A Grave Exchange (6 page)

My whole body trembled
.
Lucius lifted me up into his arms and sat down on the loveseat
.
I
rested my head on his shoulder
, waiting for him to continue
.

“T
he
k
ing drew out his silver
-
coated scabbard
,
and with only
one slight
movement of his hand
, he
took my brother’s life.
I remember my mother’s screams
. W
hen I tried to g
o
to her
,
to comfort
her;
the
k
ing threw me back against the
palace
wa
ll,
laughing the whole time.
He told me that not only would I pay
for
my
misdeeds
, but also,
from now on
, my entire
family
would suffer a painful
curse
. By the king’s magical decree, every
male in
my
family
would
live
a
lonely existence
,
never to
find a
mate
, for if he did—if he dared
fall in love
—
deadly pains and fevers
would strike down his beloved, and nothing would stop her suffering
.”

R
ealiz
ation brought me to my feet. I stood there, looking back and forth between him and the mark on my wrist.
“Lucius, what’s going to happen to me
? P
lease tell me
;
am I going to die?”

Lucius lifted my wrist to his mouth and tenderly kissed
my scar
.
“No, little one
. J
ust before Maria died
,
she had spoken words that meant nothing to me,
but
her family came to me afterwards and told me Maria had cast a spell over our whole family
. W
hile she could not protect us or our loved one’s completely,
she saved our lives with her
last wish. The king’s curse is powerless to kill us
.”

I settled somewhat and lay back in Lucius’ arms
. M
y head swam with questions,
and
my heart beat frantically with worry
.

“Lucius
,
what does my scar mean?”

“
You
were assaulted by a dark
k
night…”

I s
prang back and
out of Lucius’ arms
so quickly, I fell
and
landed on my ass on
the hard floor
.
My eyes
grew wide
, my heart ricochet
ed against
my ribcage,
and
my breaths
became
uneven and painful
. S
uddenly
,
everything from back then made perfect sense
.
I knew in my heart no human male could have assaulted me
,
could have done to me what
the animal that attacked me had done
.

“Ivy
,
please tell me what happened that night
. D
o not leave anything out
. Remember
, I am here for you and always will be.”

I looked up into
his
eyes,
and
my whole body trembled and shook
.
“I want to tell you
;
truly
,
I do
,
but I promised myself long ago that I would never
speak of what happened. I
n doing
so,
I felt I was putting
the events of that night
behind me, closing the door on something that was way too painful to understand or accept.”

“
C
ome here.” Lucius held out his hand
.

I gazed at it
a moment,
and then slowly took it
. H
e pulled
my back into his arms
,
and I laid my head
against his strong chest
.
Cocooned from the world and
its
evil
.
Slowly
,
my heart quieted down to a healthier pace,
and
my nerves settled
.
As I lay there
,
he
drew circles with his fingers across my back
.
I decided
then and there, he
would be the only person I ever spoke
to
about
my assault
. If I told him,
perhaps I could turn a new page in my book of life
.
I looked up at
him and smiled
.

Chap
t
er Five

“I was seventeen when my life forever changed
.
I had finished up my evening shift at the local humane society
.
It was a nice June evening
.
I told my parents I could walk home
,
as
our house
was only a few
blocks
away
from the shelter
.
I locked up the building and started my walk home
.
My journey along t
he first two
blocks
was uneventful
;
however
,
as I
approached
the third
block
,
I felt like
someone
was
watching me.
I looked around
but
saw no one
.
I quickened my pace
,
all the while ke
eping an
eye out for something or someone
. The streets lay empty,
but all the usual night sounds were missing too. I found that most strange
,
even to this day
.
I approached the very cemetery where we met
,
and
then I was approached by what I thought was a very large man
.
I tried to pass him by
, but
he stood in my way
.
I asked him politely to move
,
and he leered at me
.
Lucius
,
I swear
,
to this day
,
I have never seen such a cruel face.”

Lucius
held my gaze
, all the while stroking my back
,
relaxing me, willing me to go on
.
I la
id
my head back down on his
chest;
I could not look into his eyes when I told him what had happened.

“
H
is
brutal
laugh fr
oze
me in my tracks,
and
he grabbed hold of me
.
I tried to scream
,
but
he slapped me
, stunning me into silence.
By the time I came out of my stupor
,
he had pushed me against a tree
.
I tried to bite the hand that
he’d
placed over my mouth,
and
I got a fist to my face
for my efforts.
I
may have passed out then
;
I’m not sure,
but
the next thing
I realized
,
I was lying on the ground, my clothes being ripped off me
.
I wanted to die
. A
t that very moment
,
I begged th
e
man to kill me
. If he were going
to rape me
, I wanted to die
.
H
e
just
laughed at me
and continued molesting me.
His hands travelled roughly up and down my naked body, grabbing me, bruising me,
and
all the while
,
his eyes taunted me
.
I tried so hard to fight him
,
but every time I did
,
he hit me
—
harder and harder
, until
I could hardly see
, my
eyes
had become so swollen
. H
e pushed my shoulders back and slid between my knees, forcing them open with his body’s weight
.
I looked around desperately
,
willing someone to walk by, willing myself to pass out,
but
he grabbed my face and held it so I had to look at him
. And
then he raped me
,
Lucius
. H
e took away my virginity, the whole time smiling down
at me
. T
he pain was indescribable
.
I ached all over
. He
towered over me, his punishing thrusts ripping me apart both mentally and physically
.
His demeanor
grew
more and more menacing as he neared his release
, until
he appeared to become larger
,
and his eyes changed
, and
he grew
fangs
. H
e pushed my head to the side, I
although I
screamed at him to let me go
, that
I’d tell no one, he bit hard into my neck
and
roar
ed
his release
. He
suck
ed
m
y blood
,
and
I believe I
truly
did pass out then, whether from the bite or
from the
assault
,
I
couldn’t be
sure
.
I realize now he was not human, but at the time
,
I felt my mind was playing tricks
on
me
.
He pushed himself off of me, snickered,
and
said words I did not understand.”

