Vampires and such

 

The barrage of rain hurled itself relentlessly at the lush green trees. It trickled off the tips and fell to the waterlogged black earth pooling in the indented paw prints. A girl lay in the sludge, her head was lolled to the side and her tangled, red hair fell across her pale dirty face. The dirt stuck to her hair like clay and the rainwater fell on her crimson lips and wide, grey, unblinking eyes. The blood from her wounds diffused into the puddles, turning them deep scarlet before the ground slowly absorbed it. The longer she lay there the shallower her breathes became as she slipped in and out of consciences.

            The pouring rain rattled the skies and almost blocked out the sound of padded feet running through the ancient forest. The gnarly trees stopped dancing when in his presence and the moonlight seemed to follow him. The slab like front paws bounded several feet forward with every bound. Although at first glance the creature appeared to be a wolf. It wasn’t. This creature was a Warg. It was like a wolf in many ways, its mane was thick and grey-white, although several areas with matted with blood where his pack had cut into him his steps to king. That was many years ago but the wounds remained fresh. Halfway down his back the fur disappeared and scale-like skin wrapped tightly around his spine. The spine plates started round but as it proceeded to its scrawny tail they became more prominent and spiked. The muscles rippled on his furless hind legs as the Warg stalked its wounded. It could smell the blood on the air. North. He’d left her there long enough now, she’d have learnt by now; No one humiliates Fenrir. With his infallible sense of smell he was upon his prey in moments.

            Fenrir approached the limp body cautiously; He knew what power she possessed. He used his larger front paws to roll her onto her front. He sniffed her for life, there was none, although it was to be expected from her. He breathed in her deathly scent and nuzzled between her shoulder blades, rubbing his scent into her. She was his possession; he licked her neck tasting her blood. Savouring the moment.

            The moment didn’t last long, a large branch struck him across his side causing him to roll and hurtle into a tree trunk, covering his grey-white fur in sticky black mud. The Fenrir’s demonic side fled for a moment and left a whimpering wolf lying on its side. His empty eyes centred on his attacker and he scuttled away slipping into the blackness of the forest, whimpering and limping.

            Thin arms slipped under the girl’s body and lifted her into the air. Her red hair draping almost to the floor, her head held against a strong chest. Long fingers held onto her thighs and shoulders supporting her and emitting heat. She was completely unconscious, she had no idea where she was being taken, or how deep into the forest she was.

 

The lights danced and flickered, confusing the young girl. Her eyes hurt and she slowly began to focus. Amongst the dimly swirling colours of an adolescent mans face. Slowly, very slowly, the colours settled and the image was clear. He was tall, at least 7 feet tall, with a very light green tint to his skin and wild black hair, which fell across his face and stuck up around his crown. His clothes were made from knitted from grasses and leaves, she was certain he was giving off a strong aroma of lavender.

            She tried to breath in deep but pain shot up her body. She touched her ribs there was thick linen wrapped tightly around her. She saw the dark patches where the blood had clotted into it. She was drowsy. Where was she? What had happened? Why was she bleeding? Who was this man? Her thoughts raced and her face contorted with confusion.

“You need to drink this,”

He thrust a carved bowl at her with a foul smelling dark green liquid. She felt her stomach wretch as she tried to bring it to her face.

“What…”

“You don’t want to know.”

She put it down; she wasn’t going to swallow it! She didn’t even know if he was friend or foe. How did she know that it wasn’t him that had hurt her? He looked at her for a few moments. Closed his eyes. Then in one quick movement he held her nose, opened her mouth and poured the rancid substance down her throat. She felt a burning sensation in her chest but as it moved down her body she felt the pain ease. It made her sleepy and numb. She had to keep awake, this man, thing, whatever he was, could do anything to her if she slept! She fought to keep conscience but she felt her arms drop and her breathing deepen. The strange man with the wild hair slipped and out of focus he lent to wards her forehead and hesitated for a moment, then he threw the empty wooden bowl against the wall.  She held her arms out in front of her and as they fuzzed in and out of focus she noticed the prominent scars down her arms, all the same length and evenly spaced. One final thought rushed through her head as she slipped away.

“Who the fuck am I?”

 

Fenrir’s wasn’t picking up her scent. He always picked up something, a trace. All he could smell was the repulsive odour of rosemary and ammonia. So repulsive in fact that he couldn’t walk past it, he circled the area and tried to distinguish where the scent was spreading from. He felt dizzy the closer he got to the source. He centred onto it. The birch tree in the centre of the forest. Why had he been so dim-witted? Of course Ghille Dubh would take her to the birch. It was his home. Fenris’ body shook with delight. He was going to find a way to get to her and then she’d see.

           

She was sure she’d felt something clenching her had but when she finally came out of her dose she couldn’t see the strange man. Quite some time had passed, she knew because a silvery beam of light shone in through a crack in the…wall? For the first time she studied the room she was in. It wasn’t like anything she’d ever seen. Although, she couldn’t really remember what she had seen before. It was a rounded room, not circular because some of the sides concaved. Her bed was in the middle of the room and countless piles of books, drawings and writing surrounded her. The few patches of floor she could see were the strange brown cracked material as the walls, it looked like wood but had a softer texture to it like and patches were a light green colour. The shelves on the walls were crooked and empty. She looked at the bedding that covered only her legs now. It was a rough material, that scratched her skin but it was warm and although when she moved the bed seemed to make crisping noises it was comfortable.

“You’re finally awake”

The girl froze.

“It’s only me” The man replied in a soft comforting voice.

“Who are you? How do you know me? Who am I?!” Questions reeled off her tongue.

The man’s face gave a quiver of disappointment but the emotionless state soon returned.

“Don’t worry yourself. I’ll tell you soon enough. You just need to trust me,” His soothing voice seemed to drip over her

“How do I know you didn’t wound me? How do I know you’re not responsible for all these scars?” She was becoming erratic now. She didn’t know whether she was angry with or curious about this strange, shy man.

