Samael’S Cup

By Kerry Lee Sutherland

Keira couldnt believe that an evening of surfing could change her life forever. One beautiful, summer twilight she was found by Theo, who bites her, takes her blood and gives her his in return. She thinks she is now a vampire but is soon to find out that the situation is a lot more complicated than that. Ten long years later, she is drawn into a crusade that crosses not just the planet, but time itself. Theo has been known by many other names in the past, names made famous through history and mythology. The goal? To destroy the Ancient enemy, Samael, his genetic manipulations and the devilish plan he began in long, lost Atlantis. While striving to bring the pieces of the quest together, Theo reveals his past to Keira, and the truth that she is the one he has been waiting for through all these long years.
Hate becomes love, enemies become friends and the fate of the world lay in the hands of a broken, hurting woman.

• Language: English
• Publisher: Xlibris US
• Release date: May 6, 2016
• ISBN: 9781514492055

Kerry Lee Sutherland

Kerry Lee Sutherland is an Australian nurse now living in Wyoming. She is passionate about the past, and has studied ancient civilizations all her life, since she discovered encyclopedias as a young child. Her hobbies include volunteering at the local museum learning fossil preparation, going on fossil digs and reading anything she can get her hands on about our ancient past. Currently she is attempting to learn to read hieroglyphics. She also has a weakness for a good supernatural thriller and her favorite author is Stephen King. One of her major goals in life is to impart a sense of wonder and passion in her readers, that will enable them to see the wonder in their own world and the passion to live every day to the full.

Book preview

CHAPTER ONE

T he Eastern horizon is aglow with the reflected fire of another sunset. The incoming waves are dark, the sunbeams glancing through to plumb the emerald and sapphire depths had left the sky, leaving a darkness of mystery and intrigue, rather than the cold, dark inkiness of death. This has always been my favorite time of day. Even in the times BEFORE. I can feel the fine, sun-warmed grit of the sand beneath my hands as I stretch back languidly with a body that is still attempting to wake from the long, dreamless sleep that I give in to every morning.

I have always been a night-owl, which was always a source of contention with my up-and-at-’em, the ‘early bird gets the worm’ parents who rose with the sun and always manage to fall asleep on the lounge room couch before the evening movie had started. An only child, it gets kinda old when every time you make a witty comment you realize by the light snores that you are just speaking to yourself. As a result, I always thought I was rather witty and clever, I was my only critic in those formative years!

As I ponder the past, I am almost subconsciously adding up the hours until I have to be at work, and whether I can fit in a quick, early evening surf. Of course, that is what got me into the trouble I am in right now, my love of surfing without the crowd, in the cool, evening peace where you feel at one with both the earth and the moon and their turnings.

With even the lightest of treads, the sand gives a distinct sound to alert the observant to the approach of another. That sound once gave me comfort, now it has turned sinister to me because it was the only warning I had to the event that shaped my life. That soft squeak still sends shivers up my spine. I feel the soft hair on the back of my neck raise, and all of my senses switch to overdrive. I sense the presence as it settles beside me with a suppleness that is inhuman. But I know this presence. Before he even speaks I know the sound will be both as smooth as silk, and as hard as adamantine. Much like it’s owner.

Keira. We have missed you.

Yeah, right! Like someone misses that smelly old Great Aunt at family gatherings.

Well, Theo, someone has to work. I loved my job as an E.R. Nurse, it not only challenged me intellectually, and yes, physically, but also helped me feel less of a parasite on the community, it gave me the sense that I actually had something to give back. Still, given my situation, I could only cope with a shift or two a week, but I was not about to let Theo in on that particular gem, although he was probably already aware of my work hours. It’s what he does . . . he knows things.

Of course, there is also the bond. It’s not something easily defined, but rather a subtle tugging at the core of your being, gently urging you to follow it to it’s source. Luckily for me, that bond is much weaker than those of my new family. You see, Theo is actually my father. Not the one that raised me from infancy, but the one that birthed me into this new existence. Theo is an original vampire.

CHAPTER TWO

D on’t laugh. It’s true. In all my years in church, I always thought the stories of werewolves, vampires, zombies and ghosts were either myth, or something from the demonic realm that had created its own legend. Our world of light and joy must have its antithesis to know what light and joy really mean. As humans, we think this is the case with aberrant human behaviors such as murder, rape and violent crimes, war and the inevitable famines caused by those wars. Children murdered or forced into slavery of one kind or another. Let me tell you that these things are the mere tip of the iceberg so to speak, there is evil out there far greater than man could ever hope to achieve. Of course, church and its narrow belief systems are now a thing of the past for me, life is not so black and white, there is just too much grey.

Enter Theo, or Theodorus, as he was known about 2000 years ago. He has had many names, some well known, others more obscure. Why he chose that particular name for this particular time, I have no idea. Who can possibly know the thoughts of one so ancient and so complicated? I can only guess as to whom he was in all these former lives, although I do have my suspicions.

