Content warning for violence and sexual assault It isn't explicit but it might be distressing for some
4. I never should have Set Foot Inside this Place
There was no response.
Maybe he had not understood. Maybe I had only imagined speaking.
But then he was suddenly standing directly in front of me, blocking my view. All I could see was Godric and his anger.
"Explain", Godric said in a clipped voice. The consonants sharp in the quiet room.
I swallowed, "I-I asked Sarah to tie-".
"Explain".
In a rush I said, "I just thought it would be the best way to make sure I'd be there when it happens".
Godric's eyes narrowed a fraction, "Lie".
"It's not a lie". At least not entirely.
He swiftly squatted down so we were sharing eye level. Something on my face made him soften his. "Explain, Lenore", Godric repeated, the sharp edges having been sanded down slightly.
He was being startlingly patient with me. I would not have blamed him if he wanted to wash his hands of the irrational woman he was stuck with. If the roles were reversed, I would have grabbed him by the shoulders by now and shaken him until he explained how he could be so damn stupid.
I am tired. I am very tired.
Some of the most captivating stories are based on contradictions. Two teens from warring houses raised to hate each other end up falling in love; a kingdom of men is saved by a lone woman. I've enjoyed tales that followed this vein myself, not how difficult it was to actually live as a contradiction.
Godric was a vampire who came to hate vampirism.
And I was a coward terrified of dying, but hated being alive.
There was a point in my life that I would have said that I could never take my own life. As if I had some sort of superior sense of will over those who had. A few years ago, I would have been talking Godric's ear off about all the reasons why he shouldnt resort to suicide. I probably would have said something condescending like 'Don't worry, everything will be fine, you'll see'. How cruel I would have looked to him. Pretending that today's bad could not also become tomorrow's terrible.
Perhaps those before me had felt as I did; hated life but feared death. Perhaps the only difference was that, during their last moments, they had finally been able to let go of the fear that was holding them back.
But how do I explain that to him? I was still trying to wrap my head around it myself.
I broke my gaze from his and cast it on the spot he had just vacated and saw that the impression he left on the mat was still there. It reminded me of how he helped me understand his reasoning. The way he sat there and told me a bit of his past. Trusted me to read between the lines and discover the truth behind his words.
"I actually used to really like my name" I began with a quick glance to check his expression. As per the norm, he did not react to my drastic subject change. "Eleanor. It sounded like a name a princess would have. When I found out my mother had named me after a character she liked, I'd beg my dad to read out every storybook I could find. I was convinced that I would find the beautiful, strong Princess Eleanore between one of their pages". I gave a derisive laugh. Even now,I felt embarrassed at how stupid I had been. I just wanted to know what kind of life my mother had hoped for me; a magical and wondrous one like Alice's? Or one full of love and companionship like Snow Whites?
"I don't know how I didn't figure it out sooner", I went on, "My mother had their signed photograph framed and mounted on our living room wall; she was that big of a fan. I guess it just never occurred to me that songs can have characters too".
Godric must have realised what I was doing because he moved to sit back down at his usual spot. This time slow enough so that I could actually see him do it.
"I think I was eleven or twelve when I first started listening to my mother's music. At this point she-", I paused, trying to think of the best way to phrase it without giving too much away, "she had been out of the picture for a while and I guess I wanted to do something to feel closer to her. It was when I started listening to The Beatles Album, Revolver, that I finally found it. The song that gave me my name".
I looked to Godric, hoping to see some sign of understanding in his eyes. When I found none, I turned to the empty room instead. "There isn't much I remember about her anymore, but I do remember that she wasn't the type to do anything by accident. "'Eleanor Rigby'" I recited, "'died in the church and was buried along with her name'".
Nobody came
There was no princess, only a song of loneliness. It was not love and adventure my mother had envisioned for me. It was and always had been, solitude and death.
We sat there as the ensuing silence weighed us down.
I worried that I hadn't explained it right. I was making a big assumption that he had ever listened to the song. For all I knew, he had stopped listening to mainstream music centuries ago.
