Sela Locke
Senior Writer
Gender: 
Age: 13
Joined: 11 Apr 2008
Posts: 169
Reviews: 97
Country: somewhere deep in the Pacific.
485 Points
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 Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 4:30 am Post subject: C H A P T E R N I N E |
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C H A P T E R N I N E
He started pacing distractedly, apparently not noticing when his foot came down hard on her arm. Aslina closed her eyes, the pain that fought to render her unconscious crowding in on all sides. She wanted so badly to enjoy these last moments, before she...
Delys froze, his odd mutterings fading away.
“Lins? Lins? Aslina Twar!”
Her eyes snapped open, immediately recognizing her best friend’s voice. She didn’t try to get up – she could feel the stabbing pain in her arm – yet the voices were getting louder, and she began to hope.
“Lins! Lins, where are you?”
Forgetting any broken bones, Aslina sprang up, Jason’s voice giving her new hope.
“What a fortunate day this is turning out be! Three, all for me? Someone must like me.”
She had been so excited that she had forgotten Delys existed. Panic caught in her throat, and she almost forgot how to breathe.
“No! Please don’t! They don’t – I can’t… you won’t really, will you?”
Delys laughed softly, eyes alight in the pale beams of the moon.
“Lins, dear, you drastically overestimate my conscience. There hasn’t been so much delicious blood in these parts for too long. I have to take advantage of the small amount of my kind in the woods tonight. Being a loner really does pay off, doesn’t it? Sharing is so obnoxious…”
She opened her mouth to let him know exactly how vast her knowledge of insults stretched, but at that exact moment her two best friends stumbled into what was soon to be the scene of at least two murders.
Tina froze, another call of ‘Lins!’ catching in her throat. She made a strange gurgling sound, and Aslina was afraid her eyes might simply fall out of their enormous sockets.
“Ah, and they have arrived. I was sure tracking was in order tonight, but Lady Luck really must have fallen in love with me.”
Jason looked critically at Delys, as though wondering if this was his competition. Then he turned to Aslina, eyes shining happily.
“Aslina, what the hell became of you? You were supposed to wait for us…” He paused, brow furrowing. “It turns out I did have a my cell, and the minute we turned the corner, it was just – there. Crazy, I know! We called nine-one-one, but then they took us off to the hospital, and wouldn’t come back for you so. By the time they finally got their lazy asses over to the truck, you’d disappeared!”
“Wait,” Aslina said. “You guys were hurt?”
Jason flushed, stealthily moving a hand behind his back. She leapt forward, taking as gentle a hold of it as she could.
“How many effing fingers did you break?” She squeaked, looking at him desperately.
“Three. But Tina only broke a toe, so she was pretty much fine.”
Tina laughed, a squeaky sound that usually made one want to cover one’s ears and protest.
“You make it sound like I had a choice to break more bones, and if I did, then I would be braver, or something.” She rolled her eyes, and then limped over to Aslina, hugging her tightly.
“And who is - that?” Tina asked, acting (As usual, Aslina thought) as if Delys wasn’t smart enough to answer for himself.
“No one much.”
Aslina was trying to stay calm, struggling to stall Delys until she hit on a way to save her friends. She knew, with a sad certainty, that it was too late for her own rescue.
“What a grand introduction! Aslina here is not in the best of moods. Donovan McMerdoc, if you were wondering. I found her in the woods, barely scathed, and am trying to get her home. Do you know the way?”
Aslina made a strange giggling noise, nearly cracking up at Delys’ made-up name.
“McMerdoc?” she choked, somehow fighting to keep her sudden good humor in check. “What kind of stupid name is that?”
Tina shot a confused glance at her usually polite friend, an inexplicable sense of foreboding making her heart race.
“Y-yes, we know the way.” She lied, abruptly feeling that all she wanted to do was leave ‘Donovan’ far behind. “Is there anything we can do to thank you?”
Aslina’s laughter turned into a cough mid-giggle, as Tina gave Delys a perfect opportunity to drink her dry.
“Oh, no thank you. It’s so lonely, living in the woods. It was nice to have company for awhile.”
He smiled sweetly, a saintly figure in the dark.
“Well, then. I suppose we’ll get going. Thanks again!”
Tina all but raced away, grabbing Jason’s free hand, who – in turn – held onto Aslina tightly.
“Lins, where were you? And who is he, really?” Jason asked, as soon as he thought they were out of ear-shot.
“Don’t look back. Don’t dawdle. Don’t talk. Don’t do anything, damn you!” Aslina hissed, taking charge as she – quite nearly – dragged them along.
Tina and Jason knew her too well to be hurt by her sharp tone, and the only emotion they felt was fear. What could be horrible enough for Aslina to be this scared?
“Aslina, we’ll do what we can to obey you,” - here Jason snickered - “but we’d like to know what the hell is going on, if that’s not too strenuous.”
“It’s pretty simple. If we don’t get out of these woods in record time, we will all be – more or less – dead.”
