Chapter 14:
As she processed his worded threat, Charlotte made an instinctual move to step back but instead gasped openly as she felt herself already up against the wall behind her. There was nowhere she could go.
Moving his hand up from her throat, the Horseman gripped Charlotte by the chin, forcing her to look directly at him while he slowly allowed his eyes to trace over every little detail about her face.
With a long, gloved finger, he stroked Charlotte's fair cheek all the way down to her jawbone. "So weich…" he began, pausing only for a moment as his grip on Charlotte's chin tightened before he ran his thumb across her full, ripe lips. "So glätten…"
Charlotte averted her gaze, frowning at the unwanted attention while turning her head away from the Horseman's touch.
But with just a snap of his wrist, he forcefully pulled it back. "Mine."The possessive declaration left no time nor room for argument.
As though proving his claim, with a low growl the Horseman dropped his hand from her face and seized Charlotte about her waist, pulling her up against him. When she started resisting, he entwined a hand in her hair effectively anchoring her head so that his lips could come crashing down on hers.
His kiss was savagely hard and demanding.
Poor Charlotte, who was not use to such a display of male dominance, brought her shackled hands up and began pushing against the Horseman's firm and armored chest. But when he refused to be budged, she groaned in dismay against his mouth which only seemed to excite the Horseman further.
Then to Charlotte's complete horror, his hands began roaming about her body, touching her-feeling her- in ways no other man has ever touched before. In ways no man should be touching in the first place unless she was married to him. Anger at this brutish treatment surged through Charlotte. So while the Horseman kept up his assault upon her mouth, she retaliated in the only way she now could, by catching his bottom lip between her teeth and biting hard.
At once, the Horseman let out a mighty hiss before he jerked back in pain.
Fixing his electrifying eyes upon the young woman in chains before him he demanded softly, "Am I too gentle with you?" His words were as cold as the winter's thickest ice, "Do you maybe like it rougher? I would've thought not, but by the way you bite and slap at me…"
"There is nothing that I like about you!" Charlotte cried, interrupting the Horseman's discourse. "You're nothing but a crude rutting, beast." She paused for a second to pull against the Horseman's hold on her person, rattling her chains, "Now let me go!"
The Horseman threw his dark head back and laughed. Its sound echoed off the stone walls, sending fresh chills right down Charlotte's spine. When he turned his gaze back onto the young woman he held, he dropped his arms from about her waist and took a step back. Then without breaking the eye contact between them, he purposefully reached down to a spot on his belt. As he pulled his hand back up a moment later, hanging off his pointer finger was a key.
Charlotte eyed the key for a few seconds before she glanced momentarily down on the shackles clasped about her wrists; no doubt that was the key to unlock the metal cuffs restraining her. When she met the Horseman's gaze once more, it was as though he could already read her thoughts.
"You want this, meine kleinfüchsin?" he asked with a smile far too charming to fit the bleak circumstance, "Well then, come and take it." He challenged as he deliberately slid the key into the waistline of his black trousers.
Charlotte inhaled a steadying breath of air as she eyed where the top of the key was now showing. Her cheeks turned a soft crimson that showed both her mortification and anger.
So that was how he wanted to play things. If she wanted to get that key, she'd have to confront the Horseman physically.
The thought made Charlotte grit her teeth with disgust. "However..." the woman thought to herself, "If that's what it'll take-touching him and letting him get close to me-so be it."
He'd quickly discover that she's no fearful maid, even when in a compromising situation such as this. When Charlotte finally raised her eyes back up to the Horseman, he was already moving in once more.
The Horseman's strong, hard lips slanted themselves over hers as he used his larger frame to press her firmly back into the wall. His sharpened teeth lightly scraped over her mouth, causing her to shift uncomfortably against his form. But while she allowed the Horseman to occupy himself with reclaiming her mouth, her hand moved towards him- towards the key.
But right as her fingers grazed the smooth top of the shapely piece of metal, the Horseman immediately captured her hand and had it roughly twisted behind her. Then he proceeded by grabbing her other arm and easily forced it behind her like the first as he pulled Charlotte off the wall as far as her chains would allow and tightly ensnared her within his unbreakable hold.
Understanding what had just happened, Charlotte screamed into his mouth at the unfairness of it all. The Horseman, now chuckling, pulled back. A strange, excited light now gleamed in his eyes. And Charlotte knew right then that he had just been toying with her.
"Did you really think that you'd get the key so easily, my beautiful pet?" he asked.
Furious, Charlotte shook her head at his little game and when his face started lowering itself back down for another kiss, somewhere deep within her, an instinctual feminine reflex responded. Her knee jerked up and connected roughly with a rather sensitive part on the Horseman's body. He grunted in pain, dropping his arms from around her and stumbled back a couple, surprised steps. He took a long moment to recover and when he finally did, his infamous anger had once again returned for it was unmistakably displayed across his face.
With a slow shake of his head, the Horseman menacingly stalked back towards her.
"Don't touch me, you snake!" she shouted at him, reading his intentions.
