As I entered the bedchamber Matilda's familiar scent, a musky smell of cinnamon and some spice that I was unfamiliar with, attacked my senses. I halted, her scent causing me to rapidly gaze around the room to ensure she was not present. Although the room was empty, I felt a threatening presence. However, I could not see or hear anything or anyone, and so I put my hesitation down to the fact that I was shaking from nerves.
I glanced towards the girl who was now beckoning violently me to the small doorway in which she stood. Ignoring the threat I felt in Matilda's bedchamber, I followed the girl into the adjoining room.
On entering the sound of my son's sweet chuckle drifted towards me. I felt my stomach leap with feelings akin to love and anticipation, and I made my way, in a trance-like state, to the corner from which his voice came.
He was the most beautiful baby I had ever seen. His eyes shone bright blue, just like my own, but when he smiled up at me, I saw Tom's sweet face glowing within. The reflection from the fire made his hair shine like burnished copper, his little cheeks were pink and flushed, and when he held up his plump arms for me to hold him, I had such a fierce feeling of love that I thought I would burst from the sheer force of it.
His giggles echoed around the room as I swung him up tightly against my chest, and I laughed aloud at the sound. I brushed his small button nose with my own, and kissed his angelic face repeatedly, breathing in his sweet baby smell as I did so. I wanted to hold him and marvel at his perfection and beauty forever, but I knew that now was not the time for such actions, and with regret, pushed him into the young girl’s arms, as I bundled his clothing into a small cloth bag I had found for the purpose.
"Quickly, go through into Matilda's bedchamber," I whispered. Motioning her towards the doorway, "I will follow."
I watched her disappear from the doorway and then turned around in a circle, scanning the room for a thick blanket in which to tie Henry to my body and keep him warm. Snatching a blanket from his crib, I made my way through to Matilda's bedchamber.
"Going somewhere, my love?" Robert's voice echoed around the spice-scented room. Fear clasped my throat like a vice, and I looked to the girl holding Henry, trying to judge if I would be able to snatch him and escape before Robert could catch me.
"Do not try it, Gwen, you cannot make it!”
He was right, I knew there was no escape, and so I searched my mind for something, anything, to convince him I had meant no harm.
"Don't try what, Robert?" I asked him, trying to inject humor into my voice, "I have no idea what you mean! You've caught me out, I confess, I had hoped to spend an hour with my son; oh I know you're angry, but I only wanted an hour!"
His laughter and his clapping rang out around the room, causing Henry to cry out in fear.
"Bravo, bravo...my love." He walked over so that he was beside the girl and Henry as he spoke.
"But I'm afraid, my love...that a strolling player you will never be!" I tried to portray that I had no idea what he was talking about, a frown creasing my brow.
"Well, Robert, I have no idea what you mean." Like a flash he was beside me, his hand clutched my hair in a painful hold.
"Oh really! So why then have you clothes enough for a journey, my love? Moreover, why do you shake with fear? And how would I know of a whisper that you intended to steal Henry...pray tell me, my love?" I shuddered with fear, for I knew that he would never allow me to live, and that I would never see my son grow.
Pulling myself up to my full height, I looked him in the eye, and said, "So you know? Well I have no excuse, other than I crave my son above anything, I need him...please, oh please understand, Robert."
"I do understand, Gwen,” He paused, running his finger slowly down my cheek. He then beckoned to the girl, who moved as if in a dream towards him. When she reached him, he gently took Henry from her arms, and then in a move so quick it was barely visible, he thrust his hand into her chest and withdrew her beating heart.
Blood squirted in a wide pumping arc out of the girl’s chest, but she still stood for a second, even glanced down at the hole in her bosom, shock apparent on her face, and I watched, stunned, as life left her face and she fell gracefully to the floor. Then Robert knelt and gently placed Henry on the floor beside the girl. I watched in disgust, as he took the girl’s heart and handed it to my child, a soft chuckle signaling his approval as Henry hungrily chewed on the warm bloody organ.
Before me was the reason why I needed to get my son away from him, the man I loved was a monster, but I was not, if I was able, going to allow him to turn my son into one. I opened my mouth to speak, but Robert held his hand up to silence me. He still knelt beside Henry, laughing at his antics, but his voice, when he spoke, was for me alone.
"Leave, Gwen, leave before I kill you...Leave Vanike, me and your son; I want you gone by sunrise... otherwise I will kill you! Never return here, because the day I see you again, Gwen, is the day you will die!"
Chapter Nine
I had already packed all of my clothes and possessions, and had sewn all of my sovereigns into the hems of my dresses, in the days before the attempted abduction of Henry. I therefore had no reason to linger, and although I thought about returning to Robert and begging him to allow me to stay, I was sure this time he would carry out his threat to kill me. The thought of dying meant very little to me, but there was still Henry to consider, and while he was still human, there was still a chance that I could save him.
Tears flooded my eyes as I looked around my bedchamber, and so many memories and images tortured my mind. The night of Henry's birth, Robert, and I sharing our love, memories that would linger with me until the end of my days, memories I would cherish.
