Beautiful Freaks (25 page)

*

Evangeline
woke to find
herself in the large four-
poster bed of the Inn.
The night
was
in its
dark
est hours
and the full moon shone a silvery light through the open window.
She
shook
her
head, trying to clear the fog from
her
memory.
She felt
ravaged by dreams: Dreams
that
had been at once beautiful and terrifying.
She
had no recollection of the time between the events at the church and waking in her room.

The Valentines had
been staying in
the
village for just over a
fortnight
.
Up until now, i
t had
been one of their quieter adventures. Usually they’d spend most of the evenings in company as the local prominent families fought over hosting the ‘eminent professor and his beautiful daughter.’ But here th
e people were
withdrawn, full of superstition. At first the Valentines thought the villagers were rude and cold, but it soon become clear they were in fact … afraid.

There were
whispers of a dark lord,
a vampire. But if he existed, it seemed the villagers were as protective of him as they were afraid.
Nobody was willing to tell them anything, not even the village drunk. The whispers, which had originally led them in making the expedition to the small mountain village, had started in the city of Geneva. There, they had been common talk but the closer they got, the quieter the stories became.

Frederick Valentine’s
investigations had started a little way out of the village, at a small settlement in the woods. Here
he had found the daughter of a woodcutter, once young and pretty,
now pale and haunted
. She was trapped in an unending waltz, which only ended when she collapsed exhausted. As soon as her body had rested enough, it woke to continue the dance.  The girl’s father believed that she had been cursed by the forest fae; punishment for stealing flowers from the woods.

Valentine
wanted to beli
eve the woodcutter’s version of events,
but the evidence in front of him told him
that she was cursed by a much greater evil
.
Evangeline
thought
this should have made
her
father more alert over
her
safety – but he was a man who had a strangely optimistic outlook for one who had su
ch dealings with darkness. He
had
given
Evangeline her
mother’s silver crucifix
,
which he insisted
she
wore
at
all
times. He’
d
also
given
her
training in
the
hardening of
her
heart for the benefit of
her
reason;
aside from this he offered little other protection.

She
stood by the window
and looked up at the full harvest moon;
memories swam back to
her
. His name
was Eli
, although he had not told her this with words.

A wolf howled in the distance. It
was joined by another
,
and then
another. The
raw wildness of their cries was
beautiful
. She
scanned the
treeline
towards the castle on the hill. Warm yellow light shone out of ever
y window; it was a welcoming sight
.
She knew he was there, and he was listening to their song too.

Somew
here in the inn, a clock chimed, announcing it was one o’clock.
Evangeline looked to the hook where h
er cape was hanging. T
emptation tugged at her.
‘
The idea is insane
,’
she thought to herself. And it was, but it was also so thrilling that it sent a surge of energy through her that was hard to resist.
If the wolves don’t get me … then something else might.

She had no idea how far the castle
was, or how she would get there. Al
l she knew was that she wanted
to be outside and to
feel the moonlight on the surface of her skin – and she needed to see him.

Eve
walked
into the night, leaving the safety of the inn behind her. She was not brave enough to leave the main streets of the village and step into the forest. It was dense and pitch-dark in there. It would be easy to lose her way and perish.

A voice suddenly came from behind her. “You were coming for me?
” Eli’s liquid voice was like an extra layer of darkness.

“Yes,” Eve whispered. “I think so.”

“You should
n’t be out alone in the dark
. It’s not safe.”

Eli
emerged in
front of her, his eyes
flaming amber in the moonlight. He was smiling at her. She thought how he looked younger than she had remembered; in fact he was little more than a boy. His eyes flashed and she
was
completely captivated
. A
ll she could do was respond. He
held
out his hand and she mirrored his movements
.
T
heir hands
joined, palm to palm
.
He stepped forward and took her waist in his arm.

Music was
everywhere
,
as if it were raining silver notes. It was a slow waltz, sad and exquisite. Her body responded to
his
, her small
,
slippered feet swept over the dusty lane, the hood of her cape slid down
over
her
auburn curls
. She let her head fall into the space between his shoulders and neck.
He smelt of sage and sandalwood;
a heady
,
intoxicating smell.

“Evangeline! Evangeline! God’s mercy child what are you doing.” Her father’s shouts broke the spell and she found herself standing alone in the street.

“Father!” She spoke as if coming out of a hypnotic trance. “I must have been sleep walking,” she offered, not believing her own words.

All at once the world
spun
and Eve felt a fast travelling movement into darkness. Her father ran to her and gathered her in his arms before she could hit the ground. Through the thick fog of a swoon she heard him whisper to
himself
, “What’s happening Ev
i
e?”

