My day off from work I decide to spend filming in the garden – wishing to stay out of the mansion. So I brush my hair out, deciding not to tie it up today. I wrap myself with a baby blue scarf just in case it gets chilly, and I wear some blue jeans and a white blouse. I even had time to paint my nails and do some light makeup. Definitely not trying to impress the demon in the mansion with the wings I've masterfully decorated my eyes with to a devasting effect.
I skip my way down the stairs, hearing noises coming from the laundry.
Curious, I make my way there first. When I look in, Claudius Fontaine is in full view, filling a picnic basket by the sink. And yeah I'm entranced by the effort he's going to. I watch with wide eyes through the window of the see-through door.
When I edge the door open, Fontaine looks over his shoulder at me – quietly pleased to see me so soon.
"What's up, Fontaine?" I ask, casually walking in and leaning back against the wall.
"For the day off, I thought you'd like to explore the back of my property, over the hill, into the trees, about a ten minute short walk there's a small pond with a boat. Bring your camera."
Claudius is even wearing a dang hat. And he's dressed up – with these shoulder straps on and a new white shirt, and new shoes. Did he go shopping in a demon mall or something with the XP points in kissing me last night?
I do wonder.
"Are you taking me on a date?" I ask, the kind of obvious question..
"Just showing you around," Claudius says, finally turning toward me with a mischievous but friendly smirk, "You wanted the day off... so spend it with me."
"Hmm," I pretend to consider, my fingers tickling under my chin as I decide, "Just stay out of arm's reach. No holding hands...."
Claudius's eyebrow twitches a little but he ignores that altogether as he adds, "We'll row together," Claudius adds, "If the boat still works, that is," now his eyes sparkle and he smiles wider as he turns around to open the door to the outside, where he shows me a pair of boots by the door waiting for me, "Wear these to protect you from the mud," he adds, more a command.
"Yes, sir... you're very prepared," I shrug and whisper my excitement. I'm okay with this.
At least we could get out of this empty mansion. And somehow, I felt more comfortable knowing the truth about him. I could still enjoy him, as long as I kept my distance.
Plus this pond would be a great addition to the vlog I had planned today anyway.
As Claudius stands outside I decide I'm going to take as many pictures of him as possible.
I snap one real quick while he isn't looking, and when I glance at the photo – he's not in it, but a strange discrepancy in the image shows a shadow on the floor where he stands, like two dark spots. Great start.
I walk out onto the porch and grab the pair of boots that seem to fit me just fine. I grab some fruit to bring along with us, and Fontaine carries the basket. I can't believe we're going on a date, I mean, it was kind of sweet seeing him in this gentler light! I keep a healthy distance from Fontaine anyway, as he leads the way into the trees out back.
****
It's the most pleasant stroll, and Fontaine says nothing – neither do I. We just enjoy the dewy nature, as we head on over the hill and follow an overgrown path, all the way down toward a pond with a small dock. An old boat is upside down on the grass, but it looks intact and looked after by Robert.
Claudius flips it over and finds the two oars underneath, protected from the rain.
He throws over a blanket for my seat, then stands back and allows me to step in before he pushes the boat into the water. I take a video of the whole thing, curious how the footage will look later – if it will show him or not. As his own boots sink into the water, Claudius jumps in and proceeds to give the boat some propulsion with the oar. He rows us further out, and we float off into the middle of the pond with the lily pads and croaking frogs surrounding us. A few large willow trees also provide some shade as the sun starts to rise up further.
"I did this a lot when I was human," Claudius casually tells me, while reclining on his side of the boat now, ankles crossed as he stretches his head back to look up at the sky, sighing in contentment.
I'm a little perplexed with his statement.
As we float along, I ask him, "...you were human... once?"
"Yeah. But I wanted to live forever," he speaks to the sky, "...biggest mistake I ever made."
Okay, this was going to get deep.
I settle back into my side of the boat and also recline, with my legs out on the other half, as I say, "But you got what you wanted?"
