I look away from Mary. Dreams and laughter, what a joke. I don’t know what to say to her, I’m too caught up in my own hellish nightmare of life.
“Come on now, let’s get this side looked at.” Mary pulls the covers back and lifts the gown slowly. “My heavens, look at this, your bruising is almost gone in places. Yesterday, I thought you were one step away from the grave.”
I glance down at my now uncovered arms and notice that some of the worst bruises were barely showing on my skin, just a slight greenish tint.
“Where did your bandage on your side go? No wonder you are bleeding through your gown. The bandage must have come off in your sleep, Ohhh, my!”
“What is it?” I try to look, but Mary is blocking my view of my side.
“Your side, it’s completely healed up. The stitches are even gone like it’s been days.”
All this time Rage was sitting in the middle of the bed listening to the women talk. He liked the sound of both of their voices and they always smelled too good to eat. One of them fixed him snacks and she never scolded him when he brought stinky chew toys in the house. The other was his human mother. She had taken care of him when he was little. Now he would take care of her. There was no reason for her to hurt any longer. He would make sure of it; no one would hurt one of his kind.
Mary looked over at Rage; the white spot on his ear was covered in blood, Emma’s blood. “Rage, what have you done?” Mary had her hand against her chest and she was terribly pale.
I could tell she was terribly upset, but I wasn’t going to just lie there and let her be mean to him. “Rage hasn’t done anything! What do you mean my side is all healed up? How long have I been asleep?” I try to see my side, but the wound was too far back. Rage, lay back down and closes his eyes, completely ignoring what was going on around him.
“Emma, honey excuse me for a second, I will be right back. I forgot to get something from the kitchen.” Mary almost ran from the room. She was trying to hide the tears forming in her eyes. “Oh the poor child,” she was thinking to herself. The venom in Rage’s saliva would poison her from the inside out. There would only be a few hours before she started suffering. Mary wasn’t sure what to do at this point. She knew she couldn’t disturb Lord Lucas, so all she could do was make Emma comfortable and leave him a note so he would know what had happened.
Lord Lucas,
I'm leaving you this note so you will know the condition of our Emma when I went in to check on her injuries this morning. I noticed her bruising had improved immensely, oh I don’t know how to say this. I believe Master Rage has licked her while she was asleep. The wound on her side was completely healed and the stitches were gone. I know his saliva would be strong enough to dissolve them. We will be lucky to have her for a short time now. I'm going to make her comfortable then head home. I can’t stay and watch this; she has been through so much. If you find her suffering My Lord, please do what needs to be done.
Your loyal servant,
Mary
Mary wasn’t gone long and when she returned to the side of the bed she stood there a minute. I could tell she wanted to tell me something. “Emma, we will just have to take this sudden healing as a blessing. I'm sorry I worried you there for a moment. I thought I saw someone in the hallway. Don’t pay any attention to me right now; my mind seems scattered this morning. Since you’re better, let’s get you that bath and then some food in that belly.”
Mary stayed through the day. I could tell she was trying to make me comfortable. I asked her about her job at the manor and what responsibilities she would like me to help with. She would look away from me sometimes with a sudden sad look on her face before she would answer me. Rage never left my side the entire day. He has become a welcomed shadow. Mary left mid-afternoon, having her own home to take care of. Mary hugged me before she left. I stood stiff in her arms, not knowing how to react. When she was leaving, I saw tears in her eyes. Was she actually upset over me?
I felt restless. I was used to working day and night; my mind never had time to become mellow or content. Tonight the sunset was beautiful. I stood staring at it through the glass door at the back entrance. I turn the doorknob to open the door, shocked that it wasn’t locked. I step outside enjoying the fresh air and the feel of the evening sun on my face. I take a few more steps when I feel a tug on my sleeve. Rage was tugging on my dress sleeve trying to get me to come back in the house. “I won’t go far. I need to walk some of this soreness out.”
