Just to be safe, I'm gonna go ahead and slap a big ole **TRIGGER WARNING** on this chapter.
Chapter 29
Wrathmelior looked down at her husband, arms crossed. "Well?" The grin on his face was one she had originally fallen in love with, though these days, it was a face she had come to loathe, as it always held secrets that pushed her further away from him.
"Hun, I was just doing what was best." His voice was so level, it pissed her off. "I wanted a secured future for our only child."
"No, Dave. You aren't pulling that card on me again." She shook her head. "You always do this when I have a problem with something, and I've let you get away with so much concerning Tommy. But this, this is just too far. You've trifled with lives, with kingdoms. We'll be lucky if they don't start a war against us." Dave chuckled, blowing her off. She snorted, visible puffs of steam collecting in front of her face before disappearing.
"I didn't do anything that bad, Wrathmelior." She shook her head, unable to fathom how he wasn't grasping the severity of what he had done.
"David, a teenage girl is pregnant, through means of which are in multiple ways highly illegal, not to mention perverted. How are you not understanding this? I can't even begin to comprehend how you thought any of this was a good idea." Fighting back tears, she didn't see any other way out of it. Their relationship had become rocky over the years anyway, but this was more than she could handle. She wanted to smack the smug look off his face; the fact that he looked so proud and triumphant over the entire ordeal made her sick to her stomach.
"Don't worry, Wrathmelior. It'll all work out. Everything always does. We were only eighteen ourselves when we were expecting our first child, and we're getting a sweet little grandchild out of it." He grabbed her gigantic finger in his hands, kissing it. She jerked away from him, shaking her head.
"No, Dave. I'm sorry. I know we were trying to work things out between us, but this… this is just too much for me to handle. I want a divorce, and I think it would be best if you went ahead and moved out of the castle." She watched as his face changed dramatically.
"Wrathmelior, please don't do this. I'm sorry, I was just trying to-"
"Oh, you're trying to lie about it now?" She chuckled sarcastically. "I don't know why I'm surprised. You do this every. Single. Time."
"Wrathmelior, I love you!" On his knees pleading, she turned her back to him.
"No, Dave, I don't think you do, and I don't think you have for awhile now. I wanted to make us work, I really did, but what you did is disgusting and beyond my forgiveness. Now leave, before I have you forcibly removed."
His face turned from sadness to anger. He stood, brushing off his pants legs. "You'll regret this, Wrathmelior. You'll see. You'll want me back and I'll be waiting to revel in your anguish." He stomped out of the room. She followed, making sure he actually left the castle grounds. As the drawbridge closed, she let her tears out. She still loved him, or loved who he use to be.
Making her way into her office, she couldn't help but blame herself. This was not the man she married; at one point, Dave had been a person with a heart of gold. Together for nearly thirty years, he had begun to show interest in the dark magics over a decade ago, when they were trying everything they could to keep a pregnancy to term. The memories played over and over in her head, like a movie reel.
"Wrath, I think this could actually work for us." His face was so hopeful, so full of energy. She shook her head, uncomfortable with the entire idea.
"I don't know, Dave. Dark magic is illegal, and quite frankly, I don't like the idea of it." She smiled weakly, the heartache of losing another child just days before still crisp. "Don't worry, it's going to happen." For a moment, Dave looked like he was going to argue with her; instead, he smiled, and nodded in agreement.
"You're right, Wrath. I don't know what I was thinking. We'll find another way." He kissed her forehead, hugging her. "We're going to have baby."
Naively, she had believed that to be the last time he would mention it. Perhaps if she had been more adamant, more stern with her desire to not have him mess with things he didn't truly understand, she could have stopped everything from happening. Still, she never could have imagined it would escalate to this level of pure evil. She grabbed some tissues to blow her nose. She would have to make a call to River, and possibly meet with him to talk this over and let him know this was indeed not her doing and send her apologies.
"Dave, what is this book I found in your study?" She held a thick book with strange markings on the cover. She could only understand part of the demonic hieroglyphs, and what she read she didn't like. He looked up from his desk, the paperwork piled high.
"Oh, that's a book about dark magic."
She frowned. "Dave, I thought you said you wouldn't mess with this kind of stuff anymore? It's really dangerous and I don't want you getting into any trouble."
"Oh, I'm just reading up on it. When I looked into it before, it was just really intriguing to me. I promise I'm not doing anything sketchy, just expanding my knowledge, that's all. I would never do anything to harm us, or our unborn child." He smiled at her large belly; this was the farthest she had made it in any of her pregnancies. She was due any day now, and the two of them were ecstatic.
