The Mansion on the Hill

by Frances Desmarais

"Dude, did you hear that the mansion on that hill was haunted? They said that there's a ghost in there, a ghost with silver hair, which only comes out at night. People can sometimes see him passing by one of the windows in that mansion. Dude, it's so creepy I want to check it out."

Moans and whimpers escaped from chapped lips.

She gripped the sheets tightly in her fists as the man above her trusted himself into her. She bit her bottom lip, trying to stifle a moan that was trying to escape. Their sweaty bodies rubbed against each other, creating a delicious friction. She dug her fingernails into his back, creating small crescent marks. He latched his teeth onto her pale neck, biting, sucking, licking on the soft skin there. She let out a small whimper when he sucked on a particular spot.

The man above her groaned before reaching his climax, with hers following soon. He collapsed on top of her, catching his breath as she ran her fingers through his silver locks, smiling gently at him.

"Kiss me?" she asked, voice small, breathless.

He looked at her with his violet eyes, hesitating for a moment before planting a small kiss on her sweaty cheek. She frowned, not satisfied.

"On the lips?" she asked again.

The man got off from her to lie down next to her, wrapping his arms around her small body, he shook his head.

"Nyet."

And she knew exactly why he wouldn't kiss her on the lips.

To Ivan Braginski, the owner of the gigantic mansion on the top of the hill, surrounded with high fences and protected with high tech security system, Natalia Arlovskaya was just a sleeping partner. He found her sneaking into his mansion one day and decided to keep her. When Natalia first saw him, she fell in love. It was love at first sight. She didn't know how to explain that feeling, from their first encounter, she knew that this man's dangerous but for some unknown reason she just couldn't stay away from this tall mysterious Russian man.

"Why not?" she propped herself up with her elbow, studying his face. His eyes were the most gorgeous shade of violet, and they sparkled under the soft morning light. Natalia couldn't remember how many times that she had lost herself in those beautiful eyes. He has silver hair just like hers, but just a shade darker and it always felt so silky underneath her fingers. There was a small scar on his right cheek, just below his left eye. Natalia tried to ask him where he got it from, he just avoided the subject and she never asked him again. He had taken off his blasted scarf, the one that seemed to never leave his body, like it's a part of him, she couldn't understand why and of course when she asked, he avoided the subject too. His neck was pale, very pale. So pale that it's almost transparent, maybe it's like that due to the scarf that hides his neck from the sun. The skin there was paler than the rest of his body. Natalia likes seeing him without his scarf. Besides his sister, she was the only one that had seen him without it and she felt special.

"You know why."

"I just want to hear you say it again."

He stayed silent. Staring at the ceiling motionlessly. After a while he let out a small sigh. "Because I'll only kiss the one that I love on the lips."

And you don't love me, Natalia thought miserably. She could feel her heart break at the sound of that. She knew the answer would hurt her, but even if it did, she still wanted him to tell her why exactly that she should stop loving him, to stop obsessing over him. It was crystal clear that he didn't love her, she's just a sleeping partner, someone that he would call on when he was having sexual desires, when he was feeling horny. The only person that he will ever love, that he will ever kiss on the lips, is that woman in the photo sitting on his dresser. The woman, who goes by the name Elizaveta.

She ignored the pain in her chest and smiled at him. "What about... you marry me? What do you think?" she asked, half joking, half serious.

His expression changed in a millisecond and he slowly shook his head. He reached for the packet of cigarettes on his dresser and lighted one, bringing it up to his lips, he inhaled. "I don't think so."

"Why not?" she rested her head on his chest, listening to his heart beating against his chest. She took the cigarette away from his fingers and took a drag. The bitter smoke filled her lungs and she tried not to cough. She never liked the smell or the taste of smoke, but to impress Ivan she will try to.

Natalia Arlovskaya did quiet a number of silly things just to impress him, to make him like her, even for just a little bit. She wanted badly to make him forget about his Elizaveta so she could own him entirely for herself, without his heart wandering off to another woman, so he could finally kiss her properly on the lips.

"Again, Natalia, you know why. You don't need me to repeat it every time." he replied in a low voice, exhaling through his nose.

Oh how Natalia loved that nose.

"Your sister said that I would make a nice wife. You don't think I'll make a nice wife?" she asked, while smiling bitterly, drawing small circles on his stomach. He crushed out his cigarette on the dresser, creating a new burnt mark along with the old ones. He lighted another cigarette and offered it to the girl lying on his chest. When she shook her head, he said "Sestra doesn't know anything." He took another drag. "And of course you'd make a nice wife, to another man that is... not me."

