Claimed by the Prince of Darkness novel Chapter 194

Chapter 194: Beaten and Baked

Mr. and Mrs. Belmont had taken to walking through the village of Brackenwell, their steps slowing when they stopped in front of the small gates of the house they had once called home. But now, it was bare and covered in snow.

"To think we lived here not so long ago," Mrs. Belmont murmured. When her husband pulled his arm from her grasp, she frowned. "Where are you going?"

"To take a walk. I will be back," he answered, already stepping away from her.

Ezekiel was growing irritated. The way Megan clung to him reminded him too much of Caroline. His steps quickened as he took the street that curved back towards the cemetery, towards Ruelle.

But before he could get far, two men approached from the opposite side. One of them stopped him with a hand to his shoulder.

"What?" Ezekiel questioned.

"Harold Belmont," the man spat. "Where do you think you’re going when you owe me money?"

Pushing the hand off from his shoulder, he said with a sigh, "Go to the courthouse. They will pay you double what I owe. Now scram."

The words only made the men angrier and one of them swung at him. Ezekiel moved easily, dodging before driving his knee into the man’s stomach hard enough to knock the breath from him.

The man folded with a cough. "Get him!" he wheezed.

"You took the money when you needed it, and now you are trying to scam us again? Wearing clothes like that and I saw the carriage you came in," said the second man, and when the man caught sight of his fellow men, he shouted, "Look here! Harold Belmont has returned to pay the money."

A third person came and barked, "You bastard! My brother-in-law died trying to collect from you!" Two others grabbed thick logs stacked beside a half-cut tree and joined in.

Even in Harold’s body, Ezekiel still carried the strength of a half-blood. More than enough to break them and when the first two rushed him, he struck fast. One fell and then another. But they got back up.

"What the hell? I thought you said he had broken hands, how is he this strong for an old man?" demanded one of them who took the hit. "Where’s our damn money?"

A lot more crowd were beginning to gather and they had begun to murmur amongst themselves. And from the corner of his eye, he saw Mrs. Belmont running towards them, her face pale with shock.

Ezekiel gritted his teeth because if he kept fighting like this, someone would notice. Harold Belmont was a weak, cowardly man. So he let it land and be over with it.

TWAK! Another blow landed across his back, then another. Blood ran down the side of his face, dark against the snow.

"AHH!" Mrs. Belmont screamed, rushing forward. "What are you doing?! Let go of my husband!"

The same man who had taken Ezekiel’s knee to his stomach raised the log again and brought it down against Ezekiel’s back.

Ezekiel’s eyes stayed open which had turned red, and beneath the pain, fury churned. He cursed Harold Belmont for the miserable life he had built. He grit his teeth.

"Stop right there! Back away!" The two guards who were with Ruelle shoved through the crowd at last, forcing the men back. "You are under arrest for assaulting an innocent man."

"Innocent?" the man barked a laugh. "Like hell he is! Three men from this village disappeared after they went to collect what he owed! No one knows where they went. And this bastard walks back here dressed like a lord?"

Ruelle’s mouth went dry at the sight of her father crumpled in the snow, blood darkening his clothes. For some time now, she had imagined him brought low for everything he had done. Yet the sight of him bleeding in the snow did not bring satisfaction. Only a strange hollowness. His hand trembled in the snow and he extended his hands in her direction. Even now, bleeding and broken, he still reached for her as if she belonged at his side. As if his pain erased the memory.

One of the men kicked Mr. Belmont’s side and a groan left Ezekiel’s mouth.

"Carlos," Mason stepped forward, hands raised as if to cool the fire. "This isn’t the way."

But it didn’t sit well with the debt collectors, and one of them demanded, "If you are going to side with him, pay his debt."

Mason laughed at once and he asked, "And why would I do that?"

Mrs. Belmont pushed past first, dropping to her knees beside him. She cradled her husband’s face and cried,

"Look what you’ve done! Guards! Arrest them! Throw them into the dungeon!" Her fingers brushed his bruised cheek and he winced. "We need to get you treated, Harold."

Ruelle barely had time to blink before one of the debt collectors struck the guard, and the men crashed into each other in a mess of fists. Whispers broke around the crowd as the fight began again, which was barely contained.

