Ten years she was without him. Ten years without his eyes always watching her as if studying her every move, that she always found herself drowning in, that always struck her silent when they fell on her in annoyance or warning.
Bryar Delacroix had...
James and I, under cover of darkness made our way back out into the world once more and it wasn't long before I found myself questioning where he was leading me. In my heart of hearts I knew it didn't matter, that I would follow him to the ends of the earth if he asked me, maybe even past that.
It was a place where the dead were prepared for their earthly tomb and I could feel my head start swimming the moment we approached the doors. James was leading me by the hand but I stopped short of entering which made him turn to face me. "I don't know if I can go in there." I couldn't even peel my eyes away from the doors to look at him.
He looked back to the doors and then to me once more. "It is only the dead Bryar, they can not hurt you." His voice seemed so certain but still my feet would not move. He took a step close to me and made me look into his eyes now. "More still I would not let them." He leaned in as he spoke until his lips danced over mine in a short kiss. I barely noticed as he led me along again pulling me through the door with him. What is this power he holds over my body? I could only hope he never realizes that he could make me do nearly anything for him with a word, God himself could not help should that day come.
Through the darkness he led me until I could hear someone tinkering around the corner and my heart fell when James stopped. "If you do not approve of me steadying my nerves with Madeira then perhaps you should consult the directory of the royal college of physicians, see how many others of them would agree to carry out this kind of work." The man said sipping the aforementioned Madeira from a small glass. Lying out on the table before this man was old Horace Delaney himself. I put my eyes down to avert my gaze. It was harder for me now to remember him as he was just a short while ago, full of life mad or not. I kept thinking about the last time he spoke to me, like his voice was still ringing in my ears. "I intend to mix the contents of his stomach with potassium oxide, calcium oxide, and nitric acid." He looked between James and I and realized that James intended on staying right here. "I'll know in 20 minutes. Come back when the church bell chimes." I took James' hand and began leading him away and outside where the man was working.
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This place was alive with the voices of the dead and I had willingly put myself right in the middle of all of it. Lining the walls in the room we now found ourselves were dead laid out on tables covered by sheets and I wrapped my arms around myself to keep myself grounded. James, leaning against the wall, began mumbling to himself after a few moments. I began watching and listening intently. "no." He said sternly and began looking around the room trying to find a source for whatever he was hearing. I could hear faint whisperings on the wind but nothing like what he seemed to be experiencing. I watched as he clenched his gloved fists and I reached out for him. "No. Because I have no fear to feed you with." He growled brushing by me, pacing the room wide eyed and wild looking. Suddenly he began ripping the sheets from the bodies and I'm sure I looked terrified. "I have no fear for you and I will prove it to you." He stopped for a moment whispering foreign words over them. "Sing to me, sing to me like you once did or does the river have your tongue." He called out exposing another body. "Suicide." He said tilting his head. He leaned over the body of an elderly woman and huffed. "that will teach you not to steal."
