Hawthorne

The sun was high in the sky as the walked the streets of the city she had often wondered about. Ever since Elizabeth was a little girl, she dreamed of going to the Eternal City, immersing herself in the supernatural world on the other side of the wall of trees. And here she was, fifteen years later. Only, it was nothing like she thought.

She walked along side Trey, her hands loosely bound in a rope; He held the other end, as if leading her as a master would a dog. In this city, she was supposedly Trey's slave— his personal whore. in order to keep up the image, she wore just her dress, leaving everything else except her shoes back at his home.

Around her, the streets were crowded with men and woman. Elizabeth noticed one man was pale, with what she assumed was blood dripping from his lips. Later she noticed a woman conjure fire from the palm of her hand. Trey had told her before they left that this area was where the Witches, and vampire overflow resided.

Before long, many of them began following, nearly surrounding Elizabeth and Trey. "Is this for us, Escott?" One of them questioned Trey.

"No, she's mine. Now get out of my way before I barbecue you." Trey's voice and expression were hard.

Elizabeth inched closer to him as they made their way out of the crowd. "I want out of here." Her voice was low enough that she thought only Trey could hear.

"We're nearly there." Placed an arm around her, hurrying her along. Soon, they found themselves in an even nicer area of the city. "Stay quiet, and don't act as you normally do." He untied the rope and placed it in his bag. "We're going to visit a friend of mine. She's more understanding that most in the city, but just be careful not to be too outspoken, like you were with my brother." Elizabeth nodded, and followed close behind him.

They passed by three houses before he stopped. Trey looked around the barren street, and then at Elizabeth. He didn't have to say anything for her to know what he was looking at her for. She nodded, and stepped back from him, leaving very little distance between them. He then continued to make his way up the stairs to the door of the house they stopped in front of.

Trey knocked in a rhythmic pattern. Soon, a woman came to the door, opening it enough to peer out, and closed it again. In the silence, Trey and Elizabeth could hear locks sliding and turning before she finally opened the door and let them in. The inside of the house was beautiful. Elizabeth scanned the open concept living area, taking in the Victorian-esque furniture, and old looking photographs.

When her eyes got to the woman who let them in, she was speechless. The lady of the house was gorgeous— almost angelic. She had long, pointed ears. Her skin was completely flawless, features perfectly symmetrical. A delicate filigree tattoo covered much of the left side of her face, trailing down her neck, along her shoulder, and down her arm.

The woman lead them down a long corridor, stopping in front of a large wooden door. She retrieved a key from the pocket of her dress. inserted it into the lock, and turned it. After rushing them inside, she closed the door and locked it behind her. "Have a seat." Her voice was just as beautiful as her face.

Trey took Elizabeth by the hand and lead her to the couch in the middle of the room. As they sat down, Elizabeth's eyes explored the room. Directly across from them, two tapestries hung from the wall, depicting Elves of Elfreda. Elizabeth remembered the stories her grandmother told her as a child; she always thought that they were fairytales. But here she was, in the home of an elf, with wall-hangings proving her grandmother's stories to be fact.

"Alright, Trace. What do you want?" She walked gracefully, but her voice was everything but. She sat down in the chair across from them. Her eyes flashed to Elizabeth, and as if she were frozen in place, she did not move. "Do I know you, dear?" Her voice was calm, but her eyes were threatening.

Elizabeth looked at Trey and then back at the woman. Quietly, she stumbled over her words. Even her voice was clumsy. "N-no, I don't think so." Trey squeezed her hand, and Elizabeth saw out of the corner of her eye, that he shot the woman a warning glare.

"Lura, I— we need your help." Trey glanced at Elizabeth, squeezing her hand as he spoke.

"Well, what's the matter? You knock this one up? Need it taken care of? Or does this one have a boyfriend bigger than you?" Lura, the beautiful elf, glared at them both.

Elizabeth's face went white. Startled, she looked at Trey, and saw that he was completely motionless, staring blankly as the elven woman. Tears threatened to spill over, burning her eyes. He's had other girls. He probably...

"Are you kidding me? No. My past has no place in this. This is different."

