“It’s okay, Lily. The lady is Uncle Destroy’s friend. She got hurt, so he brought her here to take care of her,” Carolena explained.
Carnage came back into the living room, having stored what was left of their first aid supplies in their bathroom. He picked Lily up and carried her into the kitchen. She strained to see the lady sleeping on their sofa even as Carnage sat her at the table to eat.
“Her’s okay?” Lily asked.
“‘Es,” Carnage answered, handing her a slice of bread with her favorite apple butter spread across it.
“She’ll be okay, she just needs to rest,” Carolena added.
Lily looked at the slice of bread in her hand, then at Destroy and the pretty lady on their sofa. She slid down from her chair and took the slice of bread to Destroy.
Destroy realized after a few silent moments that Lily was standing next to him. He smiled at her, “Hello, Lily.”
“Hi, Stoy,” she answered, handing him the bread.
Destroy took the bread from her, but looked over his shoulder to be sure that there was more for Lily to eat.
“We have plenty,” Carolena told him, her heart warming that even in his state of mind he still thought of Lily.
He nodded and took a bite, chewing slowly. When he turned back to Rowan and Lily, he was surprised to find Lily with her hand on Rowan’s forehead.
“She’s sleeping,” Destroy told Lily. “Let’s let her rest a while longer.”
He pulled her gently away from Rowan, to sit in his lap and share the bread with him. Neither he nor anyone else noticed the slight purple wisps following the direction Lily’s little fingers had gone when Destroy lifted her away from Rowan.
Lily sat in Destroy’s lap, sharing their slice of bread, waiting for the lady to wake up. She’d touched the lady’s skin, so she knew. The lady was awake inside there; she’d smiled at Lily. Lily knew that the lady was okay, and that she’d be awake on the outside soon, too. She was going to wait for her to wake up — maybe the lady would play with her. At least that was her plan, until she heard the bell downstairs. That bell meant someone was there to visit them.
Chapter 4
“Yay!” Lily shouted, hopping up from Destroy’s lap to run out onto their deck, with Carnage close on her heels.
“Leelee!” he called after her, “Waaaii-ttt!” he struggled to get out. She was always so excited when someone came over. She didn’t understand that she needed to let her mother or father be sure that whoever it was, was okay to come up. She wanted everyone to come up.
“Who, Papa?” Lily asked excitedly. “Who?!” she repeated, while jumping up and down.
Carnage peered over the side. “Trawl,” he answered.
He called down to Enthrall waiting below, “Come.”
Not a second later, Enthrall was standing on their deck, with Lily dancing around him happily, waiting for him to pick her up.
“Unca ‘Trall!” she said, clinging to his legs.
“Well, if it isn’t little Miss Lily! How are you, sweetheart?” he asked her as he picked her up. She immediately presented her cheek for kissing and grinned when he kissed her cheek over and over again making smacking noises.
“Carnage. You look well today,” Enthrall said.
Carnage smiled at him and patted him on the back, “‘Es, ggoooood.”
Enthrall told them the same thing he’d told everyone else he’d spoken with that morning, “I’m just stopping by, visiting a little with everyone, making sure everyone has all they need. Nothing needing tending.”
Carnage shook his head, patted his own chest, “‘Kay,” he said, indicating that all was okay. He wasn’t sure they needed to tell Enthrall just yet that a woman that had not been approved was inside their home on their sofa.
But it didn’t really matter as it turned out, because Lily told him anyway.
“Da lady seeping,” she told him, pointing toward their home.
“Your mom is still sleeping?” Enthrall asked.
“No,” Lily shook her head, “da lady. Her’s hurt,” Lily answered.
And now Enthrall knew exactly where the human female was. Again, Carnage was involved.
Enthrall looked at Carnage, who sheepishly looked away. “Seems you have a habit of bringing home human females, Carnage,” Enthrall said, definite tone to his voice.
Carnage whipped his head back around to face Enthrall, “Nooo!” he said defiantly, patting his own chest, “Nooo! ‘Arnge,” he insisted.
“How did she end up in your home without your involvement?”