It was while I was thinking of another way to explain myself that Godric lifted his hand. He picked up mine and brought it to his lap, letting it rest on his knee. His skin felt even colder than before.
It was the first glimpse of comfort I had felt since my father had died.
2.
The next day was oddly peaceful. It was already Friday. Another day and my life would change drastically one way or another. I should have been a hot wire of nerves with sparks of anxiety shooting out everytime I moved. Yet I did not feel much of anything.
The Fellowship gave me far more freedom that day than they did before. When the female council member (I hadn't had the chance to ask her name and by that point I had lost all desire to do so) came for my restroom break, she allowed me to sit outside afterwards to get some fresh air. As I sat in the sun's warmth I watched people in the distance enter and exit the large white church. I wondered how many of them were waiting in anticipation for Godric's death.
The lax in security was not surprising. Despite telling Godric that it was Sarah who consented to my involvement in his execution, it was actually Steve who readily agreed to my request. Sarah had refused. Profusely. No matter how many times I asked, she would not agree. Looking back now, I appreciated the look of horror on her face as she said "Sweetheart, no! How could you even ask me that?". Despite everything, she had retained some level of decency.
She might have gotten her way if Steve had not chosen that moment to interrupt our tour. Entering the hall with his faithful companion, Gabe, Steve immediately demanded to know what I had done to distress his wife. The wide grin he gave me when Sarah told him shocked even her. She looked at him like it was the first time she had met her own husband.
We stood there in stunned silence as he gloried in the possible spectacle of my dying. As he congratulated himself for being the reason why a sinner was ready to repent in 'His Light'. During his debate with Gabe on whether they needed chains to tie me to Godric or if a rope would be fine.
Sitting outside so I could stare at the backside of his ostentatious church must have been my reward for seeing the Light.
By mid-afternoon, I started to feel nauseous. I thought it might have been from something I ate, but as the day wore on, it only got worse. When Godric rose for the night, the first thing he commented on was my slightly elevated pulse.
It increased as we reached Saturday, our final day.
I couldn't bring myself to eat breakfast. Or lunch for that matter, though I kept the bowl of soup they gave me in case I found my appetite later on. Its garlicky scent was so strong that it permeated the air for hours.
As the day wore on, I saw an increase of activity around the church during my allotted breaks from the room. They were likely preparing for their glorified sleepover. That would potentially end with two people dying.
This time the sun's rays gave me no solace. I sat outside on the dehydrated grass, gripping my forearms and digging my fingernails into my skin. When I started clawing at myself, my disturbed guard decided that recess was done for the day. Afterall, she too had to help prepare for the Lock In. It was while she complained about getting kitchen duty again, that I realised that I could not see any other counsellor nearby.
At roughly 7pm, I was beside myself. Pacing the length of the classroom yet again but this time hunched over and stiff as I jerked one foot in front of another. Why the walls chose that day out of all days to move closer together was beyond my understanding. At least I finally recognised what this sickening feeling was. Dread. The same dread I felt the night I was abducted, that made me turn and see Godric for the first time.
That told me something terrible was about to happen. Is happening. Right now.
I had to get out. I had to get out of that classroom. I had to.
I rushed to the closet and banged on its door, "Godric? Are you awake?" Please, please be awake.
"Lenore, you are in a panic", came his muffled reply.
"I need- I need to get out. Please, can you help me?"
"You wish to escape?" Godric sounded completely unbothered by my frantic speaking.
"Yes. No. I don't know. I just need to get out of here but the door is locked" as if he did not already know. "Please, I don't know what to do. I just have to get out of this room".
I leaned my forehead on the door as a wave of nausea battered against me repeatedly. I held my breath and dug my teeth into my lower lip. Closed my eyes and worked as hard as I could not to release the sound of pain trying to force its way out.
"Is sunlight in the room?"
It took me a moment to register that he had spoken, let alone what he had said. I slowly moved my heavy head to check. The blackout blinds were already pulled down as the brightness of the day had bothered me at some point. I couldn't remember when. "Not directly".
"Step back".
With far too much effort, I did.
