Goddess

The sound of her laughter sang through the air. Her smile lit up the night sky as she danced her way through the darkened forest. Her light blond hair joined in the dance as a gust of wind flew past her long, flowing white skirt twirled around her ankles, causing her to laugh once more.

The girl was graceful, to say the least. Grace and beauty were her specialty. Bringing men to their knees was her hobby. And death was her love and passion.

The moon leaked through the trees, causing the woman's skin to glow in the light. If anyone would have seen her, they would have thought her to be a goddess. An almost out of this world being.

A devilish grin grew on the almost-goddess' face. She stopped dancing and started to run as fast as she could through the forest, changing her path and direction as she moved, just in case someone was trying to follow her. Someone or other was always after her.

As she ran, her skirt caught onto a tree branch. The girl swore under her breath as she began to try to become detached from the tree. No matter how hard she tried, though, she could not remove herself from the branch without ruining her skirt.

The woman contemplated what to do. The skirt had value – both sentimental and money. Realizing that she had been defeated by a mere branch, she took off her skirt and continued to run, leaving her skirt to dance once more in the wind.

The moon hit her bare legs, causing her to look like even more of a goddess. The woman knew of her beauty and knew how to flaunt it. She knew how to look beautiful, no matter what she was wearing. She looked just as beautiful in a Victorian style dress as she did in a more revealing outfit.

She soon reached the edge of the forest. She was so close to her destination. However, she knew that her attire would not be appropriate. She waited for a woman to cross her path. Then, with on swift movement, the woman was dead, the almost-goddess no longer hungry, and a skirt lay beneath her feet.

She reached down and took the skirt off the dead body and placed it on her own. Not wanting to properly dispose of it, she kicked the body into the forest and continued her way through the empty streets toward her final destination.

She could feel the vibrations coming from the pub that stood only yards away from her. She was too far away, however, to hear any sounds, but the vibrations that omitted from the basement were unmistakable. It had been years since the almost-goddess had been to the pub, felt the vibrations beneath her feet. It had been longer still since she had been the main cause of the vibrations.

It was a horrible thing that was being done beneath the old abandoned English pub. It was something that everyone there would easily be put in jail for. If they were caught, that is. And everyone knew there was no chance of that every happening. The law itself was too low for them to bother with.

As the woman placed her foot inside of the pub, she began to hear all of the shrieks and yells from beneath the floor boards. As she stood there, only her foot placed inside of the pub, her mind began to swim as she began to remember what it had been like all those years ago, as her own yells and shrieks filled the pub.

The year was 1893. It had been a harsh winter. The family of a girl, whose age was no older than that of the century, was starving, in need of any food or help that they could get. They hadn’t been able to eat more than a ration of bread a day. It was all because of a famine that had struck the girl's small town.

The parents had become desperate. They began to beg every person that they came in contact with. They prayed almost constantly, hoping the god that they had trusted so dearly would save them in their biggest time of need.

Each day they began to eat less and less. Their food supply had almost emptied. Everyone in the family had hallow, sunken faces. Eventually, after not being able to handle the lack of food or the looks on her children's faces, the mother went crazy and became delusional.

Late that night, while her parents and brother were sleeping, the nineteen year old left her house and made her way to the forest. It was said that dark creatures roamed the forest after dark. Powerful dark creatures. The girl had planned it all out in her mind. She was going to ask one of the powerful beings to help her mother, to return her and the rest of her family to health.

There was nothing that she wouldn’t do to save the family that she loved so dearly.

She made her way through the forest. Her body shivered against the cold as snow began to fall down upon her body. With each step, she grew more and more impatient. She had been expecting a ghost – or some other being like unto it – would come up and shout boo when she was least expecting it.

Problem with that theory was that she was always expecting it.

The girl finally gave up. She sat down on a tree stump and let out an angry sigh. She slowly let her emotions over come her, and before she knew it, she was silently sobbing into her knees that were pulled up close to her chest.

