A Shattered Heart - NaNoWriMo13 Entry

Chapter 7 - What are you hiding Miss Reed?

*Chapter Seven – What Are You Hiding Miss Reed?*

Back to present day…

Angelique smiled to herself as she remembered the chain of events but reality soon came crashing down on her when she noticed all the papers scattered on the desk. She groaned and continued to type away on the laptop. However after  countless hours of staring at the laptop screen Angelique lost the battle with her eyelids and fell asleep leaning on the desk.

When she awoke a few hours later she realised that she was no longer sat on her chair with her head resting on the closed laptop, she was lying under the burgundy satin covers in her King sized bed. She noticed that her clothes had been removed, and were hanging in the wardrobe, and had been replaced by some pale pink silk pyjamas, her laptop and scattered papers were neatly placed in her laptop case which was lying on the desk. Finally she noticed that the key which she had left in the lock of her door was no longer in the lock but hanging on a peg beside the door which was now unlocked and slightly ajar. It was then that she realised what had caused her to wake up. A soft melody being played on a piano.

Silently her bare feet padded along the corridor until she reached the balcony overlooking the grand hall where she had spotted a black grand piano earlier that day. It was positioned on a small raised area with Christian sat on the stool lightly pressing the keys to create a beautiful melody, Angelique rested her arms on the bannister with her head leaning on top while she listened to the tune with a genuine smile pulling at the corners of her mouth for she had never heard Christian play the piano despite his aspiration to be a concert pianist which sadly wasn’t meant to be due him being a vampire. He would never age so people would eventually become suspicious and find out his secret; so he decided to just take it up as an occasional hobby.

The tune was one that Angelique didn’t know yet she was entranced by it so she slowly made her way down the stairs and towards Christian who stopped playing and eyed her suspiciously ‘what are you doing up?’ ‘The piano woke me up and I wondered who it was that was playing. I’ve never heard you play before but I did enjoy that piece you were just playing… what was it anyway?’ Angelique sat on the edge of the raised platform and looked up into Christian’s face. ‘Firstly I do apologise for waking you up, and secondly it’s something I’ve been working on since… well since Elizabeth died. It’s called ‘A Shattered Heart” Christian lowered his head slightly, Angelique instantly regretted her questioned and tried to salvage the conversation ‘would you mind playing it again.’ A small smile appeared on Christian’s lips ‘of course… um,, would you prefer to sit up here instead of on the floor? Angelique quickly got to her feet and sat beside him so that she could watch his nimble fingers caress the ivory keys of the piano.

Silently Angelique listened, her eyes half closed since the haunting yet strangely calming music flowed into her ears relaxing every muscle within her. In a moment of sheer bravery she rested her head on Christian’s shoulder and wrapped her arms around his upper arm but Christian didn’t flinch, he continued to play until he had completely finished  the piece. Afterwards he turned to a semi-conscious Angelique ‘would you like me to carry you upstairs?’ her eyes fluttered before nodding and groaning what seemed to be a ‘yes.’ She untangled her arms from around his then he carefully scooped her up into his arms, her head rested against his chest as she breathed in the familiar but still oh so new fragrance of her husband as he ascended the staircase leading up to the first floor. He pushed Angelique’s door open with his foot and lowered her onto the bed before pulling the covers over her ‘goodnight Angel’ and with that he left the room. Angelique didn’t have time to question why Christian was being so kind to her since she fell into a deep slumber within seconds of her head touching the feather filled pillow.

Christian entered his room and sat down on the edge of the bed, he was so confused. On the one hand he despised Angelique for murdering his beloved mistress Elizabeth and he didn’t believe what she had said about Veronica being a hunter but on the other hand he was her husband and she was his wife. Although he didn’t want to admit it to himself, but he still cared deeply for Angelique and that was confirmed when he had been playing the piano and she sat on the floor looking up at him all shy and timid just like the first time he had met her. That’s what he loved so much about her, beneath the harlot red lipstick and the sultry clothes lay the pure, angelic and slightly timid young woman that he had fallen so deeply in love with and married.