8
Moonlight spilled through the gap in her curtains, pooling along the inky black rug and illuminating the room with its milky glow. He pushed the window gently and it swung open, letting out a soft groan in protest. Hooking his fingers on the sill, he pulled himself up, through the open frame, and climbed inside.
Her body rocked slightly as his weight settled on the pillowy mattress beside her and he paused, watching her slumbering face for any sign of a reaction. He didn't need her waking up the same way she had last time. She shifted slightly beneath her covers, kicking her feet out of the comfort of their warmth, but her eyes remained closed. Slowly, he settled himself beside the sleeping girl, watching each soft breath that passed her lips, the soft flutter of her lashes as she dreamed.
She looked so sweet. So helpless and vulnerable. So...
Delicious.
His mind raced with thoughts of what he could do to her, of all the ways he could torment her. He could picture the hot tears that would stream from those dark brown eyes as though he were seeing them in person, here and now in her bed. Lifting a hand he trailed his knuckles down her face, tracking the exact pattern where those lovely little pearls of pain would fall. As though in reaction to the contact she sucked in a quick breath, her chest stilling for a beat before she released it once more with a soft sigh.
Lowering his hand once again, he allowed his eyes to wander around the half-empty room -he never gave himself the opportunity to do so the last time, after all. Books covered the top of her desk along with a picture frame or two. Her suitcase sat in her open closet beneath the row of yellow sweaters and jeans. Scraps of note paper with little doodles and sketches hung around the small room. Luminescent blue eyes centered in on the canvas leaning against the wall, beside her door, on the portrait she had painted. On the tiny red splatter at the bottom.
He grinned.
"You're playing with fire, sweetheart," he murmured, lowering his head down to rest on the pillow beside hers. "You don't want another nasty burn, do you?"
His long dark locks intermingled with her soft curls and he couldn't help himself but play with them. He ran his fingers through their soft strands, trailed the tips over the silken hills and valleys her hair created. If she only knew how close he was. Would she scream? Would she stare at him the same way she had during his last visit? Oh, he hoped so. He could practically still smell her fear as it rolled off her body in waves, permeating the air around them.
Running his tongue over his lips he shifted onto his side, wrapping one arm loosely around the girl's middle, holding her to him. "How about a bedtime story?" he whispered into her ear, reveling in the soft shudder that coursed through her body as he did. "Would you like a nice story with a happy ending? Perhaps a scary story?"
She continued to sleep in his arms, completely oblivious to the monster that shared her bed.
"Ah!" he grinned into her neck as the familiar tale hit him. "I have the perfect thing. This," he began, "is the story of a Goddess and the monsters her betrayal created. Once upon a time..."
*****
Fog rolled heavily across the floor, shrouding the world in its smoke. Turning in circles, I searched around for something, anything that could tell me where I was but all there was to see were grey clouds and mist for miles.
What happened? One minute I was dreaming of a never-ending slice of pizza and the next I was here, in this colorless void. My thoughts raced faster than I could catch them. Did I die suddenly in my sleep? Did I drool too hard and accidentally drown myself? Was this heaven? Was it a dream? A nightmare? Was this Hell?
Shivering at the thought, I wrapped my arms around myself and stared into the endless fog, praying for some answer, for someone to show up. It merely stared back as silent and empty as before.
Should I... Should I walk forward? See if there really was anything in this void? Or should I just wait?
Before I could decide, fingertips brushed my neck, caressed it with their cool touch from somewhere behind and a chill raced up my spine. "Once upon a time..." a deep voice began in a whisper. His voice was right in my ear, so close I could practically feel his lips as he spoke. With a small shriek, I jumped away, whirling around to look at the man but no one was there. Just more fog. "...there was a Goddess named Ellowyn."
Bright light broke through the thick curtain of mist entrapping me in the void, and slowly my vision began to clear. There, standing before me was a woman draped in a dress of cream fabric and gold trim. A glittering crown rode atop her head and hair as bright as the sun itself fell down her back in long locks. Yet despite how hard I tried I couldn't make out her face. It, along with the rest of the world was still cloaked in a haze of white shadows.
"Who's there?" I stepped forward, approaching the woman, desperate for some sort of contact but no matter how many steps I took she always stayed beyond my reach. "Who are you?" I demanded. My voice trembled as I quietly begged her to look at me but she never turned my way. The voice began once more in my ear.
"She was beautiful and kind, beloved by all. But no one loved her as much as her consort, Sirus." Emerging from the mist, a man joined her. He was dressed in the finest blue and silver robes I had ever seen, his long, dark hair tied back and away from his face. "He was her loyal servant, standing beside her every decision, fighting for her without question. He loved her. And he knew that she loved him in return." The man swept down into a deep bow, taking the Goddess' hand into his own and placing a small kiss on her knuckles. The woman smiled down at him and though I couldn't make out her features I could feel that she was happy. They both were.
