Page 4 of Her Dark Promise

I swiftly moved to him, grabbed the blade from his weak hand, and sliced his arm from shoulder to elbow. He screamed out in pain, dropping the bags, and fell to his knees, clutching his arm as blood pooled around him.

I backed away as Merrill rushed to his side, eyes bulging out of her sockets at the unsuspecting violence.

I smiled sweetly at her as she shrieked at me. “How dare you! Claude, can you get up?”

He grunted to her as an answer and she helped him to stand on shaking feet. “Kill—kill her, Merrill.”

“Come now. You are going to make your wife kill me? Didn’t know that she was the one with the balls.”

His ears and cheeks burned red at the insult and spat out, “You’ll pay for that!”

I threw the blade in front of their feet. They looked at me, confused as to why I would give them back a weapon, as I said, “Ihave a better idea. Let’s play a game. Cat and mouse. Catch me, and you can have it all, but if I win, I will take your souls.”

I didn’t wait until they answered as I turned around and took off.

I could hear the rest of my possessions clanging to the floor as Merrill yelled, “After her!”

I ran down the hallway barefoot, my robe flying behind me as I passed by portraits coated in dust. My heart was beating wildly at the little game I had come up with. Foreplay before the actual fun began. I smirked at the thought of what their faces would look like once they realized who—what—I was.

I could barely hear them behind me, so I slowed down and walked past closed doors, rooms that I had abandoned long ago. The memories within them weren’t worth remembering.

I ran my hands over them as I continued walking and called out, “You’re awfully slow…” I smiled as I could hear their screams of rage getting louder, closer.

I rounded a corner and stopped in front of a worn wooden door that led up to the tower. It was my favorite room in the castle, the one place where I could truly be myself.

I waited until they saw me, opened the door, and rushed up. Round and round and round. Up and up and up. The steps felt like they would never end as it was the tallest building on the premises. It used to be where top-secret meetings were held, but now it was my own personal oasis.

Once I reached the top, I entered without being out of breath, having climbed these stairs countless times over the last few centuries. I waited for them to barge in, but they never came. I was growing impatient by their delay, ready to sink my claws into their flesh, until I heard their labored breathing, the harsh sound reverberating around the room.

The door was flung open, and Claude charged me. I could only assume that this newfound act of bravery came from my comment about his wife.

“I got her Merrill!” He had a look of pure determination on his face. Spit flew from his mouth as his voice rang off the walls of the tower.

I could only wonder if this had been the dynamic their entire marriage. The wife made all the decisions, and he merely went along with her. And this was his moment, the moment where he was going to finally prove to her that he wasn’t as incompetent as he had been throughout their entire miserable marriage. I could appreciate his gumption, but it was futile. He was no match for me.

He clumsily jabbed the blade toward my throat, but I easily dodged it and tripped him. He screamed out when he landed on the arm that I sliced open, hollering in pain. I could hear Merrill entering the doorway as he hurried to stand back up, cheering him on. He raised the blade above his head as he strode back over to me as if that were a better approach. I had grown bored of him, so I reached out to grab his throat tightly. Before he could register what was happening, I snapped his neck so roughly that his head severed in several places, almost falling off completely.

His blood splattered over my face and body. I hung my head back, smiling at the sound of his body hitting the floor at my feet. I raised my hand in front of my face, the purple shadows danced across my skin, giving me the added strength needed to kill the pathetic human. I brought my blood-coated fingers to my nose, inhaling the intoxicating scent of death.

I turned toward her, rubbing my bloodied fingers together as her piercing scream invaded my eardrums. I waved my hand, and her body was forcefully propelled back into the chair. Her hands and legs were tightly bound to the sides, rendering herimmobile. The wind was knocked out of her by the force of magic. She was gasping, trying to wrap her mind around what had just happened. She truly thought that they would overpower me.

Humans were just as dense as ever.

I sighed at the rush of adrenaline that the kill always brought to me. It was one of the few, rather only, moments that brought me as close to pure happiness as I could get. Punishing those that deserved it. Punishing those who thought they could take advantage of the weak. Punishing those who thought they could betray me and get away with it.

No. I am not there anymore. I am fine.

I took a deep breath, cleared my mind of the past, and slowly made my way over to the table that had various devices that I had accumulated over the years for torture. I picked up my favorite rusted pruning shear and made my way back over to her. I stopped directly in front of her and watched her writhing around. Loving the way her hair was in disarray, her tear-stained cheeks, the way the ropes cut into her skin, causing them to bleed, and last but not least, the terror. Pure terror clouded her eyes. The terror was so palpable in the air that I could taste it.

I even made a show of licking the air and moaning in delight.

She thrashed around, trying her best to get as far away from me as possible, which was fruitless. She would never be escaping this prison with her life intact.

I walked over slowly to stand in front of her, using the tip of the shear to lift her chin to look up at me. She swiveled her head away from the chill bite of the tool and did her best to avoid eye contact.

I rolled my eyes and grabbed her chin, forcing her to look at me. “You know, you shouldn’t steal from others and then attack them in their own home. It isn’t very nice, is it?”

“Fuck off!” She was going to fight me until the very end. Good.

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