The TwiceBorn

Within All The Trappings Of Darkness

“The roots of any evil deed can be traced to the perpetrator's refusal to experience pain.” --Keith Ablow

She was dimly aware that her tunic had become untied and the sharp bite on her left nipple caused a shudder to ripple her body.  As though she had all the time in the world, The Twiceborn raised her head and locked eyes with her.  And smiled.  And Islinn realized, with a sick feeling, that out of all the  things in her life that had frightened her,she’d never been so afraid as she was now, looking at this woman pressed so intimately against her wearing that casual smile.

She quickly propped herself up on her elbows, trying to get more leverage to move herself out from under but, with an amused laugh, The Twiceborn grabbed her wrists and yanked her hands out from underneath her.  Islinn fell back, hard against the ground and her back howled from the sudden rough treatment.  Shocked and shaken, the ache in her back settling in like a rotted tooth, Islinn tried once again to gain some purchase with her hands and move herself out from under.

 This time, the other woman allowed her the leverage. Suddenly able to maneuver, Islinn paused as she sat up and looked at The Twiceborn.  She could taste her own fear in the back of her throat and could feel herself shaking, overwhelmed by the magnitude and the suddenness at which all of this had occurred.

The Twiceborn didn’t grab for her wrists again.  Instead, she sat back on her haunches, securely pinning Islinn’s waist to the ground and continued to smile.

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Alora was delighted by the turn of events.  The fear in the air was so heavy her senses couldn’t absorb it all.  She felt drunk, on overload from all the rich emotion and she suddenly laughed, because this night was only beginning.  She was on the first course of one of the richest meals she’d ever had the privilege to consume. 

Was it because Islinn was a True Believer?

Perhaps.  Or…it was that fucking light, adding in a dollop of purity   or possibly a rich drizzle of innocence  to Islinn’s emotions, Alora didn’t really give a fuck, all she knew was it was soon going to be hers.  Very soon indeed.

She realized dimly Islinn had stopped struggling and was sitting up and looking at her.  The fear rolled over Alora in lazy waves and her smile grew wider as she basked in it, tasted it in every corner of her soul.

“It won’t do you any good to fight me. “ She stated and her lips parted even more, showing her teeth in a wide grin, as her eyes sparkled with barely suppressed laughter.  She had been down this road so many times before but the fear had never tasted quite as sweet as it did now.  Maybe because it was more…personal.   Islinn wasn’t a complete stranger, she knew the girl.  Knew her fears, her insecurities, her desolation. 

She gave a lazy chuckle as she studied the girl.  In some ways though…she was disappointed.  She had known Brede to be nothing but a phony but Islinn…there had been moments when she thought she’d caught a glimpse of something far greater than the both of them.  But she’d been wrong. 

There was too much fear …too much cowardice…in the shell she was looking at for it to ever be able to contain anything of power.  But the disappointment wasn’t enough to dispel the giddy sense of excitement that swept through her as she thought of the moment she’d drive her knife in deep and dig that light out so she could study it at her leisure.  But there were other matters at hand that needed to be dealt with first.

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          It was the self-satisfied chuckle and the smug look on The Twiceborn’s face that reined in Islinn’s emotions and kept her from losing all control.  Her eyes narrowed as she looked back at the woman.  The woman she’d laughed with over an unintended joke while riding, the one who’d become upset over Winnie’s brazen behavior…