Fall From Grace (Slater #1)

by Sammy King

  As she reached the chapel, Laura could hear the sounds of people, a woman’s quiet moan. She crept in the door, she could see a shirtless man, opened wounds all over his back, he was kneeling on the ground and slender arms were caught around his neck. She could hear the moans coming from the woman that belonged to the arms as Laura crept closer she could make out the long red hair that cascaded down the woman’s back and Porter’s profile, his lips on hers, her lips on his, her chest pressed hard against his. Laura couldn’t hold the gasp that escaped her throat.

  As she did, she saw Alice look up into her face. Alice pressed herself harder against Porter as he continued his descent of kisses across her face, holding Alice tight. Laura shook her head, before turning on her heel and running from the chapel. She couldn’t believe what she was seeing, that what had hurt her so badly previously was happening a second time and this time both Porter and Alice knew about it and never stopped. She felt that familiar anger and hatred well up inside her. This time it was going to explode, she wasn’t going to hold it back as she had at the hospital she was no longer trying to gain her freedom. She had it.

  Laura ran as she remembered the gun that she hid. She hoped her father hadn’t discovered it while she was in the hospital. But she knew what she needed to do. She needed to end Porter. That would be her final release. He would be in hell, the same hell that she was living on earth, the same hell that he escaped having to live by coming from a well to do family, by running to the seminary, by pretending to be better than he really was, by pretending his demons didn’t rule his life.

  As she cleared the woods and saw her house standing silently in the middle, she rounded the corner and found the place the fox dug for her to bury her father’s gun and pellets. She fell to her knees and scrambled forward, clawing at the earth with her fingers as she dug in the damp earth, movement caught her eye. She looked up and saw the fox standing in front of her its head cocked to one side, its eyes narrowed and what almost appeared to be a smile. Silently it stepped forward and began to dig with her, slowly uncovering the gun held in its grave. She reached forward and took the gun in her hands, dusting the dirt from its barrel. The fox nodded and turned its body, scampering back into the woods.

  As Laura stood she loaded the gun with the pellets. Wrapping her mother’s long shawl around her shoulders and the gun, Laura headed back through the woods towards the chapel, her anger was still attempting to destroy her, it was boiling hot and her body vibrated with the energy it gave off. As she neared the chapel, the light was starting to fade and darkness was about to envelope the earth. People headed home for their dinners, shutting themselves in for the night, hiding from the chill that would soon be in the air. The birds began their evening song of sleep and the night critters were beginning to stir as their day begun. She could see the flicker of candles in the chapel as she quietly pushed the door open. Porter was still knelt in front of the altar, he had put his shirt on, and the blood was soaked through the cotton material. Laura looked around the room, but couldn’t see Alice. She shrugged slightly, not worried about her.

  Carefully Laura raised the gun and pressed onto the trigger. She felt the gun vibrate in her hands as the pellet released from the barrel. She closed her eyes as she heard the sharp crack that whipped through the air. When she opened them again, Porter had turned to Laura, falling down to his stomach, a twisted grimace covered his face as blood began to ooze over the stone floor, ebbing its way towards the foot of the cross. Laura smiled, before turning towards the doors.

  As she crossed the threshold she recognised the fox standing in the road waiting for her. She could hear shouts coming from the village and felt panic begin to rise in her chest.

  “Come now Laura, time to end the pain” the fox spoke as he ran towards the bridge.

  Laura stuffed the gun under her shawl and ran after the fox. When they got to the bridge, the fox stopped in the middle. Laura was breathing hard and could feel the need to vomit begin to stir in her stomach as the realisation that she had just taken the life of the only man she ever knew such love for. She held onto the wooden rail of the bridge, gasping hard trying to catch her breath.

  “Drop the gun into the river” the fox said.

  Laura looked down at the fox standing next to her as she took the gun from under her shawl and leant over the rail, feeling the heaviness of the steel in her hands. Slowly Laura climbed up the rail, her feet seeming to lead the way with a mind of their own. She stood on the top rail, holding the gun by her side.

  “Take away the pain now Laura” the fox spoke gently; she turned to face it.

  The fox had grown and taken on a human shape, the shape of Porter. He smiled at her, reaching out a strong hand to her lower back. Laura’s eyes widened as she felt the hand push her, Laura lost her balance and felt herself fall forward, the gun dropped from her hand, falling into the river, hitting the rocks hard, letting off another pellet from its barrel.

  “Be at peace my love” the fox called as she began to fall.

