Reign of Blood

Chapter Twenty-five

For the Rest of Time

Richard opened his gleaming yellow eyes. He still felt cold, alone, numb... The same way he had felt since that day... The coldness hadn't lifted. His eyes hadn't seen the world the same since, and no one had looked at him quite the same way. It was as if subconsciously, all of humanity could sniff out the soulless, choose him out of a lineup. Maybe his eyes gave it away... They were as dead as he felt inside, and forever would be. He just wished that he could get Kris out of here...

Richard felt a cold, hard ground on his cheek. He pushed himself to his knees, and felt a presence before him without even looking up.

Evangelina smiled. "Hello, my pet. So good of you to bring him to me."

Richard stayed perfectly still, and closed his eyes gently. "Now... You promised. Let her leave." The woman's pale green eyes sparkled with a sinister glare, her smile widening.

"You gave up your soul for her. Well, my pet, was it worth it?" Evangelina laughed, spreading her white wings outward slowly. Richard kept his head down and said nothing.

"...To see her leave this place... I'd do anything..." Richard hissed at her, looking straight up and glaring with his yellow eyes.

The second he lay eyes on the angel a swift backhand cracked against his cheek so hard he almost fell to the side, but caught himself with his arms. "Avert your eyes, heathen! You gave her your soul, so now you are my dead to control..." Evangelina's grin widened. "...And I never said she could leave..." Richard's head shot back up at her, to be backhanded once more, but harder.

"We made a deal...!"

"I don't think I ever quite put it in those words..." Richard snarled at her.

"What good is the devil's word..." He spat, keeping his head down. Evangelina leaned down, touched his chin and tilted his head up so his eyes met hers. She kept her hand around his jaw line.

"You gave her your pretty green eyes..." She said, her face as straight as it had ever been. "A shame we wont get to see if your baby gets them..." Richard's eyes widened; he jerked at Evangelina, hands in fists. A quicker reaction than any human could ever possess, she clenched her hand that was still just below his jaw so tight and so fast he froze, unable to breathe. He tried to wrench her hand off his neck, but she held on tight. "Don't you ever go against your master again, my pet, or you will be sorry." She watched him struggle in her hand, fighting in vain to get a breath of air, to pull away from her. She smirked, finding pleasure in his pain. "Do I make myself clear?" She spoke in a calm tone, as you would to a small child right after making them cry.

Richard closed his eyes tightly and opened them repeatedly, trying to maintain consciousness and keep the darkness at bay near the edges of his vision. Evangelina loosened her grip slightly, giving him just enough leeway to breathe in small gasps. Richard moved a shaking hand in between his face and hers, and stuck up his middle finger.

Evangelina hissed, squeezing his neck painfully and stood, lifting him off the ground. She threw him backwards, and he hit the ground hard on his back. He lay still for a while, stunned, and gasped in air in heavy, short breaths. Evangelina stood above him, looking down in disgust. As soon as he caught his breath and started to fill his lungs, she lifted her foot and brought it down hard into his stomach. His body convulsed upwards as he choked on all the air in his lungs. The taste of metallic bile filled his mouth. She removed her foot from his stomach and he rolled over on his side, curled in a tight ball, spitting out blood and bile and gasping for breath once more.

"You will address me as 'master,' and after a command, respond with, 'yes, master.'" She knelt down next to him, brushing his hair to the side to look at his pain-filled yellow eyes. He refused to meet her eyes. "I will break you, my pet, sooner or later. You've seen nothing."

Richard pushed himself upright so he was sitting, his face close to hers. He breathed heavy in her face, and fought the urge to spit in it. "You... if you... let Kris... and our baby... go... then... I'll..."

"You'll what? Do whatever I say?" Evangelina laughed. "You already have to-"

"But... I'll do it... without... complaints... master..." Richard felt like kicking himself for saying that last word, but if there was a chance he could save Kris and their child, he could suck it up for an eternity. Evangelina watched his face, as if trying to read his sincerity. He met her eyes without blinking. She smiled.

"The dog needs a collar," She said in a deep voice, low and seductive. A monster crawled out of the shadows, carrying a long, thick metal chain. At the end of it was a metal collar. Evangelina took it and clasped it around his neck. It was heavier than it looked, but Richard didn't protest. If he only had one chance to show her that he wasn't lying, he wasn't going to blow it.

Evangelina cackled, holding onto the end of the chain. The same monster handed her something else, still attached to the collar. Richard recognized it and tried not to flinch. She grabbed his arms and made him hold them out to her, wrists side by side. Handcuffs as thick and heavy as his collar were clasped around his wrists, the chain connecting them was long and had a link in the very center connecting another chain to the front of his collar. "Good boy," Evangelina smiled again, backing up to look at all of him, the chain leash still in her hands.

