At Your Service

Chapter 8- Binding

Anja stood staring at the dark wood of Carlisle's bedroom door in the dark corridor, the only light from candelabras sitting on pedestals positioned throughout the corridor. The tiny flames were sky blue, enchanted so they were cold and could not burn anything. In her shaking right hand, a gun hung at her side, loaded with bullets made of gold dipped in lamb blood. The draft coming from underneath the door made the hem of her nightgown rustle a little. Her hair was still in a braid from the previous day (as it was past midnight). She took a deep breath as she gripped the door lever with the hand that held the gun and pulled it down, opening the door and entering, not caring if she made noise doing it because she immediately entered and raised the gun up to aim at Carlisle.

    The butler was sleeping on his back in the centre of the bed, his hands clasped and resting peacefully over his chest. A candle, also enchanted, cast a haunting blue shadow over the side of his face. She walked over until her prosthetics bumped the edge of the mattress. She pulled the hammer on the gun back, cocking it, making a distinct sound that was deafening in the quiet bedroom.

Carlisle's eyes slowly opened and turned his head to see the witch pointing a trembling gun at him. "Madam?" he sounded concerned if anything, entirely calm otherwise.

"Get. Up," the witch spat venomously. The butler sat up, the sheet falling off of his bare torso, skin fair and muscles defined. She was too pissed off to appreciate his physique. Anja saw the sigil on his sternum, clear as day, the same that was embedded into her own skin. "On your feet. Now." Her voice shook and her eyes burned with rage. The butler slowly slid out of bed, their stares locked on one another. Once he was standing, he put his hands up in surrender. Thankfully, once again, he was wearing pants, but black sweatpants. He opened his mouth to speak, but Anja quickly silenced him. "You will not speak to me until I SAY you can!" Her voice suddenly rose. "I CANNOT BELIEVE YOU HAVE BEEN LYING TO MY WHOLE FUCKING FACE THIS WHOLE FUCKING TIME!" she shrieked. Carlisle was perfectly still. "You will walk NEXT TO me to the study, not in FRONT OF ME and not BEHIND ME, and ONLY THEN you will speak, and you will only SPEAK to EXPLAIN YOURSELF! You make ONE false move or speak beyond my terms and you die, I SWEAR TO GOD!" Tears streamed down her face.

Carlisle wanted to inform her that he could not die while in her service, even with the bullets loaded in the gun, but he felt disinclined to. He wasn't afraid of many things in the natural world, but he was afraid of the person before him. He watched as she stepped aside and gestured with her gun for him to join her at her side. He slowly stepped forward until he was standing beside her. Her gun was pointed at the side of his head. Her hand no longer shook. "Let's go."

They walked in pure silence down the painfully long corridor towards the study, all except for Anja's ragged breathing. Carlisle glanced to the side to see her limping and clenched his jaw. "Ma-"

Anja shot her gun, missing the tip of his nose by an inch on purpose. Their ears rang. "What did I FUCKING SAY, CARLISLE, OR IS THAT EVEN YOUR FUCKING NAME?!" she screamed, now in front of him. Anja voluntarily lowered her voice, aware that there were others trying to sleep, though she most likely woke them all up with the gunshot. "I trusted you. We all trusted you. You could have told me everything in that damn hospital, and it would've been fine. Everything would've been fine and we wouldn't be in this moment. I cannot trust you right now. I cannot trust anyone or anything right now. The only reason you are still alive is because I don't want anymore death in this family. You were family from the moment... now, right now, you are my worst enemy. I don't want Marjorie to have to clean up the mess you're going to make when I blow your fucking brains out. I do want to hear the eloquent explanation I'm sure you're going to give and the reason why you didn't tell me the moment I woke up." She pulled the hammer back again and raised the gun back up at his head. "Move. Now."