The Devil's Masquerade: The Remedy

by Jennifer Loren

  The moment I arrive at my special entrance, the butterflies start flying, and I have to take several deep breaths as I am escorted to a special place within the estate, where I am told to wait for my escorts. Fagan comes in and tries to sit with me and talk to me about how good this will be for “our family” as he says. He says that I should be proud to take on such an important responsibility. He is one spineless fuck, but I will give him some credit, he does seem to feel guilty about his choice to betray his own daughter. Nick would never do this to his daughter. Of course Nick would kill anyone who breathed near his daughter without his permission. There is a noticeable difference between the two men. After much pacing and sighing, Fagan leaves me to attend the party himself. I begin to pace as I wait for my escorts when Ria steps in.

  “Hello, dear sister, I just came in to say how happy I am for you,” she says, dripping with sarcasm. “I don’t know how you are expected to please Nick when you have no idea what you are doing. That is fine though. He can have kids with you, and he can play with me. We will see whose child comes out on top and which woman ends up becoming the woman at his side.” I want to say something to the bitch, but I know I can’t. She wouldn’t hesitate to give me away, and with guards right outside, she wouldn’t have to go far to spoil our plans. I bet Savage would have a fit if he knew he had men actually protecting me. I laugh before I realize the heinous whore is still talking to me. “So, enjoy his luscious cock while you can because it will soon be mine, I promise you,” she says with a sinister grin. “I will say, you are better than that awful whore he is married to. I wonder what their son will look like when he grows up. I hear he is even stronger than his father. Maybe I will just wait until his hormones start going crazy and lure him to me. Or, maybe, we could make a deal. You know your children will never stand a chance against that child, but maybe if you help me get Marius moved up the ladder, I can help you cause that child to take a terrible fall into a large fire pit.” She laughs, “We can even pretend to cry for him as he screams out for help.” I can take it no longer.

  “Well, this Bitch is going to have to die now.” I mumble to myself. I jump up, and eye her dead on. Her eyes grow wide and her jaw drops to the floor while I simply smile. Before she can scream out, I take hold of her throat and pinch just right so she can’t make a sound. She attempts to shake free of me before I shove my forearm against her and shove her into the wall. “You really talk too damn much. Do you know how annoying you are? I might have let you go if you hadn’t of continued to be such a detestable cockroach.” She begins to become desperate, grabbing and scratching at my hands as she tries get away and scream. “I hope you didn’t have anywhere you had to be, ever again. I’m sorry but I can’t have you giving me away … no, wait, I am really not sorry at all actually.” I whip her forward before ramming my forearm against her head, killing her instantly. “Wow. I didn’t realize how much I would enjoy that.” I cover her with a blanket and kick her body into the bathroom, making sure to lock the door after. A touch of makeup and a quick fix to my hair and I am good to go.

  It seems like forever before my escorts come get me, but once they do, I step forward with pleasure. The enormous ballroom is full of people and currently has entertainment performing for Savage and Nick, while Galena sits off to the side, practically ignored by everyone. Once the entertainment is over, Fagan steps forward and introduces his daughter to Nick, and at once, the path for me clears straight to him. Breathe Kayla. The spotlights are bright, but I have been on stage before, and just like then, music plays now. I use it to my advantage. There is one thing I know for sure, and that’s how to sway my way into his focus. Stepping out with one long leg at a time, I let my shoulders fall back, my head sit high, and my full breasts rise proudly in front of me with no fear, all while my family’s symbol sits against my chest, its eyes glow a bright blue. If Savage wasn’t so self-centered, he might have noticed the owl symbol of his long ago enemy. Stepping to my mark, with a twist of my body and a whip of my dress, I break through the high slit of my gown with a powerful stance. The people around me all begin to whisper in awe, so I wait until they finish before proceeding to graciously bow my head to Nick, Savage, and Galena. Nick, already standing in front of me by the time I reach the end of my celebratory journey, eyes me down before stepping forward and readying himself for our first dance of the night. Once he is close to me, I realize he already knows it’s me.

  Nick holds out his hand to me. “May I?” he asks. I nod, taking his hand and placing my other on his shoulder. He moves with a gentleman’s touch, but his breath on my neck makes me ache for him to touch me even more. I push myself closer to him, feeling down his chest, letting my hand glide over his muscles with a soft exhale. You can do this, Kayla. Nick’s sudden trembling hand makes me curious, so I look up and right into his eyes.

