The Secrets of Darkling Manor

Thirty-seven: Aleksander Morozova

Thirty-seven:

Aleksander Morozova

She was back in his bed again. He had fucked her up against a wall in the house. And now, she was sleeping with him again. They had had sex only once, but she slept next to him each night now. One night, he woke to Alina kissing his neck. He stirred in his sleep and smiled. "Are you horny for me, my darling?" he asked half in sleep.

He felt Alina pulling down his boxers. "Oh," he said, "you absolutely are."

"Aleksanderrr....." a cool voice rasped, and he froze.

"Alina?"

There was cool laughter. He opened his eyes and he looked over to see Alina looking at him. But there was something off about her smile, her skin was blue, and her eyes seemed almost pitch black.

"Luda!" he scrambled up off of the bed.

Luda, from within Alina's body, smiled up at him. "Hello, Aleksander. It seems you forgot that you were being haunted."

"What in the hell are you doing in her?" he demanded. "Get out!"

"No!" Luda shouted. "You aren't taking this seriously, Aleksander. This is our chance to be together again. Alina needs to die for things to be right."

"Luda, it was never supposed to be the two of us. You went to the witch to make me marry you. I was engaged to someone else before you went and made me get engaged to you. You seduced me and faked a pregnancy."

Luda smiled. It was strange, watching her move around in Alina's body. She reached out and touched his face, her fingers cool to the touch, and her skin blue like death. "Don't lie to me, Aleksander. I used to see the way you watched me. You used to sneak into my room during the summer late at night and fuck me."

She stroked her thighs---Alina's thighs----and grinned. "I was your first, remember? And you told me I was 'so fucking good'. You had me so many times that summer. Maybe that's why you picked her."

He froze. "What are you talking about?"

Luda laughed. "Alina, of course. Such a young thing."

The window burst open then, and he jumped.

"She's just eighteen, so much life ahead of her. If I were to make her body die, Anton could bind my spirit to her body and we could be together forever. You and me, like we're supposed to be. All that needs to happen is little Alina needs to die. Maybe I'll make her jump out a window---or I'll drown her. Don't you remember what it was like, giving me CPR after you pulled me from the pond when I drowned?"

"Fuck you, Luda!" Aleksander shouted. "I never asked for you to love me. Don't put this on me. Don't hurt Alina because you took something that was never yours."

"I had a boyfriend!" Luda reminded him. "I was dating Harshaw! You knew that I was. He was there all summer because you were working on your little project. You got mad because you didn't like the idea that someone else had me, and so you took me."

Aleksander glared at her. "You didn't say no. Never once did you push me off. In fact, Luda, I remember you cuming on my fingers screaming my name the first time. And when I asked you if Harshaw made you feel that way, you told me Harshaw was in love with someone else. That it didn't matter."

"You told me you knew!" Luda sneered at him. "And that it didn't matter either. Harshaw was in love with your fiancé, and you didn't care about her because all you really wanted was to make me jealous."

Luda walked over to the window where the glass had been blown out of. She picked up a piece of glass. "You know that Mal's still here? Still haunting this place. We could kill you, and Alina, and we could take over these bodies. It would make everything so much easier, don't you know?"

She took the piece of glass and was gently dragging it across Alina's skin.

"Luda don't!" he shouted. He walked over and gripped her tightly. He took the piece of glass out of Alina's hand. "Don't hurt her, please."

"Give me one good reason why I shouldn't, Aleksander. You hurt me. You took me from Harshaw just because you didn't like the idea of him having something that you didn't. So you took me from him, and then Harshaw and her----"

Luda sneered at the mention of Harshaw's wife. The woman that Aleksander had dated when they were in college, that he had almost married. Tatiana. When Aleksander had come back from college, and Harshaw had fallen in love with Luda, he hadn't taken it well. He didn't like the idea that someone would have something that he couldn't. He'd had sex with Luda, and she'd gotten pregnant. And that was why they'd married.

Except Luda miscarried, and he was left with a wife who wouldn't let him touch her. Meanwhile, Harshaw and Tatiana fell in love. And they had their perfect little daughter. When Luda found out about Genya, she had been so messed up by it she had drowned herself in the pond.

Meanwhile, Harshaw and Tatiana lived their perfect, little life. Until they died in the plane crash on a vacation.

And Aleksander was alone, with his ghosts. And Luda wouldn't let him alone.

"I'm sorry," he apologized, "I messed everything up for both of us."

"You think that really matters now?" Luda sneered. "I'm dead, Aleksander. And you, you're selfish! You won't even bring me back so that we can be together. Of course, there's one other way you can save Genya and Alina."

He raised an eyebrow. "What are you talking about?"

Luda was by his side in a flash, pressing her hands up against his chest. "Join us in the pond, Aleksander. Come home to me. Maybe we weren't great in life, but we could be great in death. Just.... go to the pond. And I'll leave Alina and Genya forever."