Lily struggled to get down, so Enthrall placed her on her feet, still looking at Carnage, waiting for an explanation.
As Lily ran over to their screen door, pulled it open and ran inside, she called out, “Stoy bwinged her.”
Enthrall looked back at Carnage, “Destroy brought her here?” he asked, surprised.
Carnage nodded vigorously, “ ‘Es! ‘Stroy! Nnooo ‘Arnge!” Then he stomped defiantly into his home with Enthrall right behind him, pointing out Destroy where he sat on the floor beside Rowan.
Enthrall, on hearing that Destroy had brought a female here, was so angry that he was ready to explode. Destroy was a jealous, self-serving Gargoyle, who had gone out and found his own human to bring home for himself. Enthrall had known Destroy was lonely, but this was completely unacceptable. He fought to control his temper, knowing that Lily was here, and Carolena, and it was after all, not his home. He needed to respect that fact. But his struggle was not necessary. The moment he saw Destroy looking up at him, he burst into laughter. The Goyle was fully decked out in ribbons, faded, patchy, white face powder and the smeared remnants of bright red lipstick. The only thing that made him able to stop laughing was the very distraught look on Destroy’s face.
“There is nothing funny about this! Rowan could have died! Her ribs are broken; she’s not awoken since I brought her here. How can you be so callous as to laugh at this?” Destroy hissed accusingly.
Enthrall, realizing that Destroy was truly very upset, tried to stop laughing and even tried to contain his smile. “I’m not laughing at this woman or this situation. I’m laughing at you.”
“You hate me so that you find it funny that I’m hurting, that my woman is injured?” Destroy asked, indignantly.
“No, Destroy. Not at all. You don’t understand,” and in spite of his efforts, he snickered a little which had Destroy rising up off the floor, deeply offended. “Go look, go look in the mirror, Destroy. You will see why I smile. You will see that I mean no disrespect.”
Destroy, a scowl on his face, hesitated for a moment.
Enthrall, able to discern the steady heartbeat of the woman Destroy had called his, said, “Relax, Destroy. She is injured, but she will heal. I can hear her heartbeat, I can smell her scent. She will be fine. She needs a little rest, but I believe she’ll be fine.”
Destroy scoffed at Enthrall, but then said, “Are you sure?”
“I’ve not examined her yet, but I sense no loss of life here, not enough weakness to cause it later.”
“Fine!” Destroy snapped at him before he finally decided to go look into Carolena’s mirror. “But do not disturb Rowan. She needs rest so that she may heal,” then he hurried down the hall toward the bathroom.
“I just said that,” Enthrall grumbled, shaking his head as he circled the sofa and took Destroy’s place beside Rowan. He felt her forehead for temperature and closed his eyes so that he could concentrate and listen closely for her breathing pattern. He opened his eyes and found Lily standing beside the sofa as well, her little hand again against Rowan’s forehead.
He smiled at the child, “What do you think, Lily? Is she well?”
Lily nodded, “Her’s in ‘dere.”
As she pulled her hand away, Enthrall noticed the slight purple mist that followed her fingers. His eyebrows raised, thinking that Lore was going to have to be careful. He was giving the little girl a lot of power, and he wasn’t altogether sure the child wa
s able to manage the gifts Lore was bestowing on her.
It was then that Destroy came stomping back into the living room, face freshly scrubbed, a handful of silk ribbons and an indignant look on his face. “Really? No one could bother to tell me that I had makeup on my face? That I had ribbons tied to my horns?” Then he noticed Enthrall sitting next to Rowan, “And get away from my Rowan! Move! The first face she sees needs to be mine, not yours!”
Destroy stalked over to the sofa Rowan laid on, pulled Enthrall to his feet, and shoved him toward the kitchen away from Rowan.
Enthrall, still amused with Destroy’s beribboned appearance, chuckled again as he patiently allowed Destroy to push him away from the injured woman. Carnage was grinning, too. Carolena was the only one brave enough to address him. “Destroy, it didn’t seem important. You’d already saved Rowan, and we were more concerned with her welfare than the state of your appearance.”
