Betrayed: Dark beginnings

by Rebecca Weeks

  chapter fourteen

  London 1666

  The young man Elizabeth had just met stared vacantly into the darkness.

  “The warlock that did this to us was the husband of the woman that was tied to the tree. She was being burnt after we found out she was a witch. He was outraged and placed a curse on us.” She stared at him with her mouth open; did she just hear this right? He had put a curse on her? But she hadn’t done anything wrong!

  “So what curse?” She said as bravely as she could manage.

  “I’m not sure, but I intend to find out. All I do know is that my sight and hearing is sharper. I’m faster and stronger than ever before, but nothing else has changed apart from how thirsty I am. No matter how much water I drink it does not go away.” He said aggravated.

  Elizabeth started to realize how strong she felt. She felt different, she was thirsty yes. Not hungry though, but just like she had not had water in days and she was close to dying from dehydration. She would do anything for water, but as this man had said, water does not help. So what would?

  “What should we do?” Elizabeth said innocently, he could see how scared she was. His expression softened and he wore a kind smile, looking at her as though she was a small child in need of help. She tried her best not to cry hysterically and wiped away the few tears from her cheeks.

  “I didn’t do anything wrong, if I can find the man from last night I can explain. I can tell him how I had nothing to do with the execution of those women, and get him to reverse the curse, or something.” She spoke rapidly, with hope, hope that this man had clearly lost.

  “We will go and find him, but I don’t know where to start. We need to go into town but no one can see us. We have to lay low until we can find that warlock.” He stood up and helped her to her feet; she brushed herself off and looked around.

  “Where are we anyway?” Elizabeth looked around trying to see anything familiar.

  “We are just outside of town.” Matthias had brought her out here when he awoke; he needed to get her away from the chaos.

  Elizabeth nodded, it seemed reasonable. Anyone cursed or associated with magic whatsoever would be executed. People hated it, and she didn’t fancy being tied to a tree or stake and burnt alive. She shuddered at the thought, her emotions were everywhere and she was exhausted. All she wanted was a drink and to sleep.

  She followed Matthias down the path; they did not talk, instead just walked alongside each other, both of them lost in thought. The closer they got to town the thicker the air got. They could smell the smoke, it was not strong but it lingered in the air. The sky was grey and thick with clouds, the air cold. They reached the familiar houses that were not far from where Elizabeth lived.

  “We need to get some different clothes and disguise ourselves.” He said assertively. She felt as if she did not have a choice, he was not asking her, but telling her what she had to do as if she was some undisciplined child. Still, she obliged and followed him to a nearby clothes shop. She quickly realized that she had no money.

  “I don’t have any money.” She said embarrassed. She always had money; she was wealthy and was worried he would look at her as if she was a peasant.

  “We will have to steal then.” He smirked.

  Elizabeth looked at him horrified. Steal? She could not possibly do that, it was a bad thing to do. She looked at his assertive expression and she realized she did not want to cross him; after all he was helping her. Plus she felt safe with him. He seemed to have it all worked out, well more than she did. She knew also that if it was not for him, she probably would not be alive right now.

  They walked into the clothes shop. It was seemingly empty at first until a small mousy haired woman appeared from behind a door.

  “Hello dears, what can I get for you?” She said sweetly. Elizabeth wanted to run; she did not want to be a part of this. She just wanted to go home and forget all of this. Go and cry in her mother’s arms, as the servant girl put the bedpan under her covers like always, and fall into a deep slumber.

  She had to bite her lip hard to stop herself from breaking down there and then, she had never been particularly good at dealing with difficult situations well.

  “Hello me and my lady friend and are looking for two new outfits, but we have no money to pay for them. I’m going to need you to go get them for us and let us have them for free.” He looked into her eyes and it seemed as if she was in a trance.