  “What are you doing here? Are you trying to get yourself killed?” he asks, continuing to smile and pretend for the crowd.

  “I love you,” I whisper.

  “Kayla, you shouldn’t be here. He will torture you, and then he will kill you,” Nick says.

  “If you want to let me die rather than him, so be it.”

  “Damn it Kayla, what are you trying to do to me?”

  “Trying to get you to remember who you are.” I begin speaking of our times together, all the memories I can recall. Nick shakes his head, stops moving with me, and begins begging me to stop as he tries to ignore me. “You can remember, Nick. I know you can. That’s all you have to do is remember who you are and who your family really is.”

  “What is wrong, Ma Joie?”

  Nick shakes his head and focuses back on me. “Kayla run,” he barks at me.

  “No, I am going to force you to choose, Nick.”

  “What are you doing, Nicholas? Is she not what you want?” Nick quickly grabs his head and seems to be in pain.

  “What’s wrong Nick?” I ask him quietly while trying to comfort him as much as I can.

  “Fagan, do something about your daughter. She is obviously doing something horribly disgusting.” Fagan moves closer and whispers for me to step away from Nick.

  I take Nick’s face into my hands. “Do you remember me?” He shakes his head. “Sure, you do. I’m your wife. We have two boys together, who love you very much. I love you.” He shakes his head even more within my hands. “Remember, Nick? Please remember. Your grandfather has poisoned you to try and stop you from remembering us. He wants to kill your family, Nick. We need you to protect us. We need you, Nick.”

  Savage steams his impatience in my direction. “Catriona! You stop that now! Catriona, leave here or I will force you out!” He yells at me while I take another deep breath.

  “Stop yelling at me!” I yell back. “And by the way, I am not Catriona,” I say while Nick’s hands grip me tighter, seeming to not want me to leave him, allowing me to let go of my fear. I rip my mask and my red wig off before reaching up behind his neck and pulling his lips down to mine, swaying whatever magic I can into his body with every motion of my lips to his. I release his lips and stare back up into his eyes. “Come back to me Nick. I. Love. You.”

  “No! Kill her!” Savage yells, causing instant chaos to surround me. With my mask now removed, Savage’s guards take hold of me and try to jerk me away from Nick.

  At the same time, Ryan screams, “Kayla!” alerting everyone to fight. The guards release me, trying to fight off the attack while I latch on to Nick and try to protect him from my own allies. But Amery is deadlocked on Nick and flies forward to get to him, causing Savage to take notice and go after Amery. Nick jerks away from me as soon as he spots Ryan. Ryan can’t take on Nick, and Amery is certainly no contest for Savage, even with the others having some success against Savage’s men. It is all for naught when Catriona is forced to face off with her own father. There are too many of them, and not enough of us.

  “Nick help us, please?” I plead with him as he stares at the commotion in disbelief and continues to keep Rya
n from getting to me. “He’s your brother Nick, he won’t hurt you.” I take hold of him in desperation, Nick! Please! Remember us please!” He jerks away from me and cringes as he falls to the floor screaming in agony. Ryan rushes to his brother instantly and we try, to help him, but we are quickly taken over by guards. Nick is escorted away from us and looked after by Ro.

  Once Savage locks down the room, we are done, our battle is over. There is some comfort knowing our backup still remains on the outskirts of the ballroom and that I still have one card left to play.

  Savage regains control of the room, “Traitors! All of them have clearly breached our security and with help. These are traitors who have badly influenced Nick’s wife-to-be. How anyone could support their efforts is nothing short of betrayal.” The ballroom is speechless. “We will deal with these conspirators privately and will soon return to the event. Please don’t let this ruin your night my magnificent guests. Drink! Eat! And dance! There is no reason to call an end to this festive night, I promise you.” Savage quickly ushers us out of the room and through a passage to what Savage refers to as the “training room,” the room in which he trains his assassins, his sons, daughter, and most recently, his grandson, Nicholas. The room is massive and filled with weapons to torture us with, not to mention the enormous amount of men that come in to back Savage against us. He shuts the doors behind us so no guest can bear witness to the murders that are about to happen. He has us all, or what he thinks is all of us: Ryan, Elijah, Catriona, Amery and me. We are all pushed down onto our knees in front of him. Galena comes into the room, looking over us with tension in her eyes, but she brings Nick in with her, and following soon after is Rabbie and Ro, both of whom stick to the back of the room with fear in their eyes. When a man pushes his knee in my back and I cry out, Ro darts ahead but seems unsure of what to do and steps back to Nick’s side, eyeing him silently.