He looks back into the house then up at me. I got the feeling all of a sudden that he didn’t like leaving Lord Rydell in the house by himself. “You don’t have to go. I promise not to leave the manor grounds.” He huffed, and then stepped beside me, nudging me with his nose, as if to say, go on.
We walk together my hand on top of his head. I was relaxed for a change and I know it was just the comfort of knowing he was there. As we round the corner I come upon an old cemetery. I walk into it, stepping lightly upon the ground, not wanting to upset the ghosts who reside there. I touch each stone lovingly, taking the time to read each one. The beauty of these makes me remember a tombstone I visited frequently as a child. Katherine Elizabeth Ione’s, the only friend I ever had. The shadows lengthen coming from the tombstones, I had lost track of time and the darkness was coming for me.
I never heard him approach. One minute I was alone in my own world and the next moment he is the only thing I could see. He was wearing a long black cape tonight, his hair blowing in the light wind, but those black eyes pierced me with disapproval.
Rage immediately gets between us. He knows his master is upset with him for leaving him unprotected. Lucas looks down at Rage, “I will deal with you later.” Lucas was holding a note from Mary in his hand. Emma recognized the paper.
“Emma dear, just last night you were extremely upset and sick. Today you’re up and walking all over the property. I'm going to assume you are feeling better, but why of all places on this Earth would you be out walking around a cemetery.”
I turn around and head towards the closest tombstone. “May I speak freely?”
“You never have to ask me that, I just asked you a question, so of course I expect an answer. You’re not that simple minded.” Lucas curses himself inside when he sees her flinch from his cruel words. Damn his own mouth sometimes.
Emma stood there for a moment and then turned away from him walking down the rows. “I think it’s beautiful that someone loved them enough to leave them a marker for all time. This is proof that they were loved by someone, no one will remember me. There will never be a grave marker left to visit with my name on it because I have no one. I will be lucky to be thrown in a ditch to rot when I'm gone. No one will give it a second thought; it will just be one less mouth to feed.”
Lucas is fighting his emotions as she walks so innocently around the graveyard. The thought of her not being on this Earth was more upsetting to him than he wanted to admit. The dress she wore hung off her shoulders. Her small frame seemed barely large enough to move around, but at that moment he noticed strength in her that he had over-looked before.
She had the will and the desire for something more! In all of the dreams he had been cursed to watch of her life. He now knew for a fact it was Emma’s life he was seeing. She never gave up, no matter how beaten down. She just kept digging always, trying to be more, or have something more.
“You think I'm foolish don’t ya? Everyone else does, I know nothing lasts forever. Even the stones that build the largest castles erode in time. No matter the beauty or the ugliness of it all, at some time it will all be gone. Whether it’s in your death or another’s, all things end.”
Lucas almost laughed. She had no idea that he was older than most the castles she was talking about. He was feeling his own immortality and his age was definitely showing with this young girl. He had no idea how to talk or be social around her, or even if he really wanted to. She was disrupting his life and that made him very uncomfortable.
“D
o you like the dresses that Mary provided for you?” Lucas thought this was a safe enough subject.
She never turned towards him and at first. He didn’t think she had even heard him. “I have never owned a dress of this color. Or, should I say any that was one color. All the dresses I have worn over the years were just pieces of scrap material I found laying around, but they were very colorful. I will do my very best not to get this one too dirty, Sir. Mary said she would bring me an apron tomorrow. That will help a lot.”
“I don’t give a damn if you need a new dress every day, Emma. Finances are definitely not a problem in this house. I will make sure you have everything you need or want.” He would find out what she had always dreamed of, if money could buy it, he would make sure she had it. A smile on her lips would be well worth the cost, anything to erase the emptiness in her eyes.
“Tell me, little Emma, what is the one thing you have always wanted? Something you dreamed of as a young girl or the lady you have grown to be?”
Lucas thought maybe she would say jewelry, maybe a whole wardrobe of new dresses. Maybe she would want to travel the world. Instead, the words that come out of her mouth scared his own black heart.
