Prologue

31 October 1854

The cold autumn air raged across Rouen's countryside. Madeleine Mulheim could have cared less. She trudged home, feeling dazed, lost, and hurt. Another day in the town square, seeking desperately for her husband. Charles Mulheim has been declared missing for nearly 4 months now. Her grief for Charles was almost overwhelming.

And the child growing in her womb wasn't helping.

In fact, Madeleine dreaded this… being… growing within her. Although they had not been married at the time, Charles and Madeleine had… done the deed, shortly after Valentine's Day. It was dreadfully obvious by her third month that something had happened between the two, they had adamantly denied ever doing such. Rumors started flying around the town. Rumors of fornication, of prostitution, floated around her. Of Madeleine Bouchard being a common whore, despite her upper class status. Of sin that she carries within her.

And out of the blue, Charles had proposed to her. Perhaps he had done so to save himself from insults being thrown to him. Perhaps he felt pity for the woman he fell in love with. At the age of 19, Madeleine had the charms that every man in France would fall to. With deep, sea-blue eyes that anyone can stare into and be lost within its depths; luscious, wavy blond hair that framed her face quite nicely; a curvaceous body that men swoon for; and possessing large amounts of money, tempting to all but the poorest and most unfortunate of men. Yet with her chest rapidly expanding since her affair, all of her advantages left. Madeleine quickly accepted his proposal.

Hardly two months into their wedding, and Charles was called in to perform an evaluation and reconstruction of the Pontmercy chateau in Paris. Known as one of the best masons in France, and the request was written directly from Baron Marius Pontmercy, a war hero during the revolution only four years before, Charles simply couldn't refuse.

"Say you'll return to me, to my life, my lifetime…"

"I promise, Madeleine."

Those were Charles' last words to Madeleine. Over two months passed, and Madeleine finally received word of his… disappearance… at the worksite.

"You promised me, Charles, you promised," she wept on that day, reading the newspaper detailing the crumbling foundation at the estate.

For without Charles, there was no real reason for Madeleine to continue living in this facade. She had found other men, who could potentially replace him. Despite this, the only thing standing in her way between release from Charles and being bound to Charles was…the child. And even then, Madeleine wanted nothing to do with… it. For it was created out of wedlock. It had very little meaning to her. Oh, how Madeleine pined to move on with her life! Yet, she clung onto the hopes that Charles would eventually return to her, in time for the child.

Oh, the child, the child! How many times she tried to get herself rid of it! Starvation, poison, even intentional injuries, although excruciating to her, did nothing to the child within. How she wanted to get rid of… this demon inside her so much! Surely if this was any child, it would be dead by now! No midwife, or doctor for any matter, wanted any hand in it. The child was already too far along to go back.

And so, Madeleine cursed under her breath as the sun steadily descended across the horizon. Cursing the pain in her chest, the coldness of the wind, the distance her house was from the other houses.

"Hannah! Open up this instant!" she screeched as she approached her front door. The maid instantly opened the door to gaze upon the changed woman. Gone was the bright innocence of her eyes. Her hair no longer possessed its former sheen; rather, it had turned a dirty blond. Her mouth, in the past which said nothing but sweetness, was now trembling and muttering curses left and right.

"What took you so long?" she snapped. Hannah bowed down and ushered Madeleine into the living room.

"Sorry, Madame, but I was busy cleaning the kitchen…"

"Never mind the kitchen! God knows what you've been cooking for me!" Madeleine reached for the nearest chair and raised it over her head with surprising speed and force. Hannah instinctively cowered.

"So…so… sorry Madame…" she stuttered. Seeing Hannah on the ground seemed to only anger Madeleine further.

"Sorry? SORRY?! Seriously girl, I didn't hire you to be a whipping post, did I?! Now, GO! Clean the chamber pot of its contents! Clean the…" Madeleine paused, and groaned in pain, dropping the chair in the process. Hannah, sensing the change in tone, immediately rose and rushed to her side.

"Ma…Madame! Are you alright? Wha…what shall I go fetch you?"

"Nothing! Leave me be!" she steadily lowered herself onto the couch. Glancing down to where she was standing, she noticed a puddle of murky blood.

Her water had broken.

"Get the local midwife! I think… I think it is finally coming out!"

Hannah didn't need to be told twice. She rushed to the local elderly midwife, and, to be on the safe side, Saint Erik Sauveterre, the local priest. Fortunately, by the time she had arrived back at the Mulheim residence, Madeleine had not yet given birth. Seeing Madeleine on the couch in utter agony, the midwife immediately assumed her role.

"Now, Madame, push. You're just beginning to dilate."

"Please… get this… agony… over with already!" Madeleine certainly was growing to dislike this child every minute.

"Madame, I see… the head! Continue pushing!"

"Why must I continue pushing though?" Madeleine was getting quite tired, as expected.

