Estimated reading time: 22 – 37 minutes
Chapter One
“A Love That Couldn’t Last…”
The morning had already been too long, but Alice clung to the frenetic orderliness. After Yukio’s predictably inspiring speech, she left his side and melted into the dispersing crowd. She lost herself to duty, directing several Cells to the appropriate doorway. Directors H. and K. headed the Ambers and took complete care of their inexperienced charges. This left Alice, Yukio, and the other Alphas to direct their Cells.
“Alice, the Alpha meeting will take place at 16:00 R-Time, correct?”
“Yes, Alpha Cardinal. The others are aware as well.”
“See you then.”
Alice nodded, not acknowledging the pity in Sebastien’s electric blue gaze. She turned away, leaving the lovely Draconian to his legendary perceptiveness and fickle generosity.
Dragon’s blood is dangerous to secrets. They see everything all too clearly.
Alice kept her poise, smiling when necessary and perfectly in control. She nodded in farewell to old companions and to new faces. She noted more than a few smirks but the searing gazes couldn’t penetrate her walls.
She refused to bleed.
Alice occasionally suffered a chill when Yukio passed close by. It doesn’t matter she chanted silently, wishing she could be anywhere else.
Wishing she could take back her heart, wishing her lover was hers once more, wishing Alpha Blanc Elise had never been able to become Yukio’s bride.
He’s going to marry her. As soon as he leaves here he’s going to marry her and have tons of baby snow demons. And everyone knew but me…until today.
Once the five lines were formed and ready, Alice took her place at the head of Noir. She kept her gaze steady and sure, even when Yukio stood a fraction of an inch closer than normal. She didn’t move away or acknowledge him. Instead, Alice ignored the cold burn sliding down her throat. She watched the lecture hall empty as each cell disappeared into their exclusive world.
I’m tied to this place with only one way out and right now I just don’t wanna do it. Knowing it’ll mean that he marries Elise that much sooner. God, I’m so stupid! Let that bastard marry her and live centuries with someone just like him. See how fun that can be!
Yellow, green, red, and white lights burst in cyclical order across the mammoth hall, painting it in philosophical shades of enlightenment, futility, and duty.
Why didn’t I see this coming? Why did I think I was different? Why did I think HE was different?
Only Noir was left in the hall. Alice pivoted in unison with Yukio. The doorway pulsed once, signifying the stone key was ready for their imprint. Alice waited as it transfigured from the astrological symbol of Mercury into Zaltu, the Assyrian goddess of strife. She didn’t bother to look over to see what Yukio’s key had become.
If it’s Ishtar I know I’ll freakin’ lose it and belt him across the mouth.
She placed her left palm on the warm stone while Yukio reflected her movements on the opposite side. Darkness flooded the hall and the world disappeared in an instance.
Time stopped when the Noir Group entered their realm. Alice couldn’t deny the excited curiosity curling inside her mind.
What am I going to see this time? A chateau? Tent by the river? Skyscraper penthouse? Private beach? Tree house in the Amazon? What?
The tiny smile tugging at her soft mouth disintegrated. A total absence of color blinded Alice. She blinked several times trying to make sense of the world while snow continuously pelted her face.
“Beta Noir Jasmine, what do you see?”
“Sunny skies on the Riviera.” She arched brown arms above her head before slipping a hand in her partner’s. Their standard issue black military gear wavered beneath Alice’s squint. She caught the glimpse of a bikini and surfing shorts as the two strolled away to presumably a beach.
The eleven other couples detached from their line. As with Beta Noir Jasmine and Eric, they all experienced a different landscape with their clothes as reflection.
Power suits, rugged jeans, formal wear, paint-spattered smocks, and business casual drifted by until only Alice and Yukio were left.
Soft fur fluttered about her cheeks. She touched the parka hood with one hand before looking down. Her gear had transformed into a white winter ensemble guaranteed to make her blend into the snow-covered mountains.
“Alice.”
She blinked once, her only sign of agitation. “Yes?”
Yukio’s clothing had become much lighter than hers. His coat had become a robe, much like those worn in Christian art. The thin garment wouldn’t do much to protect his skin from the elements. However, Yukio didn’t need it. Snow storms were his playground.
Apparently as a Noir he had all the advantages over her, emotionally and physically.
“Our quarters are up ahead.”
