On the Edge of the Abyss: The Outcasts: A Shared Life, A Shared Love
Chapter 4 – Angels in Our Midst
"The ultimate choice for a man, in as much as he is given to transcend himself, is to create or destroy, to love or to hate." Erich Fromm
Adam, as the Creature now called himself, woke from sleep.
He lay in the bracken of the forest, sheltering under a large treat as a stream nearby babbled soothingly.
He looked about. The girl was near. She had traveled with him for the day and had stayed the night. He could not understand why she had remained. Everyone was repulsed by his appearance, everyone except DeLacey who was blind and Elizabeth who had found him extraordinary. Now this girl had come into his life.
They had walked together until sundown. She had fallen a few meters behind and when he stopped, she had literally collapsed forward. She was cool to the touch when he had dropped down, making sure she yet lived. He had walked a mile to the nearest home and found laundry that had been put on the line to dry after the storms had passed. He had taken a blanket and a dress for her. He returned to find she had not even stirred.
He had wrapped the blanket about her. He had called her Angel, his angel. He gently set her under the tree to keep her safe until he returned. He had caught a hare and cooked it on a small fire. He had gently woken her and pressed a leaf full of water to her parched lips. She had drank as she leaned on his strong arm, her eyes not full of anger or hatred, but trust and understanding. He then broke apart bits of the meat and fed it to her as though she were a small child. She tolerated his gentle caring of her and then rose weakly to her feet. She walked away, into the trees. He watched her, wondering if she were now abandoning him, but she ducked behind a tree.
She returned moments later, her hands wet and cool from the stream as she wrapped the blanket more about her and she laid down. She was exhausted and sleep came quickly. Adam ate his share of the meal, watching her as she curled about herself, trying to stay as warm as possible. Adam had wanted to be near to her, to comfort her as he watched tears drop from her eyes down her cheeks as she remembered the trauma of the day. His poor angel had suffered and he wanted to help her, but he had no idea how. He had never truly learned how to interact with a female or even how to comfort another soul, though he longed for it himself.
He had bedded down near her, but far enough away so he would not scare her if she woke and he was too close for comfort. He had lain awake for a time, watching her. Even with tousled hair, blood stains, and tear tracks on her face, she was still beautiful in the dying light of his small fire.
He vowed then he would protect her. If she wished to return to her people he would allow her to do so, unreservedly, but he also wanted her to stay. He liked having someone near. She had not spoken much after he had said his name. Perhaps she had nothing to speak of, but her voice, even hoarse from weeping was one of the most beautiful sounds he had ever heard. He wanted more of it, but in good time. When she was ready to speak more, he would be glad of it.
Even now, in the early morning, the girl was hauntingly beautiful. She had long hair that was thick and in every direction. He could see her breathing as she lay on her side, wrapped in the blanket like a large maggot. He reached an arm out and tenderly touched the hair. She did not wake, and instead made a sound, almost of pleasure.
He smiled a little and then moved to go find them some food to eat. The girl needed her strength to keep up with him, though it appeared the day would be warmer and sunny.
He returned to find her poking the coals of the small fire he had had. He smiled and squatted down, placing a few sticks on the coals to catch into flame. He then roasted two squirrels he had caught, gutted, and skinned.
He sat back, watching her as she sat, warming her hands. He had not noticed the chill. After walking near the pole, barefooted and with light clothing, her hardly noticed the cool of the morning. However, she likely was freezing.
He gently lifted a hand and adjusted the blanket about her shoulder in a gentle gesture. She looked at him startled, but accepted the simple kindness before turning back to heat her limbs.
After an hour he served her one of the squirrels. She ate the meat hungrily and he smiled as she ate it off the stick he had adhered it to in order to cook it. She nibbled the flesh from bones, not caring that it was hot. She apparently was hungry. A good sign.
Adam also ate lost in his own thoughts.
After, he put the fire out, dousing it with water. He then lifted the dress. "I have a new dress for you." He said softly.
She looked at him and then the dress. She smiled a little and then rose to her feet, leaving the blanket behind as she moved toward the stream. He watched curiously from where he sat. She reached the bank and then pulled at her dress. She let it drop, pooling at her ankles. Her shift followed and his mouth went dry as he looked at her lovely backside as she stepped into the stream.
