I open my eyes to see the woman lying at my feet, the body of the beast strung over her, a corpse trying to hold onto life. Its grip around her throat is firm but no longer constricting. I watch her chest rise and fall with breath.

  She is alive, barely.

  Pushing the corpse from her, I see in full what it was about to do to her. The sadistic ritual that it was going to perform on this poor, helpless woman. I kick the bloody thing and recognize the rage that builds inside. I have a wife and daughter. This is unforgivable; hell is too great for something that would stoop this low.

  She opens her eyes, blinking rapidly, looking at her surroundings. I kneel beside her and try to ease her back into reality. When she turns her head, she sees the body of the beast and the severed head that rolls on the floor. She jumps from the floor, practically leaping into my arms.

  Tears roll down her cheeks and splash against the wooden floor. “ I thought I was going to die.” She says. “Thank you…”

  I say nothing, looking her up and down, scanning for other wounds.

  “I believe there are others out there. We should leave soon.” I look towards the door but see nothing in the clearing.

  She reaches up with a tender hand and touches my face.

  “Thank you…” she cries.

  Her hands are soft and delicate, her face is tender with careful lips and warm eyes. The black mass of hair that clings to her head is a tangled mess, damp with sweat. The woman is beautiful in an unconventional way. Her face is odd angles, her nose is crooked, and her eyes are much too big for her face. Yet, there is an unmatched beauty about her. A gravitational pull that tugs at me.

  I try to shake off the feeling that rises from my belly, but it’s a heat that will not simmer. At least not while her hand is caressing my face. I take her hand and move it toward her heart.

  “You are safe for now, but we must move before more come.”

  I release her and try to stand, but she pulls me down to her.

  “This is a safe place…” Her eyes still water. “I will cast the spell to reveal the truth of this place and this clearing.”

  She sits up, straighter than a board, crossing her legs and folding her arms across her body. She closes her eyes and begins to chant something that makes no sense in my mind. Within a single breath, the air is lighter in the shack. Moonlight pours upon the woman, and she begins to glow with the violet rays of light. Her chanting is breathless, soft, and calming. Waves crash into me, providing me with a relief that I have long forgotten.

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  The glow becomes so bright that I must close my eyes, and when I open them again, everything has changed. The shack is not rotten, but will with plants and herbs, which cover the walls, hang from the ceiling, and are stacked on the floor. There is a bed on the floor of the room, though it is small, barely big enough for her. The cracks and holes in the windows have disappeared and been cleansed of anything unholy. A circle with a star in the middle marks the door. Candles light the room but do not smell, other than that of fresh flowers.

  “What is this?” I ask.

  “A safe place.” She responds, eyes still shut but no longer chanting.

  When she opens her eyes, she takes my hand and leads me outside, where a black goat sits in the clearing. Its eyes are yellow, but a black slit, its horns twist and turn over her head, and a long goatee follows its jaw.

  Its eyes lock with mine. Its voice plays in my head, deep and sincere.

  Waves of calm relief creep over me and bring my mind to ease. I start to forget what I’m really doing here, losing myself to the mystical qualities of this place that I have found myself in. Together, the woman and I walk through the clearing. I help her to pick wild flowers and watch, and the wind makes her dress ripple. With each breeze passing through my fingers, I feel myself falling further into something.

  She turns to me, we’ve known each other so long, but I’ve got no memory of her name. I’ve seen her grow with me, so I say nothing, just smiling at her and thinking of the good memories that we have in this meadow, picking wildflowers and running through the trees. We move like lovers back to the shack, holding hands and laughing about nothing at all. When we return, the black goat with those wide yellow eyes is sitting in a star that is surrounded by a circle. It does not move for us.

  The body of the beast has been moved to another circle adjacent to the goat. I watch the woman place the flowers around the circles and then begin to grab different things from the plants and jars that are around the room. She places some things in the circles while others are positioned outside, like she is making a pattern with everything.

  I ask no questions, watching the beauty in every movement that she makes until she takes my hand and leads me to my own circle. This circle is much bigger than the rest of them, big enough for two people to be encapsulated in. She places me in the circle and continues to move through the room like an angel.

  I smile as she touches me again, spreading something wet over my forehead. Taking a step back, she gazes down at me. Her eyes sparkled with moonlight and pulled me further into her. I want her to embrace me, but I cannot move. It’s like I have chains holding me down, but there is nothing around me but her, the goat, and plants.

  She starts to take her clothing off, removing her black robes first, then a black tunic, and finally her black pants. Her pale, naked skin shines in the moonlight. I no longer see the slashes and holes from the beast that was trying to ravage her earlier. She is free from anything of concern. Bathed purely in violet moonlight, she is captivating, and I am unable to look away, losing myself in the process, forgetting everything from before she took my hand and led me to this shack.

  She bends down, whispering “It’s time” into my ear.