Life or Death
Crow (melchior.wardell) had stood there for a long time. A perfect spot where he would see who was about and who was in the house or near it. Crow had waited and contemplating what he should do. He could not take the risk and would sneak in by using the back door. The act done in silence as he kept aware of his surroundings. The dark of course covering his presence as he was in all black.
Serena Livius (dirnali.muhindra): me had come home at the first opportunity and in the thick of the night, carrying Sage there so as they could both settle and rest. She’d hardly slept but Sage had now been fed and lay peacefully asleep in the crib as her thoughts and worries tormented her. She stood there, looming over the child in the silence of the normally busy home. With Lucrezia and Eustachius off in Venna and Mel not home all night, the place really did feel empty and she’d not felt this alone in a long time.. Maybe some tea would help or even a large glass of wine to send her to sleep, not drunk. She moved out of the bedroom and padded on bare feet towards the kitchen but froze on the spot close to the dining table. Her heart raced and her stomach lunged. Her biggest fear was Mel walking in the to the news that she’d left the hospital, not anything else. There were no words, not a single one as he/ a figure was spotted, stood there in his black garb, no longer a figment of her imagination nor the man she truly loved. She couldn’t be sure but something in her heart told her it was him. ” No…” She broke the eerie silence with.
Crow (melchior.wardell) eyes narrowed as he had seen the ligt come within the room. He could have guessed that she had hurried home with the child. Perhaps earlier upon this day he would have questioned this moment. But with the murder still fresh and the adrenaline of it within his system there was no way there was any consideration to who and what this moment was. With a quick response he leaped towards her and would hold her in a way she was smothered by the hand before her mouth. The voice no longer the one of Melchior but the dark one of the killer Crow. “Be quiet.” he demanded. Even the tone of his voice held dominance if his physic and attire had not yet done that job. Where Melchior had been unarmed, Crow held many weapons upon his body. No softness but cold steel and leather. “Can you be quiet?” he asks near her ear. His breath one she might have felt and yet there seemed to be no hint of passion or warmth within it.
Serena Livius (dirnali.muhindra) didn’t even get a chance to look over her shoulder to where the newborn slept. He was to quick for her, she knew he always but at times tested him and believed that at times he allowed her the upper hand. Before any words could leave her mouth his hand was already covering it. She held her breath, closed her eyes and then nods her head a few times. She couldn’t comprehend any of it but no matter what, his touch was still a familiar touch that she knew, even if more powerful and determined. ” Yes..” She mumbled into his hand as his warm breast trickled over her flesh. Slowly she opened her eyes again to try and get him back in her sights.
Crow (melchior.wardell) would keep her in a firm grip as he would set the ground rules. “I will release you, but remember. If you so much shout or cry – this will be a short lived story.” there was no need for a special tone of voice. His words held truth and nothing that could be interpreted as a suggestion. “You are gonna sit down on a chair at the table.” he added. “If you think this will be conversation to how things can be resolved, do not fret. This will not be a pleasant one.” he would only now release her to allow her to take a seat on one of the chairs. With an eye of a killer he would see every move she would make. He was not stupid. This could turn in all kind of directions.
Serena Livius (dirnali.muhindra) knew he was like a spider who had spun his web, he’d lured her into his lair all theses years ago and there was no escape. She’d never wanted one but nor had she wanted this day to come. His foreboding presence felt like it grew ten degrees colder suddenly. Her breath quickened and she wet her suddenly dry lips as he held her in that tight and firm grasp.. She was at his mercy, fearful and scared but deep inside her there was still that man she loved and adored. His words were painful and sicking to her stomach, so as he released her, she stepped back away. Wanting and needing that space between them ” How does the story end? I don’t know ..” she mummers as she moved to take up her seat but not without a glance to the door where the small child slept;.She was looking at him as he was looking at her but she was not foolish enough to make any stupid move. ” You’re … You’re farewell last night left me empty.” She admits quietly.
