My Immortal Lover

7

I was standing in the middle of blackness, nothing around me, nothing under or above me. Turning, I searched for a hint of something besides the darkness that engulfed me. Gasping in panic, I tripped over my own feet and fell forward right as something flew past the place I was a second before. My head snapped up and I saw a girl in a long, flowing white dress, running with unnatural speed around me.

When I got back up, she lunged for me again and I stepped to the side, watching as she flew by, snarling at me as she passed. That's when I noticed her ears were pointed and her teeth filed to points, her fingers curled in claws. I may not know much about the immortal creatures in my world, but I know enough of mythology to see that she was a harpy.

"What do you want with me?" I asked her, and she wheeled, burning me with her black, cold eyes.

"You must die," she answered, her voice scratchy and venomous.

"Why?"

"Because you're an aberration of nature and we don't need any more competition in our lives."

"I'm an aberration of nature? Have you seen yourself recently?"

"This is not my normal state, succubus. It's my true form, but not the one I use," her body shimmered and transformed into the form of the girl I've rivaled with since fifth grade. I gasped and covered my mouth with my hand.

"Sara?" I asked around my hand.

"Yes, fool," she replied, her voice tinkling and not at all rough.

At that moment I was frozen, rage boiling under my skin, and my hands shook. Clenching them into fists, I leaned forward and took up the defensive stance, feet spread wider than my hips, knees bent and my torso bent towards her. My lip pulled back and I snarled at Sara, her face ranging from shock to amusement.

Suddenly, I was onslaught with knowledge about my species, but I didn't care, I just wanted this harpy to leave me alone. Copying my stance, she leaned towards me, going back to her true form. We started circling each other and my vision was overlaid with points where I could attack, but I waited for her to attack first. She'd be much more vulnerable at that time.

Leaping forward, she reached for my throat and I knocked her hands aside, raising my hands to her tiny waist, tearing through both her dress and skin with my fingernails. The stomach of her dress turned red, I watched it spread, and backed up a few feet. She placed a hand on her stomach, looking at the blood in shock, then raised her hatred-filled eyes to mine and shrieked, diving for me again.

She was too fast and I fell to the ground under her. Her hand raised and she brought it across my stomach, drawing blood from me and I shrieked in pain. A bemused smile turned up her lips and I punched her in the stomach, shoving her body off me when she collapsed from the pain.

I stumbled backwards and looked down at my own stomach. That's when I realized that I was dressed in a dress similar to hers, except mine was black. Clutching at my stomach, I took a step back and screamed as my foot hit nothing, causing me to tumble over the side of an invisible cliff.

Screaming, I sat up quickly and glanced around. Daniel was sitting next to me looking scared, and I wiped a hand across my sweaty face. My hands shook and I noticed one was covered in red blood and gasping I looked down at my body. I was still wearing the black dress and across my stomach was angry red slashes, bleeding profusely. Silently, I tore at the dress until my stomach was exposed and heard Daniel's gasp next to me, but I was too busy looking at the cuts myself.