Demon in disguise.

I first met the Duke of Sunsbury at an engagement party for my dear friend, Karolina. Of course, I had been told many stories about him. How he was a widower with a young daughter, how after the death of his wife, he shut himself in and refused to leave his estate, what a tragedy it was, how handsome he had been in his youth, etc....I was frankly bored with it. All the unmarried women talked about was gossip or men. All the married women talked about were babies or their husbands. There was no place for me, Elaine Summers, daughter of the late Doctor Samuel Summers, renowned physician and scientist. I was only there at all because of Karolina who I had met at my coming out party and who had remained my dearest friend ever since. She had refused to let me stay home from her engagement party, saying that it was unhealthy for me to always be shut up with my books. I can rarely refuse Karolina anything and I did so want her evening to be perfect. So I went to the party and was completely bored. I soon found myself on the terrace, sipping a glass of...something and wondering why social life was so dull. The Duke came out then. Of course I didn't know it was him at the time. He seemed still to be so young and handsome. How could I possibly equate him with the hermit widower I had heard so much about? He began talking to me. I remember his first words were, "Not one for parties are you?" 1

Not romantic, I know, but it was the beginning. I answered, "No. They're dull and dreary. I would much rather be at home, reading my books." I stopped then, afraid I had said too much. Most men hated any mention of my reading. 2

The Duke however just nodded and nursed what was probably a brandy. "I don't often like these things myself. Haven't been to one in years." 3

"Neither have I. I'm only here for Karolina--the bride to be," I answered.4

"I'm here for Landon--the groom." 5

He turned to me then and...looked at me. I can't explain it except the look was magical. I couldn't look away. He seemed as stunned as I especially when the words, "I would have thought that a girl like you would be the belle of the ball," came out of his mouth. He apologized immediately and turned away from me. But then he turned back. 6

We talked for what felt like hours but must have only been a few minutes. In that time, he asked about my family and I about his. I learned that his wife had died giving birth to their baby, a girl named Angel. I learned that since then, he had hardly been able to look at the child, even though he longed to hold her every day. It reminded him too much of his wife and he was afraid that if he touched his daughter she would break. 7

My heart went out to the man in that conversation. I could feel his pain having lost my own Papa recently. I knew what it was like, to be unable to touch things that had once belonged to a loved one. I hadn't yet brought myself to even going into my father's study. I also felt terribly for the little baby Angel. She had no mother and a father who couldn't bear to see her for fear of remembering. She was practically parentless and it pained me to think of it. 8

Our conversation was interrupted then by one of the married women coming out to find me. She clucked about my being unchaperoned as she escorted me back inside and then asked how I had come to be acquainted with the Duke of Sunsbury. I of course had been amazed. He had merely told me his name was Geoffrey and though I suppose I should have seen it, I did not make the connection with his story.9

Geoffrey and I did not see each other again until Karolina's wedding, nearly a year later. When we met once more however, it was as if our conversation had never ended. By the end of the ceremony, he had requested permission to call on me and I had granted it. Although I was beautiful enough, so far men had been driven off by my academic learning and bookishness. 10

Geoffrey however was not. We went for rides in the countryside, picnics in the fields. He showed me his estate which was not far from my own and I introduced him to the small circle of friends I had acquired. We soon became a pair at parties and it was a rare day when Geoffrey and I did not see each other. It was wonderful. And then he asked for my hand. 11

It was a small wedding with only our cloes friends in attendance and Geoffrey's Angel as the flower girl. She looked so beautiful going down the aisle, her pale skin luminescent against the white dress and her black hair tied back with a red ribbon. I almost cried knowing that the beautiful little girl and her father would soon be my family as well. How little I knew then. 12

When I came to live with Geoffrey, I was welcomed by the staff. Angel and I became good friends but she was a little girl with a temper. If I too something from her, she would often lash out, her pale cheeks turning red and her black eyes flashing dangerously. It was frightening to see a child so filled with hate. Needless to say I rarely tried to deny the girl anything. Her father remained aloof from her and so Angel grew up almost without him. When she reached her teens, she began to resent the time I spent with Geoffrey, saying that I was purposely keeping her from him when it was exactly the other way around. Geoffrey did not want to see Angel. She reminded him too much of her mother and often, I woke up in the night to hear him sobbing quietly and holding the picture of his Jenna. He thought I didn't know, just as he thought I didn't know that he kept the photograph of Jenna in the false bottom of his dresser. He wanted it that way because although he still loved his first wife, he loved me as well and wished me no harm. Unlike his daughter. 13

After being a sweet child, Angel turned into a terrible teenager. She often ran around the house in a temper, breaking anything of mine she could find. Once, she even got into my rooms and threw one of my father's books into the fire. I made her clean all the manor windows after that. It didn't help. Although she came to me with an apologetic face when she was done, I could see the glimmer in her eyes. She did not forgive me for making her do servant's work and she hated me for "replacing" her mother. I told her often that I did no such thing and was not attempting to, but my protests fell on deaf ears. The bond we had shared when Angel was younger was gone. For some reason, my step-daughter now hated me. 14