I would not let him know that I have any true insight into his past- I think that would almost certainly be a death sentence for me, but even before I was changed, I often had insights into people that I didn’t even know. This seems to be enhanced since my birth into this new life. I have also always been a mad ancient history buff, to the point where reading Homer’s Odyssey and the histories of Herodotus were like bedtime stories for me. So, little comments, half remarks, words in passing have also helped me piece together I believe, a fairly accurate history of the one we call Theo.

The circumstance that led me to what I believe the actual beginning of all of this, was reading a book that mentioned a certain gene being specific to a very small spread of people across the globe, a gene seeming to originate in north eastern Anatolia, an area corresponding with biblical allusions to the Garden of Eden, with this particular gene being highly represented by what we now believe may be the Minoan civilization, the possible progenitors of all the Atlantis stories. That DNA haplogroup is named J2a1b1-M92. These were a people who thousands of years before Christ, had hot and cold running water, lived in a peaceful seafaring society that in all probability traded with not only the lands of the Mediterranean, but also India, Africa, the British Isles and even the Great Lakes of northern America! This gene is found in all these particular people groups. It is also found in very high proportions in the Druze people of Israel. And it is ancient. So, back to Theo.

Theo is tall. Not just catwalk tall, we’re talking NBL tall, probably a couple of inches under 7 feet! And built . . . he is no light-weight, sculpted muscles in perfect proportions, long, rich dark hair with a beautiful curl through it. Eyes as dark as night and soul-searchingly deep. Smooth, silken olive skin with fine almost imperceptible hair over his long, muscular arms and legs, and just enough chest hair (no back hair at all!!) He is the penultimate Greek god, and I suspect that many have succumbed to his charms. But when Alexander the Great was expanding the Greek empire towards India, Theo was already ancient, and I think may have already been considered a god. I have to be careful, though, just as he is ancient compared to me, he is also much more intelligent- scary intelligent.

CHAPTER THREE

I feel his scrutiny, an intense examination that feels as if it penetrates deep into the hidden parts of your soul. On that sandy beach, with the memory of the days warmth seeping into my perpetually cold feet, I turn to face him.

What is it, Theo? I asked in a tired voice. I know that it is more than simply ‘being missed’.

His deep eyes bore into mine. It works with just about everyone, just not me. You still have not succumbed.

I think I am the bane of his existence. In his thousands of years of his life I am the only person he cannot compel. Yes, that part of the myth is true. What we call vampires can compel humans to do whatever they like, although it is difficult to compel someone to do something that is against their strongest beliefs. However, only an original can compel a vampire that has been turned, or so I believe. Yep. I’m the only one. Vampires don’t really have ‘super powers’, but that compelling is pretty impressive. We are much stronger than humans, our senses heightened, our thought processes faster. Not superhuman, but certainly like nothing seen on this planet for many, many years. It enables them to keep up the ‘luxury to which they are accustomed’. It’s also why I choose to work. I will not give in to more nefarious means of supporting myself.

Sunlight does not kill us, although it is an uncomfortable feeling and seems to sap some of our strength, and death can only be achieved by decapitation or fire that cannot be escaped, a stake of any description through the heart. We heal exponentially quickly! We don’t age. I was turned at the age of 32, 10 years on I am still able to get away with people simply thinking that I look good for my age! My time here is growing short, and the pressure from Theo is becoming . . . let’s say, difficult.

So, I do one or two night shifts per week in the ER, hook up with my friend in the blood bank for a couple of units of expired blood (thankfully expiration dates makes no difference for vampire consumption!), and generally try to lay low. I surf in the evening, and don’t have to see my parents very much because they live hours up the coast. I can and do eat normal food, my tastes are heightened so flavors are amazing, but unfortunately I need human blood for sustenance. I am so grateful that we live in the days of the blood bank! I have a prodigious appetite for the written word, and have worked my way through just about every current author as well as the classics, from Steinbeck to Carroll, Jules Verne, George MacDonald, all the way back to Homer. In recent years my focus has been on old histories and myths in my search for the origin of the vampire.

I shrugged and answered Theo. Wouldn’t you be disappointed if I did? What other challenges would remain for you?

Theo smiled enigmatically. I have been waiting for my equal for eons my dove, I will wait a little longer. But know that you will be mine. No one has ever been able to withstand me.

As I pulled my eyes back to the ocean, the slight disturbance beside me vanished almost as quickly and soundlessly as it had arrived.

Time to surf!

