His Half Blood Princess

5.

"You look beautiful." Edwin Vincent said as he pulled out a chair for me.

"Thank you." I replied, with a smile, and sat down before he went back to his seat. It appeared he had also taken a shower and changed into fresh clothes, and if I thought he looked handsome before, then now he looked more handsome.

"How did you find your room? Do you like it? Is there anything you need? Perhaps something that should be added?" he asked a barrage of questions.

"Everything is fine thank you," I replied softly. "The maid, Helen though..."

"Is she troubling you?" he cut me off, his face looking stern.

"No," I quickly said. "not like that, but she doesn't talk to me."

"That's because she's mute." He burst out laughing. I didn't see the amusement in that though, so I frowned a bit.

"I've been wanting to ask you?"

"And here we go," he rolled his eyes. One moment he's all playful and nice, and the next he's intimidating me with his gaze.

"Serena," he grabbed my hands in his and squeezed a bit. Looking into my eyes, he whispered, "Don't you trust me?" he stared me down with his piercing gaze.

"No, I, its just that," I gulped. "I just want to know how my mother and brother are," I stated.

"You have nothing to worry about," he said, letting go of my hands, and I put the on my lap under the table, ignoring the tingling sensation I felt. " Your family is safe," he assured me.

"But where did you take..."

"Why don't you tell me about your mother and brother?" he cut me off again. "What's his name?"

"Bruno," I chipped in. "My mother's name is Monica and she's the strongest woman I know," a small smile crossed my lips as I started talking about them. "she used to say that 'You don't have to be extremely beautiful for someone to love you. They will find you attractive, yes, and probably lust over you. But you may not be their dream girl. The key is to always be kind and be yourself.'," I quoted, "and she lets me read books all the time..."

"Where did you learn to read?" Edwin Vincent interrupted with a raise of his eyebrows. It's very unusual for women to learn to read because they have to do chores and work in the farm or the factory, and I did come from a small village.

"My father thought me," I replied, but then I felt a pang of guilt hit me and my eyes watered. I have been trying too hard to not think about yesterday's incident.

"When I killed him, I probably brought more harm than good to us," I quavered. "N...n..now Bruno's an orphan and we are separated from each other." I sobbed, feeling ashamed.

"Hey, it's alright," Edwin Vincent said in a soothing voice. "Everything is going to be fine. Your mother and brother are safe, and you will also be safe as long as you don't leave this place. Now you stop crying Serena," he said and I nodded before wiping my tears. "you did the right thing. I know you would never try to hurt anyone intentionally. In a few days, you will be joined with your family and you will forget that anything like that ever happened again." he assured me, and I felt better. He was right, I did the right thing by preventing the monster from killing my mother.

Just then, the maids started bringing the food and placing it on the table. My mouth watered as the delicious aroma hit my nose and stomach rumbled, reminding me that the last time I had food was yesterday's lunch, which consisted of bread and potato soup. I felt like digging in like a hungry wolf before they finished serving, but I held myself back with my hands itching and twitching on my lap under the table.

As soon as they served the last dish, they bowed and exited the place.

The moment Edwin Vincent said "Let's eat." I dug in. As much as I wanted to eat and appear like a well trained lady with proper manners in front of Edwin Vincent, as soon as I put the first bite in my mouth, my mouth watered more and I went crazy at the taste. Who has tea, pies, fruits, eggs, meat, cakes, milk, juice and fried potatoes, all for breakfast? Rich people of course.

It wasn't until after I finished two plates in a matter of minutes and was about to start eating the third that I looked up with my mouth full and Edwin Vincent was looking at me with an amused smile and I flushed out of embarrassment. I can't believe I ate like a pig in front of a gentleman.

"I will pretend I didn't just witness that," he stated with a shake of his head, and started eating from his untouched plate.

*

Lunch and dinner weren't any different with the varieties of dishes and I felt like staying in the villa forever, I was starting to forget about everything that happened yesterday, until I went to my bedroom to sleep.

Helen had just left the room after she put off the lamp and I said 'good night' to her before she went out of the room and closed the door behind her. I laid down on the soft bed and pulled the blanket up to my neck before closing my eyes.

It felt nice to sleep in a bed as soft as this one and get to stretch my body. The night gown Helen gave was a long one made of silk. I felt my breath start to even and my body felt light before falling asleep.

*

I started to wake up slowly when I felt something hairy, like very soft hair tickling my feet.

"Stop it Bruno," I giggled and kicked my leg, not bothering to open my eyes.

After a second the tickling continued.

"Bruno, stop it, let me sleep, five minutes more." I groaned when the tickling continued.

"Bruno, I will tell mother you won't let me sleep." I whined and turned on the soft bed, my eyes still closed. That was when I felt something wet and slickly lick my foot and I frowned.

What is Bruno up to this time?

I sat upright with a yawn, rubbing my eyes.

"Bruno you are so dead tod..." the words died in my throat as my eyes opened in the dimly lit room which was only lighted from the moonlight coming from the window.

