“You must think me a grotesque animal.” I could make out the glow of his eyes beneath his cowl. His voice set my skin humming, though I feared the creature concealed inside his cassock.
“I don’t know what to think.” Stepping closer, I held out my hand, as if to touch his chest, only for him to recoil.
“I was weak, perhaps even a little mad, but I have held tight to what little humanity I could.” He kept his hands tucked inside his long sleeves, hiding every trace of himself from me.
“I believe you, and I want to help.” I stepped toward him again. “Just tell me what I can do.”
He told me of his pledge. Of how he was doomed to an eternity of subjugation for a moment of eminence, realizing too late his mistake. Now, he found a way to reclaim his soul, but he needed me to lead him to his destruction.
The black shroud of night had just begun to lift when he made his way through the ironbound doors of the monastery’s inner gate.
As we entered the vestibule, he wrapped his arm fearfully around my shoulder. I kept an image in my mind of how he once was. If I focused on his horned visage, my courage would fail. Only my love for him kept me sane.
The priest met us at the altar, making the sign of the cross when he finally saw the creature I championed.
An acolyte escorted me from the sanctuary. I knew a battle was looming. When that the final victory was wrought, my love’s spirit would be free, but I would lose him forever to death.
Thin spiral notebook 
Deliciously dark and terrifically tragic. What a lot you packed into a short write. Excellent story. Don’t forget to come back and vote!
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Poignantly felt. Beautifully tragic in execution. Love this.
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Wow. What a choice. I’d love to read more. This was so beautiful and sad at the same time.
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sad but strong in craft/ I love the whole thing
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Oh those devastating choices.
skin humming and love keeping her sane. So many revealing details.
Beautiful tragedy.
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it was heartbreaking, the picture set the stage and then your words…so Les Mis, so Beauty and the Beast and a love lost made my heart hurt at the end. To know that your love is doomed, that the one you love will only be safe and whole if they are destroyed is chilling.
I really loved this.
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Loved how you showed the history of them, without saying it… makes me want to read more of their story.
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Oh that end was so sad… very sad indeed. This seems to be a story of intolerance as well.. which you did well
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Very Beauty and the Beast but with a much more tragic ending!
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I really like this! The tension built throughout. It made the ending all the more poignant. I may have sighed for her loss.
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