Final Kiss
For a moment, there was deafening silence. That brief instant, when the world is caught somewhere between night and day, shifting from one reality to the next. The shadows elongate, and finally melt into each other, and the city comes alive with a revived spirit, flourishing under the light of the moon and dim, faraway stars.
It's a place that rejects the literal world — Paris. A place where the harsh confines of reality are shattered and fantasy thrives fueled by its ceaseless heartbeat. A place where wealth is made in sin, and then used to pay for forgiveness, engulfed in the dutiful pleasures of the underworld.
So right that members of my kind flock here unendingly; sitting on the marble steps of Notre Dame, making the pilgrimage to the summit of the Eiffel Tower, wandering the halls of the Louvre, where we seem to come directly from the paintings, us crystal-eyed, angel-faced beings.
We fill the cafés, and fashionable stores, and roam the banks of the Seine — so close to your world, yet utterly cut off by something that runs even deeper than blood.
At times, you may catch a glimpse of one of us — a fleeting whispers of an inhuman language, eyes too rare a color, skin too translucent in the light, limbs too unearthfully graceful — but we remain hidden, gone back to the confines of your dreams and imaginings. And, there we stay. Creatures who live in the dark recesses of the human world.
From the ground, a brief passage of musical notes, rising gracefully and then falling again, a mournful cello shattering the normally impenetrable maelstrom of my thoughts. Unbidden, I recall the name and composer from somewhere from the depths of my memory banks. An ancient song, from one of my countless ancient nightfalls.
I tilt my head to listen, but it is gone. Just a lonely whisper, now lost on the wind once more, unknowingly caught by the cacophony of Champs-Eylsées, which is starting to emerge from the trappings of the daytime. Lights flicker on in the distance. A new song begins, something modern and brash. Laughter, and a wave of incoherent speech.
I can't seem to care about any of it. Not tonight.
At eight hundred ninety-nine feet off the ground, the third and uppermost level of the Eiffel Tower is the highest point in Paris…
Comforting.
I allow myself an unsteady glance downwards and feel the world lurch precariously under me. Without thinking, my fingers have engraved themselves unto a metal bar that stretches from the palisade to the very tip of the tower. My only support as I stand on the thin gate between life and death.
My eyes are tearing; partially because the Parisian September winds that are whipping about me wildly at this height, yet probably more so because I am crying and haven't the strength the reach up and dry my eyes. These are blood tears, demon tears, and they leave deep crimson trails as they slide gracefully across my pallid cheeks.
It all ends tonight. And, I will pass from this world, to the next…across the Styx's endless waters to whatever may await on that farther shore for creature such as me. Surely, we are all damned; we, who kill without guilt or remorse. Undeniably beautiful, yet inevitably deadly.
"Are you so certain, Persephone? We kill for survival. Can we be punished for that?"
My head whips around, a startled cry escaping my lips, as I clutch furiously to the metal bar. I had thought I was alone. But then, Valin had always come and gone like a silent shadow, and nothing more.
He leaned casually against an iron shaft, arms folded across his chest, pale blonde hair, mused slightly by the wind, spilling across his forehead. A demon hiding behind an angel's face, and large, liquid blue eyes.
My voice shakes unsteadily as I answer him. "Why did you come, Valin? To watch me plunge to my death? You'll find it amusing, won't you? Glad to know that you caused suffering to yet another creature…"
A small frown graces his lips for just an instant. "When did you become so bitter, my child?"
I scowl. "Don't call me that."
The sound of his ringing laughter echoes in my ears, for just a moment. "But, you are. The moment I made you, you became mine." His face becomes serious, suddenly. "Get down, Persephone. Don't do this. Surely, your life hasn't been so cruel…"
"But, it has," I rasp, and turn away from him. The sight of the city stretching out below me brings a wave of dizziness and my eyes close involuntarily.
The soft, clanking of his shoes against the metal floors nears. A sound that wouldn't be audible to human ears, and is just a passing whisper to my own. His aura grows stronger, and causes a wave of goosebumps that make the flesh of my arms prickle and my hackles rise.
"Go away," I hiss once more.
Of course, he doesn't listen.
There is a slight brush of wind, and I realize he has leapt unto the railing beside me, keeping his balance with that eerie, inevitably perfection that comes with age.
And how old is he, really? How many millennia did he watch slip past, the true meaning of time lost to him, until he met me?
I do not know.
Valin is silent, turning his eyes heavenwards. "Would you really give up all this?" He gestured with his arms, sweeping them about him as if to grasp the diamond-studded sky, and the sprawling city skyline and I cringe, half expecting him to loose his balance and plunge to the ground, "Would you give it all up forever? You own the night, Persephone."
