by Steven Evans
“What’s wrong, my love, are you not excited to see me?”
“You know a man’s erection doesn’t pair well with freezing temperatures.”
My look of embarrassment made her laugh again but it didn’t sway her from her objective. She leaned down close to my waist and blew a warm breath across my lap. Everything thawed quickly and was in good working condition once more.
“There my love…better?”
She was instantly on top of me again and riding to the rhythm of our breathing, moaning and chanting, swaying and arching her back to feel every inch of the forced love she was receiving. Still, as hard as I tried to fight the natural instinct to enjoy this moment…my body betrayed my efforts.
Through her moaning and sighs she demanded, “Wait for me. We have to do this right. Timing is everything, my love.”
“How am I supposed to wait? You’re in control! I’m just here!”
She continued grinding herself into me with no concern for my complaints. This time when she reached orgasm she just collapsed in total exhaustion but the whole house came to life. If it was not tied down, it was flying through the air and crashing into the walls. The windows exploded and the door flew off the hinges and ended up in the yard. The only hint of light was beaming in from the moon. My recliner was now lying over on its back and she was flung over the top of me. She was so tired, all she could do was laugh. With her energy spent, her power over the straps eased and I slid down beside her.
I whispered softly… “Did you get what you needed that time?”
She didn’t answer. She just stayed still, lying there on the ground and panting.
“Can you at least give my clothes back? Some things just don’t look all that impressive after they’re deflated. As much as I’m allowed to participate in these little sessions, you may as well just throw some batteries in my ass for extra energy and call me BOB.”
I was trying to make her laugh and throw her off guard a little, but it didn’t work. She never even cracked a smile. Again, she didn’t answer, only smirked a little in agreement, but my clothes returned. I was lying there looking at her and she looked peaceful, almost content. She seemed to be happy, like she finally accomplished her goal, but she wouldn’t let me know for sure. I don’t know what possessed me to ask but I just thought knowing her name might bring a little clearance to my thoughts.
“Hey, is it against the rules to tell me your name, or is that also something I just have to figure out myself?”
She gathered her composure and slowly got dressed. She was looking at me curiously, as though she thought I had an ulterior motive for asking, but after a couple of minutes she brushed her hair to the side and held it there. She leaned over to my ear and whispered, “Weeping Willow… My name is Weeping Willow! I began as something different, someone weak and pathetic like you, but I evolved into something spectacular. You couldn’t begin to understand my transformation, so I won’t waste my words on an explanation. My given name at birth was Katherine Palmer, but she is gone… Now, all that exists is Weeping Willow!”
“So, Weeping Willow can I expe-”
She disappeared without saying a word and I was left in the wake of the mess she had created. At least this time I was given her true name and the name of the monster she has become as well. Maybe, just maybe, knowing her names could help decipher this puzzle. All I knew for certain was that I might not be as prepared as the rehab clinic and my Little Angel had proclaimed. This Weeping Willow kept displaying new powers every time she visited, and I dreaded thinking about what she had in store for me next time.
CHAPTER 18
SOUL COLLECTER
THE NEXT DAY I BEGAN SIFTING THROUGH the debris of what used to be my belongings, and I found that damn near everything was broken beyond repair. I did my best to patch things together until I could make a trip into town and get replacements. It was funny, neither of the books I had checked out could be found in the house. One was under the door in the yard, but the other was a little harder to find. It was out by the weeping willow tree and turned open to a page on witchcraft and spells. I thought that was strange. She was so determined that I could find no helpful information, but this had to be a sign. Maybe my daughter was sending me a message. Maybe she wanted me to read this page.
I made my way back to the porch and sat down. I started to scan the page, just to see if anything jumped out at me, but nothing did. I was hoping her name would be a clue leading me in the right direction, but there was nothing in this obsolete piece of shit! My frustration hit a new high and I sent the book sailing across the porch. I needed a drink, something to take the edge off. Looking in the cabinets and seeing that there was no liquor, I slammed the doors shut, stormed to the fridge, and settled for another damn pop. It was probably best anyway, lord knows I didn’t need to fall back in that trap again. Once my anger subsided and my veins returned to normal on my forehead, I went back to the porch. I saw that the book was turned to a different page now, on demonic markings and their meanings. Now I knew my daughter was trying to help, so I sat down and carefully started looking the page over.
It said that there were many reasons demons might mark a human, possession being the main reason. Well, that wasn’t what was happening to me. Then there was sacrifice. Again, not my situation, though she had nearly killed me a few times. Next it said there was binding. That was it, that was me! That’s what she was doing. She had said our souls were bound together for all eternity. But what was the purpose of binding? How did it work? How could I unbind myself? I thumbed through the paragraphs looking for the answers and thought I found it, but as soon as I started reading, the book ignited and turned to embers in my hands.
“I told you there was no way to change it now! Yet, you believe you know more than I do…Why? Have I not proven my powers are more than your weak pathetic existence can ever comprehend? Have I not shown you that your resistance is futile?”