The air around them was tense, radiating the energy from both Trey and Lura. Tears still threatened to spill over, as Elizabeth reached for his arm. When Trey felt her touch, he turned to her. "I'm sorry." That was all it took. Two words and she began to cry. "Elizabeth..." She could see the hurt in his eyes. "It was a few years ago. I was stupid, and I wasn't so nice back then. I've changed a lot."

Elizabeth breathed deeply, wiping her eyes. "It's fine, I understand. Everyone's done something they are not proud of." She turned away, looking straight at Lura. "We have more important things to focus on, anyway.

Trey gazed at her for a moment and turned back to the elf.

It took all of an hour to explain what had happened at the Wildemeadow Library. Lura was intent on getting every single detail of the ordeal. Elizabeth chimed in a few times, about how the librarian used to be the sweetest old man she knew, but how wrong she was to think that.

When they were done explaining, Lura rolled her eyes. "So, what do you need me for? You were trying to get information that was classified, and they tried to take action. I can't do anything." Her laugh was haunting.

Trey slammed his fist on the table in front of him. "That's not it! They're hiding something, know they are!" His anger radiated from his words into the air.

Elizabeth stared at him, shocked. Anger, because of someone else's sarcasm? She never expected that from him. He seemed so gentle natured. I guess I just don't know him that well, yet. She could hear him breathing in deeply, probably calming himself.

"I know your family has a collection of boo—"

Lura cut him off, "Books? Yes. Many people have collections of books. What could possibly be in my family's multitude of volumes, that you would be interested in?" She glared at him as she spoke, her words dripping in scorn.

Trey's voice was flat, emotionless. "Didn't you listen to anything we told you? The Witches of Wildemeadow. The librarian keeping us busy while The Guard arrived?"

"I see, well. I'm not entirely sure what I can do for you two."

What happened next was a blur. Just as Lura fell silent, there was a rhythmic tap on the door. Lura seemed to take that as an urgent warning, as she had quickly ushered them to the corner farthest from the door. She reached behind one tapestry, and seconds later, the wall opened up, revealing a secret passage. She practically pushed them into the dark, damp space behind the wall, following behind them.

Seconds later, the wall closed behind them, snuffing the only whisper of light that they had. Holding her hands only inches in front of her face, Elizabeth concluded that she couldn't see a thing. She felt someone touch her arm, and as they leaned down, she could feel their breath on her year. It was Trey, who whispered to her to stay quiet for now. He took her hand, leading her in what she could only assume to be forward into a tunnel.

Before long, their surroundings lit up, and she realized that they were in a cave, rather than a tunnel. Lura was in front of both of them, holding up a torch, the flame burning bright. She must have lead us through the dark.

Lura spoke quietly. "Trey, grab another one of these things," She referred to the wooden torch in her right hand. "Elizabeth can walk between us."

Trey grabbed a torch from it's holder on the wall, and held it up to Lura's. The flame jumped between the two, blazing bright. He raised his arm, allowing Elizabeth to pass. They walked on, for what seemed like hours, through the never-changing tunnel. Then, walked around a corner, finding themselves at a short flight of stairs, leading up to a plain door.

At the top of the stairs, was a small bucket, filled with clear liquid. Lura dunked her fiery torch in it, extinguishing the flame. She gazed at Trey, with her hand on the door handle, waiting for him to do the same. After he did, she turned the knob. On the other side of the door was a grand looking bedroom. Plants decorated every wall, and every corner. On a small table, sat two containing orchids of blue, as well and green and purple.

"We're alright here." Lura crossed the space between them and doors leading to a balcony.

Elizabeth followed behind. "Where is here, exactly?"

"My homeland, of course. I am Princess Lura, of Elfreda. Didn't Trey tell you that before you showed up at my house?" She glared at her.

"N-no, he didn't. I am very sorry." Elizabeth bowed her head.

"It's alright, I suppose."

Trey appeared beside Elizabeth, who was now looking out over the beautiful kingdom below. "Why are we here, Lura?" He wrapped an arm around Elizabeth, placing his hand at her waist.

"Well, now. You wanted to see my library, didn't you?" She laughed at him.

"Yes, but... You said that it was a waste!"

"Don't put words in my mouth, witch. I said that there wasn’t much we could do for you. We may have what you want, though. I will have to check with Father's scribe. Would you two like some tea? We may have some coffee, but I highly doubt it."

They both nodded, following her back inside.