A little tale for Halloween
My lungs were struggling to fill. Fear has a way of breaking breathing's normal rhythm, tightening the stomach, shrinking capacity, and forcing small quick breaths. I could feel the strain in my neck and shoulders as I forced my body forward against my mind's better judgment.
Something moved behind the trees. I froze, my hand gripping the sharpened wooden stake with more strength than necessary. I saw nothing though I was certain I could feel a presence. I slowly released the breath I was holding, not wanting to add to the sounds in the forest. I waited as sweat formed at my temples and began to run down my cheeks. 'It isn't dark enough,' I told myself. The sun had yet to fall below the horizon.
I began to move again after an interminable wait. The silence did little to dissuade my mind of what I heard, or thought I heard. I took a step and waited. Nothing. I began moving forward again. I had to reach my destination before the sun fell behind the earth.
Stepping lightly, toe to heal, I avoided the dried leaves and sticks that were scattered about. Only my shallow breaths could be heard. I hoped they were only heard by me. I wiped my forehead, clearing the sweat that threatened my eyes. My heart sped as I neared the bog, unsure of what would be necessary to make the crossing. I knew I must. Lucianna had been taken and I was the only one who knew why.
A bird alighted from the brush to my right. I felt my blood shift to my extremities as my heart stopped for the briefest of moments. I stalled while I redrew the breath that had thrust itself out. Watching the sparrow wing away helped to calm me. Maybe, that was what I had heard before. Nothing but a bird. Birds would surely not be around if he was about. Life fled death.
My feet began to sink into the muck as I neared the bog. The sucking sound seemed loud to my ears. Breaking out of the trees, the sludge became a pond. Before me stood the old tower jutting from out of the water as if it had grown there. If the rumors were true, I would find her there. My Lucianna and his Lucianna. Tonight, she would become but one.
My mind was intellectually prepared for what was to come. I had known this day would arrive though it being Lucianna was not foretold. I only knew the stories my father told, and his father before him. Fear was the killer and it was wounding me greatly.
A superior intelligence spawned in the greatest evil had come. A man who was no longer a man. At night, he bore but a single weakness. I would risk all to exploit it even if my mind rebelled at the gamble. My life, even in success, was most likely forfeit. It was for her I continued forward.
I stepped into the pond, strained at the exposure, and allowed the water to fill my boot. I thought the pond ankle deep and I was already at my knee a foot from the vegetation border. To my thigh in a few more steps. I was not prepared to swim.
A mist developed, wispy at first, seemingly generated from the water itself. I slowed as it thickened, the water now waist deep. I raised my arms higher to keep them dry. The water turned strangely warm as the mist thickened. I looked about wondering if the fog was his. I knew not if it would block the sun enough for him. I tightened my hand about my stake and turned about quickly, causing small waves and a swishing sound I regretted. I almost ran back to the shore I could now barely see. I let the silence sooth me, then frighten me. There was no sound at all.
I moved with purpose. My life was forfeited, whether I turned back or not. The fear of being caught in the pond seemed more terrible than the fate that awaited on dry land.The water's depth restricted my movement. I would fare better with a solid footing.
The tower was growing as I neared. Appearing more solid as the distance mitigated the growing mist. It was him, I knew that now. Nothing natural would create such a fog so quickly. I found footing and slowly the water receded down my body as I neared the ancient stone tower. It had served some great forgotten purpose in the past. Now, it was more a tomb.
I heard the sound of wind. It seemed unnatural and localized to my left. I ran, kicking up water as I negotiated the rock base to the short set of broken stairs. My breath was coming in gasps, my right hand squeezing the stake as if it would try and break away. I entered the doorway as the light lessened. Fog or sunset, I no longer knew. It was nearing his time. It was the end of my time.
"Lawson." the voice whispered my name so sweetly. I slowed as my eyes adjusted to the twilight. "You have come, my love." The words warmed me, slowing my heart and washing away fear.
"Lucianna," I called out to the white wisp of fabric that was emerging from the dark. Her image appeared from the darkness more lovely than I remembered. Her lips more full, her breasts risen and taut. I smiled as all fear fled in her visage.
Lucianna moved slowly, almost floated toward me. I saw a desire in her eyes and felt it grow in me. She was always beautiful, but now she was exquisite. She smiled and my will left me. I wished only to be in her arms. She reached out and my loins swelled. Such heaven could be found here. Dreams couldn't compare.
"Feed my love," evil spoke. I turned, the spell broken and my will, with all its fear, returned. I remembered his weakness, but only mine seemed important. I moved the stake to my left hand and held it before me. It shook more than I desired.
"Your bravery is most convenient," he spoke with an air of sophistication borne of extreme confidence. He stepped forward, unafraid of the feeble weapon I held between us.
"I can smell your blood, my sweet," Lucianna soothed. I felt fingers trail across the back of my neck. A luscious sensation that I had to struggle to ignore. I kept the stake before me, looking only at evil's chest. 'Never in the eyes,' my father had stressed. How I wish he was here with me.
"She is mine," evil spoke, "my eternal concubine." He maneuvered toward my left, making me turn. I didn't want to face Lucianna. My will would fade.
"Look at me, my love," Lucianna whispered in my ear. I shivered as I fought off the urge to die in her arms. It seemed too lovely an end to ignore. "Just a kiss." The softest hands embraced my chest, I felt tightened nipples spear my back. I sighed, my will weakening into the luxury she promised.
