[ ...continued ]
Jasper watched, frozen.
The shadow did not strike.
It circled.
Roanoke’s form bled into the air like smoke...like a tide of black crawling through sand and water alike. The ichor hissed and seethed as he moved, tendrils dragging across the shoreline, hemming Jasper in.
Each step was deliberate...slow...like a predator savoring the fear in its prey before the bite.
Jasper’s erratic blue flas twitched and sputtered, throwing nervous sparks that fizzled too quickly against the night. His little boots scraped back in the sand, but every retreat brought him closer to the water’s edge, closer to that stinking, writhing sea.
The whispers returned.
Soft at first. Almost kind.
"...little fla... co to us, sweet little baby..."
Jasper whimpered, hugging himself tighter.
"I am not a fool. I am not! You are the fool... for scaring ! Mama says only cowards hide in the dark!"
A ripple of sound ...too deep to be laughter, too hollow to be breath...rolled out from Roanoke’s chest.
"...And your Mama... where is she now? Do you see her? Do you feel her hand on yours?She is not coming for you, boy. You are all alone. "
Jasper’s lip trembled. His bright eyes darted everywhere, searching the horizon, the dock, the empty sky.
"She... She will co. She loves ! She always cos for !"
Roanoke drifted closer, his edges unraveling and reknitting as if his very shape despised staying whole. The ichor clung to him like tar, dripping onto the sand, steaming where it landed.
"...Promises... are bones in the ground. They keep no one warm.Are you sure your Mamma still loves you, little one? I thought you did sothing to really piss her off! "
The little boy shook his head violently...his sides crackling with frightened flas.
But the light dimd again.
Each flare snapped shorter, weaker, smothered under the weight of dread pressing down on his little heart.
"Stay back!" Jasper squeaked, stamping one foot in the sand though his knees shook. "I will...I’ll burn you up! Don’t co closer, bad man!"
Roanoke bent, lowering what could be called a face towards him. The yawning pit where a mouth should have been spilled his na in a thousand drowned voices.
"...Jasper... burn, if you must. Show . Show how strong you are."
The boy froze.
His fire snapped faintly, but his hands shook too hard to summon a fla steady enough to fight. He cursed himself inside, biting down on his lip until it bled.
"Stupid, stupid Jasper... should have stayed with Mama... should have listened to her..."
Roanoke’s darkness dragged wider, curling into a circle around him. A trap of shadow and rot. Each tendril rose high like ribs of a cage, arching above, blotting out even the faintest of light.
"...Every light... every fire..." the voices coiled into his ears, "...longs for its end. The brighter you burn, little one... the faster you die."
Jasper’s chest heaved. His breath ca in tiny gasps...fast and shallow.
His eyes glistened with tears he tried to swallow down, but they betrayed him, sliding warm and hot down his cheeks.
"I don’t... I don’t wanna die..." he whispered, voice breaking. "Please... I am sorry. I didn’t an to make you mad. I just wanted to see the sea..."
The shadow leaned closer, tendrils brushing across the sand re inches from his boots.
"...Then be still. Do not fight. Just listen to . And it will not hurt."
"No... No!" Jasper shook his head, curling his fists tight. "Mama says never trust strangers! You are lying! I can sll you...you are vile!"
A long pause.
The black figure tilted its head in sothing that might have been amusent.
"...Your Mama isn’t here.You can do as you please..."
Those words gutted him.
The flare inside him shivered, then guttered low like a candle about to snuff out. His trembling grew worse. His knees buckled, nearly sinking him into the damp sand.
Roanoke closed in, shadows folding and unfolding like wings around him, smothering the air, pressing close until every breath Jasper drew tasted like rotten eggs.
"...Yes. That’s it. So small... so weak... so afraid...just like I wanted him...good job,little one...keep going..."
The boy whimpered, clutching his arms around himself as the circle of darkness drew tighter, stealing the horizon from his eyes.
"...Let take you, Jasper," the whispers crooned, their thousand voices twining like a lullaby strangled in pitch black. "...No more fear. No more pain. Just silence. Just rest. Co... closer."
Jasper’s lashes stuck together with tears. His voice, cracked and trembling, slipped out in a whisper barely louder than the hiss of ichor.
