EPISODE 2

ELIANA

The eyes are keys to the soul… or so they say. His soul was an abyss. Dark. Cold. Hollow. A wormhole that sucked you in. His eyes were a beautiful abyss. I’ve never been drawn to a man and I’ve seen a handful of men but all of them, compared to him, were like pebbles amongst a gemstone.

The devil wears Armani. He was that devil and my fate was sealed the moment I was dragged into this room and locked eyes with him.

I didn’t know what was going on but fear launched at me and clipped me to the door, the sight of the devil’s gun against the house master’s temple reminded me of how easy it was to spend the life of another man in an instance but what was more frightening was the dark smile that grew on his face when I retracted from the sight.

The devil launched towards me, his gait footsteps, quiet and gallant. His tall form exuded raw, animalistic, yet refined power. It was danger in blaring red lights. As a human, I’ve felt fear but this man was the personification of it. He terrified me but that was exactly what drew me to him and like a moth to a flame, the abyss of his soul held me captive— like a lone princess in a warrior’s cage.

Although his fingertips were cold, my skin lit up from their contact. It was the middle of July, how was his fingers so cold? A strange, somewhat warming feeling threatened to throw me overboard when his thumb pad caressed the hollow of my cheek. It threw me off, shattering the shield I had put up against him as he caressed the skin on my face. His lands lingered a little too long over the spot, that was when I realised he was touching the scare on my face.

He’d asked me what my name was, though fearfully, I was compelled to respond to him. The authority he relinquished wasn’t to be questioned. This man was a very dangerous species, one that I couldn’t help but be absorbed by his very presence.

His smile was small yet cruel, beautiful and bathed in darkness. I’ve never known danger so hot, it warmed the very core of my being. “A pretty name for a pretty little bird.”

I wasn’t sure if those words were a compliment or a threat but his voice, as it sank into my ears, reverberated through me in a rich, thick baritone.

“You’ve got yourself a deal, Morelle.” His words drained all the life force encased in my body; they cleanly ripped it out, smiting it at my feet. “I’ll keep her.”

My life flashed by me in a heavy haze but his dark orbs never left mine as he spouted out that declaration. Too numb to speak, my frozen body mapped out my housemaster from the corner of my vision as he shivered, grovelling.

“I’m eternally grateful, Mr Moretti.”

His cruel warmth left me when he stood over me, his dark form retracing into the shadows that defined the room and I was reminded of just how cold it was in this space or maybe it was the cold that one experiences when their life’s about to take a drastic change. It paralyzed me and I was left to reckon with my newly bestowed fate that I had just been traded to this dark and dangerous knight.

“Pick her up.”

He might as well be the king of hell.

My body was pulled up and pushed through the door. It was happening all too fast to comprehend but in that instant, I was going to lose everything I had ever known, that came close to being my home.

I was orphaned at a tender age of two, Morelle had told me that he’d found me at the orphanage’s doorstep with no details to my identity. I had no name, nothing. I was unconscious when he found me, I didn’t know the details of how I came to be at this place but whoever had dropped me off had thought it a good idea to put me directly and horizontally at the door, I was almost stepped on.

Or at least that’s what Morelle told me. It was all he could tell me.

Marie dresses backwards as she pulls out from the corner, almost bumping into the man whose grip was like a vise clamp on my arm; the same man who had taken me away from the living quarters and into my house master's office.

She carried a tray of tea in her hand that was meant for us, she’d sneaked down to the kitchen to make some because we weren’t allowed extra edibles outside of what we were given. It almost slipped when she saw me in the company of men darker than life itself, being whisked away.

Marie was endowed, barrel-chest with an hourglass figure, she watched in horrid silence as the man, dressed in a black attire, walked me beyond the confining walls.

