Lark had given up on Emma in this lifetime. It was but the second lifetime since the curse had been cast on him but there were too many similarities between this life and her last life. All the obstacles were the same and the last thing he wanted was that Emma would suffer the same fate as she had before.
Lark continued life on the farm without Emma. He missed her tremendously but there was no point in her being there. She had become hesitant to kiss him after he told her all about her past. He told himself he had been a fool to tell her anything. He had worked so hard to create the illusion that permitted him to get close to her and then he had torn it down when he had finally managed to get close to her. And where had it gotten him? Nowhere.
Lark continued working the farm himself. He completed the plowing and planting and turned his focus to the buildings that needed repair.
One afternoon as the sun neared the horizon, Lark spotted the cloud of dust that was approaching fast. It was a wagon drawn by two horses that were being driven by a rider who seemed to be in an awful hurry. As the wagon drew closer Lark sensed himself beginning to transform. He quickly incanted the spell that made him appear normal to other people even though he knew that there was only one person who would cause him to transform.
As he watched the wagon from his vantage point up on the barn roof, he saw it was Emma riding the wagon. She was dressed in a white dress which he ascertained must be a wedding dress. Behind her came two riders galloping as fast as they could to catch her. Lark began to descend the ladder from the barn roof even as Emma pulled into the yard.
She jumped off the wagon and ran to him. She flung her arms around Lark.
“Oh Lark, please. Please help me,” Emma pleaded as the horses entered the yard behind her.
Lark identified the riders as Justin and Karl.
“What is it?” Lark asked Emma.
“Please, I don’t want to marry him,” Emma said breathlessly.
Lark gently pushed Emma aside to meet Justin and Karl.
They remained mounted as Lark approached.
“Good day Justin, Karl,” Lark said nodding to them.
“Good day, Lark,” Justin replied. “We’ve just come for Emma.”
“Please father, I can’t marry him. I don’t want to marry him,” Emma pleaded.
“I think we all pretty much agree that you’ve ruined the wedding now anyway. I daresay, if I were Gerald, I most certainly wouldn’t be wanting to marry you anymore. Who in their right mind would want to marry someone who ran away from them at the altar? The damage you have done to his reputation is terrible.”
“I don’t want to go back with you,” Emma said.
Lark turned in surprise and looked at her.
Justin laughed. “What I find most surprising is how it is that you came running out here to Lark, to avoid getting married. What is it that you’re not telling me?” Justin looked at Emma expectantly. She didn’t answer but glanced at Lark guiltily.
Justin’s gaze moved to Lark, “Lark? Can you tell me what I don’t know?”
“There’s nothing you don’t know Justin,” Lark replied calmly.
“Then why is it she would come running into the arms of another man from her wedding?”
Lark shrugged. “I really can’t say. Maybe she just felt she could talk to me. Why don’t you ask Emma?”
“Tell them, Lark,” Emma called out.
“Lark turned to look at Emma. “Tell them what?”
“That you wanted to marry me,” Emma said.
“Oh c’mon Emma. We discussed that a long time ago.”
Justin dismounted and strode over to Lark slowly. “Do you want to tell me what she’s talking about?” he asked his eyes narrowed.
“When she worked here before we became close. I told her I wanted to ask you for her hand in marriage but she refused. She said I shouldn’t because you wanted her to marry someone else.”
“That’s right,” Justin said. “She’s supposed to but she’s just ruined her whole wedding no thanks to you.”
“I haven’t done anything,” Lark said. “When she told me I couldn’t ask you I backed off. I told her it was best she didn’t work here anymore and took her home.”
“And look where we are now,” Justin said. “If you hadn’t meddled in our lives we wouldn’t be here.”
“I never meddled,” Lark replied. Justin was angry and needed to save face. He wanted a scapegoat and he had found one. Lark knew him from his previous life and he knew where this was headed. “On the contrary,” Lark added, “I seem to recall you were only too grateful for the work I offered her.”
“In hindsight, it was a foolish thing to do. And I’m guessing that you had your sights set on Emma long before you offered her the work. I always knew there was something off about you Lark. You came out of nowhere, flashing your money around, but keeping to yourself. I’ve seen the type many times and I have no doubt you’re hiding something. Something less than honorable.”
“If I were a lesser man, I’d call you out on that,” Lark said.
“A lesser man?” Justin scoffed. “If you were more of a man you’d call me out on that. And I’ve insulted you twice now so you better call me or I’ll call you out for being the yellow-bellied coward you are.”
Lark realized this was not going to go away. He could not die and he would not fight.
“I will not fight you, Justin,” Lark said.
“That’s just too damn bad,” Justin said as he pulled his hunting knife. Before anyone could move he thrust the knife into Lark’s stomach up to the hilt.
Lark doubled over in pain as the blade cut into him. Emma screamed. “Lark! Father!”
Justin pulled the knife from Lark. Lark doubled over in pain as his energy faltered. While he couldn’t die, any wounds could temporarily weaken him. As his energy waned the spell weakened and then ended.
