Alone

Chapter 18

                                                                                            Jasper

    “How could you have let them f*****g escape?” I hurl a chair at the wall, narrowly missing one of my men.

    “We didn’t expect them to find us so fast.” My anger grows when his shoulders sag in defeat.

    “That was your first mistake,” I say as I place my hand on the hilt of my greatly sharpened knife. I narrow my eyes, and in one swift swoop slice his neck wide open, cutting so deep my knife scrapes his spine. “Your second mistake was being one of the few that remained standing.” I finish. I survey the brutal m******e of my men, I had already seen where most of the fighting was. But nothing compared to what we found in the cell, where the son of a bitches were being held.

    Body parts littered the cells floor. The smell of fecal matter, and blood was thick in the air. I knew as soon as the cells door was opened and the smell hit me, I was not going to like what I saw. I turn away in disgust.

    “Have we located them yet?” I ask.

    “Not yet sir. We lost their trail about a mile from here, but we will find them again.”

    “Go get Emily.”

                                                                                            William

    I drifted in and out of sleep. The sway of the carriage lulling me into nightmarish dreams.

    “William, wake up.” Someone lays their cool hand on my feverish forehead. Their hand felt so fragile and soft. Feminine, but strong. Still in my dreamlike state I grab the hand as it began to pull away and pulled it to my check. The light scent of flowers wafted across my sinuses, it smelled familiar. Safe. Like home. Don’t leave me, I shout in my dream. “Shh, its ok my darling. Everything’s ok.” The carriage shifts from lift to right, but its not the carriage at all. I realize my head is laying in someone’s lap. Laying my head deeper into the grove between her legs I could smell her through her cloths. She was very aroused. I could feel her legs tighten around my head a fraction, it intensified the arousal. I turned towards her body, so I could bury my face fully between her legs.

    Someone cleared their throat on the other side of carriage. I turned towards the noise with eyes still shut. I slowly opened my eyes to slits. On the other bench sat a stern looking Abigail, and a grinning James.

    “Honestly William, could you humiliate the poor girl anymore? You’re such a bastard.” Abigail shook her head.

    James chuckled right next to her. “Abigail you can’t really fault him. Im sure all mates are like that.”

    Abigail smiled full. Reminiscing on better days. “They were pretty adventurous times.” She admitted. “But that does not mean you get to do disrespectful things to this young woman, while you pretend to be asleep. Now sit up and be a gentleman.” In a childish huff I sit up. This whole time I had not looked at Anna, because I knew if I saw her flushed checks, I knew I would not be able to control myself. Especially, in such a cramped space.

    I was right. Her checks were a rosy pink. She was nibbling on her bottom full lip. Her eyes were staring straight ahead. She must not be happy with my embarrassing her in front of others. Oh, the things I would do to that mouth. Well that was unexpected, Roi chimed in, but I like the way you think. My visual inspection must be unnerving her because she started to fidget, almost like she couldn’t find a comfortable spot. The more she moved the more her arousal encircled the carriage. James and Abigail could probably smell it too. Thank God she doesn’t know that, Roi added. I opened the carriage window in hopes that her sweet scent would escape and not ruin her even more. I know that if I have to sit in this carriage with Anna turned on the whole way I would end up ripping her cloths off. Speaking of which…

    “Where are we going? This does not look like the roads back to town.”

    “We are not going back to town. They know were we live, and they will probably have many more men than the ones we ambushed. As Anna informed me, her father was not there so we have to assume there are many more Hunters out there. We can not chance it.”

    Anna spoke up then. “But what of my aunt and uncle? What will happen to them?”

    “Your uncle has been called off on an emergency somewhere in Europe and your aunt went with him. As they understood it, you are going to be staying with a friend of yours, a miss Francene Woodcroft. You will be writing to your aunt as often as possible and inform her of your progress on finding a suitable husband.” I feel myself stiff. I am her one and only future husband. I grab for her hand to show Anna she was mine. And mine alone. “But were we are actually going to be is a small town in New Hampshire. No one there knows us. I have not been there in decades and I have an estate there were you will remain until this whole thing gets sorted out.” Abigail didn’t leave much room for negotiating.

    “Alright, so when will be get there?” Anna pipes in.

    “Well, William here, slept well over half of the way there. Even though James here was the one being tortured to death. But we should be there in about a day. If we don’t stop but to only water the horses.”

    Bringing up James, struck a cord for everyone. I wanted to wait till we got home to ask him but sense we still had a ways to go I had to know. “James?” James didn’t have to hear the full question to know what I was asking. He was my brother, my twin. I had felt his pain growing up, if he fell off a tree, or father was giving him a good whooping for something I probably did.

    James aged right in front of me. His body seemed to cave into himself. His head falling forward. “The day I was captured was the worst day, because I fell for their trap. I was meeting a girl that day. But she ended up being a pawn from the Hunters.” James sounded so sad, it made me want to rip that girls had off for hurting him like that. “She handed me a drink and when I drank it I realized it had silver laced into the water. I didn’t understand at first, but by the time I realized I was in danger it was too late. They had me. They tortured me for days. From sunup to sundown. And it still didn’t hurt as much as what she did. She betrayed me. But eventually my body couldn’t handle it anymore. I must have said something whether to just stop the pain or unconsciously, because they stopped torturing me for a couple of days. They gave me enough food to barely survive. I became dependent on them. The next thing I knew they let me out of my cell and tell me I needed to do as they said or I would end up like my family. It was then when one of the Hunters removed Father’s head from a bag. It unhinged me. I couldn’t think. I didn’t know what to do. I just knew I was alone. As time went on I began to help the Hunters. I felt like their errand boy when they didn’t want to deal with something unpleasant. I’ve killed so many innocent people William. I am a monster. The Hunters were right, I am scum. I am nothing. I deserve to be dead- “. At some point I had move across the small carriage and threw my arms around my brother. He had grown into a hysteria. His whole body was shaking from the nightmare that had been his life for centuries. My God! Centuries! The things he has seen. The things he has been forced to do. All to stay alive. Because I didn’t look for him. But never again.

    “You were just trying to survive James. No one knows how they would react in such a situation. You survive that is all that matters. You have come back to me, my brother. I love you.” I hear my brother break down into heart wrenching sobs. My brother had always been strong. Always taking care of me. To see him in such a way, suffering. It only fueled my hate for those monsters. “We are not the monsters they are. And we will find a way to end all this. I promise James. I will never let them hurt you again.” I say with confidence. A small hand is placed on the small of my back, and I knew Anna would be by my side the whole way.