“Why? Why would you do that?” Rowan asked.
“So you can help other women who need a place to go,” Carolena explained.
Rowan was speechless as she watched Carolena enjoying her cake.
“What?” Carolena asked. “You said that you didn’t know of a foundation that was geared especially toward women who needed help. So, take this house,” Carolena waved her hand around the room. “Turn it into a shelter, you make the rules, I really don’t care what they are, as long as you are helping those who need it. Offer them shelter, offer them training of some type, offer them financial assistance while they try to get on their own feet.”
She leaned forward, taking Rowan’s hand in hers, and looking intently into her eyes, “Erase the memories of this house. Make new ones, make this house a home for any who need one. Give it the grace that my mother meant it to have when she lived here. I’ll even assign a bank account to this house so that it has revenue to keep it going. We’ll have a certain amount of funds moved into it each week to fund the shelter so that you never have to worry. But make it something to be proud of, a place that all women know they can go to at any time to find help, to take shelter, to be safe.”
Rowan was smiling at Carolena, nodding. “I will. We’ll do it.” Then a shadow crossed Rowan’s face, “What if I decide that I can’t stay here? What then?”
Carolena smiled at her, “Is there a particular reason that you may not want to stay here?”
Rowan shifted under Carolena’s gaze, “I don’t know, maybe. You never know, I may have some place else to be,” she said evading Carolena’s eyes, but smiling nonetheless.
“I could help,” Oksana said softly, reaching out to cover Rowan’s other hand.
“And I,” Gheorghe offered shyly. “I would be proud to help you, daughter.”
“It is done!” Mamaie proclaimed slamming back a draught of whiskey she asked of the butler. “I’ll teach them to sew! Any woman who sews can feed herself. The rich always want pretty dresses!”
Carolena sat back, “Well, there you go. It’s all settled.”
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Enthrall ghosted into the alley that ran the length of the office building which housed Mr. Thorpe’s law firm. He walked to the very spot on the sidewalk out front that they’d all stood in earlier that afternoon and closed his eyes. He tilted his head, breathing deeply. There it was, her scent, he could smell her. She smelled like lemon and honey and a touch of vanilla. His head quirked to the side. There was a trace of something else in her scent, but he couldn’t quite identify it. Something was there, though, hidden just below the surface. He turned, walking in the direction she’d gone that afternoon and followed her steps, doing his best not to lose her path. He followed her trail right up to a bakery and stopped, looking at the building. She lived at the bakery? Then, when he looked closer, he found a door hidden in the shadows. He tried the knob, but it was locked. He said a prayer that she wasn’t sitting on the other side of the door and ghosted to just the other side of it. He winced, bracing himself for a scream, but there was none. Enthrall opened his eyes and looked around. He stood at the bottom of a very steep set of stairs. They were dark, no lights on. It was fine, he didn’t need them. Silently he climbed the stairs, hoping they’d lead him to Felicity. At the top of the stairs was a single landing, with one single door to the left. He tried the door and found it locked. But he could scent her inside. The lights were on inside — he could see them shining under the door, but there was no noise coming from inside. He closed his eyes and blocked out everything else. Enthrall listened for her heartbeat, tried to feel it. One corner of his mouth turned up just a bit, there it was. Her heartbeat, she was there. He concentrated harder, it was a steady rhythm, beating in a relaxed cadence. She was sleeping. Had to be, that’s why her heartbeat was so relaxed, so rhythmic. He ghosted into her apartment and stood absolutely still. He could hear her breathing now, a slight little whistle on each inhale. He smiled, what he wouldn’t give to have that little whistle beside him every night for the rest of his life.
