An Arctic Mystery Chapter Two
Author's Note: I'm so sorry that took so long to update, but my internet had a freak-out and I haven't been able to access it for ages. This chapter may be a shade more gory than the last on, but I am a HUGE fan of Darren Shan so I'm afraid you'll have to get used to my colourful descriptions lol. Please, please, pleeeeeaaaaase carry on with the reviews, as I am incredibly chuffed with the ones I have already!! Cheers
He lay in its arms, as silent as a corpse as it fed on him. Mrs Coulter wanted to scream, but no sound came out. Her monkey daemon clung tightly to her shoulder, shivering in terror as his silky golden fur stood erect. The beast was tall with long blonde hair, and it was wearing a dark blue gown that was fastened together by a silver buckle. Its daemon was a wolf, and he was stood next to it, a mysterious red glow radiating from him like candlelight. But the thing that petrified Mrs Coulter the most was what the beast was doing, for it had its sharp, white fangs sunk into her husband's neck, and it was drinking his blood. Mrs Coulter had intended to scream his name, but it came out as a small, frightened squeak that sounded like the squeaking of a floorboard. The beast jerked its head up, and stared straight at her. Its blood red eyes shone with an eerie delight as it dropped him and advanced upon her, baring those terrible, blood-coated fangs. Mrs Coulter finally managed to scream, every nerve in her body tensing as pure shockwaves of terror were transmitted from her throat. The beast hissed, and leaped for Mrs Coulter's neck. She dived desperately to the side, causing it to slam into the wall, momentarily knocking it senseless. Mrs Coulter fled, but a freezing cold hand grabbed her leg, causing her to trip over halfway up the stairs. She screamed, frantically kicking her legs to make the beast release her. But it was too strong, and it tightened its icy grip. It then dug its razor-sharp nails into her flesh and dragged them down her leg. Shrieking in pain, Mrs Coulter swung her free leg with all her strength, causing it to collide with the creature's chin. It tumbled backwards down the steps, giving her the time she and her daemon needed to scramble up the steps, and out of that accursed cellar. Slamming the door tight, she gathered Ozymandias up in her arms and embraced him tightly, great big massive gales of shock whirling around it her head.
Suddenly there was a smash, and the beast burst through the door, blasting it to smithereens. Mrs Coulter screamed and ran. It gave chase, following her into the kitchen. There, she seized the biggest knife she could find and twirled round to face the creature from hell that was attacking her and her husband. As it dived for her, she swung the knife. She screamed as purple blood spurted out of the gash she had created and splattered all over her face, but the beast merely grinned. "You can't kill me," it hissed; its voice was a million female voices, all mish-mashed together into one, eerie tone. It snatched her knife-hand; twisting it so forcefully it made Mrs Coulter wince. Her knife clattered to the floor. She was defenceless. It then sunk it's fangs into her pulsing vein, and started to drink her blood. Gigantic throbs of excruciating pain ricocheted throughout her body, and all the blood ran to her wrist, causing her whole body to go numb. Her daemon squirmed around on the floor beside her, screeching and howling, begging the beast to stop, but it carried on drinking with an immense greed. With all her remaining strength, Mrs Coulter aimed a powerful kick at its stomach. All the breath was suddenly sucked out of the creature like a vacuum, causing it to jolt away from her wrist and clutch its wounded abdomen. This action gave her all the time she needed to snatch the knife up from the floor, to hurtle herself at the beast, and to drive the blade into its heart. But again the beast dodged the blow, and the knife landed into its right breast. Blood pumped out of the wound like a sprinkler. Mrs Coulter felt her stomach being wrenched out of her mouth, as if she had been chained to a swiftly rotating platform for several hours. But she managed to keep her guts down her throat, and, leaping onto the beast, she swung the knife with such passion, ferocity and hate, determined to kill, determined to put an end to this creature from hell. The first strike penetrated the forehead, causing blood to ooze out of its brow. Thrashing around in her grip, the beast frantically tried to grab the blade, but Mrs Coulter was persistent. SLASH! Another rip appeared in its neck, making it wince as the knife tore through veins and arteries in its throat. Finally, she launched the killer blow, plunging it straight into the beast's heart-
Silence-
The creature was still, but not quite unchanging. For in front of Mrs Coulter's very gaze, its features started to melt away. She stared in disbelief as it morphed into the form of a beautiful young girl. Mouth wide open, the woman could only stare at this poor little girl that lay on the floor, massive slits all over her body created by her own means, who was the minion of the devil that had plundered her home and ambushed her and her husband. Sobbing, she darted over to the nearest bathroom and violently vomited into the toilet, making her and Ozymandias feel as if their throats where being wrenched out by a pair of tweezers. That done, Mrs Coulter went over to the sink and splashed cold water over her face, gurgling it for several minutes to eliminate the lingering tang of puke from her taste-buds. She then ran back down to the cellar to check on her husband.
He was conscious when she arrived, but his face was even more pasty than it had been when he had gone out with Lord Boreal and gotten himself so wasted he was brutally sick all over the bed. His lifeless grey eyes flickered up at her as she approached him and placed her still shaking hand on his ice-cold head. "Edward, Edward, are you OK," pleaded Mrs Coulter. He groaned. "Edward, please, say something," she sobbed.
"Marisa? Who was that?" grumbled Mr Coulter.
