Attrition of the Gods: Book 1 of the Mystery Thriller series Gods Toys. (21 page)

“Before I can continue I need to know why,” Leo told Simeon the next time they met.

Usually when they met, alcohol was prevalent. Simeon had a love for red wine, beer, whiskey – everything in fact. The more they talked, the more he seemed to sink into a depression and the more he drank. It was with a large glass of wine in his hand that Simeon answered him now.

“Why what?”

“Why did you change your mind and decide to help the humans?” They were in a trendy wine bar in the middle of Venice’s late-night quarter with hundreds of people enjoying the pleasant evening.

“Just so you understand,” said Simeon. “We originate from the exact same place. The Djinn are sapient just like you are, just thousands of years more evolved.”

Leo did not understand why he was receiving this explanation from Simeon. Was it because he was worried that he was about to be judged? His answer soon followed.

“The reason I am saying this is because I need you to understand that a Djinn falling in love with a human is not some sort of perverse a-bomb-in-a-tion.” The final word came out in five distinct syllables, with closed eyes, as practised by many a drunken man.

Is that what it came down to? Love? Leo felt he was about to be burdened with an awkward confession. He was not equipped for this type of heart-to-heart conversation, especially with a non-human. Still, it was he who had asked.

“Susanne,” he guessed.

“I fell in love with her after seeing her image in a painting by Renoir,” Simeon said, looking into his glass reminiscently. “Renoir was a good friend. He was part of my close-knit group who helped me hide out from the Arc Hon. Of course, they didn’t know exactly who or what I was but in those days Paris was very trendy and to be involved in the occult and have secrets was all part of the excitement amongst the bohemians.

“Susanne was a model at the time, but she was so much more than that. She was ambitious, rebellious, flirty and promiscuous, traits rarely found in women in those days. She was also very clever and talented. I fell in love! Properly in love.” Simeon became animated once more, his fingers pointing, then his arms flaying as he slurred out his words. “I’d been hiding from the Watchers for a hundred or so years during which time I drank a lot and had relationships with many females. I was spiralling in a human like descent of self-pity until I met her.” Simeon looked into his glass his mood becoming calm as he reflected. “Susanne was different. It was like a scene from one of my own plays.” He looks up at Leo. “Did I mention I was a playwright in a former life?” A hiccup punctuated his sentence and he stared off into the distance again before continuing. “When I realised that I had fallen in love and that this beautiful woman was the most important person I had ever met, I allowed my feelings of guilt towards the human race to grow and I became more than a conscientious objector. You see I realised that I must now side with her kind. I had to save them. So I told her everything about the quest, about the Djinn and the Arc Hon.”

The last drop of wine was consumed and Simeon looked around for the waiter. With a shake of his head he continued, only this time his voice carried a pang of guilt, or perhaps sorrow.

“As I have told you before, the two of us planned the renewal together. I was reborn as a human with no knowledge of my real identity and Susanne was now my mother. She was only 18, such responsibility, but she brought me up as best she could. She named me Maurice and I grew up surrounded by the most wonderful art and artists! Never before had I felt such a connection to the universe. Unsurprisingly though I had a troubled life and was in and out of mental institutions as my past memories began to re-emerge. We had agreed that I would not receive the notes I had written to myself until Susanne had passed away as my reaction could not be predicted.”

Picking up Leo’s glass, Simeon took a large swig. Leo feared that he was about to burst into tears, an action that would render Leo useless, as his wife could testify.

“Are you okay?” asked Leo once the silence became unbearable.

“Sorry, I was just thinking,” slurred Simeon. “Anyway, before I read the notes I was a somewhat accomplished artist myself, but still the truth came as a bit of a shock. I spent the next twenty-odd years as a recluse trying to deal with the truth and then I began planning my next move and how to honour my lover and my mother’s memory. That’s why I became a traitor to my own kind. Love: what a cunt it is.”

