Purge
Purge
Story copyright Lobito (2003).
Written as part of an art exchange for KamiCheetah.
Kami, Gardia, etc. etc. are intellectual property of KamiCheetah.
The tranquility of the forest was an intense relief after the day she'd had, Kami thought as she padded silently among the trees in the evening's waning light. A messenger from one of the Chetorian guard-posts had arrived today, stating that the Kitsune were acting suspicious and congregating behind the magical barrier that separated them from the rest of the island. Truth be told, this was not an entirely unusual event. The Kitsune, tricksters that they were, understood that irrational behavior was one of the best ways to throw the other inhabitants of Gardia into a panic, and so made a habit of pretending to train armies, dig tunnels, and various other hostile gestures simply to watch the reactions of those on the outside of their magical cell. It was probably nothing, but, as always, everyone took it seriously and rumours of the newest Kitsune plot had begun spreading immediately. The rest of the day had consisted of messengers passing back and forth through the Gates to the various other parts of the island, informing each clan's leaders of the breaking news. Frankly, Kami didn't care one bit. As much as she hated the Kitsuneâ€"the very thought of her time among them brought a growl to her throat and caused her ears to flatten against her skullâ€"she didn't think they were up to anything this time. They just enjoyed how much power they had over the reactions of others, nothing more.
A light breeze ruffled the orange and white fur that covered her body as she slipped out of the high-necked dress she had been wearing, letting it fall to the ground with a quiet murr of relief. Her second in command thought it didn't behoove the heir to the throne to ‘prance around the castle nude,' as he put it, and so she generally had to be dressed most of the day, as much as she hated it. Fashion was fine, but she found clothing to be all too restricting, making her feel trapped, just like the rest of her life in the castle. Kami crouched and closed her eyes, enjoying the stretching of her thighs and the feeling of being alone and free. She hated the noise and the bustle of the castle on days like today. As much as she loved company sometimes, she really just needed to be alone every now and then, and it seemed like there was less and less time for that lately. Hell, she'd had to sneak out tonight just to get some peace and quiet.
Of course, that wasn't the only reason she wanted to be alone tonight, she acknowledged, idly reaching her hand into a hidden pocket of the dress that lay on the ground and pulling out a small white stick with a wrapped end. She had something she needed to take care of, something she needed to... fix.
One small movement of her claw tore the wrapper off the sucker as she tried not to think about it, tried to quell the nervous twitches of her tail. Concentrating, she tried to focus, bringing to mind one of the small bits of magic she knew. It took a couple minutesâ€"it seemed like what little magical ability she had was becoming less reliable latelyâ€"but, finally, the round, red ball of the sucker burst suddenly into flame, and she smirked, placing the other end into her mouth. Her sucker-smoking habit bugged the hell out of people, she knew. The unique burnt-fruit smell it gave off was unquestionably an acquired taste. But it relaxed her without clogging up her lungs with clove or tobacco, and so she refused to be convinced to quit.
A light, persistent itch on the left side of her neck brought her train of thought to an abrupt halt. Inhaling deeply, she tried to ignore it, to focus on the scent of the smoke, the feel of the breeze, anything. She wasn't ready to face this yet. She needed a couple more minutes. Please, she pleaded with her body, not yet.
Despite her mental protests, the painful tickle grew stronger, harder to ignore. Her right arm was starting, now, too, just above the wrist. Then a shooting pain in her stomach followed, triggering a sharp, involuntary breath and causing her to start choking on cherry-flavored smoke. Coughing and sputtering as her eyes filled with tears, Kami wrapped her fingers around the flaming end of the stick, the cherry scent mixing with the odor of smoldering fur as she doused the flame and threw the sucker to the side.
Gravity took its toll, pulling the woman onto her hands and knees as she dry heaved, trying to expel the vileness that was spreading throughout her body. Her chest ached and her stomach felt like it was being torn apart. Lightning bolts of pain shot from her neck directly into the back of her brain. Suffering far too much to be self-conscious, she found herself curling up on the cold grass, trying to focus on the light pricks of the blades instead of the acidic fury that was devouring her insides. A choked sob and a fresh bout of tears brought with them a memory, a realization; she had felt this before.
Dark. Alone. Forest. Noise? Movement.
The feline let out a tortured moan as the pain suddenly tore upward, shredding her torso.
A figure. It... it was large. Moved fast. Too fast. Couldn't even yell. Teeth on throat... couldn't moveâ€"magic?
Dimly, Kami's brain registered that the ground felt suddenly damper. Had it started raining? She tried to blink the tears from her eyes.
