Soul Snatcher (7 page)

“
Mr. Brighton, is there something you would like to ask
Annie?” Miss Danes questioned with agitation obvious in her voice.
Annie’s heart felt like it stopped beating and Rosemary’s eyes
widened in shock. An awkward silence filled the room and Eli glared
at Miss Danes, obviously appalled at her rudeness.

“
Actually, I am quite curious as to why she is working.
Should she not rest after her ordeal?” Eli didn’t find Miss Danes
frightening in the least, which was either stupid or
brave.

“
She was the one who chose to begin working again,”
Miss Danes explained harshly. Annie wanted to run out of the room
and lock herself away. The other man seemed to be oblivious to
anything that was happening.

“
I am pleased for her sake that she had a choice,” Eli
said through gritted teeth. This was beyond ridiculous. Why was he
even talking about this? Didn’t he know that this was completely
out of line?

“
Maybe it would be best if this night was cut short,
Mr. Brighton.” It was obvious Miss Danes was holding herself
back.

“
I could not agree more.” Eli stood, threw his napkin
down and stormed out of the manor. Annie and Rosemary stood there,
mouth agape in shock. The other man just stood and left without
saying a word. Miss Danes turned to Annie with a look akin to
hatred in her eyes.

“
You little trollop,” she spat the words. Annie placed
her hand against her chest as if to ask, who me?

Annie looked
to Rosemary who was just as horrified as her. Before either of them
could defend Annie, Miss Danes walked up and slapped her across the
face. Annie
’s face violently
twisted to one side and she paused for a moment from the shock of
it. She placed her hand over her cheek to subdue the burning as she
slowly turned back to the others. Her eyes watered from the sting
and shock of the slap and she just stared at Miss Danes. Annie was
left completely speechless from the older woman’s outburst.
Rosemary stood there frozen in complete bewilderment

“
Get out of this place within the hour. Get off my
grounds, I never want to see you again!” Miss Danes screamed and
then left.

As soon as
Miss Danes left
them alone
Annie ran for her room, Rosemary was close behind. Micah was in the
kitchen when they ran through to the help’s quarters. Annie raced
into her room, slammed the door and jammed the chair against the
handle so no one could get in. She knew that Rosemary and Micah
would probably be thrown out along with her if Miss Danes saw them
interacting after that display. She had to leave before they could
suffer her fate.

She
gathered
most of her things
into her bed sheet and tied it all together with the corners. It
wasn’t too heavy and the shape was manageable. Rosemary and Micah
were banging on the door, yelling to be let in but Annie ignored
their requests. Her only possible escape was the window. But where
was she to go?

Suddenly she
remembered the piece of paper with Eli’s address on it. She grabbed
it from her draw and placed it in the bust of her dress so she
wouldn’t lose it. If he had gotten her into this mess then it was
his responsibility to get her out of it.

She pushed
the window open and looked down to see how far the drop was. Only a
few feet, she could manage that. She carefully dropped her
belongings, which were mainly her clothes, to the ground and they
landed with a soft thud. She then hoisted her feet out over the
window and turned so her stomach was resting on the sill as her
legs dangled over the edge. Her ribs were still sore and made it
more difficult to manage but she made it to the ground with
relative ease. She did fall on her backside but it wasn’t anything
that would cause permanent damage. She picked herself up off the
ground then grabbed her things. She looked around the pitch black
night feeling as if she were the size of a mouse. How was she going
to make it anywhere?

CHAPTER
5

Annie started
walking into the cold night
,
cuddling her things as if it would make her feel better. She knew
the grounds quite well and thought she could manage, at least until
she reached the edge of Miss Danes’ land. She contemplated taking a
horse but Miss Danes would probably have her arrested for
theft.

After
wandering around for some time it started to rain, which just felt
like a tribute to her bad luck. Annie ran for the nearest tree
which was exposed when lightning struck through the sky. Not the
smartest idea she ever had but she couldn’t just stand there
getting soaked. It was bad enough that her hair was already
drenched through along with her clothes. She was freezing and had
no hope of finding her way anywhere. As she reached the slight
shelter of the branches another lightning bolt lit up the sky and
illuminated everything. What it lit up made Annie’s heart stop
beating, she had seen an instant flash of a sea of tombstones.
Somehow she had made her way into the graveyard without even
realising. She began trembling from not only the cold but the
terror that was running through her.

Tears started
to run down her face and mix with the rain as she tried to push
away the fear rising inside her. What was she meant to do? How had
she even gotten there? Was she just at the edge of the graveyard or
in the heart of it? The scary thing was, she wouldn’t know until
morning unless she ventured through it.

Lightning lit
up the sky again and this time exposed something even more
frightful, a man she had never seen before standing across the
other side of the graveyard. He had just been standing there,
watching her. Annie’s body started to tremble even more and her
heart beat wildly in her chest. Why was this happening again? How
was it happening? Why were there all these people in graveyards at
night? It was starting to feel less like a coincidence and more
like someone had planned it. What was she meant to do
now?

Before she
could think of anything she felt hands grab her arms from behind
and she let out an almighty scream. She dropped her belongings
instantly. She started kicking her legs around and hitting her arms
through the air. Surely it had to accomplish something. She kept
screaming until her throat was burning but it was no use against
the sound of the rain. No one would hear, no one would come to help
her this time and all she could think was she wished she had seen
Baden again.

The person
put their hand over her mouth and held her tight against them so
they could restrain her with one arm.

