Chapter Five
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“This[/i] is your last chance, little girl,” the tall boy warned. “But we’re willing to make you a deal. You hand over your stash, and we promise not to beat the tar out of you.”
Natalie knew about deals. Often she’d overheard Agnes attempt to make them with Dr. Finch, in exchange for letting his wife visit with the interns in the high security ward. But the kind of deal the tall boy was offering to Natalie did not sound like any she’d ever heard of. It sounded more like a threat—the kind of threats Harley and Harvey, two criminally insane siblings, had given Doctors Audrey and Arthur on several occasions. Although Natalie was never told the details of these incidents, she understood they had been unpleasant. Both doctors had come away from the high security ward looking absolutely terrified, and more pale than usual. Natalie expected that was how she must look now, as the boys advanced and edged her closer to the busy freeway.
“Well, what’s it gonna be?” the tall boy asked. “You wanna be polite and give us the candy? Or do it the hard way and have us just beat you up and take it from you?”
Just behind Natalie the traffic was rolling heavily, the autumn wind blustering harshly in accordance with the speed of each vehicle. She was beginning to think her only option left would be to hand over her candy, or take her chances and fight the boys herself, when an irate voice perforated the air like an arrow to the heart.
“Get away from her, you brats!”Thinking at first it was her mother come to save her, Natalie prepared to run toward the sound of the voice. She was about to cry out “Mommy!”, then stopped. What sounded like heels clicking against the pavement indicated that the owner of the voice could not possibly be Agnes Finch. Agnes was wearing a pair of flat-soled boots, which were more sensible when it came to walking long distances.
Along with her tormentors, Natalie watched, spellbound, as a tall woman emerged from the darkness, passing beneath a streetlamp. She was dressed in a red, knee-length velvet gown with a black floral design. There were slits on each side that revealed a generous portion of her shapely legs, which were encased in black fishnet stockings. Her black stiletto heels were parallel to knives as they ssalsaed harshly against the pavement. Behind her flowed a black, floor-length silk cape with red inseam. Holding the garment together was a silver clasp in the shape of a bat, which rested just below her collarbone.
As the woman drew closer, Natalie saw that she was very young—no more than twenty or so. The woman had dark brown, shoulder-length hair that curled inward. Her eyes were a deep, chocolate brown, whose long, curly lashes reminded Natalie of black feather dusters. The eye-shadow the woman had chosen was a dark shade of red, which enhanced the already pretty brown of her eyes. She was beautiful, Natalie thought, with her rosy cheeks and tiny birthmark just below her left eye. Her lips were the brightest shade of red Natalie had ever seen, like blood. Was this woman a true vampire, or was she simply pretending to be one? Should Natalie run away?
It wasn’t until the woman paused before them that Natalie noticed her nails. Nails that were as long and as sharp as the knives on which the woman balanced. Nails so polished that they captured the light of the moon as the woman raised her freehand and seized the tall boy (who was not so tall now that he was standing beside someone five-foot-eight) by the arm. His two ‘friends’ were quick to abandon him, taking off in the opposite direction. Natalie, however, chose to remain. She was too terrified to move—and too eager to witness the punishment this woman was planning to inflict upon the little girl’s oppressor.
“You,” the woman snarled through teeth whiter than even Natalie’s own complexion. “Just what the hell is it you think you’re doing?”
“I-I-I-” The boy stammered. “I…I was just—”
“Going to steal her candy, were you?”
“NO!”“Oh, really? Well, I find
that hard to believe. I despise liars almost as much as I despise bullies. Unless, of course,
I happen to be the one doing the lying and the bullying.” The woman’s tone seemed to indicate that lying and bullying were things to be proud of, if you were beautiful and had nails akin to cutlery. Suddenly, she threw back her head and cackled—a chilling sound identical to the villainous women on television. For some reason, Natalie always preferred these women and their male counterparts to the heroes and heroines who always managed to take them down. She couldn’t help but admire the unique ploys cooked up by the rogues’ clever minds used to defeat their enemies. Watching this was so much more interesting than seeing what she considered the goody two shoes efforts of heroes and heroines. Which was why she was always greatly disappointed, for she wanted so to see the villains and villainesses win just once.
