Fall From Grace (35 page)

Forcing Ash to stand right next to me, he looks back and forth, dissecting us with his beady little eyes. "Interesting little
faction
you got going here. Tall, dark and handsome imbecile in town. Beautiful, young girl right here," he says gesturing to me with fingers that are long and thin. Way too long to be human if you were paying attention. His nails are narrow and slightly pointed but manicured to perfection with a hint or pink staining the tips. Moving over to stand right in front of Ash, "And perhaps you are the boyfriend?" Leaning in, he closes his eyes and deeply breathes his scent. A sick smile forms on his lips like he's sampling a fine wine, "Yes, I think this is turning out better than I expected." He turns to pace around us, knowing he has won and desiring the gloat like it's an aphrodisiac.

"You know though. I have already eaten a lovely meal down at the local Hotel tonight, so perhaps we have a little bit of fun before we head off on our way, shall we?" The sun has dropped behind the hills as twilight descends, transforming the once pretty clearing into deathly purple shadows. We were so dumb to have come here, secluded, all alone. We've basically handed ourselves over to him on a silver platter, pardon the pun.
 

Smiling back at us he orchestrates the show. Under his control, Ash turns towards me and I to him. He has us facing each other so close that I can see the incredible fear in Ash's eyes. A small trickle of a tear races down my face, as my mind frantically runs through all the things he could make us do to each other. Ash lifts up the sword in his right hand as I lift my left arm out towards him. Slicing a huge gash through my sweatshirt and down the length of my arm, blood begins to pour out and drip onto the fallen pine needles. It looks black in the recent darkness and forms a small pool between us. A jolt of pain that I have never before experienced rips through my arm. It feels like I'm in one of my nightmares, unable to cry out, my feet planted firmly like cement. More tears run down my face even though I try to will them to stop. I know Ash would be dying inside for what he's doing, and my blatting isn't going to help anyone. It doesn't stop even as the pain subsides to a dull numbness; my body retreating into shock. I can still feel the blood running down my forearm and fingers though. It feels hot on my skin, like snakes coiling down my fingers.
 

"Isn't this fun!" He boysihly claps his hands together as if he's at some sort of circus show. "However, I think it's so much better to see flesh opening in front of your eyes, then through stifling clothes, don't you? Please my dear, do the honours will you?"

My hands move up towards my hoodie and slowly slide the zipper down to the bottom. The pain in my arm has returned and it is unbearable, like a hot poker digging itself in my flesh. My eyes are still trained on Ash and to be honest, I have no interest in looking down at what is to happen. Peeling back the sweater, I pull the long sleeved tee and tank top over my head and drop it to my feet. I am now only wearing my bra. Ash then holds up the sword and slides the blade left to right across my abdomen, pain exploding in my stomach. This time he has forced both my hands up to catch the flow of blood as I rub it into my flesh like lotion. A sauce for him to savour.

A sigh exits his mouth in eagerness, mixed with a sick excitement that he's getting from this game. I can only stare back at Ash, begging with my eyes for him to forgive himself. I can only pray it will be over soon. The Ubiquatar walks closer and forces Ash to reach up and run his fingers in my blood, soaking his palms as well. If I happen to live through this, which I very much doubt at this point, the look in Ash's eyes will haunt me until the day I die.
 

With a shaking hand, the demon takes Ash's bloodied hands and rubs them over his own cheeks and neck, soiling his freshly pressed coat and licking his fingers one by one, relishing the chaos it brings him. I automatically turn my eyes to look for a second, feeling even more detached and frozen. I don't think I will last much longer without passing out and for that I am grateful. He's getting off on a sick sexual level. It's consuming his whole being. I can feel his excitement over my mutilation building in him like an inferno. I don't think he will be able to wait much longer.
 

"Yes, I do like the taste of you very much. Let's see some more, shall we?" he says with a shake to his voice, a giddy anticipation. Moving to position himself behind me, he places a much smaller knife into my hands and forces my grip to clasp around it. He is still careful not to touch me.

"Let's see where this will take us... " He trails off as I take the dagger and plunge it forcefully into Ash's stomach. Although the pain must be excruciating, Ash stands perfectly still, tears spilling down both our faces now. A deep red stain begins to spread from the wound and fills Ash's shirt in seconds, pouring so much blood I am sure it is fatal. The colour has instantly drained from Ash's face and I know it will only be a matter of time before he dies right in front of me, by my own hand.

"Yes, I think you will be enough for me my dear. No sense being glutinous. However, it is time for
him
to leave us, and for us to leave from
here
." The blood is pouring out faster and faster as Ash's eyelids start to flicker. At least one of my prayers have been answered. His death has been fairly quick and he won't have to suffer much longer. Dropping my hold on the knife as it remains pierced in his stomach, I turn around to walk behind the demon although I know he will have to carry me soon, the life is draining out of my body and soon I will collapse. After a few steps he stops me and hesitates; turning back, as if pondering a question.

"Oh yes, by the way, can you recommend a lovely place where we can go to be alone. I'm thinking
The Willow
wouldn't be quite appropriate now would it with the state you are in right now. Might draw a small bit of attention?" His mouth spread up into a huge grin, thinking he's the most clever and funniest a-hole ever. Before he can begin his maniacal laugh which I know he is going to do, I feel a immense spray of hot liquid splashing against my face. Before I am able to move I see the sick bastards head fall forward, detached from his neck and to the ground, followed by his limp body.

Behind him stands Hunter, brandishing a large sword and an even larger black eye, split lip and huge gash down his cheek.

