She knocked, the sound echoing through her centre.
Minutes passed with no sound. She knocked again, louder. As the sun set, her minutes away from Sebastian whittled away. She knocked again and then the door pulled back away from her closed fist.
Her breath caught in her throat.
His lips parted slightly in a soundless gasp.
"Richard."
He stepped back. "Lisette." His breath escaped in a puff of air. "Lissy." His stunned expression turned to horror, as he gazed at the scar that ran from her ear down her neck. "My God. What—"
She clenched her jaw. "The last thing I need is your pity, Richard."
"Of course." He looked down at his feet. "I didn't—I never heard from you."
"Why would you? You were clear enough in the letter you sent me."
He swallowed hard. "Yes. The letter. Right. Still." Voices travelled towards them, coming from down the road. Richard thrust his head out in the direction of the voices. Clasping Lisette's arm, he dragged her through the door. "Come inside." He turned away from her and ran his fingers through his hair.
He was older, his thick chestnut hair now greying and thinner. A small paunch strained against the buttons of the silk vest he wore over the crisp white collared shirt. His eyes were tired, older, but somehow just the same. Lisette didn't know if that made all this better or worse.
He walked away from her, entering the next room. "Would you like a drink? I know I need one. There’s wine in-"
"Gin."
He stopped and gave her another mournful look. "Gin?"
Her lip curled into a smile. "Not the girl you remember, hm?"
"No," he sighed. "I don’t have—A scotch, perhaps?”
“That’ll do. Not picky, if I’m honest.”
“Scotch, it is." He poured the drinks silently and handed one glass off to her. "I suppose you didn't show up on my doorstep to get reacquainted."
She downed the drink. That old familiar burn. Her only friend for so many years. She wiped her mouth, her lace gloved scratching against her lips. "I came to warn you. There's a man. He's coming to hurt you."
"I—Me?" He rubbed the back of his neck, pinching his eyes closed. "How do you know this? And why me?"
"Because I sent him. I hated you. I still do."
His eyes connected with hers. A mixture of hurt and fear there. "What changed your mind, then?"
"The man, actually. His intentions are...not what he made them out to be." And if Sebastian couldn’t fulfill his end of the agreement, perhaps she needn’t keep her end.
He nodded. "When is he coming?"
She looked out the window. Night was coming. "Soon. Maybe already."
Richard swallowed hard. "I have a gun."
Lisette sniffed, setting the glass down on the mantel, just under a portrait. She looked up and gasped. It was Richard, standing behind who Lisette assumed was his wife. Christine. Three children sat around them, stern-faced and staring. It was the person to the left of Richard that caught Lisette's eye, though.
"Lissy—" Richard said, his voice tense.
Lisette covered her mouth, closing her hand over the glass she'd left on the mantel. "Her?"
Richard didn't answer.
"How?"
"Your father brought her to mine. We said—"
She stared up at the girl, her face so much like Lisette's. Her daughter. The baby torn from her arms. "Where is she?"
"She’s not here. She’s a grown woman now. She has her own house, her own family.”
That hit her in the gut. Her baby had a family? Tears stung her eyes. She’d missed it all. Not only had she lost her baby, but she’d lost the toddler, the child, and the woman. "Does she know anything about me? Anything at all?"
"No. I tried, I mean I wanted to, but I always lost my nerve."
Hot tears ran down her cheeks. Her daughter had been here the whole time. Just one more thing that was stolen from her that Richard was allowed to keep. Every muscle in her body shook, furiously.
“You married her, Christine, six-months after I was taken away.” She turned to look at him, catching the look of shame on his face.
“Yes.”
“So, it was a lie, then. Your letter?”
He raked his hand through his hair. “The letter...it was years ago. I hardly remember.”
“It’s more difficult to remember lies than the truth.”
“Yes, I suppose.” He sighed. “I’m sorry, Lisette. I...I fell in love. I hadn’t seen Christine since we were children and then, that Christmas her family—I suppose those details hardly matter now.”