Crow (melchior.wardell) watched when she seats herself. Her words and her emotions seemed to stop a few inched before him and dropped dead before they would reach him. In his eyes there was only this darkness. A predator that was on his mission and held himself to strike. “The story ends today.” he tells her. “How it ends is a very rare thing I will give you.” he started. “Something I have never given anyone.” he added. .There he would slowly move towards the table as to regard her intently and with the intent to strike if there was any need for it. “You will have a choice.” he offered eventually. “This choice is given to what once was. But it is a test also.” he spoke slow and in a way he truly wished her to hear.
Serena Livius (dirnali.muhindra) had noted the weapons he carried, each one that could be seen noted. She inhaled sharply, her nostrils flared, a shaking breath then followed as he spoke again. She opened her mouth several times, though no sound came out as he gave his reply to the ending. Each step he took as he made his way to loom counted quietly in her head. That woman who’s mouth was normally so ripe and sarcastic, couldn’t think of a single word, let alone a sentence to say. She met his gaze and nods her head a few times. Her life could of easily flashed before her eyes at that moment – The good, the bad and the ugly too but all she could managed was to focus on him. ” Tell me please…” She finally broke another long silence with.
Crow (melchior.wardell) watched and again took time in silence. Perhaps she considered him contemplating, but that phase had gone already “The choice is death. And with that choice your life is ended quick and swift. The children will be taken care off by relatives and enough funds to have them live in one of the highest cylinders for more than a lifetime.” he presented the first option, before he would place the collar upon the table for her to see. It wasn’t the delicate one he used as Melchior but a sturdy one – clearly one without all the fanfare but that of a low slave.”Or your submission.” he would lift his hand before she was to speak “Consider this wisely. In that collar you will no longer have relatives. You are nothing, but a beast. I can do with it as I would see fit.” he would now shove the collar – black – before her. “That is the choice you can make – Death or your submission. Any questions?” he gave her that – he wanted her to be very sure of the choice she had to make.
Serena Livius (dirnali.muhindra) couldn’t work out what was going to come out of his mouth next, no matter how hard she tried. She in the back of her mind could still envisage the father, the family man and her one true love. How easily he shattered that imagine when he finally spoke again. Tears filled her eyes he spoke so coldly about the family they had but worse still it was the fact that he could take her life like it meant nothing to him. She knew she wasn’t invincible but a mother too. She took both on board and stared over at the door where the latest family addition slept and her gaze hung there for quite a while. She only looked back as he pushed the collar her way and she stared at that with the same lengthy consideration. She felt physically sick by the two choices he gave, so bad that she could easily of vomited on the table and burst into tears. ” i… I have always loved you and i always will..” came trickling out meekly when she finally looked up again. ” I’ve lived with this fear for the best part of my life and i never wanted it to come.” She’d no idea what had changed so suddenly, so soon after the birth of their daughter but he always had good reasons, which she didn’t always question.” Could you truly live the rest of you life without me, could you really take my last breath and watch the life drain from my eyes ?” she asked him genuinely. She was still thinking all through as those questioned were posed.
Crow (melchior.wardell) did not expected her to make a choice immediately and she did not disappoint. The question one he had anticipated. “You loved a ruse. A man I am not.” he tells her. Unsure himself if it was all a lie, but he would not give her his doubt. “The ruse is no longer needed. For it has done its job.” he would not tell her to which extend or what he had done. The man clearly not a friend of the family. Yet important enough to have the city officials to see what and who was responsible. “If you truly love me, the choice would seem to be easy.” he tested her with his sarcasm. “As to what I am capable off. I doubt you wish me to elaborate.” he suggested.
Serena Livius (dirnali.muhindra) knew she didn’t want to die but also didn’t want to watch their children and granddaughter from afar if he even allowed that. There was so much turmoil all condensed into her mind and heart plus hormone, so the tears soon begun to fall. ” i gathered such..” She replied as she listened to him dance around her question while playing with her heart.” I’ve always loved you and i always will . even stood here looking like this… giving me the ultimatums, there is no hate just fear.” She said as she lifted one hand up and waved it out to him. That hand soon lowered and she reached out to curl her fingers around the collar. He was asking so much including giving up her life and position in Ar but the freedom he once spoke of always played its part to. ” The children and Lucrezia will never want for nothing- ever ? Sage will be sent to Venna to her and her mother ?” She asked while still trying to put things into prospective but she’d noticed he’d not answered her questions directly too.
