Fangs of a Butterfly

CHAPTER 20.5

It was dark, and I couldn't tell if it was because of the tower or the dream.

The girl had grown up. She grew out her hair, only it was in curls, and she had red lips. She looked familiar.

Lorelei looked at her and both seemed stoic.

"How was your first time?"

"I bled, but I allowed the penetration."

"Was it painful?"

"Not really."

"Oh, child—no. I can't call you that anymore, right, girl?"

The girl, no longer a child, looked away. "You promised you'd save me. Take us away."

"And I will. But do you think your mother will be that easily defeated?"

"What if I ask Aunt—"

"No!" Lorelei stood up, her braid loosening as dangling earrings danced. "Don't you dare tell her."

"We'll never escape. You promised all that time but—"

"You can be Queen Butterfly."

"I don't want that!" She screamed. She stared at Lorelei in the eyes. "You made me watch it! I know what it's like to be here and I don't want to be here!"

"You once envied me," Lorelei said with a wry smile. "Foolish girl."

"I'm going to breed soon," the girl said. "Because you only had sons, now I'm the one who'll breed the next generation, as well as the rest of the girls."

"Really? Which clans are coming?"

"Two from somewhere in Eastern Europe, one from the Mesopotamia, one from the East. We have to diversify our bloodlines, or so Mother said."

"Hah!" Lorelei laughed gently.

"Sit, Lorelei. I want you to tell me how to leave."

"You have so much power. Your child will be beautiful." She tilted her head down, dark eyes on her. "You know what I mean, girl. You'll have the daughter she wants."

The girl hesitated and then looked down at her hand.

"I'll give it to mother if she'd let me leave."

"Clever." Lorelei sat down. "Leave, and then I'll end my life."

"You won't try?"

"I'll hold you back. I'm getting old, too. Soon I'll be like a cackling witch, maybe even too dumb to speak and kept in the dungeons."

"The dungeons." The girl held back what she wanted to say.

"Yes, the dungeons. This clan is turning more into a prison for us than the humans." Lorelei looked around wistfully. "There was a girl before me, too. She killed herself, and I will do the same before I'm replaced."

"But you'll have some years, or decades, to do as you want in the castle!" the girl cried. "You'll be freed from the tower!"

"What do I want with this castle? They've killed my two sons." Lorelei turned and touched the ivory comb I saw in the dream when both were younger. "Take this comb. It's mine, don't worry, not the Elders. I bought it from a traveling merchant. I killed him, of course, but it was fun to pretend and buy something."

"It's yours."

"I'm telling you, I'll die."

"Can I not stop you?"

"No. Escape. Escape if you can. Only after I hear of your success will I die, by my own hands, not their's, and not in that dungeon."

Lorelei looked extremely enchanting then, even though she was older, she had a perfectly made face with dark brows and eyes that captured your attention. She handed over the comb and then leaned back in her chair.

"I was a child too. You reminded myself of me, but we're different, after all. I had always been chasing after someone who I couldn't match up to, and you'll soon surpass me. I feel it."

The girl didn't speak.

"I liked it when you served me, when you combed my hair, dressed me, and even cleaned the blood from me. I always thought, oh, my sons would only be a few years younger. I was seventeen the first time, you know, and then eighteen the second. I was extremely unlucky. I was also extremely lonely. You helped me."

The girl hunched over and wept, like she had once.

"Lorelei," she whispered. "You were the one who helped me."

***

There the dream stopped. I woke up with my head in so much pain I couldn't move because it felt like I was tumbling down the stairs from the slightest movement. I couldn't even stand up, and my hands couldn't catch the bedpost in time so I fell down.

There I laid on the cold and dirty stone ground. Years of blood soaked through and now I was face down there. I thought of how Lorelei had cried over the kill. Maybe more.

I turned my body but my head laid there, a cheek fully on the ground and the side of my my nose, and then I realized I was crying. I was scared. I hated this castle, but I had no one outside besides the men.

And I wanted to leave with them, but that meant leaving Sabine. There was no question about it.

I rolled over and pushed myself up. The gunshot sounded in my head again and again as well as Uriel's face. It was no longer merging with Sabine's.

The truth was out: I had chose him over her.