Leading Maddy down the corridor, he eventually took her into the music room and laid her down on the large leather couch. Quickly retrieving pillows from another room, he brought them to her, placing them around her so that the position she was forced to lay in was as comfortable as it could be. Brushing his hand along her cheek, he wiped away tears still flowing freely from her eyes. When she’d finally calmed, her eyelids drooped as if trying to stay awake. Eventually closing, Aaron looked over her face as she gave into the exhaustion from her agony, pleased that her body knew when to block her mind from a pain so excruciating, no person should ever have to experience it.
Only when her breath deepened and evened out did he leave her side. Slowly he moved over to the piano, looked over the music opened above the keyboard. His mother had written this piece for him when he was born, had been so proud of her accomplishment that she’d had it sent away to be transcribed and printed under a fake name. Before she disappeared, she’d made sure to teach him this song, to ensure that even if they were parted, Aaron would have a piece of her she’d saved for him alone.
Running his fingers lightly across the keys, he thought of how long it had been since he played. Over the years, he’d slipped so far into the shady dealings of The Estate, into his position as the executioner, that he recognized his father had been able to corrupt him, had been able to turn a spirit that at one time had been pure, to one that was infected with the poison of death and decay. He’d begun killing at the age of fourteen. Barely a man, he’d been taught the basic use of a gun, of a blade, but it had been the poison that’d grown within him, the one that eventually would fill him during each waking moment, that had driven him to prefer the use of the blade to a gun, to enjoy the bloodbath and carnage of the kill.
Pressing lightly down on one key, the sound reverberated throughout the room. With his right hand, he slowly played the notes as he remembered them, softly at first, the song that reminded him of another pure soul in his life. Recognition took over his instincts; his fingers placed themselves, notes played out of habit and memory, rather than from reading the music in front of him. Finally bringing his left hand to the keys, he added bass to the treble, harmony to the melody, until he was playing a song so beautiful; it mimicked the song of angels. He became lost in the sound as it consumed him, his hands moving along the keys as if of their own will. Within the song, he heard the voice of his mother, the laughter when she’d taught him and Xander both to play an instrument she’d mastered as well as Maddy had mastered hers. Birthed by a woman who was beauty, purity and light, he wasn’t lost to the irony that if there had been a kindred soul born into the world, the woman sleeping near him had been that spirit.
When the song ended, when he played the final notes, he sat quietly, reflecting on the loss he’d suffered through his life, the darkness that had smothered the light of his youth, had all but extinguished the spark of life within him.
“That was beautiful.”
Aaron spun around on the bench to lock eyes with the deep recesses of a mystical blue sea. Maddy’s eyes sparkled with tears, her expression one of wonderment and awe. “Who is the composer? I didn’t recognize the name when I read over the music yesterday.”
Crossing the room to kneel by her side, he took her hands into his. “My mother wrote it, had it transcribed under a false name so that my father wouldn’t discover that she’d continued in her love of music when he had started to slip further into corruption. He’d loved her, loved her gift of music when they’d met, but like everything else, he attempted to destroy it, attempted to take a thing of beauty and turn it into a nightmare.”
Maddy noticed the pain and loss etched across Aaron’s expression, reached out to smooth the lines of his face. “What happened to your mother?”
“She disappeared one day. She’d been teaching Xander and I to play a new song when my father came home unexpectedly and ordered that she follow him from our quarters. I never saw her again.” The shadow of a child’s agony flitted across his face before the darkness could once again take over.
“And Xander, is he your brother? How is it he’s been part of this place for so long?” Maddy tried to distract him, to bring him away from the memory of the loss of his mother.
“No. His father was a member of The Estate. He had attempted to steal from the business, to make himself a rich man. When he was caught, he and his family were dragged in as punishment. Xander watched as his father and baby sister were executed … as several men raped his mother before she too was executed. Before they died they were told that Xander would be kept and made a member of The Estate. They died knowing their son would be trapped in this place. Even in death, they were not granted rest.”
