𝐇𝐞𝐫𝐥𝐨𝐜𝐤 𝐇𝐨𝐥𝐦𝐞𝐬 & 𝐉𝐨𝐚𝐧 𝐖𝐚𝐭𝐬𝐨𝐧 𝐚𝐧𝐝 𝐭𝐡𝐞 𝐋𝐨𝐧𝐝𝐨𝐧 𝐁𝐥𝐨𝐨𝐝 𝐒𝐞𝐞𝐤𝐞𝐫

Chapter 6.

Chapter 6: Shed skin and a serpent's prayer.

Louis stepped into the old, abandoned church located in the heart of the cemetery.

His fingers gently removed the bandages from his face.

"Our Father in heaven. I have come to speak to you once again, to seek guidance for my rotting soul, and salvation for the humanity that betrays me."

A cold gasp slipped from his lips, hands trembling.

His knees submitted in front of the painting of the Virgin Mary.

Louis' eyes cowered away from the sight of Jesus Christ.

A single glance at the crucifix caused his heart to shake in fear and his stomach to convulse with something darker — a revulsion he dared not acknowledge.

"In a few hours... I will be sharing this damned secret of mine with someone else — someone other than thou... someone who may understand the darkness that has plagued my heart for years..."

Louis suddenly stopped, his voice trembling.

The moonlight bled through the stained glass of the church and danced across his pale skin.

"I know I've been Your personal voodoo doll for the past couple of decades..." he sneered, his voice dripping with half-fury and half-guilt for the blasphemy boiling in his throat.

"And I'm aware that I've been asking a lot from You lately... but please..."

Louis' eyes watered, his teeth clenched in mixed emotions.

"Make sure that no misfortune will spoil the meeting I'll have with my dear Victoria.

Don't make her a part of Your cruel entertainment...

I'm begging You..."

With that, Louis wrapped his face in bandages once again, and he left the church to wait for Victoria.

He stepped into the cold soil of the cemetery.

And then, Louis saw her.

Victoria stood next to the large, beautifully carved gravestone.

But the carved stone's beauty was no match for Victoria's own.

Her pale oval face was evenly lit in the moonlight.

Her cheeks were slightly hollow, her eyes riddled with dark circles.

Her hair was parted cleanly down the middle and fell over her ears like a funeral veil.

The rest of her hair was tied in a bun at the back of her head, stabilized with a black stick.

Her thin lips were the color of a dead rose — red and purple intertwined — the only colorful part of her appearance.

That, and her beautiful magenta eyes.

"Louis...?" Victoria said, narrowing her eyes.

"Victoria..."

Louis slowly approached her, fear and anxiety brewing in his stomach, as well as something else... something he hadn't noticed yet...

"...How did you know it's me? I mean..."

His fingers caressed the silk bandages that covered his now hideous face.

"How could you recognize me in these bandages...?"

"Oh, Louis..." Victoria breathed, approaching Louis as her slender fingers roamed over his covered face.

"All I need are those green eyes, and I'll notice you in an ocean full of people..."

Silence took over.

Magenta and green eyes met each other.

Victoria broke this silence.

"So, Louis... what made you ask me to meet you here...?

I mean, I'm not complaining — this place has its own charm — but you must have something important to say."

"Yes... Victoria... I have something to tell you.

Something I've kept away from everyone.

Only the heavens knew my newfound misery... but the heavens aren't enough.

I need someone else — someone human — someone not afraid to look into the eyes of the morbid.

Victoria... will you be that person for me...?"

Her eyes widened, her head tilting sideways in an eerie way, leaving Louis even more anxious.

"Did I say something wrong...?" Louis thought to himself.

"No, you didn't."

Victoria's head snapped back, a faint smile tugging at the corner of her thin lips.

"It would be an honour for me to be that person for you, Louis..."

Victoria clasped her hands against her chest, looking deep into his eyes.

"Please, Louis, share this secret with me..."

The sigh of relief made Louis ignore how Victoria had just answered a question he had asked only in his mind.

Hesitantly, his fingers slowly peeled off the bandages, revealing deteriorating pale skin.

A strong odour sprung free, hitting Victoria's face.

The smell of rotten flesh made Victoria gag, her body convulsing as she took a few steps back.

Louis' face froze in shock.

She's scared of me.

N-no... That's just shock. It's normal.

But why is she looking at me as if it's not the Louis she knows...?

Was it too early to reveal this...?

I had to warn her...

"...What the fuck, Louis?!" Victoria gasped in disgust and terror.

"You look like a disgusting freak!"

Her voice cracked.