Just as before, the coloured tape I had placed on the door easily gave way as it opened a crack. Pause. The door opened wider. Another pause. The door opened entirely, revealing Godric's usual relaxed, unrumpled form.
He was shorter than me, there was no doubt about that, but sometimes, like now, we were the same height. It was more from my slouching than an ability to grow and shrink himself at will. But still, there was something about sharing the same eye level that felt like he was displaying his innate power. Like he was blanketing me with it, not to subdue as Steve might have, but to protect.
Godric placed his hand on my head, the direct contact between my forehead and his cool palm was a short lived relief, "You are unwell, child".
"I'm sorry. I tried not to bother you, I promise. I don't know what's wrong with me. I just need to get out of here".
I think I heard Godric inhale deeply, "So you shall".
It was not too long until nightfall so he did not find it difficult to stay within the shadows. "I hear no movement outside. I shall come protect you when I am able". I was too anxious to reply but at his reminder that forcing my way out of this room was in fact, a dangerous thing to do, I quickly retrieved my ruler-turned-weapon. My obsessive sharpening had caused one end to come to a point. Tucking it into the waistband of my pants and under my shirt, the cold metal against my bare back reminded me of Godric's comforting palm.
"Move swiftly", Godric instructed. I could only nod dumbly. Seeing this, he placed his hand on the door jamb. With a slight push that required no strain on his part, Godric broke the lock, effectively opening the door without so much as a splinter. And after all that effort the Fellowship must have gone through to make a door knob out of silver.
In my next breath, Godric was gone, back in his closet.
With one last look at the training dummy with its ugly fake teeth, I promptly left the room.
Closing the door behind me, I immediately felt better. The dread was still very much there, but it had at least lessened enough that I could think somewhat clearly. I took in the long deep breath of a drowning victim.
A part of me was almost annoyed at how easy it was to get out of the classroom. It seemed a disservice to all that happened for my escape to not be more climactic. If we survived this, I was going to have to ask Godric why it took him so long to open that God forsaken door.
There was no one on my side of the church. Not a single Yellow Shirt in sight. I could still see people in the distance near the church's front entrance, but that was it. This would have been the perfect time to escape. I'd have to walk -likely for miles to reach any neighbours- but with how busy the Fellowship was with the Lock In, it would have probably taken them hours to notice that I was gone
Yes, this would be the perfect time to escape. The road that led away from the church curved around the sole adjacent hill, disappearing from sight. Hiding the real world that I had once been a part of. It would be so easy to become a part of it again.
But I couldn't take my eyes off of the church. Its bright white paint reflected the sunlight so strongly that it was almost painful. There was a deep sense of knowing within me. The kind of knowing that left no room for doubt. It told me that whatever had been filling me with dread was inside the church. That if I left without first discovering its source, it would only worsen.
I gritted my teeth, ignored the Knowing and started walking towards the road. Nothing happened at first and I admonished myself for thinking anything would. It had all been in my head, of course. The stress and anxiety had clearly muddled my mind to the extent that I was experiencing it physically.
My shoes had not even touched tarmac before the dread reverted back to the intense nausea I had felt while in the classroom. I shouldn't have been surprised.
I stopped to stare at the empty road again and breathed deep my resignation. Let it overtake the freedom that had briefly visited my lungs. Then I turned back around.
Retracing the steps Brooks showed me during the tour, I debated the rear entrance that led directly to the kitchens. I could already hear those working away inside; they were even more boisterous this time. But the traffic was likely higher around the front entrance of the church. And with my luck, Steve and his entire team of counsellors would be there.
I opened the door slowly at first before realising how conspicuous that was. Upon entering the kitchen, a young girl in her early teens passed directly in front of me to toss something in a nearby trash can. When we made eye contact, I forced a smile and a nod. Her responding grin and greeting came far more naturally to her.
