"Flashes: Episode Three: Cruelty" by Emma Kathryn

Cruelty

Emma Kathryn

Venice…

Selena and Massimo had been laughing joyfully the whole way along the canal and they still were as the gondolier came to a slow stop.  Massimo paid the man and climbed off first in order to help Selena down and onto the path.  As she stepped onto the edge of the gondola, the toe of her glimmering white slipper caught the hem of her dress, causing her to fall into Massimo’s arms, letting out a tiny shriek as she did so.  She laughed once more as Massimo steadied her and signalled to the gondolier that she was fine before turning to her with a smile.

            “Falling for me all over again, are you?” he asked her mockingly and with a flirtatious grin.  Her expression matched his as she draped her arms around his neck, toying with his brown hair.

“Oh of course.  I just could not help myself,” she replied, eying him hungrily.  He held her closed to him as he brushed her blonde hair away from her face and gazed into her blue eyes.

“Selena, my beautiful wife,” he sighed lovingly.

“Massimo, my handsome husband.”  He kissed her lightly before taking her hand and leading her down the moonlit street.

“Well, here we are on our special night,” Massimo said as the walked hand in hand, glancing at her happily.  “What shall we do now?”

“Hmmm…I wonder…” Selena said sarcastically with a laugh.  She clung to Massimo’s arm; her finger’s laced with his.  He laughed also and shook his head.

“How about a rose first?” he said, pointing towards a little bearded man standing with a basket of roses.

“That would be wonderful, thank you,” she said contentedly.

Massimo stopped suddenly and turned Selena to face him.

“What is wrong?” she asked, startled by his urgency.

“Nothing, I only wanted to tell you that I love you,” he said soothingly, immediately relieving her of her panic.

“And I love you,” she replied before he pulled her to him and kissed her full lips, slowly and tenderly.  It made her head spin and took all the breath from her body so that she had to stand still for a few moments, her forehead resting against Massimo’s.  He gave her a wink and a sweet kiss on the tip of her nose, making her giggle quietly.

“Wait here but a moment,” he told her, turning to the little rose-seller.  Selena was only a short distance behind him but still out of earshot of the little man and Massimo.  “One rose, please, good Sir,” Massimo requested as he counted the Lira in his pockets.  The little man picked a single long-stemmed red rose from the basket.

“Hold onto her, boy for her beauty shadows every rose I have ever seen,” the little man warned Massimo as he took his money and handed over the rose.

“Oh I will,” Massimo beamed.

“Well, you be good to her; to lose her would be for the sky to lose the sparkling sun or for the night to lose the shining moon.”

“Do not worry for she will never be out of my sight!” Massimo laughed as he bid the man a goodnight and turned back to where he had left his love standing.  But what he saw made his smile instantly vanish for Selena was gone…

***

She had been watching this one for a while and now was the time to end yet another dance.  She pinned the blonde headed girl against the wall of the darkened Venetian alleyway that she had dragged her into and then sank the piercing incisors into the young woman’s neck; Selena, this one was called.  The girl let out a muffled whimper under the hand which smothered her and dug her nails into her attacker’s shoulder but her grip soon loosened as her veins emptied and she slipped from this world and into the dark.

“Selena!” a man screamed, standing at the end of the alleyway and clenching a rose in his fist, letting the thorns bite into his flesh.  She dropped the young victim in shock and stared at the man as the still-warm blood trickled down her chin.  Neither knew what to do as the body lay between them.

Massimo gazed on in horror as a drop of crimson fell from the pale-faced murderess’ face and on to stain Selena’s innocently white dress.  His own eyes began to well with tears as they met with the cold grey of hers and he whispered in a trembling voice.

“What have you done to her?  My beautiful girl.”  Fear, shock and sorrow held his feet to the ground like nails, despite how much he wanted to run to hi love’s aid.  “You have taken away my sun and my moon,” he whispered.

She spoke not a word of Italian but she understood him completely.  A grown man wept before her, terrified and pained in one instant.  He wore a black dress suit and suddenly it dawned on her that her victim was not wearing just any dress; it was a white wedding dress.  She gasped and clasped her hand over her mouth, wiping the blood from her face as she turned on her heel and fled from the morbid scene.

After just a few moments of distressed running she heard a pained cry coming from behind her.

“SELENA!”

She clenched her eyes shut to stem the tears which were never going to come.  In fact, the condition was forcing her to grin wickedly.  She tried with all of her might to shake off the sickening satisfaction she felt from deep within her core.

The demon was testing her; it wanted to know exactly just how dark she had become.