There once was a man who was so in love with his bride he would give anything for her, sacrifice anyone to keep her safe and happy. But he couldn't keep her safe from illness. And soon after they were wed her health took a turn for the worst. Fits of coughing and dangerously high fevers accompanied her through the nights and she became paler and thinner and faded away more quickly than anyone could help her.
Well one moonless misty night to the man's horror, Death came knocking at the door. He stood tall with soulless eyes and a face as gaunt as a skeleton. Lengthy straight black hair hung in his hooded face. He tapped patiently with one long bony finger. He stared at the husband and said nothing only moved past him to the dying wife's bed. He reached his hand over the woman's mouth and felt her breaths slowing.
"Please, please spare her, I'll give you anything!" Death ignored the man's desperate pleas and steadily watched the woman lessen her grip on life. "Please, please I know you can hear me, I'll give you anything, ANYTHING, DO YOU HEAR ME?"
Death turned then and stared into the man's soul with his haunting vacant eyes. He whispered then, "What could a mortal such as yourself offer me, when all I seek is the life here that is spent?"
The man quickly racked his brain, "Another life perhaps? Anyone else?" Death said nothing and turned back towards the dying woman. "What about my soul? My soul for her life! My soul for you to keep when I die, just for a life with her. She is so young…."
Death tilted his head to the side and again the whispery voice reached the man's ears, "You confuse me with your legends of a devil. I am Death, I do not make deals, I do not discriminate, when a living creature's time runs out I am here to collect and deliver them to the spirit realm."
The woman's eyes rolled back into her head and she began choking on her own breath. Blood spilled from the corners of her mouth as she fought fruitlessly for air that would not come. She was drowning by her bloodied lungs.
"Please! Spare her! And I'll give you, I'll give you anything you name!"
Death turned once more, "Anything?"
"Yes anything!"
The man's eyes lit up with hope. Death stood still for a long while then whispered, "It is done." Suddenly the woman stopped choking and she fainted.
The man paled in shock, "You, you have spared her?" Death said nothing but the woman murmured in her sleep, and slowly color returned to her cheeks.
The man fell to his knees, "Thank you, thank you, you are not cruel death!" He kissed the hem of Death's robe. Once again the whispery voice rang out, "Your first born daughter will be my bride. When she comes of age I will claim her."
Death's cloak slipped from the man's hands. "What? Why would you want a bride for? You just said you didn't care for souls."
Death ran a skeletal finger across his thin lips, "I want a partner to help me rule the land of lost souls."
The man trembled in horror, but his relief for his wife was too great and he simply nodded and ran to her side where he threw his arms around her and held her tight. She opened her eyes and smiled warmly at her husband, "I- I heard voices, who were you speaking to?" The man quickly glanced around but Death had vanished. "No one love, no one at all."
The years passed and the couple was happy. And the day came where the woman gave birth to two beautiful girls, twins yet their appearances were stark opposites. One resembled a fairy child with her golden hair and rosy cheeks, the other was smaller and pale with hair as black as night. The golden daughter was named Lilly and the other, Elena.
Lilly and Elena grew up in the little town their parents and their parents before them had been raised. Lilly was the charm of the town, everyone instantly loved her; she was as sweet as honey and as delicate as her flowery name. She was doted on and cherished and fawned over.
In contrast Elena seemed to cause trouble. She was mischievous and was always wandering away by herself to speak to the trees and hide in bushes. Many said she was really a little witch in disguise and the other children were warned to avoid her. While Lilly practiced being the perfect little lady, learning to sew and cook, Elena often took the farm horse out and rode off for a day at a time. She hated sewing and cooking and Lilly.
One day Elena was tacking up the farm horse when her father roughly grabbed a hold of her arm. "What have I told you child?" Elena squirmed, "Let go of me, you stink of drink!" Her father threw her arm roughly away and she cradled it gently. He gazed at her with tired eyes, "I wish it was you who Death was coming for." Elena's ever pale skin drained of what color she had. Tears welled up in her eyes. She knew she wasn't anyone's favorite but she hadn't guessed her father actually wished her dead.
