Chapter 4
Her mother always said that she was quiet, too quiet. So silent that it was seen as a negative trait. This always confused her; Mother told her to keep her opinions to herself, so she did. She kept quiet when her father spoke to her, when her brother spoke to her, when a gentleman at a ball spoke to her. All she did was nod her head and smile, giggling behind her hand when the conversation led to that. Being quiet seemed to have gone over well with the men so she did her duties correctly.
However, this tactic didn't seem to go over well with the women in her life. She remembered her mother’s exasperated look when the woman tried to have a chat with her. Apparently, nods and silent smiles didn't work on the gentler sex. She found this out the hard way.
Her father always told her to make some new friends, making connections with high-ranking families was on his mind anytime they went out. She was a diligent daughter, so like always she nodded and smiled. Like always.
A daughter of a Duke is what she chose. She knew her father would be proud of her for that, perhaps she would get a sliver of a smile from him. As well as this plan seemed to have worked on paper it couldn't have gone more wrong. Words could not describe how beautiful the girl was. Soft, wavy brown hair that was tied back, giving a full view to her pretty face. Doe-like eyes gazing at chandeliers above, filling them with a childlike wonder. It felt like forever as she just stood there, staring at the pretty lady. This wasn’t the first time she felt like this, a fluttering in her stomach, her heart thumping against her chest.
She felt like that when her mother’s friends came to visit their estate. Soft, delicate lips that say such wonderful words, their demeanours poised and graceful, they seem to have a natural grace about them that just draws people in. It was strange, she never thought this way about the many of men that pushed their way into her life, perhaps this was normal? Maybe everyone thought this way? I mean, how couldn't you?
She felt this way as she stared at the girl, hands shaking by her side. The whispers teased her, giggling into her ears. That just made the blush on her face a darker colour. She must have looked insane, eyes blown out wide, a stupid grin on her lips. The girl certainly thought so, as she raised an eyebrow at her odd behaviour. The girl giggled behind her hand, that just made her more precious in her mind, but it also helped to snap her out of her frozen state.
“Apologies, it seems I was lost in my own mind. I meant no harm in staring at you so intensely.” The words flood out of her mouth before she had time to build a dam to stop them. She doesn't recall what the young lady replied with, only that she laughed some more, and an expression of understanding was written on her face. Her awkward demeanour only ever worked on her, she said she found it charming, others would avoid her by all needs necessary. By embarrassing herself, she made a new friend, and she was right. Her father was quite pleased with her for doing so.
Two years past from that faithful day. She met with the girl daily, to have tea and gossip about the latest news. They got close, very close.
Too close.
Sometimes she laid awake at night thinking about the girl in all her brilliance. An easy smile resting on her lips when she fell asleep afterwards. Her thoughts varied time to time. She thought about inviting the girl to her future wedding, as her bridesmaid of course. They would have such a wonderful time together, shoving sweets and tarts in their mouths when no one was looking. However, sometimes her mind drifted to...other things.
Sometimes she dreamed that she was a man, a gentleman with a shock of blonde hair with an easy smile resting on his face. If she was a man, she wouldn't have to marry a man anymore. If she was a man, she would be able to marry a woman. If she was a man, she would be able to marry someone she loved. Her best friend.
She hated thinking like that, it was sinful, plain and simple. If her mother were to ever find out, she would be knocking on death’s door and she would deserve it ten times over. Her entire life had been built for two purposes only, to get married and bare as many children as her husband wanted. As soon as she was born her father was already taking marriage candidates into mind. She didn't want to disappoint him, that was her greatest fear. Her father did so much for her, placed a roof over her head and made her comfortable with a full stomach. She loved her father, and she would not be seen as a disgrace.
Her interaction with her friend quickly dwindled over time, she told herself that this was the safest option, for both of them. She pretended to not notice the forlorn look on her lovely face, the way her hand trembled when she rejected to hold her hand. She began to believe that death was a better option than this.
However, she always looked on the brighter side of life! She was better at starting up conversations now, how lovely! She made so many new friends, branching out to other high-ranked families just to see the proud glint in her father’s eyes. Soon, she saw that same glint in her mother’s eyes when she caught the attention of a certain someone. In the end, one of her daydreams became a reality.
