Bound by love and time.

TW: Swearing.

There she was, standing alone in the mass of bodies all queuing for the Cotton Candy stand.

As usual, she was attracted to this god-awful carnival ball. It didn’t matter which human form she took, each lifetime, something in her golden soul would bring her back to the sparkling lights, extravagant dress-sense and greasy, fast-food.

I could feel the sweat licking my skin as I looked upon her for the first time in this new form. She wore scarlet. The blood-like sparkles cascaded down her slender form, snatching in at her waist and poofing out at her hips. Her blonde curls contrasted against it stunningly like little pale snakes resting on their nest of blood. She was dressed like a danger sign. And boy was she my danger. Nothing can kill me, but I wish that she could. She didn’t know it yet, but she held such power in that warm, beating heart.

She never broke your spirit like the other girls did, she would bring you happiness. Everything you ever wanted and more. This was worse. Much worse. Once you are happy, it can be taken away from you. And she did this exact thing every century. My little curse.

“It’s sticky and gross, and boring.” My assistant, Jules, complained as he pulled the white masquerade mask off his face. His mousey brown locks stuck to his sweaty forehead, and he used the back of his sleeve to unstick them.

“It’s your fault for choosing the full-face cover. You know you don’t like it when your mouth is covered.” I hissed at him, “You never learn.”

He doesn’t flinch at my chipped tone. He would keep pushing my buttons until I finally snapped and caused a scene. It had been this way for centuries.

We are bound together for eternity, a curse which will haunt me every time he opens his sarcastic little mouth. Life gets boring, he would confess after our routinely row, we must create our own entertainment.

“And I swear the fashion sense gets worse every year. Remember when fashion peaked in the sixteenth century? It’s been downhill since then.”

I don’t answer him this time. My eyes are plastered on the beautiful woman who mindlessly looks down at the phone in her fingers. She is waiting for someone… who?

“Have you found her yet? It’s hot and I want to get this over and done with.” Jules whined like a bored toddler. He fiddled with the black nail polish on his nails and flicked it onto me and my ironed suit.

That was my final straw. With lightning-fast precision, I spin around and pin him up against the red and white stripy tent to our left. A clown near by jolts as he catches the movement. He doesn’t stick around to see what else I might do. Clever little clown.

“May I remind you, I saved your fucking life. It’s now time to return the favour. We’ve been planning this moment for almost three hundred years. Get it together for one night!” The snarl left my lips before I could stop it. My fangs flexed out, sharpening in rage, in anticipation. I always became erratic when I was close to my little vixen. Jules wouldn’t take my threats too harshly, that was the only good thing with him. He would find the light in every situation. Which was ironic since we creatures were born in the dark.

Tonight, was the night we reversed the curse.

“You pushed me off a building.” Jules correctly pointed out, “You killed me and then brought me back to life. I don’t think it counts.”

My lip curled in rage.

“You asked to be like me.”

“No, I never.” He lied.

Furious, I slammed my fist into his chest, hard enough for him to know I’m not playing around, but not hard enough to break his rib cage. I may find the little fucker annoying, but he can’t die either, and fixing broken bones was an agonising process. I needed him too much tonight to be snapping ribs back into place.

There are others like me and Jules. But I was the first. I am the original. They always say, “Don’t piss off God.” And I guess I found that out the hard way. I was the fallen angel, and she, my naughty little Eve.

Obliviously, she glides past me. I home in on the light hairs on her exposed arms, they prickle. Even if she didn’t recognise me in this life, her body definitely did. Our souls were scorned together in fire. Not even the Lord could undo this bond.

“You know the plan, find the Gods. Distract them. They can’t know that we are here for her.” I repeat the instructions to Jules. He has heard the plan almost one hundred times this last hour, but I have to say it again to settle my bubbling nerves. Everything must go perfectly tonight. We only have one shot.

“Now remember,” Jules smirked, turning to face me with a lob-sided grin on his lips, “If you hear the low, menacing growl of the Gods, the appropriate response is to run. Now excuse me, I have to go make a scene.”

And with that, he half-skipped away, whistling a merry tune. Dumbfounded, I’m left glaring after my dim-witted assistant.

