Till Death Do Us Kill

Chapter 6 - Kieran

The hotel was a wreck, he had wanted to stay at one of the other houses they owned but had forgotten to grab the keys to one before leaving. As he sat on the bed, he couldn’t help but think of everything that had gone down since the night before. It had been late, the sun not yet risen when he got up from their bed together, leaving to hunt down the man she had been with, it was part of his gift after she had made him immortal, the ability to track. He could smell the mans scent from miles away, following the smell down the streets and through the alleys. Eventually the smell had become mixed with something else… blood. The metallic tang to the air growing stronger and stronger as he came upon the body, the birds already beginning to pick at what little his love had left behind.

He couldn’t help but compare as he had looked at the man, trying to figure out what Eleanora had seen in him worth losing their marriage over. He had never understood with any of the others either, but this one… she had never used his full name, ever, she had always called him Kier, never Kieran. So when she called him by his name, he knew something was different with this one, something had ruined her, ruined what they had once had, ruined everything that they had worked to build. His eyes had been drawn to the gaping wound in his chest where his heart had once been as he tried to clear his thoughts, his eyes trailing over the wound, up to where the birds had begun picking at his eyes and skin, making their way back down to the pants half drawn around his waist. My blood had run cold, I hadn’t smelled semen on her when she came home, had she slept with him…? Had she finally been with someone else? All these centuries she had killed, I knew some part of her longed to be able to get something more from her victims, but I never thought it was s*x she was after.

A chill had gone down my spine as i thought of everything that may have transpired between the two of them before she killed him. Despite her status now, she had once been known as one of the strongest warriors alive, it had never mattered to her that she was a queen, when war came, she always ensured she was on the front lines, ready to strike at a moments notice, and it hadn’t just been with spells either, she had successfully managed to combine the skill of both combat, and magic into one brutally unstoppable force. Not only that, but she had been notorious for her torture tactics, making a grown man squeal in minutes where others took hours, sometimes days.

I shook my head, clearing the remnants of the thoughts going on in my head, pushing away the idea of her with another man, whether she was torturing him or not. My phone rang, jolting me further out of my thoughts, I looked down at the screen to see Michael, my best friend pop up on the screen, a groan escaping before I had a chance to stop it. The man had been there for me through everything when it came to my marriage and losing our daughter, but I really did not feel like speaking with him right now… sighing in resignation, I picked up slowly, his voice cutting in quickly before I even had a chance to speak.

“Kieran! Long time no speak man, where the hell have you been!? I heard from a little birdy that you and Eleanora are separated, what happened! Did she slip into old habits again? Is she using magic? Did she side with the rebellion!?” I shook my head as he kept rambling on and on, his voice getting louder and louder with each word, the ridiculousness of the situation making me chuckle humorlessly. I let him continue, no longer bothering to pay attention. The rebellion had been stopped over a hundred years ago, the only thing still around these days the stragglers who were too tired and worn down to continue fighting. Humans were always weaker, no matter what tricks they had tried to use against the witches in past wars. He knew without a shadow of a doubt that even if, and that was a big if, the rebellion had come back, that Eleanora would be nowhere near it. She hated humanity as much as the witches did, but she hated the witches more. They were her most despised creations, the magic they had been imbued with coming from her own energy. I waited a moment longer, Michaels silence on the phone finally giving me the break to be able to say what was needed.

“Michael, always good to hear from you. To answer your questions, yes, Eleanora and I separated, yes she slipped into old habits, no she didn’t use magic, and you know as well as I do that the rebellion disbanded after the last war, so no, she didn’t side with the rebellion. She came home last night smelling of blood and another man, so I went out and found him, brought him back to the house, and propped her up for him to see when she woke up this morning. We argued, I ended things and left, it’s as simple as that.” When I finally finished speaking, I released a breath I hadn’t realized I was holding. Michael still hadn’t spoken, the line quiet enough you could hear a pen drop in the background. It was a long while before he finally spoke. “So it was bad enough to bring out the old you? That’s a terrifying thought…I didn’t think that anything could bring out that side of you again, the two of you were unstoppable back in the day before you got married… not that the two of you aren’t still terrifying, but back then you were…well, you were legendary. There was no one around that hadn’t heard of the chaos that would come to those who upset either of you, though I suppose that all changed moreso when Lorelai was born rather than when you got married.” I released a sharp intake of breath at Lorelai’s name, almost forgetting the whole reason for the argument with Eleanora.

I thought back to the time before our daughter, when Eleanora, or Nell as I had called her then, would spar alongside each other, training and becoming stronger as one. Michael was right, we had been ruthless, and while Eleanora’s ruthlessness continued after our daughter was born, I had adjusted to the new role as a parent, understanding that kindness was needed in order to parent our child the way she needed. My thoughts shifted back to the topic at hand, the memories of our lost child too much to battle with, especially with her mother no longer with me. Between this and his rambling we had already been on the phone for what felt like hours and my patience was beginning to wear thin, my tone slipped to that with a heavier edge to it before speaking.

“I take it you didn’t call just to go down memory lane Michael, and while under better circumstances I may be willing to say more about my marriage, you know she’s not something I want to speak about right now. Nor do I gather she is why you called, so what is it you needed?” Michael cleared his throat loudly on the other end, his next words both an attempt at humor, and severity. “Well, its funny you should ask that, considering we were just speaking about the rebellion and all, but the truth is… I have reason to believe that the rebellion is in fact still active, not only that, but that the witches are plotting to start another war here in Litgan.” I listened intently, not buying into it for a second, however, feeling the need to humor Michael. “And why, pray tell, would that have any interest for me? I’m not a witch, nor am I human any longer… if you think it would interest me because of my wife you’re mistaken Michael. She is free to do as she pleases, though I doubt you will find her fighting alongside them either.” Michael stayed quiet, letting me finish before he spoke the last words I had expected to hear.

“Kieran… I have reason to believe that the witches rebellion is being led by Lorelai…your daughter.”