II : Death Rattle
“Why are you crying, little mouse?”
A voice like a zephyr, twisting in the dark in order to coil against the sensitive conch-shell turn of her ear. It was enough to make the hairs on the back of her neck stand on end.
“Suibhne...” Effie began nervously, her head turning towards the steps, willing for the door to open and for her brother to come racing down- her voice elevating dramatically as the whisper-quiet sound of shuffling footsteps prickled her with petrifying unease.
“Shh shh, let’s not make a fuss...”
He inched his way out of the darkest corner of the cellar, emerging from the murky shadows as if breaking through the surface of a blackened sea. The chilling blue of his eyes peered from beneath the lazy canopy of his lids; wide and beautiful, complementing the angular shape of his jaw as the thin curve of his lips curled into an unsettling smirk.
Effie shivered, her body sliding from the edge of the bed in stumbling, shuddering movements- stepping quietly from her bed frame towards the stairs, blue eyes widening and dilating, looking to focus on the face of this new stranger. However, as he moved cooly from the dark, the familiarity granted her no more peace than before he had erupted from the black.
“Suibhne! Suibhne!” What had once been a careful shuffle had become an all-out sprint up the steps, her bare feet skidding against the blistering wood, groping at the doorknob, twisting and rattling the handle as she realized in all of her dismay that the door was locked. Her only escape glared back at her damningly, refused to budge even the slightest inch.
Effie shrieked defeatedly, her hands reaching out to pound on the surface of the door with the balled knots of her fists- scratching and clawing at the wood as the strength of the man’s grip constricted around her lithe waist and wrenched her away, slapping a cool palm over the construct of her lips as he carried her with little difficulty back into the dark at the bottom of the cellar. Though she twisted and thrashed, it was as if his grip only grew tighter- braiding the strength of his arms around her flailing limbs effortlessly and with no consequence.
Instinctively she opened her mouth, catching what meat of his palm between her teeth, biting down ferociously. She failed to break the skin, as he immediately tore away, throwing her callously back onto the bed with a hiss of breathed curses.
“You really do want to die, don’t you, little mouse?” “Suibhne! Su-”
Effie wrenched herself upward, moving to the edge of the bed frantically, ready to make another bold run for the stairs, blinded by terrified tears, she squealed from her place, calling for her brother once again, only to be silenced immediately by the crushing grip of one savage hand, pinching the petite tunnel within her throat closed. Choking on the syllables, she rasped, falling back at the inclination of his strength- her dark hair falling in a tousled halo about her head. He loomed over her, spreading the clinched bow of her legs with the forceful blade of one knee- hovering like a thunderhead, his lips turning gracefully, smiling.
“Suibhne’s little dried husk of a useless sister- you can’t even cry properly, look at you...”
His free hand reached down to gather a lock of her hair, turning it between his fingers skeptically. Effie whimpered, her lips bubbling with a list of confused and frightened questions, unable to slither through the collapsed structure of her trachea, instead they suffocated before ever reaching her tongue. Eyes wide and glassy, her lips pursed open, futile cricket chirps of failed language clicking between her teeth.
“It really is a shame... in the right light you aren’t entirely hard on the eyes...”
Ambrose clicked his tongue, shaking the steady turn of his head as a feigned flicker of disappointment rolled through the apathy of his glacial gaze.
“But in every other light... you’re just... without... aren’t you?”
“S-s... S-s-s..”
The last pleading hiss of air rushed between her teeth as she struggled to finish the name- the sparkling saucers of her eyes blinking away fat, salty tears as she flickered again and again back to the door, waiting for a miracle that would not come. Not in time.
“S-s-Suibhne... Oh don’t worry little mouse, he’s going to be just as fine without you as you were without any means of magic.”
Dark hazes of shadowed obscurity smudged her vision as her lungs sang out for air- wild pin pricks of light scattering over the black expanse of her pupils as he pressed with some force against her throat- threatening to shatter the tender cartilage and sinew that kept the entire structure together.
“I’ll take good care of him for you.”
Ambrose sneered, closing one icy eye in a mock-wink as he released the compressed flesh of her neck. Effie gasped, her mouth dropping open instinctively in order to gulp at the air- and in that one hopeful moment she thought she might have the chance to savor one last breath.
But he crashed down upon her instead, taking advantage of her desperation by covering the frightened cavern of her mouth with his own.
A blinding flash of pain shot through her, burning through every nerve ending as his teeth sunk mercilessly into her tongue. Every vein seethed with a toxic venom- bleeding it’s way into her body even as he released her.
Ambrose straightened mechanically, adjusting the ruffled collar of his pressed shirt with the languid swipes of his palms. Blatantly ignoring what convulsive movements she made upon the bed, he reached up to touch the fatted bead of red still resting upon his lower lip. Pulling his fingers away, he observed the brilliant ruby tones of her blood, pressing the tacky fluid between his index and thumb as if to test the texture. Her seizing body played as no distraction, thrashing weakly on the mattress as a silky stream of white bile jetted between her cracked lips and slithered into the girlish lavender sheets. Curiously, he darted his tongue over the coppery sweetness of his finger, wincing in disgust as he wiped the remnants on his slacks.
“Bitter.”
He stood for some time at the foot of her bed, facing the rise of the steps with his hands clasped patiently in front of him. His pawns carefully placed upon the board. A slain queen growing quieter and quieter upon the bed as the last rebellious rattles of life twitched and shuddered their way out of her dying body.
It wasn’t until she had grown entirely silent that the door to the cellar finally opened, in all of it’s grand irony. Ambrose smiled, gripping one bedpost, excitement rising in his gut, joyous adrenaline singing in his veins as each descending footstep echoed within the eerie silence.
“Effie-” “No. Just me. Me and you.”