The lesson she learned through this eye-opening experience was that talking correctly was the skeleton key to success, she brought that lesson everywhere, even now as she stares up at this unit of a man in the dark corridor she trapped herself in. She couldn't help but smile at his attire, the brightest usage of the colour blue she has ever seen was plastered all over him, even his head! A helmet of some description covered the entire top of his face, a brown strap resting on his chin to complete it. A massive, white star on his chest and just below that was the...American flag? How odd, while she never met an American before she heard about the cultural differences between them. She never knew that they wore their flag with so much pride on the daily, good for them! You really do learn something new every day.
She gives the strange man her nicest smile and a practiced curtsy, hoping to make a good first impression. Being with a man in the dark with more people looking along never ended well for her, so with luck, maybe she could get out of this encounter somewhat unscathed. He eyes widen slightly as he looks quite taken aback. Perhaps he wasn't the only strange one here.
“Hello. How do you do? Was there something you needed? I noticed that you were following me for quite a while, is everything alright?” There, that was good. Maybe a bit too much questioning, men normally despise that, they don't like being questioned. The shocked look on his face grew with each word she spoke, his gaze turning towards the rooftops leaning over them for a spilt second before returning his gaze back to her.
He takes a step back and puts two fingers to his left ear. “Hold off just a moment. I’m making contact with the target.” He murmurs under his breath before resting his hand back down by his side. Now she is the one who is confused, who was this man talking to? Did he have shadows of his own or was he just insane? She takes a page out of the man’s book and takes a step back, pressing her back against the stone wall behind her.
The man then looks at her and slowly returns her smile. His was kind, perhaps a bit tired around the edges but his dimples made up for that. The ladies she used to have tea with would have swooned at that.
He clears his throat and bobs his head towards her in greeting as he waved his hand good naturedly. “Um-...Hey, hello. Sorry for scaring you, I just wanted to talk to you for second.” Talk. That was something she could do alright; besides, she thinks his American accent is quite humorous to listen to. He leans his shoulder against the wall on his right and the tense aura in the air slowly drifts away. “My name is Steve, what’s yours? If you don’t mind me asking, miss.”
Steve, what a lovely name. It wasn’t very common in London, so it was a nice change in pace. There was a lot of changes happening to her lately. Feeling more comfortable with the energy in the air, she smiles brighter despite the impending doom that is currently watching her from above. “Victoria. Victoria Bromley. It is a pleasure to meet you, Steve.” This is the first time she talked to someone since she woke up, it was nice. The shadows were lovely don’t get her wrong, but she was missing human interaction after so long without.
“Yeah, lovely to meet you, Victoria.” He seems genuine enough, but Victoria knew better than to shove all her trust at him. “Can I ask, why are you walking around at here at night? It’s getting cold, you might get sick.” He slowly takes this time to gaze at her appearance, looking her up and down. He frowns when he notices the lack of shoes and coat. His eyes turn stern at the sight of the scratches on her arms and legs. “Are you...alright? Did someone hurt you?”
My, was he intrusive! Cornering a woman in the middle of the night after following her for like ten minutes straight was already concerning enough without the string of such personal question. Scandalous! The shadows seem to find him interesting from their hiding place behind her, they whisper even more questions in her ears to ask. They seem rather interested in his attire still.
She shakes her head with a dismissing wave of her hand. “I’m quite alright, thank you. No need to worry over me. Just a bit shaken up, I suppose.” A shadow huffs in her ear, seemingly annoyed by this back in forth. It wraps itself around her shoulder and nuzzles her head, forcing her to look up. While she can’t see anyone that doesn’t mean that the group with the man left. The shadow whispers again, asking rather politely for her to ask a rather specific question. It makes her chuckle at the utter gall of her friend, but who is she to deny it? It’s not like she wasn’t also interested.
“Steve, who are the people above us? Are they your friends?” The smile on his face quickly turns into a frown, a look of concern burns in his eyes. His hands close tightly into fists, and while she couldn’t see them from the cover of his gloves, she knew his hands were turning white at the pressure.
A buzzing sound emanates from his person, he flinches at the sound and holds a hand up to his ear. Muffles of what seem to be another voice echos through the path, talking quite loudly. Did this man actually have his own shadows? Or perhaps there is something else at play here. She doesn’t sense any magic off the man in blue, in fact, there is nothing but light aura surrounding him. Is he somehow communicating with the people above? If so, that is quite inconvenient. She should probably do something about that.
