The Hanging Tree (Prolouge through chapter three) by Kagamihoshi (best books to read for women .TXT) 📕

Prologue

     "Alice!" my mom screams. My father is lying on the ground, unmoving. The window is shattered. My five year old mind can't understand why my father is surrounded by a pool of red or why my mother is rushing me to the basement and leaving my father behind. 
     "Daddy!" I cry out, sobbing as I try to run back to him but mover won't let me. I hate her for this. As I keep trying to return to my father, my mother falls without warning. Her mouth is open in a silent scream as a red rose blooms under her, the silent kiss of death. 


 Chapter 1

     I wake with a start, sweat running down my forehead and soaking my almost white, blond hair. I look around the room, a familiar figure stirring beside me and sitting up to reveal a shirtless chest.
     "Wha'sa matter?" Says a gentle male voice. Sleepy green eyes look at me from behind a curtain of black hair. I softly brush a strand of hair from his eyes, a plastic smile on my lips. 
     "Go back to sleep Samuel, my love. Just another nightmare about Meute killing my parents.." I murmur. The word love sounds fake, as it doesn't exist to me. Samuel is nothing more than a scientist to me, a monster born to create other monsters.
     "You remember what tomorrow is, don't you?" He asks me in a whisper, caressing my cheek. I nod, trying not to flinch at his touch like always. 
     "My nineteenth birthday." I say and he smiles. 
     "Fourteen years my dear. Fourteen years..."
     "Yeah..." I lay down and close my eyes, Samuel following suit. He falls asleep near instantly but it is another hour before I fall into the embrace of unconsciousness. So many things run through my mind as I drift off. Doctor Samuel Jacobs and his brother Marcus, brothers yet so different. Samuel is twenty one, while Marcus is twenty three. Samuel is thin and lanky while Marcus is tall and muscular. Just like their looks the brothers also differ in opinion. 
    While Samuel loved the experiments he worked so hard to prove, Marcus hated then. He detested his brother for what he did to me and how he treated me. Marcus and Samuel always get into fist fights over it but Marcus rarely wins, Samuel fights dirty and I've seen it happen multiple times. 
     In the morning I am awakened by gentle lips on my forehead. I open my eyes but to my surprise it is Marcus leaning over me. He looks away, cheeks gaining a red tint.      
     "Samuel is in the lab. I heard you crying so I came in to check on you." he says softly, absently running his fingers through my hair. I lift a hand to wipe the tears from one eye and before I can clear the other his thumb is there, wiping the tears away with a gentleness only I've seen. I stare up into his kind blue eyes, as deep as the ocean, warm only for me. Brown hair cropped short rests a top his head in messy lengths.
     My stomach growls, making him laugh, a sound that makes my heart stutter in a strange way. He sits on the bed next to me and pulls me onto his lap, canting his head back to bare his throat. I lean forward, my fangs extending and two pairs of pure white wings unfurling on my back in excitement. I slowly sink my fangs into his head, lapping up the warm red that flows forth.
     The effect is instant. It's as if our minds are beginning to melt into one. My memories ooze into his mind and vice versa but it isn't long before I encounter a steel wall protecting something from me. I don't try to press on though. If he knew how to navigate my mind he would encounter the same. 
     His hand rests on my lower back, nails pressing crescents into my smooth skin. Just then the door bursts open and Samuel stomps in. I pull away from Marcus as if we had been caught having sex, which we might as well have been. Drinking from him mixed our minds, sharing them. Samuel growled and Marcus set me on the bed, the bleeding on his neck stopping. 
     Marcus slips past his brother and out the door, Samuel glaring at him. Then like magic Samuel is in front of me, his hand lashing across my face. I yelp and fall to the side, accidentally stabbing myself in the lip with my fangs. He glares at my coldly and I feel as if I am shrinking before him. 
     "I told you to stay the hell away from him and most certainly never to drink from him!" Samuel shouts. I shy away from him, fearing I would be hit again. He then pulls me into his arms and holds me close, smiling.
     "I love you.." he whispers softly.