A look of horror crossed the Gargoyle’s face, and he slapped his palm onto his own forehead, “That is how she first saw me. This is why she was smiling at me as I killed Abraham. Of course she would not take me seriously — I was beribboned!”
Lily walked over to Destroy and put her little hand on his knee, waited ‘til he looked down at her and said with a pout, “Pwetty ‘Stoy.”
Destroy, realizing that he’d made Lily think he was mad at her, reached down, running a hand through the top of her hair, “You’re right, Lily. I was very pretty.”
Carolena had gone ashen, “Did you say Abraham? You killed Abraham?”
Destroy’s eyes got huge, and he looked to Carnage. Carnage was already halfway to Carolena — Enthrall had stopped where he was pinching a piece of bread from the loaf on the counter top and also turned toward Carolena.
“Carolena, I’m sorry. I’m so sorry…” Destroy stammered.
But Carolena cut him off, raising her hands, shaking her head with her eyes closed, “Stop. Just stop.”
She inhaled deeply, trying to compose herself.
All three males stopped where they were, waiting for her to open her eyes and proceed.
Finally she did. She opened her eyes and smiled shakily at Lily, “Baby, could you go into your room and see if you can find your new dolly? I’m sure that Uncle Enthrall would be delighted to see it.”
Lily jumped with excitement, “Yes!” then she looked to Enthrall, “I be back!” and she was off, running down the hall.
Carolena turned to the kitchen counter behind her, picked up Lily’s new doll and opened a cabinet, tossing it in and closing the cabinet. Then she looked at Destroy, “She’ll be occupied looking for her dolly for a bit. Tell me what happened.”
Carnage was standing beside Carolena, his arm wrapped loosely around her, softly kissing her temple as Destroy started talking.
Destroy kept his voice low as he tried to quickly explain why he’d had to kill Abraham.
When he was done, he said, “I’m so sorry, Carolena. I just, I lost control. I lost all sense of reason. He hurt her, he tried to rape her and would have drowned her, had we not arrived when we did.” Destroy looked away from Carolena, a torrid storm of mixed emotions on his face when he finally looked back. “What was I supposed to do? At that moment he stopped being your father and became an animal.”
Carolena didn’t answer. She was still trying to absorb all that Destroy had told her.
Destroy took a step toward her, “Carolena, please forgive me. You’re my friend, my first real friend. I would never cause you pain. I would…”
Carolena stopped him simply by again raising her hand, “It’s alright, Destroy,” she said softly. Her lips were trembling a bit, and the crease between her brows was tight and deep with the strain of bearing this news, but she knew the truth. “I understand. He’d become something else. Something evil. I understand.”
“Forgive me,” Destroy pleaded.
Carolena smiled sadly, “There is nothing to forgive. He gave up all rights to mercy with his attack on Rowan.” Then she whispered more to herself than to anyone in the room, “He was never one for compassion anyway.”
“But he was your father,” Destroy said, feeling guilty that he’d hurt his friend.
Carolena shook her head, “No, he wasn’t. He was a man that helped my mother give me life. It takes a great deal more to be a father. He gave you no choice. He has reaped what he had sown.”
Carolena pulled gently out of Carnage’s arms and walked through the living room, stopping only briefly to kiss Destroy’s cheek, then she disappeared down the hallway.
A few moments later and Lily was back, bouncing around the living room, “Mama say dolly ‘dere,” pointing at the kitchen. Carnage took the doll from the cabinet that Carolena had hidden it in and handed it to Lily, who immediately started showing it to Enthrall, who pretended to pay attention while meeting Destroy’s eyes across the room. He nodded at Destroy, letting him know that he’d acted appropriately.
Carolena lay curled on her bed. She’d shed a few tears for Abraham, not at the fact that he was dead, he’d clearly deserved that. But for the basal person he’d become, and how different things could have been, should have been all these long years. She sent up a quick prayer that wherever he was, he was finally at peace. She wasn’t sure that he’d end up where he’d always wanted, but hoped that his constant misery was at least at its end.
