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Dominic –
From my vantage point high up at the top of the stone tower, I saw him lying still, like death on the cold hard floor. I too was still like death. We both could smell it. That luxurious scent of fresh hot blood, I could hear that thump, thump sound of it being forced through the veins. My throat began to itch in that familiar sensation whenever I heard a racing heartbeat. I could smell the scent of fear coming in waves towards us, fast. Below me animals and birds took flight trying to get out of their way. I opened my eyes and zoned in on the blonde hair flashing through the green growth of the forest nearby, as the person came closer. I was determined to get to them first before my friend lying below had a chance to get up. Putting back my foot and launching myself off the tower, my mate was on his feet in an instant. He looked at me, his head cocking to the side as if listening to something, his eyes crinkling up and he got down onto his hunches as if he was about to run, one foot ahead of the other, arms clamped to his sides and in a flutter of leaves he was beside me just as the blonde man dashed out of the forest straight into my body. He fell back on his rear and scrambled and tried to leave us, looking fearfully at us. I stood silently in front of him while my friend circled around to his side. I saw his jugular pulse quickly in his neck and I licked my lips as I stared at his neck only.
“My, my Hartley, what do we have here?” I queried in a slow drawl.
“Seems to me we have lunch Dominic; a nice tasty treat for our patience, waiting for him to happen across our path.”
“How delightful, but really he is only a starter, dinner is on the way.” I replied. The man gulped furiously. He glanced back and forth between us and I could see it in his eyes that he was debating whether to run away again. I smirked at him and shook my head slightly. He stared at me, eyes wide in fright. Hartley snuck up beside him really close to his ear and said it a low creepy voice.
“Shall we do this the hard way or the painful way?” blondie’s heart stopped beating for a split second. I smirked again watching Hartley rub blondie’s neck as if prepping him for tasting. Pulling back his shirt collar, tilting his neck to the side and cleaning off his neck with his tongue. Hartley liked to play with his food, loved freaking the humans out beforehand.
I could hear several footfalls closing in, my mouth began to water. Several, at least 7 heart beats were all beating rapidly. Hartley looked at me and grinned. I nodded; this snack would have to wait. Blondie noticed a change in our behaviour, chest rising and falling rapidly, looking back and forth between us again, he caught hold of my arm and said “I don’t give a fuck what you do to me, just do it now before they come,” he begged. Curiosity won out. We would wait for the others to arrive.
Seven men burst through the trees straight into Hartley. Arms outstretched to grab blondie and ready to push us out of the way to get to him. Fail.
“What is your reason for coming onto my land?” I asked what looked like the leader of the pack.
“That fucker you’re playing with has something belonging to me and I want it back.” The stupid looking dark haired oaf said. He had an earring on his ear. I leaned into take a closer look at it. It was unusual, it had a king standing on globe, and it surrounded the lower half of his ear. I reached out to look at it and my arm got nudged and I pulled his whole ear off. I couldn't help myself I latched onto his jugular and drained him dry despite his grabbing at me and kicking me.
Hartley had been circling the others and taunting them. “Wanna end up like your friend or do you want a fighting chance?” I dropped the oaf, pulled a hanky out of my pocket and dabbed daintily at my mouth with it. Hartley laughed at me. What! I liked being clean. The others were pacing on the spot, looking between themselves in terror and back at us. Blondie had been forgotten about. I grabbed his arm and shoved him in from of the six men.
“So now what was it you wanted from blondie?” I asked. Blondie was inclined to walk back towards me. He bumped into me. I automatically reached out and caught him. I felt a tremble run through my body from him and when he turned around to look at me I felt as if the world around us disappeared.
************
Hmmm, I thought. I like danger when it looked like these pretty ladies in front of me. Biting my lip, I gazed at each one in turn; a blonde, blue eyed one, a brunette, brown eyed one, and a red head with startling green eyes all smiling at me, sizing me up too. I sauntered over to them and placing one hand across my tummy and one on my lower back and I bowed low in front of them. I heard a voice behind me.
“So young Dominic, I see you've met my lovely daughters, Beatrice, Grace and Elizabeth, girls meet Dominic Williams, son of the late Arthur Williams of the Grange House.” Each girl, more beautiful than the one before smiled shyly at me and did a little courtesy in front of me. I took the hand of each one and kissed them lightly on the back of it. “Yes, he’s just moved into the old Hartley Manor down the hill. What brings you to our humble home young sir?”
“I'm about to go on a business trip abroad and I seek an aide to accompany me. Your daughters were recommended to me.”
“Yes, my daughters have rare abilities indeed.”
“Which one do you recommend sir?”