“
Annie,” the person yelled over the sound of the rain.
When she stopped her struggling, whoever it was loosened their hold
so she spun around and tried to see through the dark. She wasn’t
sure but she thought she knew that voice.

Lightning
flashed and the face it lit up left her with a relief that buried
itself in
to her soul. Eli
stood before her and she had never been so glad to see someone in
her whole life. He held onto her protectively and she was so
comforted that she threw her arms around him and buried her face
into his neck. After a moment the rain eased enough so they could
hear each other speak.

“
What are you doing here?” Eli asked, happy to hold her
in his arms.

“
After you left Miss Danes threw me out and I wandered
into the graveyard by mistake,” Annie said through tearful
sobs.

“
Come with me, I will take you back to my manor.” Eli
took her hand after grabbing her things and started to lead her
away by the arm.

“
Wait, I need to gather my belongings,” Annie said with
left over panic from her previous fright. Eli held up her bindle
for inspection but she couldn’t see in the dark.

“
I already have it,” he assured her. He led her a
little way before he helped her onto his waiting horse. In the
pitch black he managed to tie her bag to his steed and mount
himself.

“
How did you do that?” Annie asked as they rode away.
The rain was less than a drizzle now but she was still freezing.
She sat in Eli’s lap as they made their way to his home.

“
I am very experienced,” he joked. She rested her head
against his chest, not caring what he thought of it. She was far
too weary to care.

After what
felt like forever, they arrived at his manor and she had never felt
more exhausted in her life. Eli jumped down and helped her off the
horse with great care. The light coming from the house made it so
she could see and she felt a little more at ease. He walked her
into the entryway of the house and closed the door behind them. A
man appeared seemingly out of nowhere.

“
Garrick, this is Annie. She will be here for some time
but for now just place her in my room,” Eli instructed. She froze
from the thought of sleeping in his room and stood there feeling a
little uncertain.

“
There is a fire already started and some clothes you
can change into. I have somewhere I need to be but when I come back
I will sleep in the guest room,” Eli assured her after seeing her
hesitation. She still looked a little wary. “There is a lock on the
door if you would feel safer.”

“
Sorry.” Is all she could think to say.

“
Whatever for?” Eli was genuinely confused.

“
For intruding on your life.” Annie hated feeling like
a burden but she didn’t have anywhere else to go. Eli gave one of
his sweet smiles.

“
I do not think ‘intrude’ is a word for someone you
willing allow in. I will see you in the morning or sleep in if you
need. In fact, do so. You need to rest.” His thoughts played out as
he spoke and it made her smile. He wanted to stay and spend time
with her but he had to go. After a moment of hesitation he spoke.
“Good night, Annie.” Eli forced himself to leave through the door
they had just come in.

She turned to
Garrick
feeling a little
silly, standing there soaked through and helpless.

“
This way, Miss Belle.” He smiled a warm smile that
helped to make Annie feel more at ease. She followed behind him as
he led the way up stairs.

The stairs
were almost directly in front o
f the door and the downstairs rooms branched off to the
right and left of the staircase. The walls, banisters and shelves
were made of dark, elegant, polished wood. Lovely paintings hung on
the walls of landscapes rather than portraits of people, like so
many other manors had. The floor runners were simple but effective,
a red so dark it was almost black with gold edges. Everything went
together neatly.

The
colour of the walls were a lovely,
light blue and refreshing. The same dark, elegant wood from the
trimmings ran along the walls. They were cut to panel vertically,
covering the last third of the wall down to the floor. The curtains
were a royal blue and the furniture stuck to neutral tones, such as
light brown and ivory, fashioned conservatively but still
sophisticated. All together it was much more welcoming than Miss
Danes’ manor.

“
How do you know my last name?” She asked as she
followed Garrick. They were walking along the upstairs landing that
housed some of the bedrooms and overlooked the open room at the
front of the manor.

“
Mr. Brighton informs me of the things I need to know,”
he answered vaguely.

“
My things, they are on the back of Eli’s horse,” Annie
fretted. Garrick stopped and looked over the banister towards the
door. She did the same and saw her possessions on the floor by the
doorway. The bundle looked rather pitiable in such a refined
manor.

“He seems to
think of everything,” she whispered, sounding almost
stunned.

“
That he does,” Garrick agreed as he started walking
again. He took her to a room and held the door open for her. She
walked into the room hesitantly, it was all very dream-like. “Good
night, Miss Belle,” he said then closed the door. She stood there
just taking a moment to soak in her surroundings.

There was a
huge fireplace, with a roaring fire, that almost covered one whole
wall. The bed was bigger than any she had ever seen and looked
softer than clouds seemed, with its white fluffy pillows and light
blue quilt which matched the walls. A writing desk sat in between
two huge windows and there was another door on the other side of
the room that she guessed was a dressing room. The rug was the same
as the ones throughout the house and just one reading chair sat
near the fire place, she could see it was coloured emerald green as
the firelight flickered against it.

There were
some
nightclothes laid out on
the bed, obviously Eli’s because it had his monogram in white
stitching on the breast pocket. The simple pants and button shirt
were a royal blue, very neat and very Eli. She quickly got dressed
into the oversized clothes and placed her soaking wet dress near
the fire. She would dry her other clothes later. The nightclothes
were so soft against her chilled skin. As she looked around the
room, and thinking back to the rest of the house, she was beginning
to think that his favourite colour was blue.