by Nancy Glynn
Her father was here? It was so dark. All she could see were hoods, no faces. She could never call him father again. She hardened her jaw and narrowed her eyes, standing straighter and taller.
Claps and cheers broke out, giving a standing ovation. Something soft hit her, and she realized they were throwing daisies at her. A little girl ran up to her with a bouquet of them wrapped in an emerald ribbon.
She bent down to receive them. “Thank you, sweetheart,” she said to a girl of about thirteen, her long, curly, blonde hair poking out of the hood.
“Hail Daisy,” the girl said as she bowed. “I’m so proud to be your sacrifice and walk along the path chosen for me. Thank you." She bowed again and returned to her parents nodding their approval.
“Sacrifice?” she whispered to Christian.
Christian continued speaking as if he never heard her. “Thank you, Emily. We’re grateful for your act of courage and strength. Your place awaits you in the after dark.”
Daisy looked at him with a puzzled expression. “Christian?” she whispered.
Faces began to blur in her vision, distorting features with wide, slashed smiles and black eye sockets. Her father stared at her like a stranger. Gloria sat next to him with glass eyes penetrating through her.
Christian held her hand and raised it above their heads. “Hail Daisy!” he shouted.
“Hail Daisy!” the crowd shouted back.
He’s one of them! No, it was much worse. He was their master! But her heart screamed no, he was good...good! Pretend, he had told her, so pretend she will!
She cleared her throat. “Thank you, everyone! I’m so proud to stand here tonight side-by-side with Christian, my true love. And to be part of something other parts of the world know nothing about!”
More cheers erupted, stomping their feet and clapping, thrilled at her compliance. She caught Dane off to the side, down below, with a look of terror on his face, and wondered why. Christian winked at her, and they both bowed to their followers.
He turned to kiss her, making her feel dizzy. “Good girl,” he said against her mouth in a low voice.
Jack spoke behind them and instructed everyone to go outside.
Christian smiled. “This is where the party begins." That look was in his eyes, pulling her in.
A battle began in her. She felt herself wanting this life, to be his queen and he her king forever, letting God slip from her fingers. These people loved her. But then she remembered her mother’s words. A power lived in her that scared them. When she looked into Christian’s beautiful brown eyes, she forgot about that power.
They walked down the aisle holding hands. Her life had never been this exciting. She got caught up in the magic of it all, forgetting what it all really meant.
“Welcome, Daisy! I can’t wait for the ball!" Random guests shouted to her.
She smiled and held their hands. Could she really go through with the ball, she wondered? She wished this was it and there was nothing more to do, just her and Christian together and that would be the end of it.
A man came up to her and pulled his hood down. She stiffened when he spoke. “Daisy, will you ever forgive me, darling?” her father begged. “I was only doing this for your own good. You know how much I adore you.”
Just pretend she reminded herself. “Of course, Daddy. I understand." She allowed him to hug her, feeling sick.
Gloria stood there with her cold stare as always, but smiling lips. “I’m so glad this worked out, Daisy. Your father is so proud of you, and I’m glad you like Christian. We worried what would happen if you didn’t, so thank the devil you do!" She hugged her. Bile built up in Daisy’s throat, and forced it back down.
Her aunt and uncle stood off to the side, smiling and waving at her. Aunt Betty still looked so sweet. She had been deceived by all.
Dane was nowhere to be found, which was strange.
That young girl was there by her side again, smiling up with her big, blue eyes. Daisy smelled her daisies to show her appreciation to which the girl bowed.
The sound of church bells gonged outside eleven times. She didn’t realize it was that late.
Christian turned to her and ushered her to a room in the back. “Come with me, Daisy. We have some business to clear up with Jack.”
“Business?" She followed him, excusing herself from her mingling. People emptied the church to go out to the wooded section, as they disappeared to the back of the church.
She walked into a more well-lit room with metal chairs, and a podium near the center for sermons. Paintings of some of the Presidents of the United States covered the walls as well as of William Stone and various other leaders over the years.
