Our Lost Souls
VI: Let the Nightmares Begin!
Hey people! It's been two weeks, I'm sorry for the delay. Life's been hectic as usual, so my writing has been slowed down a tad. Okay... so we left off with Howl and Sophie getting better acquainted...physically in the romantic sense, and a brief interplay with Markl.
I'd like to give a brief thank you to a few people before I move on to this chapter:
Pnkrockninja101: My dear beta reader, editor and best friend, thank you for your encouragement and support, I love you.
Koimiko: I'm glad I made you laugh, just please don't fall off your chair and hurt yourself, I don't want to kill my readers!
Frozen Darkness: I'm giving you more! Lubu 2!
Dreamz: I don't mind you taking so long to review, I'm just glad you like the story and that it holds your interest.
Bluefishangel: You love my story? Well I love you reading it!
Thank you again to these reviewers, and anyone else who has read my story. It encourages me to write more when I know people are enjoying the story. Now on to my story...
Someone...no, something was after her! Animalistic snarls and shrieking carried by the death sullied wind blew behind her. The presence of death around was so strong it was nauseating. It was getting closer, she could feel it, and death itself was just a breaths length from her. She screamed as she tripped over something soft on the body strewn earth and fell with a sickening crunch. Pushing herself up, she realized she was staring back down in to the lifeless eyes of Sachi and Lettie, their empty eyes staring blankly at the crimson sky. She began to sink into the ground, a sticky wetness gluing her hands to the bodies. Her heart jumped to her throat as she realized it was blood...their blood muddying the ground she was sinking into. Terrible screams ripped though her chest as death crouched behind her, ready to strike her out of this life.
"Sophie, Sophie wake up!" Lettie shouted, shaking her screaming sister awake.
"No Sachi! Lettie!" Sophie continued to scream, writhing and thrashing in her sheets. Lettie grabbed the sides of her tear slicked face and shook her harder.
"Wake up Sophie!"
Her eyes flew open, salt water falling in abundance from her tear-swollen eyes.
"L-Lettie!" She hiccupped, looking wildly from her sister to her surroundings. It was just a dream, she was home. "Just a dream…" She murmured. But it had just seemed so real!
"Oh Lettie!" She wailed, flinging herself into her bewildered sister's arms, crying hysterically. "It was so horrible…"
"What was Sophie?" She murmured, petting her sister's hair in an attempt to soothe the girl. She opened her mouth, but nothing came out save for terrified hiccups, and Sophie finally gave up on trying to talk and shook her head feverishly. Lettie frowned but just hugged her gently.
"It's alright now Sophie, you don't have to talk about it. Try and go back to sleep now, you have school tomorrow. You know where I am if you need me until then. Goodnight love." She kissed her on the forehead and gently pushed back to rest on her pillows neatly tucking her sheets back around her before she walked out the door.
Sophie sank helplessly back into the fluffy warmth of her bed and stared blankly at the ceiling. Her eyes began feeling hot again as another wave of tears made an attempt to escape her eyes once more.
"Master Howl, I need you to look over these documents from the company, they have to be signed by Friday." Calcifer said, dropping a stack of what looked like bonfire paper to Howl.
"That wouldn't be a good idea, your Highness." He remarked, reading Howl's thoughts.
"Fine, FINE!" He huffed. "I hate paper work, it's so...droll."
"Well you'll be King of the Doldrums if you don't get them signed, Master." Before he could get anything thrown at him, he bowed out and disappeared in flame.
"Stupid fire demon hybrid..." Howl grumbled under his breath, pulling out the quill pen and ink well, which he eyed dubiously, the last time he used the thing...
Flashback
"Sign these please, Master, Howl."
"Yes Calcifer, place them here." He said, motioning to the small empty area on his paper-stacked desk. He sighed. "There's no end to this is there?"
Calcifer chuckled. "Not quite. You have a huge responsibility on your shoulders as the next for the throne."
Howl growled. "Screw this stupid crap." He brushed aside a stack of papers and gathered the documents Calcifer brought in from of him, reaching across his desk for the quill pen.
"Awe bloody hell!" He roared as black ink spread in a poisonous puddle across his desk. "Fuck, fuck, fuck! Who put the stupid bottle right there?!"
"You did, master, when you were making room for more papers this morning."
End Flashback
"Stupid inkwell." He muttered, carefully maneuvering around it this time around to sign his papers. Just before he could put pen to paper, he was interrupted yet again, someone was trying to knock his god forsaken door down. "Yesss? Come inn..." He hissed.
Markl waltzed in, hands up in defense. "Relax, dear brother, it is I, your knight in shining armor."
"You rainbow lined leprechaun." Howl growled at his brother's rather distasteful manner.
"I'm not that small, ask any of the ladies."
"Enough Markl, what are you interrupting my work for?"
He chuckled. "Someone is in a bad mood."
Howl sighed and ran a hand through his raven hair. "You really had no reason to interrupt me? You, my dear brother, are the vampire translation of a jack-ass."
"Really? Last time I checked, I didn't have four legs and a tail coming out of my rear." He remarked, flashing a broad grin at his irritated brother.
"Amazing. Simply, amazing. You do have the brains of a donkey. You are an insignificant, moronic beast of burden."
Markl pretended to clutch at his heart, face contorted in mock pain. "Oh, the wounds, the blood...Oh wait, it's your face."
"Why you penile function lacking shit for brains..." Howl roared grabbing the inkwell, raising it to throw at Markl's stupid, blonde head.
Markl ducked as the black fluid whizzed pass his head in its glass missile. "Wow, talk about Sophie withdrawals!"
Howl froze mid-motion of throwing a book. "What do you know? Leave, NOW!"
"Geez, you get swamped with work for three days, for both our world and the humans, and you can't see your mate, how tragic." Markl snipped, strutting out of the room, satisfied that he had made his point to his moronic brother.
"So it was about the woman?" Calcifer asked as Markl walked up to him, a smug grin on his face.
"Oh, most definitely."
Calcifer frowned. "Is there anyway we can bring her here without the master having a conniption?"
Markl chuckled and clapped Calcifer on the shoulder. "You just want to see the other missus, right?"
"S-Sachi? That's...that's..."
Markl poked his fire-haired friend in the nose. "Don't you dare say it's absurd, I saw you guys drooling over each other."
Calcifer's skin burned a crimson darker than his hair.
"What's this? A blush?" He remarked, laughing. "You're just as bad as-"
He was cut off mid-sentence by Howl bursting out of the study doors, a crazed look on his face.
"Uhm... Hallo?" Markl questioned.
"S-Sophie...Something's wrong!" Howl roared, pushing past his brother and general, disappearing in a whirl of black feathers.
Markl and Calcifer blinked at each other a few times. "Looks like we didn't have to go get her after all."