"That's for ruining my perfect face, dick."

Then everything went black.

Opening my eyes has never hurt so much or taken so long. Focusing was even harder but I can tell it's dark and I'm back in my own bed. I'm still half asleep and unsure how I got here. As my eyes adjust I glance at my clock declaring 3AM as the time. Was it all a dream? The whole thing? Leaning over on my side I can hear the crinkling of bandages as a pain like no other shoots through my stomach. Looking down I peel back the tape, revealing a long, thick red line where the sword opened my flesh. Nope not a dream. A feeling of relief passes over me which I really didn't expect. You'd think after my encounter with the Ubiquatar, I would have killed for it to be a dream. Bad choice of words perhaps. Suddenly my memory of Ash comes rushing back as panic grips my soul.

Pulling back the covers I hastily pull my legs over the side, and stand up. Pain burns my belly and arm, but my need to find him trumps everything. Fumbling in the dark I make my way downstairs to the kitchen where I find Gabs and Hunter. I'm completely disorientated and tripping over my own toes almost every step of the way.

"Well Hi there! Sleeping beauty has risen," he says with a grin and throws down the magazine he was thumbing through. This wakes the sleeping Gabby next to him as she bolts upright and runs over to me, arms open. She was a little too boisterous though and knocks me back, sending fresh pain waves through my middle.

"Oh Shit! Sorry Stella, did I make it worse?" She pulls back and lifts up my tank to see better. Leaning slightly forward but no real worse for wear I tell her it's ok.

"Give the poor chick some space Princess, she just got sliced open like a Christmas ham you know." Hunter doesn't get up but places his arm on the back of the couch to join in. His face looks much better, but still could use a few days healing time.

"Where's Ash?" I squeak out, my voice sounding strained and foreign.

Gabby replies. "It's ok Stella. He's up in your Dad's room resting. He lost a lot of blood... "

I turn too quickly, feeling dizzy but still pushing forward to see him. Booking it up the stairs as fast I can, I barrel through the double doors and see Ash asleep on the bed. The moonlight is coming in from the window and shining right on his face. He looks so peaceful and serene. Slowing walking over to him I crawl up onto the bed, careful not to disturb him and cuddle up next to him, unbelieving that we actually survived the night. His breathing is shallow but steady as I lean in to press myself as close to him as possible. Just being near to him, knowing he's alive, my body gives out once again today and I fall into a deep sleep beside him.

ASH

Blinking my eyes to adjust to the sunshine beaming through the window, I'm confused as to where the hell I am. I feel a warm body next to me as I slowly creak my neck to the left and see her. She is alive. I can't believe it. She's alive, right next to me, and drooling all over that pillow.

Stirring slightly she begins to wake up. I can tell she was pretty out of it, and it takes a little while for her to gain her consciousness. I don't mind, not one bit. I am content to just sit and stare at her right now, I've never seen anything so beautiful.

Memories of what happen flood my mind, slicing her skin, the sensation of her blood on my hands. I've never experienced anything remotely as grotesque as that. Being unable to move and inflicting so much pain in Stella was unbearable. No words can describe the helplessness, the anger, the disgust. I push these dark thoughts away for the moment, I'll deal with them later. Right now I just want to look at her.

When her eyes finally open, she sees me awake and launches herself over me sending huge pain waves into my gut. As I flinch back, she realizes what she's done.

"Oh Crap! I am so so sorry Ash! Are you ok, did I tear the wound?"
 

"I don't think so. I think I'm ok." I lie. I'm pretty sure she did but I don't care. Lying still to avoid more damage I search Stella's face for answers. She looks alright considering she was sliced open too, but there are dark circles under her eyes and a gaunt look in her once rosy and beautiful cheeks.

"No wait. Scratch that. I'm better then ok Stella. Can you enlighten me on how in hell we managed to walk away from that?"

"I wouldn't say either of us are walking right now," she says with a huge smile.
 

"Yeah, good point," I say in a bit of a laugh which wasn't smart, feeling the gash opening further.
 
I try to smile back at her though as she rolls over off the bed. "Wait, where are you going?" I ask.

"I'm going to get Hunter, I think we owe him big time for saving our asses and I'm sure he's dying to get some gloating in. Must be absolutely
killing
him down there!"

STELLA

A few days have passed and Ash is feeling much better. I've pretty much healed up, as well as Hunter's face. Gabby finally went back home after I couldn't take the constant bickering between her and Hunter anymore and Dad came back to this house of weird. He has been surprisingly amazing through all of this though and we've had some long talks about mom which I think he's starting to be ok about. Shocking really, with all this new
stuff
we've thrown at him.
 

After way too many jokes on saving our asses and cleaning up the demon mess we made, I demanded that Hunter take Ash back to the lodge. Ash needs to rest and get back up to 100% which would be a lot easier if he wasn't here with me constantly squeezing him. I can't help it though. As non-tactile as I usually am, I am just uber grateful we are all still alive. I don't really know how, but I'm pretty sure it was plain dumb luck.

I've just finished getting ready for the day and am about to head over to the Lodge and bring some homemade soup to the guys when the door bell rings. Dad's gone to work already so I jog downstairs and fling open the door. Standing before me is a drop dead gorgeous woman with long blond hair and an eerily familiar face.

"Can I help you?" I say.

"Hi Stella," she replies. My nerve endings spring up at the sound of her voice.

"How do you know who I am? Who are you?" I ask.

"I'm your Mother Stella, and I think it's time we had a little talk."