Betrayed: Dark beginnings Read online

  It was raining slightly. He ran up the road, under the lampposts. It was quiet, and the only person who was out was Mr. Smith, he was putting his bins out. Jordan didn’t look his way, Mr. Smith was nosey and was always asking questions and he was not in the mood to answer any questions. It was dark now, the best time to go for a run in his opinion. There was no one around to stop you and give you sympathy.

  All he had all week was neighbor’s stopping and telling him how sorry they were to hear about Chloe.

  The pumped up music got his adrenaline going, and he found himself putting all his emotions into running, seeing how long and far he could run for. He ran through the field to the edge of the lake, then towards the woods.

  He delved deeper and deeper into the woods, whisking past the trees. The grass itched at his ankles, and his feet were getting wet. He stopped to catch his breath; he stared out into the darkness and looked cautiously at a small moving silhouette not far from him.

  He ripped his headphones out and squinted trying to make out what it was. He heard a rustling next to him and jumped. His heart felt as if it would explode from beating so fast. Adrenaline coursed through his veins as he edged himself closer to the tree where the sound had come from. He looked carefully and saw it was a small squirrel that was scurrying around the branches. He laughed to himself; he could not believe that squirrels were scaring him now.

  He turned around, and there was a woman just standing there. He took a step back letting out a small scream. She laughed making him feel foolish.

  “Sorry, I didn’t expect to see anyone out here,” he said breathlessly.

  “It’s ok, I didn’t either and sorry I scared you.” She said smirking, and started to walk away. All he could think is how she is the most beautiful woman he had ever seen. She had long brown hair, piercing green eyes, and such perfect lips. As well as a stunning curvaceous figure.

  “WAIT.” He shouted after the woman, without thinking.

  “Yes?”

  The woman turned to him looking amused.

  He felt a bit stupid; he had never had a problem talking to women, but she had caught him off guard.

  “Umm, sorry what’s your name; I haven’t seen you around here before.” He couldn’t take his eyes off of her.

  “Yeah, you wouldn’t have, I’m new to the area. I moved here with my aunt, and it’s Lizzie” She sounded bored.

  “Do you want me to walk you home?” He said confidently

  “Thanks, but I can take care of myself,” She winked at him and smirked.

  “Ok, well if you need someone to show you around I can. My name is Jordan by the way.” He said coolly

  “Sure.” She said walking away, without giving any indication of seeing him again.

  “Where do you live?” he said, and quickly realized how creepy that sounded “Sorry I just, I didn’t mean it in that way, it would just be nice to see you again.” He said stumbling over his words.

  “It is the house that’s next to the woods; it doesn’t have a street name.” She said cautiously.

  “Yeah, I know the place; it has an old blue car in the drive, right? That’s been abandoned for years; you must have got it at a good price.” Jordan said smiling at her

  “Yeah, anyway, I must go, it was nice to meet you Jordan.” She smiled cheekily, and walked off, disappearing through the trees.

  Great…that wasn’t embarrassing at all, he thought. He headed home; Jordan knew what he was going to do. He wanted to see her again, and decided he was going to go there tomorrow, when he was more prepared. He got home, and it was black, the street lamps had been switched off. He walked through the door, and his mum was in the kitchen, crying as usual.

  He closed the door quietly and ran up the stairs; he didn’t want to speak to her at the moment. He jumped in the shower, the hot water felt soothing on his aching back, and the sound of the shower drowned out his mother’s cries, he could just relax. He scrubbed lemon shampoo on his hair, washing out the hair putty.

  He got out of the shower and looked at his reflection in the bathroom mirror; he looked tired. He dried his hair with a towel, then wrapped it around his waist, and checked out his abs in the mirror. Still looking good, he thought. He walked into his room, put on his boxers then jumped into bed, setting his alarm for seven am.

  CHAPTER FOUR

  The next morning Jordan woke up in a brilliant mood. He hadn’t felt this excitement in a long time. He was looking forward to seeing Elizabeth again; she was just so compelling. He ruffled his hair and pulled on his dark denim jeans, tight white top and black jacket. He headed out of the house without saying goodbye. His mum looked at Jordan through the window but did not wave. It didn’t matter to him… not today.

