Years begin to speed by, year after year life is plain and repetitive. When Jericho was delivered to the Toussaint house there was nothing but acceptance and love shown to him.
Madame Toussaint, a lovely older woman of Thirty-one was more than happy to accept another child into her arms and bosom. She relished the feeling of raising her own daughter and this tiny child. It filled her with maternal satisfaction. Though many knew her as a powerful Voodoo woman, she was not exempt from the laws of nature. She desired a family. Children to raise. It was just a necessity to continue her bloodline.
Alongside her work with Mule she raised Jericho. Her daughter beside growing with the boy as close as any could be.
Mule, while reserved and afraid of the 'unholy' child as he called him, raised Jericho to be strong. A leader of men. Mule showed the Child how to be a man. And Madame Toussaint taught him how to be gentle and loving. A life without struggle, without pain, without ever knowing his true mother was long dead from the machinations of people who were truly terrible.
Much of the early life of Jericho was simplistic. He lived within the comforting walls of his nne nne's[1] home. Learning maths, writing, english with Haitian creole. How to work in a field, how to sew fabric, to field dress and butcher a hunt. Rarely did he interact with 'Candy Man'' until he was eight years old.
It was a brief meeting. The older white man examined Jericho's physical health and took a blood sample. A few words were exchanged, but the young black man knew where he belonged within the hierarchy of America. He was respectful and quiet. When the visit was done, he returned to his normal life. Ignorant of the truth of his world.
As he grew older new things began to take place within him. By the age of thirteen he was nearly equal to Mule in physical power. By fifteen he competed with Madame Toussaint in science and maths, she being a freed slave and a learned woman. And by his seventeen year he could be mistaken for a man within his late 20s.
At a towering 6'3 he was tall. Almost as tall as Mule. And he was strong, able to lift carriages and equine companions with relative ease. He could see, smell, and head much beyond human limitations as well as a six sense. Many a time rescuing his compatriots from danger just from a feeling.
He was beautiful too. Long locs gently tied and braided to fit his strong Nigerian features. Full lips almost begging to be kissed, a nose that spaced his features easily and yet made him all the more exotic, stunting eyes that almost consisted of liquid amethyst, a fit toned body that was lean yet powerful. One could say he was almost too perfect, like a storybook protagonist.
All the women on the plantation lusted for him, whether young or old. Even the white women found him to be undeniably beautiful, they were barely able to retain themselves through their hatred and biases. This handsome black man striding confidently beside a compassionate Master.
But he only had eyes for one woman... Sarah. Madame Toussaint's daughter. A mixed woman, her birth from passion of Alex Ellsworth, the 'Candy Man' and Madame Toussaint herself. She was beautiful. Long, curly, honey-colored luscious hair that bounced with each step. Beautiful vibrant green eyes that shone like stars. A pair of smooth, full lips that were made for love. Her neck was slender. Her chest heavy, and her hips perfect for child-bearing. Her ass was thick, and perky. All accented by a smooth, lightly colored caramel skin tone.
If Jericho made all women bow for him, the Sarah made the entire earth her servants. Her beauty was the talk of entire different states.
But yet, these two nigh perfect people only had eyes for one another. And it was of no surprise to Madame Toussaint and 'Candy Man.' As they had procreated to create her, for him. But only they knew that.
On the night of Jericho's eighteenth birthday, they snuck out. Sarah and Jericho quietly moving towards the most secluded part of the plantation. A little pond surrounded by willow trees on all sides, full of life. Sarah brought him there, her words full of love and promises and he followed. Though he always followed those rules set by his Master he loved Sarah far too much to ignore her.
They settled on the edge of the pond, fish darting back and forth under the glass-like water.
"Jericho..." Sarah whispered as she pulled him and herself down to sit, her slender fingered hand caressing his marbled jaw. She loved him ever since they were young. But now she understood the way to show him that. Her mother spoke of the ways to show a man love, and what better than when he turned into a man.
"I've always loved you. Since the day you were brought here, the moment I saw you something inside me stirred. You've always been the one I wanted to be with. The one I daydreamt about. The man I fantasied about. I-..."
She broke off, sweet tears welling in her beautiful brown eyes.
"I love you... Jericho. And I want to be yours... I need to be yours." Her soft voice lowered to a low whisper, her cheeks burning with embarrassment. Her mother spoke of sex, described it and the methods to please a man. But this would be the first time she ever practiced them.
