Alienor doesn’t realize this, but her presence fuels my magic enough to regain the strength I need for her demise. Hearing her go about a pleasant life of family, friends, and entertainment, while I have spent eight-hundred centuries in misery is more than I can stand.
As the bed I’m hiding under creaks and bows with her weight, my heart rate quickens. When her breathing slows, the power thrumming beneath my skin roars for vengeance.
Out of habit, I suck in a deep breath and exhale lungfuls of magic that spreads across the room in tiny wisps. It’s a trick I learned from the Sandman before I tore out his liver. Within moments, her soft snores fill my ears while vengeance fills my heart.
“Alienor, my love,” I snarl as I crawl out of the bed. “The time is nigh.”
My claws lengthen, only to retract when I see that she’s naked.
She lies on her back against the white sheets, revealing herself to me in all her alluring glory. One hand lies between her legs, while the other rests over her belly button.
Is this one of her games?
Her head is turned toward me, her angelic features at rest. With the amount of somniferous magic I blew into the room, there’s no chance she can be awake. Her full lips are parted, exposing pearlescent white teeth.
An ache forms deep within my withered heart, the way it always does when I stare at her for too long. If I continue expending all my magic on this futile quest, the rage will burn through my power and reduce me to the shadows.
My gaze travels down her smooth neck, down her collarbones to the swell of her breasts. As I exhale, her wine-colored nipples tighten into peaks.
A line of markings travels down her ribs. At first glance, they look like birthmarks, but seem more like occult symbols that have faded over time.
I recognize two circles adorned with loops that represent protection, and a full moon flanked by two crescents for the goddess. The pentacle at the top has lost several of its spokes.
Perhaps that explains why I was able to find Alienor. The enchantment hiding her existence is waning. Perhaps whatever bargain she struck is also toward its end.
Outside, the clouds shift, and moonlight streams through the parted curtains and catches on a locket resting in the dip between her collarbones.
“What is this?” I lean forward, my forehead hitting an invisible barrier.
The anger inside me stirs, but curiosity keeps it at bay. I don’t know why Alienor chose to sleep naked tonight, but her body reveals clues on how to secure her defeat.
Etchings cover her locket. They’re the same symbols as those along her ribcage but sharper. It looks like the protection she wears around her neck is compensating for her fading markings. Not completely, because I still managed to find her.
“You will not hide from me forever,” I say with a smirk.
No matter how many times she runs, I will always find my wife. The golden locket only prevents me from tearing out her heart.
“My, my, you have played me well.”
All I need to do is liberate her from the locket. But how?
Now, I wish I hadn’t put her to sleep. At least while she’s awake, I could persuade her with words to remove the protection.
Alienor turns to her side, revealing her perfect ass, and when her leg rises toward her bent arm, I get a delicious peek at her cunt.
Sensation rushes to my cock. I clench my fist and groan.
“Are you dreaming of me, my love?”
Of course, she is. My wife is a conniving woman, a manipulator, and a murderer, but she was always weak to my touch.
My chest inflates with pride, as does my aching length.
I lean down, press my nose against the invisible barrier and inhale deeply. The magic shields her scent so perfectly that all I smell is ozone from the enchantment I used to put her to sleep.
“Damn you, Alienor,” I growl, and walk toward her armoire.
I ignore what’s in the top drawer and stalk toward the basket where she keeps the undergarments that require laundering. One of the benefits of not stalking her in the human realm so often is that they mount up.