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She was watching him. He could feel her and it
vexed him. He could not see where her spies were hiding or what
matter of spy it was. He reached out with his mind and could feel
the thoughts of the town. Some were swayed by his sermons and his
dazzling smile. Other's doubted his sincerity and he knew he would
have to watch them more closely.
Still, he thought to himself standing in the doorway
of the church and looking into the quiet night, there was more that was
troubling him. Somebody in town was hindering his actions. He
could not see who. Somehow that bitch was interfering with his ability
to readily scry into the minds of the cattle that called this town
home. Someone was thwarting him and that person would pay.
Who could it be?
And why did he get the uneasy feeling that he was being watched? Friar Essex looked around the empty church and
shivered in unease. He was being watched. He knew that unseen
eyes were upon him and he cussed in protest. "Where are you,
little spies?" he whispered into the empty air. "Where are
you?"
Shutting his
eyes he scColletted the warm interior of the church. He found what he
was looking for; a lone lady bug, watching his every move.
"So," he said to the small insect that sat watching him from the
corner of the church, "there you are." He looked at the
insect and with a gesture of a closed fist opening the ladybug fell from
the ceiling and landed on the ground.
He walked over to the bug as it scampered away from
him. He smiled and stomped the life from the insect. "So
much for your little spy," Friar Essex said into the room.
Feeling happy that the spy problem had been resolved
he decided to reward himself. He reached out into the night air and
summoned a woman to the church. "Come," he whispered to
the young woman that lay alone in her bed, "come to me."
He watched as the woman he summoned, clad only in a thin nightshirt, left
her home and walked through the dirt street towards him.
"Stop," he
whispered and she obeyed. She stood alone in the middle of the
street, a soft wind blowing her night shirt. "Strip," he
said to her.
With tears in her eyes the young woman pulled her
shirt over her head. Her cheeks were burning in shame as she stood
naked in the street. She tried to wipe her eyes but found her hands
frozen at her side. Fresh tears streaked her already damp face when
his words came to her again, "drop to the ground and spread your
legs."
She had no choice to obey and her breasts heaved as
she sobbed in misery.
"Now," he said to her,
"masturbate. You will stay there until you are
discovered. When asked you will have no idea how you got there or
what you were doing." With a malevolent laugh he said,
"have fun."
He turned and
returned into the church. He felt satisfied with himself; content
with the dead spy staining the rectory floor and the power he had wielded
over the young woman lying naked in the street with her hand working
feverishly between her widely parted thighs. He was powerful and he
felt more alive than he had in centuries. Life was good.
And, he smiled, it will be better when that bitch is
dead.
Do you hear me, he reached out with his mind.
I will be so much happier when your lifeless corpse is hanging in the town
square.
He knew she heard him and he smiled at the
fact. He reveled in tormenting her as she had caused his torment for
a century. Trapped in the walls of that cathedral, watching through
unblinking eyes as the time passed unconcerned with his misery. They
would pay, he promised himself, they would all pay.
* * * * *
"What are you doing?"
Nathaniel asked the naked woman as she cried; tears staining her
cheeks.
The young woman finally pulled her hand
from between her legs. Her fingers were sore and her wrist
throbbed. "Hello, Nat," she said, climbing to her
feet. "You are up early."
"Are you okay, Darlene?"
Nathaniel asked, suddenly concerned. He removed his coat and wrapped
it around Darlene's naked shoulders, "cover yourself, child," he
said.
Darlene noticed her nude form and
pulled the coat that Nathaniel had given her about her shoulders.
Tears of frustration joined her tears of humiliation as she cried, "I
don't know." Her head fell against her chest and she sobbed.
Nathaniel
pulled her to him and helped to guide her home. He knew what had
happened; the blank look in her eyes when he had asked if she was
okay. She had no clue what had caused her to so obscenely display
herself, but Nathaniel did. It was the priest, the vampire that had
come hunting for Collette, having fun, toying with the naked woman. He
had commanded her to be there and she had no choice but to
capitulate.
Mistress, he called out to Collette in his
mind.
The answer greeted him and he took
comfort that she was watching. He explained what had happened and
was greeted with a reply.
Yes, mistress, he thought back, I will
keep it quiet. I will not give him the satisfaction. He is
bored, I think. Playing with her like this, that can not be a good
sign.
It means
he is getting antsy, Collette agreed. He will attack soon.
Nathaniel nodded as he opened Darlene's
door and followed her inside. Darlene departed and emerged a moment
later wearing a fresh night shirt. Thank you, mistress, Nathaniel
thought as Darlene handed him his coat.
"Thank you, Nat," Darlene
said, her face swollen from her tears. "I'm sorry to have
inconvenienced you.
"It was no inconvenience,
Darlene. Just glad to see you home safely." He read the look on
her face, "don't worry. I won't tell anybody."