"Actually it was the complete opposite," Claudius whispers, then finally looks down from the sky, toward me, as he explains slowly, "I do feel you, you know, when you start to die," he pauses and looks away, seriously uncomfortable admitting that so blatantly, and giving direct words to it, "It's the only time I feel normal, Alix. Alive. When I touch a female... and they touch me... then when they die? I feel nothing again. But not before feeling totally alive, for an empty, pointless second, and then it's gone," he snaps his finger, and shakes his head, "I hate being this demon. Yes I live forever but I kill the females I seduce so I'm perpetually alone while feeling nothing... which should make me crave to do it as much as possible, but I don't fall for that bullshit. I crave something else much more than a single second of feeling alive. "
What he just said was a tad cryptic, so I carefully ask, "How did you become a demon, anyway?"
Fontaine now looks at me with a spark in his eye, as he murmurs, "I might just show you in your dreams if you dare wish to see it, so later... if you take a nap, I'll show you, but I'll never say it. I don't like to talk about it. Words won't do it justice. "
I have a lot to think about then. I nod.
I relax deeper into the curve of the boat and the gentle rocking of the water, and Claudius' now quietly starts to list off drawled descriptions of the plants and fish all around. Like a damn lullaby, his voice... it's... really nice...
I probably take a nap a lot sooner than I would have liked to, it's a little embarrassing how quickly I fall asleep after just waking up for the day – but as I drift with the pond, with the sun keeping me warm, I feel a haunted memory is offered toward my lucid mind.
I reach out to the memory with a mental hand. I take it to see it, because I want to know.
"Just give it to me," Claudius is both drunk and higher than ever as he talks to a pretty woman pressed up against the wall, her black hair is piled high, she's wearing a red and black dress and a beautiful corset, whispering back in his ear, words I can't hear, but he is begging with naïve, young energy, "I don't care – just make it happen," he kisses her, whispering over her lips, "...always... and forever... alive."
"...that's not my own path, Claudius," she responds and his name sounds so mature off her lips, the old fashioned-twang is heavy and sexy.
"What is it?" he asks now, curious, only for her to put her fingers on his lips, silencing him before smiling wickedly and kissing him into another trance.
From that point; I see everything. And I feel everything. As if narrating, I hear Claudius speak loudly in my mind – 'This is the last day I'm alive'.
I can see, his mansion is full the next day, so full. He has a large family living with him, so many friends and colleagues come and go from this property, while his family all ask him one by one, why these strangers wish to stay longer than they are due. Claudius ignores the anxious questioning, and instead he is heavily focused on finding his lover, because she is nowhere to be found. He asks for her everywhere, "Where is Aelia?" and none of her supposed friends who came with her can answer him.
So Claudius, carelessly assuming she is close by, spends the rest of the day out walking, breathing the air on his own, because today would be the day – that's just how the memory feels – and he even ends up near the pond, and he spends some hours on the boat – until the sun is beginning to set. Claudius has napped by accident, letting hours soar by too quickly. He was too relaxed.
By the time he's ready to return to the mansion with the sun going down, he smells smoke on the air. He hurries back to the Red Wing Mansion, not to worried at first – until he sees the damage. One of the wings is on fire, it's former structure, mostly wood, and right now it's completely up in flames, while he hears his lover screaming for him from within.
She's not the only one dying, and Claudius recognise it, as everyone he knows is boarded up inside. Aelia's friends are the only ones outside just casually watching his home burn down, not doing a thing to help put out the flames even as he screams at them to start getting water.
Seeing the inaction, Fontaine does the unthinkable, and I feel his confusion and panic as he runs into the burning house – and he's almost entirely covered in flames the moment he's inside, but he's running through it anyway all the way to her screams. He can't feel any pain because the panic is too strong, at least that's what he reasons.
Aelia is close now, banging inside a closet, locked inside. As Fontaine somehow wrenches that padlocked door open, they both know they're doomed to die and fall into eachother's arms as the smoke overwhelms them.
His lover is in indescribable terms, it's hard to say exactly what her state even means. She's got strange markings all over her, an owl is etched into her forehead, and her clothes have been discarded, her hands have been tied behind her, so only her knees and head could be used to bang against the wood.
Claudius, perplexed, still feels no pain. In fact he feels nothing as he dies with her, still holding her in his arms, unable to comprehend right then that her lifeforce is not escaping to heaven – but changing his soul's entire matter, to anchor him to the Earth.
For a split second before she dies, he feels alive.
And then he's dead again.
But still inside.
That switch as everything changes – off on, off on, is indescribably horrific. It's like his soul is sucked out of him, and replaced with something else.
