Crimson Shadows - 3. Chapter 3

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Laughter! There was laughter down there. Why were they laughing so soon after the death of the little bastard who had made sure it had been so well sealed? They should be crying, unhappy with life and how the man had left the world so soon.

They should be mourning! Why weren’t they mourning?!

But could it be that damnable Native that the bastards spawn had started dating in the last year? He had seen the creature when it had taken the very rare trip outside of its body, using a bit of its energy that it could collect when there was sadness in the house. The Native had felt it, just like the spawn of the bastard had, but the creature had brushed it off, thinking nothing of being watched.

Smug thing of the Earth! Smug creature made of mud and bone!

It would shatter his face and scatter his bones! It would force his body back to the earth!

Slamming its hands on the box before him, it sighed softly as the wood cracked under its hands, moving its long fingers over the top of the box in amazement. It hadn’t expected the box to break under his anger, under the darkness of such an emotion. But it had, it was.

Laughing softly, it hit the box with another burst of anger at the thought of the creature of mud and bone making the house happy, of making the spawn happy. They weren’t supposed to be happy after all. They were supposed to be sad, raging at the modern world for not saving their father, hating everyone in it.

Not laughing and smiling.

Not having fun with their lovers and mates.

Not getting over his death!

The wood splintered under its hands, allowing it to pull the box apart slowly, setting aside the wood slivers neatly before continuing to destroy the first box. By the time the spawn came to him, it would be one box closer to freedom. It was so worth it to feel the heat of such anger. It had never known that such an emotion could hold such power behind it, making it rethink what it knew about anger.

It knew that if you let it consume you, you would become so dark, losing your soul to it. It laughed at that as the rest of the top of the box splintered and broke under its relentless hands. Putting the splinters aside, it sat up for the first time in so very long as it continued to pick apart the box so that it could get rid of the evidence of it’s coffin.

Anger. Such a wonderful thing when you didn’t have a soul to lose.

It would use it. It would get free and have its revenge for being trapped in the body that it was in.

Soft, bitter laughter filled the attic as it caressed its face with one long fingered hand, eyes dark and glassy.

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“So let’s see. Suits and single suit jackets go to the second hand suit store down on Eighth and they require you to clean all clothes before you wear them. Nice sweaters and other winter clothing go to the homeless shelter for better winter stuff to be handed out to those who need it. The rest goes to the Salvation Army and the such through the city, except the stained stuff or your fathers wedding suit,” Lien listed, folding up a rather large sweater and tucking it into a large bag that sat near his feet. Markus smirked from where he was tossing clothing into a laundry basket to shove down the laundry chute.

“Yep,” he chirped, getting a dry look from his lover as the man continued to clear off his own closet railing of clothes.

“You do realize that they do this to make us work that much harder for the cash they promise at the suit shop, right?” Lien drawled, getting a wicked smirk from his lover.

“Yes, I do realize that. They can try to bluster, but they do need high quality outfits and Armani and Gucci are two of the longest running stores out there and haven’t changed in quality or price in all of those years,” Markus purred, snapping a shirt as he eyed it and tossing it to Lien. “That used to go with the suit that he was buried in. It can just go to the Salvation Army.”

“Right,” was the reply as Lien folded the garment up and stuck it in the right bag. “So when are we taking the stuff to the stores?” he asked, going back to folding and separating out the clothing as Markus looked over the suits and jackets.

“Later today hopefully. Possibly before dinner if you want,” Markus mused before dropping the shirt into the laundry basket. “That’ll give me time to finish with the shirts. All of his unmentionables will be recycled, but they’ll have to be picked up tomorrow or there about,” he continued. Lien nodded and cracked his shoulder, the two falling into a rhythm of sorting and shifting through the clothes, filling several trash bags full of clothing before finally stopping, hearing Maria call up to them to head downstairs for lunch. Looking at his watch, Markus’ eyebrows rose and he shook his head with a huff.

“Damn, has it only been an hour and a half?” Lien asked as he hauled the bags towards the door, planning on dropping them over the railing so they didn’t have to actually carry them down the stairs.

“Apparently so,” Markus said, grabbing a few of his own bags, all of them with a tag on them. Walking towards the stairs, he dropped them over the railing before taking the ones in Liens hands, dropping them after the other bags. Between the two of them, they were able to drop all of the bags over the railing before heading downstairs themselves, smelling the apples and chicken that floated over a layer of spice and sugar. “Oh, I am hungry now.”

“Yes, food is of the good,” Lien moaned, leaning into his lover, making the man eye him with a raised eyebrow. “Yes, I think with my stomach and my dick,” he said, smirking down at the other man, watching him roll his eyes and huff. Walking into the kitchen, the two males smiled brightly at the enchiladas that looked thick and completely stuffed with good things as Maria pulled them out, putting them aside for the moment. “What kind of enchiladas are those?”

“There’s part beef, part chicken and part vegetarian that I know you like, Lien, despite the fact you say that you are a carnivore,” Maria teased, closing that oven and then opening the matching oven to pull out the dessert enchiladas. Putting them onto a cooling rack to, she pointed to the breakfast nook where they could watch her work with a smile, iced down soda already waiting for them. “Sit, let me get the rest of the lunch ready and then we eat,” she promised, getting beaming smiles.

“So what are we having outside of the yummy that is your enchiladas?” Markus asked, shaking off the feeling of once more being watched. He could ignore it with his boyfriend and his oldest friend with him. At least for the moment.

“A small salad and spiced rice,” was the prompt reply as she pulled out a large bowl that looked almost like it had every type of vegetable except lettuce in it.

“A…small salad?” Lien asked, voice teasing, hands rising up as Maria waved a spatula at him with a threatening gesture. “I’m just curious as to what is in that bowl. Is that what you call a salad?” he asked sweetly, getting a huffy laugh from the woman as she stirred the contents.

“It’s a vegetable salad. There’s red, green and yellow peppers, some snap peas and a few other vegetables. I know you enjoy this salad, so no whining you two,” she warned, getting duel innocent looks from them before they smiled brightly.

“We’re being good,” they promised, continuing to watch her mix and serve up the food. The scent from the rice was rich and complimented the enchiladas and the coolness of the salad as she put down full plates before them. Sitting down with the two men, she nodded to Markus, who led them through a simple grace, making the feeling of being watched disappear, feeling almost as if whatever had been watching them was insulted by the thought of blessing their food.

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Snorting in its box, it shook its head impatiently, feeling the stiffness that came from being trapped for so long, it shuddered at the thought of the power behind the prayers that had happened down stairs. He would have to watch that tramp, her belief in her God was powerful and it was the faith and belief that made a god powerful after all.

That belief could push it right out of a room, forcing it back to its body, forcing it to stay in it until it could next get free. It made it mad, oh so very mad.

Screaming silently in rage, it started to throw the splinters and shards of its previous coffin around the box that he was trapped in. It would get its revenge on that tramp of a whore for cutting its time short! It would rip her eyes out and mutilate her body. It would rape her in every way possible!

Pausing at the last thought, feeling its rage finally taper off just a bit at the thought of rape, it purred, a cruel smile twisting normally sweetly pink lips upwards as it stood, hair barely brushing the top of its current box.

Yes, it would rape her. It would rape her soul. It would rape her body. It would destroy her very core. And then…

Then it would eat her broken soul and enjoy it much like the finest whine before moving onto the next fool that dared to stand against it and its pleasure.