My Lady of Bones

by Michael Clement

  If I didn’t do something, fast, I was…

  - 19 -

  I woke up, hanging upside down from a tree limb.

  My mind felt woozy.

  Blood still dripped down my face, getting in my mouth and eyes, but my arm felt better.

  So did my insides. I could feel my magic moving through my injuries, healing them automatically. It felt like my normal human healing had been increased and automated by a factor of one hundred, maybe even higher.

  Choking, I vomited more blood. But, it felt… thinner than before.

  Then, my tired mind realized that I was hanging naked--upside down--from a tree. And my arms were tied together behind my back.

  “Nice landing,” a woman sneered from behind me.

  Maxwell had heard her voice before.

  “Moli?” I mumbled, recalling how she felt from the depths of Maxwell’s mind.

  The woman quieted.

  Straining, I forced my ears to track her by sound.

  But… I couldn’t hear her breathing or her heartbeat. Maybe this body was deficient in its connection to my dragon nature, or my ears were damaged from the crash. I should be…

  A switch cracked across my bare ass, startling the fuck out of me.

  “Oh, fuck… God Dammit,” I hissed. “Don’t fucking do…”

  The switch cracked again, burning an X on my left ass cheek.

  Then, I heard her knee crack as she knelt behind me.

  “Where is Maxwell?” she hissed.

  Her voice sounded cold and inhuman, but it was Moli.

  Clearing my throat, I gasp, and finally got out, “I was Maxwell.”

  Moli stood up and cracked my right ass cheek with her switch.

  “Fuck!” I gasped. “Stop fucking doing…”

  She made another X.

  My body shook and quivered. This wasn’t fun. If I had been excited--sexually--then maybe. But this... this was torture. It burned and seared with pain, as each line throbbed and trembled.

  Moli made a horizontal accent line through both X’s as I screamed and failed like a fish hanging from a stringer.

  Then, she knelt down again.

  “Where. Is. Maxwell,” she demanded. “I can smell him on you. Your blood tastes like him. Where. Is. He!”

  The last line came out a vicious, animal-like growl. A coldness flowed over me, as I felt claws slowly drag themselves from the middle of my back upward, leaving tingles behind. She wasn’t cutting me, but the threat was clear.

  I didn’t know how to convince her, so I plundered Maxwell’s memories.

  “The first time Maxwell saw you, you were on Aric’s arm in Bauderon,” I told her.

  The claws stopped.

  I waited in silence, then, her claws fucking dug in a little deeper and continued to move upwards. They were scratching me, but not drawing blood… at least, not yet.

  I shivered. She was right on the verge of slicing me open.

  When did Moli get claws?

  Grimacing, I added, “You were naked from swimming in the ocean. You took his breath away.”

  Crack.

  Moli’s hand smacked my already throbbing ass hard.

  “Ahhh…. Fuck,” I hissed. “Shit. Fuck. Damn.”

  Her hand raised off my ass.

  “You were both covered in sand... from fucking on the beach,” I gasped out. This wasn’t working, but I didn’t know how to convince her that once… I had been… Maxwell.

  Crack. She smacked my other cheek again.

  I let out a low moan. Damn that hurt.

  “I built a tunnel under your house in Whiterun,” I groaned, “because I was in love with you both.”

  Under stress, I had fallen away from ‘he’ to ‘I.’ The pain and weakness were ripping my mind into pieces. I could feel my healing ability striving to keep me alive as it reconnected broken arteries, veins, muscles, and skin. I was as weak as a kitten, and thinking was fucking hard when I was hanging upside down.

  “I’m going to cut you,” she hissed, dragging her claws up my legs.

  This time, she dug in her claws deeply enough that blood welled up in the scratches. Then, she raked her hand down my back, ripping it open.

  It was too much.

  I broke down, as blood began to flow down my back.

  Tears began spilling out of my eyes, as the burning embers of Maxwell’s soul poured out of me.

  “Maxwell was deeply in love with him,” I blurted out. “Maxwell was afraid of romantic love when it came to other men. Aric was his best friend…”

  Sobbing, I added, “And I fucking miss him. That big stupid bastard just kept coming and coming. He wouldn’t leave me alone. He wouldn’t stop killing the people I loved.”

  Snuffling, as snot and tears almost choked me, I said, “What was I supposed to do? I didn’t want to kill him. He fucking made me!”