  “Nicholas, there is no need for you to be bothered with this. Go back to the party and entertain our guests until I can return,” Savage says to him.

  “No, I want to be here,” Nick says.

  Savage looks over at Ryan and Amery and beams suddenly. “Fine, let me take care of her first, and I will let you take care of them for me,” Savage says happily.

  What I thought would work clearly is going to cost us all of our lives, unless I confess my secret weapon. I stand quickly in front of Savage. “Let them go. They were only acting against you for me. If you let them go, I will gladly sacrifice myself,” I say with a boldness.

  “Kayla are you crazy!?” Ryan yells at me.

  Savage’s red eyes swirl this way and that, as if they are trying to confuse me somehow. He looks me over with a confident smile, but I stand strong and without fear. “Why would I let them go when I already have you? I can kill all of you without wasting my time bargaining with you.”

  I glace down before looking back up at him with a bright smile. “Well, because you can’t kill me without my permission,” I say, causing him to laugh ferociously.

  “And why is it that I need your permission to do anything? You have nothing to bargain with, or have you not noticed your ridiculously small army of people are completely disabled. I think you are delusional, my Dear. You have no one here to help you, and you certainly cannot take me on by yourself,” he says, enjoying this moment.

  I cock my head innocently. “Who said I was by myself?” I ask as his smile disappears. I lay my hand on my stomach and look down. “I do believe I have at least one more to help me.”

  “No!” he screams, cringing in the most awful way. “Whose child is that?” I can’t believe you would cheat on your husband,” he says, alerting Nick.

  “I didn’t cheat on him. I would never cheat on Nick,” I say, calmly causing the whole room to gasp.

  “This can’t be Nicholas’s child?”

  “Oh, but it is. Nick has been seeing me these last couple of months, and we weren’t just talking.” Savage looks to a man at his side who steps forward and looks me over to verify if I am telling the truth. “Yes, I am pregnant with Nick’s child.” With that confession, the man steps back and nods quickly to Savage before moving out of the way of his fury. Savage breathes his fiery anger upon anyone and everyone near him, killing several innocent guards in the process. “Someone is feeling a little powerless today,” I say with a smirk and a glance towards Nick, whose eyes remain focused on me.

  I can’t see Ryan’s face, but when Savage looks down at my side, he growls, “I will kill you first, you illegitimate bastard!” He begins to pace, obviously thinking, “Galena, kill her.” Galena looks up at him in shock.

  “I can’t, you know that!” she yells at him.

  “Do it for the good of the family?” he asks with a soft tone. “Do it for me, and make me proud.” My confidence is suddenly shaken except Galena steps back, shaking her head. “What do you mean, no? You do it or I will disown you for good.”

  “Fine, I am disowned. I would prefer it, rather than kill mercilessly for you and live in this wretched hell for my eternity. Disowned? By you? I couldn’t feel better about my life,” she says, stepping back into the shadows of the big hall and away from everyone.

  Savage begins to search the room to try and find someone to do his dirty work and sacrifice their eternity if anyone finds out. I begin to feel confident until one steps forward with a smile. “I will be honored to do this for you, sir.” Nick and the man exchange curious glances between each other as the man steps forward and looks down at me with a gratifying expression.

  “Ward, you are the son I wish I had. My proud warrior, you will be immortalized for this, my son,” Savage says happily. “Now, do what you must with her. Nicholas and I will handle the rest.” I gaze over at Nick and notice him staring hard at me, seeming to tense more with every passing second.

  Ward chooses a blade to tear open my heart with and begins to tease me with it, slitting my dress here and there, trying to humiliate me. “I remember him talking about you, and I wondered how incredible it would be to wrap my hands around your sweet neck,” Ward says, grabbing my neck and pressing his face against my breasts as he begins to cut the ties holding my dress together. I gaze over at Nick and notice him taking a slight move towards us. Ward knocks me to the ground, causing Ryan and Elijah to jump forward with threats as Amery holds Catriona back from stepping in front of me.

  “You sick fuck! I will find a way to kill you. I will find a way!” Ryan screams, fighting with everything he has to get to me and breaking through. Ryan and his ferocious anger head straight for Savage with no concern for his own life. Savage holds him off easily and puts him on his back and readies himself for the kill. Before he delivers a final blow, he changes his stance, “Not yet, I will let Nicholas enjoy your death.” He says with a bright smile but in the process he misses Nick stepping to his side.

