Chapter 9

Melancholy

-1- 

Despite myself, I wept.

It had been only a few days  and I had already forgotten how to smile.

I stared at the girl in the mirror and I did not recognizer her.

 She was so ugly.

 I hated her and--

  . . .I wanted her to die

 My own reflection, much like everything else was bringing me nothing but grief.

Echo was kneeling in a intricate iron work chair brushing my hair, thining and dull black down my back. It had always been so shiny and thick just days ago, I was sure of it. She had braided an intricate waterfall braid at the top. As much as I hated her, I pitied her. 

Yesterday she had been so desperate to  put make up on me and make me look proper. The girl practically attacked me with a hair brush. I soon realized this was Dark’s request and a punishment would be brought on her if I wasn't how he wanted. Not wanting to see her punished I let her make me up.

Dark red lips. Black Lined Eyes. Pale pink Cheeks.

I hadn't seen him since he brought me here.

Dark.

I was in a comfortable, gorgeous white dress. I hated it. It was another creation of his he had left hanging in my closet.This was all part of his set up.Something so lavish to fufill his fantasy of me as his beautiful prop, his beautiful centerpiece. This was all in his head and I pitied that he doesn’t seem to see that.

Echo stopped primping me and began to pet my hair as if saying "my, how pretty." and "welcome to your new life"

I hated her face. Her big pearly eyes and surprisingly full lashes.  I didn't want to ever see her again. This may be her forever, but it will never be mine. 

We had been locked in the cottage and while I hadn't eaten since the morning I was stolen away, she looked as if she hadn't eaten in weeks.

As soon as she set the brush down I curled may fingers around it and   elbowed her hard in her back. She landed with a thud a threw the brush and smashed the window. I hurriedly reached my arm around the window and unlocked the door. I wanted Echo to chase after me, so we could possibly escape together, but she didn't. She just sat there in a daze.

 It didn't matter. I was breaking free.

I ran through a large garden of  flowers, crunching them along the way as I sped towards the open road. I was unlacing the pretty white dress preparing to relase my wings. My thin fingers got  caught in the intricate lacing of the corset. Struggling to pull my finger free I ran right into a Demon woman. I was running so fast I hadn't even seen her,I was suddenly tangled into her thin grayish wings, a single feather of hers stuck to my dress. I pulled away,and looked her in the eye and in that momentI was transfixed by her face. I couldn't take my eyes of her.

-2-

“And where are you running to ?" she asked

I was speechless.

More like what I was running from.

“I--,”

Before I could finsh I saw the flash of recognition in her eyes. She knew me.

For no reason tears began to fall from my eyes and I knelt before her. I didn’t want to run anymore, I didn't wanted to fight. I wanted to lie in these flowers and be left to die or rot.

“It’s alright, dear.” She said crossing her arms.

I wiped at a tear

“I don’t know what is wrong with me I--,”

“It's not you, Angel. It’s just the melancholy.” She whispered,”Something in the air . . it inhabits this place and anyone who is trapped here without a willing heart. Not even the strongest can fight it”

“You have to help me--,”

I was cut off from a voice behind me.

“Rin.” called Dark.

He landed inches  behind me and snatched my wrist, jerking me off my knees.

“My apologies, Mother. She really shouldn’t have bothered you."

Her eyes raised to her son, who towered both of us.

“Melchoir, why is she--,”

“No reason at all.” He said his voice dripping in condescension.

He yanked my arm again and I collapsed into his broad, hard chest. In one quick motion, his arms were under my knees, cradling me as we were soaring higher and higher into the air.  He flew with such speed and gracefullness I had never seen. I held tightly around his neck for fear of my life as he soared through bell towers, through open windows and around spires. He made quick jerking motions and sudden stops but always stayed perfectly balanced.

My stomach dropped and I yelped as he descended as quickly as he took off and we landed seconds later in the cobble stone promenade of town. It was almost quaint and beautiful if not for the dark and balmy skies.

I pulled away from him and I was sure I saw a slight half smile cross his lips as I stumbled from dizziness.

Before I could get to far he laced his arm over mine and we began to walk arm in arm. With each step, his large and audacious wings brushed against my back. He  took up so much space.

“That was the Queen--,”

“Yes.” He said

“Dark, please I want to go home. I love Soul and I need to see him”

“Love ? I don’t believe in love and neither should you. There are greater things for you.”

As we made our way down the street people seemed to be staring at me.  They never smiled, none of them. They seemed to be going about life with no life.