There was a terrible silence, broken only by the rustlings they made as they forged through the dense underbrush. After what Aslina would’ve called ‘an eternity or so’, Tina spoke, trembling in her friend’s tight grip.
“Who… who’s the mass-murderer here?”
Aslina didn’t bother to look at her friend as she muttered it.
“Mr. Donovan McMerdoc.”
A sarcastic edge cut into her voice, and she sighed, slowing slightly.
“I know I should try to escape, but I’d rather not exert the effort. He’ll be occupied long enough with me, and you might get away before it’s too late for all three of us.”
She flopped down into the leaves and the soft grass, leaving behind a thicker silence than before. Tina opened and closed her mouth more than once, but couldn’t seem to make anymore noise than a few squeaks and a hoarse whimper.
“If he kills you, he’s going to have to kill us first. Horrible cliché, I know, but there’s not much more to say. We won’t leave you behind, and you won’t budge. I know that much.” Jason sat down beside her, a sad smile on his normally happy face.
“You don’t know anything, Jason. Even after you nearly broke my neck with that horrible trick of yours, and we became friends, I never told you everything.” She snapped.
Tina frowned, spreading herself out next to Aslina.
“So since we’re all so close to death, won’t you tell us now? All you ever said about your Mom was that she died when you were five. And that… and that they never found the murderer.”
She knew it was immoral and selfish of her to let her friends stay, but she also knew that they wouldn’t leave without her. After a short struggle with her own conscience, she gave in. Sitting up, she began the story.
“Like you said, I was five. I lived in this huge house with my Mum, all gold and marble and toys; anything I wanted, really. It’s sort of vague, that day. I was sitting out in the yard, talking to a roly-poly that was all curled up on the porch. I started looking around to find a good home for him, when a saw something big and white in the bushes. It turned out to be a letter, and when I brought it to my Mom, she said it was… was addressed to me. I don’t think she believed me when I said I found it in the back yard…” Aslina trailed off, lost in her own memories. Yel and Jason didn’t try to snap her out of it, and she began again in a few moments, eyes now glistening. “She started to read it, and I remember her eyes got wide, and she looked like someone had delivered a death threat, or something. I tried to ask her what was wrong, but she just rushed me inside. I remember precisely what she said to me… ‘Aslina Chaeurette, go to your room and lock the door. Do not open to anyone, even if it sounds like Mommy wants to come in. Do you understand?’
“I was too scared to protest, and I just ran to my room, and slammed the door behind me. I – I remember forgetting to lock it, too. For about two minutes, I hid my face in a pillow on my bed, and I thought I heard my Mom talking to someone else. His voice… it was all… silky… and sort of evil. But I wasn’t listening hard enough to hear anything distinct, even though the window to the front yard was wide open, about… five feet away from me.
“And then… then there was this horrible, horrible noise. It sounded like a – a lion. A really, really angry lion. That terrified me so bad, all I wanted to do was find Mom. So I ran out into the front as fast as my chubby legs could carry me - I didn’t even notice I was crying.
“I’ll never forget what I saw on the front porch, no matter what happens to me. This man - he couldn’t have been more than twenty-something – was ripping at my Mother’s throat, and still making that disgusting growling noise. He saw me, and his eyes… they… they shone. Like someone had – had lit a fire behind them. He stopped trying to kill my Mom and got up, reaching for me. And he said in this – this horrible voice, ‘Come, Aslina. You’re Mother is dead, and your father will be dead too soon. Would you like to die, or follow Lliestt?’”
“And for a moment, I was going to go with him. He just seemed to make so much sense. His hand was out, he was gonna take care of me…
“She reached over, and grabbed my little fingers with her own, and she - she howled. It sounded exactly like an injured wolf. The last thing I remember seeing was Lliestt. I’ve never, ever seen anyone angrier than that. Not ever. He lunged at me, and then—“
“And then you were transported to your fathers’ house, and lived like any other child in Chicago for eleven, deliciously happy years. Lliestt searched for all of those years, searched everywhere. But now I have found you instead, and I will take you to him. He’ll like to,” the parasite paused, almost thoughtful for a moment. Then a smile struck his face forcefully. “See you again.”
“He’s not going to see anyone. I’ll make sure you kill me, don’t worry.”
The false pretense of confidence resounded in Aslina’s voice, and she almost believed what she said.
“Wasn’t that… what he was planning t’do anyway?” Jason queried, thoroughly confused by now.
“No, actually. Much, much worse than that. He wants me to spend eternal damnation with him. To kill others just to survive. To somehow weather the storm of his acute idiocy, and bear the pain of his unrealistically large ego.” Aslina snarled, pulling herself to her feet; the leaves protested feebly beneath her. |
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"People are stupid, because stupidity loves them with a great passion. Love the stupidity back, dear. Love it so I can call you a conformist."
-Loicantt |
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Sela Locke
Senior Writer
Gender:
Age: 13
Joined: 11 Apr 2008
Posts: 169
Reviews: 97
Country: somewhere deep in the Pacific.
