XI - Cliffside Retreat

Part 1

The bride and groom traveled separately to the cliffside town where my mother and sister still lived. It was two days before the ceremony and I sought to spend them amiably enough with my friend before having to do what I needed to do. Despite the set back that was this attempted wedding I was still in high spirits and thankfully not too distraught at having to not only kill my sister, which at this current moment was not an inconvenience, I would have to also, very likely, kill my best friend. Such a shame that weaker men must stand between a strong man and his prize.

No matter. I had sharpened my wit and will like I had sharpened my knife. I had time to kill one more tramp before our departure, to test once again the steadiness of my hand and the sharpness of my blade. I cut the foul creature as a hunter would gut a kill or a butcher would clean a slab of meat of its fat and useless bits. I was a butcher onto my city in recent weeks, cutting the fat off the streets and letting the dark alleys swell with the blood and bodies of the useless. At my last count I was up to a half dozen bodies. Stealing way from the house when Elaine and Geoffrey were away. Perhaps it was more than that now. I couldn’t keep count. Not that the number mattered at all in the grand scheme of things. Once I achieved my power and the pact was completed the grounds and the streets would flow with the dead at my hand. I would merely speak the word and souls would vacate their bodies. I stifled a grin at the thought.

                My hands started to twitch as the carriage made its way into the town. It had been a long time since I had returned to the picturesque village that I was overtaken by a nostalgia I wasn’t prepared for. I saw flashes of the past. Myself as a boy running from shop to shop. The wind whipping through my hair and the soft cool rain that fell from the sky’s off the ocean. The smell of the ocean waves brought back so many memories my heart grew heavy with them. I clutched at my heart in reflex. Geoffrey turned to me to ask if I was okay. A sweat had started on my forehead, but I brushed him off.

                “Just old memories. Perhaps my illness hasn’t fully left me. You know these things come in waves.” I said to reassure him. I promised that nothing would take away from the ceremony to happen in a few short days’ time. At the clenching of my chest I felt the beast stir inside me. It moved over my body in waves eating up all the feelings of nostalgia that were causing me distraction. After a few deep breaths the beast was calmed, and I was calmed in turn.

                The cracks that had started to form on the mortal coil had slowly been growing with the death of each tramp. At the outset of things, I thought I would see no progress until I had completed the first trial. That the coil wouldn’t unwind or break until after my sister laid at my feet, her blood running down my throat. However, I was happy to find that I felt cracks emerge after each soul snatched from the dying men in the darkness. The unwinding from morality was increased once I had tasted my first drop of blood. In my practice using the blade I had realized there was something else I needed practice doing; consuming blood.

                I was never one to shy away from a fresh piece of meat for dinner. But in my youth and early twenties I always ordered my steaks without an ounce of pink or blood. Blood in fact was something that always gave me pause, even if it was from my own person. A papercut or a clumsy hand during shaving would always give me a cold shudder. The dreams of blood didn’t give me pause, my mind knowing they are merely dreams, but the idea of consuming someone else’s blood gave me a start. The realization hit me when after killing my first victim with a blade, I had finally touched blood of another. It was over my hands and some had splashed on my face. I was frozen cold as the blood dried to me. Another wave of doubt exploded in me until I looked at my fingers. I heard the whisper encourage me. I licked my right hand, the hand that held the blade, and felt an electric shock run through my body. The coppery taste of the life fluid made my mouth pucker and my stomach jump. I almost wretched but I held the feeling at bay. I resolved to practice. I needed to steel my wits for this task as well.

                With each new victim I drank a grappa worth of blood. The taste became sweeter and sweeter with each taste and I longed to have more but I felt I needed to keep my appetite ready for the chalice. I felt rejuvenated by the blood, stronger, and healthier by it. I could only guess that my illness was due to my bodies yearning for more blood that I couldn’t yet satiate. The beast seemed to be satisfied with it and with that reassurance in its silence, I was able to progress.

                The carriage came to a stop before our temporary home during the next few days. Geoffrey, being unable to lay an eye on my sister before the wedding had booked a suite in a small inn not a block from my old family home. I however wasn’t embargoed from that other place and decided that after I placed my things away I would pay them a visit. I would need to have an idea of the layout of things if I were to carry out my plan in the night like I wanted. Perhaps nothing had changed in my old home, maybe everything would be alien to me.

