Chapter VII – Scarlet beginnings
Eve POV
My eyes, from behind my veil seemed like they were being pulled by Alexander's forlorn emerald gaze. Something inside me made me wish to comfort him and pet those black locks of his.
Shrugging these confusing thoughts out of my mind, I look away. (Men are not to be trusted. This is my golden rule, which I have no intention of breaking.) Small hands wrapped themselves around my dress.
Looking down, I smiled unconsciously at my younger sister that was now nuzzled to my chest. As I was so distracted nursing her closer to my breast, I did not notice him approach me to look at her.
A small nostalgic smile appeared on his lips. He looked at me and her as if he had seen this scene before and it brought him pain to recall it: "Is she yours?"-he asked curiously.
My head turned in confusion: "My what?" Alexander looked up, trying to search for my gaze from behind the veil but as it was so opaque, he gave up and crossed his arms in front of him: "Your daughter…Is she?"
If I weren't a mute, I would surely gasp at his insinuation. Yet, what he asked me only brought me pain due to the impossibility of such a notion. "That would be impossible..."-I wrote.
He looked at me and then to Adam in confusion: "And why would that be?" My head turned towards my supposedly half-brother who just looked away with a pained look on his face. (So, men too, huh? I see that father did not stop at nothing to make sure that his lineage ended with each one of us.)
One of my burnt hands fell from underneath Charlotte and touched where my womb once stood, and a mark now existed in its place: "…I am barren. Father made us like that. One of the first things he took from us."
Heads turned and gasps resounded in the room. The remaining house occupants stared at me, some with pity and others with curiosity. Honestly, I could care less about what they thought of me.
Adam looked at me and offered me a sad smile: "So you too, huh?" I turned my head towards him and shifted on the spot: "Does it matter? It's done." As I was going to turn my back on them to find my room, I heard Adam ask: "Do you recall it?"
I stopped on my tracks and my grip tightened on my sister: "It's my first memory. One of the worst ones." And the moment I finished these words I remembered the day I came to existence into this world.
Flashback
Darkness surrounded me. It was cold, oh so cold. Yet, I enjoyed it. It was peaceful, peace like I haven't felt in a while. Then, a searing sensation overtook my chest and brought me out of my deep sleep. I tried to sit up, but I realized I was restrained to this cold surface I laid on. I opened my eyes, releasing a screech of pain: "AGH!"
My eyes opened for the first time. Well, at least it was the only thing I remembered. There were a bunch of red hooded people surrounding me. They were chanting in a language oddly familiar to me.
I laid on a stone altar with chains restraining my wrists and ankles. My body was so small, frail, and bare as the day I came upon this world. (…When was that? I don't seem to remember it. In fact, I don't seem to remember anything.)
Bruises littered my pale skin, and I could see blood red locks falling down my breasts which offered me some kind of coverage. I was scared: "W-what-?"-my voice came out crooked and it seemed like it hurt to speak.
Nevertheless, I tried once more: "W-what ar-re you doin-ng to m-me?!" The chanting increased in speed and volume, making me wince from the sound. "P-please sto-op…" The crimson crowd parted at my feet where a dark figure surrounded by ebony smoke appeared.
He had red curved horns, as red as his sleeked back hair. I didn't know who this man was, but he made me shiver down to my bones. His smirk terrified me. (What was he going to do to me?)
His tall figure neared my legs and then he walked around me and stopped at my middle: "Let's see what you will become. Will you be a banshee or perhaps a vengeful spirit?"
An outreached dark claw peeked out from his black cloak and he caressed my stomach making me wince. The demon smirked, bit his finger, and drew an odd symbol on my lower stomach.
The moment his vile blood touched my skin my stomach churned, and a burning sensation ran across my body: "Ahhh! Stop it, please!" And when I thought it couldn't get any worst, he looked at me and shoved his hand through my stomach, at the center of the symbol, making me wail in agony: "AGHHHHHHHHHHHH!"
The pain was excruciating, most especially because he was pulling something out of me. Whatever it was, I just begged for it to stop. Then he delved another of his hands inside me and I felt him slash something. I writhed in my place. "GAH…!"
He finally pulled something out and my wound miraculously healed into a scar. My extremely sweaty self looked at his hand, where what seemed like my destroyed womb laid.
Tears ran down my face. I couldn't be a mother anymore and something told me that was a great wish of mine. He looked at it with morbid curiosity and turned his back on me.
In front of him laid a stone pedestal with a bowl. He laid the organ inside it and muttered some chants. Out of nowhere, I felt a pinch around my throat and then a huge portal appeared in front of us.
Long claws pulled it apart and the hooded creatures gasped at what was happening. The red-horned demon opened his arms widely and laughed maniacally: "She's a witch?! Wonderful!"
My eyes gasped at the creature reaching out to me from the portal. It seemed like an enormous raven, with some of his bones bare and black goo oozing out of his wounds. He had many chains wrapped around his talons.
