Part Two: Chapter Nine

Part Two: The Tiger

“It was awful, Danny. I’ve never seen so many people hurt and broken and…ugh!” Chuck ranted, pacing around his room as quickly as she could with her leg.

“Chuck, it’s okay.” He stood and wrapped his arms around her. “It’s not like you’re being auctioned off.” He stroked back her hair.

Charlotte broke from his grasp. “But I could be! Eve isn’t above… selling me. She scares the crap out of me, Danny! I’m trying to fight back against her, but she just…” Tears started falling down her face and before Charlotte realized, she was blubbering.

Danny shushed her, trapping her in another hug. “Come on. Calm down.”

“I hate her, Danny. I’ve never hated anyone before. Not the DiRagno’s, not my demonic algebra teacher, not even the drunk driver who killed my parents.”

“Hate me, do you?” Eve snarled, bursting into the room.

Unwilling to let Eve see her cry, Chuck wiped her face furiously. “Don’t you have anything better to do?” Chuck snapped.

“If you must know, I heard thumping and crying. I didn’t want you raping the poor boy, s**t. Now, no touching.” She yanked back Chuck’s shirt. “You have chores.”

“No one else does any.” Chuck noticed huffily.

She whispered, “Did you like what you saw at the auction? I can easily make that little visit your life if you want.”

“How easily? You’re not even a supernatural!” Chuck snapped. A hard slap fell across her cheek. A dark scarlet hand marked her face.

“It was easy enough to cut out my uncle’s tongue and sell my parents, wasn’t it? And you? Well, you’re not nearly as powerful as they were.”

Charlotte’s face paled, a chalky white. She jammed her mouth shut, thinking of her grandfather’s death. “What-t did you do with his tongue?”

“Oh, that’s so cute, how little you know of witches!” Eve pinched Charlotte’s face. “If you need to know, if you eat a witch’s tongue, you can cast spells for a while. Same if you cut off their hands, you can make potions or whatever you call them.”

Bile crept up Chuck’s throat in her disgusted horror. She fainted.

“Poppy!” The girl ran into the old man’s arms.

He gave her a tight hug. “Hello, Charlotte.” He snuggled the girl with a tight embrace. He looked especially weary and withered. His white beard was stringy. He looked up. “Ah, Sue, how are you?” He noticed the distraught woman standing in the doorway. “You look troubled. Is something wrong?” A Celtic accent broke his words.

“I have to talk to you. Chuck, why don’t you go get your book from the car?”

“Sure, mom.” The girl left. Her dark curls were brushed into a ponytail, her awful eyesight hidden by contact lenses in her green eyes.

“You need to get away from here.” The woman said.

These were the last words Chuck heard before she closed the door.

When she said goodbye to her grandfather that day it would be for the last time.

Charlotte shot up in bed. A cool compress fell off of her forehead. When her vision proved blurry, she reached over to her nightstand only to find more bed. She realized, “This isn’t my bed.”

The bedroom was large with an air conditioner in the window, which her room desperately lacked. The bedspread was thick cotton and so were the white sheets.

“Do you like it?” Eve asked from a discovered plush crimson chair in the corner. “Simple has always suited my tastes.”

“Wh-What am I doing in here? Where are my glasses?” Chuck demanded.

“Shh, hush, haven’t you ever heard that you catch more flies with honey than vinegar, Charlotte?” Her tone was sweet, sickly sweet, and unnatural.

“Please don’t cut out my tongue or my hands, Ms. Lane. Please don’t sell me either. I…”

“Shh, Chuck, you’ve had a hard day. Why don’t you just lie down and sleep for a bit? I mean this room is so chilly and the bed is warm. What’s to lose?” Eve grinned, pushing the girl down and brushing a finger over her eyelids to goad her back to sleep. “Isn’t that nice?” He cooed.

The girl’s soft snores replied to Eve.