“Who and what are you?” She demanded again.

“My name is Ghille Dubh. I am many things to many different people. To some I take their teeth when they loose them to make spells to protect them. To some my only role is to protect to forest. To you, I will be your nurse until you remember.”

“Who am I?”

He held up a small mirror to show her, her face. The handle and frame were made from tarnished silver. It was moulded to look like intertwining vines. The she noticed it wasn’t made to look like that, that’s exactly what they were. Pure silver vines, and they were moving like snakes attaching and slithering onto his arm, as they touched him leaves and flowers began to burst in bloom. She could hardly pry her eyes from it to look at the reflection of the person she didn’t even recognise.

            The girl in the mirror had long red hair and a ghostly completion. Her eyes were wide, with a grey iris and a blue ring around it. Her lips were dark and red but not glossy. She bit her lip a little and noticed how strange her teeth were, they were softly pointed, but not in a threatening, carnivorous way.

“WHAT is my name?”

She was growing weary of this mans games. He seemed to be half smiling at her, laughing at her confusion. Mocking her. Anger boiled up.

“What do you want your name to be?” He said with a half blushed giggle.

“DON’T PLAY WITH ME” She threw the bed covers away from her and the smile disappeared from his face.

“You don’t know – at all – you don’t know me – or what you are. You’re not playing are you?”

She felt a wave of guilt engulf her as she looked at the strangely sensual Ghille Dubh. She saw the fight going on behind his eyes; she didn’t know what it was between. There was silence. Not even the trees outside the birch rustled.

“You’re kind are called Jaud. You’re name is Jaud. All you’re kind are called the same.” He said

“What do you mean. My kind?”

“A Jaud is a kind of – I don’t know what you remember of the world – I hope you understand this – You were born premature. And you were – I don’t know how to – vampirised – if that’s the best way to put it ”

She stared. She was Jaud. She was A Jaud. None of this really impacted her. She didn’t know what it meant to be one. She stared at her legs.

“Can I call you Ghille or do I have to say the Dubh?”

“I have to go.” Ghille Dubh said turning quickly from her. “I’ll be back soon, I need some more – of what sustains your life essence – don’t leave the birch.”

Jaud could have sworn she saw something in expressionless eyes that was screaming the truth at her.

 

Fenrir was so unsteady from the overpowering scent he was stumbling. He knew she was alone he saw the Ghille Dubh leave the birch. He snarled at the birch tree. He was about to turn around and consider a new plan of action when he heard a loud groan as the small gap in the birches ancient, rotting trunk was pulled apart for the second time. He saw the flash of red hair as Jaud squeezed through it. She was very high up for such a small girl. She held up her soiled under skirt as she lowered herself to the floor, her dainty, dirty feet patted as she landed. Fenrir pressed his stomach to the ground and kept watch over her, she was walking closer and closer to him; she was going to come home.

            Jaud felt the dirt and twigs press into her feet. She was half expecting it to hurt but it didn’t. She felt the blood being drawn from them but no pain. Everything felt surreal. The clinks of light that managed to get down to the forest floor burned on her pale skin and made her eyes sting.  She felt like all the trees and the birds in them were staring at her. She could hear muffled breathing. She was certain of it. And it was getting louder and louder the further from the birch she walked. Suddenly Fenrir sprang from his position and lurched towards her whilst her back was turned. Jaud spun round in time to see those empty white eyes staring back at her. Time stopped.

 

***

Empty eyes were staring at her. The woods around her were black and white. She twisted round but couldn’t see the birch anywhere. She was in a completely different part of the forest. The ground was soft and bare here. The sky was black and the moon shone through the wide openings. She was not as deep as she had been.  Where was the wolf being? He had disappeared. Had she imagined him? Was that a hellish nightmare? If that was a nightmare, what was this? Jaud put her hands around her head and kneeled on the floor. She had an awful echoing of a terrifying scream and she didn’t know if it was in her head or real.  She clenched her fists and gritted and stared down into the dark soil. Suddenly she felt a cold presence come over her and she swung her head to look upwards. Above her stood a small boy, no older than 5, with the same grey eyes that she had and the same pale skin she had. She looked at him, and several minutes past, he wasn’t a Jaud. His skin wasn’t silver tinged like hers. His eyes didn’t have the blue ring in them. His nose wasn’t a nose; it was just two holes in the centre of his face. His lips were dark grey, and bloodied, his teeth were bloodied too. They were much sharper than hers, with jagged and broken edges. His mouth opened and the screaming became louder and louder. The noise seemed to consume her. Then a woman dressed in a brown dress with a ripped hem ran over to her and hit the child with a large stick until he fell to the ground. His eyes were staring forwards, obviously stunned by what had happened. The woman’s long fingers clenched around her wrist and pulled her away from the now silent boy. Jaud looked at her arms. They weren’t silvery. They were pink and freckled. She touched her teeth they were small and straight. She realised how tall the woman was compared to her. She then put the pieces together. She was a child.

            The woman pulled her a long way, Jaud was finding it hard to keep her small legs going at this pace and soon found herself falling and grazing her knees.

“We need to go before that Plakavac finds us! Please run!”

The woman practically dragged her whilst she was on her knees, not noticing that they were cut and bleeding.  Suddenly there was a flicker in the picture and they were sat in a room and the woman was bandaging up her sore knees. She then kissed her on the head.

“I don’t want you going out on your own. It’s too dangerous for a little girl like you. You remember the stories I used to tell you, about the girl who went into the forest and was eaten by the Wargs? It can happen out there.”

            The woman stood up straight and made her way to the door. Next to the doorway was a pile of roughly cut logs and a bright red axe, which seemed out of place in this water washed image.

The picture flashed again. Everything was black and white now. There was blood all over the walls, handprints and scrapes. Ripped clothing and broken furniture surrounded her.  The blood seeped into her dress and the smell was unbearable but she couldn’t move. Her limbs were lifeless slabs of meat. She jerked and saw she wasn’t alone. Fenrir was there his cold empty eyes never stopped staring at her. The blood was all over his fur. Their eyes met for a moment and the picture fuzzed.

