Hellraiser: Unleashed. An Alternate Hellraiser 3 Story
"…But his doom -John Milton, 'Paradise Lost'
Reserv'd him to more wrath; for now the thought
Both of lost happiness and lasting pain
Torments him; round he throws his baleful eyes
That witness'd huge affliction and dismay
Mixt with obdurate pride and stedfast hate:…"
Nadine Jones is the only character I own; the rest belong to the creative genius that is Clive Barker. As stated above, 'Paradise Lost' belongs to John Milton. Some parts of this fic will be familiar to anyone who read my other HR fic, but I can promise this one will be that much lighter. Purely for entertainment purposes-no copyright infringement intended.
A special thank you goes out to laura101 for her kindness and support. And for being an 'Elliot-lover' like me!
PROLOGUE, PART 1-NADINE
INDIA, 1920-21
Nadine Jones had a reputation. And not a very good one, either. She had lost her husband a little over two years ago, in the Great War, but had had no shortage of willing men to share her bed since then.
It was her own fault. And yet, it wasn't. She was desperately lonely, and, by her own admission, starved of affection. She, however, never seemed to get affection. Because of the darkness in her, the part of her that welcomed pain with open arms.
Really, it was all down to the monstrous bastard she'd had the misfortune of wedding. Major James Winters had died a hero, but people knew. Knew that he had been an alcoholic brute who'd had no qualms about beating his own wife. The people who had tutted and shook their heads when she had insisted on being referred to by her maiden name almost immediately after becoming a widow, were the same people who had so often had to drag her husband away from her. The cuts and bruises had eventually faded, but her hatred of him never had.
Heaven help her (and she knew damn well nobody up there ever would), but she had felt so much joy and relief when she found out he'd died. She was free, at last.
Except she wasn't.
She was a damned soul, a slave to her own appetites, appetites her husband had fed. Perhaps it wasn't quite true that she welcomed the pain-but it was all she'd come to expect.
And then, she met Elliot.
Captain Elliot Spenser-polite, respectful, charming, compassionate...and dark.
So dark.
James had been stationed in India at the time of his death, and Nadine had stayed, finding a job as a seamstress. The pay was terrible, but she loved the country, and as a 'war widow', the men who had survived that awful time had been kind to her.
Some of them kinder than others.
She'd met Elliot at a bar, and they'd hit it off right away. She knew men were drawn to her beauty-with her long, red hair, hourglass figure, smoky voice and piercing green eyes, she'd always had plenty of eager suitors-but from the very beginning, she'd felt there was something different about Elliot. For one, he wasn't into all that idiotic macho posturing like some of the other soldiers were-and he certainly didn't give a damn about what anyone thought of him. However, she also knew that the war had affected him deeply, left him feeling guilty that he had survived, and angry with God for deserting him and the brave men who had died, some under his command.
Elliot had propositioned her that first time, and she might have said yes, except...she still didn't quite understand why, really. She'd felt an immediate attraction to Elliot upon meeting him-he was startlingly handsome, with his pale blue eyes, and gentle smile, not to mention that wickedly mischievous air that he had.
But, under all that, Nadine sensed a real, conscious darkness, a destructive nature. They said eyes were the windows to the soul, and she could see right into Elliot's.
And they scared her-mostly because she thought she could see a reflection of her own soul in there.
They'd become friends for awhile, until Nadine, as often happened, had felt her own darkness rising, and had provoked Elliot into losing his temper. Worse, she had provoked him into hitting her. He'd seemed genuinely horrified, and had apologized profusely, until she'd expressed her desire for him, and he'd practically dragged her back to his bunker, where she'd tied him to his own cot and cut him up with his very own knife. Actions that had culminated in raw, animal sex.
And he had loved every minute of it.
She had proven her point-that even gentlemen were beasts, that no matter how polite and respectful they were, they were only out for one thing.
And then, point well proven, three months into their 'relationship'-was that an accurate term?-Nadine realized that, without even knowing it, she had broken her one cardinal rule:
Never fall in love.
She hadn't even realized she'd been falling, if she was perfectly honest. Elliot could be as brutal as James had been, but not in the same way. She was often left with cuts and bruises, but Elliot hurt her not only because it gave him pleasure, but to give her pleasure as well.
And it did.
But that darkness was only one side to Elliot-he could also be funny, and kind. And yes, a gentleman. In bed, he was a demon, but otherwise...he made her laugh, made her feel good about herself. And no man had ever done that.
To his men, he was slightly eccentric. But decent.
To his superiors, he was insane. And dangerous.
To Nadine, he was simply...Elliot.
She had loved him, without ever meaning to. However, she didn't for one second believe that he had, or would, ever love her. Elliot didn't seem to be capable of loving anything, or anyone.
Least of all himself.
They had been together about a year when he disappeared. It had started innocently enough, when Elliot acquired a mysterious puzzle box, a 'gateway to unknown pleasures', as he'd described it. Nadine had scoffed at the very notion, until he'd put it in her hands, and terror had gripped her.
It was just a box....but it wasn't. Just as she'd sensed the darkness in Elliot, she'd sensed the very real evil inside that box.
She'd told Elliot not to open it, that she was afraid for him, but he'd just laughed, told her he had to open it.
He had to know.
The very next day, she'd left him alone with the thing (oh, how she deeply regretted doing that), and when she'd returned some hours later, Elliot was simply...gone. His clothes and belongings were still in the bunker, but Elliot himself had vanished into thin air. At least, that's how it had seemed, until Nadine found a bloody scrap of his shirt, and she'd felt that terror grip her once again. The box was gone, and Nadine, at that exact moment, knew that Elliot was dead, and she felt her heart split in two.
She didn't quite know how a box could kill someone, but instinctively, she knew it had killed the man she loved.
And the father of her unborn child.
And she'd never told him...
(This is really nothing more than a quick re-introduction to Nadine-with a twist. In this story, she DID love Elliot, and this will be much more romantic than my previous fic-which I haven't finished yet, but WILL return to. Promise. Hope you enjoyed!)