  “You’re the evil King,” Nick says suddenly, looking Savage over.

  “What?” Savage asks him as we all stop and stare, but Nick turns and looks down at me.

  “You’re the evil King, and I am the Prince,” Nick says with a tear in his eye.

  “Sure, Ma Joie, whatever you want. Ward kill her, and do it mercilessly.” Ward nods as he begins to perform in dramatic fashion, seeming to generate as much strength as possible before plunging the knife into my heart.

  I look to Nick as he mumbles something, but I can’t make it out until he lifts his head high, “You’re the Princess that needs rescuing, like in your story, and I’m your Prince.” My eyes grow wide as he drops his jacket to the floor and moves forward with nostrils flaring and eyes swirling. “And I will always be there to save you, Princess.” He remembers, he remembers. My fantasy dream, he remembers …me. I close my eyes with a smile as Ward raises his blade, but when a breeze flies in front of me, I am forced to open my eyes. Nick slides in front of me on his knees, taking Ward’s legs out from under him and sending his blade flying into the air and back down into Nick’s hands. Nick takes hold of the blade
and forces Ward to the ground on his back, and with a powerful plunge, he sends the blade deep into Ward’s chest before pulling it back and slicing his neck, nearly taking his head clean off his body. Nick stands with the dripping blade still in his hands. Stepping forward, Nick takes a fighting stance in front of me against his grandfather. “If you want to kill my wife, you will have to kill me first,” Nick says, and with a simple twist of his hand, he sends the blade spinning across the throats of the guards holding our allies down. Savage quickly changes his position and takes a stance against Nick. Savage’s army begins to rush in on us as Nick and Savage go toe to toe. All I can do is fight my way through to protect Nick’s back while he fights Savage. Nick keeps his steps with Savage in sequence, always making sure to stay in between me and him. Galena calls out my name and tosses me a weapon before stepping back and giving no more assistance to anyone. Nick’s newly acquired skills are masterful, thanks to his grandfather, but Savage won’t give in easily. Despite his age, Savage is as nimble, and is at least as strong, as Nick. However, Savage’s powerful stare has little effect on Nick’s heart this time. “Thanks to my father, I prepared for you well,” Nick says with a beaming smile. I watch carefully, trying to find a point in which I may help give him an advantage, but their actions are so quick and so precise it makes me dizzy to try and follow them. I turn to check on the others and find Ryan is easily handling himself against every attack. Catriona and Elijah are backed up against each other, making sure no one can get to the other. And Amery, Amery is snapping every man’s neck that comes at him. He does nothing more than wait for them while eyeing Galena. He wants her, and from the expression on her face, she knows it. She stares him down but stays planted and uninvolved. Amery, for now, seems to allow her to stay that way. A game of chicken perhaps? The first one to move, the first one to blink … loses their life. Meanwhile, Nick pushes back on Savage, knocking him on his back. Nick acts quickly to grab his throat, but Savage jumps up again and spins out of reach. A twist of his cane and Savage knocks Nick off his feet. On the ground, Nick twists from one direction to the next while Savage throws blow after blow his way with his destructive dragon cane. I find a practice sword from the wall and toss it through the air. Round and round it goes with a whistling wind, crashing into Savage’s chest and flipping back into his jaw, knocking him back and giving Nick an opportunity to regain his footing. The angry, red, swirling eyes turn to me and singe my skin but do not penetrate, as hard as he may try. He calls for some guards and aims them in my direction, cutting off Nick’s access to me and me to him, while Savage refocuses on Nick. The two men draw guns on me, and I hear Nick scream for me, causing my attackers to look up at him. He forces a death wish on them before they can reach their triggers. More guards come at me, and I do my best to fight them off. The numbers are gaining, and Nick is growing more tired by the minute, trying to fight for me and for himself. I look for any help I can, but everyone is growing tired with their own battles. Savage’s army of guards never seems to run thin, and our few are quickly becoming a number that can easily be killed. Think Kayla! Think! I take a step back, grabbing a dead man’s gun and fire it, killing the man in front of me, and then, I scream. I scream as loud and as piercing as I can. The stunning noise causes the room to stop, even Savage loses his focus, allowing Nick to jump feet first into his chest and send him flying backwards into a screaming gasp. Nick comes to me, takes my hand, and stands his ground in front of me again, forcing the guards to think twice about coming after me. Savage jumps to his feet and glances towards Ryan and smiles.