Crimson Black

by C C Morgen

  I glance at Luna when I realized those were her twin daughters who’d been transformed into hounds. Like me, they took their lives from them. I laughed suddenly with the overwhelming sensation of power and hate towards Amphis. “Thank you, mother,” I professed as I reached out my hand and touched their snouts. The force of their breath was powerful at the touch. “They are beautiful.” I glanced at them both. “You will protect me to the end.” Their eyes closed, and they bowed their heads before me. “I’m your master now.”

  I glanced at the blood moon in the night sky with eyes that would bring fear to the masses. The wind shifted, and the breeze became as cold as my soul by being born into a Harpy. At last… I’m in my true form. Now my life has truly begun.

  CHAPTER XV

  I Am the Dark Princess

  THE WINDS HAD SHIFTED IN A DIRECTION of rage on the high seas. My wings expanded in the sky with my family soaring across the ocean to new territories. The chaos my family created under contracts of the wicked and vengeful souls quenched my fury with satisfaction.

  My aunt Aello’s family took the sea by storm with roaring winds and lightning that streaked purple, red and orange, lighting up the sky. Cyclones formed over the sea, splashing water in the air like heavy rainfall. The ship below our wings collided with the waves of the storm, causing it to sweep its occupants into the ocean where they drowned under water, suffocating in the abyss. I viewed as my cousins bend the lightning to strike the ship, producing a thundering blast that rupture through the timber. The destructive force a Harpy held against the world amazed me. The ship split into sections, descending to the belly of the sea.

  The Swift Wing clan assassinated many like phantoms in the dead of night. My aunt was adept with poisons, devised to make death look natural to the mundane eye. They made potions to provoke endless nightmares until the mind cracks. My cousins could burden a king with eternal misery by just, gliding in and out like the breeze, steering their victim into madness. For instance, they vexed the Roman Caesar, Nero. He fell victim to my cousins’ games, guiding him into such a bloodlust that indeed I was astounded by how rapid the man surrendered his mind under subjection.

  My favorite contract to study was Cleopatra, the ruler of Egypt. She demanded her kingdom at the cost of her family. They taught the skill of manipulation to obtain what she sought most. I understood she was a charming girl, but her personality was awful as they come. She ordered her most trusted confidant and admirer to his death, so he wouldn’t cause her strain in the forthcoming of seducing Marc Anthony to her side. He was conscious through the entire ritual, I never understood the customs of the Egyptians and how they dealt with their deceased. She revealed, it was a death worthy of an emperor and she cared for him that much to grant him that status. In my perceiving, she was just misled as a mundane girl, assuming there was legitimacy in it. If only she realized in this dimension, mortals will endure through many reincarnations, so it defeated the purpose of even sending someone to their death early. However, karma caught up with her in the end when she committed suicide, because she was no longer under the protection of the Roman Empire. I had utter delight on the day of her death. It reminded me of the deception with Amphis and how I craved her demise.

  To satisfy my hunger, I hunted in the metropolises of the mundane life for all that fell intoxicated by me. The deaths added up every night of feeding, and I’ve already taken countless lives without a single contract. Sometimes, I didn’t need to feed, yet I still killed for sport and to further fuel my rage. I learned our connection was still active, so she felt every kill I acted. I knew she will endure for an eternity, experiencing all the victims I take will be because of her.

  I devoted my days, piling up victims with Phyla and Pharah. My loyal hounds never wavered under my control. Phyla, the alpha, was stronger than her sister Pharah, constantly play-biting on her face and bullying her into submission. Phyla loved to fight and acted reckless by performing dangerous stunts; leaping from peaks that most dreaded. Cliff -diving in the ocean off the peak, near the castle was her favorite thing when choosing to go for a swim. Her vitality was matched to Luna’s, preferring to always brawl in human form with her mother. Their feuds were epic on the island and became amusing to my mother to observe, since they were identical in practically every sense. They had the same vigorous, defiant, temperament and complementary features such as the darkened hair and deep gray eyes.

