Valravn Girlfriend: Vita (rough draft)

The ground is hot, grating gravel as you crawl across it, pulling yourself along as it scalds you palms and belly. You remain as low to the ground as possible, staying out of sight while the strangers wander around. They drag their feet along the earth, scrapping them so their feet bend back with the heel in the sky. As they lurch around, making those horrible death rattles in their throat, they charge at any sort of motion. They look like they would be slow, but you’d seen one charge a rabbit with such speed as to break the poor creature in half when it caught it. 

So you remain low, out of sight of the creatures as they stalk about. Their low groans had been keeping you up at night, ever since they arrived though you’ve not slept well. All you can do each day is try to stay hidden, but you can’t keep locked in your house all day. You were one of the few left who could help the people in your village. One of the young, one of the able. 

When the strangers first arrived in smoke, it was a massacre. You could remember the dark horizon as the billows of dark ash settled before the sunrise. The world was gray, there was no light. Within that dull glow darker objects moved, it was the strangers. Their heads were wrapped with cloths, covering everything except the gaping maws of their mouths. Their mouths never closed, they were always open, always wide, dribbling and dripping that thick black resin from the jowls that splattered down their bodies. Sometimes, you could recognize a stranger by the splatters on their chest. 

Their arms and legs were abnormally longer than human limbs, with hunched shoulders where the blades jutted out and blended into the high arch of the spine. You’d heard from others their necks could elongate out from the shoulders, stretching like a snake with unhinged jaws to devour large prey. Their hands and feet were both quite large, appearing almost purple and then black at the nails. 

Despite their face being covered, it didn’t stop them from killing. They didn’t rely on sight, but they could hear and smell like animals. Breathing in through their mouths they could taste the world around them and see it with perfect clarity, at least that’s what you and the others could piece together. They hunted and killed, taking down all those who attempted to protect their homes. It soon became a challenge of surviving and evading rather than attacking. You had figured out that staying close to the ground protected you from watching a snake at their feet. The creature slithered by without being seen. As long as you remained low and quiet, you could easily slip around the strangers.

You took in quiet breaths, carefully moving across the ground. The earth felt scorched, it always did. You’d been outside the village gathering food and supplies. It felt so easy to just run away, in fact, many others had; but you decided to remain. Each day you didn’t run the hotter and more unbearable the crawl home became. But people were waiting on you, people were depending on you. You couldn’t leave them behind, could you?

You were nearly to a safe spot where you could get up and walk into safety. The ground was soft moss where everything began to cool. You then heard a rattle behind you, that slurping, gurgling, raspy sound that the strangers let off. Looking up, you saw it’s pointed toes in the trees. It had part of a rabbit hanging from its never closing maw. It slurpped and sputtered, black bile turning red with the rabbit’s blood. You dug your nails into the moss and dirt, clinging to something like your life depended on it. 

The stranger jerked and jumbled forward and the bit of rabbit splattered from its mouth right before you. You couldn’t move, you couldn’t breathe, all you could do was pray. It was so close, there was now ay it couldn’t smell the sweat and fear that oozed from your pores. You started to shake all over as the tears let themselves free. 

The stranger started to scream to alert the rest of its kind to its hunt, but there was a sound of sloshing meat, crisping crackling of bones, and then, the body dropped onto the ground. The head rolled to the side, away from you while the body twitched and spasmed while the spine spilled out from the neck hole like it was trying to reattach to the head.

A foot stomped down on the spine so it crunched under their heel. You press your face into the moss, sobbing while a hand comes down and grabs your wrist. 

“Are you alright?” They ask.

You can’t speak, all you can do is blubber and bawl while they pick you up. They wiped the dirt from your face and pull you into the safety of their arms. They’re wearing armor, but it looks pieced together from different suits like a quilt. 

“My name is Vita,” she then says, “and I’ve come to help your village.” She quickly leads you away, taking you home before more strangers come to find the dead body of one of their own.

You always come home rattled, but today is worse. You give the supplies to those waiting and then take yourself away from the crowd. Vita is the one they all want to see anyways. She’s tall with powerful, thick arms. The sword she carries on her back is massive and far too heavy for normal people to weild. 

Her armor is strange, patched together from seperate suits. Her helm keeps her face hidden, but it is almost like the mask of a plague doctor, elongated and skeletal.  The thing that strikes you most though, is that she wears no sigil. She has no sign, no house, no allegiance to anyone. Who was she and where did she come from?

