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I woke up sputtering and gasping in Dr. Richards’ house. Through the dim glow of the sun from behind the curtains I could see Katherine, Dr. Richards and my father in the small room. They looked at me and cried out in joy, Katherine practically in tears. A warm hand wrapped around mine, and my father smiled at me.
“Good morning, petal.”
“Hello…”
The door flew open and Kendell appeared, sighing in relief when he saw me. “I heard that you had to be taken down here. Are you alright?” He kneeled next to my bed and smoothed my hair, smiling. It was so comforting that I was about to fall asleep again. There was truly nothing that relaxed me more than knowing he was beside me. I mumbled a response and closed my eyes, but when I did the image of Kendell covered in blood flashed in my mind. I jerked and reached for Kendell’s hand, crushing it.
“Annabelle, what’s wrong?” The alarm in his voice made me want to cry.
“You died…”
“What?”
“I-I had a dream…” With a shaky breath, I told him about the dream I had. Everything about it was so vivid, so real. More than once I had to blink back tears, the horrific scenes flashing back and forth in front of my eyes. I described the man and his awful eyes. When I was done with my story, Kendell squeezed my hand and kissed my forehead.
“It was just a nightmare, Annabelle. I’m not leaving you anytime in the future.”
“But-but that man! I had another dream, I was watching myself be taken in here and across the street was another carriage… The man, I saw him too! The long black hair, the long coat, and the brownish red eyes! It didn’t seem like just a dream that time, Kendell…”
I felt him stiffen and chuckle, “My dear, you’ll worry yourself to death. Just relax.”
“Yes, Miss Drevensek, Mr. Inkcrest is right. You’ve already come down with a slight fever. I suggest you stay in bed for the next few days and don’t do anything strenuous.”
“Thank you, Dr. Richards. How much money would you like for helping my daughter outside your hours?” My father smiled.
“Oh, I assure you Lord Drevensek, it was no trouble. You don’t owe a dime. Now get this beautiful young lady back to her bedroom and keep her there!”
I was transported back to the carriage, resting in Kendell’s lap the entire way back home. Katherine, Kendell and my father were discussing how I was to be cared for over the next week. I sighed. Being bedridden was like being in prison, I couldn’t do much of anything. It was times like these when I was the most thankful for being able to write my stories. Kendell kept running his thumb over my cheek, staring into my eyes as he always did. The way his eyes searched mine made it feel like he knew everything about me. When we reached the manor, he carried me back into my room and gently placed me on the bed as if I were made of glass. I looked at myself and blushed- I was still in just my nightdress! Nichole had told me that no man except my husband should ever see me in my nightdress.
Kendell chuckled, “You’re embarrassed now that I’ve seen you in your nightdress, but not when I walked in on you changing?”
“Well, I already had underclothes on so it wouldn’t have mattered, but this is different!”
“How?”
“Uh-um…” I searched for a reason, any reason, “Because… You shouldn’t see me wearing clothing for bed! Especially with the proposal you made earlier…” I referenced his suggestion to “fool around”. What a pig. A scoundrel, that’s what he is.
“If you were feeling better, that would change this entire situation, sweetheart. Trust me.” Kendell smirked, causing my face to heat up again.
“You wouldn’t dare do anything.”
“Yes, you’re right...” He sighed pulled up the chair from my writing desk and sat down beside me.
“You don’t have to watch me, Kendell.”
“Actually, I do. Your father told me to stay with you at all times to keep you company.”
“I’m not sure how much I believe that story…” I was filled with happiness at the idea that my father would allow Kendell to stay with me anyway.
“But it’s true! You can ask Katherine the next time she stops by the room.”
I rolled my eyes and smiled at him, “Never mind. You don’t have to sit on that chair, you know. It gets very uncomfortable after a while,” I moved aside in bed and patted the space next to me. “Lie here with me.”
A look of surprise flashed across his face before Kendell slowly got up and put the chair back, then climbed into bed beside me. He pulled me to him and I leaned my head on his shoulder, sighing. I didn’t even feel slightly ill, what was the doctor talking about?
“Sad already? I don’t think you’re going to survive a few days in bed, Annabelle,” Kendell chuckled, playing with my hair. I curled into him and sighed again,
“I know. That’s why you’re going to help me get through it.”
And he did. We laid in bed all day, recalling some of our favorite memories of each other. Some things that I had almost forgotten, he remembered as if they happened last week. The first time I had done something bad was when Kendell had convinced me to take a piece of candy from the market. We had felt so stealthy afterwards, and no one ever found out. I brought up the first time Kendell liked a girl, a blonde haired blue eyed girl named Dorothy. They were both only eight, and it was adorable. I learned the signs that Kendell gave off when he liked someone, such as stuttering and blushing. He knew that I figured out his body language and tried to hide it, resulting in him being arrogant or rather stoic around me. This memory caused him to remember the first time I liked someone as well at six years old, a black haired, brown eyed boy named William. I still see him now, and he’s far from a gentleman.
