Wilhelmina A Novella (8 page)

‘Good to meet you,’ Mr. Abberdean said. The blonde behind him did the same with a gentle smile. Mr. Abberdean looked up suddenly, and his eyes flashed, as did mine.

There were few things I remembered about Mr. Abberdean in my previous life, but among them was the prominent fact that his eyes were black. But now, as I looked into them, they were as red as the governess’ and her guest’s and I couldn’t look away. He looked just as shocked as I was, almost as though he were afraid of me, or like he had heard that a close friend had just died.

‘Human servants?’ he asked, smoothing out his face. ‘You actually keep these filthy creatures around?’

‘This one is more of a trophy,’ the governess said with a wave of her hand, never looking once in my direction. ‘She told me years ago that the two of you were well acquainted.'

‘If we were, she definitely wasn’t memorable,’ he said offhandedly. Coldly. ‘But so few of her kind are.’

They moved on, but his blonde friend nodded and smiled. He had lovely black eyes, but I was too shocked to appreciate them. I simply stared into the empty space where Mr. Abberdean had just been standing. Where his words were once kind, there was only cruelty now. He had forgotten me, conscienceless and totally apathetic to my existence.

The governess silenced the room as she approached the end of the dining room table, and both Mr. Abberdean and his friend took their places at the far end of the table.

He didn’t even spare me a second glance.

The governess clapped her hands and a young servant brought Yvette by hand. The attention in the room piqued with interest as every eye watched Yvette walk through the door. She was scared stiff and nearly frozen stiff with anxiety, but I smiled and waved ever slightly when she glanced in my direction. I saw her shoulders relax a little.

When the governess approached, the slave girl wasted no time in exiting the room, leaving Yvette stranded.

‘I remember when I was standing in her spot, those long years ago,’ Rosa said. ‘Before I was off waging wars - in the simple days when all I had to do with myself was admire my own beauty.’

‘This one is no exceptional beauty, but she is obedient, and quite lively,’ The governess said.

‘I will start the bidding at two thousand,’ Francis began.

I was shocked; were they actually bidding on Yvette? They were actually talking about her like a piece of livestock. Mary had made no mention of this, nor Charles. This was not what any of those girls had been working so hard for, nor what they had been promised. She was not supposed to be sold to anyone like a slave; she was not a piece of property.

‘Three thousand,’ one of the dark men said.

Francis tipped his fingers. ‘Six thousand.’

‘Seven thousand,’ Mr. Abberdean tipped his hat, and I was stunned. Was he actually joining in this travesty? I was stultified and felt a little woozy. It felt like the only dreams keeping me alive were really just wicked little shadows waiting for the right moment to sink their fangs into my heart and poison my heart from the inside out. I was falling into a maelstrom - into an ocean without meaning.

The blonde at his side whispered something into his ear urgently, but Mr. Abberdean brushed his comment off of his shoulder.

‘Nine thousand,’ said a woman with warm chocolate brown hair seated near me. Her bid was almost a whisper. There was no way that the governess could have possibly heard her. And yet the cold woman glanced up at the bidder with a nod.

‘Any others?’ The governess asked.

‘I’ll double her offer,’ said the blonde beside Mr. Abberdean, who sat silently without comment. He couldn’t possibly be Mr. Abberdean, he just couldn’t be. My Charles was kind, and would never partake in the bidding of an innocent and misled young girl like she was a common whore.

‘Twenty thousand,’ said the woman in the corner, a devilish expression shading over.

‘Well, newcomer, would you like to double Camilla’s offer again?’ The governess asked, intrigued. The blonde man backed down and sat there silently. ‘Any other offers?’

The room was dead silent as they all stared at Yvette with disappointment. The governess extended a hand toward Camilla, and the sultry woman slithered up to the head of the table with the grace of a doe. Yvette stared at the tall curvy brunette, just as confused as I was, clearly frightened beyond words.

Camilla stroked her face with a gloved arm, but Yvette flinched away.

‘Don’t be afraid,’ Camilla cooed. She closed the distance between them and kissed Yvette. That was the moment that my boundaries had been crossed.