Adam knew he should not look or look away, but he could not seem to. He only could stare at her flawless back that ended in her fleshed trim buttocks with her thin legs that walked the ground. She was willow thin and her hair fell to her hip in a thick shroud. She then ducked into the water, finding a relatively deep spot.
She had forgotten the dress he noticed and he moved to the stream's edge, sitting down and watching as she scrubbed her arms almost to the point they were red and bleeding. She then tipped her hair back and washed it, her young pert breasts, tightening and lifting to view out of the water as she leaned backwards. She had the glint, in the new light, of a necklace around her neck.
He watched, captivated by his angel as he waited. Finally, she walked out of the stream, a little down from him, naked, clean, her olive skin dappled from the broken sunlight of the trees still dropping their leaves. He could not look away as she lifted her hands and wrung out her hair before flipping it back and noticing him looking at her. She narrowed her eyes, but made no move to cover herself.
His angel and startlingly beautiful. The cool water had helped her face, but the tear marks remained. He hardly blamed her for that. He would weep also for family if he had any. Instead he was filled with disgust at it all, but he also was thankful the beautiful young woman had not been there. He could imagine finding her still being attacked, over and over by the men who had done this crime of hate until she had nearly expired.
Even then he would have taken her, cared for her, tried to help her live. She would have been broken as he was. She was even now, but for a different sort of reason. She literally had no one. They were alone in the world and he would care for her as much as he was able. His little angel would not suffer if he could help it.
He lifted the new dress sheepishly to her and she took it, pulling it on her body deftly. She then stood, barefoot, watching him as he looked at her. Something caught his eye and he rose to his feet. He walked to her and lifted her left hand. She had taken off the glove she had worn and he lifted it in his large hand, his long fingers encircling the cool wrist.
She looked at him, watching him, as he had watched her for signs of disgust or hatred. Instead, almost instantly, Adam understood her. Her fingers were fused together on her left hand and unusually long for a woman. He looked admired the hand, not with malice, but wonder.
She curled her fingers and then looked at him intently. He then smiled at her and lifted her hand to his face where his facial scars were. This was why she understood him. She knew what it was to be looked at for being different. She touched his face in a soft way, looking at him.
"You are beautiful." He murmured.
She smiled a little. "Not many think so." She nodded to her hand.
"Then they are fools." He said, his clever eyes watching her every move.
She laughed a little, such a lovely sound. She smiled. "You are a good man."
"You do not know me." He said.
"I know you help others. That is good enough for me, Adam."
He smiled turning his head and kissed her wrist near his lips before he smiled, lifting her hand and turned to walk. She followed him. The dress was actually a little large for her slim frame and it hung down off one shoulder revealing the swell of one of her breasts.
They walked together. He kept his pace light, carrying her blanket wrapped about his satchel. She moved in such a graceful fashion. Truly an angel on earth. His angel.
They walked until it was nearly sundown. He paused, smelling something on the wind. He turned his head a little seeing three soldiers off the side of the road, eating and drinking. They had not seen the pair yet.
The girl saw them too as she paused and she made a small gasp. Adam turned his head as she looked at the men palely. Adam narrowed his eyes.
"Who are they?" He asked.
She shook her head and moved to walk away, but he caught her arms and spun her to face him, locking his fingers on her thin arms. She gasped in pain and tried to shake him off, but he refused.
"You are hurting me." She hissed at him softly.
His grip relaxed marginally as he looked down at her intently. His eyes cast toward the soldiers who has still not taken notice of them and were eating and jeering among themselves.
"Who?" He demanded in a growl.
"They killed my family." She said, suddenly icily.
He blinked and let her go. As he did she reached for his side, removing the knife he had sheathed at his hip and walking toward the men with purpose. Adam turned and then noticed where she was going. He moved, coming to her in a couple steps. He grabbed her around the middle, bodily lifting her into the air as his free hand clamped on her mouth as she gave a muffled cry of surprise. He retreated into the trees holding her to him. She struggled, but was no match for his superior strength as he held her off the ground.
"Don't scream." He murmured close to her ear.