“Oh my goodness,” I laughed out loud as I thought of another memory of Kendell, “I remember the day you told me you had lost your virginity. You looked so proud of yourself.” Kendell was only thirteen when he had lost his virginity. Everyone immediately thought of him as the Devil incarnate, but I didn’t care.
“Ah, yes. She was wonderful,” a proud grin stretched across his face. I pretended to vomit and he laughed, “You brought it up, Annie.”
“Don’t call me Annie, you pig,” I laughed with him. Ever since he had lost his virginity to a young harlot, he became one himself. I’d have thought he would have caught a disease by now from all the girls he’s slept with, but he hasn’t. Odd… The only girls he refuses to even look at are Larissa and her minions, even though they throw themselves at him the most. It’s quite entertaining to watch.
“Sweetheart, you’d change your mind about me being a pig if I slept with you,” his devilish smirk appeared and my face burned with embarrassment. I slapped his chest, feeling his body that was toned from working in the iron shop. It made me blush even more. A deep chuckle escaped his lips as his eyes flashed with amusement. I opened my mouth to say something, but realized there was nothing to say. Instead, I moved to the other side of the bed and turned my back to him, huffing loudly. Of course I wasn’t actually mad at him. How could I be? My “fever” was completely forgotten when he curled an arm around me and pulled me to him, chuckling again. I could feel his breath on my neck and shivered, causing him to pull me tighter to him and run his other hand down my leg. I’m sure if anyone walked in right now they would have a heart attack. Especially my father.
“Kendell, I’d suggest you keep your hands to yourself.”
“Why?” I could hear the smirk in his voice as he traced patterns on my thigh.
“What if someone walked in? You’d be banished from the manor forever.”
“I’m sure you could persuade them to let me back here,” he squeezed my thigh and I gasped, swatting his hand away. He kept laughing as I turned to face him again and glared. I don’t know why I’m friends with him sometimes, he’s such a sly dog. Kendell kissed the top of my head and started tracing patterns on my arm.
“Kendell… Why have you been acting this way lately?”
“…What way?” He kept tracing patterns on my arm.
“So… Infatuated?” I smirked at him.
Kendell blushed a bright red and stuttered, “W-what? I-I-I don’t know what you’re t-talking about…”
My smirk turned into a grin, “I think you do!”
“I think that fever is interfering with your t-thought process…”
“Yes, my fever is giving me hallucinations. After all, you never blush, Kendell.”
I giggled when he tried to hide his blush and coughed, “Yes, exactly.”
The fever I supposedly had didn’t affect me at all. I felt wonderful, better than ever. I freed myself from his grasp and got out of bed, stretching. The curtains were closed, leaving us in a rather dim room.
“Hey, you shouldn’t be up, Annabelle.”
I ignored him and tore the curtains open, squinting as the bright morning sunlight flooded the room. Hearing Kendell gasp, I turned around to see him staring at me. What was he staring at me like that for? His eyes were wide with shock.
“Y-your dress…”
I looked down at my dress to see that it was practically transparent in the sunlight. Kendell could see my silhouette through it! Curse this gown for being so thin… I quickly stepped out of the sunlight and scowled. When I turned around to look out the window, seeing the garden, I heard shuffling. Two strong arms wrapped around me and lifted me off the ground. Kendell had tossed me over his shoulder and walked back to the bed, dropping me on it and hovering over me. That bastard. I clearly didn’t want to be in bed.
“Stay.” Kendell spoke to me as if I was a dog. I frowned and pushed him off me, only to let him get back on top of me. What is wrong with this man? I tried to push him off again but he caught my hands and trapped them beside me. A wicked grin stretched across his face as his eyes traveled over me, and for a moment I actually felt scared that he would do something rash. The fear was quickly replaced with amusement when I decided to turn the tables. I hooked my leg over his hip and pushed him over, pinning him down by his shoulders and smirking. He looked shocked for a moment before he chuckled and flipped me onto my back again. We play fought like we used to as children until I heard the door open.
My father stared at us, raising an eyebrow in disapproval and irritation at Kendell pinning me down. He quickly got off me and smiled sheepishly. There was someone behind my father, but I couldn’t see him well.
“Annabelle, Kendell… What were you two doing?”
“Playing…” I whispered.
“Such children. I assume you’re feeling better, Annabelle?”
I nodded and my father stepped aside to let someone in. My mouth fell open. The man I had seen in both of my dreams was staring at me with a hungry smirk. For some reason, I wasn’t scared anymore. He was exactly like my drawings, dark and beautiful. His long black coat and hair made him look like a ghost, his pale, sharp face accenting the brownish red eyes. A single raven feather hung from one ear. He was tall, but not extremely muscular. Kendell’s hand reached under my chin and pushed it closed.
My father chuckled, “This is Lord Jacob Wraith. He used live here, but moved to Philadelphia and has decided to get away from the city for a while. We’ve been friends for a few years now.” Friends? But my father was around thirty seven and he looked only twenty… Seemed unlikely that they’d know each other, but I guess it didn’t matter.
