Chapter 9: Damnation
Carnicus snapped awake with the cracking of the whip, looking over at Lillian.
"Oh. One of those," he said, smiling. He stood up now. "How about giving me a little kiss? Virgins know nothing," Carnicus said with open arms. Lillian stared at him.
"I'm sorry. I'm not fond of seasoned men," she answered. Carnicus almost pouted. Christiano ignored his adolescent behavior and focused on finding a weakness. He was sure her arrogance would certainly help her towards her death.
Suddenly, her nails grew long and turned into claws. Christiano quirked a brow. Without a moment's hesitation, she launched herself at him, using her wings to hover as she swiped at him. Christiano waited for her to get within his range and rolled to the side. He cracked his whip and hit her in the waist. She let out a cry.
"No ordinary whip! This whip is of a virgin!" she cried. Christiano sighed.
"I know, I know," Christiano replied, feeling a tad embarrassed.
"No! It is not you! It is of a woman!" she cried. Christiano turned his head and looked at the whip in his hand. What did he know about the Vampire Killer whip? All he knew is that it hurt her and wasn't some kind of instrument of entertainment to her. She let out a small growl. "Alright! I'll cut you up another way!" she said
Lillian's lace skirt slowly disappeared from the ground up, revealing her porcelain legs. Christiano flushed lightly; what was she doing? She grinned and suddenly, out of the ground came giant, black scissors. With each step she took, the scissors closed and opened, cutting through the dirt like it was paper; of course, the scissors were heading Christiano's way. Once again, Christiano waited for her attack to reach him to suddenly roll to the side. Christiano began to run as the scissors turned on one blade and began to pursue him. Carnicus couldn't help but to laugh; as expected, this annoyed Pelleas. Pelleas then used a spell to freeze the scissors and Christiano turned around to whip them until they shredded apart like cloth. Lillian's skirt came back.
"You can't stop me that easily!" Lillian shouted, her skirt disappearing again.
She used her scissors to attack again, but this time, Christiano ran between the blades when they were open and whipped her in the legs. She kneeled to hold her bleeding ankles in pain; the scissors disappeared again. Suddenly, copies of her appeared, surrounding Christiano. He looked around, not sure what to expect.
"Christiano!" Pelleas cried. This snapped Christiano back to the moment. He spun himself around, creating a whirlwind, his whip hitting each image of her in the stomach. The images slid back with an expression on pain on their faces, forming the real Lillian. She then took a deep breath and let out a loud scream that melted into a roar of a lion's. Christiano held his head, the sound causing him to lose balance, Pelleas having a similar reaction. Virgil roared back and pounced onto her suddenly. She fell over as Virgil began to claw at her face.
"Not my face! Not my face! Get off me, beast!" she cried, trying to cover her face with her arms. She kicked Virgil, causing him to jump off of her. He kept his distance, hissing at her. She rose slowly, looking furious. Her arms and face had scratches all across it, making it look like she had been crying blood. Suddenly, Carnicus appeared next to her.
"Ready to give up? I'm sure if you'll continue, you'll lose more than that pretty face of yours," Carnicus said, teasingly. She suddenly whipped herself around and scratched him across the face. Small cuts on his cheek began to bleed, but due to the power he absorbed from the Minotaur earlier, they healed before the blood could drip. Carnicus let out a laugh and suddenly appeared next to Christiano. "She's all yours, Christiano. Use that virgin whip of yours to send her back to Hell, wherever that is." He walked past him now, resting his back up against a tree; he was back to spectating.
"Promise me that you'll let us continue on our journey and I promise you that I will not pursue you further," Christiano stated, taking out his cross and holding it out in front of him.
"Mercy?! How dare you! Who do you think you are?!" Lillian shouted. She suddenly disappeared.
"Was that it?" Pelleas said softly, looking around. The three of them waited for something to happen. Christiano pocketed his cross.
"Perhaps she fled from us…" Christiano replied. Suddenly, Lillian came out of thin air and threw her arms around Christiano's neck. Lillian leaned forward and kissed him, her long tongue snaking between his lips and into his mouth. Christiano dropped his whip, feeling his energy leaving him. Carnicus and Pelleas couldn't believe how they weren't able to detect her location until now; moreover, their blood was boiling with jealousy. Pelleas used his "broken heart" spell on her, but nothing happened; Lillian felt no attachment to Christiano after all. Carnicus disappeared and appeared behind her, swinging his scythe into her side. She broke the kiss to let out a pained noise. She let go of Christiano and Carnicus ran forward, pinning her up against a tree with the toe of his scythe. She let out screams as Carnicus continued to push his blade into her.