“At Christmas?”
“Yes.”
“It was the following summer that I got pregnant.”
He couldn’t meet her eye. “Yes, I suppose so.”
“So you were never planning to marry me. I was...a diversion.”
“Please, don’t say that, Lissy.” He reached out for her. “I did love you, I did. I swear it.” He fell to his knees at her skirts. “I never wanted any of it to happen, not to you. I did love you. Just...I never wanted to hurt you. Please, I was young and foolish. Forgive me.”
She pulled away from him. His apology stung. Almost as much as the harsh words from the headmistress and her father. But they had been cruel people. Not like Richard. He hadn’t done what he’d done out of malice. Just selfishness.
“You did love me,” she whispered, backing away. She went to the liquor bottle, leaving him kneeling on the floor and poured herself another scotch.
“In a way,” he answered, getting to his feet.
“Not in the way that leads you to the alter, though, hmm? Bad luck for me. No, in the way that makes you lie, abandon them to a life of misery, and forget them entirely.”
“Lissy—”
“Don’t call me that.”
“Sorry. Lisette.” He drank the rest of his scotch, leaving the glass on the desk before standing and walking over to her. “I can’t imagine what you’ve endured, truly. I had hoped that after everything, you’d found a good life. I can see now that you didn’t and I’m sorry for my part in that.” He touched her hair. “We were just children, playing at being adults,” he said with a smile.
Her knees buckled and she sat on the green chair just behind her. “I was a child.”
He hadn’t heard her. “It’s not too late,” he continued. “For a good life. To meet your daughter. Our daughter. She’s beautiful and smart and head-strong. Like her mother.”
“You want me to meet her?” Her heart filled with a sudden, desperate need. Lisette thought of holding her again, of looking into her eyes. She felt like the need would break her in two.
“I’ve never called her that,” he went on. “My daughter. My father and stepmother took her in, called her their own. She was raised as my sister. Now that they’re both gone, I’m the only one that knows.”
“Not even your wife?”
“No, God, no. She couldn’t bear it. No one else can ever know. We’ll have to think of some relation to explain away the similarities between you and Rebecca. A cousin, perhaps. Distant.”
A lie. Lisette closed her eyes, tears burning. What was one more lie if it meant she could be close to her baby, her Rebecca? Another part to play, another life to live. I can do it, she tried to convince herself. Give up the booze, remember how to be proper again, be docile.
Tears trailed down her face.
She’d been so close. Freedom had been within reach. Free of the ghosts of her past, free from the chains that she’d carried all these years. But she was shrugging off one set for another.
“I can’t...” she sputtered through her tears. “I can’t go back to that.”
Richard was eye to eye with her. “Then you must leave. Leave and take that man, whoever he is, with you.”
She saw it then, the cold indifference. He didn’t care whether she stayed or went, whether she lived or died.
“Why?” she asked. “Why should I leave?”
> “I’ve already told you. Christine couldn’t bear it if she knew...if she even suspected. It would destroy her, destroy our home.”
“Why should that be my cross to bear? Haven’t I done enough already?”
“I’ll say,” he answered with a scoff. “None of us would even be here if it hadn’t been for you and—”
She narrowed her gaze, challenging him. “And what? Finish your sentence.”
“Nothing.” He turned away.
“My wantonness...was that what you wanted to say? Did I conceive Rebecca on my own, then? It’s a miracle. I’m Mother-fucking-Mary.”
He stood, towering over her. “Don’t speak like that in my house! I have tried to be patient, even sympathetic to you. How dare you! You knocked on my door, uninvited, tell me you’ve sent someone to murder me in cold blood, and...and—”
She rose to her feet, meeting his gaze. “I came here to save you. Which is more than you’ve ever done for me.”
His lip curled as he huffed through his nostrils. “It’s time you left.” He passed her walking towards the door.
“And if I don’t?”
He stopped. “What?”
