Mated By The Demon Collections: Paranormal Romance Page 31

  Annie now felt distinctly uncomfortable. It was quite obvious that Casey did not like her, not at all, and resented the fact that Jude had invited her to stay here. She couldn't take this any more. Her face reddened and she stood up quickly.

  “I should go,” she said. “I'll walk back to the village and stay with Murdo and his family. I'm very sorry, Miss McTavish, for intruding like this.”

  “No!”

  Jude spoke loudly and firmly, but his agitation was directed at Casey, not Annie.

  “Casey, may I remind you whose money paid for this castle? Certainly not yours. In fact, I'm doing you a favor by allowing you to stay here, aren't I? You squandered your portion of our father's wealth on gambling and shopping, whereas I took my portion of the inheritance, developed a trading company, and made my own fortune. By all rights I could kick you out and then where would you be? Now let me remind you again – this is my castle, which I paid for, and I'm doing you a favor, out of the love I bear for our late father, by allowing you to stay here. Annie is my guest, and I'd like you to treat her with a bit more respect in future. Understand?”

  Casey stared in icy silence at Jude for a while, and then she called the servant over to her.

  “Take my dinner up to my room,” she said. “I've lost my appetite for the time being.”

  She stood up, her face a mask of cold rage, and shot a withering glance at Jude.

  “Excuse me, brother,” she said snarkily. “I'll leave you alone with your precious guest.”

  With that she stood up and stormed off in a huff.

  Annie sat back down, feeling very uncomfortable about the whole situation. Jude stood up and walked over to her, and he had a soft and sympathetic expression on his face.

  “I'm terribly sorry about that,” he said. “Sometimes she just gets this terrible attitude. It's from her mother, I think – my stepmother. My real mother died when I was very young, and my father remarried soon afterward. My stepmother was a cold and cruel woman... I'm not sure what my father saw in her, but I suppose he was so lonely and heartbroken after my mother's death that he just needed the companionship. Anyway, they had a child together soon after they married: Casey. She wasn't always this way though. She and I used to get on quite well as children. But when she hit her teens, she just changed. And especially when her mother died... Well, then she really became a different person entirely. And it's been even worse since our father died three years ago. Still, she is my blood, and I must take care of her, regardless of her attitude. Please don't let her get to you though; I'm sure she'll warm up to you soon enough. Lord knows she could use a friend, a calming influence.”

  Annie wasn't sure if she wanted to be this woman's friend. Still, she couldn't exactly say that.

  “You're right,” she said. “I'm sure she'll warm up to me.”

  “She will.”

  Jude wandered back to his seat and started eating.

  “Go on, tuck in,” he said. “The cook will bring us another course as soon as we're done with the soup.”

  They ate the rest of the meal in silence, but then when they were done, Jude looked up with a smile.

  “Would you care for some red wine, Annie?” he asked.

  “I'd love some, thanks,” she replied.

  The servant brought out two goblets of wine for them, and Jude suggested that they move over to the fireplace, where there was a big bearskin rug stretched out in front of a roaring fire. Annie pulled up a chair near the crackling flames and warmed her hands against the chill of the autumn night.

  “Tell me, if you don't mind me asking,” said Jude, “why such a beautiful woman as yourself is not yet married?”

  Annie, after a few sips of wine, felt more emboldened to talk about her past now, and as she had begun to feel quite comfortable in Jude's company, she told him the story of Andrew – their short marriage, the battle, and his subsequent untimely death.

  Jude nodded sadly as he listened to Annie recounting these events.

  “A tragic tale,” he commented at the end of her story. “And not too dissimilar from my own experience.”

  “You also lost someone you loved?”

  He nodded, and a deep sorrow darkened his features.

  “I was engaged, two years ago. She was the daughter of a Scottish knight. He took her and the rest of his family down to visit relatives in the south of England last year. And you know what happened in the south of England last year.”

  Annie nodded grimly.

  “The Black Plague.”