Richard leaned back subconsciously as the monster approached him, crawling on all fours and dragging itself along the ground. It touched his leg with it's head and he winced. Something liquid but thicker than blood dripped off it and down the side of his leg. Evangelina laughed hysterically at Richard's terror. "Be bad and I'll have them all over you," She warned him, sensing his fear of being so close to the thing. "But you wont be bad, will you? It's part of our new deal. Well, then, maybe I'll just do it for fun,"

"Why don't you chain up Vincent and keep him as your pet? Why make me suffer instead?" Evangelina laughed again, but there was no humor or taunting in her voice, nothing but hate masked her laughs.

"Why, you ask? Why would I want to be around the man who dishonored me for eternity? Trust me, he will suffer... But you... You gave the woman you love your very soul. Humans are all fools. Did you really think that could save them both?" Richard held his breath, his heart skipped a beat. No... "That's right, your child is as dead as you are... Your lover is carrying a corpse,"

Richard felt the sting of tears behind his dry eyes. They tried to push out and warm the cold death that remained in his eyes, but couldn't. His whole body trembled. For once, Evangelina wasn't smiling. "Bring her," She hissed, and a creature twice the size of Richard sauntered out of the shadows, Kris's limp and shaking body thrown over its shoulder. It threw her down roughly onto the ground, and she curled into a tight ball on the floor, sobbing.

"Kris!" Richard stood and made a dash for her, but one swift yank of the chain jerked him back at Evangelina's side. She slapped the side of his head so hard it left his good ear ringing.

"Bow to me, mortal," Evangelina's voice boomed and echoed around them. Kris looked up, nothing but fear inside her glistening eyes. The monster behind her grabbed the back of her neck and pulled her upright so fast she didn't even have time to scream in shock. It threw her down to her knees roughly, and kept it's hand on the back of her neck, forcing her head down.

"Would you like to see your baby, my pet?" She spoke with such an evil tone, Richard didn't know how to respond. Whatever he said would surely be the wrong answer. But how could he see the baby now? Kris wasn't even noticeably pregnant yet, which meant it had only been a few months... "Child of my pet, take with you your mother to the grave..."

Richard pulled against the restraints holding him at Evangelina's heels, but she held on with unmatchable strength. The monster backed away form Kris and returned to the shadows, letting Kris look up at the angel before her. Her eyes were wide, silent tears streamed down her face. She turned to Richard, and their eyes met for a second. Suddenly Kris screamed, tearing her gaze away from Richard as she shut her eyes and clutched her arms over her stomach. She fell to her side, her dark hair masking her face and hiding the pain it would have held. Her body convulsed in pain, she writhed and twitched, fighting an unseen monster inside of her.

"Kris!" Richard yelled again, but Evangelina wouldn't let him move an inch away from her. She pulled so hard on the leash that Richard was actually further away from Kris than he started, pressed against the angel's leg. He stared unblinking at Kris as she screamed, her arms pressed so tightly over her stomach he could see something inside her, moving under her skin. Her cries of pain filled his head, echoed in his mind.

Kris's screaming slowly got weak, and suddenly her voice cut off. Her muscles flinched and tightened in pain, as all her energy went to struggling to breath. The thing moving inside her was working it's way up, ripping and tearing at everything, shredding her organs from the inside. Blood poured out of her mouth in a thick line of crimson. With every gasp, ever fight for one last breath, more and more blood forced it's way out of her mouth, out of her nose. A pool of dark red was forming around her head.

Kris stopped breathing, her lungs full of blood. Her muscles winced and twitched as she died, and slowly she stopped moving. Every now and then a muscle would give one final spasm, one last try of Richard's soul trying desperately to cling to her body before it was gone for good. The only movement was an occasional squirm from inside her chest cavity as the monster destroyed what was left of her organs. Slowly the movements of it died down, and her corpse lay bleeding, red streaming out of her nose and mouth like a faucet.

Richard stopped struggling against his leash, his body trembling so much he had to lean back and hold his arms steady. The only thing that mattered to him, his life, his soul, everything, was gone. He just watched his world die before his eyes. The tears behind his eyes stung, but refused to come out. He couldn't cry, he could even fucking cry.

Richard didn't look up at Evangelina's face, for he knew she would be smiling. His head was pounding, his eyes burning, the pain unable to be released. Darkness closed in around him, blurring his vision with shadows. Before he blacked out, he saw more monsters immerging from the dark, each one heading towards Kris's body... And again, there wasn't a damn thing he could do to stop them from devouring her. His mind closed on the image of them ripping apart her flesh.