Married To The Mad Vampire Lord-Chapter 24: Devil’s temptation

The little girl, who looked no more than eight, sat on the chair close to the french window, her small legs tucked beneath her long dress as she watched the pitter-patter of the rain as it fell down and made puddles on the grounds of the Dawson’s mansion. Her hazel eyes were blank and somewhat dazed as she watched the water puddling and the mud splashing as the rain dropped into the mud. She could hear the hit of it against the roof and also see how the droplets of it slid down the glass window she was watching. But that was not what made her sit quietly like that—her forehead was still bandaged, and a few bruises from their accident were still on her body.

"She doesn’t look like our daughter. The townspeople believe she has been possessed or her soul has been replaced with another. You see how she looks and talks—it’s strange, my Lord, she frightens me these days," came Louisiana Dawson, Belle’s mother’s voice from the other room next to the one the young girl was sitting in, listening to them while she watched the rain.

"Calm down, Louisiana. You said you were there with her and saw how the bloodsuckers took her, right?" Duke Griffin Dawson asked his wife, who had told him how they had been attacked, and she woke up to see their first daughter being taken by frightened bloodsuckers into the forest while leaving her with Eve, lying in the overturned carriage.

"Aye, I fell unconscious, and when I woke up, I saw the creatures grab her by the neck. I could have sworn to you that I saw her head being ripped off before they took her away. And all of a sudden, when the people of the next town came to help us, and they tried to search for her body in the forest, we found her in that way I told you about..." Louisiana moaned as if she could not believe what had happened—just like the confused little girl by the window, who was listening to the recounting of the event that had happened to her but yet seemed like a dream or more a nightmare.

She did not understand why everyone kept saying she had been possessed, nor why her parents had refused to hug or touch her since they brought her back home. They had locked her in this room, where she wanted to go outside and play with her sister, but they wouldn’t allow it because they thought she would hurt her.

"What shall we do with her now, my Lord? I don’t think I can ever accept that that thing is our daughter. Our daughter died that day, and this one is not her. Her mere presence terrifies me!" She heard her mother cry out in anguish, and the sound shattered the little heart of the girl in the room, whose fists tightened around her blue dress.

’Mama, I am still me. I am your Isabelle. Mama, please don’t say I am not your daughter. Mama, I wish you would hug me and hold me again.’ The little girl’s hazel eyes brimmed with hot tears as she stared at the locked door, wishing her parents would come in and hold and kiss her like they used to before this.

"This must not spread out, or our family reputation might be shattered. Do you understand, Louisiana? Isabelle must be kept in that room until we are sure she wouldn’t be a threat to anyone in our household. If anyone asks about her, you are to tell them she is sick. For now, we must keep the door locked at all times. God forbid the demon that has possessed her leads her to kill us too—we must be extra careful."

"Yes, my Lord. I do not want her near my daughter ever again. Eve must be kept away from her."

The girl ran to the door and began to pound her tiny fists against the wooden brown door as she cried out, "Please, Mama, you can’t keep me in here. I did not do anything! I am your daughter too! Mama, I promise not to look outside the carriage windows again, and I will not speak a word when we travel. I will be as silent as a mouse. Papa, Mama!" She hit her fists on it until she could no longer, and her hands became sore and red, her eyes swollen and red-rimmed, her heart shattering.

Belle’s fists clenched around the sheet of the bed as she turned her head from side to side, crying in her sleep, her voice trembling out of her subconscious. "I did not do anything. It’s not me. Mama, Papa... don’t leave me. Don’t!"

Her eyes flew open, and she sat bolt upright on the bed, her heart pounding and shattering anew as if she had lived that day again and was back in that closed room, overhearing her parents talk about her like she was no longer theirs.

Closing her eyes, Belle took a deep breath, inhaling through her nose and exhaling through her dry lips. She then opened her eyes and looked around her. For a moment, she did not recognize where she was or how she ended up on the four-poster large bed with fancy drapes around it and a brown high ceiling so shiny that it reflected her on the bed. Then slowly, everything came back to her, and a deep red flush crept up her cheeks.

Embarrassed beyond words, she brought her hands up and covered her face, wishing the ground would open and swallow her whole for what had happened last night. What had he done to her, and how could she even sleep after such an act without berating herself for daring to let her body enjoy the sin? As if back in that moment, she felt her stomach warm up in ways she decided to believe were embarrassment and self-loathing, not longing for it.

If anyone in Aragonia heard of the way her vampire husband had consummated their marriage, she would surely be burned for being a sinner—for enjoying it and moaning when her body had curled around his fingers, flames burning in her until she shattered in a way like a knot had been untied in her body. That devil!

He was a devil who had tempted her into sinning. Surely, the heavens’ gates would not be closed to her since it was not what she had wanted, right? Though her body had betrayed her mind, she knew it was not something normal—had it not? How could his mere fingers make her feel that way? Though she had expected the worst from last night’s experience, she had not felt the traitorous pain everyone had talked about. But then, he had not done it in the way everyone talked about!

She had heard of the devil’s temptation and how it made one enjoy sinning and made it seem like the right thing, but she would not give this devil the chance to bring her to hell with him. He did not have a soul or heart to know right from wrong, but she did, and she intended to fight his temptation with everything she had until she left this land and returned to hers.

And the first thing to do to avoid sinning was to avoid the sinner himself and everything that had to do with him—because she did not even believe, after last night’s shameful act, that she would be able to face him again. Her vampire husband was a man she would avoid at all costs had she not been brought here by marriage. He not only had little to no regard for what she cherished but was also a no-go area for her peace of mind.

Belle pulled the sheets away from her and moved the drapes of the bed to climb down. When the drapes were moved apart, she saw the beauty of her chamber in the light of day. The chamber was bathed in light that washed in from the French balcony door, where the curtains were pulled apart, and the glass let in the light. The window she did not recall closing last night was closed now, and the brown marble, polished to perfection, felt cool beneath her bare feet, making her curl her toes.