Natalie smiled to herself, realizing that the present scene playing out before her was better than anything television could ever offer.
“Now,” the woman went on threateningly, her fierce glare seeming to render the boy paralyzed, “apologize to this girl. Then get along home before I lose what little control I have over my temper.” She grinned wickedly. “And I don’t think you’d like to see me lose it, would you?”
“Y-yes, ma’am! I-I mean n-no ma’am!” The boy’s pledge earned him his freedom, and he fell clumsily to the ground. Quickly he scrambled to his feet, barely glancing at Natalie as he let out a garbled, “Sorry,” before hurrying to catch up with his friends.
Along with her (villainous?) savior, Natalie watched the boy as he tripped just beneath the light of the streetlamp. He glanced briefly over his shoulder at them, before turning and continuing speedily onward. Once he’d rounded the corner at the end of the street, the woman laid her hand with surprising gentleness on Natalie’s shoulder. Her nails were so long that they reached nearly to the child’s forearm. “Now,” said the woman, her voice surprisingly kind as she turned to Natalie, “what’s a young girl like you doing out all alone after dark? Didn’t your mother ever tell you how dangerous that can be?”
“I was trick-or-treating with my mommy and brother, but then I got lost. Oh!” Natalie’s eyes widened, as a disturbing thought struck her. “They aren’t at your lair, are they?”
The woman blinked in surprise, as if she’d never been asked such a question. “Lair?”
“Don’t you have a lair?”
“What makes you think I have a lair?”
“Well, aren’t vampires supposed to have lairs?”
She chuckled lightly. “Oh, darling, I’m not a vampire. I’m only dressed as one because I attended a costume party earlier. But I’m no more a vampire than you are a witch.” She raised her arm, indicating with one knife-like nail to a small, modest-looking cottage just two houses down the street. “See? That’s my house, right over there.”
“So you really
haven’t seen my mommy and brother then?” Natalie sighed.
“I’m afraid not. But I’d be perfectly willing to help you search for them.”
“You would?”
The woman nodded, as her hand slipped down from Natalie’s shoulder. She offered her hand to the little girl, who took it freely. As they began to walk toward the direction of her cottage, the woman told Natalie her name was Esmé. It came as no surprise that Esmé mentioned nothing of a surname, for many of the inmates of Addams Asylum didn’t have them. Not that Natalie knew of, anyway. And besides, super-villains and villainesses rarely had surnames—or
first names, for that matter. Perhaps ‘Esmé’ wasn’t even the woman’s real name. After all, super-villains and villainesses often went around in disguise when they weren’t committing crimes to avoid being recognized. Natalie was willing to accept the fact that Esmé wasn’t a vampire. But there was no way someone could laugh like that and not be just a
little bit villainous.
Maybe she’s like Catwoman, Natalie assumed.
Except instead of animals, she has a soft spot for kids.Because Agnes had advised her children against giving out their full name to strangers, Natalie felt it wise to tell Esmé only her first name. Although she trusted Esmé with her life, Natalie would feel guilty for disobeying her mother even more than she already had.
“What does your mother look like, Natalie?” Esmé asked, as they paused at the bottom of the driveway leading to her cottage.
“She’s got brown eyes, and hair like yours, except redder. It’s curly, too, and she’s not as tall. She’s pretty, though, like you.”
Esmé smiled, and Natalie was pleased to see that the rage had vanished from her face. “You’re a very remarkable child. Has anyone ever told you that?”
Natalie shook her head. “Only my mommy and the doctors.”
Esmé raised an inquisitive eyebrow. “Doctors? Are you ill?”
“No. I just live with people who are.”
Esmé looked as though she was preparing to answer that, when a third voice cut in before she could even form the words.
“Natalie? Darling, is that you?”
“Mommy!”
“Oh, thank goodness!”
Letting go of Esmé’s hand, Natalie sprinted forward and all but leapt into her mother’s waiting arms. Agnes’ cheeks were damp as she kissed her daughter at least a dozen times on each of hers, hugging her determinedly.