Lord Wraith nodded his head, “Hello. You’re the fair Annabelle I’ve heard so much about. Pleased to meet you.”
“Likewise,” I eyed him cautiously. He seemed coy, like a fox.
“She’s beautiful. I’d love her hand in marriage, James.” Lord Wraith smirked and glanced at my father. I felt Kendell’s arm snake around me protectively.
“She’s a very free spirit, Jacob. It’s up to her. And besides, you’d definitely have Mr. Inkcrest for competition. Right, lad?”
Kendell blushed and looked at me, then back to my father. He smirked and gave a curt nod. I raised an eyebrow at him. I knew he liked me. What a moron, trying to hide it. Kendell noticed the look I was giving him and ruffled my hair, smiling.
I looked back to my father and Lord Wraith with a smile, one that quickly faded as I saw Lord Wraith glaring daggers at Kendell. How dare he look at Kendell that way. The happiness I had felt while being with Kendell had completely evaporated. Now I was irritated with Lord Wraith, speaking of me and marriage as if he was selecting a pig to be slaughtered.
“Well, I’m going to wash up.” I got up and headed for the door, my father and Lord Wraith standing aside to let me through. Before leaving, I shot Lord Wraith a pointed glare, “As for ‘marriage’, I’d suggest you look for a petty bride somewhere else.”
I stormed to the bathroom and locked the large door behind me. Lords these days! So arrogant and bratty! I really can’t believe that my father is a lord sometimes. At least he gives me hope for people of high status. Somewhat. I filled the bathtub with hot water and tore my clothes off, dropping them on the floor. I climbed into the bathtub, wincing at the temperature of the water. People would think I’m trying to cook myself… I sat in the bathtub for a few moments, my mind wandering through the dreams I had. Was it pure coincidence that Lord Wraith would look exactly like the man in my dreams?
I didn’t believe in coincidence.
The hot water made my limbs feel sluggish. It was a slight challenge, but I grabbed the bar of soap on the side of the tub and washed up. The mirror in front of the sink became clouded with steam. I slipped under the water to wash my hair, brushing my fingers through the tangles. When I came back up for air, I was done with the bath, but I didn’t want to see anyone so I stayed in the warm water. At least it had cooled off a bit. These small things made me happy, unlike the vain women in our town who were only happy with wealth and power. I hated how those women would marry anyone just for their money or status, and not out of love. Larissa and her minions were definitely the type of people to do this. But then again, in this day and age, that’s how some people survived the poverty… Thank God I didn’t have to worry about poverty. It would drive me to insanity, having to worry about putting food on the table every night. Goodness, I am extremely pampered…
I chuckled, amused with my entire existence. The water was going cold, so I decided to climb out of the bathtub and get a towel from the cupboards. I dried off, whipping my hair and sending water flying through the bathroom. There was a crash out in the hallway, and I heard swearing. Who was fighting in our manor? Certainly not my gentle father. I wrapped the towel around my body, trying to hide as much of me as I possibly could, and threw the door open. What I saw instantly filled me with rage. Lord Wraith had Kendell pinned up against the wall by his shirt collar, and he was sneering, growling most offending things about Kendell and absolutely perverted things about me.
“Jacob Wraith!” I snarled, gritting my teeth.
Both men turned their heads and gaped at me as if they had never seen a woman before. Wraith tried to speak as he was so boldly doing before, but couldn’t find any words. I refuse to call this sick excuse of a man a lord.
“Take your hands off my dear friend before I personally escort you out of the manor!”
The speechless expression was wiped away from Wraith’s face, replaced with an arrogant smirk, “And what would you do? Drag me out the door?”
“Don’t tempt me.”
He removed his hands from Kendell’s shirt and raised them above his head in surrender, “I’m sorry to have offended you, dear Annabelle. Perhaps we could talk in private and settle our little disagreements-“
“No.”
The smirk wavered in Wraith’s frustration for a moment before he regained his composure, “I’ll convince you otherwise. After all, why have a lowly blacksmith orphan, when you can have a lord?” Wraith turned on his heel and walked down the hall, disappearing from sight as he turned the corner.
“Kendell, don’t listen to him-“
“No, he’s right. He’s much better than me, a ‘lowly blacksmith orphan’…” Kendell muttered darkly, bowing his head and walking off down the hall.