More tears shed by the angel in front of him, Maddy wept for Aaron, his mother, Xander and his family. Aaron tried to wipe them away, but they fell so fast, so furiously he couldn’t catch them all. Her face looked so sorrowful, so utterly lost as she absorbed the details of his life, of the place that she’d been dragged to, of the nightmare that he’d lived that had become hers as well.
“You never did answer me that morning in your room,” she said through a quiet whisper; the hesitancy in her statement made obvious by the tone of her words.
“Answer what?” Aaron thought back; at first not knowing what she was referring to, but understanding soon seeped into his thoughts. “About why you were taken?”
She nodded, the tears still flowing so freely that he wondered if her sobs were choking back her ability to speak.
A sigh of resignation floated across his lips, his forehead dropping to hers as he closed his eyes. His voice was also a whisper as he confessed to her, to himself, the reason for her captivity. “Yes. Your music is the reason you are here, the reason you were taken.” He paused, not wanting to admit the correlation between her music and her abduction; not wanting to admit the connection he felt to her before she’d even known he existed. “My mother, her music was always so … so sad. I understood the music, I somehow knew that it was her way of lamenting what my father had become, what he was still becoming. He was a different man when she met him and married him; a businessman at that time. His slip into madness was subtle, barely noticeable until it was too late. She hid behind her music much like you do, used it to block out the ugliness of the nightmare that was manifesting itself around her. When I heard yours for the first time, I connected to it, I understood it; I understood you.” His eyes opened as he looked deep into hers. “I’m sure my father had me followed, probably had his men grab you after seeing that I’d gone backstage to speak to you. You see, he would have known that you meant something to me, that your music meant something to me. He hated the connection between my mother and I when it came to music, he did what he could to destroy it, to make me dark like him. I never intended for this to happen, Madeleine. But you were a bit of light in my life that my father couldn’t allow to exist.”
Finally, a sharp glimmer of anger filled her eyes, a streak of silver through the blue. “Your father must die, Aaron. No matter what happens from here on out, keep that goal in mind. Know that you will succeed in ridding this world of the corruption of his evil.” She grabbed his hand. “Together we will destroy him. If I have to endure decades of pain, of torture, I will. I’ll give you the strength you need while you will give me mine.”
Nodding, Aaron smiled, amazed yet again at a woman who possessed such a beautiful soul, she could cry for murderers and thieves, but one who could also fight in her own way against the devil himself. “Yes, Madeleine, he will pay for what he’s done, and we’ll bring that justice to the world … together.”
Chapter Twenty-Six
Four months passed, uneventful for the most part, Aaron and Maddy kept to their routine, he as the executioner and she as his strength. Xander, ever the loyal friend to Aaron, protected her in Aaron’s absence, becoming her friend, her confidant in those moments when she grew concerned that the darkness in Aaron was winning, was taking over the man she’d
grown to love. Xander swore she had no need to worry, that Aaron had been an assassin since he was young, had bathed in the blood of other men for longer than she could imagine. In that time, he’d not been overtaken by corruption, hadn’t become the monster his father had wanted him to be. Each day, each night, that Aaron returned home, Maddy followed him into the shower, helped wash away the blood from his body, brought him back into the light. They’d become dependent on each other, he as her Master and she as his slave, except, in their case, Maddy freely gave to Aaron what the other women in The Estate had not been given the choice to give. Maddy trusted Aaron, enjoyed her submission to him, and knew that he’d always ensure she felt worshipped.
The alliance continued to grow over the passing months, each unit within the network of The Estate aligning themselves with Aaron, vowing to stand behind him when the day came to bring down the monster that his father had become. By the time Winter had loosened its grip on the Earth, they were in a position to strike, to take down an evil so deeply entwined in The Estate, he’d become drunk with his power, had made decisions and acted in ways that’d turned some of his own men against him. He still possessed a large number of men loyal to him, the most despicable of whom were entranced by his insanity, gluttons to the malevolence he spread throughout the network.
