CHAPTER 2
Her heart dropped to her stomach, worry filled her. How had this woman known about her daughter? As if reading her mind Miranda spoke again, "as I said, I know more about you than you realize. I need someone young and with potential to truly mold into what I'm looking for. And with the special history that comes along with your lineage, your daughter would be the perfect candidate. As you've probably realized, I am not an ordinary woman, I could sense the power from within you a mile away, and I could surely sense your daughters too." she paused, her smirk taking on a darker edge to it "perhaps your daughter would like to come out and sit with us.", She finished as she turned to look towards the corner of the room. Eleanor's head whipped around, seeing emerald green eyes peeking from a crack in the door at the far edge of the room. With a flick of her wrist the door was quickly shut by an unseen force, Eleanor rising to stand between it and Miranda. Venom filled her voice as she spoke to her, anger in her eyes.
"My daughter has barely learned to talk, let alone be away from me, especially with someone like you." Miranda stood too, her smirk dropping and a more serious look on her face. She took small steps towards Eleanor as she spoke.
"I can promise you, your daughter would be much better off with me, not in some run down shack wasting her powers away for the rest of her life. What difference is there between the things you would teach her and the things I will, if I may ask?"
Eleanor suddenly remembered the boy who had come with Miranda, her eyes flashing towards the door to see him standing there, wringing his hands together as if he was nervous, a pleading look in his eyes as he stared at her. The boy couldn't have been no more than 8, and she was almost certain this was no biological child of Miranda's, but another one of her so-called "apprentices". She wished she could help him, but she had her own to worry about for now. An ache started in the center of her forehead as she could feel a powerful dark aura surrounding Miranda now, the smell of death lightly lingering in the air. How had this woman hid her powers until now?
Feeling the sense of oncoming danger Eleanor quickly raised her hands, Miranda and the boy sliding back a few feet. The door burst open, the cold air billowing into the cabin, the candles near the front windows blowing out. Miranda caught herself and used an almost inhuman strength to step forward.
"There is a difference between doing as mother nature pleases and going against everything it stands for, I know what kind of monster you are! You will not take MY child!" she screamed at Miranda, watching as darkness seemed to fall around the other woman. Eleanor realized Miranda was much stronger than herself and used all her might to push her towards the door once more. There would be no use fighting, she needed to get away and hide. With a heart wrenching scream the boy flew out into the storm, Eleanor feeling guilt in her stomach. The boy did nothing wrong and had no business being in a situation like this. With a yell of rage Miranda followed right behind him, struggling with the force pushing her out. The door seemingly slammed shut on its own and quickly locked, Eleanor dashing to it and putting her hand on the door, muttering a quick concealment spell. To anyone on the outside the cabin would be no more, gone as if it was never there.
She quickly ran to the cabin window, peeking outside. Miranda stood feet away, a smirk on her face as she looked at where the cabin had once stood. The boy slowly unburied himself from a mound of snow and walked up to the woman, angrily kicking the ground and cursing to himself. Eleanor's heart skipped a beat as Miranda seemingly made eye contact with her. She was not supposed to be able to see her right now, to her the field should be empty. The woman outside turned and walked back on the trail she arrived on, the boy stomping after her as the snow slowly glowed orange from the sun setting in the distance. Eleanor hoped they wouldn't return.
A creak sounded through the quiet cabin. Eleanor jumped, her heart still racing from what had just occurred. Quickly fixing her hair and wiping the sweat from her brow she turned to her daughter, the three year old slowly making her way out of their shared room.
"Mama, who was that?" she asked, bringing the bottom of her shirt up to wring in her hands. Putting on a fake smile as she noticed the child's uneasiness Eleanor crouched down to be at level with her, brushing beautiful blonde curls out of her daughter's face as she spoke to her.
"That was no one my sunflower, nothing for you to worry about, she won't be coming back again." as she watched her daughters worry ease up she decided a distraction would be the best pursuit, "why don't you go find a book for mama to read to you before bed? That would be nice, wouldn't it be my sunflower?" Joy filled her childs round face, her eyes lighting up at the thought. Watching her sunflower toddle off to find a book, she took a deep breath and quickly finished off her water, a sick feeling in the pit of her stomach.
She quickly sat down as dots clouded her vision, she had overdone herself. She turned to see her daughter run back up, holding a book that looked very worn down from use. Eleanor smiled as she read the title, "Village of Shadows" looking back up at her in cursive writing. This copy of the book was handwritten by an ancestor decades ago, a birthday gift to one of their children, and had been passed down through generations. The story was a local favorite, some great grandma had written it down to read to her children at night, and it sort of became a family heirloom after that. Scooping her child up she walked into their room, setting the book on the nightstand as she dropped Emmeline onto the bed. The child giggled as she bounced around before settling down. She watched as her mother turned towards their large wooden wardrobe and pulled two nightgowns out, one much smaller than the other.
Reaching her arms up Emmeline waited as her mother slipped her clothing off her and pulled her nightgown over her head, the three year old moving to lay down in the bed as her mother turned to put her own nightgown on herself. She had grown too big for the cot months ago, and was now content sleeping nestled into her mothers side during the cold nights. Tucking herself in beside her child, Eleanor opened the book to the first page, beginning the story. It was about halfway through said book that she looked over and noticed her daughter barely awake, her eyes slowly closing by the second. Making eye contact with her mother Emmeline spoke, her voice groggy with sleep.