Unlike before, Claude stood quietly beside Ruelle. After the last time he had gotten into a fight and lost her, he had learned his lesson.

The shouting had started to blur into one another. Men cursing, Mrs. Belmont crying and the guards barking orders. Ruelle stood still in the middle of it, her fingers cold despite the gloves.

Mason jogged to where Ruelle stood and asked, "Are you alright, Ruelle? That must have frightened you. It isn’t safe for you to stay here. You and your family should leave. Where is your carriage?"

Ruelle’s eyes were still glued on the guards shackling the debt collectors, while her mother and another villager helped her father up.

"We will head there," she replied.

"Let me help you, Mr. Belmont!" Mason quickly offered to support him with the guard. When Ruelle looked at the ground, the blood looked too dark against the snow, almost unreal.

By the time they reached the carriage, Mr. Belmont was barely standing. Mrs. Belmont climbed in first, helping him onto the seat opposite. But the way he sprawled across it left little room for the rest.

Hailey murmured, "There’s not enough space for all of us."

"Ruelle," Mr. Belmont’s weak voice carried from inside the carriage.

The cold had settled deeper and Ruelle’s boots were wet from the snow. She could still smell iron in the air and it felt like it was spreading.

Mason offered, "It seems Mr. Belmont wants you with him. I can bring your friend back safely."

But Ruelle wasn’t convinced and she was about to suggest sitting next to Claude, when Hailey nudged ger lightly, "Go. I will be right behind."

Leaving Hailey behind didn’t sit right. But Mrs. Belmont snapped at once, "What are you standing there for? Your father needs treatment!"

Ruelle pursed her lips, because she had to stick to where the coachman could see her. Hesitantly, she stepped inside, and the door shut behind her.

Once the carriage began to move, Mrs. Belmont’s eyes were wet and she said, "You should have let Lucian pay them when he offered. But no—your pride mattered more. Look where it got you."

The carriage rocked over uneven ground. The sound of Mr. Belmont breathing harshly filled the space. Mrs. Belmont covered her face with her hand, shaking her head. "To think they came right when we arrived," came her muffled words.

At those words, Ruelle felt her father’s eyes shift to her. He murmured,

"It is strange," his bloody gaze lingering on her. "That they came so quickly."

Ruelle kept her face still. For a moment, her chest tightened. Had Lucian moved too fast? Or had she been too willing to let it happen? The thought sat uneasily in her chest, because if her father connected it back to Lucian, this could get worse.

"You should have stayed with us at the cemetery," she said quietly, trying to smooth over the thought before it deepened. But it was obvious that her father was suspicious with the way his eyes stayed on her.

When Lucian had told her to bring her father to Brackenwell, she had guessed something like this was going to happen. Which was why the shock wasn’t the same as what her stepmother had received.

"I feel like I’m dying," Mr. Belmont’s eyes closed. Mrs. Belmont leaned over him at once, panic returning and she leaned forward to kiss her husband on the lips.

Ezekiel’s body stiffened. The disgust in his eyes flashed so quickly that Ruelle would have caught it if she hadn’t turned to look outside. She instead saw the glass slightly fog from her breath while she watched the trees outside blur.

In the other carriage, where Hailey sat across from Mason Webb, silence stretched between them for a while. She sat with her arms crossed, staring out the small window, still thinking about the blood she had seen in the snow.

Mason cleared his throat and attempted to start the conversation, "It was terrible what happened to Mr. Belmont. Those men shouldn’t have gone that far. There are other ways to settle debt," he shook his head as though he were still troubled by it.

His eyes shifted to Hailey and then added, "Poor Ruelle must be shaken. Back then, even the sight of blood made her tremble."

Hailey’s brows twitched at those words. Mason then said, "Why don’t you help me make her agree to return to me? After all, she’s once agreed to be my wife in the past."

"Do you have a death wish?" Hailey asked in a serious tone as she uncrossed her arms.

That made the man laugh and he asked, "Why? Didn’t you see me back there? I handled myself just fine."

Hailey rolled her eyes. She had seen men in Sexton tear each other apart in the underground dungeons. Compared to that, Mason swinging his fists at nothing was hilarious. Leaning back against her seat, she said flatly,

"She’s already spoken for and you lost your moment. Frankly, it would do you good if you stopped it, unless you have a wish to be baked."

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