The Demon Who Loved Me

Chapter-4

Dany forgot her potential marriage with a stranger and her anger with her grandmother. Terror, red and hot, gripped her. As she saw that white hand prying open her window, she remembered all the ghouls and ghosts in her mother’s stories that stole her sleep in childhood. She got out of the bed, every cell in her body screaming at her to turn around and run. But a sick curiosity glued her eyes to the hand, and her feet to the ground. She stood there in mid-scream, when the hand succeeded in sliding the window and Andrew hoisted himself up and into the room.

“Andrew?” Dany croaked, feeling relieved and terrified at the same moment. She wiped the sweat from her forehead as she walked towards the window, watching Andrew brushing off dust and twigs from his clothes.

“What the hell are you doing here?” Dany said, too shocked to notice that she was swearing. Andrew stared at her confused as though he could not figure out why Dany was so angry with him.

“I heard you and Lady Hutter shouting at each other. All the servants are talking about it. I couldn’t wait until tomorrow morning. I was worried about you.”

With that, Andrew took Dany’s hand between his two hands. Suddenly, Dany sagged, the sorrow and frustration from earlier occupying her being.

“Oh, Andrew, this is a disaster,” She said, her voice hoarse. “I feel like I am in a nightmare. Why does that woman hate me so?”

Tears streamed down her face and Dany didn’t even notice them until Andrew’s thumb wiped them.

“Hush, Dany, it’s alright. Relax.” He said, leading her towards the bed, with his hands wrapped around her shoulders. Even through the haze of her negative emotions, a feeling of surprise and delight erupted in Dany’s gut as she realized that Andrew had called her Dany. He had never even called her Danielle before. She had always been Miss Tucker to him. Even when they were sitting shoulder to shoulder under the Sycamore tree.

Dany and Andrew sat on the bed. Dany felt a little better in Andrew’s presence. She sniffled away her tears.

“Earlier when you said why does that woman hate me, are you talking about Lady Hutter?” Andrew asked. His hand was rubbing soothing circles on her shoulder. Dany nodded. If she could speak to anyone in this house about what she was feeling, it was him.

“Yes, it is her. She hates me, Andrew. I just doubted it when I have arrived. But now I am sure. She makes hurtful comments towards me. She degrades my father at every chance she gets. She never looks at me with a morsel of affection. It is like I am some discomfort she should put up with. If only there is another way for me. If only my father’s will is not that ironclad. I would have run away from here gladly.”

“You are just saying that but you don’t mean that. You really don’t want to run away, do you? It cannot be that bad. You are her granddaughter. Her only relation left in the world.”

Dany gave out a frustrated sigh at his words.

“No, no. I mean it and it is worse than I can ever hope to put it in words. I am suffering in silence all these days. Your companionship has been my only reprieve.” She squeezed his freehand with a weak smile on her face. “But what she did today was the last straw. Don’t you agree?”

“I will if I know what she did. I caught only your shouts, not the matter in it.”

“Oh, you don’t know. That’s why you don’t understand. She wants me to marry a stranger, Andrew. The duke of this or that. I don’t care. I don’t want to marry some fool she has promised me to. What am I? A vase? Something she can barter off for this gloomy manor?”

Dany saw as sweet Andrew’s eyes filled with incredulity and rage.

“No, she cannot do that. She cannot make you marry a man you don’t love and for god’s sake, don’t even know.” He cradled her face in his hands. “You are more precious than this manor or anything it holds. You are more valuable than all dukedoms and estates. Your happiness is more important than all titles and properties.”

“Andrew,” Dany whispered. The wind from the open window blew off half of the candles and they were sitting in semi-darkness. But oddly enough, he seemed more bright in that darkness. Every contour and detail of his face was defined in that scant lighting like he was meant for the darkness. His beauty was delightful and pleasant in the daylight but breathtaking at night. He transformed into a fascinating creature- a creature from whom Dany never wanted to take her eyes off.

“Did you mean what you said?” She asked, desperate for an answer in the affirmative.

“Yes, I meant everything I have said and if your grandmother can’t see that, she is an unfortunate one. But I am not. I am the luckiest man alive because against all the odds you chose me to be your companion here. You chose to fill my days with love and laughter.” He said, sincerity brimming in his eyes.

“Oh, Andrew,” She said. She couldn’t think of anything other than his name. It was her happiness spell.

“And why are you so against this marriage, Dany? Lots of women have arranged marriages, don’t they? And your grandmother matched you with a duke. Doesn’t every girl dream of marrying a handsome duke or a prince? Why are you so miserable?”

“Because...because…”

“Because? Tell me. There must be a reason. Even if you don’t tell me, at least tell it to yourself.”

His ocean blue eyes prodded her to tell the truth. His reassuring hand on her shoulder urged her to tell her the truth. His mere proximity alone had given her the courage to admit the difficult yet sweet truth to herself and him.

“I love you, Andrew,” She said, her eyes widening as she discovered the truth along with him. “Oh, this is the most amazing thing I have ever felt. I love you.”

