Time Creature: Vetumnus 1 (complete)

The Sacred Archives of Miror are more than your-run-of-the-mill archive - bigger than any library, and as eternal as you want it to be. It is a place that everyone needs, no matter how big or small. I am visited by the royal family, as well as peasants, beggars, even children. My archives are kept religiously, pristinely, and yes, obsessively. My white rabbits help me to keep everything in order, track everything, log every tiny detail. Then, even the logs are archived. 

The Sacred Archive is a place of memories, where people come to store their precious thoughts and recollections. Some come to store them because they are precious, others out of fear, but all are kept regardless. The memories are taken from them and copied onto sheets of crystal, which are then filed away. It has been my responsibility to take care of the Sacred Archive since I was young. Before that, my mother did, and her mother, and so on and so forth. Memory has always been a family business.

For the most part, I stay in the Archive with my white rabbits. My home is joined to the main building so that, if anything were to happen, I would be close by. The white rabbits are prepared for any situation, of course, and given the chance they can flex their muscles as well as the next warrior. 

Of course, there are special files within the archive - testaments for trials, the memories of killers and victims, the guilty and the innocent. All of these are filed away in one of the many vaults or in the checkerboard floor, which houses all the filing cabinets. The vaults are reserved for the most powerful of clients; the worst of people, the best of people, and like I said, the guilty and innocent. Oh, and of course, those who pay for the privilege. It is amazing what people think is worth keeping, especially the paying customers. Some will store anything simply because they can afford it. 

Did I ever consider leaving the family business? Of course. I was rebellious as a young girl. I fought tooth and nail to be excluded from the Sacred Archive, and I even eloped with a less-than-reputable young man. Eventually, after a few strained and harried years, I came to realize the Archive was where I belonged. Collecting memories, keeping them safe, and religiously filing was in my blood - so much so that I came to realize it wasn’t my family I was rebelling against, but my own desires. I didn’t like myself when I was young, so anything I enjoyed, I willingly took from myself. Funny how memory is like a mirror sometimes.

I was willing to remain with my husband. After all, even if I didn’t like myself, I loved him. The only thing is, he vanished, and I haven’t seen him in a long time. Oh well, his loss. Quite possibly for the better too. He never liked order; he was a devout believer in chaos. 

Anyway, I am not getting any younger, and eventually I will have to have a child who will grow to take care of the Archive. As such, I am dating - or I suppose it would be more accurate to say I am paying a matchmaker to find me a husband. It isn’t uncommon, outdated most certainly, but still a very ordinary practice in Miror. Although, the process has me considering that a donor would be all I need. A few quick rolls in the hay and I could simply raise a baby without the hindrance of a partner.

I am dating now, and the man I am with is lovely, but I don’t feel that powerful spark I did with my husband. He is kind, good looking, very intelligent, a fabulous dresser, and a tea mogul. He has lots of money - not that I am worried about anything like that - and while I do enjoy the date, I’m not excited for another one. It isn’t until we kiss that I decide, one night, that I can have him for one night and that is all I will need. 

“Want to come upstairs?” I ask him as we stand in my garden.

Himley chuckles, and his arm slips around my waist. “We only just met, are you sure?”

I shrug and move towards the stairs, his arm still firmly around me. “I don’t know. Let me show you my sheets first.”

Himley bites his lip as he holds back a massive grin. “I know your intentions are to get married and start a family as soon as possible, but I didn’t realize it would be so fast.”

“This is just sex, sir,” I purr. “If you promise to behave yourself, that is.”

His eyes light up as his cheeks redden. “Well, I have been considering new linens for the bedroom. Perhaps you can give me some ideas.”

“Too bad she’s already married.”

The voice that comes out of the shadows makes every hair on my body stand on end. I know it well, as I have often recalled it. I turn to look up, and see a man leaning over the railing at the top of the stairs, biting into a particularly red apple. My door is wide open behind him.

I grimace at him as every muscle in my body seizes up.

“Oh,” Himley gasps, “I wasn’t aware this would be a polyamorous sort of thing.”

“It’s not,” the man above us spits. 

“Get out of here, Vetumnus!” I bark up at him. “You don’t get to just invite yourself in after vanishing! Stay gone for all I care.”

Vetumnus smirks. “I thought my lovely bride would be happy to see me.”

“Fuck you!” I yell at him.

“I think I should leave, and let you two, uhm… hash this out,” Himley says, utterly confused. “It was lovely meeting you, Moneta. I enjoyed our-”

“If you say you’re going to leave, then leave!” Vetumnus chucks the half-eaten apple at Himley, who dances away when it strikes him on the foot.

“Himley, wait-” I gasp, but he’s already gone. I turn and glare back up at my husband. “You,” I snarl.

