Prologue
I heard her beautiful voice as i wandered through the campus, towards the clearing. Joyous laughter of anticipation. No doubt her slow-witted lapdog of a boyfriend was around somewhere, preparing to give himself up to her command and perform the only act for which she thought he was any good. I reached the last tree before the clearing and, deciding it would probably be better if I didn't let them see me, I remained hidden under cover of the trees. I looked around the trunk of the tree and sure enough, there he was: her obedient love slave, oblivious to her undeniably obvious exploits with a large majority of the men (and a few of the women) on campus.
From my cover behind the tree I couldn't see her, but I could hear her accented voice whispering teasingly and excitedly and although I couldn't make out her words it was clear she was looking forward to something.
Tied up loosely to a tall and thin, but strong, tree stump towards the edge of the clearing closest to me and looking ever so slightly frightened, it was obvious that he had had to be talked into this, but with her effortless "charms", it would not have been difficult for her to do so.
I turned around, deciding that I did not particularly want to bear witness to their activities, and was on the verge of returning to my room when I heard her squeal. It could just have been that she was particularly enjoying what she was doing, but I could sense that something in that excited squeal had nothing to do with pleasure. I could hear murmuring that could not be the noise of merely two. I turned back towards the clearing and edged quietly round the trunk in order to see the source of the murmuring. There she was, a few feet from him, also tied up but her beautiful, bronzed features looking notably more enthusiastic.
Struck with an overwhelming combination of curiosity and confusion, I edged further round the tree. What I saw then made me stumble backwards and doubletake. Who were these people? There had to be fifty of them at least! My fall was cushioned by the layer of autumn leaves upon the ground and none of the eccentrically dressed occupants of the clearing seemed to notice my presence. Their attention was directed towards the two restrained just meters from me.
Moving softly I edged towards a patch of trees which would provide more cover and take me further from them, running less risk of discovery. As I settled on the wide root of a tree I noted my improved view of the newcomers. The obvious leader was standing directly between the restrained 'victims'. He was talking to his inferiors as he pulled something out from under his abnormal choice of clothing. My heart stopped, and it was clear that she was having second thoughts about whatever she had apparently volunteered for as her excited expression faded from her face along with all colour.
She eyed the leaders knife warily as he strode towards her lapdog, who, upon seeing the weapon, had begun to frantically try to escape his bonds. Successfully breaking free of the loosely tied ropes, he was immediately restrained by a large number of the strangely dressed and eagerly violent people. She screamed his name in anguish over and over, her yells punctuated only by his pleas for her life and the manic laughter of the strangers. He was silenced with a sharp slice of the knife and lay limp in the arms of his restrainers as the leader and the eyes of the eagerly watching crowd headed sharply for her.
I wanted to shout out, I wanted to prevent them from harming her. I didn't care if they heard me, but fear won out and i was unable to move or speak. I could only stare and watch the inevitable as she fought to break free of her more tightly tied bonds and pleaded desperately for her life. She too was quickly silenced as the knife roughly broke through the softly tanned flesh of her throat.
Suddenly the crowd, who had been watching silently, broke into eerie song. At least, thats what it sounded like. They were singing, an Aboriginal sounding song of celebration, punctuated by incoherent yells from their leader. They moved him towards her and the victims lay limply side by side as the leader stood over them bringing up the knife and preparing for another attack. He brought the long thin blade violently, but carefully down first on each of her beautiful hazel eyes before repeating the sickening act on the lifeless grey eyes of her faithful lapdog.
Manic laughter and disturbing song filled the clearing and echoed through my head. Then a new sound rang out through the cool Autumn night: a siren. It was getting closer and closer every second, I thought that the revelers may not hear it over their celebratory noise but i was wrong. They turned and fled and as they ran with their backs towards me i noticed for the first time that night, the symbol spread over the backs of each of the strangers: the symbol that filled my mind and would drive me for the rest of my life.
Story Notes:
ratings are a guidline only. i advise younger children not to read it as the deaths may be slightly disturbing to some...
Chapter End Notes:
ratings are a guidline only. i advise younger children not to read it as the deaths may be slightly disturbing to some...