“What is the manner of your journey?”
“I need to go to Germany to acquire a precious cargo.”
“Well, my daughters’ abilities are unique; Beatrice has the ability to know if one speaks the truth, Grace can sense danger and stop its progress and Elizabeth can bend a man’s mind to her will. Which would you think you need with you on this journey of yours?”
I looked at each of the beauties before me, pondering each gift before deciding on Beatrice. I myself am able to bend a person’s senses to my will and have a good instinct for danger so she was the best addition to me. Plus her beauty had enchanted me. I looked at her hopefully as I spoke out loud and requested her. She smiled at me and fluttered her eyelashes modestly and reached out for me to take her hand. I bent forward as if to kiss it, but she grabbed my hand and shook it firmly. I was surprised at her strength.
All the arrangements for the journey were made in the next two days and we set off by coach. Beatrice was an entertaining companion and charmed all who met her. I learned that she was a very capable lady and had several dealings with men that attended to her every whim at a flutter of her eyelashes. She seemed to have a way about her that just enchanted you. She was tall, slim, beautiful and softly spoken. You couldn't imagine her ever raising her voice in anger. One man got rough with her and tried to manhandle her, but before I could even move to help her, she had him pressed firmly against the wall behind him with her little hands pressing hard against his throat. His eyes were bulging out in his head and he was reaching out as if he were choking. I decided then and there not to ever try that move with her.
We arrived in Berlin early as the weather was kind to our ship. Our call was to a wealthy landowner by the name of Franz Hitzig. He was one of the oldest men I knew. He had a way of attaining things unlike anyone else. I was here looking for a small compass that I had heard of. It was an unusual gadget that would bring you to what your heart desired the most. I had tried unsuccessfully to get it for months and knew that Franz would be the one to succeed.
“Dominic, good Sir, it is great to see you again. He came towards me with his hands out to embrace me in a hug. And kissed me once on each cheek and clapped a hand firmly on my back.
“Good to see you, my old friend,” I replied, returning the gesture in kind. “I’d like to introduce my travelling companion, Miss Beatrice Courtney.” Franz bowed low to her and took her hand to kiss it. She snatched it back as if she had been burned. I was surprised at her reaction. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him, her eyes began to glow in a violet light. She rubbed her hand as if it was sore and her gaze had a faraway look in them. I noticed the violet colour of her eyes seemed to emanate from her whole person and just as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared. She looked at me and smiled, but something about that smile sent a shiver down my spine. Franz was looking at her as if in a trance. I noticed he seemed immobile too.
I chanced a look around his shop. It was a strange shop, a non-descriptive colour on the walls. The shop seemed gloomy and secretive. There were shelves everywhere and packed to capacity. How he found anything in there was beyond me. Boxes of all sizes, jars that held preserved multi limbed animals. A chime made up of various sizes of keys gently clunked me on the head as I passed by, a perfectly preserved mummy was lying in a box nearby, a collection of shrunken human heads clattered noisily as I continued my stroll through. I saw a skull of a 3 tusk walrus, a Chinese beheading sword, strange pieces of jewellery, with a sign saying Made from the ash from Mt. St. Helen’s Volcanic eruption, 3 headed chickens and too many other strange things to name.
A large sigh of breath captured my attention, and as I turned I noticed that Beatrice was no longer nearby. Mind you it was rather gloomy, come to think of it, it didn't surprise me that she had left the shop.
“Dominic, I attained the little gadget you requested. With a great flourish he produced a little brown box in the palm of his hand. I reached out to take it, but his fingers closed over it. While his other hand turned palm up. I pulled out my wallet and extracted a sheaf of notes to the value of $50,000 and placed them on his palm. His thumb closed over the cash and the other fingers unfurled and he casually threw the box at me. I caught it deftly and opened it to inspect it. I thought what does my heart desire and the arrow pointed immediately to the right of me. I followed in its direction and the needle was spinning wildly until I was standing in front of a shelf with books on it. I moved the compass until the needle went still in front of a small brown leather bound book. It had brown leather ties in the front knotted neatly. It looked worn, as if it had been read many times before. I took it out and looked at the front cover. It had an emblem indented on the front of a king standing on a globe. I thought that it was unusual, but I felt like the book was meant for me. There was no writing on it. I tried to open the leather bindings, but at that moment Franz came down to me.
“There you are, what have you got there my friend?” he inquired.
“Oh just this little book, I don’t know what it is. How much do you want for it?”
“Oh, that little book has been in my possession for many years, I have no use for it as I cannot undo the bindings. You may have it as a gift.” I smiled, feeling strangely elated and pocketed before reaching to shake the hand of my friend and leaving his store to search for Beatrice.
