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At the edge of a country cemetery, where only the wind dared to go, the monster waited for his bride to return to him.
Two nights ago, the monster pursued her through the chaos of a party, never taking its eyes off the woman it had chosen to claim.
It followed her as she slipped onto the moonlit terrace, and when their eyes met, words weren’t needed. She offered her throat with a silent tilt of her chin; it responded with a sharp, hungry smile.
Its bite was merciless, driven not by love but by raw hunger and the urgent need for transformation. It held her as she left her mortal life behind, whispering promises of a world of wonder only the dead knew. When her last breath escaped her body, the monster laid her on the cold stones to be found by an unlucky party guest.
At the graveside, her mother clung to her husband, barely able to stand. Her father’s rage burned across his face as the priest’s words floated uselessly over the freshly turned earth. Attendees whispered among themselves, saying that something about the girl’s death made them uncomfortable.
The monster stayed hidden among the trees, savoring the fear blooming beneath their sorrow. Its bride had already started to build a fearsome reputation: the unnatural girl, beautiful but cursed to die young and rest uneasily in her grave.
Now, shrouded in night and mist, the monster stood alone at her graveside. Through the dark current connecting them, it sensed her body tearing itself apart and being remade in its image. In the darkness of her grave, she labored to be born again.
She was destined to return to the one who remade her. Soon she would rise as a new creation, repulsed by her monstrous form and driven mad with an unquenchable thirst. The monster would guide her through her confusion, giving her a purpose for her second life. Night after night, it would convince her that this suffocating bond, fueled by endless hunger and relentless need, was love. It would leave her unable to separate her yearning from its own, their mutual obsession feeding each other forever.
They would never be alone again.
A faint tremor moved through the fresh earth. The soil shifted and then cracked open as a pale hand reached blindly into the cool night air. The monster smiled and knelt to welcome its bride to eternity.