  Pharah was the polar opposite of Phyla. She had a tender soul and admired the laughs of children when she ventured out in human form into the cities, away from her mother and sisters bonding moments. I observed her playing with the orphans in the street in the daylight in Athens, her black hair shimmering like silk threads in the sunlight and laughing when she was abroad from duty. She had the heart that Luna and Phyla lacked. Her kindness sickened me, but as long as she carried out my orders, I turned a blind-eye to her fondness for lost children.

  In the prolonged periods, I’ve watched my cousins in contracts, wrecking devastation on kingdoms from the South where the region was barren and had creatures I’ve never seen in my lifetime in the north and on the island. In the West, I witnessed the vast sea, extend into the further where all the different adventures breathed fresh life into my soul on our expeditions to explore the ever-changing mundane world.

  Being in confinement for most of my youth, I’ve never encountered such misfortune in a realm, and so many wars all for the sake of controlling a province. The kingdoms I visited in the West were rich with gold and massive castles. I ventured to the east where I watched an enormous wall being built to separate the country. The world was an eerie yet beautiful place. Men enslaved men, and women were oppressed. Children lived brief lives. People were sold into enslavement and held like material objects. Greed filled the minds of monarchs and lords that caused famine and death to hard workers and sympathetic people. Armies spread across the continents to fight for their homes, and they fought for their kings and lords out of allegiance. However, men killed for selfishness. A life wasn’t cherished over the coin. It was the reason the populations of the world would come to my family for contracts.

  Then there was the kindness part of everything that glowed like a beacon in the blackest of nights. Some people thrived together with creativity and amusement through the warmth of family and companions. It was a side to man that encouraged a change in the nature of living through affection and generosity. They developed and innovated together colossal architecture and produce Art. Poetry and the written word were conveyed with the soul instead of the prideful ego. The essence of the world had miraculous colors through love and gratefulness, flourishing in the souls of man. Unfortunately, it all just reminded me of how it no longer resided in my heart, that warmth of love and friendship.

  For my first contract, I had to hunt a slave trader in the outskirts of Rome. The man had sent many to their deaths in the Arena to fight for their lives. A widowed wife who had been sold to a lord, desperately wanted revenge for the life of her husband. The woman had nothing else left to live for after her husband’s death, and she had no future that would ever bring happiness again. It sealed her fate into servitude, and she knew freedom was out of reach.

  I sympathized with her and the circumstances she suffered, so I made her a deal I would never allow to anybody else as a Harpy. She wished to die. I offered her the option to live without freedom until she has the audacity to end her life early or she can allow me to feed on her as a settlement, which would lead to a painless death. I assured her she would feel nothing, but peace when she passes. She agreed to the offer and carried out the contract without hesitation.

  I could see she was a lovely wife and had a delightful spirit that reminded me of Amphis. Her hair long and mysterious as the night; eyes dark green with the anguish of her shattered heart. The touch of her skin fair and delicate as my fingertips skimmed her arm; pulling her close. Her lips seemed like silk against mine when I kissed her.

  I confided as my lips care
ssed her ear. “You can escape this life in ease. There is nothing left to worry about because I’ll take care of everything. Wherever you go after this life, I hope you find peace once again.”

  Her heart race against my chest as she succumbed to the ecstasy of my pheromones. It didn’t take much to seduce a mundane since they became aroused too easy under my subjection. My touch reached deep inside her until she fell into bliss, and the pores of my skin shifted and opened to the essence of her energy. Then her life force absorbed into my body, sending me into a tranquil high. She tasted as good as her misery disappeared into my arms until the pounding beat of her heart became faint. I gave her mercy and held her tight until the end. Her body draped in my arms as the soul left her body. She was finally at peace. My flower… May you bloom beautifully in a new life. Farewell.

  I called upon Phyla and Pharah. They appeared out of a large black hole that manifested in the corner of the chambers. Their skin smelled of cinder, and eyes red as fire as they glared at me, waiting for an order. Deep in my black heart, I understood the pain of my victims’ sorrows.

