Chapter Text
Chapter 1: Enouement
Enouement
/kä(l)m/
adjective
1. The bitter-sweetness of arriving at the future, seeing how things turned out, but not being able to tell your past self.
"From this moment further until the end of time." Torn lips, cracked and bleeding muttered as the women stared at the roof overhead. "I curse the Martel name." Was whispered.
Trembling hands raised towards the painted mural ceiling, depicting bloody battles long past. Hands grasping for comfort- but none would be found on that cold marble floor, seeped in red. "With spite in my heart and blood on my hands, I lay a blood curse." The sound of choking filled the room. Blood bubbled up from cold lips, staining pale skin scarlett. "All those related by blood bearing the disgrace of the Martel name will die knowing my anguish. May the Martel women die at the mercy of their own kind, the king of serpents, as the snakes they are. And the Martel men draw their own blade across their throats- both knowing the pain of a betrayal, unseen and unwanted."
The only sound of the room was a heartbeat quieting and the dripping of blood from cold fingers.
"I lay my blood curse upon the Martel name." Was repeated, quieter. "May they die in perturbed agony."
The dry coughs began to quiet. The sound of harrowed pain losing its guttural echo.
And then, silence.
I'd given a lot of thought as to how I would die.
It'd happened enough times that I often wondered if constancy was key. If I just tried harder- maybe I could make it stick?
When you get to be as old as I am it's all you can think about. I'd watched empires rise and fall, I'd seen armies demolished and mountains shaved flat with time. I'd seen the faces of friends grow wrinkly and aged in the blink of an eye- and yet...I never changed. The women of the Martel family were one of the only constants of life; grass grows green, the sky is blue, the ocean is fierce and we never change.
I'd seen death and life in equal measures like a bird watching a car crash from the sky above.
And it is because of that, that I refused to accept that I'd die here.
I held my bleeding arm as my feet slipped outwards on the wet autumn leaves, the cold evening air shocking my throat and lungs as I inhaled deeper, faster. With each footfall a jarring pain shoots ankle to knee, ankle to knee. Perhaps jumping from that cliff wasn't so smart. My heart beats frantically, all or nothing. Fail and my whole body will pay the price, run and the damage is limited mostly to the shins and knees. Those were temporarily expendable- everything else would take the curse a lot longer to straighten out.
The trees passed by me in a blur of green but couldn't care less about my surroundings, all that matters now is distance. The dappled shade of the woodland trees had seemed so inviting only moments earlier, but now the forest seemed like a death sentence. I was getting so tired of those. I stumbled, falling to my knees as the pain hit a frustrating peak; Like fire tearing through my veins. Son of a bitch, I could feel my heart practically rising into my throat but I beat It back- panic makes the idea of a threat more dangerous than the actual thing.
And that vampire didn't need to be more dangerous, it's venom was already spreading.
I could hear him behind me, walking slowly because he thought I was too wounded to get away, too wounded to fight. He was wrong, of course, but in this state I was more likely to level the dreary little town than to successfully fend off my attacker. While a satisfying thought; blowing Forks off the map to kill one vampire is excessive, even for a me. Pushing that begrudgingly thought to the forefront of my mind, I forced myself back to my feet, ignoring the injuries.
If I ever found out who was responsible for this, I would use at least two of the three Unforgivable curses and do my very best to invent a fourth.
"Just scope out the area, she said." I bit out, dragging my limp leg savagely behind me. "No one will notice you, she said." I took pride in my ability to avoid these types of situations but when Gramm Rhiannon said jump one could only ask how high.
"You should just give up." a voice called from behind me. I growled back at the vampire walking sedately behind me. Like he was taking a scenic walk in a park. Toying with me. Hah! If only he knew. "Go to hell." I snarled.
I looked over my shoulder, blurry eyes narrowing at the vampire behind me. I had done everything right, taken every precaution and I'd still encountered such an unsavory situation. I set my gaze forward, sucking on my teeth to avoid saying anything else. Some way, somehow. I had been betrayed. Another stab of pain- forget the curses. I was going to make whoever did this regret their existence. I would eviscerate them, melt their bones from the marrow inside and have it puddle at their feet- strangle them with their own internal organs and leave them suspended from the rafters in a macabre noose. And I would do it all. So. Very. Slowly.
