What Is Love?

Chapter Twenty

The Slender man

I barricaded myself in my office and fell quite ungracefully into my chair. I tried to let the tension in my shoulders relax - tried not the let what had almost just occurred weigh on my mind too much. She had wanted me to kiss her - had tried to kiss me - and the only solution I could think of was to run... Run from a mere human girl. I wasn't a stranger to human emotions such as the ones that must have compelled the little female to act as she did, but... Danielle was the first human to reach out to me like that in a very long time... since her in fact.

Since Elizabeth...

Just thinking her name now brought back a flood of memories and feelings I didn't wish to re-live. It was a rare occurrence when I would allow myself to think of her at all, but now was one of those time when I simply couldn't stop myself... nor did I really have the energy to anyway. I tilted my head back and stared at the ceiling, unseeing, as instead I re-watched the events of my life more than a century ago replay before me - it was at times like these that I considered the clarity of my picture perfect memory a curse.

I saw in far too great detail the golden skinned girl laying in the grass beside me, her hair had been released from its pins and lay in chocolate waves, framing her soft face. Liza's eyes were closed and she looked so peaceful, so at ease and comfortable in my presence... happy even. She was happy simply to be with me... The Slender man.

A bird's song reached us from one of the trees lining the clearing we lay in. Slowly those entrancing eyes opened and she turned her face to me, a soft smile lighting her features even more. "Do you hear the Blue bird, Slender?" she whispered, emerald eyes sparkling with wonder.

Gently I reached out and cupped her cheek, running my thumb over her soft pink lips, tracing their outline as my eyes looked over the face that I was sure was already etched on my heart. "I do. But its voice could never compare to your's, darling," I replied, earning a broader smile.

"Slender, I... I love you, did you know?"

Without hesitation, I smiled at the beauty beside me. "And I love you, Liza." It was the first time I'd ever said those words... to anyone... and yet it felt right. I did love her.

That afternoon was one of my happiest memories.

But then the sunshine gave way to a darker memory. Gone was the grassy field, replaced by an overgrown forest on a foggy October night. Liza was on the ground before me, sobbing into her hands.

"Liza, what's wrong? What ails you my love? What brings you such sorrow?" I asked her over and over. She wouldn't answer me but to continue her cries.

Finally she raised those emerald eyes, bloodshot now and filled with pain. "I'm with child..." her once musical voice croaked. My world turned to ice and my vision turned hazy; Liza and I had never known one another... the babe inside her... it wasn't mine...

I stepped away from the woman, shaking my head in horror. "What have you done?" I whispered.

Her sobs intensified. "I didn't mean it, love! I didn't mean it I swear..." I went to turn from her - turn from the wrench who had betrayed my love and trust - and she reached for me. "Slen-"

For whatever reason, that action on her part increased my rage tenfold. Red colored my sight and fire filled my veins. "Don't touch me! " I snarled, swinging back around and slapping her across her face.

Liza fell back from me, pain laced shock glazing over her jade eyes. It was when I smelled the blood I realized that, in my rage, I'd unsheathed my claws...

The only woman I'd ever loved crumpled at my feet awkwardly, and in a way that didn't look natural... Broken. Deep, gushing wounds marred her face from her temple, down to her neck, ruining the perfection of her features. The slice across her jugular ran freely, and icy numbness filled my body as I fell to my knees beside her.

What had I done?

As she died, Lisa's eyes found mine one last time. Words gurgled in her throat, but it was too damaged to allow them to be audible. I held her to me, trembles racking my body and my gaze never leaving her's. Slowly, I watched those heartbreaking eyes glaze over as she slipped away from me forever.

And then she was gone... I'd killed her... I'd killed Liza.

And for the first time in my life... I cried...

Gradually the ceiling in my office replaced the vision of the mangled body in my arms - I was back in the present, over a hundred years away from that fateful night. That night... that night was the reason I couldn't let Danny get close. That night was the reason I couldn't let Danny kiss me. That night was the reason that a mere human could never be more than prey to me... That night was the reason why I would always be a monster... And I would always be alone.

All because of her.