Snow Heart (6 page)

Alric’s words were coated thickly with sinister ideas. If he was going to do anything it would most definitely not be thanking Boris.

Wilhelm feared what might happen to the twenty-six year old lawyer—then again, Boris was a little troubled himself. He regretted to admit it but Wilhelm felt that Boris’s demise would be for the better of the community.

“I’ll bring him in right away.”

“Good.” Alric pushed himself off the door frame.

The doctor watched with concern as Alric slid his bedroom door closed. He could not imagine the torture Alric might press against the young girl, Nieves. Alric’s past was never something enjoyable to remember—the scars upon his back proved that as a factual bit of information.

Alric glowered at the girl from the corner of his eye. “Why?” he thought. “Why had I tried to save her from the fall? To save her for later use, perhaps? I called out her name as if I needed her. Ridiculous! I don’t need that pathetic piece of trash.”

He couldn’t believe he allowed the girl to stay in his room. He told himself that it was only to keep an eye on her—to watch her suffering grow. Though, in a way, Alric did not want to watch her. He didn’t even want to look at the girl.

Alric turned to the rock garden doors then stopped at the sound of Nieves’ moan. She was in pain, he reveled with joy. The delight of her no longer smiling was a gift to Alric. He hated her smile, he hated her laughter, and most of all Alric hated her.

Nieves shifted in her sleep, a layer of sweat upon her skin. Her eyebrows furrowed with pain—or perhaps a nightmare. Tickled with intrigue, Alric walked over to Nieves then softly sat down on the bed. He leaned his back against the wall, stretched his legs out, crossed at the ankles, and then folded his arms over his chest. He waited; he waited for her to scream out in pain or at least cry.

Nieves moaned then muttered, “Look, it’s snowing.”

Alric gave an aggravated glance. Snow, he thought with despise. He hated snow with all his heart and soul.

A thin sliver of tears leaked from the corners of her relaxing eyes. Her face began to smooth and soften with release of the pain she had felt previously. “Erika, why did… you leave?” Nieves clenched the sheets within her tightening fists.

†

Boris had never felt that sick at his stomach in his entire lifetime. He stood there in the center of the room’s darkness, engulfed with shuddering fear. Returning home from work to this darkened room was not his ideal night. With Nieves gone, Boris was planning on directing his frustrations on Erika.

“Alric needs to speak with you,” Wilhelm had said on Boris’s front porch at the sight of the lawyer’s arrival.

Boris had no choice but to agree with Wilhelm and thus agree with Alric. Wilhelm had taken Boris to the main house, deserting him in an empty room completely filled with blackness as thick as ink. This room was quite familiar to Boris—it was the same room Alric utilized for his torturing.

A shudder ran across Boris’s entire body.

“What is it that you do to her?” asked Alric, hidden somewhere amongst the shadows. His voice echoed in every corner of the room. “When you abuse her,” Alric said with a wicked smile, “what do you do?”

Boris felt relieved—pleased he wasn’t in trouble. “I threw her out the window one time,” Boris said, a little enthusiastic to share his “work” with another like him. Boris enjoyed the comfort of having Alric take a liking to him. It almost made him feel cherished.

“Oh? How hurt was she?”

Boris sneered with pride. “A broken leg, minor cuts and bruises. The doctors didn’t suspect a thing. They even labeled her as a suicidal.” Boris laughed manically.

“In this house,” Alric said, stopping Boris’s laughter painfully dead in his throat. “I deal the punishments. I am the head of this family. Punishing or abusing someone should be brought to me. You had no right to deal abuse to the girl.

“For such an action I have no other choice, Boris. You should have known better.” Alric’s icy cold breath tickled the back of Boris’s neck and raising his hair on end.

Boris’s entire body stiffened at the touch of Alric’s gentle hands on his shoulders. “Sir?” he whispered.

“Sleep well,” Alric replied. “Sleep deeply.”

CHAPTER 7

Nieves sat up and took glances about the room. She knew immediately it was Alric’s room. Perhaps most likely because he was sitting on the floor, drinking at the short legged kontatsu table. She noticed the entire main house was based on oriental architecture.

Nieves slid her feet over the edge of the bed. A heavy metal was clasped around her right ankle. She glanced at it then lifted the long chain to follow the oval links until they stopped at the bedpost where they were locked tightly.

“Why am I chained to the bed?”

Alric sipped his tea with tranquility and ignored Nieves. His eyes slid closed at the taste of sweetness in each sip.

“Well!” Nieves shouted. She was so preoccupied with the chain and Alric’s smooth, careless expression that she didn’t notice her change of clothes. She was dressed in a white traditional yukata that flowed like moonlight over a valley.

His lips moved into a smile as he set his empty cup down onto the table. “I would hate to have you run off before I get my pleasure.”

Nieves stood up. “Why are you doing this to me?” She had spoken so bravely but it slowly began to fade away. Gently she cooed, “Let me go, please.” She walked over to the kontatsu where Alric sat neatly at the end, facing her.

He smirked with devilish arrogance.

“Tell me why,” Nieves whispered. She plopped down onto the zabuton pillow adjacent to him. “Alric, tell me why you won’t let me go?”