"Mama, why is there evil in the world?" Eleanor was surprised at such a deep question coming from a three year old, but knowing how strange and otherworldly her daughter was, it was almost expected.
"Well my sweet sunflower, there must be darkness in this world to show the light."
_
Karl grumbled to himself as he followed Miranda through the gates leading into the village. His ass was sore from being thrown 10 feet out of the cabin and his feet were frozen from the cold. He didn't see why Miranda wanted that brat anyway, she had him. But she had said something about needing options, considering all her experiments so far had mutated into some weird creatures she referred to as Lycans. Plus apparently the kid already had powers, so maybe it would take the effects of the Cadou better than the average person. He didn't know, and also didn't care. As long as that kid went before him it didn't matter, less chance of him turning into one of those freaks when it was his turn to have the Cadou implanted. The more Miranda experimented the better she'd get at making this thing successful. Miranda had told him it would be some time before he had one, she wanted to strengthen him first, whatever that meant.
It was only a year ago that she had shown up at his family home, talking to his father in his study about taking Karl away as an apprentice, spilling all kinds of lies about a great education and quantities of treasures, his father quickly agreeing. He didn't care for Karl much as a son and more so as the person who would one day own the family factory, so anyway to make him more successful was a win in his eyes. His mother was saddened but relieved at no longer having a child to take care of, she had originally gotten with his father for money, not all the other things that usually came along with marriage, like love and children. He didn't mind though, it made him mature for his age. Within weeks of him being with Miranda she had started referring to herself as his mother, at first he had thought of it as weird, and then quickly came to terms with it. She really did act as more of a mother than his real one ever did, caring for him daily, feeding him and showing him affection, whatever he wanted, he got. He'd call her whatever she wanted as long as she kept it up.
He squinted his eyes to keep track of Miranda in the growing darkness, it was getting late out and he knew those creatures she created would soon be hunting through the forest. Most of them were locked up under the castle but a few had slipped out at some point. They slowly made their way through the forest and to a small passageway, through the gates and into the large castle that looked over the village. Miranda had told him that the castle had once belonged to a noble family many years ago, but they had left it years before the great war. They quickly made their way inside the overly large estate, Karl separating to go to his room, knowing Miranda was most likely going to the study to write down the day's events in her journal. She was constantly making notes of everything, as if every day was an experiment. Karl saw no point in the whole thing. He quickly changed out of his cold wet clothes and crawled into his bed, relishing in the warmth his room had, his own fireplace crackling in the corner, it wasn't long before sleep overtook him.
_
Eleanor woke with a jump, sweating through her nightgown. Her sleep had been plagued by nightmares, Miranda coming for her child and darkness falling upon the earth. Feeling beside her, her heart sinking as she realized Emmeline was gone. She quickly pushed the comforter off and leapt up, ripping the bedroom door open. Her daughter jumped from her spot on the floor where she had been playing with her dolls. Eleanor took a deep breath and calmed herself before she scared her daughter further.
"Oh baby you scared me, I thought you had disappeared." The three year old ran up to hug her mothers leg, smiling up at her.
"No mama, I was just playing with my dolls."
"I can see that now my sunflower, are you hungry?"
Eleanor smiled as her daughter enthusiastically shook her head, curls bouncing in the air. Moving towards the fireplace she started the fire back up by throwing in a small piece of wood, knowing she didn't need much to make the eggs she planned on cooking. They spent that day content in themselves, Eleanor's fears of Miranda slowly dwindling. It was the next morning when she took the concealment spell off the cabin, not noticing a crow watching for a second from a nearby tree before it flew off.
_
It was probably a week after their meeting with the witch that Karl realized Miranda had more to her plan than he originally thought. The townspeople gathered around at the church for their usual prayers and worship, the newly sick coming to be blessed and healed by the great Mother Miranda. A woman came up to Miranda, eyes rimmed red from crying. Her son had disappeared the night before, she had no idea if the creatures had taken him or not. She wanted to know if Mother Miranda could answer her prayers in finding the young man. Karl knew exactly who the woman was whining about, he had helped Miranda lure the bastard into the lab just last night, it was there that she had implanted the Cadou in him and by the morning light he was a Lycan, just like the rest of the experiments. Miranda faked pity to the woman, rubbing her back to console her, and then pretended to have a thoughtful look on her face.
It was then that she sat them all down and began her story, her voice full of fright of the things that had apparently transpired the night before. She told them she had traveled out of the village to extend an olive branch to the woman who lived deep in the woods. And upon arriving at said women's cabin she had found her creating one of the creatures of the night with her wicked powers, using a man that just so happened to fit a description of the woman's son to do so. The crowd gasped as the woman's sobs filled the air over her lost child, her husband's eyes filling with rage. Some of the villagers had concern on their faces. The healer in the forest was doing all of this?
Miranda gave Karl a smirk as he realized what she was doing. She told the villagers she had tried to stop the "witch", but was of no use, and had run back to the village in fear. Quickly word spread around and within the hour a hunting party had gathered in front of the church, men toting their guns around as they angrily argued amongst each other on the best way to take down the witch. Too many young men and women had gone missing recently and they all believed it was the witches doing. Miranda stood by, giving her two cents to a few nearby men until they had the perfect plan they were convinced they constructed on their own. Gathering up they were on their way, Karl and Miranda slowly trailing behind.