“Everyone looks so sad and fearful," I observed.

“ The Melancholy for one. And It is because you are with a Prince.”

"What is this Melancholy ?,"

"What do you mean what is it ? It just is." he answered, sounding annoyed.

Dark began to walk faster down the block and I saw a crowd gathered at the end of the street.

“I know Dante is the oldest and Cassius the youngest. Which of the 7 sons are you again ?,”

“Neither”

"Neither ?,"

“I am the 8th son. The 8th.”

"Until our first meeting why have I never heard of you? Why isn't your birth acknowledged like the others.”

“Reasons." he answered.

We reached the end of the street and I saw why everyone was gathered. Set atop a small wooden stage was a wooden guillotine. In the far corner of the stage a man, a demon man was drowning in his own tears. The blade of the device was coated in a thin layer of blood already. I looked around at the crowd and saw most were watching with livid anticipation and amused looks. This was disgraceful.

The guillotine's victim made direct eye contact with Dark as he was led to the device and forced to get on his knees. 

I was so raging with so much anger I could barely hear the charges they had against the man as they were read. It didn't matter--death was never an answer. I started towards the front to speak for the  the man, but as if reading my mind Dark clinched my arm and jerked me back so hard a tiny brusie began to blossom on my forearm.

"Stop." he snapped and smiled. . . ."Come now, Angel don't lose your head."

I drew back my hand to slap him, but his reflexes won out again as he grabbed my wrist and pulled me into a tight grip with my back to his chest. He held my arms back. Now I was in a position where  I couldn't even cover my eyes. 

No one seemed to notice Dark and I's scuffle--or they were pretending not to notice. My whole life my word had always meant something, but now they meant nothing.

"His last words; Please, please, please. We are still a civil men. Don't let these be my last words," the executioner read.

A few chuckles from the audience and then the blade was released. I shut my eyes and Dark released me as I heard the sound of his head detaching.

I opened my eyes and willed myself to look anywhere, but at the stage. Despite myself I turned and saw the limp body and the blood spilling on the stage. What was left of my will was beginning to recede.

Dark turned to leave and I followed after, not having the heart to do anything else. I had never seen anything so savage.

"Did you bring me here to show me my future if I do not go along with your plan ?,"

"No," he said."I only brought you so you would not bother Mother. Also, I am sure you could use some entertainment--,"

"That is not entertainment.  That was the end of a life, that should be sacred--,"

"Sometimes life and death is not so sacred."

He reached to pick me up again and I pushed away.

"I can fly too, you know."

"Yes . . .  I forget beacuse I can't see your wings."

He reached again to pick me up and I gave in. We traveled out of the town center, high above the building  for miles until the only thing below was   the open, green country. In the distance was a beautiful white palace, shining like a beacon. As we got closer I realized the palace was sitting in a large body of water. The water looked deep and the clear blue waves were roaring against the shore. The bridge connecting it to the land was broken in the center.

Of course, a palace you could only get to if you could fly.

Dark easily flew up to the palace, through an open window  and down the spiral stairs. We flew down and down until we were in the basement of the palace. Everything was so quiet inside--as if it were abandoned.

The basement housed an enormous wine cellar. From floor to ceiling it was covered in wine casks and on all the shelves were bottle and bottles of wine.

"Wait, is this your palace ?," I asked

"No, it is my brother's. We won't be long," Dark said as he examined each cask.

I nodded.

He stopped short and opened a cask, filling a silver goblet with dark red liquid. He held the drink in his hand and then turned to me.

"You need this more than I do," he retorted extending the cup to me.

I stared at the cup.

"Take it and drink it," he instructed,"Trust me you will not regret it."

 I was thirsty and the smell was beautiful and enticing. I took the cup and  eagerly drank it while Dark poured himself another cup full. The wine was sweet and divine, it went down my throat in a soothing burn.

"Your brother makes these ?," I asked

"Yes." he answered taking a long sip.

"Each of the princes has a task and a territory what is yours, exactly ?"

"I don't have one"

"And why is that ?"

"It's quite a story."

"Entertain me."

He took my cup and poured the liquid on the floor. He then went to another cask and poured less than an ounce of slightly violet colored wine in to the cup. It wasn't quite as good as the first, but had a flavor like nothing I had tasted.

