so, i was digging through my emails from six years ago to provide screenshots in an unrelated manner when i stumbled across a story i had started and later abandoned. i think i should work on it again. in the mean time, here it is as i wrote it back in 2012. it is currently untitled.
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Firelight reflected off Ash's face as he sat in his chair, contemplating. His thoughts were centered on the logs that fed the flames, and occasionally they would crack and pop, sending showers of sparks up into the floo and out the chimney. It was almost hard to believe how much time had passed now, but all he had to do was look out the window to confirm it was true. Where once was just a lush valley that lay under a mountain range now held a large city, full of concrete buildings and flashing cars. It had been hard to accept, at first, but over time he realized that the march of both time and technology would continue on whether he liked it or not.
His cabin had changed little, aside from his collection of leather-bound journals growing larger and the extra bookshelves he had installed to encompass his huge library. Eventually he looked away from his fireplace to look around his simple home, neither pride nor sorrow welling within him. The place was simple, furnished enough to not look spartan but it didn't quite evoke that homey feel to it either. One could argue that it needed a woman's touch, but Ash had never suffered a woman long enough to bring her home.
He felt that a partner wasn't necessary, since his work was grisly and many wouldn't understand how important it was. Aside from the bookshelves there was a simple wooden floor, a few windows in the log walls, a seldom-used dining room, a bedroom near the back of the cabin, and a small bathroom attached. Used to cooking his dinner with the fire pit out back he had never bothered updating his house beyond the sink and eventually a toilet. The old ways were a hard habit to break, and since he had built his home by hand it had no need of an electric heater as one fire would do just fine.
Ash's stomach growled then, and he went outside where a cook-fire burned merrily with a spit of pork and rabbit rested over the flames. The smells were tantalizing, and as grease dripped off it sizzled as it hit the coals. His mouth watered as he went over to inspect his food, slicing off a thin layer of meat and popping it into his mouth. Immediately regretting it he gasped as he burned his tongue, but managed not to spit it out and smiled.
With dinner in hand a few moments later he returned inside with his plate and silverware to eat heartily of the game he had hunted earlier. As he chewed his mind wandered to the altar sitting in the bedroom, but he didn't really feel compelled to go in there. He hadn't used the crystals for weeks now, and it was beginning to show. Those who needed to be judged were getting bolder, and the ones who now rested eternal were waiting to be disposed of by nature.
It was hard and thankless work, which was why he had stopped in the first place. Too long he had gone unnoticed, which was important, but a small part of him felt that he at least deserved some kind of mention out there in the world. He grimaced as he remembered that the few people who knew what he did were now dead, long forgotten to the passages of history aside from the notations in the inscrutable journals. Sighing, he put down his half-eaten food and when into the bedroom to stare at the altar.
All the tools were there, he just needed the inspiration. Judging was easier now with the onset of cellular phones and things called computers, as regular humans tended to use them as a way to both tell and hide all their dirty little secrets. It was becoming repetitive though, people dying for the same reasons all around the world. That was why he had stopped, because if everyone was doing the same thing then there was no point in trying to stop them with a cleansing.
Now he was paying the price, those who deserved to die had gone on living and were beginning to breed. That was unacceptable, and he knew if his father still walked the earth he would have gotten a severe talking to about it. Ash hung his head as he mentally berated himself. Well, time to make those wrong things right again.
~*☼*~
His breath fogged outward as he panted. The deed was done, the man lying dead before him. Judged for the crime of adultery and theft, he had reaped his just rewards with the blade in his heart. Ash's golden eyes roamed the room at large while he thought of how he was going to leave with his prize.
He had let himself in as he always did, locked doors becoming unlocked to his touch though he never used any tools to break in. He knew that the people who were referred to as "police" found that odd, but so far they chalked it up to some kind of burglar. It was no real mind to him, if they wanted to blame an imaginary person that was fine with him. Strands of his long midnight black hair shot with deep burgundy fell into his eyes, so he paused long enough to shake it out of his face.
Time was wasting, so he bent down to grab the body and move it outside when he heard a noise somewhere above his head. He froze. Was someone awake? Had someone heard something? His heart began to pound and tendrils of unease began to wind their way through him. Listening intently, Ash's eyes strayed upward to the ceiling while he waited.
Yes, someone was walking around upstairs. He couldn't risk moving the body now as it tended to create noise, and he didn't want whoever it was to come investigate. It was better for family to think their loved one had disappeared as opposed to rotting away where ever nature chose to dispose of them. After a few minutes of him tersely holding his breath, the sounds stopped and he knew that the person had gone back to bed.
Now he could continue on with his work in peace without fear of being interrupted. With that he pulled the knife out of the corpse and put it on the floor while pulling his prize outside. From there he did what came naturally now, gathering the shadows to himself until he felt his wings rising outward from back. Leaping straight up into the air he went off towards his hiding place to make sure that nature took care of the rest like she always did.
~*☼*~
Dawn was beginning to show its face in the sky when he was finally done with his work. The sun hadn't actually shown its face yet, but the midnight sky was heralding its arrival by beginning to don the plumage of turquoise, pinks, oranges, and golds before the fiery ball ascended into the heavens. Ash looked around at his surroundings, knowing it was time to get home before the day actually began. Out of habit he took stock of what he had left home with, making sure he didn't forget anything that could be traced back and thus used against him.
He patted himself down, mentally going through his checklist of belongings when he paused. Uncertain, Ash started over, going through the items checklist again. Again, he paused. Then he hung his head, cursing.
Damn, after all that effort of not getting stuck in that house he had accidentally left his sacred dagger behind. Now he had to go back and go get it before whoever that person was woke up and found it. A disappeared loved one was one thing, another was finding a bloody knife with their DNA all over it. Making a face at his clumsiness, Ash immediately took flight back to the house.
On the way he gave himself a severe tongue-lashing for such a novice mistake. It was how his brother had died, by making a stupid move like that and was burned at the stake for being a murderer. Townspeople then didn't understand the services his family had provided, and he highly doubted that the descendants who lived here now would understand it either. A grim countenance adorned his fair face while he hurtled towards this pit stop.
Once again, as he landed and his wings faded away the door opened to his touch. He was unafraid of being fingerprinted as he never left any behind, no matter what he touched. One of the few good points to being what he was, even if he did see it as nothing more than an irritating curse that would end with his death since he had taken pains to never sire children. Back in the house, he looked around to see where he might have left his dagger after taking it out of his victim.
He didn't see it on the carpet, but he did see where the body had lied afterward since the fibers were kind of squished. Quickly scuffing it back up with his boot Ash frantically searched the room at large while trying to be as quiet as possible. After a terrifying few minutes, he spotted the knife on a coffee table near the door he had entered. Of course, he had put it down to open the door and wrest the body outside.
Sighing with relief he picked it up and pocketing it, noting no blood had dripped onto the polished wood, a blessing in disguise. He did a double check of the ground floor to make absolutely sure he hadn't forgotten anything else, and satisfied that there was nothing to tie him to this potential crime he got ready to leave again. With his hand reached out to the door he heard a startling beeping noise, like an alarm of some kind. Panicked, Ash lept at the glass patio door and crashed through it, running across the lawn and summoning the shadow wings to get him the hell out of there before the person behind had caught him.
When he made it back to his house he collapsed with relief against the doorjamb, confident he hadn't been caught by the occupant. With that he put his tools away and went to bed, satisfied with a job well done after all.
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