“Are you ever going to tell me why you call me Cricket?” Maddy frowned as she sat at the table eating dinner with Xander and Aaron.
Xander sat back, a silly grin across his face. “Nope. I thoroughly enjoy annoying you by not telling you. Why would I willingly give up something that brings me so much joy?” Smiling brightly at the woman who had become like a sister to him, Xander pushed his plate away, patting his stomach to indicate he’d eaten too much.
Aaron laughed, appreciating the back and forth between Maddy and Xander. He could step in, could whisper to her in the dark of night the truth behind Xander’s name for her, but he too enjoyed the sullen look she gave whenever Xander refused to give her the reason behind it.
The three enjoyed their time together, laughed and spoke of times past and times to come when they were interrupted by the pounding of someone’s fist against the front door. Aaron’s entire body tensed, knowing that no man would pound against his door in such a manner, except for one. Allowing Maddy the time to strip off her clothes and take a kneeling position at the foot of his chair to ensure that whoever saw her would believe she was the same slave in Aaron’s quarters as she was when present with him in the halls of the mansion, he paused before he walked briskly to the door. Pulling it open, he found Emory and Vincent both standing on the other side. Instantly, his rage bloomed within him, knew that if these two men were at his door, that a nightmare would soon follow.
“Aaron, so good to see you.”
The slime of Emory’s tone rubbed against Aaron’s nerves as his hand moved toward one of the many blades he had hidden about his body. Stopping himself, he stepped back to allow the men entrance.
Cutting to the chase, Emory eyed Aaron when he delivered his message. “The executioner has been ordered to the ballroom within the next ten minutes.”
Relief lessening the weight from his shoulders, Aaron remained impassive, absolute in his refusal to allow any emotion to be seen underneath the mask of indifference that he wore. He could handle anything his father ordered him to do, as long as it didn’t involve Maddy, there was nothing that could break him down, nothing that could bring him to his knees. “I will be there.” Moving to the door, he opened it to allow the men to leave. Walking through the doors, Emory sneered at Aaron, turned before fully leaving the doorway.
“Also, the executioner’s slave has been ordered to appear as well.” A filthy laugh. “Sorry, I almost forgot to mention that part.” They continued their path, disappearing down the hallway as Aaron closed the door.
Xander stood up, immediately moving to Aaron’s side. “Why would they request Maddy if you are being called in as the executioner? You don’t think … ”
Holding up a hand to stop Xander in his thought, Aaron crossed the room, pulled Maddy up from the floor and into his lap as he sat down in his chair. Burying his head into her hair, he allowed her to soothe him as she brushed her hands through his hair and down the side of his face.
Seeing that the two lovers needed a moment alone, Xander moved toward the corridor. “I’ll give you two a moment. When it’s time to leave, call for me. Remember, Aaron, we have ten minutes only.”
Nodding, Aaron pulled Maddy closer to him, his silence effectively dismissing Xander. Once alone, Maddy leaned up to brush her lips softly across Aaron’s, an attempt at comfort that neither of them would truly find. “Could this be it? Will he order you to take my life?” Maddy whispered the words, too frightened by their meaning to give them any strength.
“I don’t know.” A confession. Aaron could imagine his father ordering the death of his slave, wouldn’t be surprised if his boredom had supplied him with the need for such entertainment.
“Remember to be strong, Aaron. If that is what you must do, than I’ll never hold you accountable. You are so close, so very near the day when you can finally erase your father’s evil from your life and this world. If my death must occur for that to happen, I ask that you allow it. Take your vengeance knowing that I watch as a phantom, my spirit standing beside you always.” Placing another kiss on his lips, Maddy shed a single tear as Aaron deepened the kiss, held her to him like they were the same person, as if their entwined bodies could somehow become one.
