Her Beloved

I was only five when I first saw her.

She had long black wavy hair with a large black crown on her head. She wore a long flowing black dress with red corset. I never saw her face. I can still hear her voice...her voice sounded like angels were speaking from the heavens above. Whenever I had troubles I thought back to that moment, I thought about her voice and it calmed me down almost instantly. As time went on, it was harder to remember her voice and remember her. Like now for example my mother is yelling at me for ‘destroying’ my future but it didn’t calm me down this time,

“Amelia, I do wish you would listen when I’m talking to you.”

“Sorry mother, what were you saying?”

“I was asking why you thought choosing a mythology course over law was a good idea? What kind of job can you get from doing a mythology course?! Nothing!”

“It’s my passion mother and why can’t you just accept my choices for once?! All my life all you have done is criticize me and my choices!” I grab my purse and head for the door, I could feel my frustration build, she never cared about my passions. Tears built up, threatening to spill over and I tried to contain them so I let them take me and take my pain away. The pain of disappointing my mother. The pain of her not accepting what I want to do with my life.

“Where do you think you’re going?!” she screamed after me in her whiny, authoritative voice,

“Out!” I slam the door behind me. Tears run down my cheeks as I walk along the street. After a while I sit down on a park bench and calm myself down. I take in my surroundings and find myself...in the woods? Part of me wishes I had stayed home but the other part of me feels like I’m supposed to be here for a reason. A couple walk past me as if there were a damn fire chasing them down. Shaking it off I head back the way I came and after what had seemed like hours of walking I find that I don’t know my way back which may have something to do with of my lack of attention when I was walking earlier. I wrap my arms around myself to keep warm but the wind was so cold I felt like an ice block. As my legs began to feel like concrete I stopped and sat under a tree.

I check my phone and see that it’s nine o’clock at night and there is no service where I am...of course because I have fantastic luck. I continue walking and see a castle...I don’t remember ever seeing a castle anywhere near my town. I weigh out my options and decide that the castle would be the safest option especially with all the storm clouds rolling in. As I rush nervously towards the castle I see rose vines climbing there way up the side of the castle walls and with the small amounts of light hitting them from the lights inside it makes them seem more beautiful. When I’m at the doors of the castle I see a large knocker. I bang it down creating a noise that almost matches the noise of the thunder. I wait for someone to answer and after a few minutes an elderly man dressed in black slacks, a white long sleeves shirt and a black tie answers the door and looks shocked to see me,

“Hi, sorry I got a bit lost out there. Would you be able to help me please?” I ask timidly, feeling like I shouldn’t even be here at all, almost like I was an intruder,

“Of course, my dear, come in quickly before the rain hits” he ushers me inside and as he’s taking my coat I look around the large room. It was like nothing I had ever seen before. A large chandelier hung from the ceiling with two large staircases leading upstairs. To my left is a small dining room and to my right is a small sitting room. The room was coloured in, I guess, cream and black. It was breathtaking,

“Please follow me, I’ll take you to the kitchen. You must be starving. While you eat I shall inform the Mistress that you’re here.” The humble man smiled up at me, I could tell he had a kind soul making me feel slightly more at ease,

“No! I’ll be fine. I don’t want to be a bother to anyone” I politely turn down his offer, trying to keep out of his way as he walked past.

“Nonsense. Follow me. What would you like to eat? Would you like a drink as well?” feeling slight defeated in a way I accept his offer of food and drink,

“Just a sandwich and glass of water will be fine, thank you” he seats me at the end of the dining room table before disappearing through a door. While he’s gone I take in the room. There were wooden framed glass french doors to my left and in front of me was an open stone fire place. I could see two more doors on my right side, one which I assume leads to the kitchen and the other one could be anything. When he comes back he’s holding a plate with a very large sandwich on it,

“Here you are, Miss, one BLT with a glass of water. I shall be back soon with the Mistress” I slowly start eating the sandwich and am almost finished when he walks back in the room but this time he is followed by a lady. She looks like she’s come straight from a teenage boys wet dream. She is wearing a long tight V neck burgundy coloured dress with a split in the thigh which stops just below her hip, and the V at the bust of the dress stops just under her breasts. Her long black wavy hair is partly over her shoulder and partly still behind her, her eyes are what captivated me, they are a sapphire blue and pop even more with her eyeliner. I feel a blush creep onto my face when I realise how long I have been staring at her but I can’t help feeling like I know her from somewhere,

“Thank you, Marcus, you may leave us now. Could you prepare one of the guest bedrooms please” her voice sounded like the angels were speaking from the heavens above and that’s when the memories come flooding in. She was the woman I saw in the woods all those years ago,

“You must have travelled very far today, amica mea, I will have the room prepared for you. It is much too dangerous to travel back in this weather, I wouldn’t forgive myself if you were to leave in these weather conditions”

“I...uh I wouldn’t want to be a bother to you. I’m sure I can manage to find a way home” I stammer, my cheeks growing red at her beauty and at how close she is to me

“I insist, amica mea, come with me. We shall find you some better clothes” she took my hand and led me to the end of a hallway and through two very large wooden oak doors. I could feel my heart racing a million miles a second as she sat me down on the bed, her bed, before she disappeared into, I’m guessing, her closet,

“This should fit you perfectly, amica mea” I take the clothes as she passes them to me and before I know it my mouth is moving and asking the one question that is puzzling me,

“Why do you keep calling me ‘my love’?” she looked taken aback that I had understood what she was calling me,

“Don’t worry your little head with such questions, go through those doors and get changed. I shall wait for you here” when I put on the night gown I suddenly feel very self conscious. The so called nightgown was a long white thin dress with lace at the front of the abdomen area and a split going up the front of my thigh and stopping just below my hip. I walk out of the bathroom tugging at the nightgown. When she sees me her eyes darken and her smile turns almost predator like but it makes me want to melt into a puddle. She grabs my hand and leads me to her bed and lays me down,

“What...what are you doing?” my voice shook from her sudden action making me more nervous than I was before,

“You have a cut on your leg, I’m going to fix it for you...if you’ll allow me to?” I slowly nod my head and she closes my eyes. I feel her move off the bed and down to where my cut is. I lay there at her mercy and suddenly I feel something wet on my cut and assume it’s a wipe but when I open my eyes I see her kneeling in front of me while she...licks my wound. She leans back giving me a small grin and I see two extended teeth. Before I knew what I was doing I was on top of her. I gently open her mouth with my fingers and I jump back when I see two fangs,

“Amica mea, please calm down.” she tried to sooth my shock, but I only pulled back further at the small glimpse of her fangs,

“No! You- you can’t be! I studied mythology! Meaning it’s not real!” she crawled over to me and before I knew what was happening all went dark and I fell into her arms.