She squinted again. The shape of a building flirted with her vision, but refused to become substantial in this hostile world of ice and wind. Frustrated, she fished in her pocket until she found a pair of snow glasses. Slamming them on her nose, Alice enjoyed temporary relief but her mood immediately soured when she saw just how tiny their quarters were.
How am I supposed to avoid him if he’s living on top of me? That’s the probably the point. I can’t avoid him and get the hell out of this fucked up Genesis program. All I want is my Purifier tattoo and I’m outta here. If I never see Yukio again it’ll still be too soon.
Alice held in her hiss of dismay and started walking ahead. The combined sounds of howling wind and crunching snow did nothing to deaden her senses. She couldn’t hear Yukio’s echoing steps but she could feel the ripples of his glide. In contrast, her steps were slow, clumsy, and faltering.
“Do you need help?”
The whisper insinuated itself inside her frozen brain, igniting Alice’s precarious rage.
“Absolutely not.” The words were without inflection of emotion.
“I can carry you. It’s not a burden at all.”
“You don’t have to accompany me. This is your domain, Yukio. Feel free to evanesce to quarters.”
“We’re partners.”
“Obviously.” Alice noted his glide had stopped. She kept walking.
“Nothing’s changed.”
Alice gritted her teeth, clipping the hateful words ready to fly from her throat.
“Sebastien spoke to you. What did he say?”
Alice’s mouth pursed into an unflattering mesh of fury, hurt, and shameful relief that Yukio had noticed—not that she gave a damn to acknowledge the last bit.
“He asked me if I was free to finally give his ten inches a try. I told him I’d pencil him in for next week R-Time. So the faster we get through this the faster I can get to Real Time. So move your ass, Yukio, and let’s go.”
The wind rose into a deafening screech before disappearing completely. The snow froze in place, hanging indefinitely upon a piqued god’s will.
“If I believed that for one moment I’d keep us here forever.”
Alice smiled with venomous joy and continued walking.
The snow descended again, gently, brushing against her reddened cheeks and lips in apology. Yukio kept pace with Alice. His silence mimicked hers.
Alice loathed the crunching sound each of her steps made. She despised the cold greedily latching onto her skin, beginning with her feet and spreading outwards. The chill wrested control of her lungs, making it difficult to draw breath without suffering its nasty bite.
I’m so tired already and I’ve only been here forever.
She ducked her head down. Concentrating on putting one foot in front of the other, Alice trudged along in silence. Her movements bespoke of determination and focus but her mind whirled with liquid resentment.
I hate winter. I hate snow. I hate white. I hate Yukio. I hate Elise. I hate everybody. I hate it all.
The mantra repeated itself. Begin. Hate winter. End. Hate it all. Over and over it spun inside her mind, slinking into her until Alice’s entire body seethed with resentment and hatred.
Alice’s feet finally reached wood, jarring her from the endless loop of rage. She looked up to see Yukio waiting at the top of the stairs. Alice battled to keep her expression a blank slate. Inside, she keened in despair.
His beauty hurt. Brilliantly white, from his hair to his skin down to his robes. Yukio’s silver gaze burnt through Alice’s maddened pain. It spoke to her, promising to love her despite his betrayal.
It promised a lie.
Alice swallowed down her tears. Feigning a confidence she couldn’t possibly feel, she walked up the stairs to meet him. Yukio didn’t allow her to pass. “I’m cold and tired, Alpha Noir. Move.”
His supple mouth twitched. Alice scored a hit by dismissing any personal connection with him. Sadly, she was too heart sore to revel in a miniscule victory.
Yukio moved aside. He opened the door and ushered her in with a courteous wave. Alice brushed past him, took off her glasses, and studied the prison she’d been assigned. As blinding as the world was outside, the inside was every clean freak’s worst nightmare and most inspiring challenge. Countless variations of white were present in the dispassionately modern room.
What’s my goal here? Figure out how to keep this place clean? I can imagine it now—Purifier tattoo miraculously appears after I’ve battled dirt and grime with every cleaning product known and unknown to man!
Alice smothered the beginnings of hysterical laughter. She kicked out one foot. Muddy snow clung to the top. She didn’t need to lift her leg to know dirt was embedded beneath. She toed off each boot with a bit of struggle. Alice plucked them off the floor and turned them upside down. Careful not trail dirt across the floor, she went in search of a shower.
Yukio had remained in the tiny foyer, silent and courteous as always. Always perfect, always an exquisite example of Pureblood breeding.
Always except for this morning.
“Alice, you have to stop.” Yukio pried her clever fingers from his belt buckle.
