The movements she was accustomed to - his body pulling at her skin, his legs prodding at the cavity in her chest - were no more. She clasped his face, stared into his sad, still eyes. When Charlotte opened her eyes, she reached for Victor's hand. Without looking back, she ran into the forest until she collapsed. She stumbled from the fire into dewy grass. She fell to her knees, suffocating, and then saw it - sunlight, trees. No exit could be found, every step leading to overwhelming heat. She dashed through the inferno, vision concealed with nothing, but black smoke and blazing flame. Screams of agony pierced the chaos, invigorating Charlotte. They swept over the floor, igniting the black robes that brushed against it.

The flames took to the dry wood immediately. With a screech, he stretched his arm as far as he could, knocking a candelabra to the ground. Memento mori, he uttered, as he withdrew a shining blade.Ĭharlotte rolled to her side, shifting her brother off the altar. The wrinkled face of a man peered from under his hood, placing a hand on the forehead of each twin, making careful examination of their skulls. Two robed figures herded the twins to the centre of the temple, holding Charlotte upon an altar in a room lit with candelabras. Then there was the chanting: a never-ending chorus from cloaked figures on scheduled intervals. Every seventh day, they would sleep with the branch of a damp oak beneath their pillow. The next, they would bleed their fingers into a vase of roses. One day they would be made to break the neck of a small grey bird. Within the temple, they were exposed to unusual experiments - some cruel, many simply baffling. Charlotte, bitter and hateful to all but her brother, found purpose in being his protector. The only solace that could calm him was the embrace of his sister. Victor reacted with the ferocity of a rabid beast at any who approached, clawing and biting. Caged and transported to an old wooden temple, they were sold to a secretive group clad in dark cloaks. Whatever joy and goodness were in them died with their mother. They watched until the screams that tore her vocal cords were no more, and all that was left was the crackling of embers and a nauseating stench. They watched as fat dripped from her body, and her face bubbled and twisted. The twins were forced to watch as the torch was lit, and they watched as flames leapt up their mother's skirt, charring and sizzling her flesh. As she awoke, she did not struggle, only begged her children to turn away. Within minutes, they shackled her unconscious body to a tree, surrounding her feet with dry twigs and moss. A judge on-hand declared Madeleine guilty of witchcraft, evidenced by her demon spawn. Victor shrieked, the wailing of a trapped rat. Madeleine cried for her children, her voice abruptly silenced by a club to her skull. Grubby hands tore the twins from their bed, Charlotte frantically kicking all who approached. A single commanding shout broke the night's silence and a mob of witch hunters streamed in. It was a victory in the game, but one short-lived.Īfter midnight, glowing flames surrounded the family's encampment, bobbing through the darkness. Though a peculiar sight, she did what she had been trained for, waiting for an opening at the market and swiping whatever food she could. The girl, burdened under extra clothing that concealed Victor's protruding body, set out from their forest tent and marched to the nearby town. Pale and exhausted, Madeleine had no choice, but to pass responsibility of collecting food onto Charlotte. At the age of five, a new challenge to the game was presented as their mother fell ill. The journey with their mother was what they believed all children underwent, the games of running and hiding through France's countryside being an ordinary occurrence. The coming years were fleeting memories for the twins, yet they were the closest thing to a normal life they would know. So began the hunting of Charlotte, Victor, and their mother Madeleine. As the new-borns screeched, so too did the midwife who delivered them, running from the home, yelling of a demon birthed by a witch. He was smaller than Charlotte, grown as if he were an appendage of her body rather than a fully formed boy. The twins emerged with Victor's lower body affixed into the chest of his sister, legs twisted around her muscles and organs. The unlikeliness of their successful birth in the 17th century could be described as miraculous, yet it immediately brought about their life of persecution. Additional Lore can be found in Tome 11 - Devotion: Side By Side ForeverĪ pair of conjoined twins, Charlotte and Victor Deshayes formed an emotional bond like none other.

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