They kissed deeply in the light of a crescent moon, the light hitting the airy curtains as they disrobed, shedding clothes with a passion as they reached for the bed in the middle of the room. Her hands grasped his back and her head rested on his shoulder when she opened her eyes for a moment. 

She screamed, a sound loud and unnerving her hands flying back to the safety of their entwined half nude forms. 

“It's me, my love, do you not see me? Is the light too dark?” The man in the doorway whispered. His smile faded as he saw the lover reach towards the hand of the terrified girl, she reached for his safety in response. 

“What do you want!” The lover said, moving his hand in front of the girl. She whimpered, her body moving even closer to his.

“Retribution.” He smiled again. His eyes gleamed in the light as he took a step closer. His knife seemed hungry and he could feel it through his arm as he turned to the lover. They were feet apart, the inhale and exhale of each of them heard by the other. And then, the man in the doorway moved. The girl was flung aside and the knife was to the lover’s neck. The lover reached forward and hit the abdomen of the attacker as hard as humanly possible. Yet in doing so, the man slit the throat of the poor courter, blood thickening and trickling down his neck. 

The woman cried, weeping and wailing in a slurred way of pleas and absolutions. 

The man moved again, this time, he pressed his hand beneath the woman's throat, on her collarbone and held her. Her breath rustled his hair and he held her for a while until she lay still under the weight of him and his knife. As she calmed she whispered softly, “Where have you gone?” 

“I went where you sent me. Sadly the other woman did not come with.” He chuckled.

“Where did you go?” She asked again, her words shaking as the blood began to pool around her fingers. 

He smiled, his eyes again shining in the light of the moon, “Straight to hell.” 

The knife entered her stomach with speed, ripping through flesh and entering her body. She opened her mouth in a silent scream of agony as her blood mixed with the blood that already stained the carpet. 

“This is what I felt the day you left, my love.” He whispered, “This is what I felt as I awoke loveless and hopeless and I breathed air so far from you.” 

She gripped his hand as he moved away from her. He placed the knife in the cold hand of the lover. He returned to her side as she moved, the wound growing as she tried to keep blood from spilling out. 

“Don’t be frightened. It's me, love, and I will always remember your blood. I will always remember your smile. And I will never forget the pain you caused us. Don’t be frightened. It's me, love.” As he drew a shaking breath,  the air around her stilled and he wept on the bloodied carpet.