  What happened to stealing? She thought. What was he was thinking? Nobody let anyone walk away without paying for it. But to Elizabeth’s surprise, she did. The lady was still smiling. She didn’t say a word but held up two dresses in front of her. One was made out of white lace with hand stitched butterflies on. It looked more like a wedding dress, it was so beautiful. The other dress was not so pretty, black with red stitching, she had already fallen in love with the white one. She felt bad for taking it, it must have cost her a lot of money to make, and lace was not cheap.

  Elizabeth gestured to the white dress and the woman nodded placing it down on the counter. As for Matthias he had already picked an outfit from the shelves and had already started putting it on in front of them, stripping down naked.

  Elizabeth looked away from him quickly; she could see him smirking in the corner of her eye.

  “You need to put on the dress Elizabeth, there is also a hooded coat over there in the corner; put it on, it will cover your face.” She looked over to the coat. It was just a simple black robe with a basic hood, nothing special. Elizabeth looked at the woman, mouthing sorry to her. The woman looked confused and didn’t understand why Elizabeth was saying sorry but instead turned to Matthias and asked him if there was anything else he would need.

  “No you can leave now.” He gestured to the woman. Elizabeth didn’t understand how he was doing it, but then she felt the same way as that lady. If he told her to do something she abided, he just had that characteristic about him.

  “What’s your name, I never asked?” Elizabeth said making conversation.

  “Matthias.” He murmured.

  What a lovely name, she thought. Clearly a nobleman of a sort, he spoke articulately, but the scars on his face seemed strange. She wondered if they were from the fire. She wanted to ask but found herself staying quiet. She pulled off her current dress, with her back to Matthias. She could feel his eyes on her, as she pulled up her dress and struggled to do the back of it up.

  He walked over and took the ribbon, pulling in the corset. He did it so gently. He had clearly done this before, to another woman perhaps? A lover or even maybe a wife, but she didn’t want to ask. He finished quickly and Elizabeth looked at herself in the shop mirror. She looked beautiful; she silently wished that Richard could see her looking like this.

  Elizabeth’s thoughts turned to Richard. She had forgotten about him momentarily and needed to find him and her family. Elizabeth didn’t say anything to Matthias. She decided she was going to wait until they found the warlock then she would sneak away from Matthias; once the warlock had reversed whatever he had done to her. She pulled the hood over her head and followed Matthias out of the shop, thanking the woman on the way out.

  They had not even made it half way down the road when Elizabeth saw Richard and her sister walking hand in hand down the road. She looked at them in disbelief. So they find out she supposedly died less than a week ago and they both betray her. The thought made her furious. Matthias looked around and saw Elizabeth snarling at them, they had not seen her yet.

  She pulled her hood down and went to run at them. Matthias grabbed her, pulling her into an alleyway and restrained her against the wall. She fought him, but got breathless and stopped. He grabbed her hand and led her down to the bottom of the alleyway. He looked frustrated.

  “Are you trying to get us killed? What happened to laying low?” He said angrily.

  His face frightened her, but she had felt so hurt and could not help it. Elizabeth threw herself onto him and sobbed on his shoulder. She had noth
ing else left now.

  Elizabeth expected Matthias to throw her off of him and walk away, but he surprised her. He pulled her into his arms tightly and stroked her hair. It felt good, she needed to be comforted.

  She felt so horrible and she wanted to run away. She hated them, they should be grieving, not sneaking off with each other, it’s the worst betrayal, he could have gone for any girl, but no, he chose her sister. And worst, her sister agreed.

  They were always there for each other. Elizabeth meant the world to her, as she did to Elizabeth and then she betrays her like this? She is not even upset; Elizabeth thought to herself and sobbed harder. She wanted to kill them both. Elizabeth could feel something boiling inside of her; the hurt went and was replaced by hot anger.

  She would get them for this, and kill them. They had taken everything from her, and it hurt so much. She made a promise to herself to kill them for what they had done. Elizabeth looked Matthias in the eyes and blinked back her tears.