As she sat there, the sound of her sobs flooding through the forest, a dark figure approached her, he knelt down beside the girl and lifter her head, their eyes locking immediately. "What is a girl like you sitting in the forest so late at night?" The figure's voice sounded like honey. The girl ate up every word that he spoke. She felt the need to tell him everything there was to tell.

She knew that the figure had placed her under some kind of spell. However, she didn’t care or mind. She just told the figure all of her troubles, hoping that she would receive the help that she had come for. The figure just nodded along, soaking in every world that the venerable girl spoke.

"I can save you; I can save everyone in your family." The figure leaned in closer, his face suddenly visible, the girl able to feel his breath upon her face. "But it will cost you."

The woman shivered at the memory, not allowing herself to remember past that moment. She didn’t want to remember how she had given him all of her trust, her heart her soul, only to find out that she had been betrayed, that she had been lied to.

She stepped inside. She made her away through the pub, her hands running over every object, remembering the nights when the pub was alive. She also remembered the night in which it was abandoned, thought to be cursed.

She chewed on her lip – an old habit that she had since the days of her youth – as she walked towards the stair cases. Very few people knew about the basement, it was all a precaution. The precaution wasn’t needed, but it was still in place.

She knew that everyone on the floor beneath her – although they would never admit to anyone, not even themselves – was scared of being caught. It wasn’t that they were scared of the law, no, that was far from it. Being caught would just ruin their fun. And to them, everything was one big game.

The stairs were old and creaked loudly as she walked. However, the yells overpowered the stairs and she, herself, could only barely hear them herself. She tried to cancel out the sound of the beings below her and only hear the stairs. Problem was, the stairs seem to sound as if they were screaming themselves.

She reached the end of stairs. She knew that her scent was already wafting through the basement. People already knew she was there. Yet, she still wanted to make a grand entrance. She loved making the world believe she owned it.

She looked down at the skirt that wasn’t hers. There was a small blood splotch towards the end of her skirt. She rolled her eyes, knowing that it was the only thing that stopped her from looking absolutely perfect.

The second she placed her foot off the stair and onto the floor, she became surrounded by dark figures. However, she was not able to focus on the figures around her. Her senses were going wild and she saw, tasted, and smelt that blood that filled the air and intoxicated her senses.

She had to control herself. There was a part of her that wanted to push back the figures and find wherever the fresh blood was lying. The other part of her instructed her to stay calm, that she was on a mission, that she came here to do something more important than her lust for blood.

"Louise," she said, her devilish grin appearing on her face once more. With one last glance at the man, she let me mind take over, as the memory that she had tried so long and hard to forget came flooding back.

"Follow me," he said, taking her hand into his. He led her through her forest and to a part of town she had only visited a few times before with her friends. He led her over to the pub, pulling her in before she could protest. 'It's cursed,' she remembered her father telling her one late October night.

The girl looked around the pub, trying to find any sign that it was indeed cursed. However, everything looked the same as it did when she had been there last with her friends, only now dust had piled mountain high. If it wasn’t for the fact that she was being led by a dark creature, she would have never believed that the place was haunted.

The man pulled the girl mercilessly down the staircase. Her eyes tried there best to get used to the sudden flow of light that was omitting from the basement. However, she just closed her eyes, hoping to block out the bright light.

"Open your eyes," the figure commander her. Grudgingly she obeyed; she had not been enjoying such a bright light. However, the light had dimmed. The figure led the girl over to a bed. He motioned for her to sit down, which she obeyed.

"W-what did you bring me here for?" she said, her eyes looking around at the vastness of the room. She had this bitter feeling that something bad was going to happen. She wanted to leave, to run as far away as she could, but the thoughts of her family forced her to stay.

"To pay your price."

"And," the girl began, still not fully able to comprehend what was going on. She was suddenly so afraid of the price she was going to have to pay. Sure, she wanted to do anything for her family, for the ones that loved and cared for her so dearly, but it still scared her more than she ever thought something could. "And what is the price?"

