The intense pitch of darkness that surrounded Madeline right after she woke up, was enough to make her believe she was blind for a few seconds. She instinctively lifted her body into a sitting position, trying to focus her vision on the darkness, but nothing was visible in such a pure dark environment.
She was bound to be terrified.
Not because she was alone and by herself, but because the darkness brought memories of the countless times she's had to hide herself in the shadows.
"Where_where is this place?" She felt the solid floor with both her palms touching the ground.
It was cold and smooth like the floor of polished marbles. She couldn't guess what place would have a furnished floor like this, and with no lights? Not even a lamp? Or a candle?
Who brought her here??
*BANG!*
The deafening sound of a shooting gun made Madeline jolt away from where the ear splitting sound was coming from.
As horrifying as the idea was, it sounded like someone was being shot, and after the terrifying loud bang, the next thing she heard were wild roars of laughter, and no female could have voices as hoarse and masculine as the ones she was hearing.
"HAHAHA!!!! That scoundrel thought he was capable of winning the bet!" She heard someone say from the outside, followed by the sound of heavy boots walking around.
"He died after losing, what a shame. Make sure to check his pockets for extra money. Although, our new friend here will need a reward for making it into the gang, don't you think, boys?" A deeper accented voice spoke with humor, and the rest of his gang responded with a foolish laughter.
It was enough to make Madeline guess they were already drunk. Their manners of speaking were just simply idiotic to her.
Regardless, she silently crawled closer to what she imagined to be the door, leaning against it in an attempt to eavesdrop clearly.
"His reward? His reward! Right! Right!" He quickly cleared his throat and pointed to his fellow gang, "hey you! Go get the girl we kidnapped and bring her here. Tonight, we shall celebrate!"
"CHEERS!!" They clinked their glasses of beer in sheer victory.
Madeline's dark orbs alarmingly grew wider at the mention of the gang speaking about a girl, and who else could they have kidnapped if not her.
Did they get hold of the little girl as well?
The door suddenly bursts open, revealing a brownie, pudgy, looking man who stood at the entrance, staring down at the young lady who warily shifted deeper into the room.
Madeline released a soft gasp when the man stepped in further. A luminous white light immediately flooded the empty room they had locked her in, almost blinding her. She had to look away, blocking the light from meeting her face with her right hand.
"Guess what, the princess is awake." The pudgy looking man informed his gangs who were waiting for him to bring her over.
"Who….who are...Ah! Don't you dare touch me!!"
The man already lifted Madeline into his arms, taking her out of the room and bringing her to the rest of the gangs that were seated in an adorned beer parlor.
"Drop me down!" Madeline struggled with all her strength in the man's arms. He smelled of strong liquor, and just perceiving the nasty smell was making her nauseous. Her stomach churned with disgust.
"I said let go!" She ended up biting him, forcing a yelp out of his mouth and he dropped her down without a second thought.
Madeline's mind was racing when he finally dropped her, she quickly stood up to run away when her arm was roughly grabbed by one of them, limiting her movements.
She looked at the unattractive tall looking man that had grabbed her arm with no decency.
"Let me go!" She warned.
"Already feisty?" A smug smile curved his lips, revealing his ugly brown teeth. He slowly brought out a jack knife from his jacket pocket, showing it to Madeline so she could notice how sharp and sparkling the blade of the knife was.
"It's a good thing I know how to handle women of your type, I'll teach you how to behave in the presence of men!" He eyed her from top to bottom.
She was a very pretty lady!
"You're nothing but rotten kidnappers!" She snapped with her euphonious voice, "kidnapping innocent ladies for your own selfish benefits, where did you keep the rest of them?" She demanded despite her tight position.
Quietness unexpectedly enveloped the parlor. The four gangs exchanged blank looks, like they had no idea what she was talking about. All of a sudden, another laughter enveloped the room, startling Madeline who was on the verge of covering her ears.
"Oh! Do you really think we're the ones responsible for the missing people??" Another round of annoying laughter followed.
Madeline knew they were trying to make a fool out of her, but the sudden laughter died down almost immediately, and their faces turned serious in the blink of an eye.
It was hard to believe they were the same people laughing like madmen a few seconds ago.
"Listen here! You girl!"
Madeline's breath hitched when the man's knife threateningly found its way to her throat, waiting to slit her here and now if she dared to speak against his orders.
"You are going to listen to whatever we say, do whatever we ask you to do and stop when we say stop, or else, you'll end up like that fella over there." One of his gang helped him point towards the direction of the dead body lying on a couch.
A bullet had been screwed into the man's chest, his cloth stained with his own blood as he lay lifeless on the couch. It was a sight that gave Madeline an aghast expression.
"So you better..!!!..."
*BANG!!*
Another gunshot made Madeline freeze at her spot. She covered her ears in fright, wondering who else got shot again, but to her horror, it was the same man who was holding a knife to her throat.
She watched him sink to the ground with red blood trickling from his chest. His own eyes displayed the shock of having to die when he was meant to be celebrating. He never expected death, he didn't want to die and she saw it in his eyes.
"Let the lady go! She's ours!" A voice spoke behind her. Instantly, the rest of the gangs fled from the beer parlor, running in different directions to escape their doom, and before Madeline knew it, she was alone in the parlor.
Swirling around to see who had helped her, the situation only turned out worse when she recognized the people dressed in black to be her uncle's men.
They found her?!!
"Get the lady."
"No wait! Stop this!!" One of the men carried Madeline on his shoulder, taking her out of the beer parlor.
"I beg of you, just let me go!" She balled her hands into fist, hitting the man's back with it, but he didn't react to her cotton ball hits.
She was brought out of the alleyway, and onto the street. The passerby watched with pity as she was shoved into the seat of the carriage, the door slamming shut and the coachman started the carriage.
"It's almost 10pm, take her straight to the church, she'll get dressed there." One of Roland's men gave the orders, and the coachman nodded before riding off.