** This story is base on Camille Rapay’s work “Dead in the Water” **
The Claiming of Isabelle
by: secretheartache
I was running.
Clad in a simple white silk robe, both excitement and fear fueled my bare feet as I ran through a dark cavern illuminated with hundreds of floating candles. I can feel the magical eeriness in the air; its charged stillness and its silent anticipation. I stopped at the edge of the cave's most sacred place. Uttering a silent prayer of guidance to the ancient goddess, I disrobed myself with closed eyes. Naked, I brought out my dagger and positioned it in my chest.
But a hand stopped me, "I can grant your wish, Isabelle." I bit my lips as I felt the warmth of his tempting breath tickling my nape. "Your goddess can't give him to you, but I can."
He kissed my neck and traced circles on my sensitized body. I tried to stop him. I would receive the ancient goddess' wrath if I give in to my lustful nature, but my body and my heart seems to have different minds. I just can't decipher which part of me wants to stop and which one doesn't.
"His life," he whispered in a husky voice that never fails to send shivers down my spine "in exchange of your soul."
--
Are you still waiting, my darling Isabelle?
Still longing for my lips? Dying for my kiss?
Do you still keep the memory of your promise?
Can I bring you now to my kingdom in hell?
--
I woke up wet and panting. That blasted dream again!I rubbed the goosebumps in my arms and tried to calm my erratic heart.Why does it have to invade my already sleep-deprived night?
Heaving a very irritated sigh, I got up of my bed and headed straight to my unfinished canvass. I need to pour out all those unnerving images out of my already chaotic mind. I was halfway painting the mysterious man of my dreams when a phone call interrupted me.
“Hello.” A familiar voice from the other line greeted.
"Yes, I can't sleep. I'm painting at-" I looked at my alarm clock "-three in the morning and you can't do anything about it, Alex." I answered without preamble.
I laughed at my boyfriend's hurt voice; trust my Alexander to feign anything just to calm me. "Same old story; I dreamt of the same cave, the same pool and the same-" I stopped talking when I realized that my hand didn't stop painting. I have finished the mysterious man of my dreams...
"I will claim your soul in exchange of his...I'll grant you a lifetime with him, just give me your eternity."
"Lizzie, are you alright?" I heard Alex asked.
"Yeah..." I absentmindedly told him, "just tired I guess." Dread began to sip into me, as long buried memories unravel in my mind.
He is back. "Samael..." I uttered his name in awe and fear. The weight of our two hundred years old promise came crushing down on me.
Samael, the dark angel of Isabelle, her past lover and my death...
The ancient goddess must have been furious with me when we defiled her sacred sanctuary. The Angel of Death must have been her punishment. That twilight Isabelle submitted to Samael. Two hundred years later...I, Elizabeth Langford, will pay the price.
--
Or do I drag you down to my dark haven?
Be cursed in darkness, locked in endless slumber
