The Petrellis Daughter

Chapter 6

In the morning I wake up stiff and extremely sore. I am alone in the bedroom but I can hear shouting. Slowly I get off the bed and follow the voices. I approach the door to the study cautiously. Nathan and Peter are yelling at Father who is yelling back.

“You almost killed her!” Peter yelled.

“The little slut deserved it. Her virginity belonged to me and she gave it to some stranger.” Father yelled slamming something on his desk.

“She’s your daughter not your possession.” Nathan said with a growl. “You had no right to abuse her like that.”

“I had every right. She is mine. That whore deserved to be punished for what she did.” Father said.

I couldn’t take standing outside and listening to them so I burst into the room. “I deserved this?” I said showing him my body which is covered in black, blue and purple marks. I show him the cuts and stitches.

Father actually looked shocked at what he had done, but quickly recovered. “You shouldn’t have given away your virginity. It belonged to me. You all belong to me.” He said looking at the three of us. “Considering your injuries I won’t expect you for at least another 2 months. But when that time is up you will come to me and you will obey me. I’m going out of town for the next few weeks on business. Since your mother will also be gone you will have the house to yourself Isabelle. I expect you two,” He said indicating Nathan and Peter, “to look after her.” Then father left the room and the house getting into a waiting town car.

I collapse to the floor as soon as he’s gone. Nathan sits beside me holding me close. While Peter looks over my wounds again. “You shouldn’t have come downstairs Bella. The stitches tore.”

“He’s gone now isn’t he.” I say exhausted.

“Yes he is.” Nathan says soothingly. “I bet you’re hungry huh? I’ll make some food if you let Peter take you back upstairs and stitch you up again.”

“Ok.” I agree as Peter picks me up and carries me upstairs. He lays me on the bed and goes to fetch his kit. When he returns he has some clothes in hand to.

“I thought you might like to change.” He says as he lays them on the bed. Peter then begins cleaning and re-closing the tore stitches. He helps me pull on the new clothes and toss Nathans shirt in then hamper. I lay on the bed and Peter climbs in beside me as we wait for Nathan.

When Nathan arrives he brings a huge plate filled with food and we all sit on the bed eating it. When we’re finished, Nathan moves the tray off the bed and just looks at me. Neither of them say anything as they just stare at me. I turn away from them and just stare at the wall.

Peter’s the first to speak. “What happened Bella? Why did he get so violent?”

I stay silent until Nathan reaches out to hold my hand. “He came in after Mother left and he…started touching me. He was gentle but I couldn’t stand him touching me like that. So I told him I wasn’t a virgin. I told him I let a stranger take my virginity. That’s when he became violent and began beating and raping me.”

“Mother left around 2 and you didn’t call until midnight Rosie. Are you saying he raped and beat you for 10 hours?” Nathan said aghast.

“It’s over now. And he’s gone.” I said with tears falling down my cheeks.

“God Bella. I’m so sorry.” Peter said pulling me into his lap holding me against his chest.

Nathan was quiet for a moment before looking at me. “Why did you tell him it was a stranger? Why didn’t you tell him it was us?”

“I can take anything he does to me. I’ll get over it. But if he hurt either one of you because of me…” I couldn’t say another word I just burst into tears.

“Bella, shush…don’t you know how much it hurts us to see you like this.” Peter whispers to me.

“We’re supposed to protect you and we failed. We’ve failed you for two years.” Nathan said with tears in his eyes. “We never should have let this start. Or let him touch you.”

I pull Nathan towards me until his head rests in my lap. I lean into Peter as I stroke Nathan’s hair. “He would have done it anyway. You two have kept me sane. If I didn’t have you two I don’t know what I’d do. I’d be lost and empty and he would win.” I hold each of their hands as I speak. “My bruises will be gone in a week and my cuts healed in a few weeks. But without you two my heart would never heal. I only have to bear him for a few more years. And I can as long as you two are safe from his wrath.”

“You shouldn’t have to Bella. You should have been left alone.” Peter says.

“We all should have been.” Nathan says. “I’m sorry Rosie.”

“It’s not your fault. Father did the same things to both of you. I openly defied him and he reacted like I knew he would. It’s over now and there was nothing either of you could do.” After a few minutes I lean down and kiss Nathan before turn around and kissing Peter. “I love you both very much but I need to sleep” I crawl towards the top of the bed and slid under the covers.

Nathan and Peter watched over me the next few days. Cleaning my wounds, helping me bathe, making me food and keeping my spirits up. We didn’t mention Father again except to note he had sent someone in to clean up the blood and destruction. Soon all my bruises were just a memory and the cuts were healing nicely.

When Mother returns life seems to return to normal. I spend most of my time in classes or with Nathan and Peter. When Father returns I avoid him. Mother starts planning the trip to Europe for May and we begin shopping for it.