_Tried to escape, fought against its control. Not strong enough, too much blood gone. Claws like daggers digging in her, tearing her apart. She was going to die. _
She choked back a scream at the sight of her orange and white fur stained and matted with blood, her blood, pouring forth and soaking into the ground beneath her. Her stomach was gashed open, her arms sliced and torn. The feel of warm fluid on her throat assured her that her neck, too, had opened, reliving the wounds of that night. Breathing shallow, shaky gasps, she closed her eyes, pressing her face into the reassuring softness of the grass.
She had woken up in the house of that wolf shamaness, sick beyond all belief. Vampire, the wise woman told her. She'd nearly died. Had died, in fact, the woman said... but she wasn't undead. Not like she should be. She was somewhere in between. Alive, but... sick. And it wasn't just going to go away on its own.
Fire crackled just underneath her skin, eating her organs alive. It sprang from nowhere, enveloping her in seconds, forcing a primal scream of grief and agony from her mangled throat. She was burning, dying...
"Something about you, child... your blood is stronger. But it's still in you, the curse it carries. Just not quite the same."
...she was hungry...
"Blood. You will desire it as strongly as the one who fed from you did. You won't die without it, not like others would, but..." The shamaness sighed and shook her head.
Kami felt her consciousness slipping away and tried to scream, to cry... anything to hold on to it, grasp onto those last threads of thought.
"I cannot know what will happen to you, child. You may heal. But it won't be pleasant. The blood-eaters' curse is powerful, and even a strong soul, like yours, cannot be rid of it without a fight." The wrinkled wolf stared at her patient a moment, then sighed. "I do not envy you, child. Your path will not be without suffering."
The first thought that registered in Kami's mind when she came to is that she felt sticky. Strings of saliva and blood clung to her lips as she opened her mouth warily, letting out an embarrassingly small mew. She blinked her eyes, confused. She felt... okay. Sore all over, especially inside, but that was it. Her throat felt strange, simultaneously raw and soothed, like it would after a particularly nice lozenge following a night of coughing. Was it over? Wary, the woman blinked, shakily pushing herself to a sitting position.
The sight that met her bleary eyes after they focused made her snap them back shut again.
No. No, no, no. This wasn't what was supposed to happen. She was supposed to be alright, to be cured now.
She couldn't help it; she opened her eyes again, unable to squelch the shiver that ran up her body at the sight of what had once been a beautiful stag lying before her, its chest ripped open, neck shredded to tatters, its body caked in dried blood. Without even looking at herself, she somehow knew it was that same blood which coated her claws and stained her muzzle.
Fighting back tears of frustration and rage, Kami put a hand against a tree, weakly regaining her feet. A quick glance downward as she did so confirmed that her wounds had healed, disappearing without a trace, leaving only the mixed stains of her blood and the deer's to mar her fur.
"Goddamnit," she mumbled, unable to muster the energy for anything louder. She had failed. Utterly. She was supposed to resist the hunger, to fight this curse. That was the only way to make it go away. But she hadn't. In the end, she had given in. Her own pain had been too much. And so she'd be stuck with this. Cursed. Haunted by the knowledge that she'd killed just to escape her own suffering, and that she'd have to keep doing so until she could free herself. This was supposed to have ended it, to have fixed it. And it would have, if only she could have fought it harder. Instead... well, all it took was one look at the stag's mutilated corpse to finish that sentence.
God, she wanted to puke.
She forced herself to swallow the bile that threatened to escape her body. Instead, she stumbled away from the sight of the deer's body, using trees for support as her legs shook beneath her. Home. She wanted to go home. The thought of a warm bath washing away the evidence and the shame of the night managed to keep her on her feet long enough to find her dress and the blackened sucker lying next to it. She picked up the items, a wave of dizziness nearly making her topple as she bent to reach them. Every thought or memory of the past hours was shoved out of her mind. Home. That was all she was going to think about now. The rest... well, she'd deal with it later. Somehow.
Feeling a little bit more like her old self again, Kami took the white stick of the sucker gingerly between her fingers, glancing up at the canopy of leaves pierced by blades of sunlight. As she exhaled a deep, ragged breath, she felt some of the tension leave her, though, by far, not all of it.
I can beat this, she thought, her jaw set and clenched tight. I will beat this. Someday, I'll break free.
As hollow and forced as the thought may have been, it made her feel a little better, and that was the last word the feline let her brain have on the matter. Instead, she slipped the thin stem of the sucker into her mouth and tried to get her bearings.
Finally, with a resolute sigh and straightening of her back, Kami began the long, weary walk back to the castle. She tried to her best forget that night and the clearing where the stag lay, but it was days before the bitterness of its blood would finally wash out of her mouth.