Hey Loyal Fans, how ya'll doing? Good, I hope. <3
Anyway, um, this post actually has nothing to do with my book. It's a short story that I wrote for a writing contest and I sort of like the way it came out even though I still think that it still needs a bit of work.
Hahaha. Hope that you guys like it!
This peice is called
"The Willful Slaughter of Hope"
The young Duke, Damien Fairbrook was a trickster with a silver tongue. He was handsome, a very brilliant, charming young man, but only when it suited him. For like every other trickster in the history of the world, Damien would only put on this act for you if he wanted something from you, and he always did. He was never after your money or possessions. No, what Damien wanted, was your heart. So, he did his level best to trick women into loving him and then he’d leave them without a second thought.
He’d tricked Tereasa Sutcliff in this way. Tricked her into giving him her heart with lies of eternal love and false promises of a life together and then right when she’d needed him most, he’d left her. Just as he had left many women before her, just as he would leave many women after her. And although the whole process was entertaining to him, it really was the leaving, that Damien most enjoyed. This was simply because it amused him to use his silver tongue to talk circles around a woman, making her believe that it was her fault that he’d broken her heart. Oh he was crafty. And then, after he played his mind games with her, Damien took Tereasa’s heart and left.
Her heart was gone… Lost to a silver tongued trickster, forever it seemed.
In the weeks following their break up, Damien began to toy with Tereasa. He would write her letters, letters full of promises that he still loved her above all others and that someday soon, they would be together once again, so that he could watch her poor heart finally start to mend a little, before he crushed it once again. He mocked her pain and tortured her by telling her of the many women that he had lining up to be at his side and how they were better then she ever could be and what he’d done with them...
Damien just loved to watch her heart bleed for him.
Tereasa spent so many nights crying alone or desperately trying to feel something, anything but sorrow… She had tried her hardest to move on, tried to forget about Damien, tried to forget that any of it had ever happened, for many, many months she’d tried. But it was next to impossible to accomplish such a feat when your own heart was just not in it...
One night, after having cried until she ran out of tears, Tereasa found herself staring over at the medicine cabinet in her kitchen. Disturbing thoughts began to circle through her mind like Vultures. Thoughts about death.
She found herself thinking, wondering if it would be better for everyone if she died... After all the love of her life had left her and he wasn’t coming back. Damien didn't want her anymore. Perhaps no one ever would…
"Perhaps… I would be better off dead." She whispered quietly into the darkness of the kitchen.
As soon as the words left her lips, Tereasa cried out in disgust. "No! What the hell am I saying?!" Twisting her fingers deep into her auburn hair, Tereasa buried her face in her lap and screamed. "What have I let him do to me?!"
Love of her life or not, Damien certainly wasn't worth her life. This wasn't right. She had to do something about this. It was then that Tereasa’s thoughts began to distort, growing into something twisted and ugly.
Without a heart to grant her compassion or the ability to forgive Damien’s betrayal, Tereasa’s pain, her feelings of hopelessness and despair were cemented into a rage. That night Tereasa decided that she would have her revenge on Damien. The time for crying was over and Damien was not worth her tears.
“I will get my heart back.”
The next morning she collected an immaculate silver dagger as her weapon and a pair of steel handcuffs to ensure that Damien could not escape her wrath, and set off on her journey to Damien’s Home in Marenbad. She had no need of a map, as she knew the way all too well, and Tereasa brought no supplies, for they would simply weigh her down.
Within two days time Tereasa arrived in Marenbad.
There wasn’t much in the wealthy town of Marenbad, for it was quite small and mostly consisted of large, extravagant residences. Although if you followed the main road long enough, you would come to find that there was a small town square, in which Damien’s family owned the majority of the businesses. This was not particularly surprising, as it was practically common knowledge that the Fairbrook family was quite wealthy.
Still, as night fell over the town she found herself in need of food and rest, Tereasa made sure to stop at the one pub on the block that didn’t have the Duke’s name plastered all over it. The bastard already had her heart; he certainly didn’t need her patronage as well.
The pub was neat and clean, though dimly lit, and packed full of people, most of which were men. Tereasa carefully picked through the crowd and took a seat at the far end of the bar, in the corner, facing the door. When the bartender caught her eye, she ordered a drink and whatever was on the menu to eat.
While she waited for her food, she surveyed the room. It was a rather curious scene. The bar was packed, though not one single person paid her any mind at all. Which was odd for a small town, as generally speaking, the strange new comer is never ignored, but rather looked upon with suspicious eyes.