What I saw had my eyes widening. A huge golden brown wolf stood at the edge of the bed. The wolf stared right through me with green eyes that looked very familiar with the ones I see every day in my mirror.

It was the second time I had seen a wolf, the first time being when my father shifted for the first time in front of me and I knew better than to show fear, so I smiled at it.

The wolf walked over to my side, laid its head on my bed and whimpered as it stared at me with forlorn eyes.

"I forgot where I was for a moment."

I patted its head and then ran my fingers through her soft fur.

The wolf then backed away and stood staring fixated at the door. She then curled her lips, bared her teeth, and with her ears jutted horizontally she started growling at the door, making me confused.

Just then came a series of loud knocks on the door that made the door rattle and I felt my nerves freeze in fear as I stared at the door.

"Open up! Open the door now!" I heard someone shout from behind the door, my heart started beating loud against my ribcage and a cold sweat ran down from my forehead. Who could this be? Why are they knocking on my door at this time of the night?

"She's in there. Break the door!" I heard another voice shout. Just how many of them are there? Before I could process what was going to happen next, the door kept rattling and shaking against the wall like it would fall anytime they hit it from behind.

"Harder!" I heard another person bark and I quickly snapped out of my state. I quickly threw the blanket off of myself and got up out of the bed. I looked around the room as they kept hitting the door which I was sure would fall off anytime.

"What am I supposed to do now?"

The wolf looked at me, then turned and looked straight. I followed her gaze to see that she was pointing with her head to the window and I quickly rushed to it and opened it with shaking hands and the harsh wind hit me. I looked ahead but all I could see were tall trees that stretched out so deep without an end. Without thinking, I raised my leg and placed it on the window sill in an attempt to escape, but when I looked down, my breath caught in my throat when I sighted the crowd carrying torches and pitchforks.

"There she is!" one pointed a finger towards me and the rest looked up. I removed my leg from the window sill and stepped back, almost tripping. I was finding it hard to breath and I felt my head spinning.

Everything felt too much to bear, I was stuck in a room with no way of escaping.

A crowd was outside chanting words I couldn't comprehend and others were trying to break down my door, and my heart beat louder with each attempt as I felt the whole room vibrate.

"What now?" I whispered to the wolf.

My legs felt shaky and unable to carry me and I knelt on the floor trying to catch my breath and the tears I didn't know I was holding back started flowing. They hit the door harder this time and it fell with a loud thud. The whole room vibrated. I felt someone grabbing me by the arm and I let out a scream.

"Leave me alone please!" I cried, but it went to deaf ears.

"Help!" I screamed to the wolf, but it seemed as if I was the only one that could see her as she stood there growling at the men. One man grabbed an arm each and they dragged me out of the room and to the long corridor as the others behind us carried torches while I cried out for help.

We reached the stairs and I thought they would take me down and outside, but instead they kept dragging me through the corridor where Edwin Vincent had been to earlier.

"Help!" I shouted when I started seeing a silhouette of a man approaching. It was dark and I couldn't make out his face, but I could tell he was tall, had broad shoulders and had his hands behind his back. They kept dragging me to the end of the corridor where the man stood and as we approached and the torches illuminated the corridor, I felt a sliver of hope when the man appeared to be Edwin Vincent and my tear-stricken face brightened up. I heaved a sigh of relief and a small smile stretched across my lips.

"Edwin Vincent. Help me please, tell them to let me go." I begged, but he stood unmoving. We stopped right in front of him as the men held me, their grips tight.

"Edwin Vincent." I called out again when he didn't respond.

He looked up and stared right at me and I let out a gasp when I saw that his eyes weren't the usual bright blue, but red like those of the devil and they looked empty, without feelings.

I watched as Edwin Vincent smirked and took his hands from behind his back and held out a key. He turned to his side where there was a black oak door.

"What are you doing?" I asked as he unlocked the door. He opened it and entered and the men tightened their grips on my arms and started dragging me towards the room.

"Where are you taking me?" I voiced out one of the many questions running through my head but it went to deaf ears. Who are these people and what did they want with me?

Well, that question was answered when they dragged me into the room and my eyes widened in shock seeing the gallows that stood in the middle of the room.

"No, no please!" I cried, pulled and tugged to release my arms, but their hold was too strong.

"Please help me." I whispered when Edwin Vincent started walking towards me, but much to my horror, he handed a rope to another man who went behind me and started tying my hands. I pulled and thrashed but it was all in vain.

They tied my hands and started dragging me to the gallows as I screamed and thrashed and as they dragged me up the gallows, Edwin Vincent stood in front of the gallows and smiled at me.

I could see my wolf growling at him but he didn't even notice her presence, just like the other men.

"It's okay Serena, calm down, no one's going to hurt you," he said softly. "nothing is wrong here, everything is just in your head." I heard him say as a sack is pulled over my head.

"No it is not." I whispered as a lone tear rolled down my face when the men put the rope around my neck. I heard the sound of the lever being pulled and my breath halted as I felt myself falling endlessly.