Crow (melchior.wardell) held up a scroll. “This scroll will be delivered to the palace. In it are instructions. The children will indeed go to Venna. So will all your jewelry, and richness that was once that of you and the ruse of Melchior.” he replied to the point. There was another thing he put upon the table. “This will go with the children.” it was clear that the large pouch was filled with coin. “They will never have to live in poverty.” he added. If Serena would consider the past she would know that even in his business he could see that others were well taken care off. “When you take this collar. Everything will be erased. Every fault, mistake, or error also.” he added. There was nothing in his demeanor that gave away that he disliked what he was doing In fact it was as if he just had ordered muffins at the bakery.
Serena Livius (dirnali.muhindra) rolled her fingers over the rim of the collar and then let it go, pushing it back across the table towards him as he spoke again. She drew in a few more deep breaths and looked from the scroll and to the coin that he placed. She had no doubt that the children would want for nothing between him and her many priceless trinkets, they would all live happily ” Let me come to you please..” she asked as both hands rest upon the chair to lift herself up. She still wasn’t in full form having only had the child last night. ” Marelnus…” She adds under baited breath as he filtered into her mind now the place had been mentioned. How could she ever look at him again or learn to accept his eyes on her in a different way than as a brother. ” please…” she adds again with a few nods of her head as he spoke of erasing the past.
Crow (melchior.wardell) didn’t allow her to stand or come to him. From now on things would be on his conditions only. The man that had been trained to remove all feelings from his being. The one that had killed more than he could count. The man that even considered not giving her a choice and kill her to be done with it. Of course the fact he had given her one – was perhaps the simmer of a soft spot. “He can not help you now.” he replied. “His word or his desires are not considered or measured. You have that one choice – No other.” there was no warmth or empathy as to the hard choice she had been given. “We seem to be on a point in which I do not wish to repeat myself.” he now did give some pressure on the fact there was no other choice but those two.
Serena Livius (dirnali.muhindra) was like a moth to a flame even as her life hung in the balance. Her heart was telling her one thing and her mind another. She was wise and always would be and no matter how often she’d battled him in the past his word and guidance always counted. ” No he can’t and he will tell me to do whats right, accept my fate graciously and continue on.. I know it. ” Her hands left the chair when he didn’t knowledge or accept her plea. Her heart was so heavy that she felt like she could hear it pounding in her head . Her hands were sweaty and her mouth was dry. She knew he could of just come in and killed her on the spot, so this choice he gave held much meaning. She now tho understood how that woman felt when she’d handed her child off to her friend. ” I’ve always be yours and i always will be..” She admits as she looked briefly past him and to where the baby slept. ” i can’t just give up and die my world.. We haven’t come this far for it to end this way. I can’t die knowing that its my blood on. your hands” she
might of been deluded but believed he loved her to and that was a heavy price for even a man like him to pay.
[06:32] Serena Livius (dirnali.muhindra): been yours *
Crow could see the questions, the consideration of all what was presented before her. He pondered on the fact she still held on to the thought of love. Crow was incapable of it. He had not been the killer for this long if he had no control over that part of himself. Still there was no emotion in his eyes or the tone of his voice. “It is not up to you to give up – it is only a choice. A choice between life or death. The life will be on my terms. ” he did not explain to her that her alive as a freewoman would still have risks he did not wish to take. When she was his slave – she had become nothing. No word she would share would be questioned to his. She would only be a beast or a corpse. “So be sure. Is it live or death?”
Serena Livius (dirnali.muhindra) felt the pang to her heart, not once or simple twice, she’s lost count of how his coldness had hurt her so much. She sat there shaking and trembling as he pressed her for the answer one way or the other. She looked to where Sage slept once again for a lengthy amount of time. Death hadn’t been an option to her, she was no coward and that felt like the cowards way out. She loved him to much but noticed the lack of it in return. Where Mel would of filled those voids and smothered her beating heart with love, he showed none. ” Life.. I chose life.. ” She gulped back as she sucked in the tears and the reality of it begun to flow through her veins.
Crows Murder 
Leave a comment