Estimated reading time: 6 – 9 minutes
A single tear snaked down her cheek. The pale-faced woman brushed it away listlessly. Nightmares came in cruelly, spikes tearing into her paper-thin flesh. Memories, ancient and new, melded into a macabre dream book. The ink crimson, the text reprehensible, it told part of a perverse tale.
Soft, chubby fingers clutched at the rotting counterpane. The little girl with a pixie’s face climbed onto the enormous bed, one that had witnessed her conception, birth, and now life. Careful not to touch the lush hills and valley hiding beneath velvet and down, she gazed at the exquisite summit.
“So pretty.” The innocent words disturbed the motes swirling about like dispossessed souls. “So very pretty.” Rapturous euphoria made the little girl’s mind buzz. Falling into temptation, she reached out to touch a softly rounded breast.
She immediately snatched her hand away with a whimper and scooted back, nearly to the edge. Stuffing raw fingers into her mouth, the little girl suckled them much as she wished she could her mother’s breast.
The woman lying there now burned with coldness. Although smooth, every facet of her perfect countenance promised retribution for daring to touch where unwanted.
“I’m sorry,” the little girl whispered.
“It’s not enough.”
The voice droned in her tiny ears. She gasped and her gaze darted fearfully. She slid off the bed, tearing several silken threads in her haste.
“You’ll pay.”
“Mother?”
“No, I’m not your mother.”
Immediately, the little girl sought the comfort of her sleeping sibling. Wrapping her arms around his thin chest, she buried her head beneath his pointed chin.
“I am you. You are me. We destroy the sons of God. We shred them apart—make them do our will. We defile the pure, annihilate the weak.”
“I don’t want to,” the little girl moaned incoherently.
“But you will, Liana. You will.”
“Yes, little bird. You will rip out my heart and devour it slowly.”
She looked up from her huddled position. A beautiful man crouched a few feet away. “Who are you?”
Silver flame reflected a woman’s perfection. “Your sin.”
“Who is looking out at me?”
“You.”
The little girl touched her face and found angelic grace. Wonder had no time to develop for suddenly her arms lay empty. “My brother! He’s gone!”
“Of course he is,” the handsome stranger replied in detached amusement. “And I am here. I have something for you, little bird.” Without another word, he reached into his pale chest.
Her shrill screams haunted the room as the man pulled out a disgusting mass of veins, muscle, and flesh. “Here,” he offered with a pained smile. “Taste my suffering.”
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She rubbed her eyes, weary of fighting the cords threatening to tie her down into misery.
“It always comes to me on this day. Always.”
Dreams and memories meant nothing and everything to Liana. They spoke to her in strangled whispers. They marked a seductive madness running swiftly through her veins.
Soon Liana would talk to her dream and this time she would make the ending different.
An hour. Maybe less. Maybe more. The broken thoughts forced her gaze to slide to the barred door. Rigid lines of wood and iron mocked her. How long has it been? How long have I been locked in this room?
Her question meant nothing. Liana already knew the answer because it was always the same.
Twenty days.
Memories of the world beyond her cage disintegrated.
“Taste my suffering.”
More tears seeped into Liana’s dark hairline. A few slid across her chin, splattering onto the sheets. The noise assaulted her ears and she imagined her tears sounded like dripping blood.
Liana shifted. A grimace immediately tightened her colorless mouth. Although ebony sheets of the softest linen lay across Liana’s naked limbs, they felt like sand. She brought her knees up and winced as pain burned between her thighs.
Scattered all over her body, several fresh scrapes overlapped old ones. Deep punctures wounded Liana’s breasts, thighs, and arms. Their horrible presence depicted a tapestry of depraved pleasure.
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“I can’t bear it!” The hoarse cries spilled from her bruised lips as a giddy offering.
“Yes, you can,” he answered with chilling arousal. “You can and you will bear it for me.”
Splayed beneath him, Liana whimpered as his lean hips ground against hers. “My lord…”
He threw back his head and growled with pleasure. “I love hearing you say that. Say it again.”
“My lord…my lord…please.” Liana’s legs fell away from his waist, exhausted from the incredible strain of holding him so tightly.
“Again.”
“My lord…” The world grew smaller as he started thrusting harder and harder.
“Again.”
“My lord…more…ah!”
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Liana touched a particularly vicious cut on her abdomen and hissed in pain. Reaching up, she ran her fingers over the scabs encrusting her neck.
Almost healed. But it doesn’t matter. I’m happiest when they get ripped open again.
She braved shifting positions once more. Mist immediately swirled about the edges of her vision. Not waiting until it subsided, Liana gritted her teeth and moved again, albeit gingerly.
Suddenly a mangled growl seeped from Liana’s throat.
Please make it right this time. Please.
The agony continued to intensify and it became bitterly clear.
God’s ears were closed to her.
Liana moaned in black anguish. Her prayers mutated into venomous curses.
No matter what I do, it ends like this. How can I change my fate? How can I make tonight different?
A murder of crows flew by, startling Liana out of miserable turmoil. Their raucous chatter warned of what her raw core already knew. Liana’s moans ceased abruptly and the tears ran dry. She eyed the lone window. Terrible longing stained her vivid green irises. Night was coming.
So was Laurent.
Voracious hunger stirred inside her veins. Liana embraced it with desperate conviction. Her flesh crawled with the exquisite memory of his tainted touch. Color returned to Liana’s pale cheeks and the sharp note of hunger altered its melody—becoming something more torturous than before.
Soon he’ll be here, but by tomorrow will he still?
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This excerpt is from Love Unfortunate. The book is a work-in-progress anthology and will be sold in paperback once completed. The novel length sequel tentatively titled Sleeping Poison will also be posted online chapter-by-chapter.
©2005 Claudia D. Christian. All rights reserved. No part of this book shall be reproduced or transmitted in any form or by any means without prior written permission from DelSin Publishing, LLC. DelSin Publishing, LLC and the author assume no liability assumed for damages resulting from the use of the information contained herein. This is a work of fiction. Names, characters, places, and incidents either are the product of the author’s imagination or are used fictitiously. Any resemblance to actual or fictional events, locations, or persons, living or dead, is entirely coincidental.
I’ve missed Julian & Lily as well. I’m...