This is my entry into Finish The Story hosted by the @bananafish
by @dirge
Benjamin Leitner, son of General Reinold Leitner, grandson of Count Dietrich Leitner, stepped from the stagecoach and lit his pipe. The night was cold, the sky a vast black emptiness. The moon, if it had shown itself at all that night, was gone, and nothing but the light cast by Benjamin’s lantern offered solace from the creeping dark.
He’d reached the graveyard, home of his family tomb and its historic dynasty. It was a forbidden place, the site of his late mother’s suicide, where Leitners were entombed stretching back centuries. He hated this place, more than anywhere else on earth. But he’d come, alone as ordered to. He’d come, as he had no other option but to do so. And he’d brought the gold.
The letter was written in her typical style. Loquacious, expounding on the nature of their relationship, apologizing for her affairs, thanking him for standing by her throughout it, remaining at her side despite all the controversy of the town. Despite even her own parents telling him to abandon her as a lost cause.
She’d not only dragged herself down into the mud. But him as well. Benjamin the financier, of Wolfstone and Kauffman, now the cuckold of all of Austria. But worst of all, she’d tarnished the name of Leitner.
And when the accusation came, of witchcraft and devilry, of black magic and the most bestial of sacrilege, of whoring in the night endowed with opiates unto madness. Well, it was no wonder when Kauffman wanted out.
And still he stood by her.
Should he have been surprised when the letter came, demanding the last of his finances or else she’d accuse him in the papers of having masterminded it all? Of being an original scholar of the black arts?
That would render the Leitner name into devilry.
No. He couldn’t allow that.
Benjamin finished his pipe, the tobacco charred and ashen. He cast the ash into the wind then slipped the cherry wood pipe into his coat pocket, beside the letter crested with her seal.
Melinda. Oh, you wench.
I’ll be in the crypts, waiting.
He suspected she wasn’t alone. Benjamin suspected the whole carnal tribe to be down there, waiting for her.
Well, so much the better. Let them all wait for his arrival. Let them all see the truth, the forbidden history denied to the world. Stretching back into the foundation of the soil. Let them know who it was that the Leitner’s may be.
He stepped across the grass, peering at the graves of his forbears till he reached the central crypt. The iron gate was ajar and the darkness seemingly impenetrable. They were down there, waiting for him.
“Melinda,” Benjamin said to himself. “It could have been different. So different. But you threatened my name. For that, I cannot forgive you.”
He entered the crypts.
“Time to meet the family,” he thought to himself, almost with a laugh.
My Ending
Benjamin half expected her to jab him mentally. Melinda seemed to be always reading his mind no matter where he was at. It was time to extinguish the bond of their relationship. With one hand in his pocket, he rubbed the wand inscribed with hieroglyphic figures.
The bas-relief of Jesus hung from one of the walls. A fresh spider's web had caught an insect, of which the spider was feeding on. Above it, a single bouquet of dry, brittle flowers hung, their colors lost to the passages of time.
Mother liked those kinds of flowers he recalled.
Benjamin held up the lantern as he passed the plaques bolted in the crumbling marble walls. Uncle Tobias brought back fond memories they shared while gathering wood. His death was mysteries and left Benijamin with terrible anxiety when going to gather wood.
We taught you to stay away from strangers. Now that the devil has got you in her trap, what do you do? is something his uncle would ask.
"It isn't nice to refer to me as the devil," she said stepping out from behind a column.
The raspy tone of her voice let Benjamin know she hadn't taken it easy on the cigarettes. She spoke faster then usual, a sign she was nervous about something. Her eyes avoided his completely.
"I wanted to prove my parents wrong about you," he said, "but you did everything to prove them right. I've been wrapped in my fear long enough. I'm here to face that tonight."
He let go of the lantern. Time slowed down as he pulled out his wand and shot a flaming bolt at her, missing her and hitting the marble stone, which shattered into pieces. Her speed at which she moved made him feel like a snail climbing up a long blade of grass.
"Neophyte!" she snickered. Her sonic blast hit him square in the chest, knocking him ten feet back through the air before he landed and skidded on the ground. The bag of gold went flying out of his pocket. Small bits of puke with blood came up as he rolled to one side attempting to breathe.
Three men came out from the shadows. Two of them grabbed Benjamin and lifted him to his feet. The other picked up the wand and the bag of gold, shaking it for all to hear.
"It's all here?" he questioned while looking hard at Benjamin.
"The last gift my mother gave me before she took her life," Benjamin said with blood dripping from his mouth.
"About that," Melinda coughed, "since you'll be staying here with your rotting family, I'll tell you about how I convinced that ungracious hag to end her life." She paused to get a view of the stinging effect it had on Benjamin.
The man holding the bag of gold opened the bag. Eight beetles shot up with haste. Two of them latched onto the man's eyeballs, effectively blinding him, while at the same time injecting a sleeping poison in him. The other six beetles did the same to the other three in the room. They all fell to the ground.
Holding his chest, Benjamin walked over to Melinda and stood over her. "As I said, I'm here to face my fears."
| Previous | Finish the Story Contest | Entries | ||
|---|---|---|---|---|
| The Town That Changed | Even the Clouds Smile | The Border | Horror Vacui | |
| Black Star | Quitting Life | LER | It Awakens | |
| Apocalypse and Pretzels | Metallic Kisses | Curie upvoted The Battle of Bloodneck Valley | Awakening | |
| Curie Upvoted Obstinancy | The Last Will and Testament of Geralda Connors | Curie Upvoted Pirate Hunters | Spoon-fed Memories | Lucid Dream |
| The Taste of Chicken | Curie upvoted Hunt More Precious Than a Green Stone | Kayla | Curie Upvoted The story of Mr. Renhe Ren | Second Prize Winner Blue Inferno for Tres Culos |
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