"You promise you're just reading about it, and not doing anything with it?"
He nodded. "I promise."
Why'd she listened to him? Given, he'd never lied to her before, but dark magic wasn't something to play around with. It was infectious, uncontrollable, and very dangerous. She wished she had listened to her gut back then and nipped it in the bud. But it was done now, and she was left to pick up the pieces of his mess, as was the trend these days. She would have to make amends with the Butterfly family, and help her son and his girlfriend to make the best out of the terrible situation.
Dave sat in the busted chair across from his colleague, floating cross-legged in the air, the shredded ends of its robe barely brushing the dirt floor. The abandoned cottage he had found on the outskirts of what was once his kingdom stood fair enough against the elements, though adjusting to his new lifestyle of outcasted poverty had proven itself quite challenging. Even prior to marrying Wrathmelior, he was from a wealthier family.
"Let me ssseeee, ssssire." The impish thing spoke. Dave unbuttoned the filthy shirt he wore, revealing the gangrene lesion over his chest. Floating closer, the little creature inspected it with a knobby, gray finger. Wincing at the searing pain of each touch, the creature finished his inspection of the former king. "Sssssire, it appearsss to have reached your heart."
"And what does that mean exactly?" Under the shroud of the hood, Dave caught the gleam of its smile as it broadened into an uncomfortable smirk, the snaggleteeth locked together in a flesh-stripping puzzle. Dave had known this friend for years, ever since his first interests in the dark magics; he had never once felt afraid, but at this moment, a pang of fear struck him for a reason he didn't know as the atmosphere shifted from casual to sinister.
"It meanssss your last payment to me will be due sssssoon."
Dave wriggled his fingers nervously. "I've paid you all the gold I have. All I have left is some silver, and then bronze." The creature cackled, the sound shivering the former king's spine.
"Monetary payment issss no longer necessssary from you, ssssire." It unnerved Dave how his friend spoke through its teeth.
"T-that wasn't part of the deal." Dave tried to make himself sound authoritative, his voice betraying him.
"Oh?" Condescension was thick in its tone. "Wassss the deal not to collect payment in any form necessssary?"
"Yes, but I had money then. I didn't know this would happen. There has to be another way!" He was desperate; Dave may have been outcast, but he still preferred to live.
A deep, bellowing laugh escaped the creatures mouth. "You mewmans are all alike; willing to give the ssssoulssss of your firstbornsss, but not willing to give your own when the time comessss. It'sss hyssssterical, truly." A deep, shameful red punished Dave's cheeks. "Your daughter hassss proven ussseful to me over the yearsss, ssssire. Her ssssoulssss have helped my aging body, plussss other thingssss."
"What?!" Fury emerged, the oozing black and green of his wound festering itself further across his chest. He recoiled, the pain nearly too much to bear.
The creature tsked, "You ssstill don't get it, do you? Your anger quickensss the effectsss of the black magicsss. That issss the ssssecond price you pay, ssssire. And at the rate your going, your insidessss will be a delicousss slurry in no time." Its long tongue ran over cracking lips, leaving a thick trail of saliva dripping off its chin.
"What are you doing with Ella?" His voice strained as the throbbing in his chest refused to subside.
"No worriessss, ssssire. Unlike mewmanssss, I am not bound in lussst for any ssssexual desssiresss. Sssshe merely sssservessss me in other wayssss." The pain radiated throughout his body. He fell out of the chair, taking a fetal position.
'Ella is alive, then.' He longed to see the daughter he had given up, regret meshed in the pulsations that havocked his body. In exchange for fertility, she was an offering for their chance at a large family; however Wrathmelior, not willing to take a risk at losing anymore children after Tom, refused to have more children. He had traded the life of his daughter for the life of his son. Over the years, he found himself in a constant battle of regret for that decision, though keeping her was never an option. Without the services, they may have never been able to have a child live at all. "Though it thrillsssss me to watch you writhe like that, it issss not your time yet, ssssire. I will be back to collect payment sssshortly." Drifting to the ground, the impish thing left Dave alone.
How many days passed him while he suffered on the floor? Blacking out several times, he wasn't sure. He was starving and thirsty, but the dark arts he had dabbled with that was slowly killing him, was also keeping him alive. His entire torso was consumed in the gangrene, he skin sticking to anything it came in contact with, peeling off in rotten mounds. The smell was more than he could handle, though barely able to move, he had no choice. He'd known this fate would befall him eventually, though he always assumed he would be old and near death when it did. Fed by his extreme emotions and the deep darkness he had tampered with over the years, it was a premature end, but not one he hadn't bought and paid for.
