The brightness of the light hurt her eyes, but because of the design of the irises, she was able to make out that the world around her shifted suddenly. She was no longer in the graveyard, nor was she only in the man's company she soon discovered as four strong hand seized her by the arms and drove her to her knees. She summoned her power to pry these vises off of her- but found that it did not heed her call. Her heart stopped as she spied the very familiar red carpet beneath her legs, the scent of dusty wood and alcohol, and the familiar roughness of the hands that now held her bound. Suddenly a hand viciously dove into her hair and jerked her head back. An action that received a growling roar of defiance as she tried to jerk against it. But the action never finished as her eyes settled finally upon the figure that knelt but a few feet from her.
His hard build cast dark shadows across his bare upper half. His dark brown, wavy locks fell across his hard shoulders as he held his head high. In his sapphire eyes, a look of solemn defiance and dignity. His hands had been bound behind his chiseled and scarred back and his feet had been tucked underneath him so he sat upon his heels. Hot red liquid poured from his ribs and chest in floods, more gushing out every time his heart beat to the extent that he know was kneeling in a pool of his own blood. Fresh gouges and scars littered his torso, legs, neck....face. His tanned skin was unnaturally pale and his muscles quivered in quiet agony.
When she had growled, those deep blue eyes, the light fading from them, had set themselves upon her. Her heart dropped into her gut,
"K..K-kor... in." She managed to stammer out. Her heart pounded within her ears, echoing and drowning out the sounds of the raging fireplace. If only it had drowned out the sight of the silhouette in front of it. Long raven black hair that fell to his knees, a lean well-built frame, handsome slender face, and deep purple eyes flaked with yellow that now were inches from hers.
A strong hand slipped under her chin and held her in place as he caressed her lips tenderly with his own. Pulling away, he whispered to her, "
You will always be mine, dearest. My love. My little Reira... Don't ever forget that... His voice was so soft and soothing, that had anyone else had heard it, they would have swooned at the first word- male or female. But not to the kneeling woman. No... her eyes widened in fear- in terror as his breath warmed her lips. Her whole body trembled in frozen panic. No- no this couldn't happen again...
It's a fucking illusion you pathetic bitch! There is nothing to-"You will always be mine." He roughly grasped a handful of the kneeling man's hair and yanked his head back. Reira could only watch in horror as the knife sunk into the man's chest.
"N- no..." But it didn't help to shut out the gush of flesh as his blade deep dove within his chest, twisting the blade roughly and sawing in and out of the wound. Finally it was ripped out and he was shoved to the floor mercilessly at her knees.
"Korin..." the name was sweet on her tongue as he slow turned his head to look one last time at her- the love of his life. His eyes were as soft as the day he had first fallen for her, the way he had always looked at her. He smiled weakly at her horror stricken face as a single tear fell from her eyes. And in a voice as sweet and loving as he had always been to her, in a tone as solid and unwavering as the first day he had said it, he spoke,
"I love you." He fell still... For a second time.
Reira lowered her head- silent. Still as the corpse before her. For a few minutes she remained like this. Finally, her shoulders began to shake and a low sound could be heard humming from her lips. It grew and grew until it's identity was clear. A laugh. A crazed, sadistic, bloodthirsty laugh.
"What's wrong, my love? Not how you expected it to go? Or have you finally lost your mind?" He reached bloodied hand out to cup the side of her face with all the tenderness of a lover.
"Nothing, Duke. Nothing at all. I just get to relive the satisfaction of ripping you limb from limb all over again." No sooner were the words out of her mouth, then the guards and Duke himself began to boil. Their actual flesh began to bubble and blister and peel away from their skeletons with a chorus of glorious screams and shrieks. Duke stared at his hands and body in horror as the flesh melted away. As sinue and tenden curled, he collapsed painfully to his knees and raised his widened eyes to the kneeling woman. She smiled- the same look he had given her the first time she had murdered him. The cries were silenced by a quick flex of power as their necks were constricted, leaving them to gasp until their bodies had finally boiled away. Finally, when the deed was done, the whole illusion faded into oblivion and Reira rose to her feet, her head still bowed.
Her low humming laugh continuing. She raised her head suddenly, tossing locks of black red-tipped hair behind her back, revealing the three red bio-gems on her nose and her tanned skin. She had changed into her
true self.She smile sadistically at the man, her orbs gleaming with a sick and twisted pleasure.
"Right card."