“Me!” He raises his overly long arms in a flourish. “Now come upstairs this instant.”

“You don’t get to boss me around! Get out of my house!” I point towards the door.

Vetumnus clicks his tongue and wags a spider-leg like finger at me. “Ah-ah-ah,” he sings. “I think you mean our house.”

My lip curls in frustration as I ascend the stairs. Vetumnus is waiting for me, standing tall above me with his hands around his very narrow waist.

“My Moneta, how wonderfully you have aged,” he sighs.

I glance him over with a sneer. “Is that supposed to be a joke?”

“Not intentionally,” he sighs. “I was going to say that ‘time has been good to you’.”

“Obviously you haven’t been.” I jam a finger into his chest, which is a golden ribcage filled with ever-moving clockwork parts, ending in a waist that is made of an hourglass. Most of his body is covered, including his head, which he keeps a hood pulled over.

“Where the hell have you been, Vetumnus?” I snarl at him. “You vanished when I needed you the most!” I keep jabbing him until he grabs my wrist and yanks my arm up.

“Ask that horrible grandmother of yours,” he snarls. “That terrifying old bitch.” His body quivers and he stands erect again. “Please tell me she’s dead.”

“Not long after you left, you asshole.” I slap the side of his head. “And what are you talking about? What about my grandmother?”

“She is the one who made me leave you, Moneta. She threatened my life.” He lays his hand over his chest.

I go inside my house. “What life?”

Vetumnus follows after me. “She shot me, you know?”

I turn on my heel to stare him down. He then pushes his hood away from his face,. Half of it is the visage of a powerfully handsome man with dark blue skin, white hair, and a mouth like a jack-o-lantern’s. The other half is skull-like, another cage filled with clockwork and gears. I see his eye, which was once a clock with many hands, and is now a cracked mess of gears with a bullet hole dead in its center.

“Ow,” I whisper.

“Yeah, fucking ow!” Vetumnus snarls at me as his skin goes bright green. He then sighs and pulls back, his long mouth pulling into a sneer that shows off shark-like teeth. “She threatened me, Moneta. She made me leave.” The tall white ears on his head twitch forward, then slick backwards.

“For thirty years?” I snap back at him.

“I was making sure!” Vetumnus snarls at me, bending over so he can get in my face. “Time is relative, my dear.”

“Well it’s no relative of mine!” I bark back at him. “You left, you don’t get to come back like everything is the same. You abandoned me without a word!”

He stands back up. “I left word,” he whispers. “Did you not get it?”

I furrow my brow at him. “What word? All these years I have received nothing. Close the fucking door! You’re letting the borogoves in!”

Vetumnus turns around, shuts the door and chases after me as I run into my bedroom. He grabs the door handle, jiggling it as I sit on the edge of the bed.

“Moneta, unlock the door!” he roars.

“Make me!” I bellow back.

He bangs hard on the solid door. “I left you a letter! A long one! Basically a book! Your grandmother promised to-” He breaks off in a scream, and I see bright blue light under the crack of the door. “That colossal bitch!” 

Under the bed there is a chest with some of my grandmother’s possessions. I found it in her room not long after she passed, but there was no key to it, so I let it be. I had kept the chest in the off chance that I ever found the key, or else decided to break the lock.

“Moneta! Let me in, please,” Vetumnus begs gently. “Let me apologize in any way I possibly can.”

I kneel on the floor and lay on my belly to slip under the bed.

“I made a massive mistake, I know. I have been terrified all this time, but I so wanted to see you so I could tell you how much I hate your fucking family.” He bangs on the door again.

I pull out the chest and yank on the lock.

“Are you even listening to me?” Vetumnus whines.

“No. Go away and never come back. You’re good at it - kind of.” I push the box back under the bed as he finally knocks off the doorknob and storms into the room.

“Oh, I’m sorry, where are my manners?” I laugh and hold my arms out. “Get the fuck out!” 

All of a sudden, a bunch of my white rabbits gather behind him. Vetumnus turns to stare down at them. “What the fuck-” He’s knocked aside by a new one coming around the corner, clad in armor.

“Thank you, Bertrude,” I huff. “Took you fellows long enough.”

“He left a mess in the Archive too,” Bertrude replies. “We’ve been tending to that.”

I feel like a wild animal whose babies are being taunted. “He what?” I roar. “Grab him!” The white rabbits swarm Vetumnus. I storm past them into the Archive, where I am greeted by the sight of almost all my white rabbits zooming around chaotically as they try to contain the damage. Three of the vaults have been opened, their contents scattered to mix with the waterfalls of flowers that pour from within. The drawers of the checkerboard filing system are flapping in and out of the floor, up and down, up and down like some sort of demented game of whack-a-mole. 

