“Thank you,” Enthrall got out. He was almost snarling, doing everything in his power to maintain control. If Anna was here and crying, chances were, Felicity was here, too. And if Anna was crying, he didn’t even want to imagine what that meant for Felicity. He knew she’d never stand by and allow anyone to be hurt without trying to intervene. He stalked the few steps down the hallway, then ghosted to just outside Anna’s apartment.
He pressed his ear to the door listening. There was no sound. He closed his eyes, searching for the regular rhythm of a heartbeat. There it was, one rapid, clearly upset. And maybe another. Maybe, he wasn’t sure. He focused harder, and there, there it was, a faint, barely existent heartbeat. But only two of them. He didn’t knock. He stepped back and kicked the door right at the knob, causing the door jamb to splinter. He rushed inside, expecting to find Anna in dire straights, her attacker still there with her. But, instead the horror that greeted him had him losing all control, a pained mournful shout leaving his body and any resemblance to humanity with it.
There was blood everywhere, and on the floor a thick sticky splash of it, that was far too much to be considered a puddle. Felicity was lying in the middle of it, a bruised and obviously beaten Anna sobbing and pressing a blood soaked towel to Felicity’s neck in an obvious attempt to stop the blood that was now only trickling from the jagged gash that led from just below her delicate ear to her collarbone on the other side of her neck.
“Nooooo!!!!” he screamed, throwing himself down on the floor beside Felicity and shoving Anna away and using his own hands to try to hold the sliced skin together. “Lici! Lici, speak to me! Open your eyes, love!”
Anna, though shoved away by Enthrall, a very scary Enthrall, was crawling her way back over. “Darren hurt her. He was hitting me, and she got between us.”
Enthrall snarled. “Where?”
“He ran, when he saw all the blood, he ran,” she answered, stopping her forward motion and thinking better of it after getting a good look at Enthrall.
“Come here!” he demanded on a growl.
Anna shrank back a bit. “I tried to make the bleeding stop.”
“Come here now!” Enthrall shouted, while gathering Felicity into his arms.
“Don’t…” she started to beg him, whatever he was, not to hurt her, but she didn’t get the chance. He stalked to her, snatched her into his grip with his free arm and ghosted her away with him and Felicity.
They materialized in the kitchen of Clara’s House. All of them covered in blood, Anna screaming, Enthrall barely containing himself, Felicity unconscious.
Oksana’s voice added to the near deafening screams already filling the air. Mamaie turned to see what the blazes all the screaming was about and immediately went into handle it mode.
“Hush!” she ordered Oksana. Then, directed her attention to Enthrall. “Does she breathe?” Mamaie shouted, over the still-screaming Anna.
What could only be interpreted as an animalistic snarl left his lips. He gave no indication he even understood her question.
The screaming brought Gheorghe followed closely by Steven and Shane.
Shane froze in the doorway, staring open-mouthed at Enthrall.
Mamaie turned on Gheorghe. “Go! Get them out of here. Oksana, take Anna, leave this room at once!”
Mamaie hurried over to the kitchen table, swiping her hands across it to clear everything from it. “Here, lay her here. You know what you must do, Enthrall. Do it!”
Enthrall stumbled toward the table and laid Felicity across it. He looked down at her precious, white - ghostly white — face, and clumsily tried to push the skin of her throat back together. He threw his head back and released an anguished roar the likes of which no human had ever heard.
Then he knelt at her side, and whispered, “Forgive me,” before sinking his fangs into the other side of her neck and draining what little blood she had left in her body. He listened closely to her trace heartbeat. When it stuttered, indicating that she had merely seconds of life left, he stood, and using his fangs, ripped a gash in his own wrist, holding it over her mouth, using his other hand to stroke the intact side of her throat to encourage her to swallow. He repeated the action over and over again. Allow his blood to flow into her mouth, stroke her throat to encourage her muscles to swallow it down. Gradually he began to notice a more regular heartbeat. It was still faint, but there was no more stutter to it. Encouraged, he leaned over, kissing her lips, yet not even noticing the blood that stained them from his own attempt to feed her. He held his wrist out to feed her yet again, but it had healed over. He reopened the skin of his wrist and held it for a moment over the wound in her throat. The flesh was already trying to mend itself, pulling tightly at the edges of the wound. He held it together again as a sob wracked his body.
