The Snow Queen slept in her earthen bed waiting for winter to begin. Not a normal winter no but the type of winter where people huddled in homes, modern amenities faded away, and the chaos of her reign cold be felt in the icy wind. Yes, it would be a glorious time with a savage winter brewing away the ice prisms would be struck by sunlight in a certain way on the stones above her prison and then the Snow Queen would be freed to walk the earth again.
It was predicted to be a very strong blizzard and Sarah hesitantly drove out to the old deserted home in the Midwest surrounded by corn fields. It couldn't be that bad Sarah reasoned as she turned down the lane that led to the house her grandfather had left her. The house was brick and sturdy nearly 100 years old in fact. Three floors and 6 bedrooms plus two bathrooms. Yet in the winter the bleak skies and the icy howling wind gave Sarah a spooky feeling. Unloading the groceries was such a mundane task and the wind just cut straight through Sarah as she worked. Finally, the last load was carried into the old fifties style kitchen. Just in in time the snow began to fall.
That night Sarah took a warm bath and washed her soft brown hair and thought about her green eyes being the same as her grandmother's eyes. It was hard to have lost both grandparents within a year. The wind slammed into the house causing the lights to flicker. The internet and cable had gone out an hour ago and Sarah hoped the lights and heat would stay on. Not that she didn't have wood if the lights went out, flashlights, and candles. Sarah was nothing if not prepared. Yet Grandmother's spooky tales about winter and being the last guardian were not what Sarah wanted to think about. The beautiful snowflake necklace with a swirling center had always fascinated Sarah. The colors were green, gray, blue, silver and purple in that sphere and the necklace warmed to Sarah's touch.
Yet the stories about finding the other guardian bothered Sarah because he was supposed to take her heart either by killing her or by marrying her. Then could the Snow Queen be faced in triumph but then again nobody had seen or heard of her in over 300 years. Grandmother carried the necklace but married a local man for love and stayed married 60 years. Yet the weather was so strange with blizzards that blocked out the sun for weeks and the strange stories of weird shadow things in the blizzard that lured people to their graves. The dead would be found frozen yes and that was normal in a blizzard but also, they would take their clothes off and be found utterly drained of blood with their eyes missing. Mothers would swear their children were in the weather, spouses thought it was their spouse, and children were especially vulnerable.... It was chilling and Sarah thought maybe it was just the climate change that had gotten worse in recent years. Whole cities were under water and 50,000 people died when the great waves had hit.
The house shook one last time and a huge sound like a bomb shook the house before the lights flickered out. Sarah got out of the bath and ran to her room. The water dripped from her nipples and she crawled under the covers like a child. The old quilts were incredibly warm and told the story of the guardians locking the snow queen in a grave beneath the standing stones. How in every generation a couple stood to defeat the Snow Queen and her evil or how a brave knight who formerly served the Snow Queen took a heart and used it to bind her into the ground. The names of the guardians were in the old Bible that grandmother had kept. The knights or husbands/lovers always served the Snow Queen and that scared Sarah a bit because it seemed arbitrary whether they killed or married the Guardians.
Outside the snow investigated the warm house in the form of an ice warrior. He carried many weapons and the sharp fangs used to kill the humans lured out to feed the growing army of snow warriors. Blood red eyes and sculped muscles that women would say were cut. He went by the name Adar and had killed many in his time. The foolish woman hiding in the house would be no match for him and her blood would be perfect for the Snow Queen's blood altar. There was no love in Adar's heart and sex had very little value to a man incapable of feeling warmth. Adar was known for his cruelty to those he deemed in need of punishment but also loyal and good at commanding men. The snow warriors hunted and killed growing in number and spreading the Snow Queen's rule. Adar had never been human unlike some he commanded. He had been summoned out of ice and blood from a demon. His body did not crave sex or a woman although many of his soldiers occasionally liked sex and would feign being human to have sex with those lost in the storm. No that was not Adar and his goal was Sarah's heart to serve up on the blood altar before his Queen and leave her body to die. Adar looked in the house and traveled in the wind to the second floor and the room that held Sarah. Only a frail window held him from his prey. Pressing close to the glass Adar could smell Sarah in the house and the dark room.
Soon he began to call to Sarah in the soft voice of her Grandmother. Sarah half asleep began to waken thinking her Grandmother was calling to her.
"Open the window and invite me in" Adar called gently into the wind. His eyes changing from blood red to blue like ice.
Half asleep Sarah went to the window but when she touched the window seal a light blue mist rose up between Sarah and the window. Something was wrong.
Adar cursed and tried again.
"Open the window."
Sarah's hands shook and she looked out into the blizzard. The necklace began to pulse light sometimes green and soft other times blood red. The green meant Sarah was safe and could trust the spirits nearby, but the red meant a deadly threat. The necklace seemed broken in that regard.
Adar cursed and put a terrible compulsion to trust to Sarah.
The necklace glowed red despite the spell's hard work to get her to open the window.
Sarah however thought she saw her grandmother laying in the snow bleeding and so swiftly opened the window. Letting Adar into the house.
Grabbing his longest and sharpest knife Adar launched himself at Sarah intent on taking her heart out of her body. Yet the moment he collided with her he felt her body scorch into his. Enraged Adar gripped her by one hand and used his telekinesis to slam the window shut. Sarah looked up at Adar and noted his sharp fangs, blood red eyes, and the biggest knife she'd ever seen in his hands. Trembling Sarah realized her mistake. Adar felt warmth snaking up his arm and thought he would pull Sarah close and then finish his task. Yanking her in to his grasp he sank his sharp fangs straight into Sarah and began to drink her life away. Yet the moment her blood hit his heart he suddenly burnt with a terrible desire. Not to simply kill her and present her heart on the altar but to possess her utterly. To Sarah's shock he stopped and began stroking her hair but still holding the vile looking knife. Trembling Sarah began to cry and struggle, but his brutal strength kept her in place.
Softly she asked him "are you planning on killing me."
"Not yet." Adar answered his brutal eyes drinking in her 36DD breasts and her brown hair and green eyes.