Chapter 32: Abduction
I start the next day in the same fashion, but I can't stand being in my room the whole time, so I head out. While I wander the gardens, a snake girl approaches me. "Hi, Elise. I … Can we talk?", she greets me. She seems nervous. "Why do you want to talk to me?", I ask her warily. I don't know her, what could she want from me? She isn't even a freshman; she must be a Sophomore or a Junior. She has brown hair, styled into twin buns, which are dyed green. Does her hair look weirder or less weird, if it isn't done into twin buns? "I need advice from you.", she explains. Ok, why me though? "Why would you come to me for that?", I probe further.
"Due to your… unique situation, you're the only one I can turn to.", she explains to me. I see… Sounds serious.
It's not my business, but since she personally came to me, I shouldn't turn her down. "Alright, I will listen to you. I don't know whether I can help you or not, but I won't gossip.", I agree to her request. "Not here. There are too many around. Follow me." She seems really nervous. This must be about something important.
I follow her, to the backside of a building. Usually, no one would come here, so it's a safe place to exchange secrets. "So what is it?", I ask her a bit curious.
"Ok, you need to listen, please." That's what I planned to do? "I will.", I assure her. "No, that's not what I… Please just listen to him!"
I don't like, where this is going? I take a step back. "He wants to talk to you, in order to solve the misunderstandings between you."
I REALLY don't like, where this is going. I start using white magic, in order to search for the spirit of my husband, careful not to show her, that I'm casting it.
He should be in his room, right? "So, uh, forgive me, ok?" And with that, she suddenly casts Push, pushing me against the wall behind me. I tried to dodge it, but it was no use. I try to move back from the wall and run for it, but something holds me back. I look down… ivy! I can see blue magic, slowly starting to engulf me. Hieronymus! He can save me! I start looking for his spirit again… There it is! "Hieron-!", I manage to communicate, before the connection breaks off, and I'm teleported away.
The scenery of the buildings backyards warps and suddenly I'm standing in a forest, close to a lake. Where am I? Is it too far to teleport myself back? She needed some time to teleport me after all… Otherwise that girl wouldn't have needed to set up a trap, to hinder my movements. I should've casted Detect Enchantment or something, before following her to that abandoned place. "Hi, Elise. I wanted to see you for quite some time." I turn around and face Damien.
"I've missed you.", he informs me with a wink. "Pity, I didn't miss you.", I answer dryly. Maybe not very clever of me, given my situation…
"Still playing the ice-queen?", he teases me with a smirk. "What do you plan to do, by abducting me? Do you think spending some time together, would magically make me love you?", I interrogate him sarcastically. "Well, it seems to work for him.", he snaps at me. I take a step back, in fright. I shouldn't anger him too much,
who knows what he might do? Damien's expression changes to a sad one. "Look, I'm… I'm sorry, ok? For snapping at you. It's just… I guess I'm jealous, since you spend so much time together.", he apologizes to me. "Why am I here, Damien?", I ask him as calm as possible. "Because I wanted to talk to you. I'm not… I'm not abducting you, ok? I will teleport you back, if you wish so, but not after you heard me out, ok? I know I'm selfish, for forcing you to listen to me, but please give me a chance?" He still looks so depressed… Well, not like I have a choice? I sigh. "What did you want to talk to me about?"
His expression lightens up a bit, but he still seems sad. "You never believed me, when I told you, that I love you, right? I don't blame you, considering my past…
I simply want you to understand, that my feelings for you are sincere!" I don't believe him. He is a master at manipulation, after all.
Not a single word from his lips can't be trusted, no matter how true it seems. If the sky were blue, and he were to say, that the sky would be blue, then… I would assume, that he's trying to distract me from something.
"Are you even capable of loving something besides power? You don't trust people, Damien. And that's why you can't be trusted. You wouldn't trust me- and you have no reason to do so, - but even if you COULD trust me, you wouldn't. So how could these feelings of yours, whatever they may be, be trusted?", I calmly counter.
He looks at me shocked… and a bit hurt. "That's not true! I… I trust you Elise. Even though I know, that you don't reciprocate my feelings. You wouldn't hurt me,
unless I would attack you. And power… I don't need power, if I can have you!" I… I'm not sure what to think of this?
"Go on. Attack me. I won't fight back. I deserve you scorn, thinking about my reason for approaching you in the past.", he sorrowfully request of me, while closing his eyes and opening his arms in a welcoming gesture. Is… is this my chance to escape? I raise my arms, but let them down again. No. This would be too easy.
Besides, he … is right more or less, I can't injure him, if he won't attack me. I blame my soft heart. I stay silent and observe him.
He opens his eyes after a minute and gives me a small smile, his eyes still filled with sorrow. "See? I knew you wouldn't. The others, they act as if they care, but they don't. You on the other hand… you act as if you wouldn't care, but you do. You're not stupid, you know, that some people will only try to harm you, but if someone asks for your help, you will give it to em. And you don't judge people. Even if they're… me. You understand, that I have my reasons for being… me."