Again Simeon stared aimlessly into the table in front of him. A waiter passed, asking politely in broken English, “Any more drink?” Simeon replied, “Yes, a large bottle of J-fucking-D, pronto!” Leo was concerned that this was the most drunk he had ever seen Simeon and worried they would draw attention to themselves. He was right to be concerned, Simeon was very drunk. The drunken Jinni looked around the bar observing the vapid groups of revellers, disdain etched across his face as he listened to their pathetic babble. He pondered on what he had given up for these pieces of meat. He took a slow deep breath to calm himself, then he remembered Susanne and with a sip of wine he focused. He held both hands up to signal he was calm and ready for Leo to continue with any further questions.

Leo was nervous now but he still wanted answers. “Why fight for a human competitor? Why don’t you try and win the game yourself and then put things right?”

“Didn’t you listen? I am disqualified, remember! I only suggested a human competitor before to rebalance the scales. Then after I met Susanne it all became more vital.”

Leo pondered this and came to his own conclusion.

“Redemption,” he nodded. “You’re seeking redemption for yourself and the abominations that came with you, the demons who have brought evil to this earth.” Simeon’s face changed from a man struggling with guilt to a man feeling anger: gritted teeth and an intense stare left Leo in no doubt that he had hit a nerve.

Simeon slammed his fist down on the table, startling Leo and attracting even more attention from their fellow patrons.

“Do not for one minute think that mankind is not responsible for its own problems! We use the tools that are free to us, such as man’s greed and indifference to each other. Mankind has an ability to do things to each other that we couldn’t even dream of, things so bad it never ceases to amaze me. I told you the Djinn have a rules that even Reuben has never broken and one is we can only influence, not command. ‘Only by free will’. Everything that has happened on this plane was done of your own free will. No threats, no mind control, no torture, just persuasion or at worst coercion!”

Leo looked sheepish; maybe he had been a bit quick to judge. There must be thousands of incidents where humans have committed horrid acts without any Djinn interfering.

“I will give you an example,” said Simeon, “of how stupid you humans can be. Over the years we have invented many untruths to control and manipulate the masses. One of the most successful of these is the virgin birth. A myth we didn’t use just the once, but at least ten times: Krishna, Christ, Dionysus, all concocted from a story Solfrid and Baal came up with during the First Visit many, many years before we arrived, where they propagated a myth about a child born after his mother fornicated with a phallic instrument. Horus was the first incarnation of the virgin birth and we used him again when Egypt rose to a great empire and we didn’t even change his name that time.

“When Reuben came up with Christianity he didn’t even bother coming up with an original line. There was no need, humans were so desperate to have a messiah that he could come up with any old story so long as there was a virgin birth. He was clever though, he used some old myths as well that he’d heard from Solomon when we first arrived. Then with the help of a few scholars he elaborated on the story of a local radical from Nazareth. He put both books together over a thousand years and, hey presto! The first world were all following the book called the bible. This gave him the lead in the quest and one he has held on to for a long time, until Isaac discovered there was a religion even more conducive to controlling man: wealth.”

Simeon slumped in his chair. Leo was aware that this was one drunk, angry Jinni getting loose-lipped around religion. He decided to take advantage of his new buddy’s inebriation and ask the question any devout Jew would ask. “What about God? Did Reuben or one of the others invent him?”

Simeon laughed as he sipped his drink, choking in the process. “Leo, the Djinn are a highly developed race, we know things you don’t but we don’t know everything. God is man’s name for the creator and yes, there was a creator, but he doesn’t sit in the clouds watching over us all and judging us. He left. He was probably a little embarrassed with how his creations turned out. Anyway, I believe he has other things to do, other worlds, other races, countless living beings that he has created.” Simeon fixed Leo with a pitiful look and addressed him in a sincere tone. “It’s only you humans that are so self-absorbed to believe that God belongs to you.” He poured one more drink and Leo joined him as his last ounce of faith disappeared

“We believe it because you trick us into believing it. You say that you don’t use mind control but surely that is mind control.”

“Cognitive bias. Do you know what that is?”

Leo did not know but was sure he was about to learn.

