Lucas lies down on the cold stone crypt and was just closing his eyes when he feels another’s presence. Immediately sitting up, he looks towards the doorway. Standing just in the door of the crypt was his sister, Victoria. “Hello, my sweet brother, it’s been ages.” She purred.
She walks calmly towards Lucas paying no attention to the growls coming from Rage. Victoria was timeless with her long black hair and piercing green eyes. Her beauty had been frozen for all time. “Rage come,” his growls continue, but become lower as he stands in front of Lucas. “How did you find me, and why the sudden visit, sister? Have you finally forgiven me, for Louie?”
Her eyes flash silver, “Never!” Her eyes flash red as she hisses at me. “As a matter of fact, I paid your new pet a visit earlier. I was going to take her away from you and play with her for a while. It’s my job as your sister to protect you, after all. You know she is a danger to us all.” Then she just starts to laugh. “And ohhh how paybacks are such Hell, brother.” She sneered that last part at him.
“I’ll kill Tavish the next time I see him, for telling you about her. That little prick,” Lucas could feel his own body changing with her threat to Emma.
“Nope, not him this time, you forget brother that the walls whisper to me. You should be a comforted by this information dear brother. I always know where you are. The spirits are all knowing, most of the time anyway. I have been aware for weeks now that she was there, but the walls were wrong this time. They said she was human. What I awakened in mother’s bed is an abomination straight from Hell. I can’t wait for the day the walls tell me she has torn your throat out, dear brother. The wait will be so worth it in the end.” All Lucas hears is her laughter and as fast as she appeared, Victoria was gone.
Lucas settled back on the crypt, his head in his hands. “What the hell did she mean by Emma being an abomination? And how did she flash in and out of here in the full sunlight?” Then for a mere second, he sees Emma in a vision. Emma’s eyes were red before she turned from him, a sad smile on her face. Lucas shakes his head trying to make it stop, but when he closes his eyes, Emma is standing with her back to him, her arms stretched out as she stared up at the sun. She had on a black overcoat, with long billowing arms that you could tuck your hands in. He hadn’t seen that particular coat since he was little. It should be moth-eaten and in tatters by now. His mother had been gone for over a century and this garment had been hers. Lucas wanted to go to her, but he couldn’t step into the full sunlight. Something has gone terribly wrong; he could feel her melancholy. Emma was glowing in the sunlight. The sun was shining through her long blond hair giving it a red aura that surrounded her.
Lucas reaches for her only to see her turn and run into the sun, where in a matter of seconds, she was nothing but dust in the air. His heart was breaking at this sight, the only light in his world was her and now it was gone. The vision left him as quickly as it came.
He needed to get home now, but it was daylight and he was stuck in this damn tomb. Lucas laid down trying to make himself sleep. Unfortunately, the nightmare continues when he finds himself in her body once again. This time recognizing it for what it was, Lucas tried to force himself awake. He didn’t want to see another dream, they were all so disturbing. If it took the rest of his immortal life, he would prove to her, her own worth. He wanted her and that’s all that mattered. This dream wouldn’t let go, so he forced himself to watch, never feeling this helpless in his life.
∞∞∞
The water was cold, but all of the girls in the kitchen snuck off to the creek for a well-needed bath. The men were away on a hunt, and we would have a couple hours to ourselves. I watch in the distance as the other girl’s splash around in the water, none of them ashamed of their own nakedness. I reluctantly slip off my gown. I couldn’t get mine wet because it would fall apart. Not all of the scrap material I had found was very sturdy. I love the feeling of the water on my bare flesh. I hunker down in the water, taking some sand off the bottom to scrub with. I didn’t have the luxury of soap like the others, but the sand usually loosened the dirt off my skin.
I didn’t hear Cook approach me until she grabs me by the arm and yanks me up. I try to cover my private places with my hands, but she pulls them away roughly. “Well, would you look here? Looks like, someone has grown up right under my nose. How old are you now, fourteen-fifteen? It doesn’t matter. I should be able to get a pretty penny out of you. You get cleaned up good, anyone willing to pay good money for you, won’t want you stinking.”
I have no idea what she is talking about. I keep mostly to myself anyway. I watch the other girls giggle and flirt with some of the guards. Sometimes they will leave with them for a little while, but they always come back with a pretty trinket or a new dress. But then there are other times, they come back with black eyes, and cuts on their skin.
I hate to put my dirty dress back on, but it’s all I have. So I lift it over my head, curling my nose because it smells terrible. I head back before the others. When I arrived back at my room under the stairs there was a blue dress lying on the floor next to my only blanket. I was so excited, I never questioned where or why it was there. I take my dress off and throw it in the corner. Then slipped the new one over my head, it was loose, but I didn’t care. I twirl around in a circle, watching the material flow around my legs. It was so pretty, I felt like a princess. I should have known something was wrong. I walk into the kitchen, hoping everyone would notice my new dress and to thank Cook for getting it for me. Before I could get a word out, she grabs me again and leads me to a very large man standing at the kitchen door.
“Is this her?” I hear him ask her.