He was cawing in anguish, reaching out for me. If it were another person, they would be terrified at the sight, yet I felt only pity for this poor creature. My hand opened towards him and he finally came out of the portal, letting a rain of black goo ran down my body.
The goo printed some Celtic runes on my wrists and covered my bare body with a black summer dress. He cawed one last time and turned into a smaller version of himself, laying inside a silver cage.
Dark spots started to overtake my vision once more and the last thing I heard was my name: "Welcome to the family…Eve." And I passed out once more.
Flashback End
That was the first time I met Edgar, my raven. A witch always has a demon familiar and he was the only creature I could trust for a while. Until I met my sisters. My life revolved around them. (I wonder how they are now? I hope Beth is taking care of the little ones.)
Noticing the eyes upon me, I turned my back on them and entered one of the corridors: "I'll find our room, on my own." All it mattered was Charlotte's safety, nothing more. "Wait!"-I heard my supposedly half-brother call, but I paid him no mind. He was a man after all…
Alex POV
Seeing the retreating figure of our new companion, I felt some deep nostalgia while I saw her nuzzle affectionately her sister to her chest. Evelyn was also extremely caring towards the orphans. She loved children and I know she would have been a great mother.
(Oh, my love, if only you were still here with me.) And as if my mood couldn't get any worse, this bloody wanker threatened me because I smell like his "sister". Just remembering him slamming down the door made me fume.
Flashback
It was time for tea, and I was lounging on a deep blue velvet armchair of our common living room, sipping slowly on my freshly brewed Earl Grey when I heard something crash inside the room.
Most of my companions were either hunting or in their rooms but I saw Ben and EJ enter the room armed up to their teeth: "What was that?!"-shouted Ben that kept glitching.
I shushed them and made the Vorpal Blade appear. They nodded and gave me space to inspect the intruder. The intruder had fallen behind the larger couch, so I tiptoed towards it with my weapon bared.
Wherever it was they were going to die. I won't let them hurt my friends. In these last years I have been growing closer to the remaining pastas. Not all of them, of course. There are some of them that get on my nerves like Offenderman and Jason the Toymaker.
They reminded me too much of that bastard. The girls, well, at first, they surprised me in ways never seen before. Their Independence and ability to stand against their foes made me think of Evelyn. She would have a better life in this century, and I believe she would become great friends with the girls here, especially Sally and Lazari.
I enjoyed their company very much, they had great taste in tea and loved to make small tea parties. Sometimes, when everyone was out, and they were left unattended I would spend my time reading or playing tag with them. Oh, the nostalgia…
Where was I? Oh right! The intruder. The moment I was going to move the couch, a red-haired male jumped at me with gleaming red eyes and bared teeth. Caught out of surprise, he managed to pin me to the ground: "You bastard! Where is she?!"
I was able to keep a distance between us with my knife and so I bashed it in his direction, making him jump back: "What in the bloody hell are you doing?! You have no right to come into our house and do this!"-I screamed.
The other pastas were going to intervene, but I stopped them: "No. I will take care of this. Call Slender."-Ben nodded and glitched away while EJ walked effortlessly through the main door.
Then I gave all my attention to the male in front of me, he had red shoulder length locks and his eyes were gleaming red in fury. I could see shadows wrapping around him as he sneered at me with knives in between of his fingers: "I will not ask again. Where is my sister?!"
(His sister? How should I know?! I never met this bloke before!) We circled the room and I asked: "I don't know who you are talking about. Never saw your sister before." He screeched: "LIES! Then why do you reek of her?! What have you done to her?!"
The frustration and despair were apparent in his eyes. Seeing him like that made me down my guard. I once had been like that. He really thought I had harmed his sister. Well, I do not kill women or children, so he must be mistaking me by someone else.
"I do not know where she is, because I do not know who you are talking about! My victims were never children or women."-I tried to reason with him but I knew there would be no reasoning with him. He was too blind by rage.
I readied myself to dodge his knife swings when I finally saw the red in his eyes switching to stormy grey. The same hue as...hers. They made me falter and as he was going to attack me, black long tendrils separated and barred us against opposite walls.
As I was going to say something, I saw a smaller figure peeking out from behind Slender. They were downing a long black dress with a long opaque dark veil covering their face. However, what surprised me the most was the little spot of color in her arms.
It was a sleeping young girl with a green nightgown peeking out from underneath the black shawl wrapped around her. She was sleeping peacefully even though she was surrounded by murderers.
Then they approached us and from what I saw from the corner of my eye, the intruder also faltered in their movements. Slender saw this and placed us back on the floor. It seemed like we were in a daze as we walked towards the figure and out reached our hands to greet the new figure.
Letters made out of shadow appeared above their head as they presented themselves. (I see so her name's Eve and it seems like she's a mute.) Her small burned hand reached out for us but quickly she took it back. Then I just watched her dismissive answers towards the intruder which was now next to me.
