The Lover's Cost

Cursed

With gentle movements, the queen stirred and opened her gaze to the lasting night. Only a moment later, she flinched at the tall, slender shadow looming over the end of the bed. "Oh! Honey, it's only you...you scared me," the queen panted, sitting up with a hand at her heaving chest. "What...is it?"

The loud and clear fear in her voice tickled Violet's ears. Her icy eyes glowed a ghostly blue against the blackness of her silhouette and the bedroom. Then, she parted her lips and let her words snake out in an eerie whisper. "I was just watching you sleep..." She began, glowing eyes narrowing. "Did you know that the soul is vulnerable when at rest? Even after you wake up, it is weakened for some time..."

"Oh...is that so?" Vivian asked with a nervous chuckle. Her fingers gripped the bedsheets and her eyes moved around frantically, trying to focus on something other than the reaper's haunting gaze.

"You're afraid," Violet stated. "You told me that you didn't fear me...mom."

"I...well, no...honey, I'm just a bit confused."

"Don't call me that," Violet spat. "We are on no grounds for you to call me anything other than my name."

Vivian took a deep breath but it did nothing to ease her quaking. "Okay...Violet, you seem upset. Let's just talk about it, okay?"

"Talk about it?" Violet echoed, hatred cracking her soft voice. She stepped into the moonlight, letting the pale beams cut away her silhouette and reveal her delicate, doll-like features. They were tainted by wrath. "I didn't resurrect you so you could betray me, Vivian. I didn't bring you back so you could abandon me for my worst enemy, so you could date him, marry him!" Anger oozed into her voice.

The queen shot away, her back pressed hard against the headboard. "No, Violet, I –"

"I did it so you could see your daughters, so I could forgive myself for killing you!" The dark mage roared. "I did it so I'd know what it was like to have a mother!"

"Violet, I'm sorry! You do have a mother; I'm here now! It's not too late, we can –"

"Silence!" The witch screamed, her voice shaking the entire house. Black bubbles frothed from her eyes. "I hate you more than you could ever know...but I'll try to show you how much as best as I can!" Black, bubbling tendrils erupted from the floor, curling over the bed and constricting the queen's limbs.

Vivian's body thrashed and twitched in the smoky tendrils' grip, a sight which pleased the dark caster. "Violet, no! Don't!" Vivian screamed, tears pouring from her eyes. "Don't do this! Don't let hatred control you, please!"

A growl boiled in Violet's throat. She leaned forward and slapped her mother across the face. "You hypocrite!" She shrieked, her nails raking the queen's cheek. She flinched and yelled alongside the echoing smack.

"No! I understand it because I have been there!" Vivian pleaded. "I was there with my own mother! Hate is a terrible thing, Violet, it'll destroy you!"

A sick, twisted chuckle flooded the room. Violet laughed, "Don't treat me like a puppet, Vivian. I'm in control." The witch's voice was a rasp. She felt her magic fill her skull, sinking into the soft flesh of her mind and staining it black. Her eyes rolled up a slight, inky tears trickling out of them. "It feels...so good..."

Vivian twitched, her eyes glassy. "You're insane..." She breathed.

The reaper stared at her restrained mother, cocking her head in amusement and grinning against the moonlight, fangs glinting like miniature swords. "This is going to hurt me a little," she rasped, pitch-black smoke billowing from the corner of her mouth in a wisp. "But the best spells always do..."

Magic flourishing, Violet focused on her wrath and let her wicked essence feed on it. It frothed from her eyes in a hazy frenzy and she began casting her curse. She craned her neck back as the pain grew within her lower chest, pushing against her ribs. It pressed and pulsed, over and over until a visible bulge thumped from the inside. It tore a pained scream out of Violet and a mortified one from Vivian.

The reaper let black magic sink further into her psyche and she allowed it to continue beating against her insides until her ribs cracked. Splitting her face was a broken grin; possessing her mind was an evil high. At last her ribs burst through her skin. The bones ripped open like jaws, tearing her robe partly open and exposing her organs. Between them lashed a thick haze. It spilled out in the form of whipping tendrils, snaking onto the trapped queen.

Vivian screamed and tugged against her binds as the smoky tendrils from Violet's insides slithered across the mother's body. "What are you doing!? Stop!" She screeched, wide eyes glued to her daughter's open, exposed ribcage.

A malefic laugh exploded from the sorceress. "Scream louder, Vivian! No one will help you!" Black haze continued to drip from her insides, past the jaws of her ribs and onto her victim.

One of the tendrils plunged into Vivian's throat. Her further shrieks were trapped in her lungs as the tendril searched deep within. The witch leaned closer, her voice a sinister whisper. "I'm going to take your place as queen, mother...and there's nothing you can do about it."

The tendril had caressed the queen's soul. Violet felt the connection – the spell was complete. Every tendril yanked back to its source like a measuring tape, returning to its host's insides. Violet's ribs crunched back into place and her skin sealed up. At once, the dark haze which filled the room vanished.

Left a frozen, twitching husk of her former self, Vivian lay in a puddle of her own tears. "What...what did you do?" She rasped through ragged breathing.

Violet laughed, relishing in her power. "My time of laying low is over," she said triumphantly, icy eyes gleaming with ambition.

"What did you do!?" Vivian howled.

"Oh, I just cast a little spell that my old friend Senkards made use of..." The witch twirled a finger through her purple hair proudly. "Of course, I had to modify it for my own use...but it works all the same."