When at last Agnes set Natalie on her feet, it was apparent by the stern look Agnes gave her daughter that she was not happy. Natalie braced herself, prepared to run back to Esmé the second things got too hairy.
The words spilled forth from Agnes’ mouth like water from a faucet. “What on Earth were you thinking, going off all alone by yourself? And right after I
specifically told you not to! Do you have any idea the potential dangers you put yourself in tonight, or the amount of worry I suffered because of you? Nathan and I have been all over this neighborhood, stopping everyone we came across and knocking on every door, asking if anyone had seen you. When no one had, you can’t
imagine the horrors that raced through my mind at the thought of never seeing you again! You haven’t a clue, Natalie, not a clue what a terrible thing that is! How it feels when a parent loses sight of their child—especially in the dark!” Agnes shook her daughter roughly by the shoulders, only to have her heart break as the little girl’s eyes filled with tears.
“I’m
sorry, Mommy! I’m sorry…”
Natalie burst into tears, and Agnes threw her arms around her daughter, comforting her as she had Nathan following his attack on Dr. Arthur. Nathan—who was standing so closely and so loyally beside his mother and sister now—reached into his trick-or-treat pail. From it he extracted the marshmallow pumpkin Natalie had expressed such an interest in earlier that evening. He held it out to her, smiling genuinely as she turned her tear-streaked face away from her mother’s shoulder.
“Here, Nattie. You can have this if you want…I don’t mind. I like the real pumpkins better, anyway.”
Natalie hugged him, and he her, though when she kissed him he appeared just a little taken aback. The only person who had ever kissed him was their mother, and to have someone else suddenly express the same type of affection felt a little funny to him.
But because she shared her brother’s coyness, Natalie was able to understand Nathan’s hesitance. Smiling in gratitude, she gladly accepted the simple yet greatly desired token he offered to her. She did not, however, tear away the shiny wrapping, or drop the candy into her own pail as her brother and mother had expected she would. Rather, Natalie turned and hurried back to where Esmé continued to stand, curiously watching the reunion between Natalie Finch and her family.
“You see this?” said Natalie, holding the marshmallow pumpkin out to Esmé. “This is my favorite candy in the entire universe. It’s a marshmallow pumpkin, and the only one I’ve got. And I want
you to have it.”
Esmé’s scarlet mouth fell open. The vigorous flutter of her pretty brown eyes seemed to suggest that no one had ever given her anything before in her life. “Are you sure? If it’s your only one—”
“I’m sure.” In her refusal to take no for an answer, Natalie shoved the candy into Esmé’s long-nailed hand. She stood speechless, staring from the candy in her palm to the little girl grinning up at her. Agnes and Nathan stepped up from behind Natalie then, their gracious smiles drifting to Esmé’s incredulous face.
“It was
you who found my daughter?” Agnes asked Esmé.
“Y-yes. I had just returned home from a Halloween party, when I spotted her and three older boys in the street.”
“Come.” Agnes drew a motherly arm around the younger woman, leading her toward the cottage as the children skipped hand-in-hand up the driveway. “I want you to tell me everything… The whole story…”
Much like the season of autumn, another Halloween in the town of Ophelia had come and gone. It was a Halloween that would be remembered by Agnes Finch until she drew her last breath, and by Esmé each time she gazed upon a marshmallow pumpkin. It was a Halloween that Natalie and Nathan Finch would discuss in great detail years later, once Dr. Finch had completed his experiment and reunited his two children. But it was a Halloween that would be remembered most fondly by Natalie who, at the tender age of five, had learned that marshmallow pumpkins are only a small part of what makes Halloween so remarkable.
~The End~
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Following Tiago's interpretation of Esmé - who, in my opinion, ended up being a combination of both our takes in this fic - involved a serious rewrite, just because she is so terribly OOC in the first draft, which shall never see the light of day
for that one reason. ^^' However, my attempts at writing evil!Esmé - which I hope have succeeded somewhat, at least - proved to be heaps of fun, as well as a nice change of pace, for me. Thank you all for reading this story, and I hope you enjoyed it.