"This is how I like penetration!" Carnicus said, eyes blazing bright like a wildfire. Christiano turned around slowly, a tad weakened by Lillian's attack, looking at the two of them. He looked disturbed; he wasn't used to seeing violence against women. Pelleas was so uneasy, he spoke up.
"It's enough!" Pelleas cried. "Don't you see that she's lost?!" Carnicus growled. He pulled his blade out of her, her hands instantly rushing to hold the wound he had made in her side to stop the bleeding.
"Carnicus, he's right. Enough," Christiano said.
Carnicus turned around to face them and with one swift movement, he cut off Lillian's head with his scythe. Her body stumbled forth, as if there was still life in her, only to fall to the ground. Her body and her head, once it hit the ground, turned to piles of bloody, black lace. Pelleas stared at what Lillian had left behind, while Christiano picked up his whip.
"Carnicus, have you no heart for a woman suffering?!" Christiano said with a growl.
"Did you not feel the life leave your lips cold when she kissed you? Do not let a moment's lust cloud your brilliant judgement! She was going to kill you… and you know that!" Carnicus replied, looking unamused. Christiano's eyes fell.
"I suppose you are right," Christiano said quietly. Carnicus picked up some bloody lace and began to suck on it. Christiano turned his back to him. "Let us leave this place."
…The three of them continued to travel north, the forest of smooth trees becoming denser. Everything was quiet until they approached a clearing. The sound of people screaming surrounded them.
"What are all of these screams coming from?" Christiano said, looking around them. Pelleas frowned as he approached a tree. He put his ear against it.
"From the very bark of these trees…" Pelleas stated. "Perhaps these were souls who were petrified?"
"No. They were damned," Carnicus answered. He reached over to a tree by his side and snapped a twig off of a branch, blood dripping like sap. "See?" Pelleas swallowed hard.
"What isn't damned here?" Christiano said, letting out a sigh. Suddenly, a woman's guttural cry came from the sky. They all looked up, Pelleas rolling to the side in time to avoid a harpy's attack. The three of them looked up to see a small group of harpies staring down at them from high branches. One of them snapped a twig and sucked the blood out of it like it was a straw.
"Lillian the succubus… Ah, she was killed in such a cruel way…"
"These trees were once souls, perhaps some of Milan's, but were cursed by Dracula and petrified. The harpies, women with the faces of roosters, drink their blood from their bark, torturing them. What have these souls done to deserve such a thing?"
"These ones are especially damned. These are Milan's suicides," Carnicus continued. Pelleas turned to him, brows furrowed.
"How would you know?!" Pelleas cried.
"Can't you tell?" Carnicus said. Pelleas frowned.
"You seem to know a lot about this 'world' we're in…" Christiano said, a bit suspicious now. Carnicus' eyes fell.
"A new tree grows here every day. In their early stages, these 'souls' still have a face, warped by the bark. They can talk to you. All they speak of is their regret. I've been here for a long time, remember?" Carnicus said in a somewhat somber tone. Suddenly, a harpy came at Carnicus. Without any effort at all, he grabbed it with one hand by the neck. He squeezed her neck until the she died. He then dropped the corpse to the ground.
"I feel as if Carnicus is growing crueler as we continue on. I think he is still angry from earlier—whether it be because of Pelleas or because of the kiss the succubus managed to steal from me… Maybe the idea of the forest of suicides upsets him? Regardless, because he is already condemned, perhaps nothing matters to him anymore… Except… me?"
The harpies let out cries and swooped down on them, trying to grab them with their talons. Christiano jumped in the air and smacked the harpies until they died and fell to the ground in a burst of feathers. Pelleas used his thunderbolt attack to kill them before they got close and Carnicus leapt on branches to attack; Virgil did nothing, licking his paw.
"Thank you for the help, Virgil!" Christiano said a tad annoyed. Virgil did not even display any gestures of acknowledgement; in a way, he was no more than a large house cat.
Another small flock of harpies came at them.
"Den of the harpies…" Carnicus said, biting into one of them. He sucked her dry, leaving her body to dangle off the branch.