She stopped walking and turned to face him. His vision seeing her clearly in the dark as emotions finally showed on her face. She turns away again and stares out at the darkness like she was seeking something. “I have always dreamed of being WANTED!”
The last words, echoed in his mind like she had shouted them, but he knew it was his advanced hearing that had caught the whispered words that came out of her mouth. She might as well have smacked him. How was he ever going to give her that?
She turned looking at him with a sad smile on her face. “Please, forgive me, My Lord, I'm feeling rather tired. I believe I will return to bed now. I will move my stuff into the servant’s quarters tomorrow. Enjoy your night.”
“You will stay right where I put you Emma and that’s the last I will hear on the subject. Do you need help going back inside? If not, I will check on you throughout the night. I don’t want you relapsing. Please tell me immediately if you start to hurt all over.”
“I will My Lord, once again enjoy your evening.”
“It’s Lucas,” Emma frowns. “My name is Lucas when it’s just the two of us. I would prefer you to call me by my given name!”
“Yes, My L--, I mean Lucas.” She turns stumbling for a moment. Lucas catches her before she hits the ground. He swings her up in his arms and heads towards the house, enjoying the small gasp that comes from her lips, and the feel of her small arm around his neck. She had bathed today. He could finally smell her and not the filth that had been applied to her body for years. She smelled like honeysuckles and life. Lucas sits her on her feet in her bedroom. She hadn’t said a single word as he packed her through the house.
“Thank you, Lucas,” the sound of his name on her lips makes him take a step back.
Just as she turns away he sees her eyes flash red, he dismisses it, as a reflection of the fire in the fireplace. “Are you sure you’re well?” Lucas asks once again.
She nods and heads towards the changing room. Lucas didn’t hunt that night. He couldn’t make himself leave the house. He paced the hallways like a man possessed, stopping with every move or sound she made. His total focus was on her heartbeat.
Lucas was terrified of what he was going to have to do if her body reacted badly to Rage’s venom. Would he have to forsake her too, and could he actually take her life?
Chapter Ten:
As the night was finally coming to an end, Lucas finally settled down in the chair next to the fireplace. He was going to sit here while Emma slept. “How ridiculous is that,” he thought to himself. He watched the fire dance, his mind drifting off to the days of his youth. Had he ever been as young as the girl laying a few feet away from him in the bed? Then all of a sudden, he hears movement on the bed behind him, Lucas turns expecting to find Rage only to see his brother Tavish sitting on the bed looking down at Emma.
Lucas was on his feet and to the side of the bed in the blink of an eye. He knew if Emma woke up right then, she would find two of the most terrifying creatures alive or dead, however you wanted to look at it, standing over her. One of them wanted her for his next meal. The other had no clue why he even cared one way or another. “Get the Hell away from her Tavish!” Lucas ordered.
“Oh my, big brother what do we have here and in Mother’s bed no less, a new pet, how exciting!” He clapped excitedly.
“I mean it Tavish. I won’t tolerate anyone harming her.” Emma stirred turning to her side in the bed. “Come with me now.” Unfortunately, for Tavish, he didn’t listen quite quick enough.
Rage had stayed close to the manor tonight and he immediately felt a disturbance in the air when the other vampire had arrived unannounced. Swallowing the rest of his fresh rabbit whole, mouth still dripping with blood, he raced towards the manor. He slams through the back door knocking it off its hinges. His Hellhound form barely making its way through the doorway. Then he let out a roar that would wake the dead, including Emma.
Emma jerked straight up in the bed turning towards the deafening sound. She screams and tumbles from the bed, tucks herself in the far corner hides from the monster that just ran into her room. Her eyes closed tightly as she rocks herself back and forth, praying.
Tavish backs away from the bed and the girl. “Now, Rage old buddy, it’s just me.” Tavish was a vampire and he could survive most things but nothing lived through a Hellhound when he was pissed off. “Lucas, call off your damn guard dog.”
Lucas was torn. He didn’t know whether to try and comfort Emma or just let Rage eat Tavish.