A few moments later the bartender returned with her drink, and a reasonably sized sandwich on a plate and set them in front her on the bar. “Thank you.” Tereasa replied gratefully. Then before he could leave her side, she asked. “Hey, what’s going on around here anyway? Where are all the women?”
“Do you know of Damien Fairbrook, the young Duke of this region, Stranger?”
“Pompous, arrogant, little momma’s boy with a massive superiority complex and the maturity of a five year old? Sadly yes, I am familiar with him.”
Clearly amused by her response, the Bartender flashed her a smile before continuing. “Tonight the Duke is throwing an extravagant masquerade ball in celebration of the New Year. He’s invited all the young ladies in town and very few of the men.”
Feeling anger well up in her chest, Tereasa glared down at the counter top. “Of course he has.” She growled under her breath. “…Bastard.”
“Our sentiments exactly. All the women are a twitter with excitement and the men are angry. But what can they do? None of us can compete with a wealthy Duke, even if he does have a nasty reputation for breaking hearts.”
“I understand.”
Perhaps sensing the air menace that radiated from Tereasa at the very mention of Damien, the Bartender fell silent. Looking her over curiously. “So, what brings you to our fair town Stranger?”
“I have business with Damien.” She replied emotionlessly, ignoring the dull ache in her chest as she spoke of her lost Love. “The Duke has something of mine…I want it back.”
“Hm…” The bartender nodded and silence once more fell over them, until suddenly he said. “Hey! You’re a pretty, young lady. Why don’t you go to the ball tonight?”
“What?”
“Oh, come now Reginald!” A random person from the crowd chimed in. “Why are you trying to feed that poor girl to the Sharks?”
“Sharks? Nonsense! This young lady’s got just as much right to go to that ball and have a good time then anyone else does. Here you are. You can have my daughter’s invitation.”
Tereasa accepted the invitation the barkeep handed her, but fixed the man with a curious look. “Why are you giving me this?”
Leaning forward on the bar, Reginald dropped his voice to a whisper. “If I’m not mistaken about what you’re after, then the Duke possesses something of the same sort that belongs to my younger Sister, and in recent months Damien’s begun to take an unhealthy interest in my daughter, and she’s barely seventeen years old… I would very much appreciate if Lord Fairbrook left my family alone.”
“Ah… What’s you sister’s name?”
“Annalisa Braemoor.”
“That’s a lovely name.”
“She’s a lovely woman, and I hate to see her in pain.”
“I can imagine… Well, perhaps I could “talk” the Duke into returning your sister’s property as well as mine.”
“I would be eternally grateful to you for trying.”
“Oh, it would be my pleasure.” A malicious twinkle sparkled in Tereasa’s crystal blue eyes as she rose from her stool. Having had her fill of the pub’s food, and anxious her revenge she reached for her wallet. “What do I owe you Friend?”
“Your meals on the house. Good luck tonight Stranger.”
“Thank you.” Tereasa smiled brightly at him. “See you in the morning.”
Having been spared the stress of breaking into Damien’s house Tereasa set off to acquire appropriate attire for the ball tonight. Should be simple enough. Much simpler then breaking into the manor without being caught anyway.
After leaving the pub, Tereasa crept across the main road to a dress shop that she’d passed earlier that day and smashed in a window near the back entrance. Normally, she would’ve felt awful about robbing a store, no matter what the reason, but being that this particular establishment was owned by the Fairbrook’s Tereasa found that she felt no guilt for committing such a crime. And because the commotion at the Fairbrook’s Manor was conveniently occupying the majority of the town’s attention, Tereasa felt more than comfortable taking her time riffling through things in the shop. Which was fortunate as it took her quite some time to find a dress that was not only attractive enough, but revealing enough to attract Damien’s attention, while still covering her body well enough that she could hide her knife on her person.
In the end Tereasa chose a short, black silk dress with subtle silver details and embroidered red roses around the hem and neckline, which flattered her figure. She also stole a selection of ruby jewelry, a black and red mask to match her dress and a pair of black, leather boots to complete her outfit. The complete ensemble was both stylish and functional.
The dress was too short for her to conceal the dagger within its folds, but her new knee high boots were both tall enough and large enough to allow Tereasa to discreetly slide the weapon down into her right boot. Then, opting against carrying a bothersome purse, Tereasa carefully hid the handcuffs underneath the hem of her dress, securing them in place with some sort of a lacey black garter. Perfection.
Now that she was dressed, Tereasa stashed her personal effects in the darkest corner of the alley alongside the pub and made her way to Damien’s house.
