Vacant Faith Read online

There is peace within my heart

  Whenever you're around,

  The screams grew louder, dripping down like water through the narrow gaps in the door. Kirani pressed her daughter's head against her chest and raised her own voice as she continued singing.

  The stars at night,

  They all shine bright,

  And my darling so do you.

  You are my child of moonlight,

  And I will always love you.

  The scream suddenly gurgled into silence, replaced by the harsh clang of the chains. Kirani felt the spreading wetness of tears on her nightgown and began stroking the young girl's hair. Her own tears threatened to spill out as she thought of her husband above, but she had to be strong for Alina. Shoving aside her own fear as best she could, Kirani continued to sing her lullaby.

  You are my child of shooting stars.

  You are my wish come true.

  A cautious snarl joined the rattling of metal.

  My heart has never held such love,

  The snarl became a roar of fury as the clashing of metal grew louder. The beast was fighting against its imprisonment.

  As when when my arms first held you.

  The roar increased in pitch, a desperate animal trapped and trying to flee. Kirani could almost swear she heard the creak of the chains as the beast struggled against them.

  The stars at night,

  They all shine bright,

  'It will be alright.' The words repeating in her mind like a mantra. “It's only for a few hours. It will be alright.'

  And my darling, so do-

  The song was interrupted by a loud snap and the crash of iron against stone. Kirani froze, hoping that what she had heard was just some auditory trick, played on her frayed nerves. Her fragile hope died as she heard a triumphant note enter the beast's snarls of rage. Somehow the creature had broken one of its chains. She began to rock again, knowing the creature was still held by four more, but if it could break one...

  The woman's worst fears began to be realized as she heard another snap. Another crash. Another cry of triumph. The creature was somehow freeing itself. Alina's wail of terror joined the snarls of the creature, mixing eerily and becoming an abominous sound in Kirani's ears. “Shhhh, hush now.” The woman whispered, holding her daughter tighter. “It's all right. Everything will be alright. Your father always wins in the end and he will protect us. But now more than ever we need to send him our strength, not our fear.”

  Another snap. A howl of excitement. Kirani shivered involuntarily. How was it breaking through the heavy iron? Had the chains grown weak? Had they been in need of repair? Had the creature somehow grown stronger? She had to find some way to stop it. She couldn't risk the beast getting free and getting her husband killed. “Alina.” She said softly. “Alina, I need to leave you for just a few minutes, but I promise I'll be right-”

  “NO!” The girl protested, clinging tighter.

  “Hush now, baby.” Kirani said softly. “Everything will be alright. But I need you to be strong for me, alright? Your father needs us both to be strong for him.” She hugged the shivering girl and kissed the top of her head. “He needs us now more than ever. Can you be strong for him, my darling?”

  “Mommy...” Alina said meekly, fresh tears spilling from her tightly closed eyes.

  “Everything will be okay.” Kirani replied softly. Another snap. Another crash. It was almost too late. “I promise, baby. Everything will be okay, but I have to go help your father. I'll be back as soon as I can, but you need to stay here, alright? Stay right here and keep sending your strength to your father. He needs it now more than ever if we don't want the monster to take him away from us. You don't want to lose him do you?” Gently she pulled the girl's arms from around her and stood up. She had to hurry.

  ************************

  Alina curled herself into a tight ball as she watched her mother hurry up the steps and into the night, closing the hidden door behind her. For the first time within the young girl's memory, her father was losing the battle. Closing her eyes tight, she did her best to send him her strength and love, sure that it was the only thing left that could save him from the monster. The closed door did little to keep out the noises from above, the snarls and growls somehow seeming to grow even louder, and then she heard her mother's voice. Kirani was calling to Werion, telling him to fight the creature and control it.

  “He needs us to be strong right now, not weak.” The little girl whispered, seeking comfort from her own voice. “He needs me to be strong. And I can be. I can be strong, just like mommy. I can be. I... I have to be.” She opened her eyes and looked hesitantly at the wooden steps leading out of the safety of the hidden cellar. “For daddy.” Shivering in terror, the small girl hesitantly sat up and rose to her feet, hurrying to the stairs before fear could convince her to change her mind.