The words pierced through Louis like rusted steel.

He expected her to be in shock — scared, even — but repulsion? Disgust?

He hadn't expected someone like Victoria to react this way.

He sought comfort — a soul who would accept and try to help him — but instead, he faced disgust and fear.

"Victoria, I—"

"I'm sorry, but I can't look at you...

Tell me, what happened to you, my love?!"

Victoria stepped back, covering her nose as she kept her eyes away from Louis' hideous face.

"I... it all happened after my last therapy session.

The dreams I told you about... they inspired me to finally act upon them!

I... I... I came to this very cemetery and found a corpse in a casket — not buried yet.

I-I grabbed a syringe I brought from home... and I drew blood from it.

Cold, metallic, dark red blood.

I came back home and drank it..."

Louis paused, looking more terrified and guilt-riddled than ever.

"I drank too much of it.

I fell ill.

I was supposed to die — I was sure of it.

No normal human should've survived defiling their body like I did.

But... I lived.

I became better and better...

The taste of blood felt more inviting than ever!"

His eyes slowly narrowed.

"But... it then got worse...

Each day, my skin lost its beauty.

It started to rot a-and slowly got thinner.

And... it felt terrible.

I couldn't peel it off — it hurt like hell.

The smell got too bad.

I stopped going to work, I took a week off.

It felt embarrassing.

I felt like I couldn't tell this to anyone but God... until now.

Now you know what's been happening to me."

Victoria stood frozen, eyes wide, arms tightly wrapped around her waist.

It looked as if she'd seen a ghost.

And that ghost was Louis.

Louis' expression slowly lost its timid aura.

His eyes darkened, his thin lips trembling in a mix of emotions — hurt, anger, sadness, and something darker.

Something primal.

"You would've reacted differently if my face was different..."

"No, Louis! Are you dense?!

I'm just... in shock!

What has been happening to you... i-it's beyond unnat—"

Louis raised a finger to interrupt Victoria.

"It's clear as the night sky tonight...

My curse disgusts you.

And I don't blame you, ma cherie...

No face like this deserves sympathy... Not even from someone like you, Victoria...."

Louis paused.

His breathing quickened, eyes widening as he looked at his hands.

Anger and hatred boiled in the back of his throat.

But the hatred wasn't for Victoria, no.

She just did what any other person would react to a hideous freak like Louis.

The hate... was for what he had rotted into.

It was for what this God he prayed to day and night had corrupted him into.

"If this rotten skin of mine can't inspire love... then to HELL WITH IT!"

With that, Louis suddenly lunged his fingers into his face, nails digging into his disgusting flesh.

First, he started scratching.

Then, his nails dug deeper, faster and faster by the second.

Louis tried to hold back his pain.

He let out a guttural scream of agony, but he continued digging further.

He slowly began scraping his skin.

Victoria's hand flew to her face, eyes widened as she started trembling.

An echoing scream of terror escaped her lips, daring to haunt the cemetery.

"L-Louis! S-stop! What are you—"

She first tried to step forward and stop Louis.

But fear got the best of her, and she stood frozen, watching Louis mutilate himself.

Scraps of dead flesh fell onto the ground.

But no blood.

Not a single drop of blood.

Because Louis wasn't completely scraping off his flesh — no.

It was only a layer.

A grotesque layer of dead skin that had been covering something else for months now, ever since the first time his lips touched a drop of blood.

His screams of agony slowly grew lower, and lower, and lower, until the process lost its painful feeling.

Louis crashed to his knees into the cold soil and the scraps of his dead flesh.

He looked up at Victoria, mortified and shocked beyond comprehension.

His green eyes slowly watered as his emotions suddenly changed once again.

"God has forsaken me with this curse, Victoria.

I gave into my urges.

I drank the blood of my kind.

And God has punished me.

God... I deserve Your punishment..."

Drops of tears pooled down his now clean and beautiful cheeks.

He planted his head on Victoria's skirt.

Victoria slowly returned to her senses.

Her hands went through Louis' graying hair.

She then gently pulled him away from her skirt to look at him.

She couldn't believe her eyes — Louis' face had completely changed.

His skin was now paler than ever, though smoother than ever.

No facial hair, only a thin line of eyebrows.

His face structure had turned into something else — a sharp, angular face, nose slightly shrunk, resembling a serpent. Almost as if it had been carved by an old, deranged master artist.

He looked eerie, almost inhuman — but it was miles better than the hideous look he had before.

But Louis couldn't see this.

He was too busy wallowing in his own suffering, unaware of his now confusing beauty.