The first time I realized I was in real danger from the girl was when she was thirteen. She had been out picking flowers in the fields and came back with the smile of the cat who just ate the canary. Angel offered me the flowers with a smile and a curtsey. I was pleased of course, naively thinking that she was trying to make peace with me. I immediately inhaled the bouquet's scent which was heady and smelled delicious. But I began to feel light-headed. The hall seemed to grow larger and then shrink until I felt like I couldn't breathe. The lights were changing and I felt hot and cold all at once. I collapsed and didn't wake up for three days. Geoffrey told me that he had been so worried he was going to lose me just like Jenna. I never told him that it was his precious Angel who had tried to do it to me. Of course when I was well again she came back in, eyes wide and innocent, telling me how glad she was that I was still among the living. She said that I had frightened her nearly to death when I collapsed like that, but I knew. And she knew I knew. Her eyes told me so. I ignored it however. Angel was a demon in disguise but to provoke her would be even worse. 15

She was fifteen, almost when she destroyed my father's book and I punished her. I knew that retribution was coming, but I didn't know what would happen. I was on my guard at every moment, looking for the snakes that had found their ways into my bed times before and checking my slippers for spider who liked to make them their home. But there was none of that. It was much more subtle. I was riding in the fields one day when my horse started to rear. There was something wrong and had I been a worse horsewoman I would have been thrown and probably gravely injured. I managed to keep my seat however until I could safely dismount. I found a piece of glass in his saddle blanket later. 16

Just after Angel's sixteenth birthday I was out riding once again when I noticed a man in the trees. He was staring at me, but as soon as I saw him, he seemed to disappear from sight. I noticed him again in different places over the next few days and at the end of the week found him in my private library. He was a tall man, burly and of undeterminable age. His beard was brown, and his eyes were black like beetles. He looked cruel and had scars on his body as testaments probably to his accomplishments. He told me that my step-daughter had hired him to kill me but since he liked the looks of me--shudder--he would spare me if I would pay him more than she did. I paid him, of course, but I didn't know then that in paying him, he seemed to think it was his duty to slay Angel. 17

She disappeared three days later and the man brought me back a heart. I was disgusted and heartbroken at the same time. I sent him away and then locked myself in my library. I couldn't believe that he had killed Angel. What would Geoffrey say? What would he do? I couldn't tell him that it was my fault. I hadn't meant to. I had only wanted the man to go away and leave me alone. I had paid him to leave me alone not go after my daughter. 18

Geoffrey conducted an investigation and scoured the countryside for the daughter he had ignored. He paid investigators to find her and circulated a picture of her, begging for anyone to come forward. 19

We had only each other in those dark days and me with the guilty knowledge that I was the one causing Geoffrey such intense pain. I never told him though. Merely sat by his side, hand in his, tears flowing freely from my eyes as we waited in vain for her to come home. 20

A year later, Geoffrey had given up hope and returned to managing the estate. It was then that the messenger came from me. It was short and simple. "Death," it said and underneath was signed, "Angel." I followed the messenger back to where he came from and found myself in a small village in the countryside. There, Angel was living and I was so glad to see her living that I forgave her all that she had done to me. When she saw me however, her face froze in horror. I knew she was alive now and so where did her element of surprise go? I saw the thoughts flash over her face and knew then that Angel had not changed. She still was intent on my destruction just now it would have to be another way. 21

I returned home and days later had the law knocking at my door. Apparently, they had found Angel in the care of seven men who had taken her in out of the goodness of their hearts. She had been living in fear of me--me!--and had told the men that she had run away because her stepmother was trying to kill her. The policemen were there because apparently I had finally done it. The men had come home to find Angel lying on their floor with a hastily written note. They showed it to me and I had to sit down. I couldn't breathe. It read, "Dear all. Time short. Woman came today. Was selling fruits. Gave me apple and then left. Ate apple and began to feel dizzy. Afraid woman was stepmother in disguise. Too late for me. Bring justice upon her. Angel."22

Geoffrey however--bless his heart--wouldn't believe the men. Not until he saw...her. 23

The seven men who had apparently loved my evil step daughter had built her a glass coffin and transported her home as proof of "my" evil deeds. When Geoffrey saw Angel, lying there so pale like his Jenna before her, he lost his mind. He turned on me, cursing me soundly and slapping me across the face in his anger. He screamed, asking me how I could have known where Angel was and see his pain and not tell him. How I could have sat by him every night, comforting him when I was planning the murder of his daughter. 24

I was taken away from my home in chains and thrown into a dank, dark cell. I was there for ten days and had a trial which I was not allowed to attend. I was found guilty of murder. I was to be executed. 25

Today is the day of my execution. It is a bright day, a sunny day. It is a day when, a long time ago, Geoffrey and I would go into the fields and picnic. It is the day I will die. I have a visitor I am told. Someone who wants to wish me G-dspeed on my way. I look up and gasp. Two red eyes are staring at me out of a pale face framed by dark hair. It is Angel. She grins at me and I can tell that she is finally satisfied. She whispers to me that she was woken up by a prince whom she had cast a spell on to come to her before. They are to be married. She smiles at me and laughs at her fortune, my death. She tells me that Geoffrey is so relieved to have her back and will be watching today when I swing. Geoffrey. She leaves me with his name which is what I cling to. 26

I am led out in chains. The sun is hot on my face and people jeer as I walk by. I ignore them, concentrating only on Geoffrey. My Geoffrey. I close my eyes as the noose is fitted around my neck and remember how I got into this. I first met the Duke of Sunsbury at an engagement party. It was the beginning of the end of my life.