  “They all caught it. The whole family was dead in a week, along with almost everyone else who was in the town with them.”

  “I'm so sorry to hear that,” commented Annie, and her voice was colored with genuine pathos and sympathy. “I was working on a cure for the plague when my house burned down. But the details of the ingredients seemed suspicious. I think the old man who drew it up has finally lost his marbles. Mixing up that concoction was what caused my house to be burned down, unfortunately.”

  Jude shook his head sadly.

  “Ah, well I'm very sorry to hear that. Working on something to fight the scourge of the Black Plague is truly a noble cause. I'm sorry that you lost everything you owned in the pursuit of that goal.”

  They both sat in silence, finishing their wine and watching the fire as it started to die down. After a few long, drawn-out minutes, Jude stood up.

  “Come with me,” he said. “I want to show you something. Would you like another glass of wine?”

  “Sure,” she replied.

  Jude called the elderly servant over, and the man hurried back to the kitchen to refill their goblets of wine. After he had brought them fresh wine, Jude lead Annie out of the dining hall and up a flight of stairs that wound upwards in a seemingly endless spiral. Eventually they got to the top, and Jude opened the door. He walked out, and Annie followed him, and found that they were on top of the castle's highest turret. Above them was a massive night sky, bejeweled with thousands of stars. Below them the rolling landscape was dark and quiet, and only a few lights burned here and there in the distance where the villages were.

  “It's quite something, isn't it,” he said, his breath misting up in the cold air.

  “It's beautiful,” replied Annie softly. “It really is.”

  She shivered against the cold, wrapping her cloak a little tighter around her. Jude noticed this, and he walked up to her.

  “Is it alright if I put my arm around you?” he asked.

  “Please do,” she replied, her eyes glimmering with delight. “I'm cold, I could use the warmth.”

  He draped a muscular arm over her shoulders and pulled her body next to his. She slipped an arm around his waist and pulled him in closer. She could feel how solid and hard his muscles were through his leather jacket.

  “We can go inside if you're too cold out here,” he said.

  “No, no, let's stay out here,” she replied. “It's way too gorgeous a night to sit inside.”

  “I'm glad you think that way,” he said. “I love the outdoors, and I love being outside in this glorious, crisp air under all these stars.”

  “I like it too,” she replied. “I used to sit outside my little cottage every night, just looking at all of the stars up there. But there were lots of trees around me that blocked my view; I've never seen as broad and expansive a sky as this before. It's really spectacular from up here.”

  “It really is,” he said softly. “But no star up there, nor even the bright, glowing moon herself, can dazzle my soul like your eyes do, Annie.”

  She turned to face him, and he looked down at her. Their eyes met, and unseen fire danced between them. Annie felt her heart rate quickening, and she started to breathe faster. She hadn't felt like this with a man since Andrew all those years ago. Now Jude wrapped both of his powerful arms around her, still staring deeply into her eyes. In turn she put both of her slender arms around his waist, and drew him in so that their bodies were pressing up against each other. A
nnie wondered if he could feel her swollen, hard nipples pressing against his broad, solid chest. He bent his neck, and she bent hers as they came in for a kiss. Their lips met and parted, and their tongues danced delicious, passionate tangos in one another's mouths. To Annie it felt as if the stars themselves were exploding in the sky around her like fireworks, so intense were the waves of passion boosting through her body. After what seemed like an eternity of embracing, fondling and kissing they parted, both gasping for air, and both with aching jaws.

  “That,” she said, “was amazing.”

  Jude nodded, grinning.

  “Absolutely incredible,” he replied. “But it's really getting freezing out here. Come, let's go inside and get you some new clothes.”

  She held his hand, entwining her fingers in his.

  “That sounds like a wonderful idea,” she said, and together they went back into the castle, leaving the expanse of stars to glitter quietly in the night sky.