Beatrice was waiting for me by the coach. There were two gentlemen of obvious disrepute talking to her and one had a hold of her coat. She was standing her ground firmly and looked up to me with a smile full of relief.
“Excuse me, what do you think you are doing, leave my wife alone.” I demanded of the two men. They snickered, looking at each other then back at me. One came up close to my face and whispered close to my ear,
“You’re next, then we’ll have your pretty little wife.” Next thing I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I tried to push him off me, but he was very strong. I managed to get out of his grasp and rushed to Beatrice’s side to enquire if she was ok, but everything went blurry as my body was suddenly racked with agonising burning. I felt myself being lifted and placed in a dark place and fierce burning overtook my body, mind and soul as if I’d been set on fire. This seemed to continue for a lifetime, but it started to ease and then it stopped altogether. When I opened my eyes everything was different. I could see everything clearly. I looked immediately for Beatrice, but there was no sign of her. I looked around where I was in the darkness that was no longer dark and saw that I was in what looked like a barn, with hay on one side. There were some horses. Funny, I could hear their hearts beating in their chests. I could hear their blood rushing around in their veins. I felt an itchy burning sensation in the back of my throat and wondered if I was getting a sore throat. I had no idea where I was and looking out the window I saw that there were no other houses nearby. I decided to take one of the horses and ride to the nearest town. I thought if I saw a farmer I’d offer to buy one.
I walked outside, it was night-time, but it looked bright to me. I could see everything clearly in front of me in complete detail. It was raining I pulled up my collar close around my neck. I flinched when I felt a hand on my arm and wheeling around I saw Hartley standing in front of me with a grin on his face. I blinked.
*********
I vaguely heard him saying ready, steady, go and a there was a mad scuffling of feet as six men tried to run away and hide from Hartley, amid evil laughter rumbling from him. Hartley stalked up to blondie and was reaching for him, when he looked at me and saw the look on my face. In a split second I had blondie behind my back and I stood in front of him saying, “This one is mine, the others are yours. Leave us now.” He glanced up at me, nodded and took off at a run. In no time at all I heard a strangled blood curdling scream. I turned around and stared into a pair of violet eyes…..Beatrice!
From my vantage point high up at the top of the stone tower, I saw him lying still, like death on the cold hard floor. I too was still like death. We both could smell it. That luxurious scent of fresh hot blood, I could hear that thump, thump sound of it being forced through the veins. My throat began to itch in that familiar sensation whenever I heard a racing heartbeat. I could smell the scent of fear coming in waves towards us, fast. Below me animals and birds took flight trying to get out of their way. I opened my eyes and zoned in on the blonde hair flashing through the green growth of the forest nearby, as the person came closer. I was determined to get to them first before my friend lying below had a chance to get up. Putting back my foot and launching myself off the tower, my mate was on his feet in an instant. He looked at me, his head cocking to the side as if listening to something, his eyes crinkling up and he got down onto his hunches as if he was about to run, one foot ahead of the other, arms clamped to his sides and in a flutter of leaves he was beside me just as the blonde man dashed out of the forest straight into my body. He fell back on his rear and scrambled and tried to leave us, looking fearfully at us. I stood silently in front of him while my friend circled around to his side. I saw his jugular pulse quickly in his neck and I licked my lips as I stared at his neck only.
“My, my Hartley, what do we have here?” I queried in a slow drawl.
“Seems to me we have lunch Dominic; a nice tasty treat for our patience, waiting for him to happen across our path.”
“How delightful, but really he is only a starter, dinner is on the way.” I replied. The man gulped furiously. He glanced back and forth between us and I could see it in his eyes that he was debating whether to run away again. I smirked at him and shook my head slightly. He stared at me, eyes wide in fright. Hartley snuck up beside him really close to his ear and said it a low creepy voice.
“Shall we do this the hard way or the painful way?” blondie’s heart stopped beating for a split second. I smirked again watching Hartley rub blondie’s neck as if prepping him for tasting. Pulling back his shirt collar, tilting his neck to the side and cleaning off his neck with his tongue. Hartley liked to play with his food, loved freaking the humans out beforehand.
I could hear several footfalls closing in, my mouth began to water. Several, at least 7 heart beats were all beating rapidly. Hartley looked at me and grinned. I nodded; this snack would have to wait. Blondie noticed a change in our behaviour, chest rising and falling rapidly, looking back and forth between us again, he caught hold of my arm and said “I don’t give a fuck what you do to me, just do it now before they come,” he begged. Curiosity won out. We would wait for the others to arrive.
