Author's Note - This chapter has taken a LONG time for me to complete, I know. Really sorry. ^_^
Some notes about this chapter - Dog-earred IS a term. It's when you fold over the corner of a page in a book to bookmark it. Lots of people may know this term, but just to clarify.
I'm going to be trying to get more chapters up for this soon, as I finally have a good layout of where the next few chapters will be going and I'm finally in a writing mood.
If anyone has any questions, just say so.
Also, if you see any inconsistencies, please notify me. Innocence and Blood Lust: Book 2 ~Miseria Cantare~
Chapter 5 ~Broken~
The next day, as rays of sunlight flowed through the front of the cave, Lain awoke with a groan and grasped her head as she felt the pain of a throbbing headache rush through her. She could feel that her fever had not gone down at all. If anything it had gotten worse. She tried to sit up, as beads of sweat poured off her brow, but to no avail. She found herself extremely dizzy and fell back down onto the pillow Syrus had left for her the night before and panted heavily as if she had just run ten miles.
Hungry….Hun…gry.That word was the only thought in her mind at that point. She had literally starved herself to a point of crippling physical illness and there was nothing she could do about it.
Lain slipped back in unconsciousness in the cold, stone cave…
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Syrus peeked his head out of his room to see if his father was around. He had grown increasingly suspicious of his father ever since he’d stopped asking questions of his whereabouts.
He knew something was up, something bad, but he had no time to be paranoid. Syrus found the living room empty and the door to his parent’s room shut; a clear sign that both of his parents were still asleep. It was Syrus’s lucky day. He quickly made his way out his room and to the front door, where he quickly exited and made his way to the ever familiar cave.
Matthew slowly opened his door as Syrus made his way out of the house and smirked as he heard the door shut.
Tonight’s the night….~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Syrus made his way to the local clinic and snuck into the back room. He switched on a lantern that he kept in his knapsack and looked throughout the various boxes looking for the specific medicines he’d need in case Lain was still sick. He’d grabbed a few bottles of medicine and stuffed them into his knapsack before hearing the other door start to open. He quickly shut off the lantern and hid behind the boxes.
He heard one employee shout something to another as the man searched through one of the boxes. As soon as he was done, he left and shut the door.
As soon as the door latched Syrus was out the other door and on his way to his destination.
He made his way up the hill as fast as his legs could carry him and entered the cave. He gave a quick smile at the drawings he and Lain had made the previous day and went to the spot he’d left Lain before.
He switched on the lantern from his knapsack to find Lain still sound asleep and smiled at the cute sight. That smile quickly diminished when he noticed Lain’s labored breathing and the amount of sweat on her face.
“Lain?” Syrus said as he tried to wake her up.
“Lain!?” He said again, more forcefully, but no reaction.
He quickly checked her pulse and found it erratic and fast. He brought the lantern up to her face and checked her eyes. As he lifted each eyelid he found her pupils were uneven and slightly cloudy.
“Damn.” cursed Syrus as he picked her up and carried her to the edge of the cave’s entrance.
He grabbed his water container and opened it, pouring a bit of the cool liquid on her head. Lain flinched and sputtered slightly as she tried to open her eyes. She was confused and her vision was foggy. Syrus poured a bit more water onto her head and she opened her eyes further. She could hear someone say….something in a slight panic to her, but everything was blurry and she couldn’t focus.
“Lain…Can you hear me, Lain?” asked Syrus, but Lain’s only response was a slight groan and fluttering her unfocused eyes.
Syrus ran to his bag and grabbed a cloth before heading to the stream. He dunked the cloth into the cold water, rung it out and ran back to Lain, where he folded up the cloth and placed it onto her hot forehead.
He went back to his bag to look through the medications he brought.
“She doesn’t have a cough, so no…” he said as he cast away one bottle.
“No discoloration in the sclera, so no…” he cast aside another bottle.
“This!” said Syrus as he carried the bottle of brown liquid over to Lain and unscrewed the cap and propped up her head so she could drink.