Enthrall moved silently down her hall and into her starkly lit living room, where he startled and almost woke her. She was sitting on the floor of her apartment, leaning against the wall near the heater, sound asleep. Still dressed in the clothes she wore to work that day. He looked around her place — it wasn’t bad, it was just tiny. Cold and impersonal. He realized that it was probably the best she could afford. He approached her and knelt down beside her. Her head was dropped forward, her chin resting on her chest. He couldn’t leave her like this. He reached out and placed his thumb against her temple, placing her into a very deep sleep, then he gathered her up and carried her across the room to the only other possible place a bedroom could be, planning to put her to bed. To his surprise, the other room was a bathroom. There was no bedroom. He walked back out into the living room and took in her apartment, Felicity still tucked tightly in his arms. Enthrall used his foot to push the folders she left on the sofa to the floor, then, he laid her on the sofa. He spied the bed pillow at the other end and realized that this was where she slept. He removed her clothes, slowly, respectfully. Leaving her in her underthings, draping her clothes across the armchair near the sofa. He pulled down the blinds on the windows and turned off the overhead light. The glow of the light across the street kept her apartment lit well enough. Then he covered her with the quilt folded across the back of the sofa. He tucked her in nice and tight and kissed her brow before whispering, “Not much longer now, my sweet.” He looked around himself again, “Just a bit longer and this place will be no more than a memory. I’ll watch over you until then.”
She murmured in her sleep and snuggled into the quilt he’d covered her with.
Enthrall smiled, leaning in to kiss her forehead again. He inhaled deeply, something was off. Her sweet honey-lemon scent was just as he remembered, but there was something just there, underneath, that he couldn’t quite identify. He decided that he’d figure it out later. He spent a little time in her place, discovering that she kept her underclothes folded neatly in the bathroom pantry with her towels, and her dress clothes for work hanging from a rod in the bathroom that ran the short distance from one wall to another. And that she adored peanut butter. It was a relatively new food, and he’d not even been tempted to try the messy paste made from crushed peanuts, but she obviously had. She had other foods in her kitchen, but she had three jars of peanut butter. He smiled when he realized that most all the other foods she had could be eaten with peanut butter; crackers, celery, bread, apples. His Felicity loved peanut butter. When he opened a jar of it on a whim, he could clearly see where she’d swiped her finger through it rather than get a spoon or knife to spread it with. He chuckled and went back to the sofa she slept on. He settled in and allowed himself to watch her sleep, just for a little while.
Chapter 25
Destroy stood atop the A-frame roof brace he’d just installed with Carnage’s help. He’d decided to build on the other side of the clearing from Enthrall’s home. A great enough distance that they both had privacy, but close enough that he could oversee things for Enthrall when he was away, just as he was now.
They had only been at it for a little over a day now, but with so many pitching in to help, the entire home was framed already, the floor joists had been installed and the floor boards laid. The walls were framed, and now the roof was framed as well. The internal walls had been erected, too. The house was almost a mirror image of Enthrall’s. The only difference was that he planned a porch all the way around his home. And every room would be flooded with sunlight. Huge windows were to be installed in the outside wall of each room of the house, except the bathroom, where a smaller window was going to be set up high in that one. His front door faced Enthrall’s home, but was far enough away that even if they shouted across the way, it would be difficult to hear clearly.
He looked up at the sound of voices coming down the path that led to the clearing. He smiled when Murder an
d Gaston came into view, each supporting the heavy end of a claw-footed tub.
“What do you have there?” Destroy called.
“A bath tub, so your female can wash away your scent,” Murder called back.
Destroy laughed, “You have it wrong, Murder!” he called to him, “She will bathe in my scent. Because I am pretty, and she loves me.”
Murder laughed, a deep resonant sound that didn’t happen often, “I hope you are right, Destroy. I honestly do.”
Then he laughed again when he heard Gaston mumble behind him, “I don’t think he’s pretty. I jest don’t see it, no.”
Destroy had done a great job taking care of the people of Whispers in Enthrall’s absence. Everyone had what they needed, had received what they’d asked for, and as a result, many had come to help build his house.