------Chapter 5-------
Damn. Annoyance and rage gripped me like a snake coiling around its prey. If I could, I would make sure Jacob Wraith would suffer and die by my hand. He was virtually heartless, I could see the cold in his eyes. The ice must have left its mark on me, as I was in no mood to hear from anyone. I stormed to my room and found a corset, underwear, a plain shirt and pants to wear and tossed them on, and then ran outside. I tore through the halls and down the stairs, furiously speeding down another hall to a small wooden door. My hand reached out so fast I could barely register what I was doing, and I tore the small door open, continuing my rampage outside into a meadow filled with sweet grass. The sweet scent did little to calm my nerves, it would take much more than that. Birds were singing, bees were floating from flower to flower, the sunlight of the very late afternoon warmed my skin. As much as this was calming me, I refused to let go of my temper. I broke into a run, sprinting through the meadow to the edge of a forest. I carefully navigated through the trees until they broke off to reveal a sapphire lake in the distance. My chest heaved as I sighed with relief. Just as I was about to run towards it, I heard footsteps and snapping twigs to my left. Panic ran through me as I darted behind a large oak tree, watching for someone through the trees.
I held back a gasp as I saw Jacob Wraith wandering through the trees. He looked sullen, even depressed. I could feel the misery radiating off him. He lifted his hand and took a knife from his coat pocket, then dragged the blade over his palm. My eyes went wide with shock as the liquid from his palm was black, not red. Or was I not seeing things correctly? Wraith held his hand over the pond and let a drop of the black liquid fall into the waters. A small tremor pulsed through the ground and the entire pond turned black, trees started to bend and wilt, grasses started to shrivel and decay, and the fish in the pond floated belly up in the black water. What sorcery had he done? An overwhelming sense of hatred and negativity consumed me, and for a moment I thought I would run over to Wraith and kill him. I forced myself to remain still and started playing violin scales in my mind, trying to calm myself down. Every emotion I felt turned to pure terror as the air a few feet in front of Wraith cracked as if it were a wall. A hideous monster, a beast with a thick neck, flaring nostrils, red skin and giant curled horns at the top of its head pressed through the crack. It wasn’t completely substantial, however, and couldn’t move more than a meter in front of the cracked space.
The voice that came from it was more like a growling beast’s, “Atael… What is the meaning of summoning me here, to this human threshold?”
“My Lord… I’ve found the girl. She goes by the name ‘Annabelle’. She’s watched over by a human fool, James Drevensek.”
My heart caught in my throat. He was speaking of me! And that beast called him Atael. Who was Jacob Wraith? What was that thing?
“Drevensek?”
“Yes… And Anzeleaz has already captured her heart…” Wraith whispered the last sentence, bowing his head and cringing.
“FOOL!” The beast thundered, “You need to capture her, break her! And swear to me, your Lord, that you will do all you can to keep her from being in the Legion of Angels!”
“My Lord, it is not so easy… I do not think that means of seduction will work on her. She has the temper of a raging bull.” Wraith winced under the beast’s glare.
“You will rip her wings from her body! You will bleed her dry and serve her to me on a silver platter! Are you blind, Atael? She is the one that will bring my war with the world to an end! If she stands in our way… He will win…”
“I understand-“
“No. You don’t. The next time you come here, I expect you to be holding her dead body in your disgusting arms! And if you cannot kill her before the War, then as the head of the Demon Army, you had better hope that you can defeat the Purity. Am I understood?”
“Yes, my Lord.”
“Good… This is your last chance at life on this pathetic ball of mud. Do not fail me.” The beast faded into nothing behind the cracks in the air, which closed up. The water returned to its crystal clear appearance, the fish springing back to life. Everything in the forest was released of death’s grip and all the negative emotions left me as quickly as they came. I felt as if I should have died with everything else in the forest, but I didn’t…
Wraith sighed heavily. He stared into the sky, his face riddled with despair as he whispered to no one, “But what if she isn’t meant to die?” I saw from the distance, a single tear slip down his face. It was black like his blood. I thought of everything I had just seen, the mention of demons and angels, the beast, the strange names…
I covered my mouth with my hand and bit back a scream. They couldn’t be speaking of me! I knew I was no supernatural being, but Wraith… He was, without a doubt, a demon.
And that beast was Satan himself.
I tried to slowly back away as Wraith stared into the sky, but stumbled over a branch. The noise of me falling into the dead leaves alerted him, and he immediately snapped his head back. I froze, praying he wouldn’t see me. It seems my prayer was a waste, however, as his eyes rested on me and his face twisted into a snarl. I turned around and tried to crawl back the way I came, but saw legs in front of me.
“Girl.”
I stared up at Wraith’s face in terror. Large black bat wings stretched from his back, just like in my drawings. He looked furious. I said nothing, just stared at him in shock.
“You saw nothing. You remember nothing. You know nothing of me except my name, and my friendship with your father.”
These were lies. I knew everything! But for some reason, I believed him. Becoming drowsy, I nodded. My vision began to fail.
“I am Jacob Wraith. You know nothing else besides what I tell you.”
My eyes slipped shut and I collapsed into the ground. His voice still rang out in my head.
“None of this ever happened.”
My head was spinning as I twisted on something soft… My bed? I opened my eyes slowly and saw my father sitting in my writing desk’s chair. When I lifted a hand to my head, his eyes snapped up to me and he sighed with relief.