Lucius lifted my
chin with his finger, forcing me
to look at him
.
“Ivy
,
this is important
, so
think hard
;
what did the words sound like?”

I looked at him,
and my mind scrambled to recall the strange words.

“I believe
he said something
like rei and vai voltar.”

Lucius’ face paled
,
and I froze
.

“What
? What does it mean? W
hy do you look so worried?”

Lucius stared at me, his eyes returning to their blackened state, the red ring appearing around the pupils
.
“
W
hat you have just remembered is frightening
.
You have just stated
‘
The
k
ing will return.
’
”

I leap
ed
off Lucius’
lap
and started frantically pacing his living room,
uncaring of
the fact that I was naked
.
My stomach ascend
ed
into my mouth,
and
bile burn
ed
the back of my throat
.
Lucius stood and stopped my fr
enzied
pacing
.
He wrapped his arms around me
.
My mind
worked
desperately
,
trying to cling to some hope that Lucius
had wrongly
interpreted
the meaning of the words I’d remembered
.

“
H
ow do you know what that means?”

“
Quite easily, my love. You spoke in
my native tongue.”

I lay my head down on his beautiful chest and started to sob
.
I felt my world spin wildly out of control
.
I
’d
tried so hard to pick
up
the pieces after my brutal assault
, and I’d thought I’d succeeded. But if what Lucius told me was true, then there was much more going on, and things were much worse than I’d thought
.
Lucius held me tightly in his arms, crooning soft words I
could not comprehend
.
After
a bit,
my tears subsided
, and
he
lifted my chin
so I
look
ed up
at him
.

“Ivy
,
the
k
ing realized we would meet
. S
omehow
,
he knew
.
But this marking on your wrist, this marking has saved you from death
.
Maria’s blessing has kept you safe so far
.
I will keep you safe from now on.”

My mind stumbled along
,
trying to piece thi
ngs
together
.

“Lucius
,
are you saying
the
k
ing
—the same one
who punished you and your family
—
is coming after me?”

“Yes
,
little one.”

“Why
? W
hy does he want me?”

“Ivy.”  Lucius gazed into my eyes and smiled
sadly. He stroked
my chin
with his fingertips.
“The
k
ing is coming after you
in order
to punish me in a way he never could after Maria intervened.”

I let Lucius’ words
sink
in
to
my troubled brain
.
Of course
,
it made perfect sense now, but how would Lucius protect me from someone hell bent on achieving revenge
?

“Why now?”
I asked.

Lucius picked up some of my clothing and
began to help me dress. Only then did I remember I was naked, and the realization hit me hard. I
glared at the ground, face on fire
.

Lucius laughed heart
il
y
.
“Sweet Ivy
,
after what we’ve just done
,
you feel the need to hide from me?”

I couldn’t find the words to convey how I was feeling
.
My body had been brought to heaven
with our lovemaking
,
only to plummet
down
to
E
arth with the promise of my murder
.

Lucius grabbed me
by my shoulders.
“Ivy
,
you will not die, I promise you.”

I bit my bottom lip
.
“
T
his
k
ing
of yours
never got the revenge he wanted
. Somehow
,
he
found me when you say you awoke,
and
now you say he’s after me.
I have a dreadful feeling
he will not stop until I die.
Where have you been all these years? Finish telling me what happened, you, after . . . .
”

“
A
fter my brother was murdered
,
the
k
ing cast his own spell,
causing me to fall
into a deep repose
. I slept away the years, only
to awaken centuries later
when my heart came to life hearing your cries
. T
he family I knew
and loved
is
long dead.”

Lucius’ words created icicles over my heart
,
freezing it into a sluggish rhythm
. M
y head
grew
dizzy,
and
I tried to find a chair, my legs going weak beneath me
.

Lucius slid his arms around me and picked me up
. H
e
carried me
out of the living room and up a huge staircase
. In the hallway at the top
, he turned and pushed open a thick wooden door
.
I lifted my head and saw a beautiful
,
four
-
poster
.
The bedding
was a rich
,
burgundy
velvet and gold satin
.
Lucius laid me down on it and covered me with a tapestry throw
.