There were more women in the large kitchen this time, some of which were Yellow Shirts. As I weaved through one woman frying spice scented chicken and a couple more popping a shockingly large bag of popcorn, I kept an eye out for my female guard. When I saw the familiar short chestnut hair turn to walk in my direction, I quickly stepped behind a pair who were debating whether or not to add garlic shavings to their finger sandwiches. Neither seemed to notice me. Nor did the female counsellor who had crossed the kitchen to berate the two young girls for not washing the dishes fast enough.
Leaving the kitchen, I made my way to the main corridor that spanned the breadth of the church. It struck me that I had no idea where I was going or even what I was doing there in the first place. The dread had lessened, so I was walking in the right direction at least. Though it still crackled hotly inside me, as if impatient.
There were even more people in the corridor. Some carried sleeping bags while most stood in little clusters, catching up on the past week's events as they waited for the Lock In to officially begin. Two young boys were playing chase in between the clusters. The one in the lead almost knocked into me as they passed but managed to swerve to the left just in time. In lieu of an apology, he shouted a "May His holy light shine upon you", over his shoulder.
In this crowd, I was even more out of place.
What the hell was i doing? I should have been running for my life, not standing there gawking at the people preparing for a quiet night of public murder. That's exactly what I'll do, even if it meant I had to crawl my way back to civilisation.
Decision made, I began to turn to do just that.
Of course, that was when I heard his aggravated voice, loud even amongst the ambient chatter. "That's it, son. You've had your peace, now drop it", Gabe said from behind me.
From my peripherals, I watched as Gabe, Brooks and Bodyspray exited from a rear stairwell, blocking my retreat. I slowly shifted so I was facing the front end of the church again.
"No." Gabe said a moment later, his voice even louder as they approached, "I do understand. It's you who doesn't understand".
I frantically swept my eyes back and forth across the corridor, looking for an escape route. A few steps to my right was a door.
Gabe's voice went on, "When I give you an order, all I wanna hear come outta your mouth is 'yes sir'. That's it. None of this pussy shit you've been spoutin'".
I slowly walked to the door. An anxious prickling brushed up and down my spine before nestling itself in the back of my neck. Had they spotted me? I extended my hand and grasped the door handle. Lately, it felt like every door I encountered was locked. This one would probably be too. I'll try to turn the handle only to find it locked and Gabe will see me. See me and drag me right back to the classroom where I'd drown in Dread.
Their voices grew in volume. I turned the handle.
It opened with a soft click.
I practically jumped into the dark room. I didn't bother turning on the lights until the door was safely shut behind me. Leaning against it, I allowed myself a moment to calm myself. To appreciate how close I was to being captured again. Then I stepped further into the latest room I had found myself trapped in.
A Room of Propaganda was the only thing I could call it. The small space was almost entirely taken up by countertops lining the walls and the large table at its centre. Every available surface was blanketed in stacks of posters, stationary and picket signs. They more or less echoed the posters in my first prison only with far more red 'X's covering fang symbols. It was as good a place as any to wait for the corridor to clear itself of potential hazards.
The door behind me clicked open again. My heart jolted right up my throat as I dove under the table. My knees hit the floor hard, promising a pair of twin bruises. Ignoring the pain, I scurried further under the table and tucked my abused legs below me.
A set of tan boots walked into the room. They closed the door behind them. Silently, they took a slow step forward. Then another.
The shoes were well taken care of. Though from my newfound angle, I could see a grey scuff the owner had not managed to buff out. "I know you're in here", they said, "There's no point in hiding".
That was Brook's voice.
The legs attached to the boots bent down into a squat, bringing Brook's unimpressed face into view. He extended a hand to me, "Come on out now", he said.
I hesitated, but seeing no other option, I crawled out of the table. I did avoid his hand though.
I leaned away from him, pressed onto the edge of the table I gripped onto. He wasn't holding a weapon, nor was he standing in a particularly hostile stance. If anything, he looked like he really did not want to find me.
"You're not supposed to be here", he said.
I considered begging. Falling to my knees and pleading for him to just let me go. Pretend he had never seen me. "You're right", I muttered instead, "I shouldn't be here. I never should have set foot inside this place".
