Written by Nat Russo
Voting is closed as of 22 February 2013! Thank you all for participating in our Mystery Author Bloody Valentine Flash Fiction event!
“Lorena, no,” Markus said.
Though the pressure of impotent rage swelled in Markus’s head, he spoke with a preternatural calm. He had to get control of her before it was too late…before The Order took control for him.
“I can’t handle the secrets anymore,” Lorena said. Her voice was strained from the way she had screamed at him when it happened. “You’re a bastard and you’ll never change. I’m done.”
“You can’t leave,” Markus said. Her insult eroded his calm, and he spoke his next words through a tight jaw. “You don’t have the willpower to leave me.”
“Watch me!” She said. The remnant of her black ponytail whipped around as she headed for the door of the claustrophobic apartment.
His rage came in waves, crashing against the shore of his consciousness, pushing him closer to the breaking point. The truth was always difficult for them to accept. She wasn’t his first, and if The Order had anything to say about it she wouldn’t be his last. He had to calm himself and get control before it was too late.
She stepped closer to the door, but Markus did nothing. Instead, he waited for her to turn around. She had no choice. They never had a choice.
“I actually let myself hope this year would be different,” she said as she turned. “But every year it’s a different whore, isn’t it?” She curled her lips into a snarl and squinted her eyes. “Screw you, Markus! Valentine’s Day my ass!”
He knew she was getting dangerously close to invoking the wrath of The Order. He had to think of something.
“You don’t understand,” he said. “But you will, soon enough.”
“I have more willpower than you think,” she said.
She opened the door and froze.
Two hooded men blocked her exit. Night stood on the left in dark robes, while Day stood on the right in brilliant ivory. The Order. Not all of them…just the enforcers.
He had failed again and she would pay the price of his incompetence. Instead of Lorena coming to the realization slowly, he would thrust it upon her violently. It would take…a while for her to recover.
“Fool,” said Night, who took a step forward, forcing Lorena to back up. “When will you learn, Markus?”
“I’m sorry, my Lord,” Markus said. It wouldn’t do to make excuses, but he had to say something. “The binding didn’t work.”
“Then try again,” said Day.
Lorena walked backward as they stepped forward.
Markus held out his hand and recited the invocation. The power left him in two pulses and merged with Lorena.
Lorena tripped and fell with a thud. She turned to see what had tripped her and her face contorted in a silent scream.
It was her own body.
“The biggest secret of all, Lorena,” Markus said.
Another pulse left Markus and she became insubstantial. Her spirit and corpse melded together.
“I’m a necromancer,” Markus said. “I killed you weeks ago. Happy Valentine’s Day, dear.”
