Dead body

Evelyn 

The dawn came later than I would have liked. I spent the whole night tossing on the bed, anxiety and exhaustion waging war inside me stomach. Not knowing what was coming. 

I was grateful the content of my breakfast decided not to make an appearance. That would have added embarrassment as the cherry on top. 

Even now as I wait for Agatha's appearance with eagerness, I couldn't stop the slight pricking of fear at the base of my neck. 

Is something going to happen? 

Apart from what did not happen yesterday. Israel had somewhere gotten us lodged at some fancy hotel in the middle of nowhere. Tired and mentally exhausted, I couldn't be bothered to check out the settings and aesthetics. 

I was wheeled to my room by my husband. The whole ride which I spent trying to get enough air into my lungs. 

He was so huge. His sheer presence seeming to take up so much space, making everything shrink in comparison to him. His shoulder strained the fabric of his suit. 

Poor things.

His blue eyes were narrowed with focus, nothing passing by him. 

As he loomed over me, and I struggled in vain not to inhale his delicious scent_a vain effort_ I was surprised by the absence of the ever present fear. 

Ever since the incident, I've always had a hard time when someone bigger than me was looming above me, I would be quick to cower away and shiver with fear and apprehension. 

My insecurities about being crippled would hit me square in the chest, knocking the breath right out of my lungs.

It was why my father decided to make the frail Agatha as my maid. 

Instead, I was left with a delicious sensation that made my neck prickle and my whole body throb. As I stared at his large palm cradling, and gently steering, I wondered if I had misjudged him after all. 

Perhaps he was more than what meets the eye. Perhaps under that cruel and hostile exterior there was a layer of something waiting there. 

And waiting was what I did all night. As soon as he had safely gotten me into the room, he rudely barked an excuse about wanting to check the situation with his men and slammed the door shut. 

He had changed from gentle to overwhelmingly angry and edgy. His anger oddly stoked mine. What was it about this new husband of mine? 

He was burning hot and cold. Protective and gentle a time, angry and rude at other.

Making my already confused feeling more mushed and muffled. 

My night was consumed with latent fury, simmering under the different layers of emotions I wasn't willing to check. 

He didn't come back. And I was relieved. 

At least that's what I told myself severally. I wasn't relieved that he find enticing enough to claim his husbandly right. 

Who would want to bed an invalid? Who was even sure that all my womanly parts were working as they should? 

I huffed a sigh and smiled as I caught my reflection in the mirror. A self deprecating smile that wasn't really that far away from me. 

My reflection sneered at me, hair askew, face pale and pallid. Nose too small and a mouth too wide. I could see why bedding me would be a chore for anyone. 

Most of all my handsome husband. 

Finally, Agatha's entrance brought me out of my reverie. I snapped close the mental book of “reasons why I'm unwanted” and locked it safely inside my head. 

I smiled widely at Agatha, relieved to see her face after yesterday's fiasco. Her familiar weathered smile and unforgiving knot on her head instantly put me at ease. 

She walked slowly inside the room, her eyes raking me from head to toe. Her appraisal was shrew and motherly, it made me flushed an ugly shade of scarlet. 

I was surprised when she hauled me into a warm hug. She smelled of laundry power and lemon. She smelled like home. 

I squashed the sob rising in my chest from the wave of nostalgia that hit me and tightened my hold on her. 

She released me after a minute and held my shoulder to look into my eyes. 

“Oh child. I'm sure the hardest part is over,” she crooned softly. 

It took a while before the meaning behind her words dawned on me, and I burst into laughter. 

“Nothing's over Agatha! Nothing has been started even,” I laughed loudly, it sounded close to hysteria. 

Suddenly I felt Agatha's fingers tracing my face, it came back wet. Oh, I was crying. 

Those tears weren't supposed to be out now. I swiped angrily at my face, hating myself for being such a ninny. 

Why can't I be more like Sophia? Composed and ever ready for a challenge? 

“It'll be fine linne. You'll see,” she whispered to me again. 

I smiled and nodded. Even though the voice inside my head was screaming that it wouldn't. It would never be fine. 

Nothing would ever get back to the way it was. 

“Your husband is ready. He's waiting for you downstairs,” Agatha informed me. 

She looked away and I sighed. There was only so much emotions that Agatha could handle in a day. The thought made me smile. 

Suddenly the door was yanked open, it was hanging off it's hinges. Just like my jaws were. 

I stared in horror at the unhinged door and the ferocious face. I reared back from the sheer hostility radiating from him. 

My husband looked like a dark angel, his blue eyes flashing and resolute that glaciers, his mouth twisted with distaste and his eyes. His eyes held so much venom I almost threw up. 

“We're leaving now.” He growled. 

“But..but,” Agatha spluttered. 

“This instant.” he stalked towards me and I gasped. 

His eyes softened a bit and he huffed a sign, he leaned over me and I flinched. 

“I'm not going to hurt you princess. I'll never,” he said fervently. 

I jerked my head in a nod, still looking into his eyes. 

“Meet us downstairs in five minutes or we'll be off without you.” He threw back at Agatha. 

I was only able to glance at Agatha's stricken face before he wheeled me out of the room.

As we neared the hallway, the coppery smell of blood assaulted my senses making me want to throw. 

Unlike other vampyres, I wasn't really the biggest fan of blood. And I could go on without it for as long as necessary. 

“Close your eyes princess. This isn't something you would want to see,” he whispered above my neck. 

His large palm came to rest on my face, blocking my face. But not before I caught sight of a dead man lying s

tiff in the pool of his own blood. 

I screamed, my hands shaking badly beside me. The content of my stomach made an appearance after all.