  He walked for a good half an hour; he did not remember it being that far when he and Chloe went there as kids. He reached the edge of the woods and looked up the slight hill to the old house; they had not fixed it up much. The windows were cracked and a couple boarded up, overgrown ivy sprawled across the cracked walls.

  He wondered if they needed any help doing it up. He could spend more time with Elizabeth that way: that was if she wouldn’t be freaked out by him just randomly turning up. Jordan took a deep breath and knocked on the big oak door and stood there nervously, hoping someone would answer soon. The door swung open, Elizabeth was standing in the porch, staring down at Jordan surprised. She was even more stunning in the light, absolute perfection, he thought.

  “Hello stranger, you didn’t waste any time.” She said seductively, as she leant coolly against the door frame.

  “I was going to ask if you wanted to come out sometime, let me show you around" he replied - the nervousness in his voice was obvious.

  “I don’t see why not, I’m not doing anything Saturday.” She spoke in a flirtatious voice, making Jordan hot and flustered.

  “Cool, are you doing much now?” Jordan said smoothly; he was taken aback by how well this was going.

  “I am busy today, but you can come round tomorrow if you want. I need a man to help me fix a few things around the house, if you’re up to it" she said challengingly.

  Jordan thought carefully weighing up the pros and cons. He knew he had to go college tomorrow, but he didn’t want to pass up this opportunity to spend time with her, after all she was flirting back with him.

  “Yeah sure, I’ll be up around 9.”

  He moved in to kiss her on the cheek, but stopped himself; he didn’t want to push it. Even though he had only just met her, he felt so drawn to her, like a moth to a flame. She was just so mesmerizing. Her curly locks blew gently in the breeze, her lips so plump and red, and her eyes were sparkling in the sunlight, all he could think was, how can anyone be that perfect?

  They exchanged phone numbers; Elizabeth placed the ripped piece of paper on which he had written his number in her bra, and Jordan smiled goofily down at her number.

  “See you tomorrow.” Jordan said as he checked her out, again.

  “Goodbye Jordan, I’ll be looking forward to tomorrow.” She winked at him and closed the door.

  He walked away and glanced back to see if she was looking at him through the window, but she wasn’t. He was used to girls falling all over him, but she didn’t seem overly interested. He wondered if he was losing his charm. At least it went well; he was a bit surprised how well…in fact, he had expected her to close the door on him.

  …………………………………………………

  “You’re not planning on killing that poor boy are you Elizabeth?” Cecile said, looking concerned.

  “Not yet, he’s hot, and I haven’t had a guy in my life for a while, if you know what I mean" she smirked at Cecile. “Plus he can get stuff done around the house, saves me doing it, and yes in a few weeks I will kill him, at the moment, however, I just want to have some fun" she said saucily.

  “You know I don’t condone it, but at least now you’re only feeding when you need to, and not for fun!” Cecile said bitterly.
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  “That’s only because I’m fed up with moving.” Elizabeth shrugged.

  She couldn’t help it; she loved being a bad girl. However, she was looking forward to Jordan coming over. He is quite enticing and titillating. It’s a shame he has only got a few weeks left to live, she thought. She laughed to herself; she thought how easy it had always been to manipulate men.

  CHAPTER FIVE

  London 1666

  Elizabeth awoke in a field, outside of the city. She had no shoes on and could feel the grass tickle between her toes; the night breeze upon her face. She did not want to open her eyes yet, so instead just laid there daydreaming.

  That was until it all came back rushing back to her, the screams of the poor woman in the bakery, the handsome stranger with grey eyes, the men who were dead on the floor and the horrendous fire. She got up slowly, panicked. She was shaking vigorously and wondered how she had ended up in a field alone. She was laid dying, surrounded by fire. She wondered how she had managed to end up here.

