A Beautiful Saviour

Chapter Three

Tomorrow dawned and tomorrow faded. He had not met her instead he had woken, paced the floor and watched the time tick down until such time when he could say, “I stood her up.” Never before did he think the words would represent himself – such a dishonour was it to break his word. And the offense went further; he had left a woman alone on the streets, unaccompanied. That was low. To purposely allow a woman to be in danger, to him and his upbringing, was nothing less than criminal. He tried telling himself he had meant to go but lost track of time but that was a lie. He had meant not to go.

                Going meant attachment. It meant being so intrigued that he got caught up in the affairs of mortals and he was too dark to put them in danger and risk his own mentality. Therefore, in short, Joseph - the elite, cold and indifferent soldier - was a coward. Which served only to remind him that he needed to go. He had no choice but to leave. Whatever it was that made it so he was drawn to this mortal woman wasn’t good enough to stop him doing his duty. That was his sole purpose to life; or so he had been brought up to understand.

                From the corner of the estate he watched as the candle-lit rooms of the house were plunged, one by one, into darkness until the outline of the house were all most people would see. A half hour of standing and watching the windows in case he managed to catch a tiny glimpse of her had come to nothing. He had not seen her. He did not even know which room she lay asleep in. But he couldn’t leave without seeing her one last time.

                With his left hand clasping tightly a small gift he made his way over to the house. It was but a small thing to undo the lock. A mere touch on the lock had it undoing thanks to his trained magic. For once he liked being what he was. The familiar snick sounded and he pushed open the front door. A modest house greeted him, with mismatching fabrics and bright primary colours. It looked to be decorated by many people all at once, eccentric people at that. It didn’t seem to fit his elegant woman and yet at the same time it suited her. It tied in well with the laughter that always seemed to be playing on her face and the light mood in which she took everything about him, even when he had refused to dance with her that very first night.

                Still décor as bold as this was certainly not what he was used to. When he stayed at his own home it was stark. Bare walls and minimal furniture adorned his dwelling and only as he took in the blue and yellow flowers did he crave a woman. For the first time he wanted his dull and practical house to feel the warmth of a woman’s touch. He wouldn’t mind if those silly throws were placed over the top of a couch. He found himself anticipating the moment when Elsa would ask him to go shopping for matching plates and tea cups complete with saucers. It was a sure sign of his weakness and so he hurried through the house.

                He was a soldier on demand for a reason. Silently he prowled the corridors of the house, ignoring the lower floors as he knew there were no bedrooms there. Instead he took the stairs. With bent knees and light footsteps… and a little well controlled magic, he took each step silently. Nothing could be heard in the almost silent house. He heard the people breathing, the sheets rustling and somewhere was the licking tongue of a dog asleep but he suspected the animals was lower down in the kitchen.

                The bedrooms were not locked and that only made it much easier for him to open each door and peer inside but many rooms where empty. One held a female, a beautiful, black haired female who slept facing the door with her eyes shut in peace and a tiny smile etched onto her face. Another held a man, a young one, just past sixteen he bet. The stern features were already a part of the young ones face and the sandy blonde hair still held  a visible line from a middle parting. A rich boy. Obvious in this kind of family home but the look hadn’t faded even in sleep.