“My God, Annabelle. You worried me to death.” He walked over and knelt beside my bed, taking my hand gently.
“What happened…?” Try as I may, I couldn’t recall anything from after my father introduced that man… Jacob Wraith.
“You went to the lake and fell, and hit your head on a rock… Lord Wraith found you and carried you back home.”
“Oh…” Was that really what happened? For some reason, I was gripped with fear at the mention of Wraith’s name. The fear itself quickly subsided, but a strange uneasiness never left. It must be all in my head… I did hit it on a rock, after all…
The door flew open and Wraith wandered inside, looking concerned. “Is she okay?”
“Yes, thank you again, Jacob.”
“No trouble, James.” The way he stared at me was kind and full of worry, but deep within his eyes I could see ice. Cold wastelands of his character. It intrigued me. I sat up and swatted them away.
“I’m fine. Thank you for helping me, Lord Wraith.” I noticed I was dressed. Who had dressed me? Katherine? Shrugging it off, I hopped up off the bed, “Well, I’m off.”
“Annabelle, you aren’t going anywhere.” My father used his most stern tone.
I gave him my saddest, most pleading look and he caved almost immediately, nodding his head for me to leave. With a smile, I began to walk off, stealing one last glance at Wraith’s beautiful face. His eyes caught mine and time seemed to stop momentarily, a flash of emotions that I couldn’t process swishing through me. My head snapped forward again as I continued out the door. I walked through the hallway and down the stairs to the front door, pulling on my high heeled black boots over my pants. Kendell crossed my mind and I decided to head down to the iron shop to see him. By now it was night time, the street lamps beginning to illuminate the roads. There was barely enough light in the sky to see without them. People stared at me for a few moments longer than usual, as I almost never appeared outside in my pants and a blouse. Dressing this way as a girl was considered “unladylike” and “vulgar”. I thought it was perfectly practical. My walk through town was uninterrupted for quite some time until I walked by the tailor Ms. Brewer’s shop and saw Collette loitering around outside, surely hoping to talk to the tailor’s son Landon. She saw me and turned her nose up in disgust. I gave a smirk and continued my path down the dirt roads. A pebble soon distracted me as I kicked it down the road, leaving it on the curb once I got to its end. I started to whistle as I walked, the iron shop only a few feet away. Climbing onto the steps, I was about to open the door when Mr. Calsworth appeared holding it open.
“Hello, Miss Drevensek. I assume you’re looking for Kendell?”
“Uh, yes sir.”
“You and me both. I have no idea where the runt is. Could you find him for me?”
He wasn’t at the iron shop? I nodded, “I will!”
Mr. Calsworth smiled and nodded. I hopped off the iron shop’s porch and thought of all of Kendell’s hideouts. When he was sad, he was usually at the pub. Otherwise, I could almost always find him at the lake behind the manor. Very rarely I could find him in the back of the church pews, just staring at the statue of Jesus.
Filled with enthusiasm, I started my search at the church. It was the closest place to the iron shop, so I figured I might as well stop by. Walking quickly, I made my way to the church. It wasn’t far past the road I was on, so I began to walk faster. The church sat on the end of the road, its windows glowing with candlelight. I ran up the steps and pushed the large doors open, looking around. No one was there except the altar boy. He looked at me in surprise as I waved and ran off back into the night. The next place I decided to look was the restaurant. I broke out into a run as my impatience to see him grew. The restaurant barely came into view after a few minutes of running at full speed. My legs started to feel like dead weight so I slowed to a brisk walk, my tired limbs protesting every step I took. I was breathing heavily from running, so I just began to stumble down the middle of the road. Swallowing my exhaustion, I started running again. The restaurant came closer and closer until I jumped up onto their porch and leaned against the wall to catch my breath before I stormed in there. When I was under control again, I opened the door and scanned the bar. To my delight, he was there. So were a glass and an almost empty bottle of brandy.
“Kendell!” I cried.
His head slowly turned to face me, then contorted into a miserable expression. I bounded over to him, my shoes clicking on the hardwood floor. I could feel my own face creasing in confusion as I stared at him. He was hunched over the bar counter as if he was an old man.
“What’s the matter? Kendell?”
“Why are you here? Shouldn’t you be with your lover, Wraith?” He spat Wraith’s name as if it was a curse. Even after downing almost an entire bottle of brandy, he spoke as he always did, smooth and controlled.
“Lover? Kendell, all he did was help me after I hit my head on a rock. Where is this coming from?”
Kendell stared up at me curiously, “You hit your head on a rock?”
“Yes, that is what they tell me…”
“Don’t you remember? When you came from your bath, how Wraith so helpfully addressed my pathetic status as an orphan?”
“He did what?” I blinked, taking a seat on the stool next to him.
“How much do you remember, after you hit your head on this… ‘Rock?’”
“I only remember my father telling me the man’s name, and his face… Everything else is black. Are you sure he said those things? He seemed like such a nice man.”
