Chapter 23 — More Fears To Come
Susan nodded. “So, you tend to take the likeness of the first being you see?”
Eleanor changed into a young, beautiful white-haired lady. “I tend to take on any form I so choose to.” She came towards Susan. “So, unlike you who can split yourself into too many forms, and make people forget, I guess, this is a charmer.” She paused right before her. “You don’t seem afraid.”
“I know my enemy.”
Eleanor laughed. “You barely know me and you tag me to be your enemy.” She shook her head and walked past Susan.
Susan didn’t turn. “I know you well enough to know to fear you.”
Eleanor turned to look at her. “But that’s the thing, young Susan. You don’t seem afraid.”
“No, I don’t.”
“And why is that?”
Susan looked over her shoulder. “You are a terror to everything I stand for.” She looked forward. “I hear even the seas respect you. How did my grandmother defeat you?”
“I wasn’t defeated. I just said to watch from the shadows. Hence, why I left.”
Susan turned to face Eleanor. “I could be staring at the solution to my problems.”
“Oh. So that’s why I can’t read you. You’re the hungry one. The one whom the curse reflected on. Well, I must say, when I cursed your grandmother, I didn’t think she’d find a way to make it generational.”
“You’ve only been feeding their powers,” Susan said.
Eleanor smiled. “I’m the one you’ve been feeding, honey. For you see, I am the blood sea. I am every other sea. Hence, the water in the body, and why I can’t be destroyed. I can part anything, save for blood. So, to be able to control it, I had to turn myself into one. And I turned myself into a lot of it. Blood.”
“I guess that’s why you hide it from the human eyes.”
Eleanor came towards Susan again and said rolling her eyes, “Admittedly, they would freak out, and fear is not good for the faint of heart.” She paused before her. “But you already knew that. And I guess, that’s why you hide what you are from the humans before you.”
“They don’t need to see me for what I am. I can only kill them when I want to show them. Besides, I move at a speed they can’t see, or detect. Their eyes aren’t strong enough.”
Eleanor frowned. “I would have placed another curse on you, but for the sake of your immeasurable love, I would let you be. But first…”
Eleanor punched her hand into Susan’s chest, Susan froze in fear and shock as she slowly looked down at her bloody chest, Eleanor drew out her heart, Susan fell to the ground.
Eleanor discarded her heart, and turned to walk away.
“You didn’t finish your sentence,” Susan said, and took to her feet.
Eleanor turned to face her.
“You seem surprised,” Susan said. “I am immortal.”
“But that’s not how the curse should work. You’re supposed to die when I need you to stay dead.”
“I guess, death won’t have to answer to you always.”
Susan’s bloody chest healed up, her cloth repaired itself, and the bloodstains on her dress vanished. She looked to her heart on the ground, it turned to a small mass of fire, then ashes, she moved her gaze to Eleanor.
“Means you’re not as scary as they say,” Susan said. “Seems grandmother made you lose your touch. You see, I can inflict fear on the humans, and I’ve wielded such power to do so, but I’ve chosen to ignore it—”
“Then it won’t stay if ignored,” Eleanor interrupted.
But Susan went on, “—because I’ve found a way to retain it. My heart is the heart of love, and extreme passion. A heart of hate, so death can have its way. A heart so invisible, yet felt, and yet, death. You didn’t think properly about this curse. I’ve learned it can’t be taken back. I didn’t have it the first time I faced Chadwick. I’m sure my mother had it, which is why you never really came face to face with her.”
“She hates me.”
“I am the most powerful among my kind. I know that now. I can do whatever I want.” She gestured to the bodies of Chadwick’s followers around her. “But minding how I use it doesn’t just make me careful. It makes me more powerful. None of my sisters would have been worthy of the curse. But I am. And my targets, I’ve really been selective. You tore out my heart because I wanted you to. So, in other words, dear Eleanor, I control you. Which means, my mother already defeated you without even laying a finger on you. Hence, why I can use your powers without consequences.”
Susan’s eyes blazed red, Eleanor felt power drain from her, and she fell on her knees before Susan.
“How is this possible?” Eleanor asked.
The clouds darkened, the sun hid its gaze, a wild wind began to whirl around them both, blood trickled down Susan’s eyes.
“The bloodlust,” Eleanor said, her eyes brightened. “Who would have thought.”
“I should destroy you,” Susan said, her curly, dark hair dancing to the wind, “but I won’t. You’ll serve me, and all that’s yours would be mine.”
Eleanor nodded. “Serving you should serve me, and will surely put me in your good graces. But a power like mine was abandoned because of the Red Haux. It was from them I learned the might. They taught me the will of the sea, and nature. They aren’t from this realm. You’ll have to face them to show you’re worthy. And soon, probably before you face Chadwick. If you defeat them, they will bless you.”
The blood in Susan’s eyes vanished, as did the bloody tears. The whirlwind stopped, the weather returned to its normal, clear, sunny state, Eleanor felt strength return to her, she took to her feet.
“I would wait for them,” Susan said, her eyes turning red again. “But it won’t be a question of if I’m worthy. For they would be the ones to be tested.”
Eleanor bowed.