Natalia shook her head. "Oh, you're wrong. Katyusha is the wisest person I've ever met. She knows absolutely everything, from cooking to sewing, astronomy even... and she's awesome in gardening... And I don't want to be a wife to another man, I only want to be your wife. You, and only you." Natalia said, referring to Ivan's older sister Yekaterina 'Katyusha' Braginskaya, who pleaded Ivan not to kill Natalia when he found her. Katyusha was different from her younger brother, she was kind and friendly, and always smells like strawberries. Unlike Ivan, who is distant and quiet, and sometimes reek of vodka.

Katyusha was the only family member of Ivan, according to the manservants. They were orphans, their parents died when they were just kids and they inherited their parent's money, and this gigantic mansion.

"She doesn't know anything about me. And stop being such a kid, Natalia." he took one last drag from the cigarette and crushed it. Natalia frowned and pouted. When he was about to grab a third one from the packet, Natalia stopped him. "Smoking's bad for your health." she said in a warning tone. Ivan looked at her expressionless, then placed the cigarette back to its packet, onto the dresser.

"Why do you even care?" Ivan asked, staring at the clock on the wall. It's half past seven in the morning, Katyusha should be coming in any second now.

"Because I love you, you know that." Natalia replied, snuggling closer to the man beside her, inhaling his musky scent with a tiny hint of tobacco and the vodka he consumed yesterday. Ivan chuckled and patted her head lightly. "But I don't love you."

Natalia bit the inside of her cheek and nodded.

"I know. And you never will."

…

"Vanya?" Katyusha whispered, poking her head into the bedroom after knocking several times. Natalia pulled the sheets up to cover her chest as Ivan sat up. "Sestra." he addressed.

"Morning." the blonde haired woman smiled. "Breakfast is ready."

"Da."

"Natalia, you should go back to your room now." Katyusha said and Natalia nodded before picking up her clothes, putting them on and exited the bedroom. After Natalia was gone, Katyusha went inside the room and sat on the side of the bed, opposite Ivan. The room smelt of sweat and sex, and a hint of Natalia's perfume. Katyusha wrinkled her nose and frowned. "You should open the windows, let some fresh air in. This place smells horrible." she looked around the room, noticing the clothes on the floor before picking them up and draping them on the back of a chair. She stopped and stared at the window, looking out to the town at the foot of the hill.

"Vanya." she called.

"Da?"

"You should let her go."

Ivan frowned. "Why?"

"She's just a kid. She's got a bright future ahead of her and you locked her up, claiming her to be yours and violated her and..."

"I did not violate her, she seduced me, you saw that. She's the one that showed up in my room in the middle of the night dresses in nothing but underwear." Ivan defended, crossing his arms across his chest. "And also, she's not a kid anymore, she's 18."

"Exactly." Katyusha sighed and shook her head. She headed to Ivan's bed and sat down on it. "Why do you want to keep her here anyway? You don't even love her. You're ruining her future. And moreover... she's just a sleeping partner..."

"Fuck buddies, sestra. We're just fuck buddies."

Katyusha winced slightly at the sound of that. Ivan sighed and grabbed his sister's hand.

"Sestra, I..."

"Is it because the fact that you still can't get over your dead fiance?"

Ivan felt like he was being stabbed right in the heart by an invisible knife. Katyusha stared at him, with a mix of sadness and disgust in her eyes. She slowly removed her hand from Ivan's slightly bigger ones.

"Vanya, Elizaveta's not here anymore... and just keeping some random girl here with you can't change the fact that..."

"Shut up." Ivan snapped, his face red. "Don't, sestra, don't. I don't want to talk about this, alright? Just drop this. I don't..."

"Don't runaway from this. You're always avoiding this subject, we can't even talk about this properly. Maybe this is the reason your sick obsession with Elizaveta will never be..."

"Enough!" Ivan growled, glaring at his sister. Katyusha was shocked by his sudden outburst and gripped the sheets underneath her tightly. She blinked a few times before standing up and headed to the door before turning back to face Ivan again.

"I'm just doing this for your own good. Soon her parents will find out about this, and you might get arrested for this. This counts as kidnap you know?"

"I won't. She's an orphan, just like us." Ivan got up from the bed, reaching for his clothes, still naked. Katyusha winced at the sight of her naked brother and closed her eyes. "Vanya, how many times do I have to tell you to not walk around naked in front of me, you're not a kid anymore."