"...Mama... please hurry..."
The circle was closing.
Darkness pressed tighter...like a ribcage of ichor ready to snap shut around Jasper.
His breath hitched. His tears blurred the world until all he saw was black, black, black... and that thing whispering his na like a curse.
"...Co, Jasper... closer..."
His chest left too heavy. "This is it... Mama, I am sorry..." He pressed his little hand over his heart... bracing for the worst if necessary...
But then...a shriek tore the night... .
Neither Jasper’s nor Roanoke’s...
It was sothing sharper, wild, defiant...so alive it ripped the rot apart for one burning instant.
From behind him, a small streak of dark brown curls lunged forward.
Tiny feet slamd into the sand before him, claws cracking out of soft fingers. A snarl split the night and then she roared...
"STAY AWAY FROM HIM!"
Jasper’s head snapped up, eyes wide.
A little ferocious wolf...her eyes glazing gold...
She stood there... small as he was, no taller, no older than him...but she seed like a wall between Jasper and the monster.
Her back arched. Her claws glistened sharp. Fangs pushed past her lips as her face twisted halfway between a child and beast.
Her scent hit him next...too warm, too familiar...a lot like his own fla... Almost the sa.
"...she... slls like ..." Jasper whispered, too stunned... then asked. " Who are you, little girl? "
"Shut up and stay down, dummy!This is no ti to chit chat...you realize this man can kill you, right? I need to scare him. You make a run for it...Can you do that? " Freya barked over her shoulder, never lowering her stance.
Jasper could hardly nod his head as he watched her with awe filled eyes.
" Do not be scared! Alright?!" Her tiny body trembled but her voice did not. "He is not touching you. Not while I am here.I will protect you."
Roanoke paused.
The shadows rippled, ichor dripping in slow strings back into the sea. The whispers slithered, a low, amused hiss.
"...Ahhh...my little Freya...Look who wants to play. Twice the sweetness for the dark to swallow...ah...what a luck...what deep sorrow..."
Freya’s claws dug into the sand. She spread her arms wider, shielding Jasper even though she was his exact height.
"You talk too much.Dada would have cut your filthy tongue long back had it not been for Mamma...you moron..." she spat but then bit her tongue...She knew she wasn’t supposed to curse...but this was an ergency...she didn’t want her opponent to think she was just a little child. Besides...nobody else was watching. "If you want him... you will have to go through ."
The figure leaned forward, its face unraveling into a cavern of black. Voices poured from the hollow, thick and taunting.
"...bad bad little girl. Bad little Freya. You think you are brave... but you bleed just the sa..."
"I am not scared of you!" she roared, her voice cracking with both fury and the edge of fear. Her fangs glead brighter with each word. "I will rip you apart if you touch him!"
Jasper blinked hard, staring at her...this fierce little stranger who slled like...family. His chest thudded. He croaked weakly, voice breaking. "Don’t challenge him. He isn’t nice. He will hurt you! "
She snapped her head sideways at him, her eyes flashing.
"Then maybe two littles can make a big one!" she hissed, never dropping her stance. "Stop crying and hold still...Jasper? That’s your na right? Don’t give him your fear. That’s what he wants."
Jasper swallowed hard, his tears hot against his cheeks. He nodded, trembling, wiping his face with the back of his sleeve.
" Ok...I will try... Mama always said I had to be brave. But... but you are braver than ..."
Her shoulders squared. She snarled, claws lengthening another inch.
"No. I am just mad at him..."
Roanoke shifted, tendrils curling higher, circling them both now. His whispers ca like a tide, heavy, echoing, filling their skulls with venom.
"...Two flas burn brighter. Two flas die faster. Co closer, children. Co... closer..."
Freya growled, her little body shaking with a rage too big for her fra. Her roar tore out so loud it split through the whispers, if only for a heartbeat.
"BACK... OFF!"
The air cracked with her flare. Sparks flew, flas licking across the sand. Jasper gasped at the sight. Freya’s tiny body in mid shift, claws gleaming, fangs bared...like a shield of fire standing where he thought he would die alone.
He whispered to himself, awe in his voice..."Bliy!!!She is not afraid at all..."
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