Her father’s
middle-of-the-night rescue mission
had roused the innkeeper and he stood with his wife at the door muttering under their breath. They were angry at having been disturbed
,
but there was something else that agitated them
. As Eve was carried passed
them she heard the wife mutter, “It’s him. He’s chosen her.”

In her confused state, Evangeline
couldn’t
ask th
em more. She didn’t need to
. She knew exactly who they were talking about and she knew
that
it was true.

*

In the morning
,
Eve woke to find
that
they were leaving. Her father had already packed their travelling cases
and they were stacked ready and waiting by the inn door whilst he ate his breakfast. At the sight
of them, Eve stifled a cry. She didn’t want to leave. Things here were not finished. Eli was here.

“Why are we leaving, father?”

“You know why we are leaving, Eve.” Her father’s voice was unusually clipped. He seemed
distressed
and didn’t look as if
he had slept after the incident last night.

“It was
just sleepwalking
,
father.”

He looked at her and offered her the
empty
reply
of,
“Hmm!”

“Where are we going?”
she asked.

“To a place you can rest and get proper medical intervention.” He put down his fork and drank from his cup
, all the time
watching her carefully. “We’re taking up
the
generous offer to go and stay with Count
Astarot
. He owns the castle on the hill.”

Eve’s chest tightened and
something fluttered in her chest.
“But…”

“I happened to bump into him this morning when I was taking my morning stroll. He had already heard about the events from the village gossips. He has a physician who can take a look at you. I’m worried
. You look pale and seem weak, n
ot yourself. I realise I’ve been selfish in dragging a young woman on my expeditions. It isn’t proper.”

“But, Father,”
Eve
protested, “I love travelling with you and the work … you need my help.”

“You’ve been wonderful company, but I think it is time I made arrangements for you to return to your Aunt in London. This isn’t the life of a young lady.”

Eve hadn’t the energy to argue further. Her whole body
felt as if it were
weighing her down. Her father was right, she was weak
and felt drained. And yet
there was something coursing through her body that felt good beyond words
.

“As you wish,” she said
,
placing her fork down alongside her untouched breakfast.

*

The journey towards Count
Astarot
’s castle wasn’t very far in distance but it felt like a journey to another world. Eva
ngeline’s
father didn’t notice
;
he was scribbling away in one of his many notebooks, barely taking in the weirdly wonderful surroundings.
Throughout their travels, he and Evangeline had been offered residence in many splendid and grand houses and so to Doctor Valentine, the stay at Count Astarot’s castle was merely another residence. To Evangeline it promised something far from ordinary and she could barely contain her excitement.

The carriage travelled a
narrow
and winding
road through dense pine forest
. T
he early morning sun cut a
rrows of golden, feathery light through the trees. A
long the way,
Evangeline
saw woodland animals
--
rabbits, deer
,
and hogs making their way through the ferns and forest flowers.
Butterflies hovered in the sunbeams. Their vibrant
colour
s
gave
the impression of coloured ribbons
dancing
through the for
est. It was an enchanting place,
full of beauty.
She
lay her head against the cool glass of the carriage window and drank it all in.

It was as Ev
angeline
was lost in the magic of the forest that chaos
suddenly erupted
. The back wheel of the carriage hit a rocky outcrop, forcing it from its axle and sending it spinning into the ditch. The horses
,
sensing the sudden shift in motion
,
started to rear and buck, sending th
e carriage on a perilous sway
. After several moments of uncertainty and panic, everything stilled, leaving them maroon
ed exactly on the intersection of the crossroads.

“Drat!” her father shouted as he jumped down from the carriage. Eve sat back, pressing her cheek into the leather seatback. She felt so tired
,
and no matter how hard she tried to pull herself from the vision of dancing with Eli in the light of the full moon, she couldn’t. It was as if the music had soaked into her skin and was now coursing its way through her veins. As she drifted away from the voices of the driver and her father discussing engineering matters, she found her feet tapping, lulling her once more into the arms of Eli.

A large, red butterfly landed
on her skirts
and
took all of her
attention. It sat with its wings fully extended, creating a shocking contrast to the pale blue of her silk. She pushed her finger under its proboscis, encouraging it to step onto her finger, which it did obediently. She drew the butterfly closer to her eyes, inspected the fine scales of its wings and the little black nodding head. She thought how easy it would be to crush such a delicate creature. A dark temptation crept into her mind. All at once
,
the butterfly morphed into something dark and red and monstrous
,
with glowing eyes and flashing white animal teeth. She startled, causing the butterfly to take off
in its
orig
inal form and leaving Eve to think that maybe she had imagined it.