Ivan shrugged and put on his pants before putting on his shirt, wrapping his scarf around him and walked towards his sister, still with her eyes closed. "Are you done yet?" she asked.

"Da." he said, grinning when Katyusha opened her eyes and jumped when his face was in front of hers. "Vanya!"she screamed, smacking him on his head. He clutched his head in pain and laughed.

"You're so easy to scare." he chuckled, giving her a small peck on the cheek.

"That's because you're a gigantic meanie." she replied, crossing her arms across her chest.

"Come on, let's go eat. Did Raivis make my favourite?" the Russian man asked, clapping is hands while jumping up and down like a gigantic five year old.

"Of course he did. You'd skin him alive if he doesn't. But you won't right? You're just joking, no?" Ivan shrugged and smirked evilly. Katyusha looked at him warningly. "If you do, I'll skin you alive and hang you on the tree behind our home."

…

It was snowing again.

Natalia rubbed her hands together, huffing some hot air onto them hoping to warm them up. She looked outside the window, to the small town on the foot of this hill she was on. It's been almost 3 months now. She wanted to go outside, to go back to the orphanage to visit the people who had taken care of her. She wanted to go to the coffee shop nearby and drink their famous hot chocolate. She wanted to sit next to her friend Alfred and just talk about random things like food and action figures. She sat down on her bed and took the thick paperback into her hands. She ran her fingers across the gigantic Anna Karenina on the cover and flipped to the first page. The book was in Russian but Natalia could understand it with no problem. She was born in Belarus and then her family moved to Russia and then they died, so she had to live as an orphan in the only orphanage in this town. She was only 4 when her parents died, she could barely remember their faces. She didn't have a photo of them, since the fire swallowed everything and everyone in the building. She was lucky that she was out playing with the American kid, Alfred who speaks with a funny accent. When she got back, the whole building was painted red by the flames and everyone was screaming and it was deafening. She remembered rushing to the burning building and being stopped by a fireman. She remembered spotting her parents waving from the window, screaming for help. She remembered watching them struggling and coughing. And she also remembered watching them disappeared from the chaos. She could remember almost every detail of the fire like it was just yesterday, yet she couldn't remember her parents' faces. When she tried to recall it, all she could remember was the horrible fire and the deafening screams.

She scanned the first few lines of the book and closed it again. She had read that book for 2 times now and this is the third. She went to the stack of books on the dresser to look for more books that she could read to spend time, but unfortunately she had read all of them. All, except the ones in other languages that Natalia doesn't understand. Ivan was a wise man, like his sister. He collected all kinds of books of different languages and antiques from all over the place. Once she accidentally broke an ancient vase from the Qing Dynasty in China and Ivan was so mad he didn't talk to her for weeks. His books and antiques were very precious to him. He only let Natalia read the books because she swore that she would take care of them and treat them nicely like they were little babies. Ivan didn't agree at first, but after a while he reluctantly agree. Since he was going to lock her up here, why not let her do some reading? It's not like he need her all the time.

She took another book by Leo Tolstoy, 'War and Peace'. She shook her head and put it back onto the dresser beside her small bed. Ivan only agree to let her take five books at a time from the study room and she had to swear on Charles Dickens every time she took books away from the study. And she didn't even know who Charles Dickens was.

She was bored. She skipped breakfast. Her stomach was growling but she ignored it. She had nothing to do right now, other that staring at the wall and the ceiling.

There were knocks on the door that made her jumped. She cleared her throat before telling the person outside to come in.

A man almost the same age as her opened the door slowly and stepped inside the room. He was holding a tray with a few books on them.

"Good morning, Miss Arlovskaya." he greeted. Natalia replied with a small nod.

"Mr Braginski told me to take some more books for you in case you got bored." he explained, walking up to her dresser and setting down the books on the it, along with the other ones.

She spotted 'To Kill A Mockingbird' by Lee Harper and 'Around The World in Eighty Days' by Jules Verne.

"Thank you." she muttered before taking the hardcover in her hands, stroking the cover lovingly.

"You're welcome." the man smiled at her and proceeded to exit the room when Natalia called on him.

"Won't you sit and talk to me? I don't feel like reading at the moment. Please?"

The man turned around slowly before nodding. "Alright." he muttered. He could felt his heart hammering against his chest. Yes, he has a crush on this Belarusian beauty sitting on the bed. He always wants to talk to her. But he knew that it's impossible, since she belongs to his master, Ivan Braginski, the Ivan Braginski, the one that could kill a man with only a nod of his head. He didn't even dare look at her, let alone talk to her, afraid that Ivan would kill him if he did, but now she was the one who invited him to talk, there's no harm in that, right? It was her who invited him, not that he was the one who went up to her and talk.

