The Mutari

The Mutari Ch. 6

           Relli was there to catch her. Letti was about to rush to Avey’s side when the bloodcurdling screams began. She couldn’t turn around to look at the sight of burning flesh of tortured vampire. The smell was bad enough. The acrid smoke seemed to seep into her. It clogged her joints and immobilized her body. Her breaths came out short, quickened by increasing horror with every cry of torment from behind.

            Her legs gave out. She landed on her knees and hands, staring at the floor but wide eyes unable to see anything. They stayed dry, tears unable to convey the terror that sliced her heart apart. Ragged breaths emptied her lungs of oxygen.

            Always echoing around the room were the keen wails, bouncing off the walls straight to Letti. They berated her psyche, chipping away with each piercing sound. With each cry, a single thought attacked her mind.

            What have I done?

            She sat back, suddenly desperate to shut out everything. Her hands clapped over her ears, vainly trying to block out the screams, but they continued to infiltrate and take over.

            “Shutup,” she whispered in a broken voice. Then repeated herself. Louder and louder. Until she was screaming just as loud as the woman she just murdered. The voices battled for dominance, trying to smother the other.

            Even when her voice grew hoarse and painful, Letti continued screaming. Eventually, she began to win. As the soul-slicing yells of agony began to fade, Letti allowed her own to quiet. At the end, Letti was still whispering the same word while her victim had become silent.

            She flinched as something touched her shoulder. Her head swung up to stare into Relli’s face. Her friend’s brow was creased in worry and her eyebrows were close. A frown heavily weighed on her face.

            “I killed her,” Letti whispered.

            The other Prime’s mouth moved, but Letti could barely hear her. When Relli noticed her confused expression, she pointed to the side of Letti’s head. That’s when she remembered her hands were still covering her ears.

            She freed her ears. Suddenly, a grating sound irritated them. As Letti turned around to the noise, she heard Relli tell her, “You didn’t kill her.”

            The myth was true that vampires tended to burn easily, though sunlight wouldn’t cause it. After a body burned though, there was always bones.

            Except for the wafting smoke and the slightly obscured burn markings on the stone, there was nothing to say that a person had just met the end of their life by flame. Confusion brought color to her face, overpowering the paleness of fright.

            At first, it sounded like the grating sound was coming from beyond the wall where the woman was. But that’s because it was.

            Letti just took a step closer when the stones between the two torch stands parted, sliding back and behind one another. The two Primes patiently watched in silence as a rectangular hole was formed. Stone blocks moved as if they had eternity to complete their task, slipping behind a fellow stone at an aching pace.

            Eventually they stopped moving. Light could not permeate the gaping black hole that emerged. The grating sound grew louder as the seconds ticked by.

            “Do we go in?” Relli whispered uncertainly. It sounded as if she had reached her limit, obviously not wanting to enter the darkness.