  “I will kill them.” Elizabeth spat.

  “Who? What happened back there?” Matthias looked at her anxiously.

  “My sister and Richard, my husband-to-be, they’re not even upset Matthias. They were together, hand in hand.” She started to raise her voice and clenched her fists.

  “Don’t worry Elizabeth; you will have your revenge. But first we need to find the warlock who did this.” He led her off down the street.

  chapter fifteen

  Present day – Cumbria

  Jordan walked to Elizabeth’s house and knocked loudly on the door making flakes of paint fall onto his trainers.

  Elizabeth answered and looked at Jordan brightly.

  “You want to come out?” He asked sweetly.

  “Don’t really feel like it.” She said honestly.

  “Come on, you need some time out of the house.” He persisted.

  “No I am happy being inside.” She relented. He grabbed her hand and attempted to pull her out the door. She huffed and tugged her hand from his.

  “Come on.” He pleaded. Elizabeth sighed and rolled her eyes.

  “Fine, but I’m only going out for a couple hours.” She knew that she had loads to do, but she guessed a couple hours out would not do any harm. She grabbed her coat off the hook and looked to Cecile.

  “I’ll be back later.” She huffed.

  “Ok.”

  Elizabeth grabbed Jordan’s arm and dragged him out the door.

  “Where would you like to go then?” Jordan looked to her.

  “You decide.” She sighed.

  She led him towards an opening of an abandoned overgrown field. Elizabeth pushed open the rotting gate whilst Jordan shrugged away s piece of nettle that had attached itself to his jeans.

  “So where are you taking me?” Jordan said looking around to the seemingly never ending fields. Elizabeth stopped and lied down.

  “Here.” She said quietly and closed her eyes.

  “Are you serious?” She did not reply. He nodded his head and laid himself next to her. He felt the cold air sweep at his hair. He listened to Elizabeth’s breathing and felt sleepy.

  They stared up to the stars. It looked so perfect, like small diamonds on a rich black canvass. The moon was full, and there was not a cloud in sight. He felt perfect with Elizabeth next to him and felt happier than he had ever felt.

  “Are you ok anyway?” He said quietly. She turned her head to his.

  “Yeah, are you?” He knew this was a lie. She looked so anxious lately.

  “I am very happy.” He smiled at her and placed his hand on hers. She shot him an anxious smile.

  “Do you want to go somewhere else?” She got up and pulled Jordan up with her.

  “Ok.” They walked out of the field and back onto the road. They reached the shop near town.

  “Wait here.” Elizabeth said as she skipped off into the shop. Jordan stood there uncomfortably and fiddled with the strings on his jacket. . She walked out and shook a bottle of vodka naughtily at Jordan.

  “Fancy a drink?” She smirked.

  They took in turns to drink the foul tasting liquid. Jordan had no idea why Elizabeth liked it, but he drank it anyway.

  He could feel his worries slipping away with every gulp. They had not walked far when a group of men in their twenties who were merrily singing a football song stopped and stared straight at Elizabeth.

  “Hey hot stuff.” One of the guys said sloppily. He stumbled clumsily towards her.

  “I have a boyfriend.” Elizabeth gestured to Jordan.

  “So?” The man took a step forwards towards Elizabeth.

  Jordan stepped in front of her and clenched his fists. The man retreated quickly; Jordan smirked until he realized it was only because the man had seen another group walking by. He looked to Jordan angrily.

  “Shame.” He said as he walked off with the rest of his group.

  “Assholes.” Elizabeth shouted to them.

  The man turned around and shouted back.

  “You’re lucky this time.” Elizabeth turned and ran at them, throwing her bottle of vodka over the men. Elizabeth and Jordan turned and ran away quickly, laughing. They rushed past the buildings. Jordan kept falling into things and Elizabeth had to keep going back to help him.

  “You’re a pain in the ass.” Elizabeth said breathlessly.