***

 

Fenrir was lying on the ground. Ghille Dubh was stood in front of her. Time still felt frozen. But it wasn’t it was just moving slowly.  She saw deep bite marks in Ghille Dubh’s arms. She saw his mouth move but she couldn’t hear the words come out. The movement was too slow, the sound droned. Then, in an instance, she knew. Her legs came to life and she ran as fast as she could. She knew Ghille Dubh had meant for her to run back to the birch, but she didn’t know him. He was a stranger. She shook her head as she ran; the light was still burning her, and pictures kept coming back. She knew facts and had knowledge that no human should know. But she wasn’t human. She had seen the fate that had awaited the girl; she had seen what was going to happen to her. Or was it what had happened to her? She needed to find that house. She needed get there. She didn’t know why. She was just compelled to go there.

            Jaud had been running for a long time before she realised she was leaving a blood train from her feet. Panting, she sat behind a large tree, ripped the linen from her arm wounds and tied them around her feet. She noticed beneath her feet was an old hatchet. The grip was weathered and splinters of wood stuck from it and the blade was rusted and orange. A sharp pain went across her eyes as she saw the axe from her vision. She gripped it the handle lifted it out of the leaves. The axe seemed to morph into a new one for a second then the image flickered and it was the damaged one she had originally picked up. She began to drag it along with her; she couldn’t run with it in her hands but needed to protect herself. 

Then the search began again. She wasn’t sure where she was going but she trudged on all day. She grew tired and her search for the house became a search for shelter. She came across a fallen, hallow tree. She pushed the axe in and squeezed in, her knees at her chin. She slowly succumbed to sleep. Her unblinking eyes stared straight into the night.

            There was a rustling in the leaves around her. Jaud twitched and was aware instantly. She slipped herself out of the hollow tree and readied herself to run. There were sounds of deep inhalations. And foot steps. But they were coming from everywhere and nowhere. She kept turning in circles, disorientated, trying to find the source of it.  Suddenly she found herself being forced to the floor and her linen around her stomach and ribs being torn off her body. She felt clawed fingernails dig into her stomach and started to rip. With all her strength she pushed the creature away from her creature away from her and scrabbled towards the hollow tree she clenched hold of the splintered axe and dragged it out as the strange creature began to run towards her.

            The screeching sound from the creature slowly muted and Jaud felt her body start moving in slow motion as the thing came towards her. It had the same empty eyes as all the other beasts she’d seen so far, yet this one seemed familiar. It’s was humanoid in shape and size, but its skin was grey and blotchy as if it was rotting. It had two rows of teeth in behind its dark grey lips, which were pierced with a metal ring.  Its eyes had no iris. They were just white blank canvases. There was a flash and she heard an echo in her head of an unfamiliar man’s voice.

“Get his head Zora! It’s a Strzyga!”

            Knowledge filled her mind of what she was facing. There was too much, everything was blank, her body couldn’t process the information and move. It was only for a split second that Jaud’s mind stopped working but in that time the Strzyga had taken her back down and had its hands around her neck, the axe was on the floor out of reach. At least she knew what she was up against now. This was a breed of vampire. Whilst alive it had two hearts, two souls and two sets of teeth and when it died only one heart and soul passed on. The remaining ones reanimated the corpse and it hid in the woodlands waiting for people to wander off the paths where they attacked and ate their insides, then leaving the limbs and head for wolves and scavengers to pick at. Unfortunately for Jaud, she was way off the path.

 

The Strzyga’s grip kept tightening on her throat and she was drifting in and out of consciousness. It was so much bigger and stronger than her.  The rotting smell of flesh choked her up and her ears and eyes fuzzed.

 

***

            Hands tightened around her throat and a girl’s screams filled the air. The grip on her neck slowly loosened as Jaud noticed her arms were around their neck and she was holding them down. Her eyes slowly focused to reveal her staring down at a young woman no older than herself. The girl’s hair was golden and fanned out across the floor. Her eyes were staring and she wasn’t breathing. She tried to pull herself away from the girl and revive her but she wasn’t in control of this body. She stared down at the girl’s body and then lifted up her arm and stroked it sensually. Her skin was tanned like leather and stretched tightly over her over indulged carcass. She lifted the wrist to her mouth and bit into it with her sharpened teeth drawing blood. She let the blood drip into her mouth and down her face, lavishing every moment.

            The floor around her was covered in bodies; scavengers and Wargs were eating whatever remnants she had left.  The few villagers that had escaped would flee and tell her legacy. She got off the body and ripped open the girls fleshy chest with razor sharp nails and cracked the ribs and broke, then removed the Sternal plate. This allowed her to vertically pull up the ribcage, exposing the heart and lungs. She placed her hands around the heart; the blood was clotting fast, and tore it out. 

“STOP IT! STOP IT!” Jaud screamed but she couldn’t control the body she had possessed.

She tenderly rubbed her cheek against it and then she opened her mouth and exposed her mouthful of pointed teeth and sunk them into it. Blood spurted down her as she gorged herself. She felt a furry head and a wet nose rub against her back. She turned around and faced it. Jaud was horrified to see Fenrir staring back at her but instead of the THING she was seeing out from running like anyone else would have, she ran her fingers through his thick greying fur and then bowed down low to him before offering him the rest of the carcass she had barely started devouring. 

Whilst she was stooped low in bow she saw the creatures reflection in the pool of blood that surrounded the dead girl. A pale complexion, tumbles of waist length matted hair, a dark chapped mouth and the eyes. Pale eyes, it looked as if she only had a black pupil in the middle, as the grey was so light. But there was a dark ring defining the end of the iris.  The image flickered and the reflection coloured. Red hair. Blue ring. Silver tinged skin. Jaud was staring at herself.