‘What is going on here?’ I demanded. It took me a moment to realize that I had spoken out loud. When Camilla, along with the rest of the room, turned her attention to my horror-stricken face, a deep, dizzying nausea ailed me. She gauged me like a predator, but soon turned her attention to Yvette, locking their lips once again. The rest of the room turned to watch as well, except the blonde beside Abberdean. He simply stared at the table with a troubled, uncomfortable expression.

‘Would you like the honor of doing it yourself, Camilla?’ The governess asked from beneath her veil. Camilla broke the kiss and stepped back, looking Yvette over with hunger in her eyes.

‘I like to credit myself with having much strength and patience, but I wouldn’t be able to stop myself, governess,’ Camilla said. ‘If you wish to be paid for the girl, you should do it for me.’

‘As you wish,’ the governess said.

She stepped between Camilla and Yvette and began prowling the girl like a tigress stalking its cornered prey.

‘Wait!’ The blonde man jumped out of his seat, urgent fear about his face. ‘Shouldn’t the servant girl leave the room? You wouldn’t want her to see this.'

‘Let her watch,’ the governess said.

With lightning fast speed, she gripped Yvette’s neck, and the girl screamed with fright, but no one tried to help her. They simply hissed and grinned eagerly. Slowly, the governess lifted the black veil over her face and revealed a very smooth and beautiful face, perfection personified. Her lips were round and her button nose ran smoothly straight up into her thin brows. Her black hair was pulled back into a tight bun, and her bright red eye looked into Yvette’s.

She opened her mouth and struck Yvette’s mouth like a rattlesnake. There was a bright glow coming from their cheeks and a white light shining through the breaks in their mouths as the governess kept their lips locked. It looked as though she was sucking something out of the girl. Yvette pierced my soul with a blood curdling cry for help, and I had to shield my ears. The governess pulled away, holding Yvette’s hair as she stared down into the girl’s frightened eyes. The governess let go, after what looked like a struggle with her hand's grip. Yvette clutched her chest and continued to scream.

‘It burns!’ she shouted, but still no one helped her. ‘It burns like fire!’

The governess ran one long fingernail along Yvette's neck. The girl fell to her knees, clutching at the side of her throat; blood coursed through her fingers.

‘It is done,’ said the governess. She turned her head toward Camilla, her brow strewn up in what could only be some sense of ecstasy. ‘You must drain every last drop of blood before dawn; I will expect my payment by the end of the week.’

‘Expect it by morning,’ Camilla said as everyone watched Yvette bleed all over herself.

The blonde man stood and left the room hastily, looking a bit queasy. Mr. Abberdean followed him without a word. I was still petrified as I stared at Yvette, dying on the floor. The governess turned her head and looked at me, and the terror inside reached out and stuck inside of me like little needles.

One side of her face was perfect and beautiful, but the other was a sight that was too grotesque to believe, even though I witnessed it with my own eyes. Her face was splintered and cracked, like a marble statue. One great fissure ran down her face and it was abundantly clear why I could only ever see one of her eyes beneath the veil. She only
had
one eye.

She hissed, and I clutched my chest as my heart raced. The others hissed as well, their hellish red eyes on me and their teeth, grown long and pointed, bared. I ran. I had no direction, but that didn’t matter as long as I was as far away from those monsters as possible. I ran through the garden and into the forest as quickly as my boots would carry me.

I heard snickers from every direction and shadows swept through the trees like the wind.

I hit something hard. I struggled away from this hot solid object, screaming, but it held me with iron grips. I was afraid to open my eyes, but the figure swept me into its arms and I had to see who my capture was.

‘Be quiet and say nothing,’ Mr. Abberdean told me coldly, his crimson eyes set ahead as he cradled me. We exited the forest, and I saw the governess waiting, covered in blood from the chin down, her eye focused on me.

‘Thank you, Charles,’ she said.

‘Perhaps next time you won’t kill so conspicuously, Elizabeth,’ Mr. Abberdean said dryly. ‘I would think that your face would be reminder enough of the last time you killed so boldly, and encountered Pontius.’

‘This one was set to die anyway,’ she said offhandedly.

‘I would like to make a bid,’ Mr. Abberdean said, clutching my shivering body to his torso.

‘The bidding is over, Charles; if you wanted Yvette then you should have made an offer after Camilla.’

‘Not for that useless girl in there, I want to make a bid on this slave girl,’ he said.

The governess’ eye became a slit and her lips became a thin line as she pressed them in agitation.