“Why?” she breathed against his neck. Alice lost herself to the intoxicating pleasure that came with caressing her lover. “Initiation is two hours away.” She nuzzled him before nipping his chin.
Yukio dipped his head and tasted the mouth she offered. His tongue swirled against hers greedily. He didn’t protest when Alice led him across the room and onto their bed.
Minutes later after a vigorous fucking, and while still in his lover, Yukio whispered, “I’m marrying Elise after Genesis.”
Once, they would’ve immediately tumbled into bed. Eagerly, they would’ve put their mark on every room until Yukio cried out in exhaustion, leaving Alice to coax him for one more round.
I’m not going to survive this. Every second with him is killing me. Soon it’s going to kill him. I know it. I’ll find a way to throw him in the Amazon. Bye-bye.
Halfway across the room, she threw over her shoulder, “I take it you don’t care which room I get.”
“There’s only one bedroom.”
His words jerked her. Alice stopped in the middle of the living room and slung her head towards him. “How do you know?”
Yukio lifted his chin, appearing implacable and supple at once. “There is only one.”
Blue clashed with silver, neither willing to back down. “You had something to do with it.”
“We’ve always slept in the same room.” The monotonous tone belied the storm brewing in his mercurial stare.
“Now we don’t.”
“I disagree.”
“There’s nothing to disagree about, Yukio. I’m taking that bedroom. You can either conjure up another one or you can sleep in the living room. I don’t really care.”
“I won’t do either. You will sleep with me in that bed just as you’ve done since Jade Cell.”
Alice’s logic whispered soft words of, “Calm down. Don’t let your humanity take over. Show him you’re just as bloodless.” Her rage only shouted two words, “Fuck that.”
Alice chose the better of the two emotions.
“You arrogant, egotistical, worthless excuse for a man. How dare you think to tell me where and who I’ll be sleeping with?” Alice flung her boots at him, taking petty satisfaction when they slapped against his immaculate chest. “How dare you think I’ll ever let you touch me again?”
Yukio took her abuse without an outward murmur of protest. However, his stare bored into Alice, more inflamed than she had ever seen before. “You belong to me and nothing you say or think you feel will change that.”
“You think?” she growled in a clotted voice. “You are clearly delusional and entrenched in a deep state of stupidity to think that load is even close to being true.”
Yukio bristled. Liquid flame swirled within his dangerous stare. “You always knew I couldn’t be bound solely to you, Alice.”
“Correction—you choose not to be bound solely to me.”
“I cannot make decisions based on whims.”
“Whims? Loving me and being faithful to me is a whim?” Bitterness laced her caustic laugh. She held up her hand and sneered, “No! Don’t answer that—I already know.”
“I’m the heir, Alice. My life is not my own. I owe it to the Yamagata clan to continue the line. Both sides of them, Alice, not just the Pureblood side. I want you to be the mother of my human children. I want it more than anything else.”
Alice honed in on the softened lines of his proud face. Yearning for him threatened to decimate her rage. “No! You’re not going to do this. You are NOT going to play the victim here!”
“If we’re victims we are because of you. I want to marry you as well. You know it’s quite common for there to be two marriages, Alice.” Her stony silence forced him to hiss, “You know it! Right now scores of weddings will be taking place soon. Nephilim promotes this for a reason.”
“They may promote but it doesn’t mean I’ll ever accept it.”
All weakness melted from his countenance. He drew away from her, untouchable and remote. “Then I don’t have a choice.”
“You have a choice, Yukio. You’re choosing to cling to Pureblood supremacy rather than to lose your pristine reputation.”
“You’re a hypocrite, Alice. You claim to understand this world but you still don’t get it. I have a duty to my family. I have a duty to Elise.”
Alice’s fingers curled, biting deep into her palms. “You have a duty to me.”
“I’ve been betrothed to Elise longer than you’ve been alive. I could never shame her by tossing her aside.”
“Oh, but you can shame me? You can humiliate me in front of Genesis? Why? Oh, I know. Because I’m just a dirty human, right? Offspring of Eve, like you by the way, but just on the wrong side. My feelings can’t possibly compare to precious Elise’s because I’m no better than a dumb animal who can talk. Right? Right?! Well you know what—fuck you, Yukio.”
“Don’t use that language with me!” he snarled. “You will conduct yourself in a manner befitting your station, Alice. Do not make me remind you again!”
