Page 56 of A Foster Fling
“Zelinda!” a man’s voice yells. “Please, open the door.”
I gasp in shock and drop the candlestick, rushing to the door.
“Abbe?”
“Yes, it’s me!” he calls back. “I’ve lost Hans, and I fear I will be struck by lightning if I stay out here any longer.”
I scramble to unlock the door, throwing it open in time to see a large bolt of lightning strike down mere feet from Abbe’s body. He stumbles backward with a shout, landing on his ass in the mud.
“Oh no!” I exclaim as I run out into the monsoon-like rain to help him up.
I try to grab a hold of his arm, but it slips from my grasp, making me fall backward on my ass. I’m soaked through to the bone by the time we both make it to our feet and run for the shelter of the tower, both of us heaving as we shut the door.
Abbe falls onto my stairs, his arms spreading out wide as he begins to laugh, the sound maniacal.
“Where’s Hans, Abbe?” I ask, as my body is wracked with tremors.
He sits up, his head hanging as he stares at his muddy boots. “The lightning spooked him. I’m hoping he heads back toward town.”
“Oh no,” I gasp.
“I will go in search of him as soon as this storm lets up,” he vows at the same time a clap of thunder shakes the tower. “You have let me into your fortress.”
“I couldn’t leave you out there to catch your death,” I retort.
His eyes stop their perusal and land on me. With him this close, I can see the deep brown of his irises. Those near black eyes stop at my chest, and the longer he stares, the more uncomfortable I become.
I look down to find my white dress completely soaked through, and my sheer bra doing nothing to hide my pebbled pink nipples. In an effort to stop his leering, I cross my arms over my chest, but when those eyes move up to meet mine, I see something ominous in their depths.
“Abbe?”
“Do you know there is talk of a witch who wanders these woods?”
His words send a shiver down my spine as I shake my head.
“She roams, looking for men, then when she finds them, she sucks their energy out of them, leaving them dry husks on the forest floor.”
He stands from the step, and I take a step back, my back pressed tight to the iron door.
“Abbe, you’re scaring me.”
“Are you the witch, Zelinda?” he sneers.
“No!” I exclaim, my heart beating frantically at the look in his eyes.
“You’ve caught me on your web, haven’t you? I’ve been in a hypnotized state since the very first day I rode through these meadows, and I hadn’t even laid eyes on you.”
“No,” I plead as he comes closer. The kind man I saw a few days ago is replaced with this manic looking monster.
“You look innocent, hiding up here in your tower, all alone I can see.” He looks around with a smug look. “Where is your mother? And her husband?”
I am alone. There’s no one here to save me from the man I let into my haven. Pearl was right, they would all want to use me.
“You need to leave,” I try to strengthen my voice, but it shakes with the chill that’s seeping into my bones.
“Not until you’ve released me from your spell, little witch.” He grabs me by the upper arms and drags me into his body. He’s so much stronger than I am.
I try to struggle, but it’s no use.