"I hate you father. I HATE YOU!"
And she jumped onto the horse and took off from the stable, knocking her father aside and galloping off towards the woods. She rode until she lost sight of the house, the town, everything. And then she slid off the horse's great back and sat down in the dirt to cry.
The roan horse kindly nuzzled her then turned to graze, staying nearby. "Oh Roan you are my only friend in the world."
"Child why do you weep?" Elena gasped and picked her head up to see a tall lean man, clad all in black staring down at her. Long black hair hung in his face, masking most of it from view. "My father just told me he wished I was dead ." The man reached out a pale bony hand. "Let me see you child." His whispery voice seemed to soothe her. She took his hand and noticed his soulless pale eyes for the first time. But she didn't cry out. Instead she asked, "Are- are you a vampire?"
"If that's what you'd like to believe." Elena nodded. "Yes, I would. I know every person hates me so if you're not a person then you could maybe be my friend." She sniffed.
"How old are you child?"
"I'm eight and my name isn't child, it's Elena. My older sister is Lilly, though she's only older by seconds I guess that makes her some sort of prized thing I'll never be."
The man tilted his head to the side, "You are very gloomy for a child."
She shrugged.
"Would you play with me mister? no one else will."
The man's mouth pulled into a slanted line, "I don't play. I'm not sure how to."
"I could show you."
Elena took his hand and led him to the trees. "I will hide and you must count to thirty and come find me." The man almost smirked, "No one can hide from me."
"We'll see." And with a quick command for Roan not to follow she took off in search of the perfect place to hide.
The years passed quickly. Soon the girls became of age and a party was planned for them. Lilly had become the fancy of every young man in the town, she had excelled in her sewing and cooking and as she entered a room everything instantly seemed brighter. Elena the little witch as she was nicknamed, had never grown out of her rebellious ways.
She fought with her sister and disobeyed her father, ran from her mother and taunted the other girls and boys when they were near. Threatening to put a curse on each one when they pulled her hair or shoved her into the dirt. She mostly stayed away from others, except for her horse and her mysterious friend she'd meet in the woods about every day.
On the eve of their birthday Lilly and Elena both sat near the fireplace. Lilly getting her hair braided by her mother and Elena reading some dark strange book.
"Oh Lilly I just love the way your hair feels in my hands, like gold spun into silk! And to think I made you."
Lilly giggled, "Mother you're so silly sometimes, I do love you so."
"I love you too my sweet. - Elena must you really read those horrible fairytales? I don't understand your fascination with the bloody and grotesque!"
Elena's head snapped up from her book, "Of course you don't mother, you're always too busy kissing Lilly's arse."
"No Elena you will not speak to me that way, I am your mother!"
"You are no such thing!"
Lilly sighed, "Calm now sister, no need for ugly words."
Elena grit her teeth, "You, you just shut up little princess."
Lilly smiled sweetly, "You flatter me sister."
Their mother rose then, "You will not use that language in this house, apologize to myself and your sister at once."
Elena's eyes darkened, "I'd rather die." "Elena just, get out of this room, I don't want to see your face."
Elena laughed bitterly, "You never did, I bet you're just like father, wishing I was never born, wishing you had suffocated me before I'd taken my first breath."
"Elena…"
But she had run out of the room and was out of the house before anyone could stop her. The mother sighed, "I guess I have dotted on you more Lilly, but you were always such an easy child, I never did know what to do with her."
"Don't worry mother, she'll be back, she always comes back. Tell me a story of your sixteenth birthday, I want to know what to expect!"
Elena had run out of the house to the stables where she always sought comfort in her old friend Roan, yet as she called for him it was strangely quiet. Usually he always whinnied in response.
"Roan? Roan boy are you alright?" She heard snickering from the shadows. "Roan!" She flung open the stable doors and bolted to his stall where he lay on the ground bloodied and bruised. "Oh my god, Roan what have they done to you?"
