This is a story of a curse. The death curse. Not the death of the host. The death of others by the hand of the host. This is a story that looks the Beast and Beauty in the eye and tests their love. Test how far it can go. To the point beyond the edge.
No one knows where the curse came from. All they know is it is passed down, generation after generation. The monster that started from it all, is unknown to the world. Yet, the demon remains.
Illustris floated by Astra, gently keeping in the air. She being a star, a very young one at that, she was oblivious to the normality of the Human world. She giggled, waving at every human she could see with growing delight. Illustris sighed, pulling her away from the busy streets and changing to his human form. Astra did the same.
“Sir?” She asked with concern. Eying the busy streets with temptation.
Illustris closed his eyes and breathed in deeply, feeling for the magic he wanted to find so desperately. “Astra, do you know how dangerous this curse is?” The Moon questioned the Star.
Astra thought about it for a moment and shook her head.
Illustris opened his milky white eyes, the deep wisdom of time shone in them. “He is close.”
Astra stared at her mentor, “S-s-sir,” she quivered.
Illustris put his finger to his lips and went dark as the alley, completely hidden from sight. Astra gulped and did the same.
A dark figure slunk into the alleyway. Astra and Illustris could the spikes along it’s back, moving with every step it took. Astra bit her lip to keep herself from screaming. Its claws made the black bear seem like a teddy bear. Fangs dripped with crimson blood coming from its gums. Black, mangled wings dragged carelessly across the floor.
It had slits for pupils, and it lifted itself off the dirty alleyway floor, sniffing the air. Then it locked its prey.
As fast as lightning, the creature catapulted itself up to the nearby window. Astra shut her eyes and clutched onto Illustris, for support. There was a piercing scream, then it was drowned out by silence
“That,” Illustris said softly to Astra, “is how dangerous the curse is.”
Jenny tried to calm herself. The pounding on the window was not going away. Her parents had promised her she would be alright, but she could only focus on the ominous storm. She kept telling herself it would blow over, but it never did.
Though the storm wasn’t the most of her fears. The fear of sleep. The fear of dreaming. The repetitive nightmare. A black creature looming over her. Claws, teeth, and black, mangled wings. The creature’s teeth coming close to her neck, then there was nothing. She always woke tangled in covers, drenched with fear. The dream kept coming.
Her parents had tried to help her. They had tried the night light. They had tried the lavender. Nothing they had tried worked.
Her father told her, “People have nightmares, it happens. The thing is, they never are real.”
Jenny had a hard time believing him.
Cola, her older sister, simply smiled and asked her if she wanted to play chess.
Jenny breathed in deeply, curling up under the covers and hiding her head as if it was armor. There was a lightning flash, and Jenny gasped. Looking all around her room as if the creature would appear. There was silence, save the wind and the rain.
Jenny quivered, trying again to calm herself. Then there was the creak. A window opening. Jenny whipped her head around to the open window. Her curtain blew in the ferocious wind, and the rain beat the floor. Jenny swallowed.
“A-anyone there?” She asked the empty room. Only rain answered her worried cry.
Jenny lifted herself and blankets and put her feet over the bed. She paused for a moment and then screamed. There was a strangled cry, a slice of talons against the flesh, and then the sick sound of razor-sharp teeth drilling into its victim’s neck.
Then there was silence, save the pounding wind and the pouring rain.
I woke with blood splattered carelessly on me. I stained into my skin, and it showed my sins. I felt the emotions inside me stir, growling with the agony of another life. The dreary alleyway was the same. Cold, dark. The one I always knew. I clenched my fists and got up from my spot, trying hard to ignore the pain of the spikes. The pain of the curse. The one that had racked me every month since the day I was born.
It seemed impossible, and the only way to break it was the way the curse took it away from me. Anyone I even simply thought about was gone before the full moon faded in the light of the sun. Gone, because of me. I had no control.
I limped down the alleyway towards my home. An old abandoned apartment building, forgotten to the world with time. People say now, it is haunted. In a way, they are right.
I opened the rusty door, looking at the ground with nothing but guilt. This was my fault. The girl’s name was Jenny. I had helped find her parents and grew rather fond of her while she worried for her life. She was so innocent. So kind. Her sister wasn’t any different. I think I recall her name being Cola. Like the soda drink. Though don’t call her Soda. She punched a boy’s nose bloody when he tried to do that.
I sighed and walked into the lobby and sat down on one of the sheet-covered couches with a thump. I looked down at my shaky hand. Where the claws had been, there were now open wounds, staining the sheets underneath me. I mourned for her. As I did for everyone else. The curse kept going.
Astra clung to Illustris tightly like a lifeline. She shook with fear. “Are we going to find the monster?” She asked, rather hesitantly.
Illustris paused looking up at the moon. “He is not a monster. He never was, and he never will be. He is cursed.”
Astra grumbled and glared at the cat on the doorstep of one of the houses in the alley. “Aren’t curses put on a person for a reason?”
Illustris screech to a halt. He glanced angrily at the star. “Not all curses are deserved.”
Astra swallowed. “How did he get his?” She asked the Elder.
Illustris shook his head. “His name is Haven. Haven Silva.”
Astra ran her fingers through her hair, a nervous habit. “How did Haven get his curse?”
Illustris looked up at the apartment building in front of them, with its window carelessly boarded up and the lining at its last leg. “By simply living.” He mumbled profoundly. “By simply living.”
Astra looked up at the moon, confused. “How would you get a curse by living?”
Illustris ignored her and walked up to the building, shaking the rain off his shoulders.
Astra swallowed, as the storm intensified. “Why are we saving him, Master, other than getting rid of him.”
Illustris turned back to Astra with a fire in his eyes. “Because child, He is an innocent boy. I expected you to be more open-hearted. Not this.”
Astra hung her head in shame. “Sir, do you think this can be fixed?”
“I don’t just believe this can be fixed. I know. I know.”
Cola stared at the black coffin, feeling hopeless. Jenny was gone. She was gone, forever. The family had woken to find their precious young one on the floor, with her neck ripped open, dripping blood on the carpet. It was a loss too great to bear. Far too great to bear.
The mourners walked past, brushing their fingers solemnly across the black case. Wishing hopelessly for something that was lost. Mysteriously, lost.
Cola hated the hostile act. Who had done irreparable damage to her family? Who, in the wicked world would take the life of an innocent child? So afraid of what’s to come. Anger swirled in a pit of sadness, mixing and forming into a strange sensation of pure determination of finding the monster.