“Suck it, Yukio,” she shot back crudely.
The room’s temperature instantly dropped by several degrees.
“I’ll forgive your impertinence because of what’s happened. Don’t seek to push my generosity.”
Alice was possessed by the very real urge to throw herself on the ground and cry. Betraying her with a secret engagement was bad enough but to not even care for what it was doing to her? Unforgiveable.
“Generosity? Well, I would hate to hear what you’re like when you’re not being generous, Yukio. Or should I start calling you Yamagata-sama? Is that’s what expected of me now?”
“I will not apologize for this, Alice. You should’ve known.”
Disgust drew her lips back in a snarl. “I should’ve known. You’re right. I should’ve known what a low-born bastard you are.”
Yukio drew himself up further. His gaze, the only sign of emotion from his impassive expression, crackled with rage. “I should kill you for that.”
“You should but you won’t.” Alice’s smug smile, meant to provoke, was doing a marvelous job. “Just like I should seal you away for betraying me, Yamagata-sama. I know how to do it and it wouldn’t take much time or effort considering what I feel for you right now.”
“Seal me and you’ll be stuck here as long as I am.”
“Maybe but you’d still be sealed. I think it’s a rather good idea, Yamagata-sama.”
“Stop calling me that.”
Alice cocked her head. “No. I only call my friends by their first name. You no longer fit that category.”
“Childish to the very end, aren’t you?” Yukio stepped closer, attempting to crowd and intimidate the much smaller girl. “I had hoped you would see reason, Alice. I see now that it’s quite beyond you. Your humanity is much to blame for this otherwise you’d see the logic in this solution.”
“Keep insulting me. I welcome it. After all, it just reminds me of what a worthless individual I’ve had the misfortune to be paired with.”
“It doesn’t have to be this way. I understand your pride is wounded but don’t dismiss the last five years of your life with me.”
“We’re far beyond wounded pride here. I loved you. I trusted you with my entire being and you betrayed me. You knew how I felt about dual marriages. You knew how I would feel to know about Elise.”
“You still love me.” Yukio touched a lock of her hair. “My affection for you is still the same as well.”
Alice slapped his hand from her. “Would you listen to yourself? You show about as much emotion as the icicles you control. Once it was amusing.”
Yukio’s hard mouth softened into an enigmatic smile. “My life is not my own, Alice. If it was perhaps I would choose differently. However, I owe it to my family to continue to sire Pureblood children. I cannot allow emotions to cloud my duty. I will marry Elise. That is what I’m going to do.”
“Fine. You do just that, Yukio. I’m not going to try to stop you nor will I interfere.” Alice drew back into herself, anger frozen in stasis. “We both have a mission to complete before we can leave. I suggest we work together to finish that much faster.” She turned on her heel and quickly walked away.
Yukio blocked the entrance to the bedroom. “Is it only Elise that angers you?”
“We already covered this. Now move.”
“She doesn’t hate you.”
“I don’t want to hear it.”
“Elise. She doesn’t hate you. She pities you.”
Tears scalded her eyes. Alice finally broke. Tripping over her words, she warbled, “You…you..what kind of man…how can you say that to me?”
“She’s not your enemy.”
Alice wiped a few renegade tears with the back of her hands. She took a deep cleansing breath. Resignation laced her words. “No, she’s not. You are.”
He shifted, bridging the physical space between them by the merest fraction of an inch. It spoke volumes but Alice was beyond listening to his subtlety and restraint. “I’ve given you everything I can possibly give.”
“Everything but I what I wanted.” Her mouth became a living wound, oozing with pain and misery. “You could’ve waited, Yukio. You could’ve waited to marry her after I was dead. You didn’t have to do it now.”
The air shifted. “Then when you reincarnated I’d still be married to her. What would change?”
“Logic, logic, logic. It’s all you ever want to acknowledge or feel.” Alice studied his porcelain face, looking for any cracks—no matter how tiny—to prove there was a soul beneath. She found none. “All right, how’s this for logic? We were paired because a random combination of DNA markers suggested we’d be a complimentary breeding couple.”
Yukio inclined his head in answer. Looming over her, he looked alien in his still perfection. His beauty, once so fascinating now was empty and useless. Alice shuddered, cold to the core and knowing it would never be warm again.
“Your touch couldn’t freeze me to death like it would any other human. I’d be strong enough to bear your children. Many if we were lucky. They would have our strengths and very few of our weaknesses. Given enough time they might transmute into their own Nephilim line.”
