Heart of a Lion
Fidgety, uncomfortable in the light sweater that was covering her bare shoulders, Violet fanned herself with a booklet of hymns exhausted from last night's excursion in the cemetery.
Gabe sat beside her in the back of the church, straight backed, eyes ahead paying close attention to her father's sermon knowing his every move was being scrutinized.
Because of the status and power that his family wielded in town, with his father's thriving business, and his Uncle heading the town council, he was confident the strict minister would turn a blind eye to his affections towards Violet.
Just to seal the deal, Gabe made an effort to volunteer as an active member of the church, running the collection baskets, helping with donations to the poor, working with the cleaning crew after services.
It wasn't that Gabe was a kind kid who genuinely had feelings for the new pretty girl in town, he was determined, there wasn't anything he wanted he didn't get, and what he wanted was Violet.
He had gone through most of the girls around his age that fit his standards, but he was smart enough to see that Violet was different, intelligent, with a mind of her own, she wasn't going to be swayed by his usual game.
He was bored, up for a challenge, it didn't get better then the preacher's daughter, especially someone as wild, and rebellious as Violet.
Gabe had bet most of his summer cash he earned working at his father's restaurant, that he'd fuck her by the start of school, and he wasn't about to lose.
The wager was made the very first day he saw her in church, his friends saw it as easy money, he saw it as a new toolbox, already making space for it in his garage.
Violet's thoughts were tangled up in something else entirely as she stared at the sun piercing through huge stained glass windows casting scarlet, and sapphire colors down upon the congregation.
Dust swirled in the light in a dance that seemed rehearsed, planned out just for her, to remind her, to bring her back to last night, back to him.
Little by little the voice of her step father faded into nothing until the creatures from the forest grew in volume all around her.
She closed her eyes feeling the darkness envelop her, the cool breeze lift her hair from her shoulders.
The eerie hoot of an owl, frogs and crickets singing back and forth, the rustle of leaves in the midnight hour calling her straight to him.
"Please tell me what happened that night."
Violet could feel his icy fingers stretch across her skin beneath her shirt as he held her close, whispering her name with a lingering kiss.
He pushed painful memories aside longing to touch her, to take refuge, exquisite solitude in the warmth, the total acceptance he felt being close to her.
The temptation to take her, to lay her down upon the dead, to surge inside, to truly make her his was overwhelming.
"I want you Violet, I need you… your body… it sings for me… and someday soon … so will you."
Biting down hard on her bottom lip as he moved behind her, she gasped while his mouth swept like snowflakes across the back of her neck.
Crossing her legs she felt herself gush remembering the urgency of his hard cock pressed to her, giving her proof of his words.
The comfort she brought him was pure heaven, she breathed life into shriveled black lungs, chills to skin gone grey with ash, rushed blood to places south awakening him to pleasures long forgotten.
With ragged breath he hoarsely whispered against her flesh.
"Must you leave me so soon Violet?"
His voice drifted over her mapping his way, so sweet in its sincerity she shivered in his arms.
To tear herself away was torture, but the consequences she knew would be severe.
"I have to… my step father…"
His mouth moved along her neck to her ear, while his hands sought her out again desperate for more.
"Promise to come back to me…. promise me Violet."
Nodding she backed away out of his arms, knowing that if she didn't leave now, she never would.
Tate's fondness of her went well past the shallow sting of lust, he cared for her, felt drawn to her, connected in ways that went far deeper than physical gratification.
It was very clear to them both that this was a matter of the heart, of two souls once lost now bound together in tragedy.
Licking her lips, she pressed her bible down hard against her sex, recalling frozen flicks of his finger tips between her thighs as he rasped against her ear.
"Soon I will taste the honey that slips from my fingers, soon my tongue will savor your sweet descent, soon my Violet... you will sing."
Digging her nails into the black binding of the holy book she carved half moon markings as she trembled coming solely on the memory of Tate's hands on her.
"Violet, are you okay?"
Her eyes blinked open thanks to Gabe who nudged her shoulder, while the entire parish stared back at her over their shoulders.
The service had just ended with a silent prayer for the sick and the dead, ironically, as Violet shuddered from her powerful orgasm.