"Your soul, your heart, your sanity." A devilish grin grew on his face. His voice still sounded like honey in the nineteen year old's ears. The spell he was casting on her grew deeper and deeper with each word he spoke.

The girl looked at him, trying to figure out exactly what he was. "Are you the devil or something?"

"Oh, no, no. Something much, much worse." He gave her his first real smile of the evening, his fangs evident beneath his lips.

"Annabel," the figure named Louise spoke. The woman was a little taken back by the fact that he had remembered her name form all those years ago. However, she grinned her devilish grin and pushed right past him and everyone else that was standing in her way.

She looked around the room, wondering who their next victim was. Annabel's eyes immediately locked with the girl, whose age couldn’t be more than twelve. She seemed to be shaking uncontrollably, as if there was a draft that only she could feel.

Annabel walked briskly over to the girl, kneeling down in front of her. She studied the girl's face, trying to see if the change had already occurred or if there was still time. She could tell by her shivers that she had already been bitten, that she can already become intoxicated.

The woman came to the conclusion that wouldn’t be able to save anyone tonight. Rage filled her body as she turned around to see a cluster of dark beings, glowing in the dim light. Annabel walked over to Louise, everyone else parting as she made her way.

"You sick, sick bastard," she spat at him, her voice low and cold. He tried to look as if he was surprised by her comment, but both he and Annabel knew he wasn’t.

“You would know,” he spoke, stepping towards her. He nodded at the girl, inches away. “Remember what that was like? The pain, the joy, the lust? You must, who could ever forget the change.” Annabel did all that she could to control the anger that was rising swiftly within her.

She straightened up and looked him right in the eye. “I’m going to kill you,” she said bluntly, as if she was saying that she was going to the movies or out for tea.

“Who are expecting save?” he asked, knowing her intentions of being her. Louise laughed at her, at her efforts that would only fail in the end. “Little Rachel here already gave herself over because she had a cancer that couldn’t be cured. She wanted to live. Now that, I know you remember.”

“But,” the girl spoke, afraid, “I don’t want to die. Can’t you just let me go? Let me live?” Naturally, the man laughed at her efforts to save herself. Many had tried and all had failed. He never showed mercy and the frail girl was no exception. No, never.

“I can’t. You gave up your life the second you entered that forest. It can never come back.” He smiled again, wider and more intense, every tooth shinning in the dim light.

The girl was lost for words. The looked down, scared. The dark figure took her left hand and placed in his. With his free hand he brushed her hair behind her ear and whispered, “It’s time.”

Louise grabbed her hands forcefully. He brushed her hair out of her face once more. “You know,” he spoke; his voice louder than a whisper but not quiet a normal tone, “you could be just as powerful as us. Have every single skill that we posses. You could be one of us. You know what you have to.” He let go of her hands and took a few step back.

“The forest is waiting.”

Annabel didn’t say anything as she rushed out. As ran through the forest, her skirt dancing around her the same why that her other one had. As she ran the forest seemed to be whispering to her. She knew it was one of the reasons that people thought it was haunted.

Then she heard something real. At first she thought that it was just the trees, speaking words of nonsense as she ran – danced. She followed the quiet voice. Eventually she found a lady, looking to be eighteen. She was kneeling down, her head bent, and her hands clasped together. To appeared that she was praying.

“What are you doing?” Annabel’s voice was cold, harsh, having not talked to anyone sweetly – or normally – in so long.

“Who’s there?” the lady asked. She got up off her knees and turned around in circles. Eventually she stopped and was facing where Annabel was standing. She showed no recognition that she saw Annabel in front of her.

Then she noticed it. A scar, long, deep, spreading from the tip of her forehead and down through both of her eyes. Annabel came to the simple conclusion that the girl was blind.

“My name is Annabel. What are you doing out here so late?” This time she spoke softer, sweeter, her voice enchanting. Annabel fell gracefully to the ground, not making a sound.