She stopped fighting him and let him support her as he pressed his head to hers. He released her face slowly, his large hand remaining at her cheek as they both panted a little.
"They are men. You cannot hope to kill them yourself."
"But my family…" She said.
He looked back over his shoulder. "They will die, just not by your hand."
She looked at him, turning her head. He set her on the earth. "But…"
"They have caused you harm, my angel. I will not allow them to live." He moved and pressed a soft kiss to her brow. "Stay here out of sight."
She looked at him as he moved away.
She crouched down watching as Adam crossed around the men. He then stood a moment, inside the firelight before he attacked. Rage had filled him as he lifted a pistol found lying near a man's bed roll. These men had killed an innocent family, left his angel an orphan, and were now laughing. He listened a moment.
"She was not a good fuck anyway. She was screaming the whole time." The apparent leader said. He was an officer by his uniform. Adam's eyes narrowed.
"We should have just cut her throat." One of the men said. "No need to remove the spawn from her."
"Taught them a lesson of whom they are dealing with." The leader said.
"The girl wasn't there."
"We will find her and I will marry the useless whore." The officer said. "She was promised to me and then refused. Her father allowed her to do so."
"Could you not marry another?" A man asked.
"She is beautiful and I can control the region through her. Her father was the leader of the resistance. With the emblem at my side, carrying my seed in her belly, no one would dare rebel against Spain in this region. She will bring my children into the world making a connection to the lands here."
Adam had heard enough. These men had sealed their fates as he lifted the pistol and fired, at remarkably close range into one of the men's heads. The men were so shocked by this he was able to grab the next and snap his neck before he even realized what had happened.
The officer was on his feet, sword drawn as Adam regarded him coldly, his azure eyes full of fury. "Who the fuck are you?"
"Your worst nightmare." Adam growled. He moved forward and the officer slashed. Adam caught the blade with his hand, wincing a little as it cut him and then snapped the blade with shocking ease. The officer's eyes widened as Adam cast the sword to the side and then gripped the man's throat, pulling the officer to him. "You murdered the innocent, raped a woman, killed an unborn child. What kind of monster are you?" Adam growled, his words, venom.
The officer's eyes widened as Adam squeezed his throat a little.
"Give me one reason why I should allow you to live?" Adam growled, putting his face near the man's to allow him to see the angry grotesque visage.
"I…I…"
"Let him go or this little house mouse dies."
Adam's head wiped about to a fourth man, the guard, holding his angel to him, a knife to her neck. He cursed himself for a moment at his idiocy. He had not checked for a perimeter guard.
Now she was in danger and it was his fault. She looked at him, a strange cross between fear and hatred in her eyes at being held. Adam looked back at the officer and shut his eyes a moment. He would do anything to keep his angel safe.
The officer smirked a little. "Well, well. There she is. My dear betrothed. We were just speaking about you." He said.
She narrowed her eyes. "I would never marry you. You killed my family. I hope there is a special place in hell for what you did to my mother and sister you coward." She spat, but the blade nicked her flawless flesh and she yelped a little.
Seeing the blood well made Adam close his eyes. Seeing pain in her eyes, different from what he had seen before, made him want to comfort her. He needed to make sure she lived and was free. Through her, he could right wrongs. If she died, her blood, like Elizabeth would be on his hands, staining them forever.
He was about to step back when a howl of pain made his head snap around again. The girl was holding her neck where the knife had bit into it, but not seriously, but the man had Adam's knife embedded in his thigh where she had stabbed downwards, severing an artery. The blood gushed and spurted as the man fell.
Adam was stunned as the girl stood over the guard. He looked back at the officer whose smug face had turned back to a shade of pale. Adam released him a moment and the man dropped to the ground, sobbing for air and rolling onto his hands and knees as Adam withdrew the knife viciously from the other man's thigh.
The man kicked and reached to try to stem the blood in a vain effort to stem the blood. Adam knew he would be dead in moments and moved to the officer who lifted a hand toward him as Adam squatted down before him.
"Please…mercy. Leave me alone. I will leave you be." The officer coward back. "I will leave you alone monster. You can have her."
