Mephistopheles, Morgaine's Familiar

Clipart courtesy of FCIT

 

Episode Two

Michael

(Click here to view episode one)

 

 

After a while Morgaine's friend Raven was no longer around. She had gotten a boy friend by the name of Keith Borgensen and gone into the private investigation business with him in Chicago. Morgaine herself lived pretty much a humdrum life of work, friends and Wiccan meetings. She did not date much. I was the only one who knew why. Years previously, she had gone through a magical painting to a place in another dimension where she learned sorcery. While there she met and fell in love with a man called Michael the Scot. But since this was a  magical place, he was from a different time. He returned to his century, and she returned to the twenty-first.

Once Raven was no longer around, Morgaine decided to use her knowledge of the arcane to become a fortune teller. She amazed her friends in the coven with the accuracy of her predictions using Tarot cards and her ability at spelling.

In the evenings, she would have long telepathic conversation with me. I was her sounding board and confidant. A few times I watched her use her necromantic powers to contact her grandfather who gave her sound advice. Nonetheless, he evaded questions about what the other side was like. She did not perform any other sorcery, content to keep her abilities to use for something worthwhile. She did, however, read many books on the occult and witchcraft, some of which she dismissed as trash after what she had learned in the University of Sorcery. She especially liked to read the prophesies of Nostradamus. She told me that he was the dean at the university. One time when she was broke, she used her alchemic knowledge to change a cheap pot metal bracelet into gold and hocked it.

          Time passed. I was content to have her hold and pet me and converse telepathically. One day she said to me, "He's here in this century. And ... and right here in New York."

I asked, "Who?"

"Michael. I don't know how, but I can feel his aura."

"The Michael you had affair with in that other dimension? I thought he went back to another century."

"I thought so too. He should be long dead by now. Perhaps his aura is in another person. I never believed in reincarnation, but auras are like DNA, every one is unique. I must find him even if he no longer recalls me."

"I'll consult my crystal."

She took the object out. It was about the size of a softball, but not really spherical as its surface consisted of hundreds of tiny pentagon. I had seen her use it before. It actually put her in a kind of trance. She told me that it could dangerous in the hands of someone who did not use it properly, because they would not know how to break the trance and could easily die unless someone came to the person's rescue and woke them up.

She stared at it until her eyes rolled back in her head. She stayed that way for about a half hour. When she came out of the trance, she said, "His current name is Michael Ellul, and his vocation, like mine, is as a psychic, except he seems to be more into astrology. He also gives lectures. That is what he is doing here in New York, giving a lecture somewhere."

She picked up her copy of the Times. A small ad caught her eye. "Mephistopheles, this is him. It says that the astrologer and psychic, Michael Ellul, is giving a lecture to a women’s club called The Afternoon Psychic and Astrological Society of the North Side."

She showed me a small fuzzy photograph of the psychic in the ad. He was a handsome fellow with a well-trimmed beard and long hair tied into a ponytail. I became incensed with jealousy and hissed at the photo. Why did Morgaine need this fellow? She had me. If she wanted a lover, she could turn me back into my human form.

She is such a wicked woman. She laughed at me.

* * *

An evening two days later, she dressed in her Wiccan garb, all in black with a skirt to her ankles. When she returned, Michael was with her. I followed them into the bedroom and hid under the bed. I heard them making love above me with envy in my heart. Afterwards, I listened to their conversation.

          As they smoked cigarettes, Morgaine asked him, “You mentioned that you’ve loved other women. I could hardly expect you to be true to me for nine hundred years. But what about now? Is there someone else in your life?”        

          "Not at the present, and there hasn’t been for some time. You’ve come back into my life at a good time."

          “Oh darling, I missed you so. When you left the school, I was sure I would never see you again. So, the story you told was true. A demon granted you a thousand years of life.”

          “Yes. But sadly, my time is almost up.”

          “Don’t worry. We both have degrees in sorcery. Surely we can get you an extension.”

          “Oh Morgaine, I had forgotten what an optimist you are.”

          I heard them making love again after which their conversation turned to what their lives were about at this point. Michael told Morgaine that he was an astrologer and made money by writing an astrology column and doing lecture tours. Morgaine asked, “Do you have a web site on the Internet? You could promote yourself that way.”

          "I would have never thought of using such a modern thing. In some ways I still think like a person born in what people now call The Middle Ages. Could you teach me how to use a computer?"

          "Certainly. I have a PC and a web site where I blog about pagan religions and the history of magic."

"Blog."

"It's like an electronic journal. I'll show tomorrow. That’s what I like about you, Michael, always ready to jump right into things."

           "But right now, let's continue making love."