She motions with her hand which is down by her side for a shadow to make haste, it snickers before it slithers across the ground and wraps its way around Steve’s foot. He fails to notice, they always do.
A wave of silence over comes the pair, as well as the little voice in Steve’s ear. She doesn’t know how long they stay there, just staring at each other, waiting for the opposite to make the first move. Victoria decides to be brave for once in her life.
“Steve? Who are they?” She repeats her question once more, her tone gentle like a mother asking if their child broke their favourite vase. This time, it worked. Steve sighs and holds up his hands in front of him, palms facing her in what she thinks is supposed to be a soothing manner.
“We mean you no harm, Victoria. I promise you.” His baby blue eyes seem to have the ability to pour out honesty at the seams, his voice kind albeit a bit rough. “We just want to know if you're okay. I’m part of a team called the Avengers; it’s our job to help people, I promise.”
He glances up at the rooftops above, a pained grimace on his face before he regains eye contact. “The people up there also want to help you, they're part of my team, you can trust them.”
Avengers...? How queer! Did they all wear the same outfit as Steve? If so, she must require about joining them. The shadows titter, they seem to be in a good mood tonight. “Help? Why, I don’t need any help. I’m a wee bit chilly but other than that I'm doing just dandy.” She was genuine about that, she wasn’t in any physical pain, not anymore at least.
Steve, on the other hand, seemed to believe otherwise. He takes a step forward, eyes glancing up every few seconds, as if waiting.
Waiting...
She should probably go through with her plan soon, hm?
As Steve advanced towards her, she did the opposite. Digging her back right up against the wall, the shadows welcome her with warm smiles. Her nails scratch the stone, preparing for her great escape.
“You don’t seem okay, if I'm being honest, miss. Please, don’t be scared. We have access to great team of doctors and nurses; we could bring you there right. No questions asked.” He goes to move forward once more but halfway through his foot is caught mid step. Victoria smiles as she looks down and sees her inky companion smiling back at her, proud of itself.
“Wh-?” The look of shock and confusion washes over his handsome face, quickly catching himself on the wall before staring down at the sudden obstacle. That confusion swiftly changing into one of concern. “What is...?”
The shadow decides that it was bored of its place on Steve’s foot as it crawls up his leg like a peckish snake and their prey, making its way all the way up his torso before the man could realize what was happening,
Steve lets out what Victoria could only describe as a yelp, a manly one of course. This ‘manly’ yelp sets off a series of events in only a matter of what seemed to be five seconds.
Steve tries to wrap his hands around the shadow to rip it off him, but this only scares the shadow into holding on tighter and tighter to his torso. Victoria cackles loudly into the long chamber as she digs her nails right into the wall behind her, heaving herself upward and crawls skyward just a couple of inches. Just as she gets comfortable an arrow dent into the wall, an inch away from her neck. The grin on her face widens at the implication.
Steve’s eyes widen at the arrow, she can almost hear his heart beating out of his chest. “Wait! Stop! Don’t shoot her!” His voice rings out before he grunts at the shadow hugging him, he raises his fist and punches the shadow so hard that it forces it to break away. The shadow whispers profanities as it returns to its kin. Steve presses his forefinger against his ear once more, screaming orders to the person(people?) on the receiving end. As he was distracted, the shadows decided that they were fed up with this devilment and to take matters into their own hands. Literally, in this sense.
They grab onto Steve’s shoulders and with all their strength combined, they lift Steve and up high just to lob him at the wall opposite them. Smashing his entire left side against the stone. He grunts before he goes to stand up, however the shadows weren't finished with him just yet.
They span out like a blanket and hover over his fallen form, with one last giggle, they engulf Steve inside of their bone-chilling embrace. Soon his entire body disappeared under a cloak of darkness, the shadows holding onto his form tightly as he struggles against them.
Another arrow makes its way into the fray, however this time it dug its way directly into her right shoulder, pinning her on the wall like a painting in a museum. She lets out a pained gasp as she paws at the arrow inside of her with her hand.
My goodness! Well, that was unexpected!