Rage leaps on the bed. The springs and ropes strain from his immense weight as he jumps to the other side, putting himself between Emma and Tavish. His hellish red eyes and the blood dripping from his mouth made him look like a holy terror as the rumble of a low growl, warn Tavish away from the girl.
“Tavish, leave now,” Lucas yelled at him.
Tavish stood there for a moment, then with a wicked smile, “Very well, dear brother, I will leave for now, but I will return. Now, you have me interested in your newest pet. I have never seen you or Rage so protective of anything. You do know I could have picked you one up that looked a lot better than that stray if you were hard up for a woman!”
Lucas knew what he looked like at that moment. His skin had sunk in and the snarl on his face was intensifying the size of his fangs. Nothing alive could miss the feel of the darkness pulsing around him. The untold power of the night harnessed in his fury. Even Tavish knew when he had pushed his brother too far.
He launched himself at Tavish, just missing him as he flashed away. Tavish’s laughter followed him. Lucas grabs a nearby vase and slams it into the closest wall. The fury of letting Tavish get away, pulses through him. His little brother thrived on chaos and now Emma would become a new game to him.
Hearing a sob, he tries to clear his head before he rushes to Emma’s side. Rage was whining in front of her as she hunkers away from him and tries to push herself farther against the wall. The look of pure terror is on her face. Rage was still in full Hellhound form and didn’t understand her fear. Her confusion was just making him more agitated.
“Emma, it’s just us. Honey, you have no reason to be so scared.”
Rage lay down at her feet his head lying on his paws. She pulled her knees up closer to her body. Even though he was lying down his head and large red eyes were almost eye level with her. She kept looking between the two of them. Slowly Lucas could feel himself relaxing, the darkness letting go.
“Emma, look at me!” She looked up at him, panic in her eyes. “That’s just Rage, your fear is triggering his change and he won’t relax until he knows you’re alright.”
She looks back at the creature. He was a nightmare staring at her just a few inches away. As her mind calms down she could feel Rage’s emotions. He was scared for her, his only thought was to p
rotect, but his feelings were also hurt that she wasn’t recognizing him.
“Blackie,” Emma whispers and slowly reaches her hand out, the creature in front of her lifts his head and licks the end of her fingers. She jerks back startled. The animal in front of her turns its head watching her intensely. That’s when she sees him. The wolf inside this phantom form, Rage was still in there. He was just surrounded by something so much more. The creature staring at her dominated the room. He really was something out of a nightmare.
“I told you that Rage was a Hellhound. What the hell is wrong with you?” Lucas’ emotions were all over the place with the appearance of his brother. He needed to leave the room before he did something he would regret later. Her fear was triggering his own dominate emotions.
“Lay in the damn floor if you wish. I told you nothing would ever harm you in this house as long as one of us was here.” Lucas turns to leave the room when all of a sudden he feels a small hand on his arm. He jerks away from her, wondering how she got to him so quickly.
“I'm sorry Lucas. I know you told me he was a Hellhound, but I thought my mind was playing tricks on me. It isn’t like you see them strolling around the fields at night. Forgive me, for being a little shocked at his appearance. I don’t always remember things fully. If he is a Hellhound what are you?”
He turns his wrath towards her at that moment. Lucas lets her see the monster he really is. There is nothing to hide the widening of her eyes as she starts to step back away from him. Finally, He gets some kind of reaction out of her eyes and this just makes him madder. “Don’t like what you see little girl? Never been around a full blood before? I will offer you some words of wisdom my pretty. If you don’t want that pretty little throat of yours torn out, you will make yourself unseen in my presence from now on if I'm like this. You’re more trouble than you’re fucking worth. I should have just let them kill you.”
She was trembling but didn’t back down. “Why did you save me then? Am I the new pet, something to scare, or threaten every time I don’t understand what’s going on?” She watches Lucas take a deep breath, his nostrils flaring like he was counting to ten or something in his mind.
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