The Void Between Life and Living

The Smog of Death

Authors Note: Hey there reader, I would like to say my utmost thanks for reading this story and giving it a chance! It has been inspired by typical folk law of vampires, soul selling and gothic fiction themes including the supernatural and moral struggle. All the characters are of my own invention however the images used do not belong to me so I would like to give credit to whoever drew and created them. Once more thank you for reading and controlled criticism would be very much welcomed. Now on with the story!

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I was dying, dying in the sense that the feeble beat of my heart was gradually slowing to a halt as it struggled to push the syrup of blood to my vital organs. Dying in the sense that my mind was weak and broken, no longer wishing to flower thoughts and hopes. Dying in the sense that I was alone, lying in my bed staring into the darkness, each rattling breath holding the uncertainty of it being my last, as maids waltzed in and out of my vision their forms flickering along with the dimming fire I finally came to the conclusion that I was most certainly dying. Nothing seemed clear, within sight or mind, a fog had risen up and clouded my senses, polluting the very fire of life within me.

It was when I was dying that he came. At first I believed him an angel, maybe my soul was saved and death wouldn't be so harsh upon me. Yet soon through my clouded vision I came to realise he was far from the angel I wished for. A demon cloaked within the grace of an angel, death hidden within life.

A chance. I knew whoever he was it was chance. A chance to be gambled with. But a chance of what I did not know.

As I stared up into his blurred face and roamed over a misty figure I was unsure whether this man was real or just a false hope spun into a destructive illusion. Blonde hair the colour of snow fell across a shadowed face, curling and twisting down to his shoulders while crystal blue eyes clearer than the ocean stared through me as if studying the smog which clouded my soul, while a smirk played on blood red lips. What was he thinking? The scent of death still lingered within the room, yet now it smelled sweeter, similar to a rose, whose tempting sugary scent clouds the danger of the thorns waiting below.

Fear tried desperately to reach my mind, to scream at my senses that this figure was not one born of light or hope, yet something blocked it, as instead a sweet sense of wonder clouded me, and echoed through my body. I felt too relaxed to be concerned of the clearly imminent danger, too tranquil to even whisper a question echoing through my mind.

My thoughts howled at me, a storm of questions growing in my head.
Who is he?
Why is he here?
What does he want?
Is he even human?

Thunder roared outside, as the figures smirk widened showing white teeth and his once clear eyes faded to a black darker than hells depths. Suddenly the room felt cold and empty an abyss holding only me and him with no escape. Fear broke through the barrier of wonder and my stomach twisted while a lump formed in my throat and my heart beat against my chest in a frenzied pattern. Is this death? This pure fear and uncontrolled darkness with no escape?

Shrill laughter echoed across the room, leaping from the figures throat as wind roared against the windows and lightning crackled lighting up the dark room and splintering across the now sinister face of the figure, who looked down upon me in my terrified state with a malicious joy.

"Aramis, Aramis, Aramis, how foolish must you be" the figure chuckled, each harsh word filling my head with foreboding blackened thoughts. "This is not death, this is life, screaming at you to take hold of it"

Had I spoken out loud? Was I so weak I no longer held control of my own actions?

The figures cruel smirk grew to a menacing smile, as he stood over my bed, no longer as an angel but as a figure of doom a hellish demise awaiting me, was this how I was destined to die?

"How many times, you fool, this is not death" the figure growled his features contorting into those of anger

I tried to shrink back, to hide away, maybe hit the bell off my desk to cause the arrival of a maid, yet before I even made a move, and just as I finished the thought an ice cold and translucent hand shot out and trapped me beneath it. The breath caught in my throat as I willed myself to struggle yet my entire body felt as if it was stone pressing into to the bed and I was unable to move.

"Never run from me Aramis, no matter how far you go, or how well you hide, I will find you, and I shall leave a path of destruction in my wake, destruction which will be your  doing" he hissed at me, venomous teeth glinting in the moonlight.

This man was not a man, at least not a human man. Maybe he was, but it was clear from his blackened eyes which held no soul that he lost the last drop of his humanity long ago. And from that I knew I had no chance if escape, I held a chance of a choice, a choice between death or him? Which terrified me more I did not know.

"Now Aramis" the figure murmured, his ice cold hands caressing my cheek and gliding through my hair "I'm here to offer you a choice"

My breath stilled and his black eyes met my green ones, open wide emitting fear above any other, as an ice cold hand lunged for my exposed throat.