He made way to the side of the bed that she was sitting on. She patted the space next to her, indicating for him to sit down. He hesitated for a moment before lowering himself down on the bed. The soft bed sunk a few inches from the weight of him. He folded his hands on top of his lap and bit his lips.

Damn he was so close to her that he could smell her perfume. Her perfume, a combination of jasmines and roses, it invaded his nostrils, making him a bit dizzy. His heart was beating so fast right now that it felt like it would jump right out of his chest at any second. He took a deep breath and exhaled through his nose, trying to calm himself but failed miserably. His heart was still beating like crazy.

"What's your name?"

He looked to the source of the voice and saw her looking at him with curious violet eyes. He cleared his throat. "Toris." he replied shortly, his voice sounded foreign, it didn't sound like him at all. It sounded a bit like a croak and a squeak, maybe it's because he's too excited and nervous as he was this close to his crush.

"Toris." she repeated after him, rolling the words on her tongue a few times. "That's a nice name." she commented, expressionless. He muttered a small thanks. Then they stayed silent again, just sitting on the fairly large bed. The snowing had stopped. Toris lifted his head to look at the ceiling, then lowered his head to look at the floor, at his worn out shoes. He made a mental note to himself to get some new shoes the next time he goes out for groceries.

"Toris." Natalia muttered. The said man jumped a little at the sound of his name. "Y-Yes? Miss Arloskaya?"

"Just Natalia is fine..." she replied, playing with a loose string of her dress. Toris then noticed that she has very small hands, like a child's, and there's a small scar on the ring finger of her left hand.

"Tell me about Vanya." she said, staring at the wall.

"Vanya?"

"Your master, Ivan Braginski." she replied.

Why would she want to know about his master? There's nothing interesting about his master. All he knew is that the Russian man was the owner of this mansion. His parents died and left their everything to him and his sister. He's a bit of a sadist, but he's actually a gigantic softie inside. He loves cuddling and he loves sunflowers. He wishes to have a sunflower garden in his backyard but it's quiet impossible due to the cold weather and the heavy snow. He wanted to get a greenhouse for that but then he changed his mind. He likes the colour purple. The scarf he always has on his neck was made by his sister, Katyusha. He's quiet an alcoholic. He likes Chinese food. He has a pistol hidden in his closet...

"I don't really know much about him, sorry." he lied, avoiding eye contact with her.

"Really?"

"Yes."

They stayed silent again. The only sound was the sound of someone walking down the hallway outside the door. No doubt it's the other servant, Raivis.

"Can you take me out sometimes?" she asked.

"Sorry?"

"I mean, when you go out for groceries and stuff, can you take me out too?"

"For what?"

"I want to see someone." she replied.

"Alright." he agreed. "But I don't know if Mr Braginski will..."

"I'll deal with him, don't worry. When will you and the other servant go out again?"

"Probably this Sunday. We're out of eggs... and milk..." he recalled the things that were running low in his head and counted them with his fingers.

"Great. I'll meet you at the front door, is that ok?"

"Sure." he nodded.

Natalia smiled at him and he could swear that he heard angels singing. She's already beautiful, and with that smile, she looked like an angel. He wanted to grab her face and kiss her right now. But he stopped himself just in time before he did something he would regret. He stood up and faced Natalia.

"So, I'll leave you alone now to do your reading. I'll see you this Sunday, Miss Arlovs... I mean Natalia." he gave her a small bow and exited the room. When he closed the door behind him, he noticed Ivan standing there, looking at him with an evil grin. Toris knew that grin and it's not good.

"What were you doing in there? I only asked you to deliver the books to her, and you took almost an hour, do you need that long to deliver books? Hmm?" he asked with a childlike grin. Toris could sense trouble and danger. He wanted to run before this man takes out a gun and shoot him, before he strangled him to death. Toris knew he shouldn't stay and talked to her and now he regretted, big time.

"I was just... talking to Natalia and..."

"Ah, so now you're friends with her... I see..." he nodded slowly, his eyes staring at Toris's. The Lithuanian man felt a shiver running down his spine from the Russian's stare. He began to tremble.

"N-No... Natalia... I mean, Miss Arlovskaya... she asked me to stay and..."

"You don't have the permission to talk to her." Ivan interrupted, stepping closer to his servant. Toris took a step back.

This is not good. This is definitely not good.