Brooks had the decency to look ashamed. Until now, he had acted as if he had forgotten that I was the victim of a kidnapping plot that he was complicit in. "That wasn't supposed to happen. We was just tryin' to save everyone. No one was supposed to get hurt".
"No one was supposed to get hurt? What about Godric?" The incredulous statement added more force into my voice.
Brooks only looked baffled, "You mean the Creature? That don't count. It ain't like it's a real person", he said, his accent becoming stronger as he became more agitated
The grip I had on the table loosened slightly as I stood up straighter, "Call him by whatever name you want, that doesn't change what you've done. How does this save anyone?" I questioned.
Brooks took a step back while running a hand through his hair "Look, we don't got time for this-"
"Are you going to take me back?"
He paused for a moment. It stretched time like a long piece of elastic. Pulled taut, ready to snap.
Calm again, Brooks said, "They got another woman here".
My head jerked back, I was that surprised, "What!?"
"A man too", he continued, "Stuck them in the cell we made for the next Creature".
"Why? Who are they?" I asked, my brain unable to keep up with the drastic turn this conversation had taken.
"Don't know. Only found out about it cause I gotta make sure no one goes near the basement during the Lock In. I came here to do God's work not to kidnap women. We've been moving further and further from His light. You need to get out while you can".
"What about the other woman? And the man she's with?"
Brooks looked surprised again, "You ain't got time to worry about other people. You gotta go now".
I didn't disagree with him. I was more than done with being anywhere near the Fellowship. "Are you going to help them?"
He recoiled. Only a fraction. But it was enough for me to see the shame and fear in it even though he could not look me in the eye, "I can't". He could. He was just too scared to.
Which left the question on whether I could. Run down to the basement to save the day like some cliche superhero. Cape flowing behind me as I freed the damsels in distress. It was a joke too ridiculous to even be worth considering. Especially for people whose faces and names I did not know. The smart thing to do would be to run for the hills and notify the real heroes. Ones preferably carrying guns.
But what if the Fellowship killed them all at dawn? Would I be able to get the authorities here on time? What time was sun up again? I hadn't been keeping track but it must have been rising earlier than before as we went into summer.
I closed my mind and attempted to calm my mind before it careened any further out of control. "And Godric? Will they really kill him in the morning?"
I opened my eyes to see resolution return to his, "Course they will. What else would they do with it?"
Right. What else would they do to him? As far as the Fellowship was concerned, he didn't deserve to be alive. None of us did.
"The basement you said. The one near the front entrance?" I asked. I had a vague recollection of where it was from the tour. I remember wondering why Godric and I weren't being kept down there instead of the classroom where sunlight could get in.
"Are you insane?! You don't got time for this, you gotta go now!" His elevated voice made me glance at the closed door to make sure no one was about to burst in at the sound.
"Look, you don't want to help? Fine. Just point me in the right direction and I'll get them myself".
"But-"
"Please" I implored, just short of begging.
Brooks made a needlessly loud sigh, "Yeah, that's the one. You wanna throw your life away, I ain't gonna stop you. Just leave the Creature. It's gotta die".
I ignored the last statement. Needed to so I could say, "Thank you". After all, I didn't want him to change his mind about not turning me in.
3.
The corridors were thankfully emptier as I made my way to the basement. Most had made their way to the Main Hall to settle down for the night's events. I only had to pass a handful of stragglers.
I didn't have to worry about the basement door being locked since it was ajar when I found it. Which only increased my worry. If this was where they were holding their other victims, it made no sense to leave the way out open.
I leaned on the wall next to the door with my ear up to better hear any sound from the basement. In my hand was the sharpened ruler, half of it wrapped in a rag I snagged from the Propaganda room. It made for a terrible hilt but at least I would be less likely to cut into my hand if I had to use it. I prayed I wouldn't need to.
I couldn't hear anything coming from the basement. Though that might have been because it was drowned out by the rapid thumping of my blood rushing behind my ears. I didn't pause to think about what I was about to do this time. If I did, I knew my cowardice would take over.
