Through My Eyes

Chapter Eleven

Emmanuel stares at me, his eyes not betraying any emotion he might be feeling. "You don't have the courage to shoot me. You're a soft, feeble creature. You can't even see a horse in pain, how will you kill me?"

"I don't hate horses but I hate you." I say, "I won't hesitate in killing you."

Emmanuel takes another step forward.

"Stay back, I told you!" Hands quivering, I put my finger over the trigger, "I.... I'm going to kill you!"

"Emmanuel!" Lady Elizabeth shouts in panic.

"Mother, shut up!" Emmanuel calls to her, "I know what I'm doing."

All of a sudden, Emmanuel is pinned on the floor by none other than Damon.

"Damon!" I cry, tossing the gun away.

He looks up at me, nods his head imperceptibly and turns back to Emmanuel, his hands at his throat.

"How dare you?! How can you even think of threatening her like that? I'm going to squeeze the life out of you." He hisses through clenched teeth.

"Somebody save my son!" Lady Elizabeth cries out.

As if on cue, the men walk forward and it takes all four of them to prise Damon off of Emmanuel. I run to him, wrapping my arms around him. Damon leans his head against mine, unable to hold me due to his human restraints.

"Get her off him, you buffoons!" Emmanuel chokes out. Two of the masked men leave Damon and try to drag me away from him. Damon manages to get one hand free and I desperately latch on it. Our hands are the only things connected between us right now and I am determined not to let go. The men yank harder on my other arm and I squeeze my eyes shut with the effort of holding on.

Slowly but surely, I feel my hand slipping from Damon's. Horrified, I open my eyes to meet Damon's tortured gaze. He shakes his head at me, "They'll hurt you. Let go."

"No!" I cry, holding on even tighter. Despite what he has said, I feel Damon also clutching my hand in a vice-like grip. My hand starts to slip again and perhaps sensing this, the two masked men give one final hard tug and my hands slip from Damon's.

With a grunt, the two men push me into Emmanuel and I fall against his chest. He holds me at arms' length, his face an epitome of disgust and then slaps me with all his force. I collapse on the ground, holding my burning cheek, refusing to meet his eyes.

"Get her up." Emmanuel says, causing the two men to haul me up by my arms. He walks over to me, pinching my face between his large paw of a hand, "You will marry me, do you understand?! The wedding will not be at the end of summer, it will be next week."

"What? But the preparations..." Mother interrupts.

"They will be done." Emmanuel hisses, "Take her away."

The men start dragging me. I struggle against them, desperately leaning towards Damon, and he towards me.

For a moment, we both fight our fate, with all our strength, we attempt to overcome our destiny.

But then something thuds against the back of my head and a dark shroud of funeral black smothers me entirely.

I close my eyes, succumbing to a dark and tormenting sleep...

I wake with a groan. I am in my room, laid clumsily on the bed. A masked man walks in, dropping bread and butter on a tray beside me.

I look at him, "Where's Mary?"

He doesn't reply, he just walks out of my room.

I walk after him, "Hey!"

I open the door, running after him but two sets of arms grab me from under the arms, lifting me kicking and screaming. They take me back to my room and throw me roughly on the bed.