The rain has turned to sleet. My legs buckled hours ago. I’m on my knees, inches deep in the mud and sinking further and further as every moment passes. My hair is plastered to my face. My skin is in agony as the thin ice pelts down hard on my naked body. I slump over. And Uncle Harry showers me with the hose once more. He doesn’t stop until I get back up on my knees. My teeth chatter hard. I’ve been shivering for so long, my muscles ache.
He’s wrapped up in his thick coat with a scotch in his hand, laughing from his belly as he watches me. I scratch at the thick rope around my neck, hating that the wetter it becomes, the more it smells of dog.
The sun is setting. The porch light is turned on as Christa brings out a plate of beef hotpot. Harry sits on a rocking chair and watches me shiver. I’m tied to the post where his dogs are tethered when they misbehave.
‘You want to behave like a feral bitch?’ Harry calls over, laughing as he does. He throws a chunk of meat at me. It lands in the mud but within reach. My stomach screams in desperation. I haven’t eaten in two days. Not a thing. I’m being punished. I ate some of the left-over Christmas dinner from the fridge. I look up at Harry through my rain soaked lashes as he watches me with a smirk. It grows when I reach over and scoop up the mud-soaked meat.
‘That’s it, girl. Eat my scraps.’
I hurl it into the bushes and resume my position. My insides cramp at the loss of the slightest bit of sustenance.
But I would rather die out here. Starved. Naked. Cold. Than let him see me bend to his will. I lay my palms down flat on my thighs and let the icy water continue to hammer hard against my skin. Not once looking away from him.
It’s only temporary, after all. The rain will either stop. Harry will get bored and let me go.
Or I’ll die.
‘It’s just temporary,’ I tell myself.
Just like Toby’s been teaching me.
‘Lilly?’ Grayson gives me a gentle shake awake. I flinch and slap his hand away from me, startled by the mixture of my dream and his touch.
‘Don’t touch me, Grayson,’ I warn. ‘Keep your hands to yourself.’
‘Alright. Calm down. It seemed like you were having a nightmare. Thought I’d spare you.’ He returns his hand to the steering wheel. I glance back at the series of cars following us. The one directly behind has Gabriel and Hendrix. Grayson wouldn’t let him drive to the house in the same car as me and rather than be forced to talk to him, I closed my eyes to rest. I must have fallen asleep.
He hands me a cereal bar from the driver side door. ‘Your stomach’s been growling like you are harboring some kind of beast in your belly. You should eat.’
I take the bar, roll down the window, and toss it out.
‘Last time I accepted something from you, I ended up branded.’ I pull my jacket tighter around my body and continue looking out the window. ‘I’d rather be hungry than accept anything you offer me.’
‘Fine.’ He shrugs and puts more pressure on the accelerator. ‘Be hungry. God, I hate your spiteful streak.’
‘And I hate everything about you.’ I add in a quiet mumble.
‘Sorry?’
‘Nothing.’
After another half an hour or so, we park up in a small, but busy, little town. The back-passenger door opens and Gabriel slides in. He forces himself between the two seats and we share a chaste little kiss.
‘You alright, Beautiful?’
‘Fine. You?’
‘All good.’ He turns to Grayson and asks, ‘Did you see them?’
‘Yes. I saw them,’ he mutters angrily, referring to the small group of people we passed a few moments ago, shouting and waving signs outside the house I’m assuming is the converted museum. The slogans varied from “Magic is no joke!” to a more direct concept.
“Death to Witches!”
‘They really hate us, don’t they?’
‘Yep,’ Gabriel replies plainly. ‘I called ahead and the owners are still opening up today. But he thinks that by tomorrow he’ll be shut down by the authorities. I expect Hunters will descend on him soon enough and confiscate what he has. That newspaper stuff has really riled everybody up.’
Grayson remains quiet. His hands grip the steering wheel so hard, his knuckles are white. His mouth is in a tight line as Gabriel watches him nervously.
