And the moon . . .

The cold air feels piercing against my bare skin. Nevertheless I keep hurrying down the stairs, taking two at a time. The long and heavy dress has me concentrating carefully not to stumble and fall. I could not give him the chance to caught up to me, yet almost sure I'd never be able to outrun him anyway.

“You can't escape your past, but you can run forever.”

Wise words to describe exactly what I was planning to do. Sadly enough the one who made me run, made me fear he'd rip all my humanity apart and make my last breath echo hallow through the night has to be my one and only true love. My head wishes badly he would stay away from me; my heart cries out for him, though.
The untamed truth about him was not only unexpected but also deadly. While thrills continue to run down my spine, I am already feeling the air rush by, falling. In seconds which feel more than minutes I reach out for support, cutting my palm open at a sharp stone my only success. The crimson which stained my skin finally leaves a trace of warmth there, yet the pain of it doesn't reach me. There must be a lot of adrenaline running through my veins. Cussing silently I recognize the churches entrance in front of me. A silent spark of hope came back to life within me. Soon I find myself inside of the  halls, the young priest close by with his eyes locked on me. Holy water would be likely to turn out to be a myth, but if it's the only chance I have? My feet carry me a few steps forward. Almost too late my eyes notice when his lips pull wider, baring his teeth, sharp  edges giving away it holds more for me than there was to expect.
“No,” a low whisper escapes . . . how many trusted people were tied into this betrayal of life?
I am out in seconds, walking - no, fleeing – again through the citadel's narrow lanes, not daring to even breathe, let alone looking back. Only so I can face fairly locked gates at the end of my way.
Moments later I can tell someone approached behind me. My exaggerated heartbeat drowns out the silence I was to struggle with before, I cannot tell who is with me now. . .
I turn slowly; his vicious smile still unvaried on his lips . . . I couldn't remember how to scream, to remember the process at all. The priest could only have followed me to bring death; not exactly the way I imagined dying before. I wish Garret wouldn't have let me go. He knew I'd end up here, hurrying after me was needless. “He'll come if he wants to,” I sigh at the thought. His hands cocking my head to the side gently- deadly; his lips brushing my jaw before his teeth find their place; blowing out my life's fire to make his eternity last . . .
But the work would be the one of a stranger's, an act of brutality and ruthlessness. Somewhere back in reality my murder was starting toward me, yet my eyes rested on the crow, up on the balcony not far. The spare moonlight gleams from its feathers. I surely   am not the only one to wince as his shriek sounds through the night, before it descended towards us. Is it growing . . . ? Reminding me of Garreth I can't move an inch.
Minutes later the priest is history, finished off by my personal demon.
“Why . . . to bring death yourself?” finding the right words impossible I just waited for an answer.
“I couldn't watch you die, Colleen.”
Holding back the gasp, I wonder aloud: “Yet killing me yourself is something you can bear? I was a fool to trust you, believing you loved me . . .”
In his eyes something was left broken when I finished.
“I waited months for this moment, and now that I tried, you left me no chance to explain myself to you,” he moves closer with every word until he holds me in his arms tightly, “Close your eyes, dear. Trust me.”
Unwillingly I do what he says, feeling in place in the last moments of my life, of mortality. Then his lips crushed my throat, and the world around me gets blurred with every drop of blood . . .
“I love you,” he mumbles gentle against my skin, “now and forever.”