485 Points
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| Posted: Wed Jul 09, 2008 5:00 am Post subject: C H A P T E R T E N |
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I know that this is two chapters in a row, but I couldn't leave y'all hanging! Enjoy. =D
C H A P T E R T E N
Delys snorted, but somehow it managed to be a graceful sound. Aslina wondered how that was possibly fair.
“That’s something of an exaggeration. I told you that you could leave, if that’s what you wanted. And if you stop being annoying now, I won’t put your friends on the menu for tonight.”
Aslina’s eyes narrowed, still trying to keep calm.
“That,” she hissed, “is a lie.”
“Well, you certainly wouldn’t ever find out. Besides, it’s not like you could be friends… afterwards.” He smirked triumphantly.
“I don’t care! You seem to think that if you’re a sociopath, so is everyone else. Whether or not I see them again, they should get to live out happy lives. Even if I – don’t.”
Tina and Jason looked back and forth between the two, the exact same expression of exasperated puzzlement on both their faces.
“Are we missing something?” Tina whispered, a slightly hysterical edge to her squeaky voice.
“Not much. Lins is being whiny – as if being immortal isn’t a good thing – and I’m trying to get her to see reason.”
There was silence for a moment, as Delys took a moment to study Tina’s face. Aslina’s stomach twisted as his eyes flickered briefly to her neck.
“It can’t be – it just…” he whispered, face mildly tainted with surprise. “No, but then…”
He was by her side in a split second, the quiet words that slipped from his mouth dazing the helpless teen. She stood for a moment, swaying, and then fell into his arms, eyes slowly sliding shut.
Delys smiled, hand twitching at his side; his eyes shot to Jason, who fell backwards into the leaves, unconscious.
Then he disappeared into the trees, a horrible echo trembling through Aslina’s very bones.
“Sourblood.”
No one had spoken a word in much too long. The last sound anyone had made was Tina’s painful gasp as the life quickly faded from her; as she began to regain consciousness.
The cold seeped into Aslina’s body, her every joint ached from the tense position she had held for what seemed like hours. But she didn’t dare move, not when it would be so easy for Delys to switch targets.
A plan began to form quickly in her panicked mind; a crazy one, but a plan nonetheless. She might – just might – be able to save Jason… and Tina (she fought back a fresh wave of tears as she thought if it, wondering if the limp body that Delys leant over somewhere deep in the forest was still occupied by her best friend).
She stood, defiance and fear fighting for control over her trembling body. The tiny amount of her brain which was still sane insisted that she start running as fast as was humanly possible, but she ignored it, knowing she would rather die in the attempted rescue than desert her friends.
She closed her eyes, taking an silent breath to slow her racing heart. Then-
“Did you know I can hear your heart speed up? Slow down, and… stop?”
Delys was beside her, one arm wrapped securely around her waist. She opened her eyes slowly, flinching as she looked into his face. His irises were burning with an amazing inner light, that same look in them that she had seen when she’d downed the beer.
“It can get amazingly annoying, having to hear so many hearts beat at the same time…” He paused, one finger brushing her chin gently. “There are only – only two hearts beating in this clearing right now. Do you know what that means, Lins?” She didn’t move a muscle to reply, and so he continued. “There were three hearts beating only a few minutes ago. And one stopped. Oh, I could probably get it going again, if I really wanted to. But – I don’t.”
Aslina realized too late what he was doing. She blinked stupidly, and found herself lying in the grass, a sigh trickling into her ears from somewhere nearby. It sounded exactly like the one Tina had given when – Tina.
It hit Aslina like a two-ton truck. She’d been too idiotic to realize what Delys was saying, yet now it was all too clear. He’d drank every last drop of Tina’s blood, or near enough that her heart had stopped its beating. And that sigh… Jason was dead, too?
She pulled herself up, searching around the visible forest for any sign of life – nothing. What did the monster do with her friends? A tear trickled down her cheek; cold fingers brushed it gently away. She shivered, a voice whispering into her ear, smooth and breathy.
“Your turn.”
It was foggy, and she was wandering through thick marshes. Bugs kept biting her neck, and occasionally her wrists; she thought she knew why, but whenever she almost remembered, the thing she was searching for scrambled away again, like a frightened kitten.
It seemed like hours before a voice boomed through the thick air, and a fresh breeze blew through the morass around her.
“Let her go, Del. You cannot change her yet… she could die.”
Another voice shuddered through the expanse, and the bugs flew away in an instant.
“You’re – you’re right, Lathos. She could die, and I cannot risk that. Do you think she will survive… even now?”
The second voice sounded less concerned and more amused, but there was a sharp edge of… something else in its tone.
“Yes, if you do not… start again. I know that I can’t stop you from changing her – someday. But…?” There was a pleading note in his voice.
“Aslina will be my only company, Lathos. I refuse to deprive myself of some small… enjoyment.”
She stirred, the rock that lay beneath her shifting slightly. Wait – rock shifting?
Rocks don’t move on their own, she thought, ever. |
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"People are stupid, because stupidity loves them with a great passion. Love the stupidity back, dear. Love it so I can call you a conformist."
-Loicantt |
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