  Laura turned her head to see that the foxes face had changed to that of her father. She closed her eyes as sharp pain thudded through her skull; the wetness of the cold river filled her skin and ebbed its way into her bones. Laura looked up and saw her mother standing above her. A soft smile on her lips, Gwendoline’s hand outstretched for Laura to take, in her other arm was a small chubby baby.

  “Come now child, he needs to feed” Gwendoline spoke.

  Laura stood and reached out for the small naked baby, his head full of dark hair and his black eyes looking up into Laura’s green ones. She lowered her bodice, latching him onto her breast to suckle. Laura leant forward and peppered his face with small kisses, her hair tickled at his ears. She reached up and touched her hair, soft and beautiful, long again. Laura smiled up at her mother, who walked towards a small cottage. Laura recognised the cottage instantly, it was their home. She was home with her mother and her baby. She finally understood what peace was, she understood what freedom was. It was that moment.

  Chapter Twenty Six

  Alice.

  Alice hadn’t been able to sit in her cottage, the silence was deafening. She left to go back to the chapel to speak with Porter, to finish him completely; she tucked the blade she used to cut Laura’s hair into the top of her stockings. Alice just arrived at the chapel when she heard the sharp crack of the gun. It stopped Alice in her tracks, she could see the chapel from where she stood and watched as a shawled woman scuttled through the door. Alice saw the glint of the steel barrel as the woman tucked it under the shawl and the fox that stood in the road, seemingly waiting for her.

  Alice started to run towards the chapel as she heard the shouts of the town people responding to the gun shot. When she arrived at the doorway of the chapel she could see men standing around with their own guns and through their legs she could make out Porter’s body, lifeless on the stone floor, his blood seeping along and soaking into the foot of the wooden cross, his dark eyes lightening into an opaque blue like she had never seen before. Alice felt a shudder take over her whole body and looked up towards the bridge where she saw the shawled woman run. It was apparent to Alice that none of the men saw the woman otherwise she was certain they would have followed her.

  Alice started towards the bridge, but halted when she rounded the corner and saw Laura, her shawl lost, standing on the top rail, the gun outstretched in one arm. A man standing behind her, with his hand firmly on Laura’s lower back, her eyes were wide in what seemed like fear. Alice tried to call out to Laura, but her voice was gone. The man turned and in an instant, Alice could have sworn that she was looking into the face of Porter. The man’s eyes connected with Alice and a smile filled his face, an ugly and horrifying smile. As Alice watched him give Laura a shove, she wobbled and Porter’s face transformed again. This time Alice found herself staring into the face of Stefan. The man that haunted her for so many years, the man that she fought for years to forget, the man that she couldn’t seem to escape an
d the man that one day she would have her revenge on.

  Alice felt the scream escape her lips as she ran towards Laura. Just as she reached the railing, the gun sent out another crack when it hit the rocks below, followed by the loud thud of Laura’s head, Alice screamed again, turning to Stefan. He disappeared and standing beside her, with its head cocked to one side was the same fox that was standing in the road at the chapel. It looked up at Alice and seemed to sneer as she heard the shout of men from the town.

  Alice looked back over her shoulder to see a group of men running towards the bridge. She wanted to run she wanted to escape their angry voices. But her feet wouldn’t move she seemed to be stuck in place. Alice looked down at the fox beside her and it cocked its head again.

  “It’s Laura” a young handsome man spoke quietly as he looked over the bridge rail and into the water, where Laura’s lifeless body laid.

  Alice recognised the man as Cole, Porter’s brother, long ago her best friend. He reached forward and grabbed hold of Alice’s shoulders. She heard the fox growl deep in its throat, before she saw the flash of orange launch itself at Cole’s throat. She could hear her own screams as the men forcibly threw her to the ground, her head hitting the edge of the bridge hard and darkness filling her brain. The screams and roars of the fox and men became a distant sound as darkness washed over her.

  As quickly as the darkness came, she was blinded with a light so bright that she had to shield her eyes with her hand, in the distance she could make out a shadow. Alice squinted as the shadows came closer. Her heart sped up as she saw two women, one with a baby connected to her breast, both blonde with green eyes of emerald.

  “Alice, it’s time for you to be at peace” the older woman spoke. “It’s time to leave my daughter alone to her peace, now go”

  The woman reached forward and touched Alice on the head as she felt herself being sucked back into darkness. She hit the ground with a thud. When Alice opened her eyes, she saw that she was in a white room, it was dim, with no windows, the stench was overpowering of human excrement. It seemed so familiar to Alice.

  “Help me” Alice called out.