“It is the weakness in your thought patterns that has allowed us to convince humans to believe certain things are important when really they are not. We thrive on your inability to reach bounded rationality. Your fear of loss is the strongest of these irrational patterns and loss of existence is the ultimate motivation. By creating religion we reinforced all of these biases daily. There are people throughout history who have chosen to die to prove to themselves that they will live eternally and no matter how irrational these religions are, you just keep on following them. All religions thrive not because of man’s love for each other but because of their greed. One life is not enough for you. You believe you are so significant that some God who created everything is just waiting for you to snuggle up to him at his place.”

Leo was deflated, but felt the need to defend his species. “That’s easy for you to say; you have lived thousands of years as one of us and however long as whatever you were before.”

A group of Italians sitting on the next table looked over curiously.

Simeon shrugs. “Maybe you are right but trust me that when threatened with your very existence. It is then that all peoples of the world will plead with world leaders to deliver them from this evil. The one thing every man fears is the unknown. When presented with this scenario, individual rights will be willingly relinquished for the guarantee of their wellbeing granted to them by their world government lead by the new messiah.”



Taking his solitary daily walk around the prison yard, Leo suddenly understands what cognitive bias is. “Why do we give a fuck what anyone else thinks, mostly people we don’t even know?” Leo laughs out loud, becoming hysterical. The guard becomes concerned as Leo collapses. He has no idea what is so funny but he cannot stop laughing. The guard calls for assistance. Two more guards come and take Leo by the arm, leading him back to his cell.

“It’s all over, do you understand? The Djinn will rule we are all just God’s Toys,” he screams out in a crazed rant, no longer fearing that people will think he is crazy.

After examining Leo the prison doctor calls for Samantha Beresford, a psychiatrist who deals with incarcerated patients.

“He is babbling about some spirits that possess men and he claims that the royal family and presidents are all part of some conspiracy started by a superior race of beings. Plus he just keeps laughing. All the time laughing,” the doctor tells Samantha.

She meets with Leo twice over the next couple of days. It is not uncommon for felons who had carried out murders to imitate insanity as some sort of excuse and so she is always thorough and never overreacts.

“He is mad as a fucking hatter,” she explains to the prison doctor. “He is not fit for trial, or any sort of stress at all.”

Leo is to be held on a special wing for at-risk inmates until a place for him at Rampton can be found. His family are contacted. Regina feels relief that the reason for his behaviour and abandonment has been due to what the psychiatrist has described as a slow deterioration and loss of stability of the mind leading to delusions and an eventual complete breakdown. For the first time in over eighteen months Regina goes to visit Leo. She cries from the minute she arrives until the moment she leaves. When she enters the small private room where Leo is waiting, her tears turn to sobs. The man she had loved just stares, mumbling to himself, then laughing, then crying. It is as if he has never known her, or that she is not even there.

For over an hour Regina tries to speak to him but it seems he is lost altogether. She is glad she hadn’t allowed Megan, their daughter, to come along. This man sitting in front of her is not the kind, loving, hard-working, family man she had fallen in love with. That man has gone and in his place sits a bumbling mess, a wreck who had purposely got caught stealing, then assaulted a poor police officer and had now killed a young man for no other reason than because he was gay. She accepts that this is an illness but still she feels anger towards him. Why now? They should be enjoying their retirement, sunning themselves in Italy, awaiting visits from their children and grandchildren. Regina feels robbed and angry.

“This is a waste of time. You can’t even understand what I’m saying, can you?” she says to Leo as he reads from an imaginary book. Regina stands. “I’m going to leave now, Leo. I don’t think I will be back.” She turns, knocks on the door and is released.

“I’m sorry, my beautiful wife,” Leo whispers as the door closes behind her.

STOKE PRISON PRESENT DAY

“As flies to wanton boys are we to gods.”

King Lear, Shakespeare

When Shane hears the news that Leo is to be committed to the Rampton mental institution for the criminally insane, he has two trains of thought. First, that it is probably for the best; the old guy is proper mental. The second is concern about how close he has become to believing everything Leo has said. He’d even turned down the chance to go to this experimental holiday camp up in Blackpool due to his paranoia around these fucking ghosts that Leo had told him about.