TAKEN BY THE MONSTER

Elisa

“ Elisa”

“Mama”

I looked into the mirror my mother held up before me and stared at my braids.

They looked beautiful and shiny. She'd taken her time to braid them gently and softly as she always did, humming a lullaby to me as I prepared to sleep.

As her only child, Mom and I were closely knitted and just content with the little we had. I didn't want anything else.

“ Mama, I've heard that lullaby before. What is it about?”

Mama paused, and our eyes met in the mirror I held before me. There was something in her eyes, something sad.

“ Where did you hear it?”

“The other girls sing it whenever we go out to dance. When I asked, they said it was about a curse - the royal curse”.

“The curse of the Blackthorn Manor…yes, you know the myth, right?”.

I nodded; every blood moon, a virgin was sacrificed to keep the monster and the curse contained.

For generations, this cycle continued, and no one in town could stop it. Even the intelligent Fabian couldn't find a way to curb it.

“ Elisa”, Mama called out again, and her fingers lightly brushed my cheeks.

“ What do you think about Rowan”? I knew she was just trying to change the subject. She always avoided this subject as much as she avoided questions about my father.

I smiled softly as I thought of Rowan, the fisherman's son. His father and Mama had introduced us, and he had been very cool and sweet.

“ He's nice, Mama”.

“ Good, it'll be best if you two get married soon enough,” her voice tried hard to hide the fear in it as she said that.

***********************************

The sound of wood splintering suddenly shattered the cool quiet of the night.

I jolted upright in my narrow bed, my heart hammering against my ribs. Heavy boots thundered across the cottage floor, accompanied by my mother's sharp cry of alarm.

"Mama!" I screamed as I scrambled from beneath my threadbare blanket, my bare feet hitting the cold wooden floor.

The bedroom door exploded inward. Three soldiers in black leather filled the doorway, their torchlight dancing across their scarred faces. The leader's cruel smile made my blood freeze.

"There she is. The moon's chosen one."

"No!" My mother burst past them, throwing herself between me and the soldiers.

 "She's just a child! Take me instead!"

The soldier's hard fist struck my mother across the face. There was a sickening sound of bones cracking as she crumpled to the floor, blood streaming from her nose.

"Mama!" I dropped to my knees beside her motionless form.

"How touching.”

The voice was sharp and dripping with sarcasm. I looked up to see its owner.

Lord Edric, Regent of the town after the duke and duchess’ deaths. He was also the present Duke's uncle, the monster that fed on blood.

He stepped in with a frown on his face and stared down at Mama and me in disdain.

Our eyes met, and his narrowed as he searched my face.

His face was masked in what resembled confusion.

“I could have sworn that I had seen you before,” he whispered to me as he searched my eyes for something -anything.

"The blood moon rises tonight," he said as he straightened up, his voice cold and detached. "And you are what it demands."

"Please," I whispered, clutching my mother's limp hand. "She needs…"

"She needs to learn her place." Lord Edric replied as his boot connected with my mother's hips. She gasped, curling into herself.

"As do you."

Rage flared in my chest, burning away my fear.

"Don't touch her!"

I lunged at him, my nails extended like claws. One of the soldiers caught me easily, thick arms clamping around my waist. I thrashed wildly, kicking and biting, but it was like fighting a stone wall.

Lord Edric chuckled, the sound of it infuriating me even more.

"Spirit. I like that. The demon prefers his sacrifices... lively."

"The demon can rot in hell!" I spat.

His hand shot out, fingers wrapping around my throat. Not squeezing—not yet—but the threat was clear. One more word and I'd be the one to rot in hell.

His touch was ice against my burning skin.

"Careful, little dove. Your tongue may seal your fate before the moon does."

Behind his shoulder, my mother struggled to rise, blood painting her lips red

 "Elisa," she wheezed. "My brave girl..."

"How pathetic." Lord Edric released my throat to backhand my mother again. This time, she didn't get up.

"You monster," I breathed.

"Monster?" He laughed, high-pitched and sharp.

 "No, sweet child. I'm simply a man who understands duty. The blood moon demands a virgin sacrifice, and he grows... restless when kept waiting."

He gestured to his soldiers. "Take her."

Rough hands seized my arms, hauling me toward the door. The last thing I saw was my mother's broken form sprawled across the cold floor, one hand reaching helplessly toward her daughter.

"Mama!"

Outside, the entire village had gathered. Men, women, children—all watching with hollow, frightened eyes as I was dragged through the muddy streets. None moved to help. None even looked away.

"Sacrifice," someone whispered.

"Poor child."

"Better her than mine."

The soldiers bound my hands with rough ropes and threw me across a horse's back like a sack of grain. Lord Edric mounted beside me, his black stallion pawing the ground with restlessness.

"To Blackthorn Manor," he commanded.

The procession moved into the night.

As we left the village behind, the familiar warmth of my home faded into memory.

The air grew thick and cold, pressing against my skin like invisible fingers. Fog rolled across our path, making the landscape hardly visible.

The horses slowed, snorting uneasily.

"Keep moving," Lord Edric ordered, but his voice held a note of tension that hadn't been there before.

The fog grew thicker. Denser. It moved wrong as though it were alive.

One of the rear guards screamed.

I twisted to look back, but saw only an empty saddle and a riderless horse.

"What—" another soldier began.

His words cut off in a gurgling shriek. Then silence.

Lord Edric's horse reared and neighed wildly as he struggled to keep it under control, its eyes rolling with terror. Our environment suddenly felt eerie.

"Form ranks!" he shouted, but his remaining men were already scattering, their courage shattered by whatever hunted in the mist.

Another scream, closer this time. Then another.

My breath came in sharp, frightened gasps. Whatever was picking off the soldiers would come for me next. I would die here in this cursed fog, never seeing my mother again, never knowing if the woman still breaths.

A shadow separated from the mist.

It wasn't the shape of a monster, but something else. Something that moved very quickly.

Lord Edric's horse bolted, carrying him away into the fog, leaving a string of vicious curses.

 Coward.

The shadow approached me. I could feel it.

I closed my eyes and waited for death's embrace.

Instead, strong arms lifted me from the horse with such gentleness. I found myself pressed against a broad chest, carried with effortless speed.

This was not how I had imagined dying.

This was not death at all.

I opened my eyes to glimpse my rescuer's face in the shifting mist, and my breath caught in my throat.

The sight was horrific, inhuman.

It was definitely a man’s body, but his face said otherwise.

Fear froze my heart until everything blurred out in front of me.

The last thing I saw before darkness claimed me was a pair of eyes that burned like hellfire in the night.

Who or whatever he was, he wasn’t there to rescue me.