**

She is close to me; too close. I can smell the strawberry shampoo and conditioner drifting from her soft hair. If I had a heart, it would most likely be pounding away right now. It was hot inside this tent, but she made it that much more unbearable.

She now stood next to a slightly taller, blonde man with thick round glasses on the edge of his pointy nose. My blood boiled as I peer at their close proximity. He has an arm wrapped around her side as they wait in the queue for the Ferris Wheel ticket-box. He is talking at her, something she is clearly not interested in. She stifled a yawn and I have to bite my tongue to suppress my grin. My girl always had a way of enticing men and demons alike. Well, she is the first woman. What we simple creatures wouldn’t do for a taste of heaven and sin in one…

Then, her gaze catches mine. 

There are some things in life you just can’t describe, and this moment was easily one of them. And even though I have contacted her in each of her lives, tonight felt different. Stronger. More dangerous.

Those oceanic orbs widened, and, for a second, I thought she might even recognise me when her lips softly parted. She must have felt the same pull which is stirring in my stomach right now. In previous lives she had been very resistant to my charms but tonight it felt a little too easy. Perhaps the spell I had cast earlier was working?

“Angelina?” The man beside her frowned when he realised she wasn’t listening to him. His gaze followed hers and then settled on me. For the first time in a couple centuries, I didn’t even mind the glare of her current partner. Tonight, I was too busy repeating her new name on my tongue. Angelina. Angelina. Angelina.

A grin licked my lips. It suited her perfectly. My little Angel with clipped wings. Without thinking, I took a step closer towards them, magnetised by her beauty.

Then, a roaring sound echoed through the tent. The lick of hot flames on my dead skin quickly followed.

“Fuck.” I cursed as everyone panicked. The sea of bodies began charging around like a herd of cattle, and my little Angel became quickly lost. Disgruntled, I stumbled around, desperately searching for her. I catch a whiff of her conditioner and launch myself in that direction, but she had already been pulled out of the tent by Prince Charming. My blood boiled even more as I watched them disappear down the road towards safety.

My only chance had been ruined.

Rage pounded through me as I tore my gaze in the direction of my sheepish looking assistant who crept back towards me. We made no effort to escape the fire. We didn’t need to; we were fire resistant.

“What the fuck is this? I said set a small fire, half a mile away from here. This is not fucking small and not half a-fucking-mile away!” A wicked sounding growl tore past my lips, and this time, there was no holding back with the fangs. They were pressed to his neck within a blink of an eye, and for the first time, I felt his cold, heartless body tremble. But I shook more.

When someone’s heart breaks, so does a piece of the planet. It creates valleys, mountains, oceans and even cracks in the wall. In one year alone, as I watched Angelina fall in love with another, I created the Mariana trench and Himalayan mountains. I have no heart, but this means I have nothing more to lose. I break more fake hearts than she has had real ones.

“T-this wasn’t me!” Jules choked out, the black veins in his neck popping out as my sharp fingers curled around his neck. I couldn’t kill him, but I could seriously hurt him, as punishment.

“What do you mean?”

“Luce, it wasn’t me!” Jules tried again. It took me a long moment to process what he said. I dropped him to his knees and tore my gaze out of the tent. Goosebumps kissed my skin, and I could feel danger lurking by. Perhaps one of the Gods caught whiff of us?

But there she stood, magnificent as ever. Only this time, a malicious smile licked her lips.

“Hello, Luce.”

My stomach flipped and my mouth became dry. What was happening? How was she withstanding the fire? How does she know who I am?

She tore towards me with ridiculous speed, almost knocking me off my feet. Sparks of ember caught on her dress, making her look even more like sin. Now, her skin was much paler, and those once blue eyes twinkled red.

“Lucius.” She repeated my name and it made me tingle.

“You remember?”

“Who do you think started the fire?”

It was too much to comprehend. Everything was far far too much. I had been planning this day for centuries. Jules and I shared a gob smacked look. We hadn’t truly believed the elixir would work.

“My memories returned when I first saw you earlier.” She confessed and it was like Christmas had come early for me. Butterflies erupted through my body, and I trembled with excitement and anticipation.

She took another sultry step towards me. I couldn’t prevent the Cheshire cat like grin.

And as her soft lips finally touched mine, the only thing I could think of was: There will never be another crack in the wall again.