Witch {Book One} [UNEDITED]

XIV: Somnium

"I'm afraid of the dark," she whispered, pulling her jacket tighter around her body. Her dress whipped around her ankles in the cold wind. "Don't leave me here. Not now." 

"I wouldn't dream of it, madame," he said, his rough voice gentle for once. He wrapped his arms around her shivering body, both to keep her warm and to protect her from the darkness that surrounded them. She nuzzled into him, her gold hair tumbling down her back in a complicated braid. He kissed the top of her head, somehow managing to seem nice. 

"Luci, I do not care what my father says or what my mother says or even what the Church says. I love you, Luci. I don't know if you have some black spell over me, but I love you," she whispered against his chest. She could hear his heart very faintly beating. He pulled her closer to him. 

"I love you too, milady," he said softly. "If you're so afraid of the dark, I can take you back home. I don't want you to be afraid . . ." She shook her head, not wanting to leave him just yet. 

She took a step away from him, brushing his black hair from his inky eyes. "My sister shall be worried about me . . ." She trailed off. "I do not want to leave you yet." 

"If my lady so wishes . . ." He murmured, bending down to kiss her. His lips were surprisingly soft and she instantly captured them. He deepened the kiss, picking her up. She wrapped her legs around his torso and, despite the cold, managed to stay warm. 

It wasn't until far after she woke up that she realized what had happened. She lay in a large bed covered by both soft blankets and furs as well as Luci's arms. She wriggled out of them and clambered out of the bed, putting her dress, boots, and jacket back on. She whispered a silent 'I love you' before scampering off, her hands protectively on her stomach as if she were carrying child already. 

When she returned home she was greeted by her elder sister and elder brother. 

"Adeline!" Her sister exclaimed. Adeline quickly tried to think of an excuse but none came to mind. "Where have you been?! Mother has been looking for you all night! She thinks that you were captured by a witch and was eaten alive!" Oh, I was with someone much worse . . . Adeline thought silently to herself. "Were you . . ." Her sister's voice dropped to a whisper. "Were you with a gentleman?" 

Heat rushed to Adeline's face and she realized her hands were still on her stomach. She quickly pulled them away. 

"A gentleman? Perhaps," she tried to sound as vague as possible. 

"Whether it be a gentleman or a goat, you are needed for your chores," her brother interrupted. "Mother needs help tending to the crops outside." Adeline turned to go back outside before she doubled over, suddenly in pain. She screamed, bile rising in her throat. Her legs felt wet and her stomach felt as if someone were stabbing it over and over. She sank to her knees, unable to process what was going on. 

Her sister screamed for their mother while her brother dragged her to the cot she slept on. It wasn't nearly as cozy as the bed she slept in with Luci the night before. 

Adeline's mother rushed inside and dropped her armful of vegetables at the sight of Adeline. 

"Who in the Devil's name is the father?!" She exclaimed, pulling Adeline's skirts up and propping her legs up. It was then that Adeline realized what was happening. Somehow she was giving birth to a child. A child that she only came to bear the night before. 

She screamed again, gripping the edges of her cot. Her mother asked no more questions as she helped inch the baby out. Her sister kept her propped up and her brother did whatever orders their mother barked at him. 

Hours later, Adeline collapsed against the bed, watching tiredly as her mother cleaned her baby off and wrapped it in a blanket. 

"Who is her father?" Her mother asked, handing Adeline her daughter. 

"I . . . I don't know," she whispered, examining her daughter's bright blue eyes. 

"What's her name?" Her sister asked in a much more gentle tone. 

"Annie," Adeline whispered. "Her name is Annie." 

Adeline visited Luci again the next night. When she returned the next morning she went into labor once again. This time she bore a boy whom she named William. 

She continued to bear children for the next two years until she was deemed the village whore. Adeline and her many children were forced to leave, heading south in hopes of finding sanctuary. 

She was soon caught after two years of fleeing from home and two years of bearing more children each morning. She was taken back to Salem where she was tied to a stake and was burned on a pyre.