Carnage was torn — he wanted to go to Carolena, but he had Lily to keep an eye on, and Enthrall and Destroy were still there with a sleeping Rowan.
Enthrall sensed his turmoil, “Carnage, go ahead, check on Carolena. We are well here.”
Carnage ran his fingers through Lily’s hair, “Be baaacck. ‘Kay?”
“‘Kay, Papa,” she answered from her place on the floor. She was busy brushing her dolly’s hair into a new style, tied with one of Destroy’s ribbons right between its newly installed horns. She’d had Carnage carve her some tiny horns from a small piece of wood; then he’d cut small slits in the doll’s head to insert them into. She’d insisted that it have horns like he did.
Destroy was lost in Rowan again, sitting next to her, alternately holding her hand and then smoothing her hair.
Enthrall said, “I’ve got them, go check on Carolena. I’ll stay for a while. Destroy and I still need to speak later. Rowan is fine, her body’s just healing, sleep is what she needs most. Go to your wife and don’t worry. We are fine.”
Lily looked up at Carnage from the floor, “I fine, Papa!” she grinned at him.
He smiled at her and nodded at Enthrall, then, he hurried to his bedroom to check on his wife.
Carolena felt Carnage slip into bed behind her. He wrapped his big body around hers, tucking her tightly to him. He didn’t try to speak, just held her, letting her know that he was there for her. She cried a little more, then turned into him, putting her own arms around him as best she could.
“I’m okay,” she whispered. “I just need to make my peace with it.”
Carnage lifted her chin with his fingertip, until he could look into her eyes and see if she meant what she said. When he was sure that she was okay, he smiled and kissed the tip of her nose.
They heard the patter of little feet, then the door burst open, “Her’s wake! Her’s wake!” Lily made a lap of the bedroom, shouting that the lady had woken, then ran right back out the door.
“We should go see if she’s okay. She’s never met anyone out there. Hopefully, when she sees me, any fears will be allayed,” Carolena said.
Chapter 5
Rowan slowly became aware of activity around her. She could hear a child talking and laughing, and two different male voices. But she could only just begin to make sense of the conversation before she’d drift off to sleep again. Then she was waking again, and this time she could feel a cool hand on her forehead. She smiled at the sensation and tried to open her eyes. She fluttered them a time or two, then squinted at the bright sunlight in the room.
Somewhere a child said, “See? I did it!”
then started giggling and laughing, before saying, “Mama! Mama, I did it!” Rowan heard the child’s voice singsonging away from her.
Destroy hovered over Rowan, his heart pounding, berating himself for not allowing Lily near her more, so she could have awakened her sooner. He held his breath, hoping she’d not panic when she opened her eyes. His brain sent him an image of himself with ribbons and makeup on, so he shot a hand up quickly to move over his horns just to be sure that he’d gotten them all off.
Rowan tried to sit up, and pain shot up her side, radiating around her body excruciatingly. She gasped, crying out, and someone was there immediately as though they had been all along. “No, don’t move too much, sweetheart. You were injured, remember? Try to stay as still as you can, lest you hurt yourself worse.”
Rowan tried to focus on the man speaking to her, but she must be worse off than she thought, because he looked like he had horns. Yes, she must be delirious, she thought, as she tried to focus harder and managed to see nothing more than a few shapes.
“Can we get you anything? Do you want a drink? Do you need to relieve yourself?” this from a different man.
Rowan turned her head to try to look at the other man, decided that since he was blurry, too, her eyesight must need more time to adjust. She just closed her eyes and said, “Yes, please.”
“Both?” the man closest to her asked.
“Yes, both,” she answered, her voice shaky.
The man closest to her said, “You get her some water, I’ll take her to the bathroom.” Then he put his hands beneath her and said, “This is going to hurt. So let’s move slowly, allow me to lift you, try not to move your body too much. Do not take deep breaths, and do not strain. I’ll do the work for you, alright?”
Rowan, her eyes still closed, said, “Okay.” Then she realized that she had no immediate memory of why she was hurting, “What happened? How did I get hurt?”
Destroy, Book 2, Whispers From the Bayou Page 4