Her displeasure with my continued actions showed in her face and her words became damning once again. She twirled her finger and I was thrown across the porch, and over the railing that still remained in place. She pointed at me and I began to float in the air, my legs flailing about like I could somehow run out of her control. She flicked her wrist and I was tossed through the door onto the floor. I was lying there looking up at her and my fury was more than my common sense could contain.
“You’re a monster!” I screamed. “Go back to Hell where you belong! I’m done with your bullshit! Either kill me or leave me the fuck alone!”
“You think you can give orders and make demands? You imbecile, you have no control!” She flicked her wrist again and my recliner sat upright. I shimmied across the floor on my ass and hopped up into it. I was then tied down and unable to move, I was completely at her mercy, and after pissing her off, I knew she wouldn’t have any to give. Her nails grew into razor sharp claws right before my eyes and I could see the black acid forming in her mouth. The buttons on my shirt were no match for her nails and surrendered their position easily as they fell to the floor. She pulled my shirt apart and bared my chest, the proof of her last visit still imprinted in my skin. The acid escaped from her mouth, dripped down, and immediately melted holes in my chest. Those eyes that once seemed so soft and soothing now only wished to see my pain. Her spell had worked, I had given in to her and allowed myself to be numb and blind to her true intentions, but now it was too late to worry about that mistake.
“Are you ready my love?”
“Hell, just get it over with already!”
“So eager… This is going to hurt… A lot!”
“Well, what are you waiting for? Get on with it!”
“No, I think I’ll make it last a while so I can savor your agony that much more.”
Her nails traced across my chest leaving open gashes. She had one hand held toward the sky and her chanting began again.
I screamed. “Oh Hell, can we do without the damn mumbo jumbo?”
This just c
aused her to smile and sink her claws in a little further. Seeing my blood trickling down my stomach sent her into hysterics. She was enjoying this way too much. She jumped up, walked over to the other side of the room, and stared at me. My head was splitting open from the nonstop flood of thoughts as I was wondering how long she was going to drag this out and if I would be able to endure these trials. She just waited.
It seemed like hours before she moved. At least I wouldn’t die of boredom, now. I guess she read my thoughts, as she sneered. “There are worse ways to die than boredom.”
“Well, I was about there. Is that all you got?” I didn’t know if provoking her was the right thing to do or not, but something had to give. Being tied down and not able to move was a slow death in its own right. “If you’re finished, just leave a tip for your entertainment, they work hard for your pleasure!”
She smirked. “Sarcasm, that’s good, real good. You’ll need that if you wish to survive tonight.”
“What if I don’t care if I survive? What if I’d rather just give up and say screw it, it isn’t worth the struggle anymore? What if I said that?”
“Then you would be wasting your breath again. Why can’t you understand that nothing you do will change the outcome tonight? Why can’t you just accept your fate?”
“Maybe if I believed this was actually my fate I would accept it, but I know I’m meant for more. I know this is not where my story ends.”
“My love, you sweet pathetic fool… Your story ended the night you allowed your family to die alone. It ended when you weren’t with them as they drew their final breaths and drowned in their own blood. Your story was written and completed the moment you freely gave me your heart and proclaimed I could do with it as I would. So, don’t speak as though you still have a say in your fate. That has become a foregone conclusion. The only question left now is if you’re going to die with dignity or lose it by begging and pleading for mercy.”
“You are not part of my story. My story I write as I live my life each day, but I’m done begging! Do your worst, I won’t give.”
“We shall see, my love… We shall see.”
The wind began to howl and her hair was blowing gently from side to side. She looked at me longingly as she walked my way. I could almost see a little hint of regret for what she was about to do, but then it vanished as she came closer. She was moving her hands in a circular pattern in front of her, and breathing heavily. I tried to ready myself for what was coming, but it’s hard to know how to get ready for something when you have no idea what it could be, so I braced my arms as best I could against the arms of the chair, trying to prepare myself. Her arms continued the circular movement until she was standing right over me. She was so close, I could feel her warm breath washing over me and her eyes boring holes in my chest.
After a few minutes of chanting, she looked into my eyes and whispered, “Didn’t you ever wonder what the mark was about? Wasn’t your curiosity piqued just a little? Do you want to know now what it is?”
I squeaked. “No, not really, I can do without knowing what the mark is. If it’s all the same to you, I’d like to just skip the whole damn explanation and just move to the part where you disappear and return to Hell where you belong! This mark is just some voodoo hocus pocus that disturbed individuals with simple minds make up in order to scare others… Any run of the mill magician can pull off your amateurish tricks and, hey, Weeping Willow would make one Hell of a stage name.”
“Again, you think you have a vote. You are cute, but that cuteness won’t save you. As I said, your fate is already decided and you can make light of it all you want but, still, you are mine!”
“Do it then…”I demanded. “I’m not getting any younger, and this stress can’t be good for my soul you want so badly.”
That seemed to get her attention, but only for a moment as she continued to chant and move her hands closer and closer to my chest. I could feel a burning, a feeling of muscles being ripped and torn in my chest. She leaned down by my ear and whispered, “Are you ready, my love? The fun is about to start. We’ll see how you handle it.”