This sounds like an exaggeration of me. I'm not such a great person. But I'm more and more confused. He seems so… sincere. He wouldn't be, right?
No, he wouldn't be able to honestly open up to me, even if I we were mutually in love, he would still try to manipulate me, right? This seems to be part of his character after all, I don't think he could stop doing that so easily. "But I'm tired of being me. I want to change. I don't want to manipulate everyone around me, but…
I don't know how?" He laughs sarcastically, "I even manipulated a past toy of mine to get you here. I guess, I'm really hopeless." He stops his cheerless laugh and looks me directly in the eyes. "Please help me become a 'decent person', Elise. I don't deserve your affections, I know that. But I know no one else, who could help me. I don't want to do mean things anymore, Elise. I want to become a person worthy of you.", he pleads. Everything about him seems so … desperate, right now.
Is he telling the truth? Is he telling a lie? Is he telling both? "The gym incident. With Myreen. Why would you do that, if you don't care about power anymore?", I ask him skeptically. He drops his head in shame and avoids my eyes, while answering me, "You won't believe me, but… I did it for you. At least, that's what I told myself.
I wanted to protect you. I felt so powerless, then I discovered, that you were forced to marry… him. And then I came across Myreen, who was badmouthing you…
I only planned to break her heart as revenge for you initially. However, my wish to become stronger for you grew. And I persuaded myself, that you wouldn't mind me hurting her, that you would want me to be more powerful as well, that you… would like me, if I would be strong enough to protect you, and powerful enough to let you live like a princess. I couldn't save you from whatever forced you to marry him, but I want to be there for you in the future nonetheless." He sighs.
"It was stupid of me, I know that now. Due to this, I couldn't see you anymore. Furthermore, I realized, that you wouldn't like me more, just because I became more capable of keeping you safe. It was very selfish of me, wasn't it? I should've considered your actual wishes more, instead of lying to myself, that your wishes would coincide with mine." His expression darkens, before he continues, "Yes, I wanted more magical power. And I fulfilled that goal partially, however…"
He changes back to a somber expression. "… as I realized, that I couldn't see you anymore… and that you may not forgive me for hurting Myreen, even though you don't like her…" His voice breaks off and he avoids my gaze. "I'm sorry. Please forgive me, Elise.", he says to me, after composing himself.
I… don't know how to react to that. For some reason, his confession really moves me, but… can it even be trusted? I stay silent, because I'm too confused.
He suddenly takes my hand and looks me pleadingly in the eyes. "Please don't hate me, Elise…", he begs. "I,… I don't hate you, Damien.", I give in. He looks down and takes a deep breath, before softly letting go of my hand. "Thank you.", he replies, sounding relieved. "Elise… will you please stay with me?", he suddenly asks me. "What? But I'm still a freshman! I still need to go to school.", I decline. …shouldn't my first argument be about my non-existent feelings?
Though my education is an at least equally important reason to decline. "Don't worry about that. I can arrange teachers for you. I will take care of everything for you.", he tries to persuade me. "But… I'm married!", I remind him. "We can deal with that, then the time comes. There are ways to divorce without meeting, however it's a bit… more complex. Until then… I won't touch you.", he responds calmly. "And if I don't want to?", I ask him. He looks hurt, but smiles at me nonetheless.
"Then I will get you back to the academy. If you really don't want to…", he answers, looking a bit distressed. "I won't force you, to come with me. But please don't leave me, Elise. You're the only person, who matters to me.", he pleads to me, while grabbing both of my hands.
"I… I'm sorry, Damien. But I don't love you. Please let me return to the academy.", I reject his offer again. He looks so sad, that it tears my way too soft heart, but it's the truth, that I don't love him. Giving him false hope would be more cruel. Besides, I don't want to leave the academy.
"I see. If that is your last decision, then… I will comply.", he replies sadly. He then points at two flying orbs behind him. I haven't noticed them before.
"One is enchanted to teleport you back to the academy. The other will teleport you to my hideout. After teleporting, the orbs chatter, to hide my trails. I will use the right one, if you don't change your mind, and really want to return, you have to use the left one.", he explains to me. "I see." I step towards the left orb.
'Elise!'. I stop. Did someone call me? "You should hurry. They probably miss you already.", Damien encourages me, while smiling sadly at me.
Something doesn't feel right… 'Stay where you are!' – That's Hieronymus! He found me? Already?
Damien clicks his tongue. "You're not going to touch the orb, are you?", Damien comments frowning. ... I see, so it was a trap of some sort.
Why did I trust him for a moment? I turn to Damien and take a step back. His sad-puppy-look changed to an arrogant, annoyed expression. The hell?!
You're too good at acting! His hand twitches and I barely manage to dodge the orb, by jumping to the side. Time to run!
While sidestepping from time to time, in order to evade the orb, which started hunting me, I cast Darkness, thereby making it difficult for Damien to aim at me. In addition I avoid placing me in the middle of the cloud of darkness. Bang! I can hear something explode far behind me. What happened? I stop to look back, but the darkness still engulfs me. The orb stopped following me, I haven't even noticed in my panic. I dispel the darkness, but before I can see what happened, my vision darkens by two hands, placed over my eyes. I tense up.