***

            Jaud was laid on the floor shaking as if in a fit. She felt the heavy axe in her hands. She thought she had been sick because she could feel a sticky liquid all over her clothes and face. She could taste a strange metallic flavour. Gradually, her body stopped shaking and she saw the blood all over her. A warm hand touched her head. Expecting it to be the Strzyga her grip tightened on the axe. But Ghille Dubh’s curious green eyes stared at her in horror. The axe dropped with a thud and dust rose into the air around them choking her up.

“What the fuck just happened?” She said weakly whilst muscles twitched all over her body.

Ghille Dubh said nothing. There was just a deep sadness in his eyes. His greenish skin had gone a brown colour and its suppleness was gone. He looked tired. Tired and disappointed. He moved away from her and sat with his head on his knees. For the first time since she had met him he didn’t look wizened he looked like a child, confused and hurting but with no way to get out of the situation.

Jaud repeated herself: “What the FUCK just happened?!” She screamed.

            Before she knew it Ghille had stood up and pulled her onto her feet. He grabbed the back of her neck and threw her down onto her knees and forced her to look at the floor.

“THIS is what you’ve done. These woods are sacred. And look what you’ve done”

For the first time he was loosing his temper and Jaud was terrified. He had looked like such a docile and shy creature but now it seemed as if the whole woods were shouting at her and intimidating her, thunder began crashing and lightening forked through the sky.

Beneath her was the severed head of the Strzyga that had attacked her. She refused to see any wrong in it.

“If I’d have not done anything he would have killed me! What was I supposed to do?!”

“So this was too then”

Ghille Dubh led her to the creature’s body. It was badly mutilated. There was blood everywhere. The front of the ribcage was broken and laying next to the body. The stomach was ripped open and intestines spilled out onto the forest floor. He forced her to look closer. The heart was missing.

“You removed his ribcage while he was still alive. Then I watched you eat the heart.”

            Jaud looked aghast as her stomach swirled and she became increasingly light-headed.   She ran away from the body and back to the hollow tree. She hung onto it as red sick came out of her mouth and splashed onto the floor splashing on her feet and dress. Ghille Dubh provided no comfort for her.

 

Fenrir’s ego was bruised. He had not only been unsuccessful in retrieving the girl but he had been beaten back by a simple Ghille Dubh. A small amount of foam appeared at the side of his mouth. He needed a new plan. It appeared she wasn’t giving in as easily as before. His muscled legs propelled him forwards faster and faster to the mountain pass. As he arrived the barren path his sons Hati and Skoll greeted him. They instantly knew that their father had failed and in fear for their lives didn’t ask for a reason or a story. Their father’s head hung low in a disgraced manner. The wolf was growing old; this fight would end one way or another. The moon was beginning to show in the late evening sky. Hati needed to chase Máni the moon a punishment he had been given from Fenrir many suns ago. Whilst alone with Fenrir, Skoll was reminded how alike he and his father was. Skoll had foreseen that his father would fail this time and so had already set his plan into action.

 

Jaud was weakened by her experience but knew that there was work to be done before she could move on and continue her search for the house. She had been using the bloodied axe to dig a grave in the forest floor to bury the Strzyga she had killed. She buried the body in one grave then walked far into the forest to bury the head so that the corpse couldn’t reanimate into something much darker and much stronger. Ghille Dubh refused to help. He sat there trembling slightly. Silent. Jaud didn’t understand his disgust. After she had completely finished her chores she was too tired to continue her search that night. The sun was falling down below the trees and dark shadows were taking over the forest. Jaud lie on the forest floor and fell to sleep, eyes staring into nothing and never blinking.

Ghille Dubh knelt down next to her and studied her. The change was taking place already. The red tones in her hair were becoming much more dull and didn’t resemble the sunset anymore. The crimson lips that had so beautifully contrasted with her fabulously silver skin were sore and faded. Where her lips were slightly parted he could see her pearly teeth weren’t sensually pointed now, slowly they were sharpening. The changes were only slight but he knew what was going to happen. He had seen the change in himself as well. The battle was already lost. He pressed his head against hers and whispered into her ear. A tear rolled down his short nose and dripped onto her cheek. He stood, took the axe and silently left her disappearing into the dreary, deadly forest and didn’t turn back.

Jaud awoke only a few minutes later to find herself feeling surprisingly refreshed. She sat up and turned to where Ghille had been sat and felt her heart drop when she realised he was gone. She knew he wasn’t coming back. The earth and the air and the tree’s all whispered and danced and smelt different. Despite all the anger she had boiling inside her stomach she forced herself to go onwards. When she got to the house all the pictures in her head would make sense. She just knew it. She had to get the blood out of her head. The child sat in all that blood. The hand prints on the wall. She needed to understand why she had the vision. She just felt that if she found the house everything would be clearer.

            She tread wearily on through the night, the moon struggled to glace from behinds the clouds. The darker it became and the further she walked the more awake she felt, but frustration filled her mind. She felt as if she’d been walking in circles everything looked the same. She even began marking trees with sharp stones or whatever she could find and she kept walking past them. Jaud kicked over a stone and snarled. The moon clinked through the clouds for an instance illuminating an opening in the forest.

            And there it was. Blatantly in sight! A small cottage, the image flicked. The damaged roof and the weathered stone hut distorted into its former state. The moon became the sun and shone heavily onto Jaud but it didn’t burn. There were two children outside the cottage digging with sticks, both ginger haired and curly, one a boy and one a girl and both extremely freckly. Their mother was hanging clothes from the surrounding trees to dry them. The scene was bliss and the air smelt fresh and good. A small kept ivy and honey suckle clung to the walls radiating an intoxicating smell that lingered.

But the ivy wasn’t trimmed down anymore. It parasitically climbed and hugged the cottage growing in threw the windows and across the doorway. The honey suckle was withered in the ground. And there were no children digging in the dusty ground.

