Rot & Romance (Rewriting)

Chapter 104

(I'll let you know when to play song)

She drove a dagger through her stomach and set herself on fire to keep Benjamin alive.

And it wasn't  enough.

And now Lainey watched as he slowly began to disintegrate into ash.

As he slowly backpedaled out of her life.

"God, no . . . ," she breathed.

She closed her eyes. She had to.

There was no way she could watch Benjamin die. Her lips broke apart with a heavy sob. Tears managed to break their way through her tightly shut eyes. She slammed her fist into the ground.

Why is this happening? she mentally shouted.

Then she heard him.

"No!" Morrison roared. "What's . . . what's happening?"

She opened her eyes and was immediately alleviated from her torment.

It wasn't Benjamin's ashes falling down the sides of his head . . . it was Morrison's.

The fist that once gripped the Bone Dagger lodged in Benjamin's head was now a pile of ashes on his head. And it didn't end there--his whole right arm was quickly disintegrating.

"What's happening?" he roared again, watching his arm disappear in absolute trepidation. Then he looked at Lainey. "What did you do?" he growled.

"N-Nothing," Lainey said, shaking her head.

He quickly removed the Bone Dagger from Benjamin's head and approached Lainey.

"What did you do?" he madly roared.

"I-I didn't do anything!" Lainey said, taking steps back. "I swear!"

He approached her faster, losing more of his arm with each step.

"I'm going to make you suffer if you don't stop this!"

Lainey shielded herself with her hands.

"Y-You can't hurt me, remember?" she cried. "You'll only hurt yourself."

"FIX WHAT YOU HAVE DONE TO ME!" Morrison bellowed, the disintegration now reaching his upper arm.

"I-I don't know how!" Lainey stammered. "I'm not a witch. . . . I-I'm just . . . human."

Morrison roared. At the ground and at the dark sky.

This man was seriously demented.

Whatever was happening to his arm seemed to have stopped; leaving him with only half a right upper arm.

For several long moments he heaved, looking from what was left of his arm to Lainey. After what seemed liked forever, his lips curved into the creepiest scowl she had ever seen. He slowly crept toward her.

"I never imagined a human could be this burdensome," he said quietly. "Truth be told, I'm rather fascinated by your perpetual devotion to an undead boy who will only kill you someday, should you choose to be with him."

"H-He won't . . . ," Lainey breathed. "A-And you still can't hurt me."

Morrison grinned.

"You know, my wife had a favorite pair of earrings that she'd wear all the time--even to bed," he said quietly, eyeing Lainey's necklace. "I'd often question her about it and she told me the same thing every time: 'I wear it for protection'. But the wretched woman never cared to elaborate." He stopped several feet away from Lainey. "Well, when you sleep with a monster you may get bit, right? Or worse. Naturally she wanted to protect herself from a man who had stared into the abyss a little too long." He grinned. "If your necklace is indeed spellbound by the same sorcery as Ursula's earrings--and evidence suggests that it is--then it cannot be removed by force. I learned that the hard way. But I do have bad news for you."