  ************************

  Kirani hurried around the house until the stone wall was in sight. As she caught sight of the creature, she froze. A terribly misshapen thing, it was difficult for her to look at and even harder to look away from. It was a thing that could not exist. Its body was asymmetrical, making it nearly incomprehensible to her terrified mind. The creature was covered in matted brown fur, missing in patches to expose sickly grey skin. Long, muscular arms ended in large, curled hands, one split into two thick fingers while the other more closely resembled the hand of a man. It's elongated jaws sprouted vicious-looking teeth, thick ropes of saliva constantly dripping from its mouth. In its malformed hands it held the links of the final chain.

  “Werion, no!” Kirani cried out.

  The creature looked up at her call, pinning her with its terrible eyes. One was a milky white and opened wide as if in surprise, but the other, a dark and swirling red, narrowed angrily. The woman could only watch with helpless futility as the creature's powerful arms flexed and the chain snapped like a brittle stick. Foam flecked lips pulled further away from teeth too big to fit within its jaws.

  “Werion!” She screamed, unable to move from where she stood. “I know you're in there, my love! You have to fight it! Hurry!” She shuddered as the beast released the chain, causing it to slap against the stones with a loud, echoing clang. Heightened by her fear, the sound echoed deafeningly in her ears. She began to shiver, every instinct and every nerve screaming for her to flee, but she refused to leave her beloved to his fate when he needed her the most. “Please, my love!” She pleaded. “You must! I can't... I can't lose you!”

  The creature narrowed it's one eye further and let out a tortured roar. Then it took a step closer.

  ************************

  Alina paused at the door as she heard the monster making a strange noise. It made her tremble just to hear it, a sound filled with such pain and rage that it should not have been able to exist. She gave a glance over her shoulder at the promised safety of her bed, but if her mother could stand up to the creature, then she could be brave enough to do it too.

  She shoved the door open and dashed up the rest of the stairs, the darkness of the moonless night stealing away her sight as it swallowed her whole.

  ************************

  “Werion! You must fight it!” Kirani cried weakly, her voice trembling as she watched the creature take another step closer. “I know that you're there, my love! And I know it's hard, but you've got to fight it! They'll kill you if this thing gets free!”

  The creature paused, snarling louder, it's malformed ears twitching hesitantly. Suddenly it took a step back, dropping it's large head into its hands. It emitted a strange sound, a mixture of a growl and a whimper, and turned it's back on Kirani.

  “Yes! Yes, my love! Fight it!” She shouted encouragingly. “You can beat it! You can take control!”

  The creature shook as if fighting some internal battle, roaring in frustration as it tossed its head from side to side.

  “That's it! Fight it! You can do it, I know you can!”

  ************************


  Alina crept along slowly, being as quiet as she could. The world took its time coming into focus as her eyes adjusted to the lack of light. A short distance away she could hear her mother's voice, mixed with that of the monster. Her mother was begging her father to fight. Lending him her own strength and encouragement, Alina mouthed the words she had learned growing up but spared no breath to give them voice.

  Peeking around another corner, she finally caught sight of her mother, and just beyond her, the monster. It was a hideous thing, worse than anything she had faced in her nightmares. But her daddy was in there somewhere, trapped and unable to get out. It was up to her and Kirani to save him.

  And save him they would, like the heroes in the stories he often told her. Like those brave souls of old, she and her mother would face the terrible evil and somehow chase it back into the darkness, forever defeated. The good guys always won, always came out on top. Gaining confidence in this knowledge, Alina took a step forward, preparing to join her mother in facing the beast.

  ************************

  The creature suddenly collapsed, letting out a pitiful whine like a dying animal. Kirani rushed to it, kneeling down beside the downed creature and resting a hand on one trembling shoulder. “I'm here, my love. I'm right here for you.” Its fur was rough and prickly against her skin, but she refused to pull away. “I believe in you.”

  Slowly the beast tilted its head, lifting it to look at her. Only the red eye was visible, focused on her. The iris swirled like a puddle of freshly spilled blood, but it seemed to have softened. She smiled encouragingly down at the creature that was her husband, tears beginning to flow unbidden down her cheeks. “I knew you were still in there somewhere, my love. I just knew it.”

  As if to avoid spooking a shy horse, the creature slowly raised one of its hands, hesitating a moment before stretching out one long and twisted digit, which it wiped softly across Kirani's wet cheek. It made a soft, inquiring grunt which became a mewling whine as the woman covered its hand with her own.

  They had won. Werion was in control again, and they were all safe. With this small victory, perhaps he could even overcome the beast entirely in time. “Come. Can you get up? I'll get you a blanket and make you some tea, then we'll figure out what to do until morning.” She rose to her feet and gave an encouraging tug at the beast's hand. “Alina will be so proud of you.”

