“P-please.” Ella whimpered and tried to twist herself free of Drew’s bear hug. He was in a state of shock and wasn’t letting go of his human shield. He did keep backing up into the house, and the creature stalked after them with a Cheshire cat grin. It’s long rabbit ears turned this way and that to inspect the house as he advanced on them.
“What the fuck is that thing?!” Drew finally found his voice and was whimpering just as much as Ella was.
“Please don’t-”
“But I must.” He chuckled and held his hands up by his sides like it was out of his hands. “I was an only child, you see.” His chuckle turned dark and his eyes glowed. “I’ve always been terrible for sharing what is mine, and I take what I want.”
Thud. Ella and Drew collided with the back wall and were both winded. The knock was just enough to loosen Drew’s arms on Ella so she was able to fall to her hands and knees. She was still seeing stars as she dragged herself towards the stairs. She wheezed and took hold of the banister to pull herself up, only to look back towards the back wall and scream.
The creature was holding Drew up with his left hand splayed across the man’s face and pinned his head to the wall. He dangled off the ground and flailed with his arms and legs as the beast ravaged his neck. The monster wasn’t just biting. It was ripping and tearing violently. There was no doubt in Ella’s mind that there would be no waking up in a hospital the next day to get a blood transfusion for Drew. She cried and cupped her mouth, willing herself not to be sick and focus on her own self preservation.
“Are you two going to be much lon-DREW?!” Finley walked through the open front door and saw the creature murdering his brother. Drew’s body sagged, forever lifeless, and the creature simply released him to drop to the floor in a bloody heap. Excessive amounts of blood dripped from the monster’s mouth and chin as it turned to look back towards Finley.
“Oh look? Dessert.”
“NO!” Ella screamed as the creature launched like a panther through the air and collided with Finley’s body. It cackled as it easily overpowered the younger man, snaped his head to one side, and wrapped his maw wide around his throat. Ella turned dizzy with grief as she watched blood and spittle spray up and cover the boy’s face as Finley coughed and gasped for breath.
Seconds.
The monster killed two grown men and gorged on their blood in less than a minute. Ella cowered on the stairs. She didn’t run. Her legs forgot how. She’d skipped past the flight response and gone straight to freeze. Her blue eyes were wide and poured with tears. She trembled and gripped the banister in the middle of the stairs with both hands. Her heart was racing and she watched with horror as the creature stood up over Finley’s body.
Slowly it turned to look at her with glowing yellow eyes. Those triangular pupils narrowed on her and he licked his black lips.
“That was quite the offering.” He chuckled, and in a blur, he leapt across the living room to grip the banister on either side of her hands. His feet pressed against the wall and his bloody smirk was an inch away from her face.
“P-p-p-please d-d-don’t h-h-hurt me.” Ella begged and tears landed heavily on the banister between them. He chuckled slowly and leaned over to lick at her cheek. She shook and feared he would snap his jaws at her face or neck at any moment. The creature leaned back and admired the bloody smear he left on her right cheek.
“This is my land Ella Murphy.” She whimpered. Somehow the fact it knew her name made it even more terrifying. “You may remain for as long as I allow it. Appease me with offerings and you can stay.” She sobbed and closed her eyes with a grimace. The creature leaned over and slowly licked her other cheek to match. “You don’t need to give me a blood offering, of course. We Aos Sí have always been a reasonable people. Even though you are trespassing on my land, I have welcomed you because of your offerings.” Ella kept her mouth and her eyes shut. She was listening, of course, but wouldn’t be able to process any of what the creature was saying to her right now. Her brain and blood supply was swimming in adrenaline and cortisol. She shook like a leaf and kept wating for the white hot burn of teeth cutting into her. “I suggest you keep those coming…to stay on my good side.” Another lick made her whimper. He dragged his tongue from the hollow of her collar bone up to her chin. He did so with such vigour it tipped her head upward. “It would be unfortunate if I were to feel you were neglecting my generosity and protection.” Ella cried and prayed with all her heart she would survive this. That the creature would vanish and she would live long enough to freak out about what it was telling her. “I like sweet things. Fruit. Sweet bread.”
Randomly, her mind latched onto that like a safety line and she managed to open her watery blue eyes to look at him. She flinched, of course, with his dark bloody face level with hers.
“Y-you m-mean I don’t have to give you b-blood?”
“No.” He chuckled and licked his sharp teeth at her. “Though I needed your blood last time, I made sure only to take what I needed.”
“A-and this time?” She questioned the lack of censorship on her mouth as she weakly challenged the monster. He seemed to find her amusing and leaned in to bump his flatter nose with hers. This made him chuckle and Ella whimper and cower back from him.
“This time I took what I wanted. They invaded and abused what is mine.” He inclined his head and his long rabbit ears leaned over to the left. “You are as much mine now as the land you stand on.”