“It can still be, Alice.”
“No. It can’t. Logic can account for every reason, but emotions—my emotions—cannot account for this. There’s a reason why Nephilim created Genesis. You know centuries ago I wouldn’t have had a choice. I’d just be given to you, like a doll, for you to do with as you pleased. You have no idea how much I’ve thanked God since this morning that it’s different. Now, I have a choice.”
“What choice did you think is worth destroying the life we can have?” His contempt scalded.
“I can choose to watch you go between Elise and me. I can choose to watch you leave me to have children with her. I can choose to exist in the background, content with living a human lie. I can choose to have my children culled away from your lineage, hidden and paired off with Purebloods until their humanity is virtually gone. I can choose to be a dark, dirty burden until your line weakens again and I reincarnate back into this mess.”
“Or?” His whisper foretold of Alice’s dangerous will.
“Or I can refuse. I can refuse having my pride destroyed while you run from my bed to hers. I can refuse to allow my husband give his seed to another woman. I can refuse to be treated as a secret and live in truth. I can refuse to have my children turn their back on their human heritage. I can refuse to be seen as inferior and I can refuse it all over again in the next life.”
Alice threw down the gauntlet and dared him to pick it up. She didn’t have to wait long.
“You’re merciless, Alice.” In a movement too fast for her eyes to follow, Yukio’s elegant fingers cupped the back of her head. He clenched them, ceasing her struggles with one fist. “Now you force me to be so as well.”
With those ominous words, Yukio picked Alice up and threw her on the bed. She fell hard before he joined her in a tangle of limbs. Alice delivered several blows to his cheek, mouth, and throat. Whereas they were once matched equally, now Yukio held her in complete control.
Alice’s adrenaline kicked it up another notch. Fear pressed into her, making it difficult to keep her focus. Yukio had never touched her in this kind of violence. The differences between their species aggressively outweighed the similarities.
She punched, kicked, and clawed but he was too entrenched to be swayed. “Get off me! You bastard—don’t touch me!”
Yukio covered her outraged screams with his lips. They plundered, nipping and licking with no purpose other than domination. His fingers scrabbled at her collar. They traced the crest signifying his possession of her. “Mine. You. Belong. To. Me.” Each word branded by a hard press of his mouth against hers.
Alice’s bottom lip split beneath the pressure. Blood dribbled down her chin. She tried to twist her face away from him, failing that she bit his tongue, but Yukio tightened his hand around her neck. Alice gasped for air, giving him the in he needed to steal his tongue back into her mouth.
Tears gathered. They spilled onto her cheeks. His messy mop of white hair fell into her eyes. Alice’s legs ceased their mad kicking to the backs of his thighs. They fell limply on either side of him. Yukio’s hand kept its steady pressure. She knew he’d keep going until she lost consciousness or until she was dead. Static filled her ears, making it near impossible to head his maddened whispers.
“You’re the first human I’ve ever been able to touch, to hold, to love.”
Alice remembered with hazy recollection his story of coming across a human girl hundreds of years prior. He hadn’t known then his touch could freeze instantly. She’d always carried the imagined image of a peasant girl frozen in mid-kiss, glistening in the sunlight like a perfectly-carved ice sculpture.
Is that what’s going to happen to me? My skin hurts. Is it my bruises or his touch?
Yukio nuzzled her lips, lapping the blood until her wound healed. He raised his head and pinned her with a feral glare. “I’ve always adored you, Alice—even when I thought I hated you. I won’t let you destroy what we have. You will love me back.”
He eased the pressure on her throat. Alice rasped one word. “No.”
Yukio tightened his grip again. “Remember—you brought this on yourself.” Ominous statement spoke, he methodically removed her clothing. He froze each piece, turning it into ice, before shattering it. Alice soon lay naked before him, body shivering with fear, rage, and cold.
“Do this and I swear I’ll find a way to kill you.”
His expression rippled, recycling through love, hate, pity, and indifference. “Perhaps. Or perhaps you’ll realize this is for the better.”
Alice shook her head. Her mouth twisted pitifully. “I don’t even know who you are right now. I probably never did.”
Yukio’s hair fell over his face, shadowing it like a veil. Bent over her form with expression hidden far from her tortured sight, he confessed, “I do love you.”
Alice released a broken sigh. She swallowed against his palm, hating the exorbitant price she had paid for his virgin declaration. “If you love me then why are you doing this?”