Seven men burst through the trees straight into Hartley. Arms outstretched to grab blondie and ready to push us out of the way to get to him. Fail.
“What is your reason for coming onto my land?” I asked what looked like the leader of the pack.
“That fucker you’re playing with has something belonging to me and I want it back.” The stupid looking dark haired oaf said. He had an earring on his ear. I leaned into take a closer look at it. It was unusual, it had a king standing on globe, and it surrounded the lower half of his ear. I reached out to look at it and my arm got nudged and I pulled his whole ear off. I couldn't help myself I latched onto his jugular and drained him dry despite his grabbing at me and kicking me.
Hartley had been circling the others and taunting them. “Wanna end up like your friend or do you want a fighting chance?” I dropped the oaf, pulled a hanky out of my pocket and dabbed daintily at my mouth with it. Hartley laughed at me. What! I liked being clean. The others were pacing on the spot, looking between themselves in terror and back at us. Blondie had been forgotten about. I grabbed his arm and shoved him in from of the six men.
“So now what was it you wanted from blondie?” I asked. Blondie was inclined to walk back towards me. He bumped into me. I automatically reached out and caught him. I felt a tremble run through my body from him and when he turned around to look at me I felt as if the world around us disappeared.
************
Hmmm, I thought. I like danger when it looked like these pretty ladies in front of me. Biting my lip, I gazed at each one in turn; a blonde, blue eyed one, a brunette, brown eyed one, and a red head with startling green eyes all smiling at me, sizing me up too. I sauntered over to them and placing one hand across my tummy and one on my lower back and I bowed low in front of them. I heard a voice behind me.
“So young Dominic, I see you've met my lovely daughters, Beatrice, Grace and Elizabeth, girls meet Dominic Williams, son of the late Arthur Williams of the Grange House.” Each girl, more beautiful than the one before smiled shyly at me and did a little courtesy in front of me. I took the hand of each one and kissed them lightly on the back of it. “Yes, he’s just moved into the old Hartley Manor down the hill. What brings you to our humble home young sir?”
“I'm about to go on a business trip abroad and I seek an aide to accompany me. Your daughters were recommended to me.”
“Yes, my daughters have rare abilities indeed.”
“Which one do you recommend sir?”
“What is the manner of your journey?”
“I need to go to Germany to acquire a precious cargo.”
“Well, my daughters’ abilities are unique; Beatrice has the ability to know if one speaks the truth, Grace can sense danger and stop its progress and Elizabeth can bend a man’s mind to her will. Which would you think you need with you on this journey of yours?”
I looked at each of the beauties before me, pondering each gift before deciding on Beatrice. I myself am able to bend a person’s senses to my will and have a good instinct for danger so she was the best addition to me. Plus her beauty had enchanted me. I looked at her hopefully as I spoke out loud and requested her. She smiled at me and fluttered her eyelashes modestly and reached out for me to take her hand. I bent forward as if to kiss it, but she grabbed my hand and shook it firmly. I was surprised at her strength.
All the arrangements for the journey were made in the next two days and we set off by coach. Beatrice was an entertaining companion and charmed all who met her. I learned that she was a very capable lady and had several dealings with men that attended to her every whim at a flutter of her eyelashes. She seemed to have a way about her that just enchanted you. She was tall, slim, beautiful and softly spoken. You couldn't imagine her ever raising her voice in anger. One man got rough with her and tried to manhandle her, but before I could even move to help her, she had him pressed firmly against the wall behind him with her little hands pressing hard against his throat. His eyes were bulging out in his head and he was reaching out as if he were choking. I decided then and there not to ever try that move with her.
We arrived in Berlin early as the weather was kind to our ship. Our call was to a wealthy landowner by the name of Franz Hitzig. He was one of the oldest men I knew. He had a way of attaining things unlike anyone else. I was here looking for a small compass that I had heard of. It was an unusual gadget that would bring you to what your heart desired the most. I had tried unsuccessfully to get it for months and knew that Franz would be the one to succeed.
“Dominic, good Sir, it is great to see you again. He came towards me with his hands out to embrace me in a hug. And kissed me once on each cheek and clapped a hand firmly on my back.
“Good to see you, my old friend,” I replied, returning the gesture in kind. “I’d like to introduce my travelling companion, Miss Beatrice Courtney.” Franz bowed low to her and took her hand to kiss it. She snatched it back as if she had been burned. I was surprised at her reaction. Her eyes narrowed as she stared at him, her eyes began to glow in a violet light. She rubbed her hand as if it was sore and her gaze had a faraway look in them. I noticed the violet colour of her eyes seemed to emanate from her whole person and just as suddenly as it appeared, it disappeared. She looked at me and smiled, but something about that smile sent a shiver down my spine. Franz was looking at her as if in a trance. I noticed he seemed immobile too.
