WARNING!!!: This is just the first draft of the story! __________________________________________________________________________
April 10, 1993
The snow softly fell down upon the streets of South Portland, Maine. Everything stood peacefully still. The birds where gone, long away from America to the warmer south. The other animals already fast asleep. A woman trudged through the thick snow with her baby cradled in her arms. The icy wind nipped at her nose and fingers; it sunk deep in her boots and clothing chilling her toes and bone. She shivered, silently wishing her husband would come and wrap his arms around her. But she knew it was wishful thinking, he was liked the birds--long gone. With a new sense of loneliness washing over her she continued down the dark abandoned street.
"I see you." A soft and velvety voice whispered. The woman looked up and held her breathe.
"I know who you are." It continued to chant out loud.
"You're his!" It laughed hoarsely, as though twenty-thousand people were mocking her.
She quickened her pace as the voice was joined with others harshly haunting her. She quickly looked behind her; the street was as soundless as I was before. The only sound came from the hum of the street lamp.
"You're his! His bitch!" They laughed continuously.
The woman turned back around, from the back street, and her heart leaped out her throat.
A figure stood before her. He seemed to glow underneath the street light. The woman squinted her eyes, but the bright street light made it hard to see his face. He shoved his hand in his black trench coat and stood there. The frightened woman stared at him, not sure if he would hurt her if she moved. He looked up at her devilishly through his thick eyelashes. The woman took in a shaky breathe and gripped her sleeping baby closer to her chest. The man stepped forward, and she swiveled around and sprinted into a run. But before she could make it an inch away, the man stood before her again. She looked behind her where his figure had originally stood lifelessly. How did he move that quickly? She closed her eyes and knew right away this man was targeting her.
"I SEE YOU! YOU'RE HIS!" The voices' hoarse chants soon turned into blistering screams. "WE SEE YOU! YOU CAN'T HIDE!" They mocked more. "You're his!"
The dark man extended his long legs and walked over to the woman in her early twenties. Her grey eyes took in his dark black eyes, floppy jet black hair and fine detailed feature. He was handsome--almost too-good-to-be-real handsome. The snow instantly melted underneath his feet. The snow vanished above his head; it was like an invisible force field was centered only on him. He flicked off her hood with a signal movement and sent alarm through her body and eyes. The man slowly ran his long fingers along a curl of her dark hair, a massive surge of heat scorched into her scalp. She winced and he frowned.
"It's not good to be alone, when it's so dark." The velvety voice in her head said, but his lips moved sync with it.
His hand dropped to her head tugging her hair forward a bit, "How could he leave you all alone?"
He titled his head and gazed down at the terrified woman.
"Does he not love you?" He whispered. "If you were mine, I would never leave unguarded." The man paused and a sinister smile crept onto his face. "Then again there are huge differences between us."
"What do you want from me?" She finally spoke up in a quaking voice. She wanted to show strength, but with her knees like lose branches in tornado, she could not hold all of her strength together.
A smile crept up on the man's handsome, but malevolent face.
"A life." He lowered his face.
"Take mine, then." The woman immediately spoke and pulled a hand over her baby.
"I don't want yours. You are no use to me. He will not care if you're dead." He quickly shooed away her offer and dropped his gaze down to her hands.
He stated, "Jeremiah has left you with a child."
"How do you know him?" She snapped defensively and pulled her baby closer to her. Any man that knew her husband by name was never someone anyone would be safe with.
"We go way back. A long way." The shadowman in front of her answered smugly.
The woman glanced over her shoulder, towards the street lamp light street behind her, and turned back towards the man. Leaning forward slowly she asked, "Are you one of them?"
"No, the very opposite. I would have to die before I could ever be one of them." He spat in hatred.
The woman quickly stepped back, she didn't want to deal with someone like him.
"Give me your daughter or Jeremiah goes down with me." He ordered, suddenly his beating-around-the-bush mood gone. He reached over and grabbed her shoulder.
"Never!" The woman yelled and fought to get out of his hot grip.
"There's no use in yelling. No one can hear you. Choose her life,"--He glanced down at her baby--"or his?"
The woman suddenly stopped struggling and looked up to the man with doe eyes. "Not my baby." She pleaded.
"Then Jeremiah's. I hope the Highest is forgiving enough to at least spear your life, after they kill your precious one." A satisfied sinister smiled spread across his dangerous face.
"No!" The woman yelled. "Wait."
She knew Jeremiah couldn't afford to go down. He needed his place there. She sighed; she could never forgive herself for this sin. The man stopped from walking and perked his ear to her, waiting.
She sucked in a breath and said, "What do you want with her?" The man smirked obviously pleased that she rethink her decision and turned fully to her.
"On her 18th birthday, I will claim her as mine."
"You want me to sell my baby?"
"Not sell. Give...for a sacrifice. After all that's what holiness is all about, right?"
The woman looked down at her peacefully sleeping baby. She didn't know one thing that was going on, she could imagine her dreaming about sheep and lollipops; wondering what the world will give her the next day. She would never forgive her for this. A tear threatened in to spill out but the cold wind froze it. Her babies' small hand flicked, just as her eyelids fluttered. A happy smiled crept on her face.
"Fine. I'll give her to you, but you must promise not to kill Jeremiah or her."
"Oh, you have my word." His voice grew deeper. "She will be in the best care. I promise. No one would dear harm her beautiful face or one single auburn lock of hair on her head." He swore and placed his hand above his chest.
"April 10, Eighteen years from now, I can't wait to see her." Her turned away from the woman and began to walk away, but stopped.
"And Big Daddy always gets his prize. In the Godly fashion or the other way. I show no mercy towards pain or death." He laughed darkly and glared at her through his now red eyes.
"Don't try to hide, no one hides from me. Good-bye, Celeste." He wiggled his finger and stuck out his snake shaped tongue.
"See you in 18 years." His voice sounded like multiple people talking. He hissed at her, his eyes glowed red and his body slowly morphed into a green and black Cobra. It snapped at the woman's' feet then slithered away.