Hope and Souls

Staring out across the graveyard, Katrina was aware of being watched. Someone’s eyes were burning into her skin, and yet she knew not from where. The fine layer of mist that often covered the ground was of no exception today, allowing Katrina to feel as if she were home again. She paused, and stayed unmoving for some time, simply watching the graveyard and surveying each statue that could have been an enemy. The slightest movement made her flinch, until she realised her destiny today was not to meet someone who would make a sound purposefully. She was waiting to meet the quietest of creatures, and apart from herself, in her opinion, the deadliest one.1

A few hours might have gone by, for all Katrina knew, but finally there came a certainty. If anyone had been watching her, they would think her mad for smiling all of a sudden, and saying:2

“Hello, Layla.” A snigger echoed, and with a twirl of the wind there stood Layla in front of Katrina.3

“You still remembered, then?”4

“I wouldn’t forget this reuniting.” Another snigger echoed through the graveyard.5

“Shame, really. I could have put it off, but you seem ready enough to die.”6

“It’s too late for that.” Katrina gestured at her near-decaying skin. Layla nodded with feigned sympathy.7

“Of course. I’d say I’m sorry about that, but-” she shrugged, “I’m not.” Katrina snarled, the past detestations boiling inside of her again.8

“I’m not here for any of those reasons, Layla.”9

“Then what is it?” she asked innocently.10

“You know very well why I’m here.” She sighed. “I’m here for Edward.” A smile curled upon Layla’s lips.11

“Oh, you are now, are you? Well, I’m afraid you’re quite late for something like that. His love was claimed to me since I met him.”12

“You know that isn’t true.”13

“It will be. And you must understand what has to be done for that to happen.” Katrina nodded.14

“The same can be said for you.” Layla nodded.15

“It’s all a question of…who is fastest.” With a grin, Layla was inches in front of Katrina within seconds, her hand clutching her throat. Quickly passing through the moment of panic, Katrina laughed.16

“You think that’s enough to kill me?” She passed a hand an inch over Layla’s eyes, and hissing with rage she fell to the ground, holding a hand up to her eyes.17

“What did you do?!”18

“It’s only temporary. This won’t be any fun if you’re blind when I destroy you.” For the next few minutes, all that was audible was Layla’s panting and occasional whimpering of pain. Katrina soon lost interest in watching her enemy suffer, and snarled.19

“Get up. I’m not done yet.”20

“And neither am I.” Layla’s hand swung out and grabbed Katrina’s ankle, tripping her to the ground. She cried out in anguish, only to have her mouth sealed by Layla’s hand covering it. Layla’s eyes were wilder now, shining brightly red, seeming as if to be liquid. Almost like blood.21

“I could kill you right now,” she said, gasping for breath. “But I’m not going to. You want to know why? Because you have something of mine, and if I want Edward then I’m going to have to steal it from you.”22

“Steal it?” Katrina giggled childishly. “Layla, you wouldn’t happen to be talking of your heart, now, would you?”23

“You know very well I am!”24

“Ah, then I’m afraid that I can’t help you there.” Layla grabbed Katrina’s collar and shook her head against the hard floor, annoyed that she still laughed.25

“I want my heart back! The only way I can be loved is to give my heart, and without it I have nothing!”26

“But you see, I can’t do that. We signed a contract.” Layla let go of Katrina’s collar with a gasp.27

“Y-you still have that?”28

“It never leaves my knowledge of placement, Layla. Do you think I would allow it to slip from my possession? No, that paper is, and forever will be, under my control.” Layla screamed out in distress.29

Yes, that little contract became all too clear to her now. It must have been fifty year ago, back when she was fresh and reborn. Back when she was new to the vampire culture. She had been a murderous creature, but there was always one person who she refused to allow to die. Katrina. But without Layla to support her family, they were dying off, one by one. Unable to go to her last surviving relative -her brother- to persuade him to take treatment for his illness, Layla turned to the last person she knew would be able to do the job.30

...“Please, Katrina,” she remembered pleading in the same graveyard as she stood now. “I can’t go and see him. I beg of you, only this.”31

“I am not going to sell myself, Layla.”32

“It is not selling yourself! You yourself said you planned never to marry, and so you may merely think this an arrangement! I do not ask you to love him, Katrina, but I ask of you to allow him to love you. If there were any other way, then I would try and use it, but there isn’t-”33

“Who says he would love me?”34

“You are such a pretty thing, Katrina. I doubt he would be able to take his eyes off of you long enough to tell whether his love was true.” Katrina fumed at this.35

“And so I am to sell myself to someone who finds me purely a figure of lust?”36

“Please, Katrina, listen to me-”37

“Enough!” she cried, blushing under the pressure. She inhaled deeply. “Fine, I shall do it.”38

“Oh, Katrina, you have no idea how grateful I am!”39

“But under one condition, Layla.”40

“Anything! Anything at all!”41

“I want…your heart.” This took Layla aback slightly.42

“My…heart?”43

“Yes, your heart.”44

“Katrina, my friend, you can’t be serious! You do know what happens if I don’t have a heart? If my kind doesn’t have a heart, even. We can not ever commit, Katrina! We can never be loved in return! Even by another of our kind.”45

“If I can not love, I can not allow you to love without me.” Layla shook her head, mostly out of disbelief. Finally, she nodded.46

“If it must be done.” It was organised there and then. On the paper they had spare, it was declared that if Katrina did not marry Layla’s brother, she would die. If Layla’s heart should ever have been out of Katrina’s possession, then she would also die. Katrina signed her signature in tears, while Layla signed hers in her blood.47

“It is done,” they agreed, and they never looked at each other the same way again....48

“You remember now, don’t you?” Katrina asked, smiling. “You remember that it can’t be done?”49