Sobbing again, Darlene stammered,
"thank you, Nat." She fell to her knees and cried, holding
her hands over her eyes.
Nathaniel
dropped to his knees and comforted her, holding her in his strong
arms. He ran his fingers through her hair and cooed her name
softly. Slowly her sobbing ceased and when she felt her shame behind
her she pulled away from Nathaniel, "thank you," she stammered
again.
She climbed to her feet and crossed the
room. Nathaniel watched as she placed a pot on the stove and began
boiling some water. "Tea?" she asked.
Nat smiled and nodded, "I'd love
some." He knew what she was doing; she offered him tea to force
some semblance of normalcy into her life after the past few hours.
Nat would stay as long as she needed and he would keep his promise and not
reveal what he had seen to anyone; he would keep her secret hidden.
* * * * *
Now who the hell is he? Friar Essex
asked himself. It isn't fair. I go to all the trouble to have
some fun with that stupid broad and this good Samaritan just comes along
and rescues her. No, he decided, we can not have that. We can
not have that at all.
Who are you, my friend, Friar Essex
thought. He reached out and scColletted Nathaniel's mind. He found
that Nat was a respected member of society. A frown crossed his face
as he continued reading Nathaniel's past. What have we here?
He found a gap in the memories of the man he was scanning. Where
were you for those few weeks?
He looked deeper and smiled.
So, he thought
to himself, my little friend. You confronted her once
yourself. You know her for what she is and you wanted her
dead. It bothers me that she is here still, so that means that you
failed when you gathered support and confronted her. But you did
confront her, didn't you. I can see it in your mind.
Friar Essex shut his eyes and opened
his mind; reliving the scene that had unfolded nearly two months ago.
* * * * *
A din could be heard, growing louder,
growing closer as the approaching crowd appeared. This group
was collected with two goals in mind; to destroy Collette and all that she was
and, secondly, to retrieve Keith.
Keith, Friar Essex thought as he
relived the scenes within Nathaniel's mind. Have to find out who he
is too, now, don't I?
The bitch had been prepared, she had
the ability to defend herself from the approaching mob. With a nudge of
her mind Collette commanded a mist to appear, a white haze filling the salty
air. The mist obscured the sun, the world taking on an Angelic glow
as the day illuminated the mist. The sounds of the crowd grew
closer, the mist hiding them from view.
She was thinking to that pup of
hers. He will die too, Friar Essex thought, in fact, the bitch will
watch him die.
A voice called out, "Keith." I
recognized the voice of Nathaniel, the man whose mind I was reading.
"Go away," Keith obeyed, his voice
carrying along the surf. That stung him, Friar Essex thought,
feeling the hurt in Nathaniel's memory.
Silence
greeted Keith's vocal announcement. The group grew closer, the
murmurs and faint whispers growing louder. A faint light
appeared, and another, a third. Torches lit the sea air haze,
shining like flickering halos. They were pinpoints of light, growing
closer as they approached. The demoness became visible in
Nathaniel's eyes.
She was more beautiful than when imprisoned me, he
admitted, still watching as the scene unfolded.
"I have come for my grandson," he hissed
at her.
Coyly she asked, "who?" She turned
to look at a young man.
Keith looked at the white-haired man, tilted his
head, "who?"
She had commanded him to say that, Friar Essex
knew. The word stung Nathaniel.
Nathaniel did a double take, paused briefly to look
at the blank look on Keith's face, before returning to face the vampire.
"I do not know what kind of mind control you have on him, but I am
here to break it, you bitch." He turned towards the milling
crowd, "we," he said facing Collette again, "know what you are,
and we will stop you and your kind. Make no mistake, I will kill
Keith if I have too, your reign ends here. Now!" He was
shouting as he spoke.
Through Nathaniel's mind I watched her as she
smiled. "Make no mistake," she repeated his words,
taunting him, "you can not stop me. You will not be taking
Keith with you, and if need be I will claim you and make you one like me.
Do you understand me?"
A young man in the back, bouncing nervously, screamed,
the sound shattered the tense scene as the boy lowered the torch to his
arm. His skin blistered, the fire burning his skin.
Blisters formed, popped and bled as he ran the torch from his wrist to his
elbow trying to rid his flesh of the scorpions that were stinging his
skin. His voice shrieked, he was screaming in pain, terror, and
repulsion.
The pup, I realized. He did very
well.
The young man screamed
and ran into the ocean to his right, diving under the pounding surf.
The salt in the water burned the open wound of his arm and he screamed,
bubbles pouring to the surface as he exhaled. He panicked, sucked in
a breath of salty water and began to choke. He popped to the
surface, his lungs burning, and he sucked in a lungful of air.
The water was still burning his arm, and his screams echoed along the
beach.