"I-I'm sorry Mr Braginski. I'll n-never do it again, please forgive me..." he apologised, squeezing his eyes shut, praying to whatever God up there to save him. His heart was hammering against his chest like it did before, but this time not due to nervousness, but fear.

"You know I could kill you right now Toris, for what you did just a few minutes ago. But I won't. Because I'm a good guy, da? I'll spare your little life because you're not worth killing. You're just a mere servant to me, do you understand? And you are not allowed to talk to Natalia unless it's some important business, do you understand, Toris? She is mine, and mine alone." he said without any expression, just staring at Toris with his violet eyes.

Toris swallowed and nodded, afraid to anger the Russian more.

But you don't deserve her.

Ivan took a step backward and folded his hands against his chest. "You like her don't you?" he asked, with an evil grin. Toris froze, he lowered his gaze to the carpeted floor, he stared at his master's expensive boots and back to his worn out ones then to the carpet. There's a small stain on the carpet that wouldn't come off no matter how hard he tried to clean it. He kept his eyes there, on the stain, thinking of ways to make the stain go away, trying to ignore the Russian's words.

"I know you like her. Just admit it. I know that look. When we found her the first time, you couldn't keep your eyes off her and I knew that something was going on. She's a pretty thing ain't she? Too bad she's mine, not yours... I'll just let you know that she's amazing in bed. She has the most delicious moans ever and her breasts..."

Toris squeezed his eyes shut, trying to block the words coming from Ivan's mouth. He could feel himself getting mad, he wanted to punch him, on his blasted nose, on his face, on his throat, wherever he could reach. How dare he talks about Natalia like that? How dare he talks about his angel like that?

"But too bad Toris, you'll never own her. And she'll never love you, because the one she loves, is me." Ivan said smugly, looking down at him with proud eyes. Toris bit his bottom lip, so hard that he could taste his blood rushing out from the cut. "And you don't love her back." he muttered.

"Pardon?" Ivan tilted his head. Toris lifted his head and looked at his master in the eyes.

You don't deserve her. You're just a gigantic freak with an inhuman sexual desire. You're nothing but a pervert, a gigantic pervert. You're sick. You don't deserve her. She should be with me. I'll love her more that you'll ever love her. You gigantic bastard. You fucking...

"I'll go clean up the kitchen now." he said instead, slowly walking away from the smirking Russian man.

"You're a coward, Laurinaitis." Ivan chuckled. "A gigantic wuss."

"Shut up." Toris hissed underneath his breath.

"Coward."

…

"Dude, did you hear that the mansion on that hill was haunted?" Alfred Jones asked the girl sitting next to him on the bench outside the orphanage. Natalia shook her head and took a bite on her sandwich which had turned cold. "They said that there's a ghost in there, a ghost with silver hair, which only comes out at night. People can sometimes see him passing by one of the windows in that mansion. Dude, it's so creepy I want to check it out." he said.

Natalia shook her head. "No, it's not haunted. There's people going in and out from there, don't you remember? The brown haired one and the small boy. I doubt that they would live in it if it's really haunted."

"Maybe they're ghosts too? Gosh this is so interesting. Let's go check it out sometime, Nats."
"No way. That's trespassing and I don't want to do it." Natalia folded her arms across her chest.

"You're just scared..." Alfred said in a sing song voice while poking the silver haired girl on her arm. Natalia smacked his hand away and crossed her arms across her chest. "I'm not scared. I just think that we shouldn't do things like that. It's not right."

"Admit it, you're scared." Alfred repeated, smirking.

"I'm not." Natalia stood up and left the boy sitting alone on the bench. The American stood up and ran over to the silver haired girl. "Hey! Come back! I'm just kidding, don't get mad." he said, circling his arms around the girl. Natalia struggled and squirmed away from Alfred's grip. "I'm not mad. I just think you're being childish."

"But don't you want to..."

"No, I don't."

Or maybe I do.

She had been told that there was a handsome gentleman in there. Tall, silver haired, handsome, mysterious... Once she overheard the older girls in the orphanage talking, saying that they had caught a glimpse at him. Said he was the most charming man ever, even if they had only caught a glimpse of him. She was curious, alright, and she also wanted to go and have a look, at the house, at the mysterious man...

"Fine. Fine. If you don't want to then, don't. I won't force you." Alfred said, taking her hands in his and gave each one a small kiss. "Come on, let's go back inside. It's getting cold out here." She nodded and followed him back into the building, not forgetting to steal a glance at the mansion that was sitting quietly on the hill.