20.
"No, no, Lady Anne. You won't be needing that now will you?" Maurice chuckled as he snatched the stake from her waist band faster than her human eyes could register. "You would have been better off having them change you before we left. But now, your supple, and tasty human body will be Francis' for the taking or eating in this case."
"Fat chance in that happening." Anne sneered as she kept her gaze stone cold and staring out the windshield.
"Well evidently you never met a 500 plus year old love lorn man."
"If he's so damn love lorn then why does he want to kill me so much?" Anne asked as she straighten the skirt in her lap.
"Well you see not only is Francis in love with the thought of Catherine but he's pissed at her for never keeping her promise to always love him and wait until he returned to make a home for them." Maurice looked over flashing her an evil smile. "So as you can very well see he's a very conflicted vampire that wants nothing more than to stop the burning anger in his cold dead heart."
"Well he can trip and fall on a fucking stake for all I care."
Anne quickly turned her gaze toward the tree line watching them zoom past, hoping desperately that Thomas was some where out there following her like she asked. After nearly twenty minutes the car began to slow down pulling off on a old country road that was far off the normal roads. No where better to kill someone then out in the wood where no one could hear you scream. No need to worry about the neighbors hearing your dying cries.
"Here we are." Maurice stopped the vehicle in front of a small shack. Anne's eyes grew wide as she looked around hoping Thomas would suddenly stalk out the woods and save the day, but so far he hadn't made his presence known. "And don't think your precious friends are going to suddenly show up and save the day, it won't happen."
"But we were supposed to be at their house."
"Of course we were SUPPOSED to be, but what good would that do me if I brought Bobbie and Thomas along to spoil my plan?" In the next blink of an eye he zoomed out of the drivers seat and around the car, flinging the door open. Maurice latched his cold hand around her wrist pulling her out of the seat in a hurry.
"Don't rip my arm off!" Anne yelped as he squeezed forcefully making her bones ache.
"Come on we mustn't be late, you have a very very important date." He snickered at his own joke as they neared the front door of the house. Before they could get up to the door and knock it flew open revealing Francis, his eyes were cold as steel and lifeless. His gaze alone caused her to flinch.
"Well my dearest Lady Anne, you look fetching. I couldn't pick a more lovely gown myself." He held out his pale palm wanting her to take his hand. Holding her ground, she kept her hand balled and arms rigid at her side. "ANNE." He said forcefully his eyes now beginning for flare an unnatural red.
"What?"
"When a man offers a lady his hand she is inclined to take it, regardless her feelings toward the man. It's only proper etiquette." Francis stood in front of her his palm still extended towards her, his face pulled in a stone cold grimace. "Now, take my hand!" He growled. Slowly she extended her hand placing her hand carefully in his grasp. As soon as he could coil his deadly fingers around her hand he ripped her towards him pulling her into a rough embrace, nearly knocking the breath out of her.
"Where's Natalie?" She questioned once she regained her breath.
"Oh my dear sweet decoy. She is in fact waiting at mine and Thomas' house. So when he tries to swoop in and save the day, you won't be there. You can't think I would really fall for that crap? I have been with Thomas at my side for hundreds of years, I know how that supple man's mind works. He allows himself to be too blinded by love, and well it once again gets the better of him."
"Francis doesn't love me, if he loved me he would of changed me when I asked him. So don't fool yourself if you believe you really know him so well." She stated matter of factually, she swirled away from him looking out the only window she could find. Silently she prayed she'd see Thomas' face hidden among the thicket of trees and brush but her prayers weren't answered.
"Still hoping he'll swoop in and whisk you away. If you are right about his feeling and you actually believed that, then you wouldn't be hoping he'd be here to save you. Trust me, Thomas won't find you and if he does, well you'll be dead before he could get near you." With that Francis walked over to her, once again taking a hold of her arm pulling her down a dark hallway and into a bed room were there was a bed. On each of the posts around the bed were shackles and chains, instinctively she attempted to back away knowing what was going to come next.
"Get up there and be a good girl, or you'll force me to hurt you." Francis said in a calm even voice. Anne turned to look at him, she hoped her frightened gaze would soften his lifeless heart, but once again her hopes were dashed away as he pushed her on the bed. He zipped around the bed quickly pulling each of her limbs so he could fasten her to the bed. Once he was finished, she was sprawled across the bed each arm pulled to a corner as were her ankles. The chains left very little room to move, only causing her to silently cry for the predicament she had got herself into. She always knew she'd probably not make it out of this situation with a heart beat.
"Now be a good girl. No need to cry, there aren't any other people in a five mile radius to hear your futile screams and pleas for help." With that he exited the room to deal with Maurice, who was still patiently waiting for his just dessert.
As she laid on the bed her legs held open she hoped death came quickly and he wouldn't want to play with his food before killing her, but who was she fooling. Francis was crazy, Anne unfortunately drew a shitty genetic hand and happened to look like his lost love and a dead English Queen. Now because of her face she once praised, she was laying there cursing herself and her mother for ever being born or giving birth to her. Once her pity party got boring she moved on to cursing Thomas for not keeping his promise and Bobbie for not listening to her thoughts. You figure after living for hundreds of years they would better know how to read a person's true meanings in their actions.