I chanced a look around his shop. It was a strange shop, a non-descriptive colour on the walls. The shop seemed gloomy and secretive. There were shelves everywhere and packed to capacity. How he found anything in there was beyond me. Boxes of all sizes, jars that held preserved multi limbed animals. A chime made up of various sizes of keys gently clunked me on the head as I passed by, a perfectly preserved mummy was lying in a box nearby, a collection of shrunken human heads clattered noisily as I continued my stroll through. I saw a skull of a 3 tusk walrus, a Chinese beheading sword, strange pieces of jewellery, with a sign saying Made from the ash from Mt. St. Helen’s Volcanic eruption, 3 headed chickens and too many other strange things to name.
A large sigh of breath captured my attention, and as I turned I noticed that Beatrice was no longer nearby. Mind you it was rather gloomy, come to think of it, it didn't surprise me that she had left the shop.
“Dominic, I attained the little gadget you requested. With a great flourish he produced a little brown box in the palm of his hand. I reached out to take it, but his fingers closed over it. While his other hand turned palm up. I pulled out my wallet and extracted a sheaf of notes to the value of $50,000 and placed them on his palm. His thumb closed over the cash and the other fingers unfurled and he casually threw the box at me. I caught it deftly and opened it to inspect it. I thought what does my heart desire and the arrow pointed immediately to the right of me. I followed in its direction and the needle was spinning wildly until I was standing in front of a shelf with books on it. I moved the compass until the needle went still in front of a small brown leather bound book. It had brown leather ties in the front knotted neatly. It looked worn, as if it had been read many times before. I took it out and looked at the front cover. It had an emblem indented on the front of a king standing on a globe. I thought that it was unusual, but I felt like the book was meant for me. There was no writing on it. I tried to open the leather bindings, but at that moment Franz came down to me.
“There you are, what have you got there my friend?” he inquired.
“Oh just this little book, I don’t know what it is. How much do you want for it?”
“Oh, that little book has been in my possession for many years, I have no use for it as I cannot undo the bindings. You may have it as a gift.” I smiled, feeling strangely elated and pocketed before reaching to shake the hand of my friend and leaving his store to search for Beatrice.
Beatrice was waiting for me by the coach. There were two gentlemen of obvious disrepute talking to her and one had a hold of her coat. She was standing her ground firmly and looked up to me with a smile full of relief.
“Excuse me, what do you think you are doing, leave my wife alone.” I demanded of the two men. They snickered, looking at each other then back at me. One came up close to my face and whispered close to my ear,
“You’re next, then we’ll have your pretty little wife.” Next thing I felt a sharp pain in my neck. I tried to push him off me, but he was very strong. I managed to get out of his grasp and rushed to Beatrice’s side to enquire if she was ok, but everything went blurry as my body was suddenly racked with agonising burning. I felt myself being lifted and placed in a dark place and fierce burning overtook my body, mind and soul as if I’d been set on fire. This seemed to continue for a lifetime, but it started to ease and then it stopped altogether. When I opened my eyes everything was different. I could see everything clearly. I looked immediately for Beatrice, but there was no sign of her. I looked around where I was in the darkness that was no longer dark and saw that I was in what looked like a barn, with hay on one side. There were some horses. Funny, I could hear their hearts beating in their chests. I could hear their blood rushing around in their veins. I felt an itchy burning sensation in the back of my throat and wondered if I was getting a sore throat. I had no idea where I was and looking out the window I saw that there were no other houses nearby. I decided to take one of the horses and ride to the nearest town. I thought if I saw a farmer I’d offer to buy one.
I walked outside, it was night-time, but it looked bright to me. I could see everything clearly in front of me in complete detail. It was raining I pulled up my collar close around my neck. I flinched when I felt a hand on my arm and wheeling around I saw Hartley standing in front of me with a grin on his face. I blinked.
*********
I vaguely heard him saying ready, steady, go and a there was a mad scuffling of feet as six men tried to run away and hide from Hartley, amid evil laughter rumbling from him. Hartley stalked up to blondie and was reaching for him, when he looked at me and saw the look on my face. In a split second I had blondie behind my back and I stood in front of him saying, “This one is mine, the others are yours. Leave us now.” He glanced up at me, nodded and took off at a run. In no time at all I heard a strangled blood curdling scream. I turned around and stared into a pair of violet eyes…..Beatrice!
