Mira’s Night

"I said open your mouth!" the constable shouted.

Mira clinched her jaw tight and shook her head. Not now, never would she relent.

She squirmed and wiggled in the dirt as the much heavier man tried to pry open her mouth. But in doing so, the constable became unbalanced. She seized the opportunity and kneed him hard in the groin.

The man whelped and crumpled into a humiliated ball.

Mira rolled over and sprang to her feet, kicking up a clod of mud with her heel. She lost her footing and slipped, spitting the key from her mouth on the way to the ground.

She panicked and spread her arms out and patted the ground, desperately searching for the black iron key in the dark.

The constable moaned and rose to his knees.

"You're going to pay!"

Mira laughed as her hand finally brushed the warm, wet metal of the key. She scooped it up and took off in a flash.

Her lungs burned with satisfaction in the chilled night air. She howled and laughed childishly as she ran along the worn footpath behind the village seedbarn. Her bare feet carried her through the hedgerow by Old Man Wala's and into the forest. She knew the way by heart, even in the dark.

Mira neared the moonlit clearing where the gnarled old oak tree the villagers called Keeper of Secrets stood. Beneath its branches was a patch of freshly turned soil glistening with dew. Mira stuffed the key into the pouch on her belt and collapsed to her knees, and started digging.

An hour later, her raw fingers scraped against the wooden planks of the coffin. A pounding from inside eased her worries.

"Andre, my love! Hold fast!"

Mira scraped away the dirt from the shallow grave, revealing more of her lover's sealed casket. Black iron chains led her to the heavy lock. She retrieved the key from her pouch. The moment the cylinder turned, the chains broke free, and she was thrown aside against the damp earth.

Andre rose from his grave, high into the air with a bright and wicked smile.

Dirty as he was, Mira drank in his glorious sight. And when his gaze turned down to meet her, a flutter of her heart nearly overwhelmed her. Mira scrambled up to the grass and then fell to her knees, tears of joy streaming down her cheeks. She had saved her dark lover from an eternal prison.

With dirty fingers, she pulled back the high collar of her blouse, exposing her neck, ready for Andre to fulfill his promise. With him by her side, she could do anything, including leaving the daylight behind from now until forever.

Andre descended and settled on a light foot by her side. She could sense his hunger, his thirst for her blood.

His teeth sank into her neck with a white-hot intensity that overwhelmed her with ecstasy. Her hands grew icy as he fed on her life's blood. Then finally, as her vision grew dim, and she swayed uncertainly, Andre pulled away. His face was radiant, now aglow with youth and vigor.

"My love, my sweet, I will give you what you so desire," he said.

He punctured his wrist with his own teeth. Dark blood flowed from his wound.

As Mira took his hand, her own shook with anticipation. She brought his wrist to her mouth with quiet reverence. His blood was cold and tasted of metal, but quenched a thirst only just awakened. She trembled and drank, feeling her own life slip away like a half-remembered dream.

Then suddenly, she was on the ground, thrashing in pain, gasping for air she would soon no longer require. A stillness, blacker than a moonless night, overtook both body and mind. A peace lasting for eternity, stretched between the stars and everything ever created, ended as quickly as it began.

She awakened, something other than what she had been. The darkness of night now torn away from her eyes, revealing everything nature had created in its true, vibrant form. And there, standing above her, majestic and immortal, handsome and endearing, was Andre. He extended a slender hand to her and spoke.

"Rise, my dear Leandra, your new life awaits."

Mira shot to her feet.

"Who the hell is Leandra?"