Chapter 2

     A few hours later I am waiting in the blank halls outside the conference room, waiting for Samuel to finish preparing. It seems like hours before he steps out. 
     "Just like we practiced. Don't screw it up." he says somewhat softly. He then opens the door and holds it for me, waiting for me to step in. I fix my tight black stretchy pants and dark blue tank top cut off below my chest before I go in. Slits are cut into the back of my shirt for my wings to grow. 
     As I step in, I feel as if I am the main attraction at a freak show. Six old men sit there, their glasses trained on me as I want to the front of the room and stand there. Samuel walks over to me and sets his hand on my shoulder, grinning like the Cheshire cat.
     "Gentleman," he begins "I present to you my latest and my greatest project. I have created a superior race combining the genes of an Angel and the vampire race known as Shifters. This new race is known as the Exnay, a race that should not exist yet still does!"
     As if on cue -which in fact I am- my fangs once more grow to extend an inch past my lips. My four wings unfurl to their full length, each about six feet long, my wing span being around thirteen feet from tip to tip. The scientists applause Samuel and I close my wings.
     "Alice dear, show them your animal form." Samuel urges kindly but I know better. It's change or die. I feel a sense of unease coming over me as my form ripples and begins to change, turning from the human female to a white swan before their eyes. They marveled at me, clapping. I use my beak to gather up my clothes so I may leave.
     "Not so fast love. Change back." he commands now. I gasp in horror at the thought but he urges me on. Once more I become sick to my stomach, appearing naked before these men. I try to cover myself but Samuel swats my hands away. I whimper and close my eyes tight. Samuel grabs me and begins to massage my breasts, making me moan weakly. The men clap, enjoying the show. 
     Two hours later I sit in my room, shivering and humiliated. Marcus brings me something to eat -soup and some Pepsi- and turns to leave but I stop him. I want him to stay. He nods and sits beside me, an arm around my waist. I eat slowly, sniffling. Samuel didn't actually rape me, just played with me a bit to show the others, to show me off. As I eat, I think. 
     "What are you thinking about?" he finally asks. His fists are no longer clenched in anger, no longer ready to hurt someone to protect me. 
     "I.. Have this tiny little sliver of hope that I could start a family with a man. But to do that I would have to date and have sex. But Samuel would never let me."
     "Who cares what Samuel thinks?"
     "Mm.. I'm thinking of naming my vibrator Stanley." I laugh weakly when he gives me a funny look. 
     "Why Stanley?"
     "Stanley is kind... And thinks only of my pleasure."
     "Yeah but I'm still winning our dry spell contest." This time he laughs and begins to nuzzle me softly, his hands poking my sides to tickle me some. I try not to laugh until I am able to set my soup aside. 
     Then he is on top of me, looking down into my eyes but I'm not scared. For a moment his lips encase mine. Just as quickly though he is by the door then out. I sigh and pull my knees to my chest. What just happened...?


Chapter 3

     It seems like only minutes that I had been asleep on the night of my ninetieth birthday when the sun is up and I am awake. Today as a late birthday present Samuel was letting me go visit the town for a bit. He dropped me off near one of my favorite flower shops and granted me three hours.
     With a nod I step into the shop and look around. I instantly head for the roses near the back, pretty red ones, gentle yellow ones and of course my favorite blue roses. Footsteps behind me make me jump as I admire the petals. 
     "Lovely aren't they?" says a soft male voice. I turn and smile, my eyes resting on a male with dark blue -almost black- hair just past his ears and unusual green eyes, warm and gentle. I nod. 
     "But not as lovely as you mademoiselle." he says with a flourish and takes my hand, kissing the back softly. 
     "I'm Alice." I say shyly. 
     "Takumi Meute." he replies. My blood begins to run cold, I freeze. He smirks, a red glow forming in his left palm. "Got ya." 
     He slams his palm into my chest and it hurts. Everything in my body begins to hurt. My legs can no longer hold me up and I fall to the ground. No one seems to notice us as he picks me up in his arms. The last thing I remember is his sweet smile blurring as I fall unconscious. 
     I am awakened by a steady beeping sound. I am strapped down and there are tubes and wires attached to me all over. The beeping gets louder and faster. A hand places itself on mine. I open my eyes and look up. 
     "Good morning dear.." says Takumi. I snarl loudly and he begins to laugh. "I promise I am not going to hurt you." he whispers, frowning now.
     "Why should I believe you!?" I growl loudly, attempting to snap at him. "You killed my parents!" 
     "No.. My father did..." he says. He looks away, tears in his eyes. As if the thought hurt this terrible monster. I glare at him. 
     "Samuel will come looking for me. He loves me." I say thought I doubt that's true, it was more because I was his precious science project. He looks back to me, angry