“I don’t like hurting you, Alice. I swear I don’t. I wish…I wish it didn’t hurt you like this. I wish you could be like the others. I wish you weren’t who you are but what I wish for would change you from the person I love above all others. I’m at my limits and I don’t know what to do.”
Alice placed her palm over the living flesh encircling her neck like a manacle. “You have to let me go.”
He considered her order. “Will you leave me?”
Alice wavered. She also had wishes. She wished Yukio was different. She wished his bastardy had been enough to keep him out of an arranged marriage. She wished he could belong solely to her. She wished she had never allowed herself to fall so deeply in love with Yukio that she couldn’t entertain the idea of breathing without him by her side.
“Alice, please answer me.” No longer proud, he begged her with those four words. His pleas did not fall on deaf ears. They were simply disregarded.
The young girl lay on a white bed, in a white room, covered by a white man, and stared at a soaring white ceiling. Her tormented gaze shifted. Tiny snowflakes fell ever-so-slowly to the ground. She reached out with one hand and waited for one particular flake. It swayed left to right, up and down. Her palm stayed in place, patient in the knowledge of no matter how much the flake undulated in its own world, it would have no chance but to fall and die.
The maudlin correlations between them were perfect.
Alice ignored the familiar stranger above her. His words melded into frantic kisses—caresses she couldn’t return. She crooked her head to the right. Her crystalline gaze fixated on the one snowflake with unreasonable fervor. She prayed for it to drift further to the right or left. It approached closer and closer, oblivious to its destruction.
Alice felt Yukio pull back. She registered the bare flesh against hers. She felt his cock press against her dry tissues. She didn’t even wince when he plowed forward. Her stare remained constant. Yukio’s hand cut off her air. Moments flew with him violating the one woman he loved. Moments crawled with her dying by the one man she loved. In the recesses of her mind, Alice realized Yukio’s intent, knowing hers as well.
She reached out, no longer patient for the flake to rest in her palm. Instead, she grabbed for it. Alice wanted to destroy it. She needed for it to disappear.
Yukio’s thrusts quickened. He squeezed his hand as tightly as she reached with hers. Alice’s world shrunk down to one flake. She couldn’t die until it did.
It won’t hurt. I promise. I’ll kill you quickly. I’ll set you free and you’ll never have to wander again.
Alice couldn’t hear Yukio anymore. She couldn’t feel his hips grinding against hers. The snowflake, just out of reach, continued its death waltz. Alice awaited it with a mottled face and a blue smile.
Yukio stiffened. Euphoric pleasure surged through him in spite of his brutality, or perhaps because of it. He rested his head next to hers.
Alice strained; neck tilted back for the symbolic blade. Irrationally, she tied her existence with the flake’s. As long as it existed, so did she.
And existing was not on the top of Alice’s priority list.
Yukio whispered nonsensical murmurs of fidelity and devotion. He promised to love her for eternity, to seek her out when she came back, to make it so she’d never know of Elise.
He spoke of forgiveness.
He spoke of many stupid things.
Alice’s last moments weren’t filled with visions of past love, vengeance, or even murderous desperation.
She just wanted to kill that one fucking flake.
Fingers splayed so wide they quivered, Alice finally succeeded.
The poor snowflake was as dead as they were.
Yukio rocked his hips against hers one last time, greedy to prolong his selfish pleasure, when all physical ecstasy died. His crystalline stare mirrored the resigned horror in hers. Alice used their final moments to prove a point.
There were worse things in life than to murder the one you loved.
Yukio shuddered. Spasms possessed his delicate hand and just like that—he broke Alice’s neck. He groaned, incoherent and apoplectic with spittle running down his chin.
Her tongue lolled, swollen and ugly in her mouth. Eyes glassy with the sheen only a corpse could ever attain.
Yukio keened inside. Sanity vied to turn his mind into a pile of loathsome mush. His adored girl lay dead by his hand. It was worse than the killing her with one touch. It was far, far worse than what he had done to Yukiko so many years ago.
He slumped over her, locked inside his mind, never realizing his body had stilled the moment hers did. Never knowing Alice had sealed him with her death.
The snow stopped. Countless flakes hung indefinitely suspended in mid-air. Death permeated their sterile environment. It reflected them all too well.
Alice and Yukio failed to no one’s surprise—least of all themselves.
Image Credit: pdufour @ Stock.Xchng
I’ve missed Julian & Lily as well. I’m...