The Reaper's Curse

Dark Wings of the Moon

Lilith gapes at the woman bleeding out on the floor, the knife still planted in the side of her neck. The breath coming from her lips scrapes against her ears. No. "Help," she whimpers, her chest tightening with each heave. Her body is numb. She barely feels it when the reaper drags her to her feet. 

No.

"There's no need for such panic. The job is done."

Lilith yanks herself away from the reaper's hold and collapses onto her hands and knees beside the convulsing woman. No. "I'm sorry, I'm sorry, I'm sorry," she cries, her hands hovering over the knife, but not daring to touch it. 

She did it again. She did it again she did it again she did it again.

"Princess."

Lilith whips around, her heart in her throat. "Don't just stand there! Save her! You have to save her!" The moisture pooling in her eyes overflows and a small noise escapes her lips. "Please...please...I'm begging you...!"

The reaper merely watches, her hands held loosely behind her back.

And then a shrill cry sounds from behind Lilith. Her heart stops. She's barely able to turn around when blood sprays again. 

☾✧

With her last bit of strength, Lyla yanks the dagger from the side of her neck. A cry bursting from her lips, she lurches forward and slashes out at the princess's head. 

Pain explodes in her chest and blood spews from her mouth. Her gaze slowly turns downward to see the tip of a curved blade protruding from her chest, right through her heart.

☾✧

The princess screams, her hands loosening on the scythe as she backs away. Lyla Ryefall's body slumps over, the life draining from her flesh.

Elara smiles to herself, uncoiling the threads of her powers. "I thought murder would have been the hardest hurdle for you to overcome. I guess not." She sidesteps the princess and slowly approaches the dead body. "So? How do you feel? Disgusted? Furious? Numb? Or...liberated?" 

The princess doesn't seem to hear her. 

"It hardly matters. There's blood on your hands now," Elara says, yanking out her scythe from the girl's body. "And once you kill a man, killing another makes no difference."

"Why did you do that?"

Elara pauses. 

"Why did you do that?"

"Hmm?"

"You made me kill her." The princess's voice is soft. Elara twists around to find the princess on her feet, her head lowered, her shoulders quivering. "You made me kill her. Didn't you? First was the dagger placed so conveniently beside me, just barely within my reach. And then it was your scythe."

A grin spreads on Elara's face. Straightening, she closes the distance between them, and stops until they're but inches apart. To her delight, the princess doesn't back away. "Very perceptive of you, my dear," she purrs. 

Elara's fingers come up to dance on the princess's throat. There's nothing the little lamb can do. 

"But can you prove it?"

☾✧

There's rage pulsing in Lilith's chest, burning at her flesh. The bitter taste in her mouth won't recede. 

I didn't kill her I didn't kill her didn't kill her didn't kill her didn't kill her⎯⎯⎯⎯

But her hands are still sticky with the memory of the woman's blood. She had scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed and scrubbed yet the crimson seems to stain her skin all the same.