 

Jaud cautiously approached the cottage. The ground was dark and burnt in areas. There was a smell that reminded her of copper and she could hear a thudding in her head that was making her nauseous. She reached it and placed her hand on the door. She felt a chill run through her body. What the hell was she doing here? She pushed the door but only a small gap appeared, the ivy was holding strong and keeping it closed. It was as if it was warning her of what was inside. The more she pushed the tighter the ivy became. She came to an alternative, and hauled herself up through an iron barred window, and managed to squeeze herself through the openings. 

            She lowered herself from the windowsill and found herself in a child’s bedroom. It was as if the room had been frozen in time many years ago. The crude rocking horse seemed in mid rock, the frayed bed linen was crumpled and thrown to the side as if rushed. The toys scattered across the floor were slightly rotten in the damp and everything was caked in a thick layer of dust. There was so much dust that when Jaud walked across the floor she didn’t even leave footprints. The room looked so familiar. Flash – She was laying in the bed, the woman from her other visions leaning over her, dark curls fell around them as the woman held her and kissed the top of her head. She made her way over to the door and looked back at the room. Flash – A young ginger boy was on the rocking horse smiling cheekily at her. She shook her head and the images faded and the broken rotting door was in front of her face.  She pushed the door and went through into the other room.

A metallic stench hit her at once. She felt dazed and yet frenzied by the smell.

It made her dizzy, yet she her body refused to move from where she stood. Her eyes wandered around the room it was dark but her eyes were quickly adjusting. She became aware of dampness around her bare feet. She became aware of patches of dark all over the walls and the floor. The picture was flickering and warping around her. It span around and she felt as if she was on the top of a cliff in strong winds. And that is when she fell.

 

***

“Close your eyes. Just close your eyes!” A woman screamed.

“Why Mother?” Jaud felt herself whisper. Her eyes opened to face blue eyes filled with tears staring at her.

“Close your eyes. Don’t watch please!” the shrill voice pleaded.

Obediently she closed her eyes and held her mother’s hand tight. The room filled with her mothers screaming and the voices of others, growls of Wargs, the ear splitting screech of the Bozaloshtsh promising death to all living humans that remained in the house.

            Jaud felt the woman’s hand torn from her. She ripped her eyes open when she heard shredding sounds.  A large creature with sharp iron teeth was gnawing into the woman’s arm. A scream escaped momentarily then lingered on Jaud’s lips as the blood spray spattered in her mouth and on her body. She tasted a familiar coppery sensation as she swallowed. The woman was still alive and screaming in agony as the scavengers continued ripping off limbs and the arteries erupted covering the walls with the crimson mucus. She began to stand up but felt a hand grab her elbow.

            She swung round ready to fight the creature but found herself staring into a familiar pair of pale eyes with blue rings. They belonged to a young boy, around 15 years old with ginger hair and a mass of freckles across his pale skin. His eyes bore deep into hers. He had her face but the jaw was squarer and a dimple in his chin.

“There’s no point” his voice came but his lips didn’t move.

“We have to save her!” She heard her own voice say.

“We’re next sister.”

She heard the woman give out a final scream and a last breath before the little that remained of her stopped squirming in agony and slumped, slightly twitching on the bloodied floor. The corpse was then cut open at the stomach and scavengers masticated her bowels. 

She felt her hand slip into this boy’s. She felt connected. Static fuzzed between their hands and they’re unspoken conversation continued until he was next on the menu. Tears poured down her face as she watched the iron-toothed vampire bite and break his neck. His body was limp in seconds. Jaud shook her head and screamed inside it to wake up. She didn’t want to see anymore. She knew it wasn’t real. But yet she wouldn’t wake up. She just had to await for them to feast on her. He small pubescent breasts rose and fell rapidly and she felt light-headed. Waiting for the inevitable. The scavengers drew closer and closer to her.

There was a growl where the words “She’s mine” were disfigured but was understood by all the foul creatures in the room. Fenrir approached her.

“Do you want to die child?” He grunted at her.

Jaud remained silent and frozen.

“Of course you don’t. You want to be young forever. I can give you that” he tempted.

Jaud cowered against the blood stained wall her face pressing into that boy’s and that woman’s, who she knew she was connect with, blood. Fenrir left momentarily and then returned with a companion.

“Make her mine,” he growled.

“I can’t make her drink of me.” a seductive male voice replied.

There was a thud as Fenrir threw his companion to the floor followed by some indistinguishable grunts and growls. Jaud covered her ears and muffled the sounds.

A cold hand touched hers and made her flinched. The creatures other hand pulled one of her hands from her ear and began whispering to her. Hot breath tickled her cheek and neck. She looked at him. He wasn’t chilling or grotesque like the other creatures.  He had a pallor face with dark circles under his dark chocolaty eyes. His dirty blond hair was swept out of his face, his sharp jaw and his sharp teeth flicked as he spoke to her. The words were quiet as if he were whispering from the other side of the room.

“Do you want to remember this pain? If you let me, I can take it away. You’ll just forget it over time…” His seductive and almost friendly tone enticed Jaud.

“I want to pain to stop.” She heard herself say.

“This will hurt for a short while…” his voice floated across her

            The attractive man took her into his arm as if in embrace, Jaud hugged back. He took her slender wrist up to his mouth and slowly sank his teeth into her, puncturing into veins and arteries. Blood spurted for a second but soon he had enclosed the wound with his lips and drank the sticky liquid that erupted from her. Jaud’s fingernails dug deep into the man’s back squirming in pain pushing away from him. She felt increasingly weaker and weaker for what seemed an eternity. Slowly she was lowered to the ground her vision blurred but she could just about make out the man biting into his own wrist and him moving it to her mouth.

“Drink.” His voice was suddenly much harsher.

Submissively Jaud complied.  As she felt the burning liquid gush into her mouth and down her throat. Suddenly he pulled his wrist away and Jaud could only feel immense and unbearable pain all over her body.

“Don’t worry its only your human body that dies.”

