Writers' Wednesday || Part 15 - The Message (and new characters!)

Wow. Sorry this took so long to get up. I tried to take a really epic picture for it, but they were all pretty bad. 

Hope you guys like it! 

- Part 15 -

The Message

Above the raging ocean, Blood Castle clung to the mountain precipice, old seaweed and damp gorse oozing from the cracks like puss from a wound. The lightning storm was whipping the sea into a foamy torment, the skies black with clouds. Waves lapped at the salt-encrusted stone stairway in the mountainside that led up from the beach to the fortress. Lorena Blood took a deep breath of the salty air, metallic with the electricity from the storm.

She stood at the open window, the silky curtains she had drawn away rippling in the wind. This castle had been a rotting corpse of driftwood before she arrived. But she had fixed that. She had made it a great fortress once again. Now, the village people intoned its name like a curse. Lorena Blood had made a good life for herself here, despite that this place had been intended to be her punishment. But she would gain the Master's trust and respect back.

And if not that, at least her life.

The sound of footsteps made her turn around. She moved slowly, unconcerned. An agent stood with hands in his pockets, maddenly arrogant like every idiot Stallings turned into a soldier for the Master. He was younger than the others, which only added to his smug attitude. She took in his crew-cut black hair, impeccable suit and trenchcoat, his bright but slow eyes.

She waited for him to speak first. When their eyes met, the man seemed momentarily surprised. His gaze swept her face and body, nervousness flooding his expression. Lorena smiled. This poor sap must be new.

"Freyja," he finally managed. Lorena crossed her arms elegantly and waited. "I've brought you a message from Stallings."

Lorena held out a pale hand for the slip of paper, blood red nails like claws clicking as they brushed each other. The agent placed it in her fingers delicately. His hand was gloved. Lorena wondered sometimes how they didn't get hot under all that clothing.

Turning her back to the young man, she unfolded the paper and read the three words printed on it.

Ragnorak is here.

Lorena crushed the paper in her fist. Stretching her hand out the window, she watched the message flutter in the wind as it dropped towards the ocean.

"That's it?" she asked, in a half-whisper.

"Yes."

Striding to her desk, Lorena quickly scribbled a reply. "Give this to Stallings."

The man seemed to shrink away from her even while he came closer to receive the note she held. She smiled again, and the agent flinched. He practically grabbed the paper from her. Then he was gone.

Lorena Blood found herself laughing as the room was suddenly empty. She glanced at the giant mirror over the mantle of the crackling fireplace. Emerald eyes flashed back at her. Her white skin looked whiter in the stark dimness cast by the storm, her red lips like blood in the half-light. How incredible it was what beauty could do to a man when he was confronted face-to-face with it.

A sour feeling trickled into her stomach as her thoughts once again retured to Stalling's message.

Ragnarok is here.

"I suppose we shall meet soon," Lorena said, leaning against the windowsill, reveling in the seaspray on her face. "I'll be looking forward to it, Ragnarok. Whoever you are."

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~The Scribbler in the Attic