           "Again? Wow, you’re still a tiger, Michael. You’ve aged well."

* * *

          The next morning Morgaine showed Michael how to use Windows, log on to her ISP and use a browser to surf the Internet. I sat in her lap watching. After they played around a while with search engines, she showed him how to send and receive E-mail. She broadcast a message to people in her coven. A couple of replies came in saying that they would be pleased to have Michael, since they had faith that anyone Morgaine recommended was all right.

          "That was interesting, Morgaine. How much do these computers cost?" Michael asked.

          "Not all that much. It all depends whether you want a desktop or a laptop. For you, I'd recommend a laptop. Then you could carry it around with you when you travel."

They left then to buy his computer at a store downtown.

When they returned, they spent the rest of the day setting up the computer and his web site. He seemed to catch on quickly.

          "You're a fast learner," she said.

"To survive through so many centuries I had to be. Morgaine, tomorrow I must leave New York to continue my lecture tour. I'm due in St. Louis on Friday. I'd like you to come with me."

          "Oh darling, I don’t know whether I can just drop everything and traipse all over the country with you. I’ve got a business, and my mother and all my friends live here."

          He turned in his chair so that she faced him and peered into her eyes. "I want to continue our relationship as it was in Fayland. Forget your business. I make enough money to support you in a moderately well-off style. As for your friends and your mother, we’ll return to New York often."

          "My God, those eyes of yours. You're hard to resist. Although it has been seven years for me, I never got over you. Of course I’ll go."

          "Fine. I'm glad Morgaine. You won't be sorry. Although we’ve both changed, we'll have a fine time together."

So, for a while we traipsed all over the country with Michael Ellul, living in first-class hotels.

* * *

          After the lecture tour was over, Michael moved into Morgaine's apartment on the upper east side. By that time they had been living together for six months. During all that time, I was still Morgaine's favorite pet and despite Michael's qualms, she allowed me to sleep at the foot of the bed. As a result, not only did I know when they made love, but I overheard everything they said to each other.

          Well past midnight one night, Morgaine sat straight up in bed suddenly and shouted, "Sacrificed. No, don't, please."

          Her movement and cry woke Michael. When he turned on the light, she was glaring at him, an expression of loathing on her face. Also, she was ghastly pale.

          "Morgaine. What's the matter? You look as though you've seen a ghost."

          "Not a ghost. A demon. Bad dream. Terrible nightmare." She wrinkled her brow. "It remains too clear in my head and was too real. It must be a psychic vision. But what is its meaning?" She frowned in puzzlement.

          "Tell me about it."

          "Well when it started, I was in a dungeon, naked and chained to a wall. After a while, a black man, very tall and muscular, a veritable basketball player, opened my cell door and led me out by my chain. His head was bare of flesh and muscle, a skull head. He too was naked."

          Michael snorted. "I thought you said this was a nightmare. This is beginning to sound like a sexual fantasy."

          She raised an eyebrow and laughed. "Maybe it was in a way. If real men were built as well as this guy, I'd be living with one now. Should I continue telling you my dream?"

          "I'm sorry. Go ahead."

          "He brought me to this enormous cavern where a great throne rested on a dais. He chained me to an iron ring set in it by a long chain enough that allowed me to move around just about any place in the cavern. Besides myself and the skull-headed man, there were other women, all beautiful and naked, and several more skull-heads. Somehow I knew that I had been brought there to be the slave of whoever or whatever would occupy that throne.

          "The throne faced a stone stairway. After a while trumpets sounded followed by a grinding like slabs of rock scraping together, and a man came down the steps. That man was you, Michael. You were dressed in robes like an Arab and appeared younger than you are now. You glared around and said, 'Where is Asmodeus?'"

          Michael paled. "Asmodeus? I asked where Asmodeus was? Not Lucifer or Baal? You're certain?"

          Morgaine gazed at him quizzically. "Yes, I'm certain. The name of the demon means something, doesn't it? I've struck a chord with you. What is it? Why is the name Asmodeus important?"

          "I'll tell you later. Finish telling me your dream."

          "Okay. Well you walked into the place like you owned it. You came up to me, picked up the chain that was attached to a collar around my neck and laughed. 'You see, Morgaine my dear, the truth of what you have been saying about me. Now you are my slave in hell.'

          "I replied, 'Yes Michael, but it is not necessary to keep me in fetters.'

          "You did not answer but sat on the throne. Instantly you turned into a horrible monster with three heads, only one of which was human. You roared for me to bow down at your feet, which I did. 'I have a message for the one I have given a precious gift. Remember it well. His time on earth is almost over. I will take him on the thousandth year anniversary of the day he received this gift. If he wishes another boon of walking the earth for as many earthly cycles around the sun, the one who loves him with the greatest passion must be sacrificed to me. But a word of warning. One who loves him could also cause his downfall.'

