Alex and Angelica (7th in werewolf series)

Chapter Two

"One, two, three, four...." Angelica counted with each stroke her brush made through her hair. Her mother had always taught her to run the brush through her hair one hundred times a morning. No more and no less.

"Cleanliness is next to Godliness." she repeated her mothers favorite phrase as she continued to brush her long blond hair. She walked over to the mirror and stared at the reflection looking back at her, frowning at the gray streaks in the long waves of blond. The brush stopped on it's path through her hair and she raised her free hand to trace one of the long scars on her cheek.

She knew that she used to be beautiful. It had been so long ago she couldn't really remember what she had looked like but at fifteen she had had every nobleman for hundreds of miles asking for her hand in marriage. Her parents had been trying to decide who they could get the most money out of when Victor had ridden into town.

He had taken one look at Angelica's long blond hair, womanly figure and ocean blue eyes and he had come back not long after with several wagons full of gold. Her mother and father had given her to the charming king and at first she had been happy about it. After all, Victor was handsome and strong. A warrior and a rich king. What woman would not have wanted such a man for a husband?

She had learned quickly that he was a monster. She was his slave, there only to satisfy his every sexual fantasy. He had turned her immortal so that she wouldn't die when he got too rough because for some reason he had wanted to keep her.

By the time Damien had been born she had already been his slave for nearly a quarter century and the things that had made her Angelica, her innocence, warmth and softness, had already begun to fade. She had still had her facial beauty but her hair had begun to streak with gray and her body had wasted down to skin and bones from the many times he had sucked at her soul.

Then Rotan had come along not long after Damien and she had quickly learned that while Victor was bad, it was Rotan that was truly a monster. Every inch of her body was scarred in some way from his 'toys' as he liked to call his weapons.

Her Damien had gotten her free and he had told her she was safe but the nerves that she lived with day in and day out, knowing that Victor and Rotan were watching and waiting for her, had kept her body from regaining any of it's strength or former beauty. Her hair was still gray streaked and she was still skin and bones.

But now Damien swore to her that Rotan and Victor were dead.. He swore they'd been dead for nearly a week but there was that voice in her head, Victor's voice, .and it laughed every time Damien said he was dead.

'I'd never leave you, dear Angelica. You are mine and you will come back me one day.' Angelica shivered and threw her brush down.

"Go away Victor! Damien killed you." she said aloud to the voice in her head.

'Be nice to me, Angelica, or it will be rougher for you when I get my hands on you again.' Angelica sat down on the edge of her bed and wrapped her arms tight around herself as she rocked back and forth.

"Go away. Go away. Go away. Please make the voice go away." she whimpered fearfully. She screamed with shock and surprise when a knock came on her door.

"You okay in there, Angel?" Laney's voice came from the other side.

"Yes. Just visiting with my friends." Angelica replied quickly as she stood up and smoothed out her oversized, red dress. She knew that the mention of her friends made Damien angry and she knew that they weren't real but Angelica had invented them as a form of comfort to get her through the long fearful days. Though they were no help when it came time to sleep...and to dream.