Alric simply took hold of his cup and walked away.

Never in her life had she felt so inferior. Chained down like a dog and soon to be beaten for nothing at all. She couldn’t understand it.

Why did he hate her so?

Nieves lifted her eyes to the most beautiful flower she had ever seen. It was just beginning to bloom. At that moment it was stuck in a tear drop shape much larger than her hand.

“Such a beautiful flower.” Nieves reached up to stroke the smooth pedals.

Alric’s hand caught hers. His warmth pressed against the back of her body while his breathing tickled her nape. “I wouldn’t touch that,” he suggested in a mellow tone.

Nieves moved her head to peer over her shoulder.

Alric was sitting neatly behind her, a leg propped up and another leg stretched out on the other side of her. His thumb surreptitiously took in the softness of the top of her hand. “We wouldn’t want such delicate skin to get scathed.”

“What do you mean?” she asked.

He moved his free hand to the table where a small narrow drawer had been hidden. He pulled out a small rectangular prism and lifted the lid. Never once did his right hand let go of Nieves’s.

“Now,” Alric said, taking hold of her hand. “Gather the piece of meat.” He lowered her hand to pinch the cube of white with the metal. Alric moved that hand over to the plant, drawing it closer very slowly.

In a quick flash of energy, the flower bloomed open to a snake like creature that snapped up the white meat like a gingerbread man.

Alric reached across the floor for the tweezers. “It is a species similar to the Venus flytrap.” His thumb continued to rub her skin while feeding the plant another chunk of meat. He wanted desperately to dig his nails into her skin, to feel the warm blood that might soak his fingers.

Nieves was highly intrigued with the plant’s fast reflexes.

“It must do what it can to survive,” Alric stated. “In the wild it would devour any creature that settled upon it. Including birds.”

“Birds?” asked Nieves excitedly. “Is that why I can’t touch it?”

Alric tucked away the box and tweezers into the drawer. He made no effort to reply; it was something Nieves was getting used to.

He slid his right hand down her arm while standing. “I’m going for a walk.” He didn’t tell that to her any more than he was telling that to himself.

“I didn’t mean what I said,” Nieves argued. “She is my sister… I know somewhere in her heart she is still alive. I just know it. Let me go to Erika!”

“She’s dead,” Alric repeated. “I killed her.”

Nieves’ eyes widened with shock. Her words were like air and inaudible to the entire world. Alric had dealt a blow right to her heart—a wicked arrow piercing deep and true. “Erika…”

Alric smiled at the girl’s pain and left quite happy with himself. His day had suddenly become rather bright.

“I wonder why she’s in Alric’s room,” the girl questioned, turning her attention to the boy next to her. “Jacob, she’s asleep. You can still talk to me.”

Jacob shook his head, swishing his hair back and forth. His round childish face looked positively frightened and yet completely unaware of harm.

“Fine,” Eliza sighed. “But I’m sure she is real nice. I can tell.”

Jacob’s mouth opened a small fraction and mumbled, “Not if she’s in here.” To most people it would have sounded like, “Nuff sheven her.” Eliza on the other hand understood all of Jacob’s mumbles and mutters; she’d gather the second language over time.

“Maybe Alric’s holding her hostage.” Eliza smiled widely with sparks in her eyes. “If that’s the case then we need to rescue her from the evil king. We can be her princes in shining armor.”

Jacob shook his head—his shyness far too grand. He was curled on the floor next to Eliza who was leaning on Alric’s bed where the strange girl lay. Jacob mumbled, “Alric would be angry.”

Eliza spun around with a large triumphant smile. “Jacob and I are princes who will save the princess from the evil dragon. We’ll take her away to an enchanted palace. Do you want to help us, Wilhelm?”

Wilhelm gave a lighthearted smile. “I’m afraid this princess can’t be saved by the two of you.”

“Why not?” asked Eliza, her voice on the edge of whining.

Wilhelm walked across the room and set his things down onto the bed. “This story is slightly different. You see, the dragon is really a prince in disguise. This time the princess has to save the dragon from an evil curse.”

“Promise,” replied Wilhelm who was patting Jacob’s head. “Now,” Wilhelm interjected, “I have to make sure the princess gets healthy so that she can have enough strength to save the prince.”

Eliza nodded her head with a beaming smile. “C’mon, Jacob. Let’s go play with the kitchen chef. He always has candy hidden away for us.”

Candy, Wilhelm noted, was hidden from them by Alric. Anything that brought joy to someone was either taken away or destroyed before their very eyes. Wilhelm’s thoughts began to slip towards Rusuto. He quickly slapped himself mentally and turned to the medical bag.

He opened it wide, pulling out various objects of necessity. He rose to his knees and took her very warm arm into his icy hand. Nieves gave a moan in her sleep before prying open her eyes.

Wilhelm waited until she stopped glancing around the room and to look at him. “Wilhelm.” She noted his presence then glanced around. “Alric’s not here?”

“He’s in the parlor.”

Nieves quickly sat up and turned to Wilhelm. “Help me leave. Please help me leave. He killed my sister, Wilhelm. I never want to look at him again. I want to kill him! I want to kill him more than any person in the world!”