In a flash he had become visible as the creature he transformed into when he was close to Emma. Justin retreated even as he shouted to Emma.
“Come here, Emma!”
Karl drew his knife too. Lark did not advance but dropped to his knees, weakened but also hoping that his lack of anger and willingness to attack them would make them retreat.
Instead, it had the opposite effect.
“What is this sorcery?” Justin exclaimed. He recovered from his shock and advanced again. He stabbed Lark again in the chest this time. He waited a moment to assess the effect the wound had on Lark. When it was clear that Lark was not going to die, Justin moved to stab him again.
Emma who had been screaming for Justin to stop threw herself between them.
“Stop it father!” she screamed.
“You would protect this monster?” Lark said angrily.
“He is no monster! He has been cursed. He cannot help that he looks this way. He is not violent. He is not attacking you.”
“That’s because he is wounded,” Justin said. “If I let him live, he will surely come for all of us.”
“He won’t father,” Emma cried but Justin swept her aside. Lark had started retreating steadily and continued to do so as Justin began to advance again. Lark finally backed himself up against the house.
Emma had been restrained by Karl but she broke free as Justin, who had waited until Lark could retreat no further began to run. He was going to drive his blade in as deep as he could and he would make sure that he killed this blasphemous beast for once and for all.
Even as he reached Lark, even as he drew back his hand with his knife to strike and even as he thrust his hand forward, he could not have imagined what would happen.
Emma threw herself between Lark and her father. Unable to stop the momentum of his thrust, his knife plunged into Emma’s chest as she screamed, “Nooooo!”
Her face remained contorted as if her scream had become silent but in truth, it remained like that due to her surprise as the blade tore through her dress, cut through the cartilage between her ribs, and punctured her heart.
She managed a last look up at her father as a single tear ran from the corner of her eye before she died with Lark holding her up.
“No!” Justin cried as he realized what he had done. He realized Lark was holding her up with his claws and angrily pulled her away. She collapsed against him and Justin laid her on the ground.
“Emma, my baby” Justin cried as he laid her on the ground. He shook her and listened for breathing but there was none.
Lark simply stood watching. He did not move and did not change back to normal. He was still too close to Emma for his transformation to be reversed.
Then Justin stood, knife in hand, and turned on Lark again. “You bastard! This is your fault. I will kill you. He advanced and slashed at Lark but Lark backed away. Lark did not want this violence, did not want to fight as much as he knew that the sooner Justin died, the sooner Emma would be reincarnated. He did not want to have to be the one to kill Justin or any other incarnation of her father every time. He had done it once because of revenge and he didn’t want to do it again. Killing for revenge would just be pointless. Justin and any future incarnation of Emma’s father would be subject to the curse in their own way just as he was. He could not be held responsible for Justin’s actions. It wasn’t fair to hold Justin accountable. If he had to kill Justin to expedite Emma’s rebirth and then again in the next life and the life after that… the killing would sicken him for he would remember every death of Justin now and in the future. He did not have the luxury of forgetting as Justin and Emma did in every life. He would live one life, eternally until this curse could be broken, if ever.
No, Lark decided. He wouldn’t do it. He staggered away but Justin wasn’t finished and Karl now decided to join the fight.
Lark realized they would not leave him alone. Finally, he turned and made a stand. Lark turned on Justin and eventually struck back. With one angry swipe, he cut Justin’s throat with his claws. Justin fell to the ground clutching his throat as blood poured between his fingers. He dropped to his knees and then keeled over in the dust face down. Dead.
Karl hesitated and then decided to run. But now that Karl had seen him, Lark would not let him go. He chased Karl and ran him down. As he caught up to him, he pushed him. Karl lost his balance with the additional forward momentum and fell face down in the dust. He grunted once when he hit the ground and then lay still.
Lark approached him carefully wondering why he was lying so still. After observing him for a few moments, Lark leaned down and turned Karl over.
Karl’s eyes stared back at Lark when he rolled him over. He was dead. Karl had fallen on his knife and it was buried in his heart.
Lark made his way back to Emma’s body and sat down beside her. He held her hand and took her body into his arms. He sat like that until after the sun set. He expected that someone would come looking for her and he knew that his time was almost up.
He lay Emma back on the ground and headed into the house. He gathered all his most basic belongings and packed them before he left the farm behind. He could not cover this up. There was no doubt that someone knew Karl and Justin had come to his farm and they would come looking for the three of them. He wasn’t going to bury the bodies but decided instead simply to leave them. The finger for their deaths would point to him and there was nothing he could do.
He packed his horse. After everything he needed was packed, he mounted his horse and he left the property he had bought in his pursuit of Emma.
He told himself he was finished with this curse. He would rather leave Emma alone and let her live her life. She would be better off without him in the future. He did not want to see another failure or be part of one. He did not want Emma to die again either.
He decided he would make a new life, somewhere far away without bothering about Emma again. Surely, he could find someone else who could make him happy? Someone other than Emma?