The Book of Shadows-Prologue
She watched the glint of the knife as it fell with a clang from his grasp. She struggled uselessly, her long, tangled, dark hair getting in her face. Tears stained her dirty cheeks in a fountain of water and muffled noises came from her mouth as she tried to shout past the gag tied around the back of her head. The girl strained fruitlessly against the fiery ropes ensnaring her hands, unable to move, though she thrashed wildly about. Only her eyes darted fearfully from one dark corner to the next, always moving, waiting for what came next, even if she had no idea what was going to happen.
A floorboard creaked from somewhere in the house, and she stopped her struggle instantly. She was silent, watching, waiting. For a whole minute, one long minute, she waited, the iron smell of blood strong in her nostrils. He was bleeding, she thought. He was bleeding, and no one knew, no one was coming. He was going to die here-if he hadn't already-just like she would. She knew no one would come, no one would ever find them. All this passed through her head before she could blink.
Her eyes still moving everywhere, she tried not to look at the body near her feet. Another floorboard creaked, and sucked in a breath, almost choking on her gag. Then she jumped as a voice came out of the shadows. "Now, now, my dear. You know that had to happen. There was no other way." The voice was distinctly feminine, the sound of a voice trying to be sweet, but with the hint of malicious laughter never far beneath the surface of words. A figure stepped out of the shadows, and, with the girl in her corner watching, stepped over to the man's body. She bent over it for a second before abruptly standing up, and kicked it roughly causing the horrible snapping of ribs to fill the air. The girl struggled shamelessly again, yelling into her white-ragged prison.
The woman stared at her, her long white hair flowing from beneath her hooded head. Her brown cloak trailed dusty paths in the surface of the floor as she walked over to the young girl. Once in front of her she said in that honeyed tone, "Oh, my dear. We can't have that, now, can we?"
The girls eyes rolled wildly in her head as her cloaked tormentor stretched her bony hands outward. The woman smiled, her pointed teeth flashing like the grin of a wicked cat. She spoke a soft word underneath her breath, and red-gold fire spread from the palms of her hands and out of her fingers. It looked like orange lightening as it shot across the short distance before striking the girl. She cried out, screaming through her gag, straining against her bonds. Her body flailed and shook, almost as if she were having a fit of some kind, and was illuminated by the light of the lightening fire.
Finally, she fell silent and still, knocked out from the pain and her exhaustion. The cloaked figure took one more glance at her before moving silently away. Away from the acrid smell of blood, the stench of charred flesh, and the rotting wood of the house. She chuckled softly to herself before using her powers and disappearing once again into the shadows.
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I don't know how good this will be, considering that it just popped into my mind as I was sitting at my desk, bored. I don't even know if I'm going to continue it, but the picture in my head was so clear I felt I should honor it and write it down. So...that was what came of it, and please comment-I need to know if anyone wants to know what happens...Actually, I would like to know what's going to happen-when I write I usually don't have an idea in mind. The words just come and I put them down, and then a direction usually forms in my head about where it's going to go...Anyway, enough about that. Comments are most useful-I'd love to know what you guys think!
Since this a new idea and you envisioned it well, then I won't bother with the nit picky stuff. There are a couple of grammatical errors, but who cares? First drafts are awesome like that! However, I will say what I am wondering, so you can figure out which direction you can lead this story in, if you so desire.