Having run out of time, Aaron pushed up from his chair, called for Xander and opened the door to exit the apartment when Maddy had taken her place beside his friend. They marched through the corridor, Aaron allowing the infinite black to consume him. No emotion could be present in his mind as he led the woman who was the light within him to the possibility of slaughter. If he was ordered to kill Madeleine, he would; he wouldn’t fail her by giving up on the possibility of destroying his father. However, it couldn’t be done without the black mask he wore, if he were to feel her death as he was bathed in the warmth of her blood, he would go insane, would die attempting to kill each and every man in that room. They approached the large wooden doors of the ballroom and, as usual, two men were stationed to open them, giving him easy entry into the heart of meeting room for The Estate.
There was an odd hush over the room, the usual chaos not present amongst his father’s men. As they entered, Aaron saw makeshift gallows that had been built, six ropes hanging down from a wooden beam that lined the top. Taking his position in the center of the room, he faced his father as Maddy took her position kneeling at his feet. The silence of the room was ominous, Aaron’s skin crawling from the odd ambiance of the ballroom.
His father sat in his usual throne, his eyes burning into Aaron’s. His voice betraying nothing of his insanity, the refined tone of a businessman, a façade used to mask the demon that resided within him. “I have requested the executioner tonight for a very specific purpose. My men and I have grown bored with the slaves kept on the property, have become sickened by the skin that hangs off their bones, by the way they’ve loosened from overuse. As such, each slave will be executed tonight, and you will be the blade that ends their life.”
“Will my slave be executed as well? She still remains in my service, and I have not had the opportunity to grow tired of her … she’s not been stretched out from overuse as your slaves have.” No emotion, not a miniscule sign of the terror swelling in his heart at the thought that Madeleine could be executed along with the other women.
“No,” Mr. Carmichael replied, “I assume that you’ll eventually kill her yourself, your tastes being as violent as they are. She will not die tonight because I have another need for your slave. Well, because of that and the fact that I’m still allowed to taste her when I see fit.” He laughed briefly, before adding, “Having no others at my service, I may have needs one night that only she will be able to fill.”
A growl started to erupt from
Aaron’s chest, but he was able to swallow it back down before it could escape. “Of course, father. What is your purpose for my slave at this time, if not to be executed with the rest.”
“I realized that once you are done performing your task, we’ll have no slaves left, so who would clean up the mess you leave behind?” Mocking laughter bellowed from his father’s chest, his depravity an amusement to him alone.
Relaxing only a small amount, Aaron looked down at Maddy’s back as she knelt by his feet. He noticed the way her skin prickled, the slight tremble of her body. She would be made to wipe clean the blood of his kill once again. Looking back up to his father, Aaron said, “Fine, let’s get this over with. There’s no need to delay my task.”
“Ever the professional, Aaron; I’d expect nothing less of my son.” Reaching his hand up, he snapped for Emory to bring in the slaves. The door opened and Aaron watched as each woman was led to the gallows. Blindfolds covered their eyes; their hands bound behind their backs. He particularly noticed when Emily was led out because her body bore the marks of several men; teeth marks and lashes littered her flesh, bruises and cuts scored skin that had lost the kiss of the sun while locked up as a slave.
One by one, the women were led up the wooden steps, placed underneath a rope, and each one’s arms bound by the rope above their head before they were lifted into the air so that their feet were barely above the floor. When each had been placed and secured in position, Emory and Vincent traveled back across the room to take their places by Aaron’s father. Pulling his blade from the sheath secured to his back, Aaron started across the room to deliver a quick end to the women who had outgrown their usefulness.
Climbing up the steps, Aaron moved toward the first slave. His hand moved quickly as he sliced his steel across her throat, waited for her blood to spray out onto his clothing and skin, and then waited for it to pool down below the slave’s feet hanging inches above the stage. The executioner wiped his face clean with the sleeve of his shirt, and took a step toward the next slave, but was stopped by the booming voice of his father.