That evening as you play with the children, telling them stories that will help then sleep, you notice Vita is watching. She sits alone at the back of the dining hall, crouched down with her fingers laced together on the table top. She stills wears her helm and all her armor, and it’s drawn your curiosity. 

After you send the children off to bed, you approach her and sit across from her at the table. She perks her head up and stiffens her back so she sits straight. 

“How did you come to find us, Vita?” You look where her eyes should be, but you do not know if she is gazing back. “We’ve never sent for knights.”

“I followed the sound of them breathing.” Her voice crackles as she speaks. “I always follow them.”

You turn towards the windows which have been covered. “The strangers?”

Vita nods. “They are called different things everywhere I go, but their breath is always the same.”

You run your tongue between your teeth as you gather the nerve. “Is there something you want from us?”

“Not at all. I am simply here because they are.” She lifts her large arm and gesture with her hand to the door. “Once they’re gone, I’ll follow their breathing until it is no more.”

You feel relieved, but at the same time you had seen so many you thought were strong fall prey to the strangers. “But why do you follow them?”

“I have my reasons.” Vita bows her head then spreads her palms open on the table. “Does it matter as long as they die? Once they are gone, life will return to normal.”

“I’m not so sure. This is normal now,” you whisper. 

Vita sighs and her strong shoulders slouch. “Then perhaps comfort will eventually return to you.”

Each morning, Vita goes outside and you do not see her for hours. When she does return she has washed herself in the ocean, but her sword is stained by the blood of the strangers she has killed. You approach her each day, offering her drink, food, or to tend to any wounds she may have suffered. Each time she declines, but she asks for your company.

“Tell me a story like you tell the children.”

“Is that really all you want? You can come and sit with me and the children if you like stories.”

“I do not want to frighten them, and I want to be alone with you.”

Her words flutter around in your heart and you soon want to be alone with Vita too. 

One afternoon a harsh rain falls, casting the world in grey and filling the air with a chill that sinks into the bone. You worry for Vita in such weather and you wonder why she would ever go out in it on a day like this. You wait for her, tending to the children and playing with them to keep your mind busy. Eventually, day turns to night and the rains continue but Vita has still not returned. 

You stay up waiting, watching from a crack in the door for any sign. When the rain lets up and the clouds disperse, the full moon casts its white light over the street. You open the door further and step out onto the muddy ground. You listen, waiting, hoping to hear Vita coming back.

Instead you hear a grunt and whimper, and curse under someone’s breath. You step out further, keeping to the shadows. You then see Vita against the wall of a house. She’s removed an arm of her armor and is tending to something on her arm. You see her pluck and pinch then she tosses aside an object that, when touched by moonlight, looks like a tooth.

“Vita?” You whisper to her.

Her head perks up and she quickly clasps her arm against her body. “What are you doing here? Go back inside!” She shouts this in a whisper.

“Are you hurt? Let me help you!” You step closer but she shakes her head.

“Get out of here! I am fine and can handle myself. Go back to bed where you’re warm and safe.” Vita keeps her arm hidden, but you can smell the blood in the air.

“Please, Vita, let me do something for you, let me help you.” You come to her side and kneel down.

“I want you to go away,” she snarls. 

You place your hand on her elbow and you feel fur. 

“Don’t! Ah-” She winces as she tries to pull away and she doubles over her injured arm. 

You touch through her fur until you find it soaked with blood. You pull her arm towards you so it becomes bathed in moonlight. Black fur coats her arm while the pad of her hand is leathery. Her fingers are long with black claws where her fingernails would be. 

“It’s ok,” you try to coax her. “Let me help. What happened?”

Vita shivers as she takes in a breath. “I would rather you left.”

You point to the house she has her back leaned against. “This one is empty, we can go inside.” You help her up and lead her into the abandoned home. Inside you find a lantern and light it, setting it beside her arm as she lays it across the table. There are several teeth embedded in her arm and you carefully remove them. You then wrap her arm in cloth and sit back.

She goes to put the armor back on but she stops. Vita turns her head towards you. “I’m sorry you had to see me like this.”

You look at her arm, bandaged and strange. “I would very much like to see you.”

Vita remains quiet and still.

“What will happen when the strangers are gone?” You ask her quietly. 

“I will leave to find more.”

Tears prickle up in your eyes. “Would you ever come back?”

“If they return here, I would.”

You close your eyes as the tears start to fall. Ever since Vita arrived she has been a comfort you were desperately searching for. You had been working so hard to comfort the village, especially the children, you had gone without. Vita had been the first relief you had in so long, you could not imagine being without her again.

