I could hear each heartbeat grow fainter and as the time dragged on, the rhythm grew slower till it was silent. Dead. Her body lay in my hands. “Why?” I wanted to scream, but I knew why. I’d felt her temperature drop while I stood there, helpless. I saw it happen. She was gone now, gone forever.
The police would come soon, but her body would be gone. Even if they saw her, they wouldn’t recognize her. She didn’t look like who she was because she wasn’t. She’d never been who everyone else thought she was. The world never saw her for what she was, they wouldn’t have wanted to either. They didn’t know about the things she’d done while everyone was asleep. She would just be another “victim” in their eyes, but I knew better. I used to have her job.
She’d been drunk when the blade entered her delicate skin and into her back. It had been a small one, a pocket knife with all sorts of gadgets. I remember her writhing in pain and calling out to me, “Help me.” but I hadn’t helped, I’d just stood their idly. The iron had made her remember; it made all of us remember. She’d recalled the dark images of death and bodies pale and white, drained of blood. She’d remembered her masterpiece.
The King wouldn’t care for her death. She’d given him what he needed and more. For all he cared, she was just another fae in his eyes. Fifty humans slain, blood given without the remains, she’d given him seventy three. The blood had satisfied his thirst, like water is to humans. It’d satisfied the thirst of all in his court.
Humans were nothing in their eyes, lesser beings. She couldn’t see that they were truly equals either; she’d refused to stop. She’d killed a child in front of its mother before murdering the mother too. It’d been hard to make the choice I had. She’d loved me with a passionate fervor. She was my other half, but she had to be stopped. I had no choice. A warm embrace ended with a slash in the back. The crimson stain on her red satin dress was still barely visible, but the blood was hardening and the stain was becoming more vivid.
Her beautiful skin was changing colour now. Minty green, it was so fragile looking. Her lips were the lightest shade of blue and imprints of blue vines were appearing on her skin, wrapping around her arms. She looked peaceful. There was no trace of the killer she once was. I kissed her one last time, my lips lingering on her cold, hard, unresponsive ones, and left without glancing back.