CHAPTER FOUR

B efore I get too carried away, I’m going to bust open some myths for you. Please don’t get all precious, because it is simply the truth. All myths have some sort of basis in reality, the stories all come from somewhere, and it is why so many cultures share very similar mythology, such as a single man and his family surviving a massive flood. From such experiences comes the mythology surrounding vampires. We are still ‘human’ in the way our bodies function. Our hearts beat, we draw breath, most our hormones continue to work. The difference is, we become sort of ‘super’ human. Our bones are denser, our muscles stronger, our brains are more active, but no, we cannot reproduce. And imagine trying to control a sex drive that is even more powerful than the standard human . . . its terrible!

As I said before, we are exceedingly strong and very healthy. We cannot leap tall buildings ‘in a single bound’, and we are not eternal. Certainly VERY long-lived, our aging process is imperceptible, due to our strong immune systems and an enzyme we alone carry without harm because of that gene. Though any sort of stake through our hearts will kill us, good luck to anyone being strong enough to push something through our rib cage. Decapitation does work, but still, best wishes to anyone trying to cut through any of our bones with mere human strength. Garlic does not worry us, in fact, I still really enjoy a great garlic, cream and white wine sauce on pasta! Holy water . . . you guessed it, not a problem! If only it worked on the truly evil- our judicial system may be a bit different! Simply run the accused under a shower of holy water . . . no burns equals not guilty, and the guilty . . . well, no need for a prison system!

The end for most vampires actually comes from either internecine fighting or by the individual simply giving up and failing to consume human blood. We then die, just as a human will die when they refuse to eat.

There are actually very few of us, even on a world-wide scale. There are some regions that are more densely populated with our kind, purely because of the greater presence of the gene. You see, not just anyone can be turned into a vampire, the gene is essential to the transition, otherwise death is a certainty. That enzyme I mentioned earlier is fatal when introduce to a human without the gene. It is a particularly slow and painful death, and mistaken by human doctors often as being meningococcal which helps diffuse any possible questions.

Vampires have the ability to scent the genes presence in an individual. With most, they have to be ‘up close and personal’ because most people only have it from one grandparent, the gene is such a rarity. I, however, apparently reek of the gene. It’s why Theo found me sitting on the beach that warm summer evening. He and his very small family had been passing through when they all noticed something different in the air. No, it wasn’t my perfume. It doesn’t smell all that amazing, it’s not an aphrodisiac or something that sends vampires mad with thirst, it simply identifies to them that an individual is around who is ‘close’ to them, family, and it is something they all yearn for.

As I have had plenty of time to kill, so to speak, in recent years, I have done a very thorough job of researching my family tree. Lucky me, I have the gene from all four of my grandparents, a feat that has been unheard of for centuries at the very least . . . apparently. My forebears come from four different regions of the globe that are strong with the gene. Theo assures me that this makes me as close to the purebreds as anyone has been in a very long time. It is also what makes me so valuable to him- I believe that he thinks through me he has the chance to rebuild his race, but I am still uncertain as to his goal.

My greatest fear however, is not of how I have been changed, but rather what has always been in me. I have always felt what I describe as a ‘darkness’ within me. I have felt it all my life, and constantly struggled against it. Sure, I’ve always thought, everyone has darkness within. It’s like only a part of my life has been found, and that something profound was missing. I have always felt a greater empathy to the world around me than I let on. It nearly physically hurts me to see a tree pruned, or an animal in distress. For some reason, I don’t have the same depth of empathy for humans, which probably explains why I became a nurse and not a vet!

I have not told Theo much of this, although I know he senses its truth. My struggle is not so much with the loss of my previous life, but with my inner excitement at my new one. This absolutely terrifies me.

CHAPTER FIVE

I t is now full night. The brilliant stars are out- I can see so many more than I used to be able to, a fact that still thrills me even ten years on. I shake the water out of my long hair, grab my board and head up the beach. I can see the lone figure sitting at the high tide mark, still as the sphinx but watching me with eyes that move as if dancing lights were hidden in their depths. He just always looked so damn good. Beige chino’s and a white linen button down shirt left open at the neck, casual loafers and a devil may care attitude.

Keira, you are so graceful out there on your piece of foam. Theo’s melodious voice never fails to send a shiver up my spine, yet I resist.

And you, Theo, are as predictable as the sun rising. I had hoped to get away to work without another encounter this evening.

Come with me, Keira, I think it is time that we talked. I have taken the liberty of ‘calling in sick’ for you, so you do not need to be concerned about your place of employment. His lack of respect for my job and my opinions really rankled!

What right do you have to step in and change everything I know and love about my life! As if you haven’t changed it enough! My voice began rising so that a passersby on the boardwalk started looking in our direction. Theo rose to stand beside me and take my arm in his hand. I struggled to free myself but he was too strong, and I was starting to be afraid. He had never tried to physically force me at all, apart from the night I was turned. I had never fully been aware of the great physical strength he commanded, even though I had the strength of a vampire myself. I decided that it was probably best to simply allow him to lead me, I was surely allowed one sick day off in ten years! He guided me down the boardwalk, my surfboard still under my arm, to one of the mansions that lined that particular part of the beach. Still silent, he directed me to a guest room and indicated that I should freshen up. The wardrobe was full of clothes in my size.