  “Phyla… Pharah.” She deserved to be honored with my wrath over this household. “Slaughter everyone in this home. No one leaves here alive.”

  The hounds disappeared into the halls where I heard screams in the night. Objects crashed throughout the house as the hounds’ wreaked havoc on their victims. Glass broke on the tile, scattering shards everywhere as I walked the halls. Blood stained the concrete walls, dripping in crimson red down to the floor. All their agonizing voices echoed in my ears like a choir. I listened blissfully to the sounds of screaming women and men as their bodies were being ripped apart.

  In the end of it all, there was a pleasant silence, easing my heart with satisfaction when everyone met the fate of my loyal hounds. Bodies lied lifeless, making puddles of sweet crimson on the floor. When the blood spread to my boots, I knew this is who I am. I had no remorse for the lives I’ve taken. Next was the slave trader.

  It was in the dead of night when my hounds hunted him down. They chased him through the abandoned dark streets near the home he had established with all the blood money of slaves. He reeked of wine, opium and had a nasty smell that expelled off his clothes as he soiled himself at the sight of me. I could smell him from afar and heard him gasping while he sprinted frantically through the dark, dirt roads.

  The moon was blood red, beaming a light on my face as I manifest my bow. The hefty bald man stumbled in the streets, running desperately for his life. His exhaustion drained his body to the point of losing balance, and he tripped over his own feet and tumbled into the dirt. Phyla and Pharah no longer had to run because he only crawled due to breaking his ankle during the fall.

  I pulled the bowstring with the force of my index and middle finger while holding, gripping the arrow that formed in the direction of the man. He screamed in the dark, but no one dare to come out of their homes to assist. He was in my sight and I released the string. The arrow cut through the wind until it struck through the back of the wobbling man. It pierced clean through his chest, but he was alive for a short while to get a glance at me.

  Phyla and Pharah approached him, growling ferociously and frightening him into a panic with their fiery red eyes. Then within the sight of his fear, I order them to rip him apart from limb to limb. The hounds did as commanded and his blood painted the street. He didn’t make a sound as their teeth tore through his flesh; not even a yelp from his trembling mouth. His eyes were wide and lifeless as Phyla and Pharah continued to feed off of him; their teeth ripping his gut and pulling out his intestines.

  Suddenly, I sensed a familiar presence behind me. “What do you think mother?” I asked with a grin as I turned to gaze at her in the shadows. “Was it worthy of your approval?”

  My mother stepped into the light of the moon. “You have done well for your first contract,” she carried a slight bit of disappointment in her tone. “Have you not considered that you let your rage rule your actions? Those people you murdered at the home weren’t a part of the contract. We don’t kill out of spite. You should have learned that by now.”

  “Tsk-tsk, I understand your disappointment mother.” I turned my back to her and continued to watch the hounds enjoy their meal. “For the sake of your blackened heart on the matter, I have no intention of causing another massacre for a while.”

  “Why did you have to take her life?”

  “She wanted it,” I answered. “You forget, mother, I have to feed. It was a fair trade for a contract with me, and she paid her debt in full without fail.”

  “She reminded you of Amphis, didn’t she?” My mother asked. “She didn’t look like her, but something about her triggered your emotions. Is that why you took advantage of her? Did it feel good to take the life of someone that reminds you of that forsaken Sea Nymph?”

  “None will ever be her,” I replied with anger. “She was not here to take her place.”

  “You need to let go of whatever rage rampages inside you over that woman. Move on from her.”

  “Hmmmm… I don’t know how that’s possible, mother. I am half Demon, you know. What’s worse than a grudgeful Demon? A grudgeful Harpy. I have an infinite lifetime to live out my hate for her.”

  “Your father wouldn’t want you to act this consumed by such insatiable hate,” she stated.

