The Stranger- 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.

Reviews

[Wolfwind]

I'm loving Annabelle's blunt cleverness! The rosary beads were a wonderful idea! The story now has come to what I would call full throttle. It's got it's characters and now they have begun to dance around each other in earnest. You've really created an amazing storyline here!

Aaron

[Review]

dun dun dun hope the next chapter comes out soon
** Review**

[MajorJesusFreak]

NOOO! Please tell me you're going to add more chapters :O