It didn't take long for the forest to be enveloped in darkness. My rasping breath steamed in the moonlight and my throat was parched from thirst. I heard my heart thumping in my head and my legs began to quiver like jelly. I'd lost my keys, my phone was gone and my van was too far away for me to crawl- if I could just find a way to circle back around…! I tripped over a tangled mossy root and the earthly floor rushed up to my face as I thudded to the ground, a shocked gasp of pain escaping me. I coughed, pushing myself up onto my forearms.
The newborn was about to respond when the sound of crashing leaves sounded from in front of us. I looked up, alarmed. My breath was swept away when from the shadows came a humongous wolf, it's body hunkered low to the ground.
I shakily brushed a strand of flaming red hair out of my face as I climbed to my feet and came face-to-face with the magnificent, horrifying creature.
The wolf was… enchantingly beautiful. In a forest so dark its midnight black pelt nearly melted into the shadows, but it's haunting yellow eyes were prominent in the dark. Its lip was curled above its teeth in a vicious snarl, but somehow I was getting the impression it wasn't aimed at me.
Despite its proximity there was no sound, it circled left rather than coming directly at me. On instinct I turned around, watching. My pace was too slow to mirror the creature, but I didn't dare let it face my back. It was larger than any wolf I'd ever seen- moon child? There are hardly any left! Of course with my rotten luck I'd run into one of the sparse few that the Volturi let live!
But it didn't look right, I noted, my breakneck thoughts far outpacing my fear. This creature clearly wasn't bipedal, and it wasn't a full moon tonight. Moon children cannot transform on will alone. A subspecies? A trick? Some other form of magic construct?
A hand on my shoulder startled me out of my thoughts and I was jerked backwards. I had almost forgotten about the vampire.
Almost.
The air was swept out of my lungs as my back made contact with an old rotting oak. I slid down the tree, the bark biting into the wounds on my back until I finally hit the forest floor. We've been well acquainted in this past hour.
There was a moment of silence like a piece of glass suspended in the air before shattering where no one, no thing, moved.
Then, suddenly, the black wolf snarled and launched itself at the vampire.
It got its jaws around the newborn's arm, ripping it backwards as it thrashed. The vampire was launched into the air for a moment, seemingly suspended as the moon child jumped to latch onto its leg.
The fight shifted in turn with the vampire practically drop-kicking the wolf in retaliation. It let out a pained snarl as it instantly climbed back to its feet, preparing to fight yet again. The vampire smiled, ready to fight. It's too young to know what kind of battle it'd just put itself in, moon children aren't to be messed with. But then again, even if it knew I doubt it would care- the newborn's were always like that. I think something in their human life makes them so quick to play god.
If God is real, I'm not even happy with the results when he does it.
watching in suspended fascination, I witnessed the tides turning against the newborn. I struggled to my feet ignoring my injuries and the sounds of the fight. I stopped for a moment, letting my eyes wander back over to the black wolf- should I help? It was amazing to see that it actually was holding its own against a vampire- a newborn, no less. A lone moon child is generally not as coordinated as this one, it was dodging. Evading. Few had the cognitive function for that. Moon child or not, I didn't doubt it would win this fight.
If it is a moon child, then the only reason it hasn't attacked me yet is because it recognizes that there's another here who's currently higher on the food chain.
I grit my teeth and let out a silent scream as I felt the venom moving closer to my heart- fuck. The pain was unreal, like I had grabbed onto a live wire. It felt like fire burning in my veins through my skin towards my heart.
I shook my head, forcing myself out of my pain. This was probably my only chance- I wasn't willing to risk suffering through whatever the vampire had planned for me.
I turned and ran with a speed I didnt even think was possible in my current state, I felt ashamed for leaving the wolf to the vampire. Or the vampire to the wolf, if the battle was anything to go off of. But I was practically dead weight in my current state. I would be doing the wolf no favors by sticking around for a fight that already had a clear winner. The trees flashed by me in a blur of green, the moon lighting up my path in one last grace of my fight. I could feel the vampire's venom working its way from my arm where he had bit me, to my heart. He was a newborn, a fool for biting me before the kill was set and now both of us would pay for it. What would even happen? Why do I never ask followup questions?
I was moving about the forest like there's a hurricane inside of me. Moving like my brain is demanding the energetic expenditure of an athlete but won't tell my limbs what to do.
My foot made contact with a tree root that had eluded my attention. I tipped forward, not having enough time to bring my arms up to catch my fall. A 'crack' sounded through the silence as my head made contact with a stone buried in the leaves.
And everything went black.
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