“Yes, she shouldn’t give you too much trouble. Emma is simple in the head for the most part.” She pushes me towards him, after I see him give her a few coins. She smiles at me with her ugly black teeth. I start to ask her what was going on, when she smacked me in the face and told me to, “Go on and earn your keep for once.”
He takes me roughly by the arm leading me out back towards the barn. I had my other hand on my cheek trying to sooth the burning. I knew something was terribly wrong, why would I have to go with him. Did she just sell me to another house?
He was huge compared to me and no matter how much I struggled. I couldn’t get loose from his grip. The more I struggled the harder he yanked on my arm. I look around, trying to see if anyone around would help me. The few that noticed looked the other way; of course, they didn’t care what happened to me.
He was mumbling under his breath as he drags me to the back of the barn. His words slurred like he was drunk, his breath was rotten and he smelled of sweat and body odor.
As soon as we near the back he throws me into one of the stalls. I hit the floor hard skinning my knees, struggling with this unfamiliar skirt on this dress. I no sooner get to my feet than he grabs me turning me toward him. “Damn you smell good.” He is looking up and down my body with this hungry look on his face. Apparently, this was a reason to smile, because when he did all I could see was his rotted black teeth and all the pox marks that covered his face. He grabs a hold of me by my neck, this freed his other hand. He gazed down at my small breast then grabs the front of my new blue dress roughly in his hand and rips it right down the middle. I cried out, my small arms no match for his, as I was trying to hold my dress up and get away from him at the same time. “Please fight me, it makes it all the better for me in the end,” He says with a smirk.
He grabs both of my hands and slams my body against the wall. I turn my face away as he licks my cheek, the foulness of his breath making me heave. When he grabs my small breast twisting it painfully, I start screaming, twisting, and trying to kick at his shins. After one nasty kick to the shin, he backhands me, hitting me so hard I saw stars. The rest was a blur, my eyes were suddenly fuzzy and I could taste blood in my mouth.
He was yanking at my skirts and groping me. Since I didn’t own any undergarments, he had nothing else to tear away. He was clawing at my thighs
trying to get my legs apart. His nails scratching and tearing at my tender skin, as I was kicking and scratching trying to get away from him. I was weaker, but I never stopped fighting him.
Somehow his pants ended up around his ankles, his gross staff sticking up in the air. He was shoving it against my private parts. I was still struggling with what little I had left. He poked and poked, but apparently what he wanted to do wasn’t happening. He stops for a second, what I could see through blurry eyes that his thing was softening.
He pushes me away from him and I fall completely to the ground, scramble as far back away as I can. He sneers down at me, as he yanks on his private’s trying to get it back up. “Come here, bitch I paid good money for you!”
I look around trying to find a way to escape. He starts towards me but his legs get caught up in his trousers that were at his ankles. He falls hard hitting his head on one of the feeders in the stall. I shrink back, pulling my legs close. Trying to hold together what is left of my dress. When he doesn’t move, I get up slowly and press myself against the far wall. I slide one foot then the other gradually making my way towards the stall’s door.
As soon as I was around his body, I ran for it. No one said a word when I ran into the servant’s quarters, my dress in tatters. They all acted like I was invisible and maybe I was. I went to my safe spot under the stairs and tore the remainder of that dress off my body. I hurt all over. I was bruised and bloody with scratches covering my body. I lay in the corner and cried, why did this happen to me? Am I really such a bad person that all I'm good for is abuse? Then all I could hear in the back of my mind was how he kept saying how good I smelled. No one will want me if I stink. The Cook said that earlier. The tears on my face finally dry as I come up with a plan. I may not have much control of the things going on around me, but they can’t force me to bathe. I will make sure I am so disgusting no one will ever attempt to do that again.
∞∞∞
The dream starts to flicker, Lucas finally had, had enough. He was fighting his way towards consciousness. The last thing he saw was an older Emma rubbing pig shit on her feet and legs, she had found a way to keep them away.
When Lucas was finally able to get his eyes open, the bellow that came out of the cemetery that evening had the priest in the local churches crossing themselves and mothers gathered their children playing in the fields. The monster lurking among them was awakening and he was angry.
Rage didn’t even acknowledge Lucas. He was ramming the crypt door, and apparently, he had been doing it for some time. The gouges in the stone and the scars on the walls around the door showed his efforts of trying to get out. Lucas screams “Rage,” but nothing stops him. His huge shoulders were bloody and there were fragments of his claws still in the walls.
Lucas was leery of him for the first time ever. He arose slowly taking small steps towards the massive animal. All he was getting from Rage’s mind was chaos. Then Rage turned towards him, foam running from his mouth. Then for a split second, he saw what was pushing Rage so hard. It was Emma, she was terrified.
“Rage, I'm going to open the door. I can’t leave yet, but I will be right behind you. Go to her and protect her anyway you can.” Lucas shoved sideways on the large stone, slowly moving it out of the way. Before he even got it half open Rage shot past him, knocking him temporality into the sunlight. Lucas jerks his body back into the darkness, but not before the sun had made its mark. His hand was burnt black a few ashes falling off of it to the ground. Lucas gasps at the pain as he pulled his hand close to his body. Then he returned to the darkest side of the door and shoved it back in place, hiding himself once again from the sun. Now he would have to feed before he could flash back home.
