William hung his shoulders low in defeat as his sniggering acquaintances made hurtful comments on his most recent poem. He didn’t think that the poetry was ’bloody awful’ like they said it was. He, just like his dear mother, thought it was perfect. Just as perfect as the inspiration for the verse; Cecily Adams. William stole a nervous glance at the brunette woman and his heart filled with hope. Unlike the other crude gentlemen and ladies, she wasn’t tittering over his confession of love.
Cecily didn’t want to hurt the poor mans feelings, but she had no desire to have a relationship with the timid gentleman. Since she’d known him, he’d always been the butt of all the jokes and threats. Never once did he stand up and defend himself, he only stood in the corner and took the ridicules. She didn’t have a problem with William, she just didn’t have the feelings to return his affection.
“They aren’t written about me… are they, William?” She asked, hoping that she wasn’t the subject of his fantasies. The boorish men around her stopped their conversations to hear what he would say. William took in a deep, shaky breath and decided to attempt to hide his feelings from her until the opportune moment.
“They are about how I feel…” He muttered. William prayed that that was a reasonable answer to her question.
“I know, but… are they about me?” Cecily repeated. One of the observers, Raymond Whitmore, started to snicker and she glared at the pitiless man. Her eyes fell back onto William and he looked at her with deep blue orbs.
“Every syllable.” William admitted, he nervously glanced at the people around him and then back at Cecily. She shook her head furiously and then darted out of the room. William stood up off of the fancy couch with every intention of racing after his beautiful muse, but Raymond Whitmore stood in his way.
“Cecily, please give me a moment to explain…” William called. Cecily turned to him with a scowl. He’d embarrassed her in front of all of her friends and he still wanted to talk to her.
“Go away, William. Give it up. Your beneath me.” She said just before she disappeared up the stairs leading to her bedroom.
“Excuse me…” William asked the tall beast. William struggled to get to Cecily, but Whitmore didn’t budge, “Please, Whitmore… Let me get to Cecily. She is… crying, please let me go see if she’s well-” He wanted to finish talking but Whitmore interrupted him with deep laugh.
“Why, do you wish to comfort her? She doesn’t like you, Pratt. She had no desire to accompany one such as yourself.” Whitmore spat. William felt tears swell up in his eyes and he fought hard to hold them back.
A redheaded man named Isaac Downy joined Whitmore in his teasing, “William, you have no chance with Cecily. Your bloody awful poetry will surely kill her with laughter.”
“William the Bloody is what his name should be!” A thin blonde woman named Annabelle Wright bellowed. Everyone around the room started to chant William the Bloody and William Pratt couldn’t take it anymore. He mustered up some courage and then pushed his way past the rude group. William never looked back until he was safely out of the Adams mansion. When he did look back, he felt no need to hold in his tears. This day couldn’t have been more worse for the poor bloke. William realized that his mother, Anne, was waiting up for him at his home and he started to walk to his house. Anne would know exactly how to comfort him after an attack like this. She always did.
He walked down past the Wrights home and William could help but tremble in the face of the intimidating ogre of a house. Annabelle Write was by far part of the wealthiest family in London, so her relations had nothing short of the best. Though his home was quite large, it was nothing compared to the intimidating Wright mansion. William continued on down the quiet dark street. Thoughts poured through his mind over whether or not his poems truly were appalling. The people back at the party had said that the poems were horrible, but perhaps they only said it because they were jealous of his creativity. He did spend a lot of time on that poem, it wouldn’t be surprising if they were just envious of his talent.
“My soul is wrapped in harsh repose,
Midnight descends in raven-colored clothes,
But soft…behold!
A sunlight bean
Cutting a swath of glimmering gleam
My heat expands,
‘tis grown a bulge in it,
Inspired by your beauty…
Effulgent.”
William recited his memorized words, then grimaced in disgust. The poem really was horrid. Too horrid, perhaps, to be curable. Cecily, Whitmore and the others weren’t jealous, they were humored. His hand slipped inside his trouser pocket and pulled out the worn slip of paper. William took one look at what had been his useless declaration of love and threw it on the wet ground behind him. He continued walking, and didn’t see the slim figure following behind him and pick up his discarded masterpiece.
