Lottie Beaulieu didn't remember a lot about when she started to feel the sensation of dying. She was told by her grandmother that when death came you saw all your life flash behind your eyes. But as the man on top of her started to drain the life from her neck she didn't see her life pass in front of her. Instead she saw her future, the life she was about to live as one of those creatures that she had been told about many years ago in her childhood when her mother used to try and scare her and her sister to not wander off into the night.
But here she was, and oh God, had she wandered.
It had all started the night that Lottie's father had decided that she should marry Thomas Hayfield, one of the most richest and most eligible bachelors this side of the Mississippi. It was the year 1812 and Mr. Beaulieu had set up his family in New Orleans with a reputable plantation, a place filled with moss covered trees and open green fields that smelled of fresh cotton and songs from the slaves her father had bought but treated fairly just like any other employee, but it was none compared to the Hayfields who's profits where known all over the city, their house being the biggest and most beautiful with parties and lavish gatherings almost every night. Lottie's father had arranged the marriage one gambling night with Thomas's father, Frederick Hayfield, and both parties agreed that it would be a smart match. Mr. Hayfield would join his slaves with Lottie's father and their profits would double with the families connection.
This of course had sent Lottie into a rage.
"But Papa I've never even met him!" she had yelled across the foyer of their house as her father had mixed a drink at his desk, his stuffy beard wiggling as he pretended not to hear his oldest but knew she was right. Their house was filled with rich mahogany and lots of furniture that was the latest fashion in the city for people of society to own.
"Thomas Hayfield is a handsome young man who would be a fine match for you Lottie dear" her father said gruffly as he took a swig of scotch.
"I don't care how handsome he is" Lottie said with a puff as she crossed her arms, her new dress mother had made her swaying at her agitated feet " I won't be sold off like a slave papa. Even you wouldn't do this to one of your own workers!"
"Charlotte you have to understand" her mother had piped up from the sitting area with her sister Catherine "Your father arranged this so that you would lead a comfortable life."
"I would rather stay with the pigs than marry someone I didn't love!" Lottie had proclaimed standing with her fists at her sides staring at her father. Her fair blonde hair swished from side to side as she turned from her father to her mother and then back to her father.
"Well is there someone else?" her father demanded questionably "Should I know of some other previous engagement you have gotten yourself into without telling your own father?"
Lottie's face flushed a bright red as her body became as still as water. Yes, there was someone else, but it couldn't be between them. Lottie had been in love with a boy named Remy Chevalier who's family owned a small fishing business on the docks. Her father bought their daily catch and her mother sewed with Remy's mother and sisters after church on Sunday. She had known him since they were both small, his sandy blonde brown hair a messy wave with those beautiful hazel eyes staring at her joyfully anytime they were together.
And now if she married Thomas Hayfield, she was sure she would never see those eyes again.
"Papa" Lottie said a bit panicky "I can't marry Thomas."
"Charlotte I like to think of myself as a reasonable man" her father said staring down at his desk "And I like to think that I have raised you and your sister to be strong women capable of doing anything a man might. But the only way I am going to tell Frederick Hayfield that the marriage is off is if you give me a solid reason on why it shouldn't."
Lottie looked back to her mother and sister who sat quietly waiting in the sitting room, their eyes and hands on their work but their ears perked at the slightest answer she would give her father. Lottie sighed and crossed the foyer into her father's office, shutting the doors quietly behind her. If her father needed a reason, she might as well give it her best go and tell him the truth.
Lottie stood taking a deep breathe as her eyes looked around the office, her father sporting famous paintings on the walls with expensive vases filled with rich magnolia's her mother had grown outside in the garden with the help of Mrs. Louisa the head servant. It was her father's office, but Lottie's mother made sure that it was sophisticated and refine for a gentleman's room.
Mr. Beaulieu looked up from his desk in surprise as Lottie crossed the office and stood in front of her father's desk, hands dainty across her body as her head bent down towards the floor, knowing that what she was about to say would either send her father into a spell or the roof would blow off the top of the house. Either way, it was a reason and she needed to give it.
"Remy Chevalier" she said quietly as her father's eyes grew skeptic at the name.
"What about him?" her father said gruffly once more.
"You said to give you a reason" Lottie said "He is my reason father."
"You can't expect me to believe that you would marry a fisherman's son over Thomas Hayfield?" he said with a chuckle.
"He isn't a fisherman's son father" Lottie said her face growing hot "He is almost a first mate on the ship Rosemary. They bring in some of the finest catch of New Orleans and...and I love him."
Her father had stared at her for a long moment before leaning back in his chair and rubbing his eyes with a peculiar smile before sighing and looking back up at his daughter.