Jaud writhed for hours her body seemed to be determined to remain alive. The picture fuzzed and then the calm came. The room was empty now. Her body seemed to rise of its own account as she began to sit upright. There was blood all over the walls, handprints and scrapes. Ripped clothing and broken furniture surrounded her.  The blood seeped into her dress and the smell was unbearable but she couldn’t move. Her limbs were lifeless slabs of meat. She jerked and saw she wasn’t alone. Fenrir was there his cold empty eyes never stopped staring at her. The blood was all over his fur. Their eyes met for a moment and the picture fuzzed.

***

Jaud’s unblinking eyes focused in the darkness. She was laid on the floor; her face pressed into the damp. The house was creaking and her heart was thumping. She could hear it louder than anything else. Her chest hurt, a sharp pain like her ribs were being broken. She tried to move but her body was numb. She pressed her face to the floorboards so she could only see the dark as she willed herself to stand.

            The hours merged together and Jaud fell into a disturbed trance where past memories disturbed her. She knew they were hers now. She knew how she was made. But she didn’t understand why.

“Jaud, are you here? Jaud” A voice called in from the bedroom.

“Ghille?! Help me!” She screamed inside her head but she couldn’t make her mouth say it.

She finally managed to make a half mumble of “here” and he entered the room. She was so relieved to see her strange green companion. She was comforted that he picked her up with his strong arms. She was thankful that he was gazing down on her, his green skin was soft, his wild dark hair wisping over his face, his pale eyes captivated. She felt calm as she felt his strong chest pressed against her shoulders and cheek. He was icy cold but she felt comfort. He didn’t say anything and he never made eye contact. But that didn’t matter. She was safe now. She didn’t care he’d left. He was here now. She felt herself slip into a sleep, which was far less fitful from any others she’d had.

           

            The moon was fading as the sun began to creep up the horizon. Jaud woke from her sleep. Ghille was still there, carrying her. The edges of her mouth pointed upwards in a half smile. His eyes met hers for a second and a cold chill went through her body. Jaud felt stiff as the pale eyes pierced into hers. The sun began to rise but the warmth was unnoticeable to her. Irrational fear filled her body but she didn’t show it. Something was wrong. Very wrong.

            The next thing she knew was she felt herself being propelled into the air and hitting the floor her head cracking against the cold stone her shoulder pop out of place her lip split and bleeding. She shrieked in pain and looked up to Ghille Dubh enraged. But it wasn’t Ghille Dubh that was stood towering above her. An odd looking thing stared down at her. His face was like a canvas. All his body and face were a yellowish white with slight bumps all over it. The thing had small holes instead of a nose, slits for eyes and a dark empty circle mouth. The thing was hunched over slightly and its brow was furrowed. There was a flash and she remembered this being. Odmience. A changeling. But this was very different to most he was fully grown; usually they were killed before they matured into toddlers.

            Jaud took in her surroundings. They were familiar. Her eyes glazed for a moment. The visions were jerky and panicked. One minute she was cuddled with Fenrir in the cave ahead, the next she was creeping out into the woods. She was with Ghille Dubh, their foreheads pressed together. She was running with him to the birch. They were pouring over books. She was running back to the cave. She was trying to find an excuse. She was laying on the floor bleeding.

            The Jaud laying on the floor in the cave bleeding was pulled into the real Jaud.

“So, dearest, you’ve returned again.” Fenrir’s voice was dripping with sarcasm.

“Get the fuck away from me.”

“Now, now…who else have you got? Your precious tree elf has left you. There’s just me now. Just like it used to be.” He tilted her chin up with his snout. “Do you remember how happy we used to be together?”

Jaud wretched from her nose and spat thick mucus in his eye.

“Get. The. Fuck. Away. From. Me” She repeated aggressively.

Fenrir’s claws were too quick for her they struck her across the chest and blood.

“How dare you, don’t you remember what I did for you? Don’t you remember what we had? Feasting on the blood of those inferior to us? Insolence.” His empty white eyes became almost ablaze with fury. The cave began to fill with Wargs and wolves snarling in unison with their king. They were a pack; they all felt the same thing at the same time. Hati and Skoll took their fathers side.

“Why did you betray me? I offered you the world! I would have made you my bride. But you choose that thing. That mere servant of the forests. A servant over a king. What an idiotic concept, ” Fenrir snarled.

            Jaud was confused. She didn’t know what was going on her head hurt from the cold stone and she couldn’t think straight. The images around her fuzzed and flickered.

“Not now!” she begged inside her head. “I can’t remember now I’ll be killed”

Her vision tunnelled and the black seeped all over her eyesight.

 

***

 

The visions were blurry and mixed up. She was a child again and lost in the woods crying.

"Why are you crying, little girl?" A man whispered in her ear.

Jaud flinched and cowered away from him. She was relieved that it was Ghille Dubh. But the body she possessed didn’t know him. He was different. He smiled. She didn’t think she’d really seen a smile on the Ghille Dubh she’d known for such a short time. His eyes were dark brown like hazel nuts in September but were soft and kindly his skin a yellow – cream colour.

"Your tear-drops are falling like dew on the little blue flowers at your feet. Are you lost?"

Jaud nodded.

He took her hand and said “You’re mother will be worried. Come, I will take you to her.”

The picture fuzzed.

 

She was in her early teens and wandering the woods, many eyes both good and evil stared down at her but she was not afraid.

“Ghille Dubh,” her soft voice sang out. “Come out come out wherever you are.”

She looked up to see he was sat above her in a tree smiling his face greener than she had known.

The picture fuzzed.

 

She was in the room with all the blood her eyes were met with Fenrir. Outside the window a pale looking green face peered through horrified. She didn’t say anything.

The picture fuzzed.

“Get the fuck away from here. I’m going to have to kill you and I don’t want too do that.” She heard herself scream

“I’ve been dying since that day.”  Ghille Dubh’s kindly voice whispered. A single tear dripped from his hazel nut eyes.

Jaud had him pinned down. She removed himself and threw him across the opening into a tree.  Ghille Dubh hardly seemed to care.