  “Yes, he would, mother.” I approached her face to face. “My father has infinite hate towards you. You kept me a secret from him. Did you know, I too am a lord heir to the Underworld? We haven’t discussed this, have we? What happened to the talk you promised me?”

  “Yes, your father is one of the Demon lords. And yes, I knew he would want you to be the heir to the Demon council. How I conceived with a Demon lord… It was a long hard deal I had to make. He needed an heir, and I offered to give him one since he couldn’t win the heart of the Demon Princess Armenia. In your birth, he would have named you as the next Demon lord. In the event of the Demon king and the princess’s death, you would be eligible for the throne. Your lineage is second in line. Unfortunately, I didn’t hold up my end of the bargain. I lied to him about your birth. I told him I lost you six moons in and that was that…”

  “Hence why he hates you.” I interrupted her. “So, you know he gave me some of his power. His hunger for souls’ ache in my body.” The mere thought of it I experienced chills down my spine about the souls my father captured into the dark space. “Mother, I can’t help having this hunger. I’m not like my cousins at all. They have no idea that I’m nothing like them. None of them have to feel this. You created me to become a monster of this world. It’s only now the beast inside my soul has been unleashed. And yes… That sweet innocent girl reminded me of her. She was beautiful. Her essence… She almost tasted like her. That feeling of her slipping away gave me such a rush. She wanted to be free. Not to remain as the caged bird she was. Amphis is now a caged little bird in the hands of Poseidon. I can feel her still deep inside me as if we're twins in this life. Her sadness inside me. Her loneliness.”

  “You are twin souls,” my mother whispered to herself.

  “Is that what you call the connection we have?” I giggled deviously. “Oh my, I wonder if she knew all this time. Then again, I've always wondered why our link was so strong. It still is even though she’s far to reach.”

  I heard my mother gasp. “You can never break the link.”

  “I would never want it to break, mother,” I replied with content. “Her life is an eternity like mine. But can she live forever with the pain of all the lives lost under me? I wonder.” I snapped my finger, and the hounds stopped feeding. “Phyla… Pharah… Have a good evening mother. The night is young and I’m still hungry.” I kissed her on the cheek and made my way into the darkness of the city streets. “Tonight, was the first kill to be remembered. I will forever remember that woman.”

  My mother now has her true heir to the dark throne. No one stands a chance against me. With my loyal hounds, hunting by my side, I
was now the true, Dark Princess.

  AMPHIS STORY

  CHAPTER XVI

  The Ocean Goddess

  IT HAD BEEN YEARS AGO I ARRIVED ON THIS Island. The home I cherished was now just a remote memory. Now this cove has turned into my home through the sunrises and twilights of my way of life.

  While gazing from the shore and away into the infinite ocean, the days clashed together, and I no longer acknowledged the shift in seasons as time no longer had importance to my reality. I was alone on the far border of this paradise island, away from Queen Celaeno’s absolute power over the creatures that settled in her kingdom. Obligating under her authority was the price I had to pay for the asylum she granted. If that Sea God hadn’t set his sights on me. I would have been still swimming with the mermaids, free in a realm filled with the sea creatures I treasured so much. I loathed the God for his perseverance to make me his bride.

  I never continued out my life without being trailed around the realm to be someone's possession. That’s all I would be to a character like Poseidon who’s been unrelenting in his pursuit of me. Why couldn’t he accept that I didn’t wish to be with someone I didn’t love?

  He pursued me to the boundaries of the world, seeking to charm me into his company. I learned from the moment he made his presence known; he didn’t love me. His obsession was only due to the idea of me. Yes, I had my beauty, but I also had a heart. My family consistently encouraged me to wed him, I would gain a prominent position as the wife of a God. They didn’t consider; I valued my heart higher than status. No one supported what I wanted for my own existence, so my only alternative was to leave behind all and everybody I knew. Poseidon and my family had pushed me to seek refuge in the place I detested the most. The island dominated by Harpys. The one place where no dimensional God could enter without the approval of the Dark Queen.