It had been over five years since I had stepped foot through the door way, but everything looked as if it hadn’t moved in fifty years. No bobble was misplaced, no piece of furniture moved as if bolted in place on the floor. No picture was misaligned or removed. It was as if I had stepped back in time. I half expected my father to walk out from the back room donning his traveling clothes. I however saw my sister emerge in her undergarments. I averted my eyes as she yelped in embarrassment.

                “Reginald! Why didn’t you announce your presence?!” Elaine exclaimed as she went into a side room to grab a robe.

                “I didn’t realize I needed to announce my presence in my own home.” I peeked through my fingers to see her standing before me flushed a scowl painted on her face.
                “What’s all this yelling?” my mother asked ambling into the room. She looked up from the floor and caught my face. Her eyes grew wide and bright at my face.

                “Hello mother.” I stepped across the room in two large strides catching up to her as she shuffled. I caught her in an embrace. Strangely I felt nothing. No joy, no pain, no disdain, no emotion whatsoever. It was as if I was holding a bundle of warm linen instead of embracing my mother. I grinned inwardly. A circumstance of the unraveling. I was losing my useless human connections.

                “I’ve missed you so much.” My mother said through tears. It would seem her emotions were as strong as ever. I simply held her tighter until she was ready to speak again.

                “How was your trip over?”

                “It was fine. We are both in fine spirits.”

                “Good, good, now make sure he doesn’t come around. You know he can’t see Elaine until the day.” My mother said with a smile.

                “Of course, as is tradition. I hope to have my own wife in the wings one day.” I said with my own hollow smile.

                “How are you feeling brother?”

                “Feeling? Oh yes, I’m much, much better. The fresh air and being out of the city has done wonders for my senses. It seems all I needed was a vacation from life to recollect my wits and my health.”

                “I’m glad to hear it. Now, shoo. We have much to do and we don’t need a man’s prying eyes.”

                “Shooing me off already? But I’ve just arrived. Can I not spend a few moments looking over my old home?”

                “Of course, he can.” My mother said to my sister shushing her.

                “Thank you, mother. I won’t be long Elaine. You won’t be sullied by mine eyes again I promise.” I laughed and pecked her on the cheek as I went deeper into the house. All things were still set in their place as they were when I had left.

My room was still the same, untouched, unseen, unused. I looked over the little bobbles and trinkets that I had kept or stored over my youth. One piece held such high regard in my life that I kept it under glass to preserve it. It was a crystal formation my father brought home for me when he was once abroad in China. He brought us back many gifts, as he usually did from his escapades, and on this trip, he brought back books and tools for calligraphy, which my sister and I both took part in learning, as well as two crystals. My sister received a blue gem while I received a red one. Being five years my younger she didn’t hold the treasure in the same regard that I did and almost lost her immediately. My father even once had to pry it from her mouth as she attempted to eat the damned thing. I kept mine on display on my bookshelf at first without a cover. But when I was twelve years old or, so I returned to my room to find the piece missing. I looked high and low for the gem I held so dear and tracked it to my sisters’ room. She had taken it and was holding it close to her mouth. I yelled at her to get it away. I stepped into the room and she plopped it into her mouth swallowing it in one fell move. I screamed in agony at the loss of my precious gift. My mother found me on top of my sister clawing at her mouth for her to return it to me. Luckily through some coaxing the gem was ejected from my sisters’ stomach and I placed it under glass ever since. I touched the glass containing the gem and smiled at its deep red beauty.  

My sisters’ room had remained the same, and her bed still lay next to the window. I nodded. I felt like a real estate agent doing an assessment more than a son returning home. Appearances were nothing to me now. All that mattered was the plan. I waited until my sister and mother were preoccupied in the front rooms before I stepped in and unlocked my sisters window. With nothing else need be done that day I left them. I kissed them both goodbye and reassured my mother that I would keep Geoffrey away from this prize until the day.

           My heart pounded as I left the room. The scent of my sister and the taste of her skin on my lips gave me chills. I had but one more day to wait. Then all would be well.

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