I start hanging out with the kids in my classes at Peter’s suggestion. He decides I need to spend more of my time with “normal” people. We never go back to my house, always someone else’s or someplace else. It’s nice to have friends my own age.

When Valentine’s Day arrives I get asked out on my first date by John. Although it falls on a Wednesday our Movie night for that week was pushed back to Thursday, so Nathan could spend it with his wife. John takes me out for an early dinner and then we go horseback riding. We stop at a clearing in the woods and he pulls out two blankets. Cuddled up beneath one we lay on the other and watch as the stars come out. He leans over to kiss me and its sweet. We lay there kissing for a few moments until I feel someone watching. I know who it is but I’m surprised since we haven’t spoken in many years. Luckily my alarm begins going off, its time to get me back to the town car. John and I quickly pack up heading back to the stables. We give the horses to the grooms and I walk him to his car. We kiss goodnight and then he’s gone.

I walk back to the town car and tell the driver to wait for me. The groom has already put John’s horse away but they know I like to take care of mine personally. I walk to my horse and begin grooming her. I know he’s trying to sneak up on me and I laugh. “You shouldn’t do that. You might spook Shadow.”

“You named your horse Shadow?” He asks from beside me.

“I’ve missed you, Shadow. Where have you been? Why haven’t we spoken?” He doesn’t speak for a long time. I finish with Shadow and put her away. When the door is closed I turn to look at him, but he can’t look at me. “You’ve seen haven’t you? That’s why you can’t look at me.” I quickly begin to walk away when I’m grabbed by him.

He leans down and whispers in my ear, before hugging me close. “Take us somewhere private.”

I take him to our house in the woods. The secluded mansion that is rarely ever used. I pull out his arms and sit on the couch. “When? Why didn’t I see you?”

“I haven’t ever actually seen you. It’s always been images in my head. I didn’t want to believe them so I ran away from them. The further I got from you the less I’d see. I went to England, India and finally stayed in Japan.” He told me as he paced.

“What did you see?” I ask hesitantly.

“All your first times. And whenever you were with…Him…and were very upset or scared.” He turned to face me. “I convinced myself it wasn’t real. But then I had the most horrible images run through my head and I had to come back. I had to see for myself if it was real.”

“And you did, didn’t you. You saw my wounds. You snuck in while I was sleeping and saw.” I sit there with tears in my eyes watching his horrified face.

“Why didn’t you fight back? Why didn’t you stop him? Why didn’t you heal yourself?” He asks turning to me.

“I’m scared of him. There’s evil in his heart and I can feel it every time he touches me. I’m afraid of what he’ll do to me, what he’ll do to them. I love them too much to let them be harmed by him.” I take a deep breathe and look into his eyes. “And my not showing my abilities, not healing, is the only rebellion I have left. He would love for me to have powers and abilities. He’s a failure if I don’t have abilities because they designed me to have them.”

“What do you mean they designed you?” He asks coming to sit beside me.

“I was a test tube baby. They used very special blood and multiple doses of a serum to give me powers and abilities. Mother was 40 and she wanted another child and Father wanted to experiment. It worked better then they hoped but I kept it secret. I developed my powers when I was 2 but I was smart enough to hide them.”

“What powers do you have?”

“Empathy, regeneration, intelligence, and fire manipulation were the first. But since Mother took me along with her to the meetings I picked up many more. So pretty much whatever the people there have I have.”

“So that’s how you could see me!”

“And heal you.” For a minute I’m silent then I look at him and ask. “Are you ever going to tell me your name?”

“Claude.”

“No wonder you kept it a secret.”

He began tickling me until I was laughing so hard I was crying. “That’s for making fun of my name. Squirt.”

“I hate when you call me that. Can’t you call me Lyn.”

“Why Lyn?”

“When I was younger I told you my full name and you laughed. Told me I didn’t look like an Isabelle or a Rose so all that was left was Lyn.”

“Alright then from now on it will be Lyn, unless you annoy me then it’ll be Squirt.”

“Ok.” I look at him again before touching his face. “I can take it back if you want. The connection.”

“No I want to keep it, I just wish I didn’t have to see.”

“I can try to stop the images.” I concentrate on our connection and remove the visual link as best I can. “That should stop it.”

“We should be getting back Lyn.” Claude says looking at his watch. “Don’t want you getting in trouble.”

“Me I’m the angel of the family.” I laugh before standing up. “Are you going to be staying nearby? Or do I have to track you down to say hi.”

We are back in the stables before he can answer. “I’ll be sticking around. This cities big enough to hide in.”

“Good. Maybe we can actually hang out together.” He turns invisible and walks me out to the town car. “I’ll see you around Shadow. Don’t be a stranger.”