Cam stared at his brother as if he were an alien creature. He watched Jake tracing the insignia with his fingers. His brother looked . . . entranced! Cam crossed the room in three lunging strides and snatched the book away. He tossed it to the floor at the other side of the room. “Don’t look at it Jake. Y-You’re looking at it just like I-I was.” He hated the trembling in his voice, but he couldn’t help it.

Jake held up his hands as if to say ‘don’t blow my head off will ya!’ “Okay, Cam I won’t look at it if you don’t want me too, but I’m having a really hard time believing all this. I mean, I know you don’t usually make things up, but you sure you weren’t dreaming?” The little voice in his head reminded him about the electrical currents he’d felt under Cam’s shirt and down his arm. Jake told the voice to shut the hell up! He needed to be strong for Cam, not theorizing about shit that couldn’t possibly happen.

“Does this look like I was dreaming?” Cam yanked up his sleeve. He was feeling a little desperate to get Jake to believe him. If Jake didn’t believe him, then no one would. Cam couldn’t go through this alone.

“When DID that happen?”

Cam pointed at the book. It had closed when he tossed it on the floor. Thank God. “I used an ink pen to draw that insignia you just saw. Then, when I was almost done, something strange happened—“ Cam took a deep breath and sighed. “You have to believe me Jake. Something happened, I don’t know. .. it…it was like I had a seizure or something. I was in so much pain, and then there was light everyway. I passed out and when I woke up I had this. I didn’t do this to myself Jake. I wouldn’t do something like this. You know me?!” His eyes were pleading for Jake to give him the answer he so desperately needed.

Jake nodded slowly. “This is crazy, Cam.” He held up his hand to silence Cam from speaking. “But I’m going to trust you.” ‘Because I felt something too Cam. I feel something now. As a matter of fact just touching you makes my skin crawl,’ he thought.

Cam nodded and Jake thought he was going to cry again but he didn’t. What he did was pick up the book, using just two fingers to pinch the binder. “We need to destroy this. Burn it! Whatever!”

Jake shook his head. “There may be something in it that can tell us about that tattoo on your arm. We just can’t burn it.”

“It’s in Latin.”

“Then we’ll translate it. We can use a translator on the computer.”

Cam nodded reluctantly.

Jake stood up and headed towards the door. Cam squinted down at his brother’s pants. “ I’m going to go boot up the laptop okay?” Jake said over his shoulder.

“Jake! Wait a minute. You’ve got something on your jeans.”

Jake twisted around, trying to look. He slid his hands over his bottom, trying to see what Cam was talking about. His hand came away smeared black. Some of the dark flakes drifted to the floor. “What the hell was on your bed Cam?”

Cam blinked, looking confused. Then a look of dawning horror crossed his face. “Paper.” It came out as a whisper. “I was surrounded by drawings I’d made of the insignia when . . . I had the attack.” His mind had blanked out most of the memory of what had happened. Some things your mind just rejects. It’s easier to stay sane that way. All Cam could remember was light and pain. He didn’t remember the lightning that had crumbled the papers to ashes, at all.

*****

There were scorch marks and holes in the navy blue comforter as well. There were also a few singed spots in the carpet. Jake helped his brother change the covers, because it was something nice and normal they could do together.

Neither brother was particularly fond of delving back into the book. As the older brother though, Jake refused to let Cam handle the book anymore. He’d rather take the risk, but Cam wouldn’t leave him alone with it. So he and Cam curled up on his bed. Cam had drifted off to sleep with his head pillowed on his brother’s leg.

Jake’s leg was dead to the world but he wouldn’t have asked his brother to move for anything. On the nightstand next to his bed was the book. He had the laptop balanced on the other leg, taking turns imputing Latin into a translator, and cutting and pasting the data onto Microsoft word. With each click of a button his dread increased. A few of the words the translator couldn’t even recognize, but Jake had enough to make sense of what he was reading.

Jake looked at his wristwatch. Mom worked doubles on Fridays. They had about three hours until she got home. That was plenty of time to tell Cam what he had on his arm. Plenty of time for Cam to freak out and Jake to calm him down. That way they’d be as normal as possible when Mom got home.


*****
“You should drink this.” Jake pushed a cup of juice into his brother’s hands.

Cam frowned back at him. “I’m not a baby Jake. Tell me what you found out.” The look Jake gave him doused any more anger that might have flared up at his brothers hedging.

“His name is Cithru.”

“What?”

“The demon mark on your arm. It belongs to Cithru!”

The cup slipped from Cam’s fingers, hit the ground, and belched grape juice everywhere. Cam’s bare toes got soaked, but he didn’t feel it. He was too busy learning how to breath again. As if the sound of his name called to it, the ‘mark’ on his arm began to burn. Cam clapped his hand over the mark and felt a tingling sensation run up his hand. He quickly took his hand away.

Jake continued to speak. He’d get it all out. It’d be easier this way. “I looked Cithru up on the Internet half a hundred times Cam, and there is no record of any such insignia. I think the books the only one. The way the book describes him you’d think he was Zeus or something. His symbol is the lightning bolt. He is one of the oldest and most powerful creatures to ever walk the earth.

He was worshiped, as a God once, but there is not much information on that. Those who took his faith received his mark. There were some sketchy details about how he was sealed in a tomb, immersed in holy water, and chained with crosses. There is also a legend that says he will be set free only when his people walk the Earth again.

Me!

Stupid! Stupid! Stupid! What he had done went beyond stupid. He’d fucked up so bad. Cam sunk to the floor in the puddle of juice, and dropped his head into his hands.

A hand touched his shoulder, and Cam yelped, nearly jumping out of his skin.

“Hey, we’ll burn the book, yeah?” He held out a hand to his brother. “Maybe that’ll destroy the mark.”

Cam allowed himself to be pulled to his feet. He nodded, but whether it was for his own sake or Jake’s he didn’t know. Either way he was sure of one thing. Destroying the book wouldn’t destroy the mark. Jake, he thought, knew that too.