Composer 4.15

~Charity~

"What's your plan?" I asked not too sure I really wanted to know. "I'm going to kill James." He said, his voice betraying no emotion. "How will you do that?"  "I have a potion that you can drink and once James feeds from you he will be poisoned."  "Are you sure it will work?" I asked feeling hopeful. "Don't worry, I've used it before." Kai told me how James rose to power, joining a coven as a lowly vampire and having Kai poison the "food supply" until James was the head of the coven. All  I had to keep James interested in me, keep him from getting rid of me too soon, Kai needed time to gather all the ingredients of the potion and to keep James from suspecting anything.  

Each morning I awoke wrapped up in Kai's arms, there I was safe. He tended my wounds with a sadness I had never seen. "I hate this you know. I hate what he does to you. I hate him."  "I know." Once I was tended to, we lay together and talked of freedom. "Where will we go?" I asked. "I have no idea, I've heard stories of a land full of Fae, I hope we can find it as I've never met one before." He said with a sigh. " I hope to see my Aunt again, I miss her. I think she'd like you." I said. "I think that would be nice." He said with a yawn. He'd been up all night most every night this last week making sure everything was in order. Tonight we would put our plan into action.With everything in place I started to doze off, I was fighting to stay awake when Kai said "Sleep, I'll wake you in a while" Safe in his arms, I slept.

"What is this!" I was awoken to the sound of angry voices and the slamming of my cell door. I quickly opened my eyes to find James standing over me. I was still wrapped in Kai's arms. "Kai, wake up!" I said as I elbowed him. When he saw James all the color drained from his face. " I'll ask one more time" James said "What's going on here Malakai?" Kai just stood there placing himself in front of me.  " You think you are protecting her!?! She's mine!" James screamed at Kai.
I was frozen with fear, James was here, he knew about us.  Kai lunged at James catching him off guard and shouted at me to run. I ran faster than ever, but I still wasn't fast enough. I made it to the door at the top of the stairs but when I opened it there were two vampires waiting. Grabbing me by the arms, the led me back down the stairs and into the cell, followed by several more vampires. They threw me back in the cell at James's feet, I glanced at Kai he had a look of defeat on his face, he had been forced to his knees by one of vampires, James grabbed me by the arm and hauled me to my feet. He held me In front of him while he spoke to Kai.

"So the Fae as fallen in love with a human. Tsk tsk, Malakai, you know the rules it's bad enough that you broke the rules, but to do so in front of my coven, well that's just unforgivable." I never took my eyes off Kai. James looked from Kai to me and back. "You leave me no choice, you will die tonight Malakai, but I will let you enjoy our entertainment first." Wile James was talking the other vampires in the room had closed in around us, with a sickening grin James knocked me to the floor and said "have at it boys!" The whole of James's coven descended upon me, save for the one that held Malakai in place, forcing him to watch. My screams filled the air, it seemed to take forever, but eventually the room grew dim and I faded into blackness. This time was different, I was no longer afraid, I no longer hurt. It was like being in Kai's arms once more, I was safe and secure, and I didn't want to wake up.

Composer 4.14

~Charity~

Malakai became the only thing keeping me from giving in when I was on the brink of death. In a sense he truly was an angel, my angel. I had no idea how long I'd been here, having lost count of the days long ago. My life had become a routine. The nights belonged to James, whom I had never stopped fighting. But my days, those belonged to Kai, seeing him every morning made the nights bearable. I looked forward to his visits, knowing that he would be there to greet me when I woke every morning gave me the strength to resist James.

Over time he and I had become something akin to friends. He had told me all about his life. He was found as a baby by James's mother and was raised along side him as his brother. Fae and Vampires are mortal enemies, even more so than Vampires and werewolves. Thousands of years ago there was a war between the two, and the vampires slaughtered the Fae, nearly causing their extinction. The cause of the war has been lost to time, but neither side ever forgot their hatred of the other. So because Malakai was Fae, James and his family were outcasts. Once his mother died James came here with Malakai. He told me how he longed to see the outside world, having been forbidden to go outside for fear of being discovered. When he told me how he had disposed of the others who had been here before me, I was a bit shocked, but I realized Malakai was just as much a prisoner as I was. He did as James asked since he was the only family he had. 

One day I woke up to find Malakai sitting in my cell. Since I was not expecting him I screamed. "I'm sorry, you scared me" I said apologizing once I realized who was there. "I did not mean to startle you, I only wanted to be here when you woke up, I needed to tell you something." He had a strange look on his face so I asked him "What's wrong?" His eyes looked sad and he said . "I heard James talking and he said that he was getting a new acquisition soon. He's going to get rid of you."  "Oh" I said "You mean he's going to kill me."  " That's the plan." he said so matter of factually. "How can you be so calm!" I yelled, starting to panic. I had thought Malakai was my friend, and was hoping that I could convince him to let me go.

Malakai did not answer, instead he walked over to where I was sitting sat down, took both my hands in his, and looked me in the eyes and said "I promise that won't happen." "How can you be so sure?" I asked tears beginning to cloud my vision. Wiping my tears away he said "I never cared what happened to any of the humans before now, but you're different. I care about you in a way that I never thought I could. Charity I love you, and I promise that I will find a way to free you." His confession took me by surprise. " I think I love you too." I answered "What do we do now?" "Don't worry love. I have a plan." 