“Hello, Daisy.” Jack greeted from a podium. “You remember your cousin, Dane?”
Her eyes widened as she witnessed Dane be dragged out by two men on each arm, his face bruised and bleeding with gashes.
“Dane! Are you okay? What’s going on here?" She knew he was a pig, but he didn’t deserve this.
Jack smiled. “Christian, why don’t you explain it to your lady.”
“Daisy, Dane is the one who...raped you,” he stated, spitting the last word out and looking into her eyes.
“What?" She shook her head in disbelief. “No." She looked at Dane then and saw it in his eyes, saw the truth. “Dane?” she asked in a shaky voice.
“I’m sorry, Daisy. I was only supposed to make it look like a robbery, but then I saw you lying there so beautiful. I couldn’t control myself." He looked down at the floor. “Please forgive me.”
She turned to Christian for help, but he just stared at Dane with narrowed eyes, seething. “Why did you tell, Christian? Now Jack knows I’m not a–”
“Virgin?" Jack interrupted. “He knew I would find out, and he wants you, Daisy. Don’t be angry with Christian. He didn’t want anything to happen to you, and it would’ve had I found out.”
“But how didn’t you know already? I mean, you’re...”
“Tell her, Dane, what you did for that to happen,” Jack ordered.
Dane looked up at her and explained. “I wore your cross, and it closes doors to that side." He showed her the burn mark it scorched into his chest, the same one on her chest that healed itself, the same as the scratch on her face.
She tried to search her memory of a cross dangling in her face, but then she remembered. He was behind her. She was lying on her front, and he had torn her underwear off from behind.
Tears rolled down her face. It was Dane the whole time. And then she sucked in a breath, knowing what would happen to him now. “I forgive you, Dane! Please don’t hurt him!” she screamed at Jack. No matter what had happened to her, she wouldn’t see a man die because of it.
Christian turned to her. “Darling, he’s not going to die. I just had him roughed him up a bit, but I have no intention of killing him." He pulled her in his arms.
She sighed in relief and wiped her face.
“Christian may not, but I do,” Jack said.
“What? No!” Daisy screamed.
Jack appeared in front of her without walking, and looked down into her eyes. “One might think you enjoyed what he did to you, Daisy." He sniffed her as she backed away. “Did you enjoy it?”
She shook her head, glancing at Christian who looked as if he wanted an answer as well. She returned to Jack’s questioning stare. “I was raped, you bastard! Only a sick man would think a woman enjoyed that!”
“Ah, but I’m not really a man, am I, Daisy? And Christian here, well he’s half and half. Have you seen his horns?" He laughed at his own joke, but she didn’t.
“As much as I hated how Dane treated me, I know deep down he would never be like that if his life had been different...I just know it,” she whispered, looking at Dane. His eyes pleaded with her to stop this.
Christian cleared his throat and tried to reach Jack. “Look, we’ve had our fun here, but I don’t want him dead. He’s been my best friend since we were born. I don’t agree with everyt
hing he does, but I don’t want this. Jack, please reconsider.”
She studied Jack’s face, trying to see if there was some ounce of compassion, anything, but she could find none. All she saw were rotted eyes.
Jack explained. “Daisy, you were meant for me. Dane destroyed that. You’re lucky I don’t set you on fire right this minute. It’s either you or him. Pick." Jack chewed on a toothpick, took it out of his mouth and pointed it at her and then Dane. “Pick, pick, pick,” he said, pointing back and forth.
Christian grabbed her shoulders. “Daisy, I don’t want you to die! That’s why I told Jack about this because he would’ve known at the ball. I can’t lose you.”
“So you want Dane to die?” she hissed, releasing her arms from his grip.
“I don’t want Dane to die, but if I had to pick, I want you...with me forever!”
Jack chuckled. “Ah, your first lover’s quarrel, how cute.”
“It’s not even close to being funny!” she screamed in Jack’s face.
Dane pleaded. “Christian, please! We’ve been friends forever. You said it!”