Somewhere in the next hour, Anne heard the front door shut and moments later Francis strolled in wearing shorts and a tank top. "Well my dearest Annie."
"ANNE, my name is ANNE!"
"I'll call you whatever I choose, love. And if you were hoping I was going to make this fast for you? Don't count on it. I want to make love to my Catherine once more before I end her myself. What Thomas doesn't know was I was going to end her if we were able to rescue her. I was going to ensure he lived the rest of his existence knowing I was the one that killed her and stole her from him like he stole her from me."
"So this whole thing is a fight between you and Thomas on who could win me? Well neither of you win, Thomas doesn't want me, so what are you proving?" Anne asked she watched him slinking around at the foot of the bed. His eyes trailed over her body slowly taking in every curve and contour of her body, even taking his time over the ample cleavage her corset had produced. Francis crossed to the side of the bed, slowly trailing his fingers up her foot to the hem of her skirt, gently caressing the silky fabric. His every move seemed to be going in slow motion as his fingers inched their way up her body tenderly hugging her curves or following the embroidering on the bodice. Finally Francis' hands had found their intended destination as he trailed over her exposed cleavages. Trailing over her breast and down between the valley of them, Anne could hear him sigh in content as he groped at her.
"Oh how I have missed my Catherine."
"Keep on missing her, you freak. She died five hundred years ago, and she'll never come back. You're just a perv that likes to mess with her ancestors" Anne spat as she felt his grip on her breast tighten instantly bruising the sensitive skin.
"You better watch yourself girl. You should know better than to speak to your elders that way."
"You're no elder of mine. You would have to actually grow old to be an elder. You're some life sucking monster that is permanently stuck in time."
"Merely a minor detail, love." Francis gave her a diabolical grin as he leaned over and brought his lips to the tops of her breast. Though Anne knew resisting was pointless she tossed and turned trying to get away from his grasp only causing the shackles to cut into her wrist. Suddenly Francis stood up his eyes staring at her wrists, Anne looked up to see a small line of blood trickling from the shackles. Oh no, what have I done? She thought as she turned to watch Francis' move, he grinned as he inched closer to her wrists, bending over his tongue darted out to lap up the small trail around the shackles. "You taste lovely. I wonder why Thomas denied himself the opportunity to taste you before his changed you. To let that wonderful blood go to waste would be a damn shame."
"Too bad for him, I guess." Anne said as she turned her head away from him, refusing to meet his gaze. Suddenly her will to live had escaped her and she only wanted to meet the peaceful darkness of death.
"Yes, it is quite a pity for him." Francis crawled on the side of the bed slowly positioning himself over Anne. His hands snaked around her back, and in a small jerk the tight restraints of her corset and bodice were instantly gone. He had ripped his way through the lacing leaving them just laying over her breast unable to come off since her wrists were held above her shoulders. "Just because he didn't want to enjoy the bounty of your beauty, doesn't mean I don't."
"Enjoy? You sure have a fucked up way of showing that!" She snapped as she turned her head away unable to watch as he hovered over her breasts as he slowly peeled the bodice and corset away from her now naked torso. She could feel his deathly cold finger trail over each breast stopping for a moment or two to fondle her only causing her to heave with disgust.
"Look at me!" Francis demanded, "I want to watch you ever emotion as I do this. Though I'm sure my dear Catherine would of loved this unlike you ill look."
"Ill? How could I not be ill. A five hundred year old man that can't get over some stupid teenager has me strapped to a bed fondling me against my will, and is threatening to rape me and eventually kill me! And to add insult to injury, I don't even know you and you're just doing this because who I resemble. I'm NOT CATHERINE!" Anne desperately hoped this would stall the inevitable, hoping to buy herself a few more precious seconds to figure something out or someone to swoop in and save the day. "You would of known that if you took the time to know me. The only thing me and Catherine share is our looks and the last name. Other than that, I am not that spoiled, selfish child bride!"
"Child bride, that she was, but she was MY CHILD BRIDE! I married her first, before that man slut Henry."
"Go cry to someone who cares Francis. That was five hundred years ago, one would of thought you would of gotten over something as stupid as that. You made it out of that situation with your head and all you can do is relish on the past. What an existence, permanently stuck in the past, never moving forward. No wonder you hate humans and the world so much. You have yet to experience it."
"Don't get it wrong child, I have done my fair share in experiencing the wonders of the world, things that only you could imagine or read in history books. But as soon as I laid eyes on you," Gingerly he cupped her cheek caressing her like you would to a dear lover, "those old feels resurfaced. And once I knew you had Thomas' eye, I had to finally set out for what I had originally planned on doing. So regardless if I know the real you, I don't care. This is a five hundred year old revenge plan that I fully intend on seeing through. Even if I have to take out a pretty girl like you!" With that he leaned over and began plant soft kisses over her flesh only making Anne choke back the bile that rose in throat. It burned more and more with each cold touch of his lips. Tears freely fell from her eyes as there was no way out of this. She wasn't going to enjoy her last seconds alive, they were going to be complete and utter torment. Her only saving grace was that she hoped the other side was much nicer than this life, making up for the shitty way to die.