  The last sentence came out a tortured wail. Killing Aric had broken something deep inside of Maxwell. Something important that could never be fixed. Aric’s death had contributed to Maxwell’s rush to hide and escape after Darla died. It had just been too much.

  Maxwell had broken.

  Apparently, Maxwell wasn’t as dead, as I had thought. His words and my thoughts were a jumbled mixture of old and new. He, I, us... was one big clusterfuck.

  I had never admitted that I loved Aric before… sexually.

  Fuck.

  That Maxwell had loved him, I meant.

  The switch didn’t fall.

  I swayed in the air for almost five minutes, as I pulled myself together.

  Snuffling, I said. “I saved you from the Tigers because I love you.”

  Marcellina didn’t love Moli.

  Maxwell did.

  But, his feelings were like buried landmines within my soul. One minute I was sure that he was gone, the next… bam... I was talking like I was him.

  That wasn’t good.

  But, his memories were mine.

  “You were hanging in the Tiger’s cage…” I began before the switch struck again.

  “Oh, FUCK!” I moaned. I had hoped that we were done with the switch. My ass cheeks must look like stars by now, with all the marks.

  Sobbing, I choked out. “We destroyed Casrenth together... with Darla. You and I were in the tub together, while she knelt next to us.”

  The switch didn’t strike.

  Bull rushing onward, I groaned and admitted, “You saved me, re-anchoring my spirit to my flesh, as you and Angeline made love next to Darla and me in our bed.”

  Tears dripped down my face again, falling to the ground.

  “Oh fuck,” I cursed. “How can I miss a woman that I never touched myself? This is so fucked up.”

  Then… I added. “Please believe me… I’m all alone, and I need you.”

  - 20 -

  I felt her tongue, slowly gliding up my back. Moli was following the lines of blood, like an addict snorting cocaine.

  But… that tongue on my skin tingled.

  Her hands rested on my waist as she licked up line after line.

  Then, her body started rising as she moved upwards.

  “Stop,” I moaned. “Please.”

  I could feel her breath against my lower back.

  “How can you be him… and not him?” she murmured. “You taste like Maxwell and you… know things. But, you are not him.”

  I began sobbing in earnest. My emotions flooded out of me. Somehow, I had to get control of them. Between becoming a woman, and then transforming into a dragon, I was a hot mess.

  “Let me down,” I pleaded, “Please.”

  “Who are you?” she murmured, licking the blood that was dripping from my ass back down my back. “Blood never lies… but yours might.”

  “I am Marcellina,” I said with a shudder, as her body inched upwards again.

  She was only inches from my ass… and, oh, fuck… my womanhood.

  “You smell... excited,” she observed. “Maxwell always liked a little pain with hi
s sex.”

  She was correct.

  God forgive me, but I was turned on by the contact between her tongue and my skin.

  Her hands inched upwards to right above my pelvis. Standing, she began to lick the blood from my wounds.

  Looking upwards, as I squirmed, I saw a lock of her hair.

  Blonde.

  My mouth moved before I could even think.

  “New hair for a new husband?” I whispered, afraid that she wouldn’t hear me.

  Her tongue stopped.

  Her hair pulled back.

  And… she let go of my waist.

  Oh, fuck. I was so dead.

  Slowly, I heard the ground crinkling as she walked around me.

  From upside down, I could see that she had died her hair an aggressive blonde, except for a few tips that were soaked in crimson and her skin was deathly pale.

  Kneeling in front of me, she whispered. “How?”

  I cocked my head, staring at those crimson tips. “I like it,” I finally said. “I always like you in red.”

  My mind swam.

  I felt like the ghost of Maxwell was tormenting my newly minted soul.

  How could both of us be in here?

  Or was it just like wearing an old pair of jeans? They still fit, and when I wore them, I felt like the old me… but I wasn’t him anymore.

  I wanted to be Marcellina.

  That thought scared me.

  I wanted… not I was... Marcellina.

  Was I just Maxwell, running away again?

  Or, was I someone new?

  “Who are you?” Moli sputtered.

  “I once was the soul of Maxwell Torant,” I admitted.

  Then, quietly, I answered. “Now… I don’t know.”

  - 21 -

  Moli slowly lowered my body to the ground so that the impact wouldn’t knock me out.

  She helped me sit up, and then Moli untied me. My wife was dirty and dressed in ripped rags. Only her hair was cared for.

  Then… I realized that the crimson wasn't dyed… it was blood; mine and someone else’s. There was just too much for it to be only my blood.

  I could see it dripping off of her now, falling to the ground in little drips.