“It can be done!” Layla cried, although not without her doubts. “It must be, somehow.”50

“Admit it, Layla. You’re finished. I am the one here who is able to offer him my own sacrifice. Of course, he could pity you. He could sympathise with you. But he has a heart, Layla, and you do not, so he can not love you.” Katrina straightened herself from the ground, and leant over towards Layla’s ear. “Hurts, doesn’t it? To not be loved in return?”51

“That wasn’t my fault.”52

“I think you know how much at fault you were, Layla.” Layla remembered everything else now.53

...She had stood at the back entrance of the church at the wedding day. Her brother’s wedding day. She had been helping Katrina prepare all day. Her hair, her make up, and her dress. Layla envied Katrina slightly, knowing now she would not wear a wedding dress. She sighed as she stroked the silk fabric lightly, but pushed past the envy and carried on helping.54

“You’re looking beautiful,” she said softly to Katrina, who smiled slightly.55

“It’s still…strange. Layla, will you promise me one thing?”56

“Anything.”57

“Do not repeat what I am about to tell you.”58

“Of course. What is it?” Katrina sighed.59

“I promised myself that I wouldn’t let it happen, but…your brother…I think I’m in love, Layla.” Layla grinned from ear to ear.60

“That’s wonderful! I am so glad to hear it, Katrina.” The two embraced, and Layla kissed her friend’s cheek as she departed. She was not able to go to the wedding, but could watch from a distance as the bride and groom came out.61

But they didn’t.62

Remembering it clearly, Layla couldn’t recall her brother ever entering the church.63

All she remembered was an ear-splitting scream echoing through the halls as her friend dropped down dead....64

“It wasn’t my fault!” Layla said angrily, trembling.65

“Of course it was! If you had not persuaded me to marry him, your brother may still have been alive and I certainly would be!”66

“He was going to die if he did not marry you, what choice did I have?”67

“You could have met him yourself.”68

“I was not going to put him through that.” Katrina shook her head.69

“So instead you allowed him to think that you were dead.” Layla snarled, and leapt up at Katrina again, who simply passed her hand in front of Layla’s eyes again. She screamed, clutching her eyes.70

“Stop that!”71

“You’re going to lose, Layla. It can’t be helped if I fight the way a person should fight.” She passed a dark look over the whimpering body at her feet. “To the death.”72

“To the demolition, do you mean? We’re already dead, Katrina, there’s no use denying it.”73

“Oh, I know I’m dead. I don’t need anyone to remind me of that.” Layla’s sight quickly returned, and her rage consumed her. Once again, she hurled herself at Katrina, who simply stepped aside gracefully.74

“You’re letting your anger get the better of you, Layla. Think differently for a change. You were always one for a full on attack.”75

“And you were always one to act the tease.” Layla stood, brushing the damp leaves off her clothes. Yes, she said to herself. She is going to pay for that. Slowly, the two circles round, their eyes never moving from each other. Katrina was the first to move. She raised her hands, not moving from her spot, but almost miming the idea of strangling her opponent. Layla almost laughed, until she felt an invisible force clutching her throat.76

“W-what-”77

“Like it, huh? Death came with a few placebos. I don’t need them, but I love them.” Layla choked and gasped for a few minutes, thinking herself about to die. Suddenly, the force left her throat.78

“Why’d you stop?”79

“Come on, I want to see what your best is.” Layla growled, and moved with grace towards Katrina.80

“Ask it again,” she said lightly. Katrina smiled.81

“Show me your be-” Layla pounced upon Katrina so quickly she didn’t even see it. The two were all of a sudden on the floor, Layla’s hands on Katrina’s shoulders as she tried to squirm from her grasp. Layla moved her lips towards Katrina’s neck, imagining what dead blood tasted like.82

“I may not be able to kill you- as you know, it’s quite impossible- but I can at least turn you heartless. Once you’re one of my kind, your heart is mine.” Katrina snarled, fighting against the firm hands on her shoulders. Despite her struggles, she knew it was useless. There wasn’t enough room to manoeuvre her arms to blind Layla, and so she was doomed. In a pitiful attempt, Katrina pressed her chin against her breast, covering her neck. Layla merely laughed and squeezed her shoulders firmly, almost breaking them, making Katrina cry out in pain and expose her neck.83

“At last,” she whispered, her lips now touching Katrina’s neck, “I win.” Katrina’s eyes widened as she felt the teeth of her enemy sink into her skin. But it was in that moment she realised what would happen. Layla would steal back the heart that she thought rightfully hers, and take Katrina’s as a vendetta. She laughed. As Layla drank deeply, Katrina laughed uproariously, ignoring the pain and instead only thinking of what would happen after she finally was able to rest in peace.84

Layla stepped back from the limp corpse of her enemy. Wiping the blood off her lips, she smiled.85

“Pathetic,” she muttered. “It could have been harder.” She circled her deceased victim for a moment, and suddenly dropped to her side and took her heart. For a moment, the scent of blood drove her to the point of madness, but it quickly subsided. Searching through Katrina’s clothes, Layla soon found a small piece of paper, declaring the place where her heart was stored. She grinned, finally blessed. Without haste, she pocketed the paper and ran. Her pace was unfathomable, and her grace was even harder to comprehend.86

...From above, Katrina could see all. She clutched her sides, laughing enough to cause pain after death. She followed Layla as she ran, giggling gleefully. It wasn’t long before she finally found the heart. Encased in a small, golden-rimmed box, it wasn’t exactly hard to see where it was placed in her house. A smile spread across Layla’s face as she saw the box. No sooner, though, had her fingers touched the box, a piercing scream filled the air, mingled with Katrina’s mirthful laughter.87

“At last!” she cried out through the laughter, “I win!”...