Suddenly a rock smacked Elena on the back of the head, "Take that witch girl!" She turned to see a group of boys who laughed cruelly. "Why, why would you hurt him?" "Who knows what sort of devil craft you've practiced with him."
Elena screamed and grabbed the pitchfork nearby. "I'll kill you, I'll kill all of you!" The boys took off running and Elena chased them shouting swears and curses and threats but there were too many and as they split up she lost sight of them. Instead she ran back to Roan and let herself in his stall.
"I'm so sorry Roan, I should have protected you from those monsters." The horse placed his bloody head in her lap and closed his eyes. "That's a good boy, rest now, you're safe now." She choked on her words and let her tears fall as she stroked the horse's head lovingly.
Suddenly the strange man appeared. "Elena what's happened ?" "Those horrible boys, they, they've killed Roan!" She wrapped her arms around the horse's neck and buried her face in his bloodied mangled coat.
The man watched the scene before him without any hint of emotion. "He's not dead yet." Elena raised her face from his coat, "Do you know how to save him?" Her strange friend didn't break eye contact, he simply stated, "He will not die tonight. Stay with him, clean his wounds, he'll recover." And then the man was gone.
All through the night Elena stayed with the horse and nursed him back to health. By the morning he was as fit as he had ever been. Elena kissed his muzzle. "Thank god you're alright." The old farm horse nickered happily.
Lilly and Elena got ready for their party. "I don't see why I have to be there, no one is coming to see me." The mother rolled her eyes. "It is a party for both of you." "If those monsters who tried to kill Roan come I swear I will take your fancy crystal glasses and smash them into their heads….I'll cut their throats with the broken glass!"
"For heaven's sake Elena, stop speaking that way, this is all the fault of those horrible stories you read." "No mother, people are horrible not stories." "Go put on your dress and enough of your nonsense for one night, please just act like your sister." Elena signed and stalked off towards her room where a beautiful sheer white gown awaited her. She admired it for a moment and then smirking she thanked the heavens it wasn't some sickening shade of pink.
She dressed and let her hair hang loosely around her shoulders. With her stark pale skin, dark long locks and ghostly white dress Elena seemed to resemble some sort of dark creature of the underworld. She was to enter the party with her sister side by side. She solemnly obeyed, dreading the idea of entering a party never meant for her. She knew no one would see her next to her sister and wished to be curled away somewhere reading or off in the woods with Roan. Instead she stood at her sister's side, an angel in a soft blue dress and golden curls worn fashionable atop her head. She smiled sweetly at her sister yet Elena caught the smile did not reach those pretty blue eyes.
"Happy Birthday Elena." Elena glared coldly, "Spare me." Lilly giggled and leaned in close to her sister's ear, "You actually look rather pretty, if you are lucky perhaps someone will notice you dear sister." The worst part to Elena was how sincere Lilly seemed as she whispered the doubled-edged words.
The sisters entered together and the people all around applauded them as if they had done some great deed. Lilly waved and blew kisses to everyone while Elena stared ahead and imaged being somewhere far away in some other place in another time. From the corner of her eye, she caught sight of two soulless eyes staring in at her from the window. She quickly made her way through the crowd as all eyes were on Lilly and stepping towards the window she opened it.
"You came." Her strange friend nodded, "You invited me." Elena smiled suddenly, a soft sweet smile that she'd never shown anyone before, "You came for me. You are the only here who actually came for me…thank you."
Her strange friend stared at her a long while. "Do you know who I really am?" Elena shrugged, "Some dark angel, a lost spirit, a vampire, It doesn't matter to me." His Eternal black eyes betrayed nothing as he whispered softly, "I will tell you first and then I will make my presence known here… I am Death."
Elena did not shrink away but her lips parted in surprise for a moment. Then she simply sighed, "It makes sense, I always knew you were something not of this world. But why have you kept me company all these years, am I destined to die young?"
"You are destined to live out a full long life and you will do many great things. These people just do not understand you yet, they will."