  She heard the rattle of keys and the big heavy door opened, letting a slither of light in to the room. Alice looked around and saw that the white paint was peeling from the walls; one corner was stained with what seemed to be blood and faeces. A small wiry man poked his head around the corner, his round glasses pushed high on his nose. Alice recognised him instantly as Stefan the psychiatrist of the asylum and her tormentor. Alice began to shake her head and backed herself up into the corner of the stinking room. She couldn’t be here she couldn’t be a prisoner in this place.

  “Hello Alice” Stefan spoke gently, his smile appearing sinister. “I am here to take your pain away”

  Sneering at Alice, he came forward undoing his pants as he closed the heavy door, his eyes red like that of the devil. Alice closed her eyes tight, trying to block out the memories of her childhood, the memories of the men in the orphanage, of Stefan taking advantage of her, breaking her spirit, breaking her wings, using her body and then taking her babies away. A sob escaped Alice’s lips.

  “There, there, you used to love me Alice, remember?” Stefan spoke in a barely audible whisper into her ear.

  The darkness threatened to take Alice as tears flowed down her cheeks. Her last thoughts were of Laura, the beautiful angel she tried to save from the evilness of Stefan and that place. This time she wouldn’t be the victim. This time revenge would be hers. Alice carefully reached to the top of her stockings, using small movements so as not to alert Stefan. She felt her fingers clasp onto the cold metal blade. Alice opened her eyes and looked into Stefan’s face. His eyes danced the red evil dance of the devil, she smiled at him and watched his eyes widen as the blade swiftly sliced across his throat. Blood oozed like a waterfall from the gaping hole in Stefan’s neck. He quickly stood and stumbled back his once hard cock now flaccid and comically swinging out of his pants as he fell hard onto the ground. He made gurgling sounds while his shirt soaked up the blood dripping from the wound. Alice stood, her legs shaking slightly as she stepped towards Stefan’s dying body.

  “I never loved you, you repulsive cunt” she spat into Stefan’s ear before stepping over his body through the heavy door and leaving the asylum. As she opened the same back doors that she had led Laura through, she saw Cole, his horse saddled and a crooked smile on his face.

  “All ready?” he spoke quietly as he helped hoist her up onto the back of his horse.

  Alice wrapped her arms around his waist, feeling his muscles tense under her touch. She pressed her face into his hard back, taking in the scent of forest on his skin as he guided the horse onto the road and away from the village that had become hell for her and away into lands of freedom.

  Alice and Gwendoline’s story.

  Alice and Gwendoline both have quite the story that is begging to be told.

  Alice grew up in the orphanage, she never knew her parents, the story she was told by the nun’s was that she was left on the doorstep as a baby. Cole and his father Richard would come to the orphanage and her friendship with Cole grew. However that changed when Stefan became a doctor there, she always thought doctors were supposed to protect people but he was anything but protective. Every night after she turned fourteen, he would sneak into her room and abuse her body. Cole saw him raping her, but he never stopped Stefan, he never told his father, he just left Alice and never came back. Finally when Alice turned eighteen she was able to leave and escape that place. What she didn’t realise was that she would end up working in the exact asylum that Stefan was the psychiatrist. Alice didn’t know whether to be happy that his attention was on other women or to feel protective of them. When Alice came back to the town Cole had seen her, he used his charms to seduce her. He hated Stefan for stealing Alice’s innocence and he hated his father’s part in the scheme. So when Alice took the opportunity to take Stefan’s life, it was his chance to take the woman he loved and leave the town that was his hell.

  Gwendoline was a peasant girl, her father a hardworking farmer who died when she was young leaving her mother and sister to make ends meet. With her beautiful blonde hair and green eyes as dark as emeralds, Gwendoline never struggled to find boys that would like to court her. It was James Slater’s eye that she caught, but his father Isaac would never let them be together. He was after all a Slater. James was prepared to leave his wealth, he was prepared to leave it all for Gwendoline, to give up status, wealth and standing. But Isaac would never allow such nonsense. When Isaac came to Gwendoline and made her an offer that would allow her family to live comfortably for the rest of her life, it was an offer she couldn’t refuse. James became mad with jealousy when he realised that Gwendoline never left the town like he had been told, but married Thomas, his cousin and had his child, a daughter who had her eyes and hair. James wanted to hurt Gwendoline as she hurt him. The only way to do it was to take her daughter Laura and have her live as a Slater.

  These will be the next two stories in the Porter story.

  Don’t forget if you enjoyed “Fall from Grace” or any of my stories, please be sure to review. Oh hell even if you thought it was the most terrible story you ever read, please leave a review. I won’t know what you all think without your comments and ratings!