She sneered at him. “What if I don’t want to walk away from my child, again? After everything I’ve been through, I don’t think—”
“Think?” He scoffed, taking a step towards her. “Lisette, I don’t wish to be cruel, but...no one cares what an old whore thinks.”
“Is that supposed to hurt?”
“Do you really think Rebecca would even want to know you?” he asked as he gestured at her sagging figure. “Do you want to hurt her? She thinks that her parents were wealthy, educated, decent people. What good is telling her that her mother is really a common prostitute?”
“Better than a father who is a coward.”
A few quick strides and he’d crossed the distance between them, his hands on her face. “Listen to me, Lisette. I did love you once. But that was a long time ago.” His face softened. “I have a family. A life. You wouldn’t want to destroy that. I know you wouldn’t. That’s not who you are.”
“You know nothing about me. I never had a family because you took it from me.”
His hands moved to her neck.
“Get your hands off of me,” Lisette said, trying to pull away.
He was too strong. He may be older and fatter, but there was still strength in his hands as they tightened around her neck.
“Richard—” she managed, just barely before his grip tightened even more and she couldn’t speak anymore.
His face was red with the strain.
Lisette tried to push him away, to hit him, but he was suddenly like a brick wall. Unmovable. Pressure built in her chest and behind her eyes. Her heart pounded, the blood rushing desperately in her ears.
“I’m sorry,” he whispered through clenched teeth. “You shouldn’t have come back.”
Her hands stopped trying to fight him and instead moved to lift her skirts, lifting them.
Richard noticed. “It’s a little late for that,” he said, before bending her back over the desk.
Her vision was starting to fade, her grip loosening. It was now or never. She raised her arm, bringing it down on him.
He cried out, stumbling back and releasing her. “What the hell have you done?” he cursed, reaching up for the knife that stuck out of his shoulder.
She fought to catch her breath, coughing and sputtering.
Richard pulled the knife from his shoulder and lunged at her. Lisette grabbed the closest thing to her, the letter opener on the desk.
They connected at the same moment. Lisette’s blade pierced Richard’s neck while his sank into her side. Pain seared through her midsection. She screamed as they fell.
Richard writhed on the old floor, his hand clutching at the wound, trying to staunch the flow of blood. But it was no use. He was bleeding so much. Neither the headmistress nor her father had died like this, with so much blood.
He reached for her, his eyes wide with fear and panic. She scuttled away, holding her own open wound. Eventually, the light in his eyes went out and they stared blankly at her. Still. Hollow.
“You bastard,” she spat. “It didn’t...I only wanted her.”
He just stared back at her. Not accusing. Just pathetic.
She crept towards him and drew his eyelids down, closing them for the last time. His face was splattered with blood. Her face was wet with tears she hadn’t realized she’d been shedding.
She looked at her fingertips, shaking and slick with blood.
Freedom.
Chapter Seven
WAS THIS FREEDOM?
A familiar voice came from behind her. "Is this why you left me? You wanted to do it yourself?"
"No." She had meant to warn him only. Stupid woman. She turned to see Sebastian emerging from the darkness. "You knew all along, didn't you?"
"I know everything."
"You watched me. You saw everything."
A pitying look. "Yes." He crossed the room, passing her, careful not to step in the blood that was pooling around. He sighed, picking up the glass that Richard had left and poured himself a drink. "Do you remember a fair you went to with Richard? You were only fifteen."
Lisette clenched her teeth, pushing herself away from Richard's lifeless body. She nodded.
"I saw you for the first time, that night. There was something about you, a spark, something that I wanted. I had to have you. You were so beautiful, but also so...so alive, so full of hope and promise.” He shook his head. “You could never be mine while that remained."
It was like a punch to her gut. A reminder of how far and fast she'd fallen.
"So, I waited, and I watched."
Whether it was from the blood loss or the betrayal, she didn’t know, but her knees were weak. She fell into a chair. "For me to break? To be broken?"
