• They say his sanity has faded
    And that his words are jumbled
    They say he was cute once
    But now his only girlfriend’s a table

    He stared more through the white walls than at them, seeing a scene that only he knew. His eyes were still wide with horror even though the event he saw had occurred over thirty years ago in a place now forsaken by history and fate. To him, these walls were red with blood and blackened by twisting flames as screams vibrated through the air. He lay broken on the ground arms bound behind his back, his lips moving so quickly the words he sputtered were lost.

    His psychiatrist, Miss Felding, stood just outside the room, looking in through the two-sided mirror. Over the years, she had tried to piece together his sanity in order to get information on the day he remembered. It was selfish of her, but then again her own kin had been a part of the tragedy. Everyone had heard of the downfall of Maken Falls, a once large community that had one day suddenly dissolved into violence. A massacre occurred that day, but no one knew the details, except the man that had been left in her care.

    He had been discovered among the corpses, nearly one himself. Blood seemed to have soaked into his very skin, painting it a deep crimson. It took days to clean the tint from his skin, and his hair had to be shaved off, because there was no hope of ever getting it clean. For the first twenty-seven years, he never spoke, instead taking refuge in his silence. But she got him to speak after that, and regretted it ever since. She seemed to have triggered some memory within him, oddly enough, in the form of a rose. He had turned violent, screaming and thrashing. It took several people to restrain him in the end.

    That same day, he had gotten loose from his bonds in a way still unknown, and had painted a scene in his own blood. It was a picture of death. There was no other way to describe it. Death. Ever since that day, his condition had gotten steadily worse and worse. No medication seemed to subdue him, and nothing seemed to calm him.

    Miss Felding sighed and entered the room, her blonde hair swishing in rhythm with each step. Even her entrance didn’t disturb him from his muttering though. He still remained staring at that wall unflinching.

    “Hey, it’s time for our daily visit.” For the thousandth time, she felt silly. No one knew his name, so she was forced to stick with avoiding the subject. “Are you going to talk to me, today?”

    His muttering grew louder, though still rapid and nearly incomprehensible. Today the memory appeared to be fresher and more vivid. Her grip tightened on the clipboard as she watched him. Fear clung to the air. He was afraid, terrified even. And angry, oh so angry.

    But once upon a time
    They say he held the world in a hand
    And did whatever he pleased
    But he froze before a pair of pretty eyes

    Then before her eyes, the wall he was staring at began to crumble. Miss Felding remained frozen as the rest of the room began to also crumble away to make room for another place. Her eyes widened as even her ward began to change. His blonde hair grew out and shone, his body filled out a little more making up for the poor exercise and nourishment he had sentenced himself too, his skin became a little less pale, and overall he became beautiful.

    A short ways away, a man and two women stood sitting in the grass of a beautiful field. The man was rather intimidating. He wore all black and his eyes and hair even matched his ensemble. Strange markings lingered around his eyes, and a threatening air hung about him. His arm lay around a young woman with long raven hair that hung about her face in a flattering fashion. Her eyes were an unusual crimson color that contrasted well with her caramel skin. She spoke quietly with the man, laughing a little at something he said. Her eyes were intimidating with an intensity to them that could frighten anyone.

    The second young woman looked up and spotted the handsome young man that stood a little ways away from them. A smile lit up her feet as she got up, tripping a lit as she ran towards him. Her auburn hair flew out behind her as she ran, and her eyes, two different shades of green, smiled with her as she tackled him to the ground laughing.

    “Dmitri, you’re late!” She laughed. He wrapped his arms around her before kissing her. He laughed when he pulled away.

    “Sorry, Seria. I got caught up in my work again.” With ease, Dmitri picked up the young woman holding her close to him. Miss Felding stood in the background, still clinging to her clipboard. She shook as she took in her new surroundings. She had been to this field before when she was a child. It lay just outside of Maken Falls.

    “Too bad you showed up, brother. I had two beautiful young women to myself.” The second unknown man called from where he sat.

    “I would never leave them alone with you, Osiris. You’d eat them all up.” Dmitri replied with a grin.

    “Never, I’d just eat Lexa.” Osiris grinned back, kissing the woman he was with.

    “Hell if I’d let that happen.” Lexa growled, shoving Osiris onto the ground.

    “WHAT THE HELL IS HAPPENING!!!!!!!!!!” Miss Felding screamed as she stared at the group, throwing her clipboard at them. The group didn’t even notice her at all. She watched as they sat down and enjoyed a picnic as though nothing were amiss.

    “Dmitri, let’s go for a walk.” Seria randomly exclaimed, grasping the appointed man’s hand. Dmitri stood up with no argument following her lead. He merely glanced back and smiled at his brother before starting away.

    “What’s wrong, Seria? Is something on your mind?” Dmitri inquired when they were a ways away. Miss Felding hovered close behind afraid to leave him.

    “I want to leave town soon. I don’t like it here.” Seria confessed as they walked.

    “Are people mistreating you again, Seria?”

    “Not outwardly. It’s just, they hate me.”

    “I don’t believe that. It’s ju-“ Dmitri was interrupted by a scream. Seria jumped, turning to look back to where they came from.

    “Lexa’s in pain…” Before either Dmitri or Miss Felding could comprehend, Seria was running towards where the scream had originated. Soon Dmitri was close behind her. The stench of blood hung in the air, thick enough to taste. Just within sight, a mob of people were seen circled around Lexa. Her crimson eyes glowed with anger and violence. She struck out at people, knocking them back and killing some.

