The heat is tantalizing. Her breath slowly moves down his neck as she kisses him. It is a game that has been played since time immemorial, a story of a man and a woman. The rule of passion in the ever changing pulse of emotion. The end and the beginning.
She kisses him on the lips and bites down. He feels the heat build up inside, this is more than he bargained for, but he is past the point of caring. There is only them now, two becoming one.
Her teeth don’t stray from his mouth but the script has turned. She does not let go. He does not take the lead. Her hands explore his body with their smoothness, moving through it as if both their lives depended on it. But that is only true for one of them.
The moment is approaching its peak.
Her lips taste sweet, and then he tastes something else. A red stream makes its way down his mouth. The dress she is wearing is stained with the life giving fluid, the crimson blot growing steadily.
His scream dies in its infancy.
In an instant, the beautiful dream turns into an unimaginable nightmare. Arms twist into impossible configurations, teeth grow to disproportionate sizes and the woman he believed to be his salvation becomes damnation.
Thus begins his descent into hell.
Reason dictates he shouldn’t be alive, but reason has fled to safer pastures. His eyes cannot shift away from the brutality that unfolds. She cups her hands, gathers his blood and drinks her fill. The twisted limbs move in a concert of carnage.
Too long passes before she is finally finished.
Her twisted form shifts to the beautiful shell that lures her prey. She licks the last drops of blood from her mouth and thinks about the dress she will have to replace. The meal wasn’t as satisfying as it should have been, but hunger plays games with her standards.
The heat finally dies as the final breath escapes the man. This is a game that has been played since time immemorial. The story of a monster and a man. The rule of death in a landscape of life. The beginning and the end.
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Written by Karl Gaverza
Copyright © Karl Gaverza
Inspired by the Mandarangkal myths
Mandarangkal Illustration by emirajuju
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Watercolor by Yanna Gemora
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