‘She is not for sale,’ the governess said. ‘She is mine. I’ve been waiting to drain the life from her eyes for four years.’

‘She is but another human, Ms. Bathory,’ his blonde companion said as he emerged from the trees behind us. ‘Surely whatever this girl has done to you has been repaid by her loyal servitude.’

‘Not nearly,’ the governess hissed.

‘I want to drain her soul, Elizabeth,’ Mr. Abberdean said harshly. ‘Her soul calls to me so, and I cannot help myself. I want to drain every last drop, and I don’t think that I could stand back if you were to try and take her from me. Even holding her now to talk to you burns my senses with hellfire.’

‘Is that so?’ She asked, intrigued.

‘Give me this one simple pleasure, Elizabeth, and I will be forever in your debt,’ Mr. Abberdean told her.

‘In my debt, you say?’ The governess asked.

‘Yes,’ Mr. Abberdean said sternly. ‘I swear to it.’

‘How will I know that you’ve truly killed her?’ The governess asked.

‘I hardly think you need to know, as long as he pays you your money,’ the blonde said firmly.

The governess sneered and growled, but Mr. Abberdean stepped forward to silence his friend.

‘Do it here and now,' the governess snarled.

‘I don’t want to rush the experience,’ Mr. Abberdean said.

‘I say turn her,’ Camilla said from the surrounding audience.

‘She would make for an interesting immortal, Elizabeth,’ One of the others said. ‘Just look at how supple and beautiful she looks now. If turned, her beauty would doubtlessly surpass even your former glory.’

The governess hissed at the comment, and looked as though she was ready to leap forward, but the blonde, Francis, stopped her.

‘I, too, am curious as to what kind of immortal she would make. She holds a certain alluring quality about her, especially in her gaze,’ he commented. ‘Like a born huntress.’

‘Will you turn her, Charles?’ The governess asked. Mr. Abberdean visibly swallowed, and looked down into my fearful eyes with a gaze that mirrored my own.

‘Elizabeth, I am not an overconfident man. I know my limits, and we both know that I would not be able to control myself from devouring her entire soul.’ Mr. Abberdean said slowly, deliberately. ‘But my friend, he has the apt restraint to complete the task.’

‘No,’ the governess said. ‘It must be you, or she dies.’

‘In one week,’ the blonde said. The governess looked at him questionably, half offended and half intrigued, and waited for him to continue. ‘Give him one week to prepare. I can help him through the process to ensure that nothing goes awry.’

‘I am pleased with the conditions,’ the governess said thoughtfully. ‘But there is still the question of price.’

‘Name one, and I will pay it,’ Mr. Abberdean said. She tapped her bottom lip and it clicked, like two rocks hitting each other.

‘One hundred thousand,’ she said.

Mr. Abberdean’s eyes fell, and his jaw tightened.

‘I do not have nearly enough to pay your demand,’ he admitted. ‘Surely you can understand how it feels to yearn for such an enthralling soul, won’t you reconsider?’

‘I am firm on the price,
Charles
,’ the governess said with a twisted grin.

‘Then consider it done,’ the blonde said. ‘You will have the money on the night that she is to be changed.’

‘Then we have an accord,’ the governess said as she covered her face with her black veil.

‘But as I will be supplying most of the cost out of my own pocket, I do have one stipulation,’ the blonde said, a mischievous glance into my eyes.

‘And what is that?’

‘Charles and I will be allowed to see her each night until the seventh day when he is to change her,’ he said.

Mr. Abberdean looked at him questioningly, but the blonde didn’t respond.

‘I don’t see why he would need to,’ The governess scoffed.

‘To grow accustomed to the presence of her flesh, her soul. Charles must learn restraint in such a short time,’ the blonde said. ‘Unsupervised, mind you.’

‘The deal is struck,’ the governess said.

The crowd reluctantly followed her into her mansion, but the three of us stayed behind. Mr. Abberdean dropped me to my feet, and I stared back at him with utter fear in my eyes.

‘Please, don’t kill me,’ I begged.

‘Wilhelmina, I’m not going to kill you,’ Mr. Abberdean said. ‘I’m going to get you out of this place.’

‘What?’

I was completely confused. When had the tables turned? Who was he?

‘But you left me here, you didn’t care. You forgot about me.’