  There was no commotion, no screams or fire, just darkness. Elizabeth knew she had to go back to see if her family were ok, if Richard was ok. What if the fire had spread? She was not far from her home when it happened, and the fire was spreading quickly.

  Elizabeth walked to the edge of the field, feeling different in every step. She was no longer cold, or in pain. She felt dizzy but in a good way and she felt strong; stronger than she had ever felt before.

  “You’re awake, finally.” The man spoke and startled Elizabeth. She guessed it would be the man with the grey eyes; after all he was the last person that she had seen. She turned around slowly and to her surprise it was not.

  It was a man that she had never seen before; he was much more handsome than Richard, but wore ugly scars upon his cheek and neck.

  “Huh? Who are you?!” Elizabeth demanded taking a few steps back.

  He looked amused and stepped towards her.

  “My dear, do you not know what happened last night. How do you think you came to lie in this field?” Elizabeth looked into his eyes, trying not to stare at his ugly scars. She hesitated and wanted to run, but stayed rooted to the spot, thinking that if he had wanted to hurt her, he would have when she was sleeping.

  “I remember the women tied to the tree, the fire, the man with grey eyes, and all the men dead on the ground.” Elizabeth said doubting herself.

  “Yes that’s right. The fire spread, they have managed to get in under control. You have been asleep for days.” The man spoke in a patronizing voice and made her feel like a child.

  “I need to go and see my family.” She demanded.

  “Unfortunately you will not be seeing them again; everyone thinks you are dead.” He said, so casually.

  The words shocked her; she had not expected that, she turned back around to face him.

  “Well, we are not dead, so we should go back, or I should.” Elizabeth said it with such innocence and hesitance in her voice; his expression softened and he stared at her pitifully.

  “See that’s the thing, we are dead, sort of. We are no longer human.” She looked at him with complete confusion and almost fell backward. How can I be dead? I am stood here, in odd surroundings yes, but still breathing and talking, how can I possibly be dead? She thought. Elizabeth quickly decided that he was crazy and went to walk away

  “Let me explain to you what I know.”

  He walked up to her and took her hand, sandwiching it between his own and sat her down on the grass. He looked into her eyes sorrowfully, for he knew she did not deserve this. He remembered seeing her run to help the baker woman who was trapped. She was not there to begin with when they were burning the witches, she just stumbled upon them, and now she is doomed by this curse.

  Although Matthias had never been the most honorable gentleman, he knew he needed to help the young woman. She did not deserve this, and he was planning on tracking down the warlock responsible and forcing him to reverse the curse.

  She looked at him with wondering eyes, almost childlike. She was scared; he could tell. He went to speak but got lost in her eyes. She is so very beautiful, he thought and smiled at her. Thankfully she returned the smile and relaxed.

  CHAPTER SIX

  Present day – Cumbria

  Elizabeth woke up grudgingly; she did not want to get out of bed just yet.

  She had spent most of the night trying to think up a plan to capture a Limnade (a water naiad that would give Cecile immortality) with much help from her phone calls with Lorcan, she missed him, but she knew he has always had a crush on her, and it was always awkward when he visited. Like she had said before, it is always handy to keep a warlock or two in your pocket.

  It did not matter how long she thought about it. All she needed was to wait until some humans went swimming and they came to the surface. She knew, however, that she would find it difficult to do it alone. Also, they could not know she was there, or they would just disappear quickly.

  Aggravated, she pushed her legs out from under the quilt and rubbed her eyes. She could hear Cecile in the kitchen making herself breakfast. She looked up at the window; it was grey and cloudy, but what was she to expect. It is Britain after all.

  Despite popular belief that vampires cannot go out in the sunlight, for Elizabeth, that was simply not true. The warlock who placed the curse on them, in rage, had not recited the spell properly. Leaving them fangless and able to go out in the sunlight, this she was grateful for. She loved the sun and the warmth dearly. Elizabeth had once lived in Africa for many years where she had bathed in the sun lazily every day.