Slowly, I pushed the door open further. Just enough to slip through lest I make it creak. Pausing at the top of the stairs, I still couldn't hear anything. I couldn't see much of anything either as the hall at the bottom took a sharp turn to the right. The stairs were made of stone but I was still careful not to make a sound as I slowly took step after step down them. About half way down, I began to hear something but it was still too quiet to make out what it was. Talking perhaps. A few steps more. Definitely talking.
At the bottom of the stairs. Not talking. Shouting. Then the sound of something hitting against a larger structure. A shelf from the sound of the clatter. Turning the corner, I was faced with a wide open door.
"Stop it!" a woman screamed, terror adding a high pitched screech to her voice.
Gabe was there. He had stormed into the room in a rage after an altercation he had with another man. One he had lost. He wanted- needed something weaker, smaller to beat on. To reassure himself that he was still a man. A man with respect, with power. He deserved it after all the work he had done to get to where he was. Especially after that snivelling little shit, Steve took over the show.
So he'll make sure to remind everyone why he was the one who was really in charge. The two Blood Traitors will help. It's what they deserve for getting caught trying to spy on them for the fangers. And if he took a little something from the blonde, then who's to say anything about it? After all, no one did after the Gibson girl. And her family were devout members of the church. Her dad still played ball with Gabe for Christ's sake.
I vibrated, I was so enraged. I hardened my grip on my makeshift weapon. Watched my tendons protrude along my arm as I felt the ruler's edge through the rag. I was in the room with them now, staring at a large, male back. Everything else was shrouded in a red haze. The back was talking but I couldn't hear it. Only the strong thumping of my heart, readying me for what was to come.
I could feel it even more now, the pleasure he felt at hurting the woman he held by the throat. The vile beast was already fully erect just thinking about what he was going to do to her. He planned to be even more brutal on the blonde than he was on the Gibson girl. She had only been a 15 year old virgin so Gabe had been careful not to ruin her too badly the last time. This one he would happily tear into over and over again. After all, she was only a whore.
I didn't realise that I was gritting my teeth until I had already started panting through them. Spittle shot out of my mouth like some of the dogs at the shelter. I might have even been growling. His back had become much bigger. No. I was just standing directly behind him now. He still hadn't noticed me.
They never do.
Any second now, he will throw the woman to the floor. Rip her pretty blue dress down the middle. Relish in the way her buttons fly off to the side. Then he'll flip her over and-
With a loud, deep cry, I stabbed my weapon into the juncture between his shoulders and the back of his neck. The bones I could not see scraped against its edge as I pushed until the side of my clenched fist hit his back.
And just like that, the wrath that I had succumbed to was gone. As if it was never there in the first place. I reeled back a step as my vision expanded once again to the entire room. The first sound I could hear was the roar of pain Gabe bellowed. It bounced against the brown storage boxes that filled the room.
Gabe dropped the other woman, letting her crumple to the floor wheezing. He whirled round with a wide swing of his arm that would have clipped me in the chin if I hadn't jumped back another step. It took him a second to place me, "You?! You fucking bitch! I'll fucking kill you, you whore!"
His eyes bulged as he swung for me again. I managed another dodge but at the cost of staying on my feet. I tripped on something on the floor, falling hard on my rear with my legs bent over whatever it was. A second pair of legs it turned out, belonging to a man that I hoped was only unconscious.
Gabe tried to grab for the ruler in his back but wasn't able to get a firm grip of it. Only accomplishing to slick his hand with his own blood, "Fucking bitch", he muttered, "Fucking bitch! Come 'ere!" he squatted down and grabbed me by the ankle, staining my white church-issued sock with his blood.
We played tug-of-war with my foot, him cursing at me all the while. Gabe managed to lurch me closer to him but that put me at an angle that let me kick him in the face with my free foot. It wasn't strong enough to make him drop his hold but it still must have hurt from the howl he let out. So I gave him another harsh kick, managing to make blood bloom from his left nostril.
"Get the hell off of me!" I screamed as I went for another kick. This time he blocked and grabbed my foot with his free hand, his fingers digging into the laces of my sneakers.
