AllFreeNovel
Share Us
Walking inside the house, the halls were completely silent. Everything was undistinguishable beyond the glimmer of moonlight from the windows—no movements, no voices. Our shadows danced along the walls of what felt like a mausoleum. I swore I could hear haunting pleas tear through the silence. Pleas begging for someone, anyone to free them.
Walking to the massive doors, Conrad opened them. But just as the light seeped through, I stumbled back and began to shriek.
Ian and Daphne Ivory were laying on the floor, side-by-side, with their throats slit, and in the middle sat a table with two wineglasses full of red liquid. The pool of blood around his parents grew by the minute. Their arms were tied together above their heads.
“Conrad!” I slapped my hands across my mouth, while my heart pounded rapidly against my chest.
He didn’t move, he didn’t react. Reaching back, he grabbed my arm and steadied me.
“Come, my love. They sacrificed for us.” Lifting the wineglasses, he handed me one.
My hands shook as my eyes darted between them both. “They… killed themselves?”
“Yes.”
“How are you not?—”
“This was always the plan, my love, and one day, you and I will go into the eternal heavens together for our son and his bride, too.”
“To be pure even after I take your purity away tonight, we must drink this to protect our morals and souls.” Clinking his glass against mine, he lifted it to his lips and began to drink. “Drink it, Demi. Now.” His voice shifted, and fear rose inside me as my body felt paralyzed. “Demi!” he yelled as he licked the liquid from his lips.
Placing my mouth on the rim, I slowly sipped. The thick taste of iron burned my mouth and I immediately choked and coughed.
“Drink it, or lay dead with them!” He slapped my glass upward.
Crying into my glass, I knew he wasn’t kidding. This man had zero remorse that his beloved parents were dead in front of him.
And I knew he wouldn’t think twice to end my life. Drinking the rest of the liquid, I gagged and prayed it’d go down. When the glass was empty, I looked at Conrad, who raised his arms up in the air.
“I feel you, Mother and Father; now, your blood is coursing through my bride’s body, too.”
My stomach flipped and I immediately bent over and vomited. It was their blood. He made me drink his parent’s blood, and worst of all, he drank his parents’ blood, too.
CHAPTER
FORTY-SEVEN
Somehow, I managed to stop vomiting as my new husband calmly watched me.
He wrapped his arm around me, guiding me out of the room where his dead parents laid and where we had just sipped their blood instead of champagne on our wedding day.
I felt like I was walking through darkened tunnels until we reached a side of the house I had never seen. “This is our new bedroom, my love.” We walked in and the heavy scent of peonies wrapped around me. It was sickening.
“Was this your parents’ room?” I cringed as I walked inside, my wedding dress now stained with patches of vomit and blood.
“Yes, but it’s ours now. We control everything. We are in charge of continuing their legacy.” He began undressing and paused to turn on the T.V. Backing away, something that resembled a home video began. Squinting, I walked closer to the screen.
It was a significantly younger Ian and Daphne…
Daphne was wearing… I looked down at the dress clinging to me. It was their wedding night. Ian began undressing as Daphne peeled the dress off and walked to the bed. Flicking my eyes behind me, it was the exact same room and bed.
“What is this?” I asked Conrad, who was now under the blankets.
“Tradition,” he replied. “It’s a sense of good luck. Mother conceived me on their wedding night, so they must have done something right.” He patted the spot next to him as I walked backward with my widened eyes on the screen.
He couldn’t be serious. He was going to make us watch his parents consummate their marriage while… I couldn’t handle any of this. Death had to be better. Brushing my fingers against the locket Bradley had gifted me, I contemplated opening it and swallowing the pill. I could put an end to the misery. But closing my eyes, I could see his hopeful smile. I could see the courage he had for us; I could feel the love we shared as he slid the sneakers on my feet and planned our escape. I was so close to finally being able to live for the first time in my entire life. I had to fight just a little longer.
If the plan with Bradley failed, I’d take the pill. I wouldn’t live this way anymore. I couldn’t help the caged girls; I couldn’t make a difference on my own.
