When I least expected it, my heart jumped out of my chest just as if I had began to fall. Suddenly and without warning, my eye caught something that would put everything else it had seen, to shame. It was just a glance at first and I was compelled to look again. Never before had I experienced that and I have yet to do so again.
I wish I would.
I wish I could cheapen the moment by experiencing it again.
And that is where Venge and this story/comic come in. I get to dredge up all the emotions that have been sacrificed on the altar of this project. I get to pull them out of the dusty, shadowed, recesses of my soul where I have hidden them away. I get to feel it all again and remember. Remember things that, very nearly, where lost.
I can't hold it in any longer, Kara.
"Finally," Greggor sighs refocusing his attention back to you, "we got all that out of the way. Now to the more relevant stuff."
"The man who would come to be known as Venge flew under the Observate radar for the majority of his life. That is, to say, that he did not stand out more than any of us. But, make no mistake, he is a very remarkable person. Little is know of his earlier days but we have been able to scrounge up a few facts. He was born to the name of Darren Victor Duvoss in a suburb of Seattle. He was born to a poor family and was the only child. He currently has no living relatives."
* * *
- The office is dark. A streetlight casts beams of light onto the floor. The vertical slats that hang from the window, glow softly with the outside radiance. Diagonal slivers of light revealed a body lying on the floor. It's feet shift unexpectedly at the sound of maniacal laughter.
- "It is time, Don Grange! Get yourself up and show the lady some respect," Venge exclaims with overwhelming abandon. Venge grabs the body by the shoulders and raises it up against the wall.
- A bloodied face glares at Venge with yellow eyes.
- "I hope you're not planning on killing me," says the body slumped in Venges arms, "You will find that quite difficult. I am immortal!"
- Don Grange suddenly begins to convulse uncontrollably, coughing up blood. Venge smiles despite his face being covered with a mask.
- "Wait *cough* how did you do this?" Don Grange asks, surprised, "How can you possibly *cough cough* harm me?"
- Venge drops the Don, letting him fall to the ground like a wet towel. Venge pantomimes as if he is rolling up his sleeves. In the blink of an eye, a blade appears at each forearm. They measure in length a total of three feet, starting at approximately the elbow and extending about two feet from the tips of his fingers.
- "Ta-dah!" Venge exclaims while motioning his arms wide. "These, my dear Don, are gifts from that whom you have eluded for far too long."
- Kneeling down beside Don Grange, Venge whispers in his ear, "Death."
- And, with a leap, a bound, and a twirl, Venge points a blade in the Dons direction, "You see, Grange, Death does not like your kind openly disrespecting her rules. Just because your ancestors were able to work with Lilith to find a way around it, does not mean it will not happen. Death will come for all Vampires!"
- "But, I have some good news and some bad news." Venge crouches next to Don Grange and begins seriously, "I am not here to kill your kind off. I will leave that for the Unpaladins. In fact, I will let all your lackeys live! But not you, Don Grange. You have taken it upon yourself to do Death's work for it. And expiring a soul before it's time makes problems. I get to solve those problems."
- And, with a final stroke from his blade, "I am your reaper," Venge severs Don Grange's hold on his physical body.
- "Thank you, Venge," speaks a voice in Venge's head, "Now I can be at peace."
- Venge shakes his head, "I did not do it for you, Anthony..."
- A dark cloaked figure materialises in the room. Only two fiery burning coals can be seen within the hood. And two skeletal hands can be seen protruding from the dark sleeves. In their grasp is a large and equally dark scythe.
- "... I did it for her."