Thanks to the barkeep’s invitation, Tereasa had no problem at all getting into the party. Once inside she discovered that it was exactly she’d expected. The party consisted mostly of women. Scantily clad… busty, young women… everywhere you looked. And of course, there was no shortage of alcohol to accompany them. Now knowing the kind of person that Damien truly was, Tereasa had no doubt that the drinks were laced with something to assure that Damien and his cronies could take their pick of the lot of these women and the thought made her sick. Still, in an effort not to seem out of place, Tereasa took a glass of what she assumed was champagne from one of the waiter’s trays as he passed her by.
The manor was quite large, but it didn’t take Tereasa very long to locate Damien in the crowd. The young Duke was standing off to one side of the main room with his arm around a bleach blond tramp and a stupid self satisfied grin on his face. He was surrounded by a selection of the sluttiest women in the building and in Tereasa’s opinion, he was enjoying the attention they were giving him far too much. Which only served to piss her off.
Watching Damien flirt with other women instantly brought two thoughts to her mind. The first was, how dare he leave me for such trash?! Not one of those whores could hold a candle to me! And the second was, this is pathetic. Does he even realize that if he weren’t wealthy and they weren’t drugged that none of these girls would be interested in him in the slightest?
Tereasa’s mixed feelings of anger and disgust led her to momentarily entertain thoughts of marching across the dance floor and slitting his throat right here and now. The idea of which was very tempting, however she was not stupid. In order to succeed in her mission, Tereasa knew that she must be subtle and continue playing this part until she could get Damien alone.
Tereasa walked out onto the dance floor, approaching Damien’s best friend, Zachary. “Excuse me Sir. Would you care to take a lovely lady for a spin around the dance floor?” She asked him with a playful smile, as she coyly twirled a lock of her auburn hair between her fingers. Knowing that full well that if Damien found her attractive that he would steal her away from him within a matter of minutes.
Zachary’s eye lit up in an instant. “Yes, of course,” he replied, clearly thrilled that for once in his life a woman had approached him before Damien.
Tereasa had met Zachary a few times before this and from what she could tell, he was just as much of a pig as Damien was. His perception of Women was warped beyond recognition and he had a rather distressing definition of what he thought a relationship should be, but he was harmless. Unlike Damien, Zachary seemed to know the difference between right and wrong and he would never do anything to intentionally hurt another Human Being. In fact, it was his only redeeming quality.
Unfortunately, Zachary happened to be horrid dancer. Thankfully, it didn’t matter too much anyway. For as soon Damien noticed that his friend was dancing his eyes were immediately drawn to Tereasa. In seconds he was enchanted by her long legs and the playful way that her skirt fluttered around her as she moved, and within a matter of minutes Damien had left his sluts to interrupt their dance.
“Hey Zach.”
“Hey Damien,”
“Who’s your lovely friend?”
“Ava Ravencroft,” she introduced herself without missing a beat.
“Ava, the perfect name to compliment a beautiful face such as yours.” Damien smiled and pressed a sweet kiss onto her hand. “You are simply stunning, my Dear. An Angel.”
An Angel? My, my you certainly do think that you’re charming, don’t you? Tereasa thought to herself before replying “Oh, my Lord. I am not worth of such a compliment.”
“Non sense, Angel. You are perfection.” Damien squeezed her hand in his. “May I have this dance?”
“Yes, of course.”
“Damien…” Zachary began, only to be silenced by a hard look from the Duke. He left them without another word of protest.
Tereasa’s dance with Damien was… interesting to say the least. As it turned out, the Duke was only marginally better a dancer then Zach was. He had atrocious timing, he stepped on her foot multiple times and was so bold as to slide his hand over her backside, feeling her up almost continuously throughout the song. It was rather awful.
Then the second that the dance ended, he insisted. “Have a drink with me.”
“I thought you’d never ask.”
“Drinking” with Damien was tricky, because Tereasa didn’t trust anything that he handed her enough to actually drink it. She was also afraid. Afraid that if she were to get too tipsy that she might reveal herself to Damien, or worse spend the night with him, and then where would she be? Tereasa didn’t intend to find out.
“Would you like to accompany me upstairs, my Lady?” Damien purred, kissing her hand gently.
You’re such an idiot… Tereasa replied with a coy smile. “I’d be delighted.”
His eyes sparkled with a triumphant. “Excellent.”
Upstairs, Damien pushed Tereasa up against the door to his room and pinned her there with his body, while he kissed her neck and his hands roamed her body freely. Once upon a time, Tereasa would have been swept off her feet by this impressive display of his passion for her. She would’ve found it romantic. Now, however, she found it both tedious and annoying. But still, she had a part to play. “Where’s your room?” She asked, her voice a breathless sigh.
To which Damien smiled. “Ah. Eager, are we Angel?” He purred.