“They said I’d forget you. I’ve been trying my best to but you won’t go away! How can I forget you with you protecting me all the time?” She screamed.

“You want me to leave? Is that what will make you happy?” his eyes were saddened and he seemed to become part of the tree.

Jaud nodded. Ghille stood and seemed to disappear in seconds.

The picture fuzzed.

 

There were flashes of bodies and her in the middle. Mutilating them and drinking their lives. She was killing indiscriminately. Woman, Children, Men, young or old. That didn’t matter. All that mattered was her next meal and her beloved Fenrir was happy to oblige to her wishes.

The picture fuzzed

 

Jaud was alone the woods were cold and soulless to her. They were so different to the picture she had in her head. She could barley remember being a child. Her heart seemed like stone and her soul had a black gap where humanity went. She took the young mans dying body and sunk her teeth into him lapping the blood that erupted like a cat. She had grown weary of the taste that had once frenzied her. She had lost her appetite. She threw the body away and screamed. She took a sharpened stone from her pocket and cut deep into her own arms. The blood was black. The hand crafted blade ripped easily through her thin arms and the blood flowed freely onto the forest floor.

The picture fuzzed.

 

“Ghille? Is that you?” She felt weary.

“Don’t move. You’re ill. Very ill and I’m in danger even having you here. Fenrir will find you. And he will kill me.”

“I must go. My king will want me for the next meal…” her voice trailed.

“Since when have you ever done what you’re meant to?” His voice was cold and snappy.

She looked down at her arms. The mutilation was very bad. The scars from her transformation were much worse though. Tears ran down her dirty face.

“I didn’t ask for this Ghille. I just wanted to forget them.” She sobbed.

“Never forget them. It’s the only part of you that’s still human. ” He snapped. His brown eyes were angry. His skin seemed crispy and browned.

“I’m still me, I just have to find other ways to survive…”

“There are other ways to survive than torturing people.”  His voice was cold. But then his eyes softened looking at the young woman sobbing.

He slipped his hand into hers. And put his head against hers.

“There are other ways. You’re taking the easy way. You can take another way. ”

Tears ran down Jaud’s face and onto her chapped grey lips.

The picture fuzzed.

 

Pain filled her entire body as Ghille dragged the knife down the centre between her small breasts but she didn’t scream. He cut through her two of her ribs and pushed her lungs slightly to the side. Jaud clenched his hand in sheer agony; the same agony that she’d just put Ghille Dubh through.  This is what he wanted to do. She was terrified. She didn’t know what this meant but he said it would be worth it in the end. His hand reached an empty spot where a withered heart feebly beat. With one swift movement from his other hand he pulled out his strong, be it green, heart and forced it into her chest. He sewed the arteries together with silver thread.

“My heart can sustain us both. Our - connection - and the nature I thrive in will keep us alive.” He gazed down at her in awe.

“I’d give you my heart.” Jaud replied gazing up lustfully.

“If only you had one to give” his voice was saddened.

The picture fuzzed.

 

She was tired but she needed to see him. Fenrir and his cronies were beginning to settle down for sleep. Dawn was fast approaching and the sun began to burn the horizon. Soon the Wargs were fast asleep. Silently Jaud made her way out of the cave and ran into the woods as fast as she could the sun was burning her more so much she felt like screaming but she didn’t want to get caught.

Ghille was waiting at the edge of the woods. She ran and jumped up into his arms. She felt safe and hungered. She couldn’t feast on those she had before. The guilt was tearing her apart. Ghille took her hand and led her through the winding woods, along paths that she didn’t know until she felt utterly lost but he seemed to know where they were.  They reached an opening. It was beautiful. There were flowers everywhere despite the fact that it was so dark because the trees over hung and were thick. Ghille led her further into it. As he stepped more flowers and the grass grew longer in his footsteps.

“I’ve been thinking. You aren’t the child I helped through the woods anymore and you aren’t just a Jaud anymore. So I can’t call you those names anymore.” His eyes shone as if ready to give her a gift.

She held his hand and said “So what are you going to call me”

“Zora. It means light of dawn. Because that’s what you are. You’re the light after the long darkness. You are my light after the darkness.”

“Zora,” she repeated softly.

The picture fuzzed.

 

Jaud was gasping for air. Her body was sweating and her hair was tangled. Her clothes lay on the floor next to the bed. Beneath her lay Ghille Dubh his eyes rolled upwards in pleasure. His clothes lay on the other side of the bed. With a final gasp Jaud fell from her elbows and placed her head on Ghille’s rising and falling chest. He kissed her on her head.

“Shit! It’s nearly dark!” She felt her heart race.

She kissed him on the lips and pulled her clothes onto her silvery body. She made her way to the crack that led to the outside of the birch.

            She was sure she had heard Ghille whisper, “I love you” as she squeezed through but she didn’t have the time to look back.

The picture fuzzed.

 

She was screaming. The old hag was forcing a burning liquid down her throat. It was getting impossible to breath if she didn’t swallow now. She swallowed and the hag whispered an unknown language. Why was Fenrir doing this to her?

“A fresh start my love. ” Fenrir’s acrid breath burnt her cheek. “You’ll forget him now. And you’ll take the love I offer to you. And you will be my bride.”

The hag looked sympathetically at Jaud. She was a neutral.

She stopped her incantation then with a second thought added “Kochają przewyższa” with a knowing smile to Jaud.

Fenrir was infuriated and struck down the hag with one swift motion. She lay motionless on the floor.

Jaud felt as if her memories were being rubbed away like chalk on slate.

The picture fuzzed.

 

She seemed to be floating above her body as she saw hundreds of images flick of her lying on the floor, Ghille Dubh holding her close and kissing her head. He stood up and with his head stooped low left her. The settings were all different. Some were the cave, others the forests, once or twice she found herself surrounded by strange buildings covered in bright coloured inks. In an instance Jaud understood and knew what was going to happen next.

The picture fuzzed.

 

***

 

She felt a peculiar zooming sensation as she focused back to reality.