“I am not what you want,” Vita whispers. “I am not mortal, no man.”

“I don’t need man,” you whimper.

Vita extends her arm back out across the table. “I am a creature. As much as I may want, I can never be held by you.”

You lace your palm in hers. “But can you hold me?”

Vita wraps her fingers around yours. “Pretty thing, you,” her voice cracks. “Why would you even want that?”

“Because I had forgotten what want felt like. You reminded me of it.” You pull her hand up and have it cup around your face. You nuzzle into her palm then kiss it softly. “Please, let me kiss you, just once.”

“I cannot kiss,” she whispers. 

“But I can.” You move her palm down, letting her touch your chest. 

Vita pulls her hand away. She removes her helm revealing her face to you. It looks like the skull of a raven with dark sinew wrapped around the jaw and the back of the head. In the sockets are human eyes that are a soft blue. Behind the beak there is a second mouth filled with teeth like a wolf. Feathers peak out around the collar and start to fluff up around her neck. 

You reach forward, placing a soft kiss upon her face. You then kiss her all over while her arms wrap around you. Her hands stroke up your back while you continue to pepper her head and neck with soft kisses.

“You can want anything, why me?”

“Do not question it.” You pull her hand to touch you again. “Please, just stay with me tonight.”

“I cannot offer you much,” she whispers, “but I will try.”

Vita undresses me, tossing my clothes aside then running her hand down my body. She pulls me into her lap so that my back is against her chest. Her hands play with my body, cupping my breasts and tugging the nipples. They move down over my belly, gently caressing my mound before her fingertips slip into the rich valley between. 

Her hand then cups over my mouth. “You must be quiet,” she whispers. “Your scent is strong, so you must keep your voice down.”

I moan against her palm. It was going to be hard staying quiet as she touched me. Her strong arms kept me still and my arms pinned while her fingers found me wet and plump below. Above, she pressed her fingers into my mouth, pinching my tongue between them.

“This is all I can give you,” she whispers into my ear. “I wish I could do more.”

You spread your thighs and lift your hips, allowing her to touch more of your petals. She finds the bud at the top and as her fingertips stroke it you cry against her fingers. She pinches your tongue harder and you begin to drool.

“If you’re loud, I won’t give it to you,” she moans. Her fingertips swirl against your clit. She breathes into your ear and moans. “Stay still now.”

You whimper against her fingertips, thrusting your hips to meet her touch. It feels close and overbearing, it’s weighing heavy on you before it overflows, then she pulls her fingers away. You whine pitifully, glancing up at her.

“This won’t do.” Vita picks you up, taking you to the bed. She places you on your belly with your face against the pillow. She presses her hand to the back of your neck then lifts you hips into the air. “If you cannot keep quiet, then let the pillow dampen your voice.” Her fingers slip inside you and you do just that. 

Her fingers tighten at the back of your neck, her sharp claws dig into your skin just enough that you’re aware of them. Inside you her fingers push deep then pull out, curling so they hit a pleasurable spot inside. Her thumb rubs to your bud again and you whimper breathlessly into the pillow. 

“Pretty thing,” Vita moans. “You’re a jewel in this hellscape. Take my pleasure, keep it with you. Remember me.”

You dig your fingers into the bed and thrust your hips back. You cry into the pillow as you overflow around her fingers. Your whole body pulses with the release, surging over and over until you’re weak and exhausted. 

You wake in the morning, finding Vita sitting at the table and watching you. You rise slowly, seeing her donned in all her armor again.

“Are you leaving?” You place your feet onto the cold ground and walk towards her, each step becoming more and unbearably hot. 

“Not yet, but soon.” Vita holds her hand out to you. 

You throw yourself into her arms, holding her close. “Take me with you.”

“You cannot go where I go,” she whispers. “I cannot always guarantee your safety. But if you stay here, I can.” She cups your face in her palm. “The strangers will be gone.”

“But so will you,” you cry.

“That is a good thing, and you know it is.” She brushes her fingertips under your eyes to wipe away the tears. 

Your chest squeezes painfully so you can barely catch your breath. “Will you come back?”

“If I do, it is not a good sign.” She taps her fingertips against your lips. “But maybe one day, I will be able to go where I please.” She rises from her seat and you can see wings rising from her back. She goes to the door and lingers there for a moment.

“I want you too,” she whispers. “I will never forget that feeling.”

You close your eyes as she leaves, sitting back down as the door closes behind her. Maybe one day she will return, you tell yourself, and then you’ll have a normal you truly want.