Christian walked over to him. “You would want Daisy to die for you? You coward. All those times you spoke of her as if you wanted her, what you would do to her, and now you would have her killed?”
“I don’t want her to die, but I don’t want to die, either!”
“Fine,” Jack said. “Daisy, disrobe and receive your whippings. Only then will you be cleansed for my touch...or renewed, shall I say.”
Daisy stared at him and found the strength in her she never knew existed. “Go ahead and whip me if that’ll keep Dane alive. Do what you want, but no one dies tonight!”
“No! Don’t you dare touch her!” Christian ordered. “I swear I’ll leave, and there’ll be no ball and no new leader!”
Jack laughed. “Guards,” he snapped at two muscular men who grabbed Christian and chained his hands behind his back. “You can watch. You’re forgetting, she’s mine first and then yours." His head snapped at the other guard near her who held a six foot whip and turned to Daisy. “Disrobe now!”
Tears stung her eyes as she unzipped the back of her dress, letting it fall to a heap at her feet. She turned around and waited for the belt to crack her back.
“I love you, Daisy. I’m so sorry!” Christian screamed, trying to wiggle out of the chains.
Jack scoffed. “Love? Oh right, you’re your father’s son. He loved Lana like that too, but did that keep her here with him? No, she chose God over him. Maybe your Daisy will as well. Now!” he ordered to the guard.
A crack of the whip snapped at her back, not giving him the satisfaction of a scream. There was a place inside her that summoned her to hide.
She never felt the whip.
Dane’s head bowed to the ground, listening to the cracks as Christian clenched his fists and closed his eyes.
Her mind took her to a place of peace and serenity. She ran in a meadow of flowers with other girls who had been here before, under Jack’s control. She smiled, feeling the sun warm her face and smelling her daisies.
Jack’s voice broke her peace. “That’ll be it. Clean her up,” he instructed a maiden who appeared out of nowhere. She took Daisy by the hands and led her through a door. As she passed Christian, Daisy reached her hand out to touch his wet face and smiled. She then followed the girl who closed the door behind her.
The maiden placed Daisy face down on a cot, and with gentle hands stroked her wounds with swabs and ointment. She looked like she was straight out of the 1800s.
She closed her eyes and tried to hear any words on the other side of the wall, something to tell her what was happening, but only silence answered.
The girl spoke then for the first time in a brogue. “I don’t believe this...where are they? They were just here!”
Daisy turned to look at her. “Excuse me, what was just here?”
“I was just cleaning them, I swear. I don’t get it,” the girl said, backing away.
“What’re you talking about?” Daisy asked, frustrated now.
“Your lashes are gone! Completely gone! It’s as if they were never..." The girl ran to the door and rushed through it, saying something in another language.
Daisy sat up and tried to feel her back. The girl was right, it was smooth. Her wounds had healed again. She jumped off the cot and tugged her dress back on.
Christian ran through the open door to her and pulled her to him. “Thank God you’re all right, Daisy! I prayed you could heal yourself and you did. You scared the crap out of Elizabeth,” he said with a chuckle.
She pressed her face to his chest and held him. “I never felt a thing. I was protected, Christian.”
“I know, honey. And now we need to get outside...fast.”
“Why?”
“Dane.”
Chapter Eleven
Daisy watched in horror as they hanged Dane from an old Oak tree over a bonfire, his feet stable on a wooden stool, in the center of devil worshipers enjoying the view. Something told her that tree lynched many people in its time.
His begging cries speared her soul. She ran to the front of everyone cheering. Christian grabbed her to hold her back. “You lied to me!” she screamed at Jack. “You said no one would die!”
“No, I believe it was you who said that if I whipped you. I never said a thing. And I see you’re feeling fine after that?" He sauntered over to her, caressing her arm, smiling.
She yanked her arm from his touch, feeling like poison touched her skin. She gritted her teeth. “You never responded, so I thought it was an unspoken agreement, you monster!”