“Oh William…” She whispered quietly once she read through the stanza. She looked back up as his body disappeared down the dark, foggy street.
Meanwhile:
William pushed his way past a gentleman and two ladies and muttered ‘sorry’. He knew he should have stopped to make sure that the ebony-haired lady he rammed into was well, but he was to hurt to worry about others well beings at the moment. Within moments he was stopped with a tug on his sleeve.
“Hello, Lost Puppy.” William turned to the woman and recognized her as the one he ran into.
“I’m… deeply sorry for the accident back there. A-Are you alright?” He stuttered. This woman was stunning and easily pushed the thoughts of Cecily out of his mind.
“You’ve suffered tonight, haven’t you?” She asked. She ran her pale hand down his sharp cheeks and smiled when goose-bumps abraded his porcelain-colored face. William was absolutely smitten with this beauty.
“I-I…” William was about to spill out what had happened at Cecily’s, but he remembered something that Mother had told him earlier today, “Your not going to take my purse! I’ve heard of you England pick-pocketers.”
William pushed to get away from the slender woman, but she ended up pushing William into the alley. He clutched his purse to his chest and stepped away from the surprisingly strong woman.
“I’m not a nasty thieve, my love… I know what you crave.” She whispered, “You craved an uncaring woman, but the evil snake didn’t return your feelings. She wasn’t worthy of you, My Dark Knight.”
“How do you know this?” a confused William asked.
“I’m Drusilla.” She answered as if that was the answer for everything.
“I must go… I have to get home to mother.”
“You want something better… something effulgent.” Drusilla grinned, ignoring his excuse. William’s jaw dropped and he tried to mutter something back to her, but nothing was able to pass through his shivering lips.
“I don’t have effulgent, Puppy, but I can give you darkness. You’ll love the darkness.” She stepped closer to William and licked his neck. Poor William was too shocked to move, “Join me and I can make everything better, William.”
She leaned in to perform the first part of the vampiric tradition, but did not have a chance. A blue light appeared around him and Drusilla watched, not in horror but amazement.
“And why did they choose my Dark Prince to perform the work of the Superior ones? He was mine!” She seethed, “Do they have no respect for the Wicked Plum. He’s meant to be with Drusilla. Not with those innocent seraphs.” Drusilla spat at Williams feet and hurried away. They’d stolen something that was hers. They would definitely pay. She’ll go get Daddy and he’ll make it all better.
William felt blue flames all around him but he felt no heat. The flames were as bright as a Summer’s sun and he couldn’t help but whisper “Effulgent”. His clothes started to char and the ash from his stuffy attire fell to the ground. All around him the scenery changed. The dark alley way, illuminated by a candled streetlight, lit up with a blue tint. Then all around him disappeared and he seemed to be just a glowing person in the middle of Space. William then realized what had happened and started to panic. He closed his eyes and opened them up to see if it was just a dream. But it wasn’t.
He was now in a large room with silver walls and blue colored objects were placed in the room as décor. William slowly turned around to see if there was anyone there. When he turned a complete one-eighty he jumped backwards. There were two people behind him.
“Hello William.”
“You should be very thankful for your fate, William.”
“What’s going on? Am I ill?” William asked, looking up at the two strangely dressed people. The woman laughed and the man smirked.
“You are certainly not ill.”
Okay? Not okay? Suck horribly?... WONDERFUL?
squawks
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!
05/18/17 04:16 am
pj! I remember wishing one of your stories would be finished seriously about a decade ago. Amazing. I just tried an old password I used to use and amazingly got in too. Memories!
pj
03/20/17 01:20 am
10 yrs later, i finally rem my username and password. Pari, you rock. Hope you are well.
Rabbit_moon1
12/23/16 01:12 pm
I donate every month. Please donate to keep this site up!
AudryDaluz1
10/06/16 08:34 am
Great post.
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:45 pm
And anyone else who loves this site, it's worth mentioning there's a nifty little "Donate" option just below the shout box here! ;)
Chrissel
08/31/16 03:43 pm
Just wanted to take a moment to thank Pari and all the mods for maintaining such a great site!