Once upon a December - The invitation- Walter Deville x reader

No good deed

=

No good deed goes unpunished, No act of charity goes unresented,
No good deed goes unpunished. That's my new creed.

-

"Please, please I-i can't lose you, Harry, I can't-please wake up-please please" you sobbed over Harrison's body, his skin only getting colder by the moment as his blood created a puddle under his body and your knees, soaking your skirt.

What a cruel twist of fate, by the hand of a jealous man who just-wouldn't take no for an answer, your beloved had been stolen from you. You couldn't even sit up under the weight of it all, collapsing on his chest and sobbing into his blood-stained clothes.

"Please, my love-i-I need you-please"

It took nearly all your strength to sit up and carry his body into your home, burying your face into his neck as he lay against you, his head resting in the crook of your shoulder. "Please" you whispered, hoping someone, anyone, anything, was listening "Please just-give him back-please, I'll do anything."

Something tugged at your heart, and you slowly pulled your head out of Harry's neck to turn towards that tug; your gaze landed on Harry's desk. "The book" you whispered to yourself, slowly sliding out from underneath your beloved's body and walking down the cold stone hallway to Harry's study, tugging open a usually locked drawer and taking out the singular book that lay inside.

It had been found years ago, under the wych elm tree just a mere mile away from where you lived, bound by white fabric and smelling of lavender, cedar, and thyme. You took a shuddering breath as you held the leather-bound book, a tingling feeling going up your fingers and arms till it reached your heart.

As if something was trying to corrupt you, or convince you to unbound the book and use it.

You turned back to Harry's body, closing your eyes as you spotted the bloody stab wound on his chest. "If this doesn't work that man will burn" you muttered, snapping off the white fabric around the book and opening it, the candlelight illuminating the stone halls blowing out as you did.

It felt as if all the light in the world had been dismissed as the pages lay open before your eyes, the moon above dimming, leaving you and Harry's body in near darkness. Whispers echoed around you in the dark, clawed hands curling over your shoulders and arms; taking your hand and guiding you to flip through the book until you reached what you were seemingly looking for.

A simple exchange

A life for a life

A soul for a soul

Forever bound to one.

Your breath quickened, your body turning cold as you thought about what you were going to do. You closed your eyes, remembering Harry's painfilled cries as that horrid man stabbed him, your horrified screams as you begged that man to stop.

He would pay.

They all would pay.

You sat up in bed with a strangled gasp, sweat beading down your face and back, chest rising with uneven breaths. "What in the seven hells was that?" you whispered to yourself, putting a hand to your forehead as the nightmare drifted away.

It couldn't have been a memory, it was so-dark and...supernatural that it seemed ripped out of a horror movie, there was no way that had been from your past.

But it felt so damn real.

"I need to stop watching horror movies at three am" you muttered, falling back into your pillows and taking several deep breaths to calm your heart, feeling it beat rapidly within your chest. You closed your eyes, trying to calm yourself only to see Harrison's dead body in your mind. You quickly sat up and snapped your eyes open, shaking your head to rid your mind of that image.