"Alright Lottie" he had said with a lopsided smile " Maybe Thomas Hayfield will be interested in Catherine since your heart is set on Remy" he said with another chuckle "But don't expect me to hold back my tongue when you come home smelling of fish!"
Lottie had smiled so brightly she felt as if she could light the room up just from the happiness her father had given her that night. She had thrown her arms around his neck, happy tears falling from her eyes and she kissed and thanked her father.
But her happiness would only last that very night, for in the morning Lottie and Catherine had awoken to their mother's screams of terror as they found their father dead in their parents bed, a seizing of his heart taking him in the middle of the night without a sound.
The next weeks had been a blur, Lottie's mother had tried to keep whatever assets their father had left behind for them, but because of his unexpected death a will was never made out. So Lottie saw her family crumble in debt, and in a desperate attempt to save her family she had kept the pact her and her father had made and agreed to marry Thomas Hayfield.
But the engagement had turned into a failure. Thomas was handsome yes, with his dark hair and bright blue eyes that any woman would swoon over, but between the constant bullying of her and her family and gambling away her family's money, Lottie had found herself once again desperately trying to keep food on the table for her mother and sister. She had tried speaking with Thomas's parents, but the Hayfields had been glad to get rid of their son, keeping his filthy habits of prostitution and gambling at bay from societies eyes. Now it was her problem, and she had to deal with it on her own.
Her mother had taken up a job with a local fabric store, agreeing to making dresses with Remy's mother. Catherine took an apprentice job at the local apothecary and came home smelling of chemicals. Lottie tried to keep the household clean and stay in fair ranks among society with Thomas, but as people danced around her she would find Thomas disappearing no doubt to the local docks to gamble and fornicate his way into oblivion.
"I don't know what I'm going to do" she said one night as she met Remy outside of the grocers. She looked over at him, his sandy brown hair swept back like most gentleman while his eyes stared deep into her soul. God, how she loved those eyes.
"You could always leave him" Remy said quietly as they passed another couple on the street.
"And leave my family to starve even more?" Lottie said brushing back her fair blonde hair "His money and whatever we have left is all that's keeping us going right now."
"Well" he said looking up towards the stars with a smile "You could always marry me."
Lottie stopped dead on the sidewalk, her body stilled to the words she had wanted to hear but never got the chance to.
Remy turned around with a lopsided smile, the kind that made Lottie's heart sway even now as she stood in shock.
"Marry you?" she said with a smile.
"Marry me" Remy said coming closer to her as he took her hand in his "I'll take care of you and your family. Forget Thomas Hayfield, he is poison on your life, I will make sure you never go a day without smiling again."
Lottie smiled bright as his hand found her face, his gentle stroke reminding her that she could be in a marriage filled with love and laughter and children she would cherish for a lifetime.
"Alright" Lottie said quietly, afraid if she said the words she might curse this perfect moment.
"You'll marry me?" Remy said smiling even deeper as he brought her close.
"Yes" she said "I'll marry you!"
Remy had been so happy he had picked Lottie up and swung her around with a laugh.
They had both agreed to tell their families in a week after Remy returned back from sailing from the islands. In that time Lottie would arrange for Thomas to move out of her father's house and find reasonable work for herself. It would be hard, but they could do it if they all worked together. Knowing that she could get away from Thomas, knowing that she would spend the rest of her life with Remy, it was almost too good to have asked for.
They had parted with a single kiss that didn't last long for fear someone might recognize them and tell Thomas before Lottie could get home.
But she remembered walking alone that night, her heart light as a feather and a smile plastered on her face. And as she crossed the street to make for the road that would lead her to her estate, she had accidentally bumped into a finely dressed woman and her male companion. Lottie had quickly apologized, her hands going to her bonnet as she tried to arrange herself respectively.
But looking back to the two she had bumped into she became mesmerized at their appearance. The lady, who she had originally bumped into, was dressed in a wine red dress that left little to the imagination of her breasts as her dark hair was curled high on her head with a blood red hat perched on top. But it was her eyes, those dark soaking rich eyes that captured her, and the white toothy smile the woman had flashed at Lottie with bright red lips.
"Look at this delicate flower" the woman said looking Lottie up and down before turning to her gentleman companion. Lottie looked him over as his suit was fine and tailored to make him look taller than he appeared, but his eyes also were dark and sensuous, his hair a coppery color as it was draped over his shoulder with a masculine tie like many Frenchmen would do when they would visit the city.
"Please pardon me madam" Lottie said with a curtsy "It's late and I wasn't paying attention. My apologies."