***   ***

We’ve driven off to the edge of the world and only then did the house reveal itself. But calling it the structural term of a mare building didn’t do justice to the majestic nature. Beyond the black gates and the path road lined with trees as the car drove down through the driveway and the tall walls surrounding the perimeters, I’m struck with awe at the magnificence of the white mansion that comes into view. For a moment I forget that I was a captive, taken out of the place I knew as home, into the unknown.

The car pulled to a stop before the building and the doors to the car flew open. The devil’s subordinates line out. A shadow hovers beside me, his body blocked off any crevice that would let the evening light through and swiftly, my body was whisked out of the car seat by the man that dragged me into the dark corners of Morelle’s study. The very place I met the devil.

I met the devil’s gaze as soon as I was rounded up towards the building. And those dark eyes glowed a mesmerising shade of burning gold and green. His eyes were heterochromic and just like the captured sunset swirling in his eyes, they pinned me on a choke hold but his gaze disappeared almost immediately and a churning pool of disappointment cages my gut.

The large double door pulled open and a woman stood in the entryway, her upper body bent into a bow. “Welcome back, Mr Moretti.”

“Esme.” The devil regards, stopping right in front of her. “Show her to a room.” He ordered, his eyes landing on me and doing a once over, something dark glinting in his eyes and I felt the chill run through me and not one from cold.

A paint of confusion ruins her face as she looks up at the devil, she looks to be in her forties, but then she follows his gaze as they briefly wash over me. Her face slowly lights up as she takes in my appearance besides her master.

“Of course, sir. As you wish.” Her voice is soft and her response comes with a polite nod.

I don’t catch the words he mutters next when the dark knight comes to stand beside him. He weaves his hand through his hair, cussing as I’m whisked away from the hall by Esme.

I’m pulled along by Esme’s firm grip on my wrist. It’s not hurting or tight but it’s locked against my wrist like a clip on. Like a woman who’s worked diligently for years with those hands. We take the huge, sweeping marble staircase, we turn the corner into a hallway and step into a room.

The room I’m brought into is spacious, a shade of cream and grey paint filters the walls. The white sheer curtains dance softly to the tune of the breeze and grey drapes are drawn apart and held with silver ropes over a hook against the wall. There’s a Victorian Queen sized bed at the center of the room neatly dressed in soft looking white sheets and a grey cushioned bed stool at the edge. Beautiful antique furniture contributed to the appealing look of the room.

But my attention was quickly taken by what was in front of me. I’ve never seen a bathtub this big. It could perfectly fit three people with an extra space to spare. It’s fashioned with a double footing and thin rail handle and the water in the bath is crystal clear, steaming with warm steam and an alluring fruity scent that was calling to me.

“Whoa.” The only word I could muster. The first word I’ve spoken since I was taken away by the devil and his subjects.

“The master has quite the taste, doesn’t he?” Esme says behind a small smile.

“I’ve never seen anything like it.” It was true, we never got out of the orphanage that much. We were homeschooled too by the neighbourhood teacher, Mrs. Admina, on weekends so we didn’t have the luxury of hanging out with friends and stuff. We were our only friends and even though the orphanage was quite big and equipped, it could never beat the architectural prowess of this place.

She turns to me, her smile still plastered on her face, “Why don’t you freshen up first, dinner would be ready for you downstairs. I’ll be in the kitchen.”

After Esme left and I had a grooming session, I call it that because of how nice I smelled after the bath and the long hours I stayed in the bath. The water just felt amazing and I feel reborn but now the antsy that I kept tucked down are playing circus in my stomach.

My heart picked up pace when the door to my room clicked open and my body rose from where I sat on the bed. The shadows coated him like a second skin, the door closed behind him and then, his eyes caged me. The moonlight and the low glow from the nightstand lamp were the only source of light, it bathed half of the room but it didn’t reach all of him, cutting short across his shoulders and masking his face.

His eyes captured the moonlight when he stepped into it and all the air I held within me left me breathless and terrified at the same time at the sight of him. And bathed in blood, the devil stood before me and peered into my soul with a burning gaze.