Feisty Repartee

Salvation

May I present to you my humble contribution to Christina's latest blogvella...

In case you missed them, you can find Christina's brilliant chapter, The Elixir, here. The second chapter, The Elixir (Part II), was exciting, and left me with much to work with. I truly enjoyed writing this dark chapter, and hope you do as well!

Don't forget to check back next week and the week after to see how Beth follows up, and Nuggets ends the spooky tale! Deal?

Salvation
It never ceased to amaze him, the surprise of those who had successfully called him. That she of all people should doubt…his own daughter, unbelieving, afraid, mutinous. He grinned slightly, amused and pleased. The sagging flesh of his face began to shift as he felt the need of his nearby servant.

Claude stared at his reflection in the rearview mirror, his eyes tracing the length of the ragged scar that snaked across his face, courtesy of a vicious attack by his fellow inmates. He scowled angrily. Thanks to their hypocrisy, it had been nearly impossible for him to lure the little ones away from the watchful eye of a parent, the false safety of a yard, or a busy playground.

He’d been reduced to lowering his expectations, to taking what he wanted, needed, from the children of the women foolish enough to invite him into their beds, their lives. Tolerating the women had been a necessary evil. Evil…he checked his watch, certain he had not imagined the call to serve, worried that the tires of the Jeep would sink deep enough into the mud that he would not be able to fulfill his task.

A subtle movement of the moon-lit shadows a few feet away caught his attention and he turned to see the most striking young girl approaching him. Her long, pale hair blew in the sudden wind, her slender, pre-pubescent body almost seemed to glide across the thick mud. He focused on her lips, full, pouty, seductively parted, and struggled to control his desire.

“The old woman,” the girl said, as she leaned her face close to his. “You will be rewarded for your loyalty.” Her crystal blue eyes held his, as his muscles twitched and shuddered with excitement. His eyes closed as he enjoyed the sensation. Breathing heavily through his open mouth, he opened his dark eyes when he felt her warm breath on his skin. She was gone.

He searched the darkness for her, his eyes settling on the slumped body of the old woman lying on the ground a few feet away. Fighting disappointment, he walked over to the woman and frowned. Why is she so important?

-------------------------------------------------

Samuel stopped, oblivious to the mud sucking at his boots. He closed his eyes and felt for her in the darkness, his heart racing with the loss of her fear. He’s among us again, he thought, his gut twisting painfully.

He had hoped to avoid this day, having stood watch the last three hundred and six years confident that his brothers and sisters would not waver in their duty. Constance had always been the weak one, unable to leave behind the old ways, angry with the reward for her sacrifice, unable to deal with the loss.

He’d loved her once, when they were young and foolish, lost to the sins of forbidden flesh, willing to sell their souls to the dark one for even more pleasure and power. He wiped a tear from his opaque blue eyes and steadied himself. This was their punishment, their salvation, to keep him from walking the earth again.

They had failed. The others had surely sensed it as he had and would join him when they could, but he knew there was little time. Once again, the burden was his. Samuel took a deep breath, and said a silent prayer as he moved deeper into the swamp, allowing the knowing, the familiarity of the walking blackness to guide him.

Within moments, he had found the small mud home Constance had been banished to. Without hesitation he entered, and took in the scents of dark magic and gun powder. The charred, limp body of the familiar lay among the broken pottery on the dirty floor. He knelt beside it, his knees aching, and gently stroked what remained of the poor cat’s fur as he softly chanted. His hand grew painfully warm, and his head began to pound fiercely, but he concentrated intently, smiling when he felt the small heartbeat beneath his palm.

“Mortimer,” she said softly. Samuel turned to see Constance standing behind him. He searched her eyes before realizing that it was he, the dark one, mimicking her form. He pushed himself to his feet, pleased when the cat rose and ran off through the open door, loudly mewling it’s displeasure of earlier events. Turning to face her, him, Samuel pulled his thick robe closer to himself to fight the sudden frigidity in the air.

“Where is she?” he asked, his teeth chattering. The dark one smiled at Samuel. He took a small step closer, and Samuel realized that Constance’s form had grown decades younger with that one step.

“She is safe,” the devil said with a grin. In the time Samuel had blinked, Constance’s body had grown even younger, to the way she had looked when they had been lovers. He swallowed hard, fighting the memories that flooded his mind. “I want only what is mine,” he snarled, distorting her once beautiful face.

“That which you seek will only destroy you,” Samuel hissed angrily. The woman standing before him was no more, replaced in a single beat of his heart with the dark one himself. Samuel took in the dark depths of his eyes, and clenched his teeth when he thought back to that night more than three hundred years ago. He could still see it clearly, the mixing of the seed of satan with his own, his own father, his willing sister, the way her once flat belly had shifted and distorted grotesquely as it accommodated its occupant’s incredible growth.

“I will not give her to you,” Samuel said, grateful for the first time that he did not know the whereabouts of the child. “She is my daughter!”

“Yours, mine, ours…” the devil said with a nonchalant shrug of his broad shoulders. “She is not yours to give. She knows her place, despite your best efforts, my son. She is coming to join me, as we speak.”

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