Chapter 85: Clair de Lune, Part 3

Sam glanced between Hunger, the abomination that could only be Pestilence, and his sister. He had to make a decision quickly.

What?

That had been clear long before Hunger had pulled up her underwear and leapt through one of the mansion's walls. It had been unnecessary since there was an open door just a few inches away, but he assumed she hadn't wanted to waste a single fraction of a second.

If he ran after Hunger now, Christina would see it as if he had turned his back on her, leaving her alone for hours to face Pestilence, risking her life without a second thought.

He was aware of the risk, but he had already made too many decisions based on what his sisters might think, how to keep his "toys" close, and how to keep moving forward. Was that superstition?

It was clear that he couldn’t let Hunger slip away, no matter what. The thought of wasting all his efforts left him with a bitter taste, but he could worry later about losing Christina's trust and the intensity of her feelings toward him, once Hunger was dead and the child... the child crushed against the rocks. Then, there would be time to sort it out.

Sam rushed out of the mansion too, running, leaping through the hole, rolling through the grass. He got back on his feet and darted forward like a bullet, eyes fixed on Hunger and nothing else. He didn’t look back, even when he heard his sister’s voice calling him from inside:

"Sammy!"

As if she couldn’t believe it, as if she refused to understand what was happening.

It didn’t matter. There would be time for explanations later, and if she didn’t accept them, he’d have to consider that toy a lost cause.

The birth of another being like him, or even worse, a rival, was simply intolerable. He had to do this. He had to tear her open, pull it out of her, and smash it against the rocks.

If Hunger’s worm was as fertile as she had said, and it certainly seemed that way as she ran so confidently as if the work was already done, then Sam highly doubted it would take her nine months to give birth like a human woman. The gestation period was probably measured in weeks, not months, maybe just a few days. In any case, if he lost sight of her now, she would give birth before he could find her again.

He couldn’t waste this opportunity. Damn it.

He shot a storm of ice behind Hunger, but she dodged it with astonishing ease. It wasn’t the perfect defense of War, but for all practical purposes, there was no difference.

No matter what he did, he couldn’t reach her or at least slow her down, hinder her long enough to give him a better chance of at least keeping up. At this rate, she would soon disappear from view.

And that’s exactly what happened. But at least, it wasn’t hard to pick up her trail again.

She slipped into the forest. Sam intensified his attacks. The ice spears could topple trees, tearing them from the ground, and he was sure they could destroy a normal human even after piercing through several trunks. But all they did was destroy the battleground.

Not a single one of the ice spears did the slightest damage to the enemy. For that to happen, they had to reach her first.

It was horribly frustrating.

Sam followed closely, back into the woods. He had the sense he’d dreamed something like this before.

The tale has been illicitly lifted; should you spot it on Amazon, report the violation.

He transformed into a bird, a dove to be more precise. He thought it would help him get ahead, but it didn’t. In fact, it was the opposite. His pace was slower flying than it would have been running normally, for some reason he couldn’t understand.

Soon, he was forced to revert to his human form. The more he flew in her direction, the more it seemed like she was getting farther away.

A dove wasn’t enough.

He had devoured War’s heart, but he couldn’t simply transform into War.

Sadly, that might have triggered her into turning around.

At least he hadn’t lost her entirely. He was barely keeping up. But maybe, in the end, he would get his hands on her.

But suddenly, and for reasons he couldn’t explain, he lost her from sight.

He didn’t stop. He couldn’t stop, not for a second. Too much was at stake, damn it. But that was precisely his mistake.

As soon as he rounded the corner, that monster descended on him. Its fists were like sledgehammers, impacts that made his bones crack and crushed him into the ground. The scattered leaves flew up over them, forming a curtain that hid the carnage.

No, he thought. I can’t let this end like this.

Hunger had simply caught him off guard. He still had many cards to play. Hunger attacked, aiming directly for his head. If she crushed his skull, she would kill him.

Sam had regenerative power, but not strong enough to survive such a wound. Although Hunger should have been interested in keeping him alive for Satan's plans, it seemed she was trying to kill him. Perhaps now that she was pregnant, she no longer needed him.

Sam formed an ice barrier over his head. He didn’t expect it to hold, and it didn’t—shattering into a thousand pieces with the first impact. What surprised him was that, when his vision was uncovered in that way, Hunger had already disappeared, fading into the darkness and silence of the forest.

Sam clenched his fists and threw his head back, gazing at the gray sky visible between the treetops. The thousands of leaves rustled in the branches.

The Antichrist roared, maddened with rage.

His yellow eyes, like those of a wild animal, glowed in the depths of the forest’s darkness.

——

"Sam!" Christina screamed again, more incredulous than angry or scared. She really couldn’t believe what she was seeing.

The living room was still filled with agonizing sounds. Not everyone had died or lost consciousness. There wasn’t just vomit everywhere; there was blood as well.

It was only natural. She had never experienced this, but she knew it was possible to vomit so violently that it caused blood. Although she doubted it was something as trivial as that. They were probably having their internal organs burst, dying from the inside out without her being able to do anything about it.

The heir by default could be Sam, but the servants of the Guray house were also her responsibility, and she was failing them.

But in the end, that didn’t matter.

She preferred to think about that rather than the fact that her older brother had abandoned her. She didn’t want to process the cruel reality.

Not that she expected him to always be there to protect her, to treat her like she was made of glass. In reality, she should be proud that he had decided she could manage, that he trusted her to that extent.

And that’s what people said: that he had done the right thing. That’s what she tried to believe. However, she wasn’t quite managing it.

What bothered her was that he had made that decision too quickly and easily. That was what made her doubt: that Sam hadn’t hesitated for a second. Barely... barely a second, perhaps. But no more.

Even though she was his sister.

But she had other things to worry about.

The abomination turned toward her, making a hoarse, wounded, evil sound, full of rage, from hundreds of mouths at once. A hellish cacophony.

It began to release strange green clouds, floating slowly toward her. It was the same thing that had made them all sick at first, but now she could see it.

No, Christina thought, I don’t think it’s that.

It couldn’t have gained such an advantage for no reason. It was probably some other kind of attack. The gas would choke her, tear her skin and flesh off her bones. Or worse. She didn’t know. She couldn’t know. So, she stepped back.

The abomination grabbed a table, lifted it, and threw it at her.

Christina couldn’t respond in time. But she didn’t need to.

Heather stepped in her path, forming a barrier of earth and wood. Wood wasn’t her thing, not something she could conjure up just like that. But she didn’t have to. That’s what the ground was for.

With the earth, she shifted the wood from the floor, tearing it up, raising it. And so, the earth and wood mixed into a strong shield.

Which, in the end, did nothing.

The shield exploded, and they were thrown back out of the living room, through the hole in the wall.

The landing left her breathless, but even as she struggled to regain control of her breath, even as she saw that abomination advancing out of the corner of her eye, the only thought on her mind was:

Why hadn’t Sam hesitated to leave her alone with this monster?

Clair de Lune, Part 3: END