"Since when did you become so concerned for my well-being," I say. "The last time we met, you made it quite clear that making me had been a mistake on your part."
He shrugs nonchalantly. "We are unstable creatures. You know I didn't mean it. I have never made a mistake with one I have changed. Never."
My eyes narrow. "Why did you do it? Why? You wouldn't tell me before, will you grant me this last wish before I die?"
I had expected mocking laughter, but instead…a strange expression comes across his features. His eyes soften, and glass-over. "Because I loved you then, and I love you still. And, I was under the impression that you the same. I wanted you to have eternal life. I wanted you to live forever with me."
"I told you, I never wanted this life."
And indeed, I had. In those days, when I had still been his faithful mortal lover, enthralled by his dark beauty. And, he had begged and pleaded for me to join him in his night world, and I had always refused.
"You were dying," he says, "And I loved you too much to let you go."
"So, you damned me, instead."
He looks downwards. "Do you think it will work?" he asks, suddenly, nodding his head slightly in the direction of the faraway ground. "Do you think it will kill you?"
One look and the answer is hideously visible in my mind. Indefinitely.
There is a moment of fragmented silence, broken only by the city's nighttime dissonance. The gentle whirring of the cars that rush past, soft-spoken voices in the park, guards that move about below us, completely oblivious to the two inhuman beings that precariously perch on the tower's highest railing.
I briefly wonder what they will think when my body is found, but I can no longer bring myself to care. This is the only method that will work; the only one I'm not to coward to carry out.
"What is it you want, Persephone? Whatever it is, tell me, and I will get it for you. I promise. You don't need to end it like this. Not now."
I take in an unsteady breath. "What I want? I want it to be over. I don't want to kill anymore. My life should have ended fifteen years ago, I'm just finishing what was started."
"But, it doesn't have to be like this," he presses on, eyes growing wide and childlike. "Come back with me. I will teach you things. I will teach you to hunt without taking human life, it's possible."
My gaze drifts to his face. "You're a good liar."
"You can read me well enough to know I'm now lying, Persephone. We were happy once, no?"
I nod. Not even I can deny that.
"We can be happy again."
"You can stop me, you know?" I say, "You have the power to. You can force me off the railing, and I wouldn't be able to lift a finger against you."
"No. I would not meddle with your free will. I've forced you to do too many things in this lifetime already, beloved. All I ask of you now, is to come and have the life we should have had. Persephone, listen to me." He takes my face in his hands, and I have no strength to resist, his gaze unflinching. "I love you. Don't leave me. Not now. Not when I can have you back."
I feel my determination crumble to dust inside of me, as I am swept up into his arms. I clutch to the thin fabric of his shirt, breath caught in my throat for an instant.
"You think I would let you fall?" he asks.
And I shake my head. "No."
His hands reach around me, pulling me so that we're face to face, my own dark eyes locked with his cerulean ones. "Will you come with me, then? Be as we once were."
I am too breathless to answer, I nod, and close the gap between us, sealing our lips in a kiss. The world slips out from under me, and for a moment there is pure nothingness. Only Valin and I, his hands entangled in my hair, and encircling my wrist softly, drawing me closer.
It takes me a moment to realize that anything is wrong.
I must break apart the kiss to cry out in pain, almost stumbling backwards as I try to pull away, but he holds me strong, gripping me at the wrist and back of neck. Cold, hard immobile fingers.
"Valin, let me go," I gasp. My hand is rapidly growing darker, and then flaring in pain as the joints leading to it shatter under the pressure. I reach out frantically with my free hand to push him away.
He laughs. "You think I would let you fall?"
The hand around my neck tightens its grip. I choke for air, as his nails begin to draw blood from my fragile flesh. "Valin," I mouth.
We whirl suddenly, so that my back is to the ground. And, for a moment, all I see is my reflection in the blacks of his eyes.
"Do you think I would let you fall?"
My answer is a scream that is taken by the wind before it even reaches my ears.
***
Valin watched the body plunge to the ground apathetically. Only pausing long enough, to make sure that the corpse that hit the cement and splattered over it unceremoniously would not be rising once again.
You were right, Persephone. I am a good liar.
He felt a soft, satisfied grin spread across his lips.
Oh, don't be so smug, he thought to himself. You tire much to quickly of your playthings.
His eyes wandered out to the massive sprawling city that stretched even farther than his vampire eyes could see. So what? I have countless more…more than even I could tire off.
His smile became absolutely ecstatic at the notion. And I have all of eternity…
The sounds of his own laughter echoed across the palisade, as he leapt over the railing, landing gracefully eight hundred and ninety-nine feet below.
All of eternity.
He chuckled once more, whistling softly to himself as he disappeared in the shadows of the night.
Fin