Nathaniel turned to face the young man that my spy
had seen in the witch's bed, "we will kill you, too."
A single torch was held aloft.
As I watched through the old man's eyes a torch flew
through the air. A scream rang out and the group parted to allow the
torch to fall useless to the ground.
Nathaniel had not
moved, the torch landing just to his left. He glanced down, the
torch flickering as it lay useless on the ground. Thick smoke rose
from the torch, a dark gray plume of spent air. He turned his head
to look into the crowd. Speaking loudly, he shouted at the thick
mass of people, "I don't know what lies you have been told, but trust
me, they are lies. Do not believe the filth that you are being
fed." He turned back to Collette.
Through the past locked in the old man's eyes I
watched as the demon bitch looked at him, and smiled innocently.
"Having fun yet?"
Nathaniel took a deep breath, "now!" he
shouted.
With that the crowd rushed forward, swarming over
the three people; the vampire bitch, the pup and the young man named
Keith. There were perhaps sixty people gathered on the beach
and they all rushed to envelope the three. Quickly two people grabbed the
pups left arm, three his right. Another three people grabbed his
left foot then two more lifted his last leg and he fell to the ground with
a soft thump, the sand easing his fall.
Keith scream in shock as he was lifted and dropped
to the ground. The crowd enveloped him as readily as they had the
young vampire. A mass of bodies close around Collette. A large man
approached the pup and he struggled against the hands that held him
immobile.
"No," the pup screamed in desolation as a
thick wooden stake approached his captured body.
The large man stepped forward and dropped to his
knees beside the struggling pup. "Die you vile man," I
heard through the memory of Nathaniel. He positioned the stake
against the young man's heart. I heard the pup yelp,
"help."
His memory
faded. What happened next? Friar Essex wondered. What happened
after the pup yelled for help? Friar Essex scColletted the memory of the
man named Nathaniel and could not see beyond that scene. He knew
that the pup and the vampire he hunted was still alive, his spy had
confirmed that much. What had happened?
Friar Essex pulled his mind from Nathaniel's memory
and slowly scColletted the town. His thoughts drifted from building to
building, from person to person; searching for the young man named
Keith. He had been corrupted by that bitch, but had somehow escaped
her clutches. He wanted to know how and he wanted to know what the
young man had learned living with the demoness he hated.
Where are you, young Keith?
His thoughts jumped from place to place.
Finally he found him, recognizing him from the scene he had just witnessed
within Nathaniel's mind. From the church he planted his thoughts
into the young man's; searching for clues about what had transpired after
the pup yelped. What can you show me, little one?
With his eyes
staring into the sky Friar Essex watched as he relived the scene of the
confrontation he had just witnessed. He heard the creature he
despised tell him to say, "go away." And again the voice
commanded him to say, "who?" He was under her spell,
obeying her without question.
He had been converted and was back in town.
Why?
Tell me, little boy, he thought to himself, scanning
his mind, tell me why you are back in town. Why did she let you
go? Show me, damn you, show me.
He scColletted Keith's mind and could find no
reason for his return to town. Why? The question vexed him and he
did not appreciate the fact that information was being kept from
him. With an angry scowl Friar Essex hissed, "if you won't show
me, I will come take it from you."
Friar Essex looked into the sky. Towards the
east the sun was rising and the sky slowly brightened.
"Tonight," he promised the sleeping form of Keith, "I will
come for you and if I have to rip it from your dead corpse you will tell
me what I want to no."
Feeling better now that he knew about Keith.
He knew that he would find out much about his enemy when he visited Keith
after the sun went down. He would rip open his body, if necessary,
and his blood will sing to him. Hopefully, he thought to himself, I
will gain an ally, but your death will serve me as well. Either way,
I will have the information I require.
Out loud he said,
"understand?"
He expected no reply and received none.
Friar Essex
disappeared into the church. He exhaled heavily and crossed the
large room, the eyes of the Christ figure watching him as he traversed the
floor. He smiled at the impotent statue and strode purposefully into
the bedroom that the dead priest once used. He shut the door and
climbed into the bed. With the sun rising in the east, the room was
growing brighter, the light creeping in through the portal that opened
into the air.
Friar Essex pondered his day. Something had
happened that day outside the home of the demon bitch. But what?
What had transpired and why was the knowledge hidden from Nathaniel's
mind? Surely he should be able to read the past in the mind of a
mortal human.
As his breathing deepened towards sleep the thought
came to him; she has hidden it from me. She did it to him and it was
her influence that was hiding the information from my prying
thoughts. It seems, he reasoned, that she is influencing Nathaniel
from her home just a few miles away. Why? he wondered. What is
it that is being hidden?
And as sleep overtook him he promised, I will find
out from Keith tonight.
He slept.
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