The cries from her aunt in the crowd broke her heart. “Daisy, please help my boy! I know what he did was not right, but don’t allow this. He already took away my Delores. Please!” Aunt Betty cried into her hands.
“Delores?” she asked Jack, sick at the sight of him smiling.
“Their daughter they gave up to me to get the son they always wanted. Well, here he is. I’m sure they’re so proud of him,” he said in a sing-song voice. “Delores was my pet, my toy. I enjoyed her immensely,” he said, staring off as if lost in memory. “But then I got bored and killed her,” he said, shrugging his shoulders.
She could see Uncle Joe with his arm around his wife’s shoulder. His other hand balled in a fist to his side.
“You’re disgusting,” she said, looking him in the eye.
“You didn’t mind when I was powdering you with that puff in your bathroom, now did you?” he mocked.
“I knew it." She could see Christian’s worried look, wondering what he referred to.
Jack waved his arm at Dane. “Well, I’m done here. Say goodbye to your cousin, Daisy. You can’t save him. God can’t even save him.”
The first of twelve church bells tolled.
“No!" She turned to watch as Dane was lowered into the pit of fire, could hear his tortured screams. Christian ran up to her to shield her eyes and ears.
The tolls continued. The screams from Dane continued. The look of horror on everyone’s face, frozen as they watched. Aunt Betty’s face, Uncle Joe’s face, Eric’s face, her father’s and Gloria’s face, William’s face, Lydia’s face, Charlotte’s face, Christian’s face, and finally Jack’s smiling face on the last one.
Silence at the twelfth toll witnessed by the starless sky. A wolf howled. An owl hooted.
Christian wouldn’t let her look when she tried to turn. “No. It’s better you don’t see, Daze." Christian said into her hair, wiping away her tears.
Her uncle carried her aunt out after fainting at the sight of her son’s death.
Jack’s voice boomed in the night. “My people, bow down to your new rulers. In just less than two months, they officially rule this town.”
The crowd pulled down their hoods and bowed in accordance, chanting in hushed tones.
“Christian, get me out of here,” Daisy whispered in his ear. “I can’t take it anymore,” she said, shaking.
“Leaving so soon? But the party just got started,” Jack said. He snapped his fingers at Lydia who stood by the burning ashes of Dane.
She dropped her dress, swaying to rock music blasting out of speakers disguised as rocks. The moon glistened on her body, emphasizing her curves.
Daisy looked up to find Christian in some sort of a trance, watching her dance. “Christian?”
Jack walked to Lydia and gave her a deep kiss, her blonde hair hanging down her back as he pulled it down, sticking his long black tongue down her throat. He waved Christian to join him.
“Christian!” Daisy grabbed his face to force him to look at her. She slapped him but nothing.
He pulled away from her and met Jack who guided him to continue his kiss.
Daisy turned and ran back to the parking lot. She couldn’t watch him kiss her. There was no lot, no cars. Only trees and bushes. She ran through them, scratching herself. Her dress tore on a branch. A bench appeared and she sat, wondering what to do. A howl in the distance made her jump. She pulled her knees up to her face and rocked.
“Daisy?” a man’s voice yelled out.
“Christian?" She heard rustling through branches and held her breath. The thought of seeing him now gave her chills.
“It’s me, Eric. Christian asked me to take you home. Are you okay?" He held his hand out for her.
“He’s with her, isn’t he?” she asked, knowing the answer.
“It’s not like that, Daisy. Here, let me get you back to Stone Manor and out of that dress." He caught her wide eyes at that last part. “I mean for you to get pajamas on...sorry.”
They finally got to the parking lot and found his black Camaro. Christian’s car was still there. The memory of him kissing her inside it brought tears.
Eric opened her door and then got in on his side. “Look, I know this looks bad, but you have to trust Christian." He pulled out of the near empty lot and drove down King Road. Her heart ached.
He wiped his glasses off with his shirt and turned to her. “He didn’t kiss Lydia out there like you think, Daisy. He stopped and told Jack no.”