          The skull men unchained me from the dais, carried me to an altar and chained me so that I was lying on my back. You appeared again from somewhere. This time you were dressed as a Druid priest in white robes. In your hand was a dagger. You chanted something I did not understand. When you finished, you raised the knife. I knew you meant to strike it into my heart. That's when I woke up."

          "I see."

          "I see. That's all? You know what the dream means, don't you, Michael? Tell me."

          "Very well, but it entails revealing much about my past that I have kept hidden from everyone, including you. It's a long story. Perhaps we should wait until tomorrow."

          Morgaine hit him on the shoulder with her fist in a playful manner. "No way. I could not stand the suspense. Tell me now. We'll sleep later."

          Michael shook his head. "I see. You're a hard woman, making me go into something like this at ..." He glanced at the alarm clock. "... three-thirty in the morning. Before I start though, the words of the demon, are you quoting them exactly, as you remember them from your nightmare?"

          "As close as I can recall."        

          "All right. Asmodeus said 'the thousandth anniversary of the date of I received this gift.' This must mean Samhain four years from now."

          "What's this gift? And what does the demon Asmodeus have to do with it?"

          "It's an unbelievable thing, my dear. Something that you'll laugh at and think that I'm either insane or giving you the tallest tale ever told since Baron Munchausen. It has to do with something that happened to me when I was a young man. You'll understand after I tell you the story of my life."

          "The story of your life? I guess this is going to a long rap session. We should get up. I'll make coffee."

          "Good idea. It has been a long life."

I followed them into the kitchen and meowed to be fed. I wanted to hear this story as well.

                             *                                     *                           *

          The sun was coming up by the time Michael finished relating the tale of how he was born in the year 982, his exile from his homeland, his time as a slave to Theopiles, his meeting with Asmodeus and the demon's promise to allow him to live a thousand years. Morgaine took it in with no sarcastic remarks or other indications that she didn't believe him, except for a raised eyebrow at a few points in his story, for example, when he told her about the dragon hunt.

She said, "You showed me a dragon when we were in the Land of Fay, but do you really expect me to believe that you actually saw a dragon on this earth."

He shrugged. "I thought it was a dragon, but it moved so fast I wouldn't swear to it. All I know is that it was big and green and enormous bat-like wings. So you see, Morgaine, my time on earth is numbered. In a couple of years, Asmodeus will take me into his domain."

          "If I hadn't had that nightmare, I would say you're Baron Munchausen with a tale like that. It's so incredible. You're not just pulling my leg?" She peered closely into Michael's face. "Swear on your mother's grave that you've been telling me the truth or better yet let me place a truth spell on you so that you cannot lie."

          "Anything you say, Morgaine. I know how unbelievable it sounds, but I'm over a thousand years old."

          "Okay, for now I'll assume that everything you've told me is gospel. In my dream Asmodeus said that if you sacrifice one who loves you with a great passion, you could live another thousand years. Are you planning to sacrifice me?"

          Michael shook his head sadly. "In the first place, although we've been living together, I would hardly describe our affair as a passionate love fest. To tell the truth, although I admire you greatly and think our sex life is great, I'm not in love with you, not in the way I have been with some women in my long life. And I hardly think you're that passionate about me. I see how you look at other men. I don't believe you fit the demon's criteria."

          Morgaine sighed and looked away for a minute or two. I knew that she loved him a lot more than she let on. When she faced him again, it was with a nasty grimace. "I guess I already knew that. But Michael, your time is short. You must find a great love and sacrifice her."

          "If I really loved her, how could I sacrifice her?"

          "I see what you mean. Don't you want to live another thousand years?"

          "Of course I do, especially knowing that after death, I would be slave to a demon for eternity. Nevertheless, I am resigned to my fate."

          "Hmm. Maybe there is another way. We have almost four years to find out. Meanwhile, we must stop sharing a bed and part for a while."

          "But why? I thought you were going to be my partner in that institute for the study of the paranormal phenomena that we were going to set up."

          "Oh I didn't mean we shouldn't still be friends and partners. We could even make love sometimes. But we've got to quit living together. You've got to be free to meet a woman who will truly love you."     

          "If that's the way you want it."

          "I do. I truly do. Don't worry about me, Michael. I was bored with our relationship anyway. I was planning on cuckolding you pretty soon." She did not look him directly in the eye as she said this. 

         

If you're enjoying this serial, you may want to read the books in my Morgaine series. Click on the word Morgaine for more information.

 

Return to top