Free Wilhelmina A Novella by Ronnell D. Porter Page A

her eye focused on me.
    ‘Thank you, Charles,’ she said.
    ‘Perhaps next time you won’t kill so conspicuously, Elizabeth,’ Mr. Abberdean said dryly. ‘I would think that your face would be reminder enough of the last time you killed so boldly, and encountered Pontius.’
    ‘This one was set to die anyway,’ she said offhandedly.
    ‘I would like to make a bid,’ Mr. Abberdean said, clutching my shivering body to his torso.
    ‘The bidding is over, Charles; if you wanted Yvette then you should have made an offer after Camilla.’
    ‘Not for that useless girl in there, I want to make a bid on this slave girl,’ he said.
    The governess’ eye became a slit and her lips became a thin line as she pressed them in agitation.
    ‘She is not for sale,’ the governess said. ‘She is mine. I’ve been waiting to drain the life from her eyes for four years.’
    ‘She is but another human, Ms. Bathory,’ his blonde companion said as he emerged from the trees behind us. ‘Surely whatever this girl has done to you has been repaid by her loyal servitude.’
    ‘Not nearly,’ the governess hissed.
    ‘I want to drain her soul, Elizabeth,’ Mr. Abberdean said harshly. ‘Her soul calls to me so, and I cannot help myself. I want to drain every last drop, and I don’t think that I could stand back if you were to try and take her from me. Even holding her now to talk to you burns my senses with hellfire.’
    ‘Is that so?’ She asked, intrigued.
    ‘Give me this one simple pleasure, Elizabeth, and I will be forever in your debt,’ Mr. Abberdean told her.
    ‘In my debt, you say?’ The governess asked.
    ‘Yes,’ Mr. Abberdean said sternly. ‘I swear to it.’
    ‘How will I know that you’ve truly killed her?’ The governess asked.
    ‘I hardly think you need to know, as long as he pays you your money,’ the blonde said firmly.
    The governess sneered and growled, but Mr. Abberdean stepped forward to silence his friend.
    ‘Do it here and now,' the governess snarled.
    ‘I don’t want to rush the experience,’ Mr. Abberdean said.
    ‘I say turn her,’ Camilla said from the surrounding audience.
    ‘She would make for an interesting immortal, Elizabeth,’ One of the others said. ‘Just look at how supple and beautiful she looks now. If turned, her beauty would doubtlessly surpass even your former glory.’
    The governess hissed at the comment, and looked as though she was ready to leap forward, but the blonde, Francis, stopped her.
    ‘I, too, am curious as to what kind of immortal she would make. She holds a certain alluring quality about her, especially in her gaze,’ he commented. ‘Like a born huntress.’
    ‘Will you turn her, Charles?’ The governess asked. Mr. Abberdean visibly swallowed, and looked down into my fearful eyes with a gaze that mirrored my own.
    ‘Elizabeth, I am not an overconfident man. I know my limits, and we both know that I would not be able to control myself from devouring her entire soul.’ Mr. Abberdean said slowly, deliberately. ‘But my friend, he has the apt restraint to complete the task.’
    ‘No,’ the governess said. ‘It must be you, or she dies.’
    ‘In one week,’ the blonde said. The governess looked at him questionably, half offended and half intrigued, and waited for him to continue. ‘Give him one week to prepare. I can help him through the process to ensure that nothing goes awry.’
    ‘I am pleased with the conditions,’ the governess said thoughtfully. ‘But there is still the question of price.’
    ‘Name one, and I will pay it,’ Mr. Abberdean said. She tapped her bottom lip and it clicked, like two rocks hitting each other.
    ‘One hundred thousand,’ she said.
    Mr. Abberdean’s eyes fell, and his jaw tightened.
    ‘I do not have nearly enough to pay your demand,’ he admitted. ‘Surely you can understand how it feels to yearn for such an enthralling soul, won’t you reconsider?’
    ‘I am firm on the price, Charles ,’ the governess said