WILD SHORT READS - PARANORMAL ROMANCE FLASH FICTION

HELLO, I LOVED YOU

*** TRIGGER WARNING: Although the characters in this tragic love story find their way to a happy ending, this short work deals with themes some readers may find triggering such as death and suicide. Please read with caution, fellow book devourers. ***

For a brief, beautiful moment, you are mine.

Mine to hold. To love. To treasure. To pet in the throes of ecstasy. You keep my icy heart warm though it can no longer beat for fear of all that is coming. Each breath we celebrate brings us closer to excruciating pain.

To know this is my burden to bear.

A punishment for defiling the Chosen One.

I can only taste your love while trapped here in human form. If I return to my true form, even briefly, we will be cursed to never meet again. For you are the herald of light—the golden mortal child twisted into an unwitting assassin—while I am the eternal crow sentenced to haunt this cursed Earth with just enough power to feed upon a singular ritual death.

My own.

That's right. I gain power from our sorrow even as each separation rends another piece of my soul and devours it. Like a slip of rice paper swallowed by the greedy ocean of time. Love is not allowed to exist in my void of shadows. Oh no. Yet, in this bright tiny gasp of before, it does.

Blinding in its power.

Fierce in its existence.

Neither of us can help but to succumb.

Again, and again, and again.

We are the snake eating its own tail.

How much longer can love continue to exist in such a hopeless vacuum? I do not know. All I can do is cling to whatever is left.

Your mortality is your shield, preventing your mind from shattering under our burden. At first you forget your dark mission, as your gushing delight at our reunion brings back a fleeting glimmer of hope, until the gods pry you from my clawing fingers once more.

The time has come for the wheel to spin on but I am not ready to let your perfection go. I will never be ready, though this point of transition is the only chance we have to end our torment. A creeping awareness skitters down my spine.

Something is different.

Drawing in a ragged breath, I sense my sister—Destiny—gathering to roll her die. The game has changed. The power has somehow shifted. You stand before me as more than just a mere mortal. Dangerous beings bristle and sharpen their attention on our fate.

Tonight, there is a resolution in your eyes that terrifies me as I prepare for the exquisite pain which will surely follow. I can barely swallow the bile rising in my throat. Your true self has come to some decision, weighing our exchange within the echo of all the others and drawing a new conclusion.

"Enough." Tonight your voice is strong, not cowed, and it holds the crackling danger of thunder. "Goddess of Death, you are no longer welcome to walk this Earth. I, Bringer of Light, banish you."

Is this it? I wonder. Is this the day we will finally be set free?

"You are an abomination."

You intone the ritual words, but ferocious determination blazes in your eyes, holding me captive even as you raise the weapon between us. Usually all I see reflected back is resignation and a chilling confirmation of our doom. Not tonight.

With a shaky swallow, I reply as I always do. "And you, beloved, are my heart."

A gust expels from your lungs but you square your shoulders against the blow.

"I tire of this charade," you growl, burning gaze thrown up to the heavens. You are not talking to me anymore, you are boldly addressing those who revel in our endless agony. "I am the gods' own Chosen One, am I not?" Your ragged breath is the only sound in the world as I am gripped by blind panic. Your lips curl into a macabre smile as you raise the gun to your own temple. "Well then, I choose Death."

Choking on my own bile, I lunge as you pull the trigger.

"Catch me, my love," you whisper, eyes finding mine in a final goodbye. "You are too wild to be forever bound in this cage."

"No!"

Too late, I gather my power as blood and bone and the remains of my shattering heart spray in a vibrant end. I see none of that, I am fixated on you. Your beautiful essence is shedding its mortal confines in a savage wave. The curse shudders and snaps as the snake releases its tail in a silent howl of fury.

I transform.

In an explosion of feathers, I harness my ageless rage and sorrow, plucking your sweet soul from the air. With a defiant shriek, I return to my empty castle in the Otherworld, laying you tenderly on the ritual slab of offering.

But something is different.

That golden light has followed you into my dark world.

Awestruck, I watch as your essence coalesces. Taking impossible form. For one blinding moment, I must close my eyes while the cosmos narrows its focus on you. Only you. Then I scream as a hand grips my bicep and hauls me across a naked lap. I collapse into the familiar embrace.

"Open your eyes, Dark Mistress." Your giddy laugh fills the dreaded emptiness of my chambers. "I live now only to serve you."

"You're here? You're really—" I sob. "How much do you remember?"

"Everything." Your smile fills me with joy. "I remember it all, my love."

Red tears form a river between us, washing the grit from our invisible wounds.

"You never gave up, did you?" Misplaced awe colors your tone. With a bitter laugh I try to shove you away, but you pinch my chin in rebuke. "Look at me, beloved. The curse is broken. I'm no longer mortal, I am yours—that is, if you still want me?"

I pounce with a growl, knocking you back onto the glittering altar. As you slip inside me, I gasp with how different this moment feels. It's real, not stolen. A bright future is being woven right in front of us.

You gather my hair in your fingers, pulling it taut to bow my back as you murmur against my neck. "Are you not tired of me yet, Dark Mistress?"

"Never." Your eager hips rise to crash into mine as my sex flutters in relief. "Never." I vow again, as you capture my mouth. Raking my claws down your back, I give birth to your wings as you scream in ecstasy. "I shall ride the wind with you, beloved, until the end of time."

~~~~~

HELLO, I LOVED YOU was first published as part of the WILD AT HEART PNR FLASH FICTION writing circle. Keep an eye out in my readers' group -- The Phoenix Inferno - Miri Stone's Book Devourers -- for new short works and other cool reader bonuses.