In the end one wing burns down, ash settles, the smoke clears, and Claudius remains kneeling in the rubble, while no one can see him as emergency services come too late to understand what's happened. Overhead, as the moon rises high, an owl swoops down, and digs it's claws into Claudius' wrist, making him bleed. It's at that point he thinks without emotion he better find a pair of leather gloves.
I wake up from my small nap to the sun blinding my eyes, and I sit upright to face Claudius, who is pale as usual, and simply waiting for my reaction now that I've seen what happened to him.
"I don't... I don't understand what I just saw," I admit, "Who the hell were those evil people burning down your mansion?"
"I paid them to be there," Claudius speaks quietly, forcing the words out, "...I... invited them into my home, and like a very, very naïve fool... believed they could make me immortal. They were a cult trying to birth demons – and successfully doing so, by emptying out human vessels to allow the demon to bind to our bodies."
"But why did Aelia die like that? It's like she was sacrificed."
"Because she wanted to die like that," Claudius feels sick even saying it, "They convinced her it was her path. But I had no idea she was involved. She never told me she'd die in the process."
"Why did they kill your family too?" I ask, confused, "Were they sacrificed as well?"
"No. They decided no witnesses could be left... and also to take my property into their own hands," Claudius goes cold, "They didn't expect that one of my family would survive, a cousin, who inherited my mansion, rebuilt it, and went on to have children and now Robert is my only living relative. Since we share ancestral blood, he's my only chance to redeem what happened. He's had no children so I don't have much time left."
"How could you redeem that moment? It's long in the past now..."
"You don't believe me. Rob really is trying to save me," Claudius clearly doesn't want to explain too much of the why or how, "I was serious, Alix... and I really don't want to be alone when I'm alive..."
"...did you love that girl?" I ask now, tentatively. Claudius nods, very slightly, "...can I ask, is she... your owl friend or...?" Claudius nods again, but doesn't want to explain that either, "Right," I say, still confused but... at least it kind of made sense,"...well it seems like... Robert is probably going to achieve what he's set out to do, and I just have to... keep you company because you demand it?" I laugh nervously now.
"Because you agreed and signed a contract," Claudius is a bit snappy – and he ruins the close moment.
"You really were that rich snobby aristocrat when you were alive, like a total douche bag by today's standards," I tease him now, but I kind of mean it too, "You wanted to live forever, that's the height of arrogance."
"I knew you'd say something like that," Fontaine actually smiles and shakes his head, "That's why I like you, Alix, I'll get to use my belt on your ass for that attitude check when I'm alive," I seriously can't tell if he's joking.
"You know I've agreed to clean your mansion for 6 months... but I've never agreed to be your wife," I've wanted to bring this up and I feel like now is a good moment, "So I'll clean the Red Wing and make my money but no one said I'm staying around to find out what happens next... when you come back to the living – if you do. I'll be happy for you. But you can't expect me to be there. Especially if you keep acting like a scary demon my entire stay – no matter how sexy you are... I'm not stupid for dick, Fontaine," I really warn him with that.
It's at this point the magic is broken entirely.
Because I'm being serious, but Claudius looks off into the distance, like he's tuned out.
"Mmhmm, yeah okay," he murmurs to himself, like he couldn't care less what I just said.
"Excuse me?" I snap, to which he doesn't even reply.
I stare at him, as he is watching a bumble bee float on by, then a rabbit at the edge of the pond, still thinking to himself, before he finally looks back at me and tilts his head to the side.
He's staring at my neck.
At my baby blue scarf.
Oh, he–?
"I don't like that tacky scrap of material," he admits, before his eyes casually look up and down my entire outfit, and he adds, "...you'd look better in a dress. Do you have any dresses?" I pick up the oars myself, and I smile sarcastically as I start to row us back to the small dock, "Why does such a question, offend you so, Alix?" he asks, genuinely laughing at the look on my face.
"Because it's none of your business to comment like that," I argue, "Don't comment about my attire like it's your decision."
"My wife, my decision," he adds, innocent almost, fucking oblivious to what I've taught him about the modern century so far.
"Did you not even hear what I said before?" I add, "I'm not you wife!" I yell it as I slam down the oars and stand up and jump out of the boat, while I look down at the still reclined back, very smug looking Fontaine, "Why are you so confident about it anyway?"
