Tonight Together: GumLee

Tight Tangle

Ch. 9: Tight Tangle

Stars flicked the sky, the moon in shadow. Crickets rang in clashing notes as they crawled in the wind blown grass. More strands flung to the side, a path inched by. The flow stilled, crickets died down from the movement, dull color popped up.
Materialized, Marshal stood at the foot of a hill side, un-crumbling yellowed paper. An arrow of curved ink pointed in, the map showed a secret cave to the hill. Cringing from compressing hands the paper dropped lightly to the ground, opening slightly behind the mercury barbs of bushes. By memory, the vampire flicked a rocky orange sill. A spring flexed and bounced, levers creaked and moaned, an entry slid open before the man and he entered. Flight shot him through the tunnels with out a sound, whisking, weaving through effortlessly as the wind would. Soon, they opened up, a cauldron sat bubbling in the center.
"Did you bring it?" a voice graveled, Marshal reached for crisp folded papers in his pocket.
Royal decrees.
"Excellent..." it droned, taking the papers in a swift elongated motions, "Yes, good job."
"Ya what ever." the vampire snapped, head turned with arms crossed, "Just... just when can you bring him back?" he slowly looked back, arms a tad looser. From the shadows, a laugh slowly rose into a cackle. It suddenly ceased.
"Well, you'd given it up freely.... could take centuries..." a toothy smile glimmered from the dark as the words curled and soured out, "just keep running these... 'errands'"
"Ya, well, I don't know how much longer I can keep this up..." the man scratched his head, stretching up his layered shirt to reach the back.
"He thinks you love him, keep it that way."
"Ha, not that simple..."
Emerging from the shadows, the person shot out to pin Marshal to the cave wall.
"You can't bail," it droned with two voices demonically, "Not this far in the game, you can't." The person's grip tightened as he pushed the vampire into the rock's cracks. He grunted from the pressure in pain.
"You came to me, you took me from my sleep, you asked for help." the person continued to rant, inching Marshal further into the wall, "you're so damn pathetic, you need a some fucking stuff animal, it's your fault it's gone now."
The stones gave in, Marshal shooting out the other side. The shadow receded, rejoining the dark behind the cauldron's pulsing fire. It tore the papers away with a prompt jester, flinging the pieces in to the crimson liquid.
"Leave." It commanded, black swallowing the figure.
He laid still for a second, with emotions dearth, Marshal rose from the gravel of stones. He fixes his grey clothes, bow, left.
Stars shot away as every thing blurred, the grass parted rapidly in sharp junctions. The bugs flew startled by the blasting wind.
Marshal reached his house with one blink, breaking through the door. He clicked in his recordings before grabbing every drink he had with alcohol jammed in it. Music rocked the house, ringing in echoes through out the grotto.
"Don't." the vampire cursed, poring drinks down his gullet, "don't think about it, don't, don't, don't...!" teeth clenched, biting his slithering tung. It couldn't be stopped.
The rubies shimmered from it's glistening shine that reseeded over it's ducts, making the grey slate it's buried in gleam. The man's emotions streamed out as he clutched the broken glass of an empty bottle, choking on sobs.
"Gum Ball... forgive me..."