Adam's eyes narrowed. "Did the woman beg for mercy?" He asked. "Did she beg for you to stop? Did she beg for mercy as you ripped her child from her womb?" His voice grew angrier as he reached forward and took hold of the man's throat. "Did the boy cry out for mercy before you snapped his neck?" He growled lifting him to his feet against the tree. "I am not the monster. You are." He slashed feeling the warm heat of blood on his hand as he cut deep into the man's throat over his hand on his lower windpipe.
The man gurgled in shock and Adam let him drop down as he cough and died, blood blooming on his lips as he tried to speak.
The girl touched Adam's arm with her hand. "Are you all right?" She asked. She had seen the blood on his hands. Most of it was not his own. He had two one deep cut on each hand from clasping the saber and breaking it with the sheer force and strength he possessed. It stung, but he would live. After all he had loved through worse with the sutures he had all over his body.
"Yes." He said looking at her. He lifted a hand to her neck. "You are wounded."
She shook her head. "It is nothing. Come we need to find shelter. There is a storm coming."
He wondered how she knew that. He allowed her to lead him deeper into the forest. His own hands were cut, but they would heal. He was starting to feel the sting as his adrenaline ebbed. He followed her, but she was slowing down.
She turned to him and shifted ripping the petticoat of her dress and wrapping them around his injured hands. He watched, allowing her to do so. She was such a caring soul, thinking of others before herself. She was pale, however, he could see in the low light from the moon.
She blinked a little and turned from him then. "We need to continue…" She said.
He gently touched her shoulder as she paused, head drooping a little. "Angel?" He asked.
"I…I'm just tired." She said. She took a step and wobbled a little and then fell to the side as her knees gave out from under her. Adam caught her to him. Her head lolled back like a doll over his arm as he lifted her in his arms. She looked so small and pale in his arms. The adrenaline she had felt had also left her body and she now was limp. Worried, he tenderly touched her throat away from the small cut that was starting to clot. She lived, her heartbeat steady, but a little fast for his liking.
He looked closer at the wound, dipping his fingers into her warm clotting lifeblood to check. It was shallow and small. She was right it was not serious, but it was not helping her any to have blood loss after the tribulations of the last two days. He wondered if she had eaten at all when she was with her dead family or if the hare had been her first meal in days.
She needed more nourishment to help her recover. He tenderly wrapped the blanket, which he removed from his satchel, around her frail body and held her close to him like a small child. She had fainted.
He would see her well. He blinked feeling a sudden gust from the north off the mountains. He shivered a little at the suddenness and realized he needed to find a place to keep her safe very soon. She would need warmth, food, and shelter if he was to heal her.
She was his angel and he was learning from past mistakes. His mate would never be without him again. He would see to her and unharmed. He would allow her to join her people if she wished, but he truly cared.
Was this love?
It felt differently than the love he had for Frankenstein, the twisted love he had for his creator that he felt deeply and it was not returned. In fact it was met with malice, hatred, and a will to destroy the one creature on the planet who loved him. Elizabeth had loved him, but Frankenstein himself seemed to have no concept of what the emotion truly was.
This love was different. It felt different and seemed to tuck at his heart more than nearly loosing Frankenstein on the ice. He could not think about life without his Angel now. She had accept him and wanted to be with him. Perhaps she loved him in return?
He longed for that. To belong, to feel love, to have a mate, and to be happy. Happy. Another emotion he had never felt before, but when he looked upon her face, his heart sang and felt free. It fluttered in a curious way.
Love, hope, redemption…
Was this Adam's redemption? To love this young girl, to have her as his mate. She was not one of his own kind, but she seemed to care for him at least somewhat in how she bound his hands and spoke to him.
She too was alone in the world.
They would make a life together and be happy in the existence they could manage. He had avenged her family and now she would be his to look after, love, care for, and be with. He sighed pressing a kiss to the cool brow.
"Sleep, my angel. Sleep and recover. I am here. You are safe." He told her, his lips to her ear.
"Adam." Came the soft voice, like a prayer on her sleepy lips.
He smiled a little and hugged her closer to his body as the breeze picked up more. She was never going to suffer again. Never. He would right the wrongs he had done with Elizabeth, William, and DeLacey with her. He would prove to God that he was worthy of existence as any other creature on the blanket and prove he was worthy of the mate whom he had discovered.