NUVILLANY

1

The flames twisted into the sky, escaping into the night. They were the consequence of some new thing that cannot stand the light of day. Old is replaced by new but now it is devoured and spit out.

They do not seem to have joy in their triumph as they stare at the fire, their feet in the snow and their minds a void.

Soon to be forgotten people yearned for the good, for salvation and feared death. These usurpers know not good, investigate death and mock salvation.

Lena looked out the window of her cozy room. She saw many different faces in the pale moon as it stared at her.  Someone, outside her window was gazing at her. The boy, who would never know what it is to be a man, was studying her faultless features. He would come back almost every night to her window. He would look in, and hunger for her. He wanted to be with her and to posses her, to have her see him. But he looked different every day. He was different every day. The moonlight reflected off his shining pale skin while it was being absorbed by the blackness around his eyes. Again and again he returned growing ever closer. He hovered in the pale light engaging her with his mind. He was compelling her to view his frightening visage. When she did, he did not doubt she would invite him in, and she would be his slave. It was beginning to vex him she had not yet thrown open her window to allow him entry. He surmised she was pure of heart and would need a more worthy effort to subvert. He did not know she was indeed seeing him. She was watching him.

She began searching the city for him in the daytime to no avail. In the city near her home she observed others much like him but obviously less powerful. She was not discouraged because she had seen him in other places before he began coming to her window.  Sometimes they nearly met in her dreams. Lena could feel him dragging at her spirit as he passed near to her, but somehow beyond her. In the dreamscapes there was strange music which seemed to emanate from him or surround him.  She could not place him anywhere in the real world or ascertain the source of his power.  The power did have influence on her and she believed it had prompted her search for him.

Lena wanted to tell someone about him. To tell about how she was feeling. Her best friend Marie would be the one to tell. But where would she begin? So she waited for the right moment. Marie, who was the epitome of blond Scandinavian beauty, knew so much about her. But what did she know about fearsome specters of danger in the night? Lena was dark haired, blue eyed with an olive completion, a perfect physique and an as yet unrealized suggestion of Eros in her essence. She was moving through life with vigor. She loved to work (and make money), to dance, to ride and swim. Although at times he found herself detached and searching, as when she gazed at the moon. Life was good; but something was calling.

The two young women were together one early summer day, traveling to the City of Stockholm by train and Lena was not paying particular attention to her friend other than to know she had ruined her brother’s favorite recording and needed to replace it. This was the motivation for their trip into the city that day. They were soon going from shop to shop looking for an apparent rarity to keep Marie out of trouble. The weather was beautiful and many people were about as they made their way through the streets. The girls were gradually moving away from the area familiar to them because Lena was leading them to seek out her secret admirer and they had to widen the search. Lena felt she was getting closer to him as she noticed pale skinned dark eyed young men were turning up in this part of the city.  Lena found herself looking to the shadows, even searching them. She did this, not out of fear but with the fervor of discovery.  She was wondering how there could be such pockets of gloom in her bright city. Then she was alone.

 Marie was not by her side. Lena looked about for her and found her around a corner talking to a wraith-like colorless man. He seemed to have little attractive power but still he was drawing Marie deeper into the dimness of an ally. When he noticed Lena approaching he removed his ushering hand from Marie’s shoulder. Marie attracted many men despite her obvious youth but this seemed a different sort of attraction. It was more like he was luring her to a place away from the light. As Lena drew near the two, the man looked back over his shoulder, after whispering a final something in Marie’s ear he retreated down the alley and was gone. Lena came to her friend’s side, her eyes fixed on the path of the stranger as he left. Marie appeared lost to her, and Lena had to step around to confront her, and get her attention. Grabbing her shoulders Lena asked,

“What was that guy saying to you? Are you alright?”

At first she did not respond and seemed in a daze. Then she replied wanly,

“Oh he was just telling me…of his friend’s record shop around the corner.”

“They have lots of stuff and I can get the recording I need there.” 

Marie’s demeanor was a little strange and something was not right, but Lena was bold and looking for something, so the girls followed after the dark stranger.

When they came to where the shop was supposed to be they found a plain wooden door in need of paint in the middle of a small side street. There were no signs of any commercial concern. They were about to leave when the door opened and they saw the boy who looked through her window.

“Come in. I have been waiting for you,” he said calmly.  Although she had not expected to be face to face with him at that moment, she accepted it as part of some careful choreography she was loath to disrupt.Lena walked right in as if she had been there many times. Marie was suddenly apprehensive and did not follow. Lena blithely left her behind. Then the door was closed and the astonished Marie stood gaping.