Nethiina

His hand was limp.
As was his entire body, from his short round toes, to his pale lifeless face.
The air had stopped flowing from his lungs a few minutes ago.
I stand above him and watch his motionless body lay there,
So many emotions flow through my mind, I can show all but one.

Resent.

His eyes are still open, glazed over and murky.
It feels as though they are starring into my soul,
Eating away at what's left.
I bend down and close them, and stay crouched over him.
I brush the back of my hand over his face, and try to remember what it had felt like when it was chalk full with life.

I slowly scan the rest of his body with my eyes.
His shirt is pulled up above his naval,
and there is a crimson stain near his heart.

The blood has stopped.

I slide my fingers over the wound and they become red.

It's still wet.

I bring them to my lips and suck on them.
I had forgotten what blood had tasted like. The salty, iron filled, taste.
It had been so long since I had licked the blood off a wound. Mind you it had been my own self inflicted carnage.

I curl up beside him and rest my head on his shoulder.
I stare at the wound in his heart, and I try to imagine what it must have looked like when it was struggling to pump.
Struggling to send the blood through the body, only to have it pour out of the hole.
The hole I cut into him.

I laugh, but tears begin to fall from my eyes.

"You stupid son of a bitch" I whisper
I press my lips to his cheek,
"Motherfucker I warned you, I warned you not to piss me off"
I lift my head and stare at his pale face.
"You knew what was going to happen yet you still persisted, I had no choice in the matter, nothing else could be done."
I wipe away the tears and rest my hand on his wound.

"I had to do it, I told you I would. It's my job, it's what I was raised to do."
I begin to grow angery with myself for being so weak. Why was I crying. Stop.
I rise to my feet and kick his ribs hard.
"You idiot, I loved you, but I hated you, and you gave me all the more reason to. See you in hell."

Foot steps echo off the walls in the distance.
They draw closer with every breath I take.
I turn towards the sound, Deskinth.
I quickly wipe what ever evidence of crying off my face, and pick up my knife.

A hand rests in my shoulder,
"Are you done here Nethiina? We mustn't waste time we do not have."
I squeeze my eyes shut and nod.
"Of course I am, I have been for some time. Lets go."
I turn away quickly, and begin walking away from the body.

Dethkinth turns to stare at the cold body on the ground.
He scans it entirely and sighs.
"If not for vengeance, love would be nothing more than a fleeting dream."

I reach the main street and lean against a light post.
I feel drained, completely exhausted. I feel weak.
I ram my fist into the poll and bite my lip to stop from screaming.
Why am I so tired, it was an easy kill, simple really, no struggling, or fighting. Nothing.
So why was my energy gone.
My fist starts to feel warm, I look down to find a river of blood flowing from my knuckles.

"Let us go Nethiina, we have other tasks at hand."

We begin to move away from the alley,
I look back once more, as if I were going to say goodbye,
but there is no one there,
because I killed the only one who would have been.