“B-but-”
“If I didn’t accept you as mine, you would be a bloody pulp like the cretins back there right now.” His grin was cruel and Ella finally released the banister. She fell back and landed harshly on the step, but that didn’t stop her from cowering back against the wall. The creature crept up to perch on the banister with his toes gripping at the railing and his elbows hanging off his knees. He towered over her like a gargoyle and his sharp white teeth caught the light as he smirked down at her trembling form. “You are welcome Ella. Because of my kindness, you are both alive, and intact. Or would you have preferred I allowed the big one to spread you around his prick and rape you whilst his brother stood watch outside?”
“N-no.” She vigorously shook her head. No I wouldn’t prefer to be raped, obviously, but I would also prefer if you didn’t gnaw through their necks and leave them dead on the floor either.
“Then you had better show some manners and thank me.” His tone was mildly threatening through his smile and his ears drew backward around his horns. He was getting angry. Ella felt her heart skip a beat.
“Th-thank you.” She forced out with a whimper. All in the name of self-preservation.
“Good girl.” He grinned and his ears lifted back up with his mood. “Don’t slack off from now on. Every night at sunset I want my offering placed on your porch. I may collect it right away, or I may take it later. I’m a busy guy.” He sniggered and lifted up to stand with unnatural ease on the banister. Ella’s head tipped back against the wall to maintain eye contact with him. “If you are present when I collect my offering, you will be polite and talk to me until I dismiss you.” He stepped down suddenly to land on the step she was cowering on. He lowered fluidly to squat down with his left leg between hers and his right foot on the next step down. Once again he invaded her personal space and she was boxed in against the wall. “Keep me happy Ella. If I am happy, your luck will compound and you will thrive. Your fortune will become great. Cross me?” He growled deep and slow in his chest and made her whimper. “And your bad luck will snowball to a fatal and bloody end. Do you understand the nature of the pact?”
“Yes.” She flustered.
“Tell me you understand.”
“I-I-I u-u-und-d-ders-t-st-stand.” Ella sobbed and nodded like a bobble head. She was desperate for the monster to leave her alone so she could cower with her head down the toilet bowl and throw up before blockading herself in her bedroom.
“Good. Don’t forget to clean up the mess.” He winked at her and shifted right in front of her into a large black dog. An Irish wolfhound, specifically, but his ears were long rabbit ears. It was so large it could take multiple steps at a time. Ella pushed herself along the step to hold the bars of the banister and look through them. She watched as the wolfhound trotted over to Drew and bit his trouser leg. She cupped her mouth and whimpered as she watched his body being dragged out of the house. The thick blood trail left behind was damming. Drew’s head bounced against the porch and step down to the ground and Ella held her stomach with the other hand. The wolfhound returned, took hold of Finley’s hair, and dragged his corpse out as well.
Distantly Ella thought ‘at least I don’t have to dispose of the bodies’.
“Good. Don’t forget to clean up the mess.”
Ella cried and nodded, realising she’d have to mop up more blood from the wooden floor. She gingerly came down the stairs and focused solely on the open front door. She crept over and shut the door in a hurry once she was close enough.
Clank. Ella locked the door. In a state of shock and grief, she cried as she filled a bucket with warm water and soap. She put on marigolds and got a big sponge from under the sink. Armed, but not emotionally ready, Ella got to work. She knelt by the kitchen doorway first and mopped up the blood and her own tears as she removed the evidence of Drew’s murder. She poured bloody water down her sink, refilled it, and did the same again by her front door. Much to her dismay, she had to open it again at to clean the porch, but did so as quickly as she could. Ella had no idea if he was watching her as she scrubbed the porch whilst sobbing. The door was shut and locked again before she disposed of the second bucket of bloody water. She knew she’d likely have to give it another scrub under daylight in the morning, but it was good enough for now.
She threw up and cried into the toilet bowl, before washing the bloody smears from her face and neck. Ella cried on her sleeping bag for hours, before she feared the monster had returned. There was scratching at the locked bedroom door. She laid there, so worried the creature had come back to finish her off after all, when she heard a familiar tooth clicking.
“Leo.” She whispered and sniffled as she crawled out of her sleeping bag and over to the bedroom door. She unlocked the bedroom door whilst still on her knees and smiled through her tears at the presence of the precious bunny. Her sole companion she could be honest with throughout this mess. “Oh Leo.” She cried even harder as she reached down and cradled the rabbit to her chest. He sniffed at her face and purred with the way she stroked his back and fussed over him. “Oh I’m so glad you’re okay.” She bit her lips and locked the bedroom door once more. “We’re okay now. We’re safe now.” Ella cried for a while as she returned to her sleeping bag. Leo curled up on her blanket, as was their routine when he stayed the night, and she stroked his side gently. It was truly therapeutic, stroking her fingertips through his soft fluffy coat. Her whimpering died down and she slowly felt herself drifting off. In the end she fell asleep with two of her fingers resting on his front paw.
Once she was deeply asleep Leo lifted up his head and his eyes turned yellow with triangular black slits. He watched her for a while longer, before lowering his head to rest over her fingers and nestle down with her for the night.
Comments (2)
See all