  “But I’m your pain in the ass.” Jordan said with a big grin.

  They stopped running when they reached the poorly lit park. She leant against a tree laughing. Jordan slumped to the floor, drunk, and felt damp grass through his jeans. The world spun around him.

  “I’m so drunk.” He slurred. Elizabeth laughed and lay down next to him.

  “What do you want do now?” She laughed.

  “I don’t mind, along as it’s with you.” He turned to her and kissed her hard. He pressed himself against her and burped.

  “Nice.” She said trying to push him away from her. Jordan laughed.

  “I love you Elizabeth.” He said sloppily.

  “You’re drunk. You don’t know what you’re saying.” She said quietly.

  “I do, I love you so much.” Jordan said as he began kissing her neck.

  “Jordan, stop it. You don’t mean what you’re saying.” She said as she shuffled herself away from him and got to her feet.

  “Elizabeth, look you need… no… shh... umm to listen to me… I am not that drunk. I wanted you, I mean want you.” Jordan slurred and pulled himself up and stumbled towards her, pulling her tightly against him.

  “Let’s go home.” Elizabeth said disappointed. He put his arm around her and they trudged home.

  “You can stay at mine tonight.” Elizabeth said as they reached the edge of the woods.

  “I like that idea.” Jordan tried to say seductively, but instead tripped over a branch.

  Elizabeth helped him up and led him to her house. She pushed open the door, Cecile laughed when she saw Jordan.

  “Having fun?” She lifted an eyebrow.

  “He is.” Elizabeth said sternly as she carried Jordan up the stairs.

  Jordan fell onto the bed and pulled her down with him.

  “I don’t feel very well.” He said as he wrapped himself in her quilt.

  “I know.” She said softly and combed her fingers through his hair.

  “I love you.” he said quietly before passing out. She stared at him for a few moments and breathed heavily.

  “I love you too.” She whispered. She hated herself for it, but she could not help how she felt. She pulled the quilt over herself and stared at the door, tears prickling at her eyes.

  She buried her face in the quilt and bit her lip. She tried to sleep but the sickness she felt would not go away.

  chapter sixteen

  Elizabeth woke up early and walked into the bathroom.

  She splashed cold water on her face and looked at herself in the mirror. She was aggravated with herself. Why on earth did she say she loved him? She did not, she could not.


  She bit down hard on her lip and walked back into the bedroom. She stared at Jordan as he lay peacefully on the bed. The sun shone through the window highlighting his dark brown hair. She sighed deeply

  “Jordan, wake up. You need to leave.” Jordan stirred and opened his eyes.

  “What? What time is it?” He said squinting and holding the side of his head.

  “Ten o’ clock, my aunt is having some friends over.” She lied.

  “Ok, I’ll just umm… grab my clothes then.” He pushed the quilt back and stumbled out of bed. He got dressed slowly. Elizabeth walked over to her dressing table and pulled her hair into a ponytail. Jordan mumbled behind her.

  “I’m off, see you later.” He did not even look in her direction.

  “See you later.” She huffed. She knew he did not mean what he said last night.

  “By the way Lizzie I meant what I said last night.” Jordan said quietly before closing the door. It was as if he could hear her thoughts.

  Elizabeth sat on the bed and buried her head in her hands. She did not know how to feel now, but pushed Jordan out of her thoughts. She put on her lipstick and got changed.

  She hurried down the stairs and looked at the time. It was only half ten, she had hours until Lorcan turned up. She wished she had not let Jordan go. She thought it was much later than it was. She slid her phone from her pocket and called him.

  “Hey, I know I just asked you to leave, but my aunt isn’t having her friends over until about three. Do you want to come back?” There was a small pause on the phone.

  “Yeah, I’ll come back now.” He replied and she hung up the phone. The truth is she wanted to spend every moment she could with him, before tonight. She felt guilty but knew she could not back out now.

  Jordan let himself in and walked into the living room.