knowing if
Rex’s evil would be able to follow him, and not wishing to let his
people of Eldor down too, Dracus felt strongly that it would have
been very unwise to use the portal to visit her.
Only as the years pushed on and he was no
nearer to meeting Satan, and he’d no other choices but to continue
the agonizing wait, Janus had told him some horrifying news. She
and her family had looked up through the atmosphere and seen the
castle of his parents was back to new again, which in his mind had
meant only one thing, somehow Vrakug the slimy toad was back
again.
Chapter 8
(Over two hundred years since Dracus joined
Rex’s coven)
Christmas Time, Romania - 1979
The valley was a carpet of white, scattered
here and there with little dots as the wire fencing that separated
the empty fields, was barely visible under the depth of the last
nights heavy snow fall. All around the sun was shining dimly as it
slipped down behind the vast mountain range, that surrounded three
hundred acres of fields, sprawled out beneath it.
Lengthy shadows rapidly appearing, popping up
everywhere until the fire in the sky returned the following day,
banishing them back to hell as it promised it would.
Looking up into the sky you could imagine
that after hurtling into galaxies unknown you were like James T
Kirk coming out of warp speed or something, and looking out the
window of your super space ship.
It was utterly breath taking and so surreal
that you could have just laid on your back for hours, and gazed
into the heavens.
The stars as they twinkled daintily back down
at you looked as if they were diamonds scattered gently across a
velvet sheet. Stepping on your heels, and by how close they looked,
you could have sworn that you could have reached up and touched
them.
In the center of the fields stood four white
farmers cottages that were only a few feet apart, and looked as if
they might have moved closer just to keep warm. Their roofs of
slate were lost some months previously under meters of snow, whilst
tapered icicles like snow spears hung limply from their guttering,
daring to fall.
Smoke tainted with the rich smell of seasoned
timber climbed lazily skywards from their brick chimneys, whilst
the amber lights from their windows made the gardens appear as if
they were washed with a magical glow.
All the while a small group of pine trees
swayed gently to their north, keeping company as the arctic wind
with its wintery song, hurriedly whipped up flurries of snow.
******
The children’s bed times are near and its
Christmas Eve. If they are late to sleep then they know from their
father that the bearded stranger and his friendly reindeers might
not show.
The farm dogs hear a noise from the mountains
and begin to growl. A moment passes with their necks craned skyward
and their noses to the air. Then as a shooting star darts across
the skyline, deep panic sets in and they pull at their chains
trying to flee.
Inside one of the cottages and unaware of the
danger; a young boy of five called Andrei gallops surreptitiously
an imaginative horse on his grandfathers knee. His younger sister
Fiorentina plays with her teddy, whilst Georgieta their mother
busies herself placing presents under the Christmas tree.
“Its time for bed now Andrei.” The boy’s
father say’s as he hears something and looks out the window into
the darkness.
The dogs begin to howl and the wind picks up,
rattling the loose panes of glass in the window next to him.
“No No No, I want more papa, please, please,
please.” The boy cries as his grandfather obeys his son’s wishes
and the horsey knee that he was riding on slows to a trot. Andrei
is woken from his imagination and realizes with a little frown
across his face, that it wasn’t a horse galloping at all, and that
it was just a trick, it was the old man’s knee.
“Children please do as your father asks”
their mother says with a pine
David LaRochelle
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