"But the Goddess became lonely. She began to feel unfulfilled and against his wishes she created a new life to care for. She gave birth to what you now call Humans." As though blown away by a gust of wind the fog cleared beneath my feet. There, miles below, the earth stood, lush and green. One by one humans began appearing, naked and happy. "She thought the humans were beautiful creatures full of love and joy. Her consort, however, saw things differently." I could feel the tone of the man's voice change, harden. Turning I looked at the two beside me. From where I stood I could see the Goddess' smile widen. As for the man, he watched the woman and her creations with a troubled frown. "Humans were ugly creatures filled with hate and jealousy. Driven by their greed, it wasn't long until they took to killing each other."
And like he said, below I could see the senseless slaughter as Human turned on Human. Killing each other, taking their possessions, their food, their wives, and their children. And yet, the Goddess continued to watch on, a smile on her beautiful, haze-filled face.
"He tried to convince his Goddess of their disgusting ways, hoped that she'd come to and realize that they needed to be stopped. But she refused to listen. Soon enough, she refused to see him at all. Instead, spending all her time watching the horrors that was the humanity she created. Perhaps," the voice continued on in my ear, "those humans had somehow managed to corrupt his dear Goddess' heart. Perhaps they had blinded her to the truth. If that was the case, then he knew his lady would not be able to stop them. So, he rose to the task of doing it himself.
"While her back was turned to him, Sirus began to amass an army of his most devoted followers. Angels who saw the world of humans for what they truly were- vile, disgusting creatures. Together they would purge the world and save their Goddess from humanity and their wicked ways." Slowly, a handful of angels became an entire horde rising up to help the consort, Sirus. They stood at his back, an army of winged soldiers. The mere sight of them and the knowledge that I was standing a mere few yards away, a single human -a creature that they despised and wanted dead- made me nervous.
"Sirus sent his army of angels down, and in secret, they whispered to the humans. They took hold of their hearts, took hold of the darkness inside their souls and watched as it consumed them. Soon, their world broke out in war." Far below us, the world of humans erupted in a crazed frenzy of blood and chaos. Time passed, weapons evolved, people died and the world's population slowly began to decrease.
"It wasn't long, however, until Ellowyn heard word of his deeds. He had tried to explain to her what the humans were doing to her heart, to her mind, but she was too far gone to listen. Instead, she turned her back to him and cast Sirus and his army out of her Kingdom, banishing them to the world below." I watched in horror as with the mere flick of her wrist the Goddess sent her former consort down, plunging through the clouds like a meteor rocketing through the sky. One by one she sent his angels with him and I listened as they all screamed and cried, horrified, angry, painful shrieks as they plummeted down to the earth below. "The Goddess had damned them, sentenced those who betrayed her to live an eternity among the humans as the creatures they so hated. Stripped of her love, the angels she had once cherished were forced to hide among the shadows as bloodthirsty monsters or risk walking under her light and perishing forever."
I felt the pain roll off the former angels as their once beautiful wings began to rot, replaced instead by glowing eyes, sharp teeth, and claws. They became exactly what they had thought of the humans: Monsters. The night was filled with the sound of sobbing and heart-wrenching screams. Sirus could only watch, seemingly unfazed by her sudden attack.
"Overtaken with despair some chose to live among her warmth one last time." As the sun rose over the mountains a fallen shuffled out from under the cover of the shadows. The sunlight cast over their skin, haloing it in beautiful golden light.
I screamed.
Their flesh boiled under the suddenly searing heat, burned until it was charred and black and peeling away from the meat. The muscles beneath twitched and sizzled as streams of blood poured out from the open wounds. Fire ate away at their body until bone shone through the torn flesh, stained and wet and steaming from the heat. Unable to watch the gruesome display any longer I turned away, covering my eyes with my hands like a child trying to hide away from the boogeyman. But no matter how hard I tried, I couldn't block out the sounds of their frantic screams and cries, couldn't ignore the familiar stench of hot blood, burning skin and hair. Soon I could hardly tell their screams from my own.
"Wake up!" I cried. "Wake up! Please, God, if this is a dream, someone wake me up!"
I felt his warmth before I heard his voice continue on in my ear, somber with an edge of ice. "Even after some resorted to death, Ellowyn continued to watch on. She never uttered a word, never lifted a finger. Was this how a Goddess was supposed to act? Was this truly his Lady, the woman he had been so devoted to? Perhaps, he thought, it was not Ellowyn who was blinded. Perhaps it had been him. Consumed by rage, Sirus vowed to wipe the earth of her wretched creations. He no longer cared if he made Ellowny sad or upset by doing so. She was no Goddess to him any longer."
Buzzing with anger, Sirus shoved a blade into the hands of a fallen and gave the order. He turned and knelt down on the floor, unfurling his massive white wings. Upon his command, the fallen stepped behind him and, almost unwillingly, proceeded to saw into the soft feathers and flesh. As blood dripped down his spine where the fallen carved into him, Sirus stared up into the sky above, up at the Goddess he once served, hate oozing from every pore. He howled in pain as the blade hit bone, digging his fingers into the dirt as he screamed. Before long his back was a mess of gore. Where beautiful white wings once sat was now a mash-up of exposed bone, ripped meat and blood. So much blood.