Kendell seemed to snap and slammed his hand down on the counter, “Damn it, woman! How could you forget that? You even sent him running!”
“I… Did?”
Scared, I watched Kendell’s face crease with irritability and confusion, then morph into an expression of realization, then shock, “Where were you when you hit your head?”
“The lake?”
Kendell looked mortified. He grabbed my shoulders, crushing them, “The lake? Are you sure you remember nothing? Not a single shred of memory from right before you hit your head?” His eyes were wide and they stared deep into mine as they always did, his voice low and hushed.
“I-I told you, I don’t remember anything after my father’s introduction…”
“Then try! Try to remember something, anything!”
“Kendell, you’re hurting me!” I hissed.
The few people left in the pub were staring at us. Kendell let go of my arms quickly and ran a hand through his hair. He got up and pulled a few crumpled dollar bills out of his back pocket, then dropped them on the counter. Kendell grabbed my arm and dragged me out of the restaurant. I wanted to protest but I couldn’t find my voice. He was walking so fast that I could barely keep up. When we reached an old abandoned shack on the next road, he pulled me inside and shut the rotten door. I couldn’t see much because it was so dark out.
“Kendell? What are you doing?”
I heard his steps and felt his hands clasp around my face. He had been drinking, but I couldn’t smell any alcohol on his breath, “Annabelle. Please. Stay away from Wraith.”
“Why? He seems like a good man-“
“He’s far from it, Annabelle!”
“How would you know?” I felt myself growing angry with him.
“Because,” Kendell let go of my face and I could see his silhouette pace through the room, “because I have a feeling, an awful feeling, okay?”
“Well, I’m sure you may feel one way, but what if I feel differently?” I challenged, growing angry with him.
The anger was lost when he stepped into the dim light and I could see his face. The irritated expression cracked into raw pain. Kendell stalked back over to me and took my face in his hands again, then whispered,
"Because..."
He didn't finish his sentence. Instead, he caught my lips with his.
--------Chapter 6--------
I was too shocked to even think, but I kissed him back anyway, wrapping my arms around his neck. His kiss was eager, desperate even. I could feel every emotion he was trying to hide from me, the longing, the sadness, and the love. There was so much emotion flowing through him that I finally understood his behavior, his actions that had grown stranger and stranger since he was fifteen, and I thirteen. The sweet taste of his lips was mixed with a hint of brandy and it was like Heaven. He took his hands away from my face and wrapped his arms around my waist, pulled me closer to him, fitting to my body ever so perfectly. I realized w hat I was doing and pulled away and I could feel the blush spread across my face. My lips felt the ghost of his kiss.
“Annabelle…” Kendell didn’t let go of my waist, instead just stared at me with his icy eyes, and it truly felt as if he could see into my soul. He smiled after a moment and kissed me again, gently this time. Again I could feel his emotions, and they were a burst of happiness, like a blooming rose. I felt the same bloom in the center of my chest and smiled back.
“Is that why I can’t feel differently?” I smirked.
He nodded, “Yes it is.” Kendell’s smile fell to a frown as he murmured, “When you hit your head, did you have a bump? Or perhaps a bruise?”
“Um…” I tried to remember any pain in my head, but couldn’t recall anything except for the dizziness. It was as if someone had wiped my mind clean and left emptiness behind. “I’m honestly not sure…”
Eyes narrowing, Kendell gripped my chin in one hand and ran the other over my head. After searching my entire skull, he sighed, “There’s no bump. Did you feel any bruises?”
“No…”
“Damn it…” He cursed Wraith and ran his hands into my hair, whispering, “There’s so much I need to tell you… But not now. It’s too late today. Tomorrow I want you to come to the library with me, alright?”
“Okay. But why?”
“You’ll see when we’re at the library.”
“Are you drunk?”
“Of course not. You know how much liquor it takes to throw me off.”
I must say, this man could handle his liquor. It took at least two more bottles of the brandy he had tonight to dull his senses. I wrapped my arms around him in an embrace and whispered,
“Let’s go home.”
Kendell took my hand as I stepped back and led me outside the old building. We walked slowly, simply enjoying each other’s company and gazing at some of the stars in the sky. They were twinkling brighter than ever tonight. For a minute, it seemed like all the angels in Heaven were smiling down at us. The thought made me smile back. Imagine walking around with an angel by your side, and hundreds more looking down from the sky? That’s exactly what it felt like right now, even though Kendell was not exactly a “perfect” angel. We finally made it to the beginning of the hill and walked up the road to the manor. At the last few paces to the door, my legs were swept out from underneath me and Kendell held me like a bride as he walked to the door. He managed to open it while holding me and carefully walked through. Chuckles escaped my throat as he continued to carry me up the steps into the hallway. My father, in his study again, shouted at us when we walked by,
“Mr. Inkcrest, what are you doing?”
“Carrying your daughter, sir!”
I laughed as he kept walking and opened the door to my room, dropping me on the bed. I bounced slightly and lay still, staring at him. He climbed into the bed with me and pulled me closer to him, running his hands through my hair. It was so soothing, that I quickly fell asleep.
