Insidious Nights
Warnings: disturbing concepts, as far as the face stealing goes. I don't intend on having any graphic/violent scenes.
Chapter 1
He'd fallen in love with a girl.
It had been so long ago, but he remembers; the memories that have occupied his mind for hundreds of years are as clear as the memories made yesterday.
Her face was the like the pale moon, swimming in the night of her hair. Lips pink and full, eyes that drew him in, and deliciously soft skin. She was so expressive, too. He possessed a certain thirst that only her tears, cascading down perfect cheeks, could quench. In anger, she bloomed a brilliant red, blood seeping through pure white snow. Her features, clenched in pain, were at their most beautiful. Such a lovely, lovely face.
He watched from the shadows as that pretty little face was wasted on tending the fields and feeding the animals. It was never admired by the few who knew her, and too often smudged with dirt from working –what was the point of such beauty if it was not properly appreciated?
She had to be his.
And so, on a night when the moon shone full in the night sky, Koh put on his best face and appeared before her. His lips curled into a smile when he saw how she wore fear so well. He held out a claw to her, offering to spirit her away and let her stay with him forever. She refused, of course, and he took her anyways. Her agonized screams had been almost as beautiful as her porcelain doll lips.
Beauty is subjective: one can prefer the fire lily to the white jade, and another may prefer the white lotus to the crimson tulip. The leaves of autumn to the snow of winter. A smoldering fire to the ocean waves. It is different to all, united by a single quality: beauty always fades. Flowers wither, snow melts with the arrival of spring. A fire dies and pollution litters ocean waters, clouding clear blue. It's the same with people, who wilt like flowers, fading away as the hands of time travel round the clock.
But it's not so with Koh.
Each face he claims as his own withstands the tests of time. He keeps them as they come to him, preserving their youth and capturing the very splendor he was originally so taken with, be it their ferocity, or the enigma of their eyes.
He's able to look upon her once more, under the light of the full moon, her reflection staring back up at him from the water of the lagoon. She's still as animated as she was hundreds of years before, and he revels in his ability to part her lips open into a look of shock, and open her eyes wide, recreating the look of terror she wore so well the night he took her.
Koh runs a claw down a smooth cheek.
Such a lovely, lovely face.
. . .
It's the same dark hair and alabaster skin; the same lips that made him lick his own in hunger. But this one has piercing eyes, eyes that hide a fighting spirit beneath. Good. The thrill of the hunt lies with the chase.
This one is just like her.
And she is called Mai.
He doesn't have to watch for long to realize what a necessity it is to add her to his collection. A flower like her doesn't bloom every other century. He shudders in excitement, wondering if this girl wears terror half as well. Koh puts on his best face and emerges from the shadows.
She's alone, and he thinks it such a shame because she's quite the pretty little gem.
And when she catches sight of his silhouette on her bedroom wall, she freezes.
In the reflection of her bedroom window she can just make out a claw as it reaches out from behind her to stroke her jaw.
"Such a lovely, lovely face," he muses, satisfied with how hard she tries to conceal her quivering body.
She lets fly a round of shuriken, which clatter harmlessly off of his plates. The girl attempts to make for the door, but with a flick of one of his legs, it is sealed.
"I am Koh," he drags a claw across the top of her bedside table, grinning as he watches the wood crack and splinter, "the face stealer."
He hears a sharp intake behind him and he whips around, only slightly disappointed to see that her face remains stoic, a statue. But he's not deterred -merely intrigued by the girl made out of stone.
"I'm here to offer you the chance to join me, to accompany me in the spirit world. Eternally." He circles her, amused at how her eyes try to follow him.
"And if I refuse?"
He coils around her, encouraged to reel her in closer when she struggles, her attempts to do him harm with those little knives of hers are to no avail.
"Why, I'll take you anyways," he squeezes tighter, forcing the air from her lungs. "But I assure you, my dear, that it is an opportunity to die for."
She looks ever so bored –like this has happened to her a thousand times before. But her heartbeat suggests otherwise. He can hear it. He can feel it. It is a panicked, pitifully desperate rhythm, and he loves it.
He drags her off into the darkness, slithering from shadow to shadow. They've only just traveled outside the city gates when she goes limp in his grasp.
"Go on, why not grace those beautiful lips of yours with a smile?" he asks her, honey coating his voice.
Her visage does not change.
"I've heard about you," she finally says.
Koh opens his mouth and laughs. He laughs, and he laughs, the sound echoing off into the night.
"Good," he manages once he catches his breath, "that's very good."
What a curious girl.
But she's not as expressive as her. This one is quite composed.
Koh's lips curl upwards.
That could be easily remedied.
A/N: This story will be multi-chaptered and the rating will go no higher than T. Thanks for reading!