  CHAPTER 4

  The next day, Annie awoke after a long and relaxing sleep. Despite having lost almost everything to the fire, she felt wonderful when she awoke. She really had been given a second chance, she thought – a brand new lease on life. She didn't intend to stay here forever of course – well, unless Jude wanted her to, of course, but that was something to be thought about in the future – all they had done was kiss thus far, and it was far too early in their relationship to be thinking of marriage or other such things.

  After she had gotten up and dressed herself in some of the new clothes Jude had given her, she heard a knock on the door.

  “Come in,” she said.

  The old servant opened the door.

  “Are you ready to head down to the village, Miss Collins?” he asked. “Sir McTavish is waiting in the carriage in the courtyard to take you there.”

  “I'll be down in a minute,” replied Annie.

  “I'll let him know.”

  A few minutes later Annie strode out into the courtyard, where Jude was waiting in an ornate horse-drawn carriage for her. Unfortunately, Casey was also waiting in the carriage, wearing just as sour an expression as she had the previous night. She rolled her eyes melodramatically when she saw Annie approaching. Annie merely shook her head and ignored the aggressive gesture. She beamed a great, warm smile at Jude though, which he returned.

  “Come on Annie,” he said, “let's go. I'm sure you have a long list of things that you need to get, right?”

  “I do,” she replied. “Hopefully they're all available in the village.”

  “I'm sure at least some of them will be.”

  “So what is it that you do?” asked Casey. Her tone was friendly, but her face remained cold.

  “I'm a healer,” replied Annie cautiously.

  Casey raised a suspicious eyebrow,.

  “Oh really? Eye of newt and toe of frog, that kind of thing?”

  “Of course not,” replied Annie, somewhat indignantly. “I make medicines from herbs and chemicals. I don't dabble in that magic nonsense.”

  “So you're not a witch then?”

  “A witch?!”

  Annie felt genuinely insulted. She could see that Casey was trying to get under her skin, so she let the insult slide and adopted as calm a tone as she could manage under the circumstances.

  “I'm not a witch,” she said. “Just a healer. There's a big difference.”

  “That's enough of your nonsense now, Casey,” interjected Jude sternly. “Please, can we just be civil for the duration of this trip?”

  “Anything you say, dear brother,” she replied, looking away and smirking.

  Jude shook his head but kept his calm.

  “Driver,” he said to the servant sitting in the driver's seat of the carriage, “into Edmond Village, please.”

  “Yes sir,” replied the man, a short, stocky man with a shock of bright red hair.

  He tugged on the reins, and the carriage began rolling.

  They reached the outskirts of the village a while later, but it was immediately apparent that something out of the ordinary was going on. The streets on the outskirts were deserted, which was very strange for the middle of the day, and a great plume of smoke was billowing up into the sky from the center of the village, where a buzzing crowd could be heard. The air seemed to be electric with tension.

  “Driver,” said Jude to the servant at the front, “turn the carriage around and stay here. We may need to leave quickly. My sixth sense is telling me that something very suspicious is going on. The ladies and I will proceed on foot from here.”

  “Aye sir,” replied the driver, and with some skillful maneuvering and control of the horses, he turned the carriage around so that it was facing up the road, ready to head quickly back to the castle if necessary,

  “Be careful now,” said Jude to Annie and Casey, “and stay behind me. I don't like the look of this.”

  He wore a broadsword on his hip, as was his right as a nobleman, and he loosened it in its scabbard in case he needed to draw it quickly.

  They walked through the deserted streets of the town, getting closer and closer to the source of the noise and the billowing smoke. Eventually they rounded a corner and found themselves on the edge of the main village square. There, in the middle, was gathered a big crowd. A huge bonfire was burning at the center, and a big stake was in the middle of the bonfire. Next to the conflagration an executioner in a black hood stood, and he held an old woman, chained up and dressed in sackcloth next to him. She looked confused and terrified; her eyes and hair were wild, and she was muttering under her breath.

  Annie grabbed Jude's arm.

  “What's going on here?!” she asked, feeling a rising sense of fear and alarm growing within her.