He used the leverage that gave him to pull himself up and over my body. I flailed. Swung my fits at him. There was no strength in my punches because of the unfortunate angle so I made sure to hit him as much as I could. I think I managed to hit him in the nose again since blood poured out of it. I tried to knee him in the groin but he quickly settled himself between my legs.
Gabe punched me back with far more force than I had. Enough to thump the back of my head against the hard floor. I didn't see stars, only a painful fog that stole my wits away. For a terrifying few seconds, I couldn't focus or even really see him. I raised my arms up to cover my face in case he went for another punch which he slapped angrily at.
"Stop fucking moving!" Gabe shouted, straightening up to better tower over me.
I lifted my right leg up and locked it high under his armpit. I tried to use the strength of my hips and legs to get him under me but I only managed to pull him further down to my left. His forehead thumped satisfyingly against the floor.
"I said stop fuckin' moving!"
Which was alright because I could now see the ruler still protruding out of his back.
Locking my other leg around him, I grabbed the handle of my weapon . I didn't bother trying to unsheath it. The aim of my first strike might have poor but the strength of it had wedged the ruler in place. So I instead jerked the weapon back and forth, widening the wound and cutting further into his flesh. His blood felt warm as it covered my hand
Gabe let out another bellow as he tried to pull away from me. I kept him locked in place with my legs and desperately dug the ruler as deep as I could. Created as much damage to his body as possible. He punched at what he could reach, mainly my ribs, but I couldn't feel it. Could not tell if he was breaking my bones. Only the weapon in my hands. I constricted my body around him even more
Over Gabe's large shoulders, I caught sight of the woman leaning against some shelving. She was still recovering but at least she had not passed out "help- help me" I croaked out to her.
My voice was so low compared to Gabe's incessant shouting that I did not think she could possibly hear me. But somehow she did. Locked her surprisingly dark brown eyes with my own. Seemed to gain strength from them.
The next second she was on her feet rushing towards us, screaming her battle cry, "Get ya filthy hands off'a her!". She landed on top of us, the added weight pushed all the air out of my lungs in a rough whoosh. Yet I could only be grateful as she wrapped her clean hands around my blood-soaked ones and put all her strength in pushing the weapon in further.
I prayed desperately that he would pass out before I did.
The black spots appearing in my vision did not give me much hope
Gabe stopped punching me to reach one hand behind him for the woman, "You fuckin' whores! I'll kill you! I'll fuck you to death you fuckin' Blood Traitors!", he screamed into my ear.
He very likely would. I could feel my strength rapidly depleting while his only seemed to grow.
"Is that what you shall do?" came a calm, soft voice from somewhere behind me.
I could have wept in relief.
He was so fast that I did not see him until the woman was already sitting on the floor beside me and Gabe was suspended in the air. Only held up by the pale hand wrapped around his neck.
"God-Godric?" Gabe asked. His voice had never sounded so weak. So scared.
Godric did not respond. Instead he looked down on my prostate form as I wheezed air back into my furious lungs. I was completely spent. It was an honest miracle that I was able to hold onto Gabe for so long. Godric's gaze focused on my right hand lying on the floor. For whatever reason, he too took a deep breath.
"You're Godric?!" exclaimed the woman next to me. Her thick accent belying her State of origin as Louisiana. If I wasn't so tired, I would have wondered how she seemed to both know and not know my fellow abductee.
With his eyes still on me, Godric said "I had hoped not to cause any human deaths during my stay here".
Gabe made to speak. His mouth opened to make a "Wha" sound right before his head was forcibly removed from the rest of his body. Godric tossed it carelessly behind him before I could get a good look at macabre sight. I heard the odd 'thunk' it made as it collided with a wall.
A geyser of blood shot up from the body that Godric still held up. The torn arteries worked overtime to provide blood to a head that was no longer there, causing the substance to instead shoot up into the air and rain down upon us. The woman, with a shriek, managed to scurry away before any got on her but I was showered in it. I barely managed to muster the energy to squeeze my eyes and mouth shut as I turned my head away.
Blood spurted out of the corpse far longer than I thought it would.