  Moli smelled terrible like she hadn’t bathed in weeks, or possibly longer. The tightly controlled woman who always had to be in control and in charge was missing. A shattered shell looked back at me.

  “Are you…” she murmured. “How could you…”

  Moli had a stunned expression on her face. She couldn’t ignore what I was saying anymore, but she didn’t believe it either.

  Then… Moli shivered. Turning towards the hint of the sun rising in the east, she hissed.

  Like a monster.

  It wasn’t a human sound.

  That noise was more primal… and filled with a dark savageness.

  Turning back to me, her eyes grew as crimson as the blood in her hair. Not a whisper of white remained in her eyes. Glowing red orbs drew my gaze, snagging my vision.

  And… enchanting my mind.

  “Sleep,” she instructed.

  My body was trying to heal itself. There wasn’t any power to defend my mind.

  --M--

  I woke up in Moli’s arms. We were in some sort of cave. To my left, a fire blazed in a natural chimney. A black fur rug covered the floor, and I could feel another fur covering my naked flesh.

  It felt strangely exotic, all that fur rubbing up against me.

  I would have enjoyed it if my mind was throbbing with pain.

  Moli had mind-fucked me.

  Her will had sliced through my meager defenses and ran rampant through my thoughts. She had taken what she wanted and then some.

  It felt like… rape.

  She hadn’t believed me, so she came like a thief in the night, breaking down my doors and stealing everything that she wanted.

  I moved away from her.

  Her touch didn’t make me feel safe anymore.

  I felt defiled.

  I slid onto the floor and scooted over by the fire.

  I felt cold… inside.

  Touching my throat, I felt the remainder of a bite mark. It was scabbed over and healing, slowly. My innate healing ability was busy fighting something else.

  Something sinister.

  “You didn’t turn,” she mused, sitting up.

  Moli was naked under those furs.

  Her skin was as pale as freshly poured milk. Dark circles lived under her already dark eyes.

  Fuck.

  Maxwell had broken another woman by leaving her alone.

  This wasn’t the Moli of his memories.

  This was something else entirely.

  She stood up and stalked towards me.

  Moli had even dyed her feminine hair blonde. She looked like a cold, wet, dream of death. The only real color on her body was her tattoos. They flowed up her right arm, across her chest and then back down her left. She had added new ones, but right now, I couldn’t focus on that.

  She was freaking me out too much.

  Moli knelt in front of me.

  The stench hit me again. She smelled like garbage, left out in the noonday sun, for months. It tore at my senses… clawing at the back of my throat as it wormed itself into my mind.

  It wasn’t just a physical stench. It was spiritual, as well. Something about it whispered of darkness, blood, and death.

  Opening her mouth, she smiled at me.

  Her dark black fangs glistened with fresh blood.

  Mine.

  “I drained you dry,” she observed, “Yet, here you are, alive and well.”

  Tapping my chest with her clawed fingers, Moli asked. “How can that be?”

  - 22 -

  I drained you dry.

  That sentence chilled me.

  “I heal,” I whispered.

  “Maxwell couldn’t heal well,” she said, slowly dragging her claw down my chest, towards my left hip. “How can you be him… And, not him?”

  “Mother,” I answered.

  Moli stiffened.

  “She took my body, and placed me in this one,” I whispered.

  Her claw dug into my thigh.

  “Liar,” she murmured. “I can taste it. That was a fib.”

  Her claw yanked downward, drawing blood.

  “Fuck,” I moaned, scuttling backward away from her.

  But, not fast enough.

  Moli knocked me down and sat on my chest.

  She was so heavy that I couldn’t dislodge her, no matter what I did. My body was still exhausted. It was busy fighting the battle within me.

  A battle to turn me into a vampire, I realized.

  It couldn’t help me.

  Moli touched my lips with her dirty claw. I could feel dried blood and dirt under it.

  “Tell the Truth, Marcy,” she murmured.

  I instantly hated Marcy.

  “He let her,” I whispered.

  “Maxwell let his Mother steal his soul?” she asked.

  I could feel her anger. It was pounding and radiating out of her soul and pouring into mine…

  Oh, fuck…

  Through our mental connection.

  I could feel a new, mystical bond between us.

  Moli had created it when she killed me.

  That felt right.

  Moli had drained me dry... killing me.

  But… somehow, my healing ability was strong enough to bring me back. Maybe it was because that was what vampire venom did. It brought the victim back to life.