Weakened by the burn he sat down and waited for the night to come. He hadn’t really grasped his own loneliness until this very moment in time. Emma had become his light in the darkness. He enjoyed everything about her, from her constant questions, to her humor, especially the sound of her laughter. Lucas realized right then how much she really meant to him. Whatever or whomever had terrified her, better be praying for their soul because he would destroy the entire world to make her whole and happy again in his arms.
Chapter Fourteen:
The sun had become warmer as I walked to the market. I stop for a second taking my coat off and draping it over my arm. I have never looked this nice, so I'm not worried about anyone recognizing me. I picked a new dress out of the wardrobe today. It’s light blue with small flowers embroidered around the sleeves and the neckline. Mary had altered this dress last, but I had never worn it. It was too nice to wear every day. The skirt was the perfect length for me, hanging barely above the ground. I turn in circles in the middle of the road, watching the material swish around my ankles. I had a few coins hid that Lucas had given me tucked into its inside pocket. I haven’t been to the market since I was little, so I have no idea what to expect today.
I enter the gates and walk up the side street only to stop in my tracks. “Oh my,” I would have never imagined there would be this many people. I start to step back, instantly overwhelmed by the sheer amount of bodies around me. Just then a man gently puts his hand on my arm, stopping me. “Sorry Ma’am,” he says as he walks on by. My heart is beating out of my chest. I'm terrified and excited all at the same time. That man didn’t say anything mean to me at all. He treated me like I was someone else, not nasty Emma.
I gather up my nerve and walk to the closest vendor. The older lady had gloves and hats for sale on her table. I stand back away from the stall until she looks up and smiles at me. “Well, hello Miss. Is there anything I can help you with?”
She motions me closer. I know she thought something was wrong with me when it took me a second to answer. “I am just looking, thank you, ma’am.”
“Take your time, over on the edge of the table is a new hat that just come in, it sure would be pretty with that blue dress of yours.” She walks over and hands it to me. I almost didn’t reach for it, but that would be rude and she is being so nice to me. The hat is soft and almost the exact color of the dress I have on. It had a brim with small white flowers on one side. I was scared to hold it, let alone ask how much it was.
She must have noticed my hesitation. “Now deary, it’s not as bad as you would think. My sister’s husband makes all of my hats so they’re not as expensive as a store-bought, but I promise you it will last much longer.”
She rattles off a price when I go to give it back to her. I pause for a second. I actually had the money in my pocket to buy this. This would be mine, my very first purchase with my own money.
She takes my hand and says, “Come on over here. I have a small travel mirror with me, so you can see what it looks like on.” She motions for me to bend down a little and takes the hat out of my hand and places it gently on my head. She moves my long braid over my shoulder to pin the hat on. “Well, would you look at that? A perfect fit!”
She handed me the small mirror, I stare at the girl in the reflection. A perfect stranger was looking back at me. The girl looking back at me in the mirror had rosy cheeks and bright eyes. I move my head back and forth. Not sure what I was enjoying the most, the look of happiness on my face, or the hat. “I’ll take it!” I hear the words come out of my mouth.
“Would you like me to box it up, or do you want to wear it?”
“Can I wear it?” I asked hesitantly.
“She smiled kindly to me, let me take the tag off and I will pin it back on for you.”
As she was cutting the small tag off, I rolled my braid up into a loose bun on the back of my head. I reach inside the pocket and counted the money out for the hat, actually shocked that I had some left. Coming back over, she helped me pin the hat properly so it wouldn’t fall off.
I felt like a princess when I left her booth. For the first time in my life, I felt pretty. I had a pretty dress and brand new hat and money in my pocket. Is this how everyone else feels? As I continue on up through the booths, everyone nods or tips t
heir hats as I walk on by. I have never been treated as an equal in society, and at first, I don’t know the proper way to respond. So I just smile back and go on my way. I walk slowly taking in all the sights. Men and women stroll arm and arm with secret smiles and small touches. Dresses of every color hats in many shapes decorate all of them. I suddenly smell sweet buns, this turns my head as I started looking for the food part of the market. I see the crowd surround a new vendor cart that had just rolled in. I make my way over to it to stand in line with the others, holding the money in my hand for the treat.
I was watching the couple in front of me laugh and hold hands. I was so caught up in watching them that I wasn’t paying attention to my surroundings, until someone grabbed my arm roughly, twisting it behind me.
I scream out at the sudden pain and I see the man in front of me turn to see what had happened. This is when I hear the voice of all cruelty speak right behind me. I hear him yell out, “All of you will mind your own business if you know what’s good for you.”
The man started to say something, but I could see I wasn’t worth it as he turns away from me, like I’m invisible. I try to pull away from the monster holding me.
“You damn witch, everyone said you were dead. So you can imagine how surprised I am to see you standing quite alive in the market with your new fancy clothes on. Who are you whoring yourself out for now, to have such fancy duds on? I will say you’re looking mighty good for a dead woman. If I didn’t think my dick would fall off, I would sample you myself. You’re nothing but a damn murderer and a witch, that’s the only thing that explains how you have survived all these years.”
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