And then something odd happened. Something strange. Andrew’s eyes changed color. They were not ocean blue now. They were red. As red as the embers in the heart of a great fire. His smile was not of an angel as she always fancied it to be. It transformed into a grin. A grin that caused a great terror to bloom in her chest. His grip on her shoulder tightened until it hurt. She thought he wouldn’t let go until all the bones in her shoulders break.

All this transformation was completed in one moment and then in the next moment, he was her normal Andrew staring at her terrified expression in perplex.

“Dany, are you alright?” He asked, his eyes searching her face with concern. Dany blinked once and shook her head. What was that thing she had seen earlier? Why did she see such a ghastly sight in such a happy moment?

“Yes, yes, I am alright,” Dany said. “I am just overwhelmed.”

“Not more than I am,” Andrew purred, his thumb brushing her lips until they parted in a gasp.

“I love you so much, Dany. You’ve been the best thing that happened to me in a long time. A long, long time. You are my calling. You are the answer to all my questions. Let me show you how much I love you. How much I crave the mere touch of you.”

He leaned forward, very slowly. Dany had the time to register every nuance and unique feature in his face. She had the time to admire the curve of his lips and waited agonizingly for them to descend on hers. But deep inside, she was waiting for that grotesque face to come back. For those mailgnant red eyes to gleam at her. But his face was as lovely as ever, even rendered more lovely by the desire in his deep blue eyes. Blue. Like the ocean. Not red.

And then the waiting was over. His lips were on her, perfectly fitting with hers. It was everything she had expected and more. His touch sent tingles down her spine. Andrew’s hands had traveled down until they snaked around her waist. He pressed him against her. Dany gripped his shoulders wanting to drown in his kiss. But then something strange happened. His lips grew cold. Like a glass slab in winter. The ice had flown from his lips to hers. Dany faltered. Her grip loosened on his shoulders. She opened her half-closed eyes in uncertainity. She felt every nerve and bone in her body chilling from their point of contact. She started pushing him away. First, lightly and weakly. Then she couldn’t take it anymore. She felt her mind numbing with the cold, her senses clouding.

“Andrew, let me go.” She said, against his lips, pushing him away with all the strength she could muster up.

Andrew stared at incredously.

“What is it, Dany?” He asked. He looked very hurt, his eyes wide and his lips forming a thin line. Dany started feeling guilty. She felt responsible for that hurt although she knew she was not in the wrong here. She felt she could have died if she hadn’t wrenched away from him in that moment. But that feeling of panic was slowly melting away, filling doubt in its place. Had that really happened or was it her mind playing tricks on her?

“Dany?” Andrew asked again. This time there was insistence in his voice.

“It’s...it’s nothing, actually. The cold...I…” She was still searching for the right words and way to explain her bizarre experience to him when the door to her room opened and her lady’s maid, Mary stepped in.

Time froze for Dany. Here she was, in the arms of a man, a servant, his face mere inches away from hers. And a maid saw them. Dany could see her ruin in flashes of the future. This maid would now run out of the room, the desire to spill it out too much in her. She would first go to her grandmother and tell her. But it wouldn’t stop at that. The temptation to gossip would be too much for the maid.

She would tell everyone and they would talk. First, it would only be the servants, from maids to footmen. But then the villagers would talk. And then the whole nobility would know. Like mother, like daughter, they would say. The news would reach the duke to whom his grandmother had hoped to marry her. There was a moment of secret happiness in Dany at the prospect of the duke canceling this marriage. But it immediately evaporated when she realized that she and her grandmother would probably be thrown out on the roads. Dany was too afraid to even ponder about her grandmother’s reaction. She would probably have her drawn and quartered.

Why had she been so foolish? Why had she not locked the door as soon as Andrew was in the room?

“Miss Tucker,” The monotone voice of Mary, pulled out Dany from her horrible thoughts. “Would you like anything before you retire to bed?”

Dany narrowed her eyes. Mary was too composed. There was not the barest hint of surprise in her eyes. She looked back into Andrew’s eyes. He was staring straight at Mary, a look of malice on his face. His eyes were hooded and his lips were pulled back to expose his teeth. Every hair on Dany’s body stood up in attention. She looked back at Mary who was staring at her, now realizing something was wrong.

“Miss Tucker, you look very pale. You have not eaten enough at the supper. Would you like me to bring you some food?”

Dany shook her head, tremors running through her body. Andrew’s fingers were like ice pricks through the thin fabric of her dress. All she wanted to do was jump up and scream. But she was frozen.

“Mary...what...what are you seeing now?” She asked.

“Pardon me, Miss?” Mary said, frowning.

“Tell me. What are you seeing when you look in my direction?”

There was a brief pause when a variety of emotions ranging from concern to fear, played on Mary’s face. Then she pursed her lips in resignation and answered.

“You, sitting on your bed, ma’am. You are looking very pale and shaken.”

“Only me?”

“Yes, only you.” Mary patiently nodded.

Dany turned to look at Andrew but she was staring into the air, at the window which was still open. There was no one in front of her. Not a hint of the man she kissed, moments ago.

“Oh, dear lord,” Dany said, and then she fell off the bed, in a faint.