Sanguine Falls
Part V
She woke suddenly. It wasn't a sound or a motion, not even the stirring of the tree in the breeze… it was a sudden wakefulness.
The wind had picked up and the canopy of branches around her swayed just slightly but she didn't move cradled near the thick center trunk of the tree. Below her shadows were still cast heavily over the yard.
She was tired.
Her body ached with fatigue. Her eyes were heavy, her neck was stiff, her skin was sore from being pressed to the bark but she dared not move. There was no energy for it. She turned her head and gazed down below her, glancing about the shadows trying to identify the different yet familiar landmarks in the yard… her eyes fluttered and she shut them momentarily.
So tired…
It was as though her world were bleeding, curling around its precious edges, turning to fine silver ash. Below her she heard a snap, like a twig and her eye shot open. Was someone down there? Or was it an animal?
She tensed and straightened trying to search out the cause of the sound. The wind didn't break twigs on the ground. There were several things that looked a bit odd but nothing that was moving and nothing that looked person-shaped. She pulled her legs up toward her chest and turned them, shifting her body. She might as well take a peek around and then head in; she certainly wasn't feeling like sitting about the yard anymore.
Pushing herself out of the tree carefully with her arms she landed gracefully at the base of the tree on the ground. She glanced about again. The same things on a different field of perspective, nothing human at least.
But humans weren't static, they moved. They would hide… if she wanted to find someone in the yard she couldn't go about stomping around like an elephant, she would have to be sneaky. She crept, very quietly around the base of the tree… nothing.
There was simply no one about.
She was just about to withdraw from her silly search and head in when she felt a … shift in the air. That was the easiest way to describe something that was simply indescribable.
She turned; something was moving around her… something she couldn't quite see. Something moving fast… she thought it was a shadow, a person's shadow… no…
Many shadows moving… oddly.
Around her.
Her eyes widened in realization and she shoved her back against the tree and stared straight ahead. The images blurred.
Water-flow technique… it was… Aoshi-sama's!
"Have you decided?"
The voice came from everywhere and nowhere at the same time. It was an eerie sound that made bumps rise along her limbs and a tremble slide down her spine. She was suddenly very afraid.
"Are you ready to accept me yet?"
She opened her mouth to speak when she noticed something else. The moving shadows disappeared. There was a faint, gentle flutter against her cheek and she jumped in fright only to see it was a butterfly.
Faint… glowing… it had iridescent wings that reflected back a rainbow of color at her beneath the moonlight. It didn't look quite the same by day, she noted, and then with one hand she lashed out, swatting at it!
No!
No!
It wasn't… was that butterfly really there? Was she imagining this, too? How was she supposed to know what was real anymore?
"Let me…" he murmured thickly.
The voice was suddenly close, next to her ear. A pair of large cold hands suddenly descended upon her shoulders like heavy bricks. She tried to turn, to twist to face her captor but she was held steady forcing herself to strain her neck to see, but she couldn't see far enough.
Only the hands…
"Aoshi-sama," she pleaded futilely.
She felt a breath against her skin and she sighed and her body trembled. There was a gentle flick against her neck, his tongue was it, and she trembled harder…
Was he going to hurt her?
He nipped with his teeth against her skin. "Tell me…" his voice was low and hypnotic. It was Aoshi-sama's voice… Wasn't it? He was… "Tell me. Say it."
His hands tightened on her shoulders. "I… say what?"
"Say you're mine," he whispered.
"I'm yours," she breathed, her voice low, almost hoarse. She felt fragile, her heart pounding. He felt huge and menacing, encompassing around her. "Just…" Tears pricked her eyes. "Take it away; I want to go to Aoshi-sama."
Her eyes were hot with tears. They poured over her eyelids, streaking down her cheeks, her throat hurt, her chest felt tight with pain. She missed him so much… and then she felt his teeth, sharp, pointy.
Her mouth fell open as they pierced her skin. Nothing neat, it was savage. She felt the skin tear, the blood, the capillaries break open… her crying intensified. She felt his tongue lave against her open flesh and it intensified her pain, she gasped, her voice became a jumble of incoherency.
Her heart pounded in her ears, pumping her blood into his mouth, down her chest into her clothes. She was going to bleed to death.
Hysterical tears overwhelmed her, she could hardly breathe anymore. Aoshi-sama… maybe she whimpered it aloud… She felt weak, her vision got even darker. Maybe she fell.
Confusion.
Her mind, the girl, it was awash in confusion and pain and horror.
Horror and disgust directed at herself, her body, her life…
Pain and heartache for someone gone, someone… he knew…
She fell in his arms wounded and weak. Death was a whisper away, its shadow hovering over her menacingly.
Would he kill her? He wouldn't stop haunting her until she capitulated, he had tried, tried, to say away from her and he had failed. He couldn't leave her be, but he was so close to driving the girl insane, already she was confused, so confused… and now she was going to be dead. He had watched her body wither away before him. Her frame reduced to thin muscles stretched over weak bone. Breakable with the slightest of pressures… her body withered and wilted… her life slowly seeping away…
Dare he give her what she truly wanted?
Dare he reunite her with her beloved Aoshi-sama?
Dare he condemn her to an eternity of hell or a ghoulish death?
Dare he?
She didn't know what she wanted. She was in pain, a weak animal whimpering for the end, all because she had lost one person? Humans died… they lived, they died.
She was out now, her consciousness shut down. He was the only thing keeping her from melting into a puddle upon the ground. She would die where she landed, a heap of flesh that would slowly return to the earth. She would be grieved for, the others would die eventually, and then she would be forgotten.
Dust.
Bleeding as she was, she wouldn't last very long, the wound was deep and ugly. He'd never seen her so pale before, so desperate, her eyes so sunken with grief, with lifelessness…
He told himself, she was already dead, as if to justify his actions.
He was not to be forgiven.
Murderer… he was a murderer and he went on murdering, causing insanity, stealing innocent lives… dare he corrupt her?
Would she forgive it? Or would she be overwhelmed with joy being reunited with the person she was so convinced she couldn't live without?
Pulling the girl up into his arms he floated up to her window, conveniently left open, and slid inside. The girl's futon was a crumpled heap upon the floor, her blankets strewn about carelessly. He gently laid her upon it, his eyes tracing the gaping wound still leaking blood.
He pulled gently at the collar of her garment, his eyes tracing over the blood stain. The blood now dripped backward onto her linens and not down her chest. He slid the material open completely, exposing her pale flesh to the night. She was bare beneath, her body milky in the moonlight.
He could smell it, the blood on her. Even the softer, more delicate scent that belonged to her… it made him salivate. Her skin tasted good. He longed to flick his tongue everywhere, to feel the exhilarating snap of his teeth sliding through her flesh, the welling of blood against his mouth.
That's what he was, a predator, no longer a man, a beast… consumed with sensation, with blood…with... with... other things too... Yes, other things...
He made his decision.
Fabric ruffled as he moved. He leaned over her a moment, fumbling with his hands before he stood up. He licked her cheek before he withdrew from the room, absently tossing a blanket over her nakedness.
She would die before the sun rose…
Maybe the others would discover her before evening…
He vanished into the shadows, but in the light of the moon a butterfly appeared, resting on the sill of the window, its wings gently fluttering.
She would die before the sun rose but she wouldn't be alone. There would be someone yet to hear the last rattling breath, to see her chest rise that one last time. He would watch the heavy cape of death settle over her. She would pale and her flesh would chill like ice.
On pale lips, three drops of crimson shone.
She would be beautiful.
AN: Really, where does this insanity stop? If you're following this story: thank you. I appreciate your patience and your interest.