MicroHorror

“What are they doing down there?” asked Taron.

Below, villagers stood around a fire pit, their nets in ready position.

“Waiting for us to come out,” replied Harage.

Taron and Harage were communicating telepathically, and they used the eyes of their spirits to compensate for the nearsightedness of their current form.

“They are so naïve,” Taron said.

Harage fluttered his wings. “They may be naïve, but they did catch us once.”

“Yes, then they burned us, which released our spirits. Did they really think they could catch those with a net?”

Harage fluttered his wings again, this time louder than before. “They know from legend that our spirits can inhabit this simple form. But their mistake is that they believe we emerge from the fire like this. They do not realize we were safely above them when we stole these bodies.”

Taron fluttered his own wings, just to try it. He went a few inches into the air and had to land again. “I will have to practice.”

Harage fluttered his wings again, and it sounded as if he were playing a small drum. “You must cling as you flap.”

Taron held on and flapped gently. This time, he did not fly off, but he did not make a sound either.

“Good,” Harage said. “Keep practicing.”

“I do not see the importance of it,” Taron replied. He then stared at the fire for a while, as Harage continued to flutter. Taron recalled the agony of being burned alive. “I’m glad the painful part is over.”

Harage smirked, causing Taron to become nervous. He, unlike Harage, had not been through this process.

“Why do you scoff?” Taron asked.

“Possessing these bodies was simple,” Harage replied. “To possess bigger and more complex creatures is a different process. To become vampires again, we must be taken into a series of increasingly bigger forms.”

Taron became very still. “And how are we to be taken in?”

Just then, a sparrow landed on the branch where the two butterflies perched.

“This bird looks like he wants to eat me,” said Harage. “Keep fluttering your wings, and one will come for you. We’ll meet up and find a couple of hungry cats.”