🥀1881 New Orleans

"And I looked, and behold a pale horse:
and his name that sat on him was Death, and Hell followed with him"

Revelation 6:8

🪻《Claude's Narration》🪻

The full moon shone brightly in my cold cellar. I blew on my hands to keep them warm. There was but a tiny candle light that illuminated the cellar, despite that I wasn't afraid. The darkness seemed more comfortable than the morning light.

Sounds of heavy footsteps were heard outside. Clunk-clunk-clunk. Then it stopped in front of the door! I always knew from the moment I was born they wanted to get rid of me. Now was the day they do!

The door opened with a loud thud followed by heavy footsteps, I opened my eyes and looked up. "Get up!" His eyes were fierce and angry.

"I said GET UP! you lazy bastard!" followed by a kick onto my stomach, I groaned in pain.

I mustered all my strength to get up. I stood straight and stared at him, defiantly. Richard. Richard was my cousin, he had the same red hair as his father's. His green eyes were angry and impatient, his nostrils flared up as he slapped me across my face. His hands were enormous and upon receiving the impact I nearly fell down, followed by a loud ringing in my ear. I felt dizzy and hurt.

too painful.

"Didn't I tell you to get up an hour ago and here I find you sleeping like a pig!" he used his knuckles to hit my head.

"So–sorry" I muttered. He took me by the arm and dragged me outside the cellar.

"Where are we going?" I asked him curiously.

"Just shut up!" he roared.

As we were walking outside the cellar I saw my uncle talking to a man that I didn't recognize. He was old and pale, maybe around his late forties. His dark hair was perfectly combed, he wore a long black coat with a silver  pin on his chest.

A crescent moon.

The man handed my uncle a bag full of golden coins. "You can exchange these for bank notes nevertheless you are a wealthy man now." the man said.

"Pleasure doing business with you sir!" my uncle laughed merrily, looking at the bag full of golden coins while man nodded as response.

"I don't want to go!" I pleaded Richard, but he wasn't listening to me. He shoved me toward the man.

The man eyed me with interest, his eyes trailed up and down then up again, stopping to meet my eyes. His eyes were light green and stern, there was an aura about him that gives an authoritative allure.

"He looks very scrawny and weak." he said.

"Well, he can be of use... He is a pretty boy after all!" My uncle replied, grinning to himself and disgustingly gave the man a wink.

The man grimaced at my uncle with annoyance and clicked his tongue.

"Oh well, get him inside the carriage." he said, impatiently.

No no no! I thought.

Is this man taking me to a brothel? I don't want to go. I know that there were noblemen who liked young boys. I walked slowly as hot tears streaming down my face as my cousin, Richard ushered me to the carriage. I wanted to run away but  my body was weak from last week's whipping and all I could do was close my eyes and climbed up the carriage.

I sat in the soft cushion and pulled my knees to my chest and hugged them tightly.

"lucky you, you'll get to live in a mansion!" Richard snorted, before running toward his father.

The man climbed up and sat opposite me. "Let's go!" he ordered his footman.

I couldn't stop the tears from falling down my cheeks. I wiped my eyes with the back of my hand and looked up. The man was looking at me with an expressionless face.

After a long moment he said to me, "You are too pretty for a boy."

I couldn't answer him I was too focused on crying.
"stop crying, I will not hurt you." he said.

"Are–are you taking me to a brothel?" I asked. The man's eyes widened and after a brief silence, he laughed.

"Why on earth am I going to do that?" he said, amusingly.

"My–my uncle said he wants to sell me there." I choked the tears as I spoke.

"Well, we're not going there. You will live with me and the mistress."

"M-mistress?"

He smiled and nodded. "My name is Julius De La Forte, I am a butler from House Ambro—Monique."

Monique? Was he about to say a different name?

"Monique?" I sniffed and wiped my snot with the back of my hand. Julius gave me a little nod but said no more;

Julius De La Forte was a tall man in his forties, his hair was dark and neatly combed back. He had a thick mustache that made him look like a general and light green eyes. He had a deep french accent that gave away his french roots.

New Orleans was indeed populated mostly by the french since the 1700s, it was named the Crescent city because of its quarter-moon shape. Upon remembering this, Julius' crescent pin came to my mind!

They might be some kind of well-off family or an aristocratic family that help build this city, the family he served must be an utmost important figure. Not all aristocrats can use the crescent symbol, I thought.

The journey was long but agreeable that I found it pleasant. I've never been outside the town before, as I peeked outside the carriage window, my eyes gleamed with unspeakable excitement! The carriage strode by the vibrate colors of the shops and houses of New Orleans, which were mixed with french and spanish origins.

The people, who were strolling down the streets were of different races. Caucasians, French, Spanish, they all blend together. All except for the Africans, who was discriminated. We passed-by a huge fountain in the city center, the water dropped down and up again, I found it fascinating! The carriage strode along the Bourbon street, which was known for it's "anything goes" atmosphere. A variety of bars and shops could be found here, though I couldn't even imagine myself going near red light areas! I looked up and saw several beautiful women, leaning on their balconies.

They wore crimson lipsticks, the darkest eye shadows and thick eyelashes. They wore sensual dresses with low necklines that revealed their supple cleavages! Some of them puffed a cigarette, while the others winked at the men who passed-by.