Composer 4.13

~Charity~

I opened my eyes to the most wonderful sight. I saw a man with the most beautiful wings standing over me. "Am I dead? Is this heaven?" I asked the winged man. "No to both" he said. Oh, I had thought last night that James had surely killed me. I was so tired and in so much pain."What's wrong with me?" I asked when I realized I could barely move. The man just looked at me and went back to what ever he was mixing up. "Will you answer me, please?" I asked.  "Do you speak to your food?" he asked. I was a bit confused. "What?" He sighed and spoke as if he was speaking to a child. "You are food, I don't speak to food, do you?" Food? what did he mean by that? OH! That's when it hit me, James was a vampire and they...fed....on...humans. Once he had finished mixing up what ever it was he came over to me, I moved back towards the wall wincing as I did so. Was this man going to hurt me too? He held out the mixture "Drink." I was afraid not to, so I drank the strange concoction. I immediately felt better, I thanked him as I handed the bottle back. "so what are you?" I asked. "I'm Fae" he said as if it should be obvious. He headed out of my cell locking the door behind him. I lay back on the pallet that was on the floor and looked around, except for the faint glow of candlelight from beyond my cell, I was surrounded by darkness.

I couldn't believe vampires and fae? fairies? were real. All this time I had thought they were just stories, made up to entertain children. I felt someone watching me as I lay there. I looked over to see the winged man staring at me. When he realized I had seen him he disappeared  around the corner and I was alone once more. I was intrigued by him. Who was he? Why was he here?

I was startled awake by the creaking of my cell door. James was back. I scrambled to my feet and as far back as I was able to go, which wasn't very far. This time he wasn't alone. "Come here my dear, don't be afraid." James said. "Go away! Leave me alone!" I yelled as loud as I could.  He and the other vampire just laughed as they advanced. They each grabbed one of my arms and led me back to the pallet of the floor. "Please don't do this." I pleaded through my tears. They lowered me to the floor so I was sitting between the two of them, and they each took one of my arms, lowered their heads and sunk their teeth in. I begged the whole time for them to stop, but they wouldn't listen. When they were finished they let me go and I slumped to the floor like a rag doll. I watched them leave, tears slowly falling down my face. Was this to be my life? To stay here and be food for monsters?

The following morning the winged man was back, this time I just lay there as he entered the room with his concoctions. He went to work cleaning my wounds and applying some form of paste to them. "Why do you do this, why not just let me die?" I asked. "It is my job to care for the humans, as long as they are here." He answered. "How long is that?" I needed to know. "Depends. Some are with us longer than others." He said handing me something to drink. I couldn't lift it to my mouth, so he helped me. I glanced up at him as he lifted the liquid to my mouth, he had the most beautiful eyes. They were a pale grey, like the sky just before it snows. His eyes caught mine and for a moment we just sat there. "I must go." he said as he got up. "Wait." I said grabbing his hand "Tell me your name, please." "Malakai" he said pulling his hand free and walking away once more. I was so tired, laying my head back down I fell into a dreamless sleep.

Composer 4.12

~Berlin~

Who ever decided you had to wait forty-eight hours to report someone missing was an idiot. As soon as Charity had been missing long enough I called to police back and filed an official report. I was told a detective would be sent over to interview me. I waited for what seemed hours before the detective   arrived at my house. I invited him in and we sat in the living room. He introduced himself as Michael Thompson.

"Mrs. Wright." detective Thompson began

 "It's miss, I'm not married."

"My apologies, miss Wright. What can you tell me about Charity's disappearance?"

I told him about our fight, how we hadn't spoken for several days, but that she wouldn't run away. I suppose he thought I was her mother, since he asked if her father was in the picture. "No he's not. Neither is her mother." That got a strange look from him so I explained that I was her aunt and both her parents were deceased. He asked if she had a boyfriend, to which I answered no. He asked for a list of her friends so I gave him the few names that were her friends.

He looked through her room for clues, though he found none. Once he was done he thanked me for my time and left.

 I wasn't sure what to with myself, so I went into my office and started playing, as I played the notes turned into a melody that was both sad and beautiful at the same time. I quickly wrote down what I had been playing. I stayed in there for hours the barking of the dogs finally broke my concentration, they needed food. After I fed the dogs I sat back down in the living room and was overwhelmed by my thoughts, my regrets. What if I never saw Charity again? I was filled with regret, I thought back to all the times I had place work first, now I had my career, at what cost? I had lost everyone I cared about. I cried. I cried for charity, for Tanner, for all the birthday's I had missed because my stupid career was more important.

Upon waking up the next morning I had come to a decision, I was going retire and focus on bringing Charity home, even if it took everything I had I would see her returned to me. I finished my piece the following week, I had planned on selling it, but it was too personal, so I kept it.  I told my job what had happened and that I was taking a leave of absence, they were all very supportive telling me to let them know if I needed anything. I never realized until that moment just how empty that phrase really was. Did I need anything? Yea. I needed my Daughter back.