Even Simon had shown up with a water cistern for him. “Destroy,” he’d said shyly as he stood at the base of the framed home, “I don’t know if you need this or not, but I had an extra one. I thought maybe you could use it. Or not, if you’d rather not, it doesn’t matter to me much, either way,” he finished, swallowing his last words as he saw the way some of the other males regarded him suspiciously when they noticed him.
Destroy saw it, too. “Simon! Welcome, my friend,” he said enthusiastically.
Carnage was beneath the house, running lines to the hole he’d dug for Destroy’s waste pit. There was already a large barrel buried in the pit, and the lines coming out of it were being run through the floor and into the toilet that Murder had brought them the day before. But they didn’t have a cistern yet — that had to be mounted on the roof, and they weren’t quite finished with that part yet.
Carnage slid out from under the house, with Lily following. He grinned and approached the man. “Si!” he said, slapping the other man on the back.
Simon smiled, “Carnage. How are you holding up? Are you well?”
Carnage grumbled and snarled a bit, lifting a lip, but Simon smiled, “She’ll be home soon. And she’ll see what a great job you did with Lily while she was gone so that she’s going to want to give you another baby.”
Carnage’s expression turned pained. He looked back at Lily, covered head to toe in dirt and mud, sawdust in her hair. He rushed over to her, “Leelee! ‘Keen,” he said, trying to wipe her off, spitting on his shirt and trying to use it to clean her face while brushing sawdust out of her hair.
“Stop!” she protested, running away from him to crawl back under the house.
Carnage followed, “Leelee!”
Destroy chuckled as he hopped down from the roof of the home he was building for Rowan, “Now you got him afraid that Carolena will come home and not be happy with the way Lily looks.”
“Well, that wasn’t what I meant to do, but maybe it’s better if she’s a little cleaner when his wife gets back,” Simon said.
“You’re probably right,” Destroy agreed. “So you brought me a cistern?”
“I did. You don’t have to keep it…” he started.
But Destroy cut him off, “Of course I’ll keep it. I appreciate it. And I appreciate you for bringing it. Thank you very much for contributing to my woman’s welfare. She’ll be very happy to have running water in her home.”
“Well, tell her I said I hope she enjoys it,” Simon told him, putting the cistern on the ground and preparing to walk away.
“Wait, why don’t you tell her?” Destroy said, knowing full well why he was leaving so quickly. He wasn’t trusted among the other people of Whispers. They all steered clear of him and his family for the most part. His species was feared, there was just so little known about them. With rumors only to go by, it was hard to tell fact from fiction. And some of the rumors were pretty brutal. But Destroy had been exposed to his son Seth and his daughter Serena when Carolena taught them their letters. And he liked the kids. He liked Simon. He figured anyone who had such good kids had to be a decent male.
“You’d want me to talk to your female?” Simon asked, surprise written all over his face.
“Why not? I mean she’s not here now, but she’ll be back,” Destroy looked over his shoulder at the home they were building. “I hope she will.”
Simon felt bad for Destroy. He’d heard what had happened, everyone had, and he felt bad for the male. It must be hard when your female refuses you. His Serafina had never refused him, but there was a time she was promised to another, and he’d had to fight for her. That was hard enough, but at least he’d always known she wanted him.
Simon lifted his hand as though he was going to pat Destroy on the back, but thought better of it. Not many appreciated his touch or welcomed it. “She’ll come ‘round, Destroy. I truly believe she will. What with a male like you waiting for her — she’d have to come back ‘round.”
Destroy smiled sadly at Simon trying to assure him, “Thank you, Simon. You want to come help us build?” Destroy asked.
“Really?” he asked.
“Yeah, really. Leave that cistern right where it is, and come over here and help me. Are you good with heights? Can you help me on the roof?”
“Yeah, I can do that,” Simon said, smiling, happy at being included instead of being given a wide berth like he usually received from the other males.