The dream I had was absolutely horrid again. I was still in my room, in my bed, but Kendell was no longer with me and I was restrained with chains that clung to my wrists and ankles. They tied around the bedposts and were awfully short, too short for me to move any farther than a few inches.
“Princess…”
That voice. I jolted and frantically searched the room for anyone, but saw nothing. The man that looked so much like Wraith was nowhere to be seen. He wasn’t behind anything or under anything, so where was he? Why wasn’t he appearing now?
“I killed your lover, Princess…”
What?! The chains around my ankles seemed to grow in length and I found that I could sit up properly. When I did, I almost immediately burst into tears.
Kendell lay in a pool of his own blood, several black knives in his chest and one in his temple. His eyes had been cut out, hollow sockets with an “X” etched over each one. I could see the bones in his neck where the flesh had been torn away. His legs looked like they had been shredded, and the worst part was that the bottom half of his jaw was completely torn off. Feathers as white and brilliant as fresh snow were splattered with blood and littered the ground around him. I couldn’t even lift my hand to cover my mouth because of the chains. So I wailed. It felt like the world was sinking in on itself and I was getting sucked in.
The glass windows were then destroyed, glass and some sort of dark matter blasting through the room. I covered myself as best as I could with my restraints. When I turned back to look around behind me, I yelped. The man was lazing next to me, but his face was completely black. It was like someone had cut it away, leaving his face a hole of nothing.
“Calm down… He had it coming.”
“Get away from me!” I swung my arm at him, but it was yanked back by the chains. Damn it all. Grief and fear were drowning me, pushing me to what felt like insanity.
“Shh, calm down.” The man reached his hand out and caressed my cheek. I winced as his touch felt like millions of icy needles prodding at my skin. “I promise, your death will not be so painful… Doesn’t that sound good, Princess?”
“Devil!” I jerked away from him and scooted as far away as possible.
“No,” he chuckled, his hollow head echoing the sound, “I just happen to be his minion.” The man grew rather somber and dropped his hollow head onto his hand. The moonlight was bright through the window and I could see a slight red tint in his long, elegant hair.
“Where is your face tonight?” The fear and grief had quickly gone because the realization that this was all a nightmare had hit me. This was all nonsense. That broken body on the floor was nonsense. And this faceless man was the source of it all.
“Not important…”
“You seem upset.”
“Why would I be upset? Killing you would make my Lord ecstatic.”
“So why haven’t you killed me yet? You’re still here talking about it.” I raised my eyebrow. Nonsense, nonsense, and more nonsense. It was all lies.
A growl echoed through him, “Maybe I decided to give you a few more moments before you died, you impudent whelp.”
“Because demons have been noted for being so thoughtful.”
Another growl startled me and the man reached forward, his icy hands wrapping around my throat. I immediately felt the pain of his touch and I couldn’t breathe or speak. His grip on my throat tightened and I thought that my neck would break.
Then a pair of bloody hands ripped him away.
I jolted awake with an unpreventable scream, breathing heavily and in a cold sweat. Kendell was gripping me like a mother would a child and stared at me with concern.
“Are you okay? What happened?”
Eyes wide, I stared straight ahead of me, at the spot on the floor where Kendell’s mutilated body had been in my dream. There was nothing there and the moonlight bathed the wooden floors as it poured through the window. How could something so ridiculous feel so…
Real?
“I had the strangest dream…”
I could feel him tense as he whispered, “About what?”
“You dead… A demon… He didn’t have a face at all this time. And he tried to kill me.”
I held in a yelp as Kendell’s grip on my arms tightened. A few seconds later the door opened, my father and Lord Wraith standing in the doorway and staring with alarm.
“Damn it, boy! What are you doing in bed with my daughter!”
“We were just sleeping, Father. Please, you’re overreacting. Again.” I scowled.
“You, my dear, are awfully sharp tongued to your father, who was only looking out for you,” Lord Wraith smirked. In the moonlight, I noticed his hair was black with a slight reddish tinge. Were my eyes playing tricks on me? Was this pure coincidence, that he should look so similar, practically identical, to the demon of my dreams?
“I just had an awful dream, is all. There’s no need to fret over something like that.”
His brows were knitted together as his gaze turned from me to Kendell’s grip on me, and then to Kendell himself. In his beautiful reddish brown eyes was a raging hatred and disgust that could only come from years of rivalry. It was as if they’d been the gravest of enemies since the beginning of time. I heard Kendell growl too softly for anyone else to hear. He had growled like a wild beast! How?
“Mr. Inkcrest, I believe it’s time for you to return to the iron shop…” My father muttered. His expression was dark and didn’t hold an ounce of trust, but he was right. Mr. Calsworth would certainly be extremely worried by now, especially since I had told him I would find Kendell. Oh my. I’ve forgotten all about that. Oops.
