Vacant Faith (4 page)

“
NO!” The girl protested,
clinging tighter.

“
Hush now, baby.” Kirani
said softly. “Everything will be alright. But I need you to be
strong for me, alright? Your father needs us both to be strong for
him.” She hugged the shivering girl and kissed the top of her head.
“He needs us now more than ever. Can you be strong for him, my
darling?”

“
Mommy...” Alina said
meekly, fresh tears spilling from her tightly closed
eyes.

“
Everything will be okay.”
Kirani replied softly. Another snap. Another crash. It was almost
too late. “I promise, baby. Everything will be okay, but I have to
go help your father. I'll be back as soon as I can, but you need to
stay here, alright? Stay right here and keep sending your strength
to your father. He needs it now more than ever if we don't want the
monster to take him away from us. You don't want to lose him do
you?” Gently she pulled the girl's arms from around her and stood
up. She had to hurry.

************************

Alina curled herself into a tight ball as
she watched her mother hurry up the steps and into the night,
closing the hidden door behind her. For the first time within the
young girl's memory, her father was losing the battle. Closing her
eyes tight, she did her best to send him her strength and love,
sure that it was the only thing left that could save him from the
monster. The closed door did little to keep out the noises from
above, the snarls and growls somehow seeming to grow even louder,
and then she heard her mother's voice. Kirani was calling to
Werion, telling him to fight the creature and control it.

“
He needs us to be strong
right now, not weak.” The little girl whispered, seeking comfort
from her own voice. “He needs me to be strong. And I can be. I can
be strong, just like mommy. I can be. I... I have to be.” She
opened her eyes and looked hesitantly at the wooden steps leading
out of the safety of the hidden cellar. “For daddy.” Shivering in
terror, the small girl hesitantly sat up and rose to her feet,
hurrying to the stairs before fear could convince her to change her
mind.

************************

Kirani hurried around the house until the
stone wall was in sight. As she caught sight of the creature, she
froze. A terribly misshapen thing, it was difficult for her to look
at and even harder to look away from. It was a thing that could not
exist. Its body was asymmetrical, making it nearly incomprehensible
to her terrified mind. The creature was covered in matted brown
fur, missing in patches to expose sickly grey skin. Long, muscular
arms ended in large, curled hands, one split into two thick fingers
while the other more closely resembled the hand of a man. It's
elongated jaws sprouted vicious-looking teeth, thick ropes of
saliva constantly dripping from its mouth. In its malformed hands
it held the links of the final chain.

“
Werion, no!” Kirani cried
out.

The creature looked up at her call, pinning
her with its terrible eyes. One was a milky white and opened wide
as if in surprise, but the other, a dark and swirling red, narrowed
angrily. The woman could only watch with helpless futility as the
creature's powerful arms flexed and the chain snapped like a
brittle stick. Foam flecked lips pulled further away from teeth too
big to fit within its jaws.

“
Werion!” She screamed,
unable to move from where she stood. “I know you're in there, my
love! You have to fight it! Hurry!” She shuddered as the beast
released the chain, causing it to slap against the stones with a
loud, echoing clang. Heightened by her fear, the sound echoed
deafeningly in her ears. She began to shiver, every instinct and
every nerve screaming for her to flee, but she refused to leave her
beloved to his fate when he needed her the most. “Please, my love!”
She pleaded. “You must! I can't... I can't lose you!”

The creature narrowed it's one eye further
and let out a tortured roar. Then it took a step closer.

************************

Alina paused at the door as she heard the
monster making a strange noise. It made her tremble just to hear
it, a sound filled with such pain and rage that it should not have
been able to exist. She gave a glance over her shoulder at the
promised safety of her bed, but if her mother could stand up to the
creature, then she could be brave enough to do it too.

She shoved the door open and dashed up the
rest of the stairs, the darkness of the moonless night stealing
away her sight as it swallowed her whole.

************************

“
Werion! You must fight it!”
Kirani cried weakly, her voice trembling as she watched the
creature take another step closer. “I know that you're there, my
love! And I know it's hard, but you've got to fight it! They'll
kill you if this thing gets free!”

The creature paused, snarling louder, it's
malformed ears twitching hesitantly. Suddenly it took a step back,
dropping it's large head into its hands. It emitted a strange
sound, a mixture of a growl and a whimper, and turned it's back on
Kirani.

“
Yes! Yes, my love! Fight
it!” She shouted encouragingly. “You can beat it! You can take
control!”

The creature shook as if fighting some
internal battle, roaring in frustration as it tossed its head from
side to side.

“
That's it! Fight it! You
can do it, I know you can!”

************************

Alina crept along slowly, being as quiet as
she could. The world took its time coming into focus as her eyes
adjusted to the lack of light. A short distance away she could hear
her mother's voice, mixed with that of the monster. Her mother was
begging her father to fight. Lending him her own strength and
encouragement, Alina mouthed the words she had learned growing up
but spared no breath to give them voice.

Peeking around another corner, she finally
caught sight of her mother, and just beyond her, the monster. It
was a hideous thing, worse than anything she had faced in her
nightmares. But her daddy was in there somewhere, trapped and
unable to get out. It was up to her and Kirani to save him.

And save him they would, like the heroes in
the stories he often told her. Like those brave souls of old, she
and her mother would face the terrible evil and somehow chase it
back into the darkness, forever defeated. The good guys always won,
always came out on top. Gaining confidence in this knowledge, Alina
took a step forward, preparing to join her mother in facing the
beast.

************************

The creature suddenly collapsed, letting out
a pitiful whine like a dying animal. Kirani rushed to it, kneeling
down beside the downed creature and resting a hand on one trembling
shoulder. “I'm here, my love. I'm right here for you.” Its fur was
rough and prickly against her skin, but she refused to pull away.
“I believe in you.”