The sickness began to creep down his arms. He wept until tears no longer flowed, and all he had left to do was sob. Hair falling out in clumps, it didn't take long before he was bald. In his moments of consciousness, to take his mind off the pain, he thought about his younger days with Wrathmelior; when they first met, their first date, the day of their wedding. With this, he was able to smile through the pain, a gummy, toothless smile as the infection made its way into his mouth.
"Hey, Dave!" Wrathmelior was wearing that dress he liked, her hair pulled back into a ponytail.
"Hey, babe!" They were dating for awhile now, but he still felt overwhelming happiness when he saw her. She was so beautiful; he was so lucky she had picked him. "It's only four days away. Are you as excited as I am?"
"Yes." She squealed, bouncing a little in place. "I can't wait to marry my best friend and have tons of babies!" Dave laughed.
"How many babies are we wanting, again?"
"At least ten."
"That sounds perfect. What about names?"
Wrathmelior thought for a second. "I've always liked the names Eleanor and Thomas. I haven't really thought about the other eight." She chuckled.
"We could call them Ella and Tom. And, we can figure out the rest when we get to them."
His body convulsed as another level of pain rampaged through it. His arms and legs drawn up, he was completely paralyzed; he wasn't sure if he had gone blind, or could no longer open his eyes. Breathing was hard for him, each breath labored and excruciating.
"It's a girl, my King." The servant handed the tiny bundle wrapped in cloth over to the king. He looked at her beautiful face, a cherubic little thing. Three green, wide eyes stared back him, tiny puffs of pink curls adorning her head.
"You're perfect." His voice caught in his throat as he knew he would never get to see his beautiful little girl grow up. It was a price he had no choice but to pay. Her little hand grasped around his finger, holding onto it with all the trust in the world. He teared up. "Daddy loves you, Eleanor."
The King and Queen had three glorious days with their daughter. On the night of the third day, Dave insisted his wife get some sleep; he would watch the baby. Holding her in her nursery, decorated with rainbows, he cried as he clung to her.
"You know the price, ssssire." The king nodded.
"Will she suffer?"
"Not at all." He kissed her perfect little head one last night as she slept in his arms, before handing her over to the little imp. Pulling a bundle out of its drooping sleeves, it handed an exact replica of the baby to the king, a lifeless model to replace the one being taken. "They won't know the difference." His daughter began to cry, a soft, heart wrenching sound.
"Wait, let me soothe her, at least." The king reached out to grab his daughter, the creature moving just out of reach.
"Your time issss up, my King." Backing into the darkness, they disappeared, along with the echoes of his daughter's cries.
A groan of a sob escaped his throat, the only sound he could make. His digits fell off, though without movement they no longer served him a purpose anyway. The feeling in his limbs completely gone from his nerves deteriorating, he didn't even realize they were gone.
"Daddy!" Tommy into Dave's outstretched arms. "Daddy, I missed you!"
"I missed you too, Buddy." He squeezed his tiny son.
"Daddy, stop! Your going to squeeze my guts out!" He giggled, struggling against his father's strong arms.
"Maybe that's what I'm trying to do! Arrrrggggg!" He squeezed a little tighter.
"No, Daddy, I need my guts!"
"Do you?!"
"Yes!"
"Well then I guess I have no choice but to…. tickle you!" Getting him under his arms, Tommy resisted, to no avail; flailing his arms and legs, he was subject to his father's attack.
"Hey, guys!" Dave stopped tickling his son to see his wife standing a few feet away. "Lunch is ready. What do you two say about a picnic?"
"Yeah!" Tommy jumped up, excited. He loved eating outside in the garden.
"Sounds good to me." Dave smiled brightly at his wife. "What's on the menu?"
"Sandwiches and chips." She picked up her son who bounced at her feet, arms outreached. "I'll have the servants bring them out."
"Your time hassss come, sssire." David could barely hear its voice. The creature inhaled, delighting in the rancid smell of the tiny cottage. "It'sss time to pay up." The creature's limbs began to crack as they grew, thin, paper sack skin stretching of tall, sharp bones. Its face grew outward, a pointed beak-like structure, the yellow, jagged teeth curling over its lips. Its tongue picked up the broken off pieces of body and chewed them, a sickening gush of blackened blood trickling through its teeth.
Barely conscious, Dave was scared. Still, he couldn't find it within himself to regret the love curse. In his mind, it was the best decision he made for his son.
"Daddy?" a little girl with pink hair and three eyes smiled at him. "Daddy, where'd you'd go?"
His world went black.
