Daughter of Night

James

James's POV

"We're here!" Rachel happily shouted as I finally caught up with her. I fell on my knees trying to catch my breath.

"Damn, you fly fast." I said in between breaths. I looked up to try and take in the surroundings. "Wha...?" There was nothing there. It was just ordinary woods, no different than from what was behind us. "But there's nothing here." I said, anger starting to build up inside me.

"Oh, right." Rachel said and blew dust in my face. I blinked and coughed a couple times, and through the cloud of dust a silver metropolis appeared. Well, most of the plants were silver. The rest was made up of well-built stone buildings and what seemed to be a courtyard. A barrier rose up around the small village covering it in a crystal looking dome.

"Okay..." I said gawking at how vast the territory actually was. "So, lets go in." I started to walk towards the dome.

"Wait!" Rachel yelled but it was too late. I had already walked into the dome and a wave of pain hit me as the impact threw me back. I stood up, a thousand needles pricking my skin. "...you can't get inside without being or touching one of them." She said guiltily. She started fiddling with the ends of her dress.

"What the hell?!" I yelled. "How are we going to get Margaret then?!" Rachel just stared at me, not saying a word. I took a deep shaky breath. "You mean to tell me..." I said as calmly as possible as rage built up inside me, "that you took me all this way...and you have no idea how to get in?!" I spouted out a very colorful pallet of curse words at the top of my lungs when I noticed Rachel smirking at something behind me. I was cut off by a sudden rush of hot air on the top of my head. I turned slowly to see the largest man I had ever laid eyes on in my life. At least eight feet tall, with intense dark blue eyes that looked like they had seen a million battles.

"That's how you're getting inside.", Rachel whispered in my ear, but when I turned around to ask her what the hell she was thinking, she had already gone. So without a word the huge man slung me over his shoulder and carried me through the barrier with ease. After a few seconds of useless fighting and blood rushing to my head, I gave up and started counting the tiles that passed under the man's feet. I reached seventy-three when I was finally put down in the middle of a courtyard, greeted by at least a hundred gasps and a thousand murmured words that I couldn't make out.

I slowly sat up as a door opened somewhere to my right. Margaret stepped through. My heart skipped a beat. She looked at the gathering crowd, confused, and then spotted me. Her expression went from shock to a complete blank. Another woman stepped beside her. My heart leapt into my throat and a wave of panic rolled through me leaving goosebumps all over my body. A face from a past too painful to forget. A face that has changed so much but was still so familiar.

Lucy.

Her eyes followed Margaret's and she took on the same blank expression. It was like looking at the wonderful Margaret I knew standing next to her complete opposite persona. The crowd was completely still except for the occasional murmur or cough. The huge man finally stalked over to Lucy and knelt in front of her. Neither Lucy or Margaret took their eyes off me, and I alternated eye contact between the both of them.

"Why is this man here, Stanford?" Lucy asked calmly but firmly.

"I found him outside the barriers, highness. I figured you would know what to do with him."

"Let him go." She said after not even half a heartbeat.

"But highness..."

"You heard me."

"I thought he was here to rescue that one." Stanford motioned to Margaret who's face was still completely blank.

"Margaret..." Lucy finally took her eyes off of me to glance at Margaret. "Do you know this man?"

"No." Margaret answered, her eyes still boring into mine. "I've never seen this man before in my life." A thousand thoughts ran through my mind at once. Did they turn her? Is she faking it? Did they brainwash her to forget me?

Does she have amnesia?

A lump formed in the back of my throat just thinking of the possibility of her being knocked around so much that it would cause her to lose her memory.

"Well that answers your question, now doesn't it?" Lucy stared at Stanford in distain. Stanford kept his head down, silent. "Let him go. And the girl. They're both of no use to me."

"Why not just kill them then, highness?" Stanford asked, still keeping his head down.

"We don't need to waste any lives, Stanford. Get them out of here."

"But highness..."

"I SAID," she paused to look between me and Margaret, "get them out of here." And with that Lucy, the woman I loved and lost, sulked back into the room she and Margaret had come from.

Stanford finally stood and pushed Margaret in my direction. He picked me up by the arm and forced me to walk back the way we came. Margaret and I were silent as we were walking. Her facial expression remained blank as if my presence meant nothing to her. A little part inside of me broke. I've lost her, I thought. My mind and body went numb as we arrived at an open space where only the barrier was between us and the outside forest. Stanford placed his meaty hands on our backs.

"Never come back!" He yelled as he shoved us outside of the barrier. We both fell to the ground, and after a moment, Margaret stood up and started walking into the forest in an almost robotic-like fashion. I stood and stumbled after her.

"Margaret?" I asked trying to search her eyes for any sign or recognition, but they continued to stare strait ahead. I stepped in front of her and held her shoulders. It was as if she was looking right through me. "Margaret, please..." The fabric of her dress was rough under my fingertips. I dropped my arms. "I love you." Her head quickly turned as if looking if someone was following her. And before I had time to react she grabbed my face and kissed me deeply. Her fingers ran hungrily through my hair and over my back as I wrapped my arms around her waist, remembering the familiar feeling of her body against mine. Hot and salty tears spilled on our lips.

"I love you, James." She whispered when she pulled away. Her eyes were red and puffy and filled with all the emotion she had to hide for all that time. "I love you so much." With that she kissed me again and hugged me. I burrowed my fingers in her hair, desperately convincing myself that she was really here. And I was really holding her, feeling whole and complete for the first time in a long time.