  She walked over to her dressing table and looked at herself in the mirror. She wiped away the smudges of mascara that had embedded itself in the creases beneath her eyes. Elizabeth walked into the bathroom, switched on the shower and got undressed.

  After having her shower and getting dressed into her tight skinny black jeans, black ankle boots and her low cut black top with lace sleeves, she trudged down the stairs. She walked into the kitchen where Cecile was doing the dishes.

  “Morning,” Elizabeth yawned.

  “Good morning.” Cecile replied while washing a plate.

  “I need to feed again” Elizabeth said whilst trailing her fingertip along her bottom lip. Cecile turned around and threw the plate back onto the rack.

  “You do not need to feed yet, you want to feed. You know you can last weeks between feeds.” Cecile looked at Elizabeth sternly; she was not going to let this one go.

  “I am starving, so I am going to go out and find someone to feed on” Elizabeth said persistently.

  Dull light seeped in through the kitchen window, highlighting Cecile’s dark grey hair. Elizabeth looked at her carefully and realized how old she was. She knew she did not have much time, if she did not help Cecile soon, she would be dead.

  “I forbid it Elizabeth!” Elizabeth looked taken aback; she opened her mouth slightly and looked at Cecile wide eyed.

  “You forbid it.” Elizabeth laughed as she strolled out of the kitchen. She had only got half way up the stairs when she heard the loud knocking echo through the house.

  She remembered that the guy she met, Jordan, was coming around today. She ran down the stairs and opened the door eagerly. He looked delicious.

  “Hello gorgeous.” Elizabeth said seductively as she looked Jordan up and down.

  “Hey, how are you?” Jordan said followed by a nervous laugh. He is too cute, she thought.

  “I’m fine, so I was thinking that you could start by scraping the wallpaper off my kitchen wall if you like. It’s a disgusting colour and I would be ever so grateful,” she said biting her lip.

  “Yeah, of course, umm do you have any tools?” He asked politely as he stared at her physique.

  “Yes in the shed, thank you again Jordan. After this, we can watch a film if you like?” she said sweetly

  “Absolutely, I don’t have anything planned for tonight.” He said a little bit too enthusiastically.

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sp; Elizabeth laughed and led him around to the shed.

  “So, where did you live before?” Jordan asked trying to make conversation.

  “Around, we have moved around quite a bit.” Elizabeth said not fully answering his question; she always had an air of mystery surrounding her.

  “Well, hopefully you stay here for a while.” Elizabeth turned and smiled to Jordan.

  “I hope so,” she said quickly. That was a lie; she could not wait to leave and to go abroad with Cecile. Elizabeth swung open the door to the old shed. She looked towards the items that she had persuaded a man she met to give her.

  “Here you go,” Elizabeth said pointing to the pile of paint cans, tools and the ladder perched against the wall. They walked slowly back to the house. Jordan was carrying two bags of tools, and a ladder. Elizabeth skipped ahead of him freely, with a grin on her face.

  Jordan walked into the house and looked around. It did not look like they had done much at all to the house. There were no curtains, lampshades or much of anything that people would usually have in their home.

  Everything was dusty and the house carried that musty smell you might find in an old church basement.

  “It’s very ... big’’ Jordan said after a long pause. He followed Elizabeth into the oversized kitchen where he swiftly got to work.

  Elizabeth watched him put all of his effort into scraping off the wallpaper. It was amusing to her to watch his efforts to impress her, she watched the sweat drip down his face and got up, grabbing a cloth. She walked up behind him and placed her right hand on his hip; it was warm and firm.

  She got the cloth and wiped away the sweat from his forehead, his eyes locked onto hers and she slowly moved her hand towards his stomach, feeling his abs through his shirt. She whispered seductively in his ear

  “Better?” her breath tickled his neck

  “Uhh, yeah, umm thank you.” He turned away embarrassed. What was funny was, for the next twenty minutes he would not face her and kept pulling his hoody down over his trousers, his face was bright red. She watched him as he scraped the wallpaper. The red swished inside her mouth as she savored the taste. It didn’t do anything or her, but she could never give up wine. Not even in death.