With a movement born of desperation, I thrust forward, my stake leading toward evil's heart. He moved with incredible speed, the spear finding air where his heart once resided. Steel grasped my left wrist and I screamed as I felt and heard bones breaking. He lifted me by my wrist as the stake fell from my useless grasp.
Evil's eyes found mine as he held me midair with one hand. The eyes pulled at my mind, sucking my will. I tried to look away, but my body went slack as his desire replaced mine. Fear replaced thought.
"You will feed my new whore," evil demanded, "your blood will bind her to the night and to my loins. Never will her thoughts return to you." He drew his finger across my throat, his nail cutting skin just deep enough to expose blood. I felt bile rising as he slowly turned me and my bleeding neck to Lucianna with ease.
I tried to speak, fighting the power that swelled my throat. Lucianna smiled softly, her eyes washing away my fear and filling me with desire. "Feed, my child," evil commanded. I lifted my head, exposing my neck as she approached like a goddess. So beautiful and I was hers. My thoughts jumbled as her lips caressed the wound on my neck. She flicked her tongue, tasting me and sending pleasure to my core. I closed my eyes as I felt her lips part.
"I love you," I whispered as my will strengthened. My death was inevitable. At least it was Lucianna, even if she was his. Her lips retracted and she pushed away. I opened my eyes. Confusion had replaced her desire.
"Feed!" evil demanded. I felt the last of the bones in my wrist snap as his grip tightened. His will weakened as his anger grew. Lucianna backed away, slowly as the conflict became more apparent in her face.
"She is not fully yours," I said hoarsely, breaking further from his spell. I could feel his anger peak, his hand shaking with strength as he began turning me. My left hand had no feeling, the wrist most likely damaged beyond repair. His weakness showed, for he unknowingly crushed my off hand. My right hand reached into the waist of my pants, slowly withdrawing stake I had hidden there. He did not expect the smile that met him when we were once again, face to face.
Evil's bloodshot eyes pulsed black, his fangs bared. His arrogance ignored the threat before him. To think me no threat was his weakness and I played my part well. His fangs, quick as a snake, drove into my neck, further blocking his eyes. I drove the sharpened stake with all my might under his ribcage and into his heart. The fangs retracted and a scream shook the very rocks that held the tower. He dropped me, grasping for the stake.
I feel prone, my left hand useless, to the stone floor. I watched as evil aged before me. Years of unholy lives left him as he withered with confusion on his face. I rose to my knees, cradling my left hand. Evil became bone, then dust, then nothing.
"I hunger so," Lucianna cried. I turned, leaving the stake I could never use on her.
"You saved me, my love," I said.
"I don't want to be as him," Lucianna pleaded. I felt blood running down my shirt. Evil had dug his fangs deep. I stood, ignoring my dangling wrist, and moved toward Lucianna, wishing to touch her once more.
"No closer," Lucianna warned, "Gods! I can smell your blood." Her breathing was becoming erratic, "Run, damn you."
"No, my love," I whispered slowly, my body beginning to feel the blood loss, "I am here for you. I give you all that I am." I moved closer to the most beautiful creature in the world. Her red hair glowing in the darkness, seemingly made of light itself. "You must feed or die."
Tears formed beneath her eyes. Golden drops of shimmering beauty trailing down her cheeks. I could see her hunger. I had backed her to the wall and she could go no further. I reached up with my good hand, wiping a tear off her cheek. She shuddered at my touch. I leaned forward and merged her luxurious lips with mine. Pleasure soared through me and embraced my very soul. Heaven could do no better.
I separated our lips and pulled her head toward my bleeding wound. "Feed, my love. Take all of me."
"No," Lucianna cried, but the curse drove her against her will. Fangs sank deep into my neck. Rapture. Light exploded in my mind as the purest love flowed between us. It was all that the legends said. Euphoria as our souls merged.
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Lucianna lowered Lawson's lifeless body slowly to the floor. "Look what I have done to you, my beloved," she whimpered as she smoothed his tousled hair. "I am ruined without you. Now I am the thing that you so despise." She lowered her head and kissed his forehead. Tears flowed as she lay down beside him and embraced his lifeless body. No sleep came as she lay the night, crying beside him.
Lucianna finally rose when morning strengthened. "I am sorry, my love. Your death will be the last." She moved quickly, faster than she ever thought possible, and exposed herself to the death of the sun.
Warmth, not pain, graced her face. The sun held no harm. She looked down at her feet standing on the water as if a god. Her ears heard the feet of insects crawling along leaves. Her eyes could count the petals on the flowers across the water. She smelled a rodent to the east, maybe half a league away. It's blood, she knew would suffice.
Farther east, a foul scent violated her nose. Lucianna's mind followed the trail and she sensed fear in one that had known little for years. It was an evil cursed thing, hiding deep in a cellar from the sun. It was she that it feared. She knew then, her curse had been tainted by love, warped by the desires of one most special. The evil in the cellar knew, for the legends foretold of her coming. An angel, born of love, the vengeance of the living. The power of the curse in the light of day.
A vision of beauty masking terrible power, Lucianna stepped forward suspended atop the water. The first of many evil things would cease that day. Lawson's sacrifice would not be for naught.
The Lightbringer had come. The curse would know no greater foe.