Then Mamaie was there beside him, her sewing needle in hand. “Let me try to help.”
He snarled at her and leaned across Felicity.
“Do not make me hit you with my broom. You move to her other side. Feed her again. Let me see if I can stitch her throat closed until it heals on its own.”
He glared at her, and she glared right back.
“Feed her, Enthrall. She needs more.”
He looked down at Felicity and realized she was breathing. He could see her chest moving. He went to the other side of the table and bit into his wrist yet again, pressing it this time to her lips, rather than holding it above her to allow it to fall into her mouth.
It only took a moment for Felicity to feel his wrist against her lips. She starting drinking from him, hesitantly at first, but then more insistently.
A smile, albeit miserable, crossed his face as she began to drink. He looked up expecting to see Mamaie, but instead found Lore and Murder standing watch over the old woman as she made tiny, careful stitches in the wound on Felicity’s throat.
“We are here, my friend,” Lore said, tears in his own eyes. “We heard your anguish.”
Enthrall looked down at Felicity, suckling at his wrist, her eyes still closed, still unaware of anything, anyone. He knew this was only the response of her body, recognizing its need. Its only option for life.
Suddenly Murder’s wrist appeared in his line of vision. He looked up at Murder.
“You cannot continue to feed her without replenishing yourself. Take from me. I am strong. Take what you need.”
Enthrall opened his mouth to object, but Murder used his own fangs to open his wrist, then held it out for Enthrall to drink from. “You won’t even have to stop feeding her, just take from me what you need.”
Enthrall closed his mouth over Murder’s wrist, and locked eyes with him, gratitude clearly seen there.
“You would do the same for me if I needed,” Murder said.
Enthrall looked down at Felicity, her suckling was beginning to get weaker. She’d had her fill.
He continued to feed from Murder until he was fully replenished. By then Felicity had stopped altogether and was resting peacefully. Her heartbeat strong, her neck almost fully stitched thanks to Mamaie. The edges of her wound were already mending themselves.
He sat down in one of the chairs at the edge of the table, resting his head on Felicity’s stomach.
“What happened, Enthrall?” Lore asked.
He lifted his head, shaking it. “I don’t know. Anna knows.” Enthrall looked at Mamaie. “Bring me Anna. I will know exactly what happened.”
Mamaie inclined her head once. “I will, but she is frightened. Please do not frighten her any further, or she may break, then you will never know.”
A weakened, beaten Anna was ushered into the kitchen by Mamaie and Gheorghe. Mamaie pulled out a chair and sat it several feet from where Enthrall kept watch over Felicity, his hand draped across her waist. As they entered the kitchen, he could hear Mamaie’s soft voice encouraging the young woman. “You are perfectly safe. He is the same gentleman you’ve come to know.”
“He’s not human,” Anna whispered.
“Good.
It means he can be trusted,” Mamaie answered with a definite tone in her voice.
Felicity whimpered in her unconscious state, causing Enthrall’s attention to move immediately to her and away from Anna. He took her hand in his, bringing it to his lips to kiss, then standing so he could better reach Felicity, he leaned over her body, kissing her just beside her ear. “I’m here. You’re safe, Lici. I’ll watch over you, just rest. No worries, just rest. Heal.”
He straightened then, turned his attention back to Anna. “Tell me.”
Anna’s tears were slow and steady down her face. She was injured herself, and frightened and confused by the sudden knowledge that all was not as she thought the world to be. But at the same time, she was fully aware that despite that fact, she was safer here than she’d been when her brother-in-law had been beating her. She was trying to get herself to some place of sanity so she could answer Enthrall’s questions.
“Answer me!” Enthrall demanded.
The sharp edge in his raised voice made her jump, and her tears increased.