Bertrude comes in after me, holding Vetumnus by the back of his neck with one hand and pinning his wrists behind his back with the other. I want to glare hard enough to burn holes in Vetumnus, but all he does is grin at me.

“I got jealous when I saw you on a date,” he chuckles.

I punch him in the fleshy side of his face. “You colossal idiot!” I scream. “Bertrude, put him in Vault CLD!”

“CLD?” Vetumnus jerks. “CLD?” He starts to laugh anxiously. “Wait a second now, Moneta. Wait a holy second!” He yelps as Bertrude starts to drag him away. “Wait, big guy! Wait! Let me talk to my wife, let me talk to my wife!”

All at once, the white rabbits gasp in unison and stop to stare up at us.

“What are you doing? Don’t stop, fix this!” I snap down at them. I raise my arm to slap Vetumnus, but I drop my hand. “The Archive is everything to me. It is my pride and joy,” I hiss at him. “What you have done will take weeks to repair! You deserve CLD.”

“But that’s the tomb! That’s the tomb!” he screams as Bertrude drags him away.

I hurry down to the main floor and into my office, where I try to get the checkerboard files back under control. Once that’s done, I go into the vault and wade through all the flowers to try and find their source.

“Eleanor! Hargreaves!” I shout to two of my white rabbits. “I need you to go out and contact the Hatter!”

The two look at each other in reluctance.

“I know he’s a pain, but he might be the only one to stop this mess!” I scoff. 

“Why not ask the guy who did it?” Eleanor points down the hall of vaults. “Maybe he can stop it. Better ask him than getting the Hatter down here, don’t you think?”

I stare down the vault hall, my eyes fixing on the blue door at the very end. Vault CLD is the memory of the entire Archive, a tomb that has housed my whole family from the very beginning. 

“I know you hate him, but don’t you hate the Hatter more?” Hargreaves squeaks.

I scoff and run my fingers through my hair, pulling at the roots before I drop my arms to my sides and release a heavy breath. “Yes, you’re right.” I stomp down the hallway. 

It’s been hours since he was locked in there, and I know he has a fear of tombs and graveyards - mostly because the dead can talk to him. Their earthly time is up, so they are not bound by his rules.

I knock on Vault CLD’s door and wait.

“Please tell me that’s you and not your family torturing me again!” Vetumnus whines from inside.

“I need you to stop my vaults from vomiting flowers. Can you do that?” I grumble.

“Yes!” he gasps excitedly. “Yes! I can. I can! Oh, shut up, all of you!”

“What are they saying?” I ask him.

“Let me out and I will tell you,” he snarls irritatedly. 

I unlock the vault, and he falls out onto the floor with a splat. He hurriedly gets to his feet to help me to slam the vault shut, then glares down at me with a panicked look in his eye.

“Had fun?” I start walking.

“No! You know I didn’t,” Vetumnus snarls.

“Good, now clean up your mess.” I motion to the flower-vomiting vaults. My white rabbits are racing around with wheelbarrows, removing flowers as fast as possible before the entire archive is swamped in them.

All at once, the flowers stop spewing. They dry up and float away on a breeze. The white rabbits stop to watch before all of them flop over and pass out on the checkerboard floor in exhaustion.

“There, all taken care of,” Vetumnus says with a smug smirk.

I roll my eyes and shake my head. “You still don’t get what you have done, do you?” I snarl up at him. “Do you know how much work this is going to be? I should call up Amadeus right now and have him drag you off to jail!”

“He’s still alive?” Vetumnus mutters under his breath.

I stomp back into my office, where screens pop up all around my desk. I start moving files around on them, organizing as best I can while my white rabbits get a much-deserved rest. Vetumnus stands by one of the screens, watching idly.

“You can leave,” I snarl at him. 

“I don’t want to.” He crosses his long arms over his chest. “Not until I get to do what I came here for.”

“Oh? And what’s that?” I scoff. “Piss me off until I have a stress-induced heart attack?”

“No,” he grunts. “I came here to win you back and start a family!”

I have no idea how I must look to him in that moment. I know I have a multitude of feelings, but which one is showing, I am not sure.

“I’ve always loved you, Moneta,” he whispers. “Time cannot change that.”

“Time is a wild buffoon!” I snap at him. “You’ve taken so much of my time already, I won’t give you anything more.”

His expression is soft and sad. “Please, Moneta, give me a chance. At least give me a chance to apologize.”

“Thirty years,” I whisper to him. “How can you make me forget that?”

“I don’t intend to make you forget anything,” he chuckles. “I doubt I could make you forget anything, Moneta.” He then swallows and takes a step back. “I cannot stop, I just have to keep moving, but I know you’re trapped in the past. Let me break you out of it.”

I lower the screens around me and glare at him. “Give me one good reason I shouldn’t kick your ass and feed you to my white rabbits.”