"Believe me, it's better if you don't see anything, cupcake." I calm down at hearing Potsdam's voice. I'm safe. I try to regulate my breathing, while placing a hand against my hip. I'm totally out of breath and have a stitch, from suddenly sprinting without any warm up. Potsdam continues to cover my eyes, while I can hear her casting some unknown spell to me. There are various ways to cast a spell. You can use incantation, hand movements, partly even your whole body, or do it without any of that. The incantations and movements aid the casting, casting it without them is more difficult and requires more concentration. When I casted the Communication-spell, looking for Hieronymus' spirit, I used only minimal hand-gestures, in order to hide my casting, causing me to be a bit mentally drained.
White magic is not my forte after all. I'm still far from being mentally-drained though.
"That's enough, Hieronymus. The authorities will deal with the rest.", Potsdam suddenly shouts. She uncovers my eyes and teleports us to his side.
My stalker hangs in the air, unable to move, in front of my husband. Damien looks a bit… burnt and he has a deep cut in his right wing and smaller cuts all over his body. Blood is dripping down his feet. Apart from that, he's fuming with rage. And Hieronymus… he seems to be unhurt, but he's equally enraged.
"Why did you bring her here with you, Petunia?", he snaps at her, while glaring at me. Uh oh, I'm in trouble. He's probably angry at me for being tricked by that snake girl. "I'm, I'm sorry...", I stutter. Damien snorts. "Some husband you are… is that the right way to talk to your wife?", he hisses at my husband.
"Stay out of it, stalker-boy.", he counters with an equally aggressive tone of voice. "I would never treat you like that, Elise. Why do you put up with him?", Damien turns to me, suddenly looking pitiful. "What are you talking about? He treats me with more respect than you. You don't care about my decisions, or my wishes at all! What kind of enchantment was on that orb? It definitely wasn't a Teleportation-spell back to Iris Academy!", I snap at him.
"It was just a small Sleep-spell!", he defends himself. "You're the worst.", I dryly comment. Just a sleep-spell? The hell?! Damien looks at me in shock.
He then turns away, refusing to look at me. "That's it. I give up.", he says while clenching his teeth. "The worst indeed." Hieronymus points at his chest.
I look quizzically at my husband. Damien simply continues looking to the side, ignoring us. Hieronymus snorts and rips an amulet from Damien's chest using red magic, which was hidden beneath his robes. The amulet dangles now in front of Hieronymus' eyes and he inspects it, without touching it.
"'Charm of the Incubus', a popularity charm, Mr. Ramsay?", Hieronymus mocks him. Popularity charm? Is that the reason I sympathized with Damien so much against my will? Well, a part of me still pities him. He is so good at seducing people and yet he sucks so much at actually loving them. But I'm not a heroine. I won't forgive him, nor will I try to help him become a decent person. It's hopeless and I know that.
"It's well-made. Must have been expensive.", Hieronymus comments, while crushing the amulet with red magic. I turn to Potsdam, who has been watching our conversation silently, "So, uh… what now?", I ask her. "Someone will fetch Mr. Ramsay and the authorities will deal with him. He has tried to take the life of a witch and abduct another after all. You probably will never see him again, Dear.", she explains to me. I feel less tense after hearing that.
Soon a stern looking woman appears, with black hair, which turns fiery-red at the hair-ends. She wears black jeans and a black top, exposing her belly.
"I will take over now, thank you for capturing the culprit." With a wink of her hands, Damien falls unconscious and she teleports away with him.
"Well then, good job everyone. I will return to the academy first, so you can reunite with your wife, Hieronymus.", Potsdam bids us goodbye and then also teleports away, before I can stop her. I sigh and turn to face my husband. He will scold me a lot, won't he. Hieronymus looks at me sternly.
"Explain yourself.", he commands me. I start to fidget and don't dare to look at him directly. "So there was this snake girl, who wanted to talk to me… I didn't know her, so I was suspicious, but she said she would need my advice and uh…",I begin and continue summarizing what had happened, until he arrived to save me.
"I'm sorry for walking into another trap.", I conclude my summary. Hieronymus stays silent and I finally glance at him. "Ten demerits for carelessness.", he informs me. "Now, please come here, so that I can teleport us back." I step towards him, but trip over something and fall against his chest.
"… Elise. PLEASE be more careful.", he scolds me, but he doesn't sound angry anymore. He sounds tired instead. I mumble an apology and reluctantly try to move away from him, but he puts an arm around me and raises his other hand to cast Teleportation-spell. However, his hand doesn't start moving.
"Good job resisting the popularity charm.", he suddenly praises me with a neutral tone of voice.
I glance at him, but turn my face back to his chest, to hide my idiotic smile. The blue magic envelopes us, and we suddenly stand in front of his room.
He immediately steps away from me. "Good day to you, Elise." I thank him for coming to my help, before I also bid him goodbye.
Hieronymus instantly disappears into his room, after I have finished speaking. I stare at his door with a sigh.
I would've liked to spend more time with him…