  With more agonizing slowness, the creature rose to its feet, head still bowed. Kirani gave a relieved sigh and gave another tug to pull it along after her. Even relaxed, the muscles of the creature's arm stood out like thick cables strung just below the skin. The simple movements of its fingers curling around her hand created a terrifying dance. And then the creature lifted its head, both eyes pinning the woman in place as securely as ropes. The breath caught in Kirani's throat, refusing to go in or out of her lungs. Her legs began to tremble weakly, threatening to drop her to the ground. She wanted to scream, to pull her hand free of its grip, to turn away and run. But she could do nothing except stand frozen in rigid terror, returning the creature's hateful gaze. Until it smiled.

  ************************

  Alina watched as the creature fell to the ground, her mother kneeling beside it, and relaxed. The battle was over. The monster had been defeated, and soon she would have her daddy back. Everything was going to be alright after all, just as they had both kept telling her it would be. A wide smile stretched her mouth and she released the words she had been repeating in her mind.

  As her mother encouraged the creature to rise back to its feet, she prepared to rush over to join them, imagining the three of them hugging each other and laughing over the vanquishment of the monster. It would become her new favorite bed time story, her daddy using his silly voices as he recounted how their love had saved him from the evil of the monster. Just as she was about to move forward, something stopped her. A feeling of dreadful wrongness crept over her, although she couldn't see why. And then she saw the creature raise its head and smile.

  “Daddy, no!”

  ************************

  Before Kirani could move, it was upon her. It moved fast for such an ill-shaped thing, the monster that should not exist. She felt it jerk her forward by her arm even as the other swung around to catch her from behind, knocking out her breath in one great whoosh.

  The woman doubled over, gasping desperately for enough air to scream. She thought some of her ribs might have been broken while she instinctively scrambled to get free from the monster's iron grip. “Daddy no!” She heard Alina cry from some distant corner of her awareness.

  Fighting the pain in her chest and the urge to cough, Kirani inhaled as deeply as she could. “Run, Alina! Ruuuun!” She screamed, fear for her own well being changing to fear for her daughter. “Don't look back, baby, just run!”

  'My baby!' Kirani's mind screamed in fresh horror. 'Please don't let him hurt my baby!' It was her last rational thought before her world was reduced to blinding agony, and then finally, darkness.

  ************************

  Alina stood where she was, too frightened to move, too frightened to scream or even to cry. She could only stand perfectly still as she watched the atrocities the creature committed to her mother's limp form, the front of its body becoming coated in her blood. The monster had won. They were not the triumphant heroes of her father's tales after all. With its chains broken, the monster would carry her father away forever.

  Alina blamed only herself. Just as they were winning, she had abandoned her mantra. She alone had allowed the monster to succeed. Had she just continued her prayer, had she just kept saying those magical words of power, her mother would still be alive and her father would be safe again instead of mutilating her mother's corpse. Alina could not seem to make herself turn away as the beast slashed at her mother's limp form again and again with its terrible claws and tearing at her with its horribly mangled teeth. Even when the creature began to devour her, tearing thick strips of flesh from the body to be swallowed whole, Alina forced herself to watch. It was the price of her weakness.

  When the beast looked up at her, one milky white eye wide and staring while the other of swirling red narrowed dangerously, Alina knew that she was to be next. No amount of running, hiding or pleading would save her. Controlled by the monster formed of misused magic, her own father would kill and eat her. Just like her mother. The price of weakness.

  The weakness of the witchwolf, who created him from her lonliness.

  The weakness of the humans, who could not stop the creature that preyed upon them.

  The weakness of her mother, who could not stop the beast from escaping.

  The weakness of her father, who could not control the monster within.

  And the weakness of herself, who had allowed the beast to win.

  “It's okay, Daddy.” She said softly to the staring eyes. She had stopped the words, the words that gave him strength. She had stopped them just at the moment he needed them most and allowed the monster to regain control. And now it had grown too strong to stop again. All of them had succumb to their weakness. “I forgive you.”

  Thank you for reading this short story. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it. This short is part of a collection relating to The Wolfcaller Chronicles, which take place in a strange and faraway land full of alien creatures and interesting races like those mentioned in this story. If you enjoyed this tale then please check out book one of The Wolfcaller Chronicles, Uprising!

  If you would like to read more of my work, I can be found at https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Rabidwolfie, or you can type Melody Hewson into your search engine. Please remember to leave a review!

 

 

 
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