“Because I love you,” his voice cracks. 

I take out the mace I keep under my desk.

“And because I owe you!” he yelps.

I lower the mace, laying it on my desk. “You owe me, all right! Because until my Archive gets back into order, you will not leave. I will put you back in CLD if I have to.”

He shakes his head in a panic. “Please don’t.”

“Then keep your stupid mouth shut and do as I say,” I snarl at him. 

Vetumnus lets out a slow breath. “I don’t ever remember you being this scary,” he murmurs. “But I like it.”

I roll my eyes.

“Moneta, listen,” he hesitates as I snap my eyes back to him. “I know I have no place to talk, but I just want you to remember who you’re dealing with and what we were to one another. I know it’s impossible to go back, but maybe we can recreate what’s important.”

“Why now?” I huff. “Why after all these years? Why not ten years ago? Twenty?” I shake my head and look down at the floor. “Why is it so urgent now?”

Vetumnus sighs and opens up his chest. Inside, there is a heart made of glass that is half full of sand. There is also a hairline crack, and grains are slowly running out of it. “My heart has been broken since I left. The crack has only gotten bigger. If I don’t fix it, I’m going to die.”

The air leaves my body, leaving me cold and unable to react. I glance up into his eye and shake my head slowly. “There’s no way,” I gasp. “Vetumnus, there’s just… it’s not possible!”

He smiles at me with sad eyes. “If I cannot fix this, the hourglass will run out.” He closes his chest again. “I came in hopes that I could mend it by making things right with you.” 

“I hate you, but-” My voice trembles. “I don’t want to lose you!” I grab hold of his hand. “Why didn’t you tell me? Again, why not sooner?”

“I told you, I was scared.” He cups my face in his hand. “So, you’ll give me a chance then?”

I sigh and press my forehead against his chest. “How can I say no now?” I grumble. “But just one chance!” I sit up and jab a finger at him. “You ruin it, and, well… I don’t know!”

Vetumnus smiles. “Okay, one. That’s more than I deserve.” He runs his fingers through my hair and then down the nape of my neck. “I will earn you again, I promise.” He kisses my forehead. 

“One wrong move and it’s CLD for you,” I snap at him.

“I understand,” he says with a soft chuckle.

I move back behind my desk. “For now, I have to get this mess in order!” I plop down in my chair and glare up at him. “You know how to make coffee, right?”

“I’ll go make some,” he says before stalling in the doorway. He then smiles back at me as his skin turns a soft pink.

“What?” I grumble at him.

“Nothing. Just... remembering.” He leaves my doorway.

I start organizing again when a small clatter rings in my ears. I look down to see a crystal file on my desk. I pick it up and see the image on the cover - a younger version of myself. I grumble. “Giving me more work to do.” I tuck the memory away in my pocket. 

I know what the memory is. It is one I think about on nights when I cannot sleep and need something good to linger on. It was a night ages ago, when Vetumnus and I snuck into the Archive. We had bypassed all my mother’s white rabbits, crept into her office, then locked the door behind us. I sat on her desk while Vetumus took a bottle of liquor from inside his jacket. He then turned to look at me, and his expression was so beautiful. I could have lived off the memory of his eyes alone.

We made love there on top of my mother’s desk, and it would be for the last time. I don’t know if he knew it then, but I didn’t. I drank him in, so excited and happy to be wrapped up in his long, strange arms. It was one of the most perfect nights of my life. Even after he left, I clung to it in the desperate hope that what I had felt wasn’t a lie. I knew his passion could not have been faked, because there was no way I could ever forget it. I can still feel his kisses on my skin, marking an indelible pattern on my body. 

I sigh and lean back in my chair, my face hot and my body overwhelmed. I am stressed, angry, sad, and nostalgic. I hate Vetumnus, but my body doesn’t. It remembers him and desires him to a point that it is aching.

I tap a pen against the desktop as I think. Then I shift under my desk, hiking my skirt up over my hips. I take the pen down, rubbing it over the front of my underwear. I lean back in my chair, sighing softly as my body takes comfort in the pressure. I slip my panties aside and I press the pen against my clit. I remember how skilled his tongues were, one long and thick inside me, while the other coiled around my clit. I remember his teeth dragging on my skin, so sharp and so delicate at the same time. I rub the pen harder against myself, feeling close to relief.

“Coffee is ready.”

I look up in horror and shock as Vetumnus stands in the doorway. The pen drops to the floor and rolls out from under the desk.

A big grin spreads his wide mouth, stretching towards the back of his head. “Were you thinking about me?” he purrs. He sets the tray of coffee and snacks down on my desk, then picks up my pen. 

I frown at him as he lays my pen down before me. 

“That’s okay,” he winks. “It’s my favorite memory now.”