"So polite" the woman purred walking around Lottie "So young..."
"Now Carlotta" the man said with a thick French accent "Do not spoil your appetite with this fresh rose."
"What is your name my flower?" the woman named Carlotta said fingering Lottie's long blonde hair with her fingers. Lottie was too surprised to react as her mouth formed out the words.
"Charlotte Beaulieu" she said with a bit of a shiver.
"Charlotte?" Carlotta said tasting the words in her mouth "I don't think you go by that name very often. I think you go by..." she said staring into Lottie's eyes.
"Lottie" she nearly hissed.
Lottie could only shake her head up and down, terrified and mesmerized at how this woman knew her nickname her father had given her since she could remember. Maybe she was a voodoo queen? Lottie had heard stories of them dwelling in New Orleans, or possibly she knew Lottie's family and was just playing a trick on her?
"Lottie" the woman said now with a smile "Now that is a name that tastes delicious in my mouth. Louis, wouldn't Lottie look divine in my foyer, her hair loose around her shoulders, those rosy cheeks flustered at all the men that would look at her?"
Louis simply nodded his head, his eyes baring down into Lottie that made the sensation Carlotta was talking about happen on the spot.
"Yes" Carlotta said "Perfect."
"I really need to be going now" Lottie finally managed as her instincts kicked in like a animal about to be hunted.
"Going so soon? Oh well" Carlotta said producing a small card from who knows where "If you are ever in need of work my Lottie, come to this address. I will see that you are weeded and pruned like the beautiful flower you are, with a high price at that."
Lottie took the card from Carlotta's hand without even thinking.
"Thank you" Lottie got out before turning on her heels and running for the road to her home. She swore she had heard Carlotta's laugh behind her, but it didn't matter, Lottie wanted to get as far away from the woman.
Those eyes...they hadn't looked at her like a regular human. They had looked at her as if she was just a meal in front of her, a delicious course ready to be consumed. She was surprised the woman had not drooled out right the way she had looked at Lottie in those few moments.
But as Lottie saw the comforting lights of her own house she finally slowed to a soft pace, her lungs trying to produce air fast enough to calm her body down as cold sweat dripped from her forehead.
She found herself walking into her household only to find her mother and sister had gone to bed. But a lone figure sat in what used to be her father's office. The smell of cigar smoke and tartness of alcohol filled the air as Lottie walked in, her head held high for what was about to come
Thomas sat lazily in her father's favorite chair, a bottle of rum in one hand as the other held the cigar that spat ashes all over the fine rug her mother had bought some years ago. His dark hair looked greasy and fell in crazed strands across eyes while his handsome face seemed to be in a permanent sneer as he stared into the fire.
"And where were you?" he said sloppily as he took another drink.
"I had to stop by the grocers to order more food for the house" she lied expertly.
"More food" he said slurring "As if you didn't spend enough money in this place. If it weren't for my father and the fact that you have big tits I wouldn't be in this mess."
Lottie felt her face flush at his vulgar comment but kept her head remaining high.
"Or the fact that you've wasted yourself on whores and gambling" she said sharply "Then maybe I wouldn't be in this mess as well."
"Are you talking back to me girl?" Thomas said getting up from the chair and swaying drunkenly as he pointed a finger at her "I won't have my future wife talking to me like that, or you'll get a nice slap in the face!"
"I'll talk to you however I please!" Lottie said "If my father were alive he would have killed you right now for speaking to me like that! And the minute you touch me will be the minute you cease to have hands!"
"You stupid bitch" he said coming at her but Lottie was fast to move out of the way as he smacked himself face first into a grandfather clock. He slumped down, his body still breathing but passed out cold at that point.
Lottie decided to call the servants to have him escorted back to his own house, her orders being to tell the Hayfields the engagement was off due to their son being a worthless example of a man. The servants looked at her hesitantly before she simply smiled and asked what were they waiting for.
She watched as the servants drug Thomas Hayfield out from her house and into a carriage to be taken back where he could do no further harm. In a sense Lottie had felt good about her decision, but at the same time she felt a horrible fear creep up inside her chest seizing her hold once everyone was out of sight.
Now she had really done it. No more help for Thomas's family, she would have to do this on her own. But where could she find work? Maybe down at the harbor? Maybe at the fabric store or the grocers? None of it was a guarantee. And how long could her family survive without a sizable income to keep them above water?
Suddenly Lottie remembered the card the woman Carlotta had given her. She quickly took it out and stared at the card which could be the answer to her prayers.
But as she looked at the card it simply read only a simple name. No numbers, no street, just the name of the house.
The House of the Rising Sun.