I don't know what happened in the moments after Godric dropped what was left of Gabe onto the floor. Neither Godric nor the woman said anything during the time and I refused to open my eyes yet. To feel the blood I was drenched in or think about what had just happened. I would have forced myself straight into unconsciousness if not for the sound of a woman's startled scream from somewhere in the level above.
"Bill!" exclaimed the woman next to me.
"No", Godric said, "I am here my child. Down here".
That made me open my eyes.
A tall blond man appeared at the doorway. I tried to get up to get up at the latest addition to our little gathering, but a sharp pain broke through the adrenaline-induced numbness that I had been enjoying. It came from both sets of my ribs which I hoped was not an indication that they were broken. So instead of standing, I stayed half lying on the floor, leaning on one elbow.
The Tall Man had a look of pure awe on his face as he walked slowly into the room. He was even more blatantly vampire than Godric, though I could not point to what about him made me think that. Perhaps it was his parlour coupled with the slightly reddish tint that surrounded his eyes. As if he cried blood rather than tears.
All he said was "Godric" before kneeling before him with his head bowed low.
"Do not take scent. We cannot risk Blood-lust" Godric said in response.
I tried wiping some of the blood off of my face but my hands were covered in it too.
"You sent humans after me", Godric continued.
"I had no other choice", said the Tall Man, "These…savages seek to destroy you"
I was drenched in it. Drenched in the blood of a man I just watched die.
"I am aware of what they have planned".
"Hugo betrayed us", the woman interjected, "He was with the Fellowship all along, they set a trap for us".
His headless body was lying barely two feet away from me. If I looked down to Godric's right, I'd see the gaping neck staring back at me. The broken bones of his neck might even give me a wink.
"How long has it been since you fed?" asked the Tall Man.
"I require very little blood anymore".
I watched Godric kill him. But he only had to do it because my aim had been poor. I could lie to myself and say that I only wanted to wound him but what would be the point? I had wanted him dead, my rage had been that strong. I wanted him dead and I wanted to be the one to do it. Because I knew, I knew it would feel so damn good to .
Just then, an alarm started blaring. The flashing lights added a nice touch to our bloody party.
"Save the human you sent here. Go now", Godric said.
The Tall Man replied, "I am not leaving your side until-"
"I can take care of myself". Later -days later- I would think about how the annoyance in Godric's voice made him sound like an actual teenager for the first time.
"We have to go!" the woman said as she ran past me to be closer to them.
"Spill no blood on your way out", Godric commanded. "Go".
The fair haired couple left.
I laid back down on the floor again. Relaxed against its cool surface that was drying the blood faster. It seemed, after everything, I was to be left there. Abandoned with a supposed traitor and a dead man.
"You must not fall asleep", Godric said, suddenly squatting above me. I had no idea that I had been.
He opened up a large bottle of water that he magiced out of nowhere and poured its contents over my right hand. I watched passively as the blood sloshed away. I didn't even react when Godric cut his fang with his finger again and spread his blood over my palm and finger before washing it again.
Godric snaked one arm under my back and the other under my knees before lifting me up with little effort. "You are shivering. Do you fear me for what I did to Gabe?"
I did not answer, hardly even registering his question.
Godric did not seem to mind, "I shall take you to safety".
Did I fear Godric? I had gone from simply hearing about his stories of murder to watching him commit one. And in such a needlessly brutal way. Surely wasting so much blood was a faux pas for vampires.
Did I fear him? Hate him? No. because I knew that Gabe was a monster. A true one. Knew what he had done to other women and what he planned on doing to me.
What terrified me was that I had no idea how I knew.
We're finally leaving the Fellowship!
This will probably be the only instance of sexual violence that I will have in this story because I'm really not a fan of things like that being used as a plot device. I would have ommited it entirely if it wasn't a part of the source material. But we shall see where this story takes us.
From here on out, there's going to be a pretty big divergent from the original plot. I plan to mess around with the order in which events happen in the show as well as completely skip over some of them. So sorry to any of the fans of the Maryann, but her plot line isn't something I plan on playing with.
Thanks so much for stopping by!