  “I don't know, but I don't like it one bit.”

  In front of the huge bonfire a temporary stage had been set up, and a fat, dirty friar covered in boils, warts and pimples climbed up onto it. His face was round and heavily-scarred with pockmarks, and his dark eyes were small and pig-like. Jude walked over to a middle-aged man at the edge of the crowd and tapped him on his shoulder.

  “Excuse me, but what's going on here? Who's that old woman, and what's this friar doing?”

  “Oh, that's Friar Beeton. He just came into town yesterday, but he's already solving our problems!”

  “Problems?”

  “Well, a lot of our crops withered and died this harvest, and many families had to borrow a lot of money and go into debt to avoid starvation. The traveling friar there, well, he figured out what caused the crops to wither.”

  “Really?” asked Jude, raising a skeptical eyebrow. “And what does this friar have to say about the subject of failing crops? Forgive me for being doubtful, but I wonder if he knows much about the intricacies of agriculture.”

  “It's because of witchcraft!” replied the man. “And there's the witch, the friar sniffed her out himself! She talks to herself all the time. The friar says that means she's actually talking to the Devil. She even kept a black cat in her house!”

  Jude shook his head and rolled his eyes.

  “Plenty of old people talk to themselves. God, don't you have grandparents yourself?! And a black cat? There's a black cat at my castle too, but all he does is control the rat population! What are they going to do with that poor old woman?!”

  An evil glint appeared in the man's eyes.

  “Burn her, of course.”

  “What?! This is insane!”

  Another two men turned around and glared at Jude.

  “Hey! What's your problem, rich man?! We've found a witch, and now we're burning her. Anyone who objects... Well I reckon they're in league with the Devil too. What do you say, Bob?”

  The other man folded his arms aggressively across his chest.

  “Oh yes,” he said. “I'd say that's the truth. Anyone who takes this witch's side is surely taking the side of the Devil. We'd have to burn them too. We don't want any of Lucifer's servants in this village, no!”

 
Five more men turned around, and all of them were staring angrily at Jude.

  “Well, rich man,” one of them grunted. “Tell us now, are you on the side of God, or the Devil?”

  Seven or eight more men turned around and started advancing on Jude with slow menace.

  “Aye,” one of them said. “Come on, pretty boy, tell us... Whose side are you on? Good or Evil? Would you like to join that old crone up there on the bonfire? We can make that happen... Very easily.”

  Jude swallowed slowly and backed away.

  “Come on ladies,” he whispered under his breath. “Time to get out of here, quickly now.”

  “No,” he said loudly to the men. “Of course I'm on the side of Good. We'll, um, we'll be going now.”

  Up at the front, on the stage, the friar began to shout and rant.

  “Behold, good people! This is how we deal with servants of Satan! Throw her into the fire, good executioner! Throw her into the fire!”

  Jude and Annie turned around and hurried away as the old woman was thrown into the flames.

  “Cover your ears!” said Jude as the poor old woman's screams of agony began to rise above the roar of the bloodthirsty crowd. “Cover your ears!”

  Annie did so; she couldn’t bear to hear the woman's cries of agony, and she and Jude hurried away, feeling horrible and helpless in the face of this terrible injustice.

  Casey, however, lingered for a while, taking in the woman's cries with a sly smile. She looked at the friar, with his blood-crazed smile and his mad shouting, and then she looked at Annie. A witch-hunter, was this friar? She was suddenly starting to get a very, very wicked idea into her head. She grinned maliciously to herself, and then hurried off to catch up to Annie and Jude.

  CHAPTER 5

  Annie was still shaking with fright and trauma when they reached the safety of the castle a while later. Jude wrapped his arms around her and hugged her tight, whispering in her ear that it was going to be alright. Annie had never been a victim of violence, thankfully, but she had certainly treated plenty of victims of violence in her time as a healer, and seeing the terrible things that people were able to do to each other never failed to shake her up.