The crunch of the leaves is Gabbie's favorite part about fall. Maybe the changing of the colors and the sweater weather excites others, but Louis' always loved the crunch. The wind whips his hair wildly in all directions as he trots down the side of the road. The moonlight casts a cool glow on his surroundings. Golden light pours into the streets from streetlamps posted every couple of meters.
Normally, the city is never this dead at night. Louis walks down this road nearly every night after being at the pub with his friends. Typically, there're at least some late-night pub-goers or the unusual person trying to get from point A to point B. It's never this dead.
The thought alone sends a chill down Louis' spine and he pulls his coat around him tighter.
As Louis' feet tap down the cobbled road towards his home, the hair's on his neck seem to stand straighter and straighter. If Louis truly listens, he may even be able to hear the sound of someone following him. A whisper of another person's walk.
Briskly, he glances behind him. Another chill does up him when he sees nobody there. His feet move faster now. As his legs seemingly pound against the street, the feet behind him grow louder and louder and louder.
Above him, a light flickers. The golden hue of the lightbulb flashes once before fading to darkness. The next light isn't for a couple of meters and Louis is temporarily bathed in darkness.
Louis spares another look behind him, trying not to seem bothered by the strange second walk. His heart hammers in his chest as he collides with something hard and cold.
Louis stumbles to the ground, landing hard on his ass. His heart hammers so hard in his chest he feels like he can't breathe and the air constricts him.
"Hello there," A voice coos.
His adrenaline pumps so fast that Louis can feel the pricks in his gums. Pricks he hasn't felt in ages, decades even. If he wasn't paying so much attention to the pricks, he may not have noticed them. He would've noticed his hands if he hadn't.
Out of the corner of Louis' eye, he can see his hands graying slightly. Dark black veins riding to the surface, demanding to defend Louis' second life and to annihilate the threat.
The human eye wouldn't be able to make out the man's face. It wouldn't see the strong jawline and pink lips. Arched eyebrows that sit over eyes that used to be so full of life, so green and fresh, but now resemble that of the night sky.
"What are you doing here," Louis hisses. His voice rests just above a whisper. The man continues to stand in the darkness, a dark silhouette. The man knows that Louis can see him. He's being dramatic, as usual.
"I made an oath to bestow upon you a life filled with torment," He replies. His voice has changed since Louis' last heard her. It hasn't changed enough that Louis can't tell who it is, but the voice of the boy Louis once knew is gone.
"Stop with the theatrics. If you're going to kill me just get it over with. I have things to do," Louis snaps. Quietly, he collects himself. In half a second, he's standing again and dusting the dirt from his jeans.
They stare at each other a moment. Louis can feel his heart starting to slow back down to its regular pace. He flexes his hands in the hope that his itchy, black veins will disappear back into his hand.
"I'm afraid that your demise is not what I require tonight. Tonight, I come to warn you. As soon as the golden sun pours light onto this earth you may kiss all of your earthly possessions goodbye."
Louis rolls his eyes. It's not the first time that the man has come for him and it certainly won't be the last.
"Look, H, it's late and tomorrow's my day off. I know you promised me eternal damnation, but this fucking curse is damnation enough. Can you at least wait until Monday or something?" Louis asks. He stuffs his hands into his pockets and rolls his head back lazily.
The man in front of him gives him a puzzled look as if it's taken him a moment to process the words coming out of Louis' mouth.
"You'd understand me easier if you even attempted to live a semi-normal life. But no, you stay trapped in the fucking castle in the middle of nowhere killing anyone that gets close to you all the while planning the next stupid way to kill your ex as if I'm going to stay dead to begin with," Louis snaps.
The man steps into the light and, for a moment, Louis sees him. Louis sees the man he once was. The boy, really. They were innocent back then. In love and totally naive to the cruel realities of the world. They knew enough to know that they could never love each other, but time has passed. Time has turned and, if they wanted to, they could love each other again. Of course, that would involve him not killing Louis at every chance he gets and Louis not becoming annoyed every time he sees someone that resembles the man.
"How's this for understanding: I wanted a normal life, but you took that away from me. You ripped my heart out and threw it to the ground as if it meant nothing to you. So, I'll do the same for you. I will track you down to the ends of the earth and kill you every way I can until, one day, I'm successful."
Louis feels a smirk starting to play across his lips. He knows that this will only enrage Harry more. That Harry wants to tear Louis to shreds, but Louis knows that even if there was a way to kill either of them Harry would never do it.
"I'd like to see you try."
~_~_~
One part of an Inktober series I found on my computer that I'll be publishing