"They just keep on coming! Like the locusts of Egypt!" Pelleas cried.
"Let us run deeper into the forest!" Christiano said. He wanted to leave the clearing so they weren't as open to attack. They all ran, the harpies trying to pursue them, but their large wings did not allow them to weave between the trees.
Suddenly, one very large harpy flew towards Christiano, aiming to pluck him from the ground. Christiano heard the sound of her wings flapping getting closer. She was about to grab Christiano by the shoulders when Carnicus jumped behind him and was instantly grabbed and pulled up high into the sky. Christiano and Pelleas stopped, looking up.
"Carnicus!" Christiano cried.
"She headed back to the clearing!" Pelleas said, panting.
"We must go back!" Christiano said, running back the way they came without a single moment's hesitation.
They returned to the clearing to see a group of harpies clustered together. They looked as if they were feeding. Carnicus' smothered cries could be heard from within their circle. Christiano's brown eyes grew light, his body instantly emitting an aura of rage. He ran up to them at the ungodly speed and whipped all of them, freeing Carnicus. When the harpies fell to the ground, Christiano slammed his hand onto the ground.
"GRAND CROSS!" Christiano shouted. Suddenly, a giant cross of light appeared on the ground under the harpies, shooting light up towards the sky; the harpies practically disintegrated. Christiano ran over to Carnicus, seeing that he was bleeding all over. Pelleas gasped, actually looking concerned.
"Oh my…" Pelleas said quietly. Christiano knelt down and put his arms under Carnicus.
"Carnicus… Are you alright?" Christiano said softly.
"Cursed harpies…" Carnicus said, gazing up at the sky. Christiano picked him up and then placed him up against a tree.
"Try to stand…" Christiano said. Carnicus' head hung. Christiano frowned, putting his hands on his shoulders. "Try to stand," Christiano said again.
"Maybe if I drink the cursed blood from the trees… No… That would be too cruel…" Carnicus said, chuckling. Christiano frowned.
"You do care..." Christiano said, looking a bit surprised.
"Something came back to me earlier, when I choked that harpy… I remembered that my mother had killed herself… I don't remember what she looks like, but I remember seeing her feet dangling from the ceiling… I wonder if she's here, among the others…" Carnicus sighed. Christiano felt sad. Virgil walked up to Pelleas and sat down next to him. He then head butted his hand. Pelleas gently pet his head.
"Sympathy? For me, Virgil?" Pelleas said quietly.
"Drink of me. My blood is of a Belmont's. I am sure that it is far stronger than of anything you will find here," Christiano whispered, getting close. He pushed part of his chainmail aside and showed his white neck. Carnicus was instantly filled with lust.
"No… I've drained you enough…" Carnicus said, sighing again.
"Do it," Christiano said, closing his eyes. Carnicus blushed lightly. He reached up to run his bloody fingers through Christiano's soft, long blonde hair. He gave it a little tug, tipping Christiano's head back and then leaned in, sinking his teeth into his neck. Christiano blushed.
"Why are you being so gentle with me?"
Pelleas turned his back to them. Carnicus wrapped his other arm around Christiano's waist as he drank; the cuts along his arms began to heal. Christiano suddenly let out a moan; Carnicus' gripped held him tighter. Pelleas hated this. He ran into the forest and rested his back up against a tree. Christiano continued to moan. Pelleas covered his ears. Virgil walked up to him again and stared at him.
"Please…" Pelleas said, looking quite upset now.
Carnicus slowly withdrew, not a single drop of blood on his lips. Christiano, who felt dizzy and felt like he was going to fall, clung to Carnicus.
"I'm sorry… I am truly a damned creature," Carnicus said. Christiano looked up at him. Though he was paler than before, his face was still flushed. His eyes were glazed over with lust.
"Kiss me?" Christiano said. Carnicus shook his head.
"You'll be back to normal soon," Carnicus said. Christiano suddenly grabbed Carnicus by the chin and kissed him. Carnicus didn't stop him. He wanted this to happen. However, it wasn't because Christiano truly wanted him. Or perhaps his drunken actions were really sober urges he repressed? Did it matter? Carnicus held the kiss until Christiano pulled away.
"I think you're the one who will need help standing," Carnicus said, looking in Pelleas' direction. "Pelleas! Come help!" Carnicus cried. Pelleas, who hated Carnicus more than ever now, walked over to the two of them, and helped Christiano head north back into the forest…