Chapter Four
"I do not know why I feel I should tell you, but it is as if some burning desire is in me that will not be quenched. As if you were wishing for me to speak it. Maybe, in speaking it, I will finally obtain the peace I have searched so long for.
"I was kidnapped, mermaid. Stolen from my home and taken on board that ship. I was abused by the captain, using me to his own evil purposes. I wanted revenge, but not on you. I never had the chance to take my revenge, because just as the storm began is when they did this,"
Jael hesitated, touching her chest with tentative fingers. She pulled on the fabric, letting it slip slightly to reveal a bloody opening across her chest. It was empty of any heart. In her memory, Troian saw Jael's body floating atop the water, her chest a gaping chasm, empty.
"Why have you not asked for your heart?" asked Troian, she lightly touched the hollow.
"When they murdered me, all I could think of was revenge. I have never longed for my heart, only for the peace I should possess. I just want the peace and freedom denied me. That is why I come here every year. Not for my heart, only seeking peace. And every year, it is not to be found. I have searched for years and still have not found it, nor the source of it."
"It isn't here." replied Troian.
"I now know that. And, soon, you will not be here either." The ghost lightly brushed fingers across the mermaid's lucent skin.
"I know. I'm fading, dying. In a way, I'm transitioning, preparing for hell. I fear that, after tomorrow, I won't see you again. This is my last winter as a mermaid. My last winter with you." She shivered under Jael's touch.
"Why, mermaid? Why are you to be punished?"
"I asked to much of my mother. Because I rejected the gift that had been given me. I tried to throw away my life, which had only become mortal after I had pleaded for it. I longed for more than my fair share. And that was unforgivable."
For a long time they sat quietly together, both longing for comfort. As it got darker all around them, Jael began to disappear. Before she was completely gone, she pressed an icy kiss to Troian's cheek. She remained quiet, looking up at the stars and wondering. She pondered everything Jael had said, piecing everything together in her mind. The sky seemed to be so empty, so completely bare and void of anything, even stars. She could almost see through the window of the heavens into her old home, her old life, just as she could see through herself.
She looked down, where her hands had been. She had faded almost completely. Her hands were gone and her hair was turning silvery and thin, like spider webs. The slender bones that made up her body appeared under the surface. Rivers of blood rushed under where her skin had been. It seemed strange to her, that she die now. Why not when her heart was broken beyond repair? When her soul had weighed so heavily inside of her that she feared it would leave her behind to face the end? Why not then?
She was afraid, more afraid of fading then she had ever been. As if summoned by her fear, threatening clouds covered the moon. Demons sprang from the dark, one plucking at her arm. One grabbed her hair, pulling her head back. He was handsome, with blackness in his eyes and evil written across his face. Though evil existed on his face, a mixture of purity and loveliness claimed it as well. He seemed to be a mixture of both, a vague light of passion and fragility glowed under the black that overwhelmed his eyes.
His hair was intensely white, the tips of it dark crimson as if it had been dipped in the blood. He stopped a moment, as if her translucent beauty made him remember something. As if he saw some of the same mixture in her eyes as well. Only he seemed to see what she had seen reflected in the eyes of a ghost. That subtle sense of darkness and something sinister, that lay deep within. For a moment longer they stared into each other's eyes. Then he released her hair.
The others had also been staring at her, watching the two of them in a sense of disgust and awe. They recoiled slightly at the pure beauty they saw. If they, too, had looked into her eyes, they would have seen what he saw. As if waiting for a cue, they stood still. The moon above remained engulfed by clouds and every second the darkness seemed to grow.
Then, suddenly, they overcame her, like waves on top and all around her. She tried to escape, pushing away and moving toward her beloved ocean. She screamed, crying out for help. The demon with the white and red hair stopped her mouth with a kiss, pressing his lips to hers. His mouth strong and sure. She could feel terror flooding through her, then nothing but his mouth on hers.
She had never been kissed by any man, not even her father had kissed her. His mouth was sweet pressed to hers, but she could taste the evil laced within it. It broke her heart, tearing it into bits and pieces. Tearing her down, violating her soul with only his mouth as passage. She longed to break away, but could not. He was destroying her, killing her more than Dante ever had. He was murdering her with only a kiss. Then he pulled away.
Tears ran down her face as the demons continued to torment her. Through out the night they plagued her. Breaking her spirit, taunting her and assassinating any hope she might have had. As the sun rose the demon, who had kissed her, stopped, a mournful look on his face. Then they fell to the ground like sand, the wind picking up the pieces and carrying them away.
She felt raw, bleeding on her legs and arms. She was safe for today, but once tomorrow came she would be halfway gone. Then after that she would disappear completely. She pulled her legs up to her chest and pressed her cheek to her knees. She could only cry and wish that Jael would return soon.
Then, in a moment, she was running to the ocean, slipping under the satin of the waves. It was as if she was being buried under the waves, unable to breathe, unable to touch the surface or the light above her. All she could do was sink down into the dark void of the ocean's arms and let the pain of one last change overwhelm her body.
Curls of her blood floated about her in a crimson mist. Her vision was becoming hazy. The change was taking to long. Any longer and she would drown, crushed by the only thing that had truly loved her. As she fell further and further she cursed her fate, screaming into the silence of the deep. Then she took a breath. Visions of her future and the demon filled her mind as she finally touched the bottom. Her dreams were filled with these visions, making her toss and cry out. The ocean above began to stir, the clouds rumbling and white lighting skimming the surface.
Even to the floor of the deep, the boom of thunder echoed. It rocked the world under her, causing her to stir. In stirring, she glimpsed the demon shrouded in a heavy black cloak. To escape him, she pushed herself upward, toward the surface. She swiftly swam up, exploding into the utter chaos. In awe she watched as the sky shattered all around her, the moon tore herself apart. Blood stained every part of the heavens, the world seemed to have destroyed itself under the strain. The demon stood on the water above her, then, grabbing her shoulders, he pulled her up.
Mortified
