At the demon’s ball. Gothic. Natalie Yacobson

look so much like her,” said Roderick, already peering into the beautiful face covered with the shadow of sadness, “but you are not her.

      “I know,” Clara whispered with the same sadness, “I know everything.

      “Will you save Emily’s daughter?” Promise me.

      “I promise,” she said slowly, “I will love her as much as I can. I’ll call it Maerlin, a dream.

      “But will there be happiness in your life?” Roderick looked at Clara for the last time, some distant pain flashed in his eyes.

      “Go away,” he asked, “the sooner the better, and no matter where, it’s important that you leave here as soon as possible.

      He slowly held out the child to her, and she took it.

      “Go away,” Roderick repeated, and shouted again, “go, go, Clara, save Maerlin. Just thinking that you will take her away from here will allow me to find peace. I must die, Clara, I cannot live without Emily, and you still have a whole life ahead of you, like the life of the one who will give you light in this fog of time, and now leave.

      Clara knew that she needed to leave now, once and for all. She loved, but her love was unrequited. Beautiful Emily forever killed her happiness with her beauty, but she loved her and her child with all her heart. She had to save Maerlin, had to get her out of here. However, in the depths of her heart, not wanting to admit even to herself, she knew that the memory of the past would forever remain in her soul.

      Now Roderick was left alone, he tightly gripped the hilt of his sword, but could this time ordinary human steel defeat the merciless power of witchcraft.

      Roderick became alert, a black bird flew past with a wild, soul-tearing cry in the dark sky. Suddenly there was a rustle behind Roderick’s back that made him instantly turn around. Again, Emily was standing in front of him not far away.

      Life and death have now lost their meaning for him, and only it, alluring and beautiful, the image of Emily remains.

      “Roderick,” she whispered, “may death unite us forever, may she not deny us what life has denied. It is a wonderful world, my love, a world of blood, a world of death, but it can give you a precious moment of selected happiness.

      The hilt of the sword involuntarily slipped out of Roderick’s hand as he approached Emily. He was no longer able to resist, only the vision created by the demon of the night now completely commanded him, all his thoughts, feelings, dreams.

      “You’re mine now,” came the demon’s triumphant voice.

      The prince did not hear him.

      “Yes,” Roderick said. “Yes. Emily. In spite of everything, I forever love you alone. Even if I did not give it away with a single word, now I appeal to your immortal soul, hear me, Emily. The Lord has forgiven you, so let him send this forgiveness to me too. I will always pray to him about this, as now I pray you to hear the request of my heart.

      For a moment, something frank, pure and innocent shone in Emily’s eyes. Her face was cleared of evil. Maybe it really was Emily’s very soul for a moment, driving out the spirit of the nightmare demon from its image.

      “Emily,” Roderick whispered.

      This very image Roderick loved all his life, with it he was ready to die, so beautiful, secretly, and selflessly loved by him. Emily for a wonderful and dazzling moment of happiness returned to life from death, and now remorse shone in her eyes, almost tears of bitter joy with which she looked at Roderick stood in them.

      “Be with me forever,” she whispered.

      Suddenly the ominous cry of a hellish bird echoed over the desolate space.

      Pity and sympathy flashed across Emily’s beautiful face before she disappeared into the darkness again, just as suddenly. as it had appeared, but the kingdom of death could not for a moment do without evil, and Roderick knew it.

      Before he even had time to recover, the bloody demon appeared in the darkness of the night again.

      “You sought your death,” he hissed, “and you will get it.

      Roderick barely had time to grab his sword before the rays of some strange glow almost pierced him with the point of his lightning. There was a wound on his shoulder.

      He knew that in this fight he would not survive, but he did not want to give up.

      “I’ll kill you, demon,” he whispered, “and now nothing can stop me.

      With a lightning strike, Roderick thrust his sword into the demon’s heart up to the hilt, and streams of blood gushed out of it, but the devil was still alive. He drew the prince’s sword from his heart with his clawed paw and immediately plunged into Roderick’s shoulder.

      “Enough,” said the demon, “I’ve had enough of the games of death and human victories for you and me. You must die, how Emily died and how her daughter dies.

      Probably, the power of love for a moment returned the ghostly image of Emily to the prince.

      “Get away, get out of here quickly,” she whispered, and her face reflected the same intense pain, the same suffering, the same anguish as in Roderick’s heart.

      “I cannot,” – he answered, – now I will forever stay with you, and it doesn’t matter that along with this I leave my soul to bloody death.

      He looked at Emily again, and she gave him the last kiss of death itself.

      Fire flared around their figures, and in its flames they both disappeared.

      Clara, with sadness and heart-tearing longing, looked from afar at the hellish fire, where her own heart was also burning. She looked like a dream, but she was not a dream, she loved, and she wanted to love, but she was never loved. The beautiful Emily took away forever her happiness, her dreams, her love.

      She loved Roderick and at the same time loved Emily, who took her love away from her. Even now, she loved her daughter as her own flesh and blood, and she knew that she could save her and protect her from all evil and all the powers of darkness.

      Yes, she will take her away from here, forgetting about everything, and she will be able to save the beautiful Maerlin, she will help her become a dream come true, and this only possible love in her life, full of the betrayals and deceptions she experienced, will become expiation for all the torments that haunt her, and, perhaps, will give real happiness.

      – We will leave here, Maerlin, – Klara whispered, – the forces of evil will never be able to find you, we will defeat them forever.

      Clara involuntarily shuddered, trying to contain her sobs, and looked at the fire.

      Yes, her love burned out in the flame of this fire, and there was no way to return happiness.

      The feeling of great loss has never left Klara since then.

      The eyes of the bloody demon, burning with fierce malice, looked at the flame of the same fire. He whispered:

      – I will seek you, Maerlin, your heart will lead you to me, your soul belongs to death forever, and the dreams of your heart will give you to her.

      Time was flowing inexorably, taking with it all new moments, days, months, years into eternal immortality. The fire of the bloody demon’s mad eyes mingled with the legend of the past. It was ready to show itself at any moment, but still it was inexorably fading in memory. Not only time destroyed the memory of the past, but human life itself wanted to destroy the memories of evil.

      Above the blazing fire of a beautiful fireplace at the end of the huge hall hung a charming portrait filled with endless magic of beauty, and the light of a weakening day, barely breaking through the hall, filled it with inexplicable mystery.

      Two people stood in the room and silently looked at