February 18, 2012

In Which Vera Is Pursued by the Sickly Thing

February 7, 1178

Vera had been drifting off and was nearly gone, but Lucien had been holding her tightly enough that she noticed when his embrace eased. No, 'eased' wasn't the right word. Eased was... well, easy. 'Loosened' perhaps. Or not. That didn't sound right either. 'Fallen limp'?

That had to be it.

His hand lay just beneath her breast, listless and dangling like some dead thing in the kitchens. She reached for it and squeezed. He didn't respond and his hand was all ice. And his breath was shallow on the back of her neck.

This wasn't right. He'd been fine just a minute ago. He'd been asleep for a while now, but it had been a dynamic sleep, a healthy sleep--shifting, muttering nonsense under his breath, nuzzling his nose against her shoulder. He was all stone now. Dead sleep. Fairytale sleep.

Almost like a coma.

A floorboard creaked.

Vera's first thought was to scream. She would scream louder than she'd ever screamed before, so loudly she'd wake the whole castle, the whole village, the whole damn shire--never mind the time. The king would even hear her from here, hear and have to heed her. That was how loud she would scream.

But when she opened her mouth, not a sound could be heard.

Another creak and all she could do was shiver, not sure if her eyes were wide open or snapped shut, not sure if it even mattered. A footstep. Another.

Step... step...

Stop.

An ill energy hovered about, leering over her as she tried not to tremble beneath. She didn't dare look for the source but she could feel it reaching, straining--unrelenting in its pursuit of her, its aim within its grasp and no intention of letting it slip away...

"Not so fast."

The sickly thing reared and recoiled. It had been caught.

Caught. Not killed.

"You have some nerve..."

NEXT CHAPTER:

8 comments:

Van said...

This was originally supposed to be an epic, physical, action-packed post, but none of the Sims were cooperating with me, so now it's... this.

:S

Also. Lucien turns seventeen this month, so by my usual scheme he's supposed to be an adult... but he kind of needs to be vulnerable for a while longer, and he just looks more vulnerable as a teen. Plus all that time with Remiel might have stunted his growth somewhat? :S

Van said...

Er... also...

Some important family tree news...

Anonymous said...

I hope Severin sets things out here, and more importantly saves his daughter and her errr.... Lover? :P

Van said...

We've got a little spree coming up for this storyline, so more on this very soon :S

Well... they're clothed? :P But who knows, maybe at some point they weren't...

Anonymous said...

Knowing Severin, what Vera and Lucien were up to in that bed is probably the least of his worries right now.

Even without the action-packed physical nature you wanted, this was still a pretty harrowing scene! My nose was about touching the monitor. Yeesh. I'm glad Severin and his guard showed up when they did!

Now, the question is, what are they going to do to Remiel? *pops popcorn*

Penelope said...

Wait, I'm confused-- I thought that Remiel and the shieldy guy were sleepy foggy hallucinations somehow and that it was really Severin and his man walking into the room. :S

Van said...

Morgaine: I think even for stricter, more traditional parents, "Known dangerous fugitive sneaking around daughter's bedroom" ranks higher on the list of causes for alarm than "Daughter and boyfriend found in same bed".

Thanks! And yeah, talk about good timing :S

As for Remiel, we'll find out soon enough.

Pen: A bit more will be cleared up in the next couple of posts. But yeah, Remiel was definitely there :S

Penelope said...

Do you have this thingy?

http://www.modthesims.info/download.php?t=348397

I mean, obviously Severin isn't going to be doing any one-handed, upside down flying kicks but it might be useful.