“You’re just a Jaud. I could have any other of your kind if I wanted.” Fenrir snarled.

“My name is Zora.” She whispered softly.

“Not this nonsense again. Your name is Jaud. You are one. You will never be anything else.”

“My name is Zora.” She spoke louder and clearer now.

Fenrir and his pack were all taken aback. No one had ever confronted their king especially with their presence. Fenrir lifted his slab-like paw to strike her down but she was too quick. Zora ducked and the wildness built up inside her. The blue rings in her eyes turned the same furious red-orange as her hair until they were glowing so bright that they turned white. Her pupils disappeared as her eyes glazed over. Her head lolled backwards and a dizzy, stomach-churning feeling came over her. She began to rise slightly from the floor and she floated forwards a little way feet dragging on the floor, grazed and bleeding from the rock.

            Her mouth opened gasping in agony, lumps began forming all over her wrists. They writhed as they tried to push their way through her silvery skin. Her back was also imitating this but on a much larger scale. Abruptly the swellings on her wrists became solid and sharp black points began to gash through the skin tearing it and causing her blood to flow. She screamed out in pain, but it wasn’t her voice that was screaming, a strange echoic sound came from her mouth. The Wargs around her crouched close to the floor paws over their ears, looking as if they were just forlorn feral dogs. Searing pain ran down her spine as muscular arm-like limbs erupted out of her back spraying the ground with blood. The limbs ripped through her flesh as they pulled out what appeared to be her ribs and split them. It ripped them from their place and towed them outwards. They spread revealing a leathery membrane that held them together. The wings pounded at the air but she didn’t float any higher.

            A tiny voice whispered as if it was a thousand miles away but a soft presence told her they were close.

“Zora, stop! It doesn’t have to be this way, this time. We will find another way.”

A hideous echoing voice replied, “This is what I am. This is the only way.” The words were barley recognisable.

“We can find another…” But the heavenly voice of her lover was whisked into the air by the gathering winds. 

Ghille was soon stood beside her his long fingers embracing her tiny hands. He said something but the words were silent to her, his mouth was moving but no words came out. There was a glowing green aura around them as he closed his eyes and held out his hands. Zora lifted back her head and let out an ear piercing screech that filled the air and made the very mountains quake the birds in the trees flew from their nests squawking in fear. The time had come. Rocks began to tumble down from the mountain shaking the ground even more. Stalactites began the crack on the cave roof. They appeared much sharper than they had been before. They fell. One by one. Each of the sharpened rocks fell through a head, or a chest of a demonic wolf. Blood filled the cave as their wounds seeped out. A horrific whimpering filled the air. They continued falling even after the Wargs were all laying silently on the ground but she wasn’t shaking it anymore. The after effects were going to be catastrophic. The mountain whole mountain was vibrating. Zora pulled Ghille Dubh towards her and embraced him. Their lips met as she wrapped her wings around both their bodies the best she could. The stones kept falling and piling on top of them. Then the darkness came.

 

The dust began to clear as the sun rose the next day. Ghille Dubh clawed his way to the surface dragging his beloved Jaud under her armpits. Ghille brown, crisped skin had mostly flaked away like autumn leaves and a white-green colour had begun to flourish in his face. His hair was as thick and wild as ever and his clothes were neither torn nor dirtied from the calamity, which had just taken place. The same couldn’t have been said for Zora.

            Her silver skin was turning a dirty white colour. The silver had gone. Her wide unflickering eyes stared. The bright light was beginning to burn into her skin. Her mouth was chapped and bleeding. All that remained of her glorious bat wings were small black stumps that were slowly immersing back into her spine. The spikes in her wrists had retracted leaving thick gashes that were evenly spaced. Ghille Dubh picked her up and gripped her legs with his long fingers as he took her into the woods, into the darkness where the sun wouldn’t torture her and sting her skin.

            He ventured in some distance before he laid her on the soft, soiled floor. He sat with her head resting on his knees his back and neck arched over her. Her breathing was shallow and her heartbeat dimmed.

“Zora, wake up. Zora, he got away again.” He whispered.

Zora managed to turn her head a little and cleared her throat to speak.

“I know.” She said with a sympathetic smile

“I can’t do this again Zora. I can’t loose you.”

“Ghille I’ve never asked you to do this.”

“Why do you have to pick the hardest way?”

“Would you love me if I was anything but what I am?”

“You’ll forget.”

“A heart that truly loves never forgets. You need to leave Ghille.” She heard Bozaloshtsh’s screech but was unafraid of the death that would bring. “Next full moon. I promise.”

Zora’s large unmoving eyes slowly closed and a tear trickled down from beneath them. Her breathing slowly stopped. Ghille placed his hand on her chest and whispered

“I gave you my heart to make you whole to fill the gap where humanity was stolen from you. It lies in your chest below your glorious breasts. It is yours forever.”

He cut into his wrist with a small sharp athamé and a foul smelling dark green liquid began to seep out from the wound. He allowed the liquid to drip down into Zora’s parted lips. The grey chapped lips slowly gained a hue to them and began darkening to crimson. He kissed her pale forehead lightly and removed his knees from below her head. Resting her lifeless corpse comfortably on the ground. He whispered to her but the words were whipped away by the parade of days and nights that followed where he aimlessly wandered the woods. Searching.

 

The barrage of spring rain hurled itself relentlessly at the lush green trees. It trickled off the tips and fell to the waterlogged black earth pooling in the indented paw prints; the full moon reflected in them. A girl lay in the sludge, her head was lolled to the side and her tangled, red hair fell across her pale dirty face. The dirt stuck to her hair like clay and the rainwater fell on her crimson lips and wide, grey, unblinking eyes. The blood from her wounds had diffused into the puddles, turning them deep scarlet before the ground slowly absorbed it. Her chest began to move and a voice echoed in her head as she slipped in and out of consciences.

 

“Goodbye my Jaud, my sweet Zora. I will always be your dark servant.”