“Are you one of them?” the lady asked, coming more alert to the world around her. Her other senses sharpened as she tried to find where Annabel was sitting. Finding her, she reached down and took her hand. “You have to save me.” Her voice was a plea.

Annabel opened her mouth to say something but nothing came out. Here was her opportunity for greatness, standing right in front of her, begging for help. Annabel could be saving her. Or she would end up just damming her for her own selfishness.

“I’ll do anything,” the lady spoke again, still begging. Annabel sighed, studying the girl, looking for something that showed she really wasn’t willing. She noticed that the lady was beautiful – minus the scar – perfectly cut blond hair, sparkling blue eyes, a slim figure, high cheek bones, and full lips. And every gorgeous part of her seemed to be pleading.

“Of course, I’ll save you.” The words came out with haste, but still sounded sweet, pure to the blind lady. Annabel stood up and whispered, “Follow me,” quiet enough that only she could hear with sharp hearing senses.

Annabel moved quickly towards the pub. She didn’t want to have the chance of changing her mind. The faster she went the better it was for her mental sanity. Half way there the lady whispered a thank you, saying it again and again, almost as if she was praising a god. But that’s what Annabel was, wasn’t she? Immortal and all powerful. Isn’t that the definition of a god?

They entered the pub silently. Annabel wondered, as the walked down the stairs, if the lady could – with her sharpened sense of smell – smell all the blood that was just a few steps below them. Maybe the girl could already sense what was going to happen to her.

Louise smiled at Annabel once more, as if he knew without one bit of doubt that she would be back once more. He ushered her over to the bed where all of the killings happened. Annabel, head high and heat low, made her way over there, the blind lady in tow.

They sat down opposite each other. “What is it you want me to save you from?”

“I just,” she choked out, tears pouring from her damaged eyes, “wanna see again.” She smiled and chuckled through her tears, as if it was just one big joke that she was there, that she so desperately wanted to see again.

Once more Annabel said, “Of course, I’ll save you.”

The figure, swiftly, bit down on her neck. The girl let out a yelp of pain, afraid. Eventually, though, she became immobilized and almost unable to think. The pain was something she had never experienced before. It was blunt and harsh.

Soon the figure was done and he got up and left her. He soon returned, a small cut in his wrist, blood pouring from it. He forced his arm to the girl’s mouth and bid her drink. She did, a thirst there so intense. As she drank her pain subsided. Once done, she felt drunk, her spirits high.

The dark figure told her to sleep, which she did without an argument. And that was when the true pain came. While she slept she had dreams, visions, and thoughts, of every single person she loved and would never see again.

On top of that, her body was changing. Her heart was literally beating in and out of her chest, her veins were bulging as hers and the figure’s blood blended together. Fangs grew, and small other adjustments were made to make her body look like one of a god.

All of this happened as she slept. More pain that everything she had gone through rolled all in one. When she awoke, almost all feeling had gone from her.

Annabel was ready. She was only inches away from the lady’s neck. She didn’t even bother explaining what was going on. It would only make it more painful for the both of them.

Pain. She thought of how painful it was for her, the change that so many don’t even live through. She stared at the lady. She was so beautiful with such a great future ahead of her. Annabel just couldn’t let her gamble her life on something that she couldn’t understand.

“I’m sorry,” she spoke, “I can’t save you.” Annabel didn’t wait for what the lady was going to say. The two had to leave that very second if there was any chance that they were to live. She put the lady in her arms and then rushed up the stairs and out of the pub with such speed that she had never experienced before.

Annabel ran to a safe haven far away. She moved in as many ways as she could, trying to confuse those that she knew where following her. When she was sure no one was around, she let the lady out of her arms. She spoke to a random bystander, telling her to make sure that the lady got home safely. Annabel gave him a large sum of money and then left.

And then she just continued to run and run, her mission forgotten, her life taking a back seat to her running. It all no longer mattered. She would just have to run. Forever. Always running away from something.