"So you won't die, of course."

All throughout the ordeal Hannah and Saint Erik stood nearby, watching Madeleine scream and moan in pain. While Hannah was heavily tempted to approach Madame and ask for her needs, Saint Erik looked at the sinned woman with disgust in his eyes.

So many rumors and sightings were heard all throughout town. How the child was created outside of marriage. Of how she attempted witchcraft and gypsy poisons to get rid of the child. Certainly, something was wrong with the woman, he thought. I wouldn't be surprised if the poor child is actually alive by the end of the night. He knelt down besides Madeleine in prayer, hoping the child will turn out alright and safe.

"One more push, Madame!"

And then the midwife gasped. Instead of cupping the child and announcing its gender, she… dropped the child in horror as she let out a scream as the child began to cry. "Demon! Madame, that's what you've given birth to!"

Saint Erik looked up, startled to see Madeleine fainting. He looked at the midwife, who ran out of Madeleine's house, screaming "Demon! Demon! I am forever sinned! Never shall I enter or work for her again!" And finally, while afraid to do so, he glanced down at the crying child on the stained carpet. He inhaled sharply.

Lying in the middle of the blood was a young boy. Surprisingly, he was still alive after falling about a foot off. His body, for the most part, looked relatively normal. His face, however… was a different story. His hair, which was dark brown, did little to ease the horror. For the young lad had no nose; stead, a gaping hole with tissue underneath existed in place of the nose. His eyes were rather sunken into the eye-sockets… his face overall looked gaunt, and his cheekbones sharply protruded outwards. At places the skin seemed to be at excess; other places the skin seemed all too thin. In fact, as far as Saint Erik could see, there was a small section of his face that did not possess any skin at all. Furthermore, each cheek was heavily distorted, as though someone had attempted to stir cement while it was drying. The lips were unbelievably thin, almost to the point of nonexistence.

Feeling pity for the young child, knowing that this face was the result of a mother's hate of her past, he cautiously picked the young child up. Instantly, the child had stopped crying. His cry wasn't that bad, he thought. It sounded rather heavenly. Almost like an angel's… The child opened its eyes. Immediately, Saint Erik noticed that the child's eyes… were unlike any other. For instead of possessing Madeleine's sea-blue eyes or Charles' emerald-green eyes, this child had (what he presumed to be) amber eyes, with just a speck of Charles' eyes visible. The child looked up at the priest wonderingly, and reached up his little hand, finding it on the priest's cheek.

"There, there, little one", the priest crooned, as Hannah cautiously approached the child, a look of pity on her face. "You know why he was born like this, no?"

Hannah slowly nodded her head. "Yes, gypsy poison and frequent attempts to kill the poor child physically…"

The child began to squirm, as Madeleine slowly regained consciousness. "Where's my child?" She looked around frantically for the midwife, and not seeing her, finally looked at the priest and the maid, who had their backs onto her. "Oh lord! Saint Erik, Hannah, where is my child?"

Saint Erik was shocked. Hannah visibly paled. For neither wanted to present the poor child to Madeleine. "Well, Madeleine…" he slowly turned around. The child was now facing Madeleine, with a look of wonder in the child's eyes. Madeleine looked at the poor child for a moment, and began to scream.

"No! I did not give birth to that thing! I did not! I did not! I did NOT…!" she was now sitting up, shaking her head while continuing to deny the child's existence. Finally, after a moment, she looked up at the priest. "Kill him."

"I shall not."

"Then I shall do it myself!" She got up, even though it pained her to do so, and began her stride towards the kitchen.

"No, Madame, you mustn't!" Hannah rushed to Madeleine's side and forced her back on the couch.

"Why should I not?! This…thing is a demon! I refuse to mother a demon!"

"But you shall," the priest responded quietly. "For it is because of you that the poor child is born this way. Surely you would've known the consequences of poison on a child, no?" Madeleine flinched. "For distorting this child's face… his future, you shall raise him. You shall not harm him in any way. For if you do…" he paused. Madeleine took this opportunity to counterstrike.

"What will you do?" she sneered. "What deed have I done that will taint me in this town, to God? And I have no name for this demon, you name him yourself!"

"I shall tell the world of your sin… of fornication." Madeleine again flinched. "And how you attempted to kill the child in many ways before it even took a breath," he looked down at the child again. "His name shall be Erik then," he muttered quietly. "Erik Mulheim". With this, the child stopped looking at Madeleine and looked up at the priest, with wonder still plastered on his eyes. He handed little Erik to Hannah, who proceeded to care for him in the bathroom.

"Mark my words, Madeleine. I shall be checking back every week to see if the child is alright," he paused, and then continued, "If not, I'll see that you are forever damned for your sins".

With that, he left the household, with Madeleine paralyzed in shock and fear.