Chapter 5 Monster Maybe

Something was telling her to get away from him. Pulling the blanket up over her naked body. Majesta looked at herself and then at him and got angry.

“Where are my clothes?” Majesta screamed at him.

“They were dirty and soaked, so I took them off you and had them cleaned,” Craven told her with a hint of joy in his eyes.

“What else did you do?” Majesta asked, fear and anger mixing in her voice.

“I am not an animal. I would never take advantage of a young woman. Let alone you!” He seemed angry and hurt that she would suggest that he would rape her. That thought alone upset her, but she didn’t recall wanting him to have her in that manner. She had flashes of his raping her. Memories flashed, but nothing that would stick; something wasn’t right in her mind. This man didn’t seem like the type that would take advantage of her, but her mind was playing tricks on her at the same time. Majesta was shivering under the blanket, and it really wasn’t that cold in the room. It had to be more than just the fact that she was nude. Craven seemed to notice that she wasn’t very comfortable and moved off the bed, finding the only other chair in the room. Majesta sighed with relief that he wasn’t close enough to touch anymore. She worried that she would never be able to get away from him.

“Then why do I feel like we did more than you are saying? I know that I wouldn’t have fallen into your bed without someone doing something to me,” The blankets held tight to her chest. Though that statement seemed like a lie even to her ears.

“It is the eyes that take you to another place, to make you see things from your past life. The way things used to be before,” his voice cracked, and she thought he would cry. “They killed you…with fire.”

“It melted me…I can feel the flames on my skin when I have the dreams. You stood in the shadows and cried for me. Then you shot me with an arrow, right through the heart.” Majesta gasped and felt like a weight had been lifted off her shoulders. It was bad enough to want him; it was something else to know how he had killed her. She knew that it really wasn’t her who had died, but her soul. People had told her many times that she had an old soul, but this proved it. He had said that he had been looking for her for over five hundred years. That worried her that he was something other than human.

“I took your heart, for I couldn’t bear to see you die that way. Your silken hair would have burned if they had not cut it to the scalp. Never really understood why they saved the person that horror,” Craven told her, then templed his fingers under his chin.

“You didn’t leave after the arrow, did you?” Majesta asked, but she knew the answer already.

“No, mo anam cara,” Craven said. She stood and pulled the blanket with her; Majesta walked across the room to stand in front of him. Looking into his face, but not into his eyes. She knew the color and the depths of his soul and the horrors that he had watched that day. Once in front of him, she went to her knees and laid her hands on his knees. She knew right away that he wasn’t telling her the whole truth.

There was more to this story than he was telling. Something bugged her about the way he told it, and how he couldn’t seem to bring himself to say it all. A missing piece that someone else needed to say.

“You watched me turn to ash, and it tore your heart out. What made you keep going? How the hell did you live through this?” Running her hand up his leg.

“I didn’t live through it. That night I was taken by the lord of the night. He took my life so that my soul would find yours again. You have such great power, and you don’t even know it. I am glad that it was me who found you and not him,” Craven told her. He tried not to moan at her touch. When he spoke of the Lord of the Night, she knew right away who he was talking about.

Majesta didn’t think that he really gave his life up for the reasons he was saying. The lord of the night was in love with Elizabeta or something to that effect. Why would he give this man eternal life?

“He would have killed me again to see your anguish,” Majesta said, but the words didn’t seem to fit right.

“Yes, he would have killed you and left me looking for you again. I have been watching you for years, waiting for you to see the truth. The first dream came to you when you hit twenty. I watched as you felt the flames and saw the arrow come to take you. I heard you call my name, even though you had never met me. Even now, you know my name without me telling you. You know that I have always loved your hair long, and even though you wanted to cut it, you didn’t,” Craven told her. She could see the tears in his eyes.

Majesta was shocked beyond anything she could explain. The first dream had come to her when she was twenty and woke up screaming a name she had never heard before. The ache in her arms was horrible, yet she didn’t know at the time what to do with it. Her roommate had come running, trying to calm her down, but it didn’t work too well. She had needed someone, and that person seemed to be him. Getting to her feet again, going back to the bed, lying on her stomach with her head pointed toward him. Majesta didn’t really understand what was going on, and that pissed her off. Having no control over the dreams and the gifts that seemed to come with them. One thing she hated was not having control over her body; the way the dreams and feelings made her want things she would never have wanted normally.

“You have been stalking me? How long have you been watching me?” She already had an idea.

“Do you really want to know that answer, Majesta?” He already knew she didn’t really want the honest answer.

“Yes,” With a glare, she punched the bed.

“Ten years…” He told her and saw the horror in her eyes.

She gaped at him and wondered how it was that she had never seen him before. He was sexy and had a look about him that she would not have forgotten seeing before. There was a knock at the door that made her jump. Looking at the door, then to herself with a sigh. She really hated being nude when others, when strangers were around.