The shadows growl and hiss at the injury and tightens their hold on Steve even more. The man’s groans and quickened breaths seemed to get quieter, like he was going further and further away.
Victoria whines as she tries to slowly rip the arrow out from her shoulder, she feels her skin purr at the feeling. she supposes after all this time feeling numb, anything would feel good. It made her feel alive.
Just as the arrow was about to be ripped out of her, a figure makes itself known. Clicking heels dashing towards them. A woman, a woman with a very harsh look on her face. The cause for that might be from the suffocating man on the floor. Victoria should probably tell of the shadows to sto-!
The thought is knocked clean from her mind when the woman leaps at her like a predator with her prey, balancing her foot on a lobed out stone, the other leg digs into Victoria’s stomach. The woman grabs a hold of the arrow and shoves it back inside the wound, glaring at Victoria with fire burning in her eyes.
“What are you doing to him!? Tell me or I'll shove this arrow right into your eye!” The woman spits onto her face as she yells. Pushing up the arrow even more before taking it out to just stab it back in. Her eyes widen just by a margin, instead of the rich, red blood she was expecting from stabbing the girl in front of her, an inky, black substance splatters on her face instead.
Victoria frowns, not at the pain but from the mess she made. The woman’s makeup looked lovely; it was such a shame to mess it up.
Well, there is no need to cry over spilt milk. She should focus on the important things in her life, like stopping the shadows from killing Steve.
Her fingers twitch down by her side. “Stop...St-” Her voice breaks as the woman jiggles the arrow around in her wound. By Christ, that hurts. “Stop, please. I’m trying to help...” Her pleas are not heard by deaf ears as the woman stabs her again, this time closer to her throat. My, wasn’t this familiar?
Her heart, what is left of it anyways, beats faster and faster. Thumping against her chest without any rhythm. The shadows seem to pick up on this as their hold on Steve loosens ever so slightly to see what was the matter. They see her blood dripping down her chest, the pained expression on her face, the way someone is pining her down.
This is too much like last time. They can’t let this happen. They can’t be sent back there, not again, not ever.
They let go off the man, letting him live. He should be grateful. He immediately takes a deep breath after being cut off for so long under the pitch-black void. His hands reach up to unfasten his helmet, letting his sandy, blonde hair free. His eyes blink repeatedly to try to get use to the light of the moon staring down at him.
The woman snaps her head around to look at Steve on the floor, a gasp escapes her throat at the sight of him. The shadows take this opportunity, rushing forward with the wind to grab the woman by the shoulders tightly, digging their ‘fingers’ in before flinging her away like a sack of potatoes. She hits the floor, landing next to the blonde man heaving on the ground.
Victoria smiles at her friends, chuckling at the way the woman fell. “Good job! You are getting so strong with each passing day; you should be proud of yourself.” The shadows purr the recognition, nuzzling under Victoria’s chin, enjoying the warmth.
“Mh! Stop it! That tickles, Stop!” She giggles as she tries to playfully shove them away. “Did you have a good time? Can we go now? I’m afraid that I need a change of clothes...and a bath.”
The shadows nod before ripping out the arrow from her shoulder in one go. Victoria yelps at that, hissing behind her teeth. She doesn’t even have the time to rest before the shadows grab her from under her armpits, dragging her up the wall of the building right up to the roof of the building. She groans the entire way up.
When they reach their destination, the shadows lay her down on her back, letting her rest for a minute. She stares up at the night sky, a dopey smile on her lips. Her hand travels up her body, stopping at the wounds on her shoulder. She could have died back there, the thought finally sinks in. Only a few days back and she could have died, wasted her chance for a better beginning.
She should stop wandering around so late.
The shadows take her away from her thoughts by hissing right into her ear. Someone was coming, she can hear the sound of their boots. She sighs as her bones crack into place, scrambling to stand up.
When she does, she turns around immediately to greet the stranger. A smile still dancing on her face. Steve sure had a lot of friends.
A range of emotions hits her square in the face, but none of them matter. The figure before her, a young woman with the greenest eyes she has ever seen. However, that wasn’t the detail that caught her attention first.
It was the magic, the pure, chaotic magic that ran in the girl’s veins that made Victoria’s rotten heart beat even faster.
It was beautiful.