I turned away from the images the bedchamber conjured up, and made my way out of the manor. Cesar was ready and waiting for me, so I assumed that word of my attempted abduction of Henry had spread fast. I called out to the stable lad to run to my room and collect my belongings, and told him that I would need a pack pony to transport my luggage. The command was accomplished quickly and quietly, and within a very short time, I had no choice but to ride my horse away from Vanike Manor. I wanted to run to Robert and beg for forgiveness, but I knew it would be a pointless exercise, I had, I guessed, used up all of his mercy quota, and I knew that I would never know his love again.
When I had reached the summit of the incline, I turned to survey what I was to leave behind, and vowed one day to return and save my son, even if it meant my death. I never looked back again; it was time for me to move on.
Part Two
Chapter Ten
I made my way to the inn at the crossroads to meet Louis. I had decided, because the abduction had failed, that I would no longer be leaving with him for France, and I would, instead, find my own way in the world from now on. I had plenty of gold, in truth a vast fortune, and I was more than capable of looking after myself.
On reaching the inn, I jumped off Cesar’s back and threw the reins to the stable hand, shouting to him to rub down and feed my horse, for I would be staying the night. I had no sooner crossed the threshold than Louis was by my side, pulling me roughly into his arms.
"Louis...Louis!" I said in irritation, shoving him roughly from me. "Please stop!"
"What is this, ma petite?" he asked, his eyes narrowing in anger. "Why do you treat me so?"
"I don't know what you mean, Louis," I said. "I am treating you the same as I always have."
He stepped away from me, his eyes still narrowed, his glance searching up and down my body.
"So where is the garçon, ma petite?" he asked.
His words hit me hard, reminding me of my failure in rescuing my child, and I fell back against a wooden table, dropping down onto the rough bench that ran alongside it.
"Robert was there, and, and... my son...my son, he is lost to me!"
Louis was concerned by my words, his face showed a worried frown, and his words were soft and persuading. "Come, ma petite, we will discuss this in private with a gla
ss of wine."
His hand reached out to mine, and pulling me up from the bench, he said, "Come, ma petite."
With his hand still gripping mine tightly, I followed him into a small room at the back of the inn. Glancing towards the rough wood table in the corner of the small room, I noticed that there was wine and two goblets sitting on the table. Louis had, it seemed, already acquired the small room and had ordered wine for our use. I sat heavily on one of the wooden chairs provided, and took a huge gulp of wine.
"What am I to do?" I asked Louis as I looked up into his face. I noticed that his eyes glittered, and that he watched me intently as I drunk.
"I do not know, ma petite." He shrugged. I felt instant irritation by his lack of concern, and decided that it was time to tell him that I would be making my own way and not joining him in France.
"I have decided to stay in England," I said, rising to my feet, but something was wrong. My head swayed, and I felt faint, a feeling that I had not felt since becoming a vampire. Falling back into the chair, I gripped the table with one hand and gripped my head with my other.
"Are you ill, ma petite?" Louis asked, bending over me.
"No... No I am fine," I said, waving away his face, which was very close to my own, but the truth was I did not feel fine, I felt ill. My body felt limp and lifeless, my head was pounding and spinning and my hands shook.
Louis walked over to the small fire that provided the room with warmth, his back to me.
"What is wrong with me?" I whispered and took another few mouthfuls of wine, hoping it would stop my shaking. It was only then that I realised that it tasted strange and was bitter with the undertone of metallic but foul-tasting blood. No sooner had I drunk the wine than I felt worse, and found it difficult to stay seated. My body felt weaker and could feel my strength ebbing away.
"Oh dear, ma petite, it looks like you have been poisoned!" I turned my head, with difficulty, towards him. He had moved away from the fire, and was once more standing beside me. I opened my mouth to question him, but was unable to speak, my mouth and body felt rigid and I had lost control of my limbs. I slid down on to the cold dirt floor, my body crumpled and useless.
Louis knelt down beside me with his face close to mine, a manic smile on his lips, and his eyes shining with malice.
"Ah, mon amie...mon amie...you should be careful who you trust. It was me, ma petite, I sent message to Robert that you were going to snatch the garçon."
I wanted to scream at him, to claw his eyes out, and thrust a stake through his heart! He had betrayed me, but above this, he had lost me my son. A deep chuckle rumbled in his chest.
"Ah, my sweet, your eyes are shining...you wish to kill me, oui? I love you, man petite...but it is in vain, is it not?" He laughed, but it sounded like a crazy manic scream.
"You see, I could not take your garçon, ma petite, Robert would have tracked us down, he would have killed us...but I wanted you, mon amie...and so I have you!"
He ran his finger down my cheek. Disgust raged through my body, but I could not voice it or act upon it, and so I was helpless and trapped with a cruel and crazy abductor.
"You will come to love me, ma petite...but it will take time, my sweet... and luckily we have all the time in the world."
Louis rose from the floor and walked towards the table, but I was unable to see what he was doing because paralysis had taken over my body. When he returned and once more knelt down beside me, he held the goblet of wine to my mouth, lifted my head, and poured the foul-tasting liquid down my throat.