Oh please. Tereasa thought to herself, feigning embarrassment while mentally rolling her eyes at him. “Hmhm,”
“Good.” As soon as the door swung open, Damien began backing her up slowly until her back hit the wall behind them. Tereasa reversed their positions then. Taking control of the situation, she pushed him roughly back against the wall. “Close your eyes.” She whispered, trailing her fingers lightly down his chest to create the illusion that something pleasurable would soon follow this.
Damien willingly obliged without a word and closed his eyes. She knew what he’d expected to feel next and it certainly wasn’t the cold steel of her handcuffs closing tightly around his wrist with a soft metallic click. “What?” He startled slightly, but then when he saw that Tereasa was smiling behind her mask, he relaxed once again. “You like to play rough, do you my Angel?”
“Oh, you have no idea.” Turning away from him, Tereasa flicked the lock on the door shut. “Just to be sure that we won’t be interrupted.”
“Okay… Well what are you waiting for Angel?”
“Just getting comfortable,” Tereasa replied, pulling her mask off, to reveal her true face to him at last.
Damien gasped. “Tereasa! What-How did you- What’re you doing here?!”
But his words were destined to fall on deaf ears. “Hello Damien.” Tereasa answered softly, keeping her blue eyes trained on him as she bent down to draw the dagger that she’d so cleverly hidden in her leather boot. “Did you miss me?”
“Oh God, Tereasa! What’re you going to do?!” He shouted back her in a panic. “What do you want?!”
“You have something of mine… I want it back.”
“What?! What’re you talking about?!”
She stalked towards him slowly, eyes fixated on the glittering silver of her blade, rather then his scared expression. “You know exactly what I’m talking about.”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about! Take anything you want, just leave me alone!”
“Lair!” Tereasa screamed, blinded by rage she swung the dagger violently at Damien. Though with practiced she still somehow managed to maintain control, slicing but a single gash into the man’s right cheek just below the cheek bone and only just deep enough to leave a scar. “What have you done with my heart?!”
The wound was superficial. It was nothing even remotely serious, but Damien cried out in pain as if she’d stabbed him and then continued to blubber on and on about it instead of answering her question. Which in turn, only served to further enrage her. In one swift motion, Tereasa stabbed her blade into the wall behind Damien, making sure to clip his left shoulder as she did so.
“Where is my heart?!” She shouted, mere inches from the Duke’s face.
“Ah!” The man gasped in agony before exclaiming. “Behind that door! It’s in there! It’s in there!”
“Thank you.” Leaving her knife stuck in the wall behind her, Tereasa crossed the room to the door in the corner to investigate.
At first, Tereasa didn’t realize exactly what she was looking at. This room was nothing more then a small closet full of shelves. Upon the shelves there were boxes, each labeled with the names and addresses of various women… Slowly a sickening realization crept over her. “Oh Gods, no…” She breathed in horror.
How long had he been doing this?
Within a fraction of a second, horror was transformed into a righteous fury. Tereasa flew from the closet and descended upon Damien, like a Tigress cornering an injured Gazelle. Tereasa reared back and punched him in the stomach with every ounce of strength that she possessed, knocking the wind out of his worthless gut. “What the hell have you done?!”
“Nhnn?!” Damien grunted. His body shocked by the force of the blow, began to buckle. But before he could double over, Tereasa grabbed a fist full of his hair and pulled him up, smashing his head back into the wall behind him, she held him in place and pressed the tip of her dagger against his exposed throat.
“Do you have any idea what you’ve done?! All of these women!!” She shouted, so angry that she was having a hard time stringing together a complete thought.
Fearing for his life, Damien wheezed. “I’m sorry!”
“You’re sorry? Sorry?!” Tereasa growled low in her throat. “I’d be doing the women of this world a favor if I slit your worthless throat right now...”
“No, please! Tereasa! Don’t!” The expression in Damien’s eyes was nothing short of utterly pathetic as he begged her to spare his pathetic life. “Please! You used to love me once…”
“Yea? So did a lot of women!” She snapped at him, the rage and pain of countless other heart broken women fueling her tirade. “But then again, it’s hard to love without a heart. Isn’t it?”
It had always been her plan to kill Damien. But now, as she stood there with his throat in her hands, dagger poised and ready to take the life of that loathsome man that had broken her heart, she found herself hesitating to finish him off. Not because she was afraid to get blood on her hands, not because she was afraid that she wouldn’t be able to live with herself afterwards, and certainly not because she was having second thoughts about her revenge, but because she wondered if Death the appropriate punishment for Damien.