I was about to respond when she leaned back up and pressed both hands firmly against my chest right over my heart. I saw something starting to form on the surface of my chest and it was pulling my insides toward it. A symbol appeared and started to glow and vibrate on my chest as her head tilted back toward the sky. She was chanting at a high rate and gyrating on top of me. The mark formed solidly on my chest, and as she moved her hands away I felt my soul being dragged along with them. The mark glowed brighter with each passing second and her words continued to increase in speed. I noticed that there was a matching glow on her chest as well, and the more her hand moved from my body to hers, the brighter the marks grew. She had built an express tunnel between our souls and mine was about to take the exit.
“Can you feel the life leaving your body, my love? I’m siphoning your soul. It won’t be long now. I told you your soul was damned and I’m the soul collector.”
Her ominous laugh was piercing through the night and echoing in my ears. I could feel my strength tiring and it was like I just wanted to go to sleep. I didn’t care if I woke up, I just needed to sleep.
Once, I had given in to the pain, to my sorrow, and it nearly cost me my life, but now I feared I wouldn’t only lose my life but also my humanity as well. I felt helpless to stop it. I had prayed for the memories to end, but now they were all I wanted to know. I wanted to be numb, to be blind to my mourning, because I wasn’t strong enough to handle their loss. But now I wished I could feel their presence again if only for a minute. Had I really become so enthralled with her sexually that I had given up my heart and soul? Had she really put me under some kind of spell or was she just preying on my severely damaged emotional state? Had my sorrow led her to me and allowed her to take control? No, there must be something I could still do! If only I could think.
Suddenly she just stopped. The marks dimmed slightly and I felt my soul returning. She looked at me with those cold dead eyes and I saw tears forming.
“It’s not going to be that easy. You thought it was over didn’t you? You are so pathetic! I want you to suffer, to feel all the anguish and pain I’ve felt for centuries. These past few months of torture will never compare to my agony. Tonight was only a sample of the delights yet to come for you. Your pain has just begun! Your suffering will last until I’m satisfied. Your tears and - yes, my love you will cry - pleas for mercy will fall on deaf ears. Ears that were burned out by flames of jealousy and a heart as numb and as black as the ashes and soot that filled my lungs, until I gagged on them. Once you feel all the things I have dealt with, then I will take your heart and your soul that you so graciously offered by your own free will. Free will, now that’s a bitch isn’t it?”
“You may have been wrongfully accused and horribly punished and even sentenced to a death no human deserves, but what you’re doing now is the same thing. How you’re treating me is how that psychotic mob treated you. There was no justice that night, an innocent woman was sentenced to a witch’s death. You were abused physically, sexually, and every way humanly possible…but…that doesn’t make what you’re doing to me any less unjust! Now, I am the innocent one being judged and sentenced and punished for no worthy reason. I can’t plead or beg for my life. You seduced me into offering you my heart. You claimed my soul when my sorrow blinded me to your intentions, you took advantage of my pain. How is any of that different from what you went through?”
She had a look of complete disgust on her face, “My love, once you are marked, there is absolutely no way to break that connection. So, there is no reason to debate the outcome or argue for salvation because there is none to be found… Not in me, not in you, and not in your so-called God! He abandoned me, just as all other people did, so I have no regard for him either. Now, shall we continue with lesson number two?”
I could see my argument was meaningless to her, so I let it go. I was trying to think of w
ays to get through to her, but nothing was working. Every time I staged a good rally she returned the volley, without blinking or missing a step. There had to be a way, she couldn’t be this closed off to her feelings. There must still be some human part left buried deep under all the hate and vengeance, but how could I uncover it? I had to reach her somehow!
She looked at me so wantonly, with a glazed over stare as if she wasn’t seeing me, but what power my soul might possess. All her attention was aimed at my chest and I could feel the connection between our marks. It was pulling at me, trying to get me to release it, to set it free. But I wouldn’t do it. I resisted!
“Now, my love, that’s no way to treat your soul mate. You need to learn to share, to learn how to play well with others. You know I’m right and there is nothing you can do. Nothing at all. You are mine. Your soul belongs to me and I’m here to collect!”
CHAPTER 19
PERFECT LIGHT
“I THOUGHT YOU WERE GONNA DRAW THIS out and make me really suffer so I could taste your pain? Did you have a change of heart? Did I even make a dent in your resolve to go through with this? Did I scratch the surface of what remains from your human side?”
She looked at her feet and I could tell that she was thinking. She was concentrating intently on something and her eyes seemed to lighten a little. Her mood changed, and as her demeanor relaxed, the air calmed down and warmth returned to it. I saw her nearly lose her balance and she fell to the ground on one knee. I ran over to her and tried to help her up. I was thinking that maybe somehow I had gotten through to her, that I reached her hidden emotions she hadn’t felt in a long while. My arm was around her, gently raising her back up to both feet and I saw a smile on her face.