He brought the bottle to her lips and said,
“This may smell and…more than likely taste like manure, but it works wonders, trust me.”
He tilted the bottle carefully and the putrid liquid made its way down Lain’s throat. She coughed and sputtered at the vile taste, but drank it.
As soon as she had taken enough, Syrus set the bottle down and screwed the lid back on before placing the bottle back in his knapsack.
He gave a worried look her way before grabbing one of his medical books out of his bag opening it up to a dog-earred page and tried to find out what was wrong with her.
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Matthew had gathered every willing citizen in the village to the execution of his plan. He himself was still weak and injured, but he wasn’t about to give up his chance at killing the demon who had maimed him and killed his friends anytime soon.
“We all knew this day would come.” started Matthew as he stood in town square addressing the locals, “We all knew that we hadn’t seen the last of this creature that has slaughtered so many of our villagers without emotion; without remorse. Now is our time to avenge our fallen villagers. Fathers, sons, mothers, daughters, all killed because of this…
thing. Death is far too merciful for this creature. No…Pain is always a better punishment for those who have committed such high crimes, for death is an escape, and we will
not let this demon escape!”
The crowd cheered, but were instructed not to be too loud as Syrus and Lain may overhear from the distance.
Matthew continued with a sigh, “Also…as you have been informed…my son, Syrus…may be possessed by the creature or otherwise under its influence and has been for quite some time. If it is discovered that this is the case, take him captive and store him someplace secure until we reach a time where the demon will be disposed of.” He sighed and continued again. “If it is found that he is…not under this creature’s influence or otherwise…at least show mercy on his confused soul and execute him quickly…For those without the heart to carry out such a task, merely capture him and the task will be given to another. I advise you all to don appropriate armor and weapons and do
not be caught off guard. We all know what this creature is capable of. It has no conscience, no soul, and will not think twice to dispose of you in the most brutal way necessary. For those not seasoned in conventional weapons such as swords or bows and arrows etcetera, you will be appointed a gun and my friend John, here, will assist you in how to shoot.”
Matthew gave a quick look around at the villagers who had gathered, both men and women alike, as they listened intently to the wounded man’s words.
“We shall gather at sunset and strike when the moon is out…Dismissed.” Said Matthew as the villagers all dispersed to get armor and weapons and prepared for the fight of their lives.
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After about three hours of researching his medical books, with no cure, let alone a diagnosis in sight, Syrus became very frustrated and threw his book to the ground.
“I just don’t know!” yelled Syrus with a hint of defeat and desperation in his voice. Syrus sighed and looked back at the still unconscious Lain.
“Why are you sick?” he whispered. Syrus scratched his head then leaned down to check Lain’s temperature again.
“Still really elevated...Maybe you have some sort of respiratory infection.” Syrus knew he was grasping at straws in terms of a diagnosis for her now, but he had to do something.
He picked up Lain’s unconscious body and set her in a dark spot deep inside the cave to keep her well hidden.
“I’m going to go get some antibiotics from town. I’ll be back as soon as I can okay?”
Syrus gave a small smile her way before running off towards town.
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After a little while, the village had returned to normal, everyday matters, and would stay as such until Matthew’s orders. Some had gone off with John to learn how to shoot effectively, but most already knew how since this was a self-defended town.
The charade was merely to keep the children and people who wanted nothing to do with this calm.
It was reaching late afternoon. The sun would be setting soon. Chaos and revenge would rise as the sun set.
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Syrus reached the town soon enough and stealthily made his way around the shops and houses to reach the pharmacy undetected.
He peeked through the window and, much to his dismay, the employees of the pharmacy were choosing now of all times to do inventory.
Syrus had no chance of getting what he needed right now and this was the only place to get it, as the clinic was far too overrun with people to have any prayer of getting in, getting what he needed and getting out undetected. And it was the only pharmacy in the area without making a long trek to the next village over.