Refreshed and dressed in a cool, comfortable gown of flowing silk (who was I to question the contents of the wardrobe!), I met Theo on the balcony, overlooking the black ocean that I had so recently been playing in. Blood? He asked, nonchalantly. I was about to decline when I saw him poor it into a glass from a blood bank container. Thanks, I am a little depleted! In reality, I had smelled the blood across the room and felt the delicious ache of my razor sharp fangs begin to descend in preparation. I was a little hungry, so I took the glass from his outstretched hand, not wanting to be impolite to my host, whom I had never quite seen this pensive before.

Theo’s actual house was in the mountains, about half an hour from the beach, so I had no idea to whom this beautiful abode belonged.

He must have seen the question in my eyes and volunteered, I have many secrets that you know nothing about, my Keira, and I believe it may be time to start telling you. I have never before felt the need to explain myself, and for the last ten years have awaited you coming under my thrall so I could keep the past in the past. I see now that you are very different and that finally I may be safe in telling someone my story, someone who will finally believe me, and believe in me, without compulsion. You are special, and yes indeed, I have been waiting for you for millennia.

He continued. I know that you have been afraid of me, and I know of your research. I am not angry, but rather I am thankful that finally someone has presented that may be able to understand.

Nothing he said at this point allayed my fears, I knew the stories of his ferocity and lack of forgiveness, and was not about to let my guard down around such a dangerous creature.

I think that I may have been wrong, keeping my silence these past ten years. I know the fear in your eyes and in your heart. Your Christian upbringing and indoctrination has made this quite difficult to know how to address, and I felt you needed time to realize that I am not the monster you believe me to be, and to give you time to slough off those old belief systems. However, as your research is showing you partial truth, I am now the one who feels compelled- to tell you my story as no other has heard it before. I will give you the truth, but I warn you, there will be parts that you do not like! He seemed sincere in his desire to allay my fear.

I was pretty sure that MOST of the story was not going to impress me all that much, bloodshed and wonton murder, degradation and genocide were not really bedtime stories I was eager to hear.

Tell me, Keira, would you say that threat and fear are good tools in controlling people? Theo looked thoughtfully at me.

Of course! They ensure obedience, but they make no room for love and loyalty.

And would you say that most fear me? The look still remained thoughtful rather than threatening.

My response came slowly. I would say that all fear you, myself included. For some reason, that made Theo laugh! A joyful, uninhibited sound that filled the room with good cheer, strangely I realized that I had never heard him laugh before.

Then my charade has been successful! Still chuckling, his face had become even more beautiful than before, something I didn’t think was possible. Be wary, I told myself, beware crocodile smiles even more than crocodile tears.

Theo beckoned me back inside, to the luxurious living room that opened onto the balcony. Gesturing me to sit, he settled into one of the two oversized couches that dominated the center of the room. With one of his long legs thrown over the arm of the white leather couch he reclined in, Theo took a sip of his half-filled glass. I was watching warily from the white couch that mirrored the one that Theo had draped himself over.

I was finally uncomfortable with the silence.

Why did you bring me here, Theo? What is different about tonight?

Because, Keira, it is time for me to unburden, and you are the one who will have to receive it. I have told you before that I have waited for you for thousands of years! I just hope that you are as strong as you appear to be. I hope you can bear it.

I must have looked skeptical, because Theo simply smiled enigmatically.

Please allow me to continue, reserve your judgment until I have finished unfolding my history for you.

I nodded in acquiescence, and settled back for a long night.

CHAPTER SIX

T he hot, summer sun beat down upon the young Gilgamesh’s head as he ran around the gardens of the mighty palace in Uruk, his home. Under a large, shady tree, the child’s mother sat fanning herself with a brightly colored silk hand- held fan.

Gil, come here out of the sun! His mother, the lovely Ninsun, had a voice that was as beautiful as her face. As the young Gilgamesh ran over to her, she smiled at his youthful exuberance.

His handsome sun-browned face frowned as he looked up at his mother. Mother, why can’t I go outside into town and play with the other children? I promise that I will be very careful.

Only the week before, Gilgamesh had broken another child’s leg by simply kicking at a ball and missing, striking the other boy in the lower leg. The cracking of bone could be heard on the other side of the playing field. At only eight years of age, Gilgamesh had the strength to be able to draw an adult sized yew bow, and even shoot an arrow quite accurately with it.

Ninsun continued to smile down at her only child, now however there was a shadow behind that smile.

Don’t worry, my love, we will find you a playmate that will be worthy of you, but you must be patient.

Gilgamesh was not yet old enough to know how different he was from other children, and it broke Ninsun’s heart that her beloved son was not yet ready to have all