    And even though she adored him
    And he too to her
    They were hunted for what they could not help
    And for what the rest of them feared

    “Where’s Osiris?” Dmitri inquired, automatically looking for his adopted brother. Seria didn’t hesitate as she shoved past people to head towards her sister. The people closest to her, tore at her, spilling blood and trying to cause pain. She let out a loud scream that was drowned out under the mob’s chanting of ‘Witch! Witch!’, but Dmitri still heard her and instead dove into the mob. All he could think about was her. The smell of blood hung in the air as bodies flew into the sky. Osiris had emerged from the bodies, black wings hanging off his back.

    He fought towards Lexa, but it was too late. Dmitri knew it by Seria’s scream. The twin’s were connected in a way that was far too personal and unique for anyone to understand. And one twin died so did the other. Dmitri screamed as he fought through the crowd to reach her, even though he knew that it would be too late. It seemed to take forever for him to wade through the corpses. His mind couldn’t even recall the act of killing them, but he was desperate to reach her. Even if she was dead, even if the life had already been drained from her eyes.

    And there was her body, spilling silver blood across the cool grass as people tore at her once beautiful flesh. He grabbed the first person within reach and began tearing at them until his hands were too numb to feel the blood coating them anymore. Above him, Osiris was a mental mess. Lexa had been his sanity, his redemption. She had kept him from becoming the monster he had been once more. There was nothing left to tell the difference between enemy and friend anymore though, not with her dead. But thankfully before Dmitri’s fate was decided by his brother, more people swarmed over him and darkness consumed his vision. It was a fate he could accept for now. Later if he awoke, he would care for the corpses.

    Miss Felding could only see the murder before her, even as the scene faded away before her eyes. Her mind still replayed it in a continuous horror show that she couldn’t understand. She didn’t notice as the Dmitri she knew pulled the straightjacket away from his form, or as he wrapped it around her figure as though it were a blanketbefore placing a kiss on her forehead and simply walked out of the place. She was still a little too old for his taste, her prime had passed thirty years ago.

    Dmitri only stopped once to pay a visit to the young woman who usually delivered his daily nutrition. He drained the life from her in a kiss and then proceeded to escape towards Maken Falls. No one stopped him, because no one recognized the attractive longhaired blonde walking out. This was not the Dmitri , whom they had found.

    But their hatred and love
    Were stronger than their fates
    And the taste of vengeance
    Hung too thick on their tongues

    Blood seeped through the ceiling to drip down onto her sleeping face. The constant dripping of the still warm liquid was what woke her from her seemingly permanent slumber, forcing her eyes open as another few drops splashed upon her form. At first she didn’t recognize her surroundings, the cold, hard grey walls of what she assumed was a cellar. She still didn’t recognize the place as she struggled to sit up. Her limbs felt numb and heavy as though they were made of some stone, distant from her own body. More blood dripped down from above, and she found herself looking up; a strange hunger building in her empty belly.

    Across from where she lay, a mirror hung on the wall showing off her mangled reflection. Auburn hair was plastered in stringy strips to the side of her face, where the red of the blood slashed through her currently pale skin. Her eyes were hollow pits in a face that for some reason didn’t seem as though it belonged to her. Looking at that reflection, she couldn’t even recall the name that went with that face. Hunger boiled beneath her cool flesh as the sound of blood hitting stone echoed throughout the room, forcing her to move away from the table where she had moments ago been laying.

    This room was a prison for the dead. She knew that much as she gazed around at the mass of other bodies, lying in heaps of tables, or on the bare stone floor, all in various forms of decay. Another fresher corpse hung chained to the floor above her, acting as the source of the crimson liquid that had woken her. Did that mean she was dead? Was she a corpse? Then why did she move while the others remained frozen in their eternal slumber? Perhaps death was playing a joke on her.

    The door opened to the room and she turned to see a beautiful young man. When she looked at him, she was no longer hungry in the sense that she was before. There was a different hunger that drifted from the man she knew she should know. It was a hunger her body had been denied for thirty years.

    Thirty years to the day…
    The day of death and of anger…

    “Dmitri.” If there was one thing that mattered, it was him. He was her god, her love, her master; It was more than love it was obsession. He was the only one who really knew her and would know her for eternity. He had been waiting thirty years for her to breathe once more, and she had spent those same years as a corpse awaiting his arrival.

    “Seria, we still have to meet the others. They’re waiting for us.” Dmitri called. Seria stepped towards him, the stiffness of death leaving her body slowly. He embraced her, and she pressed her cold lips to his, stealing just enough of his energy to bring a blush to her cheeks and life to her death.

    “What took you so long?” She whispered, clinging to him.

    “I had to wait for you to wake up. Nothing else mattered.” He replied, stroking back her hair. “You slept like the dead.”

    “What kind of succubus would I be if I didn’t?” She laughed, pulling away slowly. There was a life to her face that hadn’t been there a few moments earlier, though hunger still gnawed at her insides. She turned to face the door, and Dmitri could clearly see the rose tattoo that crossed over her shoulders.

    Outside, Lexa and Osiris were waiting for them, just outside Seria’s crypt. The twin sisters shared an embrace with Osiris hovering over the shoulder of the older one. They smiled identical grins, and then Seria twirled around in a show of excitement.

    “Osi, I’m hungry.” Lexa pouted as she looked up at her mate, the one who had prevented their true deaths with the price of his sanity and his brothers. Everyone needed to believe the girls were dead, even them. At least until the two could awaken once more.

    “Then let’s go feed…” Osiris smirked. Death was in his smile, for the world was far from safe…

    Until Death no longer held her
    Until his sanity returned
    And until the world was coated in the blood
    Of a reunited lover’s hated