The Nightmare before the End

The Duchess was seeking a new mate after her previous lover fell into a deep sleep while in bed. Quite substantial was her surprise at finding that which she loved so fully asleep. She had so dearly loved him with his raucous, plummy voice. His small body and his considerable deep voice both intrigued and entertained her. She found it almost absurd in a sense, but he had a way of making her fall asleep during the late hours of the night, which was what she so dearly loved him for. While taking off her enormous jacket with the white hourglass embroidering on the back, in the shape of her coat of arms, he would often whisper to her lovingly, while caressing her aching legs, which was sore after many long hours of waiting.

The Duchess was proud of her person and her needlepoint. Never had she met another woman of her calibre, neither in skill nor in size. She was hefty for a woman of her age, but where some might consider her size as unfavourable; she herself took great pride in it. She was big; usually double the size of any man she met. All of the men was quite surprised when they saw her for the first time, and luckily, her old lover was no different. She dreamed back to when he was shocked and marvelled at her. Back when they had their fateful encounter. They had first met on a drizzly, stormy day, with the winds creating dreadful blasts of air that interrupted her in brief periods while she was outside on the terrace creating her threads of silk when she saw a suit of fine clothing closing in on her person. He was tiny, compared to her, but his suit was fine as anyone’s, even more so actually, excluding her own work, because she was still the best. Black was his suit, his trousers, his shoes and his hat. Dashingly, he was in a sense, as he came to her, on his knees and begged, in his deep voice, for her favour. She granted him it with a smile.

Oh, how she loved beggars, the Duchess thought. It brought quite the wicked smile to her obscene face when she thought of supplicants prostrating themselves before her. The poison almost dripped from her smile, so foul and malicious it was. She had to get a new one. She hungered. Her last lover was too small. Too little sustenance. She was looking for a new mate. A new ma-

She awoke from the nightmare, only to see light reflected in something metallic. Pain. Darkness ensued….