Death was quick, too quick and simple as well. And Damien had been taking the easy way out his entire life. For his crimes against her and all of Womankind, he should have to suffer for the rest of his miserable life. But how?
“Shut up,” she ordered him, annoyed by his incessant babbling. Removing the blade from his neck, she allowed her eyes to wonder the room until she found something that was truly precious to Damien. Something that she could destroy… Tereasa spied a silver lock box sitting on the corner of Damien’s mantle and a devious smirk crept onto her sweet face. “Ah ha.” Tereasa collected the box and brought it over to the desk by the bed.
What was that old saying, an eye for an eye? A heart for a heart for a heart sounded like a fair trade to her.
“Tereasa…” Damien called to her, his voice quivering in fear of what she might do to him next. “What’re you doing?”
Once again, his words were ignored. Tereasa did not bother trying to find the key, voting instead to smash the small lock to pieces with the butt of her dagger in order to retrieve the prize inside. It was no surprise to Tereasa that the heart she found inside this particular box was small, shriveled and black as the night sky.
“What’re you doing?!” He cried out, struggling against his restraints in a desperate attempt to stop her. “Tereasa!”
“Teaching you a lesson,” she replied without turning to look at him. Tereasa laid Damien’s cold heart down on the desk and stabbed her knife into it.
Instantly Damien screamed. “Ah?!” Thrashing and crying out, clutching at his chest as if she had actually stabbed him. The pain was immense. Blinding! Unbearable! “Stop it!”
“It’s dangerous to play with other people’s hearts Damien.” Tereasa answered him evenly, as she proceeded to slice a piece out of Damien’s heart.
“Tereasa!”
“I want you to know that after this moment, I will forget you and never think of you again. But you, I’m quite sure will think of me everyday for the rest of your miserable life.” When she was done, Tereasa carefully tucked the stolen piece of her ex lover’s heart into her bra so that she wouldn’t lose it and threw the remains of Damien’s useless black heart on the floor in front of him.
“What…” Damien stared down at his heart in disbelief, as tears rushed from his hazel eyes and down his pale cheeks, drenching his dinner jacket. Was he… crying? Damien hadn’t cried since his Grandmother had died five years ago. In shock he touched his cheek gently. “What the hell have you done to me?”
“I’m taking this piece of your heart with me, so you can learn what it really feels like when someone toys with you, Damien. So now you’ll know how each and every one of those girls felt, how I felt when you left, then maybe I’ll actually believe you when you’re say that you’re sorry.”
Damien moaned. “Tereasa,”
Tereasa ignored his anguished moans. She’d accomplished what she came here to do, Tereasa had had her revenge. Now she had a new mission, returning these stolen hearts to all the women that Damien had wronged so that they might have a second chance at Love.
Snatching the pillows off of Damien’s bed, she began stripping them of their pillow cases. And that’s when she heard it. “Kit Kat…”
Instantly Tereasa felt a sharp pain in her chest, as she remembered when Damien used to call her that. It was the first real nickname she’d ever had and she had loved it so when he called her that. I made her feel special, loved… On more then one occasion it had ended fights or even helped Damien talk her into bed... It was the first and last romantic thing that he had ever done for her. Kit Kat…
Tereasa bit her bottom lip and pushed the tidal wave of emotions that threatened to drown her back down before she lost her nerve. She couldn’t afford to let him get to her now. “Don’t.” She growled, glaring coldly at him over her shoulder.
“But… It hurts. It hurts so much Tereasa...”
“Good!” Tereasa snapped, before disappearing into the closet with the pillow cases. “Get used to it. It never goes away.”
The next morning when Reginald opened his front door, he was surprised to find a most peculiar box on his front porch. It was a white box of decent size, tied up in a neat little bow with a black silk ribbon and the contents of it jiggled when he picked it up. There was no name or address on the package, though the bartender had the sneaking suspicion that the mysterious box had come from the young lady he'd met last night at the pub.
Curious, Reginald took the box inside to open it. He untied the ribbon carefully and removed the lid to find a number of different things inside. The first was a red satin bag with Annalisa’s name scrawled across it in marker. The small draw string bag contained his sister’s untouched heart.
Reginald gasped at the sight of it. “Oh! Gods bless that girl, she found it!”
The next item was a simple note that read, For the lovely ladies of your family. Thank you for all your help. –Tereasa. And underneath the parchment Reginald found a stunning collection of ruby jewelry and a pair of silver cuff links that Tereasa had stolen from Damien’s room before she’d left him.
The bartender shook his head slowly, a graceful, serene smile crossing his tired face. “No, thank you Tereasa...”
Anyway, fingers crossed that I won guys! Let me know what you think of it. <3
