A Shade Darker ✔️

{Chapter Eight}

The Great Escape

June 6th, 2016

Ashley

Once I'm certain that the coast is clear, I tip toe out into the hallway and find where Mike left his cloak and turtle neck on the back of the couch. Still naked except for my sheet, I steal his large clothes and button up the cloak. I grab a knife from the kitchen and tuck it up my sleeve. I look back towards the hallway and salute all the closed doors before finding my way down to the ground.

Casually, I begin to venture back into the woods.

Mike

I stare down at my pale hands and watch them as if they would reveal something new. I remember standing outside of Ashley's door and wanting to knock, only I couldn't. I knew she saw me as a monster, and that's the reason I couldn't whip her when she refused to let me consummate our marriage. She was strong minded and independent, she showed me toughness and confidence the whole time she's been here. I had to admire that about her. And there was just something else that was drawing me in, and it wasn't her blood.

The way she told me I could fight my hunger, and the way I did when I left the scratches down her back to make our consummation look believable. I don't know why I chose to lie and put us in danger. For I knew that in the long run, letting her get away with doing things without punishment would only lead to one of us getting severely hurt.

I felt all ready with the need to protect my wife. To protect the woman who wanted nothing to do with me or my kind. And could I blame her? I was a monster! I bit her, made her bleed, and almost devoured her once. I'd want to get away from me, too. Everything would just be so much easier if she trusted me.

I look at wall, my eyes narrowed. Maybe that's what I would have to do. I would have to get her to believe me and trust me. To make her see that I was different, that I wouldn't eat her like a monster. I almost laugh at the irony of my words.

I pull on a sweater from my chair and exit the library in which I had been sitting.

The corner of the living room is visible from the hallway. I look out to where the moonlight reflects off of her white dress, now shredded and on the floor. I remember the way I ripped it off of her, watching the healthy glow of her skin get more and more visible with each tear. I blink a few times, already experiencing lust for my wife. But I felt that I could not be pleased by her and her body if she was not willing to offer herself to me with the same look in her eyes.

I clear my throat and knock lightly on the door I saw her retreat into just a few hours ago.

There's no answer. I knock again.

"Ashley?" Calling out her name, no sound comes back at me.

My heart plummets into my stomach and I open the door which remained unlocked.

She's nowhere in sight.

The moment I turn around a blood curdling scream pierces my ears and makes them ring. A map of the woods already lays itself out in my mind and my abilities of speed are quick to go into action.

Ashley

"Let me go! Help! Somebody help!" Billie clamps his hand over my mouth and presses his claws into my cheeks. His red eyes stare back into mine and he presses his nose against my neck, inhaling deeply.

"You must have pleased my brother greatly for him to draw the blood from your back. I assume it was you on top, my Queen. Tell me, did he sink his teeth into you before I could manage to do so? Or are you still a virgin to the bite?" Billie's sickening voice growls at me and I know now that it was the scent of my blood that drew him to me.

I should have thought about covering my wounds with something before leaving, but I was so desperate to escape that the thought never occurred.

He presses his fangs against my neck after pushing my hair out of the way and just as I'm about to feel them puncture my skin, I bite his hand as hard as I can.

Billie yelps in pain, pulling away only enough to allow me to jerk myself from his grasp. I run, the leaves and sticks crunching under my feet.

I'm tackled to the ground and Billie holds me there. I squirm underneath him and scream as he digs his claws into my thighs.

Tears escape the corner of my eyes before I hear the hiss of his mouth open. I close my eyes and scream, wishing for it to all be over.

My hair blows around my face, leaves wisp past me, and the claws in my thighs are gone. My chest heaves up and down as I open my eyes and watch the sight in front of me.

Mike tackles Billie to the ground and swipes him across the face with his claws. Billie yelps in pain, but the cuts quickly heal as mine did when I sucked my husband's blood.

Billie says something incomprehensible to Mike before Mike stands and warns him something I can't hear, either.

Mike looks at me and I scramble to my feet quickly, ready to run and get as far as I can.

Though like every time, I underestimate the power of these monsters. My husband is quick enough to easily jump in front of me and block my path.

I expect to see a look of anger and hate on my husband's face, instead I see one of humor.

"You stole my shirt and cloak. And if that wasn't bad enough, you got the scent of your blood on them" I'm not sure what that was supposed to mean, but I pushed the knife out of my sleeve and held it towards his chest with both hands.

He sighed, pushed the knife away so it flew into the grass and picked me up behind my knees, sending me hunched over his shoulder like some bag of potatoes.

He rubs my back and begins walking.

"Please, don't ever try to escape again my Queen..." After we're a ways down from the woods and more near the treehouses, he sets me on my feet and holds my by the shoulders.

"It's time we start trusting each other" I don't reply to his words, just turn my back and hug the cloak tighter to me.

I look at the ground and listen to his footsteps behind me. I let the tears drip from my eyes.

All my chances of escaping had now diminished. I was certain I was going to be stuck here forever.