Gheorghe was standing behind Anna. He reached out and placed his hand on her shoulder. “Mr. Enthrall is highly emotional. His intended has been attacked. But he means you no harm. If he’d meant you harm, he’d not have bothered to bring you back here with him and Felicity. He’d have left you there to face whoever did this alone. Answer him, Anna. He needs to know so that he can be sure whoever did this is punished for it.”
Anna nodded, gratefully accepting the dishtowel filled with chipped pieces of ice that Mamaie handed her. Anna held it against her face. Her eyes wandered across Lore and Murder where they stood on the other side of the room, waiting patiently for her to answer, but obviously there to stand with Enthrall in whatever may happen next. She was terrified of the creatures in the room with her. She was a simple woman, raised on simple beliefs. If any such things existed in reality, they were surely related to witchcraft and trickery. Yet here she was, living among them unaware. Anna’s left eye was blackened and was close to swollen shut, but her good eye drifted from one to another of those in the kitchen with her before finding the floor and focusing on the blood spattered there beneath the table. Her eyes filled with tears again, and she began to cry before reaching up and crossing herself repeatedly. Her lips whispered century old Catholic prayers that had been passed down from generation to generation.
The corners of Murder’s mouth just ever so slightly turned up. He approached Anna, but stopped a few feet away, dropping to his knees and crossing himself just as she’d done. His lips took up her prayers, and he spoke the words aloud in a reverent tone, adding his voice to hers. When the prayers were finished and her single good eye was locked on him, he spoke to her. “You know what I am. You have seen my kind, though you thought us stone, protecting your churches and cathedrals — yes?”
Anna had raised her eyes to him as he dropped down to his knees just a short distance from her and was amazed to watch him cross himself and join her in prayer.
She nodded in answer to his question.
“Then you know that I am of the church, just as you are. It is my duty to protect all that is good, all that the church would protect, and all they stand for.”
She watched him, listening, not sure where he was going with this.
“And I would not be here, with these people,” he raised his hand to sweep around the room and indicate everyone in it, “if they were not worthy of my protection. If they were not trustworthy, good, and filled with grace and good intent. It is against my nature to cavort with evil. You know this, do you not?”
Anna nodded slightly, weighing his words and deciding they made perfect sense to her. Why else would Gargoyles be placed in protective stances all around the Catholic churches? “Yes,” she agreed shakily.
“I understand you are surprised, frightened even and in need of care yourself. But, please. Find the strength to help us battle that which has injured both you and Felicity. This evil needs to be erased.” Murder knew full well he was using Anna’s own faith to influence her. But he reasoned it was forgivable, since he was also calming her. Helping her to feel safe and reduce her near hysteria. He wondered briefly if he’d go to hell for manipulating the woman through her own religion. He had to hide a smirk. If this was why he was going to hell, the powers that be had surely missed all the rest of his sins. He waited, hoping that his manipulation would work.
Anna didn’t answer, she was thinking over Murder’s words. And he was right. She’d seen Gargoyles in and around the churches she’d frequented all her life — big impressive stone statues standing guard. She’d always thought them protectors, defenders — keeping the churches and their faithful safe. She looked at the huge, black Gargoyle kneeling before her, and her decision was made.
Chapter 22
“My husband’s brother did this,” Anna said through a split, bleeding lip. “My husband is in the hospital. I didn’t know it until this morning when I was assigned to clean the room he is in. His brother was sitting with him. He recognized me and jumped up, cornering me and demanding that I tell him what I’d done to my husband. He wanted me to tell him how to fix it. How to make my husband himself again. No matter how much I told him that I had nothing to do with it and didn’t know how it’d happened, he wouldn’t believe me.”
“Go on,” Murder encouraged.