"You did not know of this weakness, did you, mon amie? Ah, no matter, I will explain, you see...we cannot drink blood from a dead body. It renders us helpless, as you now know, it poisons us...you will sleep, ma petite...but never die...sometimes wake, but be hardly able to move...and you will be mine, always."
My mind grew fuzzy and my eyes grew dim. I heard Louis chuckle, and I knew that I was trapped in a hell of his making. The last thing I felt as I drifted into sleep was a single tear make its way slowly down my frozen cheek.
Chapter Eleven
I awoke feeling disorientated, my mouth was dry, and I could barely swallow. It took a moment for me to recall what had happened. A queasy feeling attacked me, I rolled from side to side, and I quickly realised that we were traveling across the English Channel on our way to France. This realization brought vomit to my throat, and it tasted of the stale blood and wine Louis had forced me to drink.
I tried to move, but I was unable to, due to the effects of the blood, and even if this was not the case, I was confined, crushed into a wooden chest. Suddenly, the lid of the chest opened, and Louis' face danced in front of me.
"You must drink, ma petite," he said, holding the stale wine to my lips. I moved my head from side to side in an attempt to evade the foul invasion that he was once again going to force my body to accept, but it was to no avail, and I heard him giggle as the wine filled my mouth and flowed down my throat. The sound of which echoed in my dazed mind as I once again fell into a tortuous coma.
Many times I awoke to the feel of rocking, and the sound of crashing waves, but every time Louis swooped down upon me, ready and waiting to fill my body with the stale blood that would keep me his prisoner. At times, just before Louis arrived, I would feel rats scurrying over my body. I even felt their teeth sink into my flesh, their squeals of angered possession pounding my crazed mind.
Sometimes I thought I heard a baby cry, and sometimes I thought I heard Robert's voice. My spirits at these times rose high, for I believed in my hallucinated state that he had arrived to rescue me from Louis, my son with him, and we would live happily together forever. I would then see Louis' face floating above me, my dream would turn into a nightmare, my laughter into screams, and once again, I would fall into the dark abyss that was Louis' prison.
After a while, I awoke to the sound of horses’ hooves pounding against dry earth and the shuddering feeling of a rickety carriage. Complete darkness surrounded me, I tried to bang on the lid of the chest, even dreamed of escape, but I was still incapacitated, still barely able to move. Instead, I let my mind wander, I remembered the farm where I grew up, and my mother’s soft face offering me a tankard of sweet warm milk. In my confused state, I reached out to her, and although her fingers reached for me, we never quite joined hands. Bittersweet tears of sorrow engulfed me, and silent cries of grief, caused by my loss, echoed deep within my soul. .
My memories swamped me. Sometimes, I would find myself making love to Tom in a sweet meadow, his face so loving and beautiful, but then his features would be replaced by Robert’s, and excitement would send my body into a passionate frenzy. In the deepest throes of my lust, I would look up, and glimpse Tom hanging from a tree, his entrails ripped from his body, and I would pray, half crazed, for forgiveness, to a God that would no longer welcome me into His fold.
Cramps attacked my gut and I returned to the day I gave birth to Henry. I held my stomach, I felt the huge swelling of my pregnancy, and I cried with joy. I would be able to save my son; I would not give him to Robert. I laughed hysterically! Suddenly Matilda's face hovered above me, but she held something in her hand, as I looked closer I realised it was a knife, and I knew she was going to cut my son from me again. I started to plead with her in high-pitched screams, but her voice squealed much higher than mine as she yelled, "Ma petite...Ma petite!" Then her face changed, and the features in front of me changed into those of Louis, and the knife turned into a goblet of wine. I choke and cough in protest as the wine floods my throat and pours over my face, I smell the stench of stale blood, and then I feel my body once more descend into a floating numbness. Louis' fingers caress my face with soft strokes, his voice uttering loving words of endearment, and I am sinking into the depths of insanity. The approaching darkness becomes a blessed relief, and I sink gratefully into its arms, hoping to escape Louis and the torture of my mind.
My reality is now a perpetual nightmare, sometimes I see Louis' face, and at others, di
fferent faces from my past. They terrified me by their lust for revenge and their frenzied cries. I felt their hands claw at my face, their teeth ravage me in searing rage, and I prayed for help that I knew would never come. I wanted to escape the evil terror I was experiencing, but my mind held me prisoner, and deep down I knew I was encased, for all time, in the world of horror that Louis had created for me.
Before long I noticed that my circumstances had changed. I no longer swayed with the rocking of waves, or heard the pounding of horses’ hooves, and through my muddled mind, I started to realise that I had finally arrived at my destination.
"Ma petite...It is time for you to wake, mon amie."
Louis' voice penetrated my muddled thoughts, and although my eyelids were heavy, I managed to force them open so that I could survey my surroundings.
"Where...where am I?" I asked, my voice no more than a raspy whisper.
"We are home, mon amie...look around you, ma petite."
I raised my aching head with difficulty to look around the room. The first thing I noticed was that my arms and legs were bound to the four corners of a bed. I still could not feel my limbs, they were numb, and unless I had looked, I would not have known that I was shackled like an animal to the bed.
Vampire - Child of Destiny (Vampire Series Book 2) Page 4