Striga Ch. 04

Tears stung at his eyes as he tried to hold them back. Antony did not know what else to do. He felt worthless and full of shameful torment. Giving up had not been part of the original plan, not even in all the years he had spent in his entrapment since Rosalia's deceit.

One last cry rose up from his chest and passed over his lips as he delivered one last blow to the image of the two people in his mirror. Blood smeared against the surface where his fist connected. Again, this was a fruitless effort. He stumbled a few steps and leaned against the wall, closing his eyes tightly in surrender.

A strange feeling washed over him as he stood immobile and quiet. The air was overpowering and charged. Upon opening his eyes, to his astonishment, where his blood smeared against the glass it had begun to ripple and contort. Without wavering he rushed to the mirror and began squeezing the flesh of his forearm around the wound to bring forth the stream of crimson fluid once more. As it ran down the tanned flesh of his wrist and arm he smeared it over the glass. Just as he had suspected the entire surface of the glass was now disturbed like turbulent water.

Through the distorted surface he could still see Lizabeth as the creature pushed her back on the bed and covered her. Antony was not entirely sure that going through the mirror was safe, or that it would even lead him directly into Lizabeth's bedroom, but that uncertainty was not going to keep him from trying.

Touching the surface with his finger, it gave and the tip of his finger poked through. There would be no time for mistakes. The only thing he had going for him against the creature was the element of surprise. Antony took a few steps back and got a running start before leaping through the mirror.

Antony flew through the oval frame and landed on one knee right next to the bed. The demon scarcely had time to raise his head before Antony jumped to his feet and charged him. The two struggled viciously, knocking over a lamp and Lizabeth's night stand.

With the attention of the demon diverted away from her, Lizabeth regained movement. To her shock, it was Antony that had accomplished the impossible feat of breaking the spell and coming to her rescue. Now she watched fearfully as the two wrestled. She knew that Antony was no match for the monster, should the two continue fighting each other physically. Lizabeth glanced around the room frantically, her eyes coming to rest on the closest thing to her. She grabbed a white stiletto high heel from the floor beside the bed and as Antony struggled with the demon, Lizabeth crept up behind the two. With all of her might, Lizabeth brought the pointed end of the shoe down at the creature.

The demon let out a blood curdling scream as the sharp heel sliced the side of his face and punctured his eyeball.

Antony used the moment to his advantage. The portal in the mirror was still open. Antony jerked the demon to his feet while he was still stunned. Savagely, he shoved the creature towards the mirror. The surface gave and the demon fell backwards through it. It stood up and howled with rage as it beat at the opaque glass as it rippled violently and began to dim.

Taking no chances, Lizabeth picked up the fallen lamp and hurled it at the mirror. The glass in the antique frame shattered into a million pieces.

"Let's see you come back from that one, you fuck." Lizabeth shouted between sobs.

Antony rushed over to Lizabeth's side and scooped her into his strong arms. They held each other for what seemed like an eternity before Lizabeth pulled back slowly from the embrace and kissed his soft lips.

"I love you...sneaky." She chuckled lightly as he wiped her tears away. "How in the world did you figure it out." Lizabeth asked him in disbelief.

"Con amore." (With love.) He said to her with soft eyes before lowering his lips to hers.

"You're hurt!" Lizabeth touched his arm directly above the wound. "Here..." She picked up a towel that had fallen onto the floor from her clothes basket and dabbed the small amount of blood that still oozed from it.

Antony smiled at her and stood, picking the small woman up and placing her gently on the bed and wrapped a blanket around her, as if she were the most delicate thing on earth. Lizabeth draped her arms around his neck lazily and pulled him close.

The brushing of his lips against hers sent a fiery awareness surging through her body. The fear and humiliation of the ordeal she had just experienced dimmed as she tasted his mouth on hers. Completely letting go of every thought and inhibition, Lizabeth opened the blanket and pulled him into it with her.

Their caresses led hands and fingers under one another's clothing. Article by article they came to rest on the floor below the bed.

Antony took Lizabeth's lips once more with great abandon while positioning himself between her thighs. Backing away for a moment, he looked into her eyes while pushing his pulsing manhood inside of her. He had to see her expression as she felt him stretch her opening to accommodate the throbbing desire, that Lizabeth, and only Lizabeth could quench. It was an angel's expression when entering the gates of heaven for the first time as she lay there beneath him, her shapely brows knitting together for a fraction of a second and she bit her bottom lip in an attempt to stifle the shock of pleasure. Antony gasped lightly as he felt her dripping folds close in around his girth. He began driving himself in and out of her with a new found passion stirred by his loyalty to this little woman, this woman that reminded him so much of a child's porcelain doll. Their coupling was mindless and intense as their cries of pleasure drowned out the sounds of the city below. Grabbing the headboard of the bed, Lizabeth's back arched as her desire spiraled into frenzy, lifting her to new levels of bliss.

"Oh yes...oh god yessss..." She moaned while one hand broke free of the headboard and clawed at his back in primal pleasure as orgasm flushed over her.

Antony reached under her and grabbed her shapely bottom, plunging into her tight sheath again and again. His eyes closed so tightly that he felt as if they had been sewn together. Rolling his hips in a circular motion, Antony almost screamed with his own release as he spilled deep into his lover. Tenderly they kissed and held one another through the night.

Together, they knew this was a love that had crossed the boundaries of time and all reason. Deceit and pain had finally lost their holding in Antony's fate. Time had finally healed what magic could not.

******

Foreword:

In passing months Lizabeth studied Rosalia's beloved arts faithfully. In years to come, she was an accomplished striga, though she never used her knowledge of the craft to harm or entrap another person. Lizabeth and Antony learned to break the language barrier as well, she learning some Italian and he learning English. Antony took a job in a predominantly Italian section of the city doing construction and repair work.

After a year and a half the two were married. As a wedding gift to Lizabeth, Antony had the antique frame fitted with a new mirror and presented it to her as a symbol of their new beginning together.

Just as a safety precaution, on bright moonlit nights, Lizabeth covers the antique mirror with a black cloth.