Ben slammed his hands down on the podium, scowling at her, red faced, mortified with her behavior.
"Shit." she breathed out softly knowing what this meant.
Grabbing Gabe by the shirt, Violet quickly exited the church determined to speak to the one person who knew him.
Once outside she pushed Gabe towards his truck ignoring his objections.
Irritated, Gabe, peeled out the church parking lot pissed that all his hard work was for nothing.
"Your father's going to hate me now."
Distracted Violet quickly retrieved the convalescent home's address from the newspaper article off her cell phone.
"I don't get what's so important about seeing this old lady tonight."
Ripping off her itchy sweater, throwing on the seat, she stared up at the street signs worried about missing the turn.
"Listen I have no other way of getting into town, if this is such a sacrifice drop me off here and I'll just hitch a ride."
Taking a sharp right, he tapped his thumb on the steering wheel thinking back to her little performance in the church.
"Don't be stupid, it's fine... can you just explain to me what the hell happened to you back there?"
Seeing an old brick building set on a hill in the distance she yelled at him to take the next turn onto Hazel Avenue.
Violet turned towards him after he parked his truck.
"I nodded off, it was just a dream. Stay here, I'm be back in ten minutes."
"But - wait! Violet - "
She was long gone leaving him frustrated and horny, recalling the way she whimpered breathlessly next to him.
Once inside Violet was immediately hit with a mixture of bleach and urine, it was enough to make her gag.
Approaching the nurses station, she asked to see the woman in the newspaper, the only living person who was there, who could possibly give her an account of what happened the night of the murders.
"I'm here to see Nora Langdon please."
The middle aged redhead narrowed her eyes behind thick rimmed glasses before clicking the keys on her computer.
"Room 10, down the South East corridor, last room on the right."
Taking a deep breath, Violet started off down the hallway with mixed emotions, wondering now if the truth she was something she truly wanted to know.
Knocking softly she could hear the faint sound of a TV coming from the next room, pushing the door open slightly she had to adjust her eyes to the darkness inside.
Bright fluorescent lights lined the ceiling of the hallway, but Nora's room was black.
Fearing that she was asleep, Violet turned to walk away until she heard a small voice call out.
"Are you going to stand there all night?"
Closing the door behind her, Violet peered into the darkness to see the back of an old woman sitting in a wheelchair beside a hospital bed.
"Who are you? I don't get visitors, everyone is long gone now. I don't suppose you have the wrong person."
Taking a deep breath Violet walked in front of her, taking a seat on her bed.
Nora was wrapped in a multi colored quilt with snow white hair flowing past her shoulders.
Blind, her hands all but twisted arthritic claws, she appeared well into her eighties.
Sadness was thick in the room practically dripping from the walls like bitter sap oozing over everything.
"I'm sorry if I'm disturbing you, I was just wondering if you could answer a few questions for me… you see I recently moved into the home you lived in, by the church - "
"Has my boy Tate shown himself to you?"
Wide eyed, Violet moved to the edge of the bed, her heart thumping hard.
"What did you just say? I mean, what makes you think that?"
Nodding wiping a tear from cheek, Nora reached for a tissue that was tucked underneath her sleeve.
"He has, yes in deed, I'm sure of it. I can hear it in your voice dear, you must be very special... or horribly cursed … perhaps both."
Looking towards the door, Violet lowered her voice hoping no one could hear them.
"I need to know what happened that night, I don't believe what's been written, what the police accused him of, but I need to know, can you help me?"
Sighing deeply Nora pulled her quilt tight holding it with both hands.
"When I first met Charles he was a sweet man, never even raised his voice, but as time went on and we had the boys, money got tight. We had to sell off most of daddy's land, but that wasn't enough, the bank was going to take the house. Charles turned to the bottle, after that everything changed… he would go into these rages."
"Nora, please… that night."
Reaching a shaky hand to Violet's face she traced her features before lacing her fingers through her long blonde hair.
"My, you are a vision, I can see why he's drawn to you, a spirited one too, full of so much anger, and pain. You two make a good pair, both filled with grief and loneliness that can never be sated."