He knew he’d have to wait it out until they finished, but he was worried about Lain. The more time wasted, the longer she suffered. And the worst part was, he didn’t even know if what she had was life-threatening, and he would never forgive himself if she died while he swore to protect her,
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Lain rolled around in a puddle of sweat as she slept. She couldn’t think straight and at times she couldn’t think at all. She was horribly confused and in terrible agony. The only coherent thoughts that crossed her mind as the sky turned blood red and kissed the sun goodbye for the day, were about how she was so incredibly irrational to have let herself fall into such a state and how she knew that she was inevitably going to do what she swore she would never do as long as she lived.
Let the demon take over.
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Hours had passed where Syrus was as well. The sunset colored the sky a gradient from a golden yellow to a blood red.
He was getting impatient, extremely so, but knew he couldn’t be hasty. He had almost gotten to the point of hatred for the pharmacy employees who were doing inventory. He was getting so frustrated with them that he occasionally would mumble curse words and insults aimed towards the poor men.
Suddenly the employees heard their boss yell something and both of them immediately dropped what they were doing, blew out the torch for the room and bolted out of the room, shutting the door behind them.
This slightly bothered Syrus. Why the rush? They didn’t even look like they had finished their inventory. But that would be a pointless question he would bother his mind with later. Right now he had to find medicine for Lain and fast.
He entered the room and closed to door behind him as he begun searching for the medications as the men outside, unbeknownst to Syrus, began to rally together for the slaughter.
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A short while later, all of the participants for the ‘mission’ were assembled at the base of the hill. The moon had shown its face amongst the millions of stars that were in attendance in the dark blue sky. Far too peaceful of a scene for what was about to come to pass.
“Is everyone ready for this?” asked Matthew in a quiet voice, his sword in his hand and chest armor on his body.
Everyone nodded, also wearing as much armor as the village provided, and wielding swords, spears, daggers and guns. A percentage of them were holding torches for light.
“We have to be quiet and get the jump on it. If it’s in the cave John told me about, that will be even better as we can trap it.” Matthew sighed and continued “This is everyone’s last chance to back out. This is a dangerous task and chances are there will be fatalities. So, if anyone wants to leave do it now.”
No one moved an inch.
Matthew smiled at the loyalty and honor being shown before him and said “Very well, then.”
He nodded to John who took his cue and rallied his group together. They left around the other side of the hill to both have a better chance to sneak up on her as they’re more quiet spread out, and so they could cover more ground.
Once John had signaled from the other side of the hill that he and his group were ready, Matthew gave the signal back to him and gave the okay to his group to move towards their target.
It all ends now.
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“Ah, where is it?” said Syrus as he looked through the various boxes in the pharmacy store room, “I can’t find it.” Syrus sighed “I’ve wasted enough time, already. Why does everything have to become so complicated?”
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The groups had reached the cave after trekking over the entire area, stream included.
“It doesn’t seem to be out here, but keep your group on the look out behind us.” said Matthew to John who nodded in understanding and gave his group a signal.
“Syrus seems to be elsewhere as well, Matt. There’s no sign of him.” replied John quietly.
“Yes…”
Matthew took one of the villagers’ torches and grabbed a large bottle off his belt. He threw the bottle into the cave where he heard it smash in the darkness before throwing the torch into the cave, letting it hit the highly flammable substance within the bottle that flowed onto the cave floor.
The cave’s innards burst into flames while Matthew showed a proud grin on his face as it was illuminated by the dancing flames.
“Come on, you filthy demon.” said Matthew quietly, “Show your face.”
Moments went on with nothing appearing from the cave or from the forest behind them.
Could Syrus and the beast have heard of our plan and run off? thought Matthew.
Or perhaps the beast died in the flames….No…No way would a creature that vile die from such a simple fire. Especially with no screams.“Maybe I was wrong.” said John quietly.
The flames suddenly started dying, as if something was suffocating them, draining the life from them, before showing a figure in the dark, eyes glowing red. A horrible demonic growl echoed throughout the cave, sending shivers up the villagers’ spines.
Matthew grasped his sword tighter in his grasp, “And maybe you were right.”