With her eyes closed and her hair curled so nicely, she looks like Evan, Eve thought to herself bitterly. “Just like Evan.” Using one finger, she stroked Charlotte’s cheeks. “Evan was so stupid. ‘Where’d mom and dad go?’ she asked. And I spit some excuse that they died. Oh, how she cried.” Eve grabbed a length of rope.

“Then she lay in my bed and I had to comfort her. Preteens are so very unaware. I kept her until she was sixteen, my baby sister. My first trophy. At that time, she was too defiant to keep. She was a w***e like you. I’ll never forget when she kissed that boy. Replacing me. Like she could.” She ran a hand down Charlotte’s neck. “I beat her until she begged for death,” Her voice was a whisper as she tied Charlotte’s ankles.

Chuck’s breathing was steady and soft, so unaware of Eve’s piercing glare. Her dark lashes brushed the rosy color of her cheeks.

Eve folded Charlotte’s hands on her stomach, a position of death and she bound them. Then she kissed her forehead. She admired the smallness in her figure and the subtlety of her curves. Delicately, she pulled the blanket to Chuck’s chin.

At the new warmth, Chuck blinked her eyes open. “What is going on?” Her voice was groggy and raspy, but there was a hint of panic. It rose. “What the hell is going on?”

“Charlotte, Charlotte, sweetheart, go back to sleep. It’ll be alright.”

Frightened, Chuck writhed in her restraints. “What the hell is going on?” She yelled. “What is your sick obsession with me?” Her voice became shrill.

“You Wiccans always have to put yourselves on a pedestal, don’t you?” Eve pulled out a lighter, flicking it on and off to watch the flame blaze in Chuck’s pupils.

Charlotte breathed in unsteady and terrified pants. “What do you want? Please, Ms. Lane, what do you want from me?” Her eyes welled with tears.

“Obedience. I want absolute obedience. I want a dog, Charlotte.”  Eve cracked open a can and poured the glop into a bowl. She shoved it in Chuck’s face. “Eat.”

Taking in the pungent and vile smell, Chuck recoiled. “Is that dog food? I’m not eating dog food. Especially not with my hands tied.”

“You eat nothing beside that food. Now bark.” Eve commanded without any amusement in her tone whatsoever.

“You’re insane!” Chuck wriggled hoping to escape her fetters.

Gently, Eve lay beside Charlotte on the bed. “Oh, Evan. I’m so glad that sisters can stick together even when our parents are gone.” She snuggled into Chuck.

Charlotte’s eyes bulged. She swallowed hard. Her hands quivered.

“Evan, you’re never going to use those disgusting powers of yours again, are you?” Eve snarled, still coddling Charlotte. “I love you, Evan. When you were born, I told Mom and Dad that you looked like a China doll. You still kind of do. I wish I was as pretty as you, Evan.”

“Ms. Lane has a sister?” Chuck mouthed to herself, musing on it. “I look like Ms. Lane’s sister?” She wondered aloud as Eve’s arm snaked over her shoulders.

“Evan, you still love me right?” Eve rested an arm on Chuck’s stomach, crawling slightly downward. “There are certain levels of love. I wonder how much you love me.”

Preparing a scream, Chuck squirmed until Eve interrupted by tying a handkerchief in Chuck’s mouth. The girl whimpered as Eve continued.

“You’re a w***e, Evan. How far are you willing to go for anyone?” Her voice had an icy edge that chilled Chuck to the bone. Eve tilted Charlotte’s chin up to nuzzle her neck. “Isn’t that how you like it?” She scowled at Chuck’s look of revulsion. Eve hovered over her. “I saw you with him. Isn’t this how you like it, s**t?” She groped her.

Chuck struggled and shrieked beneath the gag.

“What’s wrong, Evan? Not putting out tonight? I don’t think you’ll ever want to again.” The flame of the lighter danced in Chuck’s pupils.

Author's Note

So this chapter may be a bit creepier than I intended because I finished writing it after watching a horror movie...Thanks for reading.