She did not trust us. Hmph, can't blame her. I wouldn't trust us, either. I took the time to analyse her. Where did she come from? How she found that child that seemed to trust her so blindly? Who was she and more importantly, why did Slender took them in?
Questions that would probably remain unanswered. However it seemed that the intruder voiced my exact concerns whereas I stood quiet. The problem is he didn't realize with each flinch and shiver, he was making her nervous. The last straw was when he reached for her and she slapped his hand away and just took off.
Flashback end
I glared at him and facepalmed: "Nice going, knobhead. I am sure she totally trusts you by now." With the girl long gone in the dark corridors of the mansion, it was like he finally remembered what we were doing before. "What did you call me, git?"-he drew his knifes once more as I smirked and retook a battling stance.
"Well, well don't tell me that besides being a knobhead, you're also bloody daft? What a mix!"-I enjoyed seeing him pissed off. Anything to make me forget of his similarity with Evelyn, my poor Evie. "That's it! You're going down!"-as he started rushing towards me, Slender grabbed us with his tentacles, again and sat us on two armchairs next to each other.
"Didn't I told you to stop with this? I rather not rebuild the mansion, a third time this week. There's only so much my tentacles can do. Now, who will be the kind soul to tell me what happened here?"-Slender said with a cross of his arms.
I looked at the red haired lad and started: "He broke into our house and attacked me with no reason or whatsoever!" My enemy grasped at the tentacles and started trashing: "No reason?! I will show you reason!" Slender shook him a bit to calm him down and asked: "Mr...?"
He glared at us and said: "My old man named me Adam, but call me Everett. My real name is Everett Whitlock." At the mention of his name, my eyes opened abruptly and I felt myself turn pale: "D-did yo-u s-say, Whitlock?"
He stared at me and I saw the confusion on his face: "...Yes. That's my family name. Why so surprised?" I started scratching my neck and my scalp as I tried to connect the dots. Evelynn had a twin brother named Everett Whitlock, could it be him? But that is impossible! He disappeared centuries ago, but he is here in front of me.
He's a spitting image of her in appearance. However, unlike her he is brash and impulsive. Evie was blunt but not like this. I need to know if it is really him. What if it is really him?! How can I tell him that the sister he is looking for was murdered? I shake my head. No, he deserves to know.
"Was your sister's name Evelynn?"-deep inside me I wished I was wrong and this was all a big coincidence. Everett stood up and I saw his rage overtake him once more: "So you do know her! You bastard, where is she? Where is Evie?"
I didn't know what to tell him. After all I've been there where he was, in fact I still felt the exact same after all these years. The only thing I could offer him was the truth and if he wanted to kill me at the end of it, so be it. Life without her is not worth living anyway.
It's been so long yet the words were hard to ennunciate regardless. My chin fell as I let my fringe fall down my eyes, as if to hide my shame: "...S-she died, many years ago. I am so sorry."
Looking up was as if I saw his whole world crumble. His eyes seemed void of emotion as small black tears ran down his face. He looked into his hands which were shaking and clenched his fists. I knew what was going through his mind. It probably mirrored my own.
Yet instead of wallowing in self pity as I once did, his eyes turned into slits and his fists grasped into my collar shirt: "What have you done to her?! You are lying, lies!" I felt Slender come from my right to stop the conflict but I stopped him with my hand. I had to take consequence for my actions.
"I will tell you everything, as you deserve to know."-he released me slowly and nodded skeptically. "Talk, now!"-I sat on the long forgotten armchair and I told him all about what happened, leaving the part of what I felt for his sister unknown. I didn't deserve to be associated to her.
An hour later...
After telling him all about my past and rambling many times about how flawed the mental health institutes were back then, he just stood there gobsmacked and yet at the same time he had this sad aura as if he knew something like that had happened. Must be a twins' thing.
Meanwhile I had removed my dark blue baggy coat and was walking back and forth from the nerves. Then when I was going to explain about her funeral, he halted me with his hand and stared at me with a sad smile: "You loved her. Did you not?...In fact, I think you still do. I am glad Evie had people who cared for her this much."
His sudden calmeness disturbed me deeply, after his agressive past behaviour, which made me extremely pissed: "How can you be this calm?! I have just told you what happened to her and about my part in her demise and yet you act like I have just told you a fairytale?!"-I was the one angry now. I will not let anyone mock her fate. NO ONE!
He stood up and gave a small chuckle: "Oh, I still hate you. Don't worry about that. Yet, I will not punish you because you cared for my sister when I was not there and she would probably haunt me if she knew I mistreated you in any kind of way. But I have a question."-now he was the one to stand up as he pondered with his hand on his chin: "What is it?"
Everett stared at me and asked: "Did you ever... found her corpse?" I shook my head slowly and saw a misture of hope and despair in his gaze. "Now, it's my time to reveal something. Her scent was not just on you and it was fresh." Releasing the air I was holding till now, I felt lost: "Are you saying what I think you are saying?"
Looking into the dark corridors of the mansion, he whispered: "She is still alive..."
Chapter VII-END