The day dwindled under an impossible heat, one that scorched the earth and fried the walkways in a blistering swelter. The only relief I could find was what walls and ceilings provided which were shade and zephyr with the assistance of air conditioning.
The afternoon dragged and amusement was obtained by the delights of an array of female residents whom found themselves bizarrely compelled to accompany me to the house mastered by my brother. His appearance was lax of late what with the untimely diversion regarding his new fascination with the rabid Lycan he had pointedly not muzzled; a suggestion I took pleasure in making in her presence.
Half a dozen appealing dames were standing in a scantily clad manner, disheveled tresses ranging in length and color each framed their unblemished complexions. Some used bed linen as a means of concealment for their bare forms while others were brazen and stood in the garments I had shredded in urgency.
From my perch on the chaise lounges; I was in a prime position to assess each sensations splendid physique, casting an evaluating eye over their diverse assortment of figures. I had no type, no preference of choice whether buxom and voluptuous or slim and meager; a warm body was just that, a warm body. All inadequately clothed I toyed with an antediluvian blade.
"You see this, darlings." I lowered my gaze to the knife between my nimble digits, altering the position with a calming fluidity as I listened for the air to sing in a whip.
"Some say it is one of the oldest in this land, forged between the creation of the earth and the deluge as said in the book of Genesis." Talk of Genesis incited a contemptuous snort to depart in a flippant manner.
"Now, I've thumbed through the good book and there are many inconsistencies. See, I happen to like my fables yet this one is rather unimaginative. You would think the Almighty, all seeing and powerful had more flare for the dramatics or at least took pride in the sagas that reference him; intervening when things went awry such as the tale of Noah and his infamous Ark."
I ousted a cynical titter in a burst which followed the release of the primordial vane into the stomach of a statuesque woman with a strip of linen torn from my chamber bed shielding her modesty. She gasped and the sound of a sharp inhalation drifted across the stately drawing room and met my ear.
A slow bead of blood soaked into the white of the sheet and began to spread around the area that had been punctured by the knife-edge. The others whom stood shoulder to shoulder with the injured all had similar lacerations across the spectrum of their half-clad frames. I retrieved the implement from her abdomen with a jagged withdrawal and stood just inches from her crying face.
Muted sobs sprung from her throat and tears washed down her cheeks just like all the others. I stared upon her elegant and threadbare face to be met with a broken gaze, one that held no hope, no desire for reprisal only a glimmer of languor which quickly was replaced with terror and disgust when I guided the tainted edge to my lips and tasted the crimson that so freely flowed through her veins. I detected the faint whimper she stirred and reached for her cheek, laying my palm to it.
"Hush, little dove. You may still fly one day." I spoke in a menacing tone which mistakenly meant to sound palliative. The poor wounded bird, stripped of its ability to fly was a perfect comparison to the women whom had the unfortunate displeasure of my company. They could not fly, or flee in any case. Wounded and grounded at the hands of their marauder; predator to prey and slaughterer to lamb.
I claimed the darlings' lips in a heated exchange, rough in my treatment and method of affection. She flinched and squirmed as a means to break apart, failing miserably she succumbed to defeat. Where others had bit and held their own, this docile dove lost the will to fight which earned her a death most fitting for a helpless captive. No fun would be had with her anymore, the will to live had been abandoned and instead detachment set it.
I breathed on her brims a whisper that would release this captive from the earth and reignited the flicker behind her seraphic spheres for a singular moment before my sterling ivories tore into silken skin, her segregated lips ejected a breath against the shell of my ear and the ignited flicker diminished into dim darkness and her unresponsive frame hit the marble ground with a muted thud. I strolled along the row of women who remained, melodic musings departed in a whispered ditty.
"Six green bottles sitting on the wall, six green bottles sitting on the wall, and if one green bottle should accidentally fall, there'll be five green bottles sitting on the wall."