Consume Me.

Landra walked silently with her head held down low and her pale and calloused hands stuck into her pockets as she passed by the closed businesses on Main Street. It was foggy outside, the mist sticking to her exposed neck and face as the street lights started to turn off one by one. Everything had a certain ominous feel to it and Landra couldn’t do anything other than notice that, but she kept her eyes on the pavement and not anywhere else. The blonde haired woman headed to underneath of the bridge that was just on the end of Main Street; the end of town. Once past that and into the old train station that was now abandoned, Landra looked up and cleared her throat, dinging a bell that was atop a cracked counter top. A rustle came from one of the spider webbed halls, the scurrying pads of mice feet indicating that he was coming.

“Did you bring it, miss Landra?” A dark voice spoke out from somewhere in the shadows. Landra’s eyes surveyed the tall building and then searched the dim room for that dreadfully infamous face.

“Yes, I brought it, X. I don’t have any idea as to why you made me get up at four in the fucking morning just to bring you this. Where are you? Come out here from the shadows so I can talk face-to-face with you, please,” the small young woman replied rather loudly.

“Please have patience, Landra McKenzie. I simply do not have time for rudeness and disrespectfulness. Remember, you came to me, after all,” X said, his deep voice echoed throughout the station. Landra jumped when two or three pigeons flew away and out one of the broken windows, followed by the sound of heavy boots thudding against the broken tiled floor. Landra sighed, waiting for this mysterious man to come out from hiding. “Remove your hands from your pockets, please,” he requested. The green-eyed lady nodded and did just as he said, tucking her fingers into fists.

“Alright, now what?” Landra asked, watching as a dark shadow appeared. It was X alright, but the woman couldn’t see his face for it was turned down and his hood to his cloak was up. Running her fingers through her hair, she bit her bottom lip. Once he was in full view, X took his hood off and looked at Landra with pursed lips. His facial features were prominently sharp and distinct, and his eyes wore dark circles like jewelry, though he had no irises-- he had just big pupils. The woman was taken back a bit as he smiled, his teeth sharp and jagged.

“Fear not, being. At first glance I am horrifying, but at second I am no more different than you or anyone you know. Blink, then look at me,” X instructed. Closing her eyes for a second just like the man had said to do, then opening them, Landra exhaled the breath that caught in her throat. X turned from something she had never seen to a normal looking and graying old man, his eyes normal and his teeth white. “Now, present to me what I had asked for you to acquire,” he stated. Landra nodded and reached into her satchel that hung lazily across her chest, pulling out an object wrapped up in a torn burlap sack. Holding it out in front of her with outstretched arms, the blonde swallowed gently and bit her bottom lip nervously.

“It… It was difficult for me to get,” she said quietly. Once X took the object from her she dropped her arms and waited patiently for his response.

“Of course it was challenging, only select few who are serious about this are able to do it. Now, this is a healthy thing, correct? No smoking, no alcohol consuming?” The mysterious man inquired, staring directly at Landra. She nodded, fiddling with her zipper. “Good, let me explain this to you now. You’ve acquired this heart precisely how I told you to do so, it is the correct aged one and it is healthy. What I’m going to do with this is examine it and…” X trailed off, which distracted Landra long enough for the guy to reach up and grab hold of the blonde’s throat. She choked, eyes wide in terror as he transformed back into his natural form and pinned her against the wall. “Thank you, Landra McKenzie, for bringing me this heart of your dead husband. I laugh at your gullible-like nature that all humans have who believe that I can help them. You are really an ignorant lot, and it’s amusing to me,” he laughed a maniacal laugh and took the burlap off from the wrapped up organ, widening his mouth to an unnatural size. As the shocked woman watched in horror, X’s teeth gnashed at the heart and blood spewed out, squirting onto not only his own face, but Landra’s.

“I-- I don’t get it, what is going on? Let go of me, you monster!” She yelled frantically, shoving and pulling at his translucent hands. His fingernails stretched out into long claw-like objects that started to dig into her neck. Coughing and choking, the blonde squirmed.

“Do not fight back, Landra, you will not escape. You believed I could bring your husband back for your own selfish gain? Ha! Humans like you make Lucreans like me laugh! Now, for what I originally wanted to get rid of. You want immortal youth for yourself, a long with your husband back from the dead? Selfish, sickening human girl. I’ll let you be immortal, but there’s only one thing I need,” X said with a giant devilish smirk on his face.

“What is it? I’ll do anything, just give me infinite youth and Daniel back!” Landra said in a pleading fashion. She squirmed more, breath slowly becoming more shallow with each gasp.

“Your heart,” the man said through his bloodied teeth. He tightened his grip around her neck and reached up with his other hand, piercing his fingernails through her flesh and into her chest cavity. Grabbing hold of the blood-pumping organ and pulling it roughly, X yanked it out with his now bloodied hand and laughed while doing so. Shoving the heart into his mouth and eating it just like he had with Landra’s late husband’s heart, he held his hand up and it started to glow with a dark green light. Landra was limp and lifeless, eyes blank and hands no longer pulling and pushing. X smirked and used the green light to slip into the blonde’s body, replacing the emptied chest cavity with a substitute to get her blood flowing. It was another dark green light but this time it was in ball form and was pulsating as the veins snaked into it and the blood began to pump out. Landra slowly came to, but was no longer pink-skinned and lively; she was pale and sickly.

X used his power to burn the flesh back together, still covered in blood. “Now, you no longer have a heart, but you will be another prisoner of your own vanity and selfishness. You will do tasks for me and live under my rule, no possibility of escaping. This is fitting to you, though; much better this way. Now, come with me through to the other dimension and be with your husband,” he said. The demon-like entity sauntered back toward the dark shadows he lurked in before and waited for Landra.

“Yes, sir,” the blonde said in a monotone voice. She lazily wandered after X like a lost puppy and slipped into the darkness.

“You were so gullible, you shouldn’t have gotten yourself into this mess. But hey, you got immortality didn’t you?” X asked with a chuckle before shoving her through a doorway and into the portal to the other dimension. Then he himself slipped through the transportation device used for dimension-traveling and never looked back.