Kissed by Chaos

Kissed by Chaos (5) - Betrayal

Kissed by Chaos

Chapter 5 - Betrayal

There was a moment of complete silence during which even the animals realized that something was amiss, falling silent. My father stared at the door, as if just staring at it would make whoever was behind it go away. "Open it," I murmured quietly, my voice just above a whisper. "We have no other choice."

After another moment of consideration, Elisabeth took a deep breath through her nose and tip-toed over to the door as if she was walking on glass. She hesitated and turned back around to give me one more pleading glance. "Please, let's just run," her eyes begged me. I shook my head in reply to her silent request, telling her that I would keep her safe whatever the situation, but we still had to face whoever it was on the other side of the door.

It was safe to say that none of us had expected what was on the other side of the door. As soon as Elisabeth timidly pulled open the door, a man who did not look like a witch hunter at all tumbled gracelessly through the door. 

"Nicholas!" Elisabeth and I exclaimed in unison. We were shocked but relieved beyond measure that we had been granted a few more moments to live. The fair haired man shivering in our doorway in front of a backdrop of sudden, thunderous rain was our cousin, snivelling, trembling mess of a cousin. His tear streaked face was also covered in mud and dirt. Nicholas wrung his hands nervously, whimpering like an injured mutt.

Throwing a confused glance at me, Elisabeth hurriedly ushered our cousin into the cottage.

"What the devil have you been up to, boy?" muttered Father, eyeing at Nicholas as if he was severely ill and was now contaminating our house.

"M-m-m-m..." Nicholas stammered in an incoherent reply.

"It's okay, Nicholas," I supplied uselessly as I draped a blanket around his birdlike shoulders. He had been mocked and jeered at all his life for his sickly, weak body. A coward, most called him. "What happened?"

He looked up at me with startled, horrified grey blue eyes. "M-m-mother..."

"Aunt Louise? Did something happen to Aunt Louise?" I asked warily. Aunt Louise, our mother's sister, was a witch. What if the hunters had taken her away?

"They... they..."

"Who's 'they'? What did 'they' do?"

"The hunters... they... took her away," Nicholas said, his voice hoarse as he confirmed that what we dreaded.

Cold silence lingered in the cottage as Nicholas's words burnt in our minds. Even my father had run out of his snarky little comments and was forced into sobriety by the dire situation. The silence, however, was abruptly broken by Nicholas's furious voice. "How dare they!" he shrieked with surprising force. "She didn't do anything wrong! Mother wasn't a witch!"

Father looked at me pointedly, trying to intimidate me into revealing the truth to Nicholas. How could I, though? Nicholas was like all the other ignorant villagers who believed witches were synonymous with Satan. How would he take it if I were to suddenly blurt out that his mother, the woman who had given him life, was that very monster he despised?

Thankfully, it was Elisabeth, the level headed, calm sister who spoke. "Nicholas..."

He looked up at her, his eyes narrowed. "What...?"

"Your mother is... she... um..."

"Your mother is a witch." Seeing Nicholas's stunned, horrified gaze I added, "Yes, you heard me right."

He stood up, his eyes clouded with black anger. He advanced on me with a clenched fist raised, straight on its path to make contact with my face. But Father was suddenly up on his feet and stood between Nicholas and me. "Don't you touch her," he warned in a dangerously low voice.