‘Keep your head,’ he tells him calmly.
‘My head is kept. Believe me. Or those people would be on the floor writhing in agony,’ Grayson replies.
‘It’s just a couple of people with some silly signs,’ I offer. Stupidly.
‘And Hitler was just one man with an idea. Look what he achieved. These people, much like you, Miss Hooper, have no idea what one word can do when said at the right time to the right person. None. If my grandfather hadn’t refused to help that pathetic little human-king fight his stupid war over in the East, he wouldn’t have sought out that god forsaken man, Richards. And the war between humans and witches would probably never have started.’
‘Richards?’ I ask.
‘Timothy Richards,’ Gabriel mutters, like the name is a dirty word. ‘He started the Hunter program. By order of the king, of course. The king knew we would never follow his rule. Or any human-kings rule. So, he decided to destroy us instead. He ordered the capture of thousands of human children and forced them into training, under the command of Richards. Ten years later, they attacked, and the war began.’
‘You see these people?’ Grayson asks me, pointing over at the group of protesters. ‘Screaming for the murder of thousands of innocent people? They did this at the executions all those years ago. The crowds cheering as Hunters led out their victims. They killed most the men when they raided the villages. It was the women and children they bound and dragged through the mobs.’ His hands start to shake and there is a slight tremble to his voice. ‘And they always killed the children first.’
‘Why?’ I ask.
‘So their parents had to watch,’ Gabriel answers sadly.
‘Holy-hell. That’s barbaric. But… People aren’t like that now. They wouldn’t stand by and watch-’
‘Yes, they would. And of all people, you should know that. All those staff in your uncle’s house, how many helped you?’ He shakes his head and scoffs at his own memories. ‘We thought that the villagers would defend us. Protect us. Most of them had benefited from our magic in some way. But when the time came, they stood in those crowds and cheered with everybody else, watching the torture and murder of the people they once called friends.’ Grayson’s eyes brim with tears, but there’s such hatred in the rest of him. ‘You couldn’t hear the agonised screams of the mothers as they watched their babies suffer and die over all the applauding and cheering,’ he spits hatefully. ‘Watching them being chained up in those tanks and drowned. Watching them tied to stakes and burnt. I’ll never forget it and I will never forgive it. These fools don’t understand what they are calling for.’ He’s descending into a hateful and furious pit full of pain and suffering. As he speaks, I know he’s seeing those images behind his eyes. Memories that forged him into the monster that he is today. I couldn’t imagine it. Watching all those people die. Screaming. Drowning. Burning. Choking. All in front of a mob, cheering and applauding. I rest my hand on Grayson’s shoulder and he stops his ranting. He blinks his tears away and takes a long, deep breath.
‘Then it’s a good thing you found me, huh? I’ll bring down the Veil and we won’t let that happen again. I promise.’
He taps my hand and nods, pulling himself back together. ‘First things first,’ Grayson says, undoing his seat belt and switching off the engine. ‘We find the ring. Do not use your magic unless there is absolutely no other way. You keep the lowest of profiles.’
He pulls up his hood, slides on some sunglasses and gets out, slamming the door shut and not giving us a chance to say a word. He’s embarrassed I think. That he let his emotions get the better of him.
Gabriel leans into me. ‘That was a nice thing you did. Comforting Grayson like that. Much more than he deserves.’
‘Well, I didn’t want him to leap out the car and start killing them. It’s weird to see him so emotional. When he talks about the war, it’s almost like he’s got a heart.’
‘A lot happened to us in the war,’ Gabriel sighs, glancing out the window to his brother who’s talking to Billy and Hendrix. ‘A lot happened to Grayson. He lost a lot. Which is why I guess I forgave so much of his cruelty.’
‘He’s guilty of a lot of cruelty,’ I add with a raised brow. ‘You’re a bigger person than me to have forgiven any of it.’
‘Grayson was married once,’ he says, still glancing out the window.
What?!