"Anger overwhelmed his senses, hate drove him forward as he reassembled his army of former angels and under his command they attacked. Intent on destroying all that Ellowyn loved they moved under the cloak of night and murdered every human on sight." Horror washed over my body as I watched this once beautiful angel become the living embodiment of wrath as he and his army of fallen not only killed innocent humans but slaughtered them. I screamed as they jumped on them, mounted their kicking, screaming bodies and tore into their flesh as easily as a child tore into Christmas paper. They ripped the humans apart with their teeth and their nails, devouring them until there was nothing left but mangled, bloody corpses. The killings continued on through the night until dawn threatened to turn them into a heap of burnt flesh and blood like it did their friend.
Things continued on like that every night for what felt like an eternity. Humans began to lock themselves in once the sun went down, warning their children that if they stepped outside when it was dark monsters and boogeymen would snatch them up and eat them for dinner. More than a handful of children and humans caught out in the dark wound up missing or were found days later a gory heap on the floor. And those that they didn't slaughter like cattle, they kept around as playthings or turned into blood-thirsty monsters like themselves. Sirus's army continued to grow in number, and he reveled in the fear that they caused.
"But Ellowyn wasn't the type to just sit around and watch her creations get slaughtered. She fought back."
Like the night she cast Sirus and his angels out of her Kingdom, the sky opened up and more fallen began to descend on the earth below. Like the others, their wings were replaced by fangs and claws. They too were forbidden to walk under the sun and had an almost savage hunger for blood. But it wasn't the humans they turned their bloodlust on.
"War erupted between Sirus's army and Ellowyn's. Over the next twenty years, they fought relentlessly, stalking the other like prey and tearing them apart at every opportunity. But Sirus's fallen outnumbered Ellowyn's pack and it wasn't long before it was obvious who would win the battle." There was a soft sound in my ear, almost like a small snort and I briefly wondered if it was the voice who had laughed so cruelly, or if I was just hearing things. "But Ellowyn was smart," he continued. "She had taken this time to build up her army and just when Sirus felt he was close to victory she sent down her horde."
I watched as the fallen, already tired and not nearly as plentiful as they once were, were descended upon by Ellowyn's reinforcements. The new fallen attacked, led forward by a group of soldiers so powerful their strength practically rippled from their new bodies. The two armies clashed together, a mass of teeth, fangs and weapons. Then, suddenly, the scene before me disappeared, replaced by the familiar white haze that enveloped the rest of the world.
"The fighting went on for the better part of a century, but in the end, Ellowyn and her army won. The two packs signed a treaty and Sirus and his fallen were forced into hiding. As for Ellowyn's soldiers, they remained on earth to watch over her humans and protect them from beings like her former consort.
"It's been so long since that day." I could feel the warmth of body heat against my back, feel the soft rush of cool air as he spoke against my neck and I shut my eyes. His hands were cool against my skin as he took my face into them. "I'd say it's been about twelve hundred years, give or take a couple of decades." It felt like only moments before I had wanted nothing more than to see someone, talk to someone in this empty plane. Now that I could feel him with me, felt his hands on me, I was almost too scared to open my eyes. "It took twelve hundred years, but I finally found you." His voice sounded so serene, so sure. His fingers shifted to my hair, to tangle themselves in it. "My Christine."
Hesitantly, I opened my eyes and peeked up at the man before me.
His hair was darker than midnight, falling down his back, long and loose. Slacks and a button up silk shirt replaced the robes he once wore. His face, no longer shadowed in a white haze, I could make out every detail of it down to the three tiny freckles that rode below his right eye. But it wasn't his clothes or the soft tilt of his lips that caught my attention. It was those eyes. So focused and certain, filled with the same lethal gleam as the statue in my painting. And more than anything, shining that familiar luminescent blue as the man in my window. A jolt of fear shot down my spine.
As though he knew exactly what I was thinking, his grin widened, showing off sharp white teeth. Hands closing around my arms, Sirus pulled me close until his heat was practically burning my skin and pressed his lips against my ear.
"Wake up."
With a shrill scream, I shot up in my bed, panting and sweaty. Throwing off my covers I rushed to pull back the curtains, checking to see if my window was open like it had been last time. But it was shut tight. Outside the world was tinted in blue, the first sign that dawn was approaching.
I left the curtains open as I climbed back into bed, hopeful that if the sun were shining in my room I might be able to relax enough to catch a few more precious moments of sleep. But as I pulled the blanket back over my body, I knew I wouldn't be able to calm down again. Laying on the pillow beside me was a single strand of long, back hair. I shivered beneath my blankets, despite the evaporating body heat he had left behind in my bed.
What the hell is happening with me?
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Thank you! ^^ -Charlie