 "You see, my father recieved a prophecy that his eighth son would kill him. Father intended to kill mother after the 7th but, that was when he loved her and couldn't do it. He assumed he would cut it out if she ever got pregnant,"

"Oh my--,"

I had known Demons were cruelier than us Angels, but this was disheartening

 "Well,when mother found out she was having me she hid until I was born. He only lets me live because he thinks I am ignorant of the prophecy, but I know. He thinks by keeping me at a disadvantage to my brothers and keeping me close he will circumvent the prophecy. I don't believe that and that's why I carry Cronus."

He let his hand rest on the rapier at his waist.

"Time.In time, my father will be killed."

"You would kill your own father ? ,"

"I told you, sometimes life and death are not so sacred."

"It seems to me your mother risked a lot to bring you into this world. Perhaps life and death are sacred."

He downed the last of the wine and went back to the casks. He motioned for me to follow and I did. Up close I could see different flavor pallets and names etched into the casks in elegant black script. My eyes landed on the one nearest me.

Ariadne

Complex flavors, light sparkling, rose accents

 I tipped  the spigot on the cask and a rosy liquid splashed into my cup. The taste was exactly was described on the label.

Suddenly, I heard the sound of a door slamming and shuffling feet above us. Dark looked up and then over at me.

" Looks like brother's home.Time to go," Dark said pocketing a small bottle of wine.

"Don't want to introduce him to your new captive ?,"

"Not while I'm stealing his expensive one of a kind wines."

He pulled his arms around me and I resisted again.

"I will follow you. I promise," I whispered to him to avoid having him carry me again.

"No you will not," he said, his voice tinged with anger as he lifted me and we ascended up at an alarming speed. He soared over the body of water and once the city was in sight he slowed down and sailed towards the main castle and beyond that to his cottage.

He landed delicately at his cottage and pushed the door open. An agony squeezed at my heart as he pushed me back inside and followed after. Echo was sitting where I had left her on the floor, she looked up at Dark, her eyes were big and watery.

Dark tossed the bottle of wine out of his pocket at her. She quickly went to work peeling of the paper and pulling the cork out.

-3- 

He then turned to me and taking hold of my arm stood so close to me my chest was touching his. Taking short strides and using the force of his wings he forced me to walk back towards the bed until I was sitting on top of the silk duvet.

"It kills me to ruin your body. Know that." he said.

My spine went cold.

"No.My virtue is not yours." My mouth said, but my heart was still missing.

"Don't be so lewd. I don't need you for that."

He pressed me down into the bed and turned me on the my stomach. His long legs straddled my body and he forced  all his weight on me. My breath stopped as he ripped the string my bodice pulled it apart, My wings burst from the seams. He turned me roughly so I am sitting up and facing him, my wings spread to their full glory.I stare into his determined eyes, my breathes uneven and scared. He runs his fingers through the shimmery white feathers, admiring the color and shine.

 I am lost in his touch,  he closes my eyes and a small noise escapes my lips.  I have an explicable urge to touch him--to touch something, but the feeling is interrupted as  a sharp pain tears through my muscles, I open my eyes as his daggar shears through my wing. The flash of  pain is dulled by his touch on the  wing still attached to my bod.  I am both shocked and shamed by what he is doing. 

I see the blade coming as he brings it down to cut the other, I twist and the blade sticks in the muscle. I scream over the white hot pain and his eyes are determined as he lifts the dagger again to fully severe the apendage.

I turn on him and his blade cuts my face, blood dribbles from my cheek to my neck. A gasp escapes his throat, an apology I suppose.

I can't feel the cut, I  let my lips reach his neck as I beg for his touch I will never feel again. My intrusion throws even me off as I search for something I can't find. I remove his shirt in jealousy. I want to feel where they connect. His hand wonders down the remains of  my back and his touch still makes me shiver. It's all so quiet.  

In a flash he turns on me, his body on top of mine.

I look into his eyes.

"Take me," I say. The final shame. I may never have my freedom, but I will have this. To my pleasure his hands escape underneath my dress. His lips edge to mine when I suddenly see a face through the window.  

The cottage door swings opens and I see my killer. Images of my ruined wedding come to mind.

I scream.

 Or soemthing in me screams it is not me, but it is something so guttural and real I can't control it. The fear takes over.

The screams are deaf on Dark's ears. He stares at my killer and  attempts to casually move and cover up the remains of my wings, but it is useless. Dark simply picks up one of my fallen blood stained feathers and weaves it through his fingers.

"What do you want Quinn ?," he asks,"I've given you your dammed gold. What could possibly warrant coming to my private resi--,"

"The Queen requests your urgent presence."

He quickly stands up and Quinn leans to the side, eyeing me.

"She would like both of you."

-------