‘They were kids. Barely fifteen when they tied the knot. Mother disapproved of her. She was human.’
‘She was a what? Grayson Kendryk… Married a human!’
‘Oh yeah. But her spirit was so wiccan. She was wild. Always getting in trouble. Always playing with the boys instead of stitching or learning her etiquette.’ He laughs fondly as I sit mouth-open. ‘Grayson was besotted with her. Always running after her. Trying to keep up. She was better at everything. A better swimmer. A better archer. A better swordswoman. God, she was just this ball of energy.’ He looks back at me. ‘Just like you. So much like you.’
‘What happened?’ I dare to ask. That smile soon slips.
‘What do you think?’ He takes my hand. ‘He lost her. In the war. He lost both her and their daughter during the war.’ He kisses my knuckles and rests his hand on my cheek. Like the idea of losing me is too much to bear. ‘The day they died. The day they were murdered, we were there. In the crowd. In one of the cages, awaiting our turn to be executed. Timothy Richards, the sadistic bastard, had us up front to watch. He wanted Grayson to see them die.’
‘Why such cruelty?’
‘Because it was Timothy Richards’ daughter Grayson had married.’
‘Bloody hell! Richards killed his own daughter? His own grandchild?’
He nods. ‘Bias and Theo disrupted the execution. But not soon enough. Grayson’s wife and child died by the time they got to us. You know? I still have nightmares about that day? About the scream Grayson produced when they died? It was…’ His eyes go vacant and his skin turns pale. ‘So much pain, Lilly. So much fear and sorrow. So much hatred, all poured into that one, single scream. The crowd cheered as his wife and baby girl were killed. She was two, Lilly. Two! How could anyone… Why would… They just…’ I can’t take the horror etched on his features as he relives the memories, searching them for a single reason why, or how, anyone could do such a thing. I squeeze his hand and gently guide his attention back to me. He blinks and returns. ‘I’m sorry. I shouldn’t talk about such things in front of you. Not after what you went through.’
‘You can. Your pain is mine. And mine is yours. We share so we don’t suffer alone. Go on.’
‘Grayson disappeared right then and there. The Grayson I knew at any rate. I would say he Broke. But he didn’t. He just… died. Inside. I think that when he met you, the spark he felt for his wife all those years ago flickered again. He never looked at another woman after she died. In all those centuries. He barely looked at anyone, truth be told. Until you. But he’s still cruel and heartless. The two boys I grew up with? My brothers? They’re gone. One died in the Hunters cells. The other died when the Hunters murdered his family right in front of him. Hunters took everything from us. But I no longer forgive either of my brother’s wickedness. Because there’s nothing in those men that I love anymore. My brothers are gone. And Grayson’s wife would be ashamed of him now. She wouldn’t recognise him at all. The boys I loved growing up? They aren’t coming back.’
‘What was her name?’ I ask.
‘Arianna,’ he replies. ‘And his little girl was Tilly.’
‘Poor guy,’ I whisper. ‘No wonder he’s so twisted. But that still doesn’t excuse what he’s done. After all, he had a son and let him die too when he tried to get his magic to manifest.’
‘Agreed.’ He takes my chin in his hand and shows me that stunning smile of his. ‘Okay. Are you ready?’
‘As I’ll ever be.’
We join the others outside. Hendrix is leaning against his car with his dark shades on watching a group of girls walk past. After a few minutes of reaffirming the plan, Hendrix and I head into the town, leaving them behind.
I think about what Gabriel shared with me. Does knowing the pain that lies in Grayson’s past excuse the man he is now?
No.
But at least I understand a little more. I don’t forgive his actions. Past or present. But I understand. After all, I killed several men after my child was taken from me. But I would never do what he has done. What he did to Rose Hooper and to the boy they conceived together. To me. To Gabriel.
Whoever he was when he loved Arianna, he isn’t that man anymore.
Now, he’s a monster.
And as my uncle always said.
“Monsters get what they deserve”.
And Grayson will get what he deserves.