Lilly danced by then, laughing sweetly with the young men following her like lovesick puppies. "Look at her, with her sunlit tresses and rose kissed cheeks, her crystal eyes and her delicate little doll's mouth." Elena hissed the words like venom.
Death raised a dark brow, "And do you not think you are beautiful?" The girl laughed bitterly, "The men fancy Lilly, not myself. I might as well be a shadow on the wall."
Death gazed at her with his hollow eyes, "But that is your beauty. You were kissed by shadows and the moon. While her hair is sunlight yours is raven's wings. While her cheeks are pink your skin is a flawless snow white. While Lilly has a delicate little doll's mouth yours is full and red, like blood. And while her eyes are naive crystal yours are dark and soulful. She is timid you are strong. Neither one of you are more beautiful than the other, there are just two ways of seeing."
Elena turned to Death. "Why is Death is the only one who finds me lovely?" He answered, "He is the one that has seen beauty through all the ages, and he never discriminates. Besides all beauty fades it's only the spirit that remains."
Elena stared at him, "I'm not afraid of you, are you aware of that?" "I am." "Ah. Well did you know I am also not repulsed by you? Your soulless eyes may be unsettling, how they are black and blank. And your face is barely more than bone. But never have I feared you, even when I was a little girl. In a way you've been my only true friend."
Death shook his head, "You are a child. Wise beyond your years but a child nonetheless. Your day will come. And Death is not a friend to any mortal." Elena smiled, "Perhaps I was meant to be immortal like you." He shook his head, "If you had been born first, you would have." Elena furrowed her brows, "What do you mean?"
Suddenly he vanished from the window and in a swirling black mist, he appeared through the door and into the middle of the party. Everyone was silent as he took his humanlike form once again.
"I am Death and I have come for what is mine." Elena felt her heart still in her chest. Her father snatched Lilly in his arms, "No, you can't have her please." Lilly trembled terribly.
"I spared your wife so that when your first daughter was born she would become my bride, you owe me my part of the deal."
Lilly cried out and flung herself away from her father into her mother's arms. Elena then screamed. Their father said to death, "Please take the other one, she's so strange I am sure she would suit you well."
Elena approached Death, "For once I agree with my father, I would suit you well. Take me instead, take me away from this hell." Death whispered in her ear, "I cannot. I made a deal to take the eldest, for she'd be bound to die first."
Elena's eyes turned dark then, "Even you will be taken away from me by Lilly. She gets everything, she gets the world and I am always left with nothing. Is it a wonder they call me mad?"
He watched her then, how her breathing was heavy and her dark eyes as wild as her spirit. She was more like a raging fire than a living human girl. "…I don't understand your emotion Elena."
"Of course you don't." She paced around the room as if she were some caged wild animal. "It's because since she is older she should die first? ...Well not if I have anything to do with it!"
She reached for one of the fine crystal glasses and smashed it against the wall. She then quickly took the longest shard and sliced it clean across both wrists." She cried out in pain. Her mother gasped and Lilly looked away.
Death grit his teeth, "What are you doing?" "I'm dying." She fell to her knees and he swept to her side. Suddenly his whispery voice trembled, "You weren't supposed to die, you were meant to live and be great. You were made for life not Death…Elena what have you done?"
Blood pooled around her, staining her white gown a crimson red. "I am in love with Death." She whispered weakly. "I don't want to take you, I don't want to take your life from you… Oh you foolish forlorn girl, you've thrown away an entire existence!"
Elena felt a tear fall from her eye. "So you will not make me your bride and so I have died for nothing?" Death wrapped her in his arms then, "No my sweet tragic girl, Death has always been in love with you, you will come home now and you will have peace."
And she felt death's cold kiss upon her lips and her's crashed against his in an otherworldly embrace. Death's kiss was more passionate than Elena would've ever dreamt. And she found herself falling sweetly into it. It soothed her, and awakened something within her that she had never known existed.
She smiled brightly and as she faded away with him he said to her,
"You are even more radiant in Death."