"Broken is such an ugly word. Let's say free." He knelt before her, taking her hand in his. His skin was cold and hard, his fingertips like icicles. “I knew you were ready when you finally sold your locket. You were casting aside the last bit from your old life. You were ready.” His face softened, his eyes almost kind. "I wanted you free from all your little earthly ties. I wanted all those thin, unimportant strings cut before you could be mine."
Her eyes met his, her voice cold. "You could have saved me from this life years ago."
Sebastian shook his head. "You wouldn't have accepted it then. But you're ready now."
Lisette shook off his hand, looking away from him. "I have a debt to pay, or have you forgotten? You kill those that hurt me, and I give my life to you." She looked down at her blood-soaked gown. “You haven’t got much time left, I’m afraid.”
"Oh, my dear Lisette, we have all the time in the world." He straightened, still kneeling on the floor so that he was the same height as her. Placing one hand on the arm of the chair, he slipped the other behind her neck. He practically surrounded her. His eyes hot and hungry.
She trembled despite her resolve. Her breath came in short, quick gasps. But she wasn't afraid. She was relieved. Finally, an end to all this.
Her death would be a sweet, cold comfort.
Sebastian pulled her closer. She felt his breath, cool and tingly on her skin. She closed her eyes, fearing the excitement coursing through her.
His lips parted on her neck, placing a kiss. Lisette's breath caught in her throat as she felt something sharp pierce her skin.
It was exquisite.
She clutched at the hand that was gripping the back of her neck. He moaned, his lips sucking.
"Oh God..." she cried, looking up at the ceiling.
Sebastian moaned again, flexing his grip momentarily before wrenching free, panting. Buckled over on the floor, his back to hers, he wiped his mouth.
With him gone, she felt suddenly weak. Her body slumped in the chair. "Sebastian," she murmured, barely finding the strength for that alone.
"Shh," he said, reeling around to hover
over her. He stroked her hair back. "Don't try to speak. Not now." He smiled down at her. His face was flushed, his lips glistened. "You have a choice to make, my love. I don't want to kill you; you must know that. It was never your death I desired." He lowered his voice to a whisper. "Only your life. An eternal life. With me."
She tried to turn away, but her head only rolled.
He righted it again, making her look at him. "Think about it. You will live forever, strong and young, like me. It's your second chance at a life. Don't you deserve it after all this? We'll be together forever. You'll never have anything to fear, or anyone to bow down to."
Be like him? Monstrous as he was, she couldn’t deny that he was also inhumanly powerful. What woman had known even a fraction of that power?
Lisette could. That was the choice he was giving her. A helpless death or a powerful life?
“Yes,” she muttered with the last of her strength.
Sebastian's lips curled up into a smile. Putting his wrist to his mouth, he bit into his own flesh. She noticed for the first time the long canine teeth he had and how they glimmered in the light. Blood bubbled up from the punctures in his wrist. He offered it to her, bringing it to her mouth.
She grimaced, trying to pull away, but he held her there, forcing the wound to her lips. As soon as the thick, metallic taste touched her tongue, a hunger unlike anything she'd ever known before took hold of her. She surrendered to it, her fingernails digging into his skin. She sucked greedily and blood dripped down from the corners of her mouth.
"That's enough, Lisette," he said, pulling gently.
She gripped tighter, pulling him closer, sucking harder.
"Enough!" With his free hand, he shoved her away, yanking his arm free of her. The look of concern on his face faded to satisfaction. "That's good," he said, staring down at his wrist. He tore a handkerchief from his pocket, wiping the blood away. "You're hungry, that's good."
Hungry? Had there ever been a word so small, so insignificant? She felt like she was dying, like she'd been starving her whole life, and he'd given her merely a crumb of what he had. "Please," she whispered, falling to the floor, clutching her stomach.
He shook his head, mournfully. "I'm sorry. I really can't help you now."
Oaths in Blood: A Gothic Novella Page 6