Kore

I love this one so very much ...

~Kore

There, in the midst of the Peloponnesian War, she was called.

A small group of Graeae had gathered with the goal of raising an evil one to assist their people in the war, to stop the Athenians.

As the Graeae completed their calling, as they finished asking their favor of the Goddess Hecate, a great high screech echoed through the small cave they had gathered in to perform the summoning. The screech would grow near, the sound becoming near unbearable to their mortal ears as a large Empusa Demon came to land before them, her great bat-like wings stretching to a span of eight feet before they were brought close to be tucked into their designated pocket located at the either side of the beings spine.
Looking down upon the frail older women the demon’s upper lips was brought back in a sneer that, though frightening, in no way marred her perfect beauty. The crimson flesh of the female demon looked a near purple in the darkness of the cave as she began to move toward the humans; as she did so her voice would resonate through the cave, her accent implacable.

“Humans, in answer to your summoning my Goddess Hecate has sent you me. Know this, I come of my own choice as no other wished to help lessen the deaths of your race; also, none other wished to give up their form to assist such a pitiful species.”

As the beings words came to an end another screech would be heard and, since the being was so near to them, the sound near to knocked the humans unconscious.

The beautiful color began to fade to a sun-kissed hue as the beings bones began to fall in on each other, her body itself being forced to lessen in size; she was becoming human in form. As the naked body of what looked to be a very petite female crumpled to the floor the older women surged to their feet and ran toward the newly formed being in horror and worry at what they had just seen. Feeling them come near her the female looked up and within her two-colored gaze was bitterness and hate for what she had just done to herself, for what she had given up because she felt pity for these retched beings.

And now …. Now, she looked of them …

Upon the end of the war, April 25 404 BC, she was unchanged.

Through it all she had not aged one year, the only changes upon her body were the worn scars of battle; each scar, though, brought her a new wave of bitterness at it’s appearance. Why Hecate had allowed her to keep the fast regeneration of flesh yet still made her human body scar was beyond her, she was lucky to still be able to heal at any rate in this body.
The Athenians had surrendered, the cowards; the war had been amazingly enjoyable. Upon coming into this body she had thought everything would be unbearably boring and yet, she had loved every moment on the battlefield; she had even enjoyed the people that fought at her side once they accepted her and what she was.
What is there to do now?

-
It’s been so long since the war that the faces of those people have disappeared in her memory. The present war is quite interesting though, for some reason they seem to think women should be home and practicing their maidenly embroidering and flouncing about in dresses. To be honest, she is near to going mad with the inactivity of it all.
There are other things to entertain the mind though, such as the lovely men that seem to abound at every turn of a corner. She has entertained herself with men upon many occasion over the past centuries and this century by far has the most lovely. Their armor is what catches her attention, even in her present human form she is infatuated with things of the shiny sort.

To this day, she has yet to eat another and she fights the hunger every second of every day. She was summoned to help these people, summoned to prevent more death and now that the war she was meant for has ended she fights to prevent the death of others at her own hands, perhaps humanity is contagious.

-
He is lovely … these were her first thoughts when she came across him, the only man she had ever felt anything more than a momentary lust for; the only man she would ever love.

It was in the mid-thirteenth century and of late men seemed to draw her attention less and less, their existence to her becoming tedious; and then she saw him.

She had ventured out into the large forest that lay at the rear of the manor she presently occupied, it was one of the many that she owned in Europe. Quite suddenly the sound of horses crashing through the brush was heard and even more suddenly three horses were pulled up before. As the horses came to a stop she was ready, having already unsheathed the customized broadsword that she kept at her hip.
The men atop the horses were in full armor, their faces hidden; she knew, though, that were surprised. She hated the flowing gowns that were customary in this time period preferring to wear leather made to fit to her form, nothing to get in the way of her step or the slashing of blade. She stared up at them and the male at their head slowly reached to remove his helmet.
As the helmet was removed she was caught by his beauty and even more by the swirling silver of his eyes, it had been so long since the looks of a man had held that for the first time she allowed herself to be distracted. Jumping form his steed he towered over her, his height at far over the average six feet, he was something to behold. Coming to her senses she took notice as soon as he took a step toward she leaped to twist to her right and in that turn she brought the heavy sword above her head and down in a great arch toward the man’s thick neck; yet he wasn’t there, he had moved so quickly and now he stood at her rear. As a growl issued forth from her own lush lips the male went to grab her and was to only meet air as she had transported herself, coming to appear a ten  feet to his rear. She allowed her upper lip to lift in a sneer, baring her slightly pointed canines; though she had revealed she was not human, the men still remained. It was then that the leader’s deep voice sounded, it’s beautiful accent filling the wood.

“Come, Empusa, do not run …. Though I love to give chase to a beautiful woman it would only draw out the inevitable.”

He was there to kill her … yet she couldn’t bring herself to fear him ….

He was of the ancients, she came to discover …. He was of them, the Graeae; the ones who had called her forth.

He did not kill her, when the time came and they had fought themselves into exhaustion, he could not bring himself to do it.

Instead … he loved her.

-
The years had gone by so quickly, the five seeming like no more than one. Though in those few years their love had grown and a child, the most beautiful child in the world, was the outcome. And it all disappeared so quickly …
They were together, eating their evening meal, when the soldiers came. The door had been broken in and as soon as they had entered her beautiful home they went for them. There was no warning, no chance to run; they went for her baby, her beautiful Bel, and as she lunged for them she saw her child’s body drop. It was in that moment the demon within her came alive, the moment she lost herself to the rage and the hunger and instead of drawing her sword she went for them with her teeth and nails, with her well-honed muscles and fighting prowess. She had killed ten of them and the blood of her kills flowed down over her breasts and abdomen, soaking her shirt to front; her husband was still alive, she could see him hacking through the soldiers. She yelled, yelled for him to run and as he turned to her with a look of determination in his beautiful eyes he caught sight of the crumpled form of their baby upon the floor; and his head dropped from his shoulders.

She killed them all, though their flesh tasted of ash in her mouth she killed everyone of them. That night she lost all hope for humanity, that night she gave up fighting her hunger and became what she was meant to be.

She was Empusa, the most horrid of the demon species … she was cold.

Author's Note

I love this ... Please remember I jump times because I have yet to think of what happens between time periods.
I hope you like ...

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[Closedown]

Very small grammatical note! Numbers up to and including twenty should be expressed in letters. Sorry, it's just something that I got marked down for years on before it was pointed out to me. The last line was brilliant, haunting.