Fontaine shrugs, and opens his hands, "I have a lot of money, you'll say yes when you find out how much."
Are. You. Fucking. Serious.
I throw my hands up into the air, "If you refer to me as a whore again – like I can be bought, I swear –"
"You can be," Fontaine interrupts me.
"Stop saying it like you know, Claudius," I roll my eyes.
"Don't loosen your manners with me, it's Sir or Fontaine," now Claudius is the one who seems to crack it – of all things, this is what makes him lose it every time.
I laugh openly and hysterically as I just grin and start to trudge up the hill, back to the mansion.
He's fucking unbelievable!
As I'm stomping my way over logs and avoiding bogs, I get an icy touch to the small of my back and I exhale sharply as I straighten my back.
I look to Claudius, who removes his hand now that he has my attention, and he says, "You never let me finish what I wanted to say on the boat."
"You didn't say much, in fact you ignored me and looked off at the bugs," I snap.
"Patience, do all modern humans rush to do everything in a few seconds? You can wait and breathe and learn to enjoy my company," Claudius warns me with a bit of a demonic growl as he finally admits, "This is what I wanted to say. When we – I return, there is a slight chance that time may... or will... go backwards."
"Oh, thank goodness, you can go back and fix your mistakes and go about your dandy little rich life in your perfect patient time as a Lord, or whatever the fuck you were," I add, "Great news."
Claudius quickens his pace and steps in front of me.
I halt, as he stops me, blocking my path, and holding out his hands and the basket. He then hovers one hand by my shoulder as frustration clearly shows on his face, but he doesn't touch me, he just wants me to look right at him to listen properly.
"Whether I live in this time, or it reverses – you are coming with me," he says it very, very seriously and his eyes pierce through mine to dare me to contradict that final decision.
"And how will you ensure that?" I ask, point blank.
"Because when that happens and I have the charms," Fontaine bites his tongue briefly, as he now too boldly puts his fingers under my chin, and comes down to my eye level, "You and I, Alix – at the end of this journey, that is when we're going to fuck, that is when we'll get what we want."
"I never –"
Guess what, he interrupts me immediately, "Oh, don't even try," Fontaine mocks me, "You want to fuck and still want to – and I promise you, when we fuck, you won't die... hopefully."
I just nod and pull out of his grip. Don't get triggered by his bullshit, don't even let it show.
"It's all about you, isn't it?" I murmur under my breath, keeping myself detached.
"Not really. You need to be in love. So hopefully – when we fuck and you do make a wish..." Claudius pauses briefly before admitting, "...you wish for me to come back. The charms are for you... Alix...they'll keep you anchored down, alive, and the wish – it will be your choice."
I think hard.
And I walk a bit faster.
Why would I wish for him back?
"You've been trying to make me fall in love with you, this whole time?" I ask him when we're at the laundry entrance.
Claudius leans on the wall next to the door and drops the basket, and he genuinely thinks hard about my question, but he looks confused. He shakes his head, "I've never had trouble making a woman fall in love with me," he admits, cheekily, "Why would I have trouble with you? Yes, you need to be head-strong enough to resist me until that fateful night... but just because you can resist me now, doesn't mean you aren't thinking what every woman before you, also thought about me. I appreciate your strength, Alix, so far anyway – but you will succumb eventually, as you will naturally," this arrogant son of a –
I step into the mansion and smile at him, "You better hope I don't wish you get castrated," then I slam the door in his face – which has useless effect on a ghost, but whatever.
Yet, Claudius still leaves me alone to think about everything.
He kept breaking it to me, slowly. What he wanted.
He wanted to come back.
He needed my help.
He was going about it carefully, as a ghost only could – trying to convince a mortal woman to help.
That was about all I had left – my decision at the end. His fate was up to me.
And I could tell that frustrated him.
But... it was a lot of pressure for me. Not to mention I had felt coerced into most of it so far.
What would I decide?
I think I better run a bath, and try very, very hard, not to fantasise about living a real historical romance back in his time, as his wife – which was... kind of... kind of hot, okay, just a little bit. And not to mention it's so, so stupid of me to even start imagining it. To even care – argh.
But I can't help it.
It was an intriguing fantasy – to imagine only – and nothing more.