"Do you really love me?"

Does it really need to be said?

Agnes, friendly like a prison door, eyes frozen blue, a smile would crack the smooth ice of her face.

Agnes, having built this persona to protect herself, less of a filter and more of a wall between her and the universe. Bullies, parents unready to be parents, all the little details adding to the necessity and weight of her mask.

Eternal stoicism made it unsurprisingly hard to nurture social contact, and as much as Agnes would prefer to, she was no island. She worked, lived, went by, but loneliness wore her down with each passing year. The pain added to her frozen mask in driving a wedge between herself and people.

So of course, instead of trying harder with online dating and socializing, she turned to the occult.

It was no conscious effort, she didn't set off, free of the material shakles of her mind into the beyond to bring back a mate. But she was wishful for a partner. And when her eyes opened again in the world of humans, she saw a tall, red-haired woman lying next to her. The woman smiled, and in all her perfect humanity, her beauty, her warm empathy, she appeared as the abomination she was to Agnes.

An abomination that had come into existence now, her ties to Agnes a part of her.

Agnes tried to send it back, to ignore it.

You and I, Agnes, you and I. I am Rada.

Rada's lips moved, but her voice was in Agnes's head. Hard to ignore, so was the package she was being offered, containing a severed head.

A bully of old. Caked and coated in blood, a voiceless scream etched on their face. The bully had suffered long before the neck was sliced through. What they had seen and felt was beyond what a human mind could take.

For love.

Agnes dropped the head and ran. Through the streets, through the woods, only to find herself before Rada.

You and I.

"No," she whispered.

Rada held the severed head, dead eyes piercing Agnes with their judgement.

That's when she asked.

"Do you really love me?"

Does it really need to be said?

Agnes took Rada's extended hand, she pulled her into the coldest hug on earth.

Agnes looked for a job, Rada made certain the right person fell sick. She struggled with her peers, Rada devoured them, maw and gullet growing. Larger and larger to swallow them whole, blood running down Rada's face. Then Rada turned, and gave Agnes a pretty human smile.

And more than that, Rada gave Agnes all the little attentions. Flowers, kisses, sweet little nothings obliterating the world around Agnes, leaving only Rada.

Because Agnes had wanted for a happy relationship, a normal, stereotypical relationship with everything a movie has in there. And it was Rada's raison d'être. Now Agnes followed Rada's whims like a puppet. The beast was undying, and it wouldn't let her die either. No more occult. Rada wouldn't let her, she was all the occult she would ever need.

Rada bought the home, bought the ring, and finally, asked for Agnes' hand. Her smile was as warm as a skull's.

Agnes mustered the weakest of "yes," and Rada pulled her in for a kiss with her iron grip, a kiss that smelled like death and murder. Then she kissed her again, more forceful, and again, until she drew blood from Agnes' lips, until Agnes lifted her foot slightly like in the movies.

"Mom, dad, this is my girlfriend," Agnes didn't resist. She had invited hell into a life she didn't like, she couldn't fight it, wouldn't try to.

Mom and dad were hostile, they would never accept a gay daughter. Rada remained polite and smiling.

When they left, Agnes felt she would never see her parents again.

The day came, to say yes at the church. Rada had organized everything.

It was a little church in a village bordering the mountains. Autumn tainted the trees red and golden.

Agnes was in a black car before the church, in a white bridal dress. The doors opened, out came Rada, in a similar dress. She took her by the hand, and led her inside. The doors stayed open.

The place was packed. Everyone was there. Friends, even her parents. She did see them again.

They were held in place with nails, a smile carved on their faces. The priest was pale and gaunt, barely alive as he spoke to the two angelic brides.

"Do you want to take Rada here as wife?"

Agnes, just as pale, could only nod. The corpses in the public cackled and croaked.

"Do you want to take Agnes here as wife?"

"Yes." The warmth in her word could melt off the flesh from a face. The corpses bloated and gurgled as the heat washed over them, dried blood replaced with fresh flowing crimson, the stone floor covered with a shiny coat, wetting the bridal dresses.

"Then I hereby declare you, wife and wife."

The priest's neck cracked, he fell lifeless on the altar. Rada grabbed Agnes' neck with a hand that could crush skulls. The glasspanes shivered.

The corpses burst and applauded with their bony hands, viscera coating floor and walls as Rada's lips approached Agnes'. A storm picked up in that frozen instant, when madness had become the new normal and Agnes' mind was shattered into a thousand glass shards.

A gust of wind slammed the church's door shut right before they kissed.

"OK, sure", I said into the phone. "We'll come over after I finish work."

Keres raised an eyebrow. "You are not working today", she said flatly.

"What? No, that's just Keres joking around. She came into work to drop me off some lunch", I said with a glare at my girlfriend. Keres smiled and shrugged and went back to reading Guns and Ammo.

I turned my back to her. "Yeah, OK. Anything you need us to bring? No? OK. Yes. No, I will. Yes, of course the snow chains are on the car. We have done that. I'm not an idiot. OK. Look, Mum come on, I can make my way back to the house without mishap", I said.

"We'll see you and Dad later then. Love you Mum", I said and hung up. Then checked to make sure the call was disconnected.

"FUCK!", I shouted once I was certain I wasn't swearing in my mums earshot.

"You seem vexed", said Keres. "Do you want me to kill them?"

"They are my parents, Keres!"

Keres nodded. "Yes, but they are not immortal like my parents, so you actually could kill them."

"We just need to pay them a visit."

"To kill them."

"NO! How many times have I asked you to kill people for me since we've been together, Keres?"

Keres thought about it for a second, the noble tilt of her nose, and the sharpness of her cheekbones accentuated as she looked up and to the left to help her remember.

"Twice", she replied finally.

"Exactly...wait what?"

"That man that cut us off in traffic last month. And the politician you didn't like, when you were drinking last year."

"You didn't..." I breathed.

"No, of course not. They were a passing inconvenience. The politician died of his own poor choices and the driver is alive as far as I know. But these parents seem to cause you endless stress. I love your kind, Hannah, but humans are so much less fun to spend time with when they are stressed."

I put my hands on my hips. "Well, I can assure you that killing my parents will not make me less stressed!"

"Fair enough", she replied. "Do we need to leave soon? When do you finish not working?"

I put my head in my hands. "Do you have any idea where the snow chains are?", I asked.

Keres shook her head. "No, but I could just fly us there, if there is anywhere nearby to land?"

"OK", I said heading for the stairs. "Are you going to change?" I asked her.

Keres glanced down at the simple tunic dress she was wearing. "What's wrong with this? I am not wearing my armour or weapons. Will this not be acceptable?"

"Can you not just wear something like I would wear?"

Keres nodded and stretched on the couch. Her clothes flickered, shimmered, disappeared for a thrilling moment and then she stood, her long lean frame now encased in stylish jeans and a tasteful top. I smiled to myself at the inherent compliment of the clothes she had chosen.

"Dammit Keres", I said. "I wish I could look so awesome so effortlessly."

Keres smiled and I turned and headed upstairs. "You will also look awesome", she said to my back. "And I will appreciate it all the more for the effort you put into doing it."

_________________________________________________________________________________________

r/TallerestTales

Part 2 is below, as for some reason it says its over 10000 characters when it definitely isn't

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