“Yes sir.” He slid out of my bed and stalked to the door.
“Tell Mr. Calsworth that I found you! He asked me to find you and bring you home, but I’ve only done half of that…” I smiled sheepishly.
Despite all the tension, Kendell chuckled, “Of course. Goodnight Annabelle, Lord Drevensek,” he smiled at both of us before turning to glare at Lord Wraith, spitting his name as if it were a curse, “Jacob.”
“I do wonder why the boy hates me so,” a sigh that feigned innocent confusion carried Lord Wraith’s words out of his mouth.
“He’s a trouble maker, but he’s Annabelle’s friend.”
They were speaking as if I wasn’t sitting in the bed behind them.
“Ahem, care to not speak of my wonderful friend in such a way? He is a man, he can do as he wishes. I’m blessed by God to have him by my side.”
I could have sworn I saw Lord Wraith cringe at the mention of God. My father’s eyes were hard with irritation and he left without another word, leaving me alone with Lord Wraith.
That was not my father at all. He was sweet and caring, not cold and distant.
“So Annabelle… Tell me about this dream that you had.”
“Why should I bother?” I laid back on the bed and lazily twirled my hair.
He made his way over to my bed and sat on the edge, taking my hand in his. Flinching, I stared at his hand that was fiercely cold. So cold, that I thought I would get frostbite. Did he have no blood in his veins?
“You’re cold, Lord Wraith.”
“Indeed I am. And please, call me Jacob.” An eerie yet lazy smile crept onto his lips. In his eyes, I could see nothing, no emotions of any kind. It was as if he was a hollow porcelain doll. And his beautiful features and cold skin certainly made it seem more believable.
“Alright then, Jacob. If you must know, the dream was about a demon that killed my good friend Kendell and looked very much like you. But he didn’t have a face. I wonder why?” I gave him my most suspecting, pointed glare.
Jacob’s face twitched into uneasiness for a moment until he regained his composure, “I haven’t a clue. Maybe he didn’t want to be seen.” He crawled into the bed next to me, an icy aura around him causing me to freeze. His long dark hair spilled around him, his white shirt loose on his broad shoulders and the raven feather still in his ear. A spitting image of the demon in my dream, now complete with a face.
But he couldn’t be a demon, he was clearly as much of a human as I was.
Or at least, he was human enough.
“Perhaps not. He didn’t seem so happy that he had to kill me, either. Or at least, he said he had to. Any thoughts?”
“Maybe demons can think of the consequences for their actions?” Conflicted thoughts seemed to dart around Jacob’s eyes. “Maybe they don’t want to follow the orders they’ve been given?” He grew solemn.
“I didn’t think they had anything else to do except hurt people,” I climbed off the bed and slid my hand out of his, walking to my jewelry box and plucking my rosary out of it.
“That’s what all humans think…” Jacob lay back on my bed completely, sighing.
“Well, they have a very good reason to. I haven’t heard of a time where a demon didn’t try to possess some poor fool.” I stalked forward with the rosary, hiding it from his view.
“There have been times where a demon has helped a mortal…”
“Yes… But for what price?” Standing directly over him, I looked into his eyes and saw the glazed inner conflict he was having. When his eyes slipped shut and his brows creased with frustration, I dropped the rosary on his neck.
His eyes flew open and he hissed. I saw a slight wisp of smoke rise from his skin, the scent of burning flesh starting to fill the room. The beautiful reddish brown eyes turned black, a red slit in the middle. With inhuman speed, he threw the rosary back at me, earning a burn mark on his hand as well. Mouth open in shock, he glared at me as I bent to his level, a grin splitting my face in triumph.
“Hello, demon.”
I had avoided his direct eye contact so far, but when I finally looked up into those eyes, memories of after he had been introduced seeped back into my mind. Him fighting Kendell, standing at the lake, they all flowed back. Jacob realized what was happening and looked away, breaking off my memories before I could remember what he was doing at the lake.
“You’re a smart girl, Annabelle… I should have killed you when I had the chance.”
Then he was gone, quicker than a flash of lightning. This would be a time where most idiots I know would start screaming in terror, possibly fainting. But I knew that demons and angels had existed, I did attend church and use my brain, after all. So many times I had snuck into the forbidden books that were kept in the church, and never once had I been caught. I read about demons, so I knew how to expose one. Any fear I had for them was gone. I stood in the same spot and thought about what I had just seen. There was no way that a demon could have gotten into my house, claiming to be my father’s friend. Weren’t demons ugly? Or manner less? Well, I had seen him attacking Kendell before…
And what did Kendell have to do with all of this? They always glared at each other since they met, like they’d known each other forever. Was Kendell a demon, too? No, he wouldn’t be able to enter the church…
My head started spinning, none of this made any kind of sense. Next thing I knew, a fairy might parade into my home. I sighed dramatically and dropped back onto the bed, replaying the gruesome scenes of my last dream in my head over and over again until I fell into a somehow dreamless sleep.
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