“He forced me to go with him to the boarding house I lived in with my husband. Once we were inside my apartment, he became more and more angry, insisting that I tell him what made my husband like he is. I told him I didn’t know, but he didn’t believe me. The more I denied any knowledge, the angrier he got. He slapped me and knocked me to the floor. He kept me there for hours. He kept hitting me and demanding that I tell him what he wanted to know. He was drinking. He’d finished off several bottles, all while slapping me around and accusing me of paying men to hurt his brother. I just kept praying he’d drink more and more and eventually pass out. It didn’t happen though. I was crying, and he was shouting. I know others had to hear, but no one came to help. Then suddenly Miss Felicity was there. She rushed into the room and demanded that he step away from me. He was hitting me, and I could barely block the blows. I was exhausted and trembling so badly I could barely stand. He started cursing her, calling her horrible names, but she just laughed at him, told him he was the weakest man she’d ever met. He struck me again, shouting that I would do right by my husband or die. She got between us and tried to block his fists with her own body. She tore his hands from me and shoved me away from him, turning to face him herself.” Anna looked down at her hands, her blood-covered hands. “It all happened so fast,” she whispered.
“Tell me,” Murder urged.
“He called her a stupid whore and shoved her away, coming after me again. She got between us one last time and when he’d have punched her, she slapped him. He went crazy. He shoved her aside and snatched a bottle from the floor where he’d dropped it and slammed it against the table. It broke, and he slashed at her with the sharp edge.”
Enthrall had started growling. His eyes were pinned to Anna, and he hung on every word she uttered.
Anna looked at Enthrall. “Blood went everywhere, it spurted from her neck and sprayed the walls, sprayed me, sprayed him. Felicity grabbed her throat and fell to the floor — her eyes were wide and she was scared. Darren attacked me, screaming that I’d made him do this. That it was all my fault. He beat me until I curled in a ball on the floor to try to get away from him. Then he ran from the apartment. I crawled over to Miss Felicity and grabbed the dishtowel from the table. I held it to her throat, trying to stop the bleeding. But I couldn’t make it stop, and her eyes closed, and she stopped trying to hold her neck.” Anna was staring off into nothing, seeing the apartment and all the blood again as though she was still there. She raised her eyes to Enthrall’s. “Then you came. And you brought us here.” Anna’s bottom lip quivered, and tears fell heavily from her eyes.
“Where is he?” Enthrall demanded o
n a low, deadly snarl.
“I don’t know. I didn’t even know Darrel was in the hospital. If I had, I’d not have gone there, not even for a job.”
“I would look for him the same place he found her,” Lore said softly. “At his brother’s hospital bed.”
Enthrall stood, but Lore shook his head. “No. You are needed here. Your female needs you. If she wakes and you aren’t here, it would make a tragedy even worse. Stay here. Allow me to deliver vengeance on your behalf.”
“I need to…”
“You need to see to your woman. Allow me to be your avenging angel. I do so relish the job.”
Murder stood and approached Lore.
Lore shook his misty head. “Not today, my friend. You stay with Enthrall, I’ll see to this on my own.”
“Are you sure?”
“Yes. I’ll return soon. Your presence is better used here.”
Lore stared at Felicity still lying on the table, Enthrall stroking her hair, holding her hand. Then he watched the woman sitting in the chair. Her face battered, bruises up and down her arms. An eye swollen shut, her lip bleeding. This would be a bout of vengeance he’d deliver with a great satisfaction. “Where can I find your husband?”
Anna looked at the purple-tinged spectre before quickly averting her eyes. “He is in the hospital downtown, on the third floor.”
Lore didn’t wait for any additional information — his mists began to swirl and he faded away.
Gheorghe reached out to Anna, his hand held in front of her where she could clearly see it. “Come, Anna. Let’s get you cleaned up.”
As though in a trance, Anna reached out and took his hand, following him out of the kitchen. As soon as he was out of the kitchen, they heard him speak to Oksana. “Oksana, could you help Anna get cleaned up? I’ll see to the kids.”
Mamaie walked over to Felicity and reached a hand out to check her pulse. It was strong. She gently laid her hand against the wound in Felicity’s neck, feeling for any heat that may indicate infection. She leaned closer examining the wound. “It’s healed even more so. She will survive, Enthrall. You've done well.”
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