Blind Shrike | Page 9

mostly in the brain and that in this Sphere of existence,
they could make it so I'd see better without them." Lulu took a long
drag off the American Spirit. Spyder wanted her to stop talking. "They
were right, only they didn't tell me it wouldn't last. Every year or so,
my sight would start to go and they'd show up, ready to deal. They'd
already taken my eyes, so they took something else each time. Stomach.

Liver. Skin. I don't know what all anymore. But not my heart. You'd be
surprised what you can live without, but not your heart." Another long
drag. A cloud of blue smoke. "Each time, they'd do their little voodoo
so my body'd keep going, till the next visit. No one ever noticed the
difference. When they took my eyes I saw a whole new world. The
world, I guess, you're seeing now. Shit, Spyder, no one knows anything.
All the teachers and cops and priests and shrinks they sent us to, they
don't know what's really going on. When I saw the real world, knowing
how long I'd been blind scared me a lot more than the monsters."
"You think this is some kind of goddam gift?" asked Spyder.
"For you it is. You got it for free. It cost me a little more."
"Fuck this world and fuck this gift."
"I'd rather fuck your sister."
"I'll trade you for your mom."
"Deal," said Lulu. She stuck out her hand, the traditional end to a stupid
joke that they'd done since they were kids. Eventually, Spyder shook
Lulu's hand.
"Goddam," said Spyder. "It is you, isn't it?"
"Yeah, it is."
Spyder slid his arm around Lulu's shoulders and pulled her to him. She
hugged him and laid her head on his chest. They sat on the floor until
the sun went down and the studio was dark. People knocked on the
door, but they ignored them.
Seven
Shadows
Many years ago, Ishtama was the mother of birds, Setuum was the
mother of fishes, and in a golden city in the south Coatlique, the Lady

of the Skirt of Snakes--her body decorated with human skulls, serpents
and lacerated hands--gave birth to the first man, Mixcoatl.
Mixcoatl's sisters were the stars in the sky and he brought one to Earth
to be his wife. Their children were the human race.
As much as Mixcoatl's wife loved him, she missed her sisters and
longed to visit them in the sky. Mixcoatl went to Apsu, the lord of the
birds, to ask him to fly his wife back to heaven. When Mixcoatl arrived,
however, Apsu wasn't there. His wife, Tiamut, told Mixcoatl that Apsu
had been murdered by his Shadow Brother, Marduk. Apsu was a friend
and Mixcoatl grew very angry at this news. He climbed to the top of the
tallest mountain in the world and cut out Marduk's heart with an
obsidian knife, throwing the Shadow Brother's body into a deep gorge
that led to the center of the world.
When Mixcoatl went home, he told his wife what he had done. She was
afraid. "Our mother, Coatlique, the Lady of the Skirt of Snakes, is dead.
Your Shadow Brother, Huitzilopochtli, burst from her breast in battle
armor and a bone sword."
Mixcoatl told his wife, "I have no brother, shadow or otherwise."
His wife said, "Before she died, our mother warned that at some
moment in our life, all men and women -create their shadow form, born
from their desire and rage. These shadow forms do not manifest
themselves in flesh unless called into being by an act of violence or
madness, a blow at creation itself. When you rashly killed Marduk, you
bought forth your Shadow Brother and released pure chaos into the
world. Huitzilopochtli is you reborn as a soulless void. If you do not
destroy him, he will kill you and take your place."
Mixcoatl put on his armor, called his sons to his side and took them to
war. For years they roamed the earth looking for Huitzilopochtli, but
they didn't find him. At night Mixcoatl had terrible dreams and awoke
in the morning pale and weak. Finally, Mixcoatl grew sick and his
army rested by the banks of the frozen sea at the bottom of the world.

One night, Mixcoatl awoke from fevered dreams to find Huitzilopochtli
sitting on his chest. Mixcoatl was too weak to resist and Huitzilopochtli
cut out his heart saying, "I've eaten you piece by piece in your dreams,
brother, but don't hate me. I'm not your enemy. I have no choice in
killing you and if I smile as I do it, remember it's only the joy a humble
servant feels when he restores order to a disordered house, because, of
course, there can't be two of