"A snake, am I?" the man returned. His dark head softly inclined itself to the side as he reached out and violently grasped Charlotte by her shoulders. With great force, he threw the young woman back into the wall, earning him an emitted cry of pain while he continued holding her steady, "You want to see how snake-like I can be?" he threw back.
The words came out as a deep growl and before Charlotte could register what exactly he was suggesting, she felt his fingers from one hand slide beneath her gown's left sleeve while he used his other hand to pin her neck back against the stone wall. With a loud snarl, the Horseman used his mouth and maliciously attacked Charlotte's exposed neck biting, nipping. She could even feel with revulsion his tongue tasting her skin.
Then with a quick jerk of his hand, there was a loud ripping sound throughout the room, and Charlotte screamed softly as she felt the left shoulder of her gown get torn away, completely revealing now her shoulder to the Horseman's cruel assault. He trailed his rough kisses all the way down her neck before placing a single one right on top of her collar bone and then stopped.
When Charlotte thought he was finally done, she felt him move his mouth till it hovered right above the rounded curve of her shoulder.
"Wha…" she started to ask but froze when she felt his teeth break and sink deep into her skin. Charlotte's body jerked at the fierce pain and she screamed loudly in response but the Horseman continued keeping her secured.
The taste of her hot, tangy blood filling his mouth the moment his teeth broke through her soft skin was enough to drive the Horseman mad. He relished in the wonderful flavor of the squirming woman he was holding for a few seconds longer before he pulled his mouth away from Charlotte's punctured flesh.
Feeling her knees go weak, not from the loss of blood but from the overwhelming situation, Charlotte leaned back and directed all of her weight against the stone wall behind her and to her surprise, the Horseman finally allowed her release.
He stepped away from the young woman on the wall and licked his pale lips tinted crimson by her blood as he eyed the damaged he had done with satisfaction.
Raising a hand up, Charlotte covered the bloody patch on her shoulder before she let herself slide down the wall and collapse onto her knees. When she looked over at the bite mark and felt the throbbing sting of it, she understood its purpose. She had been branded-it was the Horseman's own way of personally labeling her as his property. As Charlotte slowly raised her eyes up to the Horseman, the look on his face confirmed her thoughts.
"You are mine, Charlotte. Don't ever forget that." He declared before he turned on his heel and started walking away. When he reached the doorway on the other side of the room, he stopped for a second and added, "... As fun as this was...I really hope that I don't have to teach this lesson to you again, my dear. Because next time I do...there will be no stopping until I've had my complete fill."
Charlotte gasped at his message and without even feeling it, had a single tear fall from her eyes. Then without another word, the Horseman rounded a corner and disappeared from the cellar, leaving Charlotte all alone in the dim, ghastly room.
She listened as his heavy footsteps made their way back up the winding stairs but once he had reached the top, there was after the sound of doors slamming shut before everything went silent.
Sniffing softly, Charlotte shook her tousled head before she lightly bit down on her own lower lip in thought. She cringed in immediate response. Even under the slightest pressure, her lips were sore- unmistakably bruised by the Horseman's harsh advances.
Then, as Charlotte let her gaze travel about the dimly lit chamber, memorizing every shadow, crack, and stain that had painted itself on the walls and floor, she felt her insides run cold with an abrupt hatred as something inside her finally snapped. Pulling herself up off the ground, Charlotte stepped as far away from the wall as her chains would allow her to go before she turned her head upwards towards the ceiling and started yelling.
"Damn you, Horseman!" she screamed out loud before she began thrashing hard against the metal cuffs securing her in place.
Whether or not the Horseman could hear her cries, Charlotte kept up the effort of making herself be heard. Within the hour, her throat would be raw and by the time the second hour even started, Charlotte would've lost her voice.
Panting hard and well on the verge of tears, Charlotte released one final scream into the air, "Why won't you just kill me? " she cried out before she collapsed to the ground on her knees. Raising both chained hands up from her side, Charlotte covered her face in defeat. "You've already condemned me to my own tomb…." She wept into her hands, her shoulders shaking with each sob.
Why did this happen to her? What had she done to deserve this?
Feeling the full weight of her situation hit her at once was just too much for Charlotte to bear. Her corset was suddenly feeling too tight, her head throbbing, and the gifted necklace that she was wearing about her neck felt like it was slowly strangling the very breath from her body.
Lowering one hand from her face, Charlotte retrieved the crystal cross that was hanging underneath the bodice of her gown and while gripping the beautiful ornament tightly in her fist, she tugged hard and snapped the silver chain from her neck. The pain in her temples only intensified the moment she had ripped the necklace away, and along with that the chamber and all in it started to spin. Feeling weak and lightheaded, Charlotte raised her eyes up to the ceiling once more,
"God…somebody...anybody..." she whispered, her voice hoarse from earlier, "….help me." She pleaded. The murkiness of the chamber couldn't compare itself to the darkness that quickly engulfed Charlotte as her eyes rolled into the back of her head and she fell unforgivably to the ground. The woman-with her spirit as broken as the crystal cross necklace that now laid forgotten in her hand-was unconscious the moment her head landed on the cold, stone floor and rolled limply to side.
German Translations (in order)
So weich..
=So soft..
So glätten…
=So smooth...
meine kleinfüchsin
= My little vixen