Slowly the beast tilted its head, lifting it
to look at her. Only the red eye was visible, focused on her. The
iris swirled like a puddle of freshly spilled blood, but it seemed
to have softened. She smiled encouragingly down at the creature
that was her husband, tears beginning to flow unbidden down her
cheeks. “I knew you were still in there somewhere, my love. I just
knew it.”

As if to avoid spooking a shy horse, the
creature slowly raised one of its hands, hesitating a moment before
stretching out one long and twisted digit, which it wiped softly
across Kirani's wet cheek. It made a soft, inquiring grunt which
became a mewling whine as the woman covered its hand with her
own.

They had won. Werion was in control again,
and they were all safe. With this small victory, perhaps he could
even overcome the beast entirely in time. “Come. Can you get up?
I'll get you a blanket and make you some tea, then we'll figure out
what to do until morning.” She rose to her feet and gave an
encouraging tug at the beast's hand. “Alina will be so proud of
you.”

With more agonizing slowness, the creature
rose to its feet, head still bowed. Kirani gave a relieved sigh and
gave another tug to pull it along after her. Even relaxed, the
muscles of the creature's arm stood out like thick cables strung
just below the skin. The simple movements of its fingers curling
around her hand created a terrifying dance. And then the creature
lifted its head, both eyes pinning the woman in place as securely
as ropes. The breath caught in Kirani's throat, refusing to go in
or out of her lungs. Her legs began to tremble weakly, threatening
to drop her to the ground. She wanted to scream, to pull her hand
free of its grip, to turn away and run. But she could do nothing
except stand frozen in rigid terror, returning the creature's
hateful gaze. Until it smiled.

************************

Alina watched as the creature fell to the
ground, her mother kneeling beside it, and relaxed. The battle was
over. The monster had been defeated, and soon she would have her
daddy back. Everything was going to be alright after all, just as
they had both kept telling her it would be. A wide smile stretched
her mouth and she released the words she had been repeating in her
mind.

As her mother encouraged the creature to
rise back to its feet, she prepared to rush over to join them,
imagining the three of them hugging each other and laughing over
the vanquishment of the monster. It would become her new favorite
bed time story, her daddy using his silly voices as he recounted
how their love had saved him from the evil of the monster. Just as
she was about to move forward, something stopped her. A feeling of
dreadful wrongness crept over her, although she couldn't see why.
And then she saw the creature raise its head and smile.

“
Daddy, no!”

************************

Before Kirani could move, it was upon her.
It moved fast for such an ill-shaped thing, the monster that should
not exist. She felt it jerk her forward by her arm even as the
other swung around to catch her from behind, knocking out her
breath in one great whoosh.

The woman doubled over, gasping desperately
for enough air to scream. She thought some of her ribs might have
been broken while she instinctively scrambled to get free from the
monster's iron grip. “Daddy no!” She heard Alina cry from some
distant corner of her awareness.

Fighting the pain in her chest and the urge
to cough, Kirani inhaled as deeply as she could. “Run, Alina!
Ruuuun!” She screamed, fear for her own well being changing to fear
for her daughter. “Don't look back, baby, just run!”

'My baby!' Kirani's mind screamed in fresh
horror. 'Please don't let him hurt my baby!' It was her last
rational thought before her world was reduced to blinding agony,
and then finally, darkness.

************************

Alina stood where she was, too frightened to
move, too frightened to scream or even to cry. She could only stand
perfectly still as she watched the atrocities the creature
committed to her mother's limp form, the front of its body becoming
coated in her blood. The monster had won. They were not the
triumphant heroes of her father's tales after all. With its chains
broken, the monster would carry her father away forever.

Alina blamed only herself. Just as they were
winning, she had abandoned her mantra. She alone had allowed the
monster to succeed. Had she just continued her prayer, had she just
kept saying those magical words of power, her mother would still be
alive and her father would be safe again instead of mutilating her
mother's corpse. Alina could not seem to make herself turn away as
the beast slashed at her mother's limp form again and again with
its terrible claws and tearing at her with its horribly mangled
teeth. Even when the creature began to devour her, tearing thick
strips of flesh from the body to be swallowed whole, Alina forced
herself to watch. It was the price of her weakness.

When the beast looked up at her, one milky
white eye wide and staring while the other of swirling red narrowed
dangerously, Alina knew that she was to be next. No amount of
running, hiding or pleading would save her. Controlled by the
monster formed of misused magic, her own father would kill and eat
her. Just like her mother. The price of weakness.

The weakness of the witchwolf, who created
him from her lonliness.

The weakness of the humans, who could not
stop the creature that preyed upon them.

The weakness of her mother, who could not
stop the beast from escaping.

The weakness of her father, who could not
control the monster within.

And the weakness of herself, who had allowed
the beast to win.

“
It's okay, Daddy.” She
said softly to the staring eyes. She had stopped the words, the
words that gave him strength. She had stopped them just at the
moment he needed them most and allowed the monster to regain
control. And now it had grown too strong to stop again. All of them
had succumb to their weakness. “I forgive you.”

Thank you for reading this
short story. I hope you enjoyed it as much as I enjoyed writing it.
This short is part of a collection relating to The Wolfcaller
Chronicles, which take place in a strange and faraway land full of
alien creatures and interesting races like those mentioned in this
story. If you enjoyed this tale then please check out book one of
The Wolfcaller Chronicles, Uprising!

If
you would like to read more of my work, I can be found at
https://www.smashwords.com/profile/view/Rabidwolfie
, or you can type Melody Hewson into your
search engine. Please remember to leave a review!