The carriage hurriedly strode passed the busy streets and finally out on the main road, seeing the grasslands and tall hills gave me a sense of freedom. I noticed that the carriage moved further and further away from the bustling streets of New Orleans and strode deeper into the forest.

Due to exhaustion I drifted to sleep. I awoke from the loud sound of the horses' huffs as the carriage came to an abrupt halt, Julius shook me gently as I fought the sleepiness.

"we're here!" he shook me.

I looked out the carriage window and saw a big golden gate. It was so big that I thought it could reach the skies. The gardeners scrambled hurriedly as they opened the golden gate.

I didn't even know that there was this kind of house in New Orleans? Wow! I thought, excitedly.

The carriage entered and passed by a train of cypress trees perfectly aligned on each side of the road. At the end of the marvelous cypress trees was a marble statue of Eros, holding a golden jar, where water flowed out and into the marble pond. It was beautiful!

I stared at the statue with my mouth agape, as soon as the carriage came to a stop, Julius opened the carriage door and climbed down.

He turned to me and said. "come down, boy!"

Upon hearing Julius' command, I scurried after him! I climbed down the carriage slowly and glanced up at the most magnificent mansion I have ever seen! The mansion had marble steps leading to the main door, the pillars on both sides had vines of yellow roses crawling around them.

On top of the staircase were two big marble lion statues lay, awaiting. The door was enormous and it had a peculiar design delicately carved on it, it was depicting the gates of hell. The demons pulled the people down as the angels reached their hands toward them and lead them back to heaven.

While I was gawking at the door, Julius held the door knocker, which was a huge lion head that frightened me! He knocked it twice and the main door opened suddenly! A mature woman wearing an emerald dress walked outside.

She was a petite and vivacious woman with her lean face unlined except for a crease on her eyes when she smiled. Unlike most women, she wasn't wearing an elongated V-shaped bodice, instead her emerald dress hang straight on her shoulders and tight-fitted on the waist with sleeves, that were loose on the top and tight from the elbow to the wrist. she wore her brown hair in a bun while the keys hung around her waist chinked as she walked closer to us.

She must be the head maid. She smiled sweetly revealing her laugh lines.

"So, is he the boy?" she chimed.

"Yes, he is the boy." Julius laid his cold hand on my shoulder and said. "let's go inside."

The interior of the mansion was more awestruck than the golden statues or the carvings on the door I've seen outside. The walls were painted in yellow and bronze with yellow roses flowers drawn on it. The floors were laid with elaborate mixture of yellow, orange and white Grecian tiles and the chandelier hung brightly in the center of the room, it's incandescent light bulbs looked like diamonds. Every corner of the wall was decorated with golden sconces with massive black candles stood aflame.

Why black candles? I thought to myself.

I turned my head around in awe! I felt like I am inside a golden palace! Everything was bathe in gold! My eyes followed the line of marvelous marble steps leading to the rooms upstairs.

Then my eyes caught a white figure standing on top of the stairs. Our eyes met, crimson! Her eyes were a deep color of red like blood.

Her ice-cold crimson eyes gazed upon me enough to send shivers down my spine before I know it—

I fell in love.

🪻《 Author's Note》🪻

Hi everyone! 🥀

Thank you for taking a chance on this story. I know that there are hundreds of stories out there but you have chosen to give this book a moment of your time. I deeply appreciate it. 🫶🏻

I hope that this story will live up to your expectations. I am still a developing writer so please bear with me with all typos or grammatical errors you can find. I'll surely edit it along the way. Please tell me if you find any via message box!🍁

I am totally open for suggestions and advice. If you have any suggestions/advices for me feel free to send me a message via message box so we can talk about it. I want to make this story the best since it is the first story I've written.

Hopefully you will join me in my writer's journey and help me improve my writing skills.

Please do not plagiarize my story since I've put a lot of effort into writing it. I hope that you will enjoy this story as I have enjoyed writing it.

🪸 I want to give a massive thanks to nexus_hyushine  for proofreading and giving me advice on writing this story, she has been a huge help to me and this story wouldn't be the same without her.

🪸 Thanks to Judee21 for encouraging me to continue writing and have been a massive supporter ever since I started writing this novel.

🪷 Story note: Harbinger of Apocalypse: Pale Horse was formally known as Clodette due to some advices I received. The title was somewhat too plain, so I changed it. Please note for my long-time readers that this novel will be revised with a whole new plot.

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📌Note:
1️⃣ This book will contain some +18 scenes. I will place a "Mature Theme Warning" to alarm readers.

2️⃣ This book will contain tragedy and loss themes.

3️⃣ This book is made of pure imagination. So places, characters and names mentioned here are all fiction or used for inspiration.

4️⃣ This book was written and published in Wattpad in 2019 but discontinued; Rewritten and republished in 2023.

5️⃣ Credits to Pinterest.com and the owners for the pictures. Pictures used in this story aren't mine and only used for inspirational purposes.

🥀 Updates every Monday!

All right reserved © 2019

Story by: Julia Jessica G.

These covers were made by me using canva.com and credits to pinterest.com and the artists for the pictures. Please tell me which cover suits the story best.

Please enjoy my story!

Love, Julia🍂