"I haven't the faintest idea sweetheart. It could be a demon that the authority set upon us. But why would he do that, I mean, I haven't done anything wrong. Have you done anything bad?" asked Mrs Coulter.
"No I have bloody well not you idiot. How dare you even question my good nature," cried Mr Coulter, making Mrs Coulter jump.
"Please don't be angry my dear. Listen to me. I don't know what that thing was, but it must have been sent here for a reason. And since it attacked you first, maybe," she started, but Mr Coulter interrupted.
"What is it you think I've done, Marisa, theft, adultery? For all we know it could be your fault I'm laying here now, ill."
"Edward I can assure you I absolutely did not do it?"
"Balderdash, you always do it."
She wanted to say "in your dreams," but it would mean her wealthy lifestyle would hang in the balance, so instead she glanced at her daemon, and immediately he knew what she planned to do. Putting her hands on her husband's shoulders, she lowered her sensuous red lips to his filthy, waxy ear. "Darling, you know deep down that if you speak to me like that, there'll be no sex tonight," she cooed. "Yes Marisa," he whispered, immediately entranced by her soft, melodic voice. He didn't even seem to notice it was still shaking from the horrific events that had taken place only several minutes earlier. Mrs Coulter's rich blue eyes flickered over to Ozymandias, who had his paw placed between the hind talons of Mr Coulter's daemon (who was in the form of a starling with very finely spaced feathers), and then back to him.
"Good boy," she said, gently hauling him up and escorting him to the bedroom.
A million miles away, where the wolf howls at the moon-
The hunter hunts his prey-
For he must feed soon.
He stalks at night and sleeps at day, feasting upon the damned-
When he's gone the beast comes-
And death is close at hand.
Lord Asriel awoke with a start, beads of sweat streaming down his chest. That verse had been whispered to him every night for a month now. Every perfectly pronounced syllable made him feel so unnervingly calm. Every letter sent shockwaves of unnatural pleasure down his spine. Every decibel was bittersweet honey being poured down his ears. The poem spoke of a horrific malice, but the way it was spoken, so melodic, so sweet sounding, it gave him the creeps.
Jumping out of his bed, Lord Asriel strode over to the curtains and opened them. Sunlight streamed into his face like a piercing blade. He squinted. It took him a while to get used to the light. After that, he wandered over to his armoire and changed into a plain white shirt, a brown tie, a brown cotton waistcoat and beige trousers. Then, he entered the en suite, brushed his teeth, splashed cold water onto his face and left the room, his snow leopard trotting powerfully beside him.
When he entered the dining room he found a cooked breakfast already laid out for him. His manservant Thorold was already seated, reading the newspaper, and as Lord Asriel sat down and took a mouthful of egg, he glanced at him. "Are you still doing that presentation at the royal arctic institute?" asked the man.
"Yes, I just have some last minute preparations to make," Lord Asriel replied.
"Well, don't expect a big audience," said Thorold, holding up the newspaper so he could see the headline: "ROYAL ARCTIC INSTITUTE ATTACKED BY A FEROCIOUS KILLER," it screamed. Lord Asriel's mouth dropped open. He snatched up the article and started to read it. At least fifty members of London's Royal Arctic Institute were found viciously slaughtered in their homes last night. From careful observations, the police have found that every single corpse was completely drained of all their blood, and two holes were found either in the wrist or in the neck. The only survivors were Count Gregorovitch, Lord Boreal, Princess Platanio, Colonel Carbon, Dr Broken Arrow, Captain Hudson, Mr and Mrs Coulter-" Lord Asriel groaned "-Professor Docker and Lord Asriel. Dr Broken Arrow was interviewed by Constable Cobbs earlier this morning. Here's what her had to say:
"Well, I was getting ready for bed, when the window smashed, and I was confronted by a terrifying beast with sharp fangs which he tried to sink into one of the major blood vessels in my wrist. But before he had chance to attack, I gave him a good old wallop over the head, before inhuming him with my father's sword." From that, it is perfectly clear that the killer was not human, but a demon sent by the Authority to punish the royal arctic institute. Further inquiries are being made into the affairs of this organization to find out what may have angered the Authority into authorising this attack. The institute has been closed by the Magisterium for this exact purpose." Lord Asriel closed the newspaper.
"Vampyres," he said without thinking.
"What?" said Thorold blankly.
"Vampyres. How else do you explain the fact that they were drained of all blood."
"I know, I bet that's mucked up your presentation a bit hasn't it your lordship," said the manservant.
"I fear that there's more to the situation than that, Thorold. It doesn't take a genius to work out what's going on here."
"How d'you mean?" Lord Asriel turned to face him.
"Well, I myself am a member of the institute don't forget. But I wasn't attacked by a vampyre, so I'm wondering.-"
"Yes."
"I'm wondering if it's not just the Royal Arctic Institute they're after Thorold. It is as we feared."
"What do you mean, Lord Asriel?"
"They're after the whole entire church," he said.
So there's the second chapter for you, I hope you enjoyed it. I know what you're thinking, so yes, they will meet eventually. It's just I wanted to give it the same pace as you would an ordinary book, as I have quite a lot of chapters planned for this fic. Oh, and I just decided that An Arctic Mystery will be part one of a trilogy about Asriel and Marisa, as I can't get enough of them they're so awesome! Be sure to check out part two; Bridge Through the Stars sometime soon, and leave a review or something for it so I know how I did with it. Thanks.