Jericho wordlessly stared at her, his glowing amethyst eyes shining beneath the moon. He felt his heart begin to race, and his cheeks beginning to burn with excitement. Mule told him of this as well, of sex. Of passion and love. Remembering his words, Jericho caught Sarah's lovely silken cheek with his hand and pulled her closer. His lips meeting her's shyly at first. Then with a hunger, devouring her taste. His tongue pressed and invaded her mouth and his long, powerful arms pulled her into an embrace. To her, he was beautifully warm. They didn't fear the repercussions of breaking this rule. They were foolishly in love, full of bravado and ignorance. The warm haze of intimacy spicing the air, making reality and logic burn away with their passion.
As they kissed beneath the moonlight, with the insects chirping and the fish swimming, a long primal feeling begun to ache within his heart. Mule had told him of sucking and kissing a woman's neck but no one had ever told him about wanting to sink his teeth into her jugular and drink her life source. It frightened him, it felt unnatural. As if parts of him were battling for dominance. He didn't know what to do, so he comprised.
Lifting his lips from hers, he moved to her neck just above her collarbone. And begun to suck gently. It hurt Sarah, but it also made her body tingle. Made her heart pump faster, made her flower moist. She moaned and wrapped her arms around his neck, her fingers tugging at his locs needily. Her moans begging for more.
But Jericho was losing control, his sucking turned to bites. They were sensual at first but soon those long fangs pierced her flesh and begun pricking and drawing blood. She tried pushing him away, the pain terrifying her, but she found his body to be like the steel of a chain. Unbreakable. His eyes changed then, from deep Amethyst to molten Red. The usual normal pupils contracting and turning elliptical, like snakes.
He opened his jaws wide, far wider than any human. was capable of, and sunk those inch long fans into her neck while she screamed silently.
He fed from her, long and loud gulps of her sweet blood. It felt so good for her at first, almost like she was cumming. But soon it began to hurt. But he didn't stop, even when she was slamming her hands onto his chest and face. It seemed to only enrage him. He pushed her down and bit deeper, his teeth sawing through her neck.
She fought, begging and pleading. Fighting.
Everything was lost on him.
Jericho didn't care. A rage enveloped him and he let out a scream that shook the sky, a blood rage. Those long years without sustenance drove him mad and soon he was tearing limbs off her seizing body to drink more and more. She was still alive as he dissected her, but the shock killed her before blood loss did.
In the early hours of the morning he finally awoke from this rage... And what he found terrified him.
His body covered in blood and gore. His beloved Sarah in indistinguishable pieces. He sat there shaking. Weeping tears of blood. Staring at his hands that were covered in ligaments, bones, and blood.
It didn't take long for someone to find him. Mule stumbled across the scene soon after the roosters crowded. He stood there shocked for a moment, before heaving the heavy sickle in his head and swinging it down to pierce Jericho's temple. Rage filled his vision. It only took one stroke for the edge to bury itself deep inside the young man's skull, effectively killing him. Mule felt nothing as he drug the body of Jericho to 'Candy Man's' mansion. A towering home of white. He knocked on the door, and waited as his Master opened the door with a steely face.
"I see...'
He said as Mule explained what he discovered. Though it was obvious even to Mule, that his owner didn't care one bit.
"Tie the body to a stake outside, and tomorrow morning gather the others. I will punish this negro for what he's done."
His words seemed hollow, uncaring. And Mule didn't understand how you could punish the dead. He looked down at the boy he raised, brain matter and blood leaking from the hole in his head. Watching silently for a moment, but ultimately even if he didn't understand, Mule did as he was told as always. Setting a steel stake deep into the earth and chaining the young man to it, latching his wrists to the top of the pole and then chaining his ankles to it as well, making it look as though he was praying.
-He won't break free.- Mule thought, being it would be impossible for even him to do so. Especially since Jericho was dead. But Mule knew first hand what strength the boy had, being the only person on the plantation to be stronger than the giant. Far stronger, unnaturally strong it seemed. But he was dead, right... Suddenly the body twitched, the muscles straining against the chains but just as suddenly as it came it was gone and Jericho was still once again. The hole in his head had seemingly healed over in the short span of time. Mule didn't notice, he was too concerned using evil-warding hand gestures while running away towards Madame Toussaint's house. She would help exorcise the body, after all she could get some revenge for her daughter.