Together they all worked on the house the rest of the afternoon. By the time they finished, they’d completed everything except installing the windows and the kitchen stove. Even the cistern was in place on the roof, which made Simon very proud.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
That evening Carnage went home to get Lily bathed and cleaned up in case Carolena came home unexpectedly. He didn’t want her to see Lily in such a state. Lily had had a great time and was loving spending her days with Carnage. She’d been doing everything he did. She went hunting. She’d helped him clean the rabbit he’d hunted. She’d crawled under Destroy’s new house to help with the plumbing, and she’d been peeing outside in the woods, just like her Papa did, but she squatted behind a tree.
Carnage had thought it was great that his daughter was learning to do all the things he did and was enjoying it. But since Simon said that Carolena would see what a great job he did and want to give him another baby, it got him to thinking. He wanted another baby — badly. But she may not think he’d done such a great job, so he needed to be sure that Lily was clean and ready to see her mom whenever she came home. Just in case she came home sooner than they expected, he’d gotten her bathed, and her nightgown on her. He’d made sure she brushed her teeth and then tucked her into bed when she came flying down the hallway, “I pee, Papa!”
Carnage motioned her at the bathroom.
“No, I pee outside!” Lily insisted.
“No!” Carnage said and ushered her toward the bathroom. “La dee, pee,” he said as he guided her through the door.
“I not lady!” she protested.
“‘Es!” he said sternly, pointing toward the toilet. And he smiled when she wrinkled up her little nose and marched toward the toilet with a nearly shouted, “Fine!” just like her Mama did when she was irritated.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Destroy spent the evening alone, sitting on Enthrall’s front porch, looking at his and Rowan’s nearly finished new home across the clearing. He could just make it out in the darkness. He’d placed it almost at the tree line, and from here it blended in fairly well. His heart hurt, he missed her. Her smile, her wit, the way she’d argue with him back and forth. The way she’d put him in his place, refusing to fall for his charms, refusing to tell him she liked him, but he knew she did. Her voice, her scent. Everything. He missed everything about her. But still he felt good at the same time. He’d kept his word to Enthrall. He’d done what he promised. He’d watched over everyone at Whispers. When there was a need, he’d fulfilled it. He’d gained trust and made new friends, as was evidenced by the house that stood almost at the ready across the way. He set down the glass he’d been drinking out of and walked down Enthrall’s porch steps. He stretched, pr
eparing to take flight and take a final look around Whispers before turning in for the night. He took great pride in the fact that he was doing a good job. If only Rowan were here to see him, it would be perfect. He unfurled his wings, a steady heavy heart accompanying him as he took to the sky.
<<<<<<<>>>>>>>
Lore allowed his mists to permeate the boarding house down near the rail yard where his interest of the moment rested. He’d laid in wait with them as his mists, while they watched an old couple, Rowan’s parents it turned out, for hours. When they’d finally left their humble home, along with an elderly woman, the men had hung back, allowed them to get a head start before they followed at a safe distance. Then Lore had followed them. There were three of them at the moment. Their leader, the one in command of the other two, had long since lost touch with sanity. He’d lived on bitterness and revenge for so long that they had turned his soul black. Though that wasn’t the only reason his soul was black. The dark magics wafted from this one. He’d sold his soul in exchange for powers he had no idea how to govern. He’d no idea of the trade he’d made. His magics were shoddy and spotty at best. They’d destroy him and consume him long before he’d manage to do any real damage to anyone other than himself with them. Yes, he was a lost cause. There would be no redemption. But the other two, maybe. It depended on their choices this night. The brother of the lost one was worth redeeming, and perhaps he would be, but still again, it depended on his choices. His fate was his own to make. Lore allowed the men to move ahead of him, his mists moving thinly along the street as he followed. He held back when he realized they stood cloaked in shrubbery along a long, fenced drive. It prevented them from following any further onto the property without being seen.
Destroy, Book 2, Whispers From the Bayou Page 20