Moving out of her reach Violet hardened her voice.
"Jack, your other son, what happened to him?"
Nora's expression changed immediately, folding into herself with despair.
"Jack was the opposite of Tate, weak, frail, innocent to the evils of the world. He was a magnet to his father, so full of life and wonder… so naive and trusting. What that man did, there is no punishment too severe, no hell too tormenting. Time and time again Tate was all that stood between that monster and that sweet angel. When Tate found him in that well, he went crazy, his eyes were already dead, black as night, lifeless like a shark, that's when I lost both my boys."
"Excuse me ladies, it's time for Nora's medication, she needs her rest, I'm afraid you'll have to go Miss."
Rushing up to her ear Violet whispered quickly urgently.
"Why you didn't help him, why was it left to Tate to protect his brother, he was just a kid himself… why didn't you do anything?"
Sensing where she was, Nora grabbed Violet by her hair twisting it in her malformed hand.
"How dare you! You know nothing! Ask my boy, ask him yourself!"
Physically pulled out of the room by the nurse, Violet heard Nora's shrilling scream echo down the hall chasing after her.
"Be careful little girl, while it's true he has the heart of a lion, his teeth are just as sharp!"
In a matter of seconds Violet found herself walking towards Gabe's trunk, disoriented, confused by the old woman's words.
The drive home was silent, thick with tension as they drove past the old cemetery, through the woods over the dirt road leading back to her house.
"Violet please tell me what's going on, you can trust me."
Pulling into the driveway he turned towards her removing his seat belt.
Violet Reached for the door handle just as Gabe hit the automatic lock sealing her in.
"What the hell - "
Before she could protest fully he was on her, sloppily kissing her, his hands roaming over her breasts between her thighs.
"Violet I watched you, heard you whimper and moan, I get that your lonely, but it doesn't have to be that way. We both know this is right, just relax, let me make you feel good. Let me - "
Kicking and screaming, Violet thrashed around like a wild animal until she managed to slam her elbow hard against his nose.
Gabe cried out in pain, hunched over holding his bloody cracked cartilage rocking and forth in shock.
"You asshole! Let me out!"
Worried that Ben would hear her screams he unlocked the door while blood gushed everywhere between his fingers.
"You fucking broke my nose! You bitch! You're going to pay for this!"
Walking to her house, shaken, covered in his blood, she looked up at Ben warning him not to say a word.
"I'm taking a shower than going to bed, just wait till morning, you can say whatever you want then, I'm too tired to talk now."
Ben turned towards the door watching as Gabe peeled out of the driveway kicking up dirt in his wake.
Putting two and two together he hoped she'd learned her lesson, deciding to respect her wishes he returned to his work at his desk shaking his head with disgust.
Trembling Violet curled up on her bed, reaching for the wooden box beneath her pillow she held it close wishing he was there with her.
Furious Gabe drove through the woods, already thinking of ways to destroy her reputation before she even started school, no one screwed with him, no one turned him down, he grinned thinking of how she would soon regret that punch to his nose.
With heavy metal blaring he howled laughing at her demise just as a figure began to appear in the middle of road.
Materializing out of the fog drifting in from the hovering trees, Tate stood fierce, black dead eyes, his mouth open in a silent scream spewing venom.
Gabe squinted, reeling in pain from Violet's blow, he moved closer to the windshield trying to make out, what he now knew was a person, standing in the road.
Slamming his horn several times he yelled out the window for the boy to get off the road.
Pale, almost translucent, clothes tattered, dirty, covered in blood, Tate vibrated with fury, striking terror into Gabe beyond anything he's ever seen.
Mesmerized by the sight before him, Gabe swerved at the last second slamming into a tree sending his body crashing halfway through the windshield.
Groaning half conscious, hovering on the brink of death, he could hear a calm voice whisper in his ear as glass pierced his skin like a thousand knives.
